The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-05 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENINGI, DECEMBER 5, 1867.

an ordinary state of the atmosphere, become very
dangerous when the air is unnaturally heavy ; and
it becomes a serious question how, and to what
extent, colliery owners should be compelled to
observe the barometric signs and suspend labour
in their mines during the period of danger. The
explosion at the Ferndale Colliery occurred while
a heavy fog lay in the valley above. This impeded
the ordinary means of ventilation, prevented the
escape of foul gases to the outer air, and caused
those gases to accumulate until they had reached
the explosive point of density. According to pre-
sent appearances, then, the lives lost in that ex-
plosion were sacrificed to an ignorant or reckless
disregard of atmospheric conditions. The first
step towards preventing the recurrence of so pre-
ventible a disaster will be to ascertain accurately
the conditions dangerous to mining operations, and
the point at which the danger becomes so serious as
to call for the sacrifice involved in a suspension of
labour. The difficultyhere will be that the degree of
atmospheric pressure indicating danger will vary
according to the efficiency of the ventilation in
different mines ; but this difficulty can certainly
be sunnounted in a more or less satisfactory
manner. Either a general average can be struck,
or a point of danger for each mine can be fixed
according to the relative efficiency of its ventila-
tion and the " firinesa " of its coal.

Mr. NIXON, whose large experience as a colliery

Congress should act on the Preaident's recommends-
tiona and declare that • naturalised foreigner is
absolved from all allogiarsoe to the government d his
own eonntry, they will in effect be attempting to alter the
laws, not of their own, but of other countries ; as good an
expedient for bringing about a series of embroilments as

anybody can well imagine.
',The Telegraph regards it u improbable that matter
will ever reach such a crisis as that General Grant will be

commanded by the President to resist Congress, and by
Congress to remove the President. The naturalisation
proposed is another bid for popularity among the foreign
voters.

The Post declares that of Mr. Johnson's right to resist a
law stripping him of executive authority there can bo no
question ; but that which mounds strange to persons as
quainted with the working of parliamentary government
on this side of the Atlantic is that the President should,
as it were, go out of his way to tell the parliament he hes
convened that he believes it capable of meditating an at-
tack on the independence of the chief of the State.
The Star limits its comments to the question of the
Alabama claims. Our contemporary thinks it is all the
more unreasonable in the Foreign-office to break off upon
what is substantially a point of etiquette when we have an
excellent cue to present to any arbiter ea our justification
for recognising the Confederates as belligerents at the time
we did.

THE CAB STRUM

The cabmen meet with general sympathy from the
morning papers. It is allowed by all our contemporariee
that their case was a hard one, and that the concession on
the part of the government was no more than justice
required. The Times says very plainly we shall never
get better cabs, nor can we expect it, until the pre-
sent license duty is considerably diminished. In propor-
tion to the capital employed, it is incomprehensibly l►rge.
The oust of la cab and horse is about 501., and on this the
tax amounts to nearly 201.-181. sa. for duty and 11. for
license. The Tine/ does not believe that any other trade
or profession is subjeotito so disproportionate a burden. It
is obvious that if the tax were materially reduced the pro-
prietors could reasonably be required to treat the public
with greater liberality.

ITALY.

long and bitter night, it poured its fury, and hurled clouds
of cold and piercing rain over • miserable crowd of 369
sick. The sheds for cooking, ke., attached to this hea-
-1
pitsl were carried away, and the appearance it presented
in the morning was forlorn and wretched beyond con-
ception. From Alipore we bear of five deaths. From
Ballygunge there is a report that a punka house has fallen
and killed a European and his wife. From Eutally 31
deaths were reported. All through the suburbs the
roads are lined with the well known, unwieldly, metal
clamped and low strong boxes in which natives delight,
serving on the present occasion as a drying ground for the
wreck of their personal effects.
At Dam-Dam the "great tree" has been overthrown.
The racket-court has been blown down, and the roads are
strewn with the dead bodies of cattle and horses ; there
has also been, we fear, great loss of life amongst the
natives.

At Barraokpore the damage done has been even greater
than at Dum•Dum or Calliper..

ITALY.

It is quite evident from the language of the
Roman journals that the government of the Pope,
notwithstanding its recent " triumphs," is not quite
assured of its position. The Osaereatore Romano
of the 27th thus expresses its apprehensions :

Thus they intend to make the trial again ; thus they
are waiting until the French government—trusting to the
word of the Florentine Ministry, that ministry which de-
nied what the French government at the same time
affirmed—gives the order for its troops to sail from Civita
Vecchia, in consequence of the restored tranquillity, to
pounce down with greater force, and an imposing mass of
soldiers upon this handful of ground. Meanwhile, the
companionate bowels of the Florence government are sud-
denly moved towards the prisoner of Varignano, who will
be conveyed again to the island of Caprera, in a vele& of
the State prepared on purpose. Perhaps a new nix cis
aline is being prepared for the hero of the two worlds, ac-
companied by the comedy of a blockade by nes, like that
which the Italian troops kept by land on the Pontifical

frontier, notwithstanding both which Garibaldi was able
to get out of his island, and many thousands of Giuibal-
dians to invade our soil.