The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-11 00:00:00

Voyage," is performing just now at this theatre with
a degree of success which affords a curious comment
on the old theatrical motto, Castigat ridendo mores.
The plot may be indicated, for it is a curiosity in its
way. An old gentleman has made a will, by which
he leaves his property conditionally to that one of
his nephews, who,within three years from the testa-
tor's death, can prove that no breach of the seventh
commandment has taken place in his menage. It
is useless, and, indeed, impossible to go into further
details. It is enough to add that the successful
competitor is unmarried.

BEAUMARCHAIS.—This small theatre has com-
mitted the fatal error of returning to the drama in-
stead of occupying itself with light theatrical
amusements. He is now engaged in representing
" La Louve de Florence," by Mlle. Delphine Rouy.
The heroine is a counterpart of Lucrezia Borgia ;
the period during which the events of this drama
are supposed to have taken place was one of confu-
sion, and the action of Mlle. Rouy's latest effort is
in keeping with the epoch. Plots, treasons, murders,
and other catastrophes take place in quick succession.
There is a question of reproducing " Dieu et la
Bayadere" at the Opera, after which will be given
the " Roi d'Yvetoti a ballet pantomime by Mdmes.
Eebarre and Petipa. Persons behind the scenes
assure us that the Duke of Massa, Prince Metter-
nich, and the Count of Solms have sent in anony-
mous contributions. A translation of " Form del
Destino" is also spoken of. At the Opera-Comique
the " Voyage en Chine," by Messrs. Delacour,
Labiche, and Bazin, is being studied, whilst several
now operas are announced for the Lyrique.
The great work which will be played at the open-
ing of the New Opera in 1867 will, it is said, be
composed by Maestro Verdi. The subject is " King
Lear," and the libretto will be written by Mery.
A grand historical drama on the subject of Joan
of Arc is about to be produced at the Theatre-
Francais of Rouen. A singular fact is that the
funeral pile of the maid of Orleans was raised on the
spot where the theatre now stands.

Mlle. Patti was expected in Florence on the Ist
November. She is engaged for ten representations
by the Meynadier management, which has charge
of the theatres of the old capital of Italy. The cele-
brated vocalist will be heard during the residence
of the King and Queen of Portugal.
After presiding at two performances of his oratorio
" Sainte Elizabeth," Liszt left Pesth to return to
Rome, but his passage through Hungary was marked
by numerous acts of beneficence ; of the four con-
certs at Pesth, which produced very large receipts,
three took place with the aid of 500 executants ; for
the last, given before an audience of more than
2,000 persons, the illustrious abbe was assisted only
by the violinist, Remenyi, and M. Hans de Bulow.
The cure de Scwendtner, with whom M. Liszt re-
sided during his stay, undertook to distri-
bute the maestro's donations. Thus 5,000 fr. were
devoted to the construction of a church at Leopold-
stadt ; 1,200 fr. to the infant asylums ; 1,200 fr. to
the Grey Sisters ; and I,ooofr. to the Franciscans.
The Protestant Orphan Asylum received 500 fr. ;
and a similar sum was given to the poor Jews.
The King of Bavaria has given orders to Profes-
sor Semper, of Zurich, to build a new theatre at
Munich, to be called the Wagners-theatre.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TDIES.—The inquiry into the terrible explosion of
gas at Nine Elms has resulted in a circumstantial
compilation of facts as they are supposed to have
occurred. Most readers will know only too well
what a gasometer or gasholder is, and it is only
necessary to premise that on the premises of the
London Gas Company at Nine Elms there were two
of these reservoirs, standing about 300 ft. apart.
Each of these was capable of containing a million
cubic feet of gas ; both were admirably constructed,
and were described, indeed, by one of the company's
servants as " two of the most beautiful gasholders
in London." Within 20ft., however, of one of these
charnnng fabrics was a meter-house, which contained
also the "governors," that is to say, the machines
through which the gas passed from the gasholders
to the consumers, and by which the pressure on the
mains was regulated. In its passage through these
instruments the gas was "sealed," or prevented from
escaping, by water ; but a displacement of the "go-
vernor" might displace the water and allow the gas
to escape into the air of the building. Nor was this
displacement at all a difficult matter, for the " go-
vernors" were unprotected ; but, on the other hand,
the nien engaged in the place were skilled workmen
who knew the risk, and who were not likely to do
any harm. It happened, however, that on Oct. 31
a number of strange workmen were employed in this
building. The meter-house wanted plasterin4. and at
six o'clock in the morning the men came to work.
Thomas O'Donnell, himself a plasterer, appears to
have been their foreman, and besides those engaged
with him there were two carpenters, and a brick-
layer, who was also a sub-contractor for
the brickwork on the premises. These men
had all the necessary apparatus of their
trade with them, including permanent and movable
scaffolds by which to reach the walls and ceilings
of the room. Nothing could be more natural,
therefore, than to suggest that some plasterer, in
arranging his trestles or procuring himself a footing,
had taken one of the " governors" for a support,
and pushed it out of its proper position. This dan-
ger, indeed, was not altogether unforeseen. A ser-
vant of the company three or four days before the
accident had seen a plasterer put his foot upon the
" governor," and had cautioned him. He had also
warned O'Donnell, and told him to keep his men
from such doings. The deputy-manager of the
works, too, had " as a matter of prudence" told the
plasterers not to touch the " governors." However,
at the place where the plasterers were actually at
work, any one of them might have stood upon the
" governor," and a pressure of a pound weight upon
any one side of one of these instruments would, we
are told, throw it out of gear. But was there not a
companyachinery, and prevent
in the meter-house
all
liltlhedis servant of opfrtohtee metthe
ts? There was. One
four in the morning,
fTi
whose duty it was to
ao re
esruch left p rdoubt
duty
b laet
half-pasta cciden
house, " except for
beand aasy
sr elpireevseedn
present
natnhost hieare
te r
a few minutes every hour," when he had to " take
stock," or, in other words, to ascertain what gas
there was in the gasholders. Possibly, too, there
were other servants of the company in the building,
for we observe that a stoker and a gas refiner were
among the victims of the explosion, the others be-
ing four plasterers, two carpenters, a bricklayer,
and a labourer. Unfortunately, as often happens
in these terrible catastrophes, all those who could
have spoken to the actual origin of the calamity
have perished, and we are reduced to inference and
probability. Michael Doolan, however, the man
in charge, states that shortly after two o'clock he
left the meter-house, as usual, to " take stock,"
and that as he was returning somebody called out
to him from the building, " Theme is something the
matter here." At the same instant Richard Har-
vey, a man employed in the retort-house, was
summoned by a similar alarm, and he tells us how
he rushed into the meter-house and what he saw
there. He saw half a dozen plasterers endeavour-
ing to hold down the governor," and his impres-
sion was that they had first tilted or displaced it by
standing on it, and were then attempting to set it
right again. But it was too late ; the gas was escap-
ing fast owing to the displacement of the water
which had confined it, and before any counterpoise
could be applied, or any effectual precaution taken,
the explosion occurred. Now, however, we come to
a most important part of the inquiry. Assuming
that the origin of the explosion has been correctly
inferred in the foregoing argument, what was the
explosion itself ? The reader will not have for-
gotten that one of these enormous gasholders was
not only driven from its position, but found with
part of its top, or crown, blown up or folded over,
so as to suggest unavoidably the conclusion that its
contents had exploded. It was this belief which
filled the public with such alarm, for gasholders of
immense size are planted in the thickest parts of the
metropolis, and we seemed to be suddenly introduced
to a new and appalling prospect of hourly danger.
We are now assured, however, that no ground for
this alarm exists, and that our old ideas of the
security of these reservoirs may still be entertained.
Dr. Letheby stated at the inquest that the explo-
sion was undoubtedly an explosion of the air in the
meter-house only, which had been rendered in-
flammable by the escape of gas from the " gover-
nor," and had been accidentally ignited. The force
of this explosion drove the gasholder, as if by vio-
lent impact, from its place, and knocked off part of
its crown, but this was the only way in which the
reservoir suffered. It did not contribute to the
explosion itself, but was merely blown away, as any
ordinary building might have been. The argu-
ments by which Dr. Letheby defended this assump-
tion were drawn rather from mechanics than
chemistry, but with one remarkable and highly im-
pressive exception. The witness stated as a perfectly
conclusive piece of reasoning, that if the gas in
the gasholder had exploded, instead of the air in
the meter-house, not only would the reservoir itself
have been blown to pieces, but "all the neighbour..
ing buildings would have been destroyed." In fact

the doctor looked up inquiringly to the roofs and
windows in the streets adjacent, and came to the
conclusion at once that an explosion which had left
such things standing must be considerably short of
the explosion of a gasometer. We feel no disposi-
tion to controvert this argument, or to impeach,
indeed, the general assumption on which the jury
returned their verdict of " Accidental Death." We
think as they thought, that " governors" should be
more effectually secured, and we are of opinion that
when unskilled workmen, who had given some evi-
dence of carelessness, were employed in such aplace
as the meter-house, they should never have been
left, even for five minutes together, without effec-
tual supervision. But the great question which
touches us all is that of allowing these reservoirs of
gas to retain their position in the heart of the me-
tropolis. We cannot say that Dr. Letheby's as-
surance gives us either confidence or satisfaction ;
indeed, we fear that most people will retain a livelier
impression of what, according to his description, the
explosion of a gasometer might have done than of
the more consoling features of his evidence. Gas-
holders are certainly offensive as well as unsightly
structures, nor will it be easy to persuade the public
that they may not be dangerous. They were placed
where they are when such matters were less cared
for than at present, but a correspondent has shown
that in this very circumstance lies an easy escape
from the difficulty. When gasworks were first
established land was comparatively cheap. Its value
in this city has now risen so enormously that it
would probably answer the purpose of any company
in a mere pecuniary point of view to sell their pre-
mises and remove to a more distant and cheaper
situation. This would. give the public security
without damage to the companies, and the expedient
should be taken promptly into consideration.
HERALD.-Of all the white races the English was
the first which made a practical application of the
theory of negro freedom. Early in this century the
idea began to dawn on the mind of civilised Chris-
tendom that it was inconsistent with the golden
rule on which Christianity is founded that any one
section of the human race, however inferior, morally
or physically, it might seem, should be held in sub-
jection or oppressed by any other section. This
country had the most to lose by the carrying out of
this principle. It redounds much to the honour of
Englishmen of the last generation that they did not
hesitate to do what they believed to be just and
right, at whatever sacrifice of money and political
influence. It is now more than 30 years since sla-
very was abolished throughout the British domi-
nions. The change which has been effected in
America as an accident of sectional strife, and by a
fierce civil war, was accomplished by England in a
time of profound peace and in cool blood. She
thought it not too late to atone by one magnani-
mous stroke for the errors of the past. She paid
down her millions, she ruined her West India colo-
r nies, but she struck the chains off the negro at once
and for ever. Had she not set this example it is
probable enough that negro emancipation would up
to this day have been regarded as a visionary
scheme of impractical philanthropists. Most men are
still agreed that the negro is inferior to the white
man--a creature of lower development, if not a
different species. Many men, and good men too,
are even now of opinion that in subjection to the
superior race lies the negro's best hope of im-
provement and prospect of happiness. We grant
that the question is a difficult one, though it appears
to be receiving its solution in the history of our
times. What we wish to point out is, that the
English, having taken that view of it which is most
favourable to the negro, have, in some sort, earned
a title to the gratitude of that race. The eman-
cipation of the blacks in the West Indies, followed
up by the most earnest and constant efforts
to extinguish the slave trade by negotiations and by
arms, has caused us, not unfairly, to be regarded
throughout the world as the champions of the Afri-
can, against whom, at one time, the whole of Chris-
tendom seemed in league. If the sudden emancipa-
tion of the blacks in the West Indies, followed, as
it was, by the most disastrous results to the pro-
sperity of those once-flourishing colonies was blamed
as Quixotic by politicians of the day, to us the deed
may seem to have been justified on the simple ground
that it was right. Fiat justitia meat ccelum should be
the motto of nations, as of individuals. But when
the Government of Great Britain, in its passion of
self-abnegation, went so far as to accord to negro
and white, once master and slave, an absolute equa-
lity of civil and political rights, it made a doubtful
and dangerous experiment, and introduced a prin-
ciple the justification or condemnation of which de-
pended upon the issue. In rising in insurrection in
Jamaica the negro has pointed a more deadly weapon
against himself than any that could have been forged
by the bitterest enemy of his race. In deference to
what he believes to be the right the Englishman has
granted him, not freedom only, but equality. Of all
places in the world the black man has been most in-
dulgently treated in Jamaica. On the roads, in the
marts, in the streets, in public conveyances, the
negro of Jamaica is the acknowledged equal of the
white man. Negro voters jostle the white man at the
poll; negro magistrates sit side by side on the bench
with Caucasian judges; negro legislators take their
place in the House of Assembly. In making a quiet
and orderly use of such privileges these blacks had it
in their power to show their gratitude to the race
which had been the first to emancipate them, to
prove to the world that they were worthy of freedom
in its truest and largest sense. Their behaviour is a
sad refutation of the assumptions of their friends,
a proof of the folly of our rulers in giving political
power to the breed which, by its vast numerical
superiority, is able to use that power so much to
our hurt. The negro in Jamaica has been spoiled
and petted by the Government ; he is pampered by
the bounteous soil, which produces almost spontane-
ously its richness of tropical produce. In this island,
where the population is but 70 to the square mile,
he is able to sun away his days in the most voluptu-
ous indolence ; in Barbadoes, where there are 970
inhabitants to the square mile, he is forced to work
in order to gain his livelihood. The abundance of
productive land enabled the runaway slaves and
freed men, called Maroons; to establish a sort of
independent colony in the northern part of the
island in 1738. Seven years later these blacks en-
gaged in a widespread conspiracy for the extermina-
tion of the whites. In 1795, the Maroons, again
rose in revolt, and were not quelled until after a
bloody struggle in 1796. In 1831 there was a for-
midable negro insurrection, attributed to the disap-
pointment of the slaves who had been prematurely
excited by hopes of their emancipation. While they
were yet slaves the negroes may have had some ex-
cuse, may have deserved some sympathy in ill-ad-
vised efforts at independence. They have now no
cause of quarrel against us. We have treated them
with the most unparalleled generosity and thelmost
lavish indulgence. The freedom- which we have

granted them has degenerated into license when it
is too late to revoke the boon or to revise our

policy. The vagueness of the successive telegrams
which we receive from Halifax throws a sort

of mysterious horror over this negro rising,
which at first we hoped might have been but a
trifling e'meute, but is now described as serious,
and characterised by great barbarities. If the
negroes in Jamaica are only united they have the
white men in their power, for they outnumber
them by more than 20 to 1. According to the
census of 1861 the population of the island was
441,000. Of these there were barely 14,000 Euro-
peans, including Creoles. There were 81,000

mulattoes, and 346,000 blacks. It is true that the
military establishment, consisting of two or more
regiments of the line, one West India regiment, the

artillery, and the Militia, constitute --together a

formidable force in case of need. Reinforcements,

too, have been hastily despatched from Halifax, in
Nova Scotia, and Nassau in the Bahamas. Whether
excited by emissaries from the continent of North

America or Cuba, or roused to emulation by the
deeds of their brethren in San Domingo, the negroes
in Jamaica will find that in defying the British

power ttiey have entered upon a conflict which is
sure to issue in their ruin. For the safety of the
white colonists in the island, and as a salutary lesson

to the black race everywhere, we trust that the ring-
leaders in this wicked revolt will be sternly and
summarily dealt with as soon as they are caught.
The problem of the destiny of the negro, and his
proper place in a polity in which he is brought in
contact with the white, now so hotly debated on
the neighbouring American continent, seems about
to be illustrated to our cost and his in that hapless
island where we have given him so fair a chance of
vindicating his position in the world and his right
to self-government.

lINEw ORLEANS. —The British and American
Steam Navigation Company's steamer Bolivian sailed from
Liverpool on Tuesday with a large cargo and full com-
plement of passengers. The succeeding steamers will be
the Carolina, sailing on the 21st inst., and the Alabama,
sailing on the sth December.

The steamer New York, arrived at New York
from Panama, has brought specimens of gold oro taken
from the newly discovered Isthmus deposits near the line
of the Panama Railroad. More extensive discoveries wero
expected to follow, and the Panama and Aspinwall people
were anticipating a great rush to the new diggings.
[ADVERTISEMENT. I—Holloway's Pills.—Dark and cheer-
less, indeed, is the present season when the weekly deaths
are far above the average. The cause is probably diffused
through the dense, damp fogs which have been so preva-
lent of late. These pills purify the blood which has been
contaminated by foul gases, and give tone to the nervous
system, whereby typhus, typhoid, gastric and bilious fevers
are warded off. Holloway's pills are also the best known
promoters of digestion, the surest regulators of the liver,
and the most valued and effective of- all aperients. When
the health is impaired with loss of appetite, vigour, and
sleep, this medicine will be found a certain restorative, and
will rarely fail to effect a cure.