The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-07 00:00:00

The Price of Gold.

The quotation of gold at Paris is about at par, and
the short exchange on London is 25f. 2210. per £1 sterlinr.
• omparing these rates with the English Mint price of
• iis.loid. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that
gold is about 240ths per cent. dearer in London than in
Paris.

The course of exoliange at New York on London for bills
at 60 days' Eight was on the last date about 1,82 per cent.
At this rate there is no profit on the importation of gold
from the United States.

It is reported that Mr. Roebuck will arrive in
Sheffield on Saturday. His friends admit that as matters
stand now he has no chance, but they believe the Sheffield
electors are so ductile Mr. Roebuck can wind them round
his finger. Wo shall soo.—Sheffield and Rotherham Inde-
pendent.
We have reason to believe that Mr. Lumley,
lately Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
to the S wiss Confederation, has been app Anted in the same
capacity t 3 the Legation at Brussels, vacant by the death
of Lord Howard do Walden.

HOUSES OF PARLlAMENT.—Preliininary steps are
now being taken by the Commissioners of her Majesty's
Works and Public Buildings to clear the site for the con-
struction of the Embankment on the north side of the
Thames and for the improvement of the approaches to the
New Palace of Westminster, as provided by the Houses of
Parliament Act, 1867. Yesterday the first sale of property
on the newly-acquired additional lands, consisting of
several houses in Little Abingdon-street, Westminster, ad-
joining the Victoria Tower, was held, and further sales by
auction are speedily to follow, involving the removal of
buildings, wharves, stairs, piers, and other erections, the
sites of which are to be appropriated t 9 the above-named
1:1111*POON!

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, THE HOLYW ELL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.
The Times thinks On Tuesday an action of a novel and important ch
thinks thi policy of annexing the territory o
peter was opened before the Holywell magistrates ; the
the tribes who are troubling oufnorth-west Indian frontier
is hot without its attractions. At present our frontier Earl of Denbigh chairman. The complainant was Mr.
Edwards Woods, the solicitor who has taken a prominent
garrisons are established on a sultry and insalubrious
partin the Abergele prosecutions, and the defendant was
plain, with a broad river behind them—not a favourable
position in either a sanitary or strategical point of view. George Grinnett, signalman at the Holywell station on the
London and North Western Railway. The offence charged
Our troublesome enemies look down upon the settlement
as stated in the summons was, that the defendant did
from fastnesses above, which it is very difficult for us to
unlawfully, wilfully, and negligently omit to put up the
reach ; so that their raids, except in cases of extreme
semaphore signal "danger " to show that the line
provocation, can be accomplished with impunity. On
this frontier duty we have a special force of 12,000 men was not clear at Holywell station at the time
t
permanently employed, independently of such occasional the express train leaving Chester at 2.45 p.m. was due
musters as the present. What if we advanced our posts to pass through, at which time a goods train was standing
to the hills themselves, and established our forts on that on the down line, causing the express train to run into
cool and pleasant range which the panting Englishman collision with the goods train, whereby the life and limbs
can now only contemplate from below? To this sues-
of Mr. Edwards Woods and the life and limbs of other
tion we must reply by another. Who would be ourneigh-
passengers were endangered.
bolus then ?We must have a frontier somewhere, and on Mr. Woods said the complaint which the bench would
the other side of that frontier there will be a population be asked to hear was preferred by himself against the
defendant,
of some kind. Shall we mend matters by going further? who was a signalman at Holywell station on
If we subdue these independent tribes and turn their hills the 16th day of September. The proceedings were taken
into a frontier of our own, we shall then be in contact under the 3rd and 4th Vic., cap 97, sec. 13, whereby it is
with the Afghans themselves, and will that be a quiet enacted that "any engineman, driver, guard, porter, or
srn-
neighbourhood? There is an alternative policy of " con-
ervant being drunk when employed on the railway, cornitting any offence against the bye-laws or regulations
ciliation," but as that is the very policy which has produced
twenty-three wars in nineteen years it is not unreasonably of the company, wilfully or negligently doing or omitting
regarded as a failure. Hitherto we have not appropriated
to do any act whereby the life or limb of any person pass-
e single square yard of territory in this direction. ing along or being upon the railway or the works of the
We hold simply the ground that was held by Runjeet railway shall be or might be injured or endangered, or
Singh, as monarch of the Punjab, and no more. We have whereby the passage of any of the engines, carriages, or
endeavoured to persuade these highlanders of our good trains shall be, or might be, obstructed or impeded, may
intentions, and though it is true that we have been inces-
upon conviction be imprisoned with or without hard labour
santly in collision with them, that, in our version of the for any period not exceeding two years."
story, is their fault, and not ours. At any rate, we have Mr. Woods having described in detail the accident and
not encroached upon their lands or their independence, the injuries which be alleged himself to have sustained,
though it is possible that some modification of this for- Mr. Ellis Eyton proceeded to cross-examine him. In reply
bearance may be thought desirable now. It is intimated, to various questions,
indeed, that under the circumstances of the Russian Mr. Woods said : I hardly remember what train I went
advance our whole policy on this north-western frontier down to Holywell by on the morning of the accident. I
must be subjected to comprehensive reconsideration. We think I went down by the noon train, but lam not sure.
fear it would be vain to expect peace and quietness at the ; Mr. Eyton : Are you certain that you were not at Aber-
end of any experiment, but we rejoice to think that the gele at one o'clock on the day of the accident?
question, at any rate, is still in the hands of Sir John Mr. Woods : I don't know anything about that, but I
Lawrence.
am certain I was in the train when the accident hap-
The Standard returns to the consideration of the
pened. The first step I took was to summon the station-
maaster, Mr. Jones. I did not obtain the summons in
Premier's address. Mr. Disraeli has said that the disen-this court. What I did was under the advice of Mr.
dowment of the Irish Church can hardly fail to diminish
Lenge, the magistrates' clerk at Rhyl. I entirely disclaim
the security of property. The triumphant reply is, that
any personal motives in this prosecution. After the acci-
the main cause of the insecurity of property in Ireland is
dent I went on to Rhyl, and telegraphed an account of
its association with " an alien Church," and that the dis-
it to the Times newspaper and the Daily Telegraph. I
endowment of the latter will be the best guarantee for
wrote another letter to the Times enclosing a letter which
vested interests. But we have the very highest authority
had been forwarded to me praising me for my conduct in
for knowing that the main grievance is not the
the Abergele case.
establishment of the Protestant Church, but the
Mr. Eyton was proceeding to cross-examine Mr. Woods
possession by Protestants of nine-tenths of the
as to his doings at Abergele, but this was objected to by
soil. It is obvious, therefore, that if the Protestant
the bench as being irrelevant, and Mr. Eyton was required
Establishment is to some extent the cause of the to state his reason for adopting it.
insecurity of property, we shall never get to the 1 1
Mr. Eyton said he wished to show that Mr. Woods was
the root of the evil until we have transferred the soil from
actuated by motives other than that of the public good,
its present possessors. If the disendowment of the Pro.:
but as their worships thought he should not pursue the
tcstant Church is a partial remedy, how much rn•-4
subject he would defer.
effectual will be the transfer of nine-tenths of the soil froiii
Mr. Edwards Woods next called Mr. Jones, station-
the Protestant holders ? Moreover, the principle is equally 1
master at Holywell, who cited a rule of the company's
applicable in both cases, only the title of lay holders like
service with
reference to the proper working signals ;
the Duke of Devonshire is neither morally nor legally half
and Mr. btretton, inspector of police upon the line, proved
so good as that which can be produced in behalf of the ;
I that he had supplied the with a copy,- of the
Church. The contention of the Premier, that the outrage 1
rules. pp
defendant
it is proposed to inflict upon the Irish Church would aggra-
Mr. Hughes, who temporarily filled the office of station-
rate religious hostilities and party rancours, is not disputed, master at Holywell during the absence of Mr. Jones, who
but it is urged in reply that " the ancient wrong c: n lot be was on his holiday at the time of the accident, stated
redressed" without some such result. It does not seem
that the semaphore signal was up two minutes before the
to occur to our contemporaries that those who profess to
express was due. The down line was not clear at the time
suffer under " the ancient wrong " are perfectly unanimous
the 2.40 p.m. train arrived, and a collision occurred.
in declaring that they will not accept the disruption of
Cross-examined : The 2.40 train is not timed to stop at
the Irish Church as any measure of redress whatever,
Holywell, but as a matter of fact it had stopped for some
but merely as an infinitesimal instalment of terms
time previously for the purpose of taking water. On an
which at present no English statesman, not even Mr.
average it stops at Holywell two or three times a week. I
Gladstone, dares even to look at, much less to
was standing in the middle of the platform when the
entertain. Feeblest and most puerile of all is
express passed through, and the trucks which were being
the attempted reply to Mr. Disraeli's argument
shunted, and with which the express came into collision,
that the disestablishment of the Protestant Church
stood about 200 yards further on. When the express
in Ireland will tend to the advancement of the
passed me it was going at the rate of about twelv e miles an
Roman Catholic Church—in fact, that the loss of Protes- hour. The guards were applying the breaks hard, and by
tantism will be the gain of Popery. The answer is, that the time the train reached the trucks the speed wa
re-
the Protestantism as established in England is in no
duced by one-half. I went up to the carriages upon the
respect " injured by the existence of a rival, and, indeed,
accident taking place, but did not find any one hurt.
hostile Establishment north of the Tweed ! " " Rival" None of the passengers complained to me of injuries. I
Establishment ! As if the Presbyterian Establishment in -
do not know whether I saw the complainant there. I
Scotland were not infinitely more rigidly Protestant than
think I did.
the Established Church in England! Mr. Gladstone might
John Naylor, engine-driver of the express, said : When
well be pardoned for regretting that the critics of his rival
I approached Holywell I saw that both the distance signal
are not a trifle more acute. and the semaphore were at danger. I saw them about a
The Herald thinks it beyond possibility of denial that mile off. On seeing the distance signal I shut off steam
one measure of confiscation is likely to be followed by and prepared to stir the train. I whistled, and both
others. It is beyond reasonable doubt that the overthrow signals were lowered as a sign that all was right. I had
of the Church of England can only redound to the aclvan. not then reached the distance signal. I thereupon put
tags of the Church of Rome. That Church we cannot on steam and proceeded. The train was not timed to
disestablish ; woe to us if it be left the only Established stop at Holywell. When I got inside the station I saw a
Church in the realm. We would only observe upon Mr. person waving his hands to me to stop. I then shut off
"secondary reasons" applied to the individual steam and reversed the engine, and did i',ll I could to stop.
case of Ireland, that they are distinctly given as secondary At this time I was going at the rate of about thirty
only: the case of the Church in Ireland resting sub- miles an hour. The semaphore signal was down at this
stantially upon principles applicable to all three kingdoms moment. I am sure of that, for when I saw the hand
alike, the importance of a national religion, the interests waving I looked up to the signal. I did not see any
of Protesta9tism, the value to religions and cisil liberty, portion of the obstructing train till I got close up to it. I
of that principle of lay control which is embodied in the saw that one portion of the goods train was on the up-line,
constitutional doctrine of the royal supremacy and the and the other on the down. I ran into them broadside.
sanctity of property. Of those principles the Tory party The goods train was going towards Chester, and the
is now the sole defender ; Liberalism has betrayed and re- driver had drawn it on to the up-line as far as he could
nounced them. It follows that the cause of religious free- get, but there was a passenger-train before him, and his
door, as well as of constitutional order, of personal liberty train was so long that three of the trucks were left on the
of conscience, as well as of public morality and Christian down line in the way of my train. I got on the step of
faith, is now identified with the cause of the Conservative the engine and dropped off just before the collision took
party ; and that every vote which is given to a follower of place. I was going at the rate of about fifteen miles an
Mr. Gladstone is given in the interests of Popery and hour when the shock occurred.
priestcraft, as well as of disloyalty and anarchy. k This was the case for the complainant.
The Daily News considers it absolutely necessary for the For the defence it was urged that the accident was the
success of the Liberal cause that the number of Liberal result of an error of judgment on the part of the defend-
candidates shall be reduced to the number of seats. Old ant, and not of wilful negligence as provided for by the
and tried members ought to be preferred to new candi- statute.
dates as a rule ; otherwise the value of hard work and The Chairman dwelt upon the importance of the sig-
experience goes for nothing. Where the candidates are nalman's duties, and to mark their sense of the heinous-
all new men, who are known only by their professions, ness of the prisoner's offence, the bench sentenced him to
and have no past services to the Liberal cause to which two months' imprisonment, the longest term the law per-
they can appeal in confirmation of them, as the election mated them to inflict.
draws nearer they ought to make it perfectly understood
that, rather than divide the Liberal party in the constitu-
ency, they are ready to leave it to the electors to say
which of them shall go to the poll. How the determina-
tion of the electors in the matter is to be ascertained
is a point of some difficulty. It is very important
that it should be the result of an impartial and
extensive canvass, and not be left merely to the
decision of a public meeting, whose decision might only be
that of a minority of the Liberal party. In all except the
largest constisuencies, however, it is probable that the
votes which can be safely counted on are known to the
leading local politicians ; and, where this is the case, it
need not, we should think, be any more impossible to
ascertain how these certain voters stand affected as
between the different Liberal candidates, than it has been
to ascertain how they are disposed as between a Liberal
and a Conservative. When once a conclusion has been
honestly arrived at a candidate can have no excuse for
disregarding it, and anyone who persists in doing so ought
to be eschewed as rigidly by every Liberal elector as
though he were a professed Conservative.
The Post thinks that the true idea of war seems to have
been completely misunderstood by those who propose that
what is termed private property should be respected by
belligerents. In operations on land, the inhabitants
of a besieged town which has been taken are treated on
a different footing from the garrison by which that town
bas been defended, and their property is, in accordance .1
with modern usage, for the most part respected.
It is, however, far different with the capture and colitis-
cation of private property at sea. The wealth of a nation
must be in a great degree dependent on its foreign trade,
and when that trade is paralysed or extinguished the bel-
ligerent which thus suffers is deprived of the means of
further prosecuting a war. No such end is even remotely
attained when a victorious general puts to the sword or hin-
ders those whom the fortune of war throws into his hands.
Mr. Vernon Harcourt placed the matter in its true light
when he pointed out that the fact of war ruining trade was
an inducement for nations to avoid it if possible, and thai
the destruction of the mercantile marine was one of the
most effective blows which could be struck at an enemy,
since it deprived him of the means of manning his ships of
war. Those who seek to strip war of many of its terrors
forget that in the proportion that they succeed do they
render it more likely to be rashly engaged in it.
Notwithstanding that we hear of nothing but harmony,
adhesions to the new Government, and general popular con-
gratulation, the Telegraph thinks that everything in Spain
cannot be called perfectly smooth. It was, apparently,
only through a fortunate chance which brought the troops
of Serrano from Andalusia in the nick of time, that
Amable Escalante, a noisy sudden favourite of the Madrid
mob, was prevented from setting lip something not very
far removed from a reign of terror. That danger was
averted ; but the impression seems to gain ground that
the agreement of the revolutionary leaders is suvicious—
that their harmony, to empll a familiar phrokse, is
"too sweet to be wholesome, The difliculti,s and
temptations of the leaders may be seriously increased,
if the popular inclination should tend towards the
republican form of government. The jealousies
and aspirations which they all might control or snppress
in the event of a royal personage being elected to fill the
vacant throne, would find free vent if itto the ,i,s-
tion who should be Pres'd came
r.eport:
imply that thelil.ii;:iii).oi.siiritiro,na;itnoitnie,iti.truNslt ethleie(al;stinies of paiti
to an English ground.t There are several
reasons why this should case ; among then),
undoubtedly, the fact that the '6? lash people, proud of
their navy, with whose possible achievementsl they feed
their hopes of restored national greatness, might hail with
peculiar satisfaction the sovereignty ne7'
na
til sailor
e vagueprince.
As yet, all schemes of succession orsetleanYs
and crude. "Everything is in abeyance." But
But the silence
and mystery cannot last long ; and we may find the
second act of the Spanish drama even more exciting than
the tr§t,

LAW AND POLICE.

FATHER AND SON.—A painful case has been heard at
the Mansion House. A jeweller, carrying on business in
the City, was summoned for having published a defama-
tory libel on his son, a young man 22 years of age. The
libel consisted of a private letter written by the father to
the son, in which the latter was soundly upbraided for the
misconduct of his past life. It fell into the hands of a
third person, at whose house the son bad been sojourning.
The defence was that the communication, as a private
letter, was strictly privileged. The defendant was com-
mitted for trial at the Central Criminal Court, his own
recognisances being taken for his appearance.
BUYING PAWNBROKERS' PLEDGES.—An incident which
will doubtless act a caution to those who are inclined to
invest in pledge tickets was mentioned at Bow-street
Police-court on Tuesday. A gentleman was induced by
an acquaintance to purchase some pawnbrokers' duplicates
for jewellery, pledged for considerable amounts, on the
ground that as pawnbrokers seldom lent more than
one-third, or at the utmost half the value of the articles,
the bargain would prove a profitable one. On examina-
tion the jewellery was found to be nearly worthless,
one watch purporting to have been pledged for £S not
being worth £3. The magistrate asked how this was to
be accounted for, and was told that a system existed be-
tween the pawnbroker and the swindler by which a ficti-
tious amount was placed upon the ticket, the holder selling
it if he could and pocketing the proceeds, and the pawn-
broker taking the chance of the dupe redeeming the goods
at the sum marked upon the ticket.
A TRADESMAN IMPRISONED FOR POACHING.—At the
Wakefield Court-house, a day or two back, Mr. Stringer,
farmer, basket manufacturer, and the owner of con-
siderable property at Horbury, was charged, along with a
labouring man named Joseph Hall, with night poaching.
It was proved that about ten o'clock on the night of the
11th tilt. Mr. Stringer and the other defendant went
into a field where there were partridges, and were caught
trailing it from end to end with a net thirty yards long.
For the defence it was said that Mr. Stringer had a right
to be in the field where he was found, that he was a pre-
server of game, and that, as he had summoned the
witnesses against him on several occasions for taking his
game, they had " made up " a case against him in revenge.
Mr. Stringer was sent to prison for three months, and
Hall, who was acting as his assistant, for six weeks. The
case excited great interest.
EXTENSIVE DEFALCATIONS BY A COMMERCIAL TEA-
' VELLER.—.Tames Palmer, a young man most respectably
connected, was brought up at the Police-court, Liverpool,
charged with embezzling about £4OO belonging to Messrs.
Moore, Viccars, and Co., the well-known distillers of
that town. It was shewn that he was apprenticed
to the firm, and that when his indentures expired,
he was appointed town traveller at a salary of £l2O a year
and unlimited expenses. lie absconded on the 24th of last
month, and on Saturday last he was apprehended in North
Wales whilst he was out shooting there. When charged
with embezzling his employers' money he replied with the
utmost coolness, "I don't what the amount is; it is so
large." He was remanded.

OLD AGE.—At a village near Liskeard are living
t go sisters, in the enjoyment of perfect health and vigour,
aged respf:ctively 93 and 89. They lost two
Drot'..,ers, one aged 100 and file oti.er