The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-22 00:00:00

eitenius anu-.

LONDON. MONDAY. MARCH 22, 1847.

Letters of the latest date received from the Penin-
sula only confirm those anticipations as to the future
misfortunes of its inhabitants which were forced upon
us by the criminal interference of Louis PHILIPPE in
the national affairs of Iberia. Excepting that
SALDANHA has approached nearer to the insurgent
city of Oporto, and, if he has not actually drawn
around it a distinct line of circumvallation, has cer-
tainly evinced a determination to beleaguer its
citizens, the civil disturbances of Portugal appear in
no respect nearer their termination. In Spain, again,
a partially organized conspiracy in favour of the
Conde DE MONTEMOLIN has revealed its existence by
several indecisive demonstrations, and the tempera-
ment of the people generally appears ripe for almost
any catastrophe. The positions of the two Sovereigns,
though strikingly dissimilar, are fraught with very
analogous miseries, and in their forebodings possess
a certain:degree of similitude. MARIA. DA GLORIA
is day by day becoming more estranged from
her subjects ; her Councils are rendered feeble
and vacillating by being characterised by a policy
inimical to the spirit of the constitution to which
she once swore allegiance ; the influence which she
exercises over the Portuguese community has become
one of an exclusively physical kind—bayonets having
usurped the place of benignity, artillery that of con-
ciliation, and military tactics that of maternal affec-
tion. Queen ISABELLA, on the other hand, is allow-
ing the rather doubtful loyalty which she once
possessed to slip momentarily from her fingers ; her
sceptre must soon become more than ever a bauble ;
her royal voice must either become hushed altogether,
or it will babble idly to the winds of heaven. In the
Oriental story we hear of a jealous Prince rendering
a neighbouring potentate, who had been hitherto
beloved, abhorred by his people by covertly
dropping a charmed rose-leaf into his goblet
and another charmed rose-leaf on his turban.
LOUIS PHILLIPPE has emulated that Eastern Prince,
he has fixed the ban upon IsABELLA 11. by the
presentation of two marriage garlands. He has ren-
dered her miserable at once, by abandoning her to
an imbecile husband, and by abstracting from her
independence in the face of the nation over whose
destinies she was selected to preside. Besides their
own immediate wretchedness, the two QUEENS are
each threatened by a multitude of reserved sorrows,
those sorrows being associated with the names of
Dom 11/411GuEL and the Conde DR MONTOMGLIN. With
a domestic life embittered by indescribable afflictions,
Queen IsAnELLa is wholly isolated from assistance
and friendship. With a distracted kingdom and a
bankrupt exchequer, Queen MARIA DA GLORIA is
regarded on all sides with distrust, with indifference,
or with absolute disgust. Both these unfortunate
Sovereigns are cursed with a precarious and
disastrous present, and a frowning and omin-
ous future. To French guile, to French avarice,
to French depravity or, rather, to the guile,
avarice, and depravity of the French Government—
are attributable all these sufferings, both existing
and prospective.
By the advancement of 50,000,000 francs from the
Emperor NICHOLAS to the Bank of France, we have
already intimated that the Russian CZAR has acquired
a direct and irresistible influence over the commercial
and, consequently, over the political affairs of that
country. According to a beautiful and truthful saying,
the Parliament of England directs the pulse of Europe.
NICHOLAS has assumed to himself a vast proportion of
that directing power by the enormous loan already
mentioned. Possessing so vast a claim upon the
Bank of France, he must naturally have the pulse of
the French funds under his thumb, and thereby ob-
taining an insight into the capacities of France, he
will be enabled henceforth to know the point upon
which she can be affected most injuriously, or rather
the channels through which she may be transformed
into a serviceable instrument of Northern despotism.
Affecting France in this manner, NICHOLAS will be
enabled indirectly to influence those Governments
which are either subsidiary or subservient to the
Government of Louis PHILIPPE. The nerves of
Absolutism will stretch from the steppes of Siberia to
the boulevards of Paris, and will there ramify onwards
to the encampments of Algeria, to the quays of
Lisbon, and the palaces of Madrid. It is impossible
to shirk the conclusion that for the gratification of
the dastardly ambition of a parvenu King, a miserable
Princess has been forced to the bridal couch of a man
she execrates ; that two nations have been delivered
up
.to the accidents of rebellion or the woes of
political strife ; that the robbers of Poland have been

encouraged to the consummation of their crimes
in the seizure of Cracow, and that now by this dis-
bursement of 50,000,000 francs from the Treasury of
St. Petersburgh the cause of Northern tyranny has
been armed with a powerful weapon for the dissemi-
nation of its damning principles in the West,
anil for the ultimate destruction of civilization. The

consequence of these arch-sins against liberty anZt.
reason it is difficult to conjecture. One thing, how-
ever, is certain in the end, and that is retribution. If

the antagonists of despotism and barbarity only act
in a mariner compatible with the sublime cause of

which they will find themselves the champi.ns ; if
temper, and wiidom, and energy, and constancy be

combined in withstanding the encroachments of the
north,—civilization may be advanced instead of being

retarded, and the Iberian Peninsula may be restored
to happiness after centuries of affliction. What

meanwhile are the guerdons reserved for Loris
PHILIPPE and M. GUIZOT ? The indignant voices of
the time to come will answer, and their sentence will

be inexorable.

We offered some remarks last Tuesday upon th 6
_ _

admirable letter of Dr. KAY SHUTTLEWDRTEI to Mr.
ECKETT, who, on behalf of the Committee of Privi-
leges, had addressed a circular to the mil:dsters of the

Wesleyan Association, in which the Government plan
of education was strongly objected to. That letter
happily exposed the palpable misrepresent; itions which
were contained in the circular; and in a strain of
well-tempered rebuke Dr. SHUTTLSWOR rH reminded
Mr. ECZETT of the delusion he would have created
in the minds of many influential persons upon a
subject of great national concern, if some one had
not been at the pains to rectify kis blunders.
Mr. ECKETT has recently replied, acknowledging
that he had " inadvertently fallen" into the errors to
which the Doctor
had publicly drawn his attention.
Amu. ming as a matter of course that the? errors were
not intentional, it is clear that Mr. EcsrATT and the
Committee of Privileges are not at all competent to
act as the organs of any public body; fur the version
which they gave of the plan of the scileme of the

Educational Committee of the Privy Council was so
menFestle inereseet. *hat nothing short of the high
ei:tiruCiZ;4: L.,LyailS-haVe obtained for them-
selves could l•t;ve them from the imputation of having
designedly published a statement, to produce a belief
in others which they themselves could not but know
rested upon no legitimate grounds. Mr. ECKETT
alleges that the Wesleyans are as averse asiever to
the scheme propounded by Lord L ANSI:OO42U, as
though Dr. SAUTTLEWORTH had never noticed his
egregious oversights. He sets forth that! many
country districts cannot maintain more than one
school. It does not, however, necessarily follOw that
the single establishment for education should belong
to the Church of England. If the school should be
under the auspices of members of the Established
Church, and receive assistance from the publiic funds,
it would only show that the Dissenters had not been
so active as others in occupying ground which lay
open to any one to enter, and prepare for promoting
the intellectual culture of the adjacent population.
The Government, according to the plan pursued ever
since public moneys have been placed at the command
of the Privy Council for educational objects, never
take theeinitiative in founding schools; they only assist,
without regard to religious distinction, those who
have, in the first instance, done much, by contribu-
tions and the adoption of other active steps, ,towards
facilitating the purposes of national education. Mr.
ECKETT observes further:—" We are of opinion that
if schools must be supported from the public purse,
they ought to be conducted in such a manner that
the children of parents of all denominations might
equally enjoy their advantages, and that to secure
this they ought to be put under popular management"
The first remark we would offer upon this passage is,
that the Government do not hinder children from
enjoying the benefits of public instruction, for
their parents can send them to any estab-
lishment where the doctrines and forms taught
and observed are in conformity to their own
particular opinions, and which establishment is as
eligible as any other to be partially supportt.d out of
the public resources. Next, we would inquire what
is meant to be implied by the expression or popular
management ? It cannot surely mean that schools
should be placed under a system which should be ex-
clusively approved of by the Wesleyans ? Such an
expectation would savour of arrogance indeed !
Moreover, the conclusion that such a manner of con-
ducting schools could not be popular is easily drawn
from the very nature of the apprehension which Mr.
ECKETT has shadowed forth. If a district can only
maintain one school, and if Mr. ECKETT 14 right in
the assumption that the formularies of the Established
Church will be preferred to those of the Dissenters,
is not this an argument that popular feeling is rather
with the religion of the State than that of any other ?
If the wealth, influence, enterprise and
members of one class of religionists is
such that individuals, who belong to it, can
more effectually combine than those who belong to
any other class to confer the blessings of educa-
tion upon their poorer brethren, is it benevolent
charitable to attempt to thwart such combinations ?
And does not the very complaint of the Dissenters
involve a confession of their own weakness and in-
ability to supply the extensive and lamentable wants
of education ? In a constitutional sense the true
test of the popularity of any scheme is whether it
will meet with the approval of the popular branch of
the Legislature. The Dissenters argue that the
Educational Committee of the Privy Council are
acting in an unconstitutional manner. This we
totally deny. They are not deviating one iota from
the principle which has governed their proceedings
from the first. However, if they think otherwise,
let them petition the House of Commons, and try to
persuade that body of the truth of their assertion ;
but, before they do this, we recommend them to
become thoroughly acquainted with all the facts
appertaining to the existing systems, and riot, as they
have done, to be "inadvertently falling into errors."
Lastly, does " popular management" signify that
schools aided by the State should be purely secular,
affording no religious instruction whatever ? If so,
it should be remembered that this plan was tried to
be carried out in 1839, when the nation, rightly or
wrongly, refused to sanction it. Therefore, from
very recent experience, we have evidence .of the un-
popularity which would attach to the renewal of
this plan. Then what are we to do ? nemain in-
active with folded arms, whilst a million and a half
of the youthful population,—a number svhich fear-
fully increases with every year,—are steeped in
ignorance ? Assuredly not. Let the Dissenters, if
they can, devise a better system than the ,one now in
force, and secure the acquiescence of the Legislature
in its favour; but, if they cannot do this, the moral
and intellectual wants of millions ought not to be
neglected, because of the mere existence of differences
in the formularies of religion.

It is with mingled feelings of horror easd indigna-
on that we direct the public attention to the pa:
ceedings of a naval court.inartial, assembl ad at Ports-
mouth on Friday last, for the trial of a private
marine, named JOHN BARTON, a full account of which
appeared in The Sun of Saturday. The offence of
which the prisoner was convicted was undoubtedly of
a serious character, and one deserving of severe
punishment. He had used violent language towards,
and struck his superior officer, a colour-sergeant
of the same corps, named SAGER, -who had
just lodged a complaint against him. `She affair
took place while the vessel was at ancl-aor in the
rpharbour
ea
lotief
ndgi Antigua,nofb iyns and d
uo tbhoerrdsiciaoi
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or
occasioned
insubordination.
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purely
e.
isolated character, and not of a class that could by
any possibility have endangered the safety of the
ship. Some grog had been spilled and plates broken
in the sergeant's mess, and he had in consequence,
although not aware of his own knowledge -who had
done so, reported the prisoner for punishment. The
latter, who was , stated to be a hard--working
man, " was in a very excited state, and ap-
peared as if he had been drinking, but per-
fectly conscious of what he was doing "—said
" that the sergeant was a false-swearing nzan— that
his report was false, and that he had always been
down on him," and used threatening langsrage to-
wards the complainant, for which the cots:unending
officer very properly ordered him into confine-
ment. When the officer bad left the place,
BARTON struck the sergeant on the back of
the head, and kicked him—the blows were
not very severe, nor was any extraordinary injury
inflicted. Acting-Commander RICKETTS did not
appear to have considered the offence as any-
thing beyond a mere ebullition of passion, for the
prisoner was not kept in close custody, but; was re-
leased from the irons when the vessel put to sea, and
sutkred to go at large until the sergeant remon-
strated, when he was again put into irons. Upon
this state of facts the prisoner was sentenced to
death ! ! !—to be hanged at the yard-arm of:such one of
her hlaans-ry's ships, and at such time, as the Lords of
the Admiralty should direct.
Can it be possible that in the 19th centtury—in
the year 1847—when many intelligent pea sons are
to be found, who contend that under no possible
circumstances the life of a human being should
be taken away—that capital punishment shaould not
be inflicted on the wilful, deliberate, and coldl-blooded
assassin, who coolly plans and unhesitatingly 'executes
the murder of his brother man—there exists :a code of
such Draconic severity, of so inhuman and Om ocious a
character, as to justify such a sentence? Can an
Englishman be deprived of life for such a crime, in
accordance with the laws of England? If such a cir-
cumstance is possible, and that the Articles of V Var can
be strained to such a frightful extent, was any -.discre-
tion vested in the Court ? Could a milder or more
lenient sentence have been pronounced ? Wt.atever
may be the answers to these interrogatories, ;matters
cannot be suffered to remain in such a state. There
must be a great and speedy reformation. _Public
opinion, which by its irresistible strength
achieved so great a triumph during the
past year, and practically put an end to
the degrading and abominable practice of cor-
poral punishment in one branch of our service, must
be directed to the laws by which the other great
branch is governed and controlled. We ale much
mistaken if the British people will be contetite d that
such a stain should remain on their name, that such
a blot should be found on their statuteebook.
No wonder that there should be a general
repugnance to enter into the navy, when pen, one would

1 thereby subject themselves to the operation of such
atrocious enactments. No xvonier that the pres-s-
-eang must still be retained, tha,
services of our sailors cannot be obtained, that kid-
napping must still be legalized, when a commanding
officer is authorized, without trial or investigation, to
inflict four dozen lashes of a "cat" on any of his crew,
and when an excited man is deemed worthy of death
for an assault which on shore would be sufficiently
punished by a trifling fine or a short imprisonment.
Surely, the maintenance of discipline is as neces-
sary in the army as in the navy, and personal violence
towards a superior officer is of as aggravated a
character in one as in the other, and yet we find that
the sentence of a military court-martial, held within
the last week, and promulgated on Saturday last,
on GEORGE Hosz, a drummer of the Grenadier
Guards, for an offence of a similar character, viz., for
having struck and offered violence to the drum-major
in the execution of his duty, was twelve months'
imprisonment, with hard labour; and we venture to
say that there is no person who will not acknowledge
that the penalty was amply sufficient to vindicate
the majesty of the law, to preserve the discipline of
the regiment, and to prevent the repetition of a
similar outrage. The prisoner, too, is regarded as a
parson subjected to just and well-merited punish-
ment; there is no sympathy excited in his favour on
accourit of the inordinate cruelty of his sentence, or
of its being so wholly disproportioned to his crime.
It will be carried into execution, and, therefore,
will have more effect on his companions, than if
it were originally so severe as to render it almost a
matter of certainty that it would be mitigated
and reduced in amount. During the past year
another marine was sentenced to death by a naval
court-martial at Cove, for violence towards his superior.
There was some irregularity in the proceedings, of
which the Lords of the Admiralty gladly availed
themselves, and we believe the man got off without any
punishment. Whether was such a proceeding, or the
infliction of a moderate and suitable penalty, more
calculated to afford a salutary example to the crew ?
On Thursday last it was our duty to speak of the
interference of the Admiralty in remitting a por-
tion of the sentence of a sailor, named
JOHN SAVAGE, who was sentenced by a court-
martial consisting of the very same members as
those who sat on• the trial of BARTON; the observa-
tions we then offered will be found applicable to the
present case. We trust that means will be taken to
place the entire system of naval courts-martial on a
sounder and better footing; to abrogate the law
justifying such punishments; to take away a power
so liable to abuse, and whenever the offence should
be ...•.!ommitted in harbour or on home service, to
declare that all the more serious crimes should be
tried before a judge of the land—and that a court-
martial should never again be competent to pro-
nounce a capital sentence, save in time of actual war.

The Rhine and Moselle Gazette, published at Co-
blentz, says—" We learn from a sure source that the
rescripts of the King of PRUSSIA relating to the ex-
tension of the Provincial Diets, were communicated
in extenso to the Emperor of Russia and to Prince
METTERNICII, because- his Majesty of PRUSiIA ad-
heres to his resolutiOn to do nothing of importance
without first having the sanction of his two allies."
A letter from Munich says—" Literary and scien-
tific reviews arriving in Bavaria through the book-
sellers have hitherto been exempt from censure; but
the Minister of the Interior has just decided that they
shall be submitted to censure the same as those sent
by the post."

A letter from St. Petersburgh says that the EM-
PEROR had just issued a ukase declaring that Jews
in the army shall be allowed to be promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant.

Accounts from Lisbon of the 15th have been re-
ceived.

SALDANHA had not attacked Oporto, although he
had been joined by CASAL. Several inconsiderable
skirmishes had taken place. The financial difficulties
of the Government still continued.
The period for coming into the conversion of the
foreign live per Cent. into Four per Cent. Bonds is
prolonged to the Ist of July next.

In addition to the former decree admitting foreign
wheat, a second decree has appeared, authorising the
tree admission of 8,000 moios (24,000 English quar-
ters) maize, and 1,000 moios (3,000 quarters) barley.
Another decree authorises the f fee admission of these
grains over the Spanish frontier.

Madrid journals of the 14th and 15th have arrived.
There was again a crisis, and a crisis likely
to be attended with seriou3 consequences. The
Ministers had drawn up a decree on the 13th, ap-
pointing General SERRANO Captain-General of
Navarre. This decree the QUEEN had refused to
sign, whereupon the Ministers had appointed him to
inspect the troops stationed in Navarre and the
Basque Provinces, and to proceed forthwith to his
destination. This order General SERRANO refused to
obey, and an extraordinary Council, which was
attended by all the members of the Cabinet, and by
General NAUVAEZ and Senors MARTINEZ DE LA
ROSA, MON, PIDAL, DONOSO CORTES, CASTRO
Y OROZCO, GONZALES BRAVO, the Marquis DE
VILUMA, and other distinguished members of
the Moderado party, was summoned to delibe-
rate upon the aff.tir. The Council resolved
unanimously to bring SERRANO to trial for disobe-
dience of orders. On the 15th the Ministers com-
municated to the Senate the decrees nominating
Generals SERRANO, ESPELETA, and FERNANDEZ, In-
spectors of Troops in the Provinces. An appeal from
General SERRANO to the Senate, of which body he is
a member, was read, in which the General, after re-
lating the occurrences of the two previous days,
asked whether it was their wish that he should remain
in Madrid, and continue to perform his duties as a
senatsr, or obey the orders of the Ministers and pro-
ceed to the northern provinces. The Duke of So-
TOMAYOB, the Prime Minister, then declared, in the
name of himself and his colleagues, that theywere deter-
mined to bring General SEI:RANO to trial for disobedi-
ence oforders. He was answered by Senor LUZURRIAGA,
who besought the Senate not to adopt any hasty de-
cision in an affair of such importance, but on a repre-
sentation by one of the Ministers that the case was
urgent, a Committee was appointed to consider the
affair, and report on it in the course of the day. It
was rumoured that the Ministry would be re-con-
structed, and that BRAVO MURILLO, OLIVAN, NAB-
VAEZ, and Mom, would have seats in the Cabinet.
MADRID BOLSA, MARCH 15.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 30k for cash ; the Five per Cents. at
1911.- ; the Debt, without interest, at 5i ; and the
Coupons at 17.

We have received the Paris Papers of Friday and
Saturday.
The convention between the Bank of France and
Russia is the subject of comment in all of them. The
Presse, the organ of the Russian alliance, considers
this convention as the revival of the compact entered
into between NAPOLEON and ALEXANDER at Tilsit.
It says_
. .

" We confined ourselves yesterday to reproducing, without
any commnit, the unexpected event announced in the Jinni-
teur Parisien, and which caused on the Bourse an increase of
1f:on the closing prices of the preceding An reflections
would have been superfluous for the signification of this
fact, its political and financial importance having no need
to be demonstrated to make everybody understand them,
and on our part any praise, however just it might have
been, would have been suspected. It is known that the illu-
sion of the English alliance has never been shared by us,
and that, without deceiving ourselves with respect to the ob-
stacles of an alliance of France with Russia, we have always
refused to serve as an echo to impolitic recriminations, which
could have no other effect than to enfeeble us, to isolate us,
and to aggravate the prejudices which, though common to
the two Courts, was not less injurious to the two countries.
Tan years of insults, of calumnies, and of suspicion have not
caused us to vary, to retract, or even to hesitate for a single
day. We have the most complete and unshaken faith in the
triumph of truth over error and falsehood. A little time ago
the Siele, in reply to one of our articles, described the
alli-
ance of France with Russia as a pact of the devil.' We let
it talk. In the absence of the good opinion of that journal
there is an authority which, wrongly, perhaps, we consider
equal to its own, that of the Emperor Napoleon, who on the
22d ofJune (July 4), 1807, wrote to the Emperor Alexander
the following letter and note, which are not less curious than
decisive in the question :
" Sir and Brother,—I send to your Majesty a note on the
discussion which occupies us. Your Majesty will see from
it my desire to remain in a position of friendship and alliance
with Russia, and to remove everything which can oppose,
directly or indirectly, this great and noble idea. On which
I pray God to have you in his holy keeping.' "
" The note annexed to the preceding letter was as fol-

lows :

" The geographical relations of Russia and France, in
the present situation of things, are as favourable as their com-
mercial relations, and this to such an extent that, even in a
state of war, the two powers would not know where to meet
to light. Discussions of limits, little wars about Custom.
house duties, discussions on rivers, discussions on sub-
sistences, and a thousand other little subjects of dis-