The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-14 00:00:00

LOA'DOIV, MaNDAY, DEC. 14, 1868.

If only Ministers are entering office with a predeter-
mination to concede to one another wherever conces-

sion may be possible without an abandonment of
principle, the future of the Administration is hope-
ful in proportion to the majority already assured to
Mr. GLADSTONE upon the Irish Church Questi3n. If,
on the contrary, the leading members of the Cabinet,
such men, for example, as Mr. LOWE and Mr. BRIGHT,
are simply prepared to coalesce upon that one Question
of thelrish Church with the utmost cordiality, but upon
all other matters to go in resolutely with a view
to urge upon their colleagues the adoption of their own
respective notions, whims, hobbies, crotches, crazes

as Mr. COBDEN would have called them, as to what
should be the national policy—the future is hopeful,
not for the Government, but, for the Opposition.

Particularly with a consummate tactician like
Mr. DIsRAELI confronting that many sided array
of politicians of various schools or colours—
Whig, Adullamite, Peelite, Liberal, Radical—
seated opposite to him on the front Treasury
Bench Mutual concession among the Cabinet
Ministers, is essential as a preliminary for the
smooth and proper working of the new Administra-
tion. Without mutual concession among the Cabinet
Ministers, away to the winds will go the fortunes
of the GLADSTONE Government so soon as the Irish
Church Question shall have been cleared out of the
way. Their absolute agreement with one another upon
that one question is at present their one sole bond of
union. It is the one sole bond of union, for
that matter, for keeping together in a harmonious
mass the otherwise heterogeneous crowd of Liberals
returned to Parliament as Mr. GLADSTONE'S sup-
porters. Supposing that question to have been suffi-
' ciently cleared out the way, to admit of other matters
of vital importance to the body politic, coming to the
fore—unless the concessions we are here insisting
upon as so absolutely essential for ensuring the
keeping together of the GLADSTONE Cabinet, and
the keeping together for that matter of the
Liberal Party generally unless, we say, con-
cessions of this kind were made generously,
frankly, and self-denyingly, by such men of mark
in that Cabinet as Mr. BRIGHT and Mr. LOWE, the
whole structure of the Government must at, once and
quite inevitably, fall to pieces. There ought to be no,
blinking of this as a fact in every way undeniable.
Forewarned, forearmed. As a fact, it ought to be
recognised betimes, and acted upon by predetermina-
tion. To give an instance—lf the right hon. gentle-
man the President of the Board of Trade were
bent inexorably upon forcing on his colleagues'
acceptance his programme for Ireland in regard to
the Land Question !Or another—lf that other right
hon. gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
were bent no lcss inexorably upon thrusting on the
acceptance of his colleagues generally, his fantastic
ideas, many of them, in the matter of National Educa-
tion ! Then, again, there was that last banner of
Mr. BRIGHT'S unfurling before he assumed the
responsibilities of a Privy Councillor and the re-
sponsibilities also of a Minister of the Crown having
a seat within the Cabinet—the banner inscribed with
the cabalistic legend of the " Cheap Breakfast
Table." Are Ministersgenerally to have that particular
banner nailed to the mast of the State Vessel, or is Mr.
BRIGHT—the very one who dubbed certain Liberal
recalcitrants of two years' since a cave —himself to
cave in, in another sense? In the contingency, again
of war becoming unavoidable in any portion of the
vast dominions of the Crown—and such a contingency

as that is always, alas! within the limits of possibility—

how would it then be with Mr. BRIGHT in his
incongruous characters as a Loyal Servant of the
Crown and the Conscientious Champion of Peace at
any Price? Is conc2ssiun there possible ? That is
of course a matter for Mr. BRIGHT 'S
own conscience.
And it is a problem, moreover, which will only require
to be solved by him in the event of just such a con-
tingency as that arising. Again, in the way of eco-
nomies, how will it stand with the same right hon.
gentleman in the matter of those ten or twelve
millions annually which he declared but a very few
weeks ago upon the public platform, mild be so rea-
' dily docked off our naval and military expenditure ?
Is Mr. BRIGHT prepared to thrust that upon the ac-
ceptance of his Royal Highness the Commander-in-
Chief, upon the acceptance of Mr. CHILDERS, the
new First Lord of the Admiralty, upon the accept*
mice of Mr. CARDWELL, the newly installed Sec-
retary of State for War? Hardly that, we may
presume—for Mr. BRIGHT himself as a Cabinet
Minister will now at length be constrained for the
first time in his life to have due regard to the efficiency
of the public service. No, the fact, we take it, is
undeniable—that Ministers, but especially Mini-
sters of the greatest weight, and intellectually Minis-
ters of the greatest originality, will have, frankly
and unhesitatingly, to make up their minds at once,
not merely to the absolute necessity of making con-
cessions, but of making large concessions to one another.
That is, if the immense Liberal majority now returned
to Parliament (to the end, first of all, of abolishing the
Irish Church as a State Establishment) is to be held
together—if the present Cabinet so strong in intellect
and in administrative capacity, is to take in hand,
resolutely and with any reasonable hope of success-
fully dealing with them, those large measures of
comprehensive legislation and of administrative im-
provement for the carrying out of which the great
mass of the Liberal electors of the United Kingdom
are now looking eagerly and confidingly to the
heads of the new Ad►ninistration.

LAST year's herring fishery was particularly pro-
ductive. This year's has not only fallen short of
1807 by about one-third, but is also one of the
lowest for many years past. The consequence is
great distress among those interested in the fishery
—the fishermen and their families, the herrin,-
curers,the coopers and the tradespeople of the fishin,
ports. The general wealth of the country has also suf-
fered a considerable diminution, and an important
article of food-supply has been curtailed. This
industry has much increased in importance of late
years. Fifty years ago it yielded but a seventh of
its present produce so far as the salted fish are con-
cerned, while, owing to the adaptation of steam to
locomotion, the consumption of the fresh herring must
have increased in much greater proportion. but this
fishery is avery fluctuating industry. Perhaps there is
no Crop of all the " harvest of the sea " which is more

so. A succession of gales during the months of July

and August will, of course, greatly diminish the pro-
ductiveness of that year. But even the most favour-

able weather brings disappointment to the fisherman
who returns to the harbour with a nearly " clean "

boat when he looked for a very heavy take. Parti-

cular parts of the coast are far more productive in
one year than in another, and sometimes the
herrings will suddenly desert the locality in which
they have for many years been most abundant.
This change cannot be accounted for by the cry of
excessive fishing ; for the alteration is generally not
gradual, but sudden. It is absurd to imagine that
the herrings are frightened away by the boats and

the nets which are employed for their capture ; as

well might it be supposed that they take alarm at the
flocks of sea-birds which gather to prey on them, and
which indicate their presence to the fishermen. The
cause of the fluctuations is at present beyond the
reach of reasonable conjecture, and must so remain

till the natural history of the herring becomes far
better known. The fact, however, is of

great importance, and the consideration of it
ought to guard us against drawing general conclu-
sions from the state of the fishery in any particular

year or locality. The general result of the fishery
along the whole coast of Britain and Ireland is
much more nearly the same in one year and another ,
than on any limited part of the coast. It would
therefore be of great advantage to our fishermen if
they and their boats could be more rapidly transported
from one place to another—that, instead of waiting
for the herrings where they have not appeared,
they might fish for them where they are
abundant. Nor does it seem unlikely that
steam may soon be brought to their aid
for this purpose. They might probably derive
assistance from it in other ways. The sugges-
tion has often been made that steamtugs should be
employed in taking the fishing-boats to their fishing
ground in the evening, and back to the harbour in
the morning, so that much time might be saved
when time is most precious, and opportunity might
also be obtained of selecting the fishing-ground from
a wider range. Steamers might probably be
of service, likewise, in making observations by
which the fishermen might be guided in their
choice of a fishing-ground. Steamers and telescopes
might be supposed to give the fishermen of the pre-
sent day some advantage over their forefathers in
observing the indications by which the presence of
a shoal of herring is known. None of these appli-
cations of steam has, however, yet been attempted.
Modern science has done nothing for the herring
fishery. It is prosecuted exactly as it was hundreds
of years ago ; and if we capture more
herrings than our forefathers did, it is merely
by the employment of a greater number of
boats, nets, and men. This surely cannot continue
always to be the case, and if we should never be able
to pursue the herring in the ocean depths, where
it ordinarily resides, we may expect at least to
devise means of accomplishing our object more effec-
tually, and with greater certainty of success, when
it approaches the shore. _ _

The only recent change in the mode of prosecuting
the herring fisherrhas been the partial adoption on
the Scottish coasts of the method of fishing which is
designated " trawling for herring," but which is more
correctly described as " circle-net fishing." It is
essentially the same mode of fishing which has been
practised from time immemorial by the pilchard
fishers of the south-west of England. Its introduc-
tion on the coasts of Scotland was fiercely
opposed by parties interested in the ordinary
or " drift-net " mode of fishing, which is that still
generally prevalent, and they were successful in per-
suading the Legislature to prohibit it, on account of
injury alleged to be done by it to the fishery. The
prohibition has recently been removed, a Royal
Commission appointed to investigate the subject,
having reported in favour of the trawlers ; and, in
fact, recent legislation on the subject of our sea
fisheries has consisted mainly in the repeal of restric-
tive acts, so that, except as to the size of the meshes
of nets, the fisherman is left free to choose his own
way in almost everything, and to take the herring
as best he can. Those who tell us that we are exhaust-
ing the riches of the sea—a theme on which some
writers insist with great pertinacity and incessant
iteration—tell us also of the necessity of restrictive
legislation. They do not say what ought to
be done. Until they bring proof that herring
are becoming less abundant on our coasts, and
this in consequence of excessive fishing or of
some error as to the time or mode adopted, it is
hardly to be expected that they should find favour
with the public in their advocacy of restrictive legisla-
tion. It is the interest of the community that as many
herrings as possible should be captured and brought to
market, as it is the interest of the fishermen to be allowed
to do this in the way by which they can do it
most easily and most effectually. The Commissioners
to whose report we have already referred oil the
operation of the Acts relating to trawling for herring
on the coasts of Scotland, express their opinion very
confidently that " the herring fishery should not be
trammelled with repressive Acts, calculated only to
protect class interests, and to disturb in an unknown
and possibly injurious manner, the balance existing
between the conservative and destructive agencies at
work upon the herring." They further say, " If legis-
lation could regulate the appetites of cod, conger, and
porpoise, it might be useful to pass laws regarding
them, but to prevent fishermen from catching their
poor 1 or 2 per cent. of herring in any way tlwy
please, when the other 98 per cent., subject to
destructive agencies, are poached in all sorts of
unrecognised piscine methods, seems a wasteful
employment of the force of law." All this commends
itself to common sense, and it is to be hoped that ere
we see any new attempts at restrictive legislation,
we shall have facts placed before us which make its
necessity evident.
In the mode in which the herring fishery is at
present carried on there are, however, great evils
which probably no legislation can remedy. The
fishers are hired by the curers to fish for them, and
are paid in advance—paid for next year's fishing at
the end of the present year—about twenty pounds
per boat. The fisherman, therefore, does not come
into the market to offer his take to the best bidder ;
it is already the property of the curer to
whom he is bound. When the fishery is unsuccessful,
as in the present year, he remains under a load of
debt ; and besides the present hardship which he
suffers, the harvest of next year is forestalled. It is
much to be desired that that this system should be
relinquished, that the fisher should become more
independent of the curer, and be able to deal with
him on equal terms. Perhaps the hardships of the
present year may lead to some change of this part of
the prevalent system, and change can hardly be
for the worse.

WRECK ON THE NORFOLK COAST.

lIASBOROUGH, Dec. 10

While the wind was blowing a fresh gale from
S.S.F. this morning, with a cross heavy sea (says
the Rev. J. Slater), a vessel came ashore on Has-
borough Outer Bank. The lifeboat Huddersfield
of the National Lifeboat Institution was quickly
launched and rescued the master Sad crew of three
men, who were safely brought on shore. The vessel
proved to be the schooner Atlanta, of Kirkwall, in
the Orkney Islands, and was bound from London
to Hull with a cargo of chalk ; she had struck on
the Barber Sands, near Caister, and was run ashore
for safety on account of the pump becoming
chocked. She is likely to become a total wreck.
This valuable lifeboat was presented to the lifeboat
society by the inhabitants of the town of Hudders-
field through the benevolent exertions of Thomas
Cresswell, Esq. It is a somewhat singular circum-
stance that Capt. Carbet, the master of the Atlanta
has three sisters living in Huddersfield.

INCREASE OF PAUPEIZISM.—Mr. F. Purdy's return,
just issued, shows that the number of paupers (except
lunatic paupers in asylums and vagrants) in receipt
of relief in England and Wales, on the last day of
the fourth week of September last, was (so far as returned)
927,239, or 54,60 more than at the corresponding period
91 the preyious year.