The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-08 00:00:00

PROGRAMME _Ewe THE SHOOTING AT I SPIRIT OF
THE LIEGE FETES

The arrangements for the volunteer shooting at Liege
and Spawere completed on Tuesday, and the programme as
now agreed on differs in some important points from that
which has been published. It will be seen from
the subjoined particulars that prizes are to be
given for the "best scores," and also for "bull's eyes,"
thus giving the competitors an opportunity for winning
two prizes. A good deal of complaint tad been made
that no sighting shots were to be allowed. This
was founded on an- error, as they will be allowed,
though the Belgian officials have not yet determined
whether there shall be one, two, or three. At
an interview which some members of the English
Committee had with the Belgian Committee this week,
it was agreed that there should be an entrance fee of three
francs. Volunteers who have been in the habit of paying
the high entrance fees at the Wimbledon meet;ng will
have no cause to grumble that they are required to
contribute this small amount towards the heavy expenses.
Though there will be no regularly appointed officer in
command, Colonel Thompson will practically take charge
of the men. He is chairman of the English Committee,
and in that position has had almost the entire responsi-
bility of the whole matter. He has visited Liege twice
already on the business, and will leave again
to-morrow to complete arrangements. It is to be
regretted that his Majesty the King is not at present very
strong. He is suffering from pains in his right leg, which
will prevent Lim from riding at, 'the inspection of the
volunteers from the different countries represented, which
is ;to take place on this day fortnight. Accordingly he
will occupy a carriage. "

The Times gives a horrible account, from an eye-
witness, of thelreatment of cattle at sea. Thenarrator came
from Rotterdam to London last Saturdayby on e of the vessels
of the General Steam Navigation Comrany. The upper
deck was appropriated to passengers, but the main and
lower decks were covered with a cargo of animals. Nearly
1,400 sheep, 400 pigs, and boxes of birds were crowded
into the available space. The sheep were so closely
packed in pens-that the sailors, in passing along the ship,
walked across their backs as over a mat. Their
miserable and helpless condition seemed to rouse
the evil spirit of cruelty in their drovers and in the crew.
Having, as we have said, to pass along the ship over
the backs of the sheep, they must needs jump on them,
kick and beat them recklessly. For the whole of the
the twenty-four hours' voyage the animals were kept
without food, and when they reached Blackwall still worse
treatment awaited them. An inclined plane was laid from
the ship up to the landing-stage. Up this the frightened
creatures were forced from the slippery deck. They were
driven from behind by the drovers and the
crew, armed with short sticks, whips, and goads.
As they slipped and fell, they were kicked and
struck and goaded on to their legs again. This
revolting scene was protracted for about an hour on
Sunday morning. From Blackwall the animals were to
be driven into a field for another twenty-four hours, and
to be sold on Monday. It ought to shock the public mind,
for more reasons than one, to know that this is the manner
in which a great part of the food of London reaches„ our
shores every week. This scene was witnessed, be it
remembered, in a passenger steamer, where it was
everyone'S interest to mitigate its miseries. What
is likely to be done in merchant vessels, where
there is no one to tell the tale but those
who are themselves concerned in the cruelty ?
Veterinary surgeons are at a loss to understand the origin
of certain cattle diseases. It would be strange if such
treatment as this did not generate disease of some kind.
It is for the public to say whether they like the idea of
using for food animals which have been thus beaten,
kicked, goaded, stifled, and poisoned with filth and foul
air for twenty-four or mere hours before their sale for
slaughter. It is still worse to know that such cruelties as
these can be practised, and openly practised, in the
vessels of a company with an English name. It indicates,
as our correspondent observes, an untamed butality which
may render us equally ashamed and alarmed.
Thanks to the Transatlantic Cable, says the Standard,
the American newspapers of August 28th .made their ap.
pearance with almost as full an account of the aquatic
doings of the 27th as the English journals of the same
date. If we recognised in the challenge which the Uni-
versity of Oxford traces of the true spirit of Saxon pluck,
we think that we may also recognise in the reception with
which the intelligence of the victory gained by the senior
University on the Thames has met, similar evidence of a
genuine affinity in rational sentiment existing between the
old England and the new. All this is precisely what we should
have wished, conquered, but not disheartened; that is a most
desirable motto for any nation in an international con-
test ; and nothing could be better than the general tenor
of the comments of the American press on the results of
the Harvard and Oxford Boat Race. When, however,
we come to the consideration of the special hints and sug-
gestions which Transatlantic jcurnals have thought fit to
make on the subject, we must be allowed to make some
exception, and to enter cur protest, not, indeed, for the
first time against the moral which they have found it
necessary to point. Now, if we accept—and we do
accept— the remarks which Mr. Simmonds made at the
dinner givens by the London flowing Club to the Harvard
crew at the Crystal Palace, as well as the general profes-
sions of time whole body of the American students who
challenged Oxford, it is as an event between two univer
sities that they wish the race on the Thames to be
regarded. To adopt the principle which is implied in the
comments of the Ke w York Times would completely alter
the whole nature of the affair. We, too, maintain that
" the Oxonians ought to give the Harvard students the
chance of a return match ;" but it will on all accounts be
very regrettable if the period of that return match is pre-
cipitated. If the Harvard and Oxford boat-race is to
become an established usage, it must certainly not be one
of annual recurrence.

The progress of the Emperor's recovery from his recent
indisposition has, the Post apprehends, been retarded by
the fatigue consequent on over-exertion. His Majesty
has, no doubt, somewhat anticipated the renewal of his
strength by calling upon a comparatively weak body to ,
keep pace with an active and pswerful intellect. This
will be easily understood, since it entirely consists with the
sense of duty by which the Emperor has been
invariably guided. It is perfectly obvious that the I
difficulty which ph) sicians always experience in dealing
with patients, in every walk of life, who have business
that requlres their attention, must, in the Emperor's
case, be measured by the very highest appreciation of a
respensibilay loudly susceptible of exaggeration. The
malady front which the Emperor is recovering has, ton,
caused hint suffering before. It was an attack of his old
enemy, rheumatism, which is more likely to have
originated br the Italian campaign than to have
arisen out of the political situation in France,
or to have been brought about by shattered
nerves or depression of spirits. The Emperor is
getting older every day, as we all are, but the moral
courage and and indomitable spirit which sustained
him in adversity arc certainly not bowed down by the
weight of the years in which his ideas have been realised,
and his aspirations crowned with success. We do not
attach to the official and semi-official declarations on the
subject of the Emperor's health more importance than
they deserve ; but, seeing that they are borne out and
confirmed by circumstances which happen to be well
known, though not perhaps known to all the world, we
cannot withhold from them the confidence which they
bespeak.
The Herald discusses the annual report of the Irish
Registrar General on the agricultural -condition of the
country, and thinks that although it is regrettable to find
that the cultivation of cereal crops adapted for human
food has seriously diminished since last year, it is Batista:,
tory to learn that the quantity of land devoted to tillage
has considerably increased, namely, by 27,872 acres. We
cannot be much surprised that the land under wheat
should have decreased by 4,033 acres, as the climate
—except on the eastern and southern coasts—is too
moist to produce a first-class grain ; but we cannot
account for the very serious deficiency in the
quantity of land under oats this year as compared
with last amounting to 16,857 acres, unless on the suppo-
sition that it arises from the consolidation of the smaller
holdings into larger ones, and an improvement in the
quality of the food consumed by the people. Sheep have
decreased as compared with their reported numbers in
1868 by no less than 253,000; but it should be remarked
that even With this serious diminution the number of
sheep is still greater than it was some four years ago.
Pigs, " the poor man's friends," have increased in number
by 20,215 since 1868. The total estimated value of Irish
live stock is set down this year at £34,911,360 sterling,
shewing an increase of £530,844 sterling over its computed
worth last year. The area of ground under flax cultivation
is greater by 22,695 acres than it was in 1868, which proves
a recovery from the collapse caused by stimulated over
production during some preceding years, and indicates a
normal and healthy condition in the linen trade. The
least satisfactory of the statistics in the Registrar-
, General's report is that rfdating to emigration. Last year
returns shew that up to the same period at which those for
this year have been made up the number of Irish, emi-
grants was 42,607, while this year it amounts to 45,346,
shewing an increase of 2,639 persons, who have left the
country to push their fortunes elsewhere, notwithstanding
the admitted improvement in the condition of the class
they belong to at home.
The Daily News declares that the agricultural labourer
and the system under which he has been developed into
the thing he is make periodical topics for correspondents,
but it is seldom that a new light is thrown on the
unfortunate subject of these disquisitions. • In • the
glorification of harvest homes, we forget the steal truth
about Hodge. He is then represented to us happy for
the nonce, in the midst of beer, beef, and plum
puddings, with a landlord as agreeable for the time as
if he had been imported for no other purpose than
to look out and fugle delight all round ..on the
occasion. If we follow the labourer home- to his
dwelling, or asked him a few questions involving a, know-
ledge beyond the common understanding of the mere
functional necessities of life, we may be told, perhaps, as
certain education commissioners were in Dorsetshire,
" that Noah was a sort of bird." A gentleman writing
to a contemporary recommends one step in the
right direction iu this matter. He says that tho
ploughboys taken in hand for improvement are
simply drenched with information which is utterly worth-
less for them. They want technical education in some
degree at least. Many of the agricultural lads never
rise as high in life even as to get to the tail of the
plough. They are placed upon a hedge to frighten
away the crows, and are gradually promoted to
cleaning fences perhaps, where they stick at miser.
able wages, marry, and in due course enter the
workhouse. The worst and most hopeless sign of depressed
mental power in the agricultural class is to be perceived
in their utter lack of enterprise. These unfortunate
heavy-clays never dream of bettering their condition, and
as for thinking of being provident, they having nothing to
start with but what barely suffices to keep skin and bone
together. These generalities, wide as they may seem, are
unexaggerated truths which it may be useful to keep
in mind at a time when we shall probably have one land-
lord after another drawing Arcadian pictures at annual
dinners of the condition of the English peasantry.
It is curious to notice, remarks the Telegraph, the
passionate desire to stifle discussion which some good
people display. Dr. APNeile, we have no doubt, is a
most earnest man, and we have no right to blame him for
believing that Ritualism is as bad as Popery, and Popery
ten times as bad as Atheism. But that is no reason why
he should seek to prevent Mr. Mackonochie ;rom reading
a paper an the offertory at the Church Congress which
is to be held at Liverpool. The well-known Ritualist.
it seems, was invited by the Executive Committee t'
read a paper on that subject ' • but on Monday Dr.
M•Neile formally moved that the invitation should
be withdrawn. We are happy to add, however, that by
33 votes to 11 the attempt to stifle discussion was defeated.
If Or. M'Neile is sincere, so is Mn Mackonochie. If the
one can speak in the name of the ultra-Low Church party,
the other can, with equal authority, expressnthehavesentimentsy
onl
ao of
limited
p
rsay-nlli rl'e majority of Englishmen
sympathy with either
for the interest of the Church itself it is well that both
should get a hearing in such an asgq4ly as the Church
I Congress.

HER MAJESTY.

___.4_

VERTRO SSA Hs, Sept. G

Dull weather prevented the Queen from maki3g
an excursion this morning ; but in the afterncon.
her Maksty drove to Lochearnheid and back here.

SP.ORTING INTELLIGENCE—This Day

WARWICK RACES -THIS DAY.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
lULF-MILE SWEEPSTAKES.

Perfume
Podesta
Blondella f

Five ran.
NURSERY HANDICAP.