The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-27 00:00:00

VACCINATION.

A medical journal quotes some facts in favour o
the theory that small-pox may be eradicated from a
district by careful vaccination. Ireland has lately
been free from the disease, and in Dublin there has
been but one fatal case within two years. Paris,
on the other hand, is heavily visited by the terrible
malady. The contagion is constantly propagated
from one patient to another in all the hospitals of the
capital, which has no small-pox hospital, nor is
it subject to compulsory vaccination.

1 SALUTARY.
A couple of " tradespeople " were rightly served
in the bail court on Tuesday. A Mr. Ochso sought
to recover £665 12s. 4d. for wearing apparel and
ornaments supplied to a person who passed as a
Miss Cooke, but whose real name was Mrs.
Smith. Of the character of this lady, it is
superfluous to speak. The articles in question had
been supplied within the space of two years ending
May 1860, and included such items as £2.5 for a
velvet mantle, 05 for a velvet jacket, fifteen guineas
for a dressing gown, £32 for a blue silk
dress, &c. It was shewn in evidence that the
defendant was assisted in a life of immo-
rality by the plaintiff's wife, who often accompanied
her. The goods were supplied with the full
knowledge on the part of both the plaintiff and his
wife that most of them were specially designed for
defendant's calling. The plaintiff accordingly lost
his case. The judgment is highly satisfactory, for
no. influence contributes so much to bring and retain
women in evil courses as that of persons who make a
profit out of their gains without sharing their danger
or disgrace.

THE UNITED LAND COMPANY
(Lim r ED).

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN. That. n GENET AL
'MEETING of the COMPANY will be held at the Offices,
No. 33, Norfolk-street. Strand. London, t,t Two of the
Clock p.m., on WEDNESDA 1 , the 2d F(bruary, 1870, for
the pu,pose of ruceiviny the Report of the Direetorpz. of
declaring a Dividend, and of transacting the ordinary bnei-
nes& of tho Company.
By order of tl-e Board.
CHARLES LEWIS GRUNEISEN,
Secretary.

33, Norfolk-street, Strand,
London, W.C., 17th January, 1870.

LONDON, THURSDAY, JAN. 27, 1870.

It PEACE or armistice—time will decide which—
appears to have been tacitly concluded at the Chapel-
town seat of war; and a public meeting has just been
held at Sheffield for the benevolent but suggestive
purpose of counting the cost, and raising a fund for
the relief of the sufferers. For the present
this remarkable social warfare may be considered
over. It remains to clear away the wreck and pro-
vide for the wounded. It remains also to visit the
responsibility of these disgraceful riots upon those
who ought to have taken precautionary m,easures,
but who failed to do so. As an illustration of local
administration in England, the history of these
Chapeltown doings is an instructive one. Messrs.
NEWTON and CHAMBERS, lessees of the Thorncliffe
collieries, have lived for some years past in a
:ate of chronic dispute with their workmen.
The firm wished to shake off the interference of the
South Yorkshire Miners' Union; the trade society
was resolved to retain its power. In 1864 the Union
pined a victory over the firm; but last March Messrs.
NEWTON and CHAMBERS made another attempt to
assert their independence by discharging all their
men, with the offer of a re-engagement on the
condition that no collier should seek the intervention
of the trade society in the bargain between his
employer and himself. There was no special dispute
open at the time ; the employers resorted to the lock-
out simply as a means of setting themselves free from
the obnoxious unionist control. The discharged
colliers, however, refused to resume work on the non-
interference terms. The pits remained idle,. until
Messrs NEWTON and CHAMBERS engaged several
hundred men, who were willing to take the place of
the malcontents on the masters' conditions. Fresh
houses were .built for the new come rs, and the
locked-out men, who refused to quit the district,
lived in idleness on the funds of their Union.

Then ensued a state of things which ought to have
been summarily ended. The unionists determined
that the " black sheep " should not work. A system
of terrorism and outage was organised and unflinch-
ingly kept up. Nothing was • neglected that
could be done to make the village of Chapel-
town too hot to hold the unwelcome visi-
tors. For months they were hooted, hustled,
assaulted; assailed in church or chapel; attacked
whilst going to, andreturning from, their work; out-
raged at funerals; and their wives and children
incessantly molested. This treatment lasted, not a
few clays, but during the entire summer and
autumn. The employers did nothing to protect their
men, and justice, which so severely punished tle
London "picketers," was quite inoperative at the
village of Chapeltown. At last neither the
non-unionists nor their wives nor families were
safe out of their houses without an escort of
police. With the New Year the Unionists adopted
still more vigorous measures. About three weeks ago
a night attack was made on a block of thirty houses
which had been built for the new hands. This raid
was unsuccessful. The rioters, in no way discouraged,
made greater preparations, and organised a more
scientific onslaught last Friday. Large reinforcements
were obtained from the neighbourhood, and different
detachments, well armed, marched to the
attack early in the morning. The inhabitants
made no attempt at resistance. The assail-
ants entered the lower part of the houses; the
victims helplessly took refuge in the upper
rooms. Windows and doors were broken to
pieces ; clothing, bedding and furniture were
burned ; and money and valuables carried
off. Finally, the mob vigorously attempted to
set the houses on fire, whilst the inmates were yet
confined within. All the force which the guardians
of the peace could bring to bear against this host
did not exceed twenty policemen. We hear of gal-
lant deeds by this formidable body. Two men
valiantly guarded a number of houses; eight tried
a desperate attack outside ; whilst a third body of
ten made nothing of a charge upon four hundred
rioters. The twenty finally succeeded in dispersing
the entire mob.

These achievements are highly creditable to the
force ; but, unfortunately, the whole conduct of the
authorities in this affair was eminently ridiculous and
blameable. It is gratifying to learn that the people
of Sheffield have promptly come forward with aid for
the sufferers ; but it is impossible to agree with
some of the speakers at this meeting that
the magistrates had done all in their power to keep
the peace. The talk accredited to Mr. Alderman
WEBSTER, that Secretaries of State were utterly
ignorant of their duties, and that a large
force of constabulary or military 64 ought
always to be within reach "is sheer nonsense. In
the first place the employers, Messrs. NEWTON and
CHAMBERS, ought to have done something more for
the protection of a number of men who had come
on their invitation, and to further their interests.
If they could not get the efficient assistance of
the police or the military they ought to have
armed their wothmcn in self-defence, instead
of leaving things to take their o,.vn course.
There is no reason, how ever, why abundant
ald the should not have been
furnished. They had sufficient warning. For months
Onapeltown was in a state of siege, and three weeks
ago there was a preliminary riot. The last attack
had been 64
expected for some time." To send
twenty min to resist such an invasion was an unpar-
donable error. It appears that more eili2ctive mea-
sures were taken at last, and indeed the aid of the
troops was asked—when the injury had been done.

=__:,,_--:

TuE usual batch of breach of promise of marriage
cases disposed of at Westminster this Hilary- Term
has raised the question of the expediency of the legis-
lation, by reason of `which these. actions are brought.