The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 30, li6u.

The Prussian Ministers do not seem to be very
fortunate just now, for the last news is that Herr
von der lIEvDT, the Minister of Finance, has been
attacked with a serious illness, supposed to be
apoplexy, and his condition is regarded as unfavour-
able. Count BISMARCK'S health is also very unsatis-
factory, and it is said by a Berlin journal that he is
desired by his medical attendants to pass the winter
in Italy. Considerable difficulties seem to exist in
the way of the Prussians and the Hanove-
rians coming to a settlement. It is quite
of a piece with the usual course of Berlin
morality that the authorities should refuse to
deliver up the private fortune of King GEORGE
until he shall have relieved the Hanoverian officers
from their oath of allegiance. What right they
can possibly have to that is for them to show, for
other nations cannot see their claim. It is per-
haps unwise for King GEORGE to persist in his re-
fusal, but that does not improve the case so far
as regards the policy of King WILLIAM'S advisers.
It is said if the late King of HANOVER should re-
lease these officers it will be on condition that they
shall serve in no other armies than that of Prussia ;
and, besides, some of the superior Hanoverian officers
have ordered the soldiers under them not to enter
the Prussian service in the face of the Government
of Prussia having decreed their incorporation with
the Prussian army. This confusion is a very sad
beginning to the grand work of German unity that
has been so vaunted in all directions.

Miss

Mr. BRIGHT seems resolved not to let Irish sub-
ects alone, although one would think he had enough,
if not more than enough, to do with English ones
just now. He could not possibly find a more in-
judicious course to pursue at this juncture than to
endeavour to increase the discontent that prevails
in some quarters in that island. However he
is so proud of his scheme of selling
estates that he is induced to go on at all
hazards with his remarks. In a letter that
has been received from him by a gentleman at '
Essex he alludes to the condition of things at pre-
sent between landlord and tenant in no very flatter-
ing or favourable terms. His chief idea seems to be
that the Irish landlords feel that they can rely on
" English force" to sustain them, and therefore they
" are careless as to the condition of the country
and the feelings of the tenantry." Putting aside
the exaggeration and misrepresentation of these
remarks, can anything be more unwise than to use
such language at a time when discord is so preva-
lent as it now is among misguided persons in Ire-
land? Discontaxt and insurrection menace the
country, according to Mr. BRIGHT'S idea, but the
landlord sleeps in peace, and feels that his
rents and his power are secure because " Eng-
lish force" is always at hand. Nothing,
however, came up to the opinions contained in this
paragraph :—" If Ireland were a thousand miles
away from us all this would at once be changed,
justice would be done, and the landlords would be
exterminated by the vengeance of the people." How
much happier and better off would they be when
they had had recourse to these violent and extreme
measures we should like to know, but what we have
to do with now is to reflect upon the extreme impro-
priety of any one using such language at a time
like the present. Wisdom and moderation are
not, however, to be met with from the hon. member
for Birmingham ; and it is quite evident by this
time that he will say, at all times and in all places,
what suits his purpose and expresses his views,
without regard or reference to suggestions of pru-
dence or propriety. He goes on to declare that he
sees nothing better in the future so long as the
people of the United Kingdom are excluded from
the House of Commons, and more to the same
effect. We have a right to expect that all public
men should use more discretion than to excite dis-
cord, and give rise to angry and jealous feelings at
a time when the Government is in difficulty with a
particular country or place ; and no one who makes
political capital out of such a state of things will
gain respect or esteem, or deserve to do so either.

There is one item in our weekly bills of mortality
which must certainly come under the head of deaths
from preventive causes, and yet we do not find the
number of its victims diminish. We allude to the
deaths in the streets of the metropolis, which, on an
average, amount to six or seven weekly. The num-
ber, looked at by itself, is not so very large, though
it swells to a considerable aggregate in the course of
the year; but the fact of the danger affecting every
one who goes about the streets on business or plea-
eirh eonlcee. of
plea-
sure, and the terrible nature of the catas-
trophes, enhance the feeling of regret at their
cu
Besides, we do not see in these returns
thec whole
knocked t,he case.
There are many persons
down, frightened, and injured who do not
happily figure in the list of deaths, but who are
sufferers to a greater or less degree from the
frequency of these accidents.
esterday Mr.
HUMPHREYS held two inquests at the London Hos-
pital on the deaths of two persons, one a little child
of three years old, the other a middle-aged man.
Both these cases may be said to be some-
what exceptional, from the fact of the ten-
der age of the child and the infirm health
of the other, but the frequency of similar accidents
renders them noticeable. Why cannot we have
light bridges thrown over the most dangerous cross-
ings or subways where the traffic is constant and
excessive ? This would remove the greater part of
the dangers of the streets, and other accidents
might be greatly lessened by increased care on the
part of drivers, who should be severely punished when
anything like recklessness or drunkenness is proved
against them. Of course it would be impossible to
remove all risks from the streets of such a city as
London ; but the greatness of our traffic is no ex-
cuse for carelessness on such an important matter.
Foot passengers themselves are often greatly to
blame for their heedlessness, recklessness, and want
of self-control ; but it is highly advisable that some
change should be made to assist and protect the
more reasonable and prudent among them.

A long-threatened danger is at last coming very
near us, and though it may not be considered very
serious by many, it is one which closely affects the
health and comfort of the people. Building has
actually commenced on Hampstead-heath, and the
first house is in course of erection at the flagstaff.
This, bad as it is, is not the worst. " Briekmak-
ing," we are told, "is to be extended over a con-
siderable portion of the heath, and the rest is to be
covered with cottages and huts—in fact, another
Agar or Kensal Town is to occupy this splendid
site." Allowing for some little exaggeration in this
picture, it is sufficiently startling. There is no
doubt that the sand is being removed from the
Heath in large quantities, and if blicktuaking is

provement taking place, and the decided and deter- to be added to this the destruction of the beau-
mined opposition made to it by the members of the tiful Heath is only a matter of time. Sir TEIOMAS
Left does them no credit, and cannot possibly 'be WILSON'S anxiety to make the most of his Inane-
conducive to their own interests in the long run. rial rights is well known, and has often been
Meanwhile it prejudices greatly the cause which combated in both Houses of Parliament; but un-
they profess to have so much at heart, namely, the fortunately he appears to be gifted with more
good of Hungary, and the increase of her power and perseverance than his opponents, and since his last
independence. When people take an idea into bill for building on the Finchley-road Estate was
their heads, however, it is very difficult, if not thrown out last session he appears determined to
altogether impossible, to disabuse them of it, compensate himself for the disappointment by turn-
or to induce them to adopt a safer or a wiser course. ing the Heath itself to account. One correspondent,

whose remonstrance we print in another column, is
himself a resident in the neighbourhood ; and he
complains that the building now in process occupies
a position commanding the most magnificent view !
Sir THOMAS WILSON unfortunately does not trouble
himself about such matters, and, perhaps, having
been accustomed to the fresh verdure and abundant
variety of Hampstead, he cannot rightly appreciate
what a boon it is to the weary denizens of the
crowded streets,
" But to breathe the breath
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet;
With the sky above the head,
And the grass beneath the feet."
The destruction or enclosure of Hampstead Heath,
if it be but partial, will certainly be a very great loss
to Londoners. It gives an opportunity for a plea-
sant excursion to the thousands for whom the
facilities offered by railway and steamboat are
useless, who cannot spare time and money to leave
their trade or employment. Besides there are many
bright and beautiful Saturday and Sunday after-
noons during the spring and summer months, and
how pleasant is the prospect of a walk to the Heath.
It is very much the fashion now-a-days to talk
about the rights and privileges of the working classes,
but here is a privilege which they highly value about
to be taken from them, and the right of enjoying
the blessings of fresh air and sunshine is to be ren-
dered almost unattainable. The parks of London
are unduubtedly a great boon, but there is some-
thing about the freedom and openness of a
heath or a common for which no artificial ele-
gance can compensate. We cannot help thinking
that there has been great neglect in this matter.
What is everybody's business is proverbially no-
body's business, and the subject has none of those
exciting features which would make it attractive to
political agitators. Whenever the enclosure of the
Heath is talked about there is a general outcry, but
though every one protests, nothing is done. With
the large and yearly increasing sums that we pay
for rates, it seems strange that some action might
not have been earlier taken by the local boards. It
is still stranger that no Government has been found
public-spirited enough to endeavour to effect
an arrangement with Sir THOMAS WILSON.
It is evident that he only values his rights at their
money's worth, therefore he would not be likely to
object to their being bought up. We have no rea-
son to suppose that he would prove extortionate or
unreasonable in the matter, and very certainly the
money would be well laid out in the interests of the
public. It is undoubtedly to be regretted when
improvements or alterations necessitate the destruc-
tion of an artificially constructed park or gar-
dens, but such can with time and outlay
be replaced. Hampstead Heath, once sur-
rendered to the builder and brickmaker, can
never be replaced, and unless some prompt
and energetic method of dealing with the matter be
arranged, we shall very soon have to deplore its
loss, and leave to our successors a few more rows of
dull surburban terraces instead of the breezy slopes
of the Heath and the Vale of Health. The metro-
politan members have been very remiss in looking
after the interests of their constituents, and we hope
that between the Government, the Board of Works,
and the House of Commons the question will not
be suffered to go by default.

body was half-consumed before the melancholy in
cident was discovered.

According to the German papers the Austrian
Cabinet have in view various reforms, financial,
judicial, and political. The _Nouvelle Presse Libre;
.in referring to them, says :

THE POPE.

" These reforms will be effected simply upon
Ministerial authority by ordonnance. The Ministry
contend that as these reforms are solely intended to
effect ameliorations in internal matters, and do not
alter existing laws or add to expenses, it is not
necessary to obtain the Representative sanction."

We have most of us heard of that singular traveller who
followed Van Amburg all over Europe that he might
not fail to witness the evening on which the lions should
eat poor Van Amburg, au event of whose certainty he
never so much as entertained a doubt.
There are in every country and in every class sensation-
lovingpeople of this sort, and it is strange to see how such
persons cling to whatever in any way pertains to a finale.
To be in at the fiuish is with them everything. Of course
there is a completeness in this that there is no gainsaying,
and he who has heard le dernier mot of an adventure has
no more to learn from anybody.
It is, I am persuaded, this morbid eagerness, and not any
cruelty of disposition, that impels men t. be present at
executions. There is no hard-heartedness, no pleasurable
sense of human suffering, in these people ; they are sim-
ply the victims of a craving desire for excitement ; their
dull temperaments cannot be moved by the light breezes of
ordinary pleasures; they want the hurricane force of actual
passions to stir them into activity.
The lower we go in the social scale the more of this
element we shall find. The stories of the Family Herald
are famous for their horrors, and there is nothing so in-
tensely, thoroughly sensational as serYantgalism.
Comedy, except in the very broadest farce, is totally
banished from every minor theatre of Europe, and none
but the most bloody-minded of dramas can find audience
with what are called the people.
There is, however, a great deal more of this sentiment
in the educated and well-to-do ranks than we might at
first blush admit. Jestingly treated, laughingly acknow-
ledged, or veiled by conventionalities, it exists and gives a
strong and not very healthy flavour to the whole of our
society. To instance what I mean, look at Rome. The
word has gone out over Europe that this is to be the last
winter of the Papacy- -that over the grand drama of two
thousand years the curtain is at last about to fall, and that
Pio Nono will make his positively last appearance at the
Vatican befsre his i'dgrettient from the boards altogether.
This announcement, now made with all the force of a logi-
cal argument—now dimly shadowed forth in the language
of prophecy—now eagerly declared in the words of hope,
is widespread over Europe; and the consequence is, the
whole world is flocking this winter to the Holy City, all
madly eager to witness the great catastrophe—to be "in
at the death."
There are three questions now which men are asking
ou every side : Will the Pope go ? If so, why ? And
lastly, where will he go to? The first is the only really
important one to the world at large, for, as regards his
reasons, or his future destination, they are in reality more
interesting to his Holiness personally, or to his immediate
followers, than to the rest of Europe.
All Italy says he will go ; that the departure of the
French troops will leave him no alternative, and that he
himself has long prepared for that event. Of course the
wish may be father to the thought ; but, samehow, I
greatly doubt, if I were myself an Italian, if I could so re-
gard the question. As we cast our eyes over Europe, we
see that each nation has some specialty, which is either a
source of material wealth, or of power and prestige.
France asserts her military glory ; Germany her race of
profound thinkers and scholars ; England has her coal-
fields ; and Italy has her Popedom. Assail Catholicism as
men may ; let them rail at the dogmas of the Church, re-
vile its superstitions, and ridicule its mock miracles, there
is an inherent grandeur in a monarchy of nigh two thou-
sand years, and which, at various periods within that time,
swayed the destinies of all Christendom. That there is no
denying.
It has often been said that the Italians were the worst
Papists of Europe; but still, few expected to see them ac-
tually forgetful of what gave them their greatest attrac-
tion in the eyes of the whole Christian world, and endowed
them with a prestige of which all the cities of the earth
could not produce the equal.
As a grand spectacle, what was ever like it ? Where
were ever such accessories as that glorious church and
that noble palace, as rich iu memories as in art-trea-
sures ? What train of courtiers could compare with that
lino of princes of the Church on whose thoughtful brows
were stamped the signs of intellectual vigour, and an am-
bition that soared far beyond the bounds of ordinary aspi-
ration ? Around what other throne were ever grouped,
not alone the devotion of loyalty and the homage of
fidelity, but the deeper homage and the purer faith that
link this life with eternity, and impart to the spirit of
earthly obedience all the fervour of Christian love and
worship ?
I maintain that the Pope was the best thing Italy had,
and would "draw," while Victor Emmanuel, and even
Garibaldi, will play to empty benches. This may not be
the very highest ground to take in the matter ; nor am I
sure that Cardinal Paul Cullen will accept me as his ally
on such showing; but I am looking at the question in a
very speculative spirit. Hero is a country with an embar-
rassed exchequer, a heavy taxation, and undeveloped re-
sources, which must so continue till capital be forthcom-
ing to promote them. With a largo public debt, costly en-
gagements, the funds at fifty-four, and credit nowhere,
what are they to do ? They have vast tracts of corn-
growing land, but no roads to convey the produce ; they
have mines, but are without money to work them ; they
are, in a word, pretty much in the condition in which the
Times lately pictured Ireland, as a country with great
natural resources, in which few people would like to risk
their capital, and which must be satisfied to be interesting
to tourists, without, for the present at least, attracting to
it the attention of traders and merchants. Rich in monu-
ments, abounding in treasures of art, and stored with ob-
jects of interest on every side, Italy has no rival in the
world as a great gallery of curiosities, amongst which
there was no gem could compare with the Pope. He was
the Koh-i-uoor of the collection, and I cannot conceive for
an instant how Italians could have overlooked the fact.
Bear in mind, it was not alone to the true believers that
his Holiness extended the attraction of his presence. The
people who sought admission to the Vatican were often
stern platform men of Exeter Hall. There came to his
audience Calvinists from the North, and Quakers from
Philadelphia. All that was rugged and self-asserting in
Protestantism desired the blessing of him they were ready
to call antichrist. Bishops of the Establishment bent reve-
rently before him ; and in the very newspaper under my
eyes I see that the historian of Poerio has been paying his
court to infallibility.

Among the marvels in preparation for the great
Exhibition is a wood-cutting machine, which is
already at work in one of the manufactories of
Paris. Eight cutting instruments will make 3,000
evolutions in a minute, and thus 24,000 pieces of
wood or furniture may be cut in that period of time.
One of the last remnants of the siege of Toulon,
M. Bouncard, has just died at Privas, aged 96 years.
The eminent Belgian violin player, Servais, died
a day or two ago at his chateau near Hal, Belgium.
The weather has been magnificently bright and
beautiful to-day, but of course cold, as there was a
sharp frost and some fog in the early part of the
morning.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMI)

THE CANDIAN INSURRECTION.

Cornelius O'Dowd—that is, Charles Lever—has
the following remarkable paper apropos to " the
situation" just now in the Eternal City—in the
newly published December number of Blackw•ood's
Magazine:— -

CONSTANTINOPLE, Nov. 21 (via Marseilles)

Advices received here from Candia state that
resistance still continued to be offered by a portion
of the insurgents. It is believed that Aala Pacha,
Minister for Foreign Affair; will shortly be re-

placed.
Cholera having ceased, cicala bills of health are
granted to vessels sailing from Constantinople.

Why surrender all this, I say ? Will Garibaldi or
Mazzinists, think you, be more picturesque features in the
landscape than these gorgeous groupings ? or will the
grand monuments of Catholicism evoke the wonderment
and worship of Europe when their living centre has left
them, and the spirit that animated the whole departed ?
There is nothing which so sternly arraigns the cruelty
of annexations as the sight of the empty palace where
royalty once dwelt. How will it be here when it is not
merely the prince has departed, but where it will be the
shrine without the saint, the throne without him whose
breath gave hope and comfort to many, and blessing to
all ? Remove the Pope from Rome, and you take away
the great cicerone who made the joys of eternity intelli-
gible to millions. And do not imagine he can ever be as
effective in exile at Avignon, or Seville, or Malta; he will
ever need the grand scenic illustrations of the Eternal
City. The noble vault of St. Peter's, half-dimmed with
incense, the Sistine Chapel, vibrating with seraphic music,
were splendid adjuncts to the voice of him who sang out
per orbes et terras, his peace to mankind.
Italians are intensely sensitive to all external impressions;
and how is it that they have overlooked all this ? Nor is
it as if the Papacy was to cost them dear; they are not
going to pay it either in liberty or in power. The Pope
can no more menace them with Austrians nor crush them
with concordats. Even his bulls are tamed.

The question resolves itself into this, Can Italy, with an
empty treasury and an over-taxed people, not only divest
herself of one of the greatest attractions of the nation, but
assume all the liabilities of the Papacy ? Speaking com-
mercially, Venice may pay, but there is a great doubt if
Rome will. The contributions of true believers went

largely in aid of the budget ; and he would be a sanguine
man that thought Peter's pence would drop as freely into
Victor Emmanuel's hat as into the Pope's tiara.
For the whole complex machinery of Romo there is but
one machinist in all Christendom--the Pope. To convert
this ecclesiastical hive into a modern capital is an

anachronism and a political blunder. It is like turning a

cathedral into a cotton-mill.

The Popedotu was the great specialty of Italy. It was
the one thing no other country could rival. I am not going
to break a lance with Exeter Hall. lam not assuming to
. _ _

even advert to the doctrines of the Church ; I am alone

speaking of that marvellous rule which was felt in the most

remote parts of the universe, and which had its centre at
Rome. Call it superstition, idolatry, Antichrist, what you
will—there it was, and there it drew hundreds of thou-

sands to do it homage.
If I were Baron Ricasoli, I would do anything rather
than drive the Pope out of Italy. It would not be very

easy to convert him to liberal ideas, all the less so that ho

got a surfeit of them in '4B, and has never recovered frcm
it since. If I were an Italian Minister, I would strain
any point to make the French call a " transaction" with

him. Surely if what they style the Leonine City was

secnrAd to him, and a wide liberty as regards allocutions,

something might be done. T hero are plenty of schismatics
to be cursed out of Italy ; let him have his will of them.

Russia is likely to torment the Poles for many a day to
come, and there are eighty odd millions to be anathematised
—a banquet of malediction that might satisfy even gluttony.
With clever management, the whole policy of Italy could
be made to revolve round the Popedoin and never surron-

der ono valuable privilege of liberty or sacrifice an item of
freedom for the alliance. When Italy turns from questions

of foreign war and foreign aggression, and addresses her-
self to the hard task of international organisation, she will
have groat need of the Pope. With those rude and un-

civilised populations of Sicily and Calabria, a whisper

from the Vatican will do more than the clank of a hun-

drecl battalions, You want the priest, and bear in mind

that he is of no value to you when he has conformed to
your views and adopted your opinions. You want him in
all his ignorance and bigotry ; you want him full of all
the prejudices of his caste. It is then that he sways the
masses. It is then that he is a power and a force.
It will tie many a long day before the enlightenment of
free institutions shall penetrate through the darkness of
the barbarism of lower Italy. It is not in one or even in
two generations that free speech or free thought, trial by
jury, or liberty of the press, will appeal to these wild dis-
ciples of the stiletto and the knife. The one link that ties
them to any semblance of civilisation is the Church : take
care how you relax this. Woe to you if you break it asunder
before you have found a safe and trustworthy substitute
for it !

I am not blind to the difficulties of treating with Ito-
manism, and I know what a hopeless task it is to approach
by " reason" those who meetyou only with a "conscience ;"
but, I repeat, Pio Nono is better than Mazzini, and the
choice is between them.

Sir George Bowyer, in a letter to the Times,
dated Radley Park, Abingdon, November 27th,

says :

I see in the Times to-day these words :—" The curses of
the Pope will b© revoked." Allow me respectfully to in-
form you that this statement is founded on a common