The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 13, 1870.

complete discomfiture. Even in this moment of de-
spair, however, some thoughtful persons contrived
to keep possession of their wits, and set sedu-
lously to work to tncet the emergency.
Some made active exertions to rescue those
who were buried beneath the ruins, while others
hastened to
_the hell-house and commenced tolling,

so that the aid of *he firemen was speedily put into
requisition, and many of the citizens also hurried to
the scene of confusion and distress. The case was
one which demanded all that skill and strength,
could do, and even then its sufferings and sorrows
were overpowering. Men who had stormed Gettys-
burg declared that they had never witnessed • so sad
and heart-rending a sight as that before them. Turn-
ing from the details of a calamity which reckoned
among its victims 60 killed, and 120 more or less
seriously injured, which filled the streets of the city
with mourners and draped its walls in black, we
may well inquire into the cause of the disaster. It
appears that there was some most reprehensible care-
lessness in the matter. An experienced architect
who examined the Capitol declared that a fatal error
was committed in making interior changes in the

building without examining the girder which gave
way on the 27th, and occasioned the calamity.
It was formerly supported by columns, which
were removed to improve the appearance
of the Hall of the House of Delegates. The
girder in question was composed of two pieces of
timber bolted together, making an area of 13 by 20
Inches, but as if to make assurance doubly sure, so
far as regarded the doctrine of chances in casualties,
there was a mortise in the centre of the girder which
reduced the available strength to 9k- by 20 inches.
Mr. DIVAELI occasioned great amusement by sug-
gesting in his effective manner that it would be worth
while to hang an architect to improve the style of
public buildings. But surely if he were to cross the
Atlantic he would reserve that doom for those im-
provers and remodellers who prefer elegance to en-
durance, and reckon safety as nothing when appear-
ance is in question. The recklessness which prevails
in regard to human life is iroverbial in America, but
this seems out-Heroding HEROD to remove the props
of a room or gallery which is apt to be crowded to
excess, while it overhangs a crowded assembly below.
Another phase of the question is of a brighter kind,
for if we censure the carelessness which led to the
calamity, we must recognize the kindliness of feeling
which was displayed on the occasion. We have seen
how the sufferers were befriended in the first mo-
ments of terror by the thoughtfulness and readiness
of some observant bystander, but throughout the
whole course of the affair the greatest care and con-
sideration were shown. A public meeting was called,
and resolutions were passed expressive of sympathy,
and appointing a day of humiliation to commemorate
the sad disaster. The deepest sympathy was felt
throughout the United States, and subscriptions
were collected for the survivors. Messages of condo-
lence and offers of assistance came from Frk dericks-
burg, Petersburg, and other cities and towns of the
State of Virginia. A message was telegraphed from
Broadway, New York, to a citizen of Richmond,
" My heart bleeds for your buried people ; draw on
me for a thousand dollars." It is satisfactory to re-
cord such instances of kindness and consideration
beside tales of suffering which reached to so appalling
an extent, and it may fairly be said that the American
character comes out brightly in the recital of the
tragic scenes in the Capitol of Richmond. A singu-
lar fatality attends this city, for I eople still speak in
solemn tones of the fearful fire which occurred in

hichmond Theatre in 1811, and of the night in
which seventy persons were buried or destroyed in
the attendant confusion. The present generation
have a monument to mark the spot, but the
recent calamity, which eclipses that at the corn-
niencementnf the century, is not likely to be for-
gotten, while those who took part in the affair may
survive, and even then the dark day will live in the
recollection of those to whom they have imparted
their reminiscences of an event which was an epoch
in their existence.

It is not surprisil g that Mr. LOWTHER failed to
persuade the House of Commons to reject the Subur-
ban Commons Bill. According to the hon. member

there is an indefinite amount of invaluable mineral
wealth buried beneath our waste spaces, and in our
foolish eagerness to prevent inclosure we are inter-
fering with the industry of the country, stopping em-
ployment, and impoverishing the national exchequer.
As the working man saunters over Clapham Com-
mon or the children run races on Hampstead Heath
they are culpably indifferent to the fact that possibly
far under their feet lie precious things which might
be brought to the light of day and turned to good
account. Unfortunately for Mr. LOWTHER'S argu-
ment, fortunately for less enlightened mortals, the
House of Commons manifested supreme ignorance
of mineralogy, and a provoking distrust of the
pious and public-spirited intentions of enclosing
lords of the manor. They refused to reject the bill,
they refused a select committee, they persisted in
their unwarrantable interference with private inte-
rests for the public good. It is heartily to be de-
sired that every effort of the kind may meet with a
similar result, and that so far-from conceding an
inch to the friends of enclosure, the Government
will exert themselves more strenuously than hereto-
fore in a matter that really and truly cone erns the
well-b(ing of the people.

Mr. LOWTHER has never come across an old French
fable, which nevertheless has its moral. A husband-
man dying left his sons au unprofitable field, tell-
ing them that a treasure was buried in it, he was
uncertain in what part. All the digging and delving,
and toiling, and ploughing, of the young men brough t

D gold to light, but the treasure was found never-

theless. The cultivation, of the barren field pro-
duced a rich harvest. The treasures which
our working classes get by their trips to
'Hampstead and to Epping, and to the other
breathing spaces round the metropolis, are the
very reverse of this. They are not to be had
by cutting up the greensward and tearing out the
wild flowers by the roots. They do not come with
the axe and the spade and other materialising
agents, but they are to be found in the blue sky, the
breath of the pure, fresh air, the short but restorative
draught of those simple, natural pleasures which the
toil-worn, down-trodden citizen of our thronging
streets and alleys rarely tastes. Of false and feverish
excitements, of degrading pleasures and amusements
that wean him from his family, the London worker
has enough, and more than enough, at hand ; but
the natural pleasures, refining in their purity, ele-
vating in their simplicity, are too dear for him in
this age of gold. In spite of Mr. LOIVTHER, the
minerals of the earth do not exhaust the wealth
of Nature ; she has other and better gifts—