The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-24 00:00:00

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE BRADFORD

REFORM ASSOCIATION.
(CONTINUED ON MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS.)

Sir,—From what occurred in the House of Commons
on Monday, it is clear that the Government have, as
some of the daily papers expressed it, snubbed the
Volunteer Rib Corps." Like Louis Napoleon, they do
not want a National Guard. I think 'therefore that
any man who agrees with the gallant Member for West-
minster in believing that Volunteer Corps aro a more
powerful defensive armament than a Militia, may law-
fully vote against a Militia altogether if his constituents
wish it, so long at least as circumstances do not point to
the necessity of its being called out in addition to the
Volunteers.

Viewing the question in a military light only, it can
hardly be denied, that the Volunteer Rifle Corps are
things of slower growth, as depending on the gradual
accumulation of the popular feeling, while the Militia
are 80,060 men summunable to arms by an Act of Par-
liament. In addition to which, the first are to find
themselves, while the other must be paid for at the
price of regular troops; for it is a doctrine with me,
that to take a man perforce, is to take from him the
value of what a man can be had for by money. And
further, the first are likely to much exceed in number
the others; while their proposed mode' of arming is
better calculated to meet the apprehended exigency.
There is not a man in England who better knows the
comparative value of a Volunteer force and a Conscrip-
tion, than the Member for Westminster.
And this leads to another criticism on what was col-
lected to be the intention of the Government with re-
spect to such Rifle Corps as in consequence of previous
leave obtained, or other causes, are not to be " snubbed."
It was announced that a condition was to be, that they
were to be armed with rifles of the Government's pat-
tern. This will only make a job for the Government's
gun-makers, and cut down the zeal of the Volunteers.
The Government might as well intimate that gentlemen
going partridge-shooting must be armed with a Govern-
ment model. Half the enjoyment of the thing, is in the
trying of one maker's plan against another's. The
whole theory and practice of small arms are at this mo-
ment in a state of flux and uncertainty, out of which it
is probable something as yet comparatively unknown is
speedily to come. Nobody but the Chinese, at such a
moment, would nail down the Volunteers to the use of
an " approved model of the Flowery Empire."
You will not suppose me insensible to the weight of
the reason urged for the proposed regulation,—the ad-
vantagenf having balls of the same calibre. But there
is no reason that may not be outweighed by a stronger.
It is of incomparably more importance that a Volunteer
rifleman should hit with two out of three of the twenty
balls he might expend in a campaign, and that there
should be two Volunteer riflemen where there would
otherwise be only one, than that they should be furnished
with balls of the " flowery" model. It is among the
records of the German corps of riflemen sent to America
in the Revolutionary War, that some of the men re-
turned their ammunition at the end of the war minus six
or seven shots; but it is shrewdly intimated, that these
six or seven hots might be traced in a corresponding
diminution of the American executive. It was my
chance to see specimens of the Landwehr in Paris in
1814; and it is not impressed on my recollection that
their rifles were of anything like a Government model.
Some of them struck me as so diminutive, that it was
presumable the Landwehr acted in the spirit of the in-
struction of the Spartan mother, who said " Take a
step nearer." How the Land wehr youth kept himself
"provided with ammunition, there was not opportunity
rigidly to inquire ; but I presume that when
he had composed or sung his song of "Fatherland,"
and made libation as ho might to the fraulein beyond
the Rhine, he employed his leisure hours in casting from
time to time a score of bullets by the help of a mould
he carried in the butt of his rifle, using such lead and
powder as was to be obtained from every ammunition
waggon that distributed cartridges to the army.
Something was said in the House, of the slights thrown
by some of the regular generals upon the Volunteers of
1801. Your regular general is not always what Jeremy
Bentham would call " all-wise." If letter of mine to you
should come to the eyes of any of the Volunteer Corps, I
can tell a story upon that subject. There was a regular
general who made himself conspicuous in Par-
tiatnent by attacks on the Volunteer Corps and
their commanders, and particularly on an Alder-
man of Landon whose civic occupation happened to
have been the chemistry of pastry. And now
see what a judgment fell upon him. It was my fortune,
in obedience to the direction of a superior, to bring to
that general an officer of regular troops in full uniform,
summoning him to surrender, and whom he sent away in
rather a rough manner. A few hours afterwards I
brought to him another fashion of negotiator,—one of
the Voluntaries Patrioticos de Buenos Aires,—in precisely
the jacket which those who saw the English Volunteers
will recollect, blue with red in the seams, —but of the
rest I speak not, beyond a distinct notation that his nether
man was cased in corduroy and he had a cast in his eye,
which last may possibly even yet help
to identify the
meritorious citizen in his peaceful retreat. You will not
disbelieve me when I say, that at the sight of him, all
Colonel Birch rose before my eyes. And to this not
very perfectly set-up member of a Volunteer Corps, did
our general surrender the Church of St. Domingo and
all of us that were therein.
It was a judgment if there
ever was one. And so shall it be with more regular
generals, that laugh at Volunteers.
On Tuesday the principal subject was a motion on the
removal of the Hop duty. Nothing was said of the re-
moval of the duty on f„)reien HO- 'ps• though this was
stated to be virtually prohibitory, except when there is
an extraordinary failure in the English crop. It may
be collected therefore, that the object is to get rid of the
duty on home-grown hops, and leave the duty on
foreign. If there was the conviction at Bradford which
I wish there was, that you deal in foreign hops and
everything else that can be brought cheaper from abroad,
you would have considerable objections to make to this.
But I am afraid friends are not yet up to that mark.
For the present, the lion has been let in, and no doubt
will take good care of himself.
I am, Sir, yours very sincerely,
AN OLD REFORMER.
Blackheath, March 24, 1852.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.
COLERAINE.
Lord Naas was returned on Monday without opposi-
ion, as Mr. Wilson li-nnedy did not demand a poll.

CHURCH. STRETTON, TIIESDA.Y. A
vacancy having
taken place in the representation of the southern division
of Shropshi re by the appointment of Viscount Newport
to the situation of. Vtae•Charaberlain in her Majesty's
household, an election was held in consequence to-day
at Church Stretton, by the high
Sheriff, Robert Burton,
Esq.
Sir BALDWIN LEIGHTON, BART., proposed the Right
Hon. Viscount Newport.
JohN Wcit, Esq., seconded the nomination.
No other candidate having appeared,
The HIGH SHERIFF declared that the Right Hon.
Orlando George Charles Bridgman, commonly called
Viscount Newport, had been duly elected.—(Cheers.)?
Viscount NEWPORT then addressed the electors, and
the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks to the
High Sheriff.

DEARTH ON THE CONTINENT.
Accounts come in from all parts of the sufferings of
the poor in consequence of dearth of grain and potatoes,
from Posen, Westphalia, Greis, the Tyrol, Cassel, Nie-
derlausitz, 84c. In Posen there aro regular bands of
robbers, driven on by hunger, so that cavalry are obliged
to patrol the roads to protect travellers from attack. In
Westphalia, beans boiled with roots have superseded
bread and potatoes_ with the poor. In Wermeland and
Oestland (Sweden) recourse has already been had to
straw and the bark of trees for food. In Naumberg, a
mother, has drowned her two daughters and then herself,
in despair at the approach of starvation. In the neigh-
bourhood of Dantzic the failure of the potato crop has
contain from 30 to
induced several landowners to turn their attention to
at present very
36 per cent. more saccharine matter than beet-root; if
c lt
ve a t
ed Russian
here; potato, i
s
t o is
ontain
the
etle so-called
cultivated
true, this would be worth the attention of the company
about to manufacture beet-root sugar in Ireland.

[ADVEItTISEMBNT.] —Declaration of a Dutch soldier
who fought at Waterloo, cured by Holloway's Ointment and
Pills -"I,J. de Swart, publicly state that Holloway's Pills and
Ointment have cured me of several ulcerous sores-, which had
their origin in imperfectly healed wounds received in the battle
of Waterloo. The pain was infinite, and I was confined
to my bed always during the harvest months. I have
now for two years been enjoying the best of health, solely in
consequence of using Holloways Pills and Ointment, which
cured me in a very short time ; in gratitude for which' I pub-
lish this testimony. ( Signed) J. de Swart, of Lent, on the
Vostepels, near Nymegen, Holland, Oct. 4th, 1849.,s Sold
by all Druggists, and at Professor Holloway's Establishment,
444, Strand, London.
" CURSING" A MAGISTRATE BY A CLERGYMAN.—
A most extraordinary, novel, and exciting scene was wit-
nessed at the Flordon station, on Saturday evening. When
the five o'clock train from Norwich arrived
innognicinals.thelt was, however,
there
pthasesraeg,
ethoefptahse-
sengers were much surprised at seeing the Rev. Mr. Moore,
to " curse " a
magistrate, who was expected by the train;
and who had given him some presumed offence. When the
stns htoeaoei
tno.i
ohcunbun_orhdauoetrerai
nistogeof,
ddt hr
eet pae
that
r ihis
neh ,
hs
it
wassa ncdNawaiting
individual alluded to was giving up his ticket to the station-
master, the reverend gentleman thus addressed him—" I
inflict a curse upon this man. I curse you ; I curse your
wife; I curse your children; I curse all you have--may
your children be fatherless and vagabonds, and beg their
matter
bread," SLe , dtc. ; and thus he went ot
ellynetailetew"acsucrosmedmmitatned"
drove off. We understand that the has been laid
before the bishop ; and that the reverend gentleman, in
onSaturday
default o f find
nighting sureties
to
ttcole
jeep,
by Edward, Howe, LEI.—
Norwich Mercury.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

TIMES.—The late Board of Admiralty has delivered
itself of a posthumous defence. With very considerable
confidence Admiral Berkeley rose in the House on Mon-
day evening and performed the part of commentator on
the figures which the new Secretary recited. This re-
markable division of labour between those who pre-
pared the estimates and those who adopt them, enabled
the Gallant Member to discharge himself not only of
an exculpatory address, but of a severe invective
against his late censors in general, and the " public
press" in particular. With a modest announcement that
he proposed to " ray something in favour of the late
board," Admiral Berkeley reviewed, first, the case of the
Megmra; next, the subject of the "preserved meats;"
thirdly, the performances of the Admiralty in the trans-
port of troops to the Cape; and, finally, the general re-
sources of the navy as organized by the late board for
the purposes of national defence. With what success ho
conducted his argume:st we can soon qualify the reader
for deciding. " I will begin," said Admiral Berkeley,
" with the case of the Megmra." This " case," as will
be easily recollected, was constituted by the notorious
fact that the steweer in question not only broke down
or became disabled between Dover and Plymouth, but
was so laden as to make her prospects for the voyage
anything but desirable. And what, upon these peinte,
was Admiral Berkeley's defence? " I think," said he,
that this has been satisfactorily settled by the late
First Lord of the Admiralty, and Ido not think that
many more words, if any, are necessary on the subject.
I conceive that the answers of my Right Hon. Friend has
sufficiently disposed of the infamous stories which have
been invented about that vessel." This is what Admiral
Berkeley said about the Megmra—this and no more. It
is a pity be should have forgotten that before a defend-
ant can gain a suit he has to convince other persons be-
sides himself: If the Gallant Member really thought the
case " disposed of" in the opinion of the country, it was
somewhat superfluous that he should take it up again
to " begin with." If he wished to impart his
own convictions to others, ho should have done
something more than merely endorse the imperfect
apology of a fellow defendant. The case, as we
have observed, involved two points—first, the break-
down, and, secondly, the interior arrangements of the
vessel. As there is no kind of doubt about the former
casualty, the latter must furnish the subject of Admiral
Berkeley's allusions in speaking of the " infamous
stories" in circulation. To some of these stories we
c eatributed considerable currency, and we are bound,
therefore, to maintain their credibility. It was alleged that
the vessel was so overladen and encumbered with heavy
ordnance stores as to present a scene of indescribable
confusion, and to make it highly improbable that the
troops could be lodged with reasonable comfort. For
these statements we relied, among other sources of in-
formation, on the communication of a correspondent
who published the evidence of his own senses with the
authority of his proper signature. The Rev. William
Buller, rector oe the iioly Trinity, Dorchester, avowedly
actuated by motives of public duty, informed the country
through our columns that he had been an eye-witness of
the embarkation of the Rifle Brigade on board the Me-
gmra; that " the store-room and stowage" (we quote
his own words) " were filled with Ordnance stores, so
that no place remained for the arrangement and proper
disposition of the baggage and belongings of the 700
soldiers;" that " Government, at the sacrifice
of men and officers' just claims to consideration, had
made the ship answer a purpose for which it was never
intended;" and that, in his belief, "much wanton and un-
necessary misery" must inevitably be inflic,ed on the
troops, even if the consequences did not involve the
" risk of life to England's best and bravest suns." These
were the facts positively and publicly stated by a gen-
tleman who witnessed the embarkation, and who, we
must presume, had some personal interest in thus ascer-
taining the truth. We leave them to be compared with
Admiral Berkeley's second-hand apology, and to carry
their own weight, observing simply, that nothing is yet
known of the allege:m..l's ultimate performances, though
we are aware that her passage to Madeira corresponded
as nearly as poslble with her passage to Plymouth.
As regards the " break down" of the vessel, which Mr.
Buller described as "putting into Plymouth much dis-
abled, with a depth of water in her which her crew had
been engaged the whole night pumping out," we re-
marked at the time that it would be unfair to make too
much of an accident, except in so far as it might exem-
plify a general condition when taken in combination
with other accidents of a similar kind. It was not
simply because the Megtera became disabled, but be-
cause other Government steamers had fared little better,
that attention was drawn to the fact. Our argument
was wholly derived from general results, as contrasted
with general and reasonable expectations. We observed
that whereas enormous sums had been lavished on the
completion of our steam marine, its first performances,
when put to actual test by the war at the Cape, had
been very unpromising. "It was said," asserts Admiral
Berkeley, " that the Admiralty were so ignorant of what
they were about that they could not convey troops from
England to the Cape." Nothing of the sort was said.
What was said was, that considering the smallness of
the exigency as compared with the magnitude of our
establishments, the actual proceedings had been far from
satisfactory. We said that though steamers were only
required at intervals of two or three months to take 700
or 800 troops at a time, these voyages were seldom or
never well performed, and that the Vulcan had done
worse than the Aloga3ra. It will be in everybody's re-
collection, indeed, that this vessel was reported to
have been absoluiely lost, and in point of fact she is
again considerably overdue at this vtry moment. The
Hellespont screw-steamer left the Cape on the 28th of
December and arrived at Plymouth on the 31st of
January; the Bosphorus loft on the 3d of February and
arrived on tee 3.1 of the present month; the Windsor, a
sailing vessel of Mr. Green's, left on the 9th of January
and arrived also on the 7th inst.; but the Vulcan,
though she left the Cape on the 21 of January, has not
made her appearance yet. It the requirements of a
Kafir war so tax our steam resources that one vessel
must be made to do the work of two, and all are left
behind by private merchantmen, what are we to expect
when heavier demands come upon us? This is the
question which was asked, but which Admiral Berke-
ley omitted to answer. With respect to the general
efficiency of our naval defences, Admiral Berkeley not
only asserted, but "staked his existence" on the fact
that " though the Admiralty did not make any fuss
about their proceedings, they could during all
the time of the outcry have covered the Chan-
nel from the North Foreland to the Channel
Islands with a fleet of steamers, within signal distance of
each other, in the space of 24 hours." Such is the Gel-
lant Admiral's tardy declaration. We have not the
smallest desire to question a statement which will be
remarkably re-assuring to the country at large, and
which will doubtless be remembered to come effect in
the debate on ourdefet:ces, but we really think the " late
Board" might have judiciously made a little more "fuss"
on this special occasion. We can only say at present
that not only the public, but the members of the service
itself, seem utterly unable to comprehend where this
fleet of steamers was to come from. Admiral Bowles,

though formerly in office, "had not the least idea of
such a thing." Admiral Napier was evidently quite as
much in the dark. Yet, somehow or other, it seems
these invisible steamers, with their invisible engineers,
seamen, and gunners, and all warranted, we presume,
not to break down, were to start forth in scores at ft
telegraphic signal. This is, indeed, a " naval reserve"
worth talking about, and the more substantial the vision
is the better will the country be satisfied; but, as the
late Board" kept the secret so very effectually, and
have only disclosed it gratuitously after all, they cannot
be surprised if the public take some time to "realize"
the fact.

HERALD.—There are some statements which pass
simply from their audacity. They make such a bold
onset, that the auditor is pushed some steps backward
before he has time to recollect himself. Of this class
was an assumption that several leaders of the new Oppo-
sition agreed to put forward in the first debate under the
new Administration in the Commons—an assumption,
Vie boldness of which was chiefly manirested in this—
that it took for granted that th© present House of Com-
mons, being born in July, 1847, could have no know-
ledge of what took place in the previous House, between
May, 1846, and Ju: e 1847. Let us show what we morn
by citing two or three-passages from three of the prin-
cipal speakers in that night's debate. To begin, then,
with Lord John Russell. The Noble Lord, in that de-
bate, used these words:—
" The Prime Minister says, I cannot propose mea-
sures to the present Parliament, because I should be in
a minority.' That is not an unusual position ; but Mi-
nisters who have said that have usually said, ' It is im-
possible for me to propose those measures with any
prospect of success in the present Parliament. I must
advise the Crown to call another Parliament, and to
that Parliament I must submit the measures I think
right for the country;' but the proposition of the Noble
Lord at the head of the Government, and the proposi-
tion of the Right Hon. Gentleman to-night, is this—
' We are in a minority ; we mean to conduct the whole
business of the country with that minority ; we mean to
go through the session, and when the session is over we
mean to exercise our own discretion whether we shall
dissolve Parliament or not—it may perhaps be dissolved
in December, and then we shall propound the measures
we think necessary.'
" It appears to me, I own, that there is no constitu-
tional precedent, that there can be no constitutional pre-
cedent, for such conduct as this."
Next, Sir James Graham came to the Noble Lord's
aid, with an exactly similar statement. He said :
" I had the pleasure of hearing the Noble Earl at the
head of the Government iu a late speech of his, when
he said—' I know that I am in an undoubted minority
iu the House of Commons, and I appeal therefore to the
forbearance of the House.' I deny absolutely that in
the whole course of our Parliamentary history such an
admission was ever made by any Minister, or that any
such appeal for forbearance was ever asked.—(Cheers.)
I challenge any one to point out any such admission, or
any such request, as that made by Lord Derby.—(l.lear,
hear.) I say that a due homage to the representative
system is at variance with such a request—(Hear, hear)
—and that our representative system would be brought
into disrepute if a Government so situated continued in
office, or suffered Parliament to sit an hour longer than
was necessary to provide for the safety and defence of the
country." Minister, Mr.
And then, thirdly, came another QX.
Gladstone,. He said :
"If I have any fault to find with the Ili ht Hon.
it is that he seemsdpirs
Gentleman's sreceh,
pupoeserdantodavoidrecognising that there is something improper
irre-
gular to the constitution in the existence of
a Govern
went which is in a minority in the Commons."

And sgain:—
The point which I desire to bring before tl:e House,
and on which I wish the discussion to be concentred, is,
that this Hcuse must obtsm in form and substance an
assurance of the intention of the Government to advise
the Ctowli to dmolvo P44418;1014 as mu as the NM'