The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-17 00:00:00

THE SON, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 17, 1861

making great slaughter among the birds. The hills
have been free from mist, which has made the sport
much more agreeable. The accounts of Wednesday's
shooting show that the birds are plentiful and in fine
condition. The young coveys are numerous, large,
and strong on the wing. A number of boxes were sent
off per rail on Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Mylne
shot over the Duchally runs with great success.
There would be bagged about 10 brace to each gun,
Several other gentlemen opened the moors on Wed-
nesday. The Gleneagles moors, the property of the
Earl of Camperdown, have not yet been opened.
His lordship is expected to arrive here shortly, and
stay a few days. Mr. L. Edmunds, reading-clerk
of the House of Lords, has the Carim moors. The
prospects are very superior this year. The Couls-
hill Coul, and other moors will not be opened till

Monday.
BLAIRADAM.—O❑ the Blairadam moors on Wed.
nesday, Mr. W. P. Adam, M.P., shot 17 brace o,
grouse in five hours.

to which Prince Gortschakoff added, on the following day
the threat that, if the Poles force us to it we will make of
Poland a heap of ashes and corpses'---a threat which the
conduct of the Russians in the present war appeers to be
deliberately intended to fulfil.
In the same month was published the Ukase ordering
that infamous proscription, or levy of recruits in Poland
which, in the month of January in this year, was endea-
voured to be carried into effect at midnight, in a mode
which has caused it to be described in our House of Lords
as a visitation similar to one of the plagues of Egypt de-
stroying the first-born in every family, an iniquity which has
no parallel in Europe.'
" To the iniquity was added the insult of a representation
in the official paper of Warsaw, that the Poles went joyfully
to their fate, and that some even volunteered to serve in the
ranks of their enemies.
"All this filled the cup of national anguish and indigna-
tion to overflowing, and drove the Poles into open insurrec-
tion, after they had endured until endurance was almost a
crime, and after they had exhausted all peaceful methods
of endeavouring to obtain any real redress of their intoler-
able wrongs.
" The war, thus infamously provoked by the Russians,
thus most righteohsly embarked in by the Poles, has been
waged by the former with a savage ferocity, which is a
scandal to Christendom and an insult to mankind, and
which, instead of merely giving point to the feeble dialec-
tics of diplomacy, might well have enlisted all men, in
whose hands the love of freedom and hatred of oppression
are not utterly deadened or depraved, in an o, en crusade
against the unchristian and develish cruelty which spares
neither age nor sex, and revels in unrestrained and indis-
criminate pillage, confiscation, burning, torture, and
murder.

"But the Poles ask of us no armed intervention. All
that they ask, while struggling to the death in this frightful
and unequal contest which is seeking to make of their
country one huge grave, all that they have asked in their
late pathetic appeal to the peoples and Governments of
Europe as brethren, is that we should recognise their na-
tional and belligerent rights, and no longer continue to be
the allies of their oppressor by negotiating with and recog-
nising him as King of Poland. That we should sever all
alliance with him in that character, and openly and
honestly declare that he has no right, and that we no
longer by treaty or otherwise sanction in him any right, to
rule over them.
"To elicit from the British people, and, through them,
from the Parliament, the Government, and the Crown, a
cordially affirmative response to this noble and temperate
appeal of the Poles, and at the same time to assist them
with every pecuniary
and material support lawfully in our
power in the terrible conflict into which they have been
forced for the recovery and protection of their most just
rights and of all that is dear to man upon earth, are the
objects of this league for the restoration of the independenee
of Poland.

"The original dismemberment of that country has been
pronounced to be the greatest of all political crimes, the pre-
lude and the cause of subsequent disorders in Europe, a
fatal derangement of the balance of power ; her restoration
is the only expiation that can satisfy justice and humanity
for that crime, while it will be a protection and safeguard to
Europe, a guarantee for peace, a defence against the con-
stant recurrence of frightful and chronic convulsions, and
the only effectual barrier against the rapacious and disturb-
ing policy of all that is arbitrary and oppressive.
"All classes in Poland, without distinction of rank, opi-
nion, or creed—nobles, citizens, peasants, Catholics, Luthe-
rans, Calvanists, Jews—are united in this great struggle
for freedom, so just, so righteous, so vitally important, not
only to Poland, but to the whole world, We ask, therefore,
for this brave, this most deeply-wronged nation, the openly
avowed, the active, and practical sympathy and support,
the generous contributions, of all classes in Great Britain.
"We ask further that, unless Russia shall withdraw
from her claim to dominion over Poland, and from all fur-
ther attempts to support that claim by acts revolting to
Christendom and to British feelings and sympathies, our
ambassador withdrawn from St. Petersburg, and all friendly
trieolnateido,nasnbde swuhsopended with a Power who has notoriously
violated every condition upon which her Sovereignty over
Sovereignty by
d uncivilised,ni n ai n that
Sovereignty any part of Poland was at a former period unwillingly sane-
productive only of general confusion and disorder.
acntsowthoseniekoss
ttore
" On behalf of the Committee of the National League for
the Independence of Poland,
"EDMOND BEALES, President."
violentnew annand

have treated it so as to recommend it as qualifica-
tion for outrage with a 'view to lenient treatment.
Pretty much what benefit of cterg'y weed to be in
feudal times, befit of drunkenness is now, aestord-
tog to a part of the magisiSSansr, a specimen of
which we see on the Brighton bench. 'here was a
third circumstance regarded in .Vinigan's favour
which must not pass without notice. Forsooth, he
had not injured any one ! He had drawn a knife
against a husband protecting his wife against in-
decent insult, he had been for 10 minutes struggling
violently with the husband and another passenger,
and being overmastered, and forcibly prevented from
doing any mischief with the knife, he is recom-
mended to the mercy of the Brighton bench by the
fact that he did not succeed in injuring any one !
Can the force of noodleism farther go ? When we
see a decision like this, we are tempted to ask
whether certain adjudications do not require the
plea of drunkenness ? Can men in their sober senses
be pardoned such mischievous absurdities ?
SPECTAToR.—Captain Marryatt once wrote that
nothing could beat a London sparrow for impu-
dence except a midshipman, but the novelist had
not the ill fortune of knowing the chairman of the
Sabbath Alliance of Scotland. The Channel Fleet
has been recently at Leith, and it appears that the
vessels, like the shore, and the sea, and the green
fields, and the river, and other things which God
has made, may be seen by the public on Sunday.
This greatly offended the Alliance and its chair-
man, a Mr. Blackadder, and he actually wrote
by their order to Admiral Dacres requesting him to
prohibit the public from going on board. The ad-
miral, in a very quiet but slightly scornful reply,
pleaded his orders; and Mr. Blackadder, conse-
quently, proceeded to issue his mandate to the Duke
of Somerset, of all men on earth. There is this
use in an aristocrat, at all events, that he has never
the slightest idea of giving way to priestly imper-
tinence, and accordingly the Alliance were calmly
informed that his Grace "was not prepared to les-
sen the facilities at present afforded to the inhabi-
tants of the ports at which the Channel Fleet
touched," and declined to obey their ukase. Greatly
aggrieved, the Alliance handed the correspondence
to Dr. Begg, who read it aloud to the Assembly of
the Free Church—who resolved to move all their
presbyteries throughout Scotland to stir in the
matter, with the view of coercing the Admiralty.
In other words, Dr. Begg and his colleagues, irri-
tated that their own eloquence does not succeed in
inducing their own people to obey their favourite
dogma, are determined to call in the secular arm.
Dr. Begg, being at heart a great deal better than
his doctrine, stops short of effectual measures, and
only exposes his wishes without enforcing his will.
We wonder if he ever glanced at a rainbow on Sun-
day, or sent up a memorial that that opportunity
for "desecration by sight-seeing" might be removed.
LONDON REVIEW.—The public will learn with
much surprise and apprehension that Mr. Oliver
Lang has resigned his position as master ship-
builder of Chatham Dockyard, and that the Admi-
ralty have accepted his resignation, but requested
him to continue the superintendence of the construc-
tion of the Achilles—the noblest of our ironsides—
until she is launched. The question will naturally
be asked, Why should Mr. Lang suddenly throw
away the advantages of the position which he
has so laboriously achieved with so much cre-
dit to himself and with such great benefit
to the State—high official rank, good pay, and
the certainty of ample provision for his old age ?
when he may be said to have reached the topmost
place in his profession in reality, if not in official
rating. Nor are Mr. Lang's the only services the
country is threatened wish losing, for several of the
master shipbuilders in other of her Majesty's yards
have intimated their intention of resigning also; so
that there is every probability of the country losing
the services of the ablest of its naval architects,
whose education and great practical experience are
the results of costly experiments for which the na-
tion has been heavily taxed. Upon their skill and
practical knowledge we have been taught to rely,
to supply and maintain out first line of defence.
The services of such men we are to lose. And what
are we to have in exchange ? A protege of his
Grace the Duke of Somerset; by name Mr. E. J.
Reed. It is no secret, that the discontent which
prevails among the master ship-builders of all the
yards arises from the appointment of Mr. E. J.
Reed to be Chief Naval Constructor; and when the
facts are known, the public will most likely think
that Mr. Lang and his colleagues have only exhi-
bited a proper spirit in their courageous opposition
to a system of jobbery in the administration of our
naval affairs. It is but the other day that the soli-
citor to the Admiralty was awarded a retiring pen-
sion, long before he had earned it, in order to make
a place for a country attorney who was thus in-
duced to resign the representation of Kidderminster,
which he had obtained by the merest chance as a
pis alter, and by a freak of the proprietor of the
town; so that Col. Luke White, a Junior Lord of
the Treasury, and the rejected of an Irish constitu-
ency, might obtain a seat in the house. What is
the consequence ? The country is saddled with
two salaries for one officer, and the present soli-
citor is, as was naturally to be expected, ignorant
of his duties, and inapt for their performance.
Next, Sir Richard W. Bromley retired on full pay,
and, as though this were not enough to recompense
him for his official services, the Accountant-General
for the Navy was in addition appointed Civil Com-
missioner to Greenwich Hospital, an office next door
to a sinecure. And, lastly, Mr. Isaac Watts is
ousted from his situation with scant delicacy and
considerateness, to make room for Mr. E. J. Reed,
who leaps into the place of Chief Constructor of the
Navy, over the heads of men who have grown grey
in the service, and whose fitness for their positions
has never been called in question. Of Mr. Reed
we know nothing beyond what has been published
through his friends and acquaintances connected
with the cheap press. From this source we learn
that he was educated at the Naval School, and by
his good conduct attracted the notice and obtained
the patronage of Dr. Wooley ; that he was ap-
prenticed in Sheerness-yard, where he served some
time in the drawing-offiee ; that he subsequently
quitted the service rather than join the dockyard
brigade; that he was next engaged as one of the
editors of the Mechanics' Magazine, in which capa-
city he read a paper at the Society of Arts " On the
Navies of France and England," and that he got up
the Institute of Naval Architects—obtaining the
appointment of secretary—which led to his connec-
tion with the Admiralty.
COURT JOURNAL. —Tt e Liberalism of the Em-
peror Franz Joseph and his talented and conscien-
tious advisers has first been appreciated in England
by his expression of noble and manly sympathy for
the bravo and struggling Poles. Nor has Austria
played a hesitating or a timid part during the
whole course of negotiations which have taken place
on behalf of the Poles. On the contrary, site has
acted in a far mote independent spirit than our own
country, and we believe that the people of England
have to thank her that we were not blindly led by
the deceptive proposals of the Emperor of the
French. The Emperor of Austria saw through them
from the beginning, and was fully aware that, how-
ever much he might sympathise with the Poles, it
was a primary duty on his part, as a German Sove-
rign, to prevent any designs which Napoleon might
entertain for annexing certain portions of German
territory to his own dominions. To England and
Austria it is, perhaps, almost equally important
that the Rhine. should never become a purely
French river; it is bad enough that our neighbours
on the other side of the Channel have ever been
allowed to retain possession of Strasbourg and the
German provinces adjacent to it. On the reply of
Prince Gortschakoff being received at the three
Courts of London, Paris, and Vienna, it is said that
the Emperor Napoleon was bent upon immediately
despatching an ultimatum to the Emperor of Russia.
But Austria wisely determined to act independently
of French influence in this as in every other matter,
and despatched a note on her own account, which,
although boldly and decisively worded, contained
nothing in it that could leave the Cabinet of St.
Petersburg no other alternative but war. To the
influence of Austria, also, may be ascribed the ap-
parent indecision which has lately been displayed
in the counsels of the English Ministry, but which
in reality has been produced by a willingness to
aid the Poles in a material manner without being
driven into a war which would only further the
interests of France, and would be productive of no
benefit whatever to Poland. On the contrary, that
country would be still further converted into a scene
of bloodshed and desolation, and become the theatre
of operations for the armies of the three greatest
Powers of the world. It is hard, perhaps, that the
counsellors of England should not be far-seeing
enough to have come to this conclusion of their own
accord, but, as we know such not to be the case, we
may well be thankful to Austria that she has been the
means of saving England from the designs of a Power
which, however friendly it may be to the Poles, is
still more mindful of its own advantage, and is ever
bent upon one favourite and predominant idea—the
rectification of its territory. In the same spirit
which has induced her to take a prominent, and
perhaps, the most useful, part of any in behalf of
the Poles, Austria has determined to take the lead in
the introduction of reforms for those people to whom
her own population is allied by ties of blood, lan-
guage, and manners—for the whole of the States of
Germany. The Austrians themselves are now, un-
doubtedly, the freest and best-governed people of
Germany. But the other States were sadly in want
of a strong Power to befriend them, and to unite
them all in an effective and national bond of brother.
hood and consanguinity than has hitherto existed
in the smaller German Dukedoms and Principali-
ties. To the honour of Austria be it said, she has
come forward at the right and required moment.
and has now offered her services, as the greatest