The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SW?TEMBER 21, 1868.

C-17
ElPf3r
•..

LONDON, MONDAY, SEPT. 21, 18G8.

It will hardly be a matter of surprise to any one
that Spain has at length shown manifest symptoms
of disaffection. GONZALEZ Bravo has carried on
affairs with a high hand for some time, but he
may now find the tables turned with a vengeance
upon him. The return of the Generals who were
banished to the Canary Islands seems so far con-
clusive evidence that something is resolved upon of
a decided nature, and there is no doubt that the
Government will find all differing parties united
against them, thus making common cause
upon a point in which they all agree, dis-
like to the existing state of things, and distrust
of the Executive. A rumour is current that
the QUEEN has abdicated, and a despatch received
by the Spanish Consul at Bayonne announces that
h..2r MAJEsn- will leave St. Sebastian for Biarritz,
but this is not yet assured intelligence. Meanwhile
all the French journals, except the Moniteur and
the Constitationnel, contain reforts of this revolu-
nowt; y outbreak iu Spain. The whole fleet sta-
tioacd at Cadiz have, it is said, risen against the
G ae:ninent, awl Rear-Admiral TOPETE has the
command. Previously to the landing of the exiled
Generals at the port of Cadiz the garrison took a
decisive part in the affair, and made a pronuncia-
mento in favour of the insurrectionists. It thus ap-
pears that nothing is wanting to give the movement a
comprehensive character, and to impart significance
to it, and ; indeed, so decisive is the nature of the
affair, that if the rumour of the QUEEN'S abdication
be not correct now, it may be styled premature,
and not wholly false, for in all probability the next
intelligence will announce it as bona fide news.

Marshal the Duke de la TORRE, who was President
of the Senate, formally has put himself at the head
of this movement, the object of which is declared to
be against the reigning dynasty, and the insurrec-
tionists go so far as to demand the " establishment
of a Constituent Assembly and a :Provisional Go-
vernment. This looks conclusive at any rate, and
may be regarded as the beginning of the end by
those who have studied the state of affairs in the
Peninsula of late. Perhaps the most surprising
part of the business has been that the finale did
not come sooner, for disaffection has been so rife for
months past that at any moment an over throw of
the existing rule might have happened as a thing
of course, as it were. In following out the cause of
the revolt is said that the telegraph wires in Anda-
lusia were cut immediately on the news of the out-
break being received, and that "several towns have
joined the insurrectionary movement." From Paris
we hear that General PRIM with his staff has em-
barked from London, intending to effect a landing
on the Valencia coast, and subsequently to take
the command of the movement.

Various causes may be assigned for the outbreak,
but no doubt the extreme step taken a little time
ago of banishing the Duke and Duchess of MONT-
PENSIER from Spain has had a great deal to do with
precipitating matters, if it has not wholly given
them the disastrous turn they had taken for the reign-
ing Prirces. The meeting of the Emperor NAPO-
LEON and the QUEEN ISABELLA, from which so
much has been expected in some
,quarters, does not
seem to have been productive of anything but evil.
It was not so much the affair itself as the surmises
to which it gave rise that heralded the evil, for
there is no denying that the idea of a closer alliance
with France is not popular in Spain, and in all
directions the most unpleasant suggestions were
made in reference to it. At any rate,
whether by ill deeds and unwise ma-
nagement, the QUEEN and her advisers have
come to grief, curiosity will be excited to see
what new order of things will obtain favour in
Spain. If the Royal party have been building their
hope on the support of the French EMPEROR they
will only be preparing themselves for fresh mortifi-
cation and discomfiture. It is one thing to ex-
change unmeaning courtesies, and another to im-
plicate oneself in a most unpopular affair, and draw
down most unpleasant consequences upon one's
head ; and the world-wide reputation cf the Em-
peror NAPOLEON for caution needs no assurance to
the contrary to prevent the slightest credence being
attached to the reports which would fain assure us
that French influence, in arms or diplomacy, is to
prop up the failing power of Spanish royalty.

Since the above remarks were penned the Moni-
teur of this day officially contradicts the interview
between the Emperor NAPOLEON and the Queen of
SPAIN.

Working men have no reason to complain that
their affairs are not regarded with sufficient interest
or respect. The proceedings of the International
Congress at Brussels have attracted a good deal of
attention, and public journalists have given a good
share of their space and time to discussing the ques-
tions raised by its members. To do them justice
they have displayed in their debates and their essays
a high degree of intelligence and education, and
have not shown themselves to be more preju-
diced or more obstinately wedded to their own
opinions than philosophers of higher stand-
ing. If they were too ambitious in their
pretensions, too extreme in their demands, and too
unreasonable in their expectations, it is only what
might be expected from a body of reformers who
have never been able to submit their theories to the
test of practice. At first sight it appears so easy
to set the world to rights that a clever schoolboy's
essay on Government will dispose of all the difficul-
ties that perplex a Prime Minister of fifty years
experience, but a little additional knowledge of the
world and its ways soon serves to dishearten the
severe and uncompromising reformer. The working
men who have been so quietly disposing of war and
defining the duties of capital and the privileges of
labour at Brussels are very much i❑ the position
of the young enthusiastic student who with a few
strokes of his pen produces a political Utopian.
Unluckily the men and women who must inhabit
this Utopia are very self-willed puppets, and will
not move to order. We had better not break up our
ironclads or discharge our soldiers on the strength
of the proceedings at Brussels until we have a
little more evidence that the world at large is
ready to accept and obey the dictum of our new
philosophers.

If we have a little patience we may perhaps find
some of our social reformers modifying their views
with time. It was at one period a favourite dream
of those who classed under the manifest inequalities
of fortune that all land and property should be
equally divided among men. The Brussels Confer-
ence have got beyond this. Its members are suffi-
ciently men of the world to perceive that such
a system of subdivision would end in the
destruction of national wealth and civi-
lization, and would send us back to the
days of primitive life " when every rood of ground
maintained its man," with the awkward difference
that there are now, thanks to the increase of popu-
lation, more men than roods of ground, and con-
sequently a good many unlucky individuals would
be left without maintenance. Even looking no
further than the cultivation of the soil, the system
of small proprietorships is opposed to the general
good. According to the doctrine that he who makes
two blades of grass grow where one grew before is
a public benefactor, the great capitalist does more
service in his generation than a body of small
proprietors holding the same extent of land.
Our friends at Brussels are not slow to perceive
this. " The small farmers' position in modern
society," said one of the speakers, " is as incom-
patible with the progress of production in agricul-
ture as that of the little handicraft producer in in-
dustry." The advance of scientific knowledge, as
applied to agriculture, has brought new machinery,
new appliances forward, and rendered it impossible
for the small proprietor to keep pace with the man
who can command the newest and most costly im-
provements. Evidence that the plan of subdivision
is unsatisfactory in its results is not wanting.
"Peasant proprietorship," it was remarked
at the Congress, " as it exists on the Con-
tinent, does anything but lead to inlividual
liberty and happiness." In the same way the pos-
session of centralised capital is necessary for the
conduct of those large manufacturing and commer-
cial operations which occupy and reward the indus-
try of the populations at large. The working men
are forced to acknowledge this, but they try to
evade the difficulty by suggesting that co-operative
societies should take the place of large capitalis's.
But supposing, for a moment, that it were possible
to realise such a vision, what guarantee have we
that matters would be more equitably adjusted ?
The experience of joint-stock associations in
the higher classes does not give us much
ground for anticipating the removal of all our
troubles by a more wholesale adoption of the prin-
ciple. Some must be the leaders, the managers,
the responsible parties, and the outer circle will
infallibly lay the blame of every misfortune or mis-
adventure on their shoulders. It is not very easy

to sae what immediate advantage will accrue to the
world at large if capitalist proprietors are forcibly
dispossessed, and the State lets out the soil, of
which it is the only recognised proprietor, to co-
operative societies. The capitalist, we may be
sure, makes the most of his land for his own sake,
in order to get as much money as he can out of it,
and the c3-operative societies can hardly do more.
When they have turned the land to the best ad-
vantage, the products, we presume, are to be sold
to the rest of the community, unless, indeed, money
is to be done away with, and a system of barter
adopted instead of a circulating medium. Having
come to this point, corn will be dear after a bad
harvest and cheap after a good one ; the price of
live stock will be affected by the price of fodder,
the price of coal will be influenced by the question
of a long or short winter. Do what they
will the working men of Brussels will find
the old laws of supply and demand too
strong for them, and after all their dreams and
their visions they would find if their theories were
suddenly put into practice that they were travelling
in a circle.

Every youth is to be wiser than the men who
have preceded him, but the men were youths once
and had the same dreams. If society were to be
resolved into its primitive elements as the Brussels
reformers seem to wish, it would go over the same
ground again. Australia and Tasmania and America
all started unfettered by old rules and systems, and
where are they now ? Following in the steps of
older countries, and fighting the same problems.
If the working men want to try co-operation in
land or manufactures, there is nothing to prevent
them from trying it. They have only to save their
money—to unite their subscriptions as they do for
their Trades' Unions, and they can make the expe-
riment. Mr. STUART MILL has written a letter to
the Weekly News advocating the principle of work-
ing wens' partnerships, which he thinks would solve
the difficulty of uniting their interest with that of
their employers. All such methods may be tried
with advantage, but the abolition of all private
ownership, as advised at Brussels, is not at present
advisable.

On Thursday Mr. STANSFELD addressed a
crowded meeting. He alluded to some features of
the approaching contest which occasioned a degree
of awkwardness. There are three Liberal candi-
dates in the field, and that is certainly of itself a
mistaken line of action to pursue. It must damage
the cause for which the candidates appear, besides
exhibiting a state of disunion in the ranks always
to be regretted on many accounts. Mr. STANSFELD
entirely disclaimed the idea of "dictation," and
laid down some definite rules as to the duties of
candidates to the constituencies which are worthy
of notice, especially just now, when there seems to
be a tendency in many directions to adopt this un-
deniable method of increasing influence. The
absolute right of selection must remain with
the constituencies, and there is an end to all free-
dom of election, and the sooner this is clearly under-
stood the better. One thing is certain that if this
principle be departed from nothing but disappoint-
ment will ensue alike to the representatives and
those who send them forth. Looking at the work
already cut out for the new Parliament, the hon.
member foresees no idle time of it, for directly
before him there appear " Reform, justice to Ire-
land, national economy, and the education of the
people." Respecting the changes likely to he
brought about by the general election, Mr. STANS-
FELD hopes, and 6' almost believes," that they
will bring " Mr. GLADSTONE back to power
as the Prime Minister of this country,
and as the leader of a compact, earnest, and
Liberal majority." The first is, perhaps, less un-
likely than the last; but, at any rate, it is a relief to
notice that we have not here so confident an asser-
tion put forth as we so often meet with in these
addresses and speeches. It is arrogant and pre-
sumptuous fur people to go about declaring tha t
they know exactly the turn events will take, as if
they could not be mistaken, or as if they could
further the circumstances which may yet change
current opinions, and turn the tide of events. Mr.
STANSFELD looks forward to Mr. GLADSTONE'S re-
sumption of power in one important point, that of
the expenditure. He thinks that the right hon.
gentleman will immediately effect a considerable
reduction in the Estimates, and then the argument
will be at an end. He need not look so far as that.
if Mr. GLADSTONE gets into power he will trouble
himself very little about the expenditure being re-
duced, but just now it answers the purpose to take
up any matter that can tell against his opponents.
This comprehensive discourse was concluded by
some impressive remarks on the importance of pro-
moting by every means in our power the spread of
education, so that the gifted children of the poor
may rise through every gradation of school and col-
lege to the universities themselves.

A NIGHT WITHOUT A FIRE IN

LONDON.

From 12 o'clock last night until 6 o'clock this
(Monday) morning not a fire took place in any pars
of the metropolis, a fact worthy of being recorded.
During the morning of Sunday, however, as many
as eight fires were attended by the Brigade and
London Salvage Corps. One fire, which was very
rapid in its progress, took place in the premises of
Mr. Short, No. 50, Castle-street, East Ox-
ford-street, which, in spite of the early
arrival of assistance, destroyed an immense
portion of the top floors. The occupier
was insured in the County Fire Office.
Another fire happened in the Royal Thames Yacht
Club House, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly. The
firemen promptly attended and succeeded in con-
fining the fire to the kitchen. The business of the
club will therefore not be retarded. A very de-
structive fire, and nearly attended with the loss of
two persons, broke out in the premises belonging to
Mr. J. Chapman, a cook and confectioner, situate
at No. 48, City Garden-row, City-road. A man
and an aged female, to avoid being burned
to death were obliged to jump out of
the back windows. The escapes and engines
were soon on the spot, and plenty of water having
been obtained one of the powerful land steamers by
Shand, Mason, and Co., was set to work, but the
building and all it contained were destroyed before
the flames could be conquered. Insured in the Im-
perial Fire Office. A fire also broke out in a store
iu the open grounds of the Belvedere Tavern, Pen-
tonville, which was destroyed. A fire likewise oc-
curred in the beer-shop of Mr. Reeder, No. 227,
John's-lane, Clerkenwell, which partially destroyed
the basement and bar flooring.

THE CHINESE EMBASSY. —The members of the
new embass3 which the Emperor of China has sent to the
United States and Europe left New York on the 9th inst.
iu the Cunard Royal Mail steamer Java, which arrived in
the Mersey at noon on Saturday. The Java, on entering
the Mersey on Saturday, with the Chinese ensign at the
fore, at once proceeded to the Canada Dock and landed her
passengers, so that but fow persons were present to wel-
come the "distinguished strangers." They at once en-
tered a private onmilus and some other vehicles provided
for them, and drove off to the Washington Hotel, where
their arrival created a great sensation. After pArtaking'of
dinner and resting fur au hour or two, the members of the
embassy left Limo-street station for London, where they
aro expected to romain for sonic two or three months.
During their stay in the metropolis they will reside at the
Grosvenor Hotel, but they will probably visit some of the
largest towns in the provinces before they cross over to
the Continent.

NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF WORKS OF ART AT
LEEDS, 1868.—Returns of Admissions, Friday, Sept. 18,
1868 : —By season tickets, 978; by payment of 2s. Gd. each,
1,036: total, 2,014.

LATEST INTELL WINCE,

(REUTER'S TELEGRAUS.)

RISING IN SPAIN,

MADRID, Sept. 19.

Advices received from Cadiz of yesterday state
that the whole fleet stationed in that port has risen
against the present Government under Rear-
Admiral Topete.
At the same time the generals recently exiled to
the Canary Islands arrived at Cadiz yesterday, on
board the Buenaventura, a trading steamer. Pre-
vious to their landing the garrison of Cadiz had
made a ffonunciamento i❑ favour of the insurrec-
tionists.

Marshal the Duke de la Torre, formerly Presi-
dent of the Senate, has placed himself at the head
of the movement. It is asserted that this latter is
directed against the reigning dynasty, and the in-
surrectionists demand the establishment of a Con-
stituent Assembly and a Provisional Government.
The telegraph wires in Andalusia were imme-
diately cut. Several towns have joined the insur-
rectionary movement.
Great panic prevails at the Royal Court in
Madrid. Troops have been despatched from the
capital towards the south. Marshal Concha has
been appointed to the command of the Government
troops in Andalusia, and General Calonge has been
nominated Captain-General of Madrid.

INDIA,. CHINA, AND AUSTRALIAN MAILS
SUEZ, Sept. 21.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Salsette sailed at 1 p.m., and the Mongolia at mid-
night yesterday, for Bombay and Calcutta respec-
tively—clearing off all cargo.

CORRESPO.I7DENOg ritozirTARZSJ

(FROM OFR OWN ..CORRESPONDENT.).
tr.n.vßlS, Sunder, September 26.
Politics, though many, and important qUestieni are hereon foot, have fallen into the shade before the news of the
terrible explosion at Metz. The disaster. is even greater
rhah was indicated by the earlier
_iptelligenceOnay pf
ecwcunded being considered 4I
. by the llreetqlto
be in a hopeless condition. -
rThetotal number bf
persons employed in the workshops` at the thrteittli..§
109. In the one room were 71 women, in the other 14.
There were also 10 foot chasseurs, 10 artificers, 3 sub-
intendants, and an inspector engaged in the (Arne employ.-
ment. The woodwork of the building was first blown to
pieces, the roof fell in, and the fire afterwards communi-
cating with the heaps of cartridges, literally burnt up the
persons present. The firemen and detachments of troops
hastened to the spot, but were too late to save the
unfortunate sufferers. One account says that the court of
the arsenal presented the appearance of a field of battle,
being covered with dead, dying, and wounded. " From
under the ruins sixteen dead bodies were withdrawn, so
burnt and disfigured as not to be recognisable, and fifty-
nine persons dreadfully injured and bruised lay on the
ground until they could be conveyed to the hospital.
The fire was soon extinguished, and by activity
and courage further disaster was prevented. Several
barrels of gunpowder were got out from the burning planks.
The least spark would have sufficed to explode these, and
blown to pieces the brave men engaged in the heroic task."
Another account in the LiLertehas the following passage :
" Presently from the burning ruins were seen to emerge men
and women, burnt, mutilated, their clothes on fire, some of
them without a shred of clothing left. One woman had no less
than ten wounds, but had not lost consciousness. The artillery
barracks are close at hand, and the men were immediately
set to work to clear away the wreck, and collect the killed
and wounded. The sight was fearful—a heap of heads,
arms, legs, and shapeless trunks. An officer pulled a
soldier by the arm to extricate him from the debris ; the
arm remained in his hand. Townspeople who had
relatives employed at the workshop broke through the
line of troops, and an agonising scene took place. The
exact number of the victims is unknown—forty bodies
were discovered, and twenty-five were buried to-day."
The cause of the accident was precisely as I described it
in my last. A young woman, in a fit of temper, throw a
pair of scissors at one of her companions ; the point of the
scissors struck a percussion cap, which immediately
exploded. It is impossible to estimate the exact loss of
life. How many of the wounded will recover is a most
doubtful question. One surgeon says that out of fifty-
nine women wounded, scarcely ten can be deemed hopeful
cases. The total number of deaths so far is forty.
The situation has suddenly become pacific—so far as
France and Germany is concerned. The Emperor said
nothing at Lannemetan ; at the banquet which followed
he simply pronounced the words, " I drink to the army;"
and the semi-officials have evidently been ordered to mend
their ways and preach peace. Can more be desired ?
The Bourse had a fluctuating career on Saturday, but
this was chiefly owing to the proposed interviews between
the Emperor and the Queen of Spain.
Prince Napoleon is living at Prangins in the most com-
plete retirement. He receives but a very limited number
of friends, Count Walewski being the most favoured.
Count von Goltz is a little better. lie is about to quit
the residence which the Emperor placed at his disposal
at Fontainebleau, and will soon return to Paris.
Amongst the on dits of the day is the forthcoming
appearance of an article in the Revue des Deux Illondes
on the battle of Sadowa. It is looked forward to with
much interest, being, it is said, from the pen of an exiled
prince.

A new armour-plating, designed to supplant iron, was
submitted to the consideration of the Emperor during
his stay at Chalons. This new defence, the invention of
an Italian, is made of felt, vegetable fibres, and a textile
fabric, so compounded by powerful machinery as to
acquire all the solidity of cast metal. It seems to be
particularly fitted for breast-plates, defying a Cjiassepot
bullet at half the usual range.

" The prophets of war," says the Independancc Belqe,
"have turned from Germany to seek in the East a pretext
for the conflicts which they are ever declaring to be
imminent." In truth, the news from the Danubian Pro-
vinces is not at all reassuring. A vague statement that
the Turks were preparing to enter Roumanian territory,
and had made the necessary preparations for crossing to
the right bank of the Danube, has been strengthened by a
Belgrade telegram affirming that the preparations were
actually going on, The reason assigned for this aggressive
measure is that the Turkish Government has resolved to
take time by the forelock. Having good reason for sus-
pecting that the Roumanian Government aims at the com-
plete independence of the province, the Ottoman Cabinet
has resolved to take immediate steps to reduce all the
semi-subject provinces to order. The Belgian paper
reproduces a report to the effect that the English Govern-
ment, represented by Lord Lyons, is endeavouring to
gain the assistance of France in persuading Turkey
not to proceed to these extremities. M. de Moustier, how-
ever, is animated by a very different policy. France will
encourage Turkey to persist in its designs, in order that
the Eastern question may culminate in a general war
that desirable consummation the pretext for which cannot,
happily, be found in any other quarter. A Paris paper of
good authority says that the troops of the Porte have
actually entered Roumanian territory. This, as well as
the whole of the consequences deduced from the Belgrade
telegram, must be received with caution. But should the
Turkish Government finally take the threatened step,
serious consequences must almost necessarily ensue. The
passage of the Danube would be an infraction of the Treaty
of Paris. Treaties are not usually of much consequence
when•the interests of nations are at stake, but they have
extra importance attached to them when broken by small
Powers in the face of the great.
Public feeling in Canada during the trial of Whelan rose
to a degree of intense excitement. While there was a
general conviction that the accused was the guilty person
and would be convicted, the loyalists openly threatened
that if justice were not done they would take Whelan
and hang him by force. Six or seven head centres came
from New York with money to aid in the defence. They
were closely watched. Two witnesses were brought up
from Montreal to swear in direct opposition to the prose-
cution, but " they declined to perjure themselves," and a
fracas ensued. Threatening letters were sent to all the
witnesses for the prosecution, and one of them was attacked
and knocked down by a sling shot. The mail reports of
the trial do not give the sentence, and we have therefore
yet to learn why the execution is not to take place until
the 10th of December.

The collection of a large body of troops on the Punjab
frontier is the principal intelligence coming from that
quarter. No further disturbances are announced, and the
prospect of a " cold weather campaign," as the Anglo-
Indians delight to call it, was not, according to the latest
advices, very threatening. The array of troops seems to
have cowed the natives. All the hostilities recorded in
the Indian papers are included in a raid of a native tribe
uPoims police-station. The natives found the police quite
equal £6 them, betook themselves to the mountains,
and have not again made their appearance.
Some reports; however, state that the hostile tribes
were very numerous, one estimating them at
10,000 strong. The large force which the Goverhment
has sent to the troubled district does not, therefore,
appear superfluous, nor is the danger altogether at an end.
Indeed, the accounts in the Indian journals clearly show
that if serious war is not to be apprehended, it is the
vigilance of the Government that has prevented it. The
Indian Daily News thinks that this rising will lead to the
establishment of an army on the north-west frontier, not
only for the purpose of defending it against the Indians,
but also to watch over British interests in Afghanistan.
The Morning Herald publishes an elaborate article and
statistics with the object of proving that where Mr. Glad-
stone's finance has been successful the success has been
due to no merit of his own, and where Mr. Disraeli's has
been unsuccessful the non-success has been due to adverse
circumstances over which he had no control. The figures
for the whole time during which the Liberal leader was
Chancellor of the Exchequer are printed, and prominence
is given to the fact that the highest point at which
the income tax stood during his career was 16d., whilst
that during Mr. Disraeli's was only Pd. The fact that
Mr. Gladstone had to provide for a Russian war
explains the high figure here mentioned.
The Rev. J. C. Gill, whose name does not appear in
" Crockford," and who is therefore, we suppose, one of the
" unattached" clergy, as they were described with reference
to the clerical memorial against the Irish Church, has
written a letter to the secretary of Sir John Lubbock's
and Mr. Angerstein's committee to express his good wishes
for the success of the Liberal candidates for West Kent.
Mr. Gill dates from East Down Park, Lewisham, and
declares that he is quite unable to defend the Irish
Church Establishment ; that it is absolutely necessary
to do something with it ; that he prefers im-
partial disendowment to " levelling up." He goes
on to say : " The Premier is evidently ready to
educate' the Conservative party to anything, and
it seems to me that the climax of inconsistency is
reached when a Protestant meeting closes its proceedings
with cheers for Mr. Disraeli. As a friend to national pro-
gress and improvement, I support the Liberal candidates for
West Kent. They belong to the party from which all benefi-
cent measures have come,'and from which, with that great
statesman Mr. Gladstone for its leader, we may look for
still further salutary and beneficent legislation. The
present Government is a weak and a wasteful one ; it has
already sacrificed its principles for the sake of office, and I
have no confidence that it will nit do so agejp, whenever
there is convenient season,'!,