The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times, in discussing the Telegraphs Bill, observes
that the great advantages to be anticipated from the
Government scheme are the carrying the wires into all
parts of the country, and the cheapening and popularising
of telegraphic communication. It would probably never
be worth the while of a private company to carry its wires
to the principal villages or even to the suburbs of large
towns. But the Government have the offices ready, and
are thus saved at the outset a considerable outlay. They
ought, moreover, to turn the telegraph to great account
in the transaction of their business. In Switzerland it is
used for the transmission of money-orders, and we believe
that, by a treaty with the North German Bund, the

telegraph unites that country with Switzerland for all
, purposes of credit. But if the public are to reap the full
benefit of these advantages, the rate of charge must
be fixed much lower than is at present contemplated.
Sixpenny messages, which have been common in
towns, are to be abandoned, and a shilling will be the
uniform charge for twenty words. At such a price the
wires will not be used for short distances. One great
advantage, moreover, to be anticipated from cheap and
extended telegraphic communication would be to diminish
the ever-increasing burden of letter-writing. If tele-
grams were cheap and telegraph offices accessible, people
would gradually learn to transact by the wires a great
deal of business that is now more tediously accomplished
by the post. But such developement is impracticable
with shilling messages, and the rate seems extravagantly
high when we know that in parts of the Continent the
lowest charge is only half a franc. These points,
however, are all capable of amendment. There can he no
hesitation about passing the bill in some form, and experi-
ence will soon indicate the extensions and modifications of
the system which may be desirable.
The Standard says that the legislation which exists in
regard to nitro-glycerine is of a very slender and unsatis-
factory character. The law which regulates the storing
of this "powder oil " is far from affording adequate pro-
tection to the public, while the law, as it relates to the
transport of the article, is still worse. Nitro-glycerine is
classed as " specially dangerous," and is to be declared
as such when handed over to any warehouse-
owner or carrier. It is to he properly
and no warehouse-owner or carrier is bound to
receive or carry nitro-glycerine. But, of course, the
article is both stored and carried. Regulations also exist
as to the disposal of ships arriving in port with this com-
pound on board. But so long as the packages containing
the oil are duly labelled, and no deception is practised,
there seems no limit to the quantity of the substance
which may be carried. The Home (Mee is now inquiring
whether it is possible to deprive nitre-glycerine of its
explosive properties temporarily, so that it may be trans-
ported while in that state. Sir John Hay proposes to
prohibit the importation of the article and to regulate
its conveyance. At present it comes to us chiefly,
if not wholly, from the Continent. It has been
stated that large quantities go across England
from Hull to Liverpool. In fact, it is impos-
sible to say where the stuff may or may not
be. While Mr. H. B. Sheridan is anxious as to
the state of the boilers which are said to underlie the
floor of the House, yet greater dangers may threaten our
legislators from the proximity of nitro-glycerine. Do
railway companies carry this treacherous and terrible com-
pound, and may a collision with a goods train lead to the
bursting of a tunnel, the smashing of a viaduct, or the
breaking up of an entire junction? We believe the whole
statute law of explosives needs revision ; but in the mean-
time the public are indebted to Sir John Hay for bringing
before Parliament a definite proposition in reference to
this perpetual source of peril.
The Daily News observes that the memorial which the
Independent Orange Association of Ulster addressed the
other day to the Prime Minister does not owe all its
importance to the answer which it has called forth. It
is itself a very remarkable paper. It is evidently the
genuine expression of the feelings entertained by the
Protestant farmers and artisans of Ulster. In this respect
it differs very much from the elaborate documents which
are periodically issued with " Enniskillen," or from some
other lordly signature attached to them, and in the pre-
paration of which the rank and file of the Orange Lodges
have about as much to do as the shareholders
of a railway or other company have to do
with the director's report. The crudities of
thought and of language with which the memo-
rial of the Independent Orange Association of Ulster
abounds, give it an interest and value which would be
wanting to language more polished and diplomatic. The
real mind of that vigorous Protestant democracy which
has the future of a large part of Ireland in its hands is
clearly delineated. It is much to understand it, even if
we fail to agree in it. The members of the Independent
Orange Association of Ulster declare that they " infi-
nitely prefer complete disestablishment and clisendowment
than that the Church of Rome should be paid by a Pro-
testant State." The Conservative majority in the 'House
of Lords has pursued a strange course. Under the
pretence of reconciling the Protestants of Ireland
to a necessity which is distasteful to them, they asso-
ciate it with conditions which are yet more odious
in their eyes. It is satisfactory to find that the
Ulster Orangemen do not share the alarm which is felt
by some eloquent Irish bishops as to the future of Protes-
tantism in Ireland. Their historic appeal to the success
of the voluntary principle in Ireland, " as it existed in the
Primitive Church (then Protestant)" prior to the invasion
of Henry IL, and its subjection to the Papacy by " the
force and influence" of that monarch and "the fraud of
Pope Adrian," might not, perhaps, stand close critical
examination. But this ancient precedent is not really the
source of their conviction, which has its origin in their
own zeal. The Free Protestant Church will succeed in
Ireland if it numbers in its ranks men who cannot under-
stand how it should fail, and who are determined not to
let it do so.

The Star rejoices at the success attending the efforts ot
the Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.
In facilities for obtaining and enjoying really pure and
cold water, lies one of the best chances of altering for the
better the drinking habits of our lower, middle, and lowest
class. When what the Americans have taken to calling,
in an odiously-affected phrase, "the heated term" has
set in, water fresh and cold, and water-iced, is one of
the most priceless boons we can enjoy. Man craves it
inside him and outside him with as powerful an instinct as
any of the lower animals ; indeed, with a deeper depth of
desire, for the consumption of animal food and the imbibi-
tion of stimulants give him a thirst which they wot
not of. Our inferiors in the scale of being are
debarred from the questionable excess too common
in man. But while by these drinking-troughs we miti-
gate the horrors of thirst in poor dumb creatures who only
signify their terrible want by external symptoms of suf-
fering, do not let us forget that if there were here, as
there is in America and our West India colonies, in India,
and even in the more temperate climes of Australasia, a
plentiful supply of ice, one excuse for the everlasting
sucking of the beer-barrel would be taken away. A late
eminent judge used to say that when he went down to the
Central Criminal Court to try prisoners, he drank porter
copiously, in order to bring his intellect down to the level
of the advocates who practised there. His sarcasm was
merely an amplification of the old vulgar saying, that
those who "drink beer think beer." Malt and hops may
produce a very wholesome beverage, which the hardy sons
of toil may drink unadulterated in moderation; but cold
fresh water and iced-water will at any rate give men of all
ranks a better chance of being sober.

The Teleijraph says the French have a witty proverb,
" Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait"—" If youth
had knowledge, if age bad power." So we may exclaim,
"If the peasant knew, if the artisan were strong." The
peasant is the very man to emigrate. There is room for
him east and west, north and south. Strong arms are
always and everywhere of use. But he knows nothing.
The artisan has learned from lectures, books, and papers
about the New World and all its wide opportunities ; but
he finds also that there is no demand for the special skill
to which he has devoted twenty years ; while the most
open fields of America want that brute strength whirl'
twenty years of town have taken out of him. There is a
story told of a Sheffield woman, 40 years old, who
was found penniless in some West Country State.
They asked her what she had done, or could do, for a
living. She could answer only "Pack files." She had
been packing files in Sheffield for twenty-five years, since
she had been a girl of 15, and some ill-wind had forced
her to emigrate to regions where nobody wanted files
packed. The worst of the matter is, that the evil and the
knowledge of the remedy are most obvious at Ufa end
where the remedy is least applicable. The best emigration,
from a national point of view, would be that of strong,
healthy rustics, who, with no loss to us, would carry their
unskilled labour into lands where it might find its reward;
but, unfortunately, our emigrants from England are in
great part intelligent middle-aged artisans, pushed from
their stools, beaten here in the battle of life, and not very
able to begin a new campaign.

The Manx Legislature has resolved upon erect-
ing a new hall in which to carry on its deliberations. '

BLEVITY.—A French Capuchin on the Festival
of St. James had to pronounce a panegy-ric on that saint'
As he was rather late, the attendant priests, who feared
that he would make a long sermon, entreated him to abridge
it. The monk mounted the pulp!t, and said : "My
brethren, twelve months ago I preached an eulogy on the
eminent apostle whose festival you this day celebrate. As
I doubt not but that you were all very attentive to me,
2.7:1 as I have not learned that he has done anything new
since, I have nothing to add to what I said at that time."
thcza n=cumal tho