The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-26 00:00:00

of years and honours. But what shall we say
when his death finds him still in patient expectancy
of receiving what was his actual due, not from the
generosity, but from the justice of his country,
when the last years of his life were spent in weary
contest with officials in all the tedious round of ap-
peal and representation and argument, to be met
with delays and examinations and reductions till
the hope deferred not only made the heart sick, but
weakened the bodily health, and disease and dis-
' appointment and exhaustion found no strength to
resist them. Yet such has been the case. Mr.
.;ID ER is dead. The mournful anticipations which

were felt at the time when we last wrote on this
subject have been too surely realised, and yes-
terday the band of Death wrote finis to the long,
sad story of an Englishman's exertions and his
country's ingratitude.
The facts of the case are well known to the public,
and there is good reason to believe that the present
Government, if Mr. SNIDER'S life had been spared,
would have endeavoured to atone for the neglect
of their predecessors, and that even now a liberal
remuneration will be given to his survivors, yet the
story is a most painful one. It would always have
been so, but especially in a year when the startling
events on the Continent created so much unea
siness respecting our national arm of defence, and
when so much relief was given to the public
mind by the announcement of the successful
working of Mr. SNIDER'S invention. Time as well
as money was saved ty the speedy conversion of the
Enfield rifle, and its acknowledged superiority to other
breech loaders was so manifest that the new Adminis-
tration obtained great credit for largely increasing the
orders given. As we have said, we believe the present
Government are anxious to do justice to Mr
SNIDER'S claims. Mr. COLBORNE, solicitor for one of
the trustees of the SNIDER gun, writes to a contem-
porary to say that he has been in correspondence
with the War Department on the subject for the
last two months, and that yesterday Col. RODEN
had an interview with General PEEL, and that there
is every reason to believe the question will be set-
tled before the end of the week. Neither party was
then aware that one whose claims will not be post-
poned for the convenience of any department had
anticipated their deliberations, but no doubt now
we shall hear of a liberal provision for Mr. SNIDER'S
relatives. ROMER was not the only great man de-
spised in life and honoured after death. The bio-
graphy of the luminaries of science, of poetry, of art,
of philosophy, aye, even of politics themselves, repeat
the same old story. Influential mediocrity pushes to
the point and keeps it. Genius may stand without
the ranks and cry for admission in vain. It is
something, indeed, that Mr. SNIDER should have got
a hearing for his invention at all. It would have
been more in accordance with our usual English
fashion if the scheme had been laid aside, and the
inventor told it was under consideration, and by
and bye the best parts of it had been picked out and
amalgamated with some other adaptation under
another name. Perhaps the triumph of success atoned
in some measure to the man of genius for the personal
disappointment and discomfiture; but human nature
is but human after all, and however enthusiastic a
man may be for his cause, when stricken low by
paralysis and tormented by pressing cares, the word
fame has but an empty sound.
We would not attribute to any English gentle-
man, from the head of the War-office to the lowest
of his subordinates, an intention of withholding
from a man his due, but there has certainly been
displayed in the case of Mr. SNIDER a meanness, an
illiberality, nay, more, an injustice which reflects
deep discredit on the whole system of our English
administration. When the late Minister for War
was taking credit to himself and his department for
giving orders for the conversion of the Enfield guns
amid the cheers of the House, he forgot to inform
the honourable members that the official solicitor
had beaten down the inventor's very moderate claim
to nearly two-thirds. Yet perhaps this fact may
be remembered when the name of Lord HARTJ NGTON
is forgotten. It is the old truism which instigated
the celebrated comparison between the poet and
the divine—

"His treasures live like thine,
Re strives and dies like thee ;"

and until a very different system takes the place of
routine and red-tape, we fear Mr. SNIDER'S will not
be the last name at which England will have to
blush, although she should be justly proud to
claim it as her own.

A letter in the Standard of to-day calls attention
to some circumstances connected with the proceed-
ings of the Jamaica Committee, and allude more
especially to the astounding intelligence that " the
Jamaica Committee have issued a circular asking
for £lO,OOO to promote the criminal prosecution
of Governor EYRE." Under the impression that
some excellent person may be found among those
who have lent themselves to this movement, the
writer very wisely seeks to show the evils which
may accrue from their proceedings to those con-
cerned in the affair, and the effect that may be pro-
duced upon the negroes of Jamaica, who are already
\in a state of excitement. It is difficult indeed for
those who know anything of the blacks to think

any statement overrated which sets forth the mis-
chief that may be wrought among these ignorant
and infatuated; creatures by the ill-timed move-
ments of those who call themselves their friends.
We do not believe that the members of the Com-
mittee have at all considered the matter in
this light, but that does not at all ex-
cuse them, because they are bound to consider
the consequences of these strange and violent pro-
ceedings, and they have no right to plead igno-
rance or inexperience when they assume so much
knowledge to themselves. Not that they seem at
all inclined to make excuses or to expect others to
do so either. On the contrary, those who have taken
the lead in this affair have gone out of their way to
express themselves in the most positive manner and
in the most vehement language. There is good
ground, however, for. hoping that some effect may
be produced on those who have unwittingly joined,
or are thinking of joining, this affair. Let them
pause and consider what they are driving at, and
what will be the consequences of the proceedings
in which they are about to engage. Audi alteram
partem is a very wise motto, but it is well known
that it is one the efficacy of which Mr. BRIGHT alto-
gether denies, if he is not indeed directly opposed to
it, and those who follow suit to him in the Jamaica
business are often counterparts of his prejudices and
one-sidedness.

It remains, then, for those whom they seek to
influence or hope to impress to take courage,

and to judge for themselves as to the exact

nature of this extraordinary prosecution. As it is
ably set forth in this letter, if the committee succeed
in getting together the large sum required, and con-
tinue their plans, the negroes in Jamaica will be
sure to became dreadfully excited, and from the
departure of the witnesses until the close of the
trial there will be nothing but commotion. "It
were well therefore that this proceeding be more
calmly deliberated upon before the inquiry be fur-
ther agitated. A single speech may again
excite the smouldering pile of disaffec-

tion, which, if once relighted, it may
Y
be utterly beyond the power of luau to
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