The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-06 00:00:00

again their old adage, and " make great professions
and tell great lies upon the hustings;" and he had
a foundation for his assertions, which all political
critics have not. The hon. member paid a graceful
tribute to the Conservative chief, and it was well-
timed and appropriate. It does not need for a man
to be a political partisan to be able to recognise
public worth and private merit, and many will
accord with Mr. FERRAND who are not of his poli-
tical tenets when he remarks that " the Earl of
DERBY was a man who deserved well of his country;
his giant intellect was a tower of strength for his
native land ; his chivalrous honour stamped him as
a loyal patriot and an honest man." Mr. Fox's
remarks were very telling, and his home-thrusts at the
manner in which the Whigs monopolise place and
power are particularly appropriate at this juncture,
when every day brings forward fresh proof of their
greed and selfishness. When we reflect upon the
peculiar circumstances that have kept them so long
in office, it would only be a gracious and a graceful
thing if they occasionally departed from their rule,
and acknowledged merit in a political opponent, by
bestowing one of their countless places upon him,
or at least in making the offer. But such an idea
never, of course, enters the head of a Whig ; and
far from any consideration for others, his motto is,
" See all things for my use." Perhaps one of the
shabbiest pieces of exclusiveness was the conduct of
the Ministers to the late Lord Mayor. It was a dog
in the manger policy, because it did not benefit one
of their own side ; and it would have been more
characteristic of their high position to have gone
out of their way to put.a.side precedent, rather than
to rake up difficulties and court obstacles to gratify
a paltry feeling, alike unworthy of the time and
personages connected with it. Mr. Fox very pro-
perly showed up some of the inconsistent state of
things that now obtain at head-quaiters. " What
party was it that had all the patronage, from the
Archbishop of Canterbury to the crossing-sweeper
of the House of Commons? Who gave away every
honour, from a Garter to a school of art medal ?"
The answer to these queries may not be very agree-
able to give, if they are put in some places ;
but the discerning public will 'recognise their
truth, and feel ashamed of such enormous
appropriation. Mr. Fox amused his hearers by
his quaint sayings, but there was much truth in
the entertaining disquisitions he made upon affairs
in general, both moral and political. Perhaps if
persons oftener took a simpler view of the mutual
relations between rich and poor, the several classes
of society might be linked together in terms of
greater amity than when they go back to first causes
and enunciate grand notions of equality, that are
sure to offend one side and irritate the other. In
this passage we find the actual benefits that the dif-
ferent classes confer on each other, and though put
in a jesting style it contains sober earnest in its
meaning. " The people could not possibly exist
without the aristocracy, or where were they to get
their bread and butter, and the aristocracy could not
exist without the working classes, or where were
they to get their cloth from ?" When we remember
the fuss that some anti-Reformers and pretentious
Liberals have made about the wants of the poor
and the claims of the people, and contrast it with
their marked indifference in the case of the Lanca-
shire distress, Mr. Fox's remarks are not ill-timed,
when he says that it was a landowner who just
first stepped forward to relieve them, assisted by
Tories. Mr. BEECROFT spoke well concerning the
rights and duties of the working-classes, and very
truly observed that in constitutional England
" there is more real liberty for the working man than
in democratic America ;" and also, no one can
deny that the hon. member showed very clearly that
higher prizes may be obtained in the lottery of life
in this country than in some places where more pre-
tence is made ; but the practice does not always ac-
cord with the theory. Examples have been seen of
the working man obtaining high distinction, and as
is here set forth, the merchant prince, the learned
professor, the wise legislator, the Lord Archbishop
of CANTERBURY, the Lord High Chancellor of Eng-
land, may all be regarded as goals that ambition
may aspire to, and talent command unrestricted by
class and unfettered by the conditions. of caste and
exclusiveness. Mr. BEECROFT made some very wise
reflections upon the necessity that existed for care-
ful surveillance lest the rights of labour should not
be respected. "If states cannot dispense the neces-
sity of labour they can and ought to modify its
severities, and temper with all possible amenities
the rigour of its lot." This is very reasonable ad-
vice, and when we reflect upon the many victims to
overwork, and the countless sufferings that are en-
dured through the over pressure of toil, it is doubly
appropriate counsel that we should pause and re-
flect upon the responsibilities that those share who
enjoy the profits of labour, and reap the rich
harvest of its wearisome fields of toil. In the re-
marks here made by Mr. BEECROFT there is surely
as much consideration and respect for the nobility
of labour as any leveller of classes or enthusiast for
the rights of man can desire or set forth. He
said that the sober and honest working man
might take his place amid the highest of the land
"himself alone the exception, in all the varied ele-
ments that constitute a great people, for of no other
class can it be said that its existence and conserva-
tion is necessary." These are solemn and striking
truths, which it is well to consider occasionally.
Equally good is the passage in which he descants
upon the influence that working men possess, and
which, indeed, can not be forgotten by those who
see society, and should be borne in mind by them as
a sacred trust, for which they must render up an
account to the GREAT MASTER, of whom the highest
are but servants, while the lowest share the privi-
lege of performing His behests. Mr. BEECROFT said
that the destinies of nations were in the hands of
the working-men, and while their physical influence
had no bounds in its industry, so their moral influ-
ence was "equally great and serviceable when good,
their intellectual influence when educated, their ec-
clesiastical influence when religious, and their civil
influence when sound politicians." It is refreshing
to meet with such lofty sentiments, so ably ex-
pounded, and such earnest feeling so eloquently
expressed. They are the true friends of the people
who tell them of their rights, and do not discourse
upon their wrongs—who seek to elevate them in the
scale of society, mentally and morally—to approach
nearer and more near to the standard of perfection,
which, if unattainable in this incomplete stage of
existence, may still lead on to good and glory, even
as the light which shineth bright and brighter to
the perfect day.

' • Ile increase in the the public, and there is a visible The question of Reform continues to keep before
activity of its advocates. BUXTON, who has
been among the most prominent of its resuscitators,.
addressed his constituents the other evening on
public affairs generally, and more especially on the
present prospects of Reform. His own scheme,
recently explained in his letter to the Times, he
considers to be at present hopeless, and therefore he
gives it up. He is not very sanguine as to the
aspects of the question, blaming the genuine Liberals
for their extreme views, which he thinks have
scarcely the shadow of hope of any compromise.
But very little reform of any kind has been offered
them for several years. The gen. ne Liberals _

would not, we should hope, refuse any
concession because it has not all that
they wanted. They accepted the abolition
of the Property Qualification and other useful mea-
sures, although there were many other reforms of
more importance wanted. If the large and compre-
hensive measure of Reform, which has been so long
promised to the people, is too much for the nerves
of the Whigs, let them at least begin with such
gradual changes as are not likely to disturb the
Constitution, or to produce any violent convulsion.
It is a standing disgrace to a self-governing country
like England, that any speaker should be able to
say, as Mr. BUXTON said the other night, that "vast
masses of intelligent and industrious men are at
present as much shut out from any share whatever
of political power as if, instead of being English-
men, they were serfs in Russia or negroes in Caro-
lina." Mr. BUXTON added very truly, that Liberals
would be false to their first principles if they tole-
rated such a condition of things, at the same time
he is opposed to any rash or headlong measure
which would at once transfer the possession of poli-
tical power and influence to a new class, which from
its numbers would have the preponderance. Mr.
BUXTON did not forget, apparently, that he was
addressing his constituents when he spoke so
strongly of the claims of the existing class of elec-
tors to consideration. But in estimating the influ-
ence of a fresh class of electors, it must be remem-
bered that a large proportion of those who at pre-
sent possess the privilege do not exercise it, and
could they be induced by a better state of things to
vote, the effect of the change would be sensibly
diminished. In fact, very little difference would be
perceptible between the opinions of the upper class
of those without the pale and the lower class now
within it. The opinions of the intelligent masses
upon foreign questions are very much the same
as those of the trading class, while, as for social
questions, such as legislating on the relations be-
tween master and workmen, &c., it is certainly fair
that both sides of the case should be represented.
The class of candidates who would present them-
selves for election would be very much the same as
now, and it is the elected who form the Parliament,
not the electors. On colonial affairs, Mr. BUXTON
does not show the sound judgment which might
have been expected from him. He adopts the
GOLDWIN SMITH theory of abandoning our colo-
nies, and quietly says that a separation from Ca-
nada, which offered so tempting a bait to the cupi-
dity of the North, would be " an immense relief to
this country." If the hon. gentleman wishes to
avoid a war with America he chooses a singular
method of doing so by strengthening the enemy's
hands at the same time he weakens his own. In
common with the other supporters of this theory,
who are happily but few in number, he appears to
forget how much of her present wealth, power, and
dignity England owes to her immense and widely-
distributed possessions, and that the loss of her
colonies would at once reduce not only her territory,
but her strength and her influence. Happily, as
we have said, he will find few Englishmen to share
his sentiments, which are as much opposed to the
best interests of this country, as they are harsh
and unjust towards our dependencies.

The news of a terrible catastrophe has saddened
our seasonable holidays. Every one knows that in
Scotland the New Year is the great festival, and
that the pleasure-seekers and holiday-makers then
look for their chief amusements. In accordance
with this rule, a popular musical entertainment was
to be given at Dundee, in a music hall, which,
strange to say, is situated underneath a church. It
is approached by a stair, consisting of 15 steps, and
these steps were on Monday night the scene of an
awful tragedy. The street in front of the building was
blocked up by an immense crowd some time before
the performances were to begin, and the hall-keeper
therefore was directed to open the iron gate and
admit the people by degrees. According to custom
he partially opened one half of the gate ; but the
impatient crowd pressed forward to gain admittance
with such violence, that the half gate he was hold-
ing was dashed back, the other half gave way, and
the foremost of the crowd poured down the stairs,
the young and weak falling in the crush and those
behind rolling over them. The throng behind still
pressed on, falling over each other, till a hundred
writhing bodies lay entangled at the foot, of the
stairs. Shrieks, groans, and entreaties to keep
back were all mingled in the awful din, and it was
long before the crowd outside could be made to
understand the case. Still longer was it before the
piled up heap could be assisted, the living disen-
tangled from the dead, the maimed separated from
the suffocating. The promised evening of pleasure
closed upon nineteen dead bodies, a list of injured
as yet unreckoned, and a city full of mourning.
The first thought in hearing of a catastrophe of this
nature is horror and regret ; the second is a question
as to the manner of its occurrence. The managers of
the entertainment had probably no greater reason
to apprehend an accident than on former occasions ;
they expected a full attendance, and thought they
provided for it by partially opening the gate. No
better provision is made in half the public places in
the country. Narrow gates, long close passages,
flights of stairs, single entrances, are all so many
death-traps when once a panic sets in, or the first
victim goes down in a crush. How many more
such disasters must we have before we organise a
different system ? The entrance to the Bell-street
hall appears to be particularly faulty in its character
from its downward construction, which not only
facilitated the catastrophe, but prevented those be-
hind from seeing what was going on. There is,
however, no doubt that in a great many other places
of the kind a similar accident might have occurred.
Not many years since a dreadful occurrence of
something of the same kind took place at a Metro-
politan theatre, where the crowd rushing for exit fell
one on the other, and the door opening inwards
escape was impossible. Surely a want of due pre-
caution lies at the bottom of all these accidents.
Every place of public assembly is liable to a sudden
pressure from an unusual crowd, a fire, a panic, or
other causes. Why, then, is no sort of provision
made for an emergency which will certainly not
wait for preparation ? Surely it is not too much to
demand from the owners and managers of such
places a little trouble and outlay for the protection
of the lives and limbs of their visitors. The erection
ooff wooden
strong
e bodyar barriers r and
of
f divisions,
policemen, and
w outhewould
gr attendanceeatly
dimi-
nish if they did not altogether prevent the risk of
such catastrophes. Had such arrangements been
made at the Dundee Music-hall how many lives
would have been saved, and how much sorrow and
suffering spared. It is no light thing that an
evening's pleasure should make fathers and
mothers childless, and leave widows and orphans
mourning. It is not to be accepted as one of the
ordinary risks of life that persons seeking a few
hours' recreation should run the chance of a sudden
and violent death. Accidents may, it is true,
befal us at any moment of life, but it is too much
that such catastrophes should, as it were, be pre-
pared beforehand. Very many of our London
places of amusement might by a moment's panic
become the scene of a similar disaster. It would
be well to have an official inspector appointed to
survey all entrances and exits of public places, and