The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-10 00:00:00

be at an end, and the superseded Judges were left
without explanation. That explanation Lord
CHELMSFORD has demanded at the hands of the
Government ; and that explanation, so consonant
with every English sympathy, the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE has very properly, but very ungraciously,
promised to accord.

It is very satisfactory to notice that the "Poisoned
Grain Prohibition Bill" was read a second time on
Wednesday. Mr. PAULL, in moving the second
reading, made a most interesting speech on the sub-
ject. The hon. member said that the mission of
small birds was of great utility, and their
destruction was most injurious to vegeta-
tion and agriculture. He also showed that
the means used by per3ons to destroy small birds,
by poisoning seed wheat, &c., was dangerous to
society at large. In France and Germany they
now understood the value of birds, although too
long they had carried on a war of extermination
minGmataione
against them. He did not wish to make
farmers and of agriculture he as
Laws more stringent, but in thkeedintthereeHse t
stoouftheo
prevent indiscriminate slCommission had reported
that,aughitnert.he
vTinhee-growing
h
years the loss from caterpillars
communes,
wastBs2
,oion ten
0. The Royal Agricultural Society's
journal last year publishedte immense an
services
er article onrendered
er
nddede-
structive insects, and the
by small birds. The great destruction caused by
caterpillars was shown by its extracts from a Swiss
work. It appeared "in one year an area of 860
acres of fir forest was entirely stripped of its leaves
by the caterpillars of the Noctuae, and the Govern.
ment paid more than 1,000 thalers for the
destruction of 94,000,000 of the above dangerous
insects." Mr. PAULL also said that while English
sportsmen were not addicted to the practice of de-
stroying small birds like the sportsmen of other
countries, yet nevertheless the destruction was
going on at an alarming rate. A curious case in
point was adduced from what took place in Hamp-
shire, when rookeries were abolished. Many hurt-
ful insects, and especially the cockchafer, increased
so greatly that women and children were obliged to
follow the plough to pick up the grubs. Therefore
the farmers resolved to re-establish rookeries.
Among the letters on the subject it appeared that
the members of a single Sparrow Ciub had de-
stroyed 13,000 birds. Of late years agriculturists
had adopted the pernicious system of employing
poisoned wheat. Of course the indiscriminate sale of
this article is most dangerous. A letter was read
by Mr. PAULL from Col. CLIFFORD, who stated that
his keeper complained to him that great mischief
was occasioned by it; and one morning eight or
ten pigeons dropped down dead after picking up
some of tnis grain on a field a mile off. Also, Mr.
BOWDEN, a magistrate for the csnnty of Derby,
instanced three flagrant cases in his neighbour-
hood that proved the evil of this practice. The
poisons used for dressing the grain were of the
strongest and most deadly kind—strychnine, coca-
ins indicus, and arsenic.
Mr. PAULL concluded by stating that he has
essayed to make his bill as stringent as possible,
for he considered that no one had a right to pro.
tact himself in a manner that injured his neighbour.
The use of poisoned grain was now become so pre-
' valent thet all over the country hawkers went
aboat " with strings of birds round their necks,
and sold for a penny packages of poison enough to
kill a whole village. The bill was read a second
time upon the understanding that great alterations
should be introduced in committee. It is to be
hoped that notwithstanding the lateness of the
session the bill will pass into law, and not be left
to another year, as some suggested. The practice of
destroying small birds is one that ought to be
stopped at once, and if some few suffer in cen-
sequence of the suppressed sale of these poisons,
they will only have themselves to thank for it. It
is indeed a custom that exemplifies the adage of
"penny wise and pound foolish," for the small
tithes that were the portion of the birds have been
greatly increased through the devastating inroads
of insects. The French have had to rue the day
when their legislators sanctioned the wholesale
slaughter of these little warblers. Their harvests
have failed repeatedly, and the wireworm destroyed
in one department during a single year corn to
the value of £160,000. It appears from the evi•
deuce on all aides, that it is a crime which brings
its own punishment to the holders of property
who encourage the nefarious practice; but then
there is the loss sustained by those who
have done no injury, and the loss also of
the sweet strains of these feathered songsters.
There is surely nothing but evil wrought by this
custom, and it is hard for the ramblers abroad to
be deprived of their accustomed melody. In France
the traveller hardly ever hears their notes, so cruel
and exterminating has been the warfare waged. It
is, in fact, one of those cases where the law should
interfere at once, for the habit once adopted is sure
to increase. Doubtless the spirit of emulation is
now rife in every sparrow club, to achieve a more
complete slaughter than any rival society has yet
accomplished. As for those whom no sentiments
of admiration for these ornaments of creation cau
affect, they had better consider that there is great
danger to human life in these wholesale poisonings
of animals. The poor, the ignorant, and the starv-
ing are sure to fall victims to a cruel death, if this
mode is oarried on much further. All sorts of
animals are killed by the poisoned wheat, as was
proved in thet riespeoerrt in statements
tsaainnEitha human
madetlife w
nestthe
House, and it
pay
the forfeit of this indiscriminate and inconsi
derate
11
esyle of procedure. Through a mistaken
notion
of
economy, some have adopted the practice,
others follow it up for the love of mischief, some
join the sport for the excitement of the thing, and
unprincipled vendors of all classes make an un-
worthy gain from this deleterious traffic. It is high
time that all parties were checked in their unwise
and unmerciful course, and those who best appre-
elate the harmony of the CREATOR'S works will
readily accord their aid in putting down this work
of destruction.

The second reading of the Fortifications Bill
produced, as might have been anticipated, a
lengthened and animated debate. No sooner had
the Premier briefly introduced the measure than Sir
F. SMITH rose to move an amendment. The hon.
baronet did not go so far as some subsequent
speakers, for he admitted that it would be unwise
to leave unfi3ished those works which were far
advanced, end contented himself by proposing that
no further expense be at present incurred on the
aBBumPti
anenemymight land and besiege
Plymouth Portsmouth, except on such works as
andth a t
are in an advanced state. The hon, member for
Rochdale, on the contrary, with that fervent
opposition which the very name of war excites in
the minds of the Manchester school, denounced the
whole scheme as iniquitous, and suddenly discovered
that it was injurious to the honour of England to
build fortifications at all. Other gentlemen brought
forward their reasons for opposing the measure—
some objecting to the
position of the forts in Tug,.
tbn, some denying the probability, almost the pot-
sibiliry, of an attempt at invasion, while others
maintained the superiority of an iron-clad fleet as
a means of defence. It is by this time tolerably