The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-24 00:00:00

THE IraN, LONDON, WE DN.E.deSEAY MORNING, MARCH 24, 1847

To be had at all the Libraries.

POPULAR NEW NOVELS.
JUST PUBLISHED BY MR. COLBURY.

The STORY OF LILLY DAWSON.. By Mrs. CRONE, author
of " Susan Hopley," &c. 3 vols.

TEMPTATION and ATONEMENT. By Mrs. GORE. 3 vols
111.

FATIIER EUSTA.CE ; a Tale of the Jesuits. By Mrs. TROL-
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ENIILIA WYNDHAM. By the Author of " Two Old Mena'
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V.
STRAWBERRY HILL ; an Historical Novel. By the author 01
Shakspeare and his Friends," Sze. 3 vols.

VI.
CASAR BORGIA. By the author of " Whitafriars." Second
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MARSTON, By the Rev. G. CROLY, L.L.D. Author of " Sala-
thiel," &c. Second Edition. 3 vols.

VIII.
The RO qANCE OF WAR ; or, The Highlanders in Spain. By
JA 1: ES GRANT, Esq., late G2d Regiment. 3 vols.
Henry Colburn, publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

M'CULLOCH'S COMMERCIAL DICTIONARY.
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DICTIONARY, PRACTICAL, THEORETI-
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A SUPPLEMEN Ito the Editions published in 1844 and 1846,
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THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, MARCH 23.
T ,ERMOMETER, Lowest, 40 ; Highest. 55 ; Noon, 53
BAROMETER, 29.82.—Wind W.S.W., fine.

WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE Tills DAY.
horning .. 12 minutes after 7. Evening .. 42 minutes after 7.

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 lunger 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 50,000/.
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 learn-d 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-
%mead ordinary mortals, but that he was a being

for tie 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 mere hants 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 en 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 on Monday
evening upon the Poor Relief (Ireland) Bill, the con-
duct 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
our globe could reach its perihelium in the course of
two consecutive months for the simple gratification of
an experimental astronomer. It is frivolous, therefore,
and 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 JOHN RUSSELL and his colleagues
assumed office there had been, and there still con-
tinued to be, enormous drains upon the Exchequer;
there was the possibility of a diminution in the
revenue from the wholesale reduction in the imposts
upon 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

of an incomprehensible Attire, that could not be
understood or sppreciatd by any who had not
actually themselves spentsome time in the service.
Whenever, therefore, the subject was broached or
alluded to, either in the Legislature or in private
conversation, it was fathwith pooh, pooped by
these gentlemen, who, Nit hout being able to ad-
vance any tangible argunent or sufficient reason for
their assertions, were cottented with saying, "Ex-
cuse me, but I have sexed, and I must understand
the matter better than ,he Hon. Member, and I
assure you what he propees will not at all answer."
And by these means, andon such ridiculous assump-
tions, all reform and inprovement 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 ani brought all their energies
to bear, in order to amelorate 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 erery opinion
to which they give utterance. They offer sufficient
reasons, and will condescend to explain to a mere
civilian why the desired iterations 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 dizit cr 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 some degree
cultivated, and yet obedience is still enforced and
obtained, and we may soon expect to see the position
of a private ..knor anvied 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."

HONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
Ii
(From The Sun of last Night.)
The Cotton market at Liverpool yesterday was firmer.
Sales 6,000 bales, including 1,000 for export, and 500 on
speculation. American sorts were !,Bd. per lb. higher, 5,000
bales soiling at 64d. to 7d. per lb. Pernambuco and Maran-
ham sold at 7id. to 7,1. per lb; and 200 bales Surat at
to 44d. per lb. Railway Shares were firmer also, with a mo-
derate business doing.
The quotations of Railway Shares, at Messrs. Lamond
and Co.'s sale to. day, show a slight improvement upon last
prices. The following are a few of the principal sales
London and Manchester (Remington's) £0 5 6
Derby, Stafford, and Worcestershire .... 0 8 0
East Indian ...
Manchester and Southawipton 1 7 6
Great Northern ... 3 15 0
Louvain 51a Sambre 1 2 6
Leicester & Bedford, Exchange Certificate 0 12 6
Shrewsbury and Hereford
Vale of Neath
Northern Counties Union 0 18 0
North British Extension
Northern and Southern Connecting
Eastern Counties ...
Reading, Guildford, and Reigate 4 18 6
Shropshire Union and Canal 1 2 0
Paris and Lyons 6 8 0
The ballot at the Bank of England, upon the proposition
made last Thursday, in General Court, that a bonus of
one per cent. be declared out of the " rest," or surplus
balance of undivided profits, began exactly at eleven o'clock
this morning, the Governor, the Deputy-Governor, and
several of the Court of Directors being present. There were,
however, bat three proprietors in attendance when
the minutes of the last Court were read. No
doubt seems to be entertained, but that the
bonus will be carried by a very large majority. There are
a few dissentients, we hear, to the measure, who think the
wisest policy is to strengthen the " rest," rather than
diminish it. Soon after four o'clock the result will be known,
and will be duly communicated.
The letters by the East India and China mail were de-
livered this morning. Their contents, as far as can be as-
certained, are generally more favourable relative to the pro-
spects of trade.
There is very little news by the Talbot from Rio de Ja-
neiro. She has brought newspapers to the 15th January
only. The exchange was 281/td.; Funds, Six per Cents.,
841. A.
The Seagull arrived out on the 13th of the above month,
and would sail about the 12th of February.
From Peru and Chili the accounts are favourable—both
those republics were determined to assist Ecuador and the
other Colombian states, in case of any attack by Flores or
any one else. They will be glad to hnd that his expedition
has been broken up. Peace and plenty continued to be the
lot of the whole of South America.
The Government of the United States has done justice to
that of Brazil, by recalling Mr. Wise from Rio, as a proof of
their disapprobation of his unwise conduct.
The English Stock Market has been very steady, and there
has been a firm tone in the absence of speculation. Consols
have realised 891/8 to 89% for present transfer, and the same
for April 15th. The Scrip is at par to % premium. Ex-
chequer-bills have realised par to 3s. premium. East India
Stock, for the opening, is at 249.
The Foreign and Stock Market has been dull, and Spanish
Bands are lower. The Five per Cents. being 22% to 23.
Portuguese Four per Cents. are 341/2. Mexican Bands
have been 21%, and Grenada, 191/2. Brazil Stock is
worth 87%.
Railway Shares are quiet again, but firm, and where pur
chases are made higher rates have to be paid.
BRITISII FUNDS. ONE
'OCK.
Three per Cent. Consols Annuities OCL
891 A%
Long Annuities, Expire Jan. 5, 1860
Ditto, 30 years, Jan. 5, 1860 .. 9 5-16
India Stock .. . I .. 249 for Opening 249
India Bonds, 1,0001. ..
Ditto, under 1,0001.
South Sea Stock ..
Ditto. Old Annuities
Consols for Account
Consuls, Scrip .
Exchequer Bills.
1,0001.
5001. -.
Ditto, Small

..
.. .• •. 89%%%
P
• Par
2d.
par 3 p pm.
par 3 P pm.
I 51) pm.

INd.

CLOSING
PRICES.
139!8

ONE
FOREIGN FUNDS. O'CLOCK.
Brazilian Bonds, 5 per Cent .. 87
Grenada, 1 per Cent .. l9
Mexican Bonds, 1846, 5 per Cent ..
Ditto, for the Account .. 21%
Portuguese Four per Cent 34%
Russian Bonds .. .. • . 110%
Spanish Bonds, 5 per Cent .. 22% 23
Ditto, Passive Bonds .. ..
Ditto, Deterred 16
Dividends on the above payable In London.
Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cent
Ditto, 4 per Cent. Certificates
PRICES OF
RAILWAY SHARES.

, ..,
4Z '' el. w:'-• ) -2 '
6 • :'.
_xtzt4o.siseti*
:.,-.! ...- ..,- -,,,ovit; --ipink‘,.. •-,--.0.---
'- , so ; _l3) 'OO •''Z'.l, .. ..
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