The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-13 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE. under the
Management of Mr. B. WEBSTER.
Crowded with rank and fashion.
Re-engagement ofan those ce
Charles M ebraced and
athepopalar artistes, Mr.
Ms ws.
Production of an entirely new original Travestie of a very
popular subject, by F. C. Burnam, " Esq entiled FAUST
AND MARGUERITE, in which Mr. and illcsles
ear. The new scenery by the celebrated
Mathews will app
artists, Messrs. Danson and Sons ; the incidental Ba.let by
Osear Byrne.
Amongst the artists engaged will be found the popular
/times ox Mr. Benjamin Webster, Mr. Charles Mathews. Mr.
Frank Matthews, Mr. J. L. Toole. Mr. a) . Clarke, Mr. Paul
Bed cord, Mr. F. iiobinson, Mr. Ashley , Mr. J. Johnstone;
Aiiss ii,rbert, Mrs. Frank Matthews, Miss H. Simms,. Miss
A. Cottrell, Miss Fanny Josephs, Miss Patti Josephs, Miss
Wentworth, Mrs. StirAng., ana Mrs. Chas. Mathews.
EVERY EVENING-, at 7, A SHEEP IN WOLF'S
CDJTHING. Mrs. Siirling, Mr. J. Llark.e, and Mr. F.
Itt,einson.
At a quarter-past 8, a new Travestie, entitled FAUST
AND MARGUERITE : Mr. chas. 3.lathews, Mr. J. Clarke.
Mr. Ashley, Mr. Montague, Air. W. H. Eburne, Mr. W.
Chamber:sine, and Mrs, C. Mathews.
At 10, t.ITTLE TODDLEKINS, Mr. Charles Mathews,
Mr. and Mrs. F. Matthews.
To conclude with BRISTOL DIAMONDS.
Frank 3lattiews, Mr. Ash ey, Miss Wentworth.

Mr. and Mrs,

OPERA and RACE GLASSES, Field and Yacht
Glasses, in every varie y of size, fbrm, and mounting,
matchless for their great magnifying power and sharpness
of definition. Price, from 30s. each, at CALLAGHAN'S,
23A, New Bond-street, W., corner of Conduit-street. Sole
agent for the celebrated race and field glasses and photo-
graphic lenpes made by Veig-,tlander, Vienna. Field glasses
triae ex; ressly for India. warranted to withstand thegi eatest
tropical heat. The new aluminium mounted glasses (as re-
cently made for H.E.H. the Yrnac3 cf Wales,, though of the
largest size, we'gh but a ew ounce:.

COUNTRY cn3 SEASIDE DRESSES.
Messrs. JAY, of Regent-street, have now in stek a
variety of WASHING ~ILK DitEiSES, stutatie for the
count: y and seaside, and at the clearing-out price of only
£1 Us. 6d. the dress.

JAY'S,
247, 249, and 231, Regent-street.

BLACK SILKS.—The price of Silks in the raw
material has already r sen 15 per cent, and it will soon
reach a far Greater per-centage. Messrs. JAY, therefore,
invite their numerous patrons to take advantage of the stock
they have on hand, which they can now dispose of on favour-
able terms ; but the same qualities will naturally b.; more
CO ,tly as the price of silk fluctuates to a higher average

JAY'S,
217, 249, and 251, Regent-street.

COALS,--The LILLESHALL COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis'. 235. per ton. I Double.. ..20s. per ton.
Top 225. „ Deep ....215.
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, W., and 17, South Wharf,
Paddington, W., and Maiden-lane, N.
Best Coke lss. per chaldrOrt.
Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole Agent.

rffi dE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
IL Containing. the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,
caa be had Every Evening of
G. ft. GLENIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

The Weather--Sun Office, July 13, 1864.

--a--

THERMOIei ETE R.
This day at Two o'clock 67

Barometer-29.99.
WIND —N.E. ; mDderate breeze and cloudy.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 7h. Mm. —Afternoon, Bh. 28!n.
To-stottßow.-Morning, Bh. 60m.—Afternoon, 9b. 36m.

-
ti" Mg. 44.'11464- 4;10e4 SUM

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1864.

Events succeed one another with such startling
rapidity in our busy focus of civilisation and inven-
tion that incidents of conspicuous importance fade
rapidly from the popular mind. Of late foreign
politics have engroesed every one's attention, and
the political crisis has divided cur interest with the
progress of the American war. The struggle in
Denmark has in some measure thrown the great
transatlantic conflict into the shade, but it is im-
possible to forget the fratricidal strife still deso.
lating the fair ansl fertile lands of a kindred com-
munity. Under such a pressure of subjects for
thought, for discumion, and for inquiry, it is,
therefore, not surprising if events of a domestic
nature, but less momentous in their issues, assume
a secondary place. Unhappily we have lately been
never left long without some fresh horror, some
new feature in the "sensation" drama. Accident,
murder, fire, and disaster of every kind seem to
folio w each other too often, in spite of our boasted
caution, from preventible causes. Few of these
catastrophes have been more appalling in their
nature, or more desolating in their extent, than
the bursting of the Bradfield reservoir, when the
silent waters swept away the unthinking sleepers
to a stiller and darker rest. At the time it impressed
the public mind most painfully, but in our busy
metropolis it is line:, only thought of among the
things of the past. We need not wonder, however,
that to those living in the vicinity of such under-
takings the accident is no mere
takinstory of the past,
but an ever-present terrific reality. We need not
that they do not imitate the indifference or
heedlessness of the Bradfield victims, but that by
culvert and embankment with
day they watch
anxious eyes, while night brings untold terrors.
When once a doubt has been thrown on the Beene
when they have, as in Borne
rity of a reservoir,
cases, seen for thcn,selves signs of weakness or
decay in the Works, we need not marvel that many
of the poorer People are afraid to rest in their beds
during stormy weather,and that the state of continual
alarm and excitement is a gentleman
described by
in the neighbourhood as
and to health. Such prejudicial alike to com-
fortch a Position is worse than
that of the soldier lyine. in
wait for an ease's/ for
at least be expects to combat a mortal foe, but the
insidious enemy of these poor cottagers is of over-
whelming strength and subtlety, and against it
certainly
they are powerless to contend. It is
not
astonishing that a widespread uneasiness should
exist throughout those northern districts in Which
such reservoirs aro numerous; and it was with e
view of allaying such natural anxiety that Mr.
FERRAND on Monday night called the attention of
the Home Secretary to the whole matter of this
system of water supply. He complained that the
Parliamentary Committee sitting on the question
refused to introduce protecting clauses into a
waterworks bill, bat told the applicants that they
could have their remedy at law in case of accident.
This is certainly a very unsatisfactory way of doing
busineFss, since it is impossible to compensate people
for killing them. Mr. FEEIUND reminded the
liout,e that after the Sheffield catastrophe the Home

Secretary sont down two tminent engineers to in-
crira into the end that in the coarse of their

inquiry they elicited the fact that there were 12
reservoirs in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, all in
a more or less unsatisfactory condition. It will be
remembered that the jury in the Bradfield ease re-
commended in their verdict that the Legislature
should take such action as should result in a Govern-
mental inspection. Mr. RAWLINSON and Mr.
BEARDMORE, however, the gentlemen whom the
Government despatched to examine into the mat-
ter, did not approve of this recommendation, since
they said that the Government could not ensure
ultimate safety, sad that the responsibility must
rest with the engineers. Sir G. GREY, in replying
to Mr. FERRAND, said that it would be perfectly
impossible for the Government to undertake the
responsibility of certifying the safety of these re-
servoirs. The only remedy which he could sug•
gest was, that mere dangerous works existed,
legal proceedings should be taken by
persons who felt alarm against the owners. I
But this is a very roundabout way of doing
business when people ere in daily fear of a
catastrophe. At the Tiladen reservoir it is stated
that the water is constantly welling out of the
culvert. Some residents in the neighbourhood
went up with lighted candles and examined it and
found the water flowing in at several places.
" Whence that water comes, and what unseen work
it may be carrying forward, no man can tell. It
issues from the sides of the culvert where all ought
to be watertight, when the waterflow is stopped by
the valves being down as they were when we were
up the culvert." Such is the testimony of eye-
witnesses, and it must be remembered that with
regard to this and other works of the kind Mr.
RAWLINSON, the Government Engineer, declines
to assume any responsibility. With these facts

before him, and with the Bradfield catastrophe
fresh in his recollection, it is not surprising that
Mr. FEREAND should emphatically ask of Govern-
ment where the responsibility lies ? Is no one to
be answerab!o for the safety of works that involve
the safety of hundreds of lives, and property valued
at hundreds of thousands ? Can no person or
persons be pointed out as the really responsible
agent who assumes the risk of certifying that so
far as mortal skill or ingenuity can be counted on
the work is sate ? If there is to be no such assurance
and the burden of responsibility is to be shifted
from one to another, from Government Inspector to

local engineer, from local engineer to managing
committee, from committee to company, and the

only means of relieving pressing anxiety is a tedious
process in a law court, then the Legislature may
well pause before they sanction any more such
stupendous undertakings. The true way 01
settling the difficulty would be to adopt the
clause proposed on a former occasion, to
the effect that, before any of these reservoirs
are filled with water after their construction
some eminent engineer should report to the
Home Office that they were secure and had been
made upon a correct principle. The Government
assumes this office with railway lines, why should

it decline the duty of inspection with reservoirs.
This shrinking from responsibility on all sides is
most inconsistent and unreasonable. If engineering
science is capable of constructing such works, it
ought to be capable of giving a decided opinion as
to their security, and the visit of a qualified inspec9
tor is no more than the Government can properly be
called upon to do. After the works have been so
certified they may be trusted to the local engineers,
who should be kept to their duty, either by render-
ing a report at stated intervals, compulsory, or by
some other similar means. The chief danger in all
these reservoirs seems to arise from the works being
hastily or improperly constructed at the outset, and
this could certainly be guarded against with very

little dfficulty on the part of the Executive. Mr.
FEERAND summed up; the whole matter in a con-
cluding paragraph of his speech, when he said that
" What the people naturally expected was, that
some legal authority should exist to bear upon the
contractors,of these reservoirs, so as to compel them
to make their embankments so secure that the
people might rest in peace in their neighbour.
hood." This is, one would imagine, no task of
superhuman difficulty, and it would be well for our
legislators to give it their careful consideration, for
certainly when so many lives and so much pro•
perty and social prosperity are at stake, the public
will not be inclined to acquit the authorities of all
blame if an accident occurs, even if they have pre-
viously declined their share of responsibility.

It is really quite disheartening to ponder upon
the various points of the Danish question ; so in-
suffic'eat have been the efforts made to controvert
the intentions of Prussia, and so unequal the
attempts to restrain that lawless Power within
due limits. It is, however, impossible to pass over
in silence the circular of M. DROUYN DE LIWYS
on the subject of the Conference. Not that it
contains much of a novel nature—for it is merely a
recapitulation of events—it presents us with a sum
mart' of the most important transactions that then
and there took place; and if it has any special
object it seems to aim at exonerating France from
all participation in the blame that is inseparably
attached to those who took a leading part in the
councils that terminated so suddenly, and which
issued so disastrously. In one passage it would
almost seem as if M. DROUYN DE LHUYS was at-
tempting a sort of quiet satire, and no one can
blame him if such were his intention. He observes
that it " has not been the fault of France that the
conclusion was not different," in alluding to the
labours of the Conference. This will als% bear the
interpretation that the fault rested elsewhere. In
his resume of events it does not certainly appear
that very much emanated from the representatives
of France, but their chief duty lay in agreeing
with what others proposed, which might conduce to
the advantage of Denmark, and, in some measure,
fulfil the object for which ostensibly they set to
work. The last paragraph of the despatch contains
an expression that may or may not mean anything,
but it certainly can be construed into a kind of
warning to Prussia not to push matters to extremity
and violate the bounds of decorum. After alluding to
the impartial attitude hitherto displayed by France,
M. DROUYN DE LIIUNS observes that "we are will-
ing to hope that no complication will arise of so
grave a nature as to necessitate our embracing a
different policy:. It will be well if this intimation,
guarded though it be, produce some effect, and if the
words of the Minister of a country not given to
empty boast and valorous phrases, while secretly
resoled on peace, may have weight in quarters
the threats, menaces, entreaties,
where unhe-PPiIY
and advice of our Cabinet era openly disregarded
and impertinently received. If no credit can attach
itself to France for the result of this Conference,
neither can any ono say, on criticising events, that
any great amount of blame can accrue to her states.
men for the failure of a project
theyin whose origin
had n --e share, It may also be added that it is
not probable, if the meeting
of the Conference had
taken place at Paris instead of in London, that so
little heed would have been paid to the wishes of
the nation where the Plenipotentiaries met; and it
is not at all likely that the representatives of the
German Powers would have dared to comporr
themselves before the Cabinet of the Tuileriesas
they did to that of St. Jame!. It E;eina reserved ,

for our country to endure the degradation of meet-
ing with scorn on all side and to win regard from
no party. To such a pass has the inconsistency of
our foreign policy brought us, that a despatch from
our Minister for Foreign Affairs can hardly be of
any striking import to other nations, because they
know by this time that its object is to be bound by
no promises.

visits of the Prince of WALES to time•
honoured institutions are by no means the least
important of the tasks he performs, for the fact of
his thus mingling in the engagements which occupy
and interest a portion of the community, serves to
associate him intimately with their concerns.
The Corporation of Cloth workers is one of the
oldest guilds of the City of London. It was in-
corporated by Royal Charter in 1480, in the reign
of EDWARD the FOURTH. Since that period many
distinguished personages have beon enrolled as
members of the Guild. JAMES the FIRST was
admitted to the brotherhood in 1607. His Royal
Highness the Prince of WALES has then illustrious
examples of the past to induce him to become con.
netted with this ancient and wealthy Corporation,
while of late years there have also been many,
and among them his father. The late PRINCE
CONSORT was a member, and therefore this is
another instance among the many in which the
Prince has followed the exampic of his illustrious
father, in becoming associated with the institutions
and societies of the land. Of course so auspicious
an occasion was made the opportunity of a festive
gathering to a select circ e, and the presence of the
Princess imparted an additional charm to
the proceedings. The Master, in address.
ing the Prince, made some appropriate
remarks on the subject of requesting him to accept
the freedom and livery of the Company of Cloth-
workers, and expressed an earnest hope that here.
after, as in past times, there might be a continuous
association between them and the Roils: Family of
this kingdom. The Prince, on his part, declared
his satisfaction at the manner in which he had been
received, and assured those present that he took
great pleasure in becoming a member, and also
that he felt proud to follow in the steps of his
ancestors, ;those Kings who had been enrolled
in past days, and in following the example of his
father. There is much to give riseto satisfaction
in these meetings of the highest in the land with
those who represent our commercial interests. It
is more than the mere interchange of compliments
and the empty expression of fine words and flowing
phrases. The gracioas and genial manners of the
young Prince and Princess have won all hearts,
and they can do no wiser and better thing if they
wish to retain their popularity than to concern
themselves in the interests of the community, and
to associate their names with institutions that are
rendered important by the past and contain promise
for the fature, and which from their antiquity and
records may claim to some share of the attraction
that appertains to societies of historical interest.

Crimes on Railways,