The Commonwealth. — 1867-07-06 (London, England)

THE HORRIBLE REVELATIONS FROM SHEFFIELD.  The crimes confessed by Broadhead and his instruments will not have been confessed in vain if they reveal to the artisans of Sheffield and of England to what fearful results the exclusive cultivation of the spirit of class and trade may lead, if it be not counterbalanced by wider sympathies, and enlightened by a larger economical knowledge than is common among working men. Feelings in themselves honourable and generous become depraved and malignant by being narrowed, and the boundaries of right and wrong are entirely effaced by ignorance and passion. The wealthier and better instructed orders of society cannot entirely escape blame from this state of things. They have stood aloof from the lower classes, and the result of this violation is seen in the existence of what Mr. Disraeli has called two nations in England, sometimes at peace, sometimes at war, but never one in interest and sentiment. It is not by suppressing the abused right of combination, or weakening the esprit de corps among artisans, that the evil can be cured ; but by the gradual infusion of sounder knowledge, the creation of wider interests, and the awakening of more comprehensive sympathies. The politics and the economy of the nation must absorb those of the class and craft.—Daily News. Nothing kilt the strongest measures will root the evil out of Sheffield. These crimes could not have been perpetrated so systematically and for so long a period, and by constituted societies, unless they had been tolerated by public opinion. If the statement of Broadhead that he embezz'ed the money to pay for the worst cases be untrue, the seven committee men are -equally implicated with himself. These are not individual instances, caused by the passions of individuals, but are the result of deep-seated corruption and lamentable prejudice on the part of probably a large portion of the workpeople of that town. We greatly regret to have to come to such a conclusion, but we have been driven to it by the facts which have been disclosed in -evidence, and it is better, with a view to finding a remedy, to know the worst than to attempt to palliate or misunderstand the real state of so grave a case. These acts of violence must be put down by the strong arm of the law, and such steps must be taken as to render their systematic recurrence impossible. A special law may probably be required to meet so extraordinary a case, and we are sure that the commissioners will i be supported n any measures which they recomtaend to be taken; or if their duties do not extend to that, that Government will be supported in any reasonable law which it may propose for the suppression of so intolerable a tyranny and nuisance. Money cannot be allowed to be openly subscribed in order to establish a tyranny, which is enforced by robbery, incendiarism, violence, and murder. Broadhead wrote a series of letters to the newspapers at the time of these outrages, expressing his abhorrence of them. He stated that he frequently arranged with secretaries of other unions for rattemng to be done, and that the practice was common to every trade in Sheffield. —Observer.  MR.