The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 0, 1841.!!

NEW NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF "SUSAN HOPLEY."
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.,
THE STORY OF LILLY DAWSON.
By Mrs. CROWE.
Authoress of " Susan Hopley."
" Lilly Dawson is a heroine of quite as interesting a character as
Susan Hepley ; and her adventures are not less romantic. Mrs.
Crowe's style possesses a charm which renders her work irresistible."
—Dispatch.
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

Now ready, in 3 vols., post Bvo.,
THE ROMANCE OF WAR.;
Or, THE HIGHLANDERS IN SPAIN.

By JAMES GRANT, Esq., late 62d Regiment.
"Since the days of ' The Subaltern,' there has appeared no such
admirable book on the same subject as ' The Romance of War,' by
the present writer."—Observer.
" A splendid memottal of military talent, valour, and enterprise."
—Edinburgh Courant.
" To Scotchmen these spirited volumes must be specially accept-
able."—Perthshire Constitutional.
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

NEW WORK BY MISS PARDOE.
Now ready, in 3 vols. Bvo., with numerous Engravings on steel and
Wood, by William and George Measom, 21. 2s. neatly bound,
LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH,
And the COURT of FRANCE in the SEVENTEENTH

- _ _
CENTURY.
By JULIA PARDOE,
Author of the " City of the Sultan," &C.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street,
Publisher in Ordinary to her Majesty.

RAILWAY SHARES BY PUBLIC SALE.
MESSRS. LAMOND and Co., RAILWAY
SHARE AUCTIONEERS, beg to thank their Friends
uad the Public for their continued support and patronage, ant
tc announce that their Public sales of Railway Shares, &c.,
take place every Trasrav and Faupay, at One o'clock, at the
hall of Commerce, Threadneedle-street, London, to which place,
favours, containing instructions (with a reference), are respectfhlly
uaquested to be addressed.
All Scrip and Share Certificates moat be deposited, the day
previous to their being offered; and advlces of results will be
hrwarded by the first post after the sale, and the proceeds imme-
diately disposed of according to instructions.
Offices. Hall of Commerce. Threadneedle-street. London.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICIO, MARCH 9.
THERMOMETER, Lowest, 36 ; Highest. 40 ; Noon, 39.
BAROMETER, 30.06.—Wind N.W., fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Morning .. 0 minutes after 6. 1 Evening .. 20 minutes after 6.

was striking and instantaneous. A movement, par-
tially of panic and partially of indignation, was per-
ceptible among the phalanx of Irish representatives.
Nor was the opposition without the sympathy or co-
operation of the English Members. Parliament
scarcely ever evinced a greater unanimity in the re-
jection of any scheme. All sections of political
opinion coincided in railing against the introduction
of such a plan at a time so peculiarly unpropitious ;
and the dismay and hostility manifested on its in-
felicitous introduction was scarcely inferior to that
expressed by the followers of EDWARD I. when
startled by the voice of the bard on the Welsh
mountains.

" Stout BErcrrnrcK stood aghast in speechless trance;
To arms! cried LABOUCHIRE, and couched his quiver-
ing lance."

We are by no means amazed at the cordiality with
which Mr. ROEBUCK'S proposition was rejected,
although we must confess that there is no small de-
gree of justice in his vituperations of a considerable
number of the Irish landowners. What, let us in-
quire, however, is the bare practicability of this
extension of taxation beyond St. George's Channel?
Is it practicable ? Would it—could it tend in any
appreciable extent to the increase of the revenue ?
There is an old stubborn proverb which informs us
of the impossibility of getting blood from a flint ;
and we might as well practise phlebotomy upon a
flint as endeavour to extract money from a penniless
community, or expect to obtain a per tentage
upon incomes which the landlords find it impossible
to gather in. Besides this, it becomes a question
whether the landowners of Ireland are not already in
a position somewhat analogous to the position of those
among their brethren in England who are directly
subject to the drain of the income-tax. A few
syllables will at once explain our meaning. Pre-
suming that the income-tax, as levied in the other
portions of the United Kingdom, were extended to
Ireland, a sum approaching to 450,0001. would be
collected, seeing that the average rate of taxation
upon incomes is 3 per cent., and calculating
that the average rental of Ireland amounts
annually to 15,000,0001. Now it is determined by
Parliament, that out of the 10,000,0001. advanced for
the salvation of the starving peasantry, the landlords
of Ireland shall repay one entire half, namely
5,000,0001., in instalments, extending over a period
of ten years. In point of fact, then, this is
a fair equivalent for the revenue derivable from an
income-tax. But Mr. ROEBUCK is solicitous to
behold no longer such a striking disparity between
the English landowner and Irish landowner that
the former is subjected to an onerous pay-
ment from which the latter is altogether released.
We should rejoice ourselves to see the equalization of
the burden:upon both these:divisions of landlords, but—
and just now that important but comprises everything
—but we must first see the influx of rental
into the pockets of both classes of landlords
equalized. As the Honourable Member for Kilkenny
very justly observed, the incomes of the landowners
of Ireland are now more than ever precarious,
dwindling down in proportion to the deepening im-
poverishment of their afflicted tenants. And it is
these precarious and attenuated incomes that the Hon.
Member for Bath would submit to a strenuous and
inexorable taxation. The extraordinary division of
121 to 26 evinced significantly enough the sentiments
with which the House of Commons listened to this
inappropriate proposal. Morally persuaded that the
proprietary of Ireland should be called upon
to assist earnestly in the extrication of
their suffering fellow-countrymen from the abyss
of their present desolation, we cannot coincide with
Mr. ROEBUCK in regarding this as the most oppor..
tune moment for enlarging the liability of
5,000,0001. which already impends over, and which
they must liquidate within the ten years ensuing.
From this consideration especially, and from the
nearly unparalleled poverty of the island, we con-
gratulate the Irish landowners upon the decisive
rejection of Mr. ROEBUCK'S scheme. At a period of
less wretchedness, the question may be revived with
more generosity andeubjected to a calmer deliberation.

When England _has so nobly and generously come
forward for the relief of Irish destitution—when the
Imperial Legislature has so readily sanctioned the
expenditure of ten millions sterling for the purpose
of providing food for the starving population, and
work for the able-bodied labourers—when the English
people have, with one accord, consented to the con-
tinuance of many burdens pressing most heavily on
the national industry, and debarring the poorer classes
of many of their humble comforts, and a subscrip
tion already exceeding 200,0001. sterling has been
collected by voluntary contributions with the same
benevolent objecti it might have been expected
that the recipients of this bounty would be
actuated by feelings of gratitude towards their bene-
volent benefactors, and that they would at least re-
frain from slandering or uttering invectives against
the Government or the people by whom such exten-
sive liberality has been evinced. It is, how-
ever, with the deepest regret that we find those
who should know better things, who are the ap-
pointed pastors and teachers, and who possess
the most unbounded influence over the people, de-
parting from their proper sphere, and heaping the
most opprobrious epithets on the English Ministry
and English people. Such a proceeding may be
productive of the most mischievous consequences,
not only in its effect upon the minds of the Irish
sufferers, but also on the contributors on this side of
the Channel, who, seeing their gifts alighted and de-
spised, may be disposed to feel less favourably towards
those who appear to be tainted with such culpable
ingratitude, and to refuse to sturdy beggars what
would most gladly be extended to more humble sup-
pliants.

We trust, however, that the sentiments to which
we have alluded, and: which are: embodied in reso-
lutions adopted at a meeting of Roman Catholic
clergymen recently held at Ballinrobe, and presided
over by the Rev. JAMES MTALE, are not generally
participated in ; nothing can possibly justify the use
of language such as they have indulged in. What
has been well termed the anti-Russell mania must
have attained a fearful pitch indeed, when we find
persons who should be the most anxious to allay any
irritation and to iaduce their flocks to bear with
Patience and submission the unavoidable privations
and misery consequent upon the mysterious visitation
by which they have been afflicted, calling on our
SOVEREIGN to dismiss from her Councils those who
have acted with such magnanimity towards Ireland,
and styling them "the heartless and cruel Ministers,
whose policy, unparalleled for indifference to human
life, has brought one of the fairest portions of the
empire to the verge of destruction, and consigned
thousands of the youth of Ireland to a premature
grave ;" and again, "of the alien spirit and alien
feelings exhibited through alien functionaries, in
carrying on the public works of the country, as
affording a melancholy proof of hatred to Ireland
and contempt of its feelings that have characterised
the present, as well as all other alien Ministers."
We should not have noticed this melancholy exhi-
bition were it not that it would be unjust to the
people generally to let it be supposed that such was
the feeling of a majority, or even of a numerous
class. Those who are deeply afflicted should not
have any necessary aid withheld on account of
the indignation that must naturally be excited by
the perusal of such a document. The "soup" should
not be withdrawn from the famishing poor because
those gentlemen have been pleased to term it
"degrading and demoralising ;" nor should other
measures of relief be denied because it is stated
"that they must be a mockery, unless the funds of
the Established Church are devot ed to the purpose."
Whatever may be the views of any classes in the sister
kingdom as to the nature of the measures that should be
adopted, however widely they may dissent from the
policy of the Government, that dissent should be
expressed in becoming and temperate language, and
such as might be expected to proceed from the lips of
Christian men. They may be well assured that such
would have a far more beneficial effect, and be more
calculated to attain the desired object, than a tirade
of such senseless violence and vituperation as that to
which we have reluctantly adverted.

The question of secondary punishments and trans-
portation was again last evening, in a desultory manner,
brought under the notice of the House of Lords.
Our readers are already aware that Earl GREY took
occasion last week, in a speech of considerable length
and ability, to communicate to their Lordships an

important change which the Government had deter-
minekupon making, for the two years next ensu-
ing, in the system of transportation ; and that
the main feature of the alteration proposed would
consist in retaining prisoners, under the above sen-
tence, in this country, to be, in the first instance,
confined in various penal establishments, conducted
upon a plan better calculated than any hitherto pur-
sued to work the ,reformation of criminals, and then
to expatriate them for the remainder of their sentences
upon conditions advantageous to themselves and the
community at large. It was suggested, in the outset,
that, before the Government undertook to adopt, as a
general principle, so wide a departure from the long-
established practice of carrying this species of criminal
punishment into execution, they ought to introduce a
Bill for the purpose, and obtain the approbation of
Parliament in its favour. Earl GREY conceived this
course would be highly inconvenient, and that it was
not necessary. Last night the objection was re-
newed by Lords BROUGHAM (who announced that
Lord LYNDHURST concurred in his view), STANLEY,
ASHBURTON and ELLENBOEOUGH. The force of it
was, however, combated by the Marquis of LANS-
DOWNE, Lord CAMPBELL, and Earl GREY. Upon a
review of the respective arguments, we consider the
better and more constitutional plan would be to ob-
tain an Act of Parliament. Inasmuch as it will
be laid down as a general rule that, provided the
criminal evinces an exemplary conduct, the period of
his sentence will be commuted to one-half, the pre-
vailing effect of Earl GREY'S scheme will be to
substitute imprisonment for transportatation. The
change intended is, therefore, of a most important
character. This being so, Parliament should be con-
sulted, in order that some security should be had for
uniformity, on the part of the Executive, in criminal
proceedings, even where the alteration mooted is not
originally designed to be rendered a permanent one ;
for Governments, as we know, are uncertain in
their duration, and it is not desirable that their suc-
cessors in power should be left at liberty, according
to a variety of individual views, to vary the mode in
which the highest class of secondary punishment shall
be enforced. Punishment, to be effectual, should be
certain, and defined as accurately as possible in pro-
portion to the crime committed ; but, it appears to
us, that this certainty, which is held to be one of the
chief elements of punishment that operate most satis-
factorily in restraint of crime, would be seriously
compromised, were so large a discretion to be suffered
to rest with the Executive as is herein recommended
by the Colonial Secretary—a discretion, be it
observed, not for exceptional cases, but to be exer-
cised with the view of influencing an entire change
in the existing system of transportation. Earl GREY
urges that he means to enter upon the alterations,
which he has outlined to Parliament, merely as an
experiment to last for two years. This period would
assuredly be too limited to give a fair trial to his
scheme ; but, as we mainly approve of his Lordship's
plan, whatever be the period to be fixed upon, we see
no objection to the Senate's being invited to sanction
it as an experimental measure. Not to seek for
this assent would be establishing a precedent that
might hereafter be turned to vicious purposes. An
additional reason why Earl GREY should proceed by
a Bill in this matter is furnished by the discordant
views which it yesterday appeared are entertained
amongst Peers of the highest legal attainments. If
the Colonial Secretary and Lord CAMPBELL be right
as to the position they have assumed, the question
should be set at rest by a declaratory Bill. If
otherwise, special powers should be conferred
by an original Act of Parliament. The sub-
ject is of far too grave a character to allow
of its being summarily disposed of ; it must undergo
a thorough investigation. It is not sufficient to quote
what has been done by former Secretaries of State ;
for they appear to have already taken too much upon
themselves. In conclusion, we quite agree with
Lord ASIIBURTON that it would be strangely ano-
malous that the judges should go on, year after year,
passing sentences which the Crown had pre-
determined not to execute. The prerogative of the
Crown must not be unduly strained.

Advices from Constantinople to the 18th February
have been received.

On the 17th an important modification took place in
the Cabinet. The Minister of Finance, NAnz PACRA,
tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the
SULTAN. The Councillor of the Grand Vizier, SARIN
EFFENDI, was appointed Minister of Finance, and
elevated to the dignity of Muchin, or Paella with three
tails. SARIN EFFICNDI is considered one of the ablest
men in Turkey, and his nomination to that post must
tend to strengthen the Ministry.

The whole of the corps dipkmatiqu,e have expressed
their approval of the ccnduct of the Turkish Govern-
ment in recalling its ambassador from Greece. An auto-
graph explanatory letter from King OTHO had been re-
ceived by the SULTAN, but it was considered that it would
meet with no attention. COLETTI, the Greek Minister, who
has throughout these transactions been the mere tool of
M. PISCATORY, the French Ambassador, hopes to drive
Turkey into a war, in which case he reckons con-
fidently upon the assistance of France, but Turkey will
most probably not go to war. She has ample means
of
f c
revengingo herself by fiscal measures directed against
Grecian commerce—these she will adopt, and by so
doing inflict more injury on Greece in one month than
she could inflict by hostilities in a year.

Madrid papers of the 2d instant have arrived.
The debate on the Address continued in the Chamber
of:Deputies. Senor LuJAN, in the previous sitting, had
of the late Ministers in regard to the
attacked the policy
royal marriages, and had been replied to by Senor MAn-
TINEz DE LA Itosa.
Queen CHRISTINA was to leave Madrid on the 7th.
Senor ISTURITZ has been appointed Ambassador to
the Court of London.
MADRID BoLSA, Marten 2.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 30i for cash ; the Five per Cents., at 19;
the Debt without interest, at 6; the Coupons, at 17.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday.
In the Chamber of Deputies on Saturday AI. FOULD
developed, at some length, his proposition for expunging
from the great book of the public debt the sum of
11,584,983 francs Three per Cent. Renter redeemed by
the Caisse d Arrondissement, or sinking fund, between
July 1, 1833, and Dec. 31. 1846 ; these rentes, both in
capital and arrears, to be annulled on the 22d of June,
1847. The Minister of Finance, in opposing the mo-
tion, contradicted the rumours that were in circulation,
to the effect that the Treasury was unable to pay the half-
yearly dividend on the Five per Cents. due the 22d inst.
On the contrary, never during the last twenty. six years
had the resources of the Treasury been so abundant.
On the sth of March the cash available amounted to
45,000,000 E, besides 73,000,000 f. in paper, in all
118,000,000 f. The Minister also declared that he had
no intention of raising a loan. The debate was then
adjourned to Monday.
The Journal des Vdbats states that Queen CHRISTINA
will arrive in Paris on the 15th. The same journal thus
comments on Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S speech on the
Cracow question, in which the Noble Lord characterised
the reiterated protest of the French Chambers, on the
subject of the nationality of Poland as superfluous:—
" For our part we canmot regard as useless that permanent
protest periodically entered in its Address by our Legislature.
It has its object and effect, were it only to prevent the pre-
scription of an inalienable right. We perfectly appreciate
Lord J. Russell's motives in opposing Mr. Hume's motion,
for its adoption would require the execution of an Act which
is exclusively within the attributes of the Executive power.
It is of little importance in our opinion, whether England
continue or cease to pay 100,000/. to Russia; but what
is of importance, and what will result from the debate,
is, that England, through the organ of her representa-
tives, energetically protests against the violation of treaties.
France, in particular, must benefit by these discussions, for
they demonstrate to the world that she was not the first to
infringe conventions more injurious to her than to any other
country. Lord Palmerston, on a former occasion, said, in
bolder terms than ever used in France, that if the treaty
were violated on the Vistula, it could be legitimately vio-
lated en the Rhine and on the Po. A day will probably
arrive when the Powers who have despoiled and confiscated
the last vestige of the independence of Poland will curse
that hour of infatuation. But they would have it so.
They have sowed wind, and may possibly reap storms, and, if
so, they can only accuse their own insane avidity."
The Cassini steam-frigate is fitting out at Toulon for
a private mission to La Plata, and is to sail on the 15th.
The scarcity of grain still continues, and notwith-
standing the sums voted by Government and by the
municipal councils for the relief of the destitute, the dis-
tress still continues. The Journal de la Meuse says—
" A great number of farmers in Champagne expect to
reap in June a certain quantity of early rye, which pro-
duces a good quality of bread. Thus, a few months only
separate us from the period so impatiently expected,
when the fruits of the present year will afford us, we
have every rea: on to hope, an ample compensation for
the privations we now endure."

The fall of one-half per cent., which took place on our
Stock Exchange on 1 riday, a,tonished the spaculatori of
Pans on Sunday ; particularly, as it was said to be founded
on the state of relations of Greece and Turkey, on which not
the slighest feeling of alarm was entertained in France.

Another statement was that the news from London had occa-
sioned the fail; but except a decline in prices on the Bourse,
brought about by the manoeuvres •f the Bulk on Wednes-
day, nothing in the situation of affairs in France on that day
justified an expectation that the London market would be-
tray weakness. " But for this circumstance," says a pri-
vate letter, " the speech of the Minister of Finance, yester-
day, would, from its satisfactory character, have caused a rise
of a half per cent. to-day. As it is, prices cannot be said to
have gone down. The Three per Cents. are 78f. 30c. buyers."

BUSINESS DONE IN FOKEIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Mixon 8.
Central of France (Orleans and Vlerzon), 15—Dutch Rhenish,
4%—Northern of France, 12% —Orleans and Bordeaux, 7IA —Paris
and Lyons, 7 k —Sambre and Meuse. .

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