TERRIBLE IF TRUE.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 86, 18 January 1872, Page 3

TERRIBLE IF TRUE.

The Courier Diplomatique, published in Paris, contains a letter from a London correspondent, which gives an awful picture of the danger threatening the country from the spread of socialistic doctrines. The writer says :—“ The whole of this vast empire is permeated by secret societies. The International here still holds its meetings almost publicly. It is said that the greater number of the dispossessed Princes of India, a good number of officers belonging to the army and navy, as well as members of Parliament and even Ministers, arc affiliated to it. The Government is aware of the infernal plan by which at a given moment the public buildings of London are to be exposed to the fate which bcfel so many in Paris. Boats are already waiting on the Thames to receive the treasures of the Bank of England—an easy prey, say the conspirators —as soon as the main artery of the Strand shall have been burnt, and the public buildings, the barrack especially, shall have been blown up, as was three years ago the Clcrkenwell prison. Careless by nature, and too much engaged with business to think of the morrow, spoiled by a long-established liberty and a fabulous prosperity, having for many generations forgotten the scourge of war, foreign or civil, we allow ourselves to drift on without taking heed of the signs of the times.”