The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-08 00:00:00

THE SITA, WEDNESDAY , FEBRUARY 8, 1871.

that it will be advantageous to himself. We say
this with every appreciation of M. GAMBETTA'S
grave defects. His hyperbolical utterances can-
:lot find favour with this pr +ctical people.
His Republicanism is much loss moierate,
and therefore less acceptable to Englishmen,
than the Republicanism of FAVRE, SIMON,
and PICARD. The disposition to insure the success
of his political principles by arbitrary means nee Is
no conlemnation. But two great dangers threaten
disorganise I France, and . such a man as
the ex-Minister may be a powerful bulwark
against either of them. Despotism and
anarchy have perhaps equal chances of supeiseding
the moderate reign of liberty which all just men de-
sire for France. The men who lived out of the
Empire are doing their beet to promote its
restoration. It is no secret that bids
have been made for a return of NAPOLEON
to power. His hopes are warmly favoure by the
Emperor WILLIAM and Count BISMARCK, who are
desirous, not to promote the interests of the dethroned
sovereign, but to secure themselves from the conta-
gion of a neighbouring Republic. Tne German
Emperor is almost fanatically resolute on this point.
There is even considerable evidence in
favour of the conclusion that he refused to offer a
peace after Sedan simply because he felt sure that
another week or two of war would destrcy the
Republic. His views ma) be natural enough, but
we in England cannot sympathise with them.
The Second French Empire was not at
best a desirable form of rule, and it would
be infinitely wcrse with NAPOLEON as a sort of
Bismarchian Pro-consul. No good could come of
such a restoration. It would benefit nobody except
the upholders of that despotism in Central Europe,
which, since the days of the Holy Alliance,
has wrought such evil to the cause of progress.
The power is formidable; the interests of great
sovereigns are at one in upholding it; but all the rest
of mankind are interested in pulling it down.
It is a good thing that there should be
in France a powerful and influential politician, with
no compromising antecedents, who may be able to
offer a stern resistance to an evil which we hope
will never visit France again. Having much power
amongst the .extreme :actions, for he was the only
member of the Government who was regarded by
them. M. GAMBETTA will probably be able to
control those opposite forces of revolution
which are really formidable only in times such as
these. He is extreme, but he is amenable to autho-
rity, and respects the law. To say that such a man
cannot yet render great services is to forget that
MIRABEAIT WBB better than ROBESPIERRE, and that
GAMBETTA is far better than MIRABEAU.

bec ►use somebody, who need not be mentioned,
desired that the Courts should be somewhere else.

THE FISHERY QUESTION.

Sir John Rose of England, and ➢lr. Ryan ot
Canada, have together paid a visit to the United
States, which has excited great interest in diplo-
matic circles, as it is believed to relate to the settle- 0
ment of the vexed question of the North American
fisheries. They are not supposed to be au'horised
envoys, but it is thought they have been
commissioned to ascertain the public feeling
in the States on the subject. Since their
arrival in Washington they have held fre-
quent consultations with the members ot the
Foreign Affairs Committee, both of the House and
the Senate, and in all these interviews the fishery
question has been brought up and discussed. They
represent Great Britian ar.d Canada as: both
anxious to obtain a speedy adjustment ot

the difficulty, _ and to judge from the tone '
of the American press the anxiety is reciprocal.
The present condition of commercial relations between
the United States and Canada are anything but
satisfactory, and both countries are probably getting
tired of indulging international jealousies to such a
costly extent.

SIR WALTER CROFTON ON HABITUAL CRIMINALS.
Sir Walter Crofton, who has achieved such won-
derful success in his administration of Irish convict
prisons, thinks some improvement is needed in the
working of the Habitual Criminals Act—a mea-
sure whose general principles he upholds very
strongly. Sir Walter's whole system is based on the
reformation and gradual elevation of the prisoners
under his charge, and his experience at Lusk
proves what may be done in the way
of reclaiming the most desperate. Na-
turally, therefore, he feels strongly for those
discharged prisoners who suffer from the operation of
the new law of supervision. Tle intends to bring a
paper on the subjeot before the Social Science Asso-
ciation early in March, which will no doubt
be extremely useful, as he can throw great
light on the question, being fully acquainted
with its practical difficulties. As the Reformatory
and Refuge Union is also to hold a conference this
spring on the action of Discharged Prisoners' Aid
Societieg, we may hope for a thorough inveltigation
of the subject, leading to sound practical reforms.
THE SMALLPDX EPIDEMIC.
•

Mr. Simon, the medical officer of the Privy
Council, is of opinion that vaccination in in-
fancy, if thoroughly well performed and
successful, will completely insure persons
for their whole lifetime against an attack
of smallpox. He says, moreover, that in the few
cases where the protection is less complete, and
where the disease is caught, it will, in consequence
of the vaccination, generally be so mild a disease as
not to threaten death or disfigurement. The great
danger, we are led to believe, lies in the fact that
vaccination in tune of infancy may not have been
skilfully accomplished, and on this account chiefly it
is as well that all perscns as they approach adult
life, should again undergo the inoculating process.
At a period of epidemic such as the present,
time should be taken by the forelock, as in cases of
panic in particular neighbourhoods the demand upon
the supply of lymph may run short, and a wholesome
vaccination may in many cases pr five next to im-
possible.
DRAMATIC COPYRIGHTS IN AMERICA.

English and American authors and dramatists have
long had a serious grievance to complain of in the
absence of an international treaty for the protection
of. copyrights. The identity of language and
the strong literary tastes of both countries
might naturally have led, one would have
supposed, to such an arrangement years and years ago.
However, the much needed Act is not yet in exist-
ence, though every week some fresh instance of its
necessity occurs. The Julge of the Supreme Court
of New York has just given a very
equitable decision in regard to the piracy
of one of the comedies of the lamented
Mr. Robertson, which it is to be hoped will inaugu-
rate a better system. Mr. Robertson sold the
American copyright, and the right of representing
his oomedy of "Play " to a New York manager.
An unscrupulous theatrical rival, however, obtained
the outlines of the play by some surreptitious means
—it is supposed by having a shorthand writer pre-
sent at the first appearance—and antici-
pated the rival manager with the piece.
The case was tried before the Supreme
Court, when the Judge decided against
this pilferer of literary property, saying that "it
seemed to him any surreptitious procurin g o fthe literary
property of another, no matter how obtained, if it
were unauthorised, and without the knowledge or
consent of the owner, and obtained before publica-
tion by him, was an invasion of his proprietary rights,
if the property so obtained is made use of to his

ury."

AGREEABLE OODIP ANION S.

A. questionable class v.. travellers seems to make
use of the North London Railway. It was on this
line that Mr. Briggs was murdered, and a few days
since a second " murderous attack " was made upon
a wine merchant named Robinson, by two men who
were occupants with him of a second class carriage.
The victim on this last occasion, it would seem, pro-
voked the anger of the defendants by an alleged per-
sistent infringement of the Act (which has already
been connected with much trouble on the
Metropolitan railroads), prohibiting smoking. He
went on with his cigar unmindful of the threats
of the two ruffians, who not only expressed their
objection to tobacco, but qualified their animosity to
the man who was enjoying it, by calling him a
white-livered scoundrel," and by subsequently dis-
figuring the complainant in an unmerciful assault
upon him. The defendants have since had the option
of paying fines of £5 each, or of going to prison for
two months; but this is too meagre a punish-
ment for men who have so little Command of
themselves and their tempers as these last infringers
of the peace on the North London line.
AN IRISH CHIEFTAIN IN HIS WAR PAINT.

The south of Ireland is the most prolific portion of
the Emerald Isle, in the number of chieftains'
descendants it produces. There are descendants of
the Magillicuddy chiefs, The O'Donoghue chiefs,
and the O'Sullivan chiefs, and now we hear of a
worthy offspring of the great O'Leary clan,
who figured in the complete attire of
his race at a fancy ball in Cork the
other day. The O'Leary was, we are
told, the last chieftain of Countier, the
rece.rded family pedigree having begun somewhere
about 1333, with the birth of Dermot O'Leary, of
Iveleary. The dress of the O'Learys is a
cucull, or short Irish cloak, fastene 1 by the
tarn brooch, underneath which a saffron-coloured
tunic, encircled by a chieftain's gol.l belt, supplied
the covering of the body to the ground. Round the
neck a gold collar, similar to that ot Malachi, King
of Ireland, who fought the Danes at Clontarf, was
place'►, and suspended from the breast the Danish
decoration of the officer's Cross of the Dermictrog,
an ornament worn only by the Prince of
Wales and the O'Leary's, afforded a conspicu,)us
mark of honour. This last decoration, it appeiirs, was
given to the O'Leary family by the King ot Denmark
in return for an offer made to him by one of the clan
to supply 100 Irish horsemen, free of expense, for the
prosecution of the war against the Prussians by
Denmark on the eve of the battle of klsen.
EDUCATION IN INDIA.

The progress of e !ucation in BriVsh India; if not
Fo rapid as we could wish, is steady, and it is evident
that some sense of its importance is dawning on the
minds of the native rulers. At the tenth annual
convocation of the Bombay University, the report

last year spewed that the number of students
who came forward for examination was 877 against
839 in the year preceding. Curiously enough the
number of those who passed was 142 in each year.
Two interesting incidents were noticed in regard to
the degrees. The list for 1870 included the first name
of a European British-born subject that has been
enrolled among the Bombay graduates, and a new
' scholarship was presented. The college is richly
endowed. It has a Chancellor's medal ; an Ellis
scholarship, and a Wilson Philological Lecture-
ship, and at the last meeting the Vice-Chan-
-3ellor announced another endowment of 6,000 rs,
to found an " Arnold - scholarship," in memory
of the late Sir Joseph Arnold. The failure of so
large a proportion of candidates excited some com-
ment, but the Vice-Chancellor explained it as being
caused by the inability of the candidates to qualify
in English. At the Grant Medical College, at the
annual distribution of prizes, it was stated that this, the
twenty-fifth year of its existence, had been one of great
success. Twelve candidates entered the listfor Univer-
sity honours, an .1 four passed. Dr. Hunter thinks the
failure of so many students is clue not to the English
difficulty, but to the severity of the examinations.
Still the college is making great progress, and two
vernacular text-books have been compiled in the
year. It is proposed to reorganise its administration,
still keeping in view the object with which it was
:'otinded, " to impart education on scientific principles
o the natives of India."