The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-28 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, SUNDAE Evairoc.

I find by a short notice in two of the evening
papers that the Gladstone banquet given by the
Society of Political Economy came off last night
at the Grand Hotel. I reproach myself for having
relied too implicitly upon a volunteered promise
to send me an invitation, which turned out de-
lusive, and, therefore taking no steps either
to be present (if possible) or to obtain a
report of the speeches on the interesting occasion.
Perhaps, although the entertainment took place in
the great room at the Grand Hotel, and no less
than one hundred and twelve persona sat down to
it, the promoters of the feast desired to consider it
as a club dinner and not as a public banquet.
The only French journals which contain
a few words about it among their
"accidents and offences" had evidently no
reporter there. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Card-
well, who was his fellow guest, can well afford
to be wanting for this once in vat sacra, but the
public will be sorry not to know what they said Ito
their sympathising French friends. All I can col-
lect is that their healths were proposed by M.
Hippolyte Poesy, the chairman, and that they both
returned thanks in English ; that Mr. Gladstone's
speech was " full of elevated ideas and oratorical
movements, the magic of which it is impossible to de-
scribe ;" and that Mr. Cardwell was applauded when
ho associated the names of Bastiat and Cobden.
The new Minister of Agriculture and Commerce
(M. Forced& de la Roquette) attended the dinner as
a member of the Socifti d&eoeomie Politique. The
only other names mentioned are those of M. de
Parieu, M. Wolowski, M. Michel Chevalier, and
an eminent Russian politico-economist, named
Tourgueneff.

Mr. Gladstone had a private audience of the
Emperor yesterday. _ . .

. .
Letters from Rome mention a rumour which
certainly must be taken with extra reserve, that
the Popo is about to promulgate reforms in ac-
cordance with the programme of the famous letter
to Edgar Ney, and that he is doing this in deference
to a requisition made by the leaders of the Roman
aristocracy with Prince Mark Anthony Borghese at
their head.

The Pharr de la Loire publishes the following
letter (which it is difficult to believe genuine under
the end circumstances) from M. Michelet :

Hyeres, Jan. 20,1867.

Cher Monsieur,—l read in the Phan de /a Loire your
notice of Cousin, and I regret that this charming
artist, who was mistaken for a philosopher, should
have made • sad end, throwing otf the cloak of
philosophy in which he had been wont to wisp
himself so adroitly. Ile was of Italian origin, knew
admirably well how to wear a mask, and had deep beauti-
ful eyes. How many delighted to hear his early lectures,
when he talked of duty, Kant, and philosophy. I was
never taken in by him, but I loved him. I have a weak.
neas for these eminent artists, empty at bottom, but
shedding torrents of glowing sparks. On paper he
was timid, but he was nevertheless a good
and luminous writer. Even with his pen he deceived •
little, and endeavoured to make it believed that he knew
the language of the grand century. He was always, h0w-
.11.7.C4 an eminent actor, and far superior to those who
now remain on the stage. J. Micur.Lar.

PARIS, SATURDAY EVENING.
The Correctional Court of Appeal yesterday heard
the appeal of seven of the twenty-one persons
lately convicted of belonging to a secret society.
The affair is known as that of the Cafd de la
Renaissance, on the Boulevard Saint Michel. Al-
though proof was given that a list seized by the police
as containing the names of the "affiliated" was in
reality only a list of subscribers to the (now sup-
pressed) journal the Candide, the court confirmed
the verdict of guilty against all the appellants,
and in only two cases made a slight diminution in
the term of imprisonment. The appellants are all
young men in a respectable position of life. M.
Tridon, an advocate, whose family is now ho-
noured and wealthy, though it was once, as he
says, " poor and despised," is sentenced to 15
months' imprisonment. He strenuously denies
that he belonged to any secret society whatever,
and maintains that his greatest crime was his habit
of shaking hands with working men, from which
class he was proud to say he came himself. Two
others, named Levrand, sons of M. Levrand, a
barrister, who in 1848 was French minister pleni-
potentiary in Naples, are finally condemned to 15
and 6 months' imprisonment. In the case of
the younger Levrand the sentence of the court
below was one year. He is a medical student
'who had just passed his examination, and was
about to be admitted an M.D. M. enton, a
sculptor, is sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and
IM. Callavaz, a law student, to a year. If the pro-
loused law to regulate the right of public meeting
shall be conceived in anything like a liberal spirit,
frivolous prosecutions against men who meet toge-
ther to talk politics will no longer be necessary. In
the appeal case decided yesterday, none of the
accused were defended by counsel. In a protest
addressed to the French papers, but which none of
them have dared insert, against the refusal of the
court to allow M. Janson, of the Brussels bar, to
plead for them, they say they have no confidence
in the French bar in political cases. They aver
that the habit of French barristers in such cases is
to seek some pettydistinction in favour of the parti-
cular client they defend, and to admit in general the
theory of the prosecution ; so that in the long run,
when, say, twenty political prisoners are brought
up for trial, every one has against them not only
the public prosecutor, but the nineteen advocates
of all the rest. The protestants say they well know
that their real crime in the eyes of government
consists not in their being members of a secret
society, which exists only in the imagination of the
prosecution, but in their having attended the Li4e
Congress, and in the doctrines which they openly
profess both by word of mouth and writing.
There was somewhat more animation at the
Bourse, but the highest quotations of the day were
not sustained. Rente, after touching 69, closed at
68.90 for cash, and 68.85 for account, with a rise
of 15c. and 10c. Credit Fonder rose 6.25. Mo-
bilier and Italian were without change.
The Figaro was seized yesterday, and is to be
prosecuted for having insinuated that other reasons
than the assigned one of ill health led to the resig-
nation by M. de Maupas of the prefecture of
Marseilles.

THE RELATIONS BETITEEN ITALY AND AUSTRIA.—
The visit which Prince Humbert, the heir to the Italian
crown, is to pay to the court of Vienna will take place, it
is stated, towards the end of next month. The Italie says
that this visit is to be one of mere courtesy, and is in no
way connected with any matrimonial projects. " The
re-establishment of good relations between the two
countries," it adds, " is complete and definitive ; doubt is
impossible upon that point. This new position of things
may be consecrated by reciprocal visits, by acts of polite-
ness between prince and prince, but we doubt whether
the political reconciliation of the two governments will
extend further."

LIFEBOATS iv FRANCE.—We are requested to
state by the French Shipwreck and Lifeboat Central
Society of Paris, that they have no lifeboats at Calais,
Boulogne, Havre, or at Dunkirk. All the society's life•
boats, which are 32 in number, are on the self-righting
plan of the National Lifeboat Institution of England. One
of these boat., stationed at C,ravelines, was happily the
means, during a recent gale, of saving a shipwrecked
crew.

LONDON DISTRESS.

Local knowledge has been brought to bear upon
East-end distress, and the benevolent may rest
assured that their donations to the Central Com-
mittee are properly applied. The poverty to be
dealt with is gigantic, and the funds required pro-
portionate, but it is satisfactory to know that sub-
scriptions are administered on fixed principles,
and that the misery of even the most distressed
districts is receiving regular and steady relief. The
populous localities of Bromley, Bow, Limehouse,
Poplar, and Wapping come within the scope of the
East London Central Relief Committee, and Lime-
house and Poplar may be taken as fair types of
the rest. Each of these parishes is subdivided
into small districts, to which a responsible almoner
of the public bounty is accredited. Every street
and court has its visitor, to whom all complaints
are referred each morning, so that the dwellers in
every house have the certainty of not being over-
looked. These visitors are provided with a book
of relief tickets, of which the following is a spe-
cimen :

2101.—ALL SAINTS, POPLAR, CZ/478u. ARLIE, COMM,
TEL —(Date), 1867. —Mr. (Tradesman's name).—flew give
the Bearer One Shilli 'a worth of (articks specified
T. W. NOWILL, Rector, rer. —Visitor (signature)).—
Tradesmen are particularly requested to send in their
bills, with the vouchers, every Meaday morning, to the
Treasurer.

The above represents the number issued to the ;
Visitors during Saturday last, and a study of the
maps of Poplar and Limehouse, together with a
list of their streets and courts, shows that every
one of the latter is in the direct charge of a respon- '
Bible person; and that the two thousand one
hundred shillings for which the vouchers stand
will go straight to the sufferers they are designed
to help. The guardians and the workhouse are
sorely taxed ; and the stone yard and the offices I
for distributing the parochial dole are crowded with
applicants who are paid for their labour in money '
and in kind. This done, charity steps in, and by
house to house visiting supplements the legal
award ; and as an organisation for dealing with a
sudden and terrible emergency, it would be difficult
to speak too highly of the system we saw at work at
Poplar on Saturday last.
Dozens of letters from residents in the
district recommending cases for charitable
relief are received daily by the rector of
the pariah, who is treasurer of the local committee.
1 These are filed, the names and addresses of the
poor people noted, and a direct query put to the
visitors in whose district they reside. It too fre-
I quently happens that the letter writer has been im-
-1 posed upon, and that the supposed starving
people have had relief given them a few hours
before ; but if neither the vouchers nor the explana-
tions of the visitor show cause for further help
, being withheld, it is promptly given. In any case
the matter is sifted without delay, and those en-
gaged in the good work declare that at this time
there is fair ground for believing that starvation is
impossible among the thousands of distressed.
Grave difficulties arise from the perfect respect-
ability of many of those needing help. The very
poor, the dwellers in small hovels or in overcrowded
tenements, are certain to be cared for. The district
visitors, who are volunteers drawn from all classes
and different religious sects, and who are heart and
soul in their work, persistently inspect such homes
as these, make inquiries as to sickness, and distri-
bute their tickets for food or clothing with generous
discrimination. But when, as in some of the cases
which came before us on Saturday, it is the
dweller in a good house in a leading thoroughfare
who has pawned and sold, bit by bit, every article
upon which money could be obtained, it is only
upon his own confession that his need of relief can be
knifwn. To knock at the private door of a prosperous-
looking shop and inquire whether any one in the
house is suffering from poverty, would be an imper-
' tinence in Oxford-street or the Strand, yet we saw
houses which neither in their appointments nor
appearance would disgrace either of those thorough-
! fares, and which held some of the most distressing
cases of destitution wherewith the committee have
had to deal. It is only when at the last gasp that such
people as these are induced to apply ; and the writer
conversed with the members of one household on
Saturday who, though known to be at the lowest
ebb, to have parted with their furniture and clothes,
and to have lived almost literally upon bread and
water, could not be brought to accept a ticket for
relief. "My master's been out of work before
this," said one decent, well-spoken woman, "and
we've borrowed and then paid it back again when
work came. We're badly off, sir, verybadly off ; but
' still I don't think we're badly off enough to take a
ticket, thank you, sir ; and we'll hope work will
come again before long. It was very kind to
I think of sending us the soup, and we enjoyed it
! very much indeed, but we shouldn't any of us like
, I to go to the shops with tickets, sir, not yet at least,
and we must just bear it all, and hope for better
times." This was said in what had been a com-
fortably furnished, and was still a cleanly little
house, and the speaker was a well-mannered, de-
cent woman, whose six children attend or
, have attended the district schools, and
, whose husband is a careful, prudent man in the
receipt of good wages until the present crisis came.
But thousands, again, are eagerly clamourous
whenever the district visitor or a clergyman is seen.
Hunger and distress have done their deadly work,
and pauperised them out of all feeling save a fierce
craving for aid ; and not the least painful result of
such a crisis as the present one is its demoralising
effect upon people who become accustomed, for the
first time, to eat the bread of charity. Impostors,
too, profit by the distress of honest men, and
traders upon the benevolent have baited their trap
with the usual effect. If it be remembered that
any two or three people may style themselves a
local committee for the relief of distress, and write
sensation letters' to the papers for subscriptions,
it will be seen what a tempting field the present
crisis presents to the unprincipled. Already, ugly
stories are afloat in one parish as to funds received
from the public concerning which it is difficult to
get a statement of accounts, and by which the poor
people have not yet benefited. The remedy for all
this lies with the benevolent donors themselves.
There is now a properly constituted body for the
receipt and distribution of money, and by remitting
to the Mansion-house, or the East-end CentralCom-
mitten, all chance of misfeasance and indiscretion
is avoided. Grants are made from this to the
authorised local committees, and are disposed of
upon system as we have seen. There is the sorest
need for money ; not so much to increase the
help given, as to ensure its continuance upon
the same scale. The whole machiney for dis-
tribution is so arranged that the exact condi-
tion of the inmates of the poorer houses is
known ; and at any moment relief can be
enlarged or modified without danger. Upon the
strike question, and its share in bringing on and
prolonging these disasters, there are so many
discrepancies, that it is perhaps wiser to
defer its consideration until existing difficulties
have been tided over. Mr. Nowell, the rector of
Poplar, has a strong conviction that the misery he
and his staff of visitors are contending with is di-
rectly due to the stoppage of large works in the
neighbourhood, as well as to other causes origi-
nating with the commercial panic of last year. The
weather of the last few weeks has, of course, in-
tensified this, while the north-east winds have
prevented ships coming into port, and so robbed
the poor labourer of the precarious earnings he
gains by their arrival. There is unhappily but
little chance of the urgent need for help ceasing for
some time to come. The poor law is of course
I utterly inadequate for its purpose, and thousands
upon thousands would have starved ere this but
for the donations of the benevolent.

-
CILYIITAL PALACZ. HALF-A-CROW2f DAY.
SATURDAY, Jaw. 26.—Admisaiaua on payment, 735; ditto
by lellk•OR tickets, 4,620 ; total visitors, 6,355.

THE STATE OF 2.H8 LABoUR MARKET IN
AUSTRALIA.

The following has been received from the Trades
Unions of Sydney by the Amalgamated Society of Car-
pouters and Joiners :
" Sydney, New South Waler, Nov. 12, latiG.
" Resolution passed at the Carpenters and Joiners'
Society
That we form a committee to inquire into the pre-
I sent depression in trade, and call delegates from other
trades with the view of ascertaining the amount of distress
existing among each trade or calling in the colony of New
South Wales.'
"To Tux Solemnity AND MIME= OF TliE MIALGA-
MATILD Socurry OP Tilt UNITED KINGDOM.

" Gentlemen and Fellow-Workmen,—We, the under-
signed, as delegates of the various trades of Sydney, hereby
forward you a correct amount of the great de ex-
isting among all dame of skilled and unskilled labour in
the colony. It is with extreme regret that we feel it our
duty, and a very painful duty, to make you
.acquainted
with our present depressed condition. Owing to the
great want of employment experienced by all trades
and callings, more especially among the building
and iron trades, labourers in the building trades
also, we wish particularly to warn you against
the glowing but false accounts that often find their
way to the United Kingdom by almost every mail. We
can assure you that the labour offices are daily besieged by
willing and anxious hard-working men, offering their set,
vices for any kind of employment or wages ; but the de.
mend for labour is as scam as the applications for employ-
ment are numerous.
. . _ _

" We do not wish you to understand that we never had
Nib South Wales in • distressed state before now, for we
sae assure you that theoolony has not been worth a man in
the United Kingdom who was doing moderately well, or
getting a moderate amount of employment, to leave to
come here for these last six or seven years; in fact, employ-
ment is always hard to obtain, and where obtained is
mostly of short duration.
" We will now give you a truthful statement of the
wages paid and received by the best workmen in the colony
and city of Sydney, and that is the very highest received by
any trade or calling. Stonemasons, 10s. per day of eight
hours, but not in a shop or under a shed, as in the old
country, but under the scorching can of Australis—no
protection either from hot winds or drenching rains, but
knock off and go bottle lose the time, and consequently
the money, from the borne,
too small amount of wages.
Carpenters and joiners, He. per day, not in shops such es you
have at home, es we call it but most of our work is done
in sheds that are neither wind nor water-tight, or else inthe
buildings, and subject to all the annoyances of the plas-
terers and all other trades when the work is prepared in
the building. Bricklayers, 10s. per day, or 2/. lOs. to 3/.
per rod of piece work. Plasterers, 9s. per day, or from Gd.
to 10iL per yard of piece work ; and, if at day work, there
are no hawk-boys, but the mortar is pitched on the bawd,
and in nine cases out of ten you must dispense with the
labourer when the floating is done. Painters, tie. per day.
Iron trades ranging from us. to 10s. per day of ten home.
Staten, all by the square, from Gs. to Ss. Gd. Plumbers,
10s. per day. Bricklayers' labourers, fle. per day. Brick-
makers deliver bricks within four miles of the kiln for
21. Is. per 1,000; the fuel coats them for burning about
from 10e. to 15s. per 1000. Quarrymen from Bs. to 10e.
per day of 10 hours. We cannot give you a correct account
of cabinetmakers, upholsterers, French-polishers, tailors,
shoemakers, &c., but we can assure you that they are in
most deplorable condition, as the most of their branches
of trade are imported from England and other countries.
"In the above we did not tell you how many of each
trade, on the average, were employed, but we will do so
to the best of our knowledge. Masons, about two-thirds
only employed ; carpenters and joiners about the mine, if
anything a little less ; painters, we are sorry to my, only
about one-third ; bricklayers and plasterers, about two.
thirds employed ; bricklayers and plasterers' labourers, we
are sorry to say, only about half : and the iron trades
only about two out of every ten in employment—they are
in a most deplorable condition.
" Now we dare say you will think that wages in New
South Wales are very high, or, at any rate, very good. and
wonder what we are complaining about, but when we show
you the expenditure side of the account, we think if in-
tending emigrants are not quite Australian mad, they will
at once see that there is no balance in favour of the Aus-
tralian wages, saying nothing shout the unsteadiness of
employment. Ica the first place, if you wish to live in or
near the city, for a house of four small rooms you will
have to pay from 14s. to 20e. per week rent ; if in a court
or alley, from 10e. to 15e. per week ; if in the suburbs,
for a four-roomed house, from 10s. to 15s. per week, and
the smaller the house the more rent you have to
pay in proportion. Firing and lights will cost about 4s.
per week all the year round. Vegetables cost about 250
per cent. more than in England only fancy giving dd. fee
a small cabbage—that is the price now . Bread averages
about Id. the 21b. load ; beef- and mutton average about
3.1. per lb., pork about Id., veal about 7c1., bacon and
cheese about Is. Gl. ; milk, 1. per quart ; groceries about
the same as in England, only very inferior, generally
speaking; boots and clothes about the same (slops), but
there is much less wear in those things here, on account of
the greater amount of perspiration, as in all hot countries
you may often see people es wet as if they had been dipped
into • pond—we might easily say 120 per cent. more here
than in England.
" Now, there is another cause of complaint of a very
serious nature. There is not the slightest inclination en
the part of employers to talcs es apprentices any of the
thousands of young Arabs, as they are colonially called, and
the consequences are that they are entirely dependent on
their parents; and also, there is no sort of industry that
young girls can engage in except millinery and dressmaking,
which are already overdone, and their pay is down almost
to starving point. What we are going to do with the rising
generation is an everyday question, but no one appears to
be able to answer the question. We are sorry to say that
our streets are thronged with unfortunate girls as a con-
sequence of non-employment. The government are build-
ing and enlarging gaols all over the country, and our
benevolent institutions ere all full, and one or two are
getting additional wings built to accommodate the nume-
rous applications for relief. There is one institution in
Sydney that gives out once a week the large number of
1,800 21b. lop yes. It is nothing uncommon to see a re-
spectable mechanic call in where other men are work-
' ing to seek employment, or such other assistance
as we may be able to give him ; these are principally
new mi ivals, and most of them have travelled overland
from Queensland, a distance of 100 or 600 miles. The
distress there, no doubt, you have heard of before now.
The colony of New South Wales has been getting gra-
dually worse these last seven years, chieflyowing to the
, great amount of emigration, and the fallingoff of our
, goldfields ; and more so through the great amount of
portstion of almost every article we left our homes to
come here to manufacture.
" We are, gentlemen, yours respectfully,
•6 HENRI JAMES HOLLAND, Chairman,
" JOSEPH Cool'Eß,
" EDWARD HEINoLDS, Secretary,
" Delegates from Joiners' Society.
" NOMA% GOsTRIA,W, ('hainnan,
" EDWARD COTTRELL, Treasurer,
" JOSXPH Secretary.
" Delegates front Painters' Society.
" THOSIAS NORTH,
"JOHN WILKINS,
" Delegates from Bricklayers.
" Triou.ul HARRELL,
"DENNIS HARKIS,
" Delegates from Labourers.

THE MANSION-HOLISE METROPOLITAN DISTRESS
FUND.—The copulates did not sit on Saturday, it being
understood that they would not do so ; but it is satisfac-
tory to be able to state that the subscriptions from the
public in aid of the fund continuo to flow in most liberally.
More than 1,000/. was received on Saturday, making the
total amount at the disposal of the committee to carryout
their benevolent object nearly 6,000/.
MR. GEORGE EIVDSON.—By a decision of the
Lord Chancellor, yesterday, King Hudson, so long a dis-
crowned potentate, will have part of his own again. He re-
coven ocatiderable estates, subject, no doubt, to consi-
derable charges ; but, as we understand the matter, him ma-
jesty obtains once more the command of a decent revenue
and, although the triumphs of Albert-gate may never be
renewed, nor the monarch of a few months ascend the
throne again, yet he may emerge once more into daylight
with the fruit of his persevering struggle for his rights.—
Sunday Gazette.
THE FRESIA/ES IN THE HOUSES or PARLIAMENT.—
The damp, we are told, is playing havoc with the eight
frescoes in the upper waiting halls of the houses of par-
liament. They cost the country some socv. each, but are
now literally crumbling away from the wall. Sir W. Hay.
ter's picture of the House of Commons on its meeting after
the passing of the first Reform Bill, which cost the nation
a large sum of money, hangs in au obscure committee.
room, where the damp rising from the river daily impairs
its colouring. There are plenty of vacant spaces in the
building where it could be placed with advantage, and
where the colouring would, at the same time, be pre-
served. Two new frescoes are ready for placing in the
peers' lobby, but it has been decided to defer fixing them
until the Essterireeout —Sunday Gaulle.
DESIONATIDN OF HEAD-CENTRE STEPHENs.—
The telegraph tells us further about the famous C.0.1.R.
He has resigned his position because the 12,000 dols. he has
collected in America is not thought sufficient to support a
war for the liberation of Ireland. Another candidate for
fame, in the person of Brig.-Gen. Cleeson, has assumed
the position Stephens has deserted, and will depose of the
small balance of the 12,000 dole. which remains in the
treasury, and any other sums that the faithful may sub-
scribe for patriotic purposes. It is possible that the new
head-centre will effect as much as his illustrious prede-
cessor—and no more.—Toronto Globe, Jan. 8.

THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE COLLIERY
EXPLOSION.

The deposition of evidenoe in the came of the
North Staffordshire Colliery Explosion having been virtu-
ally completed, we are enabled to arrive at • tolerably cor-
rect judgmeut as to the origin of the calamity—the
existence of a dangerous accumulation of gsa and the igni-
tion of the deadly compound. It appears, then, that the
explosion took place in what is known as the " Seven-feet
Banbury," a seam of notoriously fiery properties. The
mine in question dips due east and west at an inclination
of about one in four, and the tippet and downcast shafts
are situated low down on the south edge of the workings.
It is estimated by competent persons, though disputed
by others, that at the time of the accident 2.5,000 cubicle.,
of air passed into the mine, through the downcast shaft
every minute, and this was carried in one current
along the whole of the rise workings and back
through the deep workings to the upcast shaft. Thus
we have the first element in the catestrophe-a
fiery mine ventilated by a single current of
air carrying into and, under certain conditions, through
the deep levels, the pa given off by twenty working faces
of coal. But, in the opinion of Mr. Wynne, the official
inspector for the district, this amount of ventilation "Was
sufficient to dilute and render harmless the noxious pays "
(the obligation imposed upon the proprietors and managers
by the mint special rule) ; but the gravamen of the com-
plaint made by both the government inspectors concerned
in the cue is, that the air sent into the mine was not skit.
fully directed. They allege that, to meet the demand for
coal, the lower levels were pushed forward before proper
air galleries had been constructed for their ventilation ;
and that the entire ventilation of that part of the pit de-
ponied upon the action of a single door on the main jig
brow, or tramway, by which the coals were carried from
the rise levels to the bottom of the shaft. To nay
nothing of the leakage caused by the passage
through this doorway of thirteen or fourteen trains
of waggons every hour, any accident which pros
vented its being closed for fifteen or twenty minute
was sufficient to divert the air current, and convert
the lower workings into • slumbering volcano. Such a
contingency actually befell. On the morning of the explo-
sions train of waggons ran off the rails in this very doorway.
It was impossible to close it for a quarter of an hour, the gas-
laden return current was detained in the lower workings,
and hence the accumulation of firedamp which, as we have
said, was the first thing to be accounted for. It is not
disputed that the explosion took place in ►hem loser
workings, and ,the fearful laxity of discipline in the pit
explains the rest. Given, • fiery mine subject to the con-
tingencies mentioned, where the men were in the constant
practice of removing from their lamps the protective gauze
covering, of awaiting, sod of firing charge:lo( gunpowder
at their own discretion,' although the use of gunpowder
at all in such a mine is strongly cenden.ned by the most
experienced colliery managers ; where the overmen them.
selves carried naked lights in the return air, and allowed
the colliers to go to work in plaints known to contain pui,
on the vague understanding that they were to brush it out
for themselves—given all this, and many more breaches: of
discipline which it is not necessary to rezapitulate, and
the wonder is, not that an explosion happened, but that it
did not happen long ago.
With regard to the question of responsibility, • differ
once of opinion exists amongst the scientific witnesses*
but neither of them goes to the length of imputing crimi-
nal negligence. The official inspectors consider that the
arrangement of the ventilation was unskilful, and that the
managers of the pit committed very grave errors of judg-
ment, and that with respect to the absence of discipline
they are not to be excused for ignorance of the daily and
hourly defiance by the men of the rules framed to secure
their safety. On the other hand, excepting the govern-
' ment inspectors, the whole of the scientific witnesses con-
' eider the ventilation of the pit was creditable to the ma-
nagement, and there is evidence that, in their fatuity, the
poor fellows who perished took infitute pains to prevent
infractions of the rules coming to the knowledge of their
superior.