The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-12 00:00:00

span OF. THE Prri I'OVANALI.

The Americaiis, it 'appears, are making a Veit deal of
their having purchased the Danish island of St. Thomas.
They say it is a sign of the progress of the universal
Yankee nation, which never goes backwards. All that
the Times can say is that if it amuses the Americans it
certainly does not hurt us ; but before they can have
received the expected description of this pantomimic
tableau they will have learnt what Parliament and the
prc-.;s think about the matter over here. There certainly
is a thing dreaded, and very much dreaded, by Euro-
peans, but it is the yellow fever, and not the Yankee
nation. If they mean to retain the custom which St.
Thomas has enjoyed for a couple of generations, they
must set to work with a will, and banish Vve plague
from their newly-acquired island. So terribly have the
effects of the pestilence been recently felt, that before the
negotiation for this ces.sion.had commenced it was in con-
templation to abandon the harbour of St. 'Thomas in favour
of some other port of call, and, except for the improve-
ments anticipated from the new proprietors, the change
would probably be made. At present we have a clear
field and a free choice once more before us, for the late
hurricanes destroyed the buildings and accommoda-
tion provided for the packets at St. Thomas, and a
new establishment must be created from the begin-
ning there or elsewhere. In fact, we may ex-
pect St. Thomas to be abandoned in favour o£ some
healthier port, unless hopes can be given us of substantial,
speedy, and permanent improvement. We cannot afford
to have such tolls levied upon British lives voyage after
voyage. When the Tamar reached St. Thomas the other
day her crew and passengers were in perfect health, but
during her brief stay in that fatal harbour the fever
struck her, and worked its deadly will till she touched our
shores. It is our custom to submit to long inconvenience
before we resolve upon reform, but the abominations of
St. Thomas had proved too much for us at last, and
the port was probably condemned. It may per-
haps be condemned now, for the whole question
has been opened, and we have many a colony
and many a fine harbour of our own in those seas.
All our various departments have been considering the
matter. The Treasury, the Pdst Office, the Admiralty,
and the Royal Mail Steam Company have been in com-
munication for some time, and though we are told the
discussions have been " unofficial," and that there has
been as yet "no correspondence " presentable to Parlia-
ment, we may naturally infer that some opinions, and,
perhaps, some conflicting opinions, have been elicited. If
St. Thomas is to remain what it has hitherto been, our
ships, and probably the ships of other nations, will cease
to make it their port of call. At some point or other we
have now to establish a packet-station anew. We can,
if we please, give the Americans the benefit of the selec-
tion, or we can transfer our custom to one of our own
islands. But if the Americans desire to keep this custom,
they must earn it, and without loss of time.

The Post, in speaking of the high price of bread, assures
us that if all the corn ports of Russia, America, and Egypt
were closed to us for ever, we could get wheat enough from
the Danube alone, irrespective of Turkey and Austria, to
keep us all for the next century. The lands of Hungary,
If oldo-Wallaehia, Transylvania, and Servia have miles and
miles of fertile soil which would he instantly brought under
tillage if the crops could be sold ; and every year adds to
'the wealth of our resources and to our facilities of reach-
ing them. Our farmers may thus safely consent to
learn from experience, and they will find that cattle and
sheep farming in such a climate as ours will invariably
add to their prosperity, while corn-growing must ever
remain among us but a thankless labour. We could always
find a sale at remunerative prices for many more cattle
than we breed of all descriptions. English horses are
prized throughout the world. English kine, sheep, and
pigs are valued wherever farming has reached the rank of a
science ; and as soon as our agriculturists begin to import
their wheat and export their cattle in much larger quanti-
ties than at present there will be no better trade amongst
us than grass-growing.

The correspondence which has taken place between Lord
;Granville and the Duke of Marlborough with reference to
the Conscience Clause ought not, as the Daily News thinks,
to be allowed to pass without notice. In the first place,
it is to be observed that the parties to the correspondence
'are men who, it must be assumed, carry weight in the
question of education with the leaders of the parties to
which they respectively belong. Lord Granville was head
of the education department under the late Government,
as he had been for many years under that of Lord Pal-
merston ; while the Duke of Marlborough occupies
the same position at the present moment. In the
second place, it appears that until the Duke of
Marlborough received the letter of Lord Granville
he was labouring under a misapprehension with
respect to the effect of the Conscience Clause,
and therefore it may be hoped that, since his misappre-
hension has been removed, he may co-operate with Lord
Granville in enforcing the clause as a necessary condition
of receiving any share in the Parliamentary grant. It is
quite true, as Lord Granville says, that Sir John Paking-
ton and many of the other Ministers have expressed
themselves strongly in favour of the principle ; but, more
important still, it seems to be admitted that there is " a
growing acquiescence in it on the part of the clergy." It
is well known that the Bishop of St. David's, one of the
ablest prelates on the bench, has expressed himself with
characteristic vigour and distinctness in favour of the
Conscience Clause, and has advised his clergy to adopt it;
and within the last few weeks another prelate, who is
distinguished for his moderation and orthodoxy—Dr.
Jackson, the Bishop of Lincoln—has published his charge,
enforcing the same view.

Referring to the inquiry which has just been made into
the condition of Farnham Workhouse, the Herald believes
that this investigation must be productive of a serious re-
form in the administration of relief to the class denomi-
nated " tramps." It is admitted by the police-officer,
that he has no doubt often refused a night's lodging in the
casual wards to those deserving of it from a desire to
exclude the idle and able-bodied vagrants. And though
we cannot approve of such caution, which we believe
to be the general rule, when the saving was but that
of a halfpenny worth of bread and a cup of water,
we must still admit the great hardship of rascals
well al le to earn their bread, sponging, even to so small an
extent, on funds raised from persons in almost as abject
poverty as themselves. But this state of things must con-
tinue to prevail until the unworthy applicants for relief
be separated from the deserving, and locked up in refor-
matories, where they will for a specified time be compelled
to labour for their slipport. One thing is clear from the
investigation just concluded, that local guardian super-
vision of workhouses is valueless, and that official inspec-
tion, if expected to prove efficacious, must be repeated
more frequently than once in six months.

Disagreeable and inconvenient as the Irish funeral pro-
cessions are, their importance, according to the Standard,
seems much exaggerated. In dealing with Fenianism, we
cannot be too often reminded that Irish disaffection has a
double aspect. We have, first, the active reckless spiri'
of the American Irish. These are the men who have
created Fenianism proper. They are the men who prowl
about our great towns, break our gaols, and murder our
police. But they aro ll3t fair representatives of the Irish
people. The mass of the Irish people may not be one whit
more loyal. The old traditional hostility to the law, and to
England as enforcing the law, animates, and will, we
fear, long continue to animate a large portion of that
population. And it is this great raw material of
Fenianism that the brotherhood are bent in working up
into staunch practical Fenians. But at present no greater
mistake could be committed than that of supposing that
every disaffected Irishman was a sworn Fenian. The
Government of Lord Palmerston made the mistake of con-
founding Fenianism with this lazy seditious spirit, which
is always ready to display its hostility into action. We are
in danger of falling into the similar error of confounding
the normal disaffection of Ireland with Fenianism.

The Star agrees with " llistoricus" in urging that them
should he some amendment in the provisions of the
Allegiance Acts. What might be a crime for a British
subj.,Tt if done in New York may be quite lawful in an
American citizm, or, if not strictly lawful, at least not
an offence for which he could be tried here. Nothing
would give a large proportion of American politicians
greater pleasure than to pick a quarrel with us on
s ,me such question, whene they could carry with
them the full sympathy of their people. The atti-
tude of this country during the civil war still lives in
their r-membranee. Fortunately, it happens that the
Aincr.can C,ADM,II law is the same as our own on the
; dt, lea:t, that no special enactment has been made
,ffinoing any other and different principle. President
,hoson propo:%es to Congress that this should now be
(lcne, and the opportunity seems a good one for a review
t.f the law by ounielve3. Unless we adopt some such
rab,na' pr:nciplc as that which Mr. Harcourt advocates,
we mu,t, bF pr,pared some day to enter upon a war for
the privilege of treating as tra'tors half the population
of the United Stat..s.

STACK-TlRlNG.—Several hay-stacks oclonging
Mr. Jeremiah O'Brien, of Cunnahurtle, were found to be
‘-:11 fire early on Monday morning. A body of constabulary
from Neagh immediately proceeded to the scene of the
fa_ but all their efforts at saving any of the hay proved
fruitless. This is the third time that Mr. O'Brien's pro-
p,:rty has been destroyed by fire. About three years ago
dw..flinglionse, offices, a large quantity of corn and
i:,,p!ements, were destroyed. A presentment was
passed. The money at that time was levied
rat the parish of Lisbciney, and *491114(44 to alNut 0.50.