(vor tui: work eNprNe fix: 19TH OF JUNE.)
"Bint Times is' bing the candid friend to the Government. Oncthe 17th of June it sealed attention to the decline of the Government's majority—in the first division on the Education Bill—to 74, and on the next day, writing on Mr. Motley's speech at Manchester, it says Ttis not at all surprising that Mr. Morley, contrasting the circumstances of his v Manchester yesterday with that, wh paid' tothe "same city just twelve months -Ago, should hive indulged in an exalting Strain of comment very' different from his habitual tone of pessimism. In some' re-indeed;.Mr: Mor! forces the note damages a case which the other side had given him ready-made. There is no ground for the statement that the Government or, their supporters contemplate an early dissoltition, for which there would be not the slightest constitutional pretext. Nor, in spite of the blunders that have been committed and the disappointments that'have occurred, there the least reason to believe that there party. The party has en established are unimpaired by the errors mismanaged Session. It is the personal credit of Ministers that has been considerably damaged, though if they are wise in time the damage may be quickly repaired. It is perfectly' trac, however, that: for the moment Blow has been struck at what Mr. Morley rightly diteems to be one of. the main sources of the Unionist strength—the belief of the country in the governing capacity, of the statesmen now in office as well as in the sober moderation of their policy. Tt is a. trivial kind of carping: criticism, though it may have' its' use', fot local electioneering pures, to suggest, a8 Mr. Morley does, that mneashire Ought to go back to the Radicals hecansé the Unionists have' not repealed the Indian cotton duties and granted bimetallism. It is-not because the Government have attempted too little for the gratification of their supporters, but because, as Mr. Morley himself admits, they have attempted too much, that they' find their measures blocked and their reputation tarnished.
Writing on the 20th ult. the Times recurs to thesubjeot; and strongly deprecates the plan propounded at the meeting of the Unionists at the Foreign Office... It says:—The Govenment forces are still intact, but wwe been led.into a false and dangerous jon: The aas-by able and eau generalship can jhe rescued from it with within. the, next; few hours, but if through incapacity. or divided" counsels, trough' the self-love of some and the indecision of others, no effective determination is now come to, and the future of the campaign is left to hazard, undoubtedly that great army, powerful and disciplined though it is, may-drift onwards to something approaching a disaster. "Upon one point all sections of the party and all obser. vers of common sense are.tnanimous. The plan propounded at the Foreign Office on Monday is absolutely unworkable and must immediately be dropped. We pointed out its hopelessly impracticable character so soon as it was disclosed, and subsequent reflection has served but to intensify our conviction that to repudiate it is the first indispensable step towards restoring the Parliamentary situation. Day by day'an increasing number of the most influential. members of the Unionist party have admitted the incontestable justice of this view, and there seems no longer to be any doubt that Ministers themselves have come to realise and to acknowledge its correctness. To sit for another week. on the Bill, and then to hang it up until next year with the intention of passing it before the im-Betative requirements of nance terminate the sible 1. Tt. would mean the certain debates, is on the face of it an utterly indefenloss of the Bill next spring, -and it would necessarily doom' the truncated Session of 1897 to comparative barrenniess.
'The Times urges the Government not to confess to defeat at the hands of ''a miserable minority divided against itself," and it is quite unhappy at the idea of defeat detailing a Bill carried' through the House of Conimons by a' niajority: almost without precedent." It therefore demands an' autumn. session; but the Conservative members have distinctly told Mr. autumn' session.
Balfour that they will not, have an From, the accounts received from Brest appearing in the Times of the same date, we take the following news in reference to the Drummond Castle:—- The first news of-the disaster, was brought to Moléne by two fishermen named. Masson to and Mathieu, owners of the smack Couronne de Marie, who rescued Wood and Godbolt. They were fishing at 6 o'clock in the morning off'a point to the north-east of Ushant, when they observed two men in the water clinging, ereckages making ngnale of datress and shouting for help. The fishermen immediately went to-their. assistance and: succeeded in Picking them up. They, thea conveyed. them to the island, but asthe fishermen did not know a word of English they were unable to understand anything they said, although they grasped the fact, that the rescued men were Survivors of a shipwreck.. It.was not-until-the rescued men had been conveyed across to Te Conquet and the Commissary. of the Maritime District bad been communicated with that the nature and extent of the catastrophe were ascertained. Three hours after Wood and Godbolt were picked up a number of other boats, which were engaged in lobster fishing about ten, miles west. of Moléne, came across a number of floating boxes and other wreckage, among; which one of the fishermen, named Lo Bras, owner of the Augustine, perceived the body of a man, on which, when it had been recovered, were found a gold wedding ring and silver watch. The watch had stopped at 11 o'clock. Kound the body was a life belt. A search among the rocks was then begun; and soon resulted in the discovery of the remains of: several other victims, among them.a number of children. The latter were in their night dresses. The seventh body: recovered was that.of a lady wearing a silk dress; in-the: pocket of whicl were six sovereigns.
When the fishermen returned to Moléne with the dead they found that the women with the assistance of the Curé-had. launched the lifeboat, but no trace of any. survivors beyond those'already rescued' could be found.
10 bodies were taken to the house of a small shopkeeper, Mile. Couilmandre, where the Curé, the Abbé Lo Jeune, -with the assistance of the villagers, performed the religious offices. Preparations were also made for inferment, but only enough wood could be found to make coffins for the women and children.
During the night the people brought crucifixes and placed them near the dead, while a cradle in which the body of a baby one year old had beet laid was surrounded with' roses by the simple and pious folk.
he funerals took place at 10 o'clock in the morning. 'The graves were blessed by the Care.. Pour men were interred in one grave, and five other graves each contained two, while the women and' children were buried apart in four separate graves. After the funeral aa impressive service was held in the village church. The Curé, addressing the congregation of mourners, said "These were mien like you toiling to earn their daily bread. Their families'were anxiously awaiting their return, and they themselves were impatient to meet their loved ones again. Alas, their poor families. will never see them more, but this consolation at least will be vouchsafed them—they will know that those they mourn rest here in peace on French soil under the shadow of the eros."
The leading organs of the Press in London treat President Kriiger's release of the four Reform leaders with a fine of £25,000 each very fairly, but some of them write as if all President Kriiger wanted was to make money out of the conspirators. The Times says President Kriiger, there is reason to believe, ju regard to the fate of the Reformers. 'The his had a part of no common difficulty to play opposition he had to encounter, both within and without his Council, must have been strong and bitter. He: has met it.in his own way, and his own' way did not always seem to Knglistimen quite intelligible and, quite straightforward. But he has met it with success, and it would be unfair and ungenerous not to' give him the fullest credit' for the result.
The Standard says
Biate. A. heavy fine has seen. imposed, punishment for their offences against the The reformers. do not altogether escape
and in default of payment they are liable fifteen years' banishment. On, the whole, however, they should consider themselves pretty cheaply out, of bad business. They played for high stakes, and lost, and should now give their minds to their proper business. Indeed, their permission to remain within the territory of the Transvaal is conditional upon their undertaking not, to interfere in the politics of the country. They have had a sharp lesson, and must make up for the time they have lost, and repair some of the injury they have caused.
The Daily News tay With the release of the four Reform leaders, President Kriiger's victory, over, the raiders and the plotters at Johannesburg is fulfilled. Tt would be difficult to, conceive a, victor more complete at every point and in every respect. All honour to the President for his magnanimity and his shrewdness The Daily Graphic, however, says perhaps it is only to be expected that, the The Trahevaal isa sordid, place,, and Tnach-talked of magnanithity of the Boers should be largely a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence. So far'this virtue has brought the Pretoria Exchequer the-very handsome sam of £208,000." It would" have been a round 200,000 guineas had not one of the per-secured Reformers disappointed the calealating Hollanders by prematurely cutting his throat. As a bargain we have nothing to say against the terms on which the Reform'leaders have now been released. -Their guilt was at least ton and a-half times as great as that of their colleagues who were' freed. the other Qay on payment of fines of £2,000 each, fand as against the punishments. originally awarded them, the fines to; which they are now. condemned are mild." But they are heither deterrents nor. are they magranlinous. They are ransom pure and simple. nicely adjusted are they to the squeezability Of the birdlimed conspirators and their eapi-{alist friends in Johannesburg that it would be affectation not to recognise in them. the achievements of a commercial: rather than of 'a statesmanlike instinct. - They leave a distinctly bad taste in the mouth, and add a supreme touch of vulgarity to story in which there is little that is lofty except its stupidity.
The idea of calling them " persecuted Reformers" is excellent... are full lof Li Hung-chang's germany, and the.high apprecia-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.