The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-18 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF THE BRICKS.

Not to be outdone by the Yankees in anything,
England has treated herself to a civil war, to which she
points us with a good deal of ccmplacency. It has taken
the form of a siege. The Brickmakers' Union is the
attacking force ; the besieged "a party by the name a
Johnson." The siege of Troy and the long investment of
Jerusalem pale their ineffectual horrors before the
remarkable details of this modern beleaguerment. It is
true, the bloody conflict is compacted within a small
space, but it has gone on now for a twelvemonth, and is
fully endued with all the pomp and panoply of glorious
war. There are the two independent, belligerent powers;
there is Mr. Johnson, fortified in his back dining room ;
there are the brickmakers, like the fiery Huns,
deploying under ",their sulphurus canopy ;
there are perpetual pale sentinels of chamber-
maids and stable-boys upon the ramparts ; there are
bombs ' • there are infernal machines; and there certainly
will be human gore. A heroic constable, such as he who
erst descended like avenging Fate upon General O'Neil
and bore him off by the breeches from amid the deadly
host, would probably put a summary end to this carnage ;
but England remains neutral as in our own civil war, and
declines to form any alliance either with the serried ranks
of the brickmakers or with Mr. Johnson. The history
os this first year of the battle of the bricks is as
follows :—Mr. Johnson is a builder and a Briton.
Being, like all Britons, an epitome in minia-
ture of the pluck and doggedness of John Bull, he was
resolved to build in his own way, and that the most
direct way to furnish him with bread and butter. The
Manchester Union issued an edict forbidding the shaping
of stone in the quarries or the manufacture of brick by
machinery. Mr. Johnson disregarded the ordinance, and
went on quietly with his business in these two methods, as
usual. Upon which he was denounced and placed under
the ban. For more than a year he has lived in dread of
assassination. He is compelled to steal from
place to
place like a convict, under cover of the night. " I have
not dared," he says, " to go home in my own carriage for
twelve months. No one, at present, knows where I
sleep. My servants dare not remain in my house ;
my friends are afraid to come near me. If I go
to bed, it must be for dog-sleep, and always on
the alert." His timber yards have been fired ; daily
attempts are made to assassinate him; bottles filled with
explosive materials, and packed in clay, are thrown into
his premises ' • a train of powder, about a month ago, wag
laid under his house, which, if it had not been accidentally
discovered, would have blown him and his family to
atoms. So extraordinary is the whole affair, and so closely
allied to an actual siege, that the police refuse to interfere,
unless "paid for work outside of their duty." Mr. John-
son, " before proceeding to hire armed men, under
his own control," appeals to the Home Secretary
for protection, but so far without effect. The press,
denounce violently the inaction of the Government, and
compare the recent outrages of the Trades Unions in
Sheffield and Manchester with the brigandage in Greece;
but brickmakers and police continue calmly on their
course, without interfering with each other. Truly,”
says Mr. Johnson, " my case is a hard one." which is et
least a mild way of putting it. Joking apart, the affair
is a most remarkable one, and affords us a curious glimpse
into the action and reaction of the English Government
and people against each other. That any body
of men should be permitted for a year to thus
make open war upon an individual for legally
pursuing a legal business seems incredible to Americans.
Symptoms of weakness such as this will soon lead us to
doubt whether John Bull is not stronger everywhere else
than at home. When he makes war against the Russians
the Indians. or Chinese, he moves as a unit ; the son of 11
peer commands the regiment, and builders and brick-
makers fill up the ranks ; the glory of Old En g'
land incites the whole body. But it ie
curious question whether Old England at home
is not in the condition of that body of which IEsoP
tells us when legs, arms, and stomach fell into dissension,
and conspired against the head. '• Why should it rule
over us ?' said they. " Whatever brains it had once are,
worn out now." We would be loth to suspect a parallel
case on the other side of the water. But the Brills 01
contempt with which royalty is put to the test now and
then, as in the Mordaunt case, are ominous ; and so No.!
the haste with which the House of Lords lately got out
of the scales into which they had placed themselves to be
weighed. But the astounding respectwhic h the Govern'
ment pays to the belligerent brickmakers is a more sig-
nificant sign than all, and one which he who runs may
read.—Now York Tribune.

[ADVERTISEMENT. Consumption, and all nervous,
bilious, stomach, add liver complaints in every stage aro oolit
aggravated and accelerated by drugs of every description,
perfe •tly curable by Du BARRY'S health-restoring Revalents
Ara,bica Food, as proved by thousands of cases which had beefconsidered hopeless; such as indigestion (dyspepsial, wog,,
asthma, consumption, habitual constipation, diarrho3a, all
derangements, haemorrhoids, liver complaints, flatulency, o,..erg
vousness, biliousness, fevers, sore throat, diphtheria, oatarr'„i'
colds, influenza, noises in the head and ears, rheumatism, g°'-'
impurities, eruptions, hysteria, neuralgia, irritability, sleeples!
ness, acidity, palpitation, heartburn, headache, debility, crsuit!!
spasms, nausea and sickness even in pregnancy or at sea, sia%
ing fits, bronchitis, scrofula, ti,,htness of the chest, pains at wib
pit of the stomach, and beitween the shoulders, &c. We
few: -The Pope's health restored by Du Barry's Food. Cur° Nil
68,413—"R0me, July 21 1866. The health of the Holy Fathq •
excellent, especially since, abandoning all other remedies, ho
confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Revalenta Arabic& Fo,l;d
of which he consumes a plateful at every meal. It has prodwfa,
a surprisingly beneficial effect on his health,' and his .Holillts
cannot praise this excellent food too highly."—From the " G'"ebeit
du Midi," July 2.5. Cure No. 46,:10.—Mr. James Roberts, tiro „
merchant, of Frimley, Surrey, of thirty years' diseased ht;
spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness. Gin
N 0.1,771. Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord-Lieutenant of Waterfofi;
of many years dyspepsia. —No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indesci,;„
able agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, (cawrio,
stipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness, and yomiting.-3'
Jolly " 'lmportant Caution.—Beware of the many unsa`Ntil
and more than sloppy imitations to which, without authors
Baron Liebig sname is most audaciously attached. 22°'
In tins, at is led; Ilb 2s 9d; 2 lb 48 6d; 51b Ils.; 12th
24 lbs 4 S.—A ISO DU BARRY'S REVALEN TA RABICA (iIIOCO'
POWDER is packed in tin canisters: for 12 cups at 2s, for 24 o, 5001
at 3s 6d, for 48 cups at6s, for 288 cups at 30s, for 578 cups ai,ol
—being about one penny per cup. The 30s and 55s tins sre,
free of carriage in England on receipt of Post Office Orao!d
BARRY DU BARRY and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, London '-
all Grocers and Chemists.

BIRTHS.
On the 15th inst., at Lucknani, the wife of B. taint 11.4'

Esq., of a daughter.
On the 13th inst., the Viscountess Adare, of a daughter:

MARRIAGES.
On the 15th inst., at St. Michael's, Chester-square, Cots
Hugh Mackenzie, 15th Foot, to Julia Vero, daughttirer
the late Donald Cameron, of Lochie], and Lady
Cameron.
On the 15th inst., at St. Peter's, Belsize-park, E. G. Line/
Johnson, of Henley, Surrey, to Ada Florence, the sec°lld
daughter of Augustus Mordan, of 17, Finchley New-NA
and The Stone House, Reigate.

DEATHS
On the 15th inst., at Clifton Lodge, Dalston, Jane Sitarnoo/
aged 93. of
On the 14th inst., at Battersea, Robert Blunt, Esq., ha'
Chelsea, aged 79.
—.......!

London: Printed and Published by 'WILLIAM ANDREI
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TEE SUN Office, No. f
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the County °
Middlesex.—Saturday, June 18, 1870.