The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY,- EVENING EDITION,-FEBRUARY 2L

of Commons on Tuesday night, and saw the
county Members bring up petition after peti-
tion in favour of the Corn-laws, till the num-
ber amounted to many hundreds, must have
been struck with dismay at the formidable and well
organized oppostion on the part of the working
agriculturists they would have to surmount. The
names of places from which petitions were pre-
sented for the abolition or the repeal of the Corn-
laws on Tuesday evening fill about one-third of a
page of the Parliamentary Votes; while the names
of the places from which petitions were presented
against the repeal fill three pages and a third, or
they were at least ten times as numerous
as the petitions for the repeal. Every parish,
and almost every corn growing hamlet in
the empire would seem to Yave found some
person in it capable of drawing up a petition, and
had come to the Legislature with a prayer for the
continuance of wrong. The places which peti-
tioned for the abolition or repeal are generally well
known, such as London, Manchester, Newcastle,
Ste., but many of those which petitiOned against
the repeal never to our knowledge met our eye be-
fore. In the books of the House of Commons,
however, a petition from Foggathorpe tells as much
as a petition from London, though presented by
the Sheriffs, and one from Goulthorpe-cum-Gow-
thorpe is as valid as one from Manchester. Both
are received alike, and shoved into the great bad,' ;
Burton-Coggles, Tardebig, Fillongley, Monk So-
ham, Thornton-le-Fen, Asgarby-cum-Boughton,
Hough-on-the-Hill, Woolfardisworthy, etc., etc.,
tell as much in the list as Greenwich,
Yarmouth, Devonport, Coventry, Norwich,
Birmingham, The Tower Hamlets, and
Gloucester, though they are not quite as well
known. All the landed gentry and apparently all
the clergy, who make such excellent levers for
moving the country people, seem to have been at
work, and the consequence is, that the petitions
for continuing the Corn-laws from such renowned
places as those we have mentioned, are ten times as
numerous as those from the known parts of the
empire.

To overcome this opposition which even a 'Mi-
nistry with all its power scarcely dare to coerce,
the towns' people should organise a regular sys-
tem of instruction. Only a few months have
elapsed, in fact, not more than a few weeks, since the
Corn-law question was diligently taken up by tin
manufacturers, and they have already made a great
progress towards attaining their object. They are
not aware, perhaps, or they do not recollect
that the agriculturists have in sundry associa-
tions a means ready organised, and which has
been for some time, to grab what they can.
It is a bcautiful illustration of the theory that all
the interests of the State are united to find the
agriculturists and the manufacturers forming them-
selves into organised bodies to oppose and thwart
each other. Mr. CAYL EY, the gentleman who,
on Tuesday evening, so eloquently sought to
get the Corn-law starved factory-cripples against
their masters, was, we believe, the author of
the present extensive combination of the agricul-
turists to maintain the oppression exercised in their
behalf on the other classes. In a letter which he
wrote to the Marquis of CHANDOS, in Oct. 10,
1835, he strongly urged the necessity of ';union
and co-operation amongst the agriculturists to
obtain relief from their distress." He insisted
that three-fourths of the arable land in Great
Britain could not then pay the expenses of cultivation,
though the Corn-laws were in full vigour; and since
then the agriculturists have formed a combination to
"obtain relief from the Legislature, from the inju-
ries inflicted on them by trading politicians and
philosophers" of whom the agriculturists have a
great horror. This combination of the agricultu-
rists must be (and can only be) broken up by the
farmers being instructed in their true interests before
any Ministry, we are afraid, will dare to grant redress
to the suffering manufacturers. Most formidable is
the conspiracy, as exemplified by the numerous pe-
titions which the country gentlemen and the clergy
have organised against the liberties, the purse, and
the prosperity of the nation ; and it will need all the
energies of the enlightened inhabitants of the towns,
though they be as strong and as unwearied as their
own steam-engines, to preserve themselves free and
the empire from decay. They now know their
danger, they have already made considerable progress
in averting it, and we have no doubt'of their ultimate
success.

The Corn-law Delegates yesterday, very properly,
unanimously, and without any doubts or bickering,
passed a vote of thanks to Mr. VILLIERS, for the
able manner in which he brought their case before
Parliament, and to Mr. STRUTT and the Minority
of 172, who so well seconded him. Thus to reward
and encourage their deserving, though discomfitted
combatants is wisdom.

Sir ROBERT PEEL'S speech in the House of
Commons on Tuesday, in opposition to Mr. VIL•
LIERS'S motion for hearing evidence at the bar on
the subject of the Corn-laws, plausible as we grant
it to be, and great as is the effect we think it not
unlikely to produce o❑
.the obtuse capacities of
many of our thick-and-thin Tory agriculturists, to
whom it was specially addressed, is, after all, but
one string of dexterous fallacies from begin❑ing to
end. Yet, as is generally the case with those cun-
ning, nimble-witted sophists who sacrifice truth to
effect, and are solicitous only to make their inge-
nious points tell, the Right Hon. Baronet over-
shoots his mark, and, quite unawares, is made the
dupe of his own exquisite cunning. " I am
asked," he observed in the speech in question, " to
enter into an inquiry at the bar, as to the operation
of the Corn-laws. Why do I resist it ? Upon
the narrow ground of there being no direct prece-
dent ? Upon the ground merely that the inquiry
would consume the time of the House ? Ido not
resist it upon any of these grounds. I resist it from
the strong conviction on my own mind that
the present system of Corn-laws ought to be
maintained, and because you have hitherto
brought forward no plausible arguments to my mind.
And yet when Mr. VILLIERS offers to bring for-
ward these plausible arguments ; when he offers to
prove by the testimony of competent witnesses at
the bar, that the Corn-laws are deeply injurious to
all the best interests of the nation—then, forsooth,
Sir R. PEEL must put his veto on the motion,
though that motion has no other object than to fur-
nish him with the very '' arguments" which he him-
self expressly declares that he is in want of ! Talk,
after this, of the fair dealing of a Tory ! Why, the
phrase is the bitterest irony, when applied to a
politician of this stamp I But Sir ROBERT PEEL
is well known, and to say, therefore, that on
the question of the Corn-laws—or indeed on any
other question—he is playing the part of a clever
political juggler, is merely to repeat what has been
said and felt a thousand times already.

whole story was a gross fabrication, trumped up to
cast dishonour upon our flag ? That a pilot was
sent on board a French ship as a compliment to
the French by a British Captain, but that the
pilot was not a Mexican subject ? That the pilot
was a Mexican, but that he went on board the
French squadron at his own especial desire ?
no ; the answer was the very reverse of what would
have led the House to participate in the Noble Earl's
self-satisfaction. It was that the report was es-
sentially correct ; that a Mexican subject had been
dragged a prisoner from under the protection of the
flag of Great Britain, in the face of the protest of a
British Naval Officer against such violence ; but that
Admiral BAuniN, after making the poor pilot
accessory to the destruction of the lives of hundreds
of his countrymen, had thought it prudent
to address a letter to Lord MINTO, gently
deprecating the rash conduct of his subordinate,
and invoking the kindly indulgent sympathies of
the high and mighty Members of the Board. So
frank an explanation from a naval hero in the hour
of victory, was of course irresistible. If the
French Admiral made the dishonour of, our flag
accessary to the capture of St. Jean D'Ulloa—if
to over-awe the Mexicans he dared to treat the
British standard with all the insolence of a con-
queror, he repaired the injury in the opinion of
Lord MINTO by ironically applauding the mea-
sures taken by his Lordship to prevent the possi-
ble recurrence of such an untoward manifestation
of French naval daring I
But, however delighted Lord MINTO may be
with the explanation which he had it in his power
to offer in the House of Lords on Tuesday, we beg
to tell him that it has neither satisfied the Naval
Service, nor the country. To do this—if indeed
such be his Lordship's object—it will be requisite
to lay all the Papers relative to this affair before
Pa:liament, for it would be preposterous to
suppose that so grave a question could have
been settled without the interchange of a
number of official documents, which have not yet
had time to be rendered illegible by the irradi-
cable dust of Whitehall. We have hopes that
this view of the question will forcibly present
itself to some Noble Peer, who may make the pro-
duction of these papers the subject of a very im-
portant motion. For our own part we are as tena-
cious of the blessings of peace, and particularly
peace with France, as any of her Majesty's subjects ;
hut it is because that we would avoid all unneces-
sary wars,as the scourges of humanity, that we would
carefully guard against a tame Lubmission to insults,
which must have the effect of prematurely provoking
hostilities. As was well observed by WASHING-
TON, in his last Message to Congress, the best way
to avoid war is to be prepared fur it ; the best way to
live at peace with all nations, is never to allow it to
be suspected that our nationality can be outraged,
under any pretext whatever, with impunity. These
are maxims of which Lord IVIINTo does not ap-
pear to understand the full force ; and yet their ap-
preciation is essential to the proper guidr.nce of the
Naval affairs of this country.

On the state of the British Navy generally, and
Sir JOU N BARttow's official defence of it in par-
ticular, our columns of this day contain a long
letter from a Veteran Naval Officer, which we re-
commend to the notice of the Lords of the Admi-
ralty. As the Gallant writer has promised to
follow it up with statements going more into detail,
we shall riot weaken the force of his observations
by a premature comment upon them. Nor are the
communications which appear in our columns the
only ones which we receive from Naval Officers of
high rank, upon the dilapidated condition of this,
the most important branch of the public service.
Many of our most valued Naval Correspondents—
long since grown grey in an ungrateful service_
could handle a cutlass, or a boarding-pike,
with more facility than a pen ; and certainly,
in their younger days, never dreamed that the
commander of a British seventy-four would ever
find it necessary to study the now common-place
graces of newspaper composition. In the honest
simplicity of their hearts they persuaded themselves
that reward followed upon the heels of merit, and
that a thorough seaman and a true Briton in the
day of battle had no need of Court lingo to recom-
mend his claims to the notice of the members of the
Board of Admiralty. They have lived long enough
in obscurity to arrive at very different conclu-
sions. And when veterans accustomed by their
early habits to estimate the naval service
as the most glorious in the world—to prize strict
subordination to the will and pleasure of the Board
as the first of moral duties—to look upon the British
Power at sea as almost coeval with the sea itself—
to regard Victory and the British Flag as synoni-
mous ; when such men raise their voices against
abuses in the Navy, it is an insult to common sense
for any mere official to tell us, that by the help of
a multiplication table he can prove all such charges
to be utterly groundless. Naval Officers are
among the last men in the world to com-
plain without reason ; and when in the list of
their complaints we find so much about their
own personal neglect by the Board, we may be
certain that their privations are of no ordinary de-
scription.

We insert in another column some correspon-
dence relative to the management of the Post-office,
in regard to the communication between London
and Dublin, and between Dublin and the interior of
Ireland. Will it be believed that, in the present
improved state of railroad travelling, the Post-
office Authorities could hesitate a moment in taking
advantage of further improvements ? And yet such
is most unaccountably the fact. By a trifling
alteration in the departure of the Dublin mail-
packet from Liverpool five hours can be gained in
our intercourse with Ireland—and that, too, at no
additional expense.
Nor is this all : by the despatch of a morning mail
from Dublin (merely taking advantage of a day
coach now on the road, and which would carry
the mails for nothing,) forty-eight hours can be
saved in the correspondence between the capital
and the provinces of Ireland ! With a knowledge
of these facts, if the Post-office hesitate any
longer, the Government, and not the Post-office,
must bear the responsibility.
The people of Ireland are under deep obliga-
tions to Messrs. JOHNSTON, the indefatigable
newspaper agents, for their laudable anxiety in this
respect, to promote the general good by facilitating
the public intercourse throughout and with the
Sister Isle.

The present policy of LOUIS PHILIPPE leads
strongly to the inference that there is an hereditary
and reckless obstinacy in the BOURBON family,
like that of the STUART family in England, and
like that, destined to bring it to ruin. For the first
six
_years of his reign he had acquired a high cha-
racter for foresight, firmness of purpose, and skilful
management of parties, which his conduct, strange
and unaccountable ash has been for the last two years,
had not destroyed. Late events, however, have
cleared up the mystery, and leave no doubt that
he is prepared to go all lengths—even sacrifice his
own family—to preserve what he considers the
prerogative of monarchy in France. This has been
his ruling passion from the commencement. It
was for this that he began first to desert LAFA-
YETTE and LAFITTE, the representatives of the
class that placed him on the throne, and for
this he rejects the counsels of THIERS and
SOULT, and, indeed, all his former friends.
He rejects those who would save the ORLEANS
dynasty, and falls back on the old bigoted party—
the friends of the exiled family—the men who hate
him and his race, and who are possibly in league
candi-
dates with the Continental despots to place his rival, the
l
rolis Lti aNnAdci-
ard on Constitu-
tional of BORDEAUX, on the Throne. Accord-
ing to the last accounts of election proceedings,
tdt
ihaoetneaFs
tr
oe
principles.nocl:p
ose Ministry
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Ministry was wisdom compared with this, but still it
is only the legitimate conclusion of that policy which
ng laws the expres-
e French people.
led the Citizen King to fawn upon the northern
agtti h
his consolation, that
Powers, to support despotism in Spain, to cherish
priestcraft in France, to reject the alliance of Eng-
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ndt ,tohaf
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all the evil resulting from this folly works for their
good. All the great leading men in France (ex-
cepting one or two Carlists) are in favour of Con-
stitutional Government, and the violence of the op-
posite party only gives tenfold effect among the
people to the moderation and firmness of the
coalition.

about to "seal 2,000 troops to re-inforce the French
army now making war on Mexico. We trust that mea-
sures will be speedily taken to render their landing in
South America unnecessary, as otherwise the flames
kindled in Mexico may spread to Europe. No news from
Brussels had reached Paris up to post hour, though the
popular anxiety to learn the manifestations of public feel-
ing in Brussels at the opening of the Chambers was
unusually great. This was much increased by the publi-
catioa of a violent letter from M. DUMORTIRR, a
member of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies, in the
columns of the Constitutionnel of Tuesday, calling upon
the French patriots to assist the Belgians in resisting
the ultimatum of the London Conferenee.

The news from Madrid is of the 12th, but it con-
sists merely of rumours and speculations, fit only
to serve as topics of lounging gossip on the Prado.
The Carlists alone are busy preparing for another
grand expedition across the Ebro. As for ESPARTERO,
he is so occupied with plans for the arrangement of
Royal matrimonial alliances, that he allows the Carlists
to do just as they please. All he is anxious about is
to prevent them from disturbing his meditations by un-
ceremoniously beating up his quarters.

BOURSE—PARIS, TUESDAY, FEB 19.
First Highest I ow, st Last
Price. PriCe. Price. Price.
French 5 per Cents. llO M ... 110 ! 0 ... 110 '75 ... 110 2')
4►% per Cents
_101,50 ...• 104 50 ... 104 50 101 50

_ -
Sp Cents. 7B 50 ...78 55 ...di ...-8 55
Bank of France 2610 ...VII/ ...WOO ...2403
Belgian b per Cents.
3 per Cents. 6B 35 ... 6)4 35 64 ... 67 60

11:t4,k ...... ~. ._
S 6) ... ;Al ... 560 ... 51,11
Spanish'Acti.e
Neapolitan ..
ltoman
EXCHANGE ON LONDON.

One month, paper, 2af 10c , money, 25f lie.; three months,
paper, 241. 97;5, c., money, 241. 95c.

The news from Brussels, in our columns of this day,
is more than usually interesting. Nothing could have
happened more likely to involve the Government in a
quarrel with the populace than the resignation of Count
DE MERODE, at a moment of such excitement. Count
DE MERODE, though a man of moderate abilities, enjoys
the entire confidence of the high Catholic party, and re-
s;gus rather than consent to sign the Treaty with Hol-
land, dictated by the London Conference. Still it was hoped
that the firmness of the Government, and above all the
precautionary measures adopted to maintain the public
peace, would be adequate to any emergency. If the
mob, however, forgetful of their own safety and the
interests of their country, push matters to extremities,
time Five Powers will not leave to King LEOPOLD the dis-
tressing duty of making war upon his own rebellious
subjects. Foreign troops will be poured into Belgium,
and thus the mad and wicked instigators of a vain re-
sistance will be accessary to evils such as Belgium has
not endured since the Treaty of Vienna.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.)

SITEE V. BROAD.

Mr. THESIGER appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Hum
FREY for the defendant.

The plaintiff is a shoemaker residing in Field-lane, and
the action was brought to recover compensation in damages
for an assault committed on his wife on the sth November
last by Mary Dynum, who then resided with her father,
the keeper of a " shop for handkerchies" in the same lane,
but who has since been married to the defendant. It ap-
peared, from the evidence of the witnesses for the plaintiff,
that the assault, which was of the most savage nature (two
of the fingers of the plaintiff's wife having been severely
Limn), was altogether unprovoked ; the witnesses on the
other side, however, deposed that the first assault was com-
mitted by the plaintiff's wife, by spitting in the face of Miss
Dit'num.

The Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff— Damages 5

PRICE V. LUCAS.

This was an undefended action to recover the sum of
341. 14g. 6d. for clothes supplied to tae defendant by the
plaintiff, who is a tailor in Sackville-street, Piccadilly.
The Jury found for the amount claimed.