The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-26 00:00:00

sound tooth.
And not only is the expectation small, but there is a
fear in the contrary direction, that things will be so con-
trived, that the balance of danger shall be altered in
favour of the mel practisers. As things are now, any
man may be forced to defend his seat by any other man,
to the extent or nearly so, of the expense to which the
assailant may choose to go for the chance of his giving in.
Hence the contest at the hustings is virtually transferred
to a contest of purses after the election. I speak from
knowledge, having myself been laid down and robbed
at the door of the House of Commons on this very prin-
ciple. If great care is not taken, the alterations will be
such as to increase the chances of the bold and dia-
honest rich party, against the poorer and purer. One
man may steal a horse, where another may not look
over a hedge; and the whole effort of the whole power
of corruption will be turned into the channel of trying
to catch some honest man upon the hip, and so destroy
him. The whole thing is rottenness, so long as they
insist on fattening the horse by every way but '• try►eg
corn."

On Thursday a Bill was ordered to be brought in
without a division, to amend and alter the Act of Wil-

Liam IV. relating 'to marriage within certain degrees of
affinity. As usual, the defenders of abuses blustered
about wounding the feelings of the majority of the
country, and shocking the national morality; the evi-
dence that such feelings are on their side, consisting in
their being obliged to let the thing pass without •
division.

At the same time it is great pity that the mover could
not abstain from burthening his proposal with matter
that shall make one-half tend to sink the other. The
mind of the country has been openly and strongly
expressed on the propriety of allowing marriage
with the wife's sister; it has not been mo

expressed on the subject of marriage with this
wife's niece. Why then burthen one case with the

other? And besides, the two things stand on entirely
different grounds, of which it is possible one may be
good and the other bad. The reasons for prohibiting
marriage within certain degrees, may be limited to two;
the prevention of intercourse under the plea of future
marriage, between individuals of the same generation
who in tender years are necessarily thrown much into
association, and the prevention of the abuse under the
same plea, of children by their natural guardians of an
elder generation. So strong is the consciousness of this
reason in the first-mentioned case, that in countries
where polygamy is the law, marriages are allowed
between the children of different mothers and the same
father, but nut between those of the same mother. The
reason being, that by the custom of polygamic society,
the families of the different mothers live in separate
houses as far from ono another as can be contrived,
and consequently those is not the domestie association
between them which exists among the children of the
same mother, but on the contrary, in all probability,
less than on an average exists among cousins in other
countries. In which the object is not to canvass the
merits either of polygamy or of its consequences, but to
state a strong instance in which the regulations of human
societies have pointed to the reason of the restriction
where applied.
The case of the wife's niece comes under the other
head. And here it can hardly be denied, that in the
great average of cases the nieces of the wife in tender
years are brought into contact with the matrimonial
uncle, in a way which an unprincipled individual might
easily turn to evil, and which would oftener take place
than it does, if it were not for the strong bar set up by
the belief in the inadmissibility of such connexions under
any form. The child that hangs about a man like his
own at seven, might easily be corrupted by him at four-
teen ; and there is no use in saying he would be a very
bad man, for the fact is that such things happen, and
would happen oftener if it were not for the wholesome
guard. The plea that the wife's niece is not so near to
her as the sister, shows only an ignorance of the grounds
on which restrictions of any kind are based. The law
is not•to be founded on a superstitious horror of affinity,
but on a reasonable estimation of mischiefs to be pre-
vented. It is not the wife but the wife's husband that
is to be guarded against. The question is not how near
they may be to the wife, but how near they may be to
the husband, and what opportunities of corruption may
thence be given to him if ill-diposed.
It is clear, therefore, that the inclusion of the wife's
niece should be got rid of without delay. It is not only
unsupported in itself, but it confuses, and as far as it
can, neutralises the arguments in the other cue. The
strong argument against the prohibition of the wife's
sister, is that she comes under neither of the reasons pro-
ducible for restraint. She is 'not the companion of the
_ _

husband in the tender years of both, and she is not under
the tutorship of a man of a prior generation, for they
are not of different generations but the same. There
may be accidental cases where something like the con-
trary may exist; and so there might be in the cue of
another woman, as for instance a foundling educated in
the house. But the law must rule for generalities and
not for accidents.
On the same day another instance was given of the
perverseness with which some evil spirit seems to contrive
the embarrassing of the practicable with the impracticable
or the dangerous. The House without a division resolved
itself into Committee and ordered a Bill to be brought
in, for the relief of persona in holy orders declaring their
dissent from the Established Church. Why burthen
this, with what has been attempted before and failed,
and therefore may very possibly fail again, the demand
that the person laying aside his orders shall be admis-
sible into the House of Commons? This is not the way
things are done in this world. A man determining t
swim to a distant point, does not say, " And I have half
a mind to try, whether I cannot carry a kedge-anchor
along with me."
On Friday the Oaths Bill in Committee. The anti-
Ministerialtsts desire to insert somewhere a declaration
against injuring the Church Establishment; but where
aril how, they do not succeed in making des-. Sad is
the inference against any establishment, which cannot
stand without these declarations that it shall not be
meddled with. " F=ar ye the constable?" is what it
suggests to all. But it the anti-Ministorialists have
really anything to propose, they should lot it out. When
men are to arrive at a pacification, there is generally some-
thing to be given up on one side, often on both. If the
intention was to say, that on consenting to admit words
in the oath to be taken by the new participators in the
constitution, there would be a diminution of hostility to
the main question, this would be a thing for sensible
men to listen to. But if the plan is to ask for the in-
sertion of new words into all oaths, why did not they
for shortness ask to undo the Reform Bill, restore the
Catholic Disabilities and the Test Act, and do anything
else that was most beyond the bounds of reasonable ex-
pectation ?

I am, Sir, your ojedient servant,
AN OLD REFORMER.

London, Feb. 26, 1849.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sxa,—The proprietors of railway stock owe iou a debt
of gratitude for your powerful advocacy oa their
behalf. When they contemplate their present position,
compared to what it was a few months past, they have
cause to be thankful to you. But still, the danger is
not over; the Stock Exchange speculators are endea-
vouring still to play a reckless game by the most un-
founded assertions with respect to the future prospects of
the different companies. I may lust glance one of their
reports to depress the value of railway shares.
They wish to make it appear that the Great Western
Railway will not maintain their dividend of six per cent.
Now, Sir, I venture to state, without fear of contradic-
tion, that six per cent. is a minimum dividend, and that
the Great Western Company will declare a dividend be-
fore the next twelve months, if not before, of seven per
cent., if not eight, in addition to laying by a large sur-
plus capital. Their traffic during the last month is
nearly double what it has been, and they are sevilig
now, by wise and judicious economy, thirty thousand
a year.
I caution the shareholders not to suffer themselves to
be duped by designing men. Before three months have
expired their shares will stand fifty per
beyond the
d that his con-
itz
Mti
stability
and rapid
improvement in their affairs.
present ruinous price; and I haver. Russell's statement, when he sseevretreeyesconfidence
was an unparalleled state
fidence remains unshaken, as to thewe have passed the
its—but nous verrons.
of depression for the rat
worst, and the last six mionnatyhs
Yours respectfully,
FAIR PLAY.
i'nteres

Ludlow, Feb. 24.

ALARMING FIRE AT ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BED-
FORD.RoW.—Yesterday afternoon, during the time
Divine service was being performed at St. John's Chapel,
Bedford-row, the congregation was thro. wn into a state
of the greatest possible excitement
byti
flames, which
beingvheh raised
that the edifice was on fire. Thee
caused by an over-heated furnace, were speedily extin-
guished, and no damage to lifeAußn
e was sustained.
THE NEW HOUSES orLit ofIAMR PiT
yDr. Reid
placing certain
facts connected with his
new
before the committee. He
has petitioned for the opportunity
refers particularly to the new House of Commons, to the
quality of the air with which it will be hereafter supplied
if excluded from the use of the channel made in con-
nexion with the Victoria Tower, and adverts particu-
larly to the fog, dew, and smoke which collects in great
density at a low level on thes banks
asoftothtehe generalriver in
certain
states of the atmosphere; a
stop-
page to the circulation of fresh air in the vicinity at ordi-
nary altitudes, in consequence of the obstructions pre-
sent( d by the immense pile of new buildings.
'MB AMERICAN MOILS.—The British and North
American Royal Mail steam-ship America, Captain
Harrison, sailed from the Mersey, on Saturday, at half-
past eleven. She takes out a large number of passengers,
a considerable quantity of freight, and a very heavy
mail. This was the first occasion on which the new
postage law came into operation. Newspapers were
charged id. each, and letters according to the terms
specified in the Act of Convention, payment in all eases
being optional or not on letters to the United States.
CHINESE FRAUD.—It was recently discovered that
in a chest of tea imported into the port of Liverpool
from China was concealed several pounds weight of earth
and rubbish. This earth and rubbish was fully believed
to have been concealed in the chest before it left China; Ti
because it was placed in the centre of the chest, and the__
tea was packed closely round the package containing it,
and the paper in which the rubbish was concealed was of
Chinese manufacture.