The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-08 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ADELPHI, NEW THEATRE-ROYAL.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. BenJ. Webster.
Last nights of the popular Adelphi Drama of Janet Pride.
THIS EVENING, JANET PRIDE. Messrs. B. Webster.
J. L. Toole, P. Bedford, Stuart, C. Selby;_ Miss Woolg,ar and
Miss Laldlaw.
After which, THAT BLESSED BABY. Mr. Biftington,
Mr. J. L Toole, and Miss K. Kelly.
Doors open at half-past 6—Commence at 7.
Box-office open from 10 till 5.
No charge for bookin_g.
r
Private boxes, :E2 2s. ; Famil ynt Bcoces• £lO
ro Circle Stalls, is. •
Orchestra Stalls, sa. ; Balcony, 4s. -
Pit Stalls, 25.; Pit, is. 6d. ; Amphitheatre, is ; Gallery, 6d.
Acting manager—sir. Wm. Smith.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE._
Proprietor and Manager, Mr. WM. BATTY,
Crowded Houses.—Ile
-engagement of the celebrated Dela-
ran
the tWorl! Trod upe,e Great Lgittle Mr. Geore H
Menoni. utchingson, and the Wonder of
, th
This Evening, Lord Byron's splendid Hippo-drama of
MAZEPPA AND THE WILD HORSE, with entirely new
and beautiful scenery, costly costumes, and appointments,
introducing the largest stud of hic,,hly-trained Horses, Po-
nies, Buffaloes, and Camels in the World.
To be followed by Scenes in the Arena by the Star Riders
of the day, including the greatest Equestrienne in the world,
Madlle. de Berg, and the Wonder of Wonders, Little Menoni.
Doors open at half-past 6, performance commence at 7.
Box-office open daily from 11 till 4.
Stage Manager—Mr. W. WEST.
Director of the Arena—M. Felix Revolt'.

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.—
EVERY EVENING,
A. Grand Selection from
MARTHA,
And Selections from
DINORAH, TROVATOItE, MACBETH,
And numerous other Entertainments.
Balcony, is, Hall. Bd.
Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), and C. Marshall.
The ETHIOPIANS, consisting of 17 performers (organised
expressly for this Establishment), for the performance of
Vocal and Instrumental Music, Comic and Sentimental, with
Segro delineations, anecdotes, tc., in addition to the usual
entertainments.
The Fine Arts Gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday
Evening.

THE WEATHER.-SUN OFIFICZ, SEPT. 8, 1660.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
64—this day at noon.
53 lowest this morning and during the night.
66—highest since noon yesterday.
BAROMETER-30.12 ; falling rather fast.
Wntn—Northerly ; light, with fine warm weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 6h. 7m.—Afternoon, 6h. 30m,
To-bioßßow.-Morning, 6h. 56m.—Afternoon, 7h. 27m

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THE SUN.

LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 8, 1860.

The Cutlers' Feast at Sheffield was celebrated
with no little eclat. Besides the regular attend-
ance of the borough members, a Duke, an Earl,
with Lords, Honourables, and Worshipful Mayors,
honoured the corporation with their presence, or
" felt themselves honoured" by being permitted to
be there. Our own Lord Mayor himself was one of
the honoured and honouring. Hehitherto seemed to
have had no idea what Sheffield is. He had thought
Sheffield an " insignificant spot in the great county
of Yorkshire ;" but he assured the Cutlers he
"should feel so no longer." We should think not.
The only wonder is how a successor of WHITTING-
TON could ever have "felt" so. One privilege en-
joyed by the Master Cutler and his corporation he
even thought would be a worthy addition to the
privileges of the Lord Mayor of London himself.
The " power to inflict severe fines and penalties
upon any ono who dare presume to forge the
peculiar trade mark of any other manufacturer
in the town." By all means let his Lord-
ship have the power, and let it throughout
England be conferred on the proper authorities,
so that punishment shall be severe and prompt for
a fraud which all consumers are interested in pre-
venting. Nothing, for consumers, like the respon-
sibility of being able to identify the producer of an
article of commerce.
A good addition was made to one toast this
year. After the usual loyal toasts, the Master
Cutler gave, "The Army, Navy, and Rifle Volun-
teer Forces." Let not the regular services be
jealous. we ought not, indeed, to suggest such an
idea ; they would be amongst the first to toast the
volunteers themselves. Amongst no class of Eng-
lishmen will the Regular Services stand so high as
among those who desire to rival their training and
efficiency, Volunteers are sympathisers with
" the Line." May the day never arise
when they will have to place themselves under
the orders of its commanders as a part of
the actual defence of the country. Their
very existence, however, is almost the guarantee
that they will not be wanted. They have, as
OV the toast, observed,
EREND, in acknowledging Major
" exercised a great moral influence, not only upon
this country, but upon all the countries in Europe."
They have, indeed, on the one country whose ever-
lasting prate is of glory, and who, -whatever some
may fancy, thought there would be no little glory
in the nation of soldiers flogging well the
nation of shopkeepers, and " annexing," perhaps,
some day as a trophy, the Channel Islands, by force
of arms, and by subsequent universal suffrage. If
Englishmen prefer something more solid than the
babble, glory, as the object of their practical inte-
rest, our vain-glorious neighbours know now, if
they did not before, that Englishmen are as ready
to fight for their solid acquisitions, as bravely as
Monsieur would for his phantom. We believe, as
we have said before, that nothing that we have
done as a nation will prove, not merely so great a
security to ourserxes, but so conservative of the
peace of Europe, e.s the volunteer movement. Euro-
pean nations, France more especially, needed some
glaring proof that business men could be soldiers.
And, they have now irrefutable proof of two things ;
first, that if the occasion required we could have
volunteers by the million, as well as by the hundred
thousand. eeconcily, that our young men possess
a peculiar aptitude for military drill. All autho-
rities, foreign as well as native, who have wit-
nessed the reviews, have been alike surprised at
the drill has been the rapidity with whiell
ac-
quired,

Of course the ;peaker of the evening was our
old R.adical frien• d, jr.A ROEBUCK. He is still in
feeble health-1m Lt it was Mr. ROEBUCK at
home." When ti le Liberals of Sheffield took him
for their
meta bier they well knew that it
was only in ti lee most general possible sense
that he- would be their representative. JOHN
ARTHUR ROEBI (CR represents JOHN ARTHUR
ROEBUCK. Ani L for this he specially praised
the good citizen of Sheffield, that " they had

the full conception of what a representative ought
to be." They had allowed him and his colleague
" to pursue their course, unpestered by the sugges-
tions or observations of constituents." Mr. ROE-
BUCK'S theory is, that a member should be elected
for what he is known to be. That he should then
be left to the best of his own judgment, and if he
does wrong that he should be called to account at
the proper time. Well, there is something manly,
and what we all like, in this. " You have allowed
us to be," he says, what we call ourselves, the
independent representatives of the people of Shef-
field." But too many boroughs know full well
that they have not such sturdy Englishmen for
their members as Mr. ROEBUCK and Mr. HAD-
FIELD—men, very different, indeed, yet whose
temperament would equally make them resent the
solicitations of the Government Whips as much as
the dictation of a clique of constituents. If there he,
real independence in the men, most constituencies
are quite prepared to respect it.
Mr. ROEBUCK'S paradox this time was—that
though Parliament was twitted with doing nothing,
the very best thing that could 'result from their
hard labours was to do nothing ! His reason is,
that it is a peculiarity of the people of England
that they can attend to but one thing at a time.
Now, during the last six months it is notorious that
foreign politics have absorbed the chief attention of
the country. Parliament faithfully represented the
general feeling of the people in the time and at-
tention it directed to foreign subjects, and hence it
was " impossible to produce any effect on the in-
ternal matters of the community." To carry a Re-
form Bill, general and great excitement is absolutely
necessary, in order to overcome the opposition
in both Houses ; it must be something like that of
1830, 1831, and 1832, which he so well remembered.
But, all the excitement of England now was in
regard to Foreign politics, and the necessity of
military security.
On this point Mr. ROEBUCK could point with
some pride to the fact that the country had now
come to his view, though years ago he was abused
prettly handsomely for mentioning the name of a
certain potentate as indicating possibility of inva-
sion. He could now refer not only to the general
feeling, but to the general action. The thousands
of volunteers who had come forward did not Wive
their counters and desks for nothing. They
thought they might be wanted. He might
also have referred to the last man to
break with Lotus NAPOLEON —to Lord
PALMERSTON himself, who dismissed the
house with a speech on foreign affairs of which
the sum was —" Such have been the deeds of
the French Government—and the way of doing
them so. much worse than the deeds themselves, so
full of falsehood and deceit, that we cannot trust
it. We know not what it will do next. We only
know that if we and all Europe keep ourselves
strong enough, it can do us no harm."
The other most interesting speech was that of
Mr. FORBES WATSON in regard to our trade with
India, from which country he has been sent to
inform our manufacturers of the wants and capa-
bilities of the country. We are soon, however, to
have fuller communications from him, and need not
therefore comment on his brief though interesting
communications.

After the splendid long week we have had of
harvest weather, the barometer is now falling again
—whether to indicate the approach of several weeks
of wet or showers, of course no mortal can tell.
This suggests to us one evil which the Sabbatarians
have inflicted on the country, which, if our views
are correct, and we are confident they are so, is
of no slight magnitude. If we advocate entire'
freedom in regard to Sunday amusements, of
course we are denounced with the awful text
—that "we are lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of GOD." An application of the inno-
cent text which we should respectfully tell the
divines is purely their own. However, if we
plead for the duty of saving the food which our
Maker has created for us, on the first day of the
week, as all men now do, on the Sabbath, or seventh
day, wa cannot be taunted with our ungodly love of
pleasure.

Now, we are not divines—but if there be a sin
not distinctly enumerated in the Decalogue, we
should say, that of wasting the food of man and
beast is one. Here we are, a nation living under a
climate proverbial for its fickleness; our harvest
weather the very opposite of that in eastern coun-
tries, in which a thunder storm in harvest time was
a miracle ; and in which they could reap, gather,
thresh, and cleanse their corn in the open air with-
out fear of even a cloudy day—and yet we, on whom
the Bible enjoins no day of abstinence from work—
we are to be prevented, by a baseless superstition,
from placing our crops, if ready, out of danger—
because it is the first• day of the week.

Why, our LORD himself has rebuked such
superstition in regard to the abrogated Sabbath
i'self. He appealed to it as a practice of even the
Sabbatarians of His day, that they would draw any
of their animals out of a pit into which it had
fallen. Why ? Of course to preserve the ox, human
food, or the ass, one of the workers with man in
producing that food. Now, we ask, what
earthly difference in principle can there be
between corn food exposed to destruction, by being
left abroad in a fickle season, when it is fit to be
housed,
and the ox which might perish in the pit
if left till the
Sabbath (Saturday) was over.
How can we doubt that it is the duty of every
farmer, in a season like this, should his sheaves be
ready to-morrow for the stack or the barn, no
longer to leave them in the field ? Sabbatarians
have succeeded in producing a contrary impres-
sion, but certainly a most erroneous one. We re-
member, in our early youth, a worthy farmer
having a field of corn ready to carry on
the Sunday, It was a fickle season. But
his religion taught him that it would be
wrong to harvest the corn on the sacred day. He
forgot that the food was as sacred as the day. The
rain set in on the Monday, and the result was, the
whole field was carried into the yards as decayed
straw, the cattle scarcely caring to pick out an ear
here and there. We have not seen the subject
adverted to, and we are unwilling to shock even
the superstitions of others. We respect sincerely
and cordially every man's conscientious convictions,
however erroneous. But when we/see not merely
pleasures and amusements, but that most
sacred of God's gifts, human food, endangered
by a mere superstition of man, we think it time to
speak. The season is one which demands it. if
our view be right, not only may a farmer with t
clear conscience place in safety his corn which is
ready for carriage on the Sunday:-.but his con-
science ought to accuse him of wasting his.-Maker's
most valuable gifts if he does not do it.

It is -much to be regretted that such lamentable
carelessness prevails in cases where caution is so
necessary, and where a moment's dereliction of
duty may occasion such fearful and fatal results.
After the dreadful accidents that have occurred on
the railways, the attention is again painfully
awakened by the news of the catastrophies in the
coal pits. The one that took place at Kilburn on
Monday was evidently owing to the bad construc-
tion of the conductors of the cages. In cases where

cages pass each other in a shaft the travelling ways
should be constructed so as to render collision im-
possible. Paltry economy or culpable neglect has
probably been the chief cause of this accident. It has
been stated at the inquest that certain Government
regulations bad not been attended to. This, however,
had nothing to do with the accident, the cages
having ascended and descended the shaft in safety
five or six times. Probably the inattention of the
hanger-on at the bottom of the shaft, in neglect-
ing part of his duty was the origin of the accident,
but it is incumbent on the owners of mines to take
every precaution which science can suggest to pre-
vent such casualties. The conductors or travelling-
ways should have been so arranged as to prevent
the possibility of the cages getting out of gear and
coming into collision. The railway accident which
took place on the same day was attributable to a
certain extent to the same cause, namely, want of
precaution on the part of the company in
using effective material. They have not, in this
instance, the excuse that the accident is unprece-
dented--as a precisely similar occurrence took place
at Wolverhampton only two years ago. The
coupling chains in both cases broke on the starting of
the train from a station on an incline. Part of the
carriages running back down the incline, came into
collision with the following train, and caused the
death of ten persons, upwards of fifty being seri-
ously wounded. It is a remarkable fact that on
several lines within a very short period a novel
kind of accident has occurred—the breaking of
axles. In the present instance the coupling chain
in question was defective, and the responsibility of
the action will rest on the company, who are bound
to provide first-class material in all their appli-
ances. In a time when science is overcoming the
difficulties opposed by nature, and locomotives are
constructed of sufficient power to draw trains up
very steep inclines, it is incumbent on the companies
to have far stronger coupling chains. It is strange
when so much progress has been made in nearly
every mechanical department that the break-appli-
ances of railways are so little advanced in improve-
ment. Many plans from time to time, each purpor tin g
to be complete, have been brought before the public;
but as yet, it would seem, none of them have met
with the approbation of the railway proprietors.
Why should not the Government offer a premium
for an efficient system of break appliances, open to
general competition ; and when a suitable otie has
been determined on, to enforce its adoption by al
the lines in the United Kingdom. It is a pity that
directors, in their over-anxiety to present the share-
holders with a handsome dividend, or a philan-
thropic desire to benefit the public by cheap excur-
sions, should so often neglect proper precautions
for the safety of the passengers.
It is to be trusted that now, after such serious
warnings, more care will be taken ; that the
owners of mines will look well to the arrange-
ment of their materials, and that railway com-
panies will not undertake more than they can
perform with safety. There are, generally, irre-
gularity and delay with excursion trains. More
trains and fewer carriages in each Would rectify
the evil ; and too much attention cannot be given
to a subject which is intimately connected with the
welfare of the community. The train, in the case
of this accident, was clearly overburdened, and
hat, too, to go up a steep ascent.