The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, J IiNE 20, 1870.

Britain, whose claims to political rights have
been so loudly supported in the House of Commons,
and so enthusiastically maintained outside, such an
exercise is in the highest degree traitorous, criminal,
and avaricious. It must be sternly repressed, and
we need not wone.er that several of these unfortu-
nate non-unionists were so maltreated that they
could not work for some days. Quite right,
of course. They could not stop work-
ing when directed to do so by their fellows,
therefore they must be made to stop. All's fair
in love and war, says the a-'age, and of course this
is specially the case when the war is between labour
and capital, between employer and employed. We
have heard something of aristocratic tyranny, of
middle class oppression, of the honest desire of
English working-men for political rights for
themselves and their children. All just
and excellent, no doubt, but if this is a
specimen of their legislation, it might be more pru-
dent to keep to the legislation of Peers and Bour-
geoisie, since we all stand a chance, under these admi-
rable social theorists, of getting our heads broken
with a stone, or our limbs shattered with a flask of
gunpowder, should we be indiscreet or dishonest
enough -Oa depart from the beaten track.

PRESIDENT GRANT'S proclamation condemning
the Fenian raid was thought a fine stroke of friendli-
ness in this country, and the English Ambassador at
Washington has thanked the American Government
for the favour ; but the Canadians are disposed to
think differently. They have, indeed, decided upon
making a formal complaint of the conduct of the
United States Executive in allowing a Fenian invasion
of Canada to be prepared without let or hindrance on
American territory. They declare that the proclama-
tion was issued so late as to be almost worthless in
affecting the course of the Fenian movement; it
only appeared after much injury had been done,
whereas measures might have been taken much
sooner. The facts certainly afford great justification,
for this complaint. The Fenian raid was no secret
scheme, but open and notorious. Long before it took
place the world was informed that the great descent
VMS in preparation. In every considerable
town in the Northern States the plans of
the Brotherhood underwent discussion; the
organisation was carried to some degree of perfection;
funds and weapons were collected; and at length was
visible a general movement of Fenians all along the
frontier from Michigan to the Atlantic seaboard.
The Government remained inactive. The invasion was
allowed to take place. A considerably bodq of Fenians
concentrated themselves in Vermont, adjoining the
Canadian frontier on the east; they hastily crossed, and
still more hastily recrossed, after a sanguinary conflict
in which not less than one man was killed, and, say,
two or three wounded. After the invasion appeared
the proclamation, discountenancing the attempt, and
directing the. United States officers to inter-
fere ; and after the defeat some of the
Fenian ringleaders were captured. This was
all very well, but the Canadians hold that
the marauders might have been stopped at an
earlier stage of their doings, for, as it was, great loss
. was inflicted on the colony by panic and the cost of
preparation—all of which injury might have been
prevented by timely movement.
There can be no doubt that the negative
assistance of the American Government was
of value. Had the Fenians found cause to
entertain the hope that their enterprise was
gporAtiv annroved at Washington the. invasion
have become formidable. Moreover, there is some-
thing to be said in respect of the liberty of the sub-
ject, to which so wide an interpretation is given in
. America. More unrestrainedly even than in
England, can a man say and write what
he pleases in the United States. It was
impossible for the President to prevent
the full discussion and development of the Fenian
plans, just as it is impossible for the English Ministry
to hinder the elaboration of anti-Napoleonic plots in
London, Still there is a wide difference between
the open discussion of hostile schemes and
the actual assembling of large bodies of
armed men at different points on the fron-
tier. President GRANT might have prevented
the movement from attaining this menacing position.
That he would not have exceeded the limits of his
authority in doing so is proven by a precedent, which
he himself has established. Some time ago a filibus-
tering expedition, under the command of Colonel
RYAN, destined for Cuba, was completely frustrated
by the American authorities. In this case the Govern-
ment did not wait until an act of invasion had been
accomplished. It was deemed sufficient that the
expedition was notoriously planned to aid the Cuban
insurgents. On this common information the
Government took action, arrested Colonel RYAN,
dispersed his men, and so broke up the organisation
that no considerable portion of it ever
reached Cuba. Surely this is a case in
point. Had PRESIDENT GRANT acted towards
the Cuban filibusters as he acted towardstheFenians,
he would have quietly allowed the expedition to sail,
it would have accomplished whatever mischief it was
capable of in Cuba, then would have appeared an
official proclamation setting forth the wickedness of
such plans, and a straggler or two might have been
arrested as they returned home. What the PRESIDENT
actually did was right. If it was right in one case,
it was right in the other. Had the American Exe.
cutive taken note of this wholesale migration of.
Fenians to the North, and prevented the incursion
across the border; had the proclamation and the
arrests come a few days sooner, the claim of the
Americans to English and Canadian gratitude could
not have been alloyed by unpleasant considerationa

THE hackneyed Horatian maxim about the trans-
forming effect of time must have been in the minds
of a good many persons who were present at Mon-
day night's debate on the University Tests Bill.
Four years ago Mr. GLADSTONE seemed to the
Conservative party the incarnation of revolu-
tion, the most dangerous of agitators, except, per-
haps, Mr. BRIGHT: Nay, even last year he was
held up to public reprobation as the ruthless destroyer
of time-honoured institutions. Yet this session we
find him filling the part so long taken by his prede-
cessor, and allying himself with the Conservative
party against the extreme section of his own fol-
lowers. There were four divisions on Monday upon
the measure above-mentioned, and in each instance
of Government success the hostile amendment
was moved by a Liberal, in each case the very large
minority was composed of Mr. GLADSTONE'S own
nominal supporters, and the majority was
obtained by the help of Mr. DISRAELI, Mr. HARDY,
and their followers. Nor is this likely to be the
only occasion on which this phenomenon will be
exhibited during the present session.
The position is a grave one, and may well cause
Mr. GLADSTONE some anxiety. At the same time it
does not necessarily follow that he is responsible for
it. Ilis Government is very different irom Lord
PALMERSTON'S. He has no desire to be the embodi-
ment of the "can't you let it alone ?" policy. But if
the disaffected Liberals go beyond. the Liberal
programme, or make demands which the country
would not support, the Premier is justified in
resisting them. No statesman can, in a country like
this, be much in advance of the nation. It is his
duty to direct and to lead, but he ought never to go

so far ahead as to be out of sight. Yet men like
Mr. FAWCETT and Mr. VERNON HARCOURT, mis-
taking their own set for the people of England,
would urge the PREMIER forward in a path
where the people of England would cer-
tainly not follow him at present, nor, we believe,
at any future time. The attempt to prohibit religious
teaching in primary schools, which is to be made this
week, was preceded -on Monday by the attempt to
prohibit the establishment of denominational colleges.
The jealmisy of the clergy and of all, religious
teachers and teaching entertained by the advanced
Radicals, has made them forget the first principles of
Liberalism, has made them utterly intolerant to
all religion. Mr. VERNON HARCOURT, for instance,
would actually forbid pious persons to found colleges
at Oxford in which religious teaching formed an es-
sential part of the curriculum, just as he would pre-
vent any body -of religionists from establishing a
denominational school. The very foundation of the
University Tests Bill being the abolition of religious
disabilities, Mr. HARCOURT would re-enact them in
another form ; only whereas under the present sys-
tem a man suffers loss because he does not hold one
particular form of faith, the member for Oxford city
would punish him for holding any form of faith.
Anything more monstrously unjust, more flagrantly
opposed to the political principles whichare supposed
to govern all classes of Liberals, cannot be con-
ceived. But the incident shows. clearly that
fanaticism is not confined to religious professors, and
that it is easy to be as bigoted and intolerant against
religion as for it.
There was one point on wl ich we think the Secu-
larists had logic on their side. It is .not clear how in
a measure intended to abolish religious tests
any exception can be made with regard to
degrees in divinity. Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir
JOHN COLERIDGE argued that, as the degree
implied fitness to teach, we could not give the degree
unless we were prepared to admit the right of any
one who had taken it to become professor
in the faculty; and they attempted to frighten the
Nonconformists with the spectre of Archbishop MAN-
NING as regius professor of divinity at Oxford. Con-
sidering that this professor is appointed by the CitowN,
there is not very much chance of a Roman prelate
being selected for the post. But whether the chance
be great or little it has nothing to do with tho prin-
ciple that the examination in theology is for the
purpose of testing knowledge, not opinions ; and
that therefore acquaintance with the evidences of
Christianity should be sufficient without any avowal
of belief in creeds or articles. And what objection
can there be to this arrangement ? A candidate
who is examined in any other faculty does
not pledge himself to accept, even in the
present, much less for all time to come, the
principles of science or the facts of history
he has learnt; and there is no reason whythe study of
divinity should imply any such obligation. More-
over, as an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory, we
have only to point to the Scotch universities where
no such rule prevails. The Scots are the most theo-
logical people in the world, and, as a consequence,
they are the most sectarian, the most given to sepa-
rate from each other on points of doctrine. Yet
they have never found any difficulty in esta-
blishing a school of divinity at their universities
which is open alike to members of the Established
Church and to Dissenting bodies. Mr. WINTER-
BOTHAM, for some reason which ie altogether too
sub.tle for ordinary comprehension, opposed the
amendment urged by his friends, and he thereby
shewed that the Nonconformists were not at unity
on this point. It was not to be expected, therefore,
amt miuloctus, who limy° biro foal of " unuater place"
before them, would adopt an amendment that had
not the unanimous support of the party from whom
it emanated.

THE hesitation shown by the public in making use
of great scientific improvements has long been a
matter of astonishment and perplexity. The world's
practice is ever behind its theory. Science always
moves onward, but its discoveries meet
with little attention ; even when the advantage
is great and obvious it is long before any new project
or invention finds its way into general favour. The
threshing machine was in active operation in Scot-
land for upwards of eighty years before it found its
way to the South of England. At the present
moment a manufactory is in full operation in Bir-
mingham, making tinder-boxes for the use of those
persons who have not yet discovered the superiority of
the lucifer, not to speak of those inventions which are
improvements upon the lucifer itself. Patent mangles
were found clumsy and awkward half-a-century ago,
but they are still made and distributed, and the arm
of the widow with five young children yet grinds at
the old familiar mill. In times when education was
backward and news not rapidly diffused, this slowness
of practical progress might be excusable; but it is
inexplicable now-a-days. The management of our
streets and roads has long stood prominent as an
example of backwardness. For years past the
Parisians by the use of steam rollers have got over
the difficulty which we always experience in Eng-
laud when a road is newly paved with loose stones.
The advantages of a roller are great. The sharp
stones which inflict such injury upon horses
are in a few hours ground by the action of
this instrument into a smooth and level
road. To supplement the experience of Paris two
or three experiments have been tried in London with
thoroughly successful results ; yet the improvement
has not met with its well-deserved general adoption.
The Marylebone Vestry (the local authorities of
that parish are famous for their Radical proclivities)
have displayed such enterprise as to hire one of
AVELING and PORTER'S steam rollers for a monthon
trial. It is to be hoped that this wonderful develop-
ment of energy will be duly rewarded. The other
day the machine was employed on the Wellington
Road, St. John's Wood. About 600 yards of road-
way were selected for the experiment; the traffic
was diverted.for three days, during which the steam
roller was kept at work, and the result was a
path as smooth and as level as a dining-table.
So far so good ; but in Paris equally satisfactory
effects are attained with much less inconvenience
to the public. The system is this: in the morning
a strong contingent of men is set to work to break
up about 250 yards of roadway to the extent of
half the width of the path. In the course of the
day this broken space is covered with the proper
quantity of stones ; at seven o'clock in the evening
the steam rollers are got into operation, and by seven
o'clock the next morning the level road is in a
perfect state. The other half of the way is then
treated in the same manner, and thus 250 yards are
completed in two days with no interruption to traffic.
Surely the English local bodies are capable of rising
to the level of this simple contrivance. Why should
traffic be interrupted for several clays, when by
the half-and-half system, and by working at night,
the inconvenience to the public may be obviated,
portion of the road still left open to the public, and
the whole undertaking finished in a shorter space of
time. It would be difficult to estimate the waste
and injury resulting from the employment of
the tender feet of valuable horses and the narrow
wheels of costly carriages in converting these loose
stones into a firm road. Of course this sacrifice does
not involve any pressure upon the rates, and
therefore nothing is thought of it; and thus the most
extravagant system is approved of on the plea
of economy. There is really no economy even

to the rates in such a miserably clumsy practice.
Not only are the horses and carriages seriously
injured, but by the process which we adopt, the stones
themselves are crushed into dust and mud before the
road becomes level. The path is destroyed in the
process of construction, and a large proportion of the
material is wasted. By the use of steam rollers the
stones are at once firmly impressed into the
road, present a smooth and hard surface,
and last much longer than the pave-
ment constructed in the usual barbarous
and bungling manner. Why a process so simple and
effective should not have become zeneral it is difficult
to imagine. Nor is there even now any great liheli-
bood that human perversity will be drawn from its
accustomed groove. We may hope, however, even
against probability.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.