The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,: WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 16, MO.

prima. jam_ case against him when a Liberal
journal like the Spectator joins in the charge. But
whether defensible or not, this particular accusation
was almost passed by on the part of the counsel for
the plaintiff—Lord CARNARVON ; and the defendant,
Lord GRANVILLE, said that he should reserve his
defence.

However, the debate was not wholly thrown away.
It elicited from the COLONIAL SECRETARY an admis-
sion that there was no intention on the part of the
Government to cast off the colonies, or to leave them
to themselves in the event of war. Even in the case of
the Canadian Dominion, the colony most likely to be
attacked, the colony least capable of defence, Lord
GRANVILLE acknowledged the duty of the home
Government to send troops. It is one thing to with-
draw soldiers in time of peace, it is another
to deny them in time of war. It is one
thing, moreover, to garrison Canada at our expense,
it is another to clo s) at her's. We bore the first
arrangement far too long, and we have now
withdrawn the troops that we paid for. The
Canadians have not asked us to refrain
from doing so, and would probably object to
defraying the cost of the soldiers if we left them at
Quebec. This, however, is quite another matter from
the case of the New Zealanders, who implored Lord
GRANVILLE to permit one regiment to remain in the
colony at their expense, but implored in vain. Save
in this instance, we do not see any reason to doubt
that the relations between the mother country
and the colonies are satisfactory. Lord DERBY,
indeed, stated that they were so, and this
testimony of a political opponent of the
present Government must have weight. At
the same time it is a fair question to ask if the
Government is turning the colonies to as good
account as they might be put. Say what we will, there
is a dearth of work here, and a dearth of labour in
Australia and Canada. The dearth in the first
instance causes - the most profound misery,
which neither the Poor-laws nor charity
can overtake. The dearth in the second
instance allows vast tracts of country to
remain uncultivated. The one deficiency might
supply the other; but private enterprise is insufficient
for the purpose. The question is if that government
is worthy the name which confesses itself impotent
to act where the motives for action are so urgent.

THE ARRESTS DT PARIS

The arrests which have been made in Paris, in conse-
quence of the events of the 7th, Bth, and 9th of February,
are about forty in number, and all were carried
out by virtue of decrees from the judicial authority.
Arms were found in the houses of the accused, and
in some instances suspicious papers shewing that
their possessors had been actively mixed in the manoeuvre
which had for their end the destruction of the existing
Government and a civil war among the citizens. The
Patrie says that the investigation of the papers which
have been seized will disclose the hidden motives
of the leaders of the sedition, and the public
will be able to appreciate the affair, and recognise that
the Government had just cause to use repressive measures.
The Francais mentions the report that a paper found on
one of the suspected individuals disclosed the existence of
a plot to blow up several houses in Paris, and that further
inquiries led to the belief that 45 persons were en-
gaged in this conspiracy. Among their number was the
working mechanic who killed the police-agent. Some
officers and soldiers have been arrested on the charge of
conspiracy against the Government, and it is said that
one of the charges against the editors of the Marseillaise
is that of tampering with the loyalty of the
army. The Soir contradicts the statement put for-
ward in some quarters respecting the existence of a
plot against the Emperor's life, and asserts that the
causes of offence did not comprise this crime. Seventy-
one persons were imprisoned on Saturday in the prison of
La Sante, after having been interrogated by the Jug°
d'lnstruction. By this time M. Bernier has interrogated
more than 200 persons who have been taken during the
last few days to the prison of La Sante.

THE GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION IN WALES.
We yesterday published a telegram stating that thirteen
men had been killed at the Morfa. Colliery, near Neath,
South Wales. The details which can be obtained are of
the most meagre description. The Western Mail says
that, " not only in Swansea,. but the entire district
in which the Morfa Colliery is situated was on Mon-
day in a state of panic." The only authentic account
comes from the proprietors 6f the colliery, Messrs. Vivian
and Sons. They supply the followin% :—" It appears
that at 6.20 am., as the men were proceeding to their work,
an explosion of a very violent character occurred at the
principal drawing shaft. The natural conclusion come to
was that this explosion was caused by fire-damp. Theman-
ager, Mr. Gray, at once descended the pit, and this afternoon
after a careful examination of the workings, he has
reported to us that a store of gunpowder, more or less
large, but supposed to be from a quarter to half a cask,
kept by the men engaged in sinking the pit to a deeper
level, had exploded, and caused the loss of life we have to
deplore. No evidence of an explosion of fire-damp can be
found; but everything tends to prove that the accident is
solely to be attributed to the cause alcove described. We
regret to state that, so far as can be ascertained, thirteen
men and boys have lost their lives, while upwards of
twenty other men and boys are more or less seriously in-
jured. No such quantity of powder was allowed to be left
in the pit."
One correspondent states that the night men were leaving
their work and the day men taking their place when the
explosion occurred. It took placenot very far from thebot-
tom of the pit. The shock was felt like an earthquake in
the neighbourhood, and the guides of the carriage were all
blown into atoms. At the pit's mouth it was not possible
to know the precise number of the killed and injured.
Some twenty-one or twenty-two had been taken up by
about four o'clock. Of those some were dead, others dying,
and others sadly burned. They, were raised in a bucket
one or two at a time. It is believed that a great
number of horses have been killed, as the stables
were in the immediate neighbourhood of the scene of the
explosion. Around the pit, mothers, fathers, brothers,
and sisters were anxiously waiting the arrival of each
bucket. This is not the first explosion in the Morfa, but
it is by far the most terrible. The place has been on fire
for more than a week, and many of the poor fellows who
were going down day after day were farm labourers from
Devon and Cornwall, who knew nothing at all about coal-
cutting and its dangers.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLZG JOURNALS.

The Times thinks the scheme of the Government is
simple, but sufficient. It will give the tenant no perpe-
tuity of tenure, but it will confer upon him the security
of holding he really desires, and will do so without confis-
cating a single valuable right of any Irish landowner. If
the bill be adopted—and there can be little doubt that be-
fore the end of the session it will be inscribed, with slight
variations, in the statute book as an act of Parliament—
the cultivator of the soil will be assured that he cannot be
ousted from the privilege of occupancy except through his
own default in non-payment of rent or misfeasance in pos-
session, and except upon such terms of compensation as
will eflectually restrain the landlord from evicting hint
without good cause. The landlord, on the other hand, will
henceforth feel that he enjoys the triple armour of justice
when the law supports him, and that not the law only,
but the opinion of the community and his own conscience,
will be on his side. There is no pretence of settling the
relations of the two classes when they mutually consent to
settle them themselves. All that is clone is to provide
that each shall be able to appeal to the law against the
misdoing of the other. Irish landlords must recognise in
the bill a means of giving them quiet possession of all they
really enjoy at the nominal drawback of restraining
powers which none but the reckless desire to exercise.
But how will the provisions of the bill emancipate the
Irish tenants from that subjection to the landlords
which makes the bill itself necessary ? Mr. Glad-
stone said, and rightly said, that the security
it offers to the tenant will encourage him to devote
this capial and his energy with renewed vigour. to
the cultivation of the land, and, by thus extending the
scope of his agriculture, will do much to absorb that sur-
plus of agricultural labour under which Ireland suffers.
We cannot, however, accept this as a complete solution
of the question. To equalise demand and supply we must
not merely increase the demand for labour, but recognise
the necessity of diminishing- the supply. However much
the sentimentalist may recoil from the Irish exodus, he is
no true friend of Ireland who attempts to shut his eyes
the truth that in this movement is to be found the most
potent means of placing the Irish husbandmen on a footing
of equality with his landlord. This was the explanation
of that great improvement in the island which reached its
height in 1860 ; we must look to the continuous develop-
ment of the same process for the completion of what was
then begun.

The Telegraph says that Mr. Gladstone kept a crowded
house enchained for three hours and five minutes, while he
expounded, as he alone can do, the successive claims of a
bill marvellous for the transparent simplicity of its diver-
sified machinery. Mr. Gladstone has achieved many an
oratorical triumph, but he never surpassed the effort of
Tuesday evening. As a work of art the speech was per-
fect ; but it was an art which gave the impression of
thorough artlessness. All the parts of the address seemed
to grow spontaneously, each in its proper place, finally
producing one perfect and complete impression out of an
infinite variety of details. Nothing came amiss, from
the graceful reciprocation of good wishes for the Empe-
ror of the French, to the serio-comic, proposal to fine
Irish landlords 2s 6d in each case for the amusement of
serving periodical notices to quit on their tenants. The
deep solemn tones of the Premier's voice never rang out
with greater clearness and emphasis, and they actually
seemed more sonorous and elastic at the end of the magni-
ficent peroration than they did at the beginning of the
speech ! The effect produced on the House was most
favourable. The Opposition received the general proposi
tion with marked geniality, and the public may augur for
it an easy and prosperous passage through Parliament.
The Bill altogether forms such a perfect whole that there
is scarcely any weak point for attack in detail, even if it

were likely to provoke hostility, instead of being,
as we believe it is, an acceptable peace offering to
all interested in the complicated subject with which it
deals.

The Pall Mall Gazette considers that the Irish Land Bill,
.ike the Irish Church Bill of last session, is designed to
effect a comprehensive and final disposition of the ques-
tion with which it deals. If the Government are right in
their estimate of its character and value, it will bring to
an end the long-standing quarrel between the owners
and the occupiers of the soil in Ireland.
The bill introduced last night is the fulfilment of
Mr. Gladstone's implied promise of two years
ago. It embodies his conception of what the settlement
of the " account of the Irish nation with the English
people in respect to the tenure of land," ought to be, of
the manner in which the " primary debt of justice " to
Ireland can best be discharged. The main provisions of
the measure, whatever may be the opinion entertained of
the wisdom of this or that clause, may certainly claim the
credit of being an honest and conscientious effort to
solve one of the greatest of legislative problems.
The Daily News declares that Mr. Gladstone's speech
explaining the provisions of the Irish Land Bill, adds
another to those masterpieces of expository eloquence with
which he has enriched the oratorical literature of England.
Tile measure which it introduced to the House of Commons
1)- omises to rank among the highest achievements of the
g. eat constructive statesmen of our generation. Judgment
is. not, however, to be passed upon it off-hand. Itself the
work of months of arduous and incessant labour, and
in a larger sense the product of nearly forty years'
inquiry and discussion, it cannot be appraised in a
moment. Though in accordance with the sensible
advice of Mr. Gathorne Hardy, the leading
members on either side of the House deferred discussion or
criticism of Mr. Gladstone's proposals, the symptoms of
general approval were unmistakeable. Intelligent Con-
servatives recognise in it, we have reason to believe, the
conditions of a satisfactory settlement. The tenant
farmers of Ireland will find it, if not all for which they
have lately asked, as much as they have expected or feel
entitled to. The bill, in its practical operation, will make
the voluntary rule of conduct hitherto adopted by good.
landlords a law of compulsion for bad ones. In so doing
the bill promotes the interest of landlords as well as of
tenants, and of bad landlords as well as of good.
Whatever fault, observes the Post, may be found with
the Irish Land Bill it certainly will not be on the ground
of want of comprehensiveness. In a speech of three
hours' duration Mr. Gladstone, after reviewing the condition
of the Irish tenant class, and the legislation which mainly
contributed to create that condition, explained in detail
the principles of a measure which leaves little even to the
most factious to quarrel with, unless, indeed, they
are prepared to ignore the fact that there are in
Ireland landlords as well as tenants, and that land-
lords should not be placed beyond the pale of the
law. Founded on principles of justice and of right, and
framed with the avowed object of removing those grie-
vances of which the tenant class have long and justly
complained,it leaves the proprietary rights of landlordswhere
it finds them. Discarding not only as inequitable but as im-
practicable all schemes based on a creation of perpetuity of
tenure, the Prime Minister sketched the broad outlines of
a bill which, if it becomes law, will afford occasion for com-
plaint to no man prepared to accept the obligations of
social existence. If the holder of land has his duties as
well as his rights, it cannot, with any pretence to jus-
tice, be suggested that the occupier of land is not bound to
fulfil correlative obligations. All that the tenant has a
right to demand is that so long as he fulfils his portion of
the contract he shall be rendered independent of the
caprice or tyranny of his landlord ; and when, by the act
of either party, the contract is brought to an end, that the
tenant shall be indemnified for such improvements as, by
his labour or the investment of his capital, he has effected
in his holding. To establish such a relationship, and to
afford such a protection, is the object of the Ministerial
measure.

We believe, says the Standard, that the bill is a moderate
one. We may add that we conceive it to tend, on the
whole, in the right direction, and to impose on the Con-
servative party no obligation to resist its being read a
second time. At the same time we cannot but think that
it interferes flagrantly, and, probably, to an unnecessary
extent, with freedom of contract, and that in
some respects it will be found to operate unfairly
to the discouragement of improving landlords, and

the encouragement of good-for-nothing tenants. It
is not, however, from those who think as we do
that the bill will receive the most vehement censure or the
most searching criticism. If it do not satisfy opr wishes,
we are free to confess that it does not realise our .fears.
But what will be said of it in Ireland ? Will it be ao.
cepted, as Mr. Gladstone hoped, by the tenants of that
country ? Will it be regarded as a fulfilment of his own
and Mr. Bright's large promises of " justice " and " re-
lief ?" Will it be—we do not say welcomed or
even accepted, but—endured by the fiery spirits
of the Dublin Conference and the various tenant-
right associations? Will it be approved or denounced in
the chapels of those Roman Catholic clergy who have
taken so mischievous a part in the last year's agitation ?

Will it be a " niessa,ge of peace " or of bitter disappoint-

went ? Will it conciliate or exasperate ; will it be received
with grumbling acquiescence or with frantic indignation 7

These are grave question; and we cannot say that

we feel any confidence that the reply will be
of a satisfactory character. The Irish party

were silent last night ; but their silence will not last
long, and we cannot think that it is likely to be broken by

a chorus of applause such as greeted the Church Bill of
last year in the same quarter. We trust that, whatever
Mr. Gladstone may hope, he is prepared for the worst,

and that he will not shrin!: from the measures that may

be necessary to protect the lives and property of loyal
subjects in the midst of the ebullition of angry and vin-
dicti v e feeling which, as we have all along foreseen, is but

too likely to follow the necessary diiappointraent of wild
and extravagant anticipation.%