The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-19 00:00:00

what has become of all the special correspondents it pur-
ported to have at the seat of war.
What has become of Sir Colman O'Loghlen ? Before
he became Judge Advocate-General he brought forward
two or three useful measures, and though he did no
teed in passing them, he at least brought the subject of
them before the notice of Ilrliament. But he seems to
have forgotten them all now that he is installed on
the Treasury Bench. Yet there is urgent need of
one of his reforms that of the law of libel.
The criminal suit against Mr. Leng shews how grossly
unfair the existing law is. There is no other offence in
which a man may be held criminally liable for the mis-
deed of another. You cannot punish a man criminally
because his employe has taken away the life of another
person; why should you be able to do so when, instead of
life, character is involved ? Moreover character in
the present case was not destroyed. You can't
restore a dead man to life, however keen

may be the regret inspired by his death, but
character may be restored, and was restored in the
case of Lady Sefton. In fact, it can hardly be said that
it was seriously injured. The libel was too short-lived,
was too promptly contradicted, to do much harm.
Whether Lord Sefton will altogether escape the imputa-
tion of vindictiveness I am not prepared to say. Any
way, the present law is contrary to the whole spirit and
tenor of English justice, and Sir Colman O'Loghlen
will do well to reintroduce his bill next session, with
clauses added to remedy the present wrong.
The Marquis of Hartington has done one good thing
this year. He has agreed with the Peninsular and Orien-
tal Company that they shall start their steamers from
Brindisi as soon as the Mont Cenis tunnel is completed.
This, as I mentioned in a recent letter, will be in a very
few months, and it will then be possible for Indian letters
to be answered by the mail of the week in which they
arrive, whereas now six days intervene.
Since 1857 nine million persons have visited the South
Kensington Museum. Last year there were over a million,
and no doubt when Mr. Cole has got his promised birds
and beasts from Bloomsbury into Albert-land his place of
entertainment will draw more than ever. It has cost a
pretty considerable sum, remembering how little of
beauty there is about it. £306,000 is a large amount to
pay for such a structure. But this is a modest figure
compared with the cost of management, which in twelve
years has been £630,500, or about £l,OOO a week. Who
gets alithis money, and what is the work done for it, are
questions that I should very much like to see answered.

The sad accident which I mentioned in my last has been
explained in private letters, which gave the same account
as that published in the Times of Monday. It was not on
the Mer de Glace, but high up Mont Blanc, that the
catastrophe occurred. Search was made for 100 feet down,
but no trace of the victims was found. It is
questionable if the breaking of the rope caused
the loss of the lives, or the saving of one. Miss
Wilkinson, the survivor of the three, was within a
very few feet of the crevasse. Probably, if the rope had
not broken, she, too, would have been dragged in, though
it is possible that, had the rope been sound, it might have
saved Mrs. Marke and the guide. However that may be, Al-
pine tourists will learn two lessons from this calamity : that
even the most frequented ascents are dangerous, and that
Swiss ropes are not to be trusted.

Of literary news I have but little to tell you, for this
is the very height of the dull season. The lives of the

" Senior Wranglers," written by two Camb4dge men,
barristers on the Norfolk circuit, will be published next
season. Sir John Hay has published as a pamphlet his
speech on Mr. Gladstone's statement with respect to the
war, delivered in the House of Commons, August 1. Some
benevolent bibliophile has discovered a genuine Caxton
in the French Protestant Church, St. Martin's-le-Grand.
It was gradually being torn up for lighting the fire.
The London friends of Mr. Ashbury are exceedingly
pleased at the triumph of his yacht, the Cambria, in
the race for the cup of the New York Yacht Club, in
American waters, on Tuesday. They contend that this
victory establishes the genuine superiority of the craft, in
which Mr. Ashbury has always placed so much confidence.
One of the last of the special correspondents sent out to
the war placed under arrest by the French was Mr.
Nicholas A. Woods, who writes from the French lines for
the Scotsman. When watching at the Metz Railway
Station for the arrival of trains with the wounded
he was pounced upon by gendarmes and searched.
The men having been convinced of Mr. Woods'
neutrality and innocence, released him, and he crossed the
rails to the platform at the other side of the station. Here
he was again seized, and he was obliged to appeal to his
first captors before the second batch of gendarmes allowed
themselves to understand that he was a correspondent.
After the second apprehension Mr. Woods was told that
he had better leave Metz, as it was no place then for any-
one that did not want to serve France.

P.S.—There can be little doubt that active negociations
of some kind are proceeding between the British Government
and the belligerents. Prince Murat had an interview with
Earl Granville on Sunday. He returned to Paris, and
came back to London yesterday. This morning he again
visited Earl Granville at Walmer. This does not look as
if the Government were remaining inactive at the present
crisis.