The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-01 00:00:00

THE COLLIERS OF SOUTH LANCASHIRE

The Daily Ncics presents its readers with an interesting
a►Tticle en the colliers of South Lancashire apropos of the
present strike at Wigan. Wigan itself is described as a
most dull and uninteresting place. Whatever picturesque
features the surrounding landscape once possessed have
become well-nigh obliterated by the rapidly-increasing
number of huge cinder-heaps, lofty pit-chimney shafts,
and dense clouds of thick black smoke which ob-
scure the atmosphere and impart a dingy hue to all
surrounding objects. Nor is the aspect of the town par-
ticularly enlivening. The streets possess few architectural
attractions, and although places of religious worship
abound, the means of social and intellectual recreation
appear, so far as the labouring classes are concerned, to he
few and far between. Cotton and woollen mills abound in
the neighbourhood, but the collieries are the staple
veans resorted to of obtaining a livelihood. The work-
lig life of a collier generally commences about the age
of 10 or 11 ; but most of the present adult male popula-
tion began at a much earlier date, say 6or 7. This was
before Act of 1860, which prohibited the employment
of children under 10 years of age in coal mines. The
number of collier boys between the ages of 10 and 12
engaged in the Wigan district is estimated at 3,000.
Youths and young men of from 13 to 19 years old are
also largely employed, the proportions being about
50 or 60 boys and young men to every 100 adults.
The employment of boys is undoubtedly an evil, but the
great scandal of the coal mines is the working of women,
about 500 of whom are employed at the several pits.
Their ages vary from 12 to 50 ; a few are the widows of
colliers. They generally wear a peculiar description of
attire, consisting of coarse trousers, resembling those worn
by men, fastened by a belt round the waist, a soft
bonnet, and a shawl. The petticoats are generally
tucked into the trousers. Sometimes they may be seen
wearing jackets like the men, smoking, drinking, and
behaving as if completely unsexed. It is acknowledged
that the habitual wearing of this costume tends to de troy
all sense of decency amongst them, but it has not been
ascertained that their morals are more lax than those of
the generality of females employed in agricultural opera-
tions. The work they do—removing tubs of caul from
the mouth of the pit to the waggon—is severe even for
men ; at the same time, they earn less than half the
wages of those whom they assist. They are more regular
and punctual in their habits than the men, but their
employment renders the homes uncomfortable, and in
many cases unhappy. The men are paid by piece-work,
and the disputes which take 'place arise from the way in
which coals are measured.

'Extensive horse-breeding farms have been esta-
blished in the Cape of Good Hope for the supply of horses
to India. The export of horses to India from Australia
has been checked in consequence of Australian horses
having become deteriorated.

The Salford General Purposes Committee has
decided by a law majority to recommend the Council to
appoint a Medical Officer of Health, "who shall devote
the whole of his time to the service of the borough." Tb,
salary proposed to be given is £3OO a year.

It is stated that Colonel Harcourt, of Nuneham,
will contest the borough of Abingdon in the Liberal
interest at the next election, and that it has been
arranged in the county for one of the present representa-
tives to retire to make room for Mr. Walter, and so pre-
vent a contest.

FUNERAL OF THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD.-011
Thursday afternoon the mortal remains of Renn Dickson
Hampden, Lord Bishop of Hereford, were :deposited in
the family vault at Kensal-green (in close proximity to
that of the Princess Sophia), surrounded by a large circle
of his csLeemed friends. The service was most impressively
rendered by the Venerable Lord Saye and Sele. The
outer coffin was of dark polished oak, and the cortege con•
sisted of a hearse and four horses, and five mourpilt
coaches, followed by several private carriages.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday evening
intelligence reached Cardiff that a dreadful accident had
occurred at No. 3 shaft on the Caerphilly branch of the
Ehynaney Railway. During the dinner hour a man had
been working in the shaft, and asked to be pulled to the
top of the shaft. Shortly afterwards six other men joined
him to proceed to their work in the shaft. When the
engine was set in motion it was found that the gearing
had got out of order, and before it could be remedied the
whole of the men were thrown from the top of the shaft tc
the bottom, a depth of 117 yards.—Cambria Daily Leader,

SIR JAMES CLARK. —Sir James Clark is reco•
vering steadily, though slowly, from his late severe illness.
A very sharp attack of bronchitis, accompanied by ex•
treme prostration, and complicated by distressing
dyspepsia, together with the feebleness of heart conse
quent upon the sufferer's advanced age, at one time caused
grave anxiety to his medical attendants, Dr. Sieveking
and Dr. Kough, of Bagahot. These gentlemen now, how•
ever, think their patient is making good progress towards
recovery, if not, indeed, fairly convalescent.—Britid
Medical Journal.

TIIE DUKE OF EDINBURGII.—To the rnedicri
profession, which is never backward in its loyalty, the case
of the Prince is of especial interest as an example of s
somewhat rare, though not by any means unknown, for
tuitous occurrence—the passage of a bell along a rib for t
considerable distance without any injury to the viscera 01
the chest or abdomen. Thus Guthrie, in his Commentaries
speaking of this accident, says : " It is a rare exceptiot
to a general rule, dependent upon the ball being re
fleeted upon something solid which it cannot penetrate
such as a button, a piece of money, a rib, &c." According
to the telegraphic despatch the ball entered the bad
half an inch to the right of the spine, struck the ninti
rib, followed round the course of the rib, and lodged five
inches from the umbilicus, and 41 inches beneath the right
nipple, having thus traversed a distance of 124 inches
The ball in all probability was fired somewhat obliquely
and this favoured its course around the chest. It was
perhaps, fortunate also for the royal patient that hi
cowardly assailant attacked bins behind, since the tissue
of the back would offer more resistance than the this
chest-wall in front. It may be remembered that the unfor
tunate bandsman who fell a victim to Fenian hatred las'

autumn was fired at directly in front, and the ball passe(
between the ribs and traversed the lung, finding an exi'
behind. We congratulate Drs. Watson and Young, a
the Challenger and Galatea, on their successful extraction
of the ball, which was, no doubt, readily accomplishec
under the circumstances through a small " counter
opening." As the latest accounts pronounce the Princ
convalescent, we may hope that, though injuries of th
chest-wall are not without some danger to the iroportan
organs in the vicinity, the good health and youth of th
patient, combined with the solicitous care he has received
will have fully restored him to health before he reacha
these shores, where his advent will be anxiously awaitei
by the public no less than by his august relatives,--71
Luca,

THE STATE TRIAL.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
On Monday last the defence was concluded, and
on Wednesday Mr. BOUTWELL —the " Black LI air'd
Energy of the Impeachment," or the " Cold and
Classical Demosthenes," names which the fertile

imagination of Washington correspondents have
bestowed—replied to the arguments of the PRESI-
DENT'S counsel. At any moment, therefore, the

verdict of this great State trial may be promul-
gated. The Court refused to receive the testimony
of the Cabinet officers, by which the counsel in-
tended to prove that all, including Mr. STANTON,

had advised the PRESIDENT to veto the Tenure-

of-Office Bill ; and further, that the Cabinet
had since agreed that the Act was inapplicable

in the case of Mr. STANTON. Mr. BOLITWELL'S

speech appears to have been of the usual length,

and he of course maintained that the evidence sub-

mitted by the prosecution had completely sustained
the charges preferred, and equally of course con-
cluded by strongly urging the conviction of ANDREW
JOHNSON. We have had the great opening speech
of the prosecution by Mr. BUTLER, we have had
the great opening speech of the defence by Mr.
CURTIS, we have seen all the evidence the Mana-
gers could tender, and we know all the testimony
by which the PRESIDENT endeavours to rebut it,
and we have learnt very little—the trial only show-
ing that almost every material fact had been dis-
cussed by the press before it began. Taking
the bare facts relied on for the conviction
of ANDREW JOHNSON we are free to con-
fess that there has been " much ado about nothing."
upon
which guilt lies in the intention ; a subject
which people in Europe cannot form au opinion,
and fortunately so for ANDREW JOHNSON. A
father or a mother of a family, who may be leading
the household "a devil-of-a life" at home, may
go abroad looking demure, amiable, and respect-
able; and when things go wrong in the household,
outsiders, in ignorance of the real provocation, the
ceaseless nagging, the constant fret, worry, and
irritation kept up in the establishment, condemn
the violence of those pressed beyond endurance, and
attribute the revolt to conspiracy. The persons most
skilled in this style of worry are scarcely ever caught
in any act not susceptible of a fair explanation.
They are best known in the army and navy, some-
times in public offices, and not unfrequently in
domestic life, hut seldom at the head of private
firms—as it is costly there to gratify such malice,
and likely to lead to failure in business. But a
colonel may bully his regiment, a captain his crew,
or a secretary his clerks, and vent the venom of his
nature at the public expense. Now ANDREW
JOHNSON is one of these men. We do not say that
he is a bad • instance ; but essentially he had
that in him calculated to worry and to stir up
every feeling of opposition, and all the rancour
that otherwise lay dormant in his opponent. This
not being felt nor seen in Europe, although
in truth the essence of the dispute, the bald -facts
only come up for adjudication, and the judgment
for the most part is that expressed in the leading
article of the Times last Thursday. The quarrel is
deplored, the form it has taken condemned, and
Congress censured as hasty, irritable, and unjust.
The facts as proved in the trial are that ANDREW
JOHNSON broke the Tenure-of-Office Act by remov-
ing Mr. STANTON—that he broke that Act by the
ad interim appointment of General THONIAS to the
Secretaryship of War—that he violated the Act of
1863 by this appointment, THOMAS not being quali-
fied. These being admitted, two points have to
be considered to decide the question of guilt. The
one is the law—and the other the intention
of ANDREW JOHNSON in taking these measures.
The question of law involves the consideration
whether the Tenure-of-Office Bill is Constitutional,
and, if so, has the PRESIDENT the right to infringe
it for the purpose of testing it? Or, if unconsti-
tutional, is the PRESIDENT justified in breaking it
to prove it so? This is the subject to which Judge
CURTIS, the PRESIDENT'S leading counsel, mainly
addressed himself, and with c•Jnsummate ability.

The matter of intention is in truth that upon which
the PRESIDENT must stand or fall, and it is a sub-
ject not susceptible of direct proof. What the
weight of the testimony is at Washington we can-
not judge here. All we know is that without
any evil intention, the infringement of an Act
of doubtful legality being the only means of
testing it, though a misdemeanour in the eye
of the law, though opposed to principle, and bad as
an example and precedent, yet the nation will not
and cannot hold it to be a crime; indeed it knows that
it may become a duty in a President of the Unite 1
States at all hazards to set such an Act aside. Oa
this point the tribunal before which ANDREW JOHN-
SON is arraigned is, we believe, as fair as any to be
found in the United States. The circumstances
are better known to that Court than to any other
body of men ; they are familiar with ANDREW
JOHNSON'S whole career, and with almost all his
doings since his succession to the Presidency. If
these, on the whole, tell in his favour he cannot fail
to be acquitted, as the two-thirds majority required
for conviction will more than overbalance the
party interest involved. The verdict, in truth, is
in the hands of some seven or eight independent
Senators; men, who if the PRESIDENT'S counsel
convince their reason that ANDREW JOIINSON
was acting from a sense of duty, and not going out
of his way to defy Congress—will acquit him.
Although the testimony of Secretary WELLES and
others was refused, yet the fact is well known to
the Court that all the Cabinet, including Mr. STAN-
TON, advised the PRESIDENT to veto the Tenure-of-
Office Bill, which cannot but weigh heavily in dis-
proving a conspiracy ; and the evidence of General
EMORY in support of the 9th Article also totally
failed in its purpose. But we find, on the other hand,
these damaging facts. First, the speeches and
the threats of the PRESIDENT against Con-
' gress ; next, the menace of Adjutant Gene-
ral THOMAS, sent directly by the PRESI-
DENT illegally to possess himself of the War-
' office, a menace of armed violence by the deputed
agent of ANDREW JOHNSON. We grant that from
General THOMAS'S own silly brain may have ema-
nated these threats.; but no argument can wholly
shake the PRESIDENT clear of responsibility for the
acts of his instruments. THOMAS was accused of
weakness in not obtaining possession, and he was
much blamed by the JOHNSON party for not
44 kicking STANTON out." The creation of the new
military district, with its head-quarters at Wash-
ington, and the desire manifested by the PRESIDENT
to bribe to his interest one of the leading
generals by undue promotion and high appoint-
ment must have had weight in forming the
opinions of the Senators, although not charged
against ANDREW JOHNSON. Ile has been openly
urged by writers and speakers to use his military
authority to suppress the usurping Congress. He
distinctly signified to that Congress, under certain
circumstances, he would appeal to force, and that
such a game might have been played was shown by
the numerous telegrams received by Mr. JOHNSON
offering armed assistance when he took the step of
removing Mr. STANTON. It is impossible for
the Senate to ignore the fact that the danger
of a civil war did hang over the Union from
Mr. JOHNSON'S administration, and even a
remote danger of such a horrible catastrophe
is by all means to be averted. The sacrifice of
ANDREW JOHNSON would be a cheap price to pay for
this, and he has in truth no more right to complain
than a man who insists on wearing a boot with an
iron heel when he is unceremoniously turned out of a
powder magazine. How otherwise is this to be
accomplished? Congress cannot be removed, and
Congress and the PRESIDENT are a cat and a dog in
the same cage. The.one that can most readily be
taken out is the proper one to take out, and that
one is clearly the PRESIDENT. It is all very well
for people ia London and Paris to declaim against
the necessity, and to uphold the everlasting prin-
ciples of justice; but we know that law is not in-
variably equity, nor the best of logic truth. The
case against the PRESIDENT as read in Europe
may be weak ; yet the guilt of the PRESIDENT
in the infringement of the Act still be legally
sufficient for the Court to convict and de-
pose, while the expediency of the removal may
be overwhelmingly strong. Can expediency be
taken into consideration by the Senate acting as a