The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-16 00:00:00

THERMOMETEIt.

This day at Two o'clock 4B
Barometer-30.05.
Wind—East; moderate breeze, and very fine.

g‘lij 1
g_tr-a. Snit

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, AIAB.CII 16, 1864.

Mr. STANSFELD'S fair fame is now perfectly
re-established. How, is it asked? Surely in the
most conclusive manner possible. This member of
the English House of Commons—this occupant of a
seat upon the Treasury Bench—this Junior Lord of
theAdmiralty—has,at length,and in the handsomest
manner possible, been exonerated from every sha-
dow of shade of blame by—whom ? Why, of all
people in the world, by—M. MAZZINI ! After that,
what possibly can be said for one single
instant in reprehension of him ? What pat-
eibly can be whispered even in doubt as
to his mere discretion ? Avannt, poor ghost
of the Procureur Imperial ! Away with all
printed evidence published by Mr. HOLYOAK !
Silence, Mr. HENNESSY ! Hushed be the words
even of Mr. DISRAELI, Leader of Her Majesty's
Opposition though he hi! 111. Maze INI has spoken,
or rather, has written—not more copy for Mr.
HoLvoAK, of Fleet-street, but a letter to the Times
(a letter that will be found quoted in anether par t
of our impression of this evenin
and, we repeat it, in the handsomest gi—compl etely
manner
possible, vindicating the character of Mr. JAMES
STANSFELD, M.P. for Halifax, Mr. STANSFELD
of No. 35, Tharloe Square, Brompton, S.W., Junior
Lird Commissioner of the Board of Admiralty
—as
be himself modestly and unostentatiously puts it,
Minister of the Crown," though he failed to add,
as be might have done, " in that exceedingly subor-
dinate capacity!" M. MAZZINI has spoken, has
written in vindication of Mr. STANSFELD, and has
done so thus frankly, generously, and conclusively.
Referring to the imputations thrown against
the member for Halifax during the last few
days, in consequence of the sworn evidence
referred to by the late Procureunlmperial, "I
should have thought," writes M. MAZZINT, " that
Mr. STANSFE.LD'S character vela general denial in
the House of COmmons, would have satisfied any
fairjadgin3Person of the untruth of each charges.
EL7"—h-3re follows the charming part of M. MAZ-
ZINI'S generous tribute to Mr. STANSITELD—a
tribute offered, ea wilt be seen, with the air of one
whose "12 "sullied character renders his mere
word, as the phrase is, 48 good his bond (*ad we

do believe M. MAZZINI'S word to be as good as his
bond ! looking upon bond and word of his as of
exactly about the same value !)—" BUT," writes
M. MAZZINI, "if my testimony might be decisive of
the question I cannot withhold it from one whose
friendship I highly value, and who has spoken so
generously of me in an assembly where his doing
so might expose him to some inconvenience and
misinterpretation.'' After that, who shall dare to
breathe one syllable against the occupant of 35,
Thurloe-square ? Even the law officers of the
Imperial Crown of France must, of course, by this
time be satisfied—now that no one less than M.
MAzziNi himself should have vindicated the charac-
ter of this English Minister and member of Parlia-
ment.

There is evidently something very generous, in-
deed, in the temperament of M. MAZZINI. It is not
alone Mr. STANSFELD that be has stood forth thus
very recently to champion. There was psor
GRECO, the other day, over in Paris—that
amiable GRECO, whose little foible it was
to carry about with him a few trifles, in the
shape of bomb-shells of the most fearfully
destructive character, and whose other little weak-
ness it was to inveigle hornplayers like TREBUCCO
and scapegraces like IMPERATORI into charming
little deadly conspiracies of the most interesting
character imaginable ! Yes, there was this ingenu-
ous and delightful creature GRECO, who was under
a slight cloud, the other day, over in the French
capital—and it will be remembered of course per-
fectly well how M. MAZZINI (in the same frank
and spontaneous manner with which he is
now offering his inestimable tribute to the
English member of Parliament and "Minister
of the Crown"), wrote generously and
ingenuously of this poor amiable GRECO (as
MazziNi did) as—" an enthusiastic patriot."
The last paragraph, by the way, in M. Mazzisti's
letter to our leading contemporary is really
and truly in its way something quite exem-
plary ! "As to the Theory of the Dagger,'"
writes M. MAZZINI, referring to the pamphlet from
which Mr. HENNESSY was quoting so lengthily,
and as it still appears to us so very aptly
the other evening:in the House of Commons. "As
to ' The Theory of the Dagger,' " writes M. Mia-
mi, " the first time I happen to write upon it"—
[so that he is just possibly going to write upon it
again : refreshing thought !]—" the first time I
happen to write on it will be modified"—[so
that, according to M. islazzistfs own show-
ing, it does admit of modification !] "it will
be modified into the ' Theory of the Moral
Dagger.' " The italics sic in M. MAZZINI'S
own letter. "Theory of the Moral Dagger !" We
long to witness the appearance of M. MAZZINI as
a moralist. Now that he has thrown out an ex-
tenuating phrase in regard to GRECO, now that he
has vouchsafed a good word for Mr. STANSFELD—
by ad means let us have M, Munn in his new
character as a moralist, and (so appropriately, too!)
a moralist about daggers !
It matters very little of course that we cannot
even now obtain the slightest clue in the world
as to who possibly this Mr. FLOWER may be
who has his letters directed on the sly to No, 35,
Thurioe-square, Brompton, S.W. It matters still
less that M. MAZZINI in his Theory-of-the-Dagger
Pamphlet—addressing himself to " enthusiastic
patriots " like GRECO—there told them years ago
" make daggers of your files"—recalling to their
thoughts " the dagger of the Vespers," " the stone
of BALILLA," "the knife of PALAFOX." It matters
jest absolutely nothing th‘t he said to
to theta "Blessed in your hands be every weapon
that can set you free "—hinting to them the
adoption of "the weapon that slew MiNcowicll,"
and that other weapon that "slew the Minister
Rossi in Rome." Plaiu words it may be thought,
these. But—Ah ! what to those others, wherein
M. MAZZINI pronounced the Governments them-
selves to be " responsible for the daggers that
glitter in the darkness of the land !"
Always daggers always glittering they
fairly captivate his imagination. What are his
other utterances ? Listen !—" Sacred in the hand
of JuDiTia is the sword that took the life of HoLo-
FERNES." " Sacred was the dagger which HAR-
310DIIIS encircled with roses." " Sacred was the
stiletto of the Sicilian." "I recognise in that mani •
festation of tremendous equality between the tyrant
of millions and a single individual, the finger of
GOD." Surely, these are amenities culled from the
very Evangel of Assassination. There is evidently,
according to M MazztNi, but one Political Theory,
the Theory of the Dagger, call it, even if you will,
the Moral Dagger—and of that Theory, ripened into
a Religion, M. MAZZINI is himself at once the Pro
phet and the Evangelist.

The fall extent of the recent calamity at Shef-
field is now pretty well known. It has far ex-
ceeded even the wild reports of rumour, and the
vast destruction of property occasioned by the
deluge is forgotten, while we contemplate the
great loss of life which has resulted from this
catastrophe. The Bradfield reservoir is some six
miles from Sheffield, at the junction of the
Loxley and Stammington Hills, and forming one
of the many belonging to the Sheffield Water
Company. Advantage was taken of the position
of the hills to form an immense reservoir between
them, by constructing a huge embankment some
300 yards, in length, and upwards of 80 feet
in height, so as to enclose a triangular
basin of some 76 acres area, and capable of con-
taining more than 100,000,000 cubic feet of
water. On Friday night this barrier gave way,
and the pent up waters rushed down the valley of
the Don, carrying all before them, destroying
houses and bridges, and sweeping every living
thing away. The full particulars of the tragedy
have been repeated in so many forms already that
it is unnecessary for us to dwell upon this sad scene
at the present moment. The first feeling of horror
and astonishment over the whole country has
awakened to the necessity of promptly aiding the
surviving sufferers. The people of Sheffield have
come forward with an eagerness which does them
great credit, and their example will no doubt be
liberally followed- But while we use our best
etadea,vours to assist those who have been
so suddenly bereft of their relations and their pro-
perty, let us turn our attention to the cause of all
this misery. England may well be proud of the
great works that have been executed by her en-
gineers. In a comparatively short time she has
risen from scientific obscurity to be the first en-
gineering nation in the world. Works are now
undertaken as ordinary matters of every day busi-
ness which our forefathers would not have dreamed
of, and private companies undertake and carry out
enterprises the magnitude of which would have
made illustrious the mighty monarchs of former
times. Yet with all our enterprises and resources
we are every day undermining our hard won pres-
tige by neglecting the dictates of prudence, as
the deep and silent waters in the words of York-
shire were sapping the foundations of the Bradfield
dam. The bursting of a reservoir is no uncommon
occurrence. The pressure of water is wall under-
stood, and the neglect of the proper precautions to
ensure security is an unpardonable oversight on
the part of all concerned. It is rot the want of
engineering skill that OCC(18i0I18 the frequent acci-

dents that occur in this country, but rather the
avarice of proprietors, engineers, and contractors
combined. It is the universal greed for gain which
is the curse of the age to which is to be traced
more or less calamities like that recently wit-
nessed at Sheffield. In olden times strength and
durability were the first objects sought after by
the engineer, and when in doubt he erred on the safe
side, as is instanced in many ancient structures which
have almost set time at defiance. let the present
day economy and effect are most in requisition, the
dividends of shareholders and the profits of en-
gineers and contractors take precedence of public
• safety. We do not wish to prejudge a case of such
terrible importance, which must of course be most
stringently inquired into. The facts at present
• before us are, however, sufficient to show that a
heavy responsibility rested somewhere. That,
from causes as yet unexplained, the means taken to
confine a vast body of water which had been col-
lected in the neighbourhood of a populous town
were wholly inadequate for that purpose, and that
some three hundred human lives were consequently
sacrificed. We gather from local authorities that
the Bradfield reservoir was of great length and
depth, although narrow; that the whole of this
lake was exposed to the force of the wind, which
at the time of the catastrophe was blowing heavily,
and the waves beating with great force upon the
embankment. Again, we learn that rumours were
current that " all was not right with the dam," and
that up to the hour of its giving way workmen
were employed upon it endeavouring to repair its
weak points, and to relieve the pressure by letting
off part of the water in another direction, and that
such became the peril at the end that the " navvies"
were in the act of blowing up a sluice to effect this
object more promptly, when the water burst through
and all was over. That the dam was inadequate
to sustain the pressure to which it was exposed
is evident, not that its destruction was accelerated
by the force of the waves or rather the sway of the
water is equally certain. It cannot be right to
expose hundreds and it might be thousands of lives
to the possibility of destruction, by the bursting of
a dam, which is subjected to such an enormous pres-
sure as that of Bradfield. When it is deemed ne-
cessary to collect such an immense quantity of
water together as is the practice with large water
companies, it should be compulsory on them to so
subdivide the reservoirs by partitions as to relieve
the pressure, and to have them provided with such
ample means of effiax that resort to blasting should
never be necessary. Again, when railway bridges
are required to undergo a Government inspection
before a passenger is permitted to pass over them,
why is there no district engineer and surveyor re-
sponsible for a gigantic structure upon the strength
of which the lives of the neighbouring inhabitants
depend. These are matters which will now be
thoroughly investigated, but no investigation can
retrieve the past, though it may guide the future.
Partial warnings seem to have been thrown away
upon us. The Holmfirth irruption produced no
beneficial results, and in the more recent case of the
bursting of the sluice of the Middle Level, which
was occasioned by negligence, in the case of
the embankments it does not seem to have
impressed the important fact upon the minds of
those responsible for the safe custody of that ele-
ment, that while they are sleeping it is ever work-
ing. The present disaster must, however, rouse a
determination in the public mind which cannot be
trifled with. The lives of the population of whole
districts can no longer be left in the keeping of
those who, rather than admit the weakness of their
handiwork, jeopardise the safety of unsuspecting
neighbours. Why, let us ask, were not the inhabi-
tants in the valley officially warned of the possibi-
lity of a deluge, and that down as far as any danger
could possibly occur ? True it is that those above
Ihmilisk were warned in time, but rather in a pri-
vate, friendly way, than as by authority. When
it was deemed necessary to blow up a weir to
secure safety, might it not have been as well to send
expresses and telegraphs to warn the people of their
danger ?—was a possible injury to the character of
the company's property to bb weighed in the balance ,
with hundreds of human lives

THE THAMES EMBANKMENT.—Yesterday some
hundreds of cartloads of earth, sand and chalk,were
thrown into the Thames for the purpose of forming a foun-
dation for the Thames Embankment. From an early hour
in the morning Norfolk-street, Arundel-street, and the ad-
jacent streets which run down to the river, were crowded
with these carts, all of which made their way in due time
to the bottom of Arundel-street, where they were unloaded.
At this spot and away eastward to the Temple-gardens the
works for the embankment are going on rapidly. In the
course of a few days the ship Royalist, which was one of
those which went out in the search of Franklin, but which
has of late years served the purpose of a Thames Police-
station, will have to leave her old quarters at the bottom of
Norfolk-street and find a position in some other part of the
river. The works between Westminster-bridge and Hun-
gerford are going on with great rapidity, vast numbers of
men being employed day and night in carrying out the
plans.

THE RAILWAY BRIDGE AT BLACKFRIARS.—Yes-
terday the 12th and last caisson of the new bridge
of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company,
at Blackfriarb, was sunk into its place. At about half-
past one the workmen engaged in the sinking of the caisson,
together with a number of gentlemen interested in the line,
sat down to luncheon in the bottom of the caisson, 70ft,
below high-water mark. Mr. Thomas, who was called to
the chair, made a speech appropriate to the occasion, and
concluded by proposing the toast. " Success to the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway Company." It is expected
that the bridge will bo open in June next, 14 months from
the date of its commencement.

OUTRAGE IN GREECE.—The Athens journals
mention a fact of extraordinary atrocity, which
only too strongly points out the anarchial state of Greece.
Menidi, a small town of Attica, got tired of its mayor, but
despaired of being able to procure his removal, as he had
for his supporters a family whose name was an object of
terror to the country. The principal inhabitants assembled
to deliberate what course they should pursue,and an unani-
mous decision was come to that before anything could be
done with the mayor the family in question must be got rid
of. A vote of death was therefore passed against them,
and the sentence was carried into execution the same day,
tllO 26th February, when the father and four sons out of
five were massacred in the street. The fifth son made his
escape. The murderers also killed a young child, a son of
one of the victims, alleging that if he were allowed to grow
up he would be as bad as his relations. In order to legalise
those crimes the municipal council assembled, and with an
almost incredible imprudence approved by a prates verbal
of what had been done. When the examining magistrate
went to the place to investigate into the affair, the murderers
triumphantly showed him that document, and he was com-
pelled to withdraw without doing anything further.—
cialignana.

INFANT HOSTAGES IN NEW ZEALAND. —ln
reference to the mention made in yesterday's Sun
of a young girl of 12 years of age being taken as a hostage
from her grandfather, a wounded chief, in New Zealand, a
correspondent writes to us :—This is an old custom amongst
the natives—not exactly to send in children or women as
hostages; but in cases of capture or serious reverses they
send their women to the captor to be taken care of. When
the old serpent Te Raupara was taken prisoner by Mr.
M‘Killop, of the Calliope, that young officer was rather
embarrassed to find in his hut a few days afterwards, four
lady chiefs, varying from the agts of 50 to 15, who came,
according to custom, to place themselves under the protec-
tion of the captor of the natural protector. May this sub-
mission of the old chiefs be as perfect as was that of the
forced detention of Te Raupara.
DR. JACOB.—By the author of "John and I."—
It is a rare thing (says the Spectator) to find an
author or authoress's second novel decidedly superior to the
first. We thought " John and 1" good, but there can be
no question that "Dr. Jacob" is a great advance on it in
every way. Its principal character is much more original,
and is worked out with a thoughtful and delicate imagina-
tion—while even the pleasant and graceful sketches of
German social life are finished with a more skilful hand.
And there is not only a real unity in the thought of the
book, but there is an equal diffusion of skill over its greater
and minor conceltions. " Dr. Jacob" is one of the most
truthfully conceived and skilfully executed novels we have
read for many years.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

The Procureur-Imperial and M. Mazzini.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—My attention has been called to an article
in your paper of this day in which, referring to the
statement of the Procureur-Imperial on the Greco
trial, you imply that something further is needed
in order to clear the character of Mr. Stansfeld
from the imputations made upon him by that fuse
tionary of the Imperial Government.
Those imputations were contained in a speech
tottally unsupported by legal evidence ; and I should
have thought that Mr. Stansfeld's character and
general denial in the House of Commons would
have satisfied any fair-judging person of the un-
truth of such charges. But if my testimony might
be decisive of the question I cannot withhold it
from one whcse friendship I highly value, and who
has spoken so generously of me in an assembly
where his doing so might expose him to some in-
convenience and misinterpretation.
I have therefore to request of you the insertion of
this letter.

The two assertions of the Procureur-Imperial, as
quoted in extenso by you, are :
That Greco was to write to the address, " Mr.
Flower, 35, Thurloe-square, Brompton," if he was
in want of money.
That Mr. Stansfeld had been in 1857 appointed
to be the banker of a Tibaldi Conspiracy Fund.
It is true that at various times, owing to letters
addressed to my name being stopped or tampered
with by Continental policy, I have asked my Eng-
lish friends, and among them Mr. Stansfeld, to re-
ceive them for me, the contents of the letters being
naturally unknown to them. But it is not true
that I ever gave to Greco the address of " Flower,
35, Thurloa-rquare" (or indeed any other name),
for the purpose:of applying for money or anything
concerning an anti-Imperial plot:
And it is not true that I ever asked Mr. Stansfeld
to be the treasurer of a Tibaldi Fund. Such an
absurd fund has never to my knowledge existed.

As to what in your article concerns me, I have
promised to myself not to write one single word
more about the Greco affair. I am perfectly con-
tented to.leave to fair, dispassionate English opi-
nion the judgment between Greco and me. I say
between Greco alone and myself, because everybody
must have noticed that all the affirmations aiming,
in the French indictment, at establishing many
sources of accusation against me—the summoning
of the four men to Lugano; the distribution of
daggers, revolvers, and bombs; the accepting Im-
peratori as one of the band—have, through the
trial, dwindled into nonentity.
And as to the " Theory of the Digger," the first
time I happen to write on it it will be modified
into the " Theory of the Moral Dagger." Those
who will condescend to read the whole of the pam-
phlets quoted by a member of the house wiil see
that my object was precisely that of excluding the
possibility of a Theory of the Dagger.—l am, sir,
yours faithfully, JOSEPH MAZZINI.
Tuesday Evening.