The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-17 00:00:00

c ; ctt lame four States should put the officials on
their *guard. They have been careful to order the
disarmament of the whites, but there has evidently
Lean some remissness in permitting the negroes to
an. If the rest of the population are prevented from
w taring arms, there can be no reason why the
nls cks—free men like the rest, and certainly
fav oured rather than opposed by the Government—
showld be allowed to possess them. In the present
critiNtl state of affairs such a permission is foolish
in till a extreme; but, as we have said, so far as the
offittinls are concerned, it has probably been granted
thr( ,ugh carelessness. In two of the Southern
dis tricts the disbanding of negro militia
has been ordered, and probably now that
th te suspicious circumstances we have referred
to have been brought under the notice of the
authorities further precautions will beJ taken.
General SCHOFIELD has made an effort to redistri-
bute the black population by declaring that the
State poor-laws shall be put in force ; that is to say,
that the destitute negroes shall be charged upon the
counties which they left for the towns at the close
of the war. If this order is carried out, it will, at
least, disperse some of the more dangerous and dif-
ficult classes.
Meantime the removal of Generals SHERIDAN and
SICKLES continues to be the subject of comment,
North and South. It is said to be the PRESI-
DENT'S intention to reinstate some of the officials
removed by SHERIDAN'. Governor THROCKMORTON,
of Texas, will be one of these, it is thought, as his
removal was an unwarrantable act of oppressive
interference. Of course any such proceeding will
be in contravention of General GRANT'S order, for-
bidding military commanders to reinstate deposed
civil officers, but as GRANT took upon himself to
give this order without consulting the PRESIDENT,
it is not very likely that Mr. JOHNSON will alter
his plans to suit the officious manifestoes of
his somewhat unruly lieutenant. The real
difficulty in carrying out the reconstruction laws
has been made by the Radicals themselves. if the
truth were known they were probably disappointed
that the Southern people accepted the scheme, and
instead of smoothing the way and encouraging
them to comply with the new revelations in good
part, the Radicals, from the military commanders
of the several districts downwards, have endeavoured
in every way to irritate and disappoint the
people. Mr. THROCKMORTON, the deposed Gover-
nor of Texas, has published his defence in the
local newspapers. He asserts that commanding
officers have persistently impeded the work of re-
construction, though the people have been anxious
to carry out the plan of Congress. Happily, the
" obstacle," as the Radicals politely term the PRE-
SIDENT, has now interfered with a strong hand, and
it remains to be seen what further course he wil
adopt to save the Southern States from a war o 1
races.

It is most satisfactory to find that Austria has
been able to bring matters to a more agreeable con-
clusion than was at first expected between the
Ministers of Finance of Austria and Hungary.
The object is to regulate the several points con-
nected with the division of the public debt between
the Empire and the Cisleithan provinces
From Vienna we learn that the official evening
Post gives an authentic denial once for all to the
rumours that the Government intend to confiscate
the Church property in order to meet the present
financial requirements. The Presse declares that
the Ministerial proposals which had been made to
the Austro-Hungarian Conference are, that a
capital is to figure as a separate item in the total
amount of the public debt. This is to be repre-
sented by interest to the amount of twenty-five
million florins. The last news from Pesth is that
confident expectation is entertained of this Austro-
Hungarian Conference being brought to a satisfac-
tory conclusion, and that an agreement will be come
to respecting the portions of the State burdens
to be borne by Hungary. This is very gratifying
to hear of, became some well-grounded fears were
experienced by some that the result of this com-
plicated arrangement would not be a fortunate one,
au4 that at any rate some unpleasantness or
awlwardne.ss would prevail respecting the affair.
It Oust be admitted that the Vienna Government
have shown great discretion in the way in
which they have conducted their policy
towards Hungary. Such a course of wise
and moderate legislation cannot fail to have
the most beneficial results, and it is the more
fortunate just now because of the many difficulties
with which Austria has to contend. One cannot
help wishing that this better understanding did
not prevail at an earlier period between Austria
and Hungary, for it might have averted some of
the worst evils of last year ; but we hope that this
will prove an illustration of the truth of the say-
ing, " Better late than never," in the fortunate
effects it will produce.

in the person of Frangois Dabadie, who has just
died at a maitson des sante, aged 44. He began
his newspaper career as editor of the Emancipation
of Toulouse, in 1841, and was afterwards con-
nected with the Paris papers, the Commerce and
La Patric. For some time ho was one of the
editors of the Opinion Nationale. His last work,
" Celebrated Suicides," was very- successful. Da-
badie's democracy was of the advanced school,
tending to Jacobinism.
The Court of Assize of the Haute Loire, held
at Pay, has tried a man and his wife, named
Veysseire, on some revolting charges, including
murder. The woman is a midwife, and it seemed
pretty clear, from the evidence, that she not only
took children to nurse, but got rid of them by
violence, brutality, and other means, in cases
where the mothers desired it. She was ex-
tremely well paid by mothers who confided their
children to her. This woman, at the instigation
of her husband, appears to have got rid of his
young girl by his former wife. A long list was
read of women who had confided their children
to the female prisoner, some of whom, she pre-
tended, had died. As to the husband's child,
she said it had died from illness and defor-
mity. At the suggestion of the President,
a little child whom the woman had nursed
was brought into court, and it exhibited
such alarm and disgust at seeing the prisoner that
there was a scene of great excitement and horror.
The woman was condemned to death, and her
husband to twenty years' hard labour.
According to a letter from Florence, Garibaldi
has returned to that city from Geneva " very dis-
concerted with his journey."
The French Government has received a letter
from M. Dano, its recent representative at Mexico,
dated from New York. It was on the 28th of
August that M. Dano landed at New York from
Mexico with the members of the Legation, the
chargds d'affaires of Belgium and Italy, and a few
Frenchmen who had resided at Mexico. They left
Mexico on the Bth and Vera Cruz on the 16th of
August.
A young Englishman, named Edward Sweeting,
has appeared before the Tribunal of Correctional
Police at Dinau on a charge highly dis•
graceful to him, and involving, according
to the accusation, an insult upon France
and Frenchmen. It appeared that the prisoner and
some other young Englishmen had upon several
occasions paraded about the town at night in a
state of intoxication with lanterns, and Sweeting
had the folly and audacity to place upon the head
of the Constable Duguesclin,
which ornaments one
of the public squares of the town, a china vessel,
which in general is only used in bedrooms. In
answer to the President, Sweeting said it was only
a joke. The President asked him what would be
thought in England if any one were to practise the
same joke upon the statue of Wellington or Nelson.
The prisoner answered that similar things had been
done in England by Frenchmen. The President—
That is not so. The French respect glory among
all people. When they have an enemy they face
him, and do not profit by the night to exhibit
their feelings of hatred. Certain persons
had shown smothered hatred towards Dagues-
din, but they were not true Englishmen.
The English do not forget that our soldiers fought
by their side at the battle of the Crimea. Several
outrages of a similar kind had been committed, and
recently a band of young Englishmen had danced in
derision over the tomb of Beaumanoir at Lefton.
Sweeting denied that he bad formed part of the
band. Sweeting, who would not disclose the names
of his companions, was sentenced to imprisonment
for 15 days. As some readers may ask, Who is
Beaumanoir ? let me add that, according to French
historians, Jean de Beaumanoir was a celebrated
knight of Brittany who lived in the 14th century.
He reproached the English garrison with making
war iu a bad way—that is to say, by spreading car-
nage and desolation among the peasantry. The
officer in command of the English denied it. The
result was that it was agreed that thirty English
men and thirty Frenchmen should fight agains
each other. The battle took place at a spo
called Chere de Mi-Voie. The natives of
Brittany were victorious. Merlin, the enchanter,
predicted that the English would he victorious.
According to the same authority Duguesclin in
1360 sustained the siege of Beatles with 100 deter-
mined men against 3,000 English. They presented
themselves at daybreak before the enemy's camp,
burst the tents, took possession of 200 chariots, and
returned in triumph. The Duke of Lancaster, who
commanded the siege of Rennes, sent a herald to
Duguesclin. During the interview an Englishman
of prodigious strength came in and accused D ugues-
clin of killing one of his countrymen, and asked
for permission to have three sword thrusts at him.
Sixanhdniesre if you like," replied Duguesclin,
shaking and with him. The combat took place
Englishnext da
combatanty in
The English were furious, and
began the assault. Duguesclin made a sortie, defied
them upon three points, and made them raise the
siege.thepresence of both armies. The
was killed with one thrust of
Duguesclin's lance.

THE LAMBETH LIBRARY.

The noble dining-hall with which tradition
hcha-
racteristically couples the name of the genial Juxon
has, in our less hospitable days, served as a shrine
for a ccllection of manuscripts and books which,
though legally the personal property of the arch-
bishops, has for centuries been placed at the ser-
vice of literature and the Church. The library
was, in fact, the oldest public library in England,
and the original orders for its regulation bear no
less a name than that of Francis Bacon. The collec-
tion of manuscripts, some 1,200 in number, which
had gathered through the learned liberality of
primate after primate round the original nucleus of
the Canterbury registers, have long been famous
among ecclesiastical and historical students, and
one other single
publications which have
series
oreo f thanpub
ianye
been of late undertaken by the Master of the
Rolls, and such literary associations as the Camden
or the Early English Text Societies. The papers
of Wake, of Wharton, of Gibson, brought its inte -
rest down to far later times; while the mass of books ,
extending over every topic of ecclesiastical litera-
ture, comprised an almost unique series of early-
printed English works, which are well known
through the catalogue of Dr. Maitland. The last
name reminds us bow directly the library has told
on ecclesiastical literature through its own custo-
dians. The manuscript collections of Ducarel, the
Anglia Sacra which forms but a small part of the
stores accumulated by the miraculous industry of
Henry Wharton, the labours of Maitland on the
Dark Ages and the Reformation, are not unworthily
matched in our own day by the series of works
with which the present librarian Professor Stubbs,
without dispute the most learned among English
historic inquirers, is enriching our national litera-
ture. To close this library to literature, and to
break the learned tradition of more than three
centuries, has been the last freak of the Ecclesi-
astical Commissioners ere they separated for their
autumnal holidays. The tale, stripped of techni-
calities, is a very simple one indeed. An act
of last session by one of its clauses expressly
enabled the commissioners, who through recent
changes have become the possessors of a good
half of the old revenues of the see of Canterbury,
to take upon themselves the charges of the main-
tenance of the library and the payment of the
librarian. After long and tedious negotiations they
have finally refused, we believe, to allow any
sum whatever for putting the library into a decent
state of repair, and have offered a stipend to the
librarian which is equal to the pay of a junior clerk
in their office. The decision has proved too much
even for the bland patience of an Archhishop of
Canterbury ; and we cannot be surprised that the
primate has rejected a proposal which cannot effec-
tually defeat his plans for making the library
of more general service to literary inquirers, and,
by the decisive step of closing the library and dis-
missing the librarian, has at once signified his refusal
to allow things to continue on their present inade-
quate footing, and his resolution frankly to appeal
to the public to judge between himself and the
.Ecclesiaztical Commissioners,—Saturcial/