The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-24 00:00:00

I' E SUN L(L's, DUN, SATURD LV, SEPTEMBER 24, X 670.

government of the kind, which may poibly he a
success, should be permanently installed in Paris as
one of the fruits of the German victories. In no
other way can we interpret the extraordinary
proclamation rat Rheims. The real meaning
of such manifestoes as that of Rheims
is that the German leaders regard the Go-
vernment of France as an, tirwri question:

the place left vacant ..by the EMPEROR is not yet
filled up, they urge; and until it is, the late rtgime,
scattered 2 though it be, cannot be considered as de-
prived of its functions. They are waiting in
the hope that something may turn up to
avoid this ugly nostrum of a Republic.
Delay may produce complications, and com-
plications lead to changes. If the Reds; for
instance, commence street fighting, an outbreak of
this kind would obviously put the Germans in pos-
session of everything, and.:at the same time render
another "Saviour of Society " needful. In brief, a 3
matters stand, there seems perfect justiee in the con-
clusion that King WILLIAM and his diplomatists
have it at heart to prevent, the establishment of a
possibly successful Republic on the frolitier of Ger-
many, where Republicanism is very prevalent. Ger-
man blood is not to be shed in furtherance of a prin-
ciple which German holders of power most cordially
detest.

THE Postal changes effected within the last thirty
years are as marvellous in their way as the changes
effected within the remembrance of the present
generation in the means of locomotion. They are as
marked, in fact, as the advance made by the electric
telegraph upon the old, clumsy, arm-swinging sema-
phore—evidencing as complete a transformation as
that marked by the contrast of an express train
whirled along a modern railway, when corhp'ared
with the old lumbering stage waggon with a
wicker basket slung on behind for the
humbler passengers, a ramshackle conveyance
familiar enough to the students of HOGARTU and to
the readers of "Roderick Random." After Sir
ROWLAND HILL the deluge—that is of millions upon
millions of penny stamped letters and penny
stamped newspapers. Before the advent of the great
Postal Reformer to St. Martin's-le-Grand—corre-
spondence crossed and re-crossed in the writing of
it, correspondence seldom penned, correspondence
conveyed slowly and charged exorbitantly ! Don't we
perfectly well remember letters in those old days,
before envelopes were invented, when they were
laboriously indicted on large quarto pages, curiously
folded, ;and lapped into one another when so folded,
and sealed with sealing wax—or, as in the instance
of MARY the housemaid at Mr. NupxrNs's, the Mayor
of Ipswich, and of Mr. JOHN SAIAUKER, the livery
servant in attendance upon CYRUS BANTAM,
Esq., the Master of the Ceremonies, at Bath (all of
these, characters familiar to those who are well up
in their "Pickwick " ) the wafers of which bore upon
them the impress, the latter of a street-door key, the
former of a thimble. Since penny postage came as
a boon some thirty years ago nous avons change tout
cela. We have the swiftest and the cheapest trans-
mission of correspondence, We have the book post
and the pattern post, and now in a very few days
more we shall have the halfpenny post cards, and the
halfpenny stamp for newspapers. How, in truth,
the declension might be expressed in the famous
line—

" Small by degrees and beautifully less :"
not in LEIGH HUNT'S quaint parody upon it—

" Small all at once and hideously little."

For less than a halfpenny we cannot in reaso ► hope
now to have either our newspapers or our corre-
spondence transmitted through Government agency.
The happy limit has at last been reached. One only
improvement can we yet dream of—to wit, the
ranking by the halfpenny, not of a newspaper
weighing six ounces, but of six ounces of newspapers

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

render each class as perfect as possible for the par-
ticular service required.

MR. REED'S VIEW.

The theory that the centre of gravity having
been placed too high in her Majesty's
late ship the Captain:, had led to her
loss, is altogether disputed by Mr. Reed,
whose observations at the meeting of the British
Association have now reached us in full. The cap-
sizing tendency of the vessel could not properly be
said to have arisen from the low position of the
centre of gravity. Mr. Reed declared that if there had
been two ships exactly alike, with the centres of
ravity exactly in the same position, and if the one
had had high sides and the other low sides, •the one
with lowj sides would have been lost and the
other not, under the , same conditions of
weather. He was afraid that the real lesson
of the Captain's loss would not be learnt
as it ought to be. Mr. Childers was un-
happily a great believer in ships constructed on the
same principles as the Captain. This vessel's want
of stability in a moderate gale exemplified the causes
of her destruction. It was true that if the centre
of gravity had been so low as to giva the Captain
the same leverage at large inclinations as the
Monarch, she would not have capsized ; but the
_ _

very principle of that class of ships was that they
should carry great weights aloft, and it was per-
fectly idle to dream of introducing into
ships of that kind a position for the
centre of gravity which should counteract the
tendency to heel over consequent upon the great
weights carried above deck. These remarks Mr. Reed
made with some emphasis to shew that the low free
board of the Captain and her heavy masts and sails
had jointly served to make her heel over after a
certain point of inclination, and so founder. Mr.
Reed concluded his speech at Liverpool on Tuesday
with the following remarkable expression. "The loss
of the man-of-war taught us that it did not matter
whether a man was a Minister, an admiral, or a cap-
tain, he must not indulge in idle dreams and delusions
upon scientific questions, but must bring his proud
head down to the altar of science and pay proper
homage there."

TWO NEW WAR VESSELS.

R.M.S. Vanguard and the Cerberus, the latter
intended for;: the Australian station, have recently
been launched, and are r now being tried and filled
with stores for their respective services:at sea. The
former vessel is an armour-plated iron ship carrving
ten 12-ton guns besides four 64-pounders. The
result of official trials satisfied some authorities that
in her sailing qualities the vanguard was much faster
than the other three ships of her class, namely,
the Audacious, Invincible, and Iron Duke, although
of the same build, tonnage, and horse power. It
was, however, decided to make a further trial on
,rrhursday, to see if;, the superiority could be main-
tained. After two runs on the measured mile, how-
ever, the thrust bearings of the vessel became
heated, and it was deemed prudent to postpone the
test, in order to have the defect remedied. The

Vanguard is a noble specimen of shipbuilding, and
is stated by scientific men to.lbe a ship that can at
all times be handled with confidence and safety.
The Cerberus, which will shortly leave England
for her future destination under: the command of
Navigating-Lieutenant William Panter, R.N., is a
turret ship. The difficulty respecting a crew for her
has not yet been overcome, although the wages at
first offered have been increased from £2 10s. a
month to £4 10s. The Cerberus is at Chatham.

SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS.

NEWCASTLE, FRIDAY.
The first business of the members and associates, this
morning, was to hasten to the Town Hall, where Lord
Neaves, the President of the Department of Juris-
prudence and Amendment of the Law, delivered his
inaugural address. Having referred to the difficulties of
his task in dealing with the question of the reformation of
the law, his lordship said : " I confess I belong to the old,
perhaps the antiquated, school, that considers it the para-
mount object in the reformation of the law to establish it
on just principles, and to procure its good administration;
and I consider that reform to be the best which gives us
the best law, with as little delay and at as little expense
as is compatible with goodness. One element of the
goodness that I speak of will be best understood by con-
sidering what law is in its essence. The causes that lead
to bond fide disputes in law are of four different kinds.
The law may be certain, but 'the facts are uncertain.
The law may be certain, but the subject to which we have
to apply it is uncertain, from the uncertainty or am-
biguity of words used in some written instrument or
orally uttered The state of the facts may be known and
certain, but may he new, and not expressly ruled already,
and it may be thus uncertain what legal principle is ap.
plicable to it. Both the state of the facts may be uncer-
tain, and the law applicable to them may be unfixed.'
These points were argued out, and in the course of his
remarks, the President expressed his opinion on the sub-
ject of trial by jury, saying, " I believe it, on the one
hand, to be an excellent mode of educating the men who
take a part in it, but further, and which is of more rele-
vancy here, I believe it to be the best mode of deter-
mining certain classes of facts falling within the compre-
hension of ordinary men, and requiring merely good
sense and good feeling to judge of them. In such ques-
tions I think the honest instincts of the jury-box a surer
and safer instrument, than the mind of a judge with his
special tendencies and scrupulous refinements." Passing
on to notice the improvements necessitated in the law,
Lord Neaves, at great length, stated his views, which
may be summarised thus. First, the best security that
can be obtained should be given to the grave, mature,
and deliberate decision of new questions of law, of an
abstract nature and general application, so that, when
once decided, they may remain permanently fixed and
unquestioned. Second, the improvement by every pos-
sible means of the phraseology and generalistructure of
deeds of contract and conveyance, and of our Acts of
Parliament, so that as few questions of construc-
tion may be raised, and as little doubt en-
tertained, of the true meaning intended. Third,
that special consideration should be given to the best
manner of ascertaining facts according to the nature of
the case, and of separating the facts thus ascertained
from the law applicable to them. Fourth, that in all pro-
cedure, whether for • ascertaining facts or deciding law,
no pains should be spared, and no care grudged, to con-
vince the lieges that there is every desire in courts of law
to find out the truth and to decree justice, and that,
humanly speaking, the best means are taken by which
wrong may be put down and right made triumphant.
Finally and consistently with these great leading objects,
every means should be employed to make the administra-
tion of law as expeditious and as little expensive as possible.
The all-important question of food was discussed in the
Health Department, where Mr. Phillips Beavan read an
interesting paper on "The Legislation to Preveat Adul-
teration of Food and Drink." The following facts in
relation to the legislation. on the subject ex-
isting in other countries were given, as the
result of special inquiries made through the
Foreign Office and at the various Consulates and Lega-
tions. In Rhode Island, the penalty for adulteration of
food, drink, and drugs, or for selling unwholesome food,
is imprisonment up to six months, or a fine up to 200
dollars. In Missouri the adulteration of food is a misde-
meanour, punishable with imprisonment up to one year,
or a fine up to 500 dollars; but adulteration of intoxicating
liquors with strychnine or any other injurious substance,
is a felony, punishable by imprisonment from two
to five years • so in others .of the States. The
Prussian Penal Code provides that any person selling
adulterated or spoiled-goods shall be liable to a penalty
up to fifty dollars, or imprisonment for six weeks, with
confiscation of goods. In these cases it is not necessary
that the seller be aware of the adulteration, for he is
liable just the same. If death ensue, the seller is punished
with death ; but if only severe bodily injury, the penalty
is imprisonment from ten up to twenty years. At
Konigsberg there is an additional law respecting
the sale of damaged meat, and particularly
of pork containing trichince. At Leipzig the
same regulations are in force, but the police are not
active. At Hamburg, if any injury happens to the buyer,
the seller is liable to be imprisoned for from three months
to four years. In Holland the Dutch law is very similar
to the Code Napoldon, and inflicts a punishment of im-
prisonment for from six days to two years, with a fine of
from 16 to 500 francs. The adulteration of bread with
copperas or vitriol is dealt with by an imprisonment of
from two to five years, and a fine of from 200 to 500 francs.
Not only is punishment provided for people who mix
ingredients for adulteration, but also for those who manu-
facture or sell the ingredients, knowing that they are to
be used for adulteration.
In the Economy and Trade Department a voluntary
paper on the Opium Traffic was read by Mr. J. W.
Chesson. He remarked that our whole policy towards
China had been affected by our connection with the fatal
poppy, and that, judged by a moral standard, it was im-
possible to regard with complacency either the past his-
tory or the present position of the opium traffic. He
contended that if we were not responsible for the
acts of past generations, we were, at all events,
responsible for •compelling the Chinese to lega-
lize the foreign opium trade, and for taking up
the ground, that whether the drug was harmful or
not, India could not, and would not, give up the money
she would lose by surrendering this branch of her revenue.
He disputed the truth of the statement made by Mr.
Grant Duff that " the cultivation of the poppy was a very
favourite one." It was certainly not a favourite cultiva-
tion with the ryots, who were virtually coerced into grow-
ing opium, and who were so fleeced by Khuttadars and
other agents and spies of the Government, that,
after they had paid their rent to the Zemin-
dars, and conveyed their produce to Patna or
Benares, their balance sheet more frequently
represented a loss than a profit. Having explained the
nature of the oppressions from which the ryots suffered,
he commented on the injury which was inflicted upon
India by the extent to which the best soil of the country
had been taken up with the cultivation of the poppy ;
and remarked, that if the richest lands of that empire
were perverted from the benefical function of supplying
food for man to the production of poison for the
Chinese, the revenue derived from the sale of that poison
only exhibited one side of the account ; there was another
which should be represented, not only by the money value
of the food which was lost to the people, but also by the
enhanced price of every species of grain. The exceptional
nature of our connection with this drug had vitiated the
whole of our relations with the Chinese empire. In reply
to the argument, that if opium were no longer sent from
India to China, the only effect would be to increase its
cultivation in the latter country, he said that if the
Chinese insisted upon poisoning themselves in spite of our
stopping the supply from India, we should at all events
cease to share the guilt. At present the Chinese might
fairly argue, that if opium was to be forced upon
them they had better cultivate it -for themselves, because
they could grow it cheaper, and of a quality less delete-
rious, than the preparation which they now received at
the hands of Christian Englishmen. But Pagan justice
might yet prove itself wise and powerful enough to em-
ploy strong measures to rid the country of a curse
which, so long as it existed there, must torment the con-
science and humiliate the pride of every upright man of
English blood who contemplated the future of the
Flowery Land.
This section was also furnished with an important
paper by Mr. Chadwick, on the " Chief Economical Prin-
ciples for Consideration in Relation to National as against
Standing Armies, as displayed in the Present War on the
Continent." It was argued that the principles of a
national as against a standing army, of an educated as
against an uneducated rank and file, have not been
accepted by the military authorities in this country any
more than by the authorities in France, but for the
economical question, it is important to observe that they
have been put in distinct and decisive issue in the great
campaign between the armies of Germany and
France, which is a conflict between a national
army and a standing army ;, between an army in
which civilian element prevails in the rank and file, and
an army of exclusively military training ; between an
army of (comparatively) short barrack and camp service
—of men who are the greater part of their time engaged
in civil productive occupation, from which most of them
are taken direct, and an army of men long—of almost
life-long—service, exclusively of barrack and camp occu-
pation. The front ranks of the Prussian national
army are chiefly composed of the civilian element.
The working of the element of education in the ranks of
the German national armies is a most important subject
of observation in an economical point of view. The edu-
cation of the French commission officers is well planned
on paper, but in the field it has been found to be very
defective. Out of 130 commissioned officers taken at
Woerth, it was found that 17 could not write: The edu-
cation of the entire body of the German commissioned
officers is reported to be at least equal to that of the offi-
cers of our scientific corps, the engineers and artillery. But,
such as it is, the Prussian authorities are not satisfied with it,
and they propose, on the grounds of military efficiency,
to discontinue the education and training sought for here
of an exclusive standing army or military caste, and to
assimilate the commands to the civilian element of the
ranks. The French officers have under their command a
ra-k and file of men generally indifferently educated,
and a large proportion positively ill-educated, and some,
the Turcos, in a state of almost' primitive barbarism.
The Prussian officers have under their command a rank
and file of men generally well educated in the
national schools. It has excited surprise in
the places in France, where the German troops
have been stationed, that even the privates could all
write. The French leaders appear, fromtheir entire
and boundless confidence, to have made the mistake
absolutely of supposing that they had the same sort of
German rank and file to deal with as that encountered
by Napoleon the First—a rank and file a great part of
which only recently emerged from positive servitude, and