The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-23 00:00:00

LO`4MON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 1856.

Who shall issue the writ de lunatico inquirendo
in the case of the King of NAPLES ? That his
Majesty is politically mad, all can see but himself.
Who shall put or take him into custody ? He
reasons, to be sure, as if quite unsuspicious of hie
own insanity, and is indignant at the idea of
" constraint of a Royal will." All madmen talk
in like manner. Very recently we remember a
case in which a fellow was os indignant as King
BOMEA now is, at the defence offered by his coun-
sel, and insisted upon his sanity and the gallows.
But for the cruelty to others of testing his Nea-
politan MAJESTY by a longer trial, it would be
well to give him rope enough—only taking
good care that the gloomy idiot of Vienna did
not protect the frantic madman of Naples from
his own subjects. A lunatic at large is, how-
ever, a hazardous matter, and Royal lunacy,
especially when like that of the Bourbons and
Hapsburgs, it takes the shape of the most mali-
cious and ferocious cruelty, ought to be dealt with
most summarily. What hundreds and thousands
must suffer before the dagger or poison cures the
madness of Czars, Kings, and Emperors ! Any
onb of their victims meanwhile is a reproach to
the by-standing world, which is surely interested
in the sanity of its governors ; and while the
fetters of POERIO, now on the verge of proving
fatal, are a specimen of BO` BA rule no false deli-
cacy ought to prevent immediate action.

Mr. COBDEN will, of course, lecture us on the
misehiefa Of intervention, and on the necessity of
leaving nations to settle their own quarrels. Will
lie,plead for allowing amalman to set his own
houses on fire, to the peril of his domestics' lives
and of his neighbours' property ? Yet more---,
will he justify our leaving the Sicilians and
Neapolitans at the mercy of an armed madman,
whom are placed upon the throne .on the as-
sunaption that he was of sound mind ? England
is „especially responsible for the policy by which
the Bntrbons everywhere, and FERDINAND
among them, were restored in France, Spain, and
Nupi.es, and she owes it to their victims to place
them, if possible, in as good a position as they
would have been in without her wars for despots.
Lei England first reverse the effects of her legi-
timist wars, 'and untie the hands of the peoples,
and then we may consent to the Manchester non-
intervention policy. Till that is done, non-inter-
vention simply means abetting the cruelties of
despots. -.We have put all into their hands, they
have abu`.secl our unwarrantable folly far worse
than mortal could have divined, and now we are
to be called on to leave them to do their worst !
In the face of all civilised Earope, and in these
days of rapid intercourse and growing brother-
hood and sympathy between nations, the con-
science of civilisation is to be aggrieved by com-
plicity with the barbarities of a Boerna ! We say
by complicity, for when a few of our spare first-
rates and gun-boats have but to visit the tyrant's
den in order to insure the liberation of his cap-
tives, it is complicity, and nothing else.
But the pious petticoat-maker royal to the
-VIRGIN 'tells Lord PALMERSTON of " doing to
others as we would that others should do unto
us !" For the hundredth time we are reminded
of the Dpvie quoting Scripture. The barbarous
gaoler, the literally slow murderer of the perfectly
innocent and noble POERIO, to talk of doing as
we would be done unto ! Why, the principle in
practice would load DOMBA with immense weights
of iron, Would deprive him of association with the
polished and .educated (no loss to him that), would
chain him to felons of tho lowest class (again he
might be at Lome), and would consign him to a
damp dungeon, which rnus:.-, b 3 but a lingering
,death. The perpetrator of these infernal erueltie.-,
worthy of respect and
on a man every way
esteem as Lard JOILN RUSSELL, or Mr. GLAD-
STONE, or 'Alr. WALPOLE; taking into his mouth
before all Europe the fundamental principle of
Christian morality ! Was SATAN himself ever so
shameless ?

But, endeavouring to write with calmness in a

case of such atrocity, we deny that our interven-
tion in such a case will justify the hypocrite Aus-
tria
in her interventions. It would be, ind,:ed,
but the necessary censeTtence of her abuse of
intervention. The HAPSBURGi have intervened
in Italy and elsewhere for despots and ,gainst
their people (and these enslavers of nations avow
that they will yet do so), till they have brought
things to this pass. To be sure it is not revolt-
ing to them. The ferocious wretches who could
murder in cold blood the unarmed BRUNETTI and
his children must inwardly delight in BOMBA'S
cruelties ; still they wish to justify their inter-
vention, and pretend "order" as the reason. Well,
Europe denounces the " order" of filling damp
dungeons on mere suspicion with the best citizens
of a State, and keeping down a fine population
by Swiss bayonets. Now, therefore, Austria her-
self pretends to intercede with the brother tyrant
—a private note, of course, accompanying the
diplomatic one, and telling him that " all's right,"
but that appearances must be kept up.
We appeal to the people of England to tolerate
sham-work no longer. They must demand that
Austria be ousted immediately from all Italy—at
least from what Europe never gave her by
the Treaty of "Vienna. Austria has no pretext for
resisting the demand. They must demand that
intervention shall not mean liberating a Prince
from responsibility to his people, but enforcing
that responsibility. The least demur to the
evacuation of the Legations and Parma by Aus-
trian troops must be met by the presence of our
ships of war at Naples and in the Adriatic ; and
why not by a pretty effective demonstration ?
FRANUIS JOSEPH, however, like Boxua, is a
thorough coward. He would but need to know
that we were in earnest, and he would drop back
from the advance of an English fleet as carefully
as he stepped back in the Principalities, if the
Russian troops did but halt in their retreat for a
few days,
As to complications, as the phrase is, arising
out of acts of vigour, decision is as good for des-
pots as for thieves. Resist them, and they quail.
Attempt to arrest them, they will run. Parlia-
mentary and secret diplomacy, is the true author
of all. the complications. Austria and Naples
have but to witness the exultation which would
pervade all England if they were dealt with in
English style to know that the time for submis-
sion was come. We should have no more prating
about doing as wo would be don© unto, but deeds
something more like it towards unhappy Italy.
Somehow an unusual interest in Italy has been
awakened in this country. Partly the wish, it may
be, that ourlate costly foreign action should result
in something better than the sealing the fate of
Poland, and leaving Russia as strong as ever ;
partly the conduct of Sardinia has raised Italians
higher than. previously in public estimation, and
satisfied all of their capacity fur liberty as well as
their right to it. Nothing could Lord PALMERSTON
do which would make him more popular than to
do as much for hundreds and thousands of noble
Italians as he did for the worthless Don PAcincto.
Austria would be terrified to see England become
as popular in Italy as she is in France, and we
may become yet more so. It is in the power of
Lord PALMERSTON to please his own countrymen,
and to secure the alliance of the Italian people at
the present moment. To do it he has but to an-
nounce that England has resolved on the emanci-
pation of Italy from foreign domination. Do-
mestic tyranny could not then survive a year.

After a stringent and protracted investigation
into the causes of the late fearful explosion of
fire-damp at the Cymmer colliery, by which no less
than one hundred and fourteen persons were pre-
maturely hurried to their account, the jury, by
a majority of 17 to 1, have returned a verdict of
manslaughter against the overseer, oversman, and
three firemen engaged in the pit. This may be
regarded almost as their unanimous decision ; for
if it be true, as asserted, that the dissentient has
been appointed to a situation as fireman in the
colliery since the commencement of the investiga-
tion, it is obvious that his opinion cannot carry
with it much weight, or be at all placed in com-
petition with, the views of his disinterested
brethren.

The question is one of paramount importance
to the safety of a very considerable body of our
fellow-subjects. It is true that the mining popu-
lation of the country may be considered as a class
per se completely isolated in its pursuits, and that
the general public are not personally liable to the
risks and perils to which its members are daily
subjected. We should even from pecuniary, if
from no higher motives, endeavour to save them
from the consequences of their own reckless in-
difference to danger, and the negligence of those
who regard the lives of their fellow-creatures
merely as a matter of s. d. The extraordinary
increase in the price of coals a few years since
proves, lal..yoncl the possibility of doubt, the unplea-
sant consequences of any discontent on the part
of the miners to the comforts of " our ain fire-
sides." But this point, although quite sufficient
to attract attention to the subject, sinks into in-
signifi3ance when compared with the sacrifice of
more than a hecatomb of human lives, the great
majority whereof were husbands and fathers, the
protectors and providers of helpless families, the
majority of whom will now be compelled to ex-
change the comforts of home for the tender mer-
cies of the Union workhouse.

That " familiarity breeds contempt " is a trite
maxim, with which every schoolboy who has passed
into round-hand is fully acquainted. Its accuracy
is attested by the experience of every day, and
we know that miners afford the strongest illus-
tration of the general principle.
O❑ the most trivial and inadequate grounds
they will disregard the precautions taken to insure
their security. To gain a little additional light,
or even to light a pipe, they will, if an oppor-
tunity offers, remove the shades of their lamps,
even in places that have given indications of im-
pending dangers. This fact was so well known
that when Lord EXMOUTH, some 40 years since,
was compelled to man his vessels with raw hands,
he sought out miners, as persons whose avocations
rendered them as insensible of and indifferent to
perils as the most seasoned sailors. The same
spirit prevails at the present day ; and it is,
therefore, indispensable that thos3 who are
realising large profits from their labours and risks
should permit no sordid feeling to prevent them
from establishing every possible safeguard, and the
parties engaged by them from exercising lade-
fatigiLle vigilance in the exercise of the trusts
confided to their charge. The men are like help-
less infants in many respects, and the parties autho-
rised to wacli over their safety are legally ra•
sponsible for the consequences of any catastrophe
that may occur through their negligence or indif-
ference.

The law on the sultject is perfectly clear. When-
ever a death is occasioned by the carelessness., or
even the unskilfulness, of any person undertaking
definite duties, he will be guilty of manslaughter.
In the absence of direct or implied malice it would
-6ave him from the consequences of a conviction
for murder, but would not allow him full im-
punity
the ;realer the liability
rulthegreat
of greater the
party.ehamount of the risk
This is

especially so in mining operations ; and, there-
fore, every possible care should be taken to prevent,
not only any unforeseen danger, but to guard
agaiLst accidents ari.,ing from the imprudence of
the men themselves,

I❑ every respect there seems to have been a
very great disregard of duty by those entrusted
with the control and management of the Cymmer
Colliery. The ventilation was grossly defective,
and that seems to be the Alpha and Omega of
mining security. The same carelessness so pain-
fully observable in the management pervaded all
the minor departments, and. hence the fearful
calamity.

But the punishment of the parties implicated is
by no means sufficient. We should profit by the
painful lesson, and see that -an inspection and
supervision is enforced that will, if it cannot alto-
gether prevent, at least materially reduce the
chances of such accidents. It is the duty of the
State to interfere, and save the mine owners and
their agents from the consequences of their own
imprudence. If this obvious duty be neglected,
our legislators cannot be held morally irrespons-
ible for the deaths of future victims. Parliament
has its duties, as well as the overseers, overmen,
and firemen.

So long as difference; of opinion respecting the
mode in which the education of the people is to
be set about are allowed to stand in the way as
they now do much progress is not to be looked
for. " The assertion is sufficiently trite," says
the reader. We admit it. But what does he
say to this° " Until the general laws of physi-
ology—the laws of man's physical being—are ge-
nerally taught and understood, there can be no
thorough education, and no such amelioration of
man's condition as may justifiably, nay, with ab-
solute reason, be looked for." He may hesitate—
but it is, nevertheless, a fact. The mental and
moral faculties may be industriously stimulated,
and, under favourable circumstances, strengthened
and developed with considerable success ; but
without a knowledge of the laws of physiology
obedience to those laws is not to be looked for,
and without obedience the perfect development
of man's capacities, no more than his rescue
from these miseries which science has shown to
be avoidable, can reasonably be expected.
It is too much the fashion among those who are
sincerely desirous to have the people edu-
cated, in order to the amelioration of their
general condition, to luok simply to the cul-
tivation of the mental and moral nature,
instead of man as a whole, a being of flesh,
blood, bones, muscles, and tissues, as well as of
intellect and moral capacity. That this, as we
have already intimated, is a mistake will appear
from the fact that a mutual sympathy admittedly
exists between the parts, and that the body can-
not suffer without injury to its associates, the
mind and moral being. The desire of the ancient
sage to have a sound mind in a sound body
argued the possession of a wisdom before his
age—but, nevertheless, an ignorance of the entire
truth. To have a sound mind, a mind capable
of achieving all that PROVIDENC3 designed man
to achieve, it is necessary to have a sound body,
free from personally-acquired or hereditary phy-
sical taint. Without mental or moral cultivation
man is a savage, and without due physical training
he cannot be said to be thoroughly civilised, for
be must be less than he otherwise might be.
Ignorant of physiolOgy, ho neglects what is ne-
cessary for health—overworks himself or rusts in
sloth—eats, drinks, or sleeps more or less than he
ought, disregards the essentials of healthy respi-
ration, and becomes diseased ; or where none of
these errors can be charged against him the mind
is tasked beyond its strength, and if it escapes
being " overthrown," physical disorganisation
and mental debility are the inevitable comes
espences the action and reaction unless
relief be given, going on until an early
grave engulphs the unconscious suicide,
and it may also be victim. To a
diseased and disordered body succeeds men-
tal and moral deterioration, and a special aptitude
for being preyed upon by whatever pernicious
agency may come across him. Thus it is, to a
large extent, disease and crime are multiplied ;
and the mischief, far from being confined to one
generation, is perpetuated in the next and next.
In our impression of Thursday the reader was
presented with a &sips° of the progress of crime
among us ; let him add to the knowledge thus
acquired the fact that upwards of one hundred
thousand human beings are annually perishing in
Earjland alone from preventable diseases, and that
the preventable mortality in Ireland and Scotland
is even greater. It is evident, then, were it
from these facts alone, how essential it is
that a knowledge of the laws of physiology
should be imparted before any system of edu-
cation can be pronounced co:nplete, and that
it is the duty of every one to de the best in
his power to have all education in harmony with,
and subservient to, the will of our common CF-EA-
TOR. It is no abstruse science, involving years
of patient application, that we would have taught,
but certain facts and rules of conduct deducible
from them, readily and speedily learned by indi-
viduals of the most ordinary capacity. To those
who would wish to see the subject treated at greater
length, and in a popular style, we recommend the
perusal of a pamphlet,* containing an eloquent
Lecture on Education by an ardent sanitarian,
known to many of our readers, at the same time
sautioning them not to underrate his facts, because
of what they may deem the extravagance of some
of his conclusions. If obedience to nature's laws
will not bring on the millennium, it is quite cer-
tain such obedience will obviate and remove a
vast amount of misery, and tend greatly to pro-
mote the happiness and the moral and intellectual
elevation of mankinfl.

* Lecture on Education (Ilitroductery). By Thoniam
Hopley, F.S S. John Churchill.

NEW NOBILITY.—The folio wing is said to be a rare
specimen of our future Prusso-triburg Nobility, when
the Constitution now on "its trial" shall be convicted
of independent opinion and freedom of action, viz.:—
Prince Trautsulausdortf, Princess Grassalkovich, Baron
Von Strougonotf, Prince Pontalrueriskirrisky, Count
Patronoffallgern3anskamps, Prince Napallibertoff, &r.,
&c., with life Peerages, limited.
His Highness the Prince Trautsmansdorff has arrived
at the Clarendon from Ostend.
Her Highne=s the Princess Grassalkovich is staying
at Claridge's Hotel, and. not at the Clarendon, as stated
in error yesterday.
Mr. George Turner Tatham, 8.A., of St. John's
College, has been appointed to a mathematical masier
ship at King Edward Vl.'s Grammar School, Brom -
grove.
The Lord Bishop of Glocester and Bristol has ap
pointed as his examining chaplain the Rev. E. A. Litton
late FeLow of Oriel, and a double first-class man.

THH RICHMOND TFIEATItE.—On Wednesday Mr.
Marsh offend to public auction, at the Mar', the
Theatre Royal Richmond, Surrey, with private resi-
dence no ljon:ting, copyhold of the manor of Richmond, or
West Si.leene, subject to an annual quitrent of 2.3., and a
fine on alienation if the pordiaktir is not a tenant of the
manor. 3t v.as knocked dt:vtn .tt 1,0301.
REM brit., OF TOLLBAIIS.—rI be public, and more
espeeia:ly those perAons who resble or have business io
the ne'4tili;:urhood, will be glad to learn that the Toll
Retort Committee have made their first step towards
the tottil abolition of turnpike-gates, by the removal of
the gat at Clap'on and the skis bars between the Islirg
ton ani City•road gates.
Salt NGS OF TEE HOUSE OF COMMONS.—Mr. Bro.
.th3rton 'S annual return sbows that, last se;sion, tLe
"louse of Commons sat 110 days, and 862. hours. It
sat 93 I hours after midnight, and the entries in the
" vot es" amounted to 8,042. The house sat 22 days in
Janu, try and February, 11 in March, 20 in April, 16 in
May, 21 in June, and 20 in July. There were only three
easea,of " no House."