The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC TOTTENLLEI,

The Saturday Review counts over the three terrible acci-
dents which in the last twenty years have occurred from
a crush at theatres. In 1849, and on Boxing-night in
1859, and again on Boxing-night in 1869, we lost respec-
tively sixty-five persons, fifteen persons, and eighteen per-
sons, under circumstances in all three cases of the same
kind; and in the last two the rame narrative might apply
to the events of 1859, only exchanging the staircase of the
Victoria Theatre in London for the inclined plane of the
entrance to the Bristol Theatre. We do our best to make
such catastrophes inevitable; and that they only occur
once in ten years is not owing to our want of forethought,
or to any deficiency in our arrangements for the destruc-
tion of human life. We construct our theatres with an
ingenious and varied superfluity of details in order first
to sccure an accident, and then to provide that the acci-
dent shall be as fatal as possible. In the Victoria Theatre
and at the Glasgow Theatre good precipitous stair-
cases, extremely narrow and closed at either end
with a contracted gorge, only represent the
usual conditions of imminent dancer to life under which
everybody goes to a theatre. At Bristol the ingenious
artist who planned the.approaches must have studied his
subject well, and he has very skilfully availed himself of
acme natural and unusual facilities which a peculiar site
gave him for introducing a novelty in danger which proved
on Monday night perfectly successful. These who know
this theatre will remember that it is built on very sloping
ground—that it is on the face of one of those many precipi-
tous cliffs which abound in the picturesque old city of the
West. Here was a fine chance of making what never can
be but dangerous, doubly peril ous. Equal to his opportu-
nities, the plotter of the entrances made his pit and gal-
lery entrances run rapidly down hill at a steep pitch from
• the street, and then contrived a right angle turn into the
house. The crowd, if there ever was to be a crowd, was
therefore provided with a good down-hill swing and im-
petus, with an inevitable turn at the bottom. The pro-
blem was one of simple mechanics—how to increase the
momentum of a descending body, and how most suddenly
and dangerously to arrest it. Tho Bristol Theatre, by
its construction, gave every facility to work out the
problem; and Boxing Day, a popular pantomime, and
much gin and beer supplied the other elements of success.
The Spectator says that the Emperor has won the game
so far. The permanence of his success must depend upon
the conditicn of public ,opinion in France, a condition
which we shall shortly discuss, but for the moment the
game is won. With a skill which we cannot but admire,
even while we disapprove it, he has conceded just enough
to satisfy the Chamber without surrendering one jot cf his
real power. Napoleon, not the Chamber, has selected M.
011ivier, for his majority wouldwither away if the Imperial
favour were s% ithdrawn, and it is Napoleon, and not the
Chamber, who will devise the measures to be adopted, who
will govern, for example, the foreign policy of France. It
is, in fact, personal power tempered by deferences to the
Chamber which has replaced personal power tempered by
deferences to tho electorate. Can that system last? The
answer to that question depends upon influences which no
outsider and vciy few Frenchman thoroughly understand.
What is it that France wants?. Liberty? If so, she has
not obtained it, and mutt renew the st ruggle. The right
of speech about her grievances? She has got that, we
believe, to the full, the most marked change of the whole
series of transactions being the enfranchisement of
the Corps Legislatif, the new right of its members
to say unchecked very nearly what they want to say.
There are observers still, we believe, who declare that were a
free Chamber elected ad hoc the personal power would still
bo supported by a majority, and they are not without
arguments for their view. The peasantry, they say,
though they want Napoleon to make fewer mistakes, still
want him to govern, and not anybody else, and would re-
turn candidates favourable to that view. So would the
Church, which dreads the policy of a free Chamber, and
still more a Republican Chamber, would be sure to pursue
in Rome. So would tlle lesser towns, whose opinion is
really that of the bureaucracy, and would be directed, even
if the Government were honest, by prefects who have all
been appointed by Napoleon. These three powers might,
if combined, send up a majority before whom the Repub-
licans of the great cities would be comparatively power-
less. That is true, but the answer to it seems to us quite
final. If a free Parliament would be friendly to Napoleon,
why does Napoleon pack a Parliament? if the majority is
with him, why does he fight so zealously for seats which
were avowedly won by the grossest corruption? Are not
all these efforts to scat nominees so many proofs that
none but nominees could be implicitly trusted to vote for
the personal power ? These arc, we repeat, the weak
points of the situation—that M. 011ivier, however adroit,
or however devoted, will not be able to resist the demand
for electoral reform; and that if electoral reform is
granted, the Chamber elected •,‘ ill be hostile to the Napo-

Iconic vijime.
The John Bull discusses the clauses of the Papal Bull,
and asks, Who are they that have incurred sentence, ens-
pen ion, or int:l-diet, reserved, or not-reserved? They
are a "goodly company" so far as numbers go. In fact, it
must be admitted that if the Pope is merciful, he has tem-
pered mercy with a.great deal of j udgmcnt. Everycne
who has ventured to read "Janus," or the letters of Mr.
Flo:likes, or who has them anywhere iu his house, or has
ever ventured to say a word in defence of them is, ipso
facto excommunicated, and from that 1 cualty not even
Archbishop Manning, but only Pius IX. can set him free.
No. 5 strikes a blow at two Sovereigns, both Catholics, and
until lately foes. It excommunicates all those who arrest,
imprison, persecute, or drive from their dioceses and lands,
Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, and as Victor
Emmanuel has in his time imprisoned or banished a good
many Bishops, and even Francis Joseph has imprisoned the
Archbishop of Linz for opposing the laws abrogating the
Concordat, their Majesties will have an opportunity for
forgetting past quarrrls in ccnsoling each other under
present misfortunes. We can easily imagine that after
reading No. 5, the Archbishop of Vienna did not stop to see
what the rest were, and that this was quite sufficient to induce
his sudden departure hem Rome. No. 6 excommunicates
those who impede the action of ecclesiastical jurisdiction—
a decided stvifet for the Emperor Napoleon. Miss Saurin
may claim the distinction of having a curse directed
especially against herself, since No. 7 excommunicates
those who bring ecclesiastical persons before lay judges.
No. 11 will include Victor Emmanuel and Mr. Gladstone,
for it curses "those who usurp or sequestrate the juris-
diction, the property, the rentals which from their
churches or benefices belong to ecclesiastical persons."
It would be lost labour to detail the minor curses, when
the major are so comprehensive. We already know the
worst. We are heretics. We are schismatists. 'We have
read Mr. Ffoulkes's letters and " Janus." We should cer-
tainly bring a Roman priest, or Cardinal Cullen himself,
before the secular law courts, if he violated the secular
law. We are going to devote to secular purposes the
Church revenues in Ireland which Rome claims. 'We hold
diplomatic communication with Victor Emmanuel, and
gave Garibaldi a reception such as no other man living has
had. We have done all these things ; but to have done
only one was enough to incur excommunication, end
therefore it is satisfactory to know that, among other
persons, the Pope has excommunicated—Pius IX. He has
held intercourse with Victor Emmanuel. Whose is guilty
of one, is guilty of all. The head of Christendom has been
cast out by himself. How, then, shall his kingdom stand?

An opinion prevails in some quarters, says the Economist,

that with the change of the year we shall see also a con-
siderable change in the mcney market. Enterprise, it is
said, is reviving ; credit is better ; there is a greater oppor-
tunity to earn profit ; and thence it is inferred that the
rate of interest will soon rise, and the long stagnation of

Lombard-street be at an end. And the suggested basis of
facts we are inclined to concede. We believe that
confidence is somewhat greater, and that industry

i. somewhat better remunerated. But we cannot see any
reason to draw the desired inference as to the value of

money. We fear that for some time to come it will con-
tinue much as at present; of course there will bo minor
modifications, but wo seo no reason for expecting .a great
rise now. The savings of the country are constantly accu-
mulating—and unless employment regularly augments,
there will be a greater and greater difficulty in using those
savings. For some years after 1130 it is true that probably
savings were much smaller than usual. Business was

much less profitable, and business savings are a material,
though the most fluctuating, item in the accumulations of
the country. And there was a great waste going on
beside. There was a demand arising out of old liabilities
and out of financing for money to finish half-begun
undertakings of most questionable value, and in
many Cr.i.C3 never likely to bring in any but the
most insignificant return. These causes kept down
till now the recent accumulation of the coun-
try, hut for the most part their effect may new be
considered to have spent itself, The " liquidation " ac-
count of 18(36 is at an end. As the failure of Overends
was its beginning, so for historical purpoSes the trial of the
directors of Oyu-ends may be taken to be its end. .A nil
this tells the contrary wey to what is sometimes exl)ectod.
This now money will tend to depress the rate of interest.
On the other hand, we entirely concede that the state of
credit, properly so called—of confidence—is improved. For
a long time after 1860, even those who had savings scarcely

liked to let them out of their sight—did not like at all to
employ them in an unusual or inventive manner. But now
this long nervousness has meetly died away, and there is
both courage and money for good investments if only such
Gould be found.

The entbronization of the Bishop of Bath and
, .
Wells will take place in Wells Cathedral on Wednesday
.•
net.

fil LONDON, SA lITIZDAY EVENING, JANUARY 1, 1870.

211KELLANE0 US SETTS.

montns-out—Trozen to cteatia vit _
house authorities were in no wise blameable,-foiihe
woman kept her destitution secret in the hope of re-
covering and finding work ; and thus, as often
happens, praiseworthy intentions produced calamitous
results.