Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1883-04-19
Precautions Against Dynamite.

| IrecautiOnS Against dynamite.
The English people have suddenly
awakened to startling sense of inse-
curity. They know that their peace and
welfare are now menaced by gangs of
murderous conspirators and dynamite
fiends every whit as dangerous as the
Cars nihilist foes. How can they pro-
tect themselves against dynamite-work-
ersP Obviously, the main reliance in
England, as in Russia. must be the Wig
lance of the detective force The ar
rest of five conspirators and the discov-
cry OF the nitro-glycerine factory near
birmingham attest the efficiency of the
English police. The authorities, more
over. seem to be acting with self-pos-
session and vigor and precautions have
been doubled in every quarter. But let
the police be as watchful and the author.
tiles as prudent as they may, and there
will still be ground for public anxiety.
The sentinels may be doubled in front
of every public building and the detec-
tive force may be largely increased in
every city and town, and there will be
exposed points where dynamite may be
planted with impunity, and the con-
seriousness of deadly peril from diabol-
ical plots will remain.
Additional efforts will probably be
made to restrict the sale and trans por-
tation of dynamite and other nitro: gly-
cerine explosives. Dynamite is now
manufactured in England at the rate of
$4,000 or 10000 tons annually, and is
not only largely used in mining and
blasting operations at home, but is
shipped to every quarter of the world.
There are also German, Swiss and
French manufacturers, who have agents
in London and supply the market with
cheaper but more dangerous nitro-gly-
cerine compounds. Not only is the
manufacture of explosives regulated by
| special ordinances, but the Home Office
also forces every dealer and large pur.
chaser to obtain license for trade or
use. AS the laws are now enforced as
much as twelve or fifteen pounds of
dynamite could not be bought at one
time by Fenian conspirator anywhere
IN England without a license from the
Home Office. Smaller quantities, how
ever, could be readily purchased, espe.
claily In the great towns of the mining
districts, and in this way moderate
stock could be accumulated 1t isprob-
able, therefore, that the authorities will
make determined effort to restrict so
far rs may be possible the sale of dyna-
mite and other explosives even in small
quantities. They may require dealers in
such substances to obtain definite in
formation respecting the character of
the purchaser and the use which is to
be made of them. Precautions may al
so be multiplied to prevent the importa-
ton of explosives purchased abroad and
consigned to the secret agents of politi-
cal conspirators. In this way some
| thing may be done TO protect the pub
lie against dynamite operations.
The regulations, however, in regard
to the purchase and transportation of
| explosives seem to have been so rigid as
to have forced the Fenian desperadoes
to manufacture their own supplies.
The shipment of dynamite from foreign
| countries was attended with extraor-
binary hazards in the handling required
ut the wharves and its delivery to those
to whom it was consigned; and the pur-
chase even of small quantities would
have tended to excite suspicion Those
who were planning these outrages
shrewdly decided to supply themselves
with all the ammunition they might
need and in this way to arm themselves
without being exposed to scrutiny at
the wharves or ut the dealers agencies.
The secret nitro-glycerine factory near
birmingham was put in operation, and
the police suspect that there are similar
workshops controlled by the Fenians in
other English cities. Apparently the
explosives found at the lodgings and on
the persons of the four men arrested in
London were manufactured by the Fe-
mans themselves.
1t becomes necessary, therefore, for
the Government to protect the public
against the illicit manufacture, handling
aud storage of dynamite and similar
compounds. This it has already done
In the passage of the "anti explosive
act, which has already received royal
approval and become law.
AS far as the conspirators are con-
cerned, 1t matters little whether they are
English-Irishmen or rish-Americans. or
Irishmen pure and simple. They are
now under arrest. and If their guilt be
established they will be punished to the
extent which the English statutes will
permit. The fact that they have ever
been citizens of the United States will
not have the slightest bearing upon
their offence. The nitro-glycerine was
made and carried about on English soil,
presumable for criminal ends, and they
can be punished there. If it can be
proved, however, that they have been
sent out from this country by an organ
lied body of sympathizers for purposes
OF murder, arson and the wholesale de-
struction of public property, some in
teresting questions of international
policy will arise. The extradition
treaties must be rigidly construed so far
as political offences are concerned. Tn
this respect England herself has set the
for the nations. But il is bv
no means certain whether the new
perils to which Governments are expos
ed from the use of so terrible an agent
as dynamite will not render necessary
combined international action and re-
vision of the wholo oo,-;ao <>f ~ol:x.~-