The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-26 00:00:00

For the clause
For the amendment
Majority in favour of the clause... —l2B

154
26

Mr. SHAW then moved an amendment, appointing
justices resident in unions ex•officio guardians, but with-
drew it at the suggestion of Lord J. RUSSELL.

Mr. J. aCoNNELL proposed an amendment, the effect
of which would be to make borough magistrates ex•oficio
guardians as well as county magistrates. This amend-
ment was likewise negatived on a division by a majority
of 112, the numbers being, for the original clause, 133 ;
for the amendment, 2 L.
Mr. SHAW postponed the amendment of which he
had given notice, until the bringing up the report. Clauses
up to 17 were agreed to, and the House resumed.

The other orders of the day were disposed of, and the
House adjourned at a Quarter to Seven o'clock.

The further intelligence which has just been
brought from America by the packet-ship Montezuma,
down to the 6th instant, will be perused with mingled
feelings of satisfaction and regret. The latter will be
excited in relation to the Three Million Bill and the
fate of the " Wilmot proviso ;" the former will be
derived from the decision arrived at by the
House of Representatives in favour of re-
jecting the Bill introduced by the Government
for augmenting by 20 per cent. the duties on tea
and coffee, for purposes of revenne. Congress
concluded its session on the 4th in tant. The entire
purport of the Three Million Bill is to "enable the
President to conclude a treaty of peace, limits and
boundaries, with the republic of Mexico, to be used
by him in the event that said treaty, when signed by
the authorised agents of the two ,Governments, and
duly ratified by Mexico, shall call for expenditure."
If anything could add to the disgrace which Mr.
Poca. has accumulated upon himself and the Govern-
tates, from to e very commence-
ment of hostilities with Mexico„. it is furnished
to the full by the terms of the for sgoing resolution.
It is nothing more nor less than a virholesale authority
to second their military efforts ag;Linst a deeply in-
jured people by the detestable infl u ences of bribery
and corruption. The whole civilised world would re-
joice, should the insidious, demorali sing, and shame-
less policy of Mr. POLK be signally upset by a con-
tinuance of the patriotic resistance Iv hich, contrary to
his expectations, has been alrea=ls unflinchingly
offered by the Mexicans.
Everybody knows that, after the opprobrious man-
ner in which the Texas was incor p orated with the
States, in consequence of which the ( )untry annexed is
now subject to the curse of slavery, From which it was
formerly free, the President never d r eamt of carrying
his project of aggrandisement beyond the Rio del
Norte, which he desired that Mexic. a should cede and
recognise as the proper boundary o f the extended
territory of the States ; and that wh e: n he found, from
negotiations then pending, that Me: 6:co was reluctant
to conform to his views, he determir If 41 upon invading
neutral ground to the south of the Ittio del Norte, in
the hope of extorting a concession b y force, to which
he could not in justice set up any :reasonable claim.
From that period the Mexicans have • stoutly declined
to entertain any overtures for peace, until Mr. Fora
shall have first withdrawn his for ci ‘s, military and
naval, to the positions which they on .g :inally occupied.
Had this laudable and spirited requi; N 'ment been com-
plied with, we doubt not that the di ff erences between
the belligerents might have been p•eedily adjusted ;
but as Congress has failed to compel the President to
retrace his unjustifiable and aggressi v e steps, the war
will be necessarily protracted. Every honour-
able sympathy is enlisted in favour of the

southern republic. It appears now, as indi-
cated by the tenor of the Three lillion Act, that
the President is intent upon acqu it ing some por-
tion of Mexican territory, and, by the rejection of
Mr. WILMOT'S proviso, that, in any e' uch fresh acqui-
sition the laws of slavery will be it 3t roduced. It is
impossible, therefore, to regard the sf 3 proceedings of
the American Government with fee ings other than
those of unmitigated disgust. On the cr her hand, as be-
fore remarked, we rejoice that the Io: rinciples of free
trade have been preserved intact, and f n at Mr. POLK has
been unable to persuade Congress to )mpromise them
in the way he proposed with respe c t to the duties
upon tea and coffee. Another featu. 3of congratula-
tion is presented by the magnific, ?.] )t contributions
which have been raised for the relief of the destitute
Irish. In New York the Roma? s Catholics have
recently obtained in their churl 31 Les upwards of
13,000 dollars for this truly benevolt 3z it object. From
Boston, Quebec, and other cities nearly 300,000
dollars have been remitted. Such nl/ tnificent charity
richly merits the grateful eulogi ar n which Lord
JOHN RUSSELL paid to it in the Hot ts 3 of Commons.

Our commercial interests are i., m plicated in the
preservation or rupture of tranquilli ty in the Levant,
otherwise we should be indisposed ti a trouble our-
selves with the slightest reference to t hi ) drawing-room
squabbles of the Greek SOVEREIGN.- Contemptible
as the incident apparently is of a Tv rkish emissary
being huffed at the behaviour of OTH( 7, on the occasion
of a grand ball in the Athenian pal; u :e, it is never-
theless one of those trivial circumsta ces which have
frequently before now changed the s sole destinies of
a country, and produced the most disastrous out-
breaks. Unless these frivolous m::4 adventures be-
tween kings and ambassadors are i 'revented from
assuming importance by fomenting j ealousies into
abhorrence, and transforming a cast ial pique into
an ineradicable hatred, the re -we of the
world would be continually ends ngered, and
the lives of its rulers perpetually e nbittered. It
is among the most meritorious offices of a diplomatist
to destroy these germs of war on their first budding
into existence. By acting as peace= kers in these
almost domestic contentions of the pals ce, they may
always invest their ministerial careers wi th the dignity
0 f Patriotism. Nor can the responsibility of aiding
in reconciliations, after the recurrence. of such petty
misunderstandings,
derogatory to the elebveat ng aorfdtehde
i:so a al ne
hyamr.
a:7
enresr.
Were the ministers of the different (
iental Princes
to occupy themselves by endeavourir tfi to become the

, securities of national quietude, by suppressing and
eradicating these rancorous emotions on their first
appearance, they would be conferring more substan-
tial benefits upon their country than by abetting
spoliation. or encouraging rapine.
England is in a peculiar manner called upon to
scrutinise the behaviour of the Greek Government at
this delicate juncture ; it is called upon to observe
the changes of her relations with Turkey,
because upon the continued amity between
those two empires depend the conservation of British
interests along the eastern shores of the Mediterra-
nean. Beyond this, we have rendered ourselves, to a
considerable extent, responsible for the excellence and
sagacity of the government of OTao, until it has
become matured by longer existence and the wisdom
acquired by the consequent experience. For these
reasons, therefore, it is befitting for us to watch with
a jealous precaution the progress of legislation in
that still embryo dominion and the aspect of its rela
tionship with the neighbouring potentates. From
the correspondence which has just appeared, com-
prising letters between his Majesty the King of
GREECE and the Sublime-Porte, and others between
JEAN COLETTI and ALI EFFENDI, it would appear
that there is a secret estrangement between the
SULTAN and his august neighbour. How far this
estrangement may yawn into an abyss of animosity
depends upon the external influence of friendly
Governments, and upon the vacillating sentiments and
precarious temperament of the supreme administrator,
COLETTI.

An abrupt expression uttered by the lips of
royalty to the representative of an amicable
Sovereign, whether that expression be pronounced
in the excitement of a levee or the languid
abandon of a carousal, may be productive of
gigantic consequences—consequences such as may
unsettle the foundations of a kingdom and convulse
the whole surface of a continent. That such is pos-
sible, that the fable of -" the parturient mountain "
may, in this manner, be reversed, has been repeatedly
shown in modern as well as in ancient history.
There is a mythe, or historical allegory, illustrative
of this, in the very commencement of the Roman
records, where REMUS is butchered in a tumult
arising from the fact of his jumping over the
ditch traced out for the city walls, and his
brother is thereby raised to the undisputed dignity of
being the commander of a little cluster of vagabonds.
At the opening of the nineteenth century a still more
remarkable proof of the magnitude of results
flowing from insignificant incidents was afforded
by the abrupt departure of the English Ambassa-
dor, Lord WHITWORTH, from Paris in consequence
of a few words addressed to him in the Tuileries by
the First Consul. The insult offered to the Turkish
Envoy by the Bing of GREECE may, therefore, if
allowed to extend and ripen into a national grievance,
become at once injurious to the future
prospects of the Greeks and to the immediate
safety of English merchandise in the Levant.
It is incumbent upon us, therefore, to observe nar-
rowly the course pursued by the different Courts in
this singular correspondence. The preservation of
friendship between the Grecian and Turkish Govern-
ments is intimately blended with our commercial
prosperity.

Among the many complaints that have from time to
time been brought forward against individual Irish
landlords, few have had greater effect in exciting the in-
dignation and disgust of the English people than the
statement that many—notwithstanding the misery and
destitution existing at their very thresholds, the ago-
nies of their neighbours, and dependents, suffering
under protracted famine, and dropping into untimely
graves from want of the common , necessaries of
life—had retained large sporting establishments, and
devoted to the support of horses, dogs, and other
animals of an inferior class, quantities of food which
might more properly have been applied to the wants
of human beings, and by which the acknowledged
deficiency would have been diminished, and many of
their countrymen nourished and sustained, and their
lives preserved to their wretched families. The
charge was a serious one, and was considered
sufficiently grave to occupy the attention of
the Legislature ; and one of the gentlemen
inculpated in a manly and straightforward manner
came forward and declared that he had parted with
his dogs, and since the urgency of the famine had
not kept a single useless dog. The defence was re-
ooivowl w;th cheers in St_Rtpphpn'A, and there Vra3 not
a single Member in the House, or individual out of
it, who did not approve the act, and believe that the
gentleman had only performed his duty, and that, had
he acted in any other manner, he would have justly
merited the gravest censure.
Cannot the argument be carried further ? Is the
question of humanity one to be decided on by geo-
graphical situation ? Can a person justly and pro-
perly do that, if removed a few miles or a few hours'
journey from the scene of distress, which would be
criminal on the part of another in its more immediate
vicinity ? If the Irish landlord can justly be required
to part with some ten or twenty greyhounds, because
they would consume a sufficient quantity of food
to maintain an equal number of human beings,
should English noblemen or gentlemen preserve an
inordinate quantity of game on their lands, to consume
the crops and blight the hopes of the hard-working
farmers, to demoralise and lead from the paths of
honest industry many labourers, the staff and supp9rt
of humble but contented families, who, but
for the temptation thus afforded, might have
maintained upright characters, to people the
county gaols and houses of correction, to
increase the county rates by the expenses
of prosecutions, and the parish rates by the
support of helpless and ruined families deprived of
their natural guardians and protectors, and cast upon

the tender mercies of the union workhouse for a
wretched subsistence ? Even if these frightful re-
sults were not the natural consequences of the super-
abundance of game, if no evils or grievances
could be traced to the operation of the game-
laws, were they as harmless and innocent in
themselves as they are universally admitted to be
injurious and mischievous,—do pheasants and par-
tridges, hares and rabbits, devour so small a quantity
of food as to render it a matter of trifling importance
whether it should be added to the national stores ? Is
the condition of the English labourer so desirable
that no addition to his humble comforts are required?
It is unnecessary for us to answer these ques-

tions. The voice of public opinion will make the
responses in a louder and more commanding
tone than any we could assume, and the outcry of
the people, the firm but temperate appeal of millions,
will demand from the Legislature redress for their
wrongs and a remedy for the enormous evil.
A small pamphlet, containing a few brief pages on
this important subject, published under the name of
" Homo," strongly depicts the injurious workings
and the obnoxious effects of the game code, whether
to the farmer, the tradesman, or the labourer; but the
mischief is not limited to these classes; in fact it
would be difficult indeed to point out any portion of
society that is not injuriously affected. And, cui bono,
for what use or purpose is this monster nuisance
tolerated and supported ? Simply that my Lord A.
or Squire B. may have in their power to send an ac-
count to the local press of the enormous quantity of
game destroyed in a few days or a few hours at some
battue on their estates or manors. These butcherly
exhibitions are far removed from fair sporting.
They want all the elements thereof—the healthful
exercise, the necessity of exertion, the excitement of
the search. You might as well pride yourself on the
number of domestic fowls you could destroy in a
farm-yard. We should not desire to debar our
country gentlemen from a fair day's sport, but it is
the frightful abuses that have crept into the entire
system to which we object. " Property has its duties
as well as its rights," is an axiom now universally
conceded, and is it cousistent with the fitting exercise
of that responsibility to do such public injury for
the gratification of some feelings of paltry vanity or
ridiculous ostentation ? Even within this week a man
was tried for his life, and had a narrow escape from
expiating his offence by an ignominious death on the
effold, for a homicide committed during a poaching
excursion ; as it was, he was banished for ever from
his family and friends, and from his native home,
while his victim, or rather the victim of the game-
laws, was hurried into eternity, leaving a numerous
family to deplore his fate. How long will these
things be tolerated in a civilized and Christian land ?

A St. Petersburgh letter of the 11th says —" There
arc still large quantities of corn and flour here, and
1 Irge supplies are expected for exportation by the