The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-30 00:00:00

TBE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 30, 1868.

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117:11
SUIT

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30, 1868.

Among the old and tried members of the House
of Commons, the men who have won for themselves
a European reputation as conspicuous members of
the British Parliament, JOHN ARTHUR ROEBUCK
must assuredly be numbered. He has not always
been on the popular side, though the Liberal ranks
have no more fearless and uncompromising soldier.
Ile has sometimes been manifestly mistaken, espe-
cially in matters relating to questions of foreign
policy ; but there has never been a doubt of his
honesty, his straightforwardness, or his patriotism.
He has made enemies enough, and given and taken
offence with a liberal hand, and reticence and mode-
ration of language are certainly not to be classed
among his qualities, as he himself said at the Shef-
field banquet given to the new American Minister
the other day, when, by the way, his zeal outran
his discretion in speaking of the elements of dis-
cord in the United States, he has never been re-
markable for prudence. He has learned, he tells
us, many lessons of toleration, and humanity, and
patience in the long course of his political life, but
his opinions and convictions on all essential points
are unchanged, as he stands preparing to enter on a
fresh campaign. Throughout his whole life he has
been an earnest and consistent advocate of Parlia-
mentary Reform, being one of the few who really
were more anxious about the end than about the
means, more desirous that a good Reform Bill
should be carried than eager to keep a popular
question open for the benefit of his own party. He
had none of the dog-in-the-manger spirit that
characterised some prominent professing Refor-
mers, and his trenchant sentences did the Govern-
ment good service in the Commons, by exposing in
its true light the secret opposition to the Reform
Bill. It is not likely that a man of this cha-
racter would ever be distinguished as a parti-
san, and it is still less likely that he would
find favour with those politicians—and they are
not a few--who hold the interests and advantage
of one particular party as paramount to all other
considerations. Mr. ROEBUCK, however, has sue.
ceeded in provoking the hostility of more un-
scrupulous opponents, and the opposition now
bring organised against him in the town with
which he has been so long connected has for its
object nothing less than his expulsion from Parlia-
ment. lhe reason for this seemingly extraordinary
conduct is not difficult to discover. It does not
find its origin in any of Mr. ROEBUCK'S political
views ; even the vexed question of the Irish
Church has nothing to do with it. It arises
from Mr. ROEBUCK'S fearless and spirited
discharge of an important public duty. The
member for Sheffield was also a member
of the Royal Commission which brought to
light the crimes of BROADHEAD and CROOKES, and
investigated the mysteries of the Sheffield Trades'
Unions. For this offence it was resolved if possible
to oust him from the representation of the town.
Men who are in the habit of putting gunpowder
down their neighbours' chimneys, and regulating
the prices to be charged for robbery, maiming, and
murdering, are not likely to think much of turning
a man out of Parliament. In fact, Mr. ROEBUCK
may esteem himself very fortunate in escaping with
so mild an evidence of their displeasure. The
Trades' Unions of Sheffield, as we know,
form a pretty strong organisation, and their
secretaries are now busy marshalling their
forces against the common foe. The interests of
the unions must come first; political honesty, long
service, established reputation, count as nothing in
the balance. It is no secret that such an organi-
sation exists, and happily it seems likely to defeat
itself, for the more respectable electors of all parties
are impelled by indignation at the system to give
their votes to Mr. ROEBUCK. Those who have
hitherto opposed him on political grounds are now
eager to return him as member, because they feel
that such a system of intimidation and oppres-
sion should not be sanctioned by any right-
thinking man. The Trade Unionists are the
tyrants of the working man. Mr. ROEBUCK is the
unflinching opponent of all tyranny, therefore he
is their enemy. Mr. ROEBUCK has laboured all his
life to secure civil and religious liberty and political
emancipation for the masses. It is not very likely
that he will give his countenance to a system of
terrorism and intimidation whose aim, instead of
levelling up," is to " level down,"—to clip the
wings of the ambitious, to cramp the energies of
the aspiring, to clog the abilities of the talented,
and cheek the progress of the persevering ; encou-
raging laziness and thriftlessness, and the living
upon other men's labours, to say nothing of those
darker stories of murder and assault which have
been only too surely proved to have their founda-
tion in fact. The Trade Secretaries of Sheffield
are endeavouring to obtain from every Union a
resolution pledging its members to oppose Mr.
ROEBUCK at the poll, simply on the grounds of his
conduct as member of the Royal Commission.
Here is the end then of the boasted desire to come
before the public, the loud professions of indigna-
tion at the crimes of those individuals who were
actually convicted. So far from denouncing the
exceptional horrors which we were told formed no
part of the system, and thoroughly remodelling
the whole framework of the society, the leaders
of these Unions are virtually countenancing them,
by their bitter antagonism to a political candidate
simply because he was a member of the Royal
Commission. If they had no secrets they need
fear to make known, a formal inquiry could do
them no harm. On the contrary,i,had their system
been w holly blameless they would rather have courted
inquiry, to prove that the stigma should rest upon
individual offenders alone, not upon the whole
system of the Unions. The truth cannot be too
widely known and understood at this crisis that these
Unions are based upon a false and dangerous foun-
dation—the power of man over man. While we
are toiling and struggling against difficulties of all
kinds to enfranchise and to elevate the working
man from the fetters of old prejudices and byegone
evils, let us take care that we do not sanction his
enslaving himself anew to a tyrant of his own crea-
tion, which leaves him neither mental freedom nor
moral independence, which controls his political
conduct as no landowner would dare to do, which
fetters his rights of labour in a manner undreamt of
by the most exacting capitalist. Tyranny is none
the lighter because it is many-headed. The Council
of Ten was as oppressive to the people as any single
despot. Let the working men of Sheffield be wise

in time.

No one who has watched the course of events in
Spain will be surprised at the last news that has
reached us from there. Indeed, all that has trans-
pired has prepared one for the information that
Madrid has shown manifest symptoms of disaffec-
tion. The force under General NOVALICHES has
been repulsed near Cordova, and as soon as the
news was known in the capital the greatest com.

motion ensued, and CONCHA yielded and the troops
fraternised with the people, in order, it is said, to
avoid a collision with the people. Fortunately, no
blood was shed, but the spirit of discontent was too
evident to admit of a doubt of its meaning.
The QUEEN'S bust and arms were dragged in the
dust, and a Provisional Junta was appointed. Per-
fect order now reigns, as we are informed by tele-
gram, so that after all things may not turn out so
badly as was at first anticipated. If the Spanish
people contrive to accomplish what is little short of
a revolution in so quiet a manner and with so little
bloodshed they will have shown that no bitter
spirit animates them, and that what they desire and
seek to obtain is remedy, and not revenge. So
far all promises well, but the position of the
unfortunate QUEEN is one that calls for pity
even from those who have animadverted the
most strongly against her doings, and condemned
in toto the very nature of her policy. In all pro-
bability the next news will inform us of the depar-
ture of the QUEEN into France, for she can hardly
expect to weather out the storm now that Madrid
has pronounced against her. Whichever way we
turn we may find news adverse to the Royal
cause, and letters from several declare that the
Government troops have abandoned the Castle of
San Felipe, and that the insurgents have taken pos-
session of it. Loja and Granada have made
pronunciamientos, and bands of the insurgents have
appeared in Galicia, Murcia, Valencia, and Cata-
lonia. The Gaulois of last evening in Paris con-
tains some startling intelligence of the insurrection.
In the first place it confirms the report that Colonel
BALDRICH has landed at Vinaroz at the head of a
body of insurgents. General PRI3i is expected at
Barcelona, and his appearance will be the signal
for a rising in that city. Marshal ESPARTERO iA
ill, but he has certified his approval of the insur-
rectionary attempt. The Marquis of HAVANAH,
JOSE CONCHA, has forwarded his resignation to the
QUEEN, who is said have summoned Count de CHESTE
to San Sebastian with the view of forming another
Cabinet. His reply is not yet known, however.
The official Gazette of Madrid of the twenty-
seventh declares that the " greater part of the pro-
vinces, and all the towns even of minor importance,
are happily free from insurgents." A more direct
contradiction to this flourishing account could
scarcely have been given than that which has been
afforded by the last news from Madrid, and it is a
striking exemplification of the folly of people speak-
ing their wishes, instead of keeping to facts in mat-
ters of national importance. Now that the chief
part of the work is over the attention of all
will be turned in the direction of the future, and
suggestions will be rife as to the successor to the
post left vacant by Queen ISABELLA. A commotion
of this kind naturally calls forth all latent aspira-
tions, and raises the dormant energies of the inert
or despairing, but at the same time it is very likely
that the nation may decide in favour of a Republi-
can or Provisional Government, to the prejudice of
the numerous rivals. An agitation in favour
of the Carlists has commenced in Arragon
and Navarre, and yesterday the Duke of MONT-
PENSIER was said to have received overtures to
came forward as the most appropriate man in the
present emergency to undertake the task of serving
the State. This is, however, to be doubted ; and,
looking at the matter dispassionately, it must be
said that the most likely way for the nation to re-
cover itself will be to start on a fresh track alto-
gether, and give up all past associations, at least for
a time.

From the outset of this disturbance in Spain there
has been much to indicate that it was one of a very
significant nature, for its meaning was illustrated
by those whose sentiments were not loudly
proclaimed so much as they were deeply
rooted in the mind. The unpopularity- of the
Ministers was shown beyond a doubt by the
circumstances that they disappeared in a body, and
showed themselves quite unfit to cope with the evil
they themselves had in a great measure brought
about either by tamely yielding to the suggestions
of Royalty, or by inaugurating schemes not palat-
able to the people. The QUEEN was away from
Madrid at the outset, and ever since has been pre-
vented from returning to the sojourn of her ill-
fated days of royalty now never likely to return.
The names of those who approved of the movement
seemed to comprise the choice of the land,
and augured ill for any chance of readjustment. GoN-
ZALES BRAVO had outdone all his predecessors in the
Cabinet in insulting the nation,and in heaping up acts
of tyranny and oppression. The new aspect which
is given to affairs by the rising of Madrid, of course,
indicates the end, and we may feel pretty sure
that the next intelligence that reaches us will par-
take of a somewhat final nature, so far as all exist-
ing authorities are concerned. it remains io be
seen whether the departure of a wrong rule will
herald the advent of a right one, and whether those
who have assumed the direction of affairs will sub-
stitute one mistake for another. There seems good
chance of their success, aided as they are by the
tacit approval or the declared adhesion of the spirit
and genius of the nation ; but they must take heed
,o their ways, for their task is most arduous.

THE Loss OF LIFE OF PETERIIEAD.—Attention
was recently called to the refusal of the coxswain of the
Peterhead lifeboat to proceed, at about one o'clock in the
morning of the 23d inst., to the help of some fishermen
whose boat was believed to be wrecked outside the har-
bour. The National Lifeboat Institution thereupon tele-
graphed that an inquiry should bo made at once into all
the circumstances of the painful case. It now appears,
from the report furnished by the local committee, that
the coxswain satisfied himself that the lifeboat could not
get near the place whence the cries were said to be pro-
ceeding, such was the state of the sea, and that any at-
tempt to get the lifeboat outside, and use her in such sea and
darkness, in the narrow bight between the North Head
and the back of the breakwater, whore all was rocks and
a lea shore, was impossible with any hope of safety. Mr.
Maddock, the chief boatman of the Coastguard, has also
expressed a decided opinion to the same effect, and added
that to make the attempt would only have increased the
loss of life. No person in that officer's hearing offered to
be one of the crew of the lifeboat or any other boat, and
although the coxswain had stated that he was willing to
assist in manning a small boat and make an attempt to get
to the pier-heads no one volunteered to join him. It is
also a noteworthy fact that a Peterhead boat and a Lyb-
star boat in coming into the North Harbour saw the
wrecked boat, and heard the cries of the poor fellows in
the water, tho Peterhead fishing-boat actually going over
the swamped boat. The crew of these boats as thoy went
by the pier-heads in safety called out that they had passed
drowning men, but they did not, and possibly because
they knew it would have been useless, make application

for aid on reaching the pier.
WATERSPOUTS IN TILE IRISH CHANNEL.—The
singular phenomenon of two waterspouts was witnessed
at the mouth of St. George's Channel on Thursday. The
following report of the occurrence is made by Captain
Stevenson, of the ship Bavelaw, which has arrived at Li-
verpool from Bombay, whence she sailed on the 4th May :
—" On the 24th of September, at noon, in lat. 50 N., long.
8 W., two waterspouts crossed the Bavelaw's stern from
east to west, the wind at the time being light from the
eastward, with rain, the barometer 29 66, and thermometer
ai 64 3. The sea and sky were in visible connection, a
large column of cloud and vapour in the shape of a bow
rising from west to north, the smaller end becoming lost
in a huge raiucloud. The larger end was connected with
the water, causing the sti. to boil and bubble tremen-
dously, and apparently covering a circle the diameter of
which would be 20 feet. The first one passed about one-
eighth of a mile astern, and broko immediately after. The
second continued its course to the westward as far as the
eye could follow it. When nearest the ship a furious puff
of wind heeled the ship over for a moment, and when it
was gone the revolution of the circle of agitated water was
from east round south to west, north, and east, and seemed
a perfect cyclone, though on a very small scale. The
wind during the passage of the second spout across the
ship's stern fibifted in an instant from east to south.

COARESPI

PARN't

tntoz_ "Mors coßßEsPormErrr.y,

PARIS, TUESDAY) SeptemEo
More and rnbrosTeCisive grows the news from tte
The Government journals now for the most part 4144
from all comment upon the events in Spain. But it sena
to be tacitly admitted that Queen Isabella will neTpr
Madrid again ; and her retreat across the Bidassoa into
France is expected to take place any day. Mesumble,
is given out that the Emperor will in nowise interfere in
Spain. The Empress is said to feel very much for hey
fellow-countrywoman (Eugdnie,your readers will remember,
is a Spaniard), and during a visit which the Imperial
Family have just paid to Pan she visibly manifested bei
concern.

One of the solutions of the Spanish difficulty which ha
been suggested—the annexation to Portugal—is not likel
to be permitted if Napoleon can prevent it. He has
strong aversion to the House of Braganza. Within the
last few days we have had an instance of this. The
Portuguese Government, having need of money to pay its
creditors in Paris, negotiated a loan of £320,000 with the
Socidtd Gdarale. The arrangement was concluded last
Saturday, and on Monday it was to be signed. At the very
last moment, M. Herpin,director of the Soci6t6, received a
letter from one of the Ministers, intimating that the
Government would see with displeasure the conclusion of
this affair. Consequently, it had to be broken off when
everybody thought it was arranged. So much for liberty
in France.

There are serious rumours respecting the health of the
Queen of Portugal, daughter of Victor Emmanuel. It is
said that her mind has become affected, but the statement
is denied. The poor Empress Charlotte is worse than ever.
She is now constantly under the delusion that she has
been poisoned. She flees everybody. She sits in a corner
of a room day after day, and if anyone approaches her she
screams out and endeavours to escape. Her bodily health
is now giving way, and serious apprehensions are felt for
her life. One can scarcely desire that she should live.
Poor King Leopold is much to be pitied. With a mad
sister and a dying son, he can know little of the pleasures

of royalty.
Of other royal personages I may mention that your
Prince Arthur has arrived at the Hotel Bristol from
Switzerland, that the Empress of Russia is going to winter
on the Lake of Como, and that Victor Emmanuel has set
out to meet her on the frontier.
The body of Count Walewski has been brought to Paris.
The funeral will probably be a splendid pageant. All the
Count's papers were sealed up immediately after his death.
This: is always done on the decease of a State councillor.
The Count was just about to undertake a diplomatic
mission to Munich when he was so suddenly carried off.
There have been various rumours of approaching
political changes. The Etendard officially denies them, as
well as the reported convoking of the Senate.
Montalembert has just written a letter to a friend, who
had sent him an account of the Polish national gathering
at Rapperschwyl, on the Lake of Zurich. The Count
gays: " I have long ill, as you know ; you saw me last
year in a sad state, and since then that state has been com-
plicated and aggravated through a carriage accident."
He then goes on to add how much he would have liked to
be present at the gathering, and how keen his sympathies
for Poland remain.
There is a grand quarrel going on about the Moniteur.
The Government has given the printing of that journal to
M. Wittersheim, who is bound by his contract to supply
gratuitously 55,000 copies of the Petit Moniteur to the
Government, and 36,000 to the different communes of
France. But M. Dalloz claims the Moniteur as his pro-
perty, and refuses to surrender the list of subscribers. I
Jo not know how the quarrel will end, whether M. Dalloz
or the Government will start a rival Iti oniteur, but it is to
be hoped that M. Wittersheim has not paid very high for
his concession.

THE WEATHER TABLE.-THIS DAY.

LATEST INTELL MENGE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE INSURRECTION IN SPAIN,

MADRID, Sept. 29:(tivening).

General Novaliches having been defeated by the
insurgents, and being wounded, re-entered Madrid
yesterday.
The rising at the capital has been of a peaceful
character, the troops fraternising with the people
to the cry of " Down with the Bourbons," " Long
live the Sovereignty of the People."
General Concha has resigned his functions, and
a Junta has been nominated provisionally to carry
on the duties of Government, composed of four
members of the Progressionist party, four Union-
ists, and four I)emocrats.

Marshal Serrano, Duke de la Tone, is expected

here to-morrow.
The Royal arms on all public buildings have
been removed by the people.
Everywhere music is heard. The streets are
illuminated.

PARIS, Sept. 30.

The Journal de:Debats of to-day publishes under
reserve a telegram stating that General Novaliches
had dissolved his army, and that Marshal Serrano
was marching on Madrid unopposed.
The Siecle states that the Spanish Embassy in
Paris has received no news from Spain for the last
48 hours.