The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-23 00:00:00

shrewdness of the Cabinet, but as a direct denial of
its incorruptibility.
It was very felicitously remarked by Lord
BRCIIGHAM last night in the House of Lords, when
alluding to Earl GREY'S readiness to defend the mal-
administration of affairs in Ceylon under Lord
TORRINGTON, that the Noble Earl, the Colonial
Secretary, " was most happy in the possession of a
sanguine temperament, and that the most signal
defeat appeared to produce upon him the same effect as
the most triumphant victory would do on others." A
most sanguine temperament he must assuredly have
if he anticipates passing with credit through the
double inquiries which are now on the eve of being
prosecuted in reference to the misgovernment of
Ceylon, and to the sale of Vancouver's Island. In
regard to the latter it must be especially borne in
recollection that it has been given over for a period
of years to a body of merchants numbering altogether a
very few individuals, and being wholly without either
the means, the money, or the inclination to promote
its colonizaticn. They are without the means,
for they are without the naval force necessary
to transport emigrants thither from remote quar-
ters of the eastern herr►isphere. They are with-
out the money, for their surplus of profit
is, of course, dedicated to the advancement of their
own speculations. They are without the inclination,
for experience has shown that throughout the whole
of their vast continental dominions in North America,
they sedulously endeavour to depress anything
bearing the appearance. of a settlement from a know-
ledge that those clearings which follow in the path of,
colonization would be gradually destructive of the
dense jungles and almost impenetrable forests in
which the savage animals despoiled of their furry
skins by the hunters, propagate without molestation.
There is, consequently, a triple obstacle to the de-
velopment of the great natural advantages of Van-
couver's Island, now that that island has unhappily
fallen under the rnedwval, or rather under the
primeval rule of the Hudson's Bay Company.
As to the extent and value of these advantages
which have been shamefully bargained away by the
Colonial Secretary for the gratification of interests
apart from the interests of,the empire, interests, in
fact, diametrical 4 opposed to those of Great Britain,
it will be sufficient to quote the remarks lately made
upon Quadr a, or Vancouver's Island, by a very emi-
nent geographer:—" Men will not alwayi circum-
navigate the globe to convey merchandise from one
point to another. They will not take goods round
Cape Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope, on the way
from Canton to New York. The Oriental trade
to America will infallibly, some day, find its
way across the American continent. The time may
be nearer than we like to predict, who shrink from
the charge of extravagant enthusiasm; but whenever
it does arrive, the Straits of Juan de Fuca will be-
come the funnel through which it will be poured
into the New World. For the same reason that
Tyre or Venice rose to be great on the earth,
will the people who dwell around those straits become
mighty in their generation." Since those words were
written the time anticipated has been brought
abruptly almost within view by the unexpected
wealth which is hurrying the people of Europe and
the United States to California, and rendering by
this means the western side of the North American
continent a diverging point for grand commercial
speculations. Those shores confiont the Oriental
regions typified in Cathay ; they lie, as it were, face
to face with those creeks, and gulfs, and lagunes, and
estuaries, which are laden with the natural and arti-
ficial riches of Asia. Will the Hesperidean apples
continue to drop into the Indian Ocean, and be lazily
dragged by a circuitous current round by the
Southern Cape of Africa, without tempting the new
settlers to traverse the waves of the Pacific, and to
participate in the enjoyment of those treasures ?
But Vancouver's Island has been transferred to the
Hudson's Bay Company ; it is now in the possession
of the fur traders ; it is too late to quarrel about the
transaction. It rests with the House of Commons to
decide whether it is too late. It rests with the law
to declare whether the ATTORNEY-GENERAL and the
SOLICITOR-GENERAL were correct or incorrect in
the opinions pronounced by them upon the proceeding.
It rests with the country to denounce in a voice
audible in both hemispheres an arrangement so in-
' jurious to the interests of the empire, and so bane-
ful to the reputation of the Government.

The Select Committee on the Irish Poor laws have
already commenced their important labours. Much,
indeed, will depend on their decision, and the recom-
mendations which they may offer to the House for
adoption. We have witnessed the lamentable results
of the present system. We have had too painful
evidence of the ruin and misery occasioned in the
more impoverished districts by the enormous rates
necessarily struck for the support of the destitute
poor. Those rates could not be collected, although
every effort has been made, and the most stringent
measures were resorted to. British benevolence
was again and again appealed to. " Aid
us, or we perish," was literally the cry.
It is unnecessary to say that the demand thus made
was promptly and liberally responded to, that the
assistance thus urgently required was freely rendered.
Public grants were aided by private contributions.
The people had been fed, although the landlords
had been brought to the verge of ruin, and could
not discharge the obligations incidental to the posses-
sion of property. We could not behold our Irish
brethren—those with whom we are united by the
closest ties, and who acknowledge the same alle-
giance with ourselves—perishing by lingering
and painful deaths ; or dragging on a miserable
existence, and suffering under the utmost privations.
The time has, however, arrived when Irish poverty
must be supported from Irish property—when the
Irish poor must be supported from the national re-
sources of Ireland. It is the duty of the Select Com-
mittee to ascertain by what means that desideratum can
be attained—how the burden can be most equitably
distributed, so that all shall contribute in proportion
to their means.

A great effort will be made to induce the Com-
mittee to adopt the views advocated by many influen-
tial persons connected with Ireland, to recommend
that the area of taxation should be greatly reduced,
and that the responsibility should be individualised,
and rendered conterminous with property whenever
practicable, so that each proprietor should be exclu-
sively liable for the support of the poor belonging
to his own estate. We have already repeatedly urged
the great objections that exist to such a course. It
would afford the strongest encouragement to the
clearance system—that abominable practice to which
many Irish landlords are supposed to be addicted.
The evils which in this country are found to be in-
separable from the law of settlement would be mul-
tiplied and perpetuated. Large sums would be ex-
pended in wanton-and fruitless litigation, and the
labouring classes, who might by a possibility become
chargeable at some future period, would be prevented
from bringing their only capital—their labour—tothe
best and most productive market. They would be hunted
out with greater energy than the most noxious vermin.
Such would be the results so far as Ireland itself was
concerned ; and if no other interests were involved
there would be amply sufficient grounds for rejecting
the proposition. England, however, has acquired the
right of interfering on this question. Experience
has shown that whenever the resources chargeable
with the relief of the poor prove inadequate for the
purpose, the deficiency must be supplied from the
Imperial exchequer. It is, therefore, of importance
that we should ascertain that the burden is not to be
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the charge is to be defrayed when
the poorer and
more densely populated estates were unable to maintain
the pauper inhabitants. The proprietors at present
are unable to contribute their quota to the general
burden ; how could they satisfy the heavier demands
that would then be made upon their resources ? They
could not do so by any possibility. We would still
hear the wail of agony from the famishing poor. We
should have the bitter reproach of ruined proprietors
and pauperised occupiers ; many districts would
speedily go out of cultivation. Who would expend
labour or capital in putting in crops when the entire
produce, however bounteous, would not be sufficient
to defray the charges, without leaving any surplus
for the landlord's rent or the farmer's profits. We
should still supply the void; and new demands would