The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1E69.

THEATRE-ROYAL DRITRY-LANE.
dole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. Chatterton,

THIS EVENING. at 7, BELLES OF THE KITCHEN. At 8,
FORMOSA : sTessrs. Barrett, II Irving, David Fisher, Brittain,
Wright, John Rouse; Mrs Billington, Misses M. Brennan, Mac-
donald. and Katharine Rodgers. Conclude with BORROWED
PLUMES

to other startling facts, and declare that the moun
tains which surround the Wyoming Valley are cum-
bered with many of these huge "breakers." The
traveller on the railroad may see them on every side
through the whole region, and every one ids built
upon a shaft-lip, if not over tie mouth itself. They
are constructed of wood, and if they once catch fire,
they fall in ruins into the shaft' cutting off all chance
of escape from the miners below. Before the excite-
ment which has been called forth by this calamity
dies out, it is to be hoped that something definite will
be done to prevent the recurrence of such a catastrophe.
With the eloquence which springs from deep con-
viction, and is inspired by earnest feeling, the
chroniclers of these sad acounts have shown the
urgent necessity that exists for a change in the
construction of mines, atd the unanimity of
opinion that prevails on the subject speaks
well for the chances of improvement. It has been
truly said in one quarter that a radical action in the
matter might not have been called for before the
Avondale disaster, but since that, no action can be too
radical. The miners and people in the neighbour-
hood have expressed their opinion most emphatically
against the construction of mines with but one means
of entrance and escape, and they seem determined not
to let the matter drop.
There has existed in America as well as in this
country a very strong objection to Government inter-
ference with business arrangements, but this objection
breaks down under the stern teaching of events like
this, which demonstrate the necessity of imposing
some limit upon the cupidity and carelessness of
mankind. Without such institutions business will
pass generally into the hands of those whose selfish-
ness holds them to be most indifferent to the lives of
their workmen, and who, therefore, sacrifice life in
order to avoid expenditure. With the pecuniary
advantage thus gained, more humane competitors are
driven out of the field.: Justice to all parties, there-
fore, requires that suitable limitations should be
placed by Government 'in all cases where danger
exists.

Two meetings of working men have been held this
Iweek which challenge attention. The one was chiefly
. retrospective, the other almost as entirely prospec-
tive. The first was a meeting of the International
Working Men's Association, at which the delegates
who had been sent to the recent Congress at Basle
rendered an account of their stewardship ; the second
was a gathering convened for the purpose of denounc-
ing Free Trade as the cause of the present
dearth of employment existing in connection
with particular trades. Speaking figuratively, the
jubilate was sung in the former instance and the
iniserere in the latter. The major portion of the Basle
delegates were thoroughly satisfied with the results
of the Congress, and all of them went so far as to
say that its deliberations were calculated to produce
the best moral effects. Nor were their congratulations
offered without reason. Though some of the sub-
jects discussed at the congress were too advanced to be
tasteful to certain sections of the community, and
though it must be confessed that the deliberations on
two or three occasions were scarcely conducted with
the gravity the nature of the proceedings demanded,
the mere fact of a considerable number of the
" workmen of the world " meeting together for free
interchange of thought and opinion upon matters of
general interest to their class, is a fact of no
inconsiderable import. Though not the first, the
congress in question has been the largest of the kind
yet convened. It was essentially a representative
gathering, and one feature was especially noticeable.
Whereas at the Congress held at Geneva the dele-
gates assembled appeared to be afraid of each other, the
French workmen sitting in one corner, the German in
another, and the English in a third, at Basle
all this was changed, and according to the
statement of a delegate, the various members
freely mingled with one another, and addressed each
other as representatives of labour rather than as
bearers of national distinctions. As was naturally to be
expected, the subject of trades unions was a promi-
nent topic discussed, and no doubt Mr. APPLEGARTII
was right in saying the resolution which was passed
might have been greatly extended had it not hap-
pened chub so many- of the committee were new to
the movement. Whatever may be our view, or the
views of our readers, upon this much-vexed question,
all must agree that if, as was expressed by the
delegates, one of the effects of such Congresses as
that just closed is to lay the foundation for a superior
state of society in which no trades unions will be
required, the oftener they are held the better.
Probably no one will be found to enter the lists
in the defence of trades unions as an unmiti-
gated good in the abstract, however much
they may deem them essential as correctives
of, or possibly it would be more correct to say as
protectives against, wrongs which might otherwise
press with too great a weight upon the working
classes. Whatever their relative position in the scale
of things good or bad, the interests of society demand
the hastening on of the time when the antagonism
which they suggest no longer finding a place in the
world the insignia of that antagonism shall also be laid
aside. It is curious and not insignificant to turn from
the first to the second meeting to which we have
referred. It was composed of precisely the same
class, men with interests almost identical, as the
one that rejoiced over the advanced and pronounced
opinions that had found - favour at Basle.
Yet how strangely diverse, indeed how
diametrically opposite were the sentiments ex-
pressed. The Trades of Great Britain Defence
Association, which we believe was originated by the
lath-renders of the country, sets one object befote it
with great clearness, that object being to revive Pro-
tection, an object which, as announced a few days
since, had found a footing in Manchester amongst
the members of a much higher class in society
Both disclaim political bias or motives, and both avow
their desire to discuss the questions of loss of work
and free trade, and to find, if possible, some remedy
for the present disastrous position of the capital and
labour of the country. It certainly does seem odd
that this matter should have sprung up in Manchester
the very birthplace of free-trade, and should be accepted
as an article in the creed of working men. The
conclusions of the latter are, as might be sup-
posed, the result of hasty rather than deliberate rea-
soning or research. This is attested by the resolu-
tion they sought to pass, and the speeches which they
delivered. Briefly summed up, the argument is as fol-
lows : The principle of Free Trade is based and should
be based upon equality of international exchanges. As
other nations have not adopted the principle,
it is injurious for England to adopt it, the
direction in which that injury exhibits itself being in
the depression of trade, want of employment, and
pauperism. It seems scarcely likely that such an
argument will have the effect, as it seems it was inti-
mated it ought to have, of convincing the PRESIDENT
of the BOARD or TRADE that the commerce of Eng-
land must be protected, and that the efforts of COBDEN
and himself in the advancement of Free Trade have been
both abortive and wrong. Do these lath-renders
seriously desire to question the abstract truth of the
free-trade system ? Can they not'see that whatever
our rivals or competitors may do, no other theory of
commerce can find a footing in England ? Granted that
there are isolated cases—their own may be one—where
the non-protection of trade may appear to be
unjust ; it is the advantage of the many that we are
imperatively called upon to consider; the prosperity
of our country, not the welfare of a clique, that
individually and collectively we are bound to seek.

711 E LORD JUSTICE CLERK.

; THE HARVARD CREW AND THE LONDON
ROWING CLUB.

The following letter has been received by the secretary
' of the L.R.C. from the Harvard Crew subsequently to their
departure from Putney:—" Queenstown, Sept. 3, 1869.
To the London Rowing Club, Putney, S.W., England.—
Gentlemen,—We hardly know how to express to you our
gratitude for your uniform kindness and attention during
our stay in England. Even after a challenge to Oxford
had been forwarded and accepted, and while we were still
hoping for favourable word from Cambridge, we had our
misgivings as to the wisdom of our course, and were
inclined to over-estimate the difficulties attendant upon a
residence of several weeks in a land far from home among
those entirely strange to us. But your welcome favour,
breathing throughout a spirit most courteous and kindly,
tendering us the hospitalities of your club, at once reas-
sured us, and most glad are we to say that you
have lived up to its very letter. Though your
course was entirely free from anything of a
demonstrative :nature, the manner in which you have
anticipated our every want, and rendered plain and easy
much that would have given us care and anxiety, was most
considerate. We have left in your hands the boat in which
we rowed the race. Will you oblige us by accepting it as
a slight token of- the regard we feel for the many worthy
men who compose your club, and whom it has been our
pleasure and honour to meet and know? We scarcely
recall any specimen of our American manufactures that
would be more appropriate, and hope that it may be of
service to you. With deep regret at a separation which
we trust may be of but short duration, and strongly hoping
that we may soon see many of your members on our shore,
promising them such attentions as lie in our power to give,
we remain, gentlemen, very sincerely yours, Tim HAR-
VARD UNIVERSITY BOAT Cl:cl3 (per William Blaikie,
Secretary)."