The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-30 00:00:00

DIE CONSPIRACY AMONG FRENCH PRISONERS.

The conspiracy said to have been discovered among
French prisoners at Cologne, Coblentz, and Mayence, is
so entirely what we should naturally look for, remarks the
Daily News, that the wonder is that it has not occurred
before. Germany has two Frances to hold down—the
France of the Imperial Army and the France of the people;
and while the vigorous resistance cf the Republic is taxing
all the energies of the Fatherland, the France which is in
captivity may well look for its opportunity. It would
•he an outrage on humanity to attempt to restore the
Imperial dynasty in France. That gallant and glorious
people has undergone a twenty years' degradation under
the worst form of Government in its history. In the
awful sufferings of the last six months it has atoned by
perpetual failure for its worship of success, and purified
itself from its love of ease by heroic endurance and sacrifice.
To attempt to rob it of the benefit it has gained in the
furnace of this fiery ordeal, would be a moral outrage
worse even than the territorial aggression in which this
war began. Better the utmost prolongation of French re-
sistance than such an end of the struggle. Better the loss
of half-a-dozen departments, than such a loss for them
all. The King has latterly fought the Republic, with the
Republic he must settle. The Emperor is out of the field ;
the Republic alone gives enthusiasm to France, and
rallies the world to her side. The French people must
Come out of this war self-governing and free, or it will
•be better for themselves, for freedom, and for
Universal humanity, that the war should go on. Let
Prussia hold France down if she can, but France will not
rivet the chain on her own neck by accepting from the
rude hand of a conqueror a Government which would
repress her aspirations and destroy all her hopes of
freedom.

An insurrection has broken out in the Portuguese
province of Algarve, but it has been suppressed by the
authorities.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—One Shilling Day, Thur:day,
December 29, 1870.—Admission by season tickets, 3,084
ditto on payment, 4,638 ; total visitors, 7,722.

MR. CHILDERS.—The subj oined announcement
was published at the Admiralty yesterday (Thursday) :
"We have been informed that Mr. Childers was taken
ill this morning, while transacting business at Messrs.
Coutts', and was obliged to return home to the Admiralty."
Dr. Gull, who was consulted, states that Mr. Childers's
illness is an ordinary bilious attack, induced by excessive
application to sedentary business, and that Mr. Childers
is expected to resume his duties at Whitehall at the end
,of the present week.
SHOOTING OF %\ ILD CATTLE IN THE CALEDONIAN
FOREST.—The annual shooting of the wild cattle in the
Caledonian Forest, for the purpose of providing the usual
New Year's present from the Duke of Hamilton and
Brandon to the pour of Hamilton and neighbourhood,
took place on Monday. Mr. S. S. Robertson, chamber-
lain to his grace, shot the first two in fine style, and Mr.
Joseph Lloyd, the principal keeper, killed the remainder.
The cattle were in splendid condition. The usual distri-
bution of beef and bread takes place on Saturday, and is
looked upon by the recipients as a highly seasonable gift.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT IN THE SNOW.—A serious
accident occurred to a labourer named James Sandford,
residing at Sedgficld, on Christmas-eve. The man in ques-
tion was proceeding along the road from the village named
towards the Lunatic Asylum, when, in order to overtake a
manwho was some distance ahead, he commenced to run,
and while doing so he fell heavily and broke his leg. He
tried to scramble up, but after desperate efforts he sank on
the snow completely overcome by his exertions. He
remained where he had fallen fully an hour and a half,
when he was found by Sergeant Smith, who happened to
pass that way. That officer conveyed the poor man to a
place of shelter, and procured the assistance of Dr. Smith
from the asylum, who pronounced the sufferer to be in a
very dangerous condition from the amount of exposure he
had been subjected to. His broken limb was set, but very
little hope hope is entertained of his recovery.
THE LIMERICK EXPRESSION OF SYMPATHY WITH
THE POPE.—The Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick, in
addressing the meeting convened in that city to express
sympathy with the Pope, said that all Christendom knows
and feels that Rome is not the property of any race or
nation, but belongs by right and by divine ordinance to
the Catholic people all over the earth. By the invasion
of Rome by Italian troops, not only property but
religious liberty was invaded. The sword borne
by the Pope—the Sword of the Spirit—should be wielded
.rithout fear or favour to defend the innocent, however
low, and to smite the guilty, even though their heads be
crowned. Should they not join with their brethren all
over the earth in compelling Victor Emmanuel to dis-
gorge his prey ? Was it well on the part of the British
Government to exhibit itself before its millions of Catholic
subjects, standing up for treaties everywhere except
where the head of the Catholic Church was Concerned?
Was it well—in the face of dangers darke
daily more and more over England—to interrupt the
healing effect of recent remedial legislation, or to resi.:ei-
tate, and perhaps perpetuate, the traditions of hate that
made fOr so long this country the standing weakness and
abiding difficulty of England ? Dean O'Brien warned
English statesmen against permitting the destruction
' of that Conservative power, which alone would restrain
the bad impulses of men, and which alone could sus-
► tain Europe, iyom the deluge of ruin with which it was
threatened..