The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-04 00:00:00

PUICE.... 4d.
STAMPED 5d

WHAT PAS THE HOT WEill HER, DONE
FOR US ?

(Feont. the Anglo -American Times.)
Made us very cross ! but happily so stripped us
of energy that we have not proceeded from " slang-
wanging" to fisticuffs. The leader of the Govern-
ment .and the leader of the Opposition feel more
inclined to pull than to rub noses on parting, and so
do many of their followers. The man who is not
on the rampage is John Bright, who perhaps may
be startled to hear the Standard singing his praises.
We thought "he was stirring up in Ireland the
almost extinct spirit of disaffection ;" but instead of
this he is preaching moderation at Birmingham, and
declaring he would be sorry to see the British Con-
stitution ' Americanized.' " Major Anson is indig-
nant at an after-dinner speech of Sir Bartle Frere,
wherein he awarded to the hero of Magdala more
than his fair share of praise in the taking of the
I'akoo Forts. Lord Napier, bathered with the
champagne, which had been fizzing under his nose,
and puzzling his brains with the speech he had to
address to his brethren of the Indian army, took no
heed of the showers of praise falling over him from
the gushing Sir Bartle. In the confusion and the
excitement of bumpers and cheers not only did it
pass uncontradicted, but his lordship commenced
with a singular inaccuracy. He stated that he was
mainly induced to accept the peerage, over which
lie had hesitated, as it was intended as an honour
to the Indian service, his being the first case of such
distinction. Did Lord Napier of Magdala ever
hear of Lord Clive? General Jacob pitches into
Major Anson for omitting some names from the
scroll of fame of the Bombay army ; but the mili-
tary bickering is a mild and genteel affair to the
heat of the contest over the lately published poAn
alleged tc be Milton's. The Times in such weather
must really feel indebted to Lord Winchelsea, Mr.
Morley, and their respective followers, for supply-
ing them with columns of " copy" the public are
content to read, which, though not nasty, is
cheap. But the hot weather is most clearly dis-
cernible in Tuesday's letter signed—Winchel-
sea. Poor Hepworth Dixon, in the innocence
of his heart, wrote what he evidently consi-
dered a mild critique, when in stepped his lord-
ship, exclaiming, " Good God ! what authority
have you, sir, for such a libel ?" Mr. Dixon, startled,
might have imagined himself again at Denver with
the tree close by, on whose boughs swung the vic-
tims of the Vigilance Committee. Quickly must
his hand have sought his revolver, and perhaps the
act brought him back to his seat in the editorial
chair of the Atheneum. " A barefaced blunder,"
says his lordship, " is an argument for the authen-
ticity of the poem, if Mr. Dixon were fit to be a
critic at all ;" " but Mr. Dixon is no critic," yet he
is editor of the Athenxurn. His lordship attributes
to his critics a trifle of fine frenzy, and not all " the
imbecility of ignorance ;" further on he alludes to
the wretched mistakes to which these gentlemen
have attached their names. His lordship is so fond
of a free fight that he cannot resist taking a header
into the battle, for his previous letter closed with
the distinct assertion that it would be the last tilt
he would run. Perhaps, on the whole, it would
have been as well for his lordship to have held to
his determination instead of selecting so doughty
a champion as Hepworth Dixon. If he had he
would not have received this thrust :—" I need
not bandy words on a grave subject with such a
reasoner as Lord Winchelsea. Truth is not to be
served by broad grins, profane language, and the
humour of a country fair. Some friend should tell
the noble lord that the most vicious circle
in which a man can argue is a horse collar."
It: must gratify the Times to see that while its
writers are doubled up like a scroll with the heat
that there are those among the public who rush
furiously into print to give vent to the passion set
a-boiling. No sooner has one lord run his course
than another enters the lists with vizer down, and
lance in rest—and away he goes against anything
and anybody who comes in his way ; while the
languid public feel that pleasing sensation which
labourers lying on the grass experience while in-
dolently watching others at work. The trumpet
sounds, and the herald exclaims—" Lord Redesdale
versus Mr. Watkin, M.P." His lordship is digni-
fied, ponderous, and with right on his side, so he
can afford to keep his temper. He is, too, a ve-
teran attacker of abuses, and we regret that he had
not the strength long ago to break up these rail-
way rings of fraud and corruption. Mr. Watkin
chivalrously throws himself forward as the cham-
pion of a bad cause, and one with which we believe
he has nothing to do further than being Chair-
man of a Railway Board. His vicious retorts
and threats ill become him when they are directed
against a man who he knows has no other
object than faithfully to discharge a duty he owed
the public. To hear Mr. Watkin one would ima-
gine that the most immaculate set of men in Eng-
land are the directors of railway companies, instead
of being the concoctors of false accounts, the de-
frauders of the public, of the jobbery which Lord
Redesdale pronounces to be the object of the mea-
sure whereon he commented, and which brought on
him the hostility of Mr. Watkin. It would better
become Mr. Watkin to aid Lord Redesdale in sup-
pressing abuses than to fly at him as he has done.
Does the hon. member suppose that the indignant
denial dodge can now have any weight with the
swindled public ? That has been tried too often
before; and merely heaping abuse on the head of
Lord Redesdale will bring the public very quickly
to that nobleman's side. However, after daring
Lord Redesdale to publish the correspondence, Mr.
Watkin replies quite tamely and disappoints the
expectation raised by the fury of his first attack.
What the heat has done for New York has been
to slay 300 people within the metropolitan districts
in three days according to medical statistics. A cor-
respondent, writing to us from Astor House, heads
his letter " The Heated Term," and justly declares
it to be the most disastrous known for a generation.
His letter is dated July 16, and he declares that on
the 14th no less than 80 cases were reported to the
coroners ; on the 15th more than 50 deaths oc-
curred from sun-stroke, and during the three days
there were 250 cases in which death resulted
directly from the heat. Our correspondent graphi-
cally describes the effect on men "at their last gasp
while not a breath of air was stirring, yet they
had to gasp twice, and those who failed died
in the attempt." Broadway was strewed like a
battlefield with the bodies of men and horses. One
enjoyment alone remained for exhausted nature,
and of such a heavenly character as to be almost
worth toiling through that purgatory to attain.
New York is the city of drinks, from the " Catawba
Cobbler" to the " Corpse Reviver," and men spent
their last dollar in thus moistening their clay, and
then went out into Broadway to die. Have we
drifted nearer to the sun ?—for when we heard that
New York was within an ace of bursting into spon-
taneous combustion, the horrible thought presented
itself to our mind that we had been jerked out of
our groove and would presently light up the hea-
vens as we hurried along in a blaze, with every
telescope the planets could muster fixed upon us,
while their astronomers calmly discussed the un-
usual phenomenon.

The Spirit tells a story of an immense striped
bass hooked by Mr. Cotte, of New York, member of the
Pasque Island Club. The fish was thought to bo six feet
long, and to weigh at least 1001 b. But though the veteran
fisherman played him for two hours, the bass won in the
end, catching the lino round the point of a rock
snapped it, and went ou its way (says the Spirit) rejoicing,
which wo very much doubt. Mr. E. Phalon, also of the
Pasquo Island Club, captured a bass weighing 511 b. If
the Cuttyhunkers do nut look out they will this season be
beaten by the Islanders.
llornintan's Pare Teas are Bd. per pound cheaper. Their
2 500 agents—confectioners in London, and chemists in
the country—are constantly receiving fresh supplies of
tlieSe lolly-approved teas. Sold only in packtts.