The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDuN, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1868

the interval that elapsed between the explosion and
the receipt of public funds, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer sent some portion of the public money
to the relief of the sufferers. This temporary aid
was of great service, and the committee declare that
the thanks of the nation are due to the right hon.
gentleman and his bind-hearted almoners in this
" timely forethought and consideration for the
suffering poor." By personal visitation the com-
mittee have devoted themselves to the work in
hand, and this is the only sure way of dealing with
such a task. The prompt liberality of the public
is thankfully acknowledged at the outset of this
Report. About £7,000 have been by this time
subscribed to cover the necessities of the sad case,
and no doubt more will be forthcoming if required.
The plan which has been devised seems an excellent
one, and sub-committees have been formed. As yet
the arrangements cannot be completed, because the
sufferers are in some cases scattered about in hos-
pitals and elsewhere, but wherever it was prac-
ticable the committee have restored the

losers to their former condition in furniture
and property. Seven persons died in consequence of
the explosion, 41 persons were badly wounded, in-
volving loss of limb and eyesight and general dis-
figurement, 56 persons unhoused, and as many as
600 families have suffered in health, purse, and
property. Besides the cases that are in the hospi-
tal, the committee have ascertained that 111 per-
sons have suffered more or less from the shock.
The unhappy victims to the Fenian outrage are
indeed to pity, for their sufferings are great and
their loss severe. They are besides in that station
of life where their subsistence. depends upon
their having the use of their faculties and their
health and strength being tolerable, if not far be-

yond the average. One of the sadlest parts of
the calamity is the severe suffering that has been
entailed on the female sufferers, some of whom have

had premature confinements, and others been

caused great inconvenience and misery. These
were accustomed to give their share to the " bread-
winning," and, as the committee emphatically
put it, " most of them will never be the same
again. The committee only wish that all
England could look upon that ghastly sight,

of wounded men, women, and children, and
then fix the measure of what ought to be done for
these afflicted people." This is, indeed, a difficult
thing to decide, and may well cause the deepest
anxiety to those who dwell upon the sad details.
At any rate, it is a great satisfaction to know that
all has been done which can be done for the imme-
diate relief of the sufferers, and their future well-
being must be a matter of consideration hereafter,
for the country cannot allow these martyrs to vio-
lence and unprovoked attacks to be left uncared for,
and suffered to have poverty added to their afflic-

ions.

The arrival of the Cimbria, from New York on
the 28th ult., brings us intelligence which gives a
painful impression of the results which a long series
of mismanagement and misrule have produced in
the Southern States. It is a noticeable fact that
heavily as the planters have suffered, and are still
suffering, the blacks, about whose welfare the
radical party professed to be so solicitous, are iu
even greater distress. The destitution which
prevails throughout those fertile districts which
once supplied the markets of Europe, and
kept the busy merchants of the North
in full activity, is something far beyond
depression and discomfort. Absolute starvation
stares men in the face, and the correspondents of
runny journals who are actually on the spot esti-
mate that three millions of persons, most of them
freed men, are in danger of starvation. Such a
condition of affairs is a national calamity, and de-
mands prompt and vigorous action. General
HANCOCK has made a wise and timely suggestion,
which we hope the Government will not be slow to
adopt. Serious crevasses of the Mississippi have
occurred in Louisiana, and the General has asked
permission to employ the starving negroes to effect
the repairs at the national expense. This would be
a very sensible and ready method of alleviating
some portion at least of the distress which it is evi-
dent the Government must take under consideration
without delay. Whatever opinion may be held as
to the political rights of the negro there can be no
luestion of his right to live ; yet here are hundreds
:if thousands who have been told they were to re-
ceive the greatest possible blessing suddenly re-
duced to the most terrible privations. if they will
not work they must learn by bitter experience that
freedom Las its obligations and responsi-
bilities as well as its privileges, but at
present there seems to be no question of the
kind. We know from the accounts which we have
lately received that in districts where the negroes
have worked :on the plantations the planters have
been unable to pay them, and worse than the lack
of money is the absolute scarcity which appears to
exist in the South. Its fields and farms have never
recovered the desolation of the Northern armies,
and since the close of the war the seasons have
been unfavourable. Thanks to the uncertainty
which has attended the tenure of property iu
the South, and the oppression of the military
government, there has been no choice of that
influx of capital which was necessary for the
revival of industry and the restoration of trade.
Now the people throughout the States are awaking
to a sense of the fatal error committed in treating
the Southern States as a conquered country. So
much valuable time has been lost that it will be
long before the vast territories of the South will be
other than a drain upon the overburdened resources
of the Union. Unhappily affairs are complicated by
the evil spirit which interested agitators have infused
into the excited and discontented negroes. In the
interior of Virginia they are committing depre-
dations and burning the property of the
whites, and serious disturbances are reported
from other parts. Such excesses must be re-
pressed with the strong hand, but the real blame
of the offence rests chiefly with those who have
endeavoured, for their own party purposes, to
stir up the negro to violence and outrage, in-
stead of really assisting him to obtain his own
livelihood. Wholesale emigration, from those
parts where there is neither work nor food, would
be the best and most practical remedy. Presi-
dent JOHNSON is at least resolved upon one thing.
He will suffer no more insubordination nor op-
pression among the military commanders. le
has decided upon removing General PorE from
his command ; but it is worthy of notice, as sig-
nificant of the times, that on this occasion he has
acted after consultation with his Cabinet.

Education is the theme which more than any
other seems likely to engage the notice of the poli-
tician with respect to home matters, and Mr.
FOSTERS remarks on the subject last night, at St.
James's Hall, will doubtle;s receiva a good share of
attention, both on account of their own merit and
the importance of the question to which he refers.
He appeared, however, to lay too much stress upon
the superiority of the Prussian system over ours,
which is a mistake many are apt to fall
into when dwelling upon this topic. The
best way is to consider if we are in as
efficient a state, as we ought to be in this respect,

and if w e are not then to turn our earnest attention
to the cc rnsideration of what wiv. ought to do, quite
irrespective of what system other countries may or
may not. deem requisite to pursue for themselves.
We agr ae with the hon. member that to establish a
comp dsory system would be most difficult in this

count ry, however desirable some may think it.
Such a thing is quite opposed to the national
feeling of Englishmen, and we must remember
that if we are .behind other nations in
education we are far before them in liberty, and
that is of more consequence even than instruction,
precious though that may be. We are glad to see
the subject of education ventilated, however, and
due credit pipit be awarded to Mr. FOSTER, and
others like him, who enter con amore into the ques-
tion, and do their best to advance the cause of
knowledge. Too much cannot be done in this re-
spect, and those who are truly anxious to see im-
provement will welcome all who aid in the good
work.

It is satisfactory to find that, notwithstanding
the unfavourable condition of the weather, the
deaths in London during the past week were below
the estimated number. They showed, indeed, as
was to be expected, a considerable increase on those
of the preceding week, but they were still below the
corrected average. There can be no question that
the severe and sudden changes of temperature tell
heavily upon the infirm and sick persons of all
ranks, but most especially upon the poor, who
are unable to provide themselves with sufficient
food and fire, much less with proper clothing.
Unless the existing distress in th 3 east of London
is very much mi..igated before long, we may expect
to find a large increase in our tables of mortality.
The accounts which we continue to receive from
well-informed persons on the spot represent the
distress and destitution to be altogether excep-
tional. The long-continued depression of trade
and slackness of employment, combined with the
high price of provisions, especially of bread, are
quite enough to account for this. It is a
very difficult matter to deal with such wide-spread
and deep-seated distress, and many who are anxious
to give relief to the really deserving are fearful of
encouraging pauperism by indiscriminate almsgiving.
The best means of avoiding this is to provide em-
ployment, and we are glad to find the Govern-
ment intend enlarging Victoria-park--a work
of much public benefit, which will give
employment to large numbers. Other plans of this
kind may be adopted with advantage, and will, no
doubt, be brought forward, should the present dis-
tress continue.

"Art ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory,"
especially when the matter which it concerns is of
vital importance. We have had more than the ton
of theory with respect to Ireland. It can scarcely
be said that we have had the ounce of fact. Every-
body has had his own hypothesis to account for the
want of prosperity of the Irish in their own
country, their success in America, and their bitter
hatred of England. There have been leading
journals which have attributed the first circum-
stance to the impracticable character of the Celtic
race ; and when confronted with the second,
have attempted to extricate themselves from
embarrassment by attributing the change to
an abandonment of faith. The Celt is
good for nothing, say these theorists ; and when
they are asked to explain how it is that directly
he crosses the Atlantic the Celt is as prosperous
as the Saxon, the reply has been, that there
the Celt has got rid of his creed, and is free
from the dictation of its teachers. As to the last
of the three problems which we have mentioned—
Irish animosity against England—the solutions of
this problem have been legion. In the midst
of all these hypotheses and suggestions the philan-
thropist and the legislator are alike bewildered.
They long to do something—the one to cure the
evils which grieve him, the other to get rid of the
complainants who worry him ; but they cannot tell
what to do. One remedy after another has been
tried, yet all in vain, until at last we are begin-
ning to consider the case incurable, and to give it
up in sullen hopelessness.
It is greatly to the credit of one of our legislators
that he should have determined to ascertain for
himself the real facts which constitute this diffi-
culty. While successive Ministries have brought
in Irish measures only to withdraw them, Mr.
31AamitE, one of the members for Cork city, has
made a tour of North America, in order to see
how his countrymen are thriving, by what means
they have improved their condition, and what are
the feelings which they entertain towards the
Government which they have left. There was,
perhaps, no man better fitted than this gentleman
to undertake the task. Keenly Irish in his sym-
pathies, he has always shown himself a loyal
subject of his sovereign. Not to be deterred
by heedless Ministers or an empty House from
bringing forward the unhappy condition of his
countrymen at the time when it was the fashion to
sneer at Irish grievances, he has always exhibited
the most marked moderation in his statements, and
has won the respect of all political parties. The
results of his investigations have been given to
the world within the last few days, in the shape of
a portly volume of 650 pages. The book is a
most remarkable one, and the reading of it is indis-
pensable to those who wish to master the Irish
question. Wo can but briefly refer to some of its
facts in this column.

In the first place we find that. the Irish prosper
everywhere on American soil. It matters not
whether they have settled at Newfoundland in the
north-east or in California in the south-west, on
the Canadian lakes or on the Gulf of Mexico—they
do well. It makes no difference whether they
are on an island or on a continent, under a
republic or under a monarchy, in an. arctic or in a
torrid country, in the land of cotton or in the land
of wheat—in every country, under every form of
government, and in every employment, these ne'er-
do-wells at home are happy and thriving. It used
to be supposed that the Irish were the one exception
to prove the Horatian rule, ea/um, non animism,
mutant, qui trans mare currunt. But it is not so.
There is no nation which so warmly cherishes its
old nationality, its old religion, as this which has
left our shores, shaking off the dust from their feet
as a testimony against us. It would be well for
us, perhaps, if they were less conservative of
race and creed. But whether well or ill, the
fact remains that the Irish in America are
Irish still, ever looking back with fond love towards
" the ould country " which was such a cruel step-
mother to them ; ever keeping true to the faith in
which they were educated, even though years
should pass without seeing the ministers,
hearing the services, or sharing the ordi-
nances of their Church. There are a few
exceptions both to the prosperity and to the
conservatism of the Irish. The first are to be found
in the large towns ; the second are the " Scotch-
Irish "—the Irish who lived in Ireland without
being of it. Drink is,..es Mr. MAGUIRE tells us
again and again, the one great curse which
ruins those who yield to it. The Irish, being open-
hearted and hospitable, are peculiarly liable to
yield. For this reason, if for no other, it is best
that Irish emigrants should on landing linger as little
as possible at the port of arrival, but continue their
journey without loss of time to the far-off
land in the West which awaits their axe and their
spade. Too many of them remain, tempted by the
high price which is offered to them for their labour,
or frightened by the prospect of making themselves
a home in the vast wilderness. These become
hewers of wood and drawers of water, instead of
lords of their own land.

This last Hord is the lcey to the Irish problem,

ARTHUR YOUNG wrote or the rrench pea-

santry that property turned even sand into
gold ; how much more does it turn the
fruitful soil of America ? The Irish cottier
who has been turned out of house and home by
some merciless bailiff because the rent is not forth-
coming, finds in America land which can become his
own for less money than he paid to use land in the
old country. No landlord or bailiff will vex him
henceforth. Neither the Queen of ENGLAND nor
the President of the -UNITED STATES can deprive
him of his farm. A new world opens before him,
a new career into which ho can put forth all his
energies, knowing that they are expended• on his
own behalf, and that the more diligently he sows
the more abundantly will he reap. This position
has net been attained without some difficulty.
There were in some of the British provinces of
North America seignorial rights which had to be
got rid of. In Prince Edward's Island there were
absentee landlords who asked the absurdly
low rent, as we should deem it, of is. per
acre. Low as it was, the tenants did not like to pay
it, and some two years ago there was a formidable
agitation set on foot. The tenants refused to pay;
they laughed at the representatives of the civil
power who endeavoured to enforce payment. The
result was, that the island Government compelled
these absentees to sell their lands to the State,
which resold them to the tenants at a profit. The
Duke of NEWCASTLE, surely no revolutionist, had
proposed this very scheme, which when suggested
in Ireland is called spoliation and an invasion of
the sacred rights of property. A more important
colony than Prince Edward's Island adopted the
same plan. Certain landlords had over the lands
which had been occupied and cleared by emigrants
what were called " casual rights." These consisted
chiefly of rights over watercourses and rivers, and
percentages payable every time that an estate was
sold. These rights became such an intolerable
grievance to the freedom-loving Canadians, that
in the Lower Province the Parliament bought them
off for about a million sterling, and made an ar-
rangement for the capitalisation and purchase of
the rent by the tenant and its compulsory sale by
the landlord. It may pacify alarmed readers
to know that Lord LYTTON approved of the land
policy above described.

There is only one other point in Mr. -.MAGUIRE'S
interesting book to which we can call attention on
this occasion. What hold has Fenianism on the Irish
in America ? Much, we regret to say. Still more do
we regret to learn, on Mr. MAGUIRE'S authority,
that the Irish who have joined the Fenian move-
ment are not the rowdies and blackguards which
we aro accustomed to consider them. They aro
sober, hardworking, God-fearing men, who, moved
by no sudden excitement, but acting upon a deli-
berate and settled purpose, leave farm and store in
order to strike one blow for the independence
of the old country. It is not pleasant, for us to
be told this ; it wourd be foolish for us not
to listen when we are told. There is abundant
room for reflection here. We find ourselves
face to face with a nation which has—whether
voluntarily or involuntarily--left our shores, bear-
ing with them undying love for the land
they have left, undying hatred for the men who
rule it. Hitherto they have not done us much
harm. The civil war found Irishmen arrayed
against Irishmen, but that is over now ; and
Irishmen, both North and South, are think-
ing how they can best turn to account
in behalf of their native land the experience
which they have gained in American battle-fields.
This is a very real and serious danger. If all that
Mr. MAGUIRE says be true, it is far more real and
serious than we supposed. It is no longer a secret
conspiracy that we have to suppress, but a hostile
nation whom we have to encounter ; the nation
which, at first by intentional injustice, and then
by indolent negligence, we drove from our shores,
carrying with it the bitter memories of centuries
of wrong, to be cherished against the time when
England's necessity should at last afford Ireland's
ennortunitv.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The trial and conviction of Charles Reade, late a
seaman serving on board her Majesty's ship Irre-
sistible, by a naval court-martial, held on board
her Majesty's ship Victory, at Portsmouth, on Mon-
day, briefly reported in The Sun Naval Intelligence
of yesterday, on a charge—" That he, being a per-
son subject to the Naval Discipline Act, 1866, did,
on or about the 21st day of December, when ser-
vice was commanded, and the galley being manned
to make a night visit to the shore at Osborne, dis-
courage the service by refusing to receive a pistol
with which he was ordered to be armed," may pos-
sibly lead to the belief that Fenianism may have
obtained a few converts even among the seamen of
her Majesty's Navy. This would be a gross error.
The convict Reade was certainly convicted as it
were on his own confession, made in terms that a
few years since would have forfeited his life. He
has been sentenced to five years' penal servitude, but
it was the opinion of all present at the trial, and
who witnessed the prisoner's demeanour in court,
that he is insane. Clearly further inquiry should
be made ; and if he should prove to be so far in-
sane as to be labouring under delusions as regards
his duty as a seaman, and what he terms in his de-
fence " the outlaw principle," the matter should be
at once an 1 publicly set right, and the stigma of
the supposed act of treason and disloyalty removed
from her Majesty's Navy. The written defence
handed in by Reade to the court contained strong
evidence of its being the production of a man who
might, under certain conditions, become dan-
gerous to society, but who at present is but a
miserable monomaniac, and morally irresponsible
for his actions, The following is a copy of this
product ion :
" Tho reason why I refused to take arms when ordered
is because I would not be an oppressive means to an
outlaw principle that usurps public power and underlies
its political face. It has attained this position under
the cover and through the impractical influence of Pro-
testantism, and its policy is to render itself impreg-
nable by the unnecessary display of brute force for
the purpose of intimidation, and, by the most dark and
fiendish craft, to turn the current of public
own
nd
tip:L.l:and keep it loyal by
arms because I looked upon
colepeinepiotnieut it
.o
Irs o
refused
tho Fenians as being simply demonstrators of discontent,
and the natural turning of the worm when it is excruciat-
ingly crushed. But apart from Fenians, and under the
assumption of Fenians, the outlaw principle has been at
work, inciting to horrible and useless deeds of violence, for
the express purpose of setting every good, honest, gener-
ous, and right-minded man against it, and thereby termi-
nate its existence and its object together. From the be-
ginning intelligent men could see that Fenianism was
incapable of forcing its rights, and rightly kept clear of it
—but although its force was despicable, its existence was
significant. It was significant of discontent, and the cause
of discontent is a matter that causes most agitation among
those responsible for it." [Prisoner further condemned
putting down Fenianism by stratagem, and said tho
Fenians did not evince any inclination to give their
enemies an opportunity to crush them by force. He con-
cluded by saying] :—" I believe myself to be a truly loyal
man, loyal to honest truth and virtue ; and by all that
is sacred we aro forbidden to be in allegiance or to
be loyal to evil combinations or designs, and any man that
is loyal to such he either bows do wn in fear and slavery to
the force of brutality, or he is otherwise deceived by craft.
The outlaw principle that usurps public power treads more
or loss upon the consciences and interests of all that is
subject to its rule. Raving stated thus much under con-
sideration of consequences, I believe myself to be subject
to your discretion.
" CHARLES READS."

Immediately on the completion of the iron-clad
frigate Hercules, 14, 1,200 horse power (nominal),
now building at Chatham dockyard, where she is
expected to be ready for floating out of the dock in
which she has been built in a couple of months from
the present time, it is intended to commence the
construction of another new ironclad armour-plated
ship of the Hercules class, the drawings and plans
for which are now in course of preparation under
the direction of the Controller of the Navy, and are
shortly expected at the dockyard. The name by
which the new ship will be designated has not yet
been officially announced. lu the designs for the
new ironclad frigate now under consideration at the
Admiralty care will be taken to adapt the new ship
by giving her increased tonnage and length, to the
latest improvements in artillery by enabling her to
out guns of the heaviest description.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE BRAZILS.
ARRIVAL OF THE SEINE.
(Via Lisbon.)
Rio DE JANEIRO, Dec. 9.

Exchange on London, 20* to 20f ; on Paris, 460
to 476. Coffee has advanced 200 reis per arrica.
Good firsts are quotel 6,500 to 6,700 reis. Total
shipments of coffee since the departure of the last
mail 168,401 bags, of which 28,108 were for the
Channel, 37,358 for the north of Europe, 22,711
for the Mediterranean, and 7,486 for the Baltic.
Sales, 149,230 bags. Stock, 120,000 bags. Flour
has advanced 6,000 reis per barrel. Freight, 40s.
to 425. 6d.

BAIIIA, Dec. 14.

Exchange on London, 20 to 20k. Sugar—
whites, 2,800 to 4,200 reis ; browns, 2,900 to 3,000
reis. Cotton, 9,500 to 10,000 reis.

PERNAMBUCO, Dec. 16.

Exchange on London, 204 to 20/. Sugars—
whites, 4,700 to 4,800 reis ; browns, 2,500 to 2,600
Cotton, 8,000 to 8,600 reis.

rein.

LISBON, Jan. 7.

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's ship
Seine, from Brazil, arrived here to-day at three
p.m., and will leave for Southampton at 10 a.m.
to-morrow, with 52 passengers, specie $66,100, 70
bales of cotton, 30 serons of ipecacuanah, 2,112
bags of coffee, 799 rolls of tobacco, and 157
packages of sundries.
She was delayed by her port paddle shaft break-
ing when 200 miles south of Bahia.

The Oneida, with the outward mail of December,
was at. St. Vincent on the 20th December ; the
Estramadure at Bahia on the 15th inst.