The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-26 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 1847.

From our heart we congratulate the Earl of DUN-
DONALD on the compensation which he has received,
for thirty years' injustice, by his restoration to knight-
hood. A paragraph in the Gazette of last evening
formally announces that Vice-Admiral the Earl of
DUNDONALD is once again a Knight Grand Cross of
the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. By that
declaration the present Government at once acknow-
ledges that a heinous cruelty has been perpetrated
towards this heroic sailor by the preceding Adminis-
trations, and proclaims to the world that the character
of our distinguished countryman remains unsullied
and unsuspected. Again we express our most ear-
nest felicitations to Lord DUNDONALD for the tardy
but brilliant expiation of Ministerial injustice with
which her MAJESTY'S existing advisers have striven
to compensate his prolonged sorrows. May the
satisfaction experienced by this Noble and
Gallant Peer at an avowal so imperatively
demanded by truth obliterate the recollection of the
wrongs and contumelies with which he has been fur
years insulted I May he find in the contentment and
serenity flowing from an expression of national con-
trition like this, an enjoyment immeasurably beyond
the sufferings entailed upon him by more than a
quarter of a century of national ingratitude !
History would have done ample justice to this
eminent and valorous man, had the State continued
blind to his merits and indifferent to his services.
Nay, history has already done him the justice he de-
serves. The name of COCHRANE ranks among those
of the noblest heroes in the British navy, and
is invested with a glory only second to that
of the greatest warrior of the sea. In the
records of our naval actions none are more conspi-
cuous for calmness almost incredible, for audacity
almost insane, for enterprise the most continual
and the most chivalrous, than the achievements per-
formed in the war vessels of England by the Earl of
DUNDONALD, when Lord COCHRANE. Those achieve-
ments might surely have sheltered this valiant servant
of the Crown from the odium of professional degrada-
tion and the miseries of Ministerial neglect. The
prowess by which he had so repeatedly maintained
the dignity of the realm, forwarded the interests of
his compatriots, and covered himself with perpetual
glory, might surely have saved him from thirty years
of anxiety, of official contempt, and of apparent
public debasement. But no ; that anxiety has been
experienced, that contempt has been borne, that ap-
parent debasement has continued during thirty
years, and only after passing unscathed through this
terrible ordeal is the sin of the State confessed, and
the victim of its persecution restored to the knight-
hood he had won at the point of his keen sword !
Why, KOSCIUSKO might as well have been branded
as infamous by the refugees of Poland, or DUGUES-
CLIN have had his baton as Constable of France
broken ignominiously over his head ! Why, Bouvan
might with equal reason have been scouted from the
shores of South America, or the golden spurs might
as lief have been hacked from the heels of Sir
PHILIP SYDNEY !

All undeserved imputations, however, have been
removed from the character of Lord DUNDONALD,
and his name is virtually declared to be as untar-
nished as any upon the book of Peerage. What is
particularly worthy of consideration, too, in the act
of the SOVEREIGN, and of her MAJESTT'S Ministers, is
that the Earl of DUNDONALD is restored to the
original lustre of his position, and is re-invested with
the star and ribbon during a period of maritime
tranquillity, when no sentiments save those of abstract
truth, uninfluenced by the motives of convenience,
could have elicited the acknowledgment of his
wrongs and the satisfaction for so many indig-
nities. Lord DUNDONALD may now rejoice in the
glory with which his own genius and valour have
adorned his history ; he may rejoice not merely in
the certain admiration of posterity, but in the present
and cordial admiration of his contemporaries. His
brilliant career has been nobly consummated by the
complete vindication of his actions, and by his double
investiture, as it were, with the emblems of national
gratitude. In the conduct of the present Cabinet he
may have a foretaste of the applause which will be
given to the memory of his heroic life by future
generations.

At this season of general deficiency and scarcity,
when thousands of our countrymen are unable to pro-
cure a sufficiency of even the humblest and plainest
description of food for their families ; when trade is
paralysed, and the immense quantities of gold (the
only circulating medium which the absurd restric-
trions imposed on our currency by the several sta-
tutes relating to banking allows us,) is daily exported
from our shores in exchange for the cereal products
of other lands, it becomes the most serious duty of
the Legislature to restrain, by binding and stringent
enactments, every description of waste whereby the
food of the people is diminished, and the exigencies of
the nation increased ; and also to suspend or abrogate
every existing law that may possibly lead to similar
results. Many of the most exalted in our land have
taken the initiation in placing their own households
on limited allowances. Our gracious SOVEREIGN,
ever foremost in the cause of humanity, has set
the example. The order has been issued
that the quantity and the quality of the
bread and flour used in the palaces shall be reduced—
that no individual shall be permitted to receive more
than a pound of bread in the day, and that second
quality flour only shall be used for any purpose in the
royal establishments. The precedent thus set, has, as
might easily be imagined, been extensively followed.
It is looked on as a religious duty by every head of a
family to abolish all useless and unnecessary expendi-
ture in his own immediate circle, to abridge, as much
as possible, the outlay, even for necessaries. It is by
such means only that the difficulties of our position
can be successfully encountered, that the most heart-
rending misery and suffering can be averted from our
poorer brethren. There is not a sufficiency for all,
and unless the wealthier will consent to curtail a por-
tion of the consumption usual in ordinary periods,
some must be left without enough to keep life and
soul together.

While such economy is rendered necessary, it
' would indeed be a mockery to continue a sys-
tem that occasions the greatest injury to the
growing crops, a system that damps the energy and
checks the spirit of the farmer. Too often he finds
on the arrival of the anxiously-expected harvest the
fallacy of the hopes in which he had indulged; in
place of obtaining an ample return for the labour and
capital he has expended in the cultivation of the soil,
he finds the chief portion consumed and destroyed
by a superabundance of game and vermin, which he
dares not get rid of. No; they must be retained for
his landlord's sport, and to his cost he finds that
sport involves him in utter ruin.

Some estimate may be formed of the injurious
effects of this extraordinary quantity of game, and the
damage thereby occasioned, from the case of Thomas
FREDERICKS, which was heard in the Court of
Queen's Bench on Saturday last. Into the legal
points connected with that case it is wholly unneces-
sary to enter. The simple fact that a jury assessed
no less than 3431. 19s. for the damage done in two
years by game and rabbits to the lands in the
occupation of the plaintiff's tenants, or 1601. 12s. in the
first, and 1831. 7s. in the second year, is amply
'sufficient to awaken the public indignation, and
to
direct attention to the monster grievance—
tgoeense triauli,at :ht
thelB3l. 7s. damage in one year to a few farmers, in a
moderate sized manor! What must be the amount
a
'74)vf'ollld injury
e thfraoirugplierouctentbtaegkeinagtdwohmicihn
proportionacre mightto tihtebe value
assumedo f th
e
crops, o
Annual draamt
ahgoewd omuchne in
per
~If the average loss should merely be set down at ls.

per acre; and we believe there is no practical agri-
culturist
who will not say that sum is very far
below the mark, we find at once that 1,750,000/_
sterling is annually wasted for the gratification of the
childish vanity of the landowners—that they may be
enabled to record the large quantities of game that
have been butchered at their battues. This is inde-
pendent of the enormous cost of the establishments of
gamekeepers, &c., defrayed by the landlords out of their
private resources, and the still more objectionable
outlay occasioned by the support in prison of the
numerous victims of the game code, and in the union
workhouses of their helpless and unprotected wives
and families. Every consideration demands the total
and immediate abolition of the iniquitous system. It
is neither just nor proper that we should place tempta-
tion in the way of our brethren, and then punish
with unrelenting severity the fault we have ourselves
occasioned. But persons who are oblivious of such
consequences may, perhaps, be awakened to the
pecuniary injury that must be occasioned to the
monetary affairs of the country, our trade and com-
merce, by the necessity of exporting nearly
2,000,0001. annually in gold to supply the deficit
occasioned by the damage to which we have alluded,
and consent to a revision of the laws that are fraught
with such baneful results. With what con•
sistency can any man abridge the quantity of food
used in his family, and, by continuing to pre •
serve his game, maintain a nuisance that con-
sumes twenty times the quantity of human food that
can be saved by such abstinence ? The adoption of
such a course must be considered as the vilest hypocrisy,
and how can the Legislature continue the game-laws
in their present condition without laying themselves
collectively open to a similar imputation P We trust
that we shall see many who have erred, chiefly from
want of thought, submitting with a good grace, and
voluntarily giving orders for the destruction of the ex-
cess of game and vermin of every description on their
respective estates; and also that measures will be in-
troduced into Parliament for a sweeping and efficient
measure of reform that is so urgently required.

A remarkable feature of the present session is,
that, in the midst of the great and complicated ques-
tions which have been forced upon the attention of
the Legislature, consequent upon the fearful visita-
tion which has produced such terrible sufferings
throughout the whole of Ireland and portions of Scot-
land, and compelled a review of the entire social
system of the United Empire, one of the most philan-
thropic measures ever submitted to Parliament has all
but passed the Rubicon of legislation, and will as-
suredly become in a short time part and parcel of the
law of the land. We allude to the Ten Hours' Fac-
tory Bill. It was not only not immediately connected
in its nature with the extraordinary political exigen-
cies which the Senate have had to consider from the
very commencement of the session, and which still
continue, in a great degree to demand the most
careful deliberation of our lawgivers, but it was also a
measure which its most devoted advocates well knew
would meet with the keenest and most vigi-
lant opposition, at what time soever it
might be urged forward. Considering the
perplexed state of Ireland, the extent and variety of
the schemes introduced with the view of improving
it, some of them being of immediate necessity, while
others were meant to be of a permanent character,
—considering the unsatisfactory complexion of our
foreign relations as connected with French intrigue
in Spain, regarding also the great amount of ordinary
routine business which must be yearly gone through
in Parliament, and recollecting, likewise, that Sir
ROBERT PEEL was known to be hostile to the mea-
sure in question, it evinced great boldness in Mr.
FIELDEN and his faithful coadjutors to —press on
the Ten Hours' Bill under such untoward circum -
stances ; and it is somewhat marvellous to think that
success has, notwithstanding, virtually crowned their
humane efforts. A few weeks back most people, re-
flecting upon the foregoing, and aware that the Prime
Minister was desirous of limiting the time of youth-
ful labour in factories to eleven instead of ten hours,
would, if their opinion had been asked, have declared
that if the measure passed at all, it would be only in
the shape to which the first Minister of the Crown
had declared himself to be favourable. The juvenile
working classes will, however, shortly obtain the
boon of having the period of their daily factory
labour restricted to ten hours. This triumph
can therefore be only attributed to one circumstance,
and that is, the justice and righteousness of the
cause itself. To relieve the youthful factory-workers
from excessive toil by legal protection is so mani-
festly conducive to their social, moral, and religious
improvement, and to the well-being of society at
large, that an earnest and persevering appeal to the
sympathies of Parliament, supported by such luminous
arguments as Mr. MACAULAY urged in favour of our
industrious artisans, was certain of gaining the ulti-
mate acquiescence of Lords and Commons in Mr.
FIELDEN'S proposal. The Central Short Time Com-
mittee of Yorkshire have already held a general
meeting upon this subject, and, in a most grateful
spirit, have unanimously passed appropriate resolu-
tions, expressive of their unfeigned thankfulness for
the manner in which our Senators have responded to
the prayers of the manufacturing population. The
philanthropic wisdom of Parliament is thus early
receiving its choicest reward in the gratitude and
esteem of the working classes.

A Berlin letter of the 19th informs us that the
General Diet had just passed a vote, with only three
dissentients, in favour of a project for the establish.
ment of differential duties as an encouragement to
the mercantile navy, and has also declared in favour
of a new augmentation of the duties on linen and
cotton thread, with a stipulation for the remission of
the duty in case of re-exportation.
:the Assembly of the States of Wiesbaden, in their
sitting of the 19th, adopted unanimously the proposi-
tion of M. ZAIS, for an application to the Govern-
ment to re-establish the law on the press of the sth
May, 1814, and to intervene with the Germanic Diet
with a view to obtain the abolition of the censorship,
and a general law for the regulation of the press.
DE STRALENHEIM, Minister of Justice to the
King of HANOVER, died at Hanover on the 19th.

Madrid papers of the 19th instant have arrived.
The Ministers, who all went to the Prado on the
18th in order to recommend the KING-CONSORT to re-
pair to Aranjuez, and reside in the same palace with the
QUEEN, have not succeeded in attaining their object.
The Heraldo says, " He did not deign to accede to
what Ministers demanded." Prior to the visit of the
other Ministers, Senor SALAMANCA had a long inter-
view with the KING, and represented to him that " as
a Spaniard, as a loyal subject, as a soldier, and as a
prince, he should be the first to obey the
orders of his QUEEN, and shed for her cause
the last drop of his blood." On the re-
turn of the Ministers from the Prado
another Cabinet Council was held, after which Senor
PACHECO and Senor SALAMANCA set off for Aranjuez.
The KING demands, as the price of his reconciliation,
the removal of all the present members of the royal
household, and the appointment of a Camarilla of his
choosing. The " Palace question," as it is called, ex-
cites extraordinary interest in Madrid. A guard of
honour has been sent to the Prado, out of respect to
the KING-CONSORT. The Popular publishes a letter
from Aranjuez, which states that the QUEEN is in an
" interesting situation."
The marriage of Don ENRIQUE has been officially
notified to the nobility. The permission to return to
Spain, which Don ENRIQUE asked for on his mar-
riage, has, it is said, been refused for the present.
Generals CAMEA, ESPINOSA, MONTERO, PEROL, and
CENDRERA, have all been restored to the rank of
which they had been deprived for their fidelity to
ESPARTERO.

The Heraldo publishes a letter from Catalonia,
stating that TJUSTANY, who was reported some days
ago to have been shot, was on the II th at the head
of a band of 300 men.

MADRID BOLSA, MAY 19.—The Three per Cents. were
done at 3014 for cash ; the Four per Cents. at 18%; the
Five per Cents. at 19 ; the Debt without Interest at 5%;
and the Coupons at 16.

We have received the National, the only political
paper published in Paris on Monday, the other
papers having
fide. kept holiday in honour of Whitsun-

On Monday the debate in the Chamber of Depu-
ties commenced on the proposition of M. GLAIS
BIZON on postal reform. The proposition is opposed
on the ground that it is not safe to risk a defalcation