The Express.
London, England, 1865-11-02 00:00:00

lEEE EXPRESS, THUBSDA t EVF4I4ING, NOVEMBER. 2, 1865.

natural, been sufficiently studied, we know that
0111-148
many of them oonsist or elements wliltkus
Ikea
formed in the manufacture f
iiird
(sulphur, and nitrogen lank diegen. 4
In
the last few years we i,v4t • 27
11 easily some of these peCouo ma in oar-
tain circumstances be made ; bow cotton may be-
come more destructive than gunpowder ; and even
the innocent looking liquid, glycerine, may be changed
into a deadly explosive compound. It has indeed
been stated—though we know not on what au-
thority—that coal gas itself, by long contact with
brass, produces one of the most subtle and
dangerous detonating substances. And while all
these compounds are still involved in so much
obscurity, it is perfectly within the bounds of pos.
affinity that by some peculiarity in the manufac-
ture, or some slight difference in the coal, the result
was brought about that • dangerous ingredient
found its way into the gasometer, and there pro-
duced the explosion, which cannot at any rate be
explained in conformity with the supposition of the
gas being perfectly pure.
it is not unreasonable, in this state of our know-
ledge, to insist on at least a thorough scientific
investigation. And it is not only the interest of
the public, but that of all gas producers, which
calla for such an examination. If we fail in
discovering any cause, we must secure ourselves by
removing the gasworks to some uninhabited
region out of London ; and we shall all be sufferers
by the enhanced cost which distance will entail.
We shall be very ready to accept as soon as it is
made any explanation that will account for
all the facts. But we must decline to be anis•
fled with the Guinn if it is not also a perfect ex-
planation. Science, which bestows on us so many
comforts, =happily also surrounds us with new
forms of peril. Some of these she foresees, and
warns us against ; but some of them she only
finds out herself when the combination of circum-
stances has at last occurred which develops them.
Such warnings are, however, not without medusas
to be rejected. What has happened now will,
with all the certainty of natural law, happen again
whenever the same circumstances recur. We
can find safety only in ascertaining positively what
the circumstances are. To leave them undetected,
and therefore liable at any future time to operate
spin, is to defy nature—a defiance which can but
end in a more terribly fatal vindication of her
Wank

jest claims be egaln ignored, the sooner the liberal party
are in opposithia Use better for the true propene( slam.°

en. amvaitehi seepten.
The at Auburn of Of. Sespetary Sowingl, which
etx exclusively in last isis‘lite. d'xprese, 'is inter-
p by the Times to wen iliatk• .reuse at present
rather on the force of example bilge the power of the
sword for preserving the republican character of American
governmeota. If this piece of information and the other
which attributes to the Emperor Napoleon an intention to
gradually withdraw the French troops from Mexico arc ea
significant as they appear, the way to • pad& settlement
Is plain. The Freed' government may refrain from con-
tinning its army in Mexico. and thus avoid the oar
provocation which the American government has directly
deprecated. On the ether hand, the Americans may
accept what has beets done an an acaoroplishoil fact,
mid trust to the coarse of events for bringing about
a modification of actual results. The Tian proceeds to
contend that it is in Mexico that the pretensions of the
Americans to exclusive influence appear moot extravagant
and least sustainable. No American can deny that up lie
this time, and at this very moments the Mexicans have been
large gainers by the French intervention. It will not be
for the credit of republic in pricciples to thwart so good •
work as this out of spite against the name of monarchy, in
which it hue been wrought ; but if the Americans are con-
tent to rely on the force of example, such an operation of
the Monroe doctrine would be beyond impeachment as well
as beyond control.
The Post regards Mr. Seward's language respecting the
Alabama dams as reassuring, and as indicating a oourse of
action which by some might be interpreted ra amounting to
a concussion. The language as to Mexico, however, is
very different. When Mr. Seward &Aares that he ex-
pects to see • republic where an empire now ells* people
are justified in thinking that those with whose Intentions
be must be presumed to be acquainted, have resolved! on
endeavouring to effect that change. Still, the present is
not the occasion which the government at Washington
would be likely to select for embarking in anotber war.
A distant policy moat be
we to a greet extent dependent on
the course of events, and may be permitted to hope
that, ere the subversion of the Mexican empire is resolved
upon, the American people may be brought to regard is •
different light the exclusive doctrine of President Monroe.
The Star describes the speech as "use of those offhand
displays which American statesmen are so frequently
obliged to make," and ioterprets the passages about Mexico
to be nothing more than remarks on the natural influence
which the republican institutioes of the United States must
matimearily have upon the American continent.

TB! ABTKAINIAN PRISONCRA.
In hie despatch on Abyssinian affair, Lord Russell. the
niIWS rya, commits himself for the future to principles
which neither himself nor his predeossiore have hitherto
followed out consistently. The reasons which he gives for
sot insisting upon the ratifloatioa of the treaty of 1849
amount to a confessioo that it was a grad mistake to enter
tab it. The only thieg now to be done is to get Consul
Cameron out of the power of the Kies, and this way
already have bra effected by the pacific missies of Mr.
Rarer Oar only Abyssinian policy should then be to
have no policy in Abyssinia, and no relations with it that
car be avoided.
Viewed is the light of a defer* or an apology, the
Herald eons/dies Lord Russell's dispatch to be ol the
I lamest peesible description. He attempts no answer to the
charge that a letter mires by the Meg to Queen Victoria
I was left unanswered for filter months, and by preferring
I to send oat as old Armenian like Mr. Rerun to Dr. Beke,
with whom be hastens to pick up a quarrel, hie lordship
takes away the last hope of the captives, who, " for ell
that Lord Roar' will do, may rot till they die."
The Tckgraph is of opinion that Mr. Cameron has him-
self to blame for his misfortunes. Lord Russell distinctly
warned him not to interfere with the rival political parties
is the oountry ; but he did interfere. Re wan, in ores-
Tones, soundly snubbed for hie pains by the Foreign.oflice ;
yes, ia spite of the warning, he would not keep clear of
intrigues. Nay, if Theodore is to be credited, the consul
paid fussy vista to the Egyptians an./ Turks, and actually
denounced him se a murderer. An international congress
or some such scheme, as suggested by " the far- ghted
statesman who tales over Flare," might bring secni-bar-
barons wearer like King Theodore within reach of Euro-
per opinion. To the growth of inteecoures and trade
between nations and the civilised world, we must look for
the birth of those annum interests sad *prima which are
the only safeguards against such outrages as Mr. Cameron
has eadured.

THE IMPLOYIOII AT NINE-ILIPL
The Tines hopes that a very rigid ieveetiption will be
°abducted into all the circtumskenoss of the explosion at
Niue-elms, for nothing can be more nna•tisfentory
then to be exposed to such accidents without being able to
understand their censer. It is now quite certain that
explosions can occur in or about gasometers which may
have the most disastrous consequences. Ueda the belief
that we were fres from any such danger, gasworks hive
been ooestrnoted in the most central portions of London
and it is alarming to anticipate the possible results if such
au accident as that at Nine Elms were to occur in ore of
these neighbourhoods. If such works must still remain in
their present patties', the most stringent precautions
should be insisted upon.
The Poet questions whether the manufacture of pa is
the centre of • large town is • necessity. Even if it
must be manufactured within the town where it is con-
sumed, would not its distribution in a number of small
receptacles be less dangerous than its concentration in a
single Imp one ? At soy rate, the public safety requires
that something should be done, and without loin of time.
Tenderness for vested interests may prevent—the Herald
says—our urging • measure so sweeping sa the immediate
and compulsory removal of all such works to • gives dis-
tance from tows, but regard for the public compels us to
add that this ought to be only a (Location of a few years.
The Televraph also protests against the maiotenanoe of each
manufactories in the immediate vicinage of an immense
metropolis. " Vested interests," which is only another
name for the greed of pin, aloe* perpetuate them.

NISCILLANTOUS TOPICS.
The Daily News tells the Greek government apropos of
its objection, as shown in the correspondence between Mr.
Erskine and the Greek tdisister for Foreign Affairs, to
being admonished ooessionally, that It must really have
patience with its friends if they watch with close and
eager interest the way in which the popular welfare thrives
or languishes under a ?kilns so peculiar as that of the
Greece of to-day. Unhappily between the king who has con-
siderable power, and the people who have a real fitness to live
under democratic arrangements, there is alwaye moving
a clans of men whose business it is to set the
two parties at 'orisons. These office-seekers are
ready and willing to mortify and repress the people to
any extent necessary to prevent the spending of money in
which they themselves have no share. If the king and
the people could and would act together on any one
m►tter--ay roads, and the attendant drainage —they
would presently see the bearings of their whole mu. All
needful security for the money is easily obtainable ; the
citizens themselves are able and willing to spend on •
scheme en reproductive ; and foreign capitalists would com-
pete with them. Thus far all attempts at these and other
improvements have been foiled by the apathy or the bad
faith of the government of the period.
The Herald, noticing the speech of Mr. Wendell Phil
lips, who is said to act from pure selfishness or mad fa-
natietam, insists that the radicals are helpless to interfere
with the polioy they denounoe, and the fate of the Southern
States rests in the hands of Mr. Johnson as absolutely as
did that of the Southern state prisoners. The Herald
further contends, as to the ease of the negro, that oegro
testimony is not entitled to the same weight as the evidence
of white men, while a proposal "so extravagant and M-
une" as that of negro suffrage may be put aside u of so
poetised bearing.
The osinatencement of term to-day and the coming sloe-
tion at Tiverton, are subjects of leading articles is the
Telegraph.
The Post pleads for a more einsially trained clergy, and
says that middle-class examinations in music, both in Soot-
land and in England, ought to he established.
The Star asks for subscriptions to the "Rescue Society."

THE ISLAND 07 ASUENSION.—The Lords Com-
missioners of the Admiralty have ordered of Mears. Bury
and Pollard, Perk Iron Works, Southwark, soother of
their self-regulatieg wind engine for Asosusiou with pumps
and pipes for the purpose of supplying the hind with
water. The same firm in 18112 supplied the Admiralty with
two for Assestion, winch an at work there, giviag great
satisfeation ; one nitwit, at Brsahseak•ralley, the (*bar
Dear the Tonle ponds, is *a Wind.

Ste Court.

WINDSOR CASTLE. Nev. 1.
The Queen, with the Prince and Prince. Louis
of Hems, and Princess Helms, drove out yesterday of ler-
teak and again drove out in the grounds Want
The Prince and Prisms LOUil of Hes-e and
Helena, attended by the Hon. Florence Seymour, Major,
General Seymour. Equerry in Waiting, and Baron Rabensir
west out riding.
The Crown Prinee and Princess of Pruseis arrived at the
Castle to-day from London, attended by the Counter
Hohenthal, Count Walburg, and IL de Neiman.
The Prince and Princess Louis of Hews drove to the
station of the Great Western Railway, and aceompanied the
Crown Prince sad Princess to the Ceatie.
Lord Charles Fitzroy and 00lapel H. Ponsonby have
enoesicied as Equerries ia Waiting.

The QUOINS will bold a peewit at Windsor Castle to-
morrow (Friday) at one o'olook.
Despatches were seat yesterday from the Colonial-office to
the Governors of the West India Island. and British
Columbia.