A CHARITY BAZAAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 967, 15 February 1862, Page 5

A CHARITY BAZAAR.

(fkom the cornhill magazine.)

Charity Bazaars and Fancy Vanity) Fairs are on the increase. And why not ? If rosebuds can be sold at a pound a-piece, if a large business can be done in cigars at half-a-crown, if cups of tea remain steady at half-a-sovereign, and a roaring business can be done in single strawberries at any figure you please, and the proceeds go to support the sick, or to erect churches, it surely does not much matter whether a little frivolity and display take part in what results in so much good. It is only as if to take an illustration from a. stall at one of these entertainments—the beautiful bouquet which is handed across the counter for your acceptance, in return for a large sum of money, and with such a fascinating and irresistible manner, contained, tied up with the roses and lilies, say, a single " forgot me not," or a little bunch of " pride." Besides, although if may be true that all the stallkeepers are not moved by the highest motives, think of the number of kind, charitable fingers that have Avorked at all those gorgeous tobacco pouches, and brilliant muffetees, elaborately ornamental slippers and magnificent pieces of worsted work, many of the owners of Avhich fingers do not appear, and take no part in the " vanity," satisfied with having lent a hand to a good work. And so do you go a purchasing recklessly, and don't let the circumstance of your not wanting anything stand for a moment in the way of your buying any quantity. And, you rigid but mistaken moralist, who disapprove because amusement is blended with benevolence, —you had better say nothing, unless you are prepared to pay out of your own pocket the whole sum likely to be realised. In"that case, the promoters will probably be delighted to have attained their object by a process much simpler and in every way less troublesome. And if you do come, make up your mind beforehand how much you intend to spend, and spend it like a man, and with a cheerful countenance, and without any absurd anxiety as to getting your moneys worth, and don't dole out the coins with that agonized and heart-rending expression of countenance, as if you were parting with your life's blood, so common with persons of unlimited wealth.

The bazaar is held in a large marquee, which is surrounded by stalls gaily decked out with ribbons, wreaths, and flags, and covered with merchandise; and numberless young ladies preside at the stalls, dressed in the height and breadth of the fashion, and never cease to attract public attention to the goods with the most winning, coaxing, insinuating, and, if one may be allowed the expression, wheedling ways. It they remained behind the counters, in a tradesman-like manner, a man might have a chance; but not content with engaging him in front, they throw-out spouts ; and light troops (of young ladies) in skirmishing order, are spread over the field; and should he survive the heavy artillery of the stalls, a dexterous flank movement forces him to surrender at discretion. He must buy that enormous pincushion, and that piece of worsted work, and that chair, and the baby's cap, and the box.of chocolate, and put his name and money down in the raffle for an "old master."

You may see a swell, for the fun of the thing, by Jove ! mildly doing duty behind a stall, recommending " novelties," or good, sound, serviceable articles that will wear or wash, with such perfect gravity, that you might fancy he was brought up to it. •

And you may, if you look, perhaps see a young and lovely stall-keeper, forgetful of her duties in that position in life which she has chosen for the day, and which enjoins upon her an unceasing persecution of every creature supposed to possess money, absorbed in conversation with a party of prepossessing exterior, and so deeply interested therein that business is entirely suspended. And there is reason to suppose, from appearances, that the subject of conversation is not the "shop."

Asthe clay closes, the prizes in the raffles are drawn, and, amid much excitement, are lost and won. The exertions of the sellers give way to physical exhaustion, and the pockets of the buyers have become exhausted also. Fabulous bargains may now be had; articles which were offered in the morning for ten times their value, are now given away. The wornout stall-keepers have scarcely energy enough left to ask any price at all, An auction is improvised, and the whole of the remaining stock, at a most alarming sacrifice, is going—going—gone!

A Counter Blast in Favour of Tobacco.— "Paterfamilias" writes to the'Times'on the subject of smoking, expressing astonishment at the severe regulation against the practice in force at Woolwich Academy. "There can be no doubt that smoking is a habit, or vice, if you please, which has of late years much increased among the upper classes of this country. .The best Havannah tobacco has, lam sorry to say, doubled in price. There is not a club in London which does not now possess a commodious smoking room. But last week the 'Illustrated London News' published a striking sketch of His Royal Highness the Heir Apparent cantering cheerily across Newmarket Heath with a cigar in his mouth; His Royal Highness the Com-mander-in-Chief may be seen any morning smoking his way down Constitution Hill to his duties at the War Office; our Cabinet Ministers are known to smoke in their offices, our Judges to refresh themselves with a smoke as soon as they can escape from their foul and ill-ventilated courts; the smoking rooms of the Houses of Parliament attest the prevalence of the habit among the members of our legislature; I have myself seen the poet laureate enjoying his day pipe; and I have no. doubt, sir, that many of the ablest literary contributions which pass under your chastening pen are strongly impregnated with the flavor of tobacco." Hard-up for a Reasgn.—At a meeting of the London General Omnibus Company on Monday, the chairman endeavoured to account for a decrease in the receipts during the winter months. He saiJ there were many circumstances which accounted for it—the bad state of the roads being one of the principal, causing, us it did, very many passengers to prefer walking to riding in an omnibus! The ' Athenseum' in an amusing and clever article on the subject of the Pneumatic Despatch Company, with the objects of which our readers are familiar, say3:—"What say the ladies living in the far west, at Kensington or Notting Hill, to a scheme for enabling them to blow letters to the other side of London, and to get an answer to their sweet epistles borne through space by the same poetic agency? Here is a startling proposition! zephyrs trained to fetch and carry like dogs of the choicest fancy, or; pigeons of matchless breed! To go yet further in/ the regions of the wonderful—what think they of an apparatus which will send kid gloves and millinery, three volume novels and bottles of eau-de-Cologne flying through the air from any given point to another point within the limits of the ' Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855?' There is fascination in the thought. And yet, if reasonable hopes be fulfilled, all this and much more will shortly be a matter of everyday experience. A few months hence the lady regnant of a villa at the foot of Primrose Hill will say to her husband starting for the City,' My dear, blow me a quarter of lamb, a turbot, and a few lobsters from Cheapside!' And the brave captain of her dreams will give utterance to no expression of astonishment, but answer with promptitude, 'Certainly, my- dear,—nnd shan't I blow you anything else?' In duo course the articles will be purchased, and then—with a heigh! presto! puff!—they will alight, lamb, turbot, lobster, and all, safe at the foot of Primrose Hill."

ENGLAND AND AMERICA. (miOM 'Til 13 TIMIOS.') Tt did not need the informiiHon of our own correspondent in New-York., to m.nvineo ns of || U . f u ,. t of wind, he informs us. not now for the firs!, time that what , s culled "tho public mind» }„. the Northern States of America is very ill-disposed towards tins country. We might have gathered this fact from Mr. Sewr.rd'B circular to the Governors of the States, advising them, in substance, to prepare themselves for an attack by Great Britain. As there was nothing whatever in the relations between the two countries to justify this proceeding, we we could only suppose that the thing was done for the purpose of ...manufacturing political capital, and, of course, this manoeuvre could only succeed if there existed in "the public mind" a strong wish to pick a quarrel with us. To say the truth, this appalling revelation has not burst upon us with quite as much suddenness as some of our American friends seemed to suppose. Indeed, we cannot fix upon the time when "the public mind"—that is, the mind of the governing class—in America did not evince symptoms of the same tendency. We are very sorry for it, but we honestly confess for a great many years we have been convinced, and that by proofs far too strong to admit of doubt, that we stand very low in the good graces of the multitudinous monarch of the United States. The hearty sympathy and assistance lent by American citizens to the rebellion of the French Canadians in Lower Canada the violent language held with regard to the disputed boundary of Oregon, the refusal to allow the right of search, which lias almost defeated our well-meant efforts to repress the slave trade, and the seizure of the island of St. Juan by an armed force while the dispute as to its ownership was pending between the two governments, have long convinced us that peace between England and the United States is only to be maintained by submission to many violations of the comity and many of the rights of nations. We have borne all these things patiently and we do not regret it. We have preserved the peace, perhaps sometimes a little at the expense of our own dignity; but those from whom we have endured all this must not think to take us by surprise when they inform us that they do not like us. They have so long "dissembled their love" that there is no occasion to "kick us downstairs" in order to prove that it no longer exists. The fact is the ill-will of the United States is like the poverty of the Scotch poet:— "They're sue accustoin'd wi' tlie sight, "The view o't gies them little fright."' We have got used to it, and regard it, like our wet summers and foggy autumns, as an evil inseparable from our position. Still, it is desirable to know, in the words of the November number of the 'Atlantic Monthly,' "Why has the North felt aggrieved at England?" First, then, we are told that the English press very early announced the hopeless partition of the Union as an event accomplished and irrevocable. Further, this opinion seemed to imply that the division of the Union must take place according to terms dictated by the Seeeders. Again, England seems to think that the South stands to the North somewhat in the same position as the American colonies did to the Government of George 111. These are the grounds, to which our correspondent draws our attention, of the ill-will which is felt towards us in the United States, and he remarks truly that such an alienation between Great Britain and the United States, expanding through mutual misapprehension until it has reached a stature to command the action of the Government, is an evil to the cause of liberty and good government. It an evil, but how are we to help it? It is not alleged—at least in the ' Atlantic Monthly'—that we have done any act in our public capacity, or, indeed, that any individual has done any act, evincing the slightest wish to violate the neutrality between North and South. Statements to this effect have been repeatedly circulated by the American press, but have invariably proved to be utterly void of foundation. No, our fault is of another and a deeper dye. In acts we have been neutral and impartial, but wfc have had the presumption to form an opinion, and, "having formed it, to publish it, for the general benefit of all who may care to agree with or differ from it. Now it appears, according to the 'Atlantic Monthly,' that the condition of avoiding that amount of ill-feeling in the American mind which will ultimately drive the Government to hostile action against us is, that we should form no opinion at all on American affairs, or that our opinion should be in exact accord with the views of the dominant party in the Northern States.

We, on the other hand, maintain that the Northern States ought not to hate us even if they find that we do not sympathize with the views in pursuance of which the great Confederacy is tearing itself to pieces. Were we the enemies they affect to believe us, we should encourage instead of deprecating the work of mutual slaughter and destruction to which the energies of a people born to better things are devoted. There is no misapprehension as to our opinions. We do believe, and shall continue to do so, that the secession of the South lias destroyed the Federal Union, and that, to whichever side victory incline, its reconstruction on the old basis is impossible* for the simple reason that the Southern States, if conquered, cannot be treated as equals in political power to the Northern, and that without such equality a return to the former state of things is impossible. We also thjnk that, as revolution is inevitable, it had better come in the form which would most speedily arrest the effusion of blood. We further think—and every word of the 'Atlantic Monthly ' confirms us in the opinion—that the contest is really for empire on the side of the North, and for independence on that of the South, and in this respect we recognise an exact analogy between the North and the Government of George 111., and the South and the ■Thirteen Revolted Provinces. These opinions may be wrong, but they are the general opinions of the English nation, a nation speaking the same language as the North, connected with them by'many ties, and probably better able than any other to form an estimate of the present situation. Would not the North do more wisely, iilstead of saying, "Sympathize with us, or we shall h%eyoii; hold opinions in accordance with ours, or|ve will oblige our Government, nothing loth, to niase war against you," to look at the matter on the.other side ? Is it not just possible that,'although we do,, not hate the North for holding an opinion different from our own, nor find their doing so to be at once "humiliating and exasperating," we may be in tlie right after all ? We have some advantages in forming a judgment which are not shared by those who differ from us,,but will not allow us to differ from them. We have a long experience of dependencies and alliances of every kind. We are not in a passion, and we are quite able to conceive that those who differ from us may be honest—nay, possibly may be right. The North admits that her war policy has the almost unanimous verdict of England against it. Is not that a better reason for reconsidering their opinion than for burning us at the stake for this heresy of ours ?

As we cannot hope to find favour in the eyes of our censors, who will evidently be content with nothing short of recantation or martyrdom—as, in fact, we can hardly make our position worse—we may as ■Veil make a clean breast of our opinion on another subject. Ifc is thought a glorious thing that the banks are ready to subscribe at the rate of..fivemillions sterling a month towards a loan of thirty millions—no great sum, after all, for a wealthy community to raise ; but we are bound to say that, when we consider the self-gratulation which this wonderful instance of patriotism has called forth, we'are also struck by the fact, that of all the vast expenditure on behalf of the war, not a single dollar of principal or interest has been raised by increased taxation. It is hop*d that the new taxes, when they come into effect, will suffice to keepdown the interest ; but as for the principal, that, it seems agreed on all hands, is to bo borrowed. We should have thought more of the patriotism of the present war had wo seen a little more disposition manfully to confront ils burdens. Patriotism courts sacrifices for the good of its country, and would scorn to take credit for an-expenditure which is wholly laid on posterity. Equally strange to us is it to find a nation able to persuade itself thai, ,it is any richer because it has increased its exports and diminished its imports, or because it has imported more gold and

exported less than, usual, more especially when a large portion of the revenue of that nation, involved in an expensive war, consists of Customs' duties on imports. These are the exploded fallacies of the iiicrcaiiiile theory—.the confusion between money and wealth and the confusion between national prosperity and what is called a favourable balance of trade. A. nation is often a gainer by increasing its imports, as the American Government would be if it bought the clothing of its troops cheap and good in Europe,.instead of, in obedience to a protectionist cry, dear and bad in the United States. The strangest tiling of all is that, on their own statement, the Americans should suppose that they will long be able to retain any considerable quantity of the precious metals. They are exporting largely, they are importing little, b.o^li which things tend to diminish the present stock of commodities. ■ They have drawn away a vast number of hands from the production and turned them to*the destruction of wealth. These things surely tend to diminish the purchasing value of money, and to drive it abroad in search of lower prices. We presume that this also is an opinion that we have no right to form or express!