The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATURDAY.)
(From the Globe.)
The Seolsouni, after citing our comments on state-
.uents sent us by correspondents respecting Dr. Bow-
rinz and the Kirkcaldy election, proceeds as follows :
" Our Contemporary has been deceived by his corre-
spondents ; and it is but justice to Dr. Bowring to
Lay that we are able to contradict the statement on
good authority. We believe that Dr. Bowring never
met, or had any communication with Colonel Lind-
say. We are informed that the Doctor and his la.-
mediate friends kept carefully aloof from intercourse
%lilt' the Tories, directly or indirectly, and did not know,
except from rumour, how they would vote." We have
already inserted Dr. Bowring's entire denial of the al-
leged " communications ;'' and as we have not been
to obtain from the source of the statements
inserted any confirmation of them, we are bound
to believe we were misinformed, and ascribe the
misinformation to the natural readiness of parties
in election contests to accredit any rumours against
their opponents. We are certain that the supposed
facts were communicated in good faith to us ;
and they were not so unparalleled by those of some
other recent contests, as to stagger belief. We cannot,
however, hesitate to accept Dr. Bowring's word in the
matter, even without the corroboration of the Scotsman
:Ind its informants. And in the same degree that we
regret having given too much credit to election-news
(which rarely deserve more than bulletins, and for
much the same reasons), we are glad to find that we
are not to rank Dr. Bowring, to that extent, amongst
those who play a Tory game for ostensibly Libera
purposes.

Our readers will perceive, from the preliminary discus-
sion of Thursday bight on Lord Morpcth's proposed qualiji.
cation sad registration measure for Ireland, that ouranticipa-
.ions have been verified as to the probable unde-
-3 igned results of Lord Stanley's one-sided essay
at purifying the present electoral body in that country.
We adhere, indeed, to Lord Stanley's construction
of the principle of the Reform Act. We agree with
him in his understanding that " the right to vote should
Llepend, not upon the gross amount of the population cf
any town or county, but upon the number of that popu-
lation who were in possession of a certain amount of
property, which property should enable them to hold
such a station of respectability in society as might be
expected to permit them to exercise the elective fran-
chise with honesty and independence." We wish
Lord Stanley's present party had at that time per-
mitted his former friends to carry out that sound prin-
ciple, as regarded freemen and independent tenantry.
Lord Morpeth justly remarked last night that, when he re-
:erred to the novel principle introduced by the 501. tenant-
at-will clause, in the English Reform Act, he owned
that the practical working of that clause, as far as it had
yet been developed, did not fill him with a wish to in-
troduce a similar principle upon a more extended scale
into the constituency of Ireland ! The question is, whether
Lord Stanley, and his present party, who, it appears, aro
capable of introducing new principles, when they think
it will suit their purposes, as they are capable of dis-
regarding old ones, when they have ceased to serve
them, are entitled on this occasion to retort similar
charges on the Government. We think not; and Lord
Haw ick gave good and effective arguments for the same con-
clusion. It must be observed that Ministers are not
wantonly meddling with this Irish suffrage question.
The conflicting opinions of the highest authorities force it
.rpon their attention. The pressing of Lord Stanley's Bill
renders some legislation unavoidable. The question, then,
is, whether legislation can be confined within the limits of
that Bill. The Shylock style of " Justice and the Bond"
does not suit political questions. Whatever legal doctrine
may prevail on the present extent of the franchise, the
Legislature, which fixed that extent, did not intend to
diminish its numbers. If it appears that those numbers
are diminishing—if Lord Stanley's measure, whatever
its effect, would, in effect, still further diminish them
—then Lord Stanley's intention in his Irish Re-
form wculd be frustrated by the passing of his Irish
registration. He tells us his intention is already frus-
trated by the fraud and perjury practised under the Irish
Bill, as it now works. We find that measure frustrated
in another sense, by the dwindling numbers of voters,
notwithstanding all these illicit practices. What remains
then, if legislation is forced on us, but to remedy imper-
fections on both sides—imperfect securities against wrong,
and imperfect securities for retaining rights?
(From the Standard.)
Lord Stanley's motion, relative to the detention of
Mr. APLeod by the authorities of New York (fixed
for Monday), will involve the discussion of some of
the most important, and also some of the clearest
and best understood principles of international law.
Mr. M'Leod, it is known, is a prisoner in the gaol
of Lockport, New York, awaiting his trial upon a
charge of murder, said to have been committed in
the cutting out of the Caroline, when that piratical
vessel, employed by the pirates of Navy Island, was
seized by the British. The unfortunate gentleman,
who was Deputy-Sheriff of the Niagara district at the
time of the pirate war in aid of the Canada rebellion,
was not concerned in the cutting out of the Caroline ;
but some Canadian traitors swear that he was ; and
convicted he will be, and executed as a felon he will be,
if the British Government do not vigorously interfere ;
perhaps, indeed, the interposition may be oven now too
late. This it is to have a weak and contemptible
Government. At what other period in English history
would any foreign State thus dare to outrage the law
of nations in the person of a British subject ?
negotiation, it is true, has taken place upon the subject
of Mr. M'Leod's detention and danger, and the British
:Minister has spoken with firmness and vigour ; but
what is the worth of negotiation which is not to be fol-
lowed by acts ? The insolent pettifogging of the United
States' Minister's reply is proof that he knows his men,
and that, however conclusively Mr. Fox may reason,
still the ruffians of New York are at liberty to hang
the Englishmen without fear of consequences.
What are Mr. Forsytl.'s arguments ? First, he says
that the affair rests altogether with the State of New
York—that the President has no power given bins by
the American Constitution—to interpose between an
independent State of the Union and a foreign Power.
Ile it so. Then if New York provokes a quarrel
with Great Britain by an act of atrocious outrage,
New York must fight her own battles. Will the
President consent to this ?—wiil he permit that as
New York will not account to him for its con-
duct, New York shall go to war without his aid ?
No. The law which gives to the Federal Govern-
ment the arrangement of all questions with foreigners
ut eessarily involves the absolute and exclusive jurisdic-
tion over cases like that of Mr. M'Lcod, otherwise any
ticular State might indulge itself in the most atrocious
aggressions, without the consent of the Ft der a. G overn-
tavnt, and even against its ?will, but in full reliance ur on
it:, support. Mankind could not long tolerate a V,rati-
cal nuisance like ibis, and the only consolation would be
that it must soon fall to pieces by its own crimes. The
first principle of international law is, tat a State is to
protect those only whom it can cory.o-DI ; for it can be
justly responsible for the acts only of those whom it can
govern.

(From the Courier.)
Leave has been give', on the opplication of Mr.
to bring :..1 a Bill for the further regulation
of rail vays, as tending to the public safety. This Bill will
be founded on paper which has been presented
to. I or,nament , signed by Mr. Porter, Sir F. Smith, and
N
.„Irt Llitr who form the Railway department of the
Doard,
"Grade to execute the provisions of Lord Sey-
le's Act. This document is well calculated to impress
Me..nbers with the necessity of a new Bill ; and we can
b•,,ve little doubt but that a large majority of the House
will be prepared to concur in whatever the Government
proposes on this subject. In the recommendations from
the Railway Department, the whole are drawn up so
cautiously, that ;vs have some difficulty in ascertaining
wiinther the intention be as advice to tha Companies to
save the necessity of legislation, or for insinuating
Government interference in the most trifling, and mi-
nute details. It certainly will be the fault of the
Directors themselves if they allow the experience they
have so lately received to pass unheeded, and without
snaking such provision for the general conduct of their
hues and the safety of the public, as to render pract -
cally all powers of correction a dead letter. At
the same time, as no exertion on their parts will p -
v4hat a Bill of tha sort from passing through I arlid-
roPut, our advice would be for each Company to send
to the Committee appointed at the Birmingham Co-
nference their opinions in writing on the different clauses
of the Bill, a copy of which will be forwarded to each
of them, so soon as it is printed, and leave the interests
of the railways generally to their discretion. As the
Bill is at present proposed, some of the clauses scam
objectionable ; but they will best be met by die con•
cantrated opposition of the Committee, aide i, if need
b. e, by the general force of the whole of the railway
interest.

SEVEN LIVES LOST.—On the night of Wed-
nesday se'nnight, a boat, with a crew of eight men, left the
shore at Lackan to fish for herrings. Having been very
successful, the unfortunate men were returning about eight
o'clock, when, at the distance of a hundred yards from the
shore, a wave broke over the boat, which instantly filled
and sunk. Of the eight men who were in it, only one
escaped, having seized an oar, and being a good swimmer,
The expressions of grief uttered by one woman in parti.
cular were truly heartrending—she had to lament the
death of a husband, a father, and a brother.—Maye Con-
stitution.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT CHERBOURG.--A fatal
accident occurred at Cherbourg a few days since. Sixty
sailors were passing over some planks, laid from the Fried-
land of the line to the quay in the dockyard, when this
temporary bridge turned over on its side, and all were pre-
cipitated into the water. Some of their comrades from
the ship immediately plunged in after them, and there
were about 150 men struggling in the water at one and the
sa't'e time, Just at this moment the planks from above
slipped
llpped from their ropes, and fell on the men in the water.
On the roll being called over six men were missing, and
It is supposed were drowned. Three corpses bad been
tiwtd.

LONGEVITY.—On Sunday last the funeral of an
old man named Caseley, a bricklayer, took place at South-
ampton. lie was 90 years and six months old, and his
pall was borne by six ancient bricklayers, whoie united
ages ages amounted to 452 years ! A great number of the
same trade followed him to the grave.