The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-14 00:00:00

ft. •,:*
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MORNING EDITION

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1870.

"I hate plots—they always fail," is one of the
many happy and brilliant mots of LOTHAIR, The
exclamation is uttered by one of the most
sprightly of Mr. DISRAELI'S female characters.
The phrase is felicitous, because it is as true as it
is epigramatic. Conspirators are always bunglers.
They go wrong with a sort of a deliberate and per-
verse elaboration. The history even of a cabal, as a
rule, is the history of a fiasco. But any plotting of a
baser kind than a mere political intrigue—a
conspiracy aiming at success, let us say, through
the crime of assassination, is doomed to
failure from the outset—failure either in the
perpetration of the meditated crime, or in the reali-
zation of the design for the sake of which the blood-
shed was originally proposed. How many abortive
attempts, for example, have been made within the
recollection of us all during these last two decades
to destroy the life of the reigning Sovereign -of
France. PIANORI has fired his pistol within arm's
reach of him in the broad daylight. ORSINI has ex-
ploded his bombshells under the imperial carriage in
twilight at the entrance of the Opera House.
BELLEMARRE has aimed at the same " charm6d
life" just as vainly. GRILL!, BARTOLOTTI, and
TIBALDI-PIERI, RUDIO, and GOMEZ have laid their
villainous heads together to the same deadly end to
no better,purpose. As long ago as the first of July,
1852, a plot was discovered with a like object, only a
little more prematurely. Scarcely three months later
an infernal machine, contrived for the destruction of
the Ruler of France, was seized—this was
on the 23rd of September, 1852—at Mar-
seilles. A desperate attempt at the EmPEßojt's
assassination was again made in the November of
1853, less than a year after his marriage with
EUGENIE DE MONTIJO, the Countess of Teba. An-
other conspiracy for the Emperor's assassination was
brought to light on the 11th July, 1857. GREGO and
his accomplices conspire, to take the life of NAPOLEON
111. in 1864, were brought to trial and were convicted.
The CZAR and the EMPEROR were fired at together at
Paris when riding to a review of the troops. Con-
spiracy after conspiracy has failed to sweep the Em-
peror NAPOLEON from the face of the earth by
murderous discharges of either bomb or bul-
let even within these few months last
past. And, as the result of each abortive attempt or
preparation for an attempt of this infamous character,
we read, as we read yesterday on the morrow of all
revelations of some new plot that has failed, that the
EMPEROR and EMPRESS have been driven in a plain
open carriage at a foot pace through the St. Giles's
and Whitechapels of Paris, and have there been
cheered with enthusiasm along the streets
and boulevards by the labouring population.
It must surely be pretty evident by this time that
these miserable conspirators and would-be assassins
are, to put it mildly, but very dull fellows indeed, and
that they are one and all egregious blun
derers. Instead of injuring a hair of the head of
the man who is the object of their especial ab-
horrence, they invest him more radiantly than ever
with the panoply of popular sympathy while strength-
ening his hold upon the loyalty of a population whose
allegiance is only intensified by the generous ardour
of its scorn for the whole race of assassins.

People nowadays make such extraordinary pro-
positions that it is difficult to feel surprise at any
scheme that may be suggested, no matter how
startling its provisions or how complex its char acter.
We must confess, however, that the plan of the pro-
posed railway through Greenwich-park is an excep-
tion to the rule, and it is no cause of wonder that
consternation has been expressed at its proposal.
The Admiralty have determined to oppose the Bill.
The Astronomer Royal has addressed a memorandum
to the Admiralty stating that " every foreign geo-
graphical determination of distant points has for
many years depended on reference to Greenwich
observations, and that there is no doubt some sus-
picion would attach to these observations if a railway
passed through the park." In explanation of this extra-
ordinary proposal, it is said that the journey might, per-
haps, be shortened by three minutes as regards com-
munication between London and Woolwich. Com-
munication between Woolwich • and Greenwich is
wanted, but it has no reference to the park. Con-
nection is wanted between London and a station in
East Greenwich, but the tramway system may be
be inoculated into the railway system, so as to give
the required facilities. The Astronomer Royal
truly remarks that this connection cannot justify
the national dishonour, the enormous expense, and
the injury to West Greenwich, which would arise
from carrying the line through the park. He adds
that the Observatory is mainly for the promotion and
advantage, not of speculative, but of utilitarian
astronomy, and its actual utility is not simply
national but universal. Against these objections
it has been urged that power might be given to
him to control the speed of trains ; but then
interference would be a very awkward business,
and altogether it would be difficult, if not impos-
sible, to put the provisions into practice. The
Hydrographer of the Admiralty arrives at the same
conclusion. He says that conflicting results have fol-
lowed from the observations made to ascertain
how the vibrations caused by trains would
affect the most delicate observations, in some in-
stances the tremors have been felt at a distance of
over 300 feet, while in others they have not been
apparent at much less distances. The full conse-
quences cannot be appreciated until the railway is in
operation, but the Hydrographer cannot conceive how
merely pecuniary interests can be put into competi-
tion with objects of so momentous a character as those
which are at stake. Surely there is force in this
observation, and still more effective is the argument
which follows, to the effect that, even, if the interests
of the local public made it desirable that the railroad
should be run through Greenwich Park, they should
succumb to the grave and more than national interests
involved. "There is not a spot on the earth's sur-
face where astronomical observations have been, or
will be made, which is not more or less subservient
to, or associated with, the Royal Observatory at
Greenwich. Many foreign nations are entirely depen-
dent on it." It seems almost incredible that any one
in his senses should seriously entertain such a propo-
sal as this bill, and after this we may well ask, with
Mr. COBDEN,—What next ? At all times it is neces-
sary to make partial schemes give way to general
claims; but when the affected object of any plan is,
as in the present instance, a point of national impor-
tance, opinions cannot differ as to the imperative
necessity that exists for the lesser to yield to the
greater claim. What, then, remains to add when the
question resolves itself into a comprehensive subject