The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-05 00:00:00

EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND.

In Zadkiel's Almanack for the present year 1868
—publithed, of course, towards the close of
1867 on the page (19) for August, under
" Voice of the Stars," we read—" The singu-
lar event occurs on the 3d that Saturn
and Jupiter are both stationary." And, imme-
mediately afterwards, we find added—" l his will
doubtless produce earthquakes, which may be looked
for in all parts ruled by Aries and Sagittarius. These
are chiefly"—says Zadkiel (and observe what is the
very first name on the list !)—" England, Naples,
Syria, Spain, llungary, and Arabia." Further
down that same page in the Almanack for 1868,
published in 1867, Zadkiel goes on to say—" when
the Sun forms a trine with Jupiter, shocks may be
looked for. If they take place in England they
will fall out chiefly in London"—(they were
felt, by the way, as near to London as
Blackheath and IVeybridge Common !)—and in the
west and south-west parts of the country." A couple
of months after date, no doubt—but, for all that,
surely, rather a good hit, everything considered !

CRYSTAL PALACE.-00e Shilling Day, Wednes-
day, Nov. 4.—Admissions by season tickets, 1,007 ; ditto
on payment, 559; total visitors, I,5(iG
THE VICTORIA Cnoss.—lu the Governor's Green,
at Portsmouth, yet•t..Tday morning, in the presence of
nearly all the troops in the garrison, Lieutenant-General
Sir George Buller, Commander-in-Chief of the South-
Western District, presmted the Victoria Cross to the two
men of the 33d It*gimont who were accredited as being
the first in the city of Magdala. The proceedings were of
a purely formal character, and did not occupy a quarter of
au hour.

DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is ro
commended by the medical profession in praforanca to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks an.l CABO3 for home use or exporta-
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Danville and Co.,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, London, W.O —[Ad-
Tartiscment.]

MR. SOLATER-BOOTH ON THE EXPEN-

DITURE.

Mr. G. Sclater-Booth, M.P., in a recent speech at
Alton, advocated the strictest economy in the national
expenditure. They were not, however, to forget that no
inconsiderable portion of the increased expenditure which
we had recently experienced is to be traced to the in-
creased demand upon the resources of the central Govern-
ment, which are to be seen everywhere around us. The
old fear as to the loss of local self-government seemed
of late to have greatly diminished ; or, at all events,
there was no longer a fear entertained that the central
Government might become so strong as to exercise any-
thing like a tyrannical influence over localities, and con-
currently with this feeling there had arisen a greater
desire for governmental assistance and support in many
operations which are in themselves of a local character.
For instance, the education:of the people isbeing conducted
at a vast expense to the imperial exchequer, and then
there is an immense network of Government inspection
carried on under the Poor Laws, the Factories Act, the
Local Government Act, and in the mining districts—all
of which are under the control of the Home Office, and
require for their administration highlypaid officers. These
and the like expenses were not thought necessary
in former clays, and as long as they continued he did not
see how we could expect a very large reduction in the
total expenditure of the country from year to year. The
proper requirements of the country, too, in regard to
better pay, clothing, and food for our soldiers and sailors,
all tended to swell the expenditure ; and although he was
far from denying that there were many expenses, especially
in connection with the army, that might be reduced, yet he
scarcely thought that writers and speakers on this subject
had at all times reflected upon the increased demands made
tipon recent, as compared with former Gover nits when
Criticising their expenditure.

MR. R. JOHNSON ON THE RELATIONS
BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

i'he American Ambassador, Mr. Reverdy Johnson,
will not fail to acquire s 3 mpatby and regard, if they may
be acquired by amicable speeches. He spoke again on
Wednesday. He was the guest of the new sheriffs of
London and Middlesex, at their "inauguration banquet."
In responding to the toast of -his health, he said : " I have
received so many civilities from the people of England
since I came amongst them that my vocabulary of thanks
is exhausted. I have, however, a vocabulary which can
never be exhausted; it is that which teaches me to say to
you and to pray to God that the peace between your
country and mine may never be disturbed. What-
ever difficulties in the recent past have occurred, it
gives me supreme pleasure to say to you, as I have said
elsewhere, that they are about to be successfully removed.
In part this has already been accomplished ; and by the
kindness, patriotism, and love which Lord Stanley bears
to his Queen and country, and by the same feeling which I
hope influences me towards my Government, the rest of
the dispute will, before the lapse of the present year, be
also successfully adjusted. Whatever, then, may happen
in the future will find us together as one people, enjoy.
ing one government in point of substance—that is to
say, each of us enjoying a government resting upon
the principles of human freedom, without which man can-
not live. If you suppose, or ever have supposed, that
among the reflecting men of the United States there was
any unkind feeling towards your Government, however it
may have been in the past, you are mistaken as to the
Present. There may be in America, and there may be in
England, some spirits so unruly (I am glad to think
they are not in this room), which cannot realise
the duty of observing the obligations of law, and
waiting until the good sense of the two peoples may correct
whatever errors may have crept into their several
institutions. Both Governments are popular—both must
respond to the popular will, and both have in the past,
and are willing in the present, to respond to that will.
The termination of the Presidential contest yesterday
resulted, as I was sure it would, in the almost unani-
mous election of that man to the chief executive of the.
United States to whom we were mainly indebted for the
suppression of that rebellion which struck at the life of the
nation, and the men of America would have been ungrate-
ful if they had failed to place, him in the Presidential chair,
the duties of which he would be sure so to administer as to
subserve the public interests, and to bind up the wounds
of a wounded country. In that war, as you know, there
was a terrible loss of life ; one million men of the North
and of the South now lie under the sod. The men of
the South, as I have ever said in the Senate of the United
States, sincerely thought they were serving their country
in the struggle, and attempting and engaging in an effort
to maintain the true principles of political liberty. The
men of the North, on the other hand, were satisfied
that without the continuance of the Union liberty
and peace in the United States were not to be
accomplished. Of that number I was one. A Southerner
by birth, a Southerner by education, a Southerner
by residence, I felt that it was due to the interests of all
the people of the United States that the Union should be
preserved at almost any cost. And it has been preserved,
thank God ; and you may thank God too, gentlemen.
The people cf England have cause to rejoice that the
struggle resulted as it did, because, as we prosper—and
prosper we should not if our Union had been dissolved—so
also will you prosper. Every State which has been added
to that galaxy of States which in 1776 formed and were
represented by the stars of the American standard, tends to
your benefit as well as our own. What would California
have been if she had not fallen under our rule or under
yours ? For a century her wealth was undeveloped, but
the moment free institutions " landed " within her limits
then it was discovered that that undeveloped wealth,
counting by millions and hundreds of millions, keine' its
way abroad ; and in the presence of the Governor of the
Bank of England I may say, not a little went into the
coffers of the bank with which he is connected, for the
benefit of the commercial world. -America has contracted
an enormous debt in money, but that is nothing in
comparison to the blood which has literally mired
every battle-field of our country. But although we have
contracted this enormous debt in money, whatever
rumours you may have heard, whatever doubts may have
been expressed, I tell ycu, in all the sincerity with which
man can speak, that every dollar of that debt will be paid
in that which the world recognises asmoney. Dishonoured
(and I know my country never would be knowingly;
would America be if she failed to meet her engagements,
and if she did not pay in money. In concluding, Mr.
Johnson commented on the position of the Queen. He
declared that his country did not undervalue the power of
the army and navy. On the Abyssinian expedition, too,
he complimented this country, and on the celebrated name,
Napier of Magdala. We had not added to the list of our
naval heroes, because we had not had the opportunity.
America, too, had produced Sheridan, Hancock, Sherman,
and Grant, and in the navy Porter and Farragut.
Referring to the reunion in America, Mr. Johnson
said : " But we are not altogether, in one sense, united,
though we are legally united. Not an arm is now raised)
or is wished to be raised, against the authority
of my Government, and under the President for the
remainder of his term, and the one who is to follow
on the 4th of March, and also under the direction of
the Congress which will meet in December, I tell you that
you may rest assured that in a short time all our sufferings
will almost be forgotten, and America will be, what she
was in the past, of value to the people of England, and
she will hail you one and all as friends. It was predicted
by George 111. and the men who were around him,
that the independence of the States would be a fatal
blow to England—the star of her empire, it was
said, would fall, and the downfall of her honour
was near at hand. What has followed? Why, the result
has been to increase the prosperity and power of
England, and when England's downfall happens you may
expect the sun to fall. Every accruing year, whether of
war or peace, adds to our mutual wealth and enhances
our mutual power, and so may it be to the end. As
England is powerful, and permit me to say so long as
she remains at peace with the United States, nothing
in the tide of time will befall her of which she need be
afraid."

A colliery at Elephant-lane, near St. Helen's,
was discovered to bo on fire oa Sunc'ay. On the follow-
ing day, an exploring p.o ty. headed by Mr. Na: ler,
the underlooker, and Mr. John Campbell, son of the
cashier, went down to the pit for the purpose of ascert•un-
ing the seat and extent of tho conflagration, and taking
steps to restrict its ravages. As the party did
not return in a reasonable time, a second body of
explorers descended the pit, when it was found that
Ur. Naylor, Mr. Campbell, and a collier named Williatn
Foster had perished, whilst their companions were in a
very exhausted state. The latter were carried to the sur-
face ; the bodies of the men who had perished could not be
recovered.

Mit. WALTER ON EDITCATION.--In a speech
recently delivered at Windsor to the electors of Berks,
Mr. Walter dealt with the subject of education, observing
that much might be done by developing further the
existing system, for he believed that a good school
under that system was probably as good as any school
which could be found in any civilised country. It seemed
to be imagined that nothing effectual could be done in
the way of education without compulsion. He, however,
was not of that opinion, and he had seen with some sur-
prise that Lord Salisbury, in the remarkable speech which
he had made a few days ago at Manchester, had spoken
of compulsion as being resorted to in America. lie could,
however, from his own knowledge, state that compulsion
was not the rule in America, and he was informed by a
gtntleman in Philadelphia, fully conversant with the
subject, that compulsion was not found to be generally
necessary.