The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-02 00:00:00

treltingi

LONDON. FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1847.

An opportunity is afforded by the Easter vacatiop.
not merely to survey, at leisure, the general a.:,pect
of our internal affairs, but likewise to cow:ller the
position of our external relations. So rrluch time has
been engrossed in Parliament by 'che consideration
of Irish exigencies, that the, it question of
bow far our foreign friendships have been endan-
gered by recent occurrences has only been brought
incidentally under the notice of the representatives.
But for the ineffectual motion for the stoppage of
further payments upon the Russo-Dutch Loan intro-
duced to the House of Commons by the lion.
Member for Montrose ; but for the curt allusions .

made to the perfidious proceedings of the Not thern
Potentates by our SOVEREIGN in her Speech from the
Throne ; but for the memorable correspon-
dence laid upon the table by the Noble
Lord the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
and the casual observations uttered upon the disposi-
tion evinced by the different European Governments,
the first act of the legislative drama for 1847 might
have passed without any Parliamentary reference to
those Governments. The attention of the Legislature
indeed has been manifestly so far pre-occupied and en-
grossed by the calamitous visitations of PROVIDENCE
in these islands, as to render more than a momentary
and furtive glance abroad impossible.
The man of true genius looks first of all
to the things by which he himself is immediately
surrounded, and then, by a gradual extension
of his gaze, looks onwards and onwards to
the horizon of his intelligence. With the
man of mediocre intellect the process is altogether
different; he stares afar off into the depths and in-
finitudes of the distance, and is morally blind to the
very existence of the materials close at hand. He is
grasping at things that are unattainable ; an.l con-
temning or rather overlooking the things that are
within reach, and that, properly handled, might be
turned to practical advantage. With a sagacious
Legislature it is precisely as with the man of indu-
bitable genius. The sagacious Legislature looks first
to the well-being of internal affairs, and afterwards
occupies itself with the conservation of external
alliances, with the reconciliation of Cabinets estranged
by jealousies, and the re-establishment and re-adjust-
ment of those common bases upon which a general
peace is constructed. We by no means imply,
however, that it is either incumbent upon,
or advisable for, a Legislature to allow the
differences and misunderstandings, which may have
arisen out of any political movement upon the part
of another power, to accumulate in number and viru-
lence, while it is itself absorbed in matters restricted
within its boundaries. We would on no account be
understood to mean that a Legislature can leave any
difficulty, whether internal or external, in abeyance
without enormous peril, while it strives to conquer
other difficulties of a more urgent kind. The com-
plicated machinery of Government admits of no such
a hiatus in its operations. Like the spinning and
weaving machines, its thousand treadles move
in unison, the threads of its policy cir-
culate, and twine, and are intervolved with
uninterrupted rapidity, its shuttles flash to and fro
upon their various missions, imparting, almost imper-
ceptibly, colour and design to the general fabric, and
all this is produced with apparent confusion, but really
with order and regularity. We mean, therefore, that
for a time it is essential a predominant attention
should be paid to the most urgent necessities, al-
though the least pressing difficulties shall be com-
batted unobserved. In this manner our Legislature
has been apparently engrossed by administering assist-
ance to Ireland. Ostensibly it has neglected those
ominous movements which have latterly been tran-
spiring upon the Continent and in the
Peninsula, for the purpose of directing its undivided
energies to the assuagement of Irish destitution. In
reality it has been doing nothing 0 the kind. Its
vigilance has been directed simultaneously to the
home calamities of Skibbereen, and other localities of
the British islands, and to the most distant quarters
of the habitable globe, where the powers of the de-
stroyers of Cracow, and of the usurpers of Spanish
nationality extend.
When the dark cloud of destitution has floated
away from Ireland the Parliament
,will be enabled
to take into its serious consideration the rela-
tive position of the European States, and to
act as prudence shall thereupon dictate. Not to
the occupation of the island of Labuan, not to
the jeopardy of Majorca, Minorca, and Ivica,
not to the petty squabbles still maintained
at La Plata, not to the over-crowded condition of the
penal settlements, or to the sorrows of Cracovian
citizens, or to the disabilities of a Spanish Prince,
must the scrutiny of the Legislature be directed ;
but to the removal or diminution of the unnumbered
obstructions which debar the earth from the securities
of a perm anent peace.

Two protests have been entered on the journals cf
the Upper House against the Irish Poor-law proposed
by the Government. Each contains its four "reasons
of state." One protest is nearly double the length of
the other. The shorter one is signed by the Arch-
bishop of DUBLIN and the Lords MONTEAGLE, RAD-
NOR, and MouNTcasusL ; the lengthier, by the Lords
MONTEAGLE and RADNOR only. If anything were
wanting to confirm the wisdom of the Peers in re-
gard to the recent vote respecting Lord MONTEAGLE'S
motion, to refer the consideration of a poor-law for
Ireland, in the shape recommended by the Ministry, to
a Select Committee, the deficiency is amply supplied by
the protests alluded to. By the very feebleness of the
recorded reasons, we are strengthened in the convic-
tion that the Government are pursuing the right
course upon this important subject. We denounced
Lord MONTEAGLE'S proposition, at the time, as nothing
better than an inconsiderate manoeuvre to defeat
a wise measure by Fabian tactics ; the denunciation
is now completely borne out. The trick is apparent,
and never was a trick more clumsily performed.
Vain and antiquated dames, who are satisfied of the
uncomeliness of their features, but conceive they have
some slight pretensions to figure, when they seek to
disguise the former, have ordinarily the prudence to
cover them, not with a veil of flimsy gauze, but with
one of sufficient thickness to baffle the inquisitive eye.
This is worldly wisdom ; for as their happiness con-
+hop tale,. the best chance of
imposing upon the credulity of society. lhe an-
mirable opera of the Duenna is founded upon the like
stratagem. Bat these protesting Peers are, evidently
bad hands at masquerading. They are quite unequal
to the part they have undertaken to perform ; they
do not know how to wear the appropriate costume
They have rushed to the House of Lords certainly
with their dominos on their back, but have all the
while unguardedly kept their masks in their
hands. Quern Dews veil perdere, pries de-
mental. Precipitate in their own conduct, with
the very first stroke of their pen they ac-
cuse the Government of " culpable rashness."
Why ? Because, without further inquiry, "it is
proposed to legislate in opposition to the principles
which, during the last half century, have been
unfformly admitted by ALL writers of eminence as
well as by ALL Parliamentary authorities."

Perfection of bombast ! Sound is everything—
meaning nothing. But we must be just. This
hyperbole has a meaning. Every writer
of the last fifty years who happens to
agree in opinion with the dissentients is ipso
acto eminent, and every senator who during
the same period has not presumed to darer from them
is beyond all doubt a " Parliamentary authority. The
second " because" is like the first. Unqualified and
dictatorial assertion reigns supreme thloughout—
Damnant quodnrJn iratelligunt. AMadingly we have
" hazardous experiments," " general confiscation,"
and a chow.* variety of sirallar expressions shoulder-
ing each ether in every line. The authors of this
literanj maze express their anxiety that the
" L:egislature may stand clear of the charge of a
reckless and wanton disregard of the rights
and happiness of our fellow-subjects." How
dignified is this benevolence! These Samaritan
Peers will " throw light upon the subject," though
they should stand alone. The Government itself, an
immense majority of the House of CommorA, and
thousands upon thousands of other good fd-Iss through-
out the empire, have, it seems, been all along under
an infatuation, in thinking that the proposed Irish
Poor-law would put some check upon " the reckless
our,
and
_wa,uton
,:-egard of the rights and happiness of
rellow,-subjects." It is to be inferred, that, up to
tbz present time, the rights, comforts, and interests
of the poor have been most considerately consulted and
faithfully respected. It were a waste of time to
comment further upon the contents of these dogmatical
and suicidal protests. In the speech which Lord
MoNTEAGLE lately delivered, he declared his inten-
tion was not to examine a single witness before the
Select Committee he desired to get appointed, but
simply to abridge and arrange the voluminous
evidence in the " blue books" on the subject of poor-
laws. His Lordship must have already waded
through their contents. Let him epitomise them
(if he will) as well as he can in the speeches
which he will no doy.bt make when the measure

reaches the House of Lords. We are, however,
fully satisfied that the Upper will concur in opinion
with the Lower Branch of the Legislature, that sound
policy and humanity alike dictate that the Ministerial
scheme should speedily become the law of the
land.

The social aspect of the United Empire cannot be
contemplated by the philanthropist without pro-
ducing intense grief. When he surveys the wealth,
power, influence, and grandeur of these realms, and
contrasts their existence with the misery and desti-
tution prevailing among thousands of our country-
men, the deplorable state of ignorance in which vast
numbers are suffered to grow up, the gigantic
criminal apparatus which is kept in constant opera-
tion for the restraint of vices—a large proportion of
which owe their contaminating development rather
to the neglect of the State than to the inherent
degeneracy of man,—the regret of the philanthropist
that, where so much has been done so much should
have been disregarded,
.must necessarily be great in-
deed. And when he reflects that the country, whose
social features present this strange mixture of
dazzling light and ominous shade, expended twenty
millions to free the West Indian from the manacles
of slavery, he will be astonished at the munificence
of the act, but, at the same time, be prone to con-
demn it as the result of an ill-regulated impulse.
If there be any virtue in the adage of " charity
begins at home," no nation so much lost sight of it
as England in the instance referred to. Still, while
reflection over the past must fill the mind of the
humane philosopher with astonishment, it cannot be
charged with despondency for the future. A nation
that has made such sacrifices, as we have for the
welfare of millions in our colonies, will not, in the
end, be found wanting to do whatever is requisite for
the improvement of our social organization in Great
Britain and Ireland. Our wants in this respect are
twofold : the one educational, the other the refor-
mation of the criminal law. In fact, abstractedly
considered, the latter is an educational want, like the
former; for the true end of all criminal jurisprudence
and prison discipline is, to draw off the mind of the
criminal from the pursuit of vice to that of virtue.
The punishment he undergoes is only regarded as a
wholesome means to this end, and meant, at the same
time, by the influence of example, to deter others
from breaking the Jaws of their country. It is gra-
tifying, then, to observe that the two cardinal defects

in our institutions, to which we allude, are engaging
the attention of the Legislature. The Marquis of
LANSDOWNE has already given a favourable outline
of what the Government mean to do for the exten-
sion and advancement of national education, in the
popular sense of the expression ; and Lord BROUGHAM
is under a pledge to bring the revision of the criminal
law under the notice of the Senate. A nobler
champion to undertake the task we could not
have. His past successes in the wide field
of legislation augur favourably for the benefits we
may reap from a renewal of his labours for the reform
of the law. Great, however, as is the necessity for

improving the criminal code and its administration,
it is, nevertheless, to the spread of a sound education
among the humblest ranks of the people that we
attach the greatest importance. it should be re-
collected that the criminal machinery, which we
maintain at an immense cost, is chiefly employed in
attempting to undo all the mischief which results
from the shameful manner in which we have neg-

ected the condition of the poorer classes of society

Happily England is now animated with a desire to
repair and redeem the errors of the past. A man's
actions correspond with the character of his mind.
If it be well moulded, he acts beneficially to himself
and his own immediate circle ; if it be badly trained,
or neglected, he becomes a curse to himself and
others. What is true of an individual is equally so
of a nation—its weal or woe will be found, in the

long run, to be entirely dependent upon the care
which is paid to the culture of its moral and intel-
lectual energies.

In addition to the intelligence from Athens, pub-
lished in our paper of yesterday, we give the following
extract from the Moniteur Grec (the official journal
of COLETTI) of the 20th ult. :
" Fresh communications have been exchanged be-
tween the Divan and the Cabinet of Athens respect-
ing the difference pending between the two countries.
Without presuming to divine the contents of the
diplomatic documents, we consider the two Courts now
sufficiently enlightened by the explanations, given on
both sides with equal good faith. and we trust that the
solution of the difficulty which rendered them necsssary
will speedily take place."

The Minister of the Interior of Prussia has ap-
pointed sixteen short-hand writers to report the pro-
ceedings of the General Diet, and they have sworn
to execute their duty faithfully.
The extraordinary session of the Chambers of
Saxony was closed on the 24th. This session was
the first which has been held since Saxony obtained a
constitution. It was exclusively occupied in dis-
cussing the measures proposed by the Government
for the relief of the misery of the poorer classes, and
in the consideration of the question of the construc-
tion by the State of the Saxo-Bavarian Railway.
We learn from the proceedings of the Diet of Saxe-
Gotha, that Prince ALBERT, the Consort of Queen
VICTORIA, has appropriated the 1,000 thalers, granted
to his Royal Highness in 142 and 1846 by the Diet,
to be an annual premium, bearing his name, to such
primary teachers as shall most distinguish themselves
by their aptitude and zeal, and by their good
conduct.

A letter from Munich, of March 25, states that the
Government had some intention of augmenting the
export dues on corn, in consequence of numerous
bujca-D ..,..tently from France and Switzer-
land. Bread, when exported, to be subjected to a
duty of four florins the quintal (224 lbs.)
The Rhenish Observer mentions from Warsaw, a
report that the Emperor of RUSSIA. intends to make his
brother, the Grand Duke MICIIIEL, Viceroy of
Poland. it is also rumoured that Gallicia is to be
made a Vice-royalty under the Archduke ALBEIT.

Madrid journals of the 26th have arrived.
If we are to judge of the prospects of the Soto-
mayor Ministry by their conduct, we st,ouid say
that they felt that the termination of their reign was
approaching, as they are now endeavcuring to throw
every possible obstacle in the way of those who may
succeed them. In the discussion in the Chamber of
Deputies on the Bill authorising the levying of taxes,
Senor MARTINEz DE LA Rosa moved an amendment,
to the effect that the power given to the late Finance
Minister, Mort, of managing the public debt, should
not be continued to his successor. This amendment,
which was opposed by MENDIZABAL CALDERON,
COLLANTES, and LUJAN, was supported by BRAVO
MuitlLLo, in the name of the Ministry, who said that
it could not be considered as a vote of want of con-
fide :lee in them. This amendment was carried, and
the meaning of the manoeuvre is explained by the
Herald° :to be " the embarrasing of any future Pro-
gressista Ministry which may be formed,
by prevening the authorisation from falling
into the hands of persons who would not
know how to apply it." Another amendment was
proposed by:Senor MoirrANEs, to the effect, that the
authorisation should cease in case the present Cortes
were prorogued or dissolved without voting the
Budget. This amendment was opposed by the
Finance Minister, and the discussion was proceeding
when the post left.

There was a rumour, alluded to by the Tierapo,
that Senor SALAMANCA would be charged with the
construction of a new Cabinet.

General ENNA has been appointed Captain
General of Girona.

New Carlist bands have appeared in various parts
of Catalonia.
MAnnis 801..5.t, MARCH 2G.—The Three per Cents. closed
at 30% for cash ; the Five per Cents, at 19 ; the Debt
without interest, at 5:!/4 ; and the Coupons, at 17.

We have received the Paris papers of Wednesday.
The report that the Spanish Ambassador had re-
ceived orders to prosecute the proprietors of the
French journal La Patrie, for its revelations of the
doings of the Court of Aladrid, had excited quite a
sensation in Paris. The Union Xonarchique thus
comments on it

ceed,by 1?,%.
" The Heraldo of-the 25th announces that the Am•
hstasador of Spain at Paris had received orders. to pro-
.bnt the
the Spanish Cabinet thinks that Isabella has been calum-
niate the Patrie, for an article in which
mated-
libertyWe cannot say what the Ambassador will do,
of the press would be an illusory matter,
It. the on, dzt of fereign letttra may be in rrauce the