The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-09 00:00:00

THE GUN TRADE.

The gunmakers of Birmingham are much dissatis-
fied. The Enfield factory has grown so large as to
be absorbing the work which used to be done in the
town represented by the President of the Board of
Trade. The men have made several applications to
the Government in the matter, but without avail.
Another was made on Wednesday to Mr. Cardwell.
He could not give them any satisfactory answer,
however, but pointed out that the Enfield
establishment was working at a lower rate
than usually—in fact, at the lowest rate at
which it could reasonably be kept open. So
far, therefore, the present depression did not lie at
the door of the Government. He was not permitted
to make any promise, but he might appeal to the
fact that Government had very recently given out an
order for small arms to Birmingham over and above
the present requirements for the service. The depu-
tation seemed to think that it would be better if the
Enfield establishment were shut up altogether. Mr.
Bright (who accompanied Mr. Cardwell) thought not,
for if the Enfield establishment were to be shut up,
it would throw a large number of skilled hands
into the Birmingham trade as competitors.

OUR INDIAN EMPIRE.

On Wednesday Sir Vincent Eyre read a paper
at the Royal United Service Institution, White-
hall-yard, on " The Rise and Progress of the
Affghan War." Lord Lawrence was pre-
sent, and Sir R. Murchison was in the chair.
After taking an historical survey of the affair,
be shewed that our position in Affghanistan was
a false one, and fraught with danger in many ways.
We should be careful for the future not to play at our
favourite old game of opposition to Russian progress
in Central Asia. The fears which were entertained
respecting the interference of Russia in the East
were, he considered, groundless, and the inhabitants
of India would not desire to change European
masters, and be under the dominion of the Czar. For
generations to come the Russian forces must neces-
sarily be too insecure to undertake any wild enter-
prises in the direction of Affghanistan. In con-
clusion, he advised our authorities to look to the
assailable points of the Indus, and to maintain
friendly relations with the subjects of Affghanistan.
Sir R. Murchison proposed a vote of thanks, and
declared that the Russian Emperor was peaceably
inclined, and had given solemn assurances that he
would never attempt to approach Affghanistan.

POLAR EXPEDITIONS.
With regard to the various Polar Expeditions now
talked about, Dr. Wallace, of Liverpool, has written
to the Telegraph suggesting a new course to the Pole.
Ile has spent a summer in the polar regions,
and has gathered a good deal of information
from experienced whalers in the Arctic Seas. He
thinks the best course to pursue is to
penetrate the thick belt of ice which lies along the
eastern coast of Greenland to what sailors call the
West Land, where a wide open sea has generally
been found skirting the Greenland shore. The belt
of ice presents the only difficulty, but in one season,
which will admit an open passage to the east
of Spitzbergen, a dozen will be found with
an open sea leading to the West land. If that
water is reached, a steamer could run north to its
utmost limits in a few days ; a travelling party might
then leave the ship safely moored, and travel on the
land to the Pole, if land extends so far. Such are
the main outlines of Dr. Wallace's scheme, which
deserves the attention of Arctic navigators.

HARD TO PLEASE.
Our American cousins, or let us say brethren, are
hard to please. We used to snake them angry
because we held them up to ridicule. They are now
angry because we hold them up to admiration. They
were "riled " when Mrs. Trollope and Mr. Dickens
made fun of them, and' now they are " riled "
because English visitors flatter them. They
complain that we are too " condescending,'
that we go to them expecting to see people
of vulgar manners and slangy speech, and when we
find that it is not everyone who addresses us as
" old hoss," and that their young ladies are not
accustomed to express their approval by such terms
as " right smart," we are surprised, and manifest
our emotion in a patronising manner that is almost
more offensive than our insulting caricatures. This is
the burden of the last very interesting letter from the
New York correspondent of the Daily News. But, after
all, the Americans should see in our compliments at
least a sign of improvement. We are clumsy, no
doubt, and we ought to dissemble our love for our
relations better than we do. Perhaps if we had done
so we should not now be having the fragments of
the torn Clarendon-Johnson treaty thrown into 011 V
f aces.

TLIE IRISIT
There is to be an important meeting next Tuesday
with reference to the Irish Church. It will be a
conference of the several dioceses of the Church, and
will be attended by laymen as well as by clergymen.
Among the lay delegates are Lord James Butler,
Mr. Cecil Guinness Sir E. Grogan, Mr. Hamilton,
Sir Joseph Napier 'the Hon. D. Plunkett, the Master
of the Rolls, Sir F. Shaw, the Vice-Chancellor, and
General Dunne. In Monaghan a
.meeting of " all
denominations" has been held, at which the follow-
ing resolution was passed :—" That we shall con-
tinue to uphold the legislative Union between
Great Britain and Ireland so long as the inter-
national compact is respected and held inviolable by
the British Parliament; but, should the fifth article
of the Treaty of Union—which is expressed to be
essential, fundamental, and perpetual—be repealed,
we shall be forced to regard the Union as virtually
dissolved." After this, the " loyal Protestants" of
Ireland will never be able to reproach the Nationalists
for desiring to repeal the Union. Clearly, the
second have as much right to urge that change for
political, as the first have for ecclesiastical, reasons.