The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-20 00:00:00

TELE SUN, LONDON, HUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 1868.

t and illust rated the instance of the plasterers refus-
ing to ,:allow of lime-washing unless done by
tbemselve‘ t. How far better it would be to
cast asit to these absurd and short -sighted
restrictions f and to allow of the free de-
velopment of intellect and industry ! As
MT. GLAD NONE said, in conclusion, " the best
condition of' the labouring community is that in
which the way upwards is the easiest and most
open ;" but we tear it will be long before such en-
lightened notions will prevail among the generality.
At the same timtl, we are glad that Mr. GLADSTONE
should have takt.'n this opportunity to deliver his
opinions on some of these important points con-
nected with this subject of Trades Unions. They
cannot but be of service to all who attentively con-
sider them, and the thoughtful and unprejudiced
will reflect upon their meaning, and readily recog-
nise how and in what manner the practice falls short
from the preachings of these institutions. What
society has to do with them n is this, that they have
continued to go far beyond their original limits
and are in reality themselves, at the present mo-
ment, the greatest tyrants and oppressors to those
whom they say they wish to serve, which is an
anomally the spirit of the age can scarcely permit
to exist much longer.

The debate on the Press Bill was again resumed
in the sittings of the Legislative Body, and some
interesting points were discussed. An amendment
was brought forward to show the inconveniences
that result from the rule now laid down, that " pre-
liminary permission" must be obtained before any
foreign journals can enter France. Unfortunately
the amendment was rejected, which is the more to
be regretted, because it proposed the abrogation of
the obnoxious restrictions. One of the speakers
used the extraordinary argument against it that

its proposal would be very injurious to the French
newspapers and put them ou an unequal footing. It
really is surprising that any one can use such
reasons in discussing a matter of this sort, but it
is quite certain that until these very retrogade
notions are extinct in France it is idle for us to
expect much real progress to take place. It is a
great mistake of the EMPEROR'S, and has been
all along, to persist in this exclusive practice,
and he does his Government a great deal more
harm than good by so doing ; only he will not be
convinced to the contrary. It is inconsistent with
the boldness which has characterised his policy in
other matters. Those in authority may always
rest assured that the truest safety lies in the en-
couragement of criticism, and not in its avoidance
and whenever there is anything to be hid people
are always ready to suppose that it is much worse
than it is. Another amendment was also rejected
that had better have been passed, to the effect that
newspapers should be sold in the street,

Among the many and various institutions in this
metropolis which appeal forcibly to the sympathies
and the compassion of the benevolent there is none
that has stronger or more unanswerable claims
than the Hospital for Sick Children. Its very title
pleads convincingly in its favour, and he must,
indeed, be hard of heart and dull of apprehension
who can hear with indifference and inattention the
advocates of such helpless little sufferers. We have
in London a great number of hospitals, asylums,
and infirmaries for men and women of every age.
Provision'has been made for those suffering from every
form of malady to which the human frame is liable.
There are hospi als for specal diseases, there are
hospitals for the insane and imbicile, there are
hospitals for the immediate relief and assistance of
those suffering from accident and sudden injury.
So late as 1852, however, there was no such a thing
in the whole of England as an hospital specially for
children. What was the reason of this omission it
is not easy to guess. Very certainly it could not
have been owing to the absence of a want. The
mortality of young children among the classes who
require hospital aid is very great. Half the children
in England, it has often been said, die before they
are five years old, and if this is not strictly accurate,
there is undoubtedly a painfully high death-rate
among them. We shall not be surprised at this if
we pause a moment to consider the circumstances
amid which the infants of the poor are reared. The
mothers are often compelled to leave them at very
early age to go out to work, and the consequence is
that they are either put in the hands of an elder
child or taken charge of by a neighbour for a small
daily payment. In either case the baby is the sufferer,
and so injurious is the effect of this negligence or
ignorance with which it is treated that in Lanca-
shire, during the terrible trial of the cotton famine,
it was found that the mortality among young chil-
dren was much less than the average, notwithstand-
ing the general privation, simply because the
mothers staid at home to look after them. This fact
alone speaks volumes of the want of care from which
the little creatures suffer. Again, they have to
contend against the prevailing ignorance, and often
what might at first be slight ailment is aggravated
into a serious or dangerous illness by mismanage-
ment and indiscretion. They suffer, too, in a greater
degree than their elders, from the lack of fresh
air, from the close, unhealthy, overcrowded rooms
in which they are crowded together ; from the
irregular, scanty, and unsuitable food they eat ;
from the impure water which they drink ; from the
foul smells, and the thousand hardships to which
the poor of a great, overcrowded city are liable.
When they fall ill under such circumstances their
chances of recovery are very small compared with
those of the children of richer and more educated
parents. When they suffer, as they often do, from
painful chronic diseases, how greatly their suffer-
ings are aggravated by the want of those costly
comforts and that unceasing vigilance with
which the children of the rich would bo tended
in such cases. Even the latter, however,
derive some benefit from the establishment of the
children's hospital, since it affords such excellent
opportunities for the special study of children's
ailments. During the sixteen years in which the
hospital in Ormond-street has been in existence, it
has been constantly increasing its area of useful-
ness, until last year it had no less than 700 in-
patients and 12,574 out-patients. What would
most of these little ones have done without its
kindly aid ? It is one of the most satisfactory fea-
tures of the institution that the cheerful kindness
and tender care of the officials and nurses is always
the subject of grateful remark by the anxious
mothers and relatives who have to leave their
little charges in its wards. Her MAJESTY, with
true motherly instinct, has taken especial interest
in it, and has proved that her patronage is some-
thing more than nominal by the number of gifts she
has sent for the little patients as well as for the
hospital itself.
The annual festival of the institution, held last
night in Willis's Rooms, under the presidency of
stlei
ee Archbishop
valuable
addition
d iooßnK
t,
o produced,it
s
we aree s u glad r
p to.
coffers,
h tious and donations amounting to nearly £2,000.
t bsc
The Chairman, in proposing the toast of the even-
ing, referred to the address delivered at the first
festival of the kind by Mr. CHARLES DICKENS,
who had left little to be said by any one who
came after, him. By no one, indeed, could the
_ claims of suffering- childhood be wore touchingly

advocated and more faithfully drawn than by the
gifted delineator, whp gave us the likeness of TINY
TIM. The Chairman of last night, however, made
a forcible appeal, and dwelt especially on the im-
portance of treating children's diseases separately.
"It must be evident," he said, " that every hospital
was not only a place where disease was treated, but
in one way or another a school where the science
of medicine was advanced. In the case of young
children the patients were of necessity wholly unable
to throw light on their various ailments, and
therefore in a special manner required sepa-
rate treatment." The community, added the
speaker, had yet to understand the diseases of chil
dren and the enormous evils which devastated their
class. Three gaunt spectres—misery, vice, and stu-
pidity—haunted them from their cradles, and the
tainted constitutions which the children of the
drunkard and the vicious inherited contributed
largely to the results they saw. There ought to be
in London an hospital on a large scale for the treat-
ment of children ; but we may well be thankful
that there is one so efficient within its limits.
The country homes connected with it at Mitcham
and Croydon are invaluable for convalescent chil-
dren, and the change produced by a few weeks in
the country air, with good food, pure milk, and
plenty of freedom, is often little short of marvel-
lous. Whatever doubt or scruples may exist as to
other modes of giving relief, there can be few about
the aid afforded to the sick and infirm, and most
especially when those sufferers are children.

The reception which the new British Minister
has received from the PRESIDENT of the United
States certainly does not accord with the rumours
which have been of late so industriously circulated
of Mr. JOHNSON'S hostile intentions towards Eng-
land. The cordiality with which Mr. 'THORNTON
was welcomed at the White House might, indeed,
belong to the courtesies of diplomacy rather than
to the genuine feeling of the PRESIDENT as an in-
dividual ; but we have no reason to question the sin-
cerity of his assurances of friendship and goodwill.
Mr. THORNTON assured Mr. JOHNSON of her
MAJESTY'S friendship towards America, and
expressed the sense which his Government had of
the sympathy shown for the death of Sir F. BRUCE.
The PRESIDENT, in replying to the assurances of
the new Minister, said that Queen VICTORIA, more
than any other Sovereign, enjoyed the respect and
sympathy of the American people, and that her
kind message encouraged him to hope for a speedy
adjustment of the existing differences between the
Governments. Sir F. BRUCE had won the respect
of the American nation, and the same sonfidence
and consideration would be extended to his succes-
sor. So far, then, we may believe that Mr.
THORNTON has entered upon his duties auspici-
ously, and will, we may trust, prove a fitting and
worthy representative.

Another reception of an Englishman by the PRE-
SIDENT, though less politically important, is more
generally interesting. CHARLES DICKENS has been
cordially welcomed by the PRESIDENT, who, no
doubt rejoiced, in the opportunity of making the
personal acquaintance of so distinguished a visitor.
Mr, DICKENS'S trip will, no doubt, do a good deal
towards strengthening the bonds of friendship and
good understanding between the peoples, without
which no diplomacy will much avail.

COLticiESPONDENCE PROM PARIS.

( 1%; 0 M OUR OWN C 0 BEER' ONDENtS

PARIS, WEDNESDAY, Feb. 19.

It is reported that the Abbe Lucien Buonaparte will be
ft French, and not a Roman cardinal. This will give him
the right to sit in the French Senate.
The 16th of March next is to be distinguished by' an
lumens number of promotions and decorations in the
magistracy the army, the marine, and the Legion of
Eloncur. Alrudy a long list has been prepared for this
:telebration.

The Press debate continues. All that remains for the
Legislature to do is to emasculate the bill of any little
Liberalism it contained. The Administration retains the
power to suppress a literary journal for touching on poli-
;les or social economy, to seize foreign papers, to condemn
'ine political journals for false news, and to interdict at
pleasure their sale in the streets. Every amendment
against these privileges is shelved.

The Paris press continue to comment on the narrow
:scope of the Government from defeat on the question of
the judicial announcements ; 101 is a large minority in
France. It is all the more remarkable that there were
thirty-tlnee absentees.

It appars that the repr-lentat!on of " Kean" at the
Odtsou was Liken advantage of by the audience, many of
them students, to make a regular political demonstration.
[none part of the piece it is said, " There is equal justice for
all in England ;" whereupon the naughty hearers cried out
"Not in France." Afterwards "Pas en France " was re-
peated in all places where the audience could put it in, by
way of chorus.

The Arenir National has an article discussing the
probabilities of a rupture between England and the United
States. The writer, Eugtne Chatard, dismisses the idea
of any rupture being imminent. At a time when the
wounds of an intestine war of four years' duration are still
unclosed, when the country is labouring under a • debt of
two milliards of dollars, when the eleven secessionist States
remain under military rule, it would be a blunder, for
which nothing but absolute necessity could atone, for the
Union, even in alliance with Russia, to go to war with
England.

The French are bestirring themselves in the matter of
education. The Minister of Education, M. Duruy, has
just issued some instructions relating to the education of
the agricultural classes ; they are really very creditable to
the Government. Throughout France rlylr.inent is gene-
rally too uniform and strict, and industry has been
somewhat incommoded by establishing in the pri-
mary schools tin; same hours for the classes and
same epoch for the vacations. The new instructions recog.
nise the services of children at certain periods in the
field, especially at harvest and vintage times. The
" minute " allows the local authorities to modify the rules,
so as to secure that the children shall be educated and yet
not be entirely taken from field labour. The discretionary
power thus given will have a good effect, both in con-
ciliating employers of labour and encouraging parents to
promote the education of their children.

The people of Paris hope to see something of the annular
eclipse of the sun on the 23rd. It will be invisible, says
the Journal du Ciel, in England, Sweden, Norway, Den-
mark, and North Russia. It begins at Paris at 3.48, and
ends at 4.23 p.m.

The L!berte has a Japanese correspondent—Namoura
Sooshti. It professes to regard the latest telegrams from
Japan as a verification of his predictions. According to
the Liberte, the Daimios are a " party of action," and
right and law are therefore about to triumph in Japan,
as they must do when there are parties of action every-
where,

The official press of Prussia is' particularly sore about
the popularity which the blind King a ore of Hanover
has acquired in Austria. This explains the fact that only
Hanoverians were present when the King celebrated his
"silver wedding "—the 25th anniversary of his marriage.
The Berlin Cabinet persists in regarding as unfriendly the
act of Austria in shewing hospitality to the refugee
monarch, and in giving passports to his followers, by which
they have been enabled to reach France. On both these
points the Austrian Cabinet has given explanations, but
the Cabinet of Berlin refuses to be satisfied.

Notwithstanding that the Southern Germans are strongly
disposed towards the unity of the Fatherland, they are
prejudiced with still greater strength against Count Bis-
marck. The elections for Bavaria to the Customs Parlia-
ment are a proof of this. Of the forty-two members re-
turned, no more than from twelve to fourteen are favourable
to the extension of the Federal institutions to the South.
Six or seven, among them Prince Hohenlohe, the Premier,
will advocate the maintenance of the offensive and defen-
sive alliances with Prussia, without spewing any particular
desire to supplement the military by the political re-
union of the two divisions of Fatherland. All the rest are
secessionists.

There is a large party in Italy -.010 attribute the
financial difficulties of the kingdom in a great measure to
the extravagance of Vict(T Emmanuel, and its political
embarra:;sments to his duplicity. This party includes, it
is said, La Marmora. A correspondent, writing from
Florence, believes it is true that on a recent occasion La
Marmora, on being sent for to the Palace, refused to go.
It is openly reporttd that he has told the King the best
thing he can do is to resign, and that he is ready to
become his successor's Prime Minister.

We have just had a little war in India with the
Wegheers. We were, of course, victorious, and the Times
correspondent told us that we must shew no sympathy with
the defeated, as they were simply brigands. The Times of
India takes a different view. That the outlaws of Katty-
war were brigands is admitted ; but the Times of India
asserts that in handing their country over to the Guicowar
after he was dispossessed in 1819, the rights of the people
were not secured. There are fugitives from justice in other
parts of India, but to give to outlawry the persistent
vitality which it has exhibited in Kattywar there needed
some distinct political or territorial grievance, and this will
be found in the constant attempts of the Guicowar's
agents to defraud the Okhamundel chiefs of the allowan6es
and villages granted them under our joint agreement. The
Times of India fears it may be now too late to remedy the
wrong, but it ventures to think that something must yet
he done in the way of meeting the fair claims of any
Wagheer leaders whose hands may not be stained with the
blood of defenceless villagers. It hopes that renewed
attempts may be
.made to settle and reclaim a race of
valiant and extraordinarily energetic men.

The Russians are actively occupied in Central Asia in
preparing to construct a railroad to unite Oranburg,
Taschkend, and Kokand.

The policy of Russia in Central Asia creates no alarm
in Bombay. When the mails left it was understood
that General Ignatieff was to succeed Prince Gortschakoff
in the Russian Foreign Office. Twelve years 'ago the
General was at the head of the Russian mission to Bok-
hara. In India he is regarded as anything but anti-
British. He can read, write, and speak English, and he
has ever rejoiced in friendly interchanges with our people
in the East. The Times of India is willing to
believe the Western Russians when they say that
they are " not on the look-out for subjects, but for
roubles ;" though the Russian commanders in Asia have
too often been on the look-out for " decorations," as the
St. Petersburg Cabinet is now finding out. From informa-
tion received regarding affairs in Turkestan, it is evident
that General Kauffmann has his hands full ; and, at all
events, it will be quite time to prepare to meet the Musco-
vites when we know that they are really coming to invade us.
Sir John Lawrence is resolved to have no war unless it
be forced upon him, and not to be impatient under com-
pulsion.

The participation of natives in the government of India
is being discussed with increased interest in the depen-
dency. The best authorities appear to think that our rule
is not popular with the masses. They recognise the benefits
of security and prosperity, but they have a fondness for
their own institutions which our rule has overlooked. It
is believed that we must consult national feeling much
more than has been done. We must, it is said, take a
lesson from the Mahometans, and raise Hindoos to positions
of trust and emolument. The pages of Mill and Orme
she w how much was achieved under this system.

King Theodore's treatment of his captives remains the
Abyssinian mystery. To our advanced force this mystery
may ere now be solved. This force consists of 1,300 men,
of whom 550 are British. They started for Antalo on the
sth or 6th instant, and it is believed that they would make
rapid progress. The depots in their rear would be abun-
dantly supplied. They carry with them a battery of steel
rifled guns, the mountain train battery, and a rocket
battery. They were to proceed straight on to Magdala.
For this purpose it was computed that a mule to each man
would be sufficient for the traneport of tents, baggage,
and a month's . provisions. The correspondents seem to
think there will be no great difficulty in coming up with
Theodore if he should attempt to decamp with his
prisoners. The worst feature about him is that he is a
drunken, fitful tyrant, who may in the meantime put
"his dear Mr. Rasiam " and li!s comrades to death. •

All accounts unite in stntir:g that Lord Derby continues
to improve in health. So much feebleness, however, re-
mains that the greatest care is necessary in order to ensure
a restoration of the noble earl's strength. All danger of a
relapse appears now to be over. Lord Stanley has re-
turned to London. Her Majesty and the Prince of Wales
evinced their anxiety for information as to the Premier's
condition by sending frequent telegrams to Knowsley
during the day on which his lordship was believed to be so
- -