The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY _E;

sure in some respects, yet I do not think that there
exists that over-population in Ireland, of which some
persons have complained; and I believe that if agri-
culture, which is the staple industry of the island,
were to be prosecuted with science and skill, that
there do exist means in Ireland of supporting the
population in a manner as comfortable as that of
England is supported." Holding these sentiments,
his Lordship cannot sanction the banishment of the
people while there are channels to which their
industry may be profitably directed, and so
long as there are four millions of acres
of reclaimable land lying waste and unproduc-
tive, and seven-eighths of that nominally under til-
lage, the produce of which might be more than
doubled by the proper application of labour, it can-
not be said that there is not an ample field for the
occupation of the people. In fact, while a single
industrial resource remains undeveloped, it cannot be
said that there is an excess ef population that must
be got rid of. The real wealth of a country chiefly
c nsista of its available labour. Ireland cannot afford
to he deprived of her productive classes.
The grand jury laws, too, are to be amended.
Those who are at all aware of the manner in which
the fiscal business of the several counties have been
transacted, will at once recognise the propriety of
a measure of reform, and how great a boon it will
be to the people. By far the most important of all,
however, is that relating to the law of landlord and
tenant. The state of the relations heretofore exist-
ing between those parties have been the cry-
ing grievance, the curse of Ireland. To this
cause may be ascribed the frightful disturbances, the
harrowing murders that have polluted her soil, the
great majority whereof have had an agrarian origin.
No measure can be effectual for the repression of ,
crime until this teterrima cauxa has been removed.
It is undoubtedly a question of difficulty, but Ulster
has afforded an answer, and the tranquil and prosperous
condition of that province attests the happy results of
the full recognition and practical operation of " The
Tenant Right." We trust the promi,ed measure
may be of no stunted or meagre character, but that
it wiil extend that principle, the efficacy of which
has been proved during successive ages,
throughout the entire kingdom. His Lord
,11;p has stated that the measure will be
produced in that shape which in his judgment will be
most consistent pith the improvement of the land on
the one side, and with the undoubted rights of the
landlord upon the other. The Ulster tenact- right
would attain both those objects, which must be fore-
must in the mind of a legislator.
We regret ;hat, from the length of our observations
on the part of the speech relating to Ireland, we are
unable to do more than allude to the admirable
answer given to the attack of the Protect:Li-list leader,
in w hick there was undoubtedly " a great deal of
indignation thrown away." Nahing could be more
complete than the refutation of the assertions, that
have so repeatedly been put forward, that our
recent calamities have been in any manner
owing to free trade ; it would, indeed, be strange if
protection were to be maintained with wheat at

110 s. per quarter. The fact alluded to by the
Noble Lord, that there had been an increased ex-
p :ztation of our manufactures from Liverpool to the
United States in 1847, over that of the correspond-
ing part of last year, of 2,261,414/., incontestabl3
proves " that the food we imported to this country
in greater quantity than usual had been the cause
of a greater exportation of manufactures," and
thus establishes the fundamental principle of the
Free-traders.

We sympathise with the feeling of obligation ex-
pressed towards Lord INGESTEE by the Honourable
Gentleman the Secretary to the Admiralty, for the
promptitude with which that Noble Lord has brought
the character of Sir CHARLES NArren under the con-
sideration of the new Parliament. By demanding
from the Government at this early period of the sit
ting of the House of Commons some explanation with
reference to the rumours recently prevalent, as to the
conduct pursued towards Portugal by the Gallant
Admiral, Lord INGESTRE has afforded the authorities
of the Admiralty a most favourable opportunity for
vindicating the reputation of that distinguished officer.
It was essential, indeed, not merely to the character
of Sir CHARLES NAPIER, but to that of the Adminis-
tration which has awarded him his present elevated
appointment, that calumnies of such a disgraceful
nature should be immediately and utterly disproved.
The refutation of the reports was incumbent, more-
over, in a peculiar manner upon the members of that
department of the Legislature which is presided over
with so much efficiency by the Earl of Auca LAND, for
in those reports the fair fame of the hero of St. Jean
d'Acre was at stake, and through that the credit of
the naval service generally was in a great measure
implicated.

It w ill be remembered, that somewhere about the
commencement of October, rumours were afloat to
the effect that Sir CHARLES NAPIER had employed the
authority afforded to him by his position as Com-
mander of the British fleet off Portugal for the fur-
therance of his own private interests ; that, in
other words, he had used the awe inspired
by the circumstance of his having a formidable
_ _

armament at his disposal, for the purpose of obtain-
ing from the political advisers of MARIA DA GLORIA
the arrears of pension due to him by the Portuguese
Government. Supposing this imputation to have
proved correct on inquiry, it would have been more
than sufficient to have disqualified the Admiral from
c mtinuing in his present appointment, if it had not
even rendered him altogether incompetent to serve

his country again in a situation of such profound re-
sponsibility. The imputation, indeed, implied a cul-
d)ility almost as great as that of peculation. It
quired an instant and emphatic denial, and that de-
nial was given to the charge with the utmost degree
of explicitness by no less an individual than Sir
CUARLES Nartmt himself. In spite, however, of this
decided contradiction, the calumny was repeated, and
it became in consequence necessary, on every account,
that it should be rebutted in an official manner, and
at as early a moment as might be convenient.
Last evening Lord INGESTRE inquired as to the
fallacy or correctness of reports so prejudicial to Sir
CHARLES NAPIER, and the explanation thereupon
given by the Secretary to the Admiralty was as
candid, as articulate, and as conclusive, as might
have been anticipated. Mr. W7ARD, in plain terms,
declared these reports to have been, from first to
last, groundless ; and he enforced this assertion by
a most convincing and authoritative document. The
document was nothing less than a letter upon the
subject addressed to the First Lord of the Treasury
by Sir HAUILTON Sermooft, the Plenipotentiary at
Lisbon. According to the account therein furnished
it would appear that, so far from having endeavoured
to obtain the arrears of his pension from the Portu-
guese Government by any undue exercise of his autho-
thority, Sir CHARLES NAPIER had declined the over-
tures of a partial payment of those arrears made to
himself by the Portuguese Minister of Finance. On
arriving at Lisbon that Minister communicated with
the Admiral, and after expreesing his regret at his in-
capacity to liquidate the liabilities incurred by the
non- payment of his pension, assured him that every
possible exertion should be made to transmit the
amount before a much longer period had expired.
The reply of Sir CHARLES to this apologetic message
was most characteristic :—" lie had no wish to be paid
before his companions, and would take his chance with
the rest." In addition to this, the British Envoy at
the Court of Lisbon observes that the Admiral has
only received the arrears of four out of fifteen months'
pension, and that two months having elapsed since

months. "The Gallant Admiral," con
that payment, he is still a creditor for thirteen
Sirirteen
iiAMILTON SEYMOUR, "is thus placed in the same
position as every other pers( n who has claims
for pensions upon the Portuguese Government; he
has not, th.refore, abused the influence which his pre-
sent position has given him." A more decisive denial
of the calumnious imputations levelled at Sir CHARLES
NArraa could not have been afforded, and the friends
of that eminent sea-captain will be who have beenarliamn—t the grateful to those
before means of laying the explanation
P Sir Amwrost Saysiouß fur
having written in language 1.1
so straightforward, to
Lord INGEiTRE for having elicited the letter of her
MAJESTY'S Plenipotentiary at Liabon on the second night of the sitting of the new Rouse of Commons,
as
for Secretary
congratulation,
and to Mr.-WARD for having responded with 50 much
t'the
Admiralty. It pe
i Myatt:
promptitude in
ishsicsacrca

however, that the character of Sir CHARLES NArxER
has been so decisively vindicated, seeing that the
charges which have been refuted were never re•
garded as veracious by any three dozen men in Eng-
land.

A letter from Berne of the 19th gives the following
statement of the circumstanes which caused General
DUFOUR to refuse a safe conduct to the Secretary of
the French Ambassador. It appears that the cook
of the convent of St. Urbain, a Lucernese monastery
situated close to the Bernese territory, was seized
hearing several dispatches, and amongst others, a
letter from the Council of War of the Sonderbund,
sitting at Lucerne. This letter was addressed to the
Government of Friburg, to which it was to be for-
warded through the agency of M. SETTLER, of Berne,
advocate, who had already been in custody; or, in
order that it might reach its destination in a surer
way, he was recommended to hand it into the chan-
cellery of the French embassy. In the intercepted
letter the Council of War of the Sonderbund
explained the plans of attack of the General-
in-Chief, which, they declared, had come to
their knowledge. All these documents are in
the hands of the Vorort, and this fact was
not unknown to the Commander-in-Chief of the
Federal army. On this head M. DUFOUR, as well
as the Directory and the Diet, can appeal to all im-
partial men and to the whole world : was it possible
to authorise an attache of the French Embassy to
make excursions into the cantons of the Sonderbund,
excursions evidently hostile to the Federal cause ;
and that, after circumstances which sufficiently ex-
hibited the of the legation towards the legal
authority ? It seems, besides, that M. BOIE-LE-
COMTE designedly sought an opportunity to accom •
plish a quasi-rupture with the Federal Directory, and
it was this motive which induced him to make a
demand which the General's duty could not permit
him to acquiesce in."
The King of Pnussia has addressed to the autho-
rities of Neufchatel a proclamation, dated the 19th,
approving of their motives for remaining neutral
during the civil war in Switzerland, and declaring
the principality of Neufchatel and Valendis neutral
during the whole of the war.

We read in a letter from Tiflis, in Georgia, dated
the 30th ult. :

" A courier from St. Petersburgh has jut passed
through ,ith dispatches for Prince 1)olgorouki, the
Imperial Ambassador at the Court of the Shah of
Persia. The Prin-2e has not yet quitted Nawiarim, and
has thus left the field open to the FroLch Ambassador,
M. de Sartiges, who is constantly with the Shah, and in
high favour. It is supposed here that the dispatches fur
Prince I)Jgorouki hare reference to the treaty of corn-
mrree between France and Persia, which was concluded
without the knowle-tge of the Emperor of Russia, and
is said to have given great off-nee, as being a proof of
the increasing irflue..ce of the French Government at
the Court of the Persian Monarch."

A letter from Warsaw, of October 31, in the Oder
Gazette, says :
" M. de 13!ndrow has just arrived here from Naples.
Tne mission, relative to t.ie religious affairs of Poland,
which he was entrusted with at Rome by the Emperor of
Russia, is looked on to hare failed. To be confirmed in
this opinion, it is only necessary to observe the present
conduct of the Russian Government with respect to the
Catholic religion in Poland—it is more and more hostile.
The new Code declares the Greco-Russian worship to
be the dominant, religion in Poland, notwithstanding
that there are but a comparatively small number of per-
sons professing it in the country. Any one also may
pass from the Catholic worship to the Grece-Russian;
but if any o'e passes from the latter to the former, he
is liable to be st nt two years to the Caucasus, and
afterwards to be shut up in a convent, until he repents
his fault, and testifies his intention to turn back to his
old belief. In addition, from MIS, the Russian law re-
lative to mixed marriages is to be applied to the king-
dom of Poland, and all. male children are to be brought
up in the Greco-Russian religion."
Madrid papers of the 17th have arrived.

VILELLA, the Carlist leader in Catalonia, is stated
to have died of the wounds he had received in a
battle with the QUEEN'S troops.
According to the Eco del Comereio, hopes are
entertained that the Union Bank will shortly resume
its payments.

The delegate of the Pura in Portugal, Monsignor
DI PIETRO, arrived on the 17th at Madrid, en rot*, to

Lisbon.

MADRID BOLSA, Nov. 17.—The Three per Cents. were
done at 26k. at 50 days ; the Five per Cents., at 144,
for the 30th inst.; the Debt without Interest, at 44 for
paper ; and the Coupons, at 11.

We have received the Path papers of Tuesday.
The KING was highly pleased, it was said, with

the reply of Lord PALMERSTON to the note proposing
a-Congress on the affairs of Switzerland, and it was
supposed the congress would be held forthwith.
It was rumoured in Paris that 1,500 of the Son-
derbund troops of Uri had made a junction with
2,000 troops of Valais, and had made an irruption
into Tessino, where they had succeeded in taking
Airolo, after a. severe action. This news, however,
wants confirmation.

The Prene states that the United States have
purchased the island of Syra of the Greek Govern-
ment for a sum equal in amount to the debt due to
England, which will be discharged forthwith.
The same journal, in commenting on the sulking
of M. BOIS-LB-COMTI at Bale, says—
"lt may be said, without exaggeration, thatt4e
French diplomacy in Switaerland stands in a bad !-.,
tion. Austria, Prussia, and England, are in a
better. And why ? Because these three Powers 127.
distinctly decided in advance upon the line of co ,
they intended to follow, and their agents have rip I
remained within the terms of the part they we're
structed to play. Some have taken their demrture in
time, without seeking a pretext in calculated quarrel.
The rest have remained, but they have kept then?selves
tranquil and completely isolated from the internal con-
flict. It is unfortunate that our representative shoo d have
preferred adopting a neutrality of his own iztvehtion,
deprived of all the characters of a real neutrality, and
bordering closely an a rupture which does not even give
us the right of demanding reparation."
The Debuts states that the French Chambers will
be convoked to meet on Tuesday, Dec. 28.
The KING has conferred the title of Baron on M.
DURAND, the French Consul in London.

A grand Reform banquet took place at Compeigne
on Sunday, over which M. ODILLoN BARROT pre-
sided. There were 350 persons present.
The Con.stitutionnel has a long article on the recent
losses in the French nary, and attributes them to the
want of caution with which commissions are be-
stowed by the Government.

It was rumoured in Paris that the Queen of
SPAIN was in a condition which promised an heir to
the throne.

The Three per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse,
on Tuesday, at 76f. 75c. ; New Loan, 76f. .55c.;
the Fire per Cents., 1161. 10c. ; the Orleans Rail-
road Shares, 1,212 f. 50c. ; Rouen, 910 f. ; Havre, 492 f.
50c.; Great Northern, 566 f. 25c.; Avignon, 567 f.
50c.; Vierzon, 5511. 25c. ; Bordeaux, 486 f. 25c.;
Boulogne, 3801. ; Troyes and Montereau, 265 f.;
Dieppe, 2601. ; Basle, 1671. 50c. ; Paris and Stras-
burg, 413 f. 75c.; Tours and Nantes, 3971. 60c.;
Paris and Lyons, 405 f. ; Spanish Actives, 23 ; ditto
Three per Cents., 29 ; ditto Passives, 4.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, NOVEMBER. 24.
Boulogne and Amiens 1514 ex int.—Northern of France,
12%-Orleans and Bordeaux, s%—Rouen and Havre, 19
—Sambre and Meuse, 6%—West Flanders lli.

On the 19th as Major-General de Gouy, command-
ing at Nancy, was returning in his carriage from the
country, the horse took fright and ran away. General
de Gouy jumped out, and was killed on the spot.
PETITION AGAINST THE RETURN OF Ma. HEALD.—
Th e supporters of Mr. Heald have bt en congratulating
themselves upon the improbability of the threatened
election petition being presented by Mr. Kershaw against
his return, but the proceedings during the present week
have placed the matter now beyond all doubt. A peti-
tion, founded upon corrupt practices, will be presented
to Parliament against Mr. Heald's seat, the required for-
mularies of swearing to depositions, entering into sure-
ties, &c., having been completed before the rector, a
county magistrate, on Monday afternoon.—Afancheittr
Guardian.

REPRESENTATION OP STOCKPORT.-It iS now de-
fini ti rely arranged, that Major Marsland, of Henbur?'
Hall, who was defeated in 1841 by Mr. Cobden, will
contest, with Mr. Alderman Kershaw, the vacancy oc-
casioned by the expected determination of Mr. Cobden
to r,pretent the West Riding. At a meeting of the
Major's friends, which took place on Friday evening at
the Warren Bulkeley Arms, the Major declared his in-
tention to go to the poll.—Manchester Guardian.
GRAY'S _INN, Nov. 24.—The undernamed gentle-
men were this day called to the degree of Barrister-at-
Law by the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, viz.:—
Mr. John Stimpson Collett, Mr. Walter Charles Urqu-
hart, Mr. William Stoate, and Mr. Thomas Sands
Chapman.

Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at the
East India 'louse, when J. E. Drinkwater Bethune,
etter froin
chSetmociksth
Eeq., was appointed Fourth Ordinary Member of the
theletter
of Indic.
A well-known
Bolemrkoiuf sthhaes
ill,
taensdthat
his life is in danger. fallen