The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-07 00:00:00

constitution, to elevate its character in the public eye, , states of the Zollverein at 20 per cent. less than it
and to lead to a wise appreciation of the importance pays at present.
of the objects for which it was embodied. The society li .sss
A letter from Rome of the 22d ult. says—
has been accused of encouraging hasty legislation
" I should in vain attempt to tell the the painful effect
This is a bare assertion, without a fragment of proof to , caused here by the intelligence of the death of the Li-
eon firm its veracity. Supposing, however, the allegation berator
i(i)ifmlsreellfaTodi,vnstlor.ti?eCloonwneeslt%nhaFbriotamnt the Sovereign4eeo
could have been partially supported, to what would r t
iff
City, all hearts are profoundly sad. On 15th June a solemn
it have amounted? The society does not pretend to I mass of requiem will be
tcelebratedf in onel of the principal
the art of divination and of infallible foresight. Veuvr s
Fatherof Ventura, d willep rorns nc oue thelafnune'rraelacoilraetriOn h i oef
Laws framed under the auspices of the most talented the great man who has rendered so many services to the
legal advisers of the Crown, and which have subse- Catholic
ticNhvourrlcdh.
ofT !e heart
sit.
Agatha,(f
)whichO'Connellserved
s now
bpyl placed n
ed r
etshtes
quently passed through the ordeal of legislatorial of the Irish College. They are to celebrate a solemn service
inquiry, have been frequently found to be seriously for the ifllu(vjionunsei:illecteLsedveuneexratblMeoVayrilidenit Nsvoillebzorthoef
defective within a short period of their enactment. ,friendtnispioous and learned community whor. will officiate."
But this society not only stands free from the impu- Cardinal MICARA, Dean of the Sacred College,
tation thrown out, but it has already established its died on the 24th ult., at the age of seventy-two.
merits to public approval for the good it has actually
accomplished, as well as for the beneficial course in
which it is progressing. "In consequence of the efforts
of the society," observed Lord BROUGHAM, at the
meeting on Saturday, " some important measures
had been introduced into Parliament for the improve-
ment and amendment of the law ; some of those
measures had been completed, and others were in
progress." A mere glimpse at some of the names of
those who take a prominent interest in the welfare
of the society will suffice to satisfy every dispas-
sionate mind that precipitate legislation is a result the
least likely to flow from its laudable endeavours.
Lord Brougham, Lord Lyndhurst, the Earl of Devon,
Lord Ashburton, Mr. Bethell, Sir Fitzroy Kelly,
Mr. James Stewart, the Duke of Richmond, Lords
Radnor and Ebrington, Mr. Hume, M.P., Mr. Ewart,
M.P., Mr. Wyse, M.P., Mr. Roebuck, M.P., &c.,
besides many gentlemen of distinction in the various
branches of the legal profession, take an active part in
furthering the objects of the society. The evils of
the enormous expenses attendant upon the transfer of
land we have frequently alluded to ; they were
expatiated on at great length at the meeting
in question, and facts were stated which show
the science of conveyancing in this country
to be both disgraceful and oppressive to a civilized
community. In France and Italy, and other parts
of the continent, land was worth (forty-five years'
purchase, which in our country would not realise
more than thirty years' purchase, by reason of the
vexatious expenses incidental to its transfer. The
expenses, moreover, are not ad valorem. In one case
it cost a party 5501. to come into an estate of 1,5001.
The system tells most severely upon the capitalist of
slender means, for, if he desires to purchase a small
property, he is subjected to as heavy an expenditure
for its acquisition as the man whose purchase money
for an estate amounts to 150,0001. This is a social
evil of a most disheartening character. It is a
leading object of the society we have no-
ticed to emancipate us from this vexatious
thraldom of legal prolixity. Another is, to
suggest the means for having our Acts of Parliament
drawn up in a uniform and intelligible manner. The
loose and confused shape in which many of our laws
are passed is truly reproachful. The judges of the
land are themselves among the first to be constantly
adverting in terms of merited severity to the lax
method in which laws are concocted for their admi-
nistration. Respecting the criminal law, the atten-
tion of the society has been drawn by the Duke of
RICHMOND to the question, whether "its principal
object should not be the reformation of the criminal,
and not be confined to the deterring from crime."
A more philanthropic inquiry could not be entered
upon, and happily, too, it is one which we rejoice to
think is just now engrossing a great deal of public
attention. We congratulate the country upon the
prosperous manner in which the Society for Promot-
ing the Amendment of the Law is proceeding in
its searching and unbiassed investigations into the
evils and anomalies which have so long and so per-
niciously characterised our legislation.

The account of the meeting of the Royal Agricul-
tural Improvement Society of Ireland, which will be
found elsewhere in our columns, will be perused with
melancholy interest. It proves that the gloomy fore-
bodings with respect to the potato crop have been but
too well founded. It establishes incontrovertibly the
fact, that the fatal disease—which, by destroying the
article chiefly in use for the national food, subjected
the great majority of our Irish brethren to the horrors
of famine, and subsequently of pestilence, induced by
the previous destitution—has again set in, that we
can indulge no flattering hcpes of an exemption this
year from a visitation similar to that which has de-
populated the Irish shores, and paralysed British in-
dustry—that has led to distress and monetary embar-
rassments is every class in either kingdom—that has
quadrupled the interest of money, and forced the
State to become a borrower of no less than 8,000,0001.
sterling, after a prolonged period of profound peace
and tranquillity, and of great national prosperity. It
is, however, in one respect satisfactory to know that
we are forewarned in good time, that the disaster is
not altogether reme diless. The indications by which
the existence of the taint can be recognised are
clearly pointed out. It appears " that it is
chiefly to be found in that part of the stem which lies
under ground, and that it may exist, although the
leaf appears perfectly healthy ; that it is shown some-
times on that portion of the stem near the surface of
the ground, but more frequently near the seed or set,
and presents the appearance of a bruise or dark mark
upon the surface." It is more than probable that
similar appearances were manifested at an equally
early period last year, but that an equal vigilance was
not exercised, and that consequently the sad discovery
was not made until it was too late to obtain a substi-
tute for the infested crop. This is, fortunately, not
at present the case ; there is yet time to sow Swedish
or Aberdeen turnips, mangel wurzel or cabbage plants,
which may be placed in the drills between the potato
stalks without any additional manures and at a small,
expense. Wherever the disease has manifested itself
prompt and vigorous action therefore is essentially
necessary. The closet scrutiny should at once be
made by every one who has ventured to plant the
precarious and treacherous root in his lands into the
condition of the tubers. If they should be found marked
with the plague-spot, not an hour should be lost in
having recourse to the most active measures.
By so doing a great portion of the mischief and
suffering otherwise inevitable will be avoided, and
famine, with all its attendant evils, will be driven
from our shores.

Happily, too, this year a greater portion of the soil
than heretofore has been devoted to cereal products,
and there has been a corresponding diminution in the
quantity applied to the growth of the potato. The
class of persons, too, by whom it has been planted are
those who will be better enabled to bear the loss, and
who can more readily provide a substitute in the in-
fected fields. For these reasons, therefore, there
is little cause to dread a repetition of the har-
rowing scenes of the past and of the early part of the
present year. We can depend on the energies of
our countrymen, when fully apprised of the nature,
extent, and character :of the emergency they
have to encounter and the difficulties they
have to overcome. The real
_evil is generally
fearfully aggravated by any undue panic; that should
chiefly be avoided. There is not the slightest occa-
sion for any such fear; we are no longer dealing
with a secret and insidious foe; we know his
strength ; let us nerve ourselves for the contest ; let
us not cast away a chance from apathy or negligence,
but boldly and: manfully face the danger, and there
can be no doubt of the final success of our efforts. In
the meantime we trust that the Agricultural Improve-
ment Society will continue to instruct the public as
to the course to be adopted, and that all competent
persons will furnish the result of their investigations.

Madrid papers of the 30th and 31st ult. have been
received.

A letter from liamburgh dated the 29th ult. states
that the dearth of provisions has occasioned a frequent
interchange of notes between the states composing the
German 'Customs Union, vad that delegates are named
to meet in congress lit Derliu, to agree upon new re-
gulations, and a env tariffc f Au.ties upon .corn and
the other necessaries of life.

M. BRUNELLI, the Pope's Nuncio, arrived in
Madrid on the 29th.

Senor PACHECO has given his sanction to the pro-
tocol agreed to in London between the representa-
tives of the four powers, authorising intervention in
Portugal. _ _

Count MELLO, it was reported, had separated him-
self from SA DA BANDEIRA, and retired towards the
Spanish frontier, where he was organizing a force
for the renewal of hostilities.
The rumour of the "restoration of ESPARTERO to all
his honours has been revived.

-- -
MADRID, BOLSA, MAY 31.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 29i for cash ; the Four per Cents.
at 18 ; the Five per Cents. at 181 ; the Debt without
Interest at 5 ; and the Coupons at 15.

We have received the Paris papers of Friday and
Saturday.
The affair of the Chamber of Peers and of M. EMILE
DE GIRARDIN is the great subject of comment. The
nature of the charge made by M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN,
and for the bringing of which N. DE PONTOIS moved
that he be summoned to the bar of the Chamber, ap-
pears from the following article in the Consti-
tutionnel

"It is this day that the Chamber of Deputies will examine
in the bureaux the decision by which the Chamber of Peers
has summoned to its bar M. de Girardin, Deputy, the respon-
sible editor of the Presse. Before according or refusing the
authorisation to proceed against that gentleman, the Cham-
ber of Deputies ought to be informed of all the facts which
may affect its vote. The Chamber is guardian of the in-
violability of all its Members, and ought not on slight
grounds to deliver them up to any tribunal whatever. The
higher the tribunal which summons a Deputy to its bar,
the more circumspection ought the Chamber of Deputies to
exercise in the previous examination which it makes of the
case. This is the state of the question. The Presse as-
serted that the Epoque had existed by the traffic of promises
of peerages, which were sold for 80,000 f. each. It was asked
in the Chamber of Peers whether that could be considered an
insult to the Chamber, and whether consequently, art. 15 of
the law of March 25, 1822, was applicable. It is certain that
there is something obscure, and which ought to be
cleared up, in the assertion of the Presse. If we are well
informed, M. E. de Girardin said on Thursday in the
Chamber, in the midst of a numerous group of his colleagues,
that he had in his possession proof that a sum of 80,000 f. had
been paid into the office of the Epoque, in exchange for the
promise of a peerage—such promise being besides made with
the knowledge of a Minister ! However the individuals who
treated with the Epoque did not, it appears, obtain a return
for their sacrifice, the complete execution of their
bargain, since they were not afterwards nominated peers. If
the facts have passed in that way—if M. E. de Girardin can
give proofs of it, or even if there are strong presumptions in
favour of his allegation, it is impossible that the Chamber of
Deputies can authorise the proceedings. In fact-Ist, the
consideration of the Chamber of Peers is not involved in the
question, since none of its Members is designated, even in-
directly by the journalist; 2dly, the true culprit, in that
hypothesis, is the Minister who was aware of the shameful
bargain, and not the journalist who denounced it. If it is true
that a journal was able to sell privileges of theatres, titles
of nobility, promises of peerages, &c., the offence consists
in having authorised such bargains, and not in revealing
them to the world. We can, therefore, only consider the
resolution of the Chamber of Peers as the beginning of an
investigation. The Chamber of Deputies has the matter now
before it, and it has a right to interrogate that one of its
members who is concerned in the matter, and to arrive at
the truth."

From a long article in the Presse we quote the
following :

"Did the Presse say that the peerage has in its ranks
peers who have purchased their nomination by money? No;
the Presse said nothing of the kind ; it only said that pro-
mises of the peerage were sold for 80,000 f. 1 It said nothing
more. The Chamber of Peers admits the peers, but does not
nominate them ; and it only admits them after an investiga-
tion into their lives and conduct. Thus, as Vice-president
Barthe and M. C. Dupin justly observed yesterday, in no
case can the enunciation of the Presse be considered as ad-
dressing itself to the Chamber of Peers. Far from seeing
in that enunciation an offence, the peerage, on the contrary,
should have considered it as the cry of a sentinel watching
over its honour, especially when it was uttered by the only
journal which has constantly defended it."
After alluding to some analogous cases in which a
different course was pursued, the Presse says—
" Would not M. de Girardin, as a deputy, have had the
right, in the sitting of the 11th February, to ascend the tri-
bune after M. Gustave de Beaumont, and to say: The Hon.
Gentleman who has just en umerated several facts relative to
the publication of a journal has declared to you that he
would not add others because the Chamber is too much
fatigued. Let me, however, add one : a promise of the
peerage has been made to a person worthy in every respect
to be promoted to that dignity; but that promise was made
on the condition that he would assure the prolongation of the
existence of a Ministerial journal about to die, by means of
the payment of a sum of 80,000 francs ?' Would M. de
Girardin, in expressing such a fact at the tribune, have been
more exposed to be called to order than were M. Dupin and
M. Luneau in speaking of places in the Cour des Comptes
sold for money, or than M. Gustave de Beaumont in recount-
ing how much the concession of a certain privilege for a
theatre had brought to the cash-box of a certain journal?
Would not M. de Girardin have been in the plenitude of his
right? Assuredly. Explain then how a fact, which he
would have been allowed to declare at the tribune without
being called to order, can transform itself into an offence,
because he printed it before saying it, instead of saying it
before he printed it? The Chamber of Peers, which at first
had only the desire to enlighten itself with respect to a fact,
when once on the incline, allowed itself to follow without
clearly perceiving it, the attraction of an unreflecting sus-
ceptibility. That is what will certainly be shown to it by
the discussion which cannot fail to take place at the ti ibune
of the Chamber of Deputies, which M. de Girardin is impa-
tient to ascend, not to excuse himself, but to reject indig-
nantly the offence done to his character,lis principles, and
his convictions, by those who have supposed that he could
have for one single moment the intention to cause the
slightest injury to the consideration of the peerage and of its
members."

On Saturday the Chamber of Deputies met in the
Bureaux, to appoint a committee to decide on the ex-
pediency of acceding to the request of the Chamber
of Peers for the appearance of M. EMILE DE
GIRARDIN at their bar. In the first bureaux M. DE
GIRARDIN declared that he intended no disrespect to
the Peerage, his only object being to unmask the
Ministry. The Committee chosen consisted of
MM. PAILLET, LEON DE MALEVILLE, LAVIELLE,
MeRNT, GILLON, DELANGLE, ST. AIGNAN, COU-
STORE, and D'HAUSONVILLE. Of these all, except
the two first, have declared that the request of
the Chamber of Peers should be granted.
The Journal des Debats has a long article demon-
strating the necessity of the immediate adoption of
free-trade principles by France. It is a homage to
the truth, and a proof of the correctness of the
principle of our free traders, that the adoption of
free trade by England would force other nations
either to become free-traders, or to cease to be
traders at all.
" We must admit (says the Journal des Debats) that the
adoption of free trade by England influences neighbouring
nations, and France more than any other, to adopt the same
system. In fact, England, where the prices are high, is
about to become the receptacle of the overplus of all pro-
ducing countries. It is always to her that any
overplus will be sent, inasmuch as she pays better, and
is able to consume the whole. Thus the free trade in corn
in England is a guarantee against too great a fall in prices
in other markets. Still more, we believe that a part of the
grain from our north-western provinces will be exported to
England. In that respect likewise we shall suffer a loss,
and as France on an average produces scarcely sufficient
grain for her consumption, we must apply to foreign coun-
tries for a supply, and we must attract them by establishing
freedom of commerce, and not repel them by the sliding-
scale. With respect to the stock of corn to be derived from
countries denominated productive, we must remark that we
experience much disappointment with respect to the United
States. We flattered ourselves that the opening of the
Erie canal would bring a considerable quantity of wheat and
flour to New York, but as yet we have been disappointed.
We read in a circular issued by one of the most eminent
houses in New York, Prime Ward and Co., dated 015th of
May, that at Buffalo, which is the harbour of Lake Erie,
notwithstanding the facilities afforded by the season to col-
lect large supplies--notwithstanding the attraction of high
prices in New York—notwithstanding it was known that
several ships were waiting in that city to load corn for
Varope, there was but a trifling supply of wheat and flour
arrived. The boatmen on the canal who had assembled at
Buffalo in expectation of finding a good freight for New
York were offered a reduced price for their labour. Wheat
was quoted at a high price at New York; and a barrel of
flour, which generally sells at 4i to 5 dollars, was worth 8
dollars. Thus the experience of this year gives every day a
formal contradiction to all the fears manifested on the subject
of the competition which might be raised against our agricul-
turistsftrheee
by foreign produce if it was admitted free into our mar-
kets. On the one hand,it has become evident that the quantity
to be 4rawn from countries termed productive is limited ; on the
other hand, it has been ascertained that when the markets
of the great .sakka of western Europe were brought into tree
ecimmunication with the productive countries, it was not our
Vice •which was redncedfto tb.eirs, but theirs, on the contrary,
whiela ,was ,raised to ours. The" experience of this year is,
system
m thatf
the
rti c u sIL
4h.etradree f,ioi;tr ep,irpckevri4tttl:,37,
gconclusive in
demonstratesfou r op/ a'
system 1;.,y which We Ive.ao 4:4eavour.to prevent that liberty
pro•visinualii during ,the ,entire tgpbable duration of the
scarcity, and ;t4.,i3ten4i the _same :syst4W Alt .I;TphibitiOn ge-i
nesaliy to all arteleSdf9o4l, admits 9f n 6
The Co ounitMe .of e &44tIlbetr •of Pulitiq; 413.-
Pthrited to e-z4=Like tiAv p.r9igoP .of AO.W.t4r ,renewitig,
until the Si 0.; (e oiler? *a authorization t 9 AnpOrt
freely into Frarica Arte 39, §i in. bad With. the - •

The Treaty of Commerce and NEriigttioss :be-
tween Naples and Prussia, acting in the name ,of
the Zollverein, which was concluded the 27th
January last, has just been ratified. It establishes
F,erfect reciprocity, and enacts, first, that merchandise
and products coming from Prussia and the states ofl
the Zoilverein shall pay 10 per cent. less than the
,merchawlise and products coming from other states
now pay according to the Neapolitan tariff; and next,
that Prussia engages itself to obtain the consent of
the Zollverein to the importaaon of oil in casks to the