The Sun.
London, England, 1849-03-05 00:00:00

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE
METROPOLITAN REFORM ASSOCIATION.
Sir,—On Wednesday 28th Feb. there was a weary
debate on the Public Roads Bill, ending in the Bill
being withdrawn.
On Thursday came on Lord Ashley's motion for an
address to appoint a Commission " to inquire into the
practicability and mode of subdividing, into distinct and
independent parishes, for all ecclesiastical purposes, all
the densely peopled parishes in England and Wales, in
such manner that the population of each, except in par-
ticular cases at the discretion of the Commissioners, shall
not exceed four thousand souls."
It would appear from Mr. Hume's attempt at an
amendment, that an effort was made to probe into the
question, whether the terms of the motion meant to
acknowledge or to ignore the existence of the genus
Dissenter. But the motion for inserting words with
that effect, was made so entirely pro forma and so
rapidly negatived, that, to say the truth, though there
on the benches, I was not aware of the fact till
,I saw it
in the Votes. Another amendment proposed, for in-
cluding the uniting as well as the dislocation of parishes,
had virtually little more success, for it was only sup-
ported by 18 against 111.
This is one of the efforts which the retrogTading:Church
Establishment is making to assist in her journey to-
wards Rome. There is to be a better distribution of
the influences, which are to carry us back to all manner
of what the Articles of the original Church denomi-
nated " fond things vainly invented." Nuns " black,
white, and grey, with all their trumpery," aro to be
brought back on us by renegade bishops, and the coun-
try is to be split up into neat subdivisions in aid of the
measure. The opposition was only weakly conducted
by such of the organs of the Dissenters as have speech
in the House ; and after the last abortive amendment,
the main question was agreed to.
One part of the mover's exposition, was that no money
would be asked for. Which means that no money
would be asked for now ; for nobody surmises that
when the Establishment has increased its influence in
the mode contemplated, it will not ask for what it likes,
and have what it asks for.
On the order for the Committee on Poor-Laws (Ire-
land) being read, a very odd amendment was moved,
to the purport that it was " unconstitutional arid unjust
to impose on Ireland separate national taxation for the
wants of particular localities, so long as the public ge-
neral revenue of Ireland is paid into an Impisrial Trea-
sury, and placed at the disposal of an Imperiiil Legisla-
ture, for the general purposes of the United Kingdom."
It was so clear that there was a mis-reading, and that
the intention must have been to say " so long as. Ireland
pays into the Imperial Treasury only half of her rate-
able proportion," that it only obtained the support of
15 Members against 139. The question for going into
Committee was afterwards carried by 195 against 96,
and the Government's proposal was announced, which
was " That in each of the next two years there shall be
paid by every Union in Ireland a sum equal! to a rate of
sixpence in the pound on each electoral division in such
Union, towards a general fund for the relief of the poor
in Ireland."
On Friday the Bill for dividing the living of Rich.
mond and Kingston-upon-Thames was moved to be
read a second time. Nobody seemed to know much
about the Bill, either on one side or the other; but it
had very much the appearance of another move eccle-
siastic, like that in Whitechapel. The end was, that
the second reading was carried by 36 against 27. A
Member amused the House by declaring that he thought
he had been voting for the Henley Waterworks, and
should have voted against the Bill; so the numbers
ought to have been 35 against 28.
Afterwards came on in Committee the Government
proposal of the sixpenny rate for Ireland. Among Irish,
Members there was exhibited the most extraordinary
mixture of menace, asking for money, and assuranc-ea
that they would never pay. One remarkable fallacy
ran through most of their arguments. They were con.
tinually harping upon the principle, established they
said at the Union, that Ireland was not to be taxed beyond
her capacity; their idea of a measure of capacity, being
not that it meant paying according to a given rate upon
their means as displayed by their expenditure or other-
wise, but that it meant havinga rate of their own, or in such
cases as they liked, no rate at all. A Conservative
Member tried to represent to the Irish, that the English
agriculturists would be quite glad to close with their de-
sire to receive money under a declaration that they would
never return it, if the agriculturists were not suffering
under the recent loss of their resources from the pockets
of the manufacturers. But the Irish in general had
the air of being too well-grown birds to be so taken.
At midnight the debate was adjourned till Monday; it
being settled that the Navigation Laws should give way.
Will nobody ask the Government in Parliament
whether it is their intention to annex the Punjaub?
I am, Sir, your ooedient servant,
AN OLD REFORMER.
London, March 5, 1849.

COURT CIRCULAR.
OSBORNE, FRIDAY, MARCH 2.—Her Majesty and
his Royal Highness Prince Albert, accompanied by the
Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the younger
branches of the Royal Family, reached Osborne a few
minutes before three o'clock, having crossed from Gos-
port in the Fairy yacht, Lord Adolphus Fitzclarenee
commanding.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3.—The Queen and his Royal
Highness took an early walk in the grounds at Osborne
this morning. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales
rode, and the whole of the Royal Children walked in the
Park.

There was no addition to the royal dinner 'party yea.
terday.
Mr. Geerge Edward Anson and Sir James Clark ar.
rived at Osborne this afternoon.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4.—Her Majesty and Prince Albert,
and the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting, attended
Divine service this morning in Whippingham Church.
The Rey. Mr. Protheroe officiated.

' His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, attended
' by Mr. Edmond Mildroay, honoured the Earl of Cardigan
' with his company at dinner on Saturday, at his residence
in Piccadilly.
a lb,ionreeti
gCouncil . wasit heldwas oa nt t
eSnadteudrdb7
at AthCe
Marquis ofo
LallB.
Russell, the Lord Chancellor,Lord John
downe, Sir George Grey,
quer, Sir Francis
Grey, the Chancellor of the
LordE Campbell, the Right
Baring, Sir John Hobhouse,.
of Clanrloarde, and
Viscount.thcehe Palmerston, Earl
the Earl of Carlisle.
hours and a half.
The Council sat two
Hon. H. Labouchere, the Marquis
d't
en 1 Ure
A With Sir George Grey, on Saturday, at
had an interview
deputation from Lancashire,
dutationonceoonusnisttyedexopf
mr.
it.
of Cuerden Hall, near Preston; Act
Townley Parker, of
Mr. H. Newellof ' r.
John LireseY' of rhdle • and w , Rochdale;
Roberts,f Roc a , as accompanied by Mr.
the Home-office. The en
Mr. .Roberts, ,
j. Wilson Patten, .M.P.; and
R
Brown, M.P.; and
Mr. Henry, M.P.
Tho Earl of Yarborough had an interview on Saturday
with Sir George Grey.
The
Wood Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leidy Mary had a dinner party on Saturday, at their resi-
dence in Downing-street. The company consisted of the
Earl and Countess St. Germans, the Countess Grey, the
Earl of Bessborough, the Dowager Countess of Morley,
Lord Grosvenor, Count and Countess de Flahault, Hoy.
Miss de Flahault, Lord Seymour, Lord Anson, Lord and
Lady Dalmeny, and Mr. Baring Wall.
Sir John Hobhouse had a dinner party on Saturday,
at his residence in Berkeley-square.
The Duke of Wellington attended early service yester-
day, in the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The Rev. Dr.
Wesley preached the sermon and administered the sacra-
ment. At the daily service the sermon was preached by
the Bishop of Chester—the sacrament was administered
by the Bishop of London.

MR. DIOMAS LONG.—T--I==he mortal remains of this
respected gentleman, who for several years past has filled the
important office of assistant secretary to the London and
North-Western Railway Company, and whose melancholy
death, after four days' illness, was announced last week, were
interred in the Highgate Cemetery on Saturday. The de-
ceased was followed to the grave by twenty-four mourners,
most of them old officers in the service of the railway com-
pany, to whom Mr. Long had endeared himself by_ his inva-
riable courtesy and gentlemanly demeanour. Mr. Long's
death arose from a severe cold terminating in an attack of
pleurisy, which baffled the skill of his medical attendants,
and caused his death on Sunday week last. The deceased,
who had only just attained his thirty-fourth year, has
left a widow and five infant children to mourn his pre_
mature decease.
Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Military Secretary to the
Commander-in-Chief of her Majesty's Forces, Was in coin•
munication with some of the Cabinet Ministers on Saturday
Ceram.

various services of the army. And when we are informed
that the position of the Seikhs extended over a front of
three miles in extent, was dotted with batteries
at most irregular intervals, and that in an
places the jungle was so thick as to separatem and interfere with the order of the advancing columns, we
can be at no loss to understand that the battle was
fought under circumstances in the highest degree dis-
advantageous to the assailants. When
is the daylight
was expended both armies retired to their original en-
campments; and although it true that the Seikhs have
subsequently taken up a position nearer the Jhelum, it
cannot be said that their strength is in any essential
respect impaired by the action of the lath of January.
They lost but twelve of their own guns, and they cap-
tured four of ours; and it is at best but doubtful whether
the casualties in their camp are heavier than those in
our own. Lord Gough remains at the head of an army
of 20,000 men, and he has before him an enemy of
40,000 or 45,000 men, every way prepared to dispute
his possession of the country. The final occupation of
Moultan will set at liberty a force of 17,000 men, after
leaving 3,000 as a garrison; and, proceeding up the
right bank of the Jhelum, this extensive reinforcement
may perhaps reach the neighbourhood of Find Dadeen
Khan by a three weeks' march. But the future conduct
of the war, any more than the past is not a question of
numbers. It is a question of generalship. Reverses the
most severe are perfectly inseparable from the supreme
command of a man who is so utterly incapable of rea-
soning from cause to effect as to undertake a general
action suddenly at the close of a day, in the midst of an im-
practicable coon try—against au unknown enemy—and
with arrangements in the highest degree imperfect. The
opinion we ventured to express on the reported arrival
of an Affghan force, with hostile intentions, upon the
northern boundary of Sinde, is confirmed by the more
recent and precise intelligence. The expedition has
been ascertained to consist of only a few hundred ma-
rauders from Candahar, sent out to raise a tribute—not
less real, because it is irregular—upon the more peace-
able tribes who inhabit the southern extremity of the
Bolan Pass. The presence, however, of Dost Mahomed
in Peshawar is removed beyond all doubt; and the sur-
render, at length, of the fortress of Attock by Lieutenant
Herbert, may possibly, by the course of events, become
'in important feature in the progress of the war upon the
Upper Lades.