The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

Juirinn C

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1847.

The intelligence which has reached us by the
Overland Mail from India presents us with nothing
of stirring interest. Here and there we have ac-
counts of isolated outbreaks and skirmishes, happily
of so insignificant a character as to be unworthy of
notice. For these occasional miniature disturbances,
all who are conversant with the heterogeneous mate-
rials of which the social fabric of the vast
Eastern Peninsula is composed must be pre-
pared. It is, however, gratifying to collect
from the latest intelligence that, in the main,
general tranquillity prevails wherever British rule
is established, as well as that, beyond the frontiers of
our dominion, there is nothing which menaces the
maintenance of peace. The state of the Punjaub
continues to correspond to the anticipations which
we long since entertained. British valour having
triumphantly subdued the warlike, but rapacious and
unpatriotic soldiery, which held that province under
an odious military subjection, the people now regard
the influence we have gained with the utmost satis-
faction, and expect from its continuance the enjoyment
of prosperity which, but for our successful intervention,
they might have sighed after in vain; and as the
MAHARAJA will not attain his majority for eight
years, there is little doubt that the interim will effec-
tually serve to strengthen the bonds of attachment
between the population and the British supremacy.
Raja BALL SINGH has been removed to the fort of
Agra, and the RANEE is said to be no longer incon-
solable for the loss of her paramour.
The military reductions, to the importance of which
we drew the attention of our readers a month since, as
affording the strongest presumption that the Governor-
General has the fullest confidence in the continued ces-
sation of hostilities, are satisfactorily progressing.
Upon the receipt of the order for diminishing the
number of troops in Sinde to the strength of an
ordinary garrison of a frontier province, Sir CHARLES
NAPIER issued a general order from his head-
quarters at Kurrachee, in which he reminded the
troops, in the inspiriting language peculiar to the pen
of a NAPIER, of the important military and commer-
cial objects which were secured by the conquest of
that province, and honourably paid the tribute of
his admiration to the fidelity and prowess of the
troops, and also to the abilities of those
connected with the civil service, 11'y whose conjoined
exertions such brilliant successes had been achieved.
To Sir C. NAPIER himself, to his undaunted valour
in the first instance, and to his energetic adminis-
tration in the next, will posterity accord the largest
share of their admiration for " the glory of freeing an
enslaved country by a necessary conquest," for the
security we have obtained for our north-west frontier,
for the command we hold over the navigation of the
Indus, and for the openings we have acquired to an
extensive range of commerce which will assuredly be
prosecuted by the enterprising spirit of Bri-
tish merchants on the five rivers irrigating
the Punjaub. " Courage," writes Sir CHARLES
NAPIER, " may win a battle, but it is some-
thing more than courageous when a victorious army
turns a conquered people into friends and peaceable
subjects ! " Such is the happy sketch of Sinde, and
the inappreciable consequences, military and com-
mercial, attendant upon its conquest, which the
General gave to his army on the eve of its being
broken up. Considering how short a period has
elapsed since the termination of the campaign of
Meanee and Hyderabad on the one hand, and that on
the Sutlej on the other, the knowledge we already
possess of the fruits of our victories is gratifying in
the extreme. Esto perpetua.

During the discussion which took place last even-
ing upon the Poor Relief (Ireland) Bill, the conduct
of Government in diminishing the distribution of food
to the destitute peasantry was severely criticised.
Now, we submit it to any dispassionate man, whether
the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn, or the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Shrewsbury, are justified
in attributing the awful mortality which has recently
resulted from starvation to the inactivity or the par-
simony of the Executive ? They argue that, because
the amount of meal distributed by Government in
November and December was less by the enormous
quantity of 22,618,068 lbs. than that distributed
during the preceding June and July, when the system
of the foregoing Administration was still in operation,
the Ministry must necessarily be liable to the im-
putation of penuriousness as compared with the
former Cabinet. Plainly and distinctly we deny the
accuracy of the conclusion. In reviewing the mea-
sures adopted by the present Government, it must
never be forgotten that when Sir ROBERT PEEL
caused immense cargoes of maize to be imported
from the United States, and vended at an insignifi-
cant price to the famishing Irish, he was enabled to do
so without danger of evil consequences by three cir-
cumstances which it was impossible could occur
afterwards. First of all, it must be observed that
the Right Honourable Baronet was peculiarly aided
in his munificent intentions by the fact of the dearth
being unprecedented for several years previously ;
secondly, he was aided by the flourishing condition
into which he
,had, through his splendid financial
policy, fostered the national revenue; and, thirdly,
from the scarcity being sudden and unexpected, he
was materially aided by the secresy which that sud-
denness imparted to his negotiations with the
American corn-factors. Those three circumstances
combined alone enabled Sir ROBERT PEEL to afford
Ministerial assistance, in the shape of provisions,
without exercising the most disastrous influence
upon the Irish market ; and those three circum-
stances could no more be conjoined for the conve-
nience of the Executive on the following year, than
ow: globe could reach its perihelium in the course of
two consecutive months for the simple gratification of
an experimental astronomer. It is frivolous, therefore,
arid unjust, to draw any comparison between the
proceedings of the Commissariat Department through-
out Ireland under the Peel Administration and under
the Russell Administration.
When Lord Joan RUSSELL and his colleagues
assumed office there bad been, and there still con-
tinued to be, enormous drains upon the Exchequer ;
the re was the possibility of a
diminutionin the in the
rev enue from the wholesale reduction
up NI foreign merchandise ; there were the subsiding

surges of the railway panic still operating against '
wholesome enterprise, still damping the courage of
speculators in the money market, depreciating the
value of funded property, and rendering cash almost
as scarce as potatoes. Therefore the national re-
venue was by no means in as auspicious and flourish-
ing a condition when Lord JOHN RUSSELL became
Prime Minister as it had been before the vegetable
murrain had devastated the islands, and before the
railway mania had demented nine-fifteenths of the
population. As the autumnal season of 1846 ad-
vanced every one anticipated a repetition of the
potato disease, and a consequent repetition of the
scarcity in Ireland. The markets of the United
States were prepared for an immediate rise on the
receipt of any proposition from the British
Government for supplies of Indian wheat.
The whole emergency, indeed, was expected
by the multitudes not only in this kingdom,
but throughout Europe and beyond the Atlantic. In-
terference on the part of the Executive at such a mo
men t would have proved ruinous—it would have utterly
prevented private speculation, and have conduced to
the bankruptcy of many innocent individuals. There-
fore Government was no longer justified in amelio-
rating the agonies of famine by the open dis-
tribution of trans-Atlantic grain. Besides all this,
the energies of the empire had become to a certain ex-
tent, that is to say to a certain comparative extent,
enervated by the calamities produced by the visita-
tion of 1845. Therefore we maintain, with all the
emphasis of conviction, that Lord JOHN RUSSELL was
without the opportunities necessary to enable his Ad-
ministration to emulate the generosity of Sir
ROBERT PEEL, and that the statistics of their commis-
sariat exertions in the sister island during 1845-46,
and 1846-47, cannot with any fairness or decency
be placed in juxtaposition.
When a Premier is surrounded by so many
appalling embarrassments ; when his intellectual
and physical energies are taxed to contrive the
means of assuaging the sorrows of Ireland;
when his Cabinet is demanding from Parlia-
ment 10,000,0001. of money for the relief of
Irish destitution, and his voice is tuned with
a persuasive eloquence in behalf of the afflicted
children of Hibernia ; when the favourite schemes of
the Ministry—for instance, education and the sanatory
system—are neglected to give precedence to mea-
sures relating to that country ; when all the
ardour, all the talent, and all the time of
the Ministers are concentrated upon the wretched-
ness of the Irish millions —it is cruel, it
is ungrateful, it is base, it is criminal to impute to
the Government the deaths of the famine-stricken.
Peasantry of Ireland ! remember the Poor-laws,
remember the 10,000,0001., remember the 50,0001.
for seed, remember the Public Works, remember
HANSARD ! and be grateful.

The Government have well redeemed the pledge
given on the discussion of the motion of the Hon. and
Gallant Officer the Member for Carlow, during the
past session. The subject of limited enlistment in
the army has indeed received mature and attentive
consideration, and an admirable measure has'in conse-
quence been brought forward. It is impossible to
peruse the able statement of the Right Hon. the
Secretary at War without being convinced by his
reasoning that the alteration is desirable, not merely
on the grounds of justice and humanity to our gallant
soldiers, but also on that of expediency, and that,
even without adverting in the slightest degree to the
feelings and wishes, to the moral or social condition
of our military brethren, it should be effected on
public grounds alone, even if other and higher
motives did not exist. Heretofore it had been too
much the fashion to regard the soldier as a mere ma-
chine, who was to be kept in subjection by terror
alone ; he was looked upon as a being of an inferior
creation, of degraded character and debased habits,
upon whose honourable feelings it was impossible to
rely,, who could not be influenced by kind treatment,
upon whom rewards would be utterly thrown away
This delusion was mainly propagated and kept up by
persons who had, perhaps, themselves attained high
rank in the service, but who, unfortunately, were so
prejudiced on the question of military discipline, and
the means by which it might be maintained, that they
regarded with horror any innovation on the anti-
quated, and we trust we may speedily have it our
power to say obsolete, system. Although in other
respects men of humanity and intelligence, they
advocated the continuance of the brutalizing and
abominable torture of the "cat," and the infliction of
even capital punishments, on the most trivial and in-
sufficient grounds. In this respect they could not
admit that the present generation was as wise as their
forefathers. They arrogated to themselves the sole
right of judging the question, as if civilians, no
matter how learned or acute, were not competent
to form an opinion on the subject. They seemed to
think that a soldier was not flesh and blood like other
men, not to be acted on by the same rules that in-
fluenced ordinary mortals, but that he was a being
of an incomprehensible nature, that could not be
understood or appreciated by any who had not
actually themselves spent some time in the service.
Whenever, therefore, the subject was broached or
alluded to, either in the Legislature or in private
con versation, it was forthwith pooh, poohed by
these gentlemen, who, without being able to ad-
vance any tangible argument or sufficient reason for
their assertions, were contented with saying, "Ex-
cuse me, but I have served, and I must understand
the matter better than the Hon. Member, and I
assure you what he proposes will not at all answer."
And by these means, and on such ridiculous assump-
tions, all reform and improvement in our naval
and military system was opposed and retarded for
many years.
Happily, of late years, although too many of the
class still exist, many equally gallant and distin-
guished officers are to be found who have dis-
carded their prejudices and brought all their energies
to bear, in order to ameliorate the condition of the
more humble companions of their toils and dangers.
The advocacy of such persons is peculiarly advan-
tageous, much weight is attachable to every opinion
to which they give utterance. They offer sufficient
reasons, and will condescenl to explain to a mere
civilian why the desired alterations should at once be
acceded to or rejected, or how far an experiment
may be tried. Private individuals also have used
their own judgment, and will not now be silenced by
the mere ipse dixit or uncorroborated assertion of
these hot-headed veterans. Changes have conse-
quently been effected, which, so far from ruining the
service, have produced the most beneficial results
even in their infancy, and from which we may augur
still more favourable consequences when fully ma-
tured and developed. The horrible lash has prac-
tically been abolished. The soldiers are educated to
a certain extent, and their minds in sonv degree
cultivated, and yet obedience is still enforced and
obtained, and we may soon expect to see the pocition
of a private soldier envied and looked up to, and
many more than are actually required anxious' to
obtain admission into the ranks. It is by a judi-
cious system of rewards, by removing many of the
petty vexations by which soldiers are harassed and
tormented without the attainment of any advantage,
by making their barrack-rooms more comfortable, by
educating and cultivating their minds and refining
their tastes, by convincing them that there are rewards
in store for deserving men ; that they may by exem-
plary conduct aspire, with a fair prospect of success,
to filling higher stations at some future time ; and
that if dissatisfied with their situations, there is at
least a time to which they may look forward when
they will be released from their thraldom, and be
enabled to return to their families and friends, and
renew their stations as English subjects and free
citizens, that these objects can be attained. In
the majority of instances the man will be rejoiced
to be permitted to remain in the ranks ; if otherwise,
the service gets rid of one unsuited for, and dis-
gusted with, a military life ; in fact, the enlistment
for a limited term, as provided by the present Bill, is
one of the chief means by which other improvements
can be effected—and should there even be some ob-
jections to the measure, as asserted by its opponents,
we may say, in the words of that distinguished and
gallant general, and excellent man, Sir CHARLES
NAPIER, " These reasons all convince me that the
inconveniences attending short periods of service are
trivial when compared to the great advantages that it
produces in raising the military character and
abolishing the lash.'

Intelligence from Athens, of the 10th instant, has
been received.

The difficulties with the Turkish Government still