The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-12 00:00:00

E E N
11 DT, MARCH 12, 1849.

PUBLICATIONS.

NEW SCHOOL HISTORY OF FRANCE.
Just published, in 1 vol. fcap. Bvo., price 3s. bd. cloth,
AHISTORY:of FRANCE; from the Earliest
Period to the Revolution of 1848. For tht Use of Young
Persons and Schbois. Edited by the Rev. JOHN SEDGWICK,
Deniy 'or Magdalen College, Oxford; and one of the Mas-
ters in the Ordnance School, Carshalton.
London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

• M'CULLOCIFS COMMERCIAL DICTIONARY.
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DICTIONARY,. PRACTICAL, THEORETI-
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CIAL NAVIGATION. By J. It. M'CULLOCH, Esq. New Edition,
corrected, enlarged, and improved ; with a Supplement.
A Supplement to the la•t Edition, published ha 1847, may be
had separately, price 46. 6d. sewed.
Also, by Mr. M'Culloch,
GEOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 2 vols. Maps, 41.
STATISTICAL ACCOUNT 'of GREAT BRITAIN. 2 vols., 21. 2s.
ON TAXATION and the FUNDING SYSTEM. 10s.
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London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

... Just published,
_RUFF'S GUIDE TO THE TURF (SPRING
EDITION) for 1849.
r.
CONTENTS.—The Nominations fe 1849, and the Derby, Oaks, St.
Leger, and Great Yorkshire Stak -for 1850.—A Calendar of the
Races in 1848 and -of the Sprit] feetings this year.—Copious
Lists of, the Jockeys, their Emplo ~,and Lowest Riding Weights
for the canting Season ; aad a Lis the Trainers, their Employers,
Addresses, &c. ; Derby, Oaks, St. ..eger, and Chester Cup Lots ;
Laws of Racing ; Colours of the Riders; Lengths of Courses, &c., &c.

London: R. Ackermann, Regent-street.

Now ready, fart 1., price 2s. lid., (to' be completed In Six Monthly
parts), of a:New andComprehensiYe
A TLAS of PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, con-
structed by A. Petermann, F.R.G.S. With Descriptive Let-
terpress, embracing a general view of the Physical Plicenomena of
the Globe. :By the Rev. THOMAS MILNER, M.A , Anther of " Gal-
lery of Nature," &c.
S. Orr and Co., Amen-corner, and 147, Strand.

TIC DOLOREAUX CURABLE.
TOOTHACHE.
Instantaneous relief from these excruciating complaints may be
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" Liyerpoel, Dec. 13, 1648.
"To Messrs. Carson and Co,

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" 14, liathbone-street, Toxteth-park."

To Messrs. Carson and Co.,

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(Signed)
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" WILLIAM REID.

"Liverpool, Dec. t 3, 184 S.

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remain yours, faithfully, " THOMIS LO WE,
" Dispensing Chemist, 38, Islington, and 40, Norton-street.
"?.S.—You may send me another three dozen of the smaller size.
" To Messrs. Carson and Co."

Prepared by Carson and Co., St. Anne-street, Liverpool, sole pro-
prietors, from whom it may be had, or through any of the Wholesale
Houses in London, Birmingham, York, Edinburgh, &c., and retail
from any respectable Atedicine Vender throughout the Kingdom.
In Bottles, at 2s. 9d., 4s. id., and I Is. each.

A It A E.
31 One half the world are desolately single, and the other
supposing them married, questionably contented. Diffidence, or a
sense et right determine the former, and miscalculated hopes em-
S:tter the latter. The solitary one may shield himself under the plea
of caution and worldly prudence, and the Indissoluble, regret un-
comprosiag hurry ; but the truth lies deeper. Physical incapacity,
and broken health, are the great hindrances to domestic happiness
and social content. The dowry should not be the only marriage set-
tlement. Honour and justice derssuni that health should form an item
in the compact; it alone dignifies the alliance. Blighted hopes or
leglect wound mere sorely than poverty or misfortune. Reader, It
these surmises concern yes, procure Dr. CULVERWELL'S little
MEMOIRS "On Single and Married Life," pub. in 2 vols., is.
each (by post, in stamps, Is. 6d. each). Let no imaginatively
refined, or prudish feeling deter you, by their titles, nor be hindered
oy misinterpretation of their ,supposed contents, from obtaining
kern. They are not intended certainly for mere idle cariosity, but
for the closet perusal of those mere deeply interested, to whom
they are offered as antagonistio to the ernpyrical trash put forth es
the above subjects, by unqualified authors, which alone or
together, are a disgrace to the age. Furthermore, two other
.ittle publications claim your attention (same price Is. each,
by post Is. 6d.) called " What to Eat, Drink, and
Avoid," and " How to be floppy." They are not merely
p.imphlets, but equal in quantity a library volume, nor are they the
mere ephemeral scribblings of the hour, but the study of the author's
life, who owes his present existence, health, and position to this ob-
servance of the maxims he would inculcate—to do unto others as he
would be done unto—to live after nature's laws—and to keep always
m the " sunny side of the way." Tke above works may be bad of
Sherwood, 23, Faternester-row ; Carvalho, 147, Fleet-street • Mann,
39, Cornhill; Nalson, 457, West Strand ; or direct (by post or other-
wise) from the author (who may be conferred with personally,
mornings sit i evenings), 10, Argyll-plaeo Regent-street; aad all

I SPIRIT of the PUBLIC J OURNALS
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

TIMES.—The occupation and possession of the prin
cipalities of Moldavia and Wallachia by Russian troops
are objects of traditional interest to the Imperial Cabinet
of St. Petersburgh, and of no less constant apprehension
and repugnance, not only to the Porte, but to all the
Powers of Europe. Although the position of these pro-
vinces removes them from the more familiar interest of
European policy, and their social condition has done
little to raise them into neral notice, they are of the
utmost importance in the eyes of reflecting statesmen.
They are still the • outworks of the Ottoman Empire, to
which they once were more closely attached, and they
command the couree of the Danube from Orsova to Ga-
latz, thereby affecting the most important channel of
communicatin between Southern Germany, Hungary,
and the East. At Constantinople and at Vienna alike,
the presence of the Russians in these countries has been
at all times regarded as a menace. In 1772 it was the
intense desire of Maria Theresa and Kaunitz to obtain the
evacuation of thellanubian principalities by Russia,which
induced the Court of Vienna to consent to the partition of
Poland as the lesser of those two evils. In IEOB the
csao;seenptraovfial;ersa,nwcehietio
ltahe
ste Russian occupation
drramlBo6tolBl2,owf those
stohsee
' bribe by which Napoleon induced Alexander to connive
smr
tal,et directed
aanda th
the
toD
influenceama aakb i
Danube,
begun
augdno
bday
extending all
th etih,er ea rightstTreaty
herof
at the dethronement 'of the Bourbons and the invasion of
y
the Peninsula. Subsequently the policy of Russia has
ibonefdo constantlynreercpt
rsotitre
nett
Kutschuk Kenardji, and all but completed by the Treaty
of Ackermann in 1826. The country has been not only
ruled on many occasions by Russian Generals, but the
present constitution was framed by Russian authority,
and the name alone of conquest is wanting to finish the
work of annexation, to extinguish the last vestiges of
Turkish power north of the Danube, and permanently to
array upon the banks of that stream the threatening
armies of the north, which have seemed for ages to be
on their march to Constantinople. Accordingly, when
the general convulsion of 1848 broke out, and the shock
of the revolutionary explosion was felt to the confines of
Europa, it was in Moldavia and Wallachia alone that the
direct power of Russia was immediately exercised. An
insurrection occurred on the Bth of April amongst the
Boyars at Jassy, and in June similar disturbances extorted
the customary list of democratic concessions from Prince
Bibesco in Wallachia. But the Russians entered the
northern principality, and the Turks the southern one,
and the visionary scheme of forming a Dacian empire of
the provinces interposed between those great states was
naturally crushed in the bud. What remained was a
considerable Russian army in full possession of the
country, and ere long the outbreak of civil war in Hun-
gary and Transylvania gave this corps an additional
motive for holding the position it occupied within reach
of the Austrian frontier. A few days ago, in the course
of the confused operations between the Austrian forces
and the Hungarian insurgents, General Puchner, the Im-
perial commander, solicited and obtained the temporary
aid of the Russian division, which had for some time past
been quartered within sight of the land of the Szeklers ;
and, although the Cabinet of Vienna has since re-
proved this intervention, the incident suffciently
indicates the uses to which the Russian posi-
tion in Moldavia may be turned. Whether it be
the object and the policy of the Emperor
.Nicholas to
assist or to assail the Austrian or the Turkish empire,
the army now in the province of the Danube is a most
convenient instrument, and it Jorms but the left wing of
that prodigious power which encompasses the east of
Europe from Finland to Bessarabia. The Emperor of
Russia has sufficiently shown by his language and his
actions, during the past year, that he is by no means dis-
posed to precipitate any attack on the privileges of other
nations; and the policy of the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh
is still wholly of an expectant kind. On the Danube
alone he has made a move sufficiently decided to revive
all the habitual fears of the Porte, and to excite doubt,
if not suspicion, in other quarters. The first impression
of Sir Stratford Canning, the British Ambassador at
Constantinople, was one of considerable anxiety. It did
not require his sagacity and experience to perceive that
at no former time was that effective concert of the
European powers, by which the integrity and indepee
deuce of the Ottoman empire are defended, so feeble
and powerless for the purposes of resistance. France
and the German States were paralyzed by a fearful
internal revolution. Austria, whose interests are most
nearly engaged on the Danube, and whose means of
action are most direct, had been thrown into a closer
dependence on Russia by her own difficulties, aggra-
vated by the coolness of England. The British Go-
vernment, which alone retained the means of action,
was intent on peace, and was probably anxious to avoid
at such a crisis anything like a dissension with the only
other Government in Europe which had maintained its
balance. All these circumstances rendered it evident
that the Emperor of Russia might pursue his own policy
without any fear of immediate consequences from any
other of the great Powers, and the Turks were
therefore the more alarmed as to what that policy
might prove to be. The language of the Russian
Ministers was, however, still moderate. They con-
fined themselves to the suppression of the revolu-
tionary movement in Moldavia and Wallachia,
which they alleged that they had a right to effect,
and pledged themselves to no positive acquisition of
territory. Such was the state of things in the course
of last summer and autumn. At a later period, how -
ever, the English Ambassador was instructed to act
with more vigour, to remonstrate with more energy, and
to give the Turkish Government more positive induce-
ments to withstand the influence of the Northern Power.
It cannot be doubted that in so doing Lord Palmerston
acted in conformity with the establishsd policy of this
country in expressing his dissatisfaction at the attitude
assumed by Russia On the Danube, and it was his duty
to express that opinion, provided it was backed by such
a political combination as might give it the weight due
to the interests and principles not only of England but
Russians have no intention of withdrawing ono step from
p
t UnhheyocaOly, the result shows that the
occupy, and our relations with the
ot
e all
position
o Europe.sit
ion
other continental Powers are not such as to give us any
effectual means of supporting Turkey against this
species of encroachment. Within certain limits—
that is, with a pretext of justice, and by
slow degrees the advance of the Russian
forces on the Danube is an occurrence not
easily to be checked or resisted, unless by the joint de-
termination of all Europe. But we do not participate
in the opinion that the Russian Government, whose
military forces are undoubtedly in a high state of effi-
ciency, contemplates at this time the execution of any
grand scheme in the East. The material obstacles to
a campaign, which should end under the walls of Con-
stantinople, and be celebrated by a Te Deum in St.
Sophia, may ,be eliminished by the distracted state of
Europe, but—ther =Tel obstacles are enormously in-
creased. The Emperor -of Russia stands forth in the
world as the representative of fixed principles of autho-
rity, tinged with religious enthusiasm, but regulated by
established laws of conduct. His attention is directed
to the anticipated failure of these experiments of popu-
lar government in which the Germanic states are still
absorbed with small chance of a speedy deliverance ;
and ho possibly reckons on a time when the military
authority of the North will be the last anchor of ex-
hausted Europe. For that purpose he collects his re-
sources, and with these views he suspends his resolu •
Lions. But to suppose that, because the world is con-
vulsed by revolutions, Russia is herself intent on
accomplishing a revolution of the greatest magnitude, by
planting her flag on the Bosphorus, is to convert the
Emperor Nicholas into the most daring of anarchists and
the most unscrupulous of aggressors. Ile would give
the signal of a bloody war, and aggravate a thousand-
fold the universal confusion. The spoliation of Turkey
would be the consummation by absolutism of that vio-
lence and injustice which was begun by democracy on
the 24th of February; and no act of the Emperor of
Russia could be more gratifying to the revolutionary
party on the Continent, than an enterprise which should
divert his steady gaze from their follies to the towers of
Constantinople, and relieve them from their dread of his
might by an excess of ambition and imprudence more
culpable than their own.
lIERALD.—It was remarked the other day by the
Learned Cursitor Baron, the Member for Dorsetshire,
in bringing forward the motion relative to the supply of
Ordnance stores to the Neapolitans—that
.there was
great apathy in the House in respect to questions con-
nected with the foreign policy of the Government. But
we really think the Hon. and Learned Member over-
rated this apathy in reference to the House, and cer-
tainly in reference to the country. When Mr. Bankes
was first called to the bar, or when be first entered the
House of Commons, some three-and- thirty years ago,
unquestionably there was considerable apathy in refe-
rence to every foreign topic. For a quarter of a century
previous to 1816 the Continent had been hermetically
sealed to our nobility and gentry. None of the younger
among them had travelled, and the few of the older,who
had lived much abroad, returned with a horror of French
principles and French propagandism, determined Anti•
Jacobins and Anti-Gallicans. But with the peace
of Paris and of Vienna these feelings have gradually
died away ; and for the last twenty years the intercourse
with the Continent has been so wide and general, and
for the last years it has, day by day, so much increased,
that every man of education is now more or less in a
condition to discuss, and therefore to feel an interest in
foreign politics. Whatever, therefore, the feeling may
be within the house, we can assure Mr. Bankes that out-
side of the walls of St. Stephen's a very general and
growing interest is taken in the affairs of Europe. We
do not, for instance, mean to say that the inhabitants of
the English metropolis take that eager
affairs which so pre-
m eager and vivacious in-
terest in interpeilations on for
eminently—we will not say so advantageously—distin-
guishes the badauds and quidnuncs of Paris. But, if the
Londoner be neither so active, so noisy, and so demon-
strative as his Lutetian contemporary, his interest is, in
foreign politics, more inqutring,. more rational, more
reflective. The reason of this will be apparent on the
slightest reflection. From the magnitude, extent, and
variety of our commercial relations, there is scarcely a
great change in any part of the Continent of Europe
which must not materially affect our merchants, our
shipowners, our manufacturers, our bankers. Our ves-
sels plough through every open and every inland sea—
our capital, our enterprise, our manufactures, penetrate
to every latitude, however distant. This simple state-
' meat of fact will account for the anxiety and solicitude

with which the movements of Russia in the Danubian
provinces have been recently regarded throughout the
country. But three little months have elapsed since wo
first, and alone, drew public attention to the subject, and
within that short period no less than three pamphlets
have been published on the question, at intervals of two
or three weeks from each other. The last of those
pamphlets, published a day or two ago, is now before
us,* and it contains within the limits of 30 pages, and a
short appendix of five or six more containing the docu-
ments, the whole history of the Moldavian and Walla-
Alan questions. The inhabitants of the principalities, it
should be known to the general reader, assume the
name, and boast to be the descendants, of the Romans,
who ruled and colonised these countries, with Transyl
vania and part of Hungary, under the name of Dacia.
In their language the Latin element predominates,
though mingled with Sclavonian, Greek, and Turkish
words. The traveller who even in our day trusts him-
self in the romantic defiles of the Carpathians, is struck
with the resemblance, both in costume and feature, be-
tween the woodsmen appointed to repair and guard those
perilous routes,and the Dacian captives portrayed on the
celebrated column which commemorates the victories of
Trajan. From the period when the Roman eagles retired
south of the Danube, scarce a century has passed in
which the Moldavians and Wallachians have not suffered
more or less by the passage and incursions of the bar-
barous nations of Asia. Never totally subdued, they
for ages combatted manfully for their independence, and
it was not until they became convinced that this inherit-
ance could no longer be preserved entire that they re-
solved to part with a portion, in order to secure the
enjoyment of the larger and more important share of
their liberties.' Of the treaty:of the Wallachians with
Bajazet in 1393 we have before spoken. That treaty
provided that they should ,continue to be governed by
their own laws--and that their Princes, always Chris-
tians, should be chosen by the metropolitan and the '
boyarde. Moldavia did not yield to the Turkish power
until upwards of a century after Wallachia; and the
terms on which the former principality acknowledged
the sovereignty of the Porte were not less advantageous
than those obtained by Wallachia. These two ancient
treaties have been confirmed by successive Sultans, and,
further, have been appealed to and acknowledged as
valid by the Russian Government. The diplomatic con-
nexion between Russia and the principalities is compara-
tively modern. It dates from 1710, or 139 years ago,
when Peter the Great, having determined on attacking
the Turkish empire, commenced his operations by se-
ducing the princes of Moldavia and Wallachia from their
allegiance to the Sultan. That inspired but insidious
barbarian concluded a treaty with Demetrius Cantemir,
by which that Hospodar agreed to maintain ten
thousand soldiers, whose pay should be provided by
the Czar of Muscovy; Russia, on the other hand,
binding herself never to interfere in the affairs of
the country, and agreeing to a provision that no
Russian should be permitted to marry or purchase lands
in Moldavia. Shortly afterwards Peter succeeded in in-
ducing the Prince of Wallachia to conclude a compact
similar to that into which he had deluded Moldavia. But
neither these intrigues nor the bribery of the Turkish
generals by Russia tended to the success of the Czar's
campaign on the Pruth. That campaign, indeed, was
most disastrous, and almost fatal at the time. But the
successors of the Czar, at the close of the last and the be-
ginning of the present century, revived and continued his
policy, and by intrigues and underhand means again in-
terfered in the internal concerns of Moldavia and Walla-
chia, and in their international relations with
Turkey. By the 16th article of the treaty of Kamardji,
in 1774, Russia acquired the privilege of " speaking in
favour of the principalities," and the door being thus
opened, no opportunity of encroaching farther on the
rights of the Turkish empire and its tributary states was
lett unimproved. By the treaty of Bucharest in 1812,
Russia obtained the cession of the province of Bessa-
rabia, forming nearly one-half of Moldavia. This con-
siderable cession of Moldavian territory, far from
satisfying, has, it appears, only whetted her Imperial and
Moscovite appetite. By the convention of Akermann
and the treaty of Adrianople, the Czar claims a species
of protectorate or guarantee over the principalities,
though it may well be doubted whether such right is in
reality conferred. But even admitting it conferred by a
treaty the handywork of her own agents, or by the or-
ganic statute of Wallachia, such title of protecting
power, even if recognised by the public law of Europe,
confers on Russia no right of sovereignty, and no right
of interference except in the case of some act contrary to
the stipulations of treaties being committed by the
Porte, and application being in consequence made
by the principalities to Russia for assistance and re.
drsss. No such contingencies
.as the two latter have
arisen. The Hospodar of Wallachia, however, having
on the 23d June of the past year granted to his sub.
jects reforms of an important nature, a Russian force,
in consequence crossed the Pruth, on its march to
Buchan st, on the Ist of August. At Bucharest it has
since remained, exercising all authority civil and mili-
tary. The Russian commander has seized the revenues
of the principality, altered the commercial tariff, for
bidden the export of Wallachian produce, and, indeed,
his army may be said to live in free quarters, by pillage
and plunder. But this pillage and plunder of 50,000
men would soon exhaust richer countries than either of
the principalities, and the result must be that a debt will
be incurred for this' protective" occupation--or, rather,
ruthless invasion of territory—a debt which will furnish
a pretex t for indefinite occupation of both principalities by
Russian armies. This surely cannot be allowed without
remonstrance and loud complaint from the mouths of
independent members of both Houses, if not from her
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign
Aff tire. Apart from higher considerations of justice and
equil—apart from the duty of curbing the strong and
of protecting the weak—it is the interest—the direct
and evident commercial interest of England, to preserve
the integrity of the Ottoman Porte. The largest portion
of our exports to Persia and Central Asia passes
through the Dardanelles, and if we now allow Russia to
Assume a preponderant influence, not merely in Bulgaria
and Servia, but also in Wallachia and Moldavia, how
long will it be ere she tries to obtain what Alexander
called the key of his house—the possession of Constau.
tinople itself ? The commercial aspect of the question
is so vast, that to that aspect we must devote a separate
article.

PEEL'S PLAN FOR IRELAND.
(From the Weekly Dispatch.)
Mr. Editor,—Did you ever assist at a pig. shearing?
It is a lively picture of Irish landlordism in the House of
Commons, during three mortal nights of debate on the
Ministerial proposition of a rate of 6d. in the pound upon
all the rateable property of Ireland, as a contribution for
the famishing people. The rate is only to be levied
when local misery grows too mighty for local relief from
the poor-law unions; if insufficient, the prospect is held
out of further drains upon the Imperial Treasury, i: e.,
upon English taxation, to which English poverty so
largely pays, and it is only to be imposed for two years.
Against this moderate proposition the Irish landlords set
up an universal howl. Men of 50,000 L a year declared
it tantamount to individual and national ruin. They in-
sisted that it devolved as rightfully upon Middlesex or
Lancashire, as upon Ulster or Leinster, to pay for the
perishing poor of Connaught. They clamoured for
rating the merchant and the fundholder. They as-
severated their decided preference for a property-tax.
They screamed and struggled, just like the animal above
referred to, making as much noise, and yielding as little
result. A sixpenny rate was the knife at Ireland's
throat. For once the Whigs were firm; quietly allowed
them to scream their scream out, and then voted the
rate, though in the face of a strong minority. It is to
be hoped that Government will get through with this
minimum ofjustice, though it has cost, and is likely to
continue to cost, a maximum of trouble.
The main interest of the debate—that portion of it, I
mean, which took place on Monday night—was, how-
ever, incidental. It consisted in the fact that Sir
Robert Peel, very unexpectedly, availed himself of the
occasion to propound his plan for the pacification and
prosperity of Ireland. This was an extraordinary
course, whether we consider the usual tactics of Op-
position and of Party, or the characteristic caution
of the individual. If regarded as a bid for office, it is
a noble one, and may well dispose us to close the bar-
gain. If taken as another symptom of the change
which seemed to come over the spirit of Sir Robert Peel
three years ago, when he so manfully broke the bonds
of party, and sacrificed place and power for a loftier
policy, it must heighten both our respect for the man
and our expectations from the statesman. But to come
to the plan itself.
Sir Robert Peel proposes to regenerate Ireland by
what he boldly and justly calls "a new constitution of
property" in that island. He would have a Government
Commission take possession of lands which, at present,
the nominal proprietors are alike unable either to cul-
tivate, to sell, or to pay rates for. Much is properly
seizable for accumulated arrears of unpaid rates. Much
is reduced to a condition in which its full present worth
is a mere trifle. Not only is waste land unimproved, but
what was formerly cultivated has become waste. It
only serves as the resting place of dying thousands, to
whom formerly it yielded the precarious subsistence of
the potato, but who now find there neither food nor em-
ployment. Take this land, says Sir Robert, and sell it
to those who will apply capital to its cultivation,
guaranteeing them for a time from the pressure of
more than a defined amount of rate and other fiscal bur•
dens. In one property alone, that where formerly
" Dick Martin ruled the pathless wilds of Conne-
mara," there are 200,000 acres, producing nothing,
paying nothing, worth nothing, and supporting
nobody. It is in vain to talk of sales under
the present law, and by .individual means. Take the
land, at a fair valuation, and by uncostly arrangement
give indisputable titles. Look to the settlement of
Ulster, now so prosperous, in the time of James I. The
miles of waste were divided into manageable portions.
A secure tenure was given to the tenants. The wilder-
ness became a fruitful field, and hordes of starving
savages and marauders were partly replaced by and
partly transformed into, an industrious and thriving
population.
Ulster was then a Conuaught—make Con-
naught an Ulster now. Free the land of the burden of
half-a-dozen tiers of landlords, middlemen, mortgagees,
annuitants, piled one above the other, and all based
puoTer to d
the
o unemployedanything. peßaseagnintrayf,rf7osr_h_. %_l..Lon:_ttletheey have no

• IT Ruesisnsla'deo dada " and Wallachia.—London:
J. Ridgway, 1849.

[PRICE SD.

tural character and tendencies of the Irish people have
fair play. The natural wealth of the country may then
be wrought out. Profit will invite capital, and security
will stimulate improvement. Such is the Utopia of the
modern politician ; and when he has the power, or rival
statesmen have the wisdom and energy, to give the
scheme effect, it may be called Utopian for being bold,
but not, I think, for being visionary.
The great curse of Ireland is its spendthrift and
pauper landlordism. We may almost say that all Ire-
land is mortgaged to the teeth. At least such is the
case in the south and west. Irish mortgages do not
leave a clear 25 per cent. of Irish rental. Hence the
enormous arrears of rates, which often amount to more

than is left for the nominal landlord to receive. Hence
the sacrifice of agriculture to high-rented potato patches
and a swarming peasantry, now swept away together,
the one by blight and the other by famine. There is
no help or hope till the land shall change owners. The
incubus of a moneyless proprietary must be heaved off.
And heaved off it should be, in spite of clamour, or the
country and the people perish. Beggared landowners
must show themselves the beggars that they are. The
time has gone by for the pretence that, if the Imperial
Treasury will lend them money, they will repay it, and
employ and feed the population. Such loans never are
repaid. The first thing that happens afterwards is a
clearance. Were the scheme successful, it would only
amount to an improvement of the land, by the help of
the State, for the benefit of the landowners, and not of
the people. But if public money is to be advanced, the
people have the first claim to be considered in its outlay.
Instead of setting them to work for the landlord, why
not set them to work for themselves? Give them the
fee-simple, or a permanent tenure, of the soil which
their labour reclaims from the waste, or restores to fer-
tility. Thousands lie down and perish on ground which
would feed them in return for their toil alone. In three
years they would support themselves in comparative
affluence. Why are Irish savings' banks so rich in de-
posits? How is it that, in the aggregate, large sums are
continually leaving Ireland to be vested in the cultiva-
tion of land across the Atlantic? Simply because a
pauper proprietary has a close monopoly in Irish soil. It
clutches the land with a gripe like that of a drowning
man ; not saving himself, but dragging down and
strangling the power which might help him. These pro-
perties, whose extent is imperial, and whose condition is
that of a wilderness, must be broken up. Peel's plan
would let in, not only the large capitalist, but the prudent
farmer. Even the industrious labourer would have his
chance. If not a peasant proprietary, at least a yeoman
proprietary would arise. Ireland will always be agri-
cultural. Love of the land seems an inborn tendency in
an Irishman. On that tendency should the statesman
work for Ireland's regeneration. There is no large and
powerful middle class in Ireland. Trade and manufac-
tures are not likely to furnish such a class for genera-
tions yet to come. On this plan, the land would produce
a middle class. The social gradation would be filled up
by the hardy and independent occupiers of the soil.
They would defy alike the assumptions of landlord in-
aolence, and the tyranny of Tipperary assassination.
Secure in their possession, and thriving in their in-
dustry, such a class would be the bulwarks of order and
of freedom. The folly is enormous, which continues to
banish such men,) and send them to colonize the Ca-
nadas, or the United States. Let them colonize at home.
Give them only the same chance there which they have
in Australia. Let them have land for their money, and
profit for their labour. The men who are leaving Ire-
land are just the men most wanted in Ireland. They
are the bone and sinew of the nation. Shame is it, they
should be sacrificed to title-deeds and sterile ownership.
The whole land cries out for what, amongst statesmen,
Sir Robert Peel alone has dared to promise, a "new con-
stitution of property." What says Lord John Russell to
it? " I will leave the question to the House."
No scheme which includes a due respect for existing
interests and the legalized rights of property promises
so well as this this to put the social machinery of Ire-
land into a wholesome and working condition. Of course
there would be great danger of jobbery in the practical
details. Success would require the earnest and vigilant
superintendence of a mind deeply impressed with the
determination to carry the plan through to its natural
results. Probably it would be safe in no hands but
those of the proposer. This consideration may reconcile
us to its being let alone by the Whigs. And when their
expected hour arrives the prospect of its practical adop-
tion will be, both to Ireland and to England, a very
great consolation fir their all from power.
There is one point on which Sir Robert Peel did not
speak out, which yet is of primary importance. His plan
would go far towards providing for the material well-
being of Ireland ; but "Dian shall not live by bread
alone," though he cannot do very well without it. The
Church question still remains. The settlement of that
is essential to the settlement of Ireland. It is not merely
the pecuniary pressure of the Establishment, though that
is sufficiently onerous, but the fact of its being the
Church of a small minority ; and the further and more
important fact that its ascendancy is an insult to the
Catholic Hierarchy, keeping them tmbittered, irritated,
and discontented ; and through them keeping the great
mass of the population in the same untoward and antago-
nistic condition. Sir Robert Peel did, indeed, glance
delicately, and remotely, at something beyond his pro-
jected " transfer of property." He suggested "that no
religious distinctions should be allowed to enter into
the arrangement." lie would "place the land in the pos-
session of new proprietors without distinction of religi-
ous profession." And he characterizes as " a fatal detect
in the Act of James 1., the establishment of a religious
distinction.' We understand by this time what the cau-
tious man is at when he puts forth such feelers as these.
Little pilot balloons, no bigger than a child's ball, show
in what course the current of air will bear the great ma-
chine of policy when it rises and is fairly launched. Sir
Robert I'eel is preparing to be the economical and the
Church Reformer of Ireland. If cautious in his bold-
ness, he is not less bold in his cautiousness. The
Disraeli of Irish landlords and Orange Protestants (whe-
ther it be he of the Protectionists or another, if there
can be another) may prepare his sarcasms on the future
renegade (as he will be called) from property and Pro-
testantism. Another storm. like that of 1846, may burst
upon the agent, but the work will be achieved. The
territorial and ecclesiastical monopolies of Ireland are
doomed. In due time, the blessed fruits of famine,
whose seed was sown in misery, will be reaped amid
rejoicings. PUBLICOLA.

ECONOMIC LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.—The Or-
dinary annual court of this society, pursuant to notice,
and afterwards the extraordinary quinquennial general
court, were:held on Saturday last, at Radley's Hotel,
Bridge-street, Blackfriars. The Right Hon. Sir T.
Frankland Lewis occupied the chair, and laid before the
members a full statement of the receipts, disbursements,
and financial position of the society for the year ending
the 31st of December last, the whole of which, as
sanc-
tioned by the auditors, was received by the meeting as
highly satisfactory, and adopted, and ordered to be re-
corded in the minutes. The meeting then resolved itself
into an extraordinary quinquennial general court for the
transaction of special business, and Mr. J. J Downes,
the actuary, read the report of the directors for the
quinquennium ending the 31st of December, 1848. The
chairman then declared a bonus of 168,7941., and
congratulated the meeting upon the highly satisfactory
position which the society occupied. He announced a
contingent bonus of 1,2, 3,4, and 5 per cent. on the sum
assured to all policies now entitled to an absolute bonus
and becoming claims during the next fire years. Ho also
drew attention to the following arrangement announced
in the report:—" With respect to the class of assurers
on the participating scale, who have not yet paid the
requisite number of premiums to entitle them to parti-
cipate in the present division, the directors, to make the
distribution of profits more equitable, have made a pro-
vision for the payment of a conditional bonus (calculated
on the amount of five annual premiums) on all policies
on which claims shall accrue after the payment of the
fifth annual premium, and before the next ensuing divi-
sion. If the life assured survive that period, such bonus
will merge into the general fund, and the assured will
then participate in proportion to the improved amount
of the premiums he has paid." The meeting terminated
with the usual rote of thanks to the chairman.

133..irseesou: until that
FIRES IN THE METnorous.—Yesterday morning,
about four o'clock, a fire of a very alarming nature broke
out in the extensive range of premises belonging to
Messrs. White, Greenwell, and Co., haberdashers, &c.,
carrying on business at 53,54, and 55, Blackfriars-road.
The discovery was made by Sergeant Davis, of the L
division of police, who raised an instant alarm and sent
for the engines. After some trouble the whole of the
inmates, nearly 50 persons, male and female, wore
aroused from their slumber. The building, how-
ever, was so full of smoke that the residents made
a precipitate retreat into the street in their night_
Brigade and
clothes. The engines of the London
West of England Company, with the Royal SfinresiemtY::
fire-escape, promptly attended, when
first
floor. The
found the flames raging furiously
flames were not extinguished until that partpart damaged by
pre-
mises was burned out and
the lower
rt
nine o'clock, the
water, &c. On Saturday night..
premises
ri
to be on fire. An
1 maker, 48, Strand, were discovered
a messenger was lent for
instant alarm was given,
and
upon entering found the first
the engines. The firemen The firemen was unable to get
floor in a general blaze• in
the
fi
of the
th n
burned out, and the stock in the shop
flames began was .
tha Elizabeth
part
ar t 1f arth about
India-rubberhou house
e in
which g ol 0 sthhi
llarris was fortunately insured in the Sun Fire-
office. A short time since Mrs. Harris's husband and
manrds.reisitarorfisthe house severely injured by fire, water, &c.
one of her children was burned to death in a fire which
destroyed the same premises.
The trial of Sarah Grout, charged with murdering
two of hrr children, came on at Chelmsford on Saturday.
The unfortunate woman, during a fit of furious madness,
cut down the children with a billhook. She was acquitted
on the ground of insanity.
Three carpet weavers, named Phasey, Rennie, and
Price, were tried at Worcester on Friday, for poaching
in Lord Ward's preserves. They had been attacked and
terribly beaten by Lord Ward's keepers. They were all
of them acquitted—a striking proof of the hatred 01 the
farmers for the game-laws. "
The Bishop of London has appointed the Rev.
Charles Anthony Swainson, 8.D., fellow and tutor of
Christ's College, Cambridge, to be one of her Majesty's
peachers at Whitehall.