The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

) (trrivritt. -glut

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 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 i❑ 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 mi•eries, and in their forebodings possess
a certain degree of similitude. Mame 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 al!egiance ; 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 eltogether,
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 U. by the
presentation of two marriage garlands. Ile 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 Q►rEESs are
each threatened by a multitude of reserved sorrows,
those sorrows being associated with the names of
DOM Moue'. and the Conde DE MONTOMOLIN. With
a domestic life embittered by indescribable afflictions,
Queen IsauEeaa 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.
Nicnorats 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,
anti for the ultimate destruction of civilization. The
consequence of these arch-sins against liberty and
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 manner compatible with the sublime cause of
which they will find themselves the champisns ; if
temper, and wisdom, 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 Louis
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 the
admirable letter of Dr. KAY SHIITTLEWORTH to Mr.
ECKETT, who, on behalf of the Committee of Privi-
leges, had addressed a circular to the ministers of the
Wesleyan Association, in which the Government plan
of education was strongly objected to. That letter
happily exposed the palpable misrepresentations which
were contained in the circular ; and in a strain of
well-tempered rebuke Dr. SHUTTLEWOETH reminded
Mr. ECKETT 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 his blunders.
Mr. ECKETT has recently replied, ucknorskdging
that he bad "inadvertently
fallen" into the errors to

which the Doctor had publicly drawn his attention.
Assuming as a matter of course that the errors were

not intentional, it is clear that Mr. ECIC ETT and the
Committee of Privileges are not at all competent to
act as the organs of any public body ; for the version
which they gave of the plan of the scheme of the
Educational Committee of the Privy Council was so
manifestly incorrect, that' nothing short of the high
character whichthe Wesleyans have obtained for them-
selves could save 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. ECHETT
alleges that the Wesleyans are as averse as ever to
the scheme propounded by Lord LANSDOWNE, as
though Dr. SHUTTLEWORTH 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 public 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 punned ever

since public moneys have been placed at the command
of the Privy Council for educational objects, never
take the.initiative in founding schools; they only assist,
withuut 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 supported out of
the public resources. Next, we would inquire what
is meant to be implied by the expression of 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 be 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

or 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 Di,senters argue that the
Educational Commit:ee of the Privy Council are
acting in an unconstitutional manner. This we
totally deny. They are not deviating one iota froth
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 ;
kit, before they do this, we recommend them to
become thoroughly acquainted with all the facts
appertaining to the existing systems, und not, as they
have dune, 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 ? Remain in-
active with folded arms, whilst a million and a half
of the youthful population,—a number which 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 and indigna-
,on that we direct the public attention to the pro
ceedings of a naval court-martial, assembled at Ports-
mouth on Friday last, for the trial of a private
marine, named Joins 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. The affair
took place while the vessel was at anchor in the
harbour of Antigua, and did not appear to have been
participated in by others, or occasioned by any ge-
neral feeling of insubordination. It was of a purely
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 bad been drinking, but per-
fectly conscious of what he was doing "—said
" that the sergeant was a false-swearing man— that
his report was false, and that he had always been
down on him," and used threatening language to-
wards the complainant, for which the commanding
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
suffered 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 tcs
death ! ! !—to be hanged at the yard-arm ofsuch one of
her MAJESTY'S ships, and at such time, as the Lords of
the Admiralty should direct.
Can it be possible that in the 19th century—in
the year 1847—when many intelligent persons are
to be found, who contend that under no possible
circumstances the life of a human being should
be taken away—that capital punishment should not
be inflicted on the wilful, deliberate, and cold-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 atrocious 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 War 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 ? Whatever
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 puoi,,l:rnent in one branch of our service, must
be directed to the laws by which the other great