The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-01 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1853.

Again has the Eastern Question, already, one
might conceive, sufficiently entangled, become
suddenly, and this time to all appearance inex-
tricably, complicated. Again, moreover, has the
additional complication arisen from the arrogance
and duplicity of the AUTOCRAT. A decree, it ap-
pears, has been unexpectedly issued by him, pro-
hibiting the Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia
from paying any further tribute to the SULTAN,
their lawful Suzerain, forbidding them even to
continue any intercourse with the Government
of Constantinople. By issuing this extraordinary
and most unjustifiable decree it is, of course,
almost needless to show that the CZAR has again
been guilty of a most heinous and flagrant breach
of faith towards the great powers of Christendom.
For it must be remembered that it is, in effect,
in open contravention to the engagements entered
into by Russia through the proclamation of Prince
GORTSCHAKOFF'S proclamation, a proclamation
Pledging the CZAR to refrain from any direct or in-
direct violation of the constituted authorities in re-
ference to the interim administration of the Danu-
bian Principalities. Nevertheless, in the face of
that solemn promise, the Emperor NICHOLAS has, ab-
ruptly as we have just intimated, forbidden the
Hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia to pay any
tribute henceforth to
A BD-UL-MEDJID, their law-
ful Suzerain. An interference with the rights of
Turkey, with the laws of Europe, and with the
internal affairs of the Principalities !
As a natural consequence of this despotic man-
date on the part of the AUTOCRAT, we find that the
SULTAN has at once commanded the two Hospodars
to hasten from their respective capitals, Jassy and
Bucharest, to Constantinople. It is added by our
despatches that immediately this
peremptory
order has been complied with by the Hospodars,
the British and French Consuls in the two cities
will strike their flags forthwith—the lawful autho-
rities in Moldavia and Wallachia, being then
superseded by the lawless power exercised under
the invading banners of the AUTOCRAT. A pro-
ceeding, indeed, of this decisive character can
alone be anticipated even in the event of those
consular agents of France and England exercising
a merely perfunctory discretion. The result must
therefore inevitably be war—war with the drawn
sword and the thrown-away scabbard—unless
hostile proceedings be prevented by timely intel-
ligence from St. Petersburgh. There still remains
this chance of a tardy and honourable pacification.
It is still possible that before the 10th of this
present August we may learn that the CZAR has
acceded to the proposal forwarded on the
24th ultimo to his capital by agreement of
the British, French, Austrian, and Prussian '1
plenipotentiaries. It is still possible, in other
and plainer terms, that the icltintatissimum
despatched by the Four Powers, yesterday
se'nnight, from Vienna, towards St. Petersburg,
may be accepted by the Russian Government.
Any evasion of those propo-sals, any attempt made
by the CZAR to shuffle and procrastinate, must
' .
lead at once to warfare—particul 41,er this
flagrantly unjustifiable decree in t the
internal affairs of the Moldavian a_....iacinan
principalities. The passage of the Pruth will then

at length be answered by the entrance of the British
and French fleets into the Dardanelles. Europe
will have less reason to lament those insolently
aggressive acts on the part of Russia, which can-
not any longer be tolerated, with a loss of both
influence and reputation. Hitherto we have re-
marked a certain consistency in the criminal policy
of the AurocßAT—a steady advance from one
political crime to another, from the project
to, the sened, from that to the note, thence
onwards to the ultimatum, and the crown-
ing of all those acts of turpitude by the
issuing of this decree, interfering with the
rights of the Danubian Principalities. As ever,
the world witnesses how one wickedness leads, as
by consequence, to another. Did not SENECA
write, per scelera semper sceleribus certain est iter ?
And has it not proved precisely thus with the
AUTOCRAT. That steady progress of his in the
development of a lawless and criminal ambition
must at length be resolutely interrupted.
Before another fortnight has elapsed the
CZAR must have accepted, unconditonally, the
ultimatissimum sent by the Four Powers on the
24th ultimo to St. Petersburgh, or war must be
declared between Russia and the rest of the great
nations of Christendom. Any avoidance of this
alternative by France and England—and they
will have lost the glory of their reputation!

" That all is not gold which glitters" has been
the painful experience of many an emigrant to Ca-
lifornia and Australia, it is, however, worth while
for intending emigrants to bear in mind that the con-
verse of the old proverb is equally true, and that
much is gold which does not glitter. There is
nothing very brilliant to the eye in navvy-work,
in " lumbering" timber, and in working land,
cleared from the forest, amidst stumps of trees,
with a log cabin for a farm-house ; yet the gold
of California and Australia appears to find its way
to the toilers in these Canadian occupations, and
in quantities which make the possessors richer in
proportion to the cost of living than the great
majority of those who resort to the Gold Regions.
The latter appears, indeed, to be the land of gam-
bling work, while Canada holds out a sure prospect
of competency and comfort to the industrious and
sober man. Vast fortunes may, no doubt, be
made in a few days or weeks by those who get
into a lucky hole, or light upon a few monster
nuggets ; handsome earnings may also be realised
by a fair number, but a great many are utterly
unsuccessful, and must turn their hands to work-
ing for wages, enormous wages it is true. But
all the Australians, whether lucky or unlucky, or
earning extravagant wages, must pay almost fabu-
lous prices for the merest necessaries and conveni-
ences of life. In Canada, on the contrary, for those
who are able and willing to work, if there
are no prizes, it may be truly said that there are
also no blanks ; work is abundant, workmen are
well paid, provisions and other necessaries are
reasonable in price, and every good and sober
workman may command all the comforts he re-
quires, can become in reasonable time a proprie-
tor of his own farm, and, above all, can see his
way clear to full and profitable occupation for his
children for generations to come. This we regard as
oneof the great recommendations of Canada. It is a
splendid country, regularly and energetically, but
profitably, developing. It is ascertained by actual
survey of the Ottawa and its numerous tributaries
that if double the present supply of timber were
demanded, it could be furnished for 500 years to
come, while the land adjacent is magnificent for
agricultural purposes. Canadian timber, corn,
and flour will be needed in Europe for years, it
may be for centuries hence ; meantime, railroads
and other Government works are now proceeding
with spirit, providing immediate work for a large
number of hands, and likely for years to do so,
for the spirit of improvement is steadily advancing.
Indeed, Canada,' under self-government, is fast
rivalling the United States, in " go-a-head" but
solid prosperity ; while it enjoys the proud dis-
tinction and contrast of being the land of the
free, alongside the great Slave-Republic. On the
north of the St. Lawrence, and the splendid lakes
from which it flows, man is man—on the south
side, a thing, a chattel. The kidnapper and the
slave-catcher roam unhindered, aided and abetted
indeed by republican laws, from the Gulf of
Mexico to the Canadian waters, but there these
demons, baptized by Christian names, must stop,
and must lay down their whips and fetters ere
they dare set their feet on the sacred shores of
Liberty. Canada is in truth to America what
Britain is to Europe ; it is the living protest
against despotism (a despotism infinitely more
relentless and barbarous than any in 'Europe) and
the asylum of the fugitive from oppression. flow
can a Briton fail to prefer it ?
Mr. RONEY, whose deeply interesting letter,
which appeared in the Sun of Wednesday, has
suggested these observations, tells us that the
wages of labourers are 4s. British per day. That
for ls. the labourer can enjoy meat twice a-day,
and, allowing Is. for other expenses, he can have
2s. clear profit left upon his day's work. This
makes it quite plain that a sober and careful man,
beginning with plain work, may in a few years
find himself able to take a small farm, and gradu-
ally, with his own labour, and that of his rising
family, to become a substantial yeoman. Mr.
RONEY found, indeed, one instance of a coach-
driver who is now worth 1,0001. and owns a capital
farm, who, came into the district in 1841, with
only a dollar in his pocket ! How ranch more
likely is such a man and his family to retain
industrious and prosperous habits for many
years to come, than the lucky gold-finder who be-
comes rich by chance or speculation, and whose
dealings in the most common articles of life are
also at speculation prices. The " lumbermen," or
timber-cutters, earn also never less than a dollar
a day, and as their skill increases get a dollar am

a half ; that is, from four to six or seven shillings,
It appears from Mr. RONEY'S account, that a sur-

prising change takes place in the Irishman when
he gets among the " lumberers"—" From the
moment they begin eating good and abundant
food, not only the muscular frame, but also the
intellect, expands ; and no one who has not seen

the contrast between the downcast, ill-fed, and
ragged Irish peasant in his own country, and the
same man, after even a few months' residence in
these provinces, could believe in its complete-
ness." While, therefore, with Mr. RONEY, we can
hardly persuade any man to leave the land of

his -*thus, it is impossible not to wish that

the peasantry of Ireland may continue to throng
to a country which so completely renovates him ;

a country, where the case of the coachman just
mentioned, is so far from being extraordinary,
that nearly all industrious and temperate Irishmen

(the latter requisite being quite as important as
the former) were found to be more or less in the

same position. What equal chance of rising in

life have the great bulk even of our well-paid
workmen in England ? It really appears as if
the cry ought now to he, " Canada for the Irish."

It seems to be, as Mr. RONEY observes,

" their

t.rue California."

We commend one fact to the diligent study of
Sir Harry Inglis and all who shudder at the

,thought of the Canadian Legislature secularising
the Clergy Reserves which are now in their own
Power. "Godliness" in Canada does really not
appear after all to depend on these litigated endow-
-meats, " Whenever a district is about to be
' settled,'
arrangements are immediately made for
having religious worship, and chapels and churches
invariably spring up with the other buildings of
the settlement, whilst each religious denomination
supports (and respectably supports) the clergymen
of its persuasion." Such is the testimony of a
most highly competent and impartial witness. It
comes too late to be useful in the debate ; but
not too late to be of great value to every inde-
pendent thinker in many debates which we shall
yet have on colonial church matters, and perhaps
on church matters nearer home too.

The Courts of Common Law (Ireland) Bill,
which had been introduced by the late law officers
of the Crown for the sister kingdom, and which
received so much discussion and calm and atten-
tive consideration is the House of Commons, has
at length been read a second time in the House
of Lords. We regret to find, however, that it
will not be permitted to pass into a law in its

' integrity, but that there are already indications of
its being seriously mutilated and curtailed of its
fair proportions during its progress through Com-
mittee in the Upper House. The measure itself
ii? ad elicited the cordial and almost unanimous ap-
lita ation of legal reformers. It had proceeded
vigorously, but, at the same time, cautiously.
Not a single proposition had been advanced
which had not been maturely weighed and
and canvassed in all its details, and which, after
the most stringent and searching investigation,
had not a large preponderance of argument in its
favour. But while there was a total absence of
any rash or hasty legislation on the subject, there
was likewise a want of that undub timidity which
prevented any interference with ancient abuses,
however clearly defined, merely because they were
ancient. The able and energetic authors of the
measure, who were justly described by Lord
BROUGHAM, as " men of consummate learning,
great knowledge of the practice of the laws, par-
ticularly in Ireland, and of very great skill in the
preparation of such bills," had not hesitated
to invade the sacred precincts of the equit-
able jurisdiction whenever such a ' step was
essential for the purpose of giving a cheap,
an expeditious, and a complete remedy to the
suitors of the Superior Courts of Common Law.
They had not hesitated in requiring some species
of security against unjust demands and against
vexatious actions, by requiring the verification of
the pleadings by the oaths of the parties, and
whenever the circumstances of the case admitted
of such a course, they proposed legalising the
assignment of choses in action. All that they have
accomplished by immense labour, combined with
great experience and high ability, which, as we
have already stated, was successfully carried
through the House of Commons, having been
closely scrutinised in all its branches, is to be post-
poned for another year.
The measure is, it appears, to be divided into
two portions, one consisting of the extension to
Ireland of the principles last year adopted in
this country for the improved administration of
justice by the statute commonly called the Com-
mon Law Procedure Act ; the other of still fur-
ther and more important ameliorations which
have not as yet received Legislative recognition,
although a large proportion of them have, since
their introduction, been embodied in the Second
Report of the Common Law of the Commissioners
of England.
The first of these portions--namely, the appli-
cation of the Common Law Procedure Act to Ire-
land is, it appears, to be carried into practical ope-
ration previous to prorogation, while the otherpart
is to stand over " for further consideration." We
trust, however, that the time and trouble of the
eminent practitioners who so ably and efficiently
piloted the measure through the popular branch
of the Legislature will not be wasted or misap-
plied, but that, notwithstanding the present pro-
craStination, the good seed which has been cast
abroad may be suffered to bring forth its fruits
in due season.

So far as as the provisions of the measure are
identical with the recommendations contained in
the Report of the English Commissioners above
alluded to, and which, as the Lord Chancellor
stated, have been embodied in a Bill, the draught
of which was submitted for his perusal on the
14th ult., there is every reason to anticipate
that they have only been postponed for a brief
season. But the still more important questions
of the verification of pleadings, the extension of
the equitable jurisdiction of the Common Law
Courts, the removal of the landmarks by which
they are separated from Chancery, and, practically,
to the fusion of law and equity, will not we trust
be lost sight of, or consigned to the limbo of in-
choate reforms, without an energetic struggle for
the attainment of the advantages thereby offered
to Irish suitors.
We should not greatly regret the delay, although
its effect might be to transfer to other brows the
laurels that have been so meritoriously won—ifit also
led to the entire assimilation of the law and pro-
cedure in the sister kingdom. It is difficult to
assign any adequate reasons for the distinctions
that have hitherto prevailed on either side of St.
George's Channel. Whyone code should be in force
in England and another in Ireland ; and why just
demands should be enforced, or unfounded claims
resisted by different processes in both countries ?
Why should we render so very conspicuous these
distinctions, thetendency whereof is to show that
they are different' kingdoms and different people ;
and to prevent that full and complete union, that
thorough identification of interests, which is so
very desirable ? Render the union perfect, as it
is, we hope, indissoluble ; and if we are induced
to do so by the treatment of the present bill, the
delay will be richly recompensed—will, indeed, be
productive of no ordinary benefit to the people of
the United Kingdom.
As it is, however, its only effect is to render
the cry of " Justice for Ireland " for once well
founded. Why should the progress of legal re-
form in that country be checked and restricted,
because greater timidity is evinced here ? Why
should the Four Courts remain unpurified, be-
cause we are afraid to effect a thorough cleansing
of Westminster Hall ? Lord BROUGHAM truly
asserted that, "in many respects, the Courts in
Ireland were half a century in advance of those in
this country ;" and he spoke of " the satisfaction,
mingled with admiration," with which he regarded
"the course of legislation in the sister kingdom."
Why, then, should we restrain the progress of
that highly satisfactory legislation ? Why
should we slight the exertions and despise the
labours of the eminent men who have spared no
pains to ameliorate the administration of justice
and procedure in their native land, and give them
just reason to complain of the lagging legislation
in the Imperial Parliament ? Although the motives
may be perfectly unobjectionable, it is possible that
there may be found persons who will ascribe the
delay to jealousy, and an unworthy desire to avoid
receiving useful suggestions from the practice o.
the Irish Law Courts, and from measures intro.
duced by Irish Barristers.

DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF MINTO.—We regret to
have to notice the demise of the Countess of Minto,
which melancholy event took place at Nervi, in Pied-
mont, on the 22d inst. Her last moments were peace-
ful, and free from. pain. Her ladyship, who was the
eldest daughter of Patrick Brydone, was married to
Lord Minto in 1806, and was the mother of Lady John
Russell.

DEATH OF LORD RUTILVEN.—This excellent nobleman
died at Freeland House on Wednesday morning. The
death was sudden, his lordship having taken some car-
riage exercise the day before, and walked in his garden
in the evening. He was an excellent and indulgent
landlord, and his treatment of his cottars was most con-
siderate and kind. To several of his tenants his lord-
ship was in the habit of saying, " Keep your cottages
in order, and I shall never ask any rent from you."
The piety of Lord Ruthven was evinced by his uniform
attendance upon religious ordinances, and by his daily
walk and conversation. Lord Ruthven was born in
1777, and, consequently, died in his 76th year. Lord
Ruthven has left no issue, and his estates will be in-
herited by his only sister, the Hon. Mrs. Hore, of
Harperstoun, Wexford.—Perthshire Courier.

APPOINTMENTS.- —Mr. Louis Henry Meurant is ap-
pointed Resident Magistrate of Stockenstrom District,
in the division of Fort Beaufort, Cape of Good Hope.
Mr. J. Macleroy is appointed Registrar of Deeds at
Natal, in South- Africa. Mr. John Bird is appointed
Chief Clerk in the office of the Colonial Secretary, and
Clerk of the Council at Natal, in South Africa.
NEW MONEY ORDER OFFICES. GENERAL POST-
OFFICE, July, 1853.—Minor money order offices will be
opened at the undermentioned places, on the respective
dates named : England—Handcross, Sussex, August 1 ;
Harrington, Cumberland, August 1. Ireland— Bon-
mahon, Waterford, August 6. Scotland —Kirkintilloch,
Lanark, August 3 ; New Galloway, Kirkcudbright,
August 20. Llandilo and Llangadock, having been re-
duced to sub-offices under iJarmarthen, are now served
(as respects money order advices) from that place.
3eLLAIL CONTRACT STEAMERS.—Sir Jame Graham on
Thursday announced that the Board of Admiralty has
given a general notice to all companies, under contract
for the conveyance of mails, that the contracts will
henceforth be enforced with more rigour than heretofore.
CASE OF THE BARONESS VON BECK—DERA v. DAWSON
AND OTHERS.—We learn by telegraphic d'spatch received
this morning from Leamington, that this case, which
was to have been tried at the Leamignton Assizes to-
day, is postponed till to-morrow, in consequence of the
illness of the judge who was to have tried the case.
The court was crowded to excess, admission being by
ticket only.
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