The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-24 00:00:00

tOignit I,tlA/6

LCNDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1849,

All classes within the dominions of her Britannic
MAJESTY, with two extraordinary exceptions, have some
direct court of appeal to which they may submit their
individtial grievances with the reasonable expectation
of having an extravagant punishment mitigated or an
unjust sentence reconsidered. These two exceptions,
wonderful to relate, are the members of the naval and
military professions. According to the existing system
the finding of a naval or military Court-Martial is to
be considered altogether ultimate and irrevocable.
However glaring may be the cruelty of its decision ;
although the whole country may ring with the
voice of indignation; though the organs of
every party or of every phase of public opinion may
coincide in pronouncing the decision of the court to
be atrociously harsh and undeserved—that decision
must, nevertheless, be regarded as final, and
its victim must submit from sheer despair to all its
evil consequences. Every effort to demand a revision
of the sentence is treated as an infringement upon
naval or military discipline ; and supposing any one
to have sufficient temerity to forward a " Memorial "
to the " most reverend, grave, and potent seigniors ''
at the Horse Guards or the Admiralty, ten million
chances to one but what the document is returned
unperused, with a note of the most polite tenor
but of flae most insolent brevity. Hence there
remains not the faintest possibility of com-
pensation, unless the journalist proclaims the
necessity for a revision through the medium of
the Press, or the legislator forces that
revision upon the authorities by an ex-
posure of the abuse in Parliament. So
far as this respuubibility fur exertion reposes with
ourselves, we have endeavoured, and shall unceasingly
endeavour, to agitate for a change in the present
organization of Courts-Martial; and, thanks to those
principles of justice which penetrate everywhere
throughout the community, there is every prospect
of the matter being brought, shortly after the open-
ing of the next session, under the consideration of
the ianperial Legislature. Out of the misfortunes of
ind'asiduals will arise in this, as in so many preceding
rsstances, :the general advantage. So far we are
sanguine as to the beneficent result of the present
movement. Our anxiety as to the ulterior
removal of the enormous evil now pressing so
heavily upon our two heroic professions has
almost entirely been dissipated. What, in that
particular, continues to be the sole object of oar soli-
citude is the uncertainty whether, in the prevention
of future injustice, the rectification of past injustice
may be overlooked—that in tine destruction of a
general system, so far as it affects large classes of the
population, cur national defenders, both land and
maritime, the administration of solace to the victims
of that system may ba regarded as unnecessary and
superfluous.

Supposing the present system of Courts-Martial
to be destroyed—as destroyed it inevitably will be
by those triple vindicators of justice, the People, the
Press, and the Parliament—its clownfal at this
particular period will be attributable to the
indignation excited. by the wrongs endured by Captain
DOUGLAS, late of the 16th Regiment, and by Lieute-
nant GRAHAM, late of 11. M. S. Childers. But for
the monstrous sentences pronounced upon those offi-
cers, one by a naval Court-Martial, the other by a
military Court-Martial, the prepostrous evils of the
code regulating, these arbitrary and almost irre-
sponsible tribunals might have remained for yet a con-
siderable time longer unobserved and consequently
unassailed. Fortunately, however, for their gallant
professions, but most unfortunately for themselves,

these gentlemen have fallen under a despotic and in

competent authority, which, as at pre-
sent organized, should long since have

been obsolete. In referring, however, simultaneously

to the case of Captain DOUGLAS and Lieutenant GRA.

HAM, it must be remembered that we do not thereby
wish it to be understood that we regard the absence

of culpability in both instances as equivalent. For,
while it is indisputable that the late Lieutenant of the
Childers was guilty of the high crime of desertion

(a desertion, the heinousness of which was no doubt

materially dimici3lied by the desperation to which he

had been driven by his tyrannical Corn mannder), the

charge laid 2gainst the late alptain in the 16th Regi-

meat was not less contemptible and frivolous

in its character than it was glaringly
false as an accusation. We refer simultaneously

to the two cases, therefore, not because we recognise

any parity in the complete innocence of the accused,
but because we regard both as instances of extraordi-

hary hardship—one of them showing the necessity for

reform in the naval, the other in the military regime.

That Captain DOUGLAS should have been tried at all

upon such idle and paltry imputations, unsupported
as those imputations were by any admissible evi-
dence, is to us matter of serious astonishment. But

that Lieutenant GRAHAM, having demonstrated the
accuracy of his statements as to the provocation
received from his Cl o.mtuander, by con-
ducing to thwehichexhpu expulsion of that person
from the service
Gre had disgraced by his cruel-
ties—that Lieutenant we say, having veri-
fied his assertions to the satisfaction of the Court-
Martial lately sitting mouth, should still be
allowed to remain in the Exeter.)m Gaol, classed
among felons and subjected to a felon's punishment, un
to every generous heart in the communiPtyaishnelt
subijelet of
profound indignation. The nature and tendency,
therefore, of our solicitude in referenceato
thetoCgdepntearia;n
DOUGLAS, to Lieutenant GRAHAM, n
question of Courts-Martial, are obvious. That the
latter tribunals, as they have been hitherto or-
ganized, are doomed we regard as an abso-
lute fact. They are doomed by the will
of the People, by the word of the Press, and by the
approaching decree of the Parliament. Our solici-
tude, therefore, in that regard has become null, has

given place to a sentiment of sustaining confidence.

We ara no longer solicitous upon that point, becauze

we view the existing system as at this moment virtually

annihilated. All our feelings, therefore, have merged
into a deep and earnest anxiety lest, in looking to
the end of this re-organization, the means should be
unobserved, lest, in looking at the mark i o which
the arrow of reform is being propelled, we should
lose sight of the bow which has been
the medium of its propulsion, lest, in bear-
ing in mind the general injustice of Courts-
Martial, we should forget the individual injustice
wreaked by those execrable institutions upon the two
unfortunate gentlemen we have particularised. Hence
we would recal these two remarkable cases to the
attention of the Noble Lord and to the Honourable
Representative who will at the outset of the next
session bring the subject of Courts-Martial before
both Houses of the Imperial Parliament.

When will Irishmen learn that the welfare and
prosperity of their native land can only be attained by
good faith and integrity on the part of the people,
and the cordial co-operation of all, without exceptions
for the benefit of their common country ? So long as
class is arrayed against class, so long as those whose
interests are ;one and indivisible shall aim at out-
witting and defrauding each other, there can be no
hope for unhappy Ireland. However auspicious the
auguries that may be afforded, however favourable
the legislation, there can be no beneficial results until
the relationship between landlord and tenant be placed
on a better foundation, and a complete and cordial
union be established [between them : divided
they are powerless. No good can arise from
the most earnest and zealous exertions of
either party so long as these efforts are
not only not participated in, but opposed
and rendered nugatory by the others. The best land-
lord can scarcely be expected to expend his capital on
the improvement of his estate, if the tenantry will
not avail themselves of the opportunities placed within
their reach, and if he cannot entertain at least a rea-
sonable expectation that they will punctually and
honestly perform the contracts into which they have
deliberately entered. On the other hand, the tenant
will have no adequate motive to increase
the best retasethefertilit
fertility
of the soil or to bring his holding
pro-
ductive condition if subject to be ejectedhis g
a ent. The
mat
the mere caprice of his landlord, or
one must be satisfied that he will in ordinary seasons
receive the amount of rent agreed on to be paid ; the
other that he himself or his children will be permitted
to enjoy the fruits of his skill and industry, either by
being continued in possession of his farm, or receiv-
ing full compensation in money for the value of the
unexhausted improvements. When these conditions
are performed, both landlords and tenants will really
have a community of interest that will lead to the
most beneficial results. Hitherto, save in some dis-
tricts in the northern province, these conditions have
not been fulfilled in any part of Ireland; and the me-
lancholy consequences are but too plainly perceptible
in the rude and defective system of agriculture, in
the barren and unproductive condition of the soil, and
in the sufferings and misery of the inhabitants. A
mere cursory inspection of the farms in the south and
west of Ireland will afford the best evidence of
the absence of a proper understanding between
the owners and occupiers, while the flourishing ap-
pearance of the various holdings in many parts of
Ulster will show that there, at least, the'great problem
has been satisfactorily solved, and that the solution
has materially advanced the interests of all parties
concerned, as well of landlords as of tenants, and of
the labouring population residing in these more for-
tunate localities.
Recent accounts from Ireland prove beyond the
possibility of doubt that there is, at least in some of
the southern districts, an organized conspiracy to
defraud landlords by carrying off the crops, and
!caving them without any adequate remedies for the
recovery of rents. There is, in fact, in Tipperary,
and some of the adjoining counties, an anti-rent move-
ment going on that must lead to the most deplorable
consequences, unless speedily arrested in its progress.
The produce of the lands has in many instances been
completely swept away in a single night, by large and ,
well-drilled parties, who come in sufficient force to
overawe and defeat any opposition that can be offered
by the police of the vicinity, while the main body
hurry off with their plunder to the haggards of some
sympathising neighbour, from whence it may subse-
quently be borne to market. A detached corps will
keep the constabulary in check, and distract their
attention from the real object of their pursuit, while
the baffled and defrauded landlords are not only
deprived of their rents, but left respon-
sible for the large arrears of poor-rates,
tithe rent -charge, and other taxes payable

in respect of the denuded tenements. A similar
operation is performed night after night in different
localities, so that there are few proprietors who have
not been victimised in turn. These atrocious pro-
ceedings naturally excite general distrust, so that
even the really honest and well•disposed tenant is
unduly pressed and made answerable for the back-
slidings of his neighbour. His crops are seized, and
legal expenses accumulated before any opportunity
is afforded for the legitimate disposal of his produce.
Injured and aggrieved by the apparent hardship of
the case—although it is merely an act of self preserva-

tion on the part of the landlord, who cannot discrimi-
nate between the innocent and well-disposed tenant and
the reckless and dishonest conspirator—the man,
who would otherwise feel disposed to act fairly,
enters into the movement heart and soul, and becomes
a willing agent in the agrarian outrages that dis-
grace his district.
This system, so disastrous to all concerned, so con-
trary to public policy, and subversive of the best
interests of the nation, can only be checked by a
judicious alteration in the law of landlord and tenant
in Ireland, by giving the occupying tenant full com-
pensation for his outlay in all unexhausted improve-
ments of a permanent and lasting character ; in fact,
by extending the custom of " tenant-right" to the
entire kingdom, and giving it the force of law. Even in
the North itself it is essential that the custom should be
legalized and rendered compulsory upon the landlords,
in place of being a mere voluntary grace on their
part. Even in the most favoured districts the salu-
tary custom is subject to daily encroachments by
needy and embarrassed landlords that threaten its
existence. We have long and zealously advocated this

cause, which we believe to be of the most paramoun
importance to the sister kingdom, and which, if not

affording a panacea for all the evils by which she has

been so grievously Lfilicted through ages of mis

government and oppression, is a.t least one of the chief

remedies by which her maladies may be healed and

new vitality restored to her almost paralyzed
energies. We rejoice to find that the ques-
tion is brought prominently forward by a
society established for the purpose of defending
the custom of "tenant-right" where it already exists,
and of introducing it into districts where it has not
hitherto been recognised.

Mr. S. Al. GEER, the secretary to the Coleraine
Tenant Right Association, has published two adrai-

cable letters on this all-important subject, which have
been given to the public through the columns of a

respected provincial contemporary, the Coleraine

Chronicle, and which discuss the disputed points with
the utmost clearness and ability. Four letters have

already appeared, and we trust that, when the series
is completed, it may be published in a separate form,
so that the English and the Irish nations may be made
thoroughly 'acquainted with the real merits of the
question, in which the best interests of Ireland, and
through Ireland, of the United Kingdom, are so
deeply concerned.

ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR.—The election of
Lord Mayor for the city of London will take place on
Saturday next, being Michaelmas day. The number of
aldermen who have not passed the chair is ten, all of
whom will be put to the choice of the livery. Thomas
Farncomb, Eiq., of Giffin's- wharf, Tooley-street, elected
alderman of the ward Ba,sis,thaw, 1341, being
the next in rotation, if rc!urrn d to the Court of
Aldermen, will be declared Lord Mayor. The
choice rests between him and Aldermen IMusgrave and
Hunter.

LORD BROUGHAIL—The Noble and Learned Lord
completed his 71st year on Wednesday last, and on the
occasion of his natal day, a large party assembled at
Brougham Hall, WeAtraoreland. The Duke and Duchess
of Bean'ort, and Lady Henrietta Somerset, the Marquis
and Marchioness of Lansdowne, the Marquis of Duero,
lion. Mr:Vane, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Brougham, &c., have
been emoting the recent guests et the Hall.
LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.—The royal mail steam-
ship Canada, Captain Judkius, departed from the Mer-
sey at two o'clock to-day, for Halifax and Now York,
with the usual mails for North America, and about 80
passengers. The homeward mails, &c., per the Cale-
Ceptaia Leitch, which would leave Boston on the
12th, and Halifax on the 11th instant, may be expected
to arrive here on Tuesday.