The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-19 00:00:00

rc-can irt

LONDON,
SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 19, 1836.

The question of the occupation of Cracow was
brought before the House of Commons last night by
Sir STRATFORD CANNING, who clearly proved that
the conduct of the three invading Powers, Russia,
Austria, and Prussia, towards this little independent
territory, was in downright, barefaced violation of the
Treaty of Vienna. By that treaty, to IN hich England
was a consenting party, the Allied Powers boundthemselves, at all hazards, to respect the independence
of Cracow, expressly declaring—we give the very
words of the article—" no armed force shall ever he
introduced into it under any pretext whatever." At
the same time however, they stipulated that " there
shall not be given in the free city and territory of
Cracow any asylum or protection to runaways, de-
serters, or persons pursued by the law, belonging to
any one of the dominions of the said Powers ;" and it
is, we presume, on this last clause of the article, that
these Powers rely for a justification of their present
conduct. But in answer to such miserable sophistry,
we may observe that the clause in question does not
say one word about a " forcible occupation ;" while,
on the other hand, the preceding part of the article
explicitly declares that no foreign troops shall be
in-
troduced into Cracow " under any pretext whatever.
Granting, however, that this free territory is bound to
give up deserters and runaways, does that justify
Russia and her sycophantic colleagues, in demanding
the unconditional surrender of all who may happen to
be obnoxious to them ? " It appeared," said Sir
STRATFORD CANNING, " that four hundred men
were brought to the Austrian frontier, and given up
at an early stage of the transactions ; and that a large
portion of them stood in the relations of husbands
and fathers, and were established in business at
Cracow." Even Lord PALMERSTON admitted this.
" Many of the parties," observed his Lordship, " that
the three Powers requested to be removed, had resided
in Cracow a great number of years ; some of them had
formed matrimonial connections there, and others had
established themselves in business, and amassed for-
tunes." And yet these are the sort of men whom
will be sureery
Russia—for of course she is the prime mover in the
business—requires to be surrendered into her hands as
deserters and runaways," thus wilfully confounding
them with felons proscribed bylaw ! Was ever effrontery
equal to this ? If France and England do not in-
stantly take up the 'matter, and insist on the
with-
drawal
insult
witho f thew h
invading
this
mosttroops,
outrageousitieywiollnde eserve every
to be followed up by Russia. We are no cla-
mourers for war. We have no desire to see the sword
again drawn from its scabbard; all we demand pro-
tection for the weak against the strong, and that the
treaty of Vienna be scrupulously observed by all the
the parties who consented to it. As we acted towards
NicuoLAs, in the case of the Russian war, so do we
insist that NICHOLAS shall act towards us, in the
case of Cracow. If he refuse—as he most
probably
will—why, then, we say with Mr. HUME—whose idea,
by the bye, is an admirable one----" let what remains
to be paid of the Loan be withheld, until satisfaction
is
obtained for the breach of the Treaty of Vienna ; or
if it be paid, let it be paid to those unfortunate persons
who have been turned out of Cracow. A determina-
tißn like this will soon bring the Northern Nero
to his senses. He. may be deaf to the call of ho.
nour, but his hearing will be quick enough, when
once his interests are threatened. Lord PALMER-
STON'S reply to Sir STRATFORD CANNING WaS
satisfactory, so far as it went—which is just as much
as to say, that he left tile question pretty nearly where
he found it. We do not gather from his observations
more than that lie has written to the British Ministers
at the Courts of the Contracting Powers to the Treaty ;"
and that he will take the very first opportunity---the
answers having only arrived within a day or two--of
laying the whole question before the House, and
stating the Government's intentions on the subject..
Meantime—for Administrations, even the best, are
but too apt to procrastinate—we trust, that neither ;
Lord DUDLEY STUART, Mr. HUME, nor Sir
STRATFORD CANNING will allow the question to
rest ; but never cease to agitate it, till they I

have compelled Ministers to hold a high hand
towards Russia. To merely whisper a bland remon-
strance is to do nothing. NICHOLAS must be
told in blunt, straightforward terms, that England is
prepared to act as well as to talk. We have been in-
-sulted by this crowned Kalmuck long enough. Even
in the case of Cracow, which Lord PALMERSTON
himself admits is " every way unjustifiable," not the
slightest hint of what was in contemplation has been
given to us, although we equally, with the other Powers,
were parties to the Treaty of Vienna, and, of
course, can look on such silence as no other than a
studied affront, resorted to by the CZAR, for the ex-
press purpose of showing in what utter contempt he
holds the Government of this country. And, to say
the truth, we have richly deserved his contempt. If we
have not absolutely cringed, and bowed the knee to him,
we have at least stood tremblingly aloof, with our
eyes cast down, and our hands folded, while he tram-
pled on all the laws of nations ; set at nought all the
dictates of humanity ; and laughed to scorn all the
obligations, moral and divine, of Royalty. Look at
Poland—look at Turkey—look at Persia—and now,
again, look at Cracow ! Ought not the mere mention
of these names to bring a blush into our cheeks ?
Talk of our national spirit ! Where was it when the
child was slaughtered at the mother's breast ; and the
heroic Poles—whose only crime was their patriotism—
were torn by thousands from their household hearths, and
sent to wear out a wretched existence in the mines of
Siberia ? Talk of our respect for our old allies !
Where was it when the Russian troops had passed the
Balkan, and were all but at the gates of Constanti-
nople? The less credit JOHN BULL takes to himself
for his conduct in these two cases, the better. If he
have not absolutely betrayed Poland and Turkey, he
has at least been the means of rivetting their chains.
Still it is not too late to remedy the evil. Let Russia
be once brought down to her proper level, and Turkey
will soon rise to her's ; and even Poland, destitute and
helpless as she now is, will not be without a hope of
emancipation.

We beg to call particular attention to the Report of
the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the sys-
tem of Military Punishment, which will be found in
another part of The Sun. Though greatly condensed
in form, it will be found to contain the whole sub-
stance of a document not remarkable for either its per-
spicuity or its force. It will be seen that after what
the Report calls " a most elaborate and searching
inquiry, into the system of military punishment, the Co-
mmissioners come to the conclusion that corporal punish-
ment cannot be wholly dispensed with, although the num-
ber of such punishments may and ought to be dimi-
nished. This is at least one step towards the adoption
of a more humane system. It is, as Mr. O'CONNELL
would say, " the first instalment," and as such we
receive it with thankfulness. But such fractional con-
cessions will not satisfy the country. The ar-
guments by which the Commissioners advocate the
necessity of continuing military flogging are so
lame, and defective in every respect, that we question
whether any rational being would employ in defence of
a system which he had not prejudged before inquiry.
We shall return to this important subject on Monday,
premising that we have always contended for the abo-
lition of military torture. Under no circumstances
would we inflict upon soldiers a punishment which the
law forbids to be inflicted upon refractory donkeys. •

The humanity of the Tories when in Opposition is
really wonderful. It will be seen from the debate in
the House of Lords last night, that the Earl of
ABERDEEN, in moving for some papers relative to the
war in Spain,' made an appeal to the House of so
pathetic a character, as almost to draw tears from the
Marquis of LONDONDERRY. Such an appeal was
irresistible, and of course the motion was agreed to by
the Government.

Bungay St. Mary and Ecclesiastical oppression are
inseparably associated in the public mind. The atro-
cious cruelty exercised by the Church authorities of
that parish towards Mr. CIIILDS last year, and the
renewed auempt which the same parties are now mak-
ing to uphold the honour of the Establishment by
similar proceedings, in defiance of public opinion, as
well as of decency and common sense, have given
Bungay a notoriety, if not a celebrity, such as no
other place in the kingdom can boast of. There
are parishes, however, in the priest-ridden county
of Essex, in which the genuine spirit of Bungayism
has of late displayed itself to such a degree, that it may
admit of some doubt whether they do not deserve to
be put on a par with their great prototype. At all
events this may safely be averred—that if Bungay
occupy the first rank, Harwich is clearly entitled to
the second.

The ecclesiastical doings in this purest of boroughs
have in a great measure escaped the notice of the
public. We shall, therefore, endeavour to supply
such information as has reached us on the subject.
It appears, then, that in 1820 an Act of Parliament
was obtained, empowering the Churchwardens to build
a new Church, without, the consent of the parishio-
ners. This clerical embellishment cost the rate-
, payers of Harwich only twenty thousand pounds—
a small snm, no doubt, when the great object of
public utility is considered, but a large .one to the
tradesmen of a rapidly declining sea-port. The rates
necessary to pay the annual interest of the debt, were
felt as a great burden by the inhabitants, but they were
submitted to until about a year and a half ago, when
a sixpenny
rate was substituted by the Vestry for the
shilling one proposed by the Churchwardens, who had
at the time a surplus in hand more than adequate
to the purpose for which they pretended the rate
was wanted. In spite, however, of the decision of
the Vestry, the Churchwardens persisted in levying the
shilling rate—distrained the goods of those who would not
pay and brought actions against the opposing parties on
the most frivolous pretexts, some of which, after the
defendants had been brought fromHarwich to Chelmsford
—a distance of forty-four miles—with all their wit-
nesses, and thus put to a heavy expence, were aban-
doned, while in others the defendants were acquitted--
in all of them the prosecutors were defeated.
This is a brief sketch of the proceedings, and it
will sufficiently show their malignant and persecuting
character.

Mr. MATTHEW JOHNSON has been singled out
by the Church party as the object of their envenomed
hostility. This Gentleman has been subjected to
grey texpense in defending the public cause, and we trust
he will not be left to defray this out of his own re-
sources.

We have received Madrid papers to the 9th inst.
The Gazette of that day, which was not published
when the estafette left the capital, was to have con-
tained the details of the victory obtained by the Chris-
tinos over the Carlists, near Orduna, on the 6th, of
which some particulars are stated in our article from
the French Journals. The Royal decree for the sup-
pression of all the monastic establishments, and the
appropriation of their property to State purposes, has
been published.

We have received a file of the Jamaica Dispatch
to the 16th ult. inclusive. In that journal of the
15th, we find the report of the Committee appointed
by the House of Assembly to inquire into the al-
ledged breach of privilege committed by. his Excel-
lency the Marquis of Sres:), with respect to his
message relative to the " Five Years' Police Bill."
We subjoin the substance of this document, which con-
tains the gravest charges against the Supreme Govern-
ment, the Parliament, and the people of England. We
regret the use of language which is Calculate rather to
irritate than to soothe—to widen breaches than to
close them. No good can come of this incessant re-
currence to recriminative charges ; the more especially
as they must of necessity produce very different impres-
sions on the public mind here, from what the inha-
bitants of Jamaica anticipate from them. Besides, it
is absurd to expect that Parliament will delegate to
men who violently opposed the passing of the Eman-
cipation Act, the duty of carrying its provisions into
operation. This is a truth which the common sense
of the Colonial Legislature ought to present to the
mind of its members. Had the proposition for the
abolition of .slavery emanated from the House of As-
sembly, or had its members supported it when mooted
by
.the abolitionists in Parliament, they might justly
claim the privilege of carrying the law into effect ; but
having so violently opposed that measure having so

repeatedly indulged in prophecies that it would be pro-
ductive of the most fatal consequences—the Govern-
ment does right in distrusting the motives which
prompt their desire of interference. It is dangerous
to entrust men with the power of verifying their own
evil predictions ; and we greatly fear that the case of
the Jamaica planters would prove anything but an ex-
ception to the general soundness of this moral axiom.
Upon the merits of the question in dispute between
the Marquis of SLIGO and the Jamaica Legislature,
we will pronounce no opinion. Our only desire is to
promote harmony between the colony and the mother
country. We can make great allowance for irritation
on the part of the planters, and we trust the supreme
'Government will step in as a mediator rather than as a
party in the quarrel :