The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-17 00:00:00

LWIDON, SA7 URDAY, OCT. 17, 1868.

As has often proved the case before in America,
tne Radical triumph in the elections has diminished
on closer inspection. Telegrams, dated yesterday,
at noon, from Philadelphia, report that the Re-
publicans had carried the elections in Ohio, but that
their majority, which had been variously stated,
was reduced to 16,000, and that the Indiana elec-
tions had been carried by a majority of 1,000 only,
leaving a Democratic gain of 13,000. The Demo-
crats claim, moreover, to have gained no less than
seven members of Congress by the week's selections,
so that their position has manifestly improved.
The Washington news of yesterday goes a step fur-
ther, for the Democrats in the capital actually
claim to have carried the Indiana elections.
We shall not know the truth of the matter
for a day or two when the complete returns shall
have been collected, and due examination made,
but it is evident that the contest must have been a
very close one. The New York Herald states that
there is a movement among some of the Radicals to
secure the withdrawal of Mr. SEYMOUR and Gene-
ral BLAIR, and to nominate Chief Justice CHASE.
This is hardly likely to be so on many
grounds. It would be a confession of weakness,
and highly impolitic to change the whole base of
operations in the middle of the campaign. The
election is now so close at hand that a fresh candi-
date would have little chance of success, while
Chief Justice CHASE is on many points altogether
opposed to the Democrats. The rumour may have
been set afloat for the purpose of damaging the De-
mocratic cause, or it may owe its origin to the
caprices or extravagances of a few individual mem-
bers of the party.

Congress assembled yesterday, though without a
sufficient quorum, and it was therefore adjourned
until the 10th 10th proximo. Little will be done
until the Presidential struggle is decided, and on
this the public interest is now centred..
We learn by the arrival of the Cuba, from New
York on the Gth, that General APCLELLAN has
written a letter expressing his wishes for the suc-
cess of the Democrats, but declaring his intention
to take no part in the active business of the elec-
tion. In New York the Democrats are very busy.
A procession of 40,000 strong has been making a
demonstration through the streets ; bat such exhi-
bitions are so common in America that they cannot
be accepted as indicative of the strength of a party.
The troubles between white and black continue in
parts of
.the Southern States, and it is necessary to
accept the accounts with caution since the partisans
on either side greatly exaggerate them. The Radi-
cals are always famous for improving on reports,
and we find that a riot at Apelousas, Louisiana,
which on the 6th of October is described as result-
ing in the death of one white man and two negroes,
on the 7th grew into the massacre of over 100
negroes and the sacking of two Republic news-
paper offices. There is no scruple about enlarging
upon the news a hundredfold, and the Ame-
ricans ara well aware of this, so that the invention
often fails of its purpose. The Indians are giving
trouble in Arkansas and Texas, so that there are
not lacking elements of disturbance in the Re-
public.

Among the many new and important acts to be
introduced into Parliament next year a Merchant
Shipping Bill is not one of the least momentous.
The value of our merchant shipping is so immense,
the traffic so incessant, and the lives which are
daily risked in its navigation so numerous, that its
interests affect a very large proportion of the popu-
lation. Yet, notwithstanding the importance of
the subject, the legislation respecting it is in a very
unsatisfactory state. So wide a margin is allowed
to the shipowner and the master that hundreds of
lives are annually thrown away, and thousands
of pounds' worth of property wasted, from
the wretched condition in which ships are sent
to sea. The large merchant vessels which take
long voyages are generally safe enough. Accidents,
of course, occur from the inevitable action of wind
and wave ; but it is not often that their loss or
disaster is distinctly traceable to defects in the ship
or in the seamanship. With the vessels carrying
on our coast trade, however, the matter is alto-
gether different, and the number of small vessels of
the collier class yearly lost on our eastern coasts
forms a very large proportion of the total losses of
ships of all kinds wrecked in British waters.
Often very old, badly constructed, kept
together only by tar and pitch, ill found,
insufficiently manned, with cables and anchors that
will not bear a strain, they are sent out with
perfect indifference by the owners, who indemnify
themselves for their loss at the expense of the in-
surance offices. Year after year the lllreek Register
tells us the SAIIIO sto y, with little apparent result.
A letter addressed to a contemporary by a gentle-
man fatuiFar with the whole subject, himself a
shipowner and a director of two marine insurance
companies in Newcastle-on-Tyne, gives ample
details of the manner in which these ships are
sent to sea—to be lost, perhaps, within a
day or two after leaving harbour. He cites a
case of a vessel laden with coal for Shanghai,
which had two feet of water in her hold before she
left the Mersey, an I was abandoned before she was
three days out. Besides the loss of property the
lives of 15 men were risked with this ship, and the
ease is by no means an isolated one, though, as we

Mr. GLADSTONE has again favoured the electors
of Liverpool with one of his orations, and he and
Mr. GRENFELL attended a meeting last night at the
Old Swan, and here the Opposition Leader in-
dulged himself in a few of his sly bits at his oppo-
nents. First of all he declared that the resolution
of approval of his policy was quite justified by the
" political history" of late years. Their opponents,
under many titles, had always been against the
establishment of freedom. It is convenient to have
a short memory occasionally, and therefore Mr.
GLADSTONE overlooks the fact that the Corn Laws
were repealed by a Conservative Premier, and that
the second Reform Bill was carried while the
obstructive party were in office. But the right
hon. gentleman, in his virtuous indignation, intends
to judge men by past professions, and as Protection
flourished when people entertained different views,
so he holds them responsible for the enunciation of
those views. If this doctrine were applied
to himself it would not be quite so plea-
sant, and some passages from his famous work
on " Church and State" would contrast ill with the
processes of opinion his genius has developed. Of
course it is not easy to find something different
each time to enliven his discourse with, but the
versatility and resources of the speaker in question
are most abundant, and the first speech bristled with
the sharp edges of his strictures on extravagrnce in
the estimates, the second set forth the reforms that
the Reform Bill needed, and the sins of omission
and commission in respect to it. Yesterday the
novice would have said there is nothing left to
make the subject of satire, but, not to be baffled,
Mr. GLADSTONE exorcises the spirit of Protection
and it might have seemed at one time as if a gene-
ration bad rolled back, and the old palmy days of
the League were in existence. What has Protec-
tion to do with the issues now before the country,
and why should Mr. GLADSTONE take up the time
of the electors in discussing it? The reason is plain
to the initiated: he desires to (11,1:nage his opponents,
and takes every opportunity, usual or unusual, to
gain his ends. It is, however, very absurd, to say
the least of it, for the public to be entertained with
these reminiscences of bygone days ; and really one
is tempted to retaliate, and say that if the Protec-
tionist party would have remained in to this day
had they not obtained office, or if Mr. GLADSTONE
had not been disturbel from his comfortable loca-
tion in Downing-street, we should never have heard
of the immediate necessity that existed for the dis-
establishment of the Irish Church. Even now,
however, Mr. GLADSTONE can discern the traces of
bygone events, and he announces it as the result of
his experience that it was annoying to notice how
the former Protectionists seized upon any oppor-
tunity that presented itself for the removal of re-
strictions.

We must protest against the mode adopted
by Mr. GLADSTONE in discussing questions in
which he feels bitterly disappointed. It
was most unsuitable for him to say that the
" cause of the Reform Bill passing was the pulling
down of the park railings by the mob." Such
language mnight be consistent for Mr. BEALES and
Mr. POTTER, but not for the man who has sat in
the Councils of his Sovereign and led the House
of ,Commons. Besides that, who has been, and
even professes to be, the guide and exponent
of the views of a great historical party
in the State, one which upholds freedom
of opinion, but not an unlicensed abuse of it,
and which has not yet adopted Transatlantic cus-
toms with such avidity that it can put mob law be-
fore the just judgment of the educated and en-
lightened members of the community. It is all of
a piece with the right honourable gentleman's
new style of saying that Irish grievances
must be redressed because Fenianism flourished
on the soil, and it is about as unwise and
impolitic as it is illogical and unreasonable.
Mr. GLADSTONE may succeed in many things, but
he will always fail as the leader of a party for two
reasons : he has n) patience with his friends, and
he can show no magnanimity to his opponents.
Daunted in his desperate effort to seize the reins
of Government this spring, he has launched upon
the electioneering venture in a spirit of
bitterness and tone of indignant reproach that
augurs ill for the result when others follow in
his wake. We do not wish in these days of modern
improvements to find our legislators and the con-
stituencies of the Empire reviving the worst errors
of the past, and making the counties and cities
where the claims of rival candilates are to be set-
tled the scenes of squabbles and unworthy contests.
The opinions of those whom it is worth while to in-
fluence can never be favourably impressed by
the display of rancorous hostility, and it
is therefore a matter of much regret that
so refined a scholar, and so accomplished a gentle-
man as Mr. GLADSTONE undoubtedly is, should
lower himself to the level of the demagogue and
political agitator. The classic grace which once.
marked his style is now exchanged for the wither-
ing sue 2r and the angry taunt, while principles are
promulgate) and opinions broached in his discourse
that he once would never have condescended
to listen to. Ilis best friends and warmest
admirers must lament this change, ens if he would
hear reason they should impress upon him that
the prize he seeks may not be worth the price he
is bidding for it. The English public have no
sympathy with clap-trap, and would rather tolerate
a tardiness of judgment and a hesitation to intro-
duce necessary changes than they would willingly see
their foremost statesmen, their men of mark and high
repute making a desperate clutch at office, and, like

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL CASTLE, Oct. 15.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise
and Prince Arthur, attended by Lady Churchill,
went to the Glassalt Sheil yesterday.

The Princess of Wales drove out, attended by
the lion. Mrs. Coke, yesterday.

LATEST INTELL MEND.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE REVOLUTION IN SPAIN.
MADRID, Oct. 16.

The Government has decided upon carrying out
a monetary reform upon the basis of the French unit.

It is announced that a loan of 700 millions of
reals will be negotiated with an English banl‘ing
firm on very equitable terms.
Marshal Serrano and Admiral Topete left for Sa-
ragossa this morning.
The revolutionary Junta of Malaga has given in
its adhesion to the Provisional Government.
It is stated that Senor Rios Rosas will be ap
pointed Spanish Minister to the Court of Saint
James, _ _

SARAGOSSA, Oct. 16, Evening.

Marshal Serrano and Admiral Topete made a
triumphal entry into this city to-day, and were
received with great enthusiasm by the people. All
Liberals of every shade fraternising. Marshal
Serrano, Admiral Topete, and the Democratic leader
Cartos delivered patriotic speeches in favour of
liberty of conscience and the rights of individuals.
The people unanimously cried, " Down with the
Bourbons ;" " Long live Serrano, Prim, Topete,
Olozaga, and Rivero."