The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-31 00:00:00

on in the North of Europe. The Count DE FALLOUX'
argument, it will be seen, points to the possible
advent of the time, to the inevitable advent of the
time, if events that have transpired, and that are
now again transpiring, are allowed to develops
themselves uninterruptedly, when the minor States
of Christendom shall cease to be absorbed into the
very few larger ones, when three or four mighty
potentates shall share among them the domination
of the whole continent.

Poland, we know but too well in what execrable
manner, has long since been disintegrated and par-
titioned among its destroyers.

Denmark, though M. DE FALLOUT'S argument,
it should bo said, in no way refers to it either
directly or indirectly, is now being threatened with
a similar subversion.

The considerations here advanced by M. DE
FALLOUX—considerations that seem to ourselves so
peculiarly worthy of examination, as applicable, in
their logical force, to the perilous position now
occupied by the Danish Monarchy and the Danish
Nationality as assailed by two of the Five
Great Powers of Europe, our philosophic and strictly
logical thinker lays before his reader in the newly
published lioraison of Le Correspondant thus
rhetorically. Those who are more and more for
the advancement of this scheme of centralization
which his soul abhors—he asks, point blank,
Have they realised to themselves what would
have become of human dignity and liberty
if the country of WILLIAM TELL had never
had the capacity to call itself Switzerland, if the
cradle of the DE "%Vim and the land of the Count
DE MERODE had never enjoyed the opportunity of
being distinguished respectively as Holland and as
Belgium, if a King of BAVARIA had never
enjoyed the power of creating an Athens in
the very heart of Germany, if a Duke DE
WEDIAR had never had the right to open his
Court to GOETHE or to Madame de STAEL ? What
propitious days ! he exclaims, at once for peace and
for liberty, when Europe shall count n o more than
three or four potentates of equal force, and conse-
quently of equal ambition, dominating from the
summit of their vast and irresponsible authority
over gigantic populations, having under their
hands, here the railways ever ready to transport
their colossal armies hither and thither according
to their whim or pleasure, here the electric threads
of communication as rapid as their caprices, as
imperious as their orders ! These considerations
surely are suggestive. And while we are musing
over them as they are here contributed by M. DE
FALLOUX in the pages of Le Correspondant,
our thoughts naturally, instinctively, inevitably
revert to Poland in the Past and also in the Pre-
sent, to Denmark in the Present and also in the
possible Future. The argument thus advanced by
M. DE FALLOtX is as a seed sown by the way :
and in the mind, in the heart, of every philosophic
thinker it will surely germinate.

A letter to the Times of yesterday, from the
Mayor of Sheffield, is full of interest, and will
doubtless afford great satisfaction to many. It is
long since such a sudden and severe calamity took
place, and a corresponding excitement has been
aroused to meet the exigencies of the case, and to
provide for the emergencies that have arisen. Of
course in this instance, as in many similar ones,
there is found to exist some doubt and difficulty as
to the best means to adopt. Mr. JESSOP'S letter is
therefore most opportune, and his clear statement
of these matters and forcible way of putting his
arguments leave nothing further to desire or de-
mand on the part of those who stood in need of the
requisite information and advice. In the first place.
he calls attention to the impossibility that exists as
to replying to the numerous inquiries that are con-
stantly being made regarding the sufferers. Doubt.
less these individuals are actuated by the best
motives in making their requests; but, at the same
time, all who have ever had any experience in cases
of distress, must know the insuperable obstacles
that sometimes interpose to prevent compliance at
the period when the information is sought for. In
this letter we find a courteous, yet, at the same time,
a decided intimation that it is quite impossible for
the committee to attend as yet to the queries which
seek to know the most minute particulars concern-
ing the sufferers by this late dreadful disaster. It is
well that a distinct notion of this sort should gain
ground, as otherwise that large class called busy-
bodies might do harm by scattering the suggestion
that there is a want of care prevailing in the man.
agement of affairs at headquarters; Mr. JESSOP
goes on to detail what are the objects of the com-
mittee, what their first care was, and how great was
the labour devolving upon them. All these details
are interesting and important, and those who have
no local connection with the spot must yet feel as
if they had some claim on the attention of those
who minister to the wants and wait upon the neces-
sities of the hapless sufferers; for now that this great
effiiction has befallen them, we remember only that
they are our common countrymen in distress, and
seek to do our duty in bearing their burden and
alleviating, so far as secondary means can effect,
their cruel calamities. The General Committee had
ample employment in providing for the security of
the funds received from all parts, and also to afford
shelter and support to those who were in immediate
want throughout the inundated districts. Also,
there were other concomitant duties to fulfil, which
very likely the ignorant, inexperienced, or unini-
tiated would never dream of, but which were,
nevertheless, of paramount importance as regarded
the welfare of the parties concerned, and which,
moreover, entailed a vast amount of exertion, and
consumed a considerable deal of time. It was a
heavy task to restore all the places in the vicinity
of the visitation into a proper state again; hut this
has now been effected, and the Sanitary Committee
have given in a favourable report as to the probabi-
lity of the health of the town being affected by these
disturbing influences. The carcases of drowned
animals had to be:buried with despatch, to prevent
the spread of fever, the mud and refuse removed
from the dwellings, and many other steps taken to
arrest the fatal course of infection and impurity.
The committee found one considerable object for
their labours in discovering the class who were in-
capacitated from continuing their employments
through the loss of their implements in the flood.
In order to supply the demands of this distressing
need, it has been wisely settled to appoint a branch
committee for this special purpose, and it is satis-
factory to know that already they have spent a
thousand pounds in the outlay occasioned by this
desirable undertaking. There is no better charity
than that which provides people with the means of
employment, and it is still better to supply the loss
sustained by those who have hitherto maintained
themselves by their zeal and industry, but have
been arrested in the course of their honest
exertions, and paralysed in their useful and
energetic course by the
pressure of a sudden
and supreme calamity, which comes like a thief in
the night upon them to blight their hopes and cloud
their ways. As for the relief of those who euffer
from loss of property, this involves a more serious
consideration, and it is necessary to wait and see
how fur the sums apportioned to meet the distress
will enable them t bestow the desired relief. Mr.
JESSOP very traly observes that although these suf.
ferers may possibly obtain a legal remedy eventually,