The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.-At such a time as the present it cannot
be said that the House of Commons wastes an even:

inillW. devoting it to a conversation on the state of
Europe, even though nothing more is elicited than a
general expression of the views of Government, and
though the final judgment of the house is that nothing
can be done. It is impossible that war should rage
within 48 hours' journey of our shores, between some
of the most civilised communities of the earth, with-
out involving, more or less, our interests, and im-
posing on us important duties. We may have to
protect some right menaced by a belligerent, or it
may be necessary at some time to offer once more
our counsels or our mediation in behalf of peace.
Let us then know how we stand as a nation with

regard to these turbulent neighbours, whether we
have committed ourselves unduly to either party or
cause, what her Majesty's Ministers have done, and
what, as far as can be judged at present, it is their
intention to do. The course of this country has been
so cautious and dignified during the present troubles
that neither the Ministry nor the nation has reason
to fear inquiry. It may be that calamities are im-
pending over the Continent, that great political
changes are at hand, but whether for good or evil,
what is brought to pass will be independent of us.
We are not sorry, therefore, that Mr. Kinglake gave
the Government last night the opportunity of ex-
plaining its present opinions, and showing what the
action of the country has been. He lucidly st; ited
the strong case of -Austria, and was answered by
Mr. Gladstone in a speech that became the Minh ter
of a neutral Power. Mr. Gladstone, as might be

expected, could give no grounds for a solid expE..c-
tation that peace would be preserved, and declined
to express an opinion on the subject. But assuni-
ing that, unhappily, the present differences will
terminate in hostilities, he successfully vindicate, d
the Government from the charge of having in
any way neglected the interests of peace. Mr.
Kinglake was disposed to censure the Government
for having accepted the principle of a Conference
before having ascertained what were the views of
Austria in the matter and accused them of encourag-
ing Italy by letting it be known that they approve
the cession of Venetia. On neither point do we
think that the Government is to blame. The Con-
ference to which the neutral Powers invited the

three probable belligerents would have been a very
different gathering from that at which it was pro-
posed to discuss European matters in general in 1864.
The lately proposed Conference was an expedient
to save the Continent from impending war, to settle
questions which demanded immediate settlement.
The Congress of 1864 was a scheme of much wider
scope and very much less necessity. It would have
opened disputes instead of closing-them, and might
probably have hastened the very troubles we now
deplore. As for ascertaining the intentions of Aus-
tria, this could only be done by an actual invitation,
which, of course, could not be despatched by the
neutral Powers until they themselves had accepted
the principle and made out the plan of the Confer-
ence. We never had much faith in such a meeting,
but at a crisis like the present a humane Government
was bound to leave no expedient untried, and the
most natural course was to call the European Powers

together for a solemn consideration of the two de-
finite questions on which the hostile States were at
issue. A more important matter, however, is the
advice which the Government, or one or more of its
members, is said to have given to Austria on the
subject of Venetia. We know not why Ml'. Gladstone
should protest against being called on to speak on
this subject, for it is impossible to suppose that
such a discussion as that of last night will add to
the chances of war. Mr. Kinglake used forcible
arguments to show that Austria could not yield
Venetia, and his views were supported by Sir R. Peel
and Lord Cranborne. No one who has thought On
this question will make light of the reasoning of the
Austrians. We have always thought it so cogent
that from the legal point of view there is no answer
to it at all. What was said in the house does not
differ in substance from the contents of the despatch
addressed by the Austrian Government to its re-
presentatives at the neutral Courts. An analysis of
this document was published by us yesterday. The
Austrian Government had no hope of good results
from the Conference, for it felt that however care-
fully the programme might be drawn up, the dis-
cussion of the " Italian difference" could mean no-
thing but a demand for the cession of Venetia. To
this demand Austria could only give a refusal, for
to yield a province of such importance, military,
maritime, and political, would be an act of suicide ;
the Imperial Government could not in honour accept
money for the province, and Europe had nothing
else to give. Territorial compensation might be
obtained as the conseauences of war, but it could
not be given by a conclave of diplomatists round a
green table. What, indeed, could these give ?
Turkey they are not at liberty to dismember, and
even if they were the provinces that would be given
to Austria would be no real compensation to her for
her loss of Venetia. The Danubian Principalities,
Bosnia and the Herzegovina, are countries much
less advanced than the rest of Europe ; their pro-
duction is small ; they would be a source of weak-
ness, and instead of furnishing Austria with new
resources, would only serve to exhaust those she
already possesses. Can, then, Austria seek for
compensation in Germany ? She says t; NO," for
in that country she only desires that each State
should keep what belongs to it. In addition to
these arguments Austria has also urged in her com-
munications with foreign Cabinets that she only
desires to hold her own, to keep that which has
been solemnly adjudged to belong to her by treaty ;
that while other States have advanced their fron-
tiers in late times, she has gained nothing, and
sought to gain nothing ; that she is still content
with her present possessions, but is determined not
to allow any part of them to be torn from her. We
have never denied the strength of this position,
which forms a sort of legal Quadrilateral not easily
assailable by argument. Italy has no right that
statesmen can take notice of to the possession of an
undoubted Austrian province. Yet we do not the
less think that the British Government is justified
if, when called upon to express an opinion, it de-
clares sincerely that it would be better for Austria
to rid herself
of Venetia and its disaffected popula-
tion. It may be i:n
advisable that the Premier should
s of the Foreign Secretary,
tarnedn con
h make theknown fun cttki o 2 e
v
of the Government un-
officially by private letters, a2cl we trust that if
such a practice has obtained of late it may be dis-
continued. But if the Queen's Governi2ent is to
give its advice either at a conference or elseiZhere,
it must form a definite opinion on this most impoi-
tant question ; and it is justified we think in agree-
ing with the French Government, and with the
great body of the English people, that it is advisable
for Austria to abandon Venetia. Even the Austrian
Government itself seems to admit that its position is
untenable, for it declares that:if victory were to bless
its standards, and territorial arrangements could be
effected with advantage, it might be induced in the
interest of a general pacification to make conces-
sions. Venetia, in fact, exhibits a hopeless vari-
ance between the political or legal rights of the
State and the natural rights of the people. Austria
seems to say that such a difficulty can only be
settled by war—and it may be so ; but it is not the
less the duty of humane statesmen to try to dispense
with such an ordeal, and to advise the doing at once
that which every one seems to admit must be done
some day. The tone of the discussion, which was
friendly to Austria, shows the effect which the insin-
cerity and violence of the Prussian Government have
produced on English public opinion. In Germany
the Imperial power is at present the upholder of law
and justice, and if war breaks out it will be through
the machinations of its adversary, who is now said
to have despatched an ultimatum to Vienna. If Italy
were not in existence the peace of Europe would still
be threatened by the policy of Count Bismark, so
that Austria, whatever her policy concerning
Venetia, cannot be charged with the whole blame of
the war. If the Emperor should think fit to listen
to the advice of this country he may be sure that it
will be given in a spirit of sincerity and friendship.
POST.—Fire and water are generally acknow-
ledged to be good servants but bad masters. The
bursting of a reservoir or the loss of a ship with all
hands are events which have of late years been
lamentably numerous, and they cause a thrill of
horror to pass through the national heart, besides
bringing grief and ruin to many a home. A strife
is threatened in Europe which, if it should begin,
will light up the flames of conflagration the end of
which not even those who remember the wars of
Napoleon will be able to predict. Disastrous fires
in this country seem to be unusually numerous of
late. The town of Ottery St. Mary was almost
utterly destroyed the other day by some accidental
spark which ignited the thatch of a cottage and
burnt down nearly all the houses inhabited by the
labouring classes. British benevolence has, we are
glad to find, supplied the immediate wants of the
sufferers, and, as no lives were lost, in all probabi-
lity Ottery St. Mary will rise from its ashes reno-
vated and renewed, and in all respects be converted
into a more substantially-built town than it was
before. About nine o'clock on Thursday evening
last a house at the corner of Westmoreland-street,
Dublin, close to Carlisle-bridge, and within a few

yards of the Liffey, was burnt down, and, sad to
relate,, six persons met with an untimely end. The
fire-e stapes and the fire-engines appear, according
to all accounts, to have been utterly useless ; but
we forbear to make comments on matters which
must speedily form the subject of public investiga-
tion. The Dublin affair is a very sad business as
far as the loss of life and the efficient means
adopted to render assistance are concerned, but
the catastrophe which happened early on Sunday
morning in the Welwyn Tunnel, on the Great
Northern Railway, about twenty miles from
London, is extremely serious and remarkable,
but fortunately it was attended with less loss
of life than the fire in the Irish metropolis.
From the circumstantial account ;which appeared
in our columns of yesterday, it seems that an empty
„,,,00ds train was passing through the tunnel when,
from some cause or other, at present difficult to
make out, the engine came to a stand. No means
were 1;,1k en to signal up or down trains of the pre-
sence of .an obstruction, and the result was that two
trains, one f.rlom the north and the other from the
south, rushed successively against the engine and
empty trucks, and a scene followed which can be
more easily imagined than described. Ray, the
guard of the train which first stopped, was killed ;
a companion of was frightfully injured ; the
guard of the northern up train has suffered seriously ;
but, with these exceptions, no other persons seem to
have been killed or wounded. The engines, car-
riages, and goods, however, which were hurled
against one another in the tunnel, were not only
scattered into, fragments, but were instantly set on
fire by the ci.nders of the engine furnaces, and the
tunnel instantly filled with smoke ; flames issued
through the ventilators, while loud explosions were
repeatedly heard, resembling those attending the
blasting of rocks or the throbbing eruptions of a
volcano. The conflagration raged throughout the
greater part of Sunday. The officials and navvies
who came to render aid were comparatively power-
less until the flames had somewhat expended them-
selves, and the traffic was diverted to another chan-
nel. We are glad to hear that the loss of life,
though to be regretted, was not greater than it
turned out to be. Under other circumstances, and
on another day, a hecatomb of human beings might
have been sacrificed in a manner dreadful even to
think of ; and if all carriages are locked, as they
generally are on most lines, the strongest efforts of
men and women to get out of them, would, in all
probability, have proved fruitless. This accident in
a tunnel is somewhat unusual, but very alarming,
especially when it is borne in mind that human
b eings might have been roasted and burnt
instead of Scotch meat and the debris of
carriages. So many terrible events have happened
oz' late years on railways, not only in this country
but also in America, that we cannot wonder if the
pub lie should insist upon Parliament imposing even
strict regulations than those at present in
existeoce, in order to guard against loss of life.
Serious accidents seldom happen on continental
railvyay-s, because trains there proceed at a com-
paratively moderate rate of speed.. Our lines have
been constructed at an enormous expense ; some Of
them me not very profitable to the shareholders,
though they rank favourably with collapsed banks ;
but it may be doubted whether the salaries of
drivers, firemen, guards, pointsmen, and others are
sufficiently liberal to secure the services of the best
men. Many of them work long hours. On the other
hand, familiarity with danger breeds contempt, and
often leads to .disasters. Tunnels are not pleasant
subterranean apertures to pass through. The strong
man breathes frec.sly when he is projected into the
open air ; nervous women endure agonies when
rushing through a confined aperture at the rate of
fifty miles an hour ; yet we have heard of. an offer
of marriage having been made and accepted in 5
train going through the Box Tunnel. The present
catastrophe on the Great Northern line might have
been more terrible than it has turned out to be.
Many experienced persons are of opinion that the
rate of speed of express trains is extravagantly high,
and consequently dangerous. The anxiety to pale
dividends, though praiseworthy on the part
directors, leads in some instances to the paring
down of salaries, and to the employment of a num-
ber of men hardly sufficient to the performance 01
the duties imposed upon them. It is impossible,
certainly, to prevent accidents either by land or
sea ; but railway officials are bound, above all other
men, to use the utmost vigilance and the greatest
precautions, in order to ensure, as far as possible,
the public safety, for they possess a virtual monopoly
of the chief means of locomotion in this country. •