The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-26 00:00:00

ated in sufficient numbers to produce a harmony
between them, otherwise the country would be
plunged into anarchy. The King can make no
alteration in the Constitution of the House of Com-
mons (so it is held)—he cannot leave out some
burghs, and introduce others ; and when an appeal
to the people would only return Members still more
determined in the same course, the House of Peers
must be modified by new creations. Whatever
number of Peers be required, that number must be
afforded ; because the primary object must always
he the Salta Populi, and the Peers have themselves
alone to blame if they reduce Ministers to the ne-
cessity of too liberal a creation. The skill of Sir
Robert Peel, as an actor, was handsomely acknow-
ledged by Sir Francis. The Right Hon. Baronet
has certainly a wonderful command of countenance,
and would almost persuade one occasionally that one
person does not monopolise all his concern and
anxiety. We never heard that his sufferings before
he could bring himself to consent to the destruc-
tion of the Protestant Constitution, materially
affected his health ; and we have no doubt that he
will long survive the destruction of boroughtnonger-
ing.—Morning Chronicle.
When Viscount Melbourne stated in the House
of Lords that Government were devising means for
the more effectual protection of agricultural produce,
and other farming property, from the acts of secret
incendiaries, we supposed that Government were, at
length, about to try what effect the improvement of
the wretched condition of the labouring classes would
have in restoring to property of this description that
security which was not broken down until the actual
cultivators of the soil were reduced from a state of
comfort and comparative independence to degrading
destitution. The causes which destroyed the moral
pride and self-respect of an honest and manly pea-
santry rendered the property of the owners and oc-
cupiers of the soil insecure, for its true protection
was gone when abject distress banished the comforts
and decencies of life from the poor man's cottage, and
drove the rural virtues from the land. There is no
moral truth more certain than that good government
never demoralised an honest people, nor drove a
well-ordered population into acts of madness and
despair. Arid where does there exist a country
which, until of late years, possessed a better-or.
dered, a more virtuous, decent, and manly pea-
santry than England did ? What a deplorable change
has taken place! and what a deplorable series of
errors and vices in government have led to it !
The riots and buntings of last year were the acts
of a population who had lost all affection for their
superiors, though they did not shed their blood;
and who had lost all confidence in their rulers,
though they entered into no plan of political insur-
,ection. Was it because their labours were ade-
quately paid that they lost their affection for their
employers ? Was it because their petitions of dis-
tress were listened to, and means taken by a pater-
nal Government to alleviate it, that they lost all
confidence in their rulers? The parish books will
furnish an answer to the one question, and the re-
cords of a deceased Parliament the other. But, in-
...teed of attempting to remove the causes of the
crimes against property which have of late prevailed
among the peasantry of England, Lord Melbourne
contents himself with trying experiments of legisla-
tive quackery upon their effects. England has been
already afflicted with too many of those statesmen
who have no idea of preventing any crime which
happens to be prevalent but by adding new tenors
to vindictive law, or by reinforcing with new enact-
ments of blood a criminal code already disgustingly
profuse of sanguinary punishments. It never oc-
curred to his Lordship that, if Government think it
too difficult and laborious a task to set about better-
ing the condition of the peasantry, there was one mode
of rendering the law which punishes crimes against
property more effective than it is at present, and
that is by rendering it less sanguinary, so that the
comtnon feelings of mankind would be less shocked
by seeing it carried into effect, and there would not
be among a civilized and Christian community the
repugnance which now exists to be accessary to its
enforcement, and which so often prevents the injured
party from prosecuting, makes witnesses reluctant
to give evidence, and renders juries averse to con-
vict. At present the highest punishment that man
can inflict on man is the sentence of our law for
burning wilfully houses or other property. From
the castellated mansion to the heap of straw in a
lonely field no distinction is made, and outrages
differing widely from each other, both in the moral
guilt and social danger, are visited with the one ex-
terminating doom. Yet so ineffectual has the mer-
ciless law been found to be, that the crime of arson,
or wilful burning, has increased under it to a degree
which, we admit, has become alarming to society.
So much for the efficacy of sanguinary law ! So
much for the blessed results of that sort of penal
legislation which sets up in the temple of august and
godlike Justice the grim idol of Revenge,and, satisfied
with performing the rights of blood which it demands,
cares nothing for the moral prevention of crime I
Lord Melbourne,eot being able to raise the penalty
for arson, committed under any aggravations, higher
than it is at present, proposes to allow Magistrates
to have a power to grant licenses to set spring-guns
about premises where there are stacks of corn, and
other agricultural produce, which it is possible to
destroy by fire. The spring-gun is a barbarous in-
vention, which only a few years ago bad been put
down by the force of public opinion. The practice
of secreting upon premises this and other deadly in-
ventions bad been productive of more injury to in.
nocent persons than to guilty ones ; and even the
individuals that set them sometimes perished by
their own contrivances. We gave our assistance in
procuring the abolition of a mode of preventing
crime clumsy and inhuman enough to be a disgrace
to New Zealand; and can we in silence see a Bill
brought into Parliament to revive what is nothing
more or less than the practice of assassination by
machinery? We have full as great an abhorrence
of the crime of arson as Lord Melbourne has, butit
is not by endangering the lives of the innocent, and
covering the land with engines which resemble out
criminal laws in being snares for human life, that
we would strike at the offences of the guilty.—
Morning Herald.

Miss PORTER'S last romance entitled, " The
Field of the Forty Footsteps," is considered to be one of
those few stories which, when once taken up, cannot be
easily laid down until the last page shall have been read.
The tale is constructed on a strange and eventful cir-
cumstance which occurred in one of the fields now built
over in a populous district of London, and in the dark
mystery of which CROMWELL and his regicide associates
were deeply concerned. Miss PORTER has worked up
the narrative with amazing skill. Every page is marked
by some incident or rapid action, and the reader is held
to the perusal as by a spell over which he has no controul.
A new and cheaper edition is just published.

- -
WILTSIIIRE.—A requisition to the High
Sheriff, to convene a county meeting to pray the House of
Lords to pass the Reform Bill has been very tc,pectably
signed, and will be immediately presented. There is also
a talk of a meeting of the town and neighbourhood of
Devizes, for a similar purpose.—Devizes Gazette.

BIOGRAPHICAL LITERATURE.--Messrs.
COLBURN and BENTLEY have just published the following
interesting works :-1. Dr. Palm's "Life of Sir Humph rY
Davy," octavo edition, two vole., with portrait. " A
durable monument to the memory of Davy, and to the
talents of Dr. PARIS." Gentleman's Magazine. 2.
" The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Lawrence," two
vols. Bvo., with three portraits. '! A work which reflects
some most material features of the greater number of per-
sons and events in which the public, for the list 50 year`,
have taken an interest."—Morning Post. $. "The Life
and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Munro," new and
cheaper edition, two vols. Svo., with portrait. " This
work has attractions of all kinds."—Ediriburgh Review.
,g Sir John Sinclair's Life and Correspondence," two
vols. Bvo., with portrait. " These volumes contain a mass
of curious information, and anecdotes of persons of cele-
brity."—Literary Gazette. 5. " The Life of Foch,"
three vols., Bvo. with fine portrait. " A standard wan
calculated to maintain the purity of English Literature."
—Monthly Review. 6. " Northcote's Life anal Times
of Titian," two vols. Bvo., with fine portrait. " The
portrait of a master, by a master,"—.Courier.

FLANDERS MAIL.

P OLAND.

(From the Prussian State Gazette of Sept. 18.)

WARSAW, SEPT. 13. —The day before yesterday, the
saint's day of his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Alex-
ander, eldest son of the Emperor of Russia, was observed
here with great solemnity.
On the 7th instant, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the
combat before Warsaw re-commenced : iut the middle of it
General Berg came to the city. In the evening the con-
vention was signed ; upon which the Polish army, with
artillery and ammunition, began to return to Praga, and
on the following day, when the whole of it was collected
there, it marched from Praga to Modlin. On the Bth, the
following notice was published by the Municipal Council
of the city
As, according to conventions concluded by the superior au-
thorities, the Russian troops will enter the capital to-day, the
Municipal Council considers it to be its duty to remove all ap-
prehensions of the citizens respecting the safety of their persons
and property; but on the other hand, it confidently expects that
all the inhabitants will conduct themselves with due respect to
order. " OSINSKI, President."

At half-past eight in the morning of Thursday last (the
Stb) the President of the city of Warsaw, surrounded by
a deputation of the Municipal Council, with its President
at its head, presented, at the Jerusalem barrier, bread and
salt to his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Michael.
His Imperial Highness was pleased to address this deputa-
tion in the most gracious manner, with words of peace,
and at the head of a brilliant staff and of the Guard, rode
into the city. In the Saxon-square he addressed the
people, and said, " Any of the inhabitants of Warsaw
that has an application to make, may address himself di-
rectly to me." His Imperial Highness presides in the Pa-
lace of the Viceroy.
Field-Marshal Paskewitsch arrived in the evening of
the same slay, and passed the night in the Belvedere. The
troops that entered the capital on the Bth, consist of the
Imperial Guard, both cavalry and infantry. At the same
time, the infantry regiments of the Lithuanian and Vol-
hynian Guard, and the Grodno regiment of Hussars, that
were formerly in Warsaw, returned to this city ; but the
Podolian Cuirassiers and Lithuanian Hulans went to the
provice of Kalisch. On the same day, Praga was also re-
occupied by the Imperial Guards.
The day before yesterday a great number more Russian
troops marched through Warsaw. The bands of the
several regiments played favourite tunes.
The Warsaw Courier of yesterday says there is to be a
cessation of arms for fifteen days, till the Emperor's resolu-
tion can be received from St. Petersburgh.

After the Polish army had left Praga, it stopped the
first night at Jablonna, on the road to ➢lodlin. On Satur-
day, the 10th, Count Zarnoyski came with a flag of truce
from the camp of the Polish army to Warsaw. This army
is now in Modlin, and is commanded by General Rybinski.
Yesterday General Dzickonski arrived here from the
Polish army in Modlin, to which he soon afterwards re-
turned.

It is said that General Romanow, with part of his
corps, is gone towards Z tmosc. General Kasimir
Ma-
lachowaki has, indeed, laid down the command-in-chief of
the Polish army, but is still with it.
A report that troubles had broken out the day before
yesterday in Modlin and the environs, is not confirmed.
At Zegt z there are many citizens who left Warsaw at the
same time as the army.
It is said that Marshal Paskewitsch will fix his abode in
the Royal Palace.
General Rennenkampf arrived here yesterday express
from St. Petersburgh, and Colonel Malowstoff from Lowit.z.
The Councillor of State Engel, who is intrusted with
the organization of a provisional government for the
kingdom of Poland, will arrive at Warsaw to-day, and
reside in the Bruhl Palace.

The Councillor of State Suminski, Director-General of
the Pest office and the Police of the Kingdom of Poland,
will short'y arrive here.
Count Andrew Zamoyski arrived here on the 10th, by
way of Thorn, from Vienna, with a passport from Count
Tatischeff, the Russian Ambassador.
General KrukOwiecki is still in Warsaw. Nothing cer-
tain is known respecting the present abode of General
Skrzynecki, but according to all probability he is in Gal-
l icia, in the neighbourhood of Cracow.
The Governor, Count Witt, lives in the Palace of the
Viceroy, and the office of General Korff, Commandant of
the city, is at present in the Senate-house.
An order of the day of Count Witt enjoins the National
Guard, and all other persons who are in possession of arms,
to deliver them within 48 hours in the arsenal to General
Bontemps, director of the artillery, otherwise they wi.l be
punished with all the rigour of military law.
The superior officers of the National Guard have been
presented to the commandant of the city. On Friday, the
9th, 60 of the Guards were on duty. It is said that 1,000
of the National Guards will be chosen to do duty in the city.
The Warsaw Courier of the 10th contains the procla-
mation of the Emperor Nicholas to the Poles, dated July
29, with the announcement that it had been enjoined to
invert it conformably with the original. The same Journal
publishes the proclamation addressed by Count Paskewitsch
to the inhabitants of the kingdom of Poland, after the Rus-
sian army had passed over to the left bank of the Vistula.
There are now 60 Generals of the Russian army in War-
saw. The Municipal Council still performs its official duties.
The criminals confined in the prison called the Powder
Magazine made an attempt to escape in the night of the
11th, but were overpowered by the police guard, assisted
by several of the National Guard, after firing a few shots,
by which one of the criminals was killed and four wounded.
It is sail that a proclamation will be issued by which all
bank-notes, &c., will be continued in circulation as usual.
Our bonds have risen considerably, and have been again at
86. For some months past hardly any silver coin had
been seen at Warsaw ; but now there is a great quantity in
circulation.
Yesterday morning, at nine o'clock, the post from Posen
arrived again, and brought newspapers of the 28th ult. ;
which, however, we had received previously by way of
Plonk.
For this week past there have been hardly any cases of
cholera. Many Polish soldiers being quite recovered left
the hospitals on the 9th. Yesterday, however, several
persons were attacked by the disorder. Several families
from the kingdom of Poland are still in Cracow. The
communication between Cracow and Gallicia will be shortly
less restricted.
A great part of the barricades and pallisades was de.
stroyed on Thursday. During the battle on Tuesday and
Wednesday forty-eight houses were burnt down in the
suburbs of Warsaw.*
BERLIN, SEPT. 17.-CIIOLERA.—New cases, 49 ; re-
coveries, 4 ; deaths, 22. In all, from the beginning, 422
cases, 39 recoveries, 240 deaths ; remained, on the 17th,
at noon, 143.—Prussian State Gazette, Sept. 18.
BEr,LIN, Seer. 19.—The Prussian State Gazette
again communicates direct news from 'Warsaw to the 13th
instant. It appears from this account, given by a private
letter, that the division of the Polish army, which after
the submission of the capital marched through Praga,
did not indeed seem inclined to commit hostilities against
the Russians, but had not hitherto shewn any disposition
to go to Plczk. The army, after its departure on the 7th,
remained a few days in Jablonna, and is now in and about
the fortress of Modlin. Some Members of the Senate,
and of the Chamber of Deputies, and also several of the
most violent members of the Clubs and editors of the
Newspapers had followed the army to Modlin, but had
since left that fortress, and were all gone to the little town
of Zakroczyn, on the Vistula. It was reported that a
deputation had been sent from the Polish army to Modlin
to the Emperor Nicholas. Others spoke at Warsaw of
commands given by the Emperor for a new organization
of the Polish army, which is to be confined to General
Rautenstrauch. Meantime many soldiers of the Polish
army at Modlin desert their colours, and many of these
soldiers continually arrive at Warsaw. The Russian Gene-
ral Von Berg went on the 12th to the camp.
Besides the troops above mentioned, the Polish army
appears to have two very strong corps, namely, those of
Generals Romarino and Rozyzki. The first of these Ge-
nerals, who at the time of the capitulation of Warsaw was
on the right bank of the Vistula with about 16,000 men,
was ordered by General Malachowaki to join the main
army; but he had neglected this order, and had resolved
to make an attempt to reach the fortress of Zamosc,
which is still in the hands of the Poles. On the 12th he
was at Lukow ; but General Rosen followed him with
19,000 men, and has at least already cut hips off from the
Polish army. General Rozyzki is in the province of San_
dotnir, on the left bank of the Vistula. On the Bth inst.
that General, who was not acquainted with the surrender
of Warsaw, published a report, in which he speaks in
high terms of the force assembled in the province of San-
renetthvealtwoof Gene-
rals, domir, and of the large reinforcements of cavalry which
he expected from the province of Cracow. Ile estimates
was at his force at 12,000 men, with 15 cannon. Since then
General Rudiger appears to have closely pressed this
Polish corps, and upon the news of the surrender of War.
s
nmc l(t)istlte
profound
r ot the
n(i reporttr
athenity Prussian
iaa:livse,sabonyn
whichae iesrt armistice was
ev.h:oanusurssconcluded e
onf. betweenthe
Rudiger
Ra-
dom, and Rozyzki at Kielce.
continues
st‘a'telnoNaVzaeristaew,
theco
to prevail. The Russian authorities act with the greatest

It is just as we were going to press that we received the
numbers of the Warsaw Courier, from the 9th to the 13th, from
which we have made the above extracts.—Prussian state Gazette.