The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-12 00:00:00

ETHIOPIAN SiERENA DERR, ST. JAMES'S THEATRE,

The celebrated ETIHOPI.4N SERENADERS, Pell, Harrington,
White, Stanwood, and Gcrinon, will have the honour of repeat-
ing their Inimitable ENTERTAINMENTS, at the above Theatre,
TO-MORROW EVENING, and every Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday. Doors open at Eight o'clock, and the Entertainment com-
mence at Halt-past Eight. The MORNING ENTERTAINMENT
will take place every MONDAY MORNING during Lent. The
Performances will commence, each day, at half-past Two o'clock.
The Programme will be varied on each occasion.
Boxes, 4s. ; Pit, 2s. ; Amphitheatre, 2s.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE,
Proprietor, Mr. W. Batty.
Under the patronage of the Queen, Prince Albert, and other
Members of the Royal Family.
THIS EVENING
Will be performed Sir Walter Scott's KENILWORTH ; or, The
Golden Days of England's Elizat,eth.
Entire change of the SCENES of the CIRCLE. The Royal Pa-
geant of Fran, is I. And the Performance of M. Pablo Fatigue and
his highly-trained Steed, (his first appearance in London).
To coneude wit't THF. ROYAL FOX-HUNT; or, life's Course
of Man and Steca.
Box-otticc open fr,in eleven till eve o'clock.—Doors (men at six
an ; commence at half-past six 6'dt:wk.—Stage Manager, Mr. W.
Broadfoot.

ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.
Lessee, Mr:. Frances Davidge.
THIS EVENING
Will be perihrmed a new Domestic Drama (founded on the Novel
of the same name), entitled LILLY DAWSON ; or, A Poor girl's
Story. Principal characters by Messrs. Lewi Johnson. HesloP,
Aavdle, Phelps. Fredericks, Webb, Neville, Miss Te:rcy, Mrs.
Vining, and Mrs. Saville.
To conclude with the Burletta, called NICHOLAS NICKLEBY ;
or, Doings at Do-the-Bova hail. In which Messrs. Weslop, Johnson,
Wilkinson, E. Stirliag, Webb, Fredericks, Vining, Mrs. Williamson,
Mrs. Saville, Miss Richardson, Miss Terrev, Miss Barham, Mrs
Daly, Bz.c., will appear.
Box...office open from eleven till four o'clock.

ROYAL VICTORIA THEATRE,

Boxes, Is., Halt' price, Pit. 6d..; Gallery, 3d. Private Boxes,

IG. Is. and MS.
THIS EVENING

Will be performed WI L !WI RE, THE GIPSY I lORSE-STEA ,ER ;
o" The Fortunes and Chances of War. Characters by Messrs.
Hicks, Dale, Searle, Bird, Raymond, Forman, Howard, Miss Vin-
cent, Mrs. Lee, Miss Pearce, &c.

After which, TILE HARP OF ALTENBERG ; or, The
Grave of the Old Abbey Ruins. In which Mr. Hicks and Miss Vin-
cent will perform.
To conclude with BLACK WHISKEII ; or, The Demon of Seven

to the law, transportation for life, or to a mere nominal
fine, or a few hours' imprisonment only. That extraor•
dinary power is conceded in order to provide a due
and fitting penalty for cases of the worst description.
The Right Hon. Baronet truly stated to the House,
that although the punishment of death might still be
inflicted in some other cases, yet, in point of fact,
there has not been a single execution since 1841
except for murder. He might have added, that many
persons convicted of murder had had mercy extended
to them, and their sentences mitigated when-
ever there appeared any favourable circum-
stances, showing that it had occurred in the heat of
blood, consequent upon sudden provocation, and

had not been deliberately planned with malice afore-

thought ; and in every such case the commutation was
received with approbation. It was received with
approbation by those who had a conscientious ob-
jection to the punishment of death in every in-
stance, and also by those who conceived its reten-
tion necessary for the well-being of society. Such
a case was that of the man SMITH, who was
pardoned the extreme penalty, last, summer, for the
murder of his fellow-servant at the Guildhall Coffee-
house ; and such we conceive to be those of the un-
fortunate men, WELCH and MATTnEws, who were
convicted at Newcastle within the last fortnight, and
who are now lying under sentence of death, and are
to expiate their respective offences upon a scaffold on
Wednesday, the 17th instant. In either of these cases
we believe that justice would have been satisfied, and
the majesty of the law vindicated, had the juries taken
the more lenient view.
In the case of WELCH, it appeared that the pri-
soner and the deceased had been drinking, that sub-
sequently a quarrel ensued, that blows were struck

on each side, and that WELCH had been knocked
down twice during the progress of the scuffle;
that PROUD, the man who lost his life, kicked him
while he was down, and that subsequently, but be-
fore there was time for his blood to cool, WELCH
struck PROUD with a knife which he unfortunately
had in his possession at the time of the quarrel, and
inflicted a fatal wound. Now it has been decid&d
in the KING v. KESSEL, reported in 1 Carrington and

Payne, page 437, and in several other cases, " that if
parties at the commencement attack each other upon
equal terms, and afterwards, in the course of fight,
one of them in his passion snatch up a deadly weapon
and kill the other with it, it would be manslaughter
only." Now here the quarrel had been commenced
upon equal terms, the parties had fought, and the
prisoner had been worsted in the encounter, and had
actually been kicked when lying on the ground.
The weapon, too, was unfortunately at hand, and the
provocation was such as to excite the unfortunate man
to the highest degree ; and although we do not
venture to affirm that the jury were not justified in
returning a verdict of guilty of murder, yet we do
not hesitate to say, that it would induce many to join

the ranks of the abolitionists if the sentence were
carried into execution.

In the case of MATTHEWS, it appeared that there
had been unfortunate disputes between the English
and Irish labourers at work on the railway, the
English complaining that the Irish used to work un-
der wages., The deceased man, DANIEL HIVES, had
been drinking on the day of his death, in consequence
of which another person was sent to assist him. It did
not appear in what manner the quarrel had
originated, but the prisoner and his companion,
HUGHES, who had a stick in his hand, were seen run-
ning away, closely pursued by IlivEs, whose face was
bloody from a blow he had received. After running
away for a considerable distance, trying to escape,
MATTHEWS turned and stabbed IlivEs in the thigh,
which severed his femoral artery, and caused his
death in a few minutes. From the evidence of Cap-
tain POTTS, it appeared that the deceased was in a
very excited state, and eager to get at the other par-
ties, who did all in their power to get away. In this
case also, then, although the jury were warranted in
their finding, there appears to be a total absence of
that cool premeditation which would alone justify the
execution of the criminal.

Most sincerely do we hope that both cases may re-
ceive the most attentive consideration from the

authorities, and that if, upon due investigation, they,
or either of them, should be considered worthy of
mercy—the fairest prerogative of the Crown—it may
be exercised in their favour.

hat we, on Wednesday, observed in reference to
Portugal might be applied almost without alteration to
Mexico. The prosecution of hostilities has been so
protracted in both countries as to indicate either a
treachery that is as yet quite impenetrable, or an in-
capacity that is equally beyond our comprehension.
According to the dispatches just received from Acne-

'rice, it would appear that the Government of the
United States is endeavouring to accomplish the dis-
memberment of the Mexican territories by a stra-
tagem more dastardly than was perhaps ever entered
upon by the most unprincipled legislature. It will
be remembered how the soldiers of this Republican
Government violated the line of demarcation between
Texas and the gigantic federation of which it was
originally a portion ; it will be remembered how the
invaders marched triumphantly upon the Rio Grande
under the banners of General TAYLOR, how dissensions
were fomented by American emissaries in the capital of
Mexico, how SANTA ANNA was allowed to slip through
the blockade, under the expectation of his delivering
up his country into the possession of its assailants,
how that distinguished captain repaid their guile by
the declaration of his heroic patriotism, and how a
questionable victory was obtained under the walls of
Monterey, and its advantages sacrificed through a
contemptible timidity. These circumstances cannot
very speedily be forgotten ; and it will be equally
difficult to lose a recollection of the paltry prevarica-
tion upon these transactions inserted by Mr. President
PoLic in his Message to Congress, or of the noble and
emphatic proclamation written to his fellow-citizens
by the first soldier of Mexico, SANTA ANNA. The
conclusions which could be alone drawn from occur-
rences of this nature were, that by its geographical
peculiarities, by the parsimony of the United
States' population, and by the moral supe-
riority of the cause of the invaded republic,
Mexico was safe from the possibility of its annexation
to the already enormous dominions of its assailant.
It might be conquered, it might be desolated, its
pastoral scenes might be ravaged, its cities taken and
sacked, and its people butchered in battues, but
Mexico could never be permanently vanquished.
Until the whole of its inhabitants had been extir-
pated, and its solitudes rendered populous by the in-
troduction and propagation of many thousand colo-
nists, that was impossible. Europe saw this—the
World saw this—Mr. Pons saw this, and he acted
accordingly.
We repeat that expression—he acted accordingly.
The forces were directed to pause at Saltillo. Cali-
fornia and New Mexico had already been formally
transferred to the protection and direction
of the United States—the embryo powers of
their new Governments were placed in an apparent
state of organization. General TAYLOR had been
gathering laurels in the kitchen-gardens of
Monterey, but the prying disposition of sundry re-
presentatives in Congress had prompted them to
submit those laurels to a sort of distilling process in
the course of the discussion, and, as is invariably the
case, poison was detected in the leaves of victory—
the terms of the capitulation at Monterey were inex-
plicable, exc?pting under the idea of something
much more odious than undue precaution and a very
little better than actual cowardice. The consequence
was General SCOTT was nominated Commander-
in-Chief of the invading army of the United
States. Coupled with this arrangement came
a demand upon the citizens of that warlike
and avaricious republic for an odd million or
so of dollars to defray the expenses of the invasion.
Thereupon the said invasion fell instanter into the
worst possible repute. The purse strings of the
nation were tied into a Gordian knot, and Mr. POLK
was at a nonplus. Then comes the master-move-
ment of duplicity to which we would direct especial
attention.

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1547

scheme recently broached by the Government. This
admission is the more important as it was made by
a member of the Church of England who has given
much of his time to the consideration of this absorb-
ing topic. The Rev. Dr. HOOK is far from
standing alone in his opinion. It is fully participated
in by the Rev. Mr. DUITON, who ably writes " that
national education does not mean simply the educa-
tion of the poor, for the poor do not constitute the
entire nation. A truly national system must be so
comprehensive as to embrace every class of society.
The Church cannot undertake the direction of such
a system for many reasons, but most especially for
the very obvious one, that the Church is not co-
extensive with the nation." Shall the education of the
people at large be exclusively consigned to the opera-
tions of voluntaryism ? Like other agencies that have
been at work in this field, voluntaryism has done much,
but it has left much undone, and there are indisputable
calculations, so notorious as to dispense with any
necessity for our entering into them, showing that
anticipating the most favourable progression under the
auspices of this principle, ignorance and its fearful
concomitants, would still continue to characterise
large masses, of the people, whose rapidly increasing
numbers would aggravate, to the most alarming
extent, the evils by which our social system
is at present beset. But, from some who were
formerly among the leading disciples of voluntaryism,
we have the same confessions of its inadequacy
to secure the education of the people, that
have been candidly made by the authorities
of the Established Church. The Reverend Dr.
VAUGIIAN, residing in Manchester, where voluntary
exertion has far exceeded in its results,what has flowed
from its adoption in any other part of Great Britain,
has boldly avowed, that it is utterly incompetent for
meeting the national exigencies. This we have from
one who, it must be recollected, is the earnest and
powerful advocate of the voluntary system in the
maintenance of religion. To the same effect were
the remarks of Mr. JAMES GARTH MARSHALL, of
Leeds, at the meeting to which we have above
alluded. lie there said—
"l will yield to no one in the value I attach to the volun-
tary principle, rightly understood ; I trust my actions
hitherto have shown me to be a true voluntary, and I am not
going to change now. I hope I am entirely incapable of
knowingly joining in any act of intolerance or inju-tice to•
wards the conscientious religions convictions of any class of
my countrymen. I do not think any such are involved in
this measure. I would sincerely and earnestly entreat the
voluntaries who object to this measure, for their own sakes,
to reconsider the position they had taken up. They can join
the rest of their countrymen in the great work of education
on an equal footing, and yet maintain inviolate their prin-
ciple of the absolute independence of their religious com-
munities. That would be a strong and clearly defined posi-
tion ; their present one is weak and untenable."

On the other side, we have Mr. EDWARD BAINES,
who has taken a part more conspicuous for its ardour
than remarkable for its judgment. Gratis anhelans,
multa agenda nihil agens. We shall resume this
subject.

Chamber appointed to report on the supplementary
credits demanded for that colony.

The price of corn advancirg every moment.
Every week for months to come 400,0001. in
cash will leave France to pay for supplies of foreign
corn. The Echo de rAgriculture contains the following
remarks on the food question:—
" During the last week the rise has made further progress
in most of the markets, and the movement has all the ap-
pearance of a panic. Everywhere the petty consumers, who
possess some money or credit, lay in a small stock of pro-
visions, as if we were threatened with a scarcity, and the
quantities of grain thus withdrawn from circulation are
very considerable. This is an evil, no doubt, but there is
no possibility of obviating it; it is the evil of fear. Tee
municipalities themselves, on different points, were the first
to set the example, which was imitated by their subordi•
nates. These stores, however, are not buried for ever, and
will be again available when necessary. They form a re-
source which will appear at the moment when the crops in
the ground can be determined. Public opinion will then
recover the confidence it had lost. We should also observe,
that the holders of corn take advantage of the panic to raise
their pretensions, and part with only a small portion of their
produce, in the hope of selling the remainder at a still
higher rate. The constantly increasing augmentation in the
price is, no doubt, a misfortune ; but its result must be to
bring provisions into the markets, and the great question,
the principal question, whether v. e shall have a sufficiency
of corn to meet the forthcoming crops, is no longer a matter
of doubt to us. We see no cause for apprehension ; in no
department will there be au overplus, but everywhere there
will be a sufficiency."
The price of the first quality of flour rose to 111 f. and
112 f. per sack at the Paris market on Monday.

The Three per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse on
Tuesday at 78f. 40c. ; the Five per Cents. 116 f. 50c. ;
the Orleans Railroad Shares, 1,278 f. 75c.; Rouen, 872 f.
50c. ; Havre, 6901. ; Great Northern. 6301. • Avignon, 8201.;
Vierzon, 5721. 50c. ; Bordeaux, 528 f. 75c. ; Troyes and
Montereau, 320 f. ; Basle, 210 f. ; Dieppe, 3301. ' • Paris and
Strasburg, 453 f. 75c.; Tours and Nantes, 4521. 50e.; Paris
and Lyons, 487 f. 50c. ; Lyons and Avignon, 4801. ; Bordeaux
and Cette, 451 f. 25c.

Intelligence has been received from Rome of the
25th ult. On the 221 Mr. COBDEN was honoured
with a private audience of the POPE, and on the 24th
his lloliness granted a second private audience to the
Turkish Ambassador.

MARSEILLEg, MARCH 5 —Marseilles and Avignon, 830 E;
Northern, 6281 75e.; Paris and Lyons, 492 f. 50c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, MARCH 10.
Boulogne and Amiens, 14—Dutch Rhenish, 4 —Luxembourg, 2
—Namur and Liege, 4%—Northern of France, 12%—Orleans and
Bordeaux, 7 % —Paris and Lyons, 7IA —Paris and Strasbourg, 3%
—Rouen and Havre, 26% —Sambre and Meuse. 6%.

The Nuremburg Correspondent publishes a letter from
Vienna of the Ist, which gives credit to a report that
the Austrian Government, with a view to reduce Its
budget of expenditure, which hai been constantly in-
creasing, has resolved upon a diminu:ion of the army.
The Augsburg Gazette states, that in consequt nee
of the importance attached by some of the journals
to the protest of Sweden against the incorporation
of Cracow, the Government of that country has
been asked by the three great Northern Powers whe-
ther it really intended that the protest should be re-
garded as a menace, and has received in reply an
assurance that the proper sense to be applied to the
protest is an expression of regret that revolutionary
movements should have rendered necessary an infrac-
tion of the treaties of Vienna, and a hope that no-
thing will arise of a nature to lead to further modifi-
cations.

Advices from Lisbon to the 3d inst. have been received..
Count MENSDORFY, Sir H. SEYMOUR, and Colonel
WYLDE, had renewed the offer of British mediation, but
the QUEEN end the Government had shown no disposi-
tion to accept it.