The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-08 00:00:00

fourth Xbition

FRANCE.

By an order of the Minister of War, in 1843, made
with the view of preventing officers of the army
from contracting marriage, with a danger of bringing
upon themselves additional charges which they would
be unable to meet, it was declared that no permission
would be given to a n officer to marry unless the lady
should possess an income of at least 1,2001. a year,
which is not to be a life income, but in full right, so
as to profit to the husband or children in the event of
ler death. The present Minister of War has, by a
circular to the generals of divisions and subdivisions,
ditected that they shall look strictly to the execution
-of this regulation, and not permit any officers to
marry until the Minister himself shall have examined
as to the validity of the deed by which such property
is secured.

We read in the Moniteur de 1 Armee :—" The
Minister of War, struck with the inconvenience that
results from the ignorance of horsemanship which is
sometimes shown by infantry officers in command,
and being desirous of putting an end to a state of
things alike prejudicial to dignity and duty, has de-
cided that, after the general inspection of 1853, cap-
tans of infantry susceptible of becoming chefs de
Bataillon shall not be proposed for this grade until
sley have satisfied the inspector-general of their
Ability to manage a horse in presence of the troops."

STATE OF TRADE.
(From the Manchester Guardian of this day.)
MANCHESTER, TRESDAY.—We learn by the Africa
that the New York cotton market was dull, with a
small concession in price, whilst that of New Orleans
continued steady though quiet. The total receipts
amounted to 3;008,553 bales against -2,322,921 last
year. The reports of the new crop were still in the
highest degree favourable. It would seem as if specu-
lators on both sides the Atlantic were becoming more
wary in their proceedings ; for, in some instances,
buyers are able to supply themselves, in Liver-
pool, on slightly better terms than they could
last week. And that ready sympathy with any cir-
cumstances calculated to excite caution, which pre-
vails here, has been so far called into action as to
diminish the buoyancy of our market both in yarns
and goecl,. But though business has lost something
in point of tone, and the buyers are more inclined to
hold back than before, there is yet a great steadiness
in prices ; indeed, in most articles the utmost firmness
-prevails. The advantage which, in some instances,
buyers bad last week in certain things, such as the
tower counts of warps, and the Indian qualities of 40's,
50's, and 60's mule, is rather more marked and gene-
ra!' to-day ; and the improvement then showing itself
is domestics appears to be retarded. The India
houses hold off from purchasing shirtings as well as
yarns. In 7-Bth, 9-Bth, and 5-4th printing cloths,
however, there is as much firmness as ever.
ROCHDALE, MONDAY.—We have had a rather
heavy
and sluggish market to-day, with a limited
attendance of buyers, but little change in prices.
There are no new features in the wool market to
report, either in price or demand. The dealers are
out of sorts, and they say that broke wools are be-
coming very scarce.
MACCLESFIELD, TllESDAY.—Business in manufac-
tured goods has made further progress, nearly the
whole of the
existing stocks having been cleared
off ; and buyers are anxious
liy ~eing
spe as
ct s forey are
produced. e contractsth
of some descriptions for d
produced. Oa the whole, the
prospects three
r
coming winter appear favourable. Thrown Silks :
The market has been less active than of late ;
but
as manufacturers have had free sale for
their goo&, and as their stocks of silk on hand are
understood to be unusually light, there is every
prospect of an active demand ere long. The ac-
counts to hand this morning from the continent speak
of prices for Italian throwns having a hardening ten-
dency, which may have the effect of bringing over
further orders for our home throwns. Raw Silks—
The market latterly has been much unsettled by the
circulars freely sent out by the leading brokert,
which have been of a very contradictory nature, and
have tended unnecessarily to alarm the trade at a
tilme when business appeared near at hand. On the
whole, looking at the various chops put forward, the
reduction appears to be one of quality as well as

HALIFAX, SATIJILDAY.--Rather more fancy goods,
chiefly of low quality, have been disposed of in our
piece hall to-day than for some weeks past, but the
general condition of the worsted trade has experienced
no amendment. In yarns and wools there is no ma-
terial change, except perhaps that there is somewhat
more languor in the demand, prices remaining the
same.

HUDDERSFIELD, TUESDAY.—We have no change
to notice i❑ our market ; it continues dull, with the
exception of the woollen fancy branch ; rather more
has been done in that, with new patterns for the
winter season.

LAWS AND INSTITUTES OF IRELAND

The following is the report of the Commissioners
appointed to inquire and report concerning the ancient
lvei and instilites of Ireland :

"May it please your Excellency,—The pi incipal ma-
teriels necessary for the preparation of a report on the
ancient Irish laws beieg now ccllected and arranged, we
have thought i: our duty to icy before your Excellency
a brief statement of the results at which we have al-
ready arrived; and to solicit some instructions respect-
ing the time and manner of completing the task which
your Excellency has been pleased to commit to us.
" The first object to which oar attention was directed
was the formation of a catalogue of all the manuscripts
of the Brehon Laws which are known to exist in the
United Kingdom. A numerous and valuable collection
of these documents, originally made in Ireland by the
niniat Welch antiquary and philologist, Edward
Lhwyd, is now preserved in the library of Trinity
College, Dublin, to which it was presented about
sixty years ago, by Sir John Sebright. In
ILdisposing of it, he appears to have been influenced
by the advice of the celebrated. Edmund Burke, who
tnatiltatedoonthat occasion a lively anxiety to have the
materials of Irish history placed within the reach of
*ellic'lara by the tranoaticn and publication of all the
ancient records of the
kw, Agss.,a.na a fewbcoluntry- Besides the Trinity Col-
dea', we have ascertainedeonging to the Royal Irish Aca-
demy,
of the Bretton that transcripts of various por-
iLnatwhse are to be, found in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford,
and in the Stowe Collectiounary of the British Museum,
lisn.zow the property of Lord
Aslitureham. All the3o
••., except the last men-
to which we have not tioned, as yet been
so fortunate as
at
To obtain access, have been described
an analytcal catalogue, made according great length in
i
to our directions
Carry,
by Dr. ODonovan end Mr. Eugene e
and contain-
ing notices of their respective duties, and of the general
nature of the subjects they treat ot.
"'the dates of the existing MSS. of the Brehon Laws
vary from the early part cf the 14th to the close of the
16th century; but the authority of some is enhanced by
the fact that they were traLscribed 'ay persons in whoa:e
families the office of brehon, or judge, had been heredi-
tary for several generations.
" For the laws themselves a much higher antiquity
may be safely asserted. S 3 far us we have external
evidence to guide us, there is no reason to suspect that
they have undergone any material change since the
time of Cormac Mac Cuillensin, Kirg and Bishop of
Cashel, who died A.D. 903. lle V 733 a man of great
learning and energy, who certainly promoted the
ex,cution of considerable literary works, and under
whose influence it is not improbable that a systemat_ic.
compilation of the laws may have been effected. Of
this, however, we have no distinct record. Ou the other
hand, we find scattered through all parts of the laws al-
lusions to a general revision of them in the fifth cen-
tury, at the instance of St. Patrick, who, in conjunction
with certain kings and learned men, is said to have ex-
Punged from them all those institutions which savoured
of paganism, and to have framed the coda called the
beinchus Mor. These same documents assert the
existence
t of still more ancient written laws, the greater
par
of which are ascribed to Corm
ac Mac Art, monarch
of Irela
lid, in the middle of th e third century. How-
ever slow we
bekind,
wh,e, may be to acquiesce in statements of the
d+ contradicto what we have learned concerning
Western Euro legislation in the remaining parts of
matter of reeete.we may readily admit that the subject-
antiquity, as ' of t indt'lle laws demonstrates their great
society in which they the primitive nature of the
tempts to efface it, treayc prevailed. In spite of the at•
ible in many parte o;,sthof heathenism are still discern-
ordeals of a pagan chara.etenl. They enumerate various
magical, and specify the occasions
which are expressly termed
thaw was prescribed. Theareea3i°fla on which a resort to
laws of marriage, which pro,are also provisions in the
have exercised but a feeble ;_ne _ that Christianity could
they were enacted. "'"ilence at the time when
" The language in which the Brehon
is a convincing proof of their Laws are written
anti'laity, Th
oomposed in a peculiar dialect, as men eray are
maintained; but, if their style differs fromYtvr have
a
vernacu'ar Irish of the present day, as Anglo-Saxon
of the
dines from modern English, this dissimilarity - t a-Salca
to be as-
cribed mainly to the effects of time, by which the ortho-
graphy and grammatical forms of the languag® ha
been modified, and legal terms and phrases of constant
recurrence have become obsolete. The antiquity of '
the
language of the Brehon Laws being once established, it
mast be apparent that the publication of them would
promote the study of philosophy in no ordinary Way.
From no other source could such abundant and precious
materialsth be obtained by the scholar engaged in analyzing
oteheCreltio lace
s-inage!, and determining their relation to
branches of the Indo-EuropGan language'
"Apart from their mere • 't these lan's are pos-
sessed of considerable ' antiqut.y,
They lay down the t-rilvTrest to the historian f
all classes; they defineof persons o
ees and duties
theenure of land aed the rights
of property of all kinds.
per-
fect picture of the society Ini:4 word, they furnish a w
regulate, from the constitution- Which
they were desiwed to
relation subsisting between the of
the kingdom, and the
vincial kings, down to the minutest details cf domestic
"Such being the estimate which
these documents has led us to f an examination of
ontnts 7;3 feel that we are fkill- oral of their age and
niermailig
to
yc,or
Excellency
that J7 warranted in recom-
the publication of them