The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-28 00:00:00

SEPTEMBER.

Baden
Warwick September ... 1 Monmouth ..
Abingdon 3 Manchester ............... 18
I Leicester \
Doncaster September 8 Walsall ..................... 23
Brecon l4 Edinburgh
I
Richmond
Hampton Autumn l5 I Royal Caledonian Hunt
Kelso it, and Western 31
NOVEMBER.
Liverpool 3 I Leamington l7
Shrewsbury ............ ... 9

STEEPLECHASES.
• OCTOBER.
Bromley ............ ....... 1 I Ealing.
DECEMBER.
gt.An,„„.
26
Kingsbury

Foreign Mail Packet List,

MAILS DUE.

lustralia and New Zealand, via Southamptoa.....May 23.
Ditto, via Marseilles—. l7.
Ditto, via Panama ........ ......... ........ May 20.
Buenos Ayres, and Monte Video June 4.
Ditto, by French paoket
jape Verds. by Brazil paotet
Ape of Good Hope. Ascension. and St. Helena June 12.
:hina, Penang, ana Singapore, via Southamptoa..June 6.
Ditto, via Marseilles . . ..... ........ June 11,
•oaikland Islands
iibraltar, via Southampton May 30.
5911thuMinoll

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

--41.-

The Times takes up the subject of the dwellings of on'
poor, and laments the huddling together, the dirt, the
starving, crushing, and the concomitant evils of disease

and unhealthiness. And the course taken by the House of
Lords on the Labourers' Dwellings Bill lead one to the
conclusion that Parliament cannot deal with the evil. But
who can ? What can ? Does this confession of incompe-
tency send us with hope to the new British constituency,
and the rulers, institutions, and functionaries likely to
come out of it? On the contrary, the very hopelessness of
the case consists in the indifference, the incompetence, the
selfishness, or the jealousy of the people themselves. What
is described is not a legislative but a popular fact.

Pursue the evil round its course. Railway companies,

public bodies, or corporations make a clearance. It accords
with the national spirit of enterprise that they should
have every facility for their task, and that it should not
be encumbered with needless aggtavations. They declare
emphatically, and no doubt truly, that they cannot
undertake to build houses for the poor, still less keep

the houses and their inmates in order. A few gentlemen
and ladies of heroic courage and kindness are found to

make the attempt, but they are as a drop in this large
ocean of life. The remedy, if any can be found,
devolves on the sufferers themselves. In spite of all
that has been said, we must say that it is hard to believe
it so utterly impossible for these people to find decent
habitations a little further off. It is alleged
_ _

that they must be near their work, or with their fellow-
workmen, or in known localities, where their employers
may know where to find them ; but, as it happens, the
very origin of the evil, and the very fact that sets these

people adrift, is the continual displacement of the indus-
tries and operations on which they depend. The necessity

for huddling together at Clerkenwell must be diminished

by the fact of half Clerkenwellbeing destroyed; nor can we
now see any necessity for many thousand people wallowing
in filth and disease in what remains of the old Rookery, in
Seven Dials, or in Soho. The sufferers do not take

proper care of themselves, or avail themselves of the
opportunities in their reach ; and, what is worse, they do
not like the coldly clean and well-regulated model lodging-
houses—conducted, too, as they are, with some sort of
moral discipline. They settle accordingly into that dirt
and slovenliness which invariably increases upon those

who indulge in it, till there is neither power to resist nor
even taste to be revolted at it. Then come in the reme-

dial laws, administered as they must be by insti-
tutions and public functionaries. This brings us to
a general admis&on still more important and more
deplorable than the incompetency of Legislatures—
the powerlessness of public bodies and the helplessness
of the people. It is the fact of a difficulty to be every-
where surmounted, at every step, and in every person con-
cerned. It is not easy to find an "authority ;" the
authority changes or cannot be compelled to act, and a
new one into be found. English liberty compels many
cautions and notices, and allows long delays. If costly
alterations are ordered in the public interest, who is to

make them ? The resident householder? The sub-tenant ?
The lessee ? The owner ? The ground landlord ? The
authorities must find him, or the law must 'throw itself
into the grasp of another and a stronger authority. If
the authorities themselves undertake the expense, and
even go so far as to supply houses for the poor, they

must do it out of the rates, tlle4by taxing many landlords

and householders in order to enter into competition with
them. Already there are numerous Acts for the mitiga-
tion of these evils, for the proper inspection of lodging-
houses, for the removal of nuisances, and the restraint of
overerowdizg ; but they are found insufficient or ineffec-
tive, either because they are thought too great an inter-
ference with British liberty, or simply because the autho-
rities have often to choose between turning poor creatures
out of doors altogether and letting them remain in the
pesthouses which scorn to the people themselves better
than no houses at all.

The Post, dealing with the acquittal of President
Johnson, denounces the policy of the Republicans in
bringing pressure to bear on the members of their party
who refused to say that President Johnson was guilty. How-
ever, that pressure has failed to have any effect, and it is
to be hoped that Mr. Johnson's opponents will now allow
him to serve the brief remaining period of his term unmo-
lested. They have fought their fight and have been van-
quished, and they ought honestly to abide by the result.

And indeed we think that it is matter for congratulation
to the Republican party rather than otherwise that they
have been worsted in this encounter. It certainly ought
to be matter for unmixed satisfaction to the American
People. If Mr. Johnson had been deposed by what
would have been a purely party vote for purely party con-
siderations, the executive power in the Republic would
have received a blow from the effects of which it would

never have recovered. The weapon of impeachment was
placed in the State armoury by the founders of the
American Constitution rather for the purpose of sheaving
the world that in the model Republic which was then
being formed no man would be beyond the reach of the
law, than for actual use. Whether the office of President
be one which it is expedient to retain or to abolish is a
matter of which the American people are the best judges ;
but, if it is to be retained, it should be placed beyond the
reach of assaults directed merely to serve the interests of
a palitical faction. _ .

The Daily News finds it easy to account for the acquittal
of the President. The Republican majority in the Senate
has been distinguished through all the crises of the last
three years for the strong and even controlling element of
moderation it contained. A considerable number of the
Republican senators care more for the victory of .the Repub-
lican policy than for the welfare of the Republican party,
and when Mr. Johnson has put that policy in peril they have
gone with their party against him ; but when that policy
has not been endangered, and their party has been the
assailant, they have refused to move. Now, while the
impeachment trial has been going on, reconstruction has
also been going on, and it has become abundantly evident
that the policy of Congress has already succeeded beyond
Mr. Johnson's power to hinder it. His removal is, there-
fore, no longer needful to the success of the Congressional
policy. There was room for moderation, even for leniency,
and some of the Republican senators determined to

exercise it.
The Standard rejoices at the acquittal which has taken
place (it says) in spite of a most unscrupulous use of every
form of political terrorism and coercion, in spite of threats,
abuse, summonses to resign, newspaper vituperations, and
anonymous letters threatening them with assassination.
It is a sad and shameful thing, and inexpr-essibly deplor-
able, that thirty-five senators could he found to pronounce
the President guilty. By what they have done they have
lowered the tone of the Senate.

The Times congratulates the people on their fine Derby
Day, cracks a joke about all their prophecies being
wrong, and concludes by moralising on the event. It says :
If on the off day we may be allowed to moralise, we
would ask whether it be worth while to go so far in
speculating on these chances as to stake great fortunes,
and fine estates, and even good reputations on the issue?
It is one thing to amuse oneself and others with such an-
ticipations as we have been discussing, but they assume a
different aspect when they are regarded as part of a busi-
ness, and that business a gigantic gambling. If this misuse
of the turf increases, the sport may lose a great part of its
attraction. The time, however, is doubtless far distant
when the harmless pleasures of the Derby will be lost to
the mass of the public. Among the contributors to these
pleasures we count the prophets who have shewn them-
selves superior to such repeated discouragements. Let us
continue to haye the satisfaction of deciding the race
beforehand, and then the additional satisfaction of a sur-
prise. We are all children for this occasion, and the more
purposeless our enjoyment the better.

Daii~ l; ears
ThecomplainS that it is not really a love
for horse-racing that takes so many English people of the
lower orders to Epsom on Derby Day. It is the passion
fo.r,. gambling' that takes them to th turf. It is the
vicious industry that
.surrounl and
its
the sport of
horse-racing, and degrades it from . original national
purpose to the basest uses, that
and
dsed it to its present
height of passionate popular favour
c7mversal interest.
'rh
e Telegraph (which ever since the
01
uetrrekei2s7tceaelrlt
systemexp lboy-
sion has been complaining bitterly oef
and advocating its thorough reform)
a provision in a Government bill for givin
moreP
annum to each of the Assistant Commissioncr °
olice.
What for? asks our contemporary. For their incapability
in the Clerkenwell explosion? Locking the stable-door
after the steed is stolen is proverbial ; but what can we
call rewarding the stable-boy on such an occasion by way
iragcment to future neglect? Fancy the feelings
veil ratepaying artisan when the tax-collector
s to him and virtually says, " Your children were
ac ; you have lost the sight of
'or permitting this, which they might
u:ied, the three AsAstant-Comml.4sioncrs
£3OO a year each, and Myna-

Cerice

;

Sail

701.1 r ri

to ext.ro, A
yc

are I o

!enr tie expenses.

Of conrse file taxpayer will p y;

ab:e; but there • are few things Le

may grt
to e

lure

mid pay for.

CAUTION TO S 111. 01,1 .—A fire broke out a few
day 3 back in a cella,: forming part of the celebrated
Palazzr, Vecchio at Florence. At about two in the after-
noon smoke was seen issuing through an air-hole, and a
(rlantlty of waste paper was found to be burning. The
authorities and the fire brigade were speedily on the spot,
and succeeded in preventing any serious damage.
Rumours were current amongst the crowd that the fire
NV:t3 the act of an incendiary, but there seems no doubt
tl,at it was attributable to the careless throwing of a
burning match by some pissing smoker.