The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-24 00:00:00

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for the condescension of Pius the Ninth.
d if the Pope well nigh lost the little sense he had,
when he found that Lord Minto was authorised to
him, what must be the measure of his
vanity when he finds Mr. Sheil, as the accredited
servant of the British Government, playing the sps-
niel, when asking him to come to a compromise on
the subject of his recent pretensions to exercise a co-
ordinate authority with the Queen, in the appoint-
ment of prelates to these realms ? There is not, we
will venture to say, a single man who glories in the
name of Briton who does not blush and feel indignant
to see the Prime Minister of this great country thus
lying prostrate before the footstool of his Holiness.
Who is this man ? Who is this Pope ? Who
this Italian priest, at whose feat the Prime
Minister of Great Britain lies in the lowest
humility, when beseeching him to relinquish his
intention of acting in accordance with his Bull?
Who, indeed, is he ? No marvel though the question
be put. It will be put most readily, and with the
greatest interest, by those who are acquainted with
the " Roman" history of the last few years. Who is
Pius the Ninth ? lie is the poorest creature, the
veriest driveller, in Christendom. He is utterly de-
void of brains. He never had any, and therefore
cannot be said to have lost them. He is a mere tool
in the hands of one or more of the cunning cardinals
who surround him. The chapter of accidents alone
raised him to the Pontifical chair. Nature meant
him for a very inferior station in life ; for
one of a not much higher grade than that
which he personated with such complete suc-
cess, when di.guised in the plush breeches, the big-
buttoned coat, and the well-powdered wig, of one of
his own lacquey s, he escaped from the hands of the
Philistines—those Philistines being bis own sub-
jects. It was confessed by all who saw him, that
never before did man more faithfully represent any •
character on the histrionic boards, than did Pius the
Ninth, when, in the character of a lacquey, he
escaped from his palace in Rome, in the habiliments
of one of his own liveried servants. And yet this is
the man who has created all this hubbub in the greatest
country on the face of the globe,—the man who has
set the whole kingdom in motion, from one extremity
to the other, and with whose acts the House of Com-
mons will be occupied, to the exclusion of everything
else, for several weeks on its reassembling. And as if
all this were not sufficient to invest the Roman Pontiff
with importance, though altogether insignificant in
himself,—the Whig Cabinet must needs dispatch Mr.
Sheil on a special mission to him, with the view of
coming to terms on the matters in dispute between
his Popeship and the British Government. We
remember no instance in which any previous Go-
vernment placed itself in so humiliating a position as
this. It cannot be too emphatically repeated, that it
is altogether unworthy of the character of a great
country like this, that its Government should be
found, with hat in hand, standing before the Roman
Pontiff. It was a most undignified course on the part
of the Premier, to make any advances at all to the
Pope. He ought to have been treated as any private
individual would treat an intruder into his premises.
He should have been turned out, without ceremony
and without hesitation. Ignominious ejection was
the thing which his audacious intrusion deserved.
And this will be, we presume, the way in which he
must be dealt with in the end.

THE LATE FATAL SEWER ACCIDE
The adjourned inquest upon the bodies of the two
unfortunate men, William Gardner and Edward Gor-
man, who perished in the new sewer in Scotland-
yard, by the sudclin influx of the tide, took place
yesterday afternoon, before Mr. Bedford, in the
Board-room of St. Martin's Workhouse. Mr. Parry,
instructed by Mr. Wontner, appeared fur the con-
tractors, Messrs. Humphreys and Thirst ; and the
Commissioners of Sewers were represented by Mr.
Woolrych, secretary, and Mr. Frank Forster, chief
engineer. Mr. Gotto, the district surveyor, was also
in attendance.

Mr. Parry, before the commencement of the pro-
ceedings, after announcing that he appeared to watch
the case on the part of the contractors, added that
they deeply lamented the melancholy accident which
had caused the jury to be assembled. They had al -
ready done all that could be expected from them in
relation to it, and they wire resolved to do every-
thing in their power to provide for the widows and or-
phans of the unfortunate deceased.
Mr. Frank Forster produced plans of the sewer,
showing the state of the works previously to the ac-
cident. He also produced his report thereon to the
Commissioners, and placed it in the bands of the Co-
roaer, but it was not read. In reply to questions
from the Coroner, Mr. Forster stated that he had in-
spected the work several times, before the sewer was
driven up to the blind dock near Scotland-yard, in
order to satisfy himself that the dam was sufficient.
The portion of the sewer between the blind dock and
Parliament-square being blocked out from Percy-
wharf, was drained by two small steam-engines and
a hand-pump ; and, in order to hasten the opening of
Parliament-street to the public, the old sewer in that
street was destroyed, and the house-drainage ad-
mitted into the new sewer, thus increasing the flow of
water in the portion of the sewer between the dock
and Parliament-square. In the beginning of the
week previous to the 16th inst., one of the engines,
being worked out, failed, and the flow of water over-
powered the other. The work was consequently re-
tarded on that side. One of the contractors bad in-
formed him that, anxious to forward the work, he had
agreed with their foreman to drive a small " heading"
between the two blocked-up ends of the sewer, sepa-
rated by the bottom of the dock, for the purpose of
connecting the water-logged part of the sewer be-
tween the dock and Parliament-square with the en-
gine at Percy-wharf; and accordingly, on the even-
ing of Saturday, the 14th, the " heading" was com-
menced by Perrott, the foreman, and a man named
Gorman, brother to one of the deceased. The work
went on without interruption from six or seven o'clock
en the Saturday night to six or seven o'clock on the
Sunday night—the same men being engaged upon it
all the time. He aught to state that this operation
was carried on without his knowledge, or the know-
ledge of any other officer of the Commissioners. At
the time of high water on Monday morning the
water broke through the face of the "heading,'
and the unfortunate deceased perished. It was
clear to him that the earth between the "heading'
and the bottom of the dock had broken in with the
weight of the tidal waters. The earth (some of which
was produced) was a mixture of tough clay and
sand, about four feet thick, which was not calculated
to bear the weight of ten feet of water upon it.
He should not have ventured to drive a drift through
such earth, with such a weight of water over it ; but
he believed the drift was closely timbered, and that
great precautions had been taken to ensure safety.
The earth was of a sort which might fall without the
weight of water above ; and he should not have ven-
tured upon such a work with three feet of water over

it. He'd there been some great object to be accom-
plished by it he might have been inclined to risk the
making of a tunnel in it with a small quantity of
water over it, but he should not like to say what quan •
tity. Properly speaking, the operation was no part of
the contract—it was an expedient to join the two ends
of the sever, in order to get rid of the water. lie did
not consider it indispensable to make the drift, but it
certainly was calculated to expedite the completion of
the other parts of the work. He arrived at the opinion
that such a tunnel would be unsafe from the nature of
the earth, and from general knowledge of the effect of
the weight of water. Ten feet of water above the crust
of earth over the drift would be 51h. per square inch,
or 7241 be. per square foot. If had seen the earth
he should have paused before driving a drift through
it with ten feet water above. He should not have
driven a drift under the dock, except he had found
the earth had been exceedingly strong marl, or some
other such strong earth.

Cross-examined by Mr. Parry—The engine at
Percy-wharf was a very powerful one, competent to
do the whole work. The drift would have greatly
facilitated the works, and, setting aside risk, it wasthe
readiest way of getting rid of the water. Two tides
loud flawed over it. Supposing there had been 25 feet
executed, and only 5 feet remained to be done, the
fact of two tides having passed over the dock might
have encouraged him to proceed with those 5 feet, only
he should not have begun the work.
Perrett, clerk of the works to the contractors,
was here recalled, at the request of Mr. Parry, and he
stated that in meling the drift great care was taken
to plank up the sides as they went on, at distances of
2 feet 6 inches. Ho examined the drift three or four
times on Saturday evening, and five or six times on
Sunday at high water, to see if any came through,
but could detect none.

By a Juryman—Witness had never before •driven
a drift wider water ; and he had dune no more than
was usual in such cases to make it safe, except that
there was more timber used to support it. It was in-
tended to pass a 12 inch pipe through it, as a tem-
porary measure, to draw the water off from Parlia-
inent street.

This being all the evidence,
The CORONFR briefly addressed the jury upon it.
He left it to them to say whether the unfortunate
men had met their death by a casualty, or whether
there had been culpable negligence on the part of any
persons.
The jury,
after forty minutes' consideration, re-
turned a verdict of "Accidental death by drowning;"
but they added, " the jury cannot separate without
expressing their opinion that great negligence is at-
tributable to Messrs. Humphreys and Thin:, and
their foremen, Meyers. Wheeler and Perrott, in not
consulting the engineers connected with the works of
Victoria sewer."

LORD KINNAIRD'S SPIRIT-DEALERS' LICENSING
BILL. —We understand that this Bill will not be introduced
into the House of Commons by Sir George Clerk, as the
Right Hon. Baronet has repeatedly intimated bia dis-
approval of the Bill, and said that if any measure affecting
licences was introduced, it should emanate from tbe Go-
Torment,