The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The nnes, in referring to the Pope's Allocution, remarks
:that the Pope looki upon human society as it exists as the
work of the " Old Enemy." The Church is summoned to
do battle; she must seek her efficiency in strict discipline;
Catholic Christendom is to have only one mind and will,
one infallible head. In order to enable herself to go forth
`and bend the world to her views, the Church must orga-
;nise herself on the principle of the narrowest despotism.
!This is, perhaps, the first instance in which the
'representatives of any community have been
!brought together, not for the .purpose of defining
,or establishing, but of renouncing their liberties—in
rwhich the States-General are deliberating on what terms
they may contrive to give themselves up most uncon-
ditionally,:bound hands and feet, into the power of their
monarch. But it is not without an object that the members
of the Council are thus bidden to surrender at discretion.
Let the bishops fall down and worship the Pore, and he
will deliver as slaves into their hands all the dioceses
of the earth. me s•tecess of his manmuvres is, how-
ever, by no means certain. That cluster of French,
German, and other prelates who are thus to be gagged
may still be strong enough to break through a 1 the
trammels of Vatican cunning. But even supposing
such stratagems to succeed in Rome itself, how far will the
ascendancy of tho Church over the world be advanced by
such palpable jugglery? The Catholic communities, with-
out one exception, have taken their measures beforehand.
Cavil society is everywhere on the defensive. The
Council is either utterly ignored or warned to pro-
ceed at its own peril. Were bishops to come back as
Apostles of Infallibility and hierarchical despotism,
they would be received by the laity in that frame of
mind in which the members of one conference greeted
the envoy of another whom they suspected to come
on a hostile errand. "If ho comes here to excom-
municate, he shall go back excommunicated." If
tho Church is bent on putting civilisation out of her
pale, she will find herself ostracised by civil society. The
Pope has only to glance round him in the Council Hall,
and he will see who is with him and who is against him.
The mere ghosts of the departed Royalty of Naples, Tus-
cany, Parma, and Modena arc there to tell him that,
though his kingdom may be of this world, it is a thing of
the past. Had Isabella of Spain, to whom the Pontiff so
lately sent the Golden Rose, "emblem of all feminine
virtues," also graced the meeting with her presence, the
Dance of Death of all the Potentates who claim to rule by
Divine Itsght would have been more complete, and more
ominous as to the absurdity of pretensions which the
march of human reason has long since exposed and con-
demned.

The .Standard thinks that the peculiar form of blindness
which consists in a determination not to see what is dis-
tinctly before one's eyes, still rages with great severity
among Radical speakers and writers. They cannot see
the Conservative working man, because the moment he
appears they shut their eyes, and as he turns up continu-
ally and in all directions, the lives of some of our contem
poraries are becoming sadly burdensome. Everywhere
they turn their gaze the " phantom " or " phenomenon,"
to use the expression they have invented or borrowed, con
fronts them. If they look back to the bat elections they
find him sending their warmest friends to the
right about. We report a crowded
,meeting at the
inauguration of a Conservative Working Men's Associa-
tion in the town of Leicester, now represented by that
grotesquely violent Radical Mr. Peter Taylor, to which we
refer our contemporaries who deny the existence of the
Conservative working man, not only as proof that ho does
exist and multiplies, but as accounting for the fact of his
existence and multiplication. For their denial of his exist-
ence was not based merely upon the assertion that they ha(
never seen him, but also on the ground that his existence
would be a moral impossibility. The working man, they said,
owes all that he has acquired in the past to us, and has no
hope of anything in the future except from us, therefore
he cannot be a Conservative. Therefore Conservative
working men are phantoms or phenomena. And if the
contrast between the policy of the two great parties
during the last forty years should not suffice to determine
every working man with anything like a head on his
shoulders to join him7elf heart and soul to the Censer-
vat7ve cause, the acts of our Radical Government, and the
prospect it holds out to us, must put a summary end to
his indecision. Lord John Manners, in a frank-spirited,
outspoken, and eloquent speech, put the present situation
of the empire and the difference between the two great
parties clearly before the working men of Leicester and of
the country.

The Telegraph declares that tenant-right has been the
greatest emigration agent. The institution has also pro-
duced another effect for which it does not often get credit.
Among the gravest curses of Ireland is the fact, that the
holdings are often too small to bo worked at a profit, even
if the farmer and his family toiled from sunrise to sun-
down. For commercial reasons it night not be
judicious to have a wholesale introduction of the large
farm system, with its hundreds of acres allotted to
ono man, its steam mills, its steam ploughs, and all
the other appliances that can be provided only by
large capital. Bat for a generation the Irish proprietors
have been striving to consolidate the small holdings into
farms of a size that will afford a living to the cultivator;
and they have been able to effect that object by purchas-
ing the tenant-right of the smallest farms. To turn the
occupiers adrift in the world, without compensation,
involved the infliction of miseries from which most
Irish landlords would shrink ; but when dispos-
session is accompanied by the buying of the
tenant-right, and when the dispossessed occupier is
thus provided with the means of emigrating, the
process is usually humane instead of harsh. Thus
the Irish proprietor can get rid of the superfluous
tenants, and consolidate the small farms. Such is the
effect of tenant-right; and, whether the result be good or
bad, the distance of the institution must be recogliscd by
those who are engaged in framing the Government Bill.
We do act now indicate the mode in which the object in
view shall be accomplished. We distinctly recognise the
grave difficulties that stand in the way ; but we believe
that it will prove possible to overcome those difficulties
without denying free play to the exercise of proprietary
rights, or imposing any arbitrary and vexatious checks on
the varieties of local usage.

The proceedings of the Guardians of St. Pancras will no
doubt, says the _Post, be properly considered by the Poor-law
Board. Neither the interests of the poor nor the credit of
the parish can, we think, be served by the continuance in
office of men who have shown themselves incapable of self-
control, who have stirred up the bitterest animosities
amonst the parishioners, and who have, we are sorry
to say it, so conducted themselves that there is
hardly a transgression of good manners for
which their exampld may not be quoted. At
the last election, out of 21,01,0 ratepayers, only 9,000
voted, and it is speaking within the mark to say that this
minority did not represent the intelligence of the parish.
Much blame, doubtless, attaches to the 12,000 who did not
vote. But it is not because a majority of the inhabitants
neglect their duty that the administration of the Poor-law
is to be so discredited. The power given to Justices of the
Peace to act as ex-officio Guardians redresses the balance, and
gives justice and humanity a chance of holding their
ground against what may be called the brute force of mere
numbers. That is the reason why their presence in the
St. Pancras Vestry-hall on Monday was so fiercely re-
sented. But apart from this or any other explanation, the
scones that have been taking place in this ill governed
parish ever since April last must exercise the worst in-
fluence on the lower class of the ratepayers, to say nothing
of the public scandal.

The Herald considers that whatever is gained to the
few by the action of the Trades -Unions is taken from the
many. Efficient work, hard work, payment by results, are
discouraged ; merit is kept back and demerit favoured.
Again, very few unions will consent to a reduction of
-wages in face of bad trade er of competition • and thus
the evils of depression are sometimes temporarily
aggravated by an unsuccessful strike ; sometimes per-
petuated by a successful one; the trade stopped
for a time if the workmen yield, ruined finally if they
succeed in exacting wages which it cannot afford to pay.
In good times they too often waste the favourable season
by an irrational demand for an exorbitant increase of wages.
And, worst of all, when they know that a master has taken
a contract at a certain rate, to be fulfilled in a given time,
they will strike for extra wageA, not because they think he
can afford to pay them, but because they know he cannot
afford to stop work. The coirequerice is that masters
ere obliged to decline profitable contracts in which
time is an element, or which leave no margin for
rn increase cf wages. And we believe that this action of
thc.,, unions has cost the working classes much more than
they have gained in extra wages through their agency.
'ething can be more certain than that, on thebez revetnere
whole, the
ceuntry loses heavily by their crera.ions ; we
is as little doubt that even their own tra losel:esftrade
more
than they gain in the long settingrun, e o
PTA cost of strikes against artificiai enhancement of wages.

The fhtibi .N;?ir.,: observes that, if in talking over political
matters qUiitly with 1;Ir. Disraeli, I Ord Derby should
make up his mind to I.cep the spirit cl faction in abe:
ance for a singly se:sion, the visit to linf,dienden
will
171:0- among the memorably-beneficent- meetings of history.
Mu'. Disraeli's Vi3Nri With re:.pect to the government
of Ireland are well known. What he said a quarter
of a century ago he adheres to in his historic
conscie.nee now. With a foresight which few of his con-
tern oraries shared, he proclaimed then the necessity of
effecting, by lrgislation, changes which, but for the arms
cf England, the Irish would themselves e:fcct by revolu-
ti,,n. The necessity is not Ices urgent now than it was
then ; the opportunity which was wanting before has at last
come, of doing peacefully, and with full regard to every
right and interest of property and order, what, in some
period of foreign war, revolution might be invoked
violently to accomplish. The growth, though in eccentric
and unsatisfactory forms, of a purely Irish patriotism
among Protestants as well as Roman Catholics, is a marked
feature cf the time. The events of 'B2 and '9B may possibly
repeat themselves three-quarters of a century later, if
English statesmen are factious and unwise. Mr. Disrael;
will not, wo hope, stultify himself for the chazcez t
Act%
T9r4-4794.21&44§4i USCAgUtiI&-J.

LAW AND POLICE.

SrlCGrtili CHARGE.-A curious charge has been brought

in the Second Court of Queen's Bench against some whole-
sale druggists in Cloth Fair, by a publichouse keeper who
lives just opposite. The plaintiff stated that the defendant's
men were in the habit of transferring large quantities of
chloride of lime from barrels to jars outside the defendants'
premises, and in consequence many people in the neigh-
:lourhood were afflicted with inflammation of the eyes and
pains in the throat. The plaintiff's children suffered
severely, and he averredthat in consequence of the lime dust,
he had lost his customers. Dr. Letheby had examined the
children, and went to the defendants' premises. His report,
in which he confirmed the account of the nuisance was read,
but it appeared the defendants hrid stepped the public
packing. The judge said that when a man used the public
street as his warehouse he was bound to see that he did no
mischief. A verdict for the plaintiff for £75 was agreed to.

A BOOK IN TEN LANOUAGES.—In the second
Court of Common Pleas a person named Brycr,
sought to recover £55 from the defendant, a printer
named Watts, as the proportionate fourth part of a sum of
money paid to the defendant in 1865 for printing two
thousand copies of a book called "The Mariners' Friend
and Technical Dictionary" in ten languages, by
Dr. Rechorst. The plaintiff hold that only 1,500
copies had been delivered by the defendant, but the de-
fendant contended that 800 had been delivered to the
binder on the plaintiff's account. The jury found for the
plaintiff, and an arrangement was made that the verdict
for £55 should be reduced to nominal damages on certain
conditions.

ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE.—An action has been brought
in the Court of Exchequer for wrongful dismissal. The
plaintiff, a book-keeper, who was employed at a salary of
£lBO a year, alleged that his health became affected from
his work, and that he accordingly, wrote to his employers
and told them he was going away for a fortnight. They
wrote back to complain that certain balance-sheets had
not been done before he left, and said they had been com-
pelled to put some one else in his place, which would
enable him to prolong his trip. When he returned, they
declined to receive him. Tho defence was that the
plaintiff had absented himself without leave. Verdict for
the defendant.

TRIALS rose Dlurtnnn.—Thomas Shield, aged 23, a pit-
man, has been charged at the Durham Assizes with the
murder of Ralph Reed, at Annfield Plain, last August.
The prisoner and the deceased were with several other
men at a public-house on a Saturday night, and left shortly
after midnight. A dispute arose among them on the road,
and the prisoner began fighting the deceased, finally striking
him in the neck with a knife. Reed died shortly
after. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, and
Shield was sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude.—
Another pitman, named 'Whitfield, was charged at the
same assizes with the wilful murder of his daughter, aged
7, at Leadgate. The prisoner had been for some time in a
desponding state of mind, and a verdict of Not Guilty was
returned, on the ground of insanity. His statement
before the magistrates was :—" I took the razor from the
press-bed while my wife was preparing Billy's breakfast,
and I cut my little darling's throat after my wife went
out" He was ordered to be confined during her Majesty's
pleasure.

MURDER OF Two WIVES.—Two men have been charged
at the Cambridge Assizes with attempting the murder of
their wives. The first, whose name was Myriott, fired at
his wife wilfully. The poor woman, who received 120
shots in the head and face, has totally lost her sight, but
is likely to recover. Her husband was found Not Guilty
on the ground of insanity. The other man, David Osborne,
who had been drinking, pointed a gun at his wife, it was
raid in joke, and killed her instantly. Ho was sentenced
to two days' imprisonment,
A PAIR OF WRITE GLOVES.—On the Western Circuit,
Mr. Baron Pigott was presented with a pair of white
gloves in the Exeter Guildhall, there not being a single
prisoner for trial in the City of Exeter.
FIRING GuNs ON THE HIGRIVAY.—At the Helston (Corn-
wall) petty sessions, three men were fined ed. each, for
firing guns on the highway. They had been out shooting
and fired off their last charges on the road.
SALMON POACHING.—At Totnea, Nicholas Heath and
William Pepperell were charged with salmon poaching in
the river Avon. Heath was fined £4, and Pepperell was
sentenced to six months' imprisonment, with hard labour.

A branch of the National Education League was
formed on Tuesday for Nottingham, at apu meeting:held
under the presidency of the Mayor. Mr. Dixon, M.P., and
Mr. Mundella, M.P., were among the speakers.

A curiosity of meanness has been exhibited in San
Francisco. During the settlement of an estate in that
city, on the 2,lth of January, it was discovered that a
brother of the deceased had charged the estate four dollars
for loss of time while attending the funeral.
M EmoniAL TO CHAUCER IN WF.STMINSTER ABBEY.
—A beautiful stained glass window has just been placed
in the Poet's Corner of. the Abbey, to the memory of
Chaucer. At the bottom of the window the Canterbury
Pilgrims are =presented setting out and arriving in
Lendove, and above, the poet is represented receiving a
commission to the Doge cf Venice from Edward 111. At
the apex the poem " The Floure and the Leafe " is repre-
sented—on cne side by the Lady of the Flour°, and on
the other by the Lady of the Leafo. In the tracery above,
the portrait of Chaucer occupies a prominent place,
between that of Edward and Philippa, his wife ; below them
John of Gaunt, and above Wickliffe and Strode. In the
borders the following arms arc placed : England, France,
Hainault, Castille, and Leon, and at the baseSof the win-
dow is the pcet's name.
THE NEGno i AMERICA.—NearIy all the Courts
of Washington are just now occupied with cases arising
from the equality recently conceded to the negroes. One
is brought by a woman who had a limb fractured by being
thrust out of a railway train, and another by sons of the
negro orator, Frederick Douglass, for a similar outrage
upon them. The National Theatre is sued for ejection
of negroes who had purchased places. The Rev. Sella
Martin, lately of London, sues the trustees of a district
school for refusing admission to his daughter on account of
her scarcely perceptible African blood. The suit instituted
by the sons of Mr. Douglass brings to mind a story lately
told of their father, who, having to pass the night in a
train, wrapped himself up in his cloak and stretched him-
self on a seat made to hold two. Congratulating himself
that his colour would keep the other part of his seat
vacant, he had hardly entered on his nap when a white
claimant for the, place entered. "I am a nigger," growled
Douglass. " I don't care who you are," said the other, " I
want that scat." Mr. Douglass gave way, grumbling at the
hardship that the negro should have at last "lost his right
to two seats."

A LION IN COURT.—We have heard of the pro-
duction of odd evidence in court, thkt of the ostler's
will mentioned by Mr. Dickens, which was chalked on a
stable-door. Wo have seen a baby offered in a delicate
case to show that it resembled its putative father. We
remember a large door procluc6.l in a new England court
is a book of original entry; but a subpcena issued to
',ring in a lion is a real novelty, This actually occurred
in the Superior Court at Cincinnati the other day, in the
case of replevin for a lioness and her cubs. It was argued
that the progeny had been appraised at too high a figure,
and the Court ordered a view. So ono of the cubs was
brought in with his negro keeper, and demeaned himself
with a mildness and meekness which should have been
edifying to the lawyers. The judge looked at the lion,
and, like the first Daniel, was not afraid, but decided
that the young beast had undoubtedly been over-valued.—
New York Tribune.

CLERKENWELL EXPLOSION.—The Relief Com-
mittee have just fixed a marble memorial tablet in the
parish church of Clerkonwell, commemorative of the event
and its consequences, of which the following is a copy :
In memory of the victims of the terrible outrage which
occurred in this parish on Frieay, the 13th of Deceniber,
18G7, perpetrated by ceitaia misguided and wicked per-
sons, who, being members of the so-called Fenian Conspi-
racy, and seeking to release one of their confederates from
the adjoining House of Detention, placed a barrel of gun-
powder against the northern wall of the prison, and, firing
the same, suddenly rendered the immediate locality a mass
of ruins. Three persons were killed at the moment of the
explosion .—William Outten, aged 47 ; Sarah Hodgkin-
son, 30; Minnie Julia Abbott, 7. Three others died in the

hospital, within a few days :—HumphreyEvans,67; Martha
Evans, 65 ; Martha Thompson, 11. These six persons were
buried in one grave, is the cemetery at Finchley. Nine
ether deaths occurred from the effects of the explosion.
More than forty persons were removed tl the hospitals,
most of them disabled and injured for life. Six hundred
families suffered 1.333 or privation by damage done to
.., home; furniture, &c. A relief fund was speedily
raised, under the sus ice; of a local committee, which
reached the munificent 3tllll of £10,075, which was ex-
pended in temporary assistance, and in making provisions
for those permanently disabled. The damage to house
pro:erty was met by a vote of £7,500 from the Imperial
Exchequer, kindly promoted by the Right Hen. Benjamin'
Disraeli, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury ; and the R ight Hon.
G.Wartl Hunt, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer. As an
expression of sympathy with the sufferers, to perpetuate
the memory of the event, and in grateful record of the libe-
rality and kindness of those who visited and relieved the
afflicted, this tablet is erected.—Robert Maguire, M.A.,
Vicar of Clerkenwell, Chairman of Relief Committee;
Frederick W. Wilcocks, Richard Nunn, Churchwardens,
Treasurers of Relief Fluid; Robert Paget, Vestry Clerk.
iSeCiefalaa_

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