The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 15, 1868.

sad one. It is now two years since it was first pro- t
posed by the Government of Earl RUSSELL. Last /
year the present Government thought that they
might with propriety dispense with it, but unfor-
tunately the announcement of this gracious inten-
tion in the Royal Speech induced the conspira-
tors to redouble their efforts, and we have
been placed in a worse position than we were
before. In the face of all this the noble
lord did wisely to ask the House to prolong
the suspension until the Ist of March, 1869. This
is, under the circumstances, the best thing to do,
although, of course, we deplore the necessity for
the course being taken. Temporising with such a
dangerous conspiracy will not do, and the only
way to put down the evil effectually is to employ
stern measures, and to act in a summary style.
Neither do we see how, with any show of justice,
the friends of Ireland can complain of this propo-
sal as too severe and stringent. Much bas come
to the knowledge of the authorities which shows
that far from being extinct the cause of Fenianism
has still many active agents and willing supporters.
The leaders are using desperate efforts in many
quarters to propagate their schemes, and the ma-
chinery is still in such vigour that it must be met
with all the requisite appliances to overcome it.
We may mention besides that the Government
were only too ready last year to believe the best,
and although they were fully justified in so doing,
they cannot possibly be charged with doing too
much on the present occasion. We may reasonably
entertain the hope that this decided step on the part
of the authorities will be productive of the desired
effect, and that these hair-brained conspirators may
cease their mischievous career. As for the idea that
the evil exists in Ireland itself, that is quite errone-

ous ; it came from America, and the sooner it goes
back there the better. Mr. BRIGHT thinks it is the
fault of those who sympathised with the South
that brought the nuisance upon us, but be
the cause what it may it must be got rid of at any
cost. These despicable adventurers have made the
most of the ill-feeling that they found in Ireland,
but since their evil agencies are removed there will
be no more to complain of in the sister country than
there has been for some time past. It is a testimony
to the efficacy of the Habeas Suspension Act that
the conspirators have found that country too hot
for them, and have migrated to England and Scot-
land in order to bring their schemes to full perfec-
tion. There, however, they are soon foiled in their
efforts ; and thus, with one thing and another, we
may speedily look forward to the complete
frustration of their efforts to promote sedi-
tion among us. Lord MAYO showed
the House last night that the exercise of the
powers entrusted to the Executive in Ireland has
not been carried out with any undue harshness.
Those in detention are not treated with any rigour,
and have only their imprisonment to complain of ;
and of those arrested only eleven belonged to the
farming class. Lord MAYO said the movement
has been confined to the lowest class ; and it is satis-
factory to find that of the forty-three military
leaders who were sent from America the three
chief ones never reached Ireland, and the rest have
either been brought to justice or are now evils.
All must agree with the concluding passages of the
noble lord's speech, to the effect that those entrusted
with the preservation of the law in Ireland have
performed their difficult and dangerous task with
"loyalty, faithfulness, and honour;" and we believe
with the noble lord that, if the Government is en-
trusted with these additional powers, they will be
b
repressioni n the
aand most man-
nereuffilticmacaitoeuesxtine
able
fto r "
the exercise
on of this baneful conspiracy."

Mr. WALPOLE moved last night the second read-
ing of the Public Schools Bill, and after some dis-
cussion this was done. We think Mr. GLADSTONE'S
remarks were perfectly true as to the inadvisability
of sending the bill to a select committee, which
would greatly delay its progress, without confer-
ring any adequate benefits by so doing. As for the
objections put forward, each school can be dealt
with in committee as it arose. Mr. WALPOLE
explained that the object of the bill was to adapt
the schools to modern requirements. The Royal
Commission had proposed more than could be per-
formed, but the plan of this bill is to enable
the governing bodies of the said schools
to make what changes are desirable. This bill
proposes to give to these governing bodies the
power to make permanent statutes and temporary
regulations upon those matters relating to the edu-
cation and discipline of the schools, which will be
laid before the QUEEN in Council and Parliament.
Mr. AYRTON earnestly advocated the necessity of
sending the bill to a Select Committee ; and he
took a very strange view of the question, inasmuch
as he insisted on the right of Parliament to direct
the funds of these schools without reference to the
wishes of their founders. This will hardly meet
with approval, we should imagine, and the House
of Commons will no doubt take a more just view
of the matter. One point deserves atteQtion,
and that is, the proposal to remove these
schools into the country, on the plea of
the advantages of fresh air ; but then it

must be borne in mind that those who reside in Lon-
don must have the advantage of education, and
therefore they should not be deprived of the benefits
which were designed for their use. In this, as in
other things, the judgment of the House of Com-
mons must be exercised, and the Committee will be
the proper place for this to betaken into considera-
tion with a view to arriving at a satisfactory con-
clusion.

Yesterday's news from New York has reached us
through the telegraph. The Reconstruction Com-
mittee have refused, by 6 to 3 votes, to recommend
the:impeachment of the PRESIDENT for opposing
the Tenure of Office Bill, so that they at least have
learned something by the experience of the past.
Another item of intelligence comes through the
same channel—the defeat of the new State Con-
stitution in Alabama, so that as yet the work of
reconstruction under the new auspices does not
proceed very smoothly.

The steamship Russia has arrived from New
York, after an eight days' passage, bringing news to
the sth of the month. The PRESIDENT has not put
his veto on the bill for the contraction of the cur-
rency ; neither has he signed it, being probably un-
willing to give an open sanction to the Radical
financial policy, while he may not choose that par-
ticular question for a trial of strength between
himself and Congress. In consequence of this
inaction on his part during the ten days allowed by
the Constitution for the consideration of a measure
the bill has become law. Perhaps Mr. JOHNSON
wishes the country to see plainly the reckless spirit
in which the Radicals administer the finances of
the country. The prospects of the future have no
influence upon them, and while they are always
ready to declare their inclination for war, they go
on squandering the public funds and exhausting
the credit of the country. In this respect their
negro imitators have eclipsed their teachers. The
members of the Southern Conventions, in which
black members predominate, have voted for them-
selves an amount of remuneration greater than
that paid to members of Congress. They put a

very high value upon their services, but it is to be
feared that the public will not appreciate them quite

so highly.
It is not only the finances of the country which
the Radicals are prepared to adjudicate upon ; they

wish also to have a direct voice in the management

of the foreign affairs. 'They have been lately con-
sidering a resolution requesting the PRESIDENT to
demand the release of NAGLE and other American

citizens arrested by the British authorities for words

spoken and actions done in America. Should their
release be refused, the PRESIDENT is requested to

cease diplomatic intercourse with Great Britain. The
hero TRAIN is, we suppose, included in this list of
worthies, whose wrongs are to set two hemispheres
in a flame, and the compensation demanded for his

grievances will henceforth be put side by side with

the Alabama claims.

The diplomatic situation

seems to give some concern to the citizens of Penn-
sylvania, for they have presented a memorial to the
Senate, praying for the recall of Mr. AD.AMS. If
report speaks truly, Mr. ADAMS has anticipated
them by resigning his post, and we hope that his

successor will be equally competent.
The embarrassing position of the Cabinet, owing
to its discordant elements, has been clearly shown
by the publication of the official correspondence,
furnished by the Secretary of War, in response to
the resolution of inquiry. The PRESIDENT, on the
29th ult., ordered General GRANT to disobey Mr.
STANTON'S orders, unless authorised by the Exe-
cutive. General GRANT replied that he should regard
the Secretary's orders as
.so authorised unless actu-
ally countermanded. Gen. GRANT has, in one sense,
reason on his side, but unless he communicates all
the orders he receives to the Executive, it is diffi.-

cult to see bow they will be aware of his intended
action. A Cabinet so divided against itself can
hardly succeed in carrying on the public business
without some open rupture or some perplexing
situation. The Radicals have reinstated Mr.
STANTON as an affront to the PRESIDENT, but the
position which the War Secretary bolds is neither
dignified nor pleasant. The PRESIDENT, on the
other hand, is perpetually thwarted by his
subordinate without being influenced by him. It
is an arrangement which is alike discreditable to
the Cabinet and unsatisfactory to the country.
General GRANT'S position between the two is un-
doubtedly an awkward one, and he has made it
worse by his trimming policy. By joioing
with the PRESIDENT, and pledging himself
not to resign his office as Acting
Secretary without giving him intimation of it, he
alienated the Radical party and misled the PRESI-
DENT. Becoming apparently uneasy at this r esult,
he suddenly threw himself into the ranks of the
other side, and by hastily surrendering his post to
STANTON endeavoured to ingratiate himself with
the Congress, and to escape the responsibility at-
taching to the prominent actors in the struggle.
Mr. JOHNSON had some reason to complain of the
sudden and unlooked-for desertion of his chief lieu-
tenant, which placed him at a considerable disad-
vantage with regard to the action of Congress. As
yet we hear no more of the feud ; but the fire, we
apprehend, is only smouldering. There is a ru-
mour that the PRESIDENT intends to remove Gen.
MEADE and to appoint General ROUSSEAU as
his successor. General MEADE has lately
shown a spirit of insubordination, and a
disposition to an arbitrary and oppressive
exercise of his power, which might very well lead
the PRESIDENT to wish for his removal. Still we
have no certain information on the subject, and the
last act which we hear of General MEADE'S is of a
more moderate character. lle has ordered the offi-
cial advertisements to be given to all newspapers
in his district irrespective of politics—a change for
the better in any Radical leader, civil or military.
Free-traders will be glad to learn that there
are symptoms of a favourable alteration in the
West. The Americans, so far advanced in every
other department of political knowledge, and
carrying as they do their convictions to an extent
which startles Europe, are, nevertheless, obsti-
nately wedded to the old doctrines of Protection.
While England has long ago led the van,
while France has made considerable pro-
gress, while even Germany and Austria are
beginning to acknowledge that the heavier the
burdens the slower the progress of commerce,
America keeps up a tariff which is absolutely pro-
hibitory. There is a vast amount of interested op-
position to any change ; and there is also a great
deal of prejudice in the matter existing throughout
all classes. The truth, however, is slowly but
surely making its way, and can hardly be much
longer kept back.
,We find that numerous Free-trade
meetings have been held in Northern commercial
cities, a sure sign that Free-trade convictions are
extending among the people. America is espe-
cially qualified for a great commercial country ;
her vast extent, her abundant resources, her
powerful fleet, and the energy and enter-
prising spirit of her people, all mark her
out as a nation to whom of all others
Free Trade would be invaluable. It is only
marvellous that the Americans, resenting as they
do every check or burden upon public spirit or in-
dividual enterprise, should have so long cherished
the obsolete and exploded theories which even the
most prejudiced Governments of Europe are be-
ginning to cast aside.

THE LATE FIRE AT THE OXFORD

MUSIC HALL.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—The letter of Mr. Treloar, of Ludgate-hill,
which appeared in the papers on Thursday last,
calls for a rejoinder from me, which I am sure, in
justice to the Oxford and Canterbury Music Hall
Company, you will insert. I confessl was much sur-
prised at Mr. Treloar's assertion, that the cocoa-
nut fibre supplied by him for the stuffing of the
balcony seats was not inflammable, and that the
origin of the fire must be traced to some other cause
than the igniting of that material. In full cor-
roboration of the report of the fire which appeared
in The Sun, I repeat that, within five minutes of
the night watchman giving the alarm, I was on the
spot ; and if I may believe the evidence of my own
senses, I positively assert that the ignition of the
cocoa-nut fibre was the cause of the catastrophe.
In three or four minutes after I first perceived the
flames issuing from the south-east balcony seats
the fire had extended from five or six feet to over
thirty feet of the cocoa-nut stuffing,
nothing else
but the stuffing of these seats being then on fire.
"The flame afterwards communicated itself to the
wooden backs of the seats, then to the highly var-
nished columns of the building, and found its way
through the apertures for the chandeliers in the roof.
Of so inflammable a character is this cocoa-nut
fibre in those portions of the seats not consumed,
that although it is still saturated with water, it
ignites instantly, and the bright flame spreads with
the rapidity of wild-fire and with an explosive puff
like gunpowder. I invite Mr. Treloar to come to
the Oxford and judge of the accuracy of what I
now advance.—Pending the speedy restoration of
the building, I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
CHARLES MORTON.
The Oxford, 6, Oxford-street, Feb. 14.

THE REV. ME. STEVE.--We believe we are cor-
rect in announcing that all fears as to Mr. Speko having
been murdered or having committed suicide may now be
dispelled. There is little doubt of the rev. gentleman's
existence, and that information has been received of his
present whereabouts.—Post.