The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-25 00:00:00

et

The h
c aracters are all perfect. Little Dot, the carrier's
Wife, w:Il be a universal favourite, so brisk and
blithe, and animated and cheerful—just the thing to
Make a fireside happy. And then the eccentric little
nursemai I, and the baby, who, to use its mother's
Words, is "two months and three days! considered
oy the doctor a remarkably beautiful child, equal to
the general run of children at five menthe old ; takes
notice in a way quite wonderful; may seem impos-
sible to you, but feels his legs already !" All these,
find Boxer, we must not forget Boxer, who contri-
butes greatly to the happiness of the family ; all
these, described in the language of "Box," render the
carrier's home and hearth a picture of domestic corn-
fun. There are other individuals well worthy of
notice ; Gruff Tackleton, the toyman, who despises
the harmless articles he manufactures ; and, above all,
there is Caleb and his blind daughter, Bertha, one of
those unfortunate yet happy creatures in which" Boz"
delights. The poor father, anxious to render his
daughter happy, adopts the expedient of representing
the world not as it is, but as it should be. The fol-
lewing is an account of his fond, affectionate deceit :
I have said that Caleb and his poor blind daughter
bred here ; but I should have said that Caleb lived here,
find his poor blind daughter somewhere else ; in an en-
'Minted home of Caleb's furnishing, where scarcity and
shabbiness were not, and trouble never entered. Caleb
Was no sorcerer, but in the only magic art that still re-
r;ills to us ; the magic of devoted, deathless love,
tare had been the mistress of his study ; and from
aer teaching all the wonder came.
The blind girl never knew that ceilings were diss
coloured; walls blotche'l, and bare of plaster here and
re; high crevices unstopped, and widening every day;
Le
• ,"sins mouldering and tending downward. The blind
girl never knew that iron was rusting, wood rotting,
PikPer peeling off ; the very size, and shape, and due
Proportion of the dwelling, withering away. The blind
girl never knew that ugly shapes of dell and earthen-
ware were on the board; that sorrow and faint-hearted-
i
sw, were n the house; that Caleb's scanty hairs were
!i,ring greyer and more grey before her sightless face.
blind girl never knew they had a master, cold,
Xacting, and uninterested: never knew that Tackleton
118 Tackleton in short; but lived in the belief of an
4,lecentric humourist who loved to have his jest with
L_ !etn; and while be was the guardian angelof their lives,
'4lclained to hear one word of thankfulness.
Caleb and his daughter were at work together in their
:anal working.room, which served them for their ordi-
arY living room as well; and a strange place it was.
a'
S 0 you were out in the rain last night, father, in
sour beautiful, new, great-eoat," said Caleb's daughter.
" In my beautiful new grea--coat?" answered Caleb,
1
!lacing towards a clothes-line in the room, on which
F.! sackcloth garment previously described was care-
uud'' hung up to dry.
Flow glad I am you bought it, father!"
f„:: And of such a tailor, too," sid Caleb. " Quite a
lionable tailor. It's too good for me."
The blind girl rested from her work, and laughed
114 delight. " Too good, father! What can be too
good for you?"
"I'm half ashamed to wear it though," said Caleb.
fiticitthing the effect what he said, upon her brightening
b„ e; " upon my word. When I hear the boys and
dsay behind me, ' Hal-lea ! Here's a swell!' I
)711 t know which way to look. And when the beggar
°llldn't go away last night; and, when I said I was a
e htY common man, said, • No, your Honour! Bless your
fe;3ll°ur, don't say that!' I was quite ashamed. I really
Las if I hadn't a right to wear it."
ttriPPy blind girl ! How merry she was, in her exul-
ten!
pi': I see you, father," she said, clasping her hands, " as
w "It,TIY, as if I had the eyes, I never want when you are
u me. A blue coat "
"Bright blue," said Caleb.
I, Yes, yes! Bright blue!" exclaimed the girl, turning
her radiant face ; the colour I can just remember
b.the blessed sky! You told me it was blue before! A
tlght blue coat "
Made loose to the figure," suggested Caleb.
114 Yes! loose to the figure!" cried the blind girl,
ytlghiog heartily ; and in it you, dear father, with
:our merry eye, your smiling face, your free step, and
r dark hair: looking so young and handsome!
bp4' tialloa! halloah!" said Caleb. "I shall be vain,
`'es.B(-otly."
bn,-I think you are, already," cried the blind girl,
411 ting at him, in her glee. " I know you father! Ha
I,a; I've found you out, you see!"
11,•Ow different the picture in her mind, from Caleb, a'
till sat observing her! She had spoken of his free step.
e was right in that. For years and years, he never
dt ee had crossed that threshold at his own slow pace,
hwith a footfall counterfeited for her ear ; and never
th he, when his heart was heaviest, forgotten the light
, d that was torenderhers so cheerful and courageous!
sne heaven knows! But I think Caleb's vague bewilder-
ent:lft of manner may have half originated in his having
116 used himself about himself and everything around
Ili? for the love of his blind daughter. Hew could the
to, e man be otherwise than bewildered, after labouring
tit:° many years to destroy his own identity, and that
itthe objects that had any bearing on it!
4;h% " Cricket on the Hearth " is a " fairy tale of
cotail' and it does ample justice to its title. It is
in to think that if
at '`'east Misome of thpllions of semirituareal creatures walk the earth,"
occupied with our domestic
°farthe crickets, it appears, are a potent tribe
Of • •
BPirits, whose object is to promote the delights of
the fireside, arid render the domestic hearth a scene of
love and happiness. Taking this " Cricket" as an
example, we shall not hesitate to agree to the hypo-
thesis, and can only wish every hearth in the king-
%) blessed with such a faithful monitor.

THE FREE HOSPITAL.
yesterday the adjourned inquest upon Susannah Ste
Gwas resumed by Mr. Wakley, M.P., at the Lion,
~gaY'a Inn-road. It will be recollected that about a
di nth ago, twoyoung girls, labouring under pulmonary
ah,‘lelt,.tie, in the last stage, came up from Windsor, and
41;' d for admission into the Royal Free Hospital,
nee'eh was refused them, as the beds were completely
They then obtained shelter in the Lion, but
voti elder girl, named Erle. aged twenty-two, died at• five
Of the
the following morning, and the other, the subject
°e present inquiry, who was only eighteen year, of
fie,
died in the Holborn Union workhouse last Friday
The case excited general sympathy.
tae inquest-room was crowded yesterday. and
1)7 ngst the gentlemen present were Mr. Pritchard high
It:liff of Southwark ; the Rev. Dr. Worthington, the
!. Mr. Packenham, &c.
Mister
attorney, attended by Mr. Wingrove Cook, the
""`rrister was in attendance on the part of the Hospital.
I, ,Hannah Fisher, nurse in the Holborn workhouse, ex-
titlllnled—Deceased was brought into the workhouse on
h 20th ult., suffering from weakness and cough. She
atcl wines, broths, and other stioaulants. She was sen-
kLe the whole time, and was anxious to recover. She
ed last Friday week. She told witness that she came
slll Windsor to be admitted into the Free Hospital,
q that she and her deceased companion applied
or admission the previous morning. They were kept
tq
Ai% Cold room, in which there was a sink, and the floor
which was stone, for two hours before a doctor saw
eto who told them that there was no room for them.
4s i
t Was raining they could not go out, and were almost
rshed from the gate. They asked the porter for :ome
iltd, and he got them what he called broth and bread.
ime broth was nothing but salt and water, the porter in-
foi.„°l4ed them that it was against the rules to give them
• While they were standing in the porch at the
tL'llital gate, two other women were brought in and
irived. They were desired to go to Bartholomew's
hospital, but were unable to do so. They had only
tt 3d. when they left Windsor, of which they paid 2s. to
e waggoner, and paid 3d. for coffee. After being re-
...used admission to the hospital, they were afforded food
."1„(1 shelter by the landlady of the Sun, where the
'hoer died.
Dr Marsden said that 300 men were daily relieved by
"'e hospital, and that from Finsbury alone they had
. 'llnually 20,000 patients who got relief.
the
that was proved to the satisfaction of
iqo inhabitants of Finsbury, they would willingly sub-
crtbe 20,0001. annually towards the hospital.
Mr. White, surgeon to the workhouse, proved the
o,eased died' of a pulmonary disease, and condemned
itie conduct of the medical officers of the hospital towards
4eased.
Mrs. Tiffen, landlady of the Lion, reiterated the
cadence given by her on the inquest of the girl Gill, end
corroborated
the evidence of the last witness, adding,
it when they entered her house they had death in
weir eyes.
Mrs. Dymes, the landlady of the Calthorpe Arms, ad-
r(*ing the hospital, stated that after they had left the
Dual they came to her house, and that from their ap-
taranee she was convinced they were dying. She gave
their food and is. 6d. to procure a bed.
421largaret Triguno, her housemaid, confirmed her tes-
William Evans, assistant relieving officer to the City
f
c!' London Union and his son deposed that three
entales from the Peckham workhouse, labouring under
ttlhcertain disease, were admitted from the workhouse to
te!) • hospital on the day the two deceased persons were
I,Jeeted, the latter were offered to be conveyed thence to
ee, kham house' of which they refused to avail them-
stating that they had enough of workhouses, and
at it was an hospital, not a workhouse they wanted.
tr7s4r. Thwaites, relieving officer of the City of London,
thili"n, said that during the year between forty and fifty
w ousand casual poor were relieved by it, and that many
~.ere sent to the Free Hospital during the year for medi-
`l,,,and surgical assistance.
he porter of the Hospital, Mr. Cook, the assist:int-
s„ '
.11°0n, and Alice Warner, the cook or the Institution,
e've evidence contradicting the statements of deceased.
h The Rev. Dr. Worthington, chaplain to the Hospital.
,kurstinugitybeen sworn, charged the Coroner with unvaried
against the Hospital, and designated him a
Partial judge," when
The CORONER threatened him with committal if he
ted such language, at the same time ordering
"' to quit the room ; with which order the chaplain
tenvied.
4.bei1117, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict
of " Natural death."
~_131% Marsden inquired if they censured the conduct of
*Lis officers of the hospital?
The foreman replied that the majority of the jury
found fault with them for having refused admission to
the deceased to an hospital professedly established for
the benefi destitute and houselesr.
Another juror said that no blame was attributable t,
the (Am.,.
A third juror said that the landlady of the Calthorre
Ilion was more adapted to be a surgeon than the
medical gentleman of the hospital who refused them
admission.
The other jurors declared that they concurred in the
litgioturas passed upon the hospital by their foreman,

THE CONDITION OF THE AGRI-
CULTURAL LABOURER.
(From the Dover Chronicle.)
" Protection to native industry" is the plea urged 1)3,
monopolists for the continuation of the corn-laws. In
the teeth of evidence the most clear and irrecragable,
they will tell you that free trade would destroy the
agricultural labourer—that, in other words, the only
Way to avoid the danger of starvation to the working
man, is to create an artificial scarcity. Of course,
thepradox involved in this opinion is scouted by
every one who, possessed of the least grain of common
sense, has thought it worth while to examine never so
slightly into the subject. But there are many persons
who have been content to let others think for them en-
tirely on this head, and who have consequently been
cajoled into the belief that the corn-law repealers are
anxious for a free importation of corn to displace home
cultivation, instead of to supply the deficiency caused by
the inadequacy of our home cultivation to the wants of
our increasing population. With this belief—entertained
without the least examination of the premises—they
ji-np at once to the conclusion that the labourer must
suffer by a free importation of corn, and, therefore, that
the corn-laws are a benefit to him. Not a single fact or
argument can be urged to justify the assumption that
free trade will throw the labourer out of employment ;
on the contrary, the most undeviating experience, as
well as the most unvarying testimony, is against it.
Food was grown in this country before food groan in
foreign countries was taxed, and will continue to be
grown when the tax on foreign food is removed.
if the condition of the agricultural labourer was such
that the patriot and the philanthropist could look upon
it with complacency—if plenty smiled upon his cottage,
and the result of his labour was a sufficiency of food and
clothing—if he enjoyed a fair proportion of the good
things which are produced by the wormauship of his
hands—then would there be some slight grounds for de-
scribing the corn-laws as " protection to native industry,"
at least, so far as the cultivation of the soil is concerned;
and however urgent might be the claims of the other
branches also of " native industry," for the destruction of
all favour to any one branch—however irresistible the de-
mands for consideration urged by the alarming vicissi-
tudes to which our manufacturing operatives are subjected,
there would be a more cautious approaching of the
great question—there might be a lingering fear in the
minds of many that the repeal of the corn-laws might
banish the rural felicity enjoyed by our ploughmen and
'shepherds, and bring destruction upon the Arcadian
bowers of peace and joy wherein they dwell. But the
fact is—and it cannot be too strongly dwelt upon in the
important anti corn-law agitation now progressing—
that the condition of the protected is not a whit better
than, scarcely indeed so good as, that of the oppressed.
The man who works in the fields is, notwithstanding the
laws professedly enacted to favour him, as badly off as
his brother who works in the factory ; nay, I question
much if he be not worse ; for while occasional gleams of
prosperity visit his manufacturing brother, when food is
cheap, and give him hopes of approaching days that
shall be permanently better, his own wages are re-
duced, and a gradual deterioration of his social position
takes place.
I have assailed myself of a few weeks' residence in a
district purely agricultural—in the neighbourhood of
Guildford, in the county of Surrey—to make myself ae •
quainted with the condition of those whose occupation
consists in tilling the land. I have conversed with them
in the field, and visited them in their homes ; arid, from
what I have heard and seen, the irresistible conviction
has possessed my mind, that the abolition of the food
monopoly will confer the greatest possible blessing on
the agricultural population. The field labourer, lam
fully persuaded, will have cause to hail with the deepest
gratitude the day that witnesses the repeal of the corn-
laws. Lot me illustrate this by an example of their pre-
sent position:—

In the course of my rambles I became acquainted
with an old man, over whose head more than sixty
winters have rolled. .To those who are callous and
indifferent to the sacred claims of humanity, his ap-
pearance would be considered a fit subject for ridicule.;
but, to those of better feeling, it unfolds a tale of pro-
tracted human suffering, and a long career of unre-
quited toil. I will endeavour to describe it as first
saw it. His face was thin and long ; and from his
pointed chin depended a beard which had not had an
acquaintance with a razor for some months, and which
imparted to his sallow, wasted, and wrinkled features,
a greater expression of forlorn woe than they would
otherwise 17ave borne. His dress consisted of corduroy
breeches (the original material of which was almost
concealed by sunttry patches and darns), and a
discoloured jacket of thin flannel, similar in appear-
ance to those worn in the field by gentlemen-
cricketers ; and might, for aught I know, have been
given him by some charitable and condescending
partisan of Young England. In order to obtain
greater warmth than this jacket would afford, the
door fellow had obtained an old sack, which he had
ingeniously contrived to fix on his person, by making
a slit in the bottom of it through which to insert his
head, and one on either side for his arms. But he was
not so extravagant as to permit a whole sack to hang
pendant from his shoulders : he had taken enough from
the top (now the bottom) to fasten round either leg as a
substitute for stockings. In the course of conversation
with this specimen of a " bold peasantry—his country's
pride," I ascertained that, after toiling a week, he could
earn the munificent sum of six shillings, which he was
allowed to appropriate in the best way he could, to ob-
tain food, dolling, and lodging. The repeal of the
corn laws being now, as it should be, the all engrossing
topic, I asked him what he thought would be the result
of such a measure ? His reply was, "Some of our people
think the corn- laws doan't ought to be done away with,
but it makes no odds to I." " Why not ?': was my in-
quiry. " 'Cos tneaster says I are vetting too old to work,
and must soon go to the parish." " Then the corn
laws have not enabled you to lay up in your young days
s.tifficient to keep you from the union.now you are old?"
" Na, Sir ; things is been gettin' worse every year
since I wur a boy ; and this year it's worser than ever,
'cos the 'caters are bad." " But," said I, " the farmers
pay their men greater wages this year than they did
last, in consequence of their realising from 15s. to 20s.
per quarter more for their wheat?" " Na, indeed ; I
doesn't get so much, 'cos they say I doesn't work so
hard ; but the others doesn't get a bit more, and work
is hard as ever : if wheat wur twenty point' a load
(80s. a quarter), they might get a shilling a wet k
"That is, in consideration of their paying
from 2s. to half a-crown more per week fur their bread
a!one?" " That's it, Sir.".

A glerious proT ct. truly, was before the eyes of this
old man ! Many a year has he lived alone in tht world,
fer he was never married—no opportunity has ever been
afforded him of cultivating the social and domestic affec-
ti.,n. His life has been spent, and all his energies
wasted, in calting forth the hidden resources of the earth,
and producing food for the use of man ; performing thus
a far greater and nobler service to his country than he
who takes a shilling from a recruiting sergeant, dons a
15ed jacket, and goes abroad with murderous intent, to
low out the brains of his fellow creatures who have
never injured him. And the reward of his honest labour
is a poor-house for life ! Happy it may be tor England
that asylums, in the shape of poor-law unions, are pro-
vided for enfeebled age ; but how much happier if such
a s:ate of things existed as enabled the hard-working
man to reserve a fund for his support when his frame
become's too old for toil ; and exist they would, it' labour
had its open market.
The conoition of the labourer in the full possession
of his physical powers is scarcely better than that of my
aged din the sack. If married, he receives about
10s. per week, of which from 2s. to 2s. 6d. goes out in
the shape of rent for his cottage. Food and clothing for
themselves, their Nlives, and families, have to be pro-
vided with the remainder. I have, in the course of my
sojourn, become acquainted with many labourer's fami-
lies, whos.e expenditure for food is necessarily limited to
a halfpenny per head per meal. I have sometimes ven-
tured to suggest to the heads of families, that it was to
be regrew d that they had so many children to keep.
The answer was, that they could not get so much wages
if they had not, and they should also be without the
hope of ultimately realising something by their chil-
dren's labour. The objection to our manufacturing sys-
tem—that it fosters child labour—cm be urged, I find,
with as much truth against our present system of agri-
cultural industry.
In no instance can I find that thip labourer has re-
ceived even a nominal increase of wages in consequence
of the increase in the price of provisions. He r e,ives
the same sum per week this year as he did last, while he
has to pay for bread alone from one to two shillings more
weekly ; and he has to contend, moreover, with the
failure of his little garden crop of potatoes.
Simultaneous with the gradual dAerioration of the
condition of the labourer, has been the gradual increase
in the rent of land. Only a few years ago, good land
could be rented in this neighbourhood for 20s. an acre.
It is now realising from 365. to 405., and the tendency
to rise continues. The fact that the rent receiver grows
richer and richer, while the land-tiller grows poorer
and poorer, owes its existence to the wickedness and
perversity of the men who, by a legislative act, have
limited the supply of food, and created an artificial
scarcity on the one hand, and enhanced the importance
of capital on the other. Away with the corn-laws !
They are a libel upon God's providence, and an abomi-
nation upon the earth.

LAMBETH POLICE COURT.—Yesterday morning Mr.
Henry received 10s., sent by the Editor of The San, from
" A Friend" at Sheffield, for the sufferers by the late high
tide:at Lambeth.
Earl and Countess De Grey come to town on
Saturday next from Bath, and early in the ensuing week
repair to Wrest Park, Beds, where they purpose to receive a
succession of distinguished visitors during the next month.
REMARKABLE BIRTH.—Mrs. Shee, the wife of
respectable victualler, at Enniscorthy, in the sixty-sixth
year of her age, gave birth to a male child on the 27th or
:28th of last month, to the surprise of the inhabitants of that
locality. Her eldest child is upwards of forty-seven years of
age.— Wexford paper.
FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT AT ST. KATHERINE
DOCKS.—On Tuesday afternoon, at half-past three o'clock, a
frightful accident occurred at the St. Katherine Docks
which, it is feared, will be attended with fatal consequences,
to a labourer named Robert Bland, aged fifty-nine years. He
was at work in A and B vault, when he fell through a loop-
hole, a height of sixteen feet. He was found totally insensible
from frightful injuries sustained about the head. Both upper
and lower jaws were fractured in a shocking manner, and he
received other severe injuries about the head and body. He
was removed to the London Hospital.
DESPERATE ATTEMPTED SUICIDE OF A YOUTH
IN OXFORD-STREET, BY THROWING HIMSELF OUT OF A
I Wisinow.—On Tuesday morning, at half-pa• t eight o'clock, a
desperate attempt at suicide was committed by a young in i
named James Bowles, eighteen years of age, resbling at No.
68, Oxford-street, next door to the Princess's Theatre, by
throwing himself into the street from the second-floor window
Several persons who were passing ran to his assistance, and
raised him from the ground in a state of insensibility. He was
removed immediately to the Middlesex Hospital, where he
lies without hopes of recovery.
It is reported that Mr. Deane, the Chairman, and
another Commissioner of Customs, 'will shortly retire from
she Beard,