The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1536.

Mr. LAwSON, we perceive, has given notice Oral
on the third reading of the Hull and Selby Rail-IA-a)
Bill, he move that a clause be introduced to pro,
hibit travellinc, on Sundays. A more absurd, partia
motion than this; we cannot well imagine. It is at
Andrew-Agnezvism of the first water. Should it bl
allowed to pass—which of course we do not for at
instant anticipate—it is not the rich who will feel it:
effects, but the poor, on whom it will press with extrean
severity. The former will still be left in the full
fruition of their Sunday recreations, for the motion will
not affect their horses or carriages on the high-way ;
these will be allowed to rattle on as briskly and noisily
as ever ; but the latter, who have no such resources,
will be comrelled either to stay at home, or toil along
the road on foot. Why should this he ? The maim
recommendations of rail-way travelling are that they
combine speed with economy : yet from these two ad-
vantages, in which he is interested beyond any other
clas of the community, the poor man is to be expressly
shut out, on perhaps the only day in the week that he
is able to avail himself of them ! And while the poor
are to be so excluded, and fettered with unjust re-
strictions, the rich are to be left at full liberty to
amuse themselves as they please. Mr. LA wsoN may
perhaps tell us that there is no invidious distinction
here ; but though he may believe this himself, he will
scarcely succeed in making the mass of the working
classes believe it, who will see at a glance that his mo-
ticn is specially directed against themselves, and based
on an aristocratic foundation. If it be wrong for a
poor man to travel by the railway on a Sunday, how
can it be right for a rich one to' travel in his own car-
riage on the same day ? Is there something innately
vicious in the one mode of conveyance, and innately
virtuous in the other ? We should feel grateful if Mr.
LAWSON would explain this matter, and give reasons
'',for the faith that is in him ;" for our present impres-
sions are, that his motion is as sheer a piece of cant,
twaddle, and inconsistency, as ever was perpetrated even
by that Saint of Saints, St. AGNEW. Possibly, however,
it may be from an excess of the virtuous—from an
overpowering spirit of Evangelism—that he is induced
to bring it forward ; but if this be the case, how is it
that he does not enlarge the terms of his motion, and
look as sharply after the high-road as the rail-way ?
We have no patience with that partial, oppressive
spirit of legislation which passes by the rich, only to
fall with a crushing hand on the poor. GOD knows,
these last are not over-burdened
.with the comforts
of life ; and to deprive them of what few they have
left, under the pretext of preventing the desee.ratiOn
of the Sabbath, while the lordly hotels, and the fa-
shionable clubs, with the horses, gigs, and carriages
of the titled and the wealthy are passed by unno-
ticed, is not to act in accordance with the dictates
of religion and morality, but in- direct opposition to
them. A few days ago we read in a Morning Contem-
porary the following paragraph :—" For the last three
Sundays workmen have been constantly engaged at the
Carlton Club." Hear this, ye LAWSONS, POULTERS,
AGNEWS, &c., and blush for the indifference with
which you have treated such a profanation of the Sab-
bath ! For three successive Sundays has the clink of
the carpenter's hammer disturbed the prayers of the
neighbours to the right and left of the Carlton Club, yet
not one of you have taken up the matter? Why is this ?
Because the Saints in question are actuated, not
by religion, but fanaticism—not by zeal for the
spiritual welfare of the community, but by a spirit of
the most aristocratic exclusiveness. Instead of be-
ginning at the right, they make a point of beginning
at 'the wrong end ; perversely taking for granted that
it is not the rich who need reformation, but the poor.
Thus they shut up the baker's shop, yet leave wide
open the doors of the fashionable Club ; anathematize
railways, yet breathe not a syllable in vituperation of
high-roads ; tolerate the card-party, but fall with re-
morseless energy on the social assembly Outside the
village alehouse.

Mr. WA K LEY has given notice that he will move
in the House of Commons, this evening, for the re-
peal of 1 Geo. 1., c. 28,
commonly called the Septen-
nial Act, when Mr. TENNYSON will move as an
amendment that leave be given to bring in a Bill for
shortening the duration of Parliaments. We under-
stand that the Right Hon. the Member for Lam-

beth proposes to abridge the legal duration of Parlia-
ments by only two years ; to substitute a Quinquennial
for a Septennial Act. We are confident that the
House will not listen to such a futile amendment ;
and that, if it be found inconvenient to return to the
good old principle of Triennial Parliaments, the law
will be allowed to remain in its present form. We
are old enough to remember the time when Mr. TEN-
NYSON was one of the most zealous advocates for
Triennial Parliaments, and it not a little surprises us
to find him now of a different opinion. The Right
Hon. Gentleman has latterly manifested other symp-
toms of declining ardour in a good cause, for which
we find it equally difficult to account. Certain we
arc that no change has taken place in our social rela-
tions, or political institutions, to warrant such
a display of timid caution on the part of the
Right Honourable the Member for Lambeth. Mr.
TENNYSON knows as well as we do that the re-
peal of the Septennial Act is absolutely necessary
to the proper and legitimate working of the Reform
Bill ; and that the legal continuance of Parliament, for
a longer period than three years, is tantamount, in the
present state of public feeling, to election for life. But
we have had too often occasion to observe, that per-
sonal jealousies are allowed to mar the progress of
equitable legislation. Most of the old Members of the
House of Commons have hobby-horses, which they
are ready to kick to pieces rather than suffer a new
Member to lay his hand upon them. Each has his
pet project ; and with that project no other Member
must interfere. Your modern Parliamentary patriot
thinks nothing of any benefit to the country which
does not originate with himself ; and rather than the
people should owe to another a boon which be previ-
ously purposed offering them himself, he Will seldom
scruple to assist in neutralizing its vital advantages.
We regret the existence of these petty jealousies,
which are the main cause of the continuance of every
abuse both in Church and State. Were the Liberals
cordially to unite together in their joint efforts to
eradicate the evils entailed upon the country by
Tory misrule, they would be irresistible. By their
bickerings and procrastinations they create a feel-
ing of disappointment and disgust in the public
mind, and so pave the way for the substitution
of Representatives, who will make no distinction be-
tween institutions excellent in themselves, but liable to
abuse, and those which demand immediate and total
abolition. The present Parliament may rely upon it,
that if it refuse compliance with the public will, it will
be replaced by one ready to concede more than the
country has yet dared to solicit. If the moderate men
would retain the power which they now possess, they
must make liberal concessions to public opinion—they
must move in advance of the country—and where-
ever gross and flagrant abuses are pointed out,
eradicate them with a bold and unsparing hand.
The bit-by-bit system will only prepare the way for
throwing all power within the grasp of the mountain
—a party already too powerful to be contemned, and
which is daily receiving fresh accessions of strength
from the disaffected in every part of the country.
We are entirely unacquainted with the course which
the Government will adopt on this occasion. When
the question was last before the House of Commons,
Lord JOHN RUSSELL admitted the soundness of the
principle of Triennial Parliaments, but pleaded the
inexpediency of reverting to it before perfecting
the more necessary portion of the machinery of the
Reform Bill. Such a reason for delay can no longer
be advanced ; neither do we believe that Ministers will
be so short-sighted as longer to delay a measure to the
principle of which they are pledged, and which offers
an additional guarantee for their continuance in power.
We shall reserve our observations upon the vital prin-
ciple of the Triennial Act—namely, the frreater respon-
sibility of the Members of the House of. Commons, till
to-morrow. The old adage that " short reckonings make
long friends," is not less true of Members of Parlia-
ment than of the members of an anti-temperance club.
Besides a Member of the House of Commons has so
many inducements to betray his constituents—the
party to whom he is in opposition has so many good
things at its disposal—that it is absolutely necessary
to protect his virtue by placing him more within the
influence of public opinion, and by diminishing all
temptations to the employment of bribery and corruption
on the part of the Crown. We have had too many
examples of the WENTwoRTtis in opposition becom-
ing STRA FFORDS at the beck of a Court favourite, not
to be persuaded of the danger to the Constitution and
the country from the continuance of a system which,
as we observed before, is tantamount to election for
life. It is better to keep public men honest than to
be afterwards obliged to cut off their heads for betray-
[g the liberties of the people.

We have much pleasure in pointing attention to a
Report of a Conference held yesterday with the C [IAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER and a numerous Depu-
tation, on the subject of a communication between
London and Dublin, in twelve hours, by way of
Port-llynllaen in Carnarvoushire. It is a matter of
such obvious importance—of such vital interest to the
welfare .of both countries—that there cannot be a
moment's hesitation on the part of Government
in giving it the greatest support. In fact, it
ought to be a national undertaking altogether.
Ireland has hitherto been in the relation of an
alien to this country. l3rine her nearer home, and
she will no longer feel and act as if step-dame
Nature had deprived her of her natural and just rights.
Nations, like individuals, to be on mutual terms of
fellowship and goouwill, must be equally independent.
To be beneficial to each other, their fr►endship
must be pure, cordial, and reciprocal.

We have received the whole of the Paris Journals
of Sunday, in which we find the following official
announcement :
" A telegraphic despatch from Narbonne announces that,
on the 6th instant, disorders occurred in Valencia. The Cap-
tain-General (Caratella) was compelled by the National
Guards to resign his command, and quit the city. He was to
be replaced by Mendez Vigo.
An attack, made by the factions at Berga, on the 14th
instant, was repulsed, with the loss to them of a great num-
ber of men killed and wounded. They retired on Prat de
Llusanis, on which point Colonel Aspiroz marched on the 15th,
with 4,000 Christinos, to attack them. Mina was, on the 16th
of March, at Tarragona, and on the 17th in the direction of
Cervera."
The King of the FRENCH has decided against any
intervention in the affairs of Spain, notwithstanding
the remonstrances of the Foreign Minister. Thus the
system of wholesale robbery and massacre carried
on by the Carlists for two years is to con-
tinue ; unless England take measures for clear-
ing the Basques of the PRETENDER and his
ruffianly adherents. CABRERA now at the head
of nearly six thousand vagabonds as blood thirsty as
himself, is in the vicinity of Valentia, committing the
most diabolical atrocities on all who fall into his hands.
Women and children are butchered without mercy ;
the fortner being previously subjected to the most
revolting outrages. In fact, the war has dege-
nerated into a system of worse than savage extr-
mination. England must interfere at last to put
an end to these atrocities ; and to bring the
authors of them to condign punishment. Don
CARLOS and MINA deserve both to be hanged, and
we sincerely hope that such may yet be the fate of
these monsters of cruelty.
The Madrid Cabinet is not yet completed. M.
IsTuitiz still holds back, and rumours are afloat that
a faction is at work to oust the President of the
Council before the meeting of the Cortes.
PARIS, MARCII 2. The Keeper of the Seals, and the Mi-
nister of Public Instruction have been to-day to the first sub-
Committee of the Budget. It appears that the reporters of
the several budgets of the divers Ministerial departments are
diligently engaged in their labours. It is hoped that M.
Gouin, reporter on the whole Budget, will be beard next week.
Several Journals have announced that the fortune left by
Madame Letitia Bonaparte, amounts to two millions of piasters,
or five millions of francs. We can assure our readers that the
fortune does not exceed two millions of francs, to be divided
among six heirs. We have before us letters which have no
doubt of this fact.
The Editor of the Patriote de Saone and Loire has just
been condemned, by default, to five years imprisonment in one
of the fortresses situated in the Continental territory of the
kingdom, to a fine of 10,000 francs and costs (minimum of the
penalty).
M. Fabian, agent at Paris of the people of colou of the
Isle of Bourbon, writes a letter to the Messager, in which he
expresses his surprise that the accounts from the island should
have represented the people of colour as having intended to set
fire to the Public Institutions, to poison the garrisons, &c. The
Governor's Proclamation, he observes, speaks only of too great
alarms excited by the intrigues of some obscure persons, and

that he depends on all classes of the population. M. Fabian
says, that the people of colour are full of gratitude for the be-
nefits they have received.—Messager, March 20.

Letters have been received in Town via Paris from
Madrid, dated the 14th, in which it is said that M.
MENDIZA BA L had convoked, for the 15th, a meeting
of the most influential Members of the Procuradores,
with a view to the filling up of the vacant offices in
the Ministry. M. IsTurtrz, it is supposed, will be
Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The majority that the Government will command in
the Chambers is expected to be more than two-thirds.
With regard to DON CARLOS'S loan, our Madrid
Correspondent sans,--" I have good reason to believe
that the advance of 6 per cent. on that loan, of which
so much has been said, is a mere fabrication.
I understand, indeed, that he has given a discharge
in full for the amount as equivalent to small sums
which he has received at different times, and which
have been long ago swallowed up by the expenses of
the war."

Several weeks of the Parliamentary Session are
now over, and yet nothing has been done to call
public attention to the state of our commercial re-
lations with China. It would be unfair to con-
clude that such an omission of what be may considered
an imperative duty, was voluntary, either on the part of
the Government or the House of Commons. The po-
pular branch of the Legislature has not been idle ;
and where there is more t0.,d0 in a given time than
can possibly be accomplished within so limited a pe-
riod, the utmost that a reasonable people can expect
is, that precedence be allowed to the business most li-
able to derangement from delay. Fairly examined,
the past proceedings of the House of Com-
mons appear to us satisfactory, even when tested
by this rule, which ought not tobe strictly appliedto the
conduct of a popular assembly so constituted, and with
powers so extensive and unlimited. In the Parliamentary
sessions, such as that of 1571, when there was a
Lord-Keeper to reprimand those " audacious, arro-
gant, and presumptuous Members who dared to call
the Royal grants and prerogatives in question, med-
dling with matters neither pertaining to them, nor
within the capacity of their shallow understanding ;"
and when, at each several meeting of the Commons,
,they were admonished " not to meddle with any mat-
ters of state, save such as should be propounded unto
them ;" greater exactness in the progress of public
business was, of course, observable, than will be found
to pervade the legislation of a House of Commons,
with no other bounds to the exercise of its powers,
than such as may be dictated by its own discretion.
Nevertheless, the Session of 1836 promises to mani-
fest in its acts the presence of an uniform, orderly, and
deliberative principle—such as all good men would de-
sire to see pervade the Supreme Council of a free
people. The Tories have failed in their base attempts
to distract the House of Commons by factious dissen-
tious, and by cavilling at the conduct of individual
Members ; and the Government has wisely resolved to
take the lead in carrying those measures of Reform
demanded by the country.
But although we are ready to admit that, in a na-
tional Point of view, the question of our relations with
China becomes insignificant when compared with the
secret treaty of Unkiar Skelessi ; the occupation of
Cracow by the three Protecting Powers ;" the civil
war in Spain ; and the aggressive movements of Rus-
sia iii the East and West—still, when it is capable
of being put in a• fair way of re-adjustment in the
course of one evening's debate, we consider it our duty
to call upon the House of Commons to take the ear-
liest opportunity of deciding upon it. The naval and
military force required for an expedition to China, with
a view to compel some restitution for the cruel treat-
ment experienced by Lord NAPIER, would hardly be
missed, even were we engaged in a war with Russia ;
while the moral effect of such a proceeding would be
to strike terror into the hearts of our enemies. The
impression generally prevalent throughout Europe is,
that the death of Lord NAPIER was not only accele-
rated, but caused by the Chinese authorities ; and
until our Government takes measures to satisfy Europe
that the Representative of a British SOVEREIGN
may not be murdered with impunity, even by the
Chinese, it is not to be expected that our threats shOuld
inspire any sentiment but that of derision. It is high
time that we should exact from the Chinese Govern-
ment the respect due to a civilized people ; and that, ii
necessary, we should resort to such measures as would
convince his Celestial Majesty the EMPEROR, and all
the Mandarins in his dominions, that we were submis-
sive to the laws, not in consequence of our weakness,
but of our love of justice ; and that if outraged in our
persons or property we were sufficiently powerful to
compel the redress of our grievances.
We had written thus far on a subject in which we
take a deep interest, when a pamphlet was put into our
hands, published by '' Saunders and Otley," in the
form of a letter from H. HAMILTON LINDSAY to
Lord PALMERSTON, on the question of British rela-
tions with China. Mr. LINDSAY is well known as
one of the most intelligent of the British residents at
Canton, previous to the breaking up of the monopoly
of the East India Company, in whose service lie
then was. It is therefore with much pleasure
that we observe the entire coincidence in the lines
of polic) recommended by this gentleman, and those
constantly maintained in the columns of The Sun.
Not only does he propose the necessity of a war-
like expedition to China, to compel the Court
of Pekin to make all the reparation in its power
for the death of Lord NAPIER, but he even main-
tains that, prudently managed, that melancholy event
may be made the instrument of obtaining concessions
from the Celestial Government which will be of im-
mense advantage to all classes of British subjects. He
suggests that the pretext for remonstrance thus afforded
us should not be overlooked by any Government
anxious to promote the commercial prosperity of this
country. The following include a few of the most
" prominent grievances" which he thinks we ought to
insist upon having redressed, before the renewal of
any further amicable relations with the Chinese autho-
rities :-
1. The use of opprobrious epithets both in edicts and pro-
clamations issued by the government, imputing to foreigners
crimes and profligacy of the most atrocious and revolting
character.
2. The undefined state of the duties—the real being in some
instances tenfold the nominal.
3. The interdiction to hire warehouses and consequent in-
security of property, or to trade legally with any but the
Hong merchants.
4. The exorbitant port-charges which effectually prevent
small ships from trading legally at Canton.
5. The prohibition to trade any where but at Canton, being
the port of the empire the worst adapted for extending our
commerce, for the simple reason that the staple articles of
export, tea and silk, are brought from the northern provinces
at a heavy expense, while the equally heavy charges of con-
veying our woollens to the north, from an insuperable bar to
any great increase in their consumption.
6. The regulations enforced relative to homicides.
All the comparatively trifling personal grievances under
which we labour, which are, however most galling and unne-
cessary, would vanish the moment we have established a claim
to be respected by the Chinese, instead of being despised, as
we are most deservedly at present.
Mr. LINDSAY is of opinion that the coercion of
the Chinese Government would only require a force
consisting of one line-of-battle ship, two large frigates,
six corvettes, and four armed steamers, carrying about
3,000 men. He recommends the greatest care to be
taken to respect the property of the inhabitants, and
merely to blockade the ports of Canton, Amoy, Shan-
ghee, and Teensin, so as to prevent all junks laden
with rice and other necessaries from trading. He
further suggests that the people should be everywhere
informed that we had no quarrel with them ; and that
we only sought justice, not less beneficial to them-
selves than to us. The naval and military force re-
quiredali th efroer
he
worth notice.
fothreist le)
xo rpteainl
ste
oservice u
ni
csi ear
tl
ar ekai dn yg
sn s
clanrdc ieal
y;
As it is of the utmost importance that the cessation
of our direct intercourse with China should not be of
long continuance, we would recommend the employment
of a strong naval force commanded by an officer of great
experience, promptitude, and straightforward energy of
character. A silken, powdered, cringing courtier would
never do ; and still less a rude, unlettered sailor,
utterly regardless of the feelings, habits, associations,
ceremonies, and superstitions of a powerful oriental
people. If hostilities be resorted to, every preparation
ought to be made for terminating them honourably,
permanently and amicably, before the expiration of nine