The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1868.

THE COMING ELECT lONS IN IRELAND.

Thoroughness is the chief characteristic
which at present marks the preparations for
the coming elec-tions in Ireland. Priests
and people are unanimous in their determi-
nation to return to the new Parliament none
but men pledged by their character and an-
tecedents, even more than by their word, to
postpone every question of less lasting import-
ance to the complete and thorough abolition
of Protestant ascendancy. Whatever services
a man may have rendered in the past, or may
fairly promise for the future, are blotted out
from the memory or fall dull on the ear of
constituencies, if he does not make the dis-
establishment of the Irish Church his chief
business. No more striking illustration of
this thoroughness and unanimity could be
found than in the declaration of the clergy
of Meath, which we published last week, re-
pudiating in the most emphatic terms the
insinuation that they set a higher value on the
passing of a land bill, however important in
itself, to the abolition of the Irish Establish-
ment. The clergy of Meath are at one with
the clergy and people of Ireland on the para-
mount importance of a thorough settlement
of this great question. In every address,
at every public meeting, in all parts of the
country, on every occasion, in season and out
of season if any occasion of pronouncing a de-
termined opinion can under present circum-
stances be out of season, this thoroughness of
purpose makes itself felt. It is seen in every
Catholic constituency ; it writes with no in-
visible hand on the electoral wall—" No Dis-
raelitish Tory need apply !" It stops the ears
of the Irish people to the words of men who
fancy, or feign, that the disestablishment of
the Irish Church will be carried out as fully
and completely under the manipulation of Mr.
Disraeli, the grand defender of the Royal
Supremacy, and of unmitigated Erastianism,
as by a Gladstone ministry returned to power
for that very purpose bya justice-loving people.
It is mere sham or pretence to say that Whig
or Tory is equally inclined to do this great act
of reparation to Ireland. The issue has been
broadly put to the country, and cannot be
blinked : it is Mr. Disraeli and Protestant
ascendancy, or Mr. Gladstone and disestablish-
ment. The popular mind rejects any over
nice discrimination between the comparative
merits of Kr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone. It
sees in any opponent to Mr. Gladstone only
an enemy to the disestablishment of the Irish
Church. And, on the whole, the popular in-
stinct is right. Such thoroughness of purpose
no doubt operates harshly in individual cases,
but when the public heart is stirred, it seizes
upon general outlines and broad issues. To
such an impulse is to be attributed, we imagine,
the opposition which men who have deserved
so well of Catholic support as Sir George
Bowyer and Sir Joseph M'Kenna have met
with. Such an opposition, though much to
be deprecated, is not so ungenerous as it ap-
pears at first sight. It is mainly due, we
believe, to the deep-rooted idea that Pro-
testant ascendancy in Ireland can only be
abolished by Mr. Gladstone's aid, and that
every man, however opposed to the Irish
Church, who is not a supporter of Mr. Glad-
stone, is a hindrance rather than a help in the
coming Parliamentary campaign. Sir George
Bowyer's and Sir Joseph Maenna's services,
in helping to carry against Tory opposition the
disestablishment of the Irish Church, will be
too invaluable to be inconsiderately thrown
away. As real representatives of Catholic and
Irish interests, no constituency ought, we
think, to reject them under the mistaken
notion that by so doing it is servicing the
cause which is as dear to these two zealous
Catholic members as it is to the most deter-
mined of the electors themselves.

Every force ought to be husbanded ; the
battle is beginning throughout the country ;
victory may cost a hard and perhaps prolonged
fight ; but such an act of national justice and
reparation as the disestablishment and disen-
dowment of the Irish Church will far more
than atone for sufferings incurred in the con-
test. The abolition of Protestant ascendancy
in Ireland will place Catholics throughout the
United Kingdom on quite a different footing,
and will remove more than one material ob-
stacle to its progress. Already the struggle is
bearing its fruits. If, on the one hand, it has
excited a no-Popery bigotry, and it has only
done so to a limited extent, it has, on the
other, as has been the case in every great
movement the Catholic Church has made in
these countries, brought to our side the lovers
of justice and fair play, as well as the seekers
after truth. The overthrow of Protestant
ascendancy in Ireland is the first step towards
the overthrow of anti-Catholic prejudice and
misrepresentation in the United Kingdom.—
Ifc stiniustcr Gazette.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

It is vain to predict what the election in Cali-
fornia has been, when at any n•oment the result
may be known. All the Democratic calculations
include California among the States sure to give
their electoral votes for Seymour and Blair.
Although the strong Radical papers dispute this,
they do so feebly, and it is clear that if California
went Republican that party would be the most sur-
prised. Last year California gave the Democrats a
majority of 3,000 ; but the Radicals assert that the
battle was fought upon local issues, which split
their strength into fragments. Mr. Gorham, who
was then the apple of discord, has been removed to
a higher sphere, and if the last elections have been
carried by the Democrats, it would show that the
Pacific States are unanimous in their support of the
Democratic ticket. In 1864, M'Clellan polled
43,841 votes. In 1867 Holden, the Democratic
candidate for Lieut.-Governor (the total vote for
the Lieut.-Governor being larger than for Gover-
nor), received 47,969—the coincidence indicating
very clearly that the whole Democratic strength
was brought out. In 1864, Lincoln received 62,131
votes, while the Republican candidate for Lieut.-
Governor in 1867 polled but 44,584.
The legislators of the Southern States are not
likely to add much to the dignity of these assem-
blies through their personnel. The world is censori-
ous ; and whatever might be the legislative wisdom
of the members, it insists, at least in an Anglo-
Saxon community, that their calling should in some
degree correspond with the position they assume as
representatives of their fellows. A coloured State
Senator of Louisiana, it is said, took up the post of
barber on board a Mississippi steamboat during the
Legislature recess, and two Representatives for the
same period held the useful but not very dignified
places of cabin-boys. In Alabama, at the hotels of
Montgomery, the State Capital, the negro mem-
bers of the Legislature proved useful as waiters,
spending part of their time in cleaning the " re-
bels" plates, and the other portion in legislating
for their better behaviour. What an example for
the British House of Commons, where the members
only dirty boots and plates, instead of cleaning
them, and in consuming food instead of cooking it !
Although the British Parliament has grown old in
idleness, it is never too late to mend. We do not
appeal to the Lords, for we know it is useless to lay
this brilliant example before that effete assembly,
but better things may be hoped for from a Reformed
House of Commons.

An Order in Council prohibited the landing of
hay from the United States in any port in the
United Kingdom. without a special licence, under
the authority of the Privy Council. This is in con-
sequence of the cattle diease, which has ceased so
much loss and alarm in various Stites of the
Union. The. Irish Pariners Ga.:ette has taken
strong grounds in urging th 6 Government to this
step, for if there is one thing more dreaded in Ire-
land than another, it is the introluetion of pleuro-
pneumonia. The disease, which is imported from
Texas, appears to be dying out in the other States
as suddenly as it was introduced, and is probably
the result of the unusual drought, ceasing when
the couditious of weather which produced it
changed.

That the record of the four candidates is more

than ordinarily free from blemish is becoming evi.
dent from the failure of the "beavers," who have
burrowed down to their berth in search of damag-
ing stories. Nothing has been brought against
Colfax except the old tale of the " silver waiter,"
which was presented by a pampered menial for a
soldier who called to deposit his card upon, and who
was refused admission by the Speaker because he re-
fused to comply. Mr. Colfax disposed of this by
stating that he never owned a silver salver, and with
the evidence of wanton luxury the veteran has made
his exit. So also as regards Blair, who, perhaps,
being most open to attack, has been most attacked.
After his expulsion from Yale he tried the Univer-
sity of North Carolina, from which he was also
expelled ; and it was after this that he made his
appearance at Princeton and cut off the nose of a
fellow-student. One paper thus attacks him :
" Frank Blair Drunk. tiow the Democratic No-
minee spent a Sunday in lowa. lle is carried Dead
Drunk to his Bed." The article leads off with the
statement that Blair, the candidate of the Demo-
crats, when asked to take wine, always replies,
" No, thank you ; I'll take whisky ;" and thus
shows his devotion to Democratic principles," and
then follows a circumstantial narrative of a de-
bauch, concluding with a statetnent that what is
told is only short of the truth, that it can be sup-
ported by the oaths of several " reliable men," and
with a general defiance to " any one to disprove
the facts." The New York Tribune says:—" The
North Carolina papers charge spoon stealing upon
Frank Blair. They call bim 'Spoony' Blair. Spoony
Blair and Looney Seymour make a strong team."
Colonel Brown, replying to the animadversions of
the New York World on his account of the failure
of the nomination of Mr. Chase, calls Mr. Sey-
mour " a weeper." (Explaining the title by the
statement that. Mr. Seymour " wept for two hours
and a half after receiving the Democratic nomina-
tion.") Finally, he disposes of that candidate by
naming him "an unfortunate person" and "poor
creature." The fresh story about Grant, as told
by " Brick" Pomeroy, is that he stole a Shetland
pony, which his son now rides, followed by two
black grooms.

Mr. James M'Henry has proceeded to America,
with the intention, it is said, of negotiating an
amalgamation of the Atlantic and Great 'Western
Railway with the Erie line. The rumour has given
rise to much speculation and fluctuations in Erie
stock. The most important railway movement is
the consolidr Lion of various Southern roads, by
which a new line of communication from the At-
lantic to the Mississippi Valley is to be opened,
under the name of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail-
way. It will run from Richmond, Virginia, to
the Ohio River, and will be an important line for
the development of the resources of the interior of
Virginia.

The Republican Convention of Massachusetts
met at Worcester and nominated William Claffin
for Governor. There was a hard fight between
that gentleman and Dr. Loring, backed by General
Butler. Butler, however, is not just now in the
ascendant with any section of his party. There is
allocnug l a
te articled to a
aboutdvane
eh him
his incb theanc
eils7
Thegist of the
which is not
c a
article is that though he ruled well in New Orleans,
considering the circumstances, he allowed his
brother there by underhand practices to make a
large fortune, which he inherited on that brother's
death. The writer having many opportunities of
learning whether Butler did steal anything, declares
his belief that he did not. His military c.treer in the
field was a failure, and he
has done nothing to
rehabilitate himself during his two years' service in
Congress. The investigation into the alleged corrup-
tion of the Senators to which he elected himself was
really an exhibition of great contempt, not only for
juridical principles, but for common decency. In this
disregard for public opinion General Butler has
acted injudiciously. He is charged with personal
dishonesty, with want of principle, and his evil
fame grows and overspreads the civilized world.
These charges he ought to meet, or retire from public
life; and his re-election, says the Nation, "by a
Massachusetts district, of all places in the world,
would be a public calamity." As Butler is the
foremost champion of greenbacks, and as the Re-
publican convention of Massachusetts resolved in
favour of paying the debt in gold, his protégé was
not likely to be benefited by the patronage, and the
General will be fortunate if he can secure his own
return.

Mr. Franz Vester, a German of Newark, New
Jersey, has constructed a safety coffin for the pro-
tection of people who by accident are buried alive.
It is larger than an ordinary coffin, with a recep-
tacle under the head for refreshments and restora-
tives. The top part of the lid is movable, and a box
about two feet square is carried from this lid to
about a foot above ground, where it would appear
like a chimney. The top of the tube or pip, is
covered ,vith a lid opened by a spring inside, and
just below it is a bell connected with a cord. If
and the spring
ercinhglms'ney. elects are
throws
wcosrbdaicsk pouiellecdovtehreofbetlhl
and, if the person in
nailedthe coffin mount on a sort of ladder
to thecil sideoses
11% thec a o box ;
to the top and get out to the open air. Or otherwise
the individual can rest at ease, eat, drink, and ring
the bell for the sexton to come and assist him out.
Mr. Vester exhibits in a bier-gcti ten going through
the burial service, and is buried in the presence
'of those who pay half a dollar to witness the de-
lightful entertainment. He is supposed to remain
for two hours in the grave, but an impatient crowd,
even with a plentiful supply of beer, could not be
expected to await the lapse of such a period. He
has, however, been upwards of an hour in the grave,
a hole six feet deep, and when the signal was given
he has stepped forth with no more exhaustion than
that a short walk on a hot day would cause. This
experiment and the invention itself have excited much
interest in England, though the ceremonies gone
through at the trial tend to disgust people.
Senator Morgan and General Schenck were ex-
pected at Washington to decide whether Congress
was to be assembled for an extra' session or not.
The general opinion was that they would decide in
the affirmative ; but had they done so we must
have heard by cable. There are many who strongly
urge the necessity of the session, and leading Re-
publican papers regard it as advisable. Mr. John-
son, it is thought, will make trouble both in the
Revenue Department and in the removal of General
Thomas from the command in Tennessee, unless
Congress is in session to control him. He has re-
cently had a conversation with a Southern gentle-
man, but we :presume it was -mere words when
be talked of putting General Gillem, or Gordon
Granger, or Rousseau in command in Tennessee,
removing Thomas, who has declared that civil war in
that State is imminent, and who will support Parson
Brownlow and the Legislature. We conclude that
Congress is not to reassemble, notwithstanding the
indications when the mail left that it would be
called together, for otherwise it would be known in
Europe.

Notwithstanding the efforts of the Fenians
Whelan has been found
guilty of the murder of
the Canadian statesman, D'Arcy APGee, and sen-
tenced to be hung on the 10th of December. Surely
this must be a mistake, for there is many a man
who would consi ler himself fortunate to be guaran-
teed life for such a period. Perhaps the Cana-
dian Judges desire to test what can be accom-
plished by the Fenian to effect his escape. The
principal witness was driven over the border,
and had to be captured and sent back by the
United States police. Other witnesses were threat-
ened with death if they gave evidence. With
this sample, and the experience in Ireland and Eng-
land of what the Fenians are prepared to do to
liberate their agents from gaol, we may reasonably
expect that before the 10th of December Whelan,
will be the liononred head of some Fenian circle„,
perhaps in the metropolis of London. Ile was ar-
raigned at Ottawa on the 31 inst., his trial began
on the 7th, and he was dofended by the most skilful
counsel in Canada.

Mr. Samartzidi, and two other members of the
Greek deputation, who made themselves conspicuous
on board the United States frigate Franklin in the
Dardanelles, were arrested shortly after they re-
turned, and kept at least sixty hours in the Zap-
tieh. It appears that this gentleman, the editor of
the Eptalopho, headed an enthusiastic Greek depu-
tation, all carrying bundles of au address to Ac

ral Farragut. When at the bottom of the gang-
way the Greeks began to distribute the copies,
which were in English and Greek, flinging them
through the ports and among the crew, and
sending 500 to the Admiral's cabin. The ad-
dress appealed for the sympathy of the United
States with the Cretan movement. The war,
it asserted, was against grevious oppression,
and the hope was expressed that the United
States would assist in liberating that historical
country, Turkey. The Admiral, who at the time
was with the American Minister (Mr. Morris), sent
word that he would only receive the members as
private individuals, which he did most courteously,
but without making any political remark. The en-
thusiasm of three of these Greeks wag, ho wever,
cooled, as we have before stated, in a Turkish
" bastile," in a way which, being legally unjustifi-
able, has been made the subject of protest by the
Greek Legation. Not only were they llellenic sub-
jects, but their offence, if any, was committed under
the American flag.

The quarrel between Secretary M'Culloch and
Commissioner Rollins is swelling into considerable
proportions. Mr. M'Culloch has openly pronounced
for the Democrats, and desires to appoint the 25
supervisors in the interest of their ticket. Mr Rol-
lins staunchly supports the Republicans, and, claim-
ing these appointments as his own, rejects the no-
minations of the Secretary. Mr. Binckley, solicitor
of the Internal Revenue Department, and formerly
Assistant Attorney-General, obtained in New York
a warrant for Mr. Rollins' arrest, upon affidavits
charging him with conspiring with distillers to
cheat the Government. Mr. Rollins, of course,
declines to go to New York to be arr.sted, although
the charges are simply concocted for a political ob-
ject. Some correspondence has taken place between
the Secretary and Mr. Binckley, and the Deputy
Marshal, who haS the warrants, has been instructed
to make no more arrests' at present. Both Mr.
Rollins and Deputy Commissioner Harlan have
been summoned to appear for trial, but they have
taken no notice either personally or by counsel. Of
course Mr. Rollins' friends accuse the President and
Mr. M'Culloch of being the authors of these shame-
ful charges, which both have at once disavowed, the
President almost apologizing to Mr. Rollins, and
declaring the accusations to be absurd.
The International Workmen's Congress assem-
bled at Brussels was closed on the 13th instant, by
a speech from President Dupont, of London. The
German branches assert, in an address read to the
Congress, that a war between France and Germany
must be regarded as a civil war for the profit of
Russia. " The International Association," it says,
" calls upon working men to pronounce against
war, to oppose it by all the means in their power, to
refuse to countenance assassination, and to organize
a propaganda for the education of the poor." The
Congress responded by recommending " working
men to abstain from all work in the event of war
breaking out in their respective countries. The
Congress reckons upon the solidarity of working
men of all countries for this strike of the people
against war." The Times points to the inconsist-
ency of their statetnent, that " they cannot see
their way clear, where the means for education are
to come from, unless the State take it in, hand,"
with the latter. resolution as to whence the me tns
for their support are to come, if they abstain from
work during war. A Paris delegate denounced it
as an intolerable hardship that the working man,
under present circumstances, " must either work for
others' profit or "perish." In those words he stated
the most essential law of human existence. It is
upon the sole condition of working for others' profit
that we are fit to live or to receive profit ourselves.

The cold shade of Charles Francis Adams has
evidently fallen over the mercurial temperament of
his sin, John Quincy. Adams is a great name in
Massachusetts, and with reason, for seldom has his-
tory recorded three highly distinguished generations
of a family.. In England the achievements of the
A.damses would have made them ducal, and the
eldest son would have inherited a seat in the
Legislature and a commanding position in the
country. In America the case is widely diffe-
rent, for there men have to achieve these positions
for themselves, and itis thus that three generations of
Adams' have risen to high places, an I left their namcs
in the annals of their country. It is evident that a
fourth is destined to become a leader in Massa-
chusetts. We cannot estimate the weight his name
carries, and what portion of his prominence is due
to his abilities. Had he been Joe Buggins he would
not have been thus eagerly sought by the Demo-
crats as their standard-bearer. The return of the
lite Minister has evidently damped John Quincy's
Democratic ardour, and he was even absent
when nominated for Governor by the Massachusetts
Democratic State Convention. Charles Francis
Adams rigidly withdraws from politics, and meets
all advances by looking down from the clouds on
the contending factions in the Union, above which
he declares himself to be, having represented the
whole nation, from which high place he cannot con-
descend to descend.

The " celestial " Embassy returned to New York
on the 2d instant, whence they embarked on the
9th for England, so that before we go to press
we may be able to announce their arrival at
Queenstown. They have been a fund of curiosity
and amusement in America—what they ate, drank,
and, did was carefully chronicled. Every newsboy
who hawked a paper knew the amount of their
hotel bills—that Chin-Tajen was fond of beef, and
Sun-Tajen of sweets. One estimate is that they
daily consumed 501bs. of black Hambprgh and
Sweetwater hot-house grapes, which at two d ollars
a pound is calculated to swell up a bill such as to
make the mission, unless highly successfu I, any-
thing but profitable to China. The oppartu nity
of pretending to more than their neigh bours
has been too strong for some Transatlan tic
journals. One Massachusetts paper sneers at
a brother of the modern Athens who, in no-
ticing the departure of the Embassy, " Com-
mits," as it says, " the ludicrous tautology of pre-
fixing ' their excellencies' to their names in apparent
ignorance that the suffix Tajen' means precisely
that." Chinese toys have been the rage in honour
of the Embassy, but as John Bull goes in more for
creature comforts, we presume that " bird's nests"
will rise in London, of which we hope some keen
speculator has long since ordered a supply.