The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-22 00:00:00

Tl E SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 22, 1869.

nightly Ins dness—dreaming. They appear to be
throughout , in direct violation of all the probabilities.
Reading the record of them, it remains to the last
moment incomprehensible to us how any rational
mortals could agree together to go through such elabo-
rate absurdities. But, most of all, one wonders bow a
man of genius like VICTOR HuGo could have the
patience to preside over them. Obviously, however,
there might have been inscribed over the door of the
place of assembly at Lausanne, same such inscription
as this—that Whosoever crossed that threshold left his
senses behind him. The President of the Congress,
especially by right of his preposterous office, by reason
of his mere acceptance of it, was clearly from the
outset, for the time being, off his head. Upon
the political platform, at all times, M. Vic The
HuGo has shown his tendency to the state
of mind of one who is recognisably demented. Only
carry the question of politics to an extreme, calling
it, while doing so, by no matter what name—So-
cialism, Republicanism, Ultra-Democracy, or
the Red Revolution—and VICTOR IluGo at once
signalises in some glaringly conspicuous manner that
he is a monomaniac. The Poet's eye, hitherto "in a
fine phrenzy rolling," as the Prince of Poets has it,
glancing " from Heaven to Earth, from Earth to
Heaven "—forthwith becomes fixed and flam-
ing as that of a Political Demoniac. Articulate
language gives place to mere foaming gibberish.
Rhetorical, art disappears, and you have, in its
place, only empty rholomontade. COLERIDGE once
wrote some wonderfully musical and sonorous lines of
descriptive poetry, with no particular idea or realiz-
able meaning whatever in it, during his sleep, under
the title of " Kubla Kahn." But this is the sort
of inharmonious folly that is babbled by VICTOR
Hugo, when he has taken his place as
President of an ultra-Democratic Congress,
like that recently playing its fantastic tricks before
high Heaven at Lausanne Citizens," quoth he,
" it is my duty to close this Congress by a final
word. I will try to be cordial: help me. You are
the Congress of Peace, that is to say of civilization.
[Ahem ! our old friends the Tooley Street Tailors
again.] On that point allow me a remembrance.
Twenty years ago, in 1849, there was at Paris a Con-
gress of Peace. It was on the 20th of August—a
bloody date ! The anniversary of the Saint Bar-
tholomew ! Two priests, representing the two forms
of Christianity, were there ; the Pastor Coquerel and
the Abbe Deguerry. The chairman of the Congress_.
the man who has the honourof addressing you [Don't
forget, he seems to say, that I had this glory
once before]—evoked the nefarious souvenir of 1572,
and addressing the two ministers he told them,
Kiss each other ! In presence of that sinister date, to
the acclanaetion of the assembly, Catholicism and
Protestantism joined lips. To-day, only a few hours
separate us from another date which is as illustrious
as the first one is infamous ; we are nigh to the 22d
of September. It was on that day that the French
Republic was founded ; and if despotism and fana-
ticism had, on the 24th of August, 1572, said their
last word, extermination—on the 22d of Septem-
ber, 1792, democracy sent forth its first cry, Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity. Well ! That sublime date
recalls to my memory those two religions repre-
sented by two priests who gave each other a kiss
of peace, and I call for another embrace. This one
is easy ; it has nothing to be forgotten. I ask for
the embrace of the Republic and Socialism. (Thun-
ders of applause.)" Unhappily for the Illustrated
London Newsand the Paris Illustration, Republicanism
and Socialism on this occasion had no individual re-
presentatives or impersonators. So that the kiss is
audible to the cars, and visible to the eyes only of
the imagination. To return.to VICTOR Huoo, how-
ever, who is still in the midst of his tall talk or
high falutin about Socialism and Republicanism—
" Our enemies say," we find him adding, ' If neces-
sary, Socialism would accept the bulplre.• It Is nut
true. Our enemies say, The Republic ignores
Socialism.' It is not true. The high and definitive
formula which I have just recalled, while it expresses
the whole Republic, also expresses the whole
Socialism. At the side of liberty, which implies pro-
perty, there is equality, which implies the right of
work, a lofty formula of 1848 ; and there is also fra-
ternity, which implies solidarity. Therefore Repub-
licanism and Socialism are one. (Prolonged bravos.)
Citizens, I am not myself a Republican of
the eve, but I am a Socialist of the day
before the eve. My Socialism dates from 1828 ;
therefore, I have the right to speak of it. Socialism
is vast and not narrow ; it embraces all human pro-
blems the social conception in its entirety. While
it evokes the important question of work and wages,
it proclaims the inviolability of human life, the
abolition of war, the abolition of the gallows, the
abolition of murder under all its forms, the substi-
tution of instruction for penalty. (Applause.) It
proclaims the gratuitous and obligatory educa-
tion ; it proclaims women equal to man—(bravo)
it proclaims the right of the child and the
responsibility of man ; lastly, it proclaims the
individual sovereignty, which is identical with liberty.
What is all that? It is Socialism ; it is Republican-
ism. Citizens, Socialism is the affirmation of life ;
Republicanism is the affirmation of right. The one
raises up the individual to the dignity of man ; the
other raises up the man to the dignity of citizen. Is
there an accord more perfect? Yes ; we all agree.
We do not want a CAESAR." The REDEEMER said,
" Render unto CESAR the things that are CESAR'S"
—but M. VICTOR HuGo says, by preference, "We
do not want a CiESAR." He adds, "I defend Socialism
which is calumniated. On the day when the ques-
tion is put between slavery and well-being—panemet
circenses on the one hand, and liberty with poverty
on the other—no one amongst the Republicans and
the Socialists will hesitate ; and all—l declare it, I
affirm it, 1 answer for it--all will prefer to the
white bread of servitude the black bread of liberty.
(Enthusiastic bravos.) Therefore, we must not let
antagonism appear and germinate. Therefore, my
Socialist brethren, my Republican brethren, let
us stand close and serried around justice and
truth ; let us face the enemy. Who is the enemy ?
The enemy is more and less than a man. It
is a compound of hideous facts, which weighs on the
world, and which devours it. It is a monster with a
thousand claws, although with but one head. The
enemy ? It is that sinister incarnation of the old
military and monarchical crime, which stifles and
spoliates us ; who put his hand on our mouths and
in our pockets (yes, yes ; true, true) ; who has the
millions, the budgets, the priests, the valets, the civil
lists, the palaces, all the armies, and not a single
people (applause). The enemy it is who reigns, go-
verns, and organises at the present moment (thunders
of applause.)" Speaker and audience aro evidently
alike in a state of delirium ! " Citizens," exclaims
VICTOR HuGo, however, in conclusion, " let us be the
enemies of the enemy ; let us be our own friends ; let
us be only one soul to fight him ; let us only have one
heart to love each other. Citizens, let us cry Fra-
ternity (yes, yes ; bravo !) Another word and I have
finished. Let us look at the future ; let us think of
the day certain, inevitable, near at haul, perhaps,
when the whole of Europe will be cultivated like
that noble Swiss country which welcome us at this
moment. That little people has its grandeur, it has
a country which is called a Republic, it has a moun-
tain which is called the Virgin. Like Switzerland,
let us have a Republic for citadel, and may onr im-
maculate and inviolable liberty be like the Jung-frau,
a virgin revealed in full light. I salute the future re-
volution! (We all greet it with you. Bravo, bravo.")
Enough, however, of all this poetico-politiCal high

falutin. 0 for one hour A VICTOR HUGO, in his
sober senses, to sweep out of our remembrance all
this preposterous rhodomortade.

TITE mineral products of England have always been
ranked among the chief somces of her national wealth
and greatness, but probaliy few persons actually
realise their full extent or vane. The mining report
just published under the auspices of Sir RODERICK
MURCHISON, supplies some interesting information on
this point. The total value of the metals and mine-
rals obtained from the mines of the United
Kingdom in the year 1868 was estimated at
£43,525,542. Minerals no, smelted, such as salt
and similar products, amoulted to a little more than
two millions. Metals raised during the same period
were valued at £15,736,416, while the value of the
coal was no less than £25,785,289, or considerably
more than half the sum total of our underground
income for the year. It semis curious, after this, to
be told that there was a positive decrease in our coal
returns for 1868 ; yet such the mining records care-
fully prepared by Mr. ROBERT lItiNT prove to
have been the case. We exported, it is true, more
coal in 1868 than in 1807, but the total amount
raised from our mines in the twelvemonth was less
in the latter than in the former year. We have
become so accustomed to see all our branches of
industry increase in extent and activity that any
variation of the rule strikes us with surprise. The
apprehensions about the possible exhaustion of our
ccal-fields, and the consequent paralysis of some of
our most important manufactures were due to calcu-
lations founded on the yearly increase of national

consumption. This confident estimate has, however,
proved to be too sanguine ; but the present
diminution is to be attributed to the com-
mercial depression of the time. Coal plays so
important a part in our commercial world, it assists
in the development of so many otliPr resources, that
the amount consumed represents the rate of national
progress in the industrial world.

The coal produce has hithorto shewn a rapid rate
of increase, the quantity raised in 1860 being
80,000,000 tons ; in 1865, 96,000,000 tons ; in 1868,
103,141,157 tons. It was only in the year 1847 that
any attempt was made to obtain official reports of
our mineral products, but although the information
on which they are founded is given for the most part
voluntarily, it is gratifying to find that there has been
no desire to withhold it. The mining proprietors
have proved themselves in this respect wiser than the
agriculturists whose prejudices against furnishing
statistics of their produce have been hard to combat.
We can hardly fail to remember in connection with
the depression of the coal trade, the prolonged strikes
among the colliers and the ironworkers, the "Denaby
Main Colliery Strike," or "The Nailers' Strike," or
similar accounts constantly appearing in the journals,
but we fail to realise the amount of misery and the
waste of property caused by them. Statistics like
these before us should have more influence on the
leaders of such movements.

There is another branch of the subject which it is

not pleasant to contemplate. It has been computed
that on an average one man loses his life in our coal
mines every day of the year, but we have by no means
a monopoly of the mining accidents, if we have pre-
eminence in mineral products. We had scarcely
ceased to study the details of the terrible disaster in
Saxony when we were startled by the news of a
catastrophe nearly as great occurring in Pennsylvania.
Wherever there is mineral wealth we hear the same
story. Men are always ready for the most dangerous
exploit, but their readiness unhappily arises not from
courage but recklessness. They are indifferent to
danger because they do not think of it. The miner
who carelessly lights his pipe in the midst of escaping
gas, and defies all the ingenuity of STEPHEN-
SON and DAVY to keep his lamp shut, would
probably hesitate about going into a danger
which he understood. and realised, above
ground. The accidents arising from such causes are
not altogether within the reach of legislation or in.
spection.

We must look to the men themselves for

the cure, and as education penetrates to our miners;
we may hope to see them grow more cautious, be-

onuoo morn onliOltPried, find less willing to run the
risk of destroying their own lives and bereaving fifty

homes for the pleasure of a quarter of an hour's
smoke! A great deal, however,-might bo done to
lessen the risks of mining, which are beyond the reach
of the miners. It is incumbent on the owners of col-

lieries to take care that no question of profit, no
desire to avoid a trifling or temporary expcnse leads
to unavoidable disaster. It is much to be wished
that our legislation were a little more stringent on
this point, and that the official inspection which is
always ready to ascertain the cause of an accident

which has really happened would try to avert the
frequent recurrence of wholesale tragedies. An

industry which, independent of its ultimate influence

on other trades, is worth annually more than five

and-twenty millions sterling, deserves to divide
attention, even with the Irish Land Question,

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—this Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

two young women, were charged
SUPPOSED ROBBERY OP BANK NOTES. —Mary Shoreham
th having in their possession a £5
beforeand Mary
Mr.A .
Tynrnw
hSittnti twhi,
bank note, and not giving a satisfactory account of the
same.

Police-constable Perry, 33 F, said that at half-past five
that morning he was in Little-street, St. Andrew-street,
Seven Dials, when hg saw the two prisoners with two
other women and two soldiers. The women were all
quarrelling, and after they separated, from what he was
told he went after the prisoners and asked them where the
£3 notes were. They said they had not got any, and he
than observed Shoreham drop something down an area,
Ile caused the prisoners to be detained, and on going into
the area he found a £5 note; and Shoreham then said that
it was given to her by a gentleman, and that she did not
know what it was. The other prisoner said she knew
nothing about it.

Mr. Tyrwhitt asked the constable who gave him the
information ?

The constable said one of the women with whom the
prisoners were quarrelling told him the prisoner Shoreham
had stolen the note from a gentleman.
Shoreham said that a gentleman she had been with in
Carlton-gardens gave her a piece of paper, but she did not
know it was a.£s note.

In answer to Mr. Tyrwnitt, the prisoner Shoreham said
she had met the gentleman twice before.
Mr. Tyrwhitt remanded the prisoners; Smith being
allowed to go at large,on her own recognisances.

MADEIRA.

11114 cultivation of -thp soil in Maderia is at present
undergoing ono of those radical and remarkable changes
which in times past have characteriheel the history of the
island. Thero is a tendency to effect a complete substitu-
tion of the sugar-cane for the vine. For 400 years one or
other of the plants has been pre-eminent, the supremacy of
the sugar-cane depending upon the defection of the vine,
and the latter succeeding to the land when blight or mis-
fortune lead to the abandonment of the former. This time,
however, the change is prompted by no such neces-
sity, but rather by a knowledge of the value of Madeira
wine and a growing demand for the produce by the pre-
ferences of the people, and by the undoubted capacity of
the soil in its dryness, its sloping disposition, and general
qualities, to support the vine, and, perhaps, also by an
instinctive foresight of the eventual, and not distant,
termination of a culture exhausting in its nature, and
comparatively unassisted by art. The failure of the
sugar cane is natural and inevitable in a soil unregenerated
after the removal of a bulky crop. The vine is already
covering the land in districts formerly known to be best
adapted to it; and, moreover, such is the industry of the
people, that ground which, in the memory of man, has never
befel) planted is now covered with the light refxeshing
foliage, and the heavy clusters of black and golden
Madiera grapes hang luxuriantly from the trellises. There
is further, it must be said, a tendency to resume the vine
culture in regions which were never well suited to its
maturation, and even in well-watered valleys and upon
deeper and richer soils the trellises are eitending where
he sugar-cane might be advantageously retained.