The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 1871.

to stoop to unscrupulous measures. That the " requi-
sition" to Mr. Glad Stone to resign his seat was the
work of a very insignificant clique is now clear
enough. It would be well for the Greenwich mal-
contents, whether few or numerous, to reserve their
discontent until it is seen what j ustification the
policy of the Government offers. At present that
policy is in some particulars partially, in others en-
tirely, unknown. So far as the course taken in
foreign matters is revealed, it appears that the
Cabinet has adopted a medium policy, keeping clear
of difficulties, intervening where the opportunity
seemed favourable, and yet in no way hampering its
freedom of future action. Touching the reor-
ganisation of the army we know only that a scheme
of some kind is in preparation ; but until the details
are disclosed, no opinion can' be pronounced with
confidence as to the competence of the Ministry to
meet this necessity. It is true that little confidence is
felt in Mr. Cardwell, and equally true that this gen-
tleman's ability as a War Minister has
displayed itself chiefly in framing evasive
answers to troublesome questions; but army reor-
ganisation is a subject for the whole Cabinet
to deal with. Nothing can be more foolish than the
outcry against the Government for its supposed
crippling of the defences by shutting up a dockyard.
Between efficiency of armament and the discharge of
so many men for whom no useful work could be
found, there is no connection whatever. Spending
money does not necessarily secure a good article.

The German terms of peace have never been an-
nounced officially, but, according to divers intimations
from respectable authorities at Berlin, they are con-
stantly widening. hirst the line of the Vosges was
to he taken ; then the Moselle was declared the
border line; the fortress of Longwy and one or
two other insignificant items are added;
and finally we learn that the Meuse, and
not the Moselle, is to be the frontier river. It
will be interesting to know what are the arguments
in favour of this further claim. Alsace and Lorraine
were demanded partly on the ground that they were
originally German ; the new districts never. were
German. A defensive frontier was needed to protect
peaceable Germany from ag,gresive France ; the line
of the Vosges is much more defensible than the line
of the Meuse. Possibly the extension of the terri-
torial claim may be adopted merely in order to reduce
it afterwards, and thus secure the original demand.
Doctors sometimes prescribe m ,re physic than will
be taken in order that some may be taken. If, how-
ever, the enlarged " rectification" is to be upheld, we
can only wait to hear the arguments in its behalf.

Whether Paris surrrenders this week, next week,
or struggles on for another fortnight, matters com-
paratively little : the great fact that the end is at
hand is attested by unequivocal evidence. Except
for those persons who can afford to pay
two or three guineas for a rabbit or a chicken,
or for the prudent and well-to-do house-
keepers who have laid in a stock of such articles as
will keep, there is nothing left to eat but horse,
bread, and rice. The ration of horseflesh is not one
ounce per day per individual, and even these very
short commons are obtained only by desperate expe-
dients. The cavalry of the National Guard has been
required to give up its horses, and even a
regiment of Lancers has been dismounted.
"As to the bread, one need only look at it to see
how scarce good flour has become. The mixture is
more rye than wheat, and full of bran." The ration-
ing of bread at a very low rate is an even still more
unambiguous symptom.

Jules Favre demonstration: Very little appears to )
have been done towards the accomplishment of the
object for which the meeting was called: Some
rather spicy speeches were delivered, and abun-
dance of empty declamation was hurled at the War
Office for not allowing volunteers to be present in
Uniform at political demonstrations. Sympathy was
expressed with Sapper Hodges, who has been dis-
missed the Ist London Engineers, for, in plain
English, " disobedience to orders ;" and a resolution
was passed to the effect "That the meeting hears
with satisfaction that the conduct of the volunteers
in resisting an arbitrary attempt on the part of the
Government to attack their rights of citizenship,
which form an essential and well known condition of
their service, meets with the approval and sympathy
of their fellow countrymen." It is a very great
question whether the public at large will approve of
any attempt made by our citizen soldiers to put at
defiance the military authorities of the country, and
we commend to the volunteers adherence to that
time-worn maxim, which has been hitherto so
promptly observed in the British service, " obedience
is the first duty of a soldier."

FATHER HYACINTHE ON THE PRESENT CRISIS.
Father Hyacinthe has addressed an appeal to the
Bishops of Catholic Christendom, and especially to
those who see the situation as he does, to put an end
to the " latent schism" which causes such formidable
divisions. He desires them to say whether the decrees of
the recent Roman Council are or are not binding on
the faithful; and argues that those bishops who op-
posed the Dogma of Infallibility in the Council
and sanction it in their dioceses are not submitting
reason to authority, but sacrificing conscience itself.
He considers that every Catholic who regards the
dignity of his faith has a right to interrogate the
Bishops on the acceptance or rejection of the Syllabus
and recent Encyclical Letters, and that the Bishops
are bound to answer without reticence, or sub-
terfuge, for such reticence and subterfuge,
have been the ruin of the Church. Father
Hyacinthe says that be has kept silence
during the disappearance of two despotisms,
which pressed so terribly on the world—the
Empire of the Napoleons and the Temporal Power
of the Popes, but he thinks the most important
question for France at the present moment is that of
religion, for Ultramontanism and Infidelity are
enemies as dangerous as those who invade
the soil. He points out what he considers
the chief errors in the Catholic Church : the
withdrawing of the study of the Bible,
the abuse of hierarchical power, the enforced
celibacy of the clergy, the policy of a temporal power,
and the undue veneration of the Virgin and Saints.
Should these evils be remedied, Father Hyacinthe
declares his readiness to resume the ministry which
has been his ambition, but which his conscience
forced him to abandon. If, on the other hand, his
appeal be met with silence or condemnation, he will
retain his affection for a Church which is greater
than those who govern it, and exercise the unfettered
and independent action which is the common privi-
.ege of all Christians.
VACCINATION IN LIVERPOOL.

The extraordinary virulence of the smallpox epi-
demic in Liverpool has been much noticed. The
second city in the kingdom is never very famous for
its salubrity, but the ratio of sickness and
death from the dreaded disease now raging
has far exceeded the rate of London, heavily as the
metropolis has suffered. Some statistics as to the
state of vaccination in the town suffice to explain
this. Last week the lodging-house inspectors were
directed to ascertain whether the children in the
houses they visited had been vaccinated, and in three
days they reported 133 cases iu which there was no evi-
dence of vaccination, and 12 in which it was doubtful.
In the West Derby Union there are over 3,000 de-
faulters. The guardians have put on two inspectors
for house to house visitation, and in two days they
found 32 unvaccinated children. As every case of
smallpox in a crowded locality is liable to spread far
and wide, and the unvaccinated cases are always very-
severe, we nee I not be surprised that Liverpool has
suffered so greatly.