The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1841.

Patrick—And where the divil are you going from, John
Wilson ?

Soldier—From the American army at Erie, Sir.
Patrick—And what do you want here?
Soldier—l want shelter to-night ; will you permit me
to spread my blanket on your floor and sleep to-night ?
Patrick—Divil take me if I do, John Wilson.
Soldier—On your kitchen floor, Sir ?
Patrick—Not I, by the Hill o' Howtb.
Soldier—ln your stable, then ?
Patrick—l'm hanged if I do that either,
Soldier—l'm dying with hunger ; give me but a bone
and a crust ; I ask no more.
Patrick—Divil blow me if I do, Sir.
Soldier—Give me some water to quench my thirst, I
beg of you.
Patrick—Beg and be hanged, I'll do no such thing.
Soldier—Sir, I have been fighting to secure the blessings
you enjoy. I have assisted in contributing to the glory
and welfare of the country which has hospitably received
you, and can you so inhospitably reject me from your
house ?

Patrick—.-Reject you ; who the divil talked a word about
rejecting you? May be lam not the scurvy spalpeen you
take me to be, John Wilson. You asked me to let
you lie on my floor, my kitchen floor, or my stable ;
now, by the powers, d'ye think I'd let a perfect stranger
do that, when I have half-a-dozen feather beds all
empty ? No, by the Hill o'Howtb, John, that I wont.
In the second place, you told me you were dying with
hunger, and wanted a bone and a crust to eat.
Now, honey, d'ye think I'll feed a hungry man
on bones and crusts, when my yard is full of fat pullets,
and turkeys, and pigs? No, by the powers, not I, that's
flat. In the third place you asked me for some simple
water to quench your thirst. Now, as my water is none
of the best, I never give it to a poor traveller without
mixing it with plenty of wire, or something else
wholesome or cooling. Come into my house, my
honey ; divil blow me, but you shall sleep in the
best feather bed I have ; you shall have the best sup-
ger and breakfast that my farm can supply, which, thank
heaven, is none of the worst ; you shall drink as much
water as you choose, provided you mix it with plenty of
good wine, and provided also you prefer it. Come in, my
hearty, crane in, and feel yourself at home. It shall never
be said that Patrick O'Flaherty treated a man scurvily, who
has been fighting for the dear country which gave him pro-
tection.

HOG-FEN FOR BOYS.—Captain Willets, of the 6th Dis-
trict Watch, about two o'clock on Saturday morning, pur-
sued a fugitive negro into an alley, in the rear of a
house in Anthony-street, Five Pointe. The ncgro ma-
naged to conceal hixr.self so as to elude discovery.
Captain Willets, however, found in a pig-pen, in a
corner of the yard, four hogs and three lubbcrly boys,
lying in snug embrace, and quietly slumbering
together. The boys were brought before the police. They
gave their names as Patrick Towers, Peter M'Cann, and
Thomas Ryan, aged respectively 12, 13, and 14 years.
They all stated that they were destitute of home or educa-
tion, baying never been to school. They had of en before
slept in the bog pen, and thought it quite hard that they
should have been disturbed in their rest. They were ad-
judged vagrants, and sent to sling quarters at the House
of Refuge.—New York Courier and Inquirer.

The fact we mentioned yesterday that the law
which commands us not to steal has left us igno-
rant of what really belongs to others, deserves, we
think, some further illustration. Nothing but
gross ignorance of that can be pleaded as an ex-
cuse or an apology for the many violations of the
right of property, of which the Legislature is
guilty.

Possession is a very imperfect index to owner-
ship. A man's body is indeed his own, but
as long as slavery existed, that truth was prac-
tically denied, and it required the exertions of
many philanthropic men, through many years,
to procure its final recognition in Europe, while
in America it is not yet recognised.
Other things in a man's possession are far from
being his own. The clothes a livery servant
wears belong to his master. The rich pieces o
figured velvet or satin we may find in scores oft, houses in Bethnal-green and Spitalfields, are
not the property of the weavers, but of
some silk mercers in Cheapside, or Wood-
street. They even are not the actual
owners of the whole, for, carrying on trade to a
considerable extent on credit, and their stock
being answerable for their debts, the real owners
are their creditors in conjunction with them.
Few captains own the vessels they command,
and in general the cargoes they carry belong not
to the captains but to some merchants perhaps
of another country, and living under different
laws from those to which the ship captain pro-
fesses obedience. W z most of us live in houses
which we hire, and, they actually belong to those
who do not reside in them.

The owners,'Alip of the soil of England is nomi-
nally in the Peers, Squires, and Yeomen, but as
that ownership is little more than a power to re-
ceive the rent, and as the rent is pledged to
mortgage es, annuitants, and others, it is difficult
to say who exactly are the owners of the fine
castles and extensive domains which nominally
belong to the landed gentry of England.
The example we have already quoted of the
silk velvet in the weaver's loom, not belonging to
him, may stand, in common with almost all the
work of the labourer's hand, as a proof that the
produce of man's labour is not his own. Posses-
sion, therefore, whatever it may indicate, is not a
proof of ownership.
The examples we yesterday quoted from the
Times of bankers getting hold of property by
issuing notes, are sufficient proofs that the mere
power to obtain possession of property does not
constitute ownership. The burglar, to borrow
the illustration of the Times, has the power of
appropriating wealth to his own use, as well r
the concoctors of banking schemes and the pro_
prietors of bank charters. Besides tk-, power
to obtain possession of wealth, to constitute owner-
ship the consent of other men must be gained,
and, in the majority of case-,, and certainly in
consent when the the long run, they only
appro-
priation is just.

The essential co 'adition of ownership, that
which gives it sP.;curity, and perhaps constitutes
it just for tke time, is possession with the con-
sent of otLer men. At any rate, the consent is
all that is essential to security, and he may
sleep in peace whose right is neither questioned
nor denied by any man. The consent of others,
as one essential element of safe ownership,
is a subject of pre-eminent importance. To
constitute the right of property, consent is ne-
cessary and property will cease to be safe, and
to have a valid existence, whenever the bulk of
the people from any cause, such as extreme
poverty, or a sense of gross injustice, withhold
from it their consent and guarantee.
It has been, we think, one of the misfortunes
of our time that the disturbances of war, and
the improper interference of Government with
the issue and circulation of paper money, at the
close of the last and at the commencement of the
present century, have existed in conjunction
with a very rapid creation of wealth by new
arts. New classes of men, in consequence, sud-
denly became extremely wealthy, and that alte-
ration seems to have caused considerable confu-
sion in the public mind as to the right of
ownership.

At least the existence of these circumstances
was a misfortune, because they were unnoticed
by our rulers, who, from their ignorance, aggra-
vated the moral evil. To carry on war, whether
just or not, they required very large sums of
money ; and the rapid increase of wealth by the in-
troduction of the steam-engine and the cotton-
mill, enable them to take immense sums from the
people, and squander them in extravagant under-
takings, with the hearty consent of the latter.
Every person is aware that those circumstances
awakened a spirit of gambling and speculation in
the land, and all men became infected with a
desire to seize wealth by discreditable means.
The conduct of the Legislature and of the people
re-acted one on the other; the people grew care-
less about the right of property like the Legisla-
ture, and their tacit consent to its proceedings
begot or confirmed the opinion that the Legisla-
ture might appropriate and deal with the pro-
perty of the people as it thought fit.
Hence it has come to pass that of late years
thet 1 ). e
property Legislature
fasn hady
cl na
classes,
erse, s pec
exceptt lv h ate -
thosee r for
of
its own immediate members and dependents.
: negx
cept classes.th e
The servants of the State must be paid though
the people starve. Hence also many persons not
in the Legislature have asked it to be guilty of
the most terrible invasions of the property of
proper
seems to us that the sentiment of the sacredness I
the middle
ilaimpidracut'oicrek
few, has been almost swept ou
of the public mind. .
~
The Legislature has continued the CP
which it began during a season of great ,reer
soofme property,
thvou e
Pros-
property
bulk of the people, . for the
. now that
they are poor and in difficulties,as
it exhibited
V
PeritY'anodf thehas shown as little regard '
.
when they were rich and prosy,nus. Their
4th the people 011
Legislature consent t o its
nadcstsitissealft
aptriessseunetrw -
,thheld, and the

the question of appropriating their property.
The general ignorance, or rather the neglect to
notice, the new relations which are continually
growing up in society, seems to us the best pos-
sible excuse that can be formed for the conduct
of the Legislature. We cannot suppose that it
would wantonly and with demoniac art in-
flict on the bulk of the people the dis-
tress they now suffer. That it is all brought
on them by bad legislation, to which they
have in many cases consented, cannot be
denied. In general that legislation may well be
described as a violation of the commandment—
" Thou shalt not steal." And we do the Legis-
lature the justice of believing, that it would not
have violated that commandment, if it had been
thoroughly well informed of the nature of pro-
perty.

Our readers will find in another column a let-
ter addressed to the Editor of the Dublin Regis-
ter, to which we invite attention, on the prolific
subject of Irish grievances. When the advocates
of a repeal of the Legislative Union appeal to
the common sense of the British and Irish
people as the supreme arbitrator of the practica-
bility and patriotism of their policy, we are
always ready to listen to them with the most se-
rious attention. But hitherto they have ad-
vanced no argument calculated to weaken our con-
viction that a repeal of the Union would add ten-
fold to the miseries of Ireland. The torch of civil
and religious discord burns distinctively enough
without the addition of a mock Legislative bear-
garden in College-green. Mr. O'CONNELL, and
those who think with him upon this subject, may
expose as often as they please the violent, cor-
rupt, and unconstitutional means by which the
Union was carried. Statesmen, and men of
statesman-like intellects, must look to things as
they exist, and not to their origin. It may ap-
pear paradoxical to say that time frequently
sanctifies injustice, but such in reality is the fact.
Most of our colonial possessions have been won
by acts of violence, and many of them by the
grossest frauds; but he would be a sorry Legis-
lator who would contend, after our improvement
of the moral and physical condition of their inha-
bitants, that we ought on that account to aban-
don them to barbarism or foreign slavery.
The abolition of the Heptarchy, the union
of the kingdoms of England and Scotland,
the great work of the Reformation, were not ac-
complished without crimes, and black crimes
too; but surely that is no reson for declaring
Scotland an independent monarchy, acknow-
ledging the supremacy of the POPE, and div.',:d—ing
England into seven separate king
co
doiis? That
Ireland has many great grievane_.s to complain
NELL himself. But do -
of we know, and lament as :inich as Mr. O'CON-
Irishmen suppose that
grievances are un Ij,nown in England and Scot-
land? Are theyled to believe that starvation,
and ignorr.,,,, and crime, and oppression of the
poor,%,reunknown in England? We can with
thc:;iculty even allow them a monopoly of misery.
If the people of Ireland knew the whole truth,
we much question whether they would not be
grateful for that Parliamentary neglect which
they now resent as a national injury. We could
here well dispense with the constant and vexa-
tious intermeddling of the Legislature in matters
beyond the pale of its proper jurisdiction. The
voice of the Legislature is rarely heard but in
the imposition of some tax on industry, some re-
striction on commerce, or some ridiculous and
annoying interference with the holiday comforts
and amusements of the poor.

The Anti-Corn-law League are working their
cause well. They have met with a cheering re-
ception from the electors of Bury, and an ac-
count of their proceedings appears in another
part of The Sun. A resolution was unanimously
adopted not to support any candidate for Bury
but one who will pledge himself for the total and
immediate repeal of the Corn-laws. By thus
making their creed a test of parliamentary fit-
ness, they will secure for themselves great in-
fluence over the Members of the House of Com-
mons.

We learn from a Correspondent, who has at-
tended most of the meetings of the League, and
been very much engaged in the discussions on
the Corn-laws in the manufacturing districts,
that in no instance has any person ventured at
any public meeting to stand up in defence of the
Bread-tax. That task is left exclusively to the
Members of the two Houses, and one or two Lon-
don Journals which are supported by those who
live and flourish on taxes.

We understand that an opinion prevails in the
manufacturing districts that the country has
now passed through its season of adversity, and
that there will be a recurrence of great and pro-
fitable trading years as in 1831 and 1836. We_
see no prospect, of that. We must have at least
two succes:;ive good harvests before the price of
an fall below 40s. the quarter. There is
IrTvl)lTsep
osition in the Bank to enlarge its issues,
which are now ten millions less than in 1833, and
no chance therefore of any return of those bub-
ble years. To meet the prevalent opinion, how-
ever, the League has appropriately published a
hand bill, in which it is forcibly stated that dur-
ing those prosperous years the Americans were
borrowing our money and with that paying for
our goods. hi that period the amount of our ex-
ports much exceeded our imports, and now the
Americans, being unable to borrow any more,
and being obliged to pay the interest of their
loans, will be unable to trade with us to the same
extent as in the period between 1831 and 1836.
There is no probability that upwards of eighty
new joint-stock banks will now be established as
there were in that period, and no hope whatever,
unless the Corn-law be repealed, of any return to
former prosperity.

The Paris journals of Tuesday have all reached
us. In the Chamber of Deputies the Supple-
mentary Credit Bill continued the subject of
discussion. The debate loses much of its inter-
est by the reserve of M. GUIZOT, who would
merely admit that negotiations were on foot for
placing France in harmony with the other great
Powers of Europe. The ex-Minister of Finance,
M. Gouix, having contended that his successor
in office exaggerated the financial distress of the
country, M. HUMANN, the present Finance
Minister, addressed the following observations
to the Chamber :

to positionTt hh that
tt rhuoaftdh
btehsee,
nGI
lee
sfntt itemltoofue
sni , that
iaanred a
h the
w ayse
Cabinetry
necessarily deplorable
eeesswahr ii leyh financial
compelled
uece
ed
ed
to place the responsibility of that position upon those
to whom it really belonged. The country knows well
that the causes of this position are not due to uc, and
that we are not responsible for the sacrifices which are
imposed upon it.—(Sensation.) As to loans, I have always
understood that it was an easy matter for a country to find
lenders. We see, however, that many Governments seek
to borrow and cannot effect their wish. Call to mind, Gen-
tlemen, without going out of France, the walks of Louis
XIV. with Samuel Bernard in the garden of Versailles,
and the patriotic loan of Necker. We frequently hear a
neighbouring kingdom cited where loans are attended with no
difficulty. I answer that there exists in that kingdom a sen-
timent of nationality and unanimity which renders the people
capable of the greatest efforts.—(Murmers on the left.) There,
notwithstanding the greatest embarrassments, exists an ad-
mirable order in financial matters. In that country were
invented both the steam-engine and the spinning-machine.
Two
o genius doubled, as if by enchantment, the pro-
Im!. ducti;e ptswers of their country, and still, Gentlemen, what
',l
Would be the situation of that country, with its debt of twenty
Milliard, if on any single day of the last half century, it had
been abandoned by its good fortune?—( Sensation.) France
has an immense credit, and this credit will maintain itself
firmly, if but one intelligence pervades the mass: In my
opinion, the Cabinet of the Ist of March was-mistaken in its
plans and resources, when it desired to support, by the mea-
sure
owpeh.ichsiutephreepearoretds,
area tendoito,us war against the whole of
under a dictator and a system of absolute government.—(Loud
marks of dissent from the left.)
This speech called up M. THIERS,Vhose de-
fence of his policy will be best given in his
own words :

(Go-
vernment
re ae ns
sga
re my e n,
ot •
leTnhtieisrvsass;ated that it was very unfair to attribute the
expenditure of the armaments of 1842 to the responsibility of
the late Cabinet, for If it was true, as 110 W stated, that the (30,
, with the rest of Europe it could no longer be ne-
bn the point of
4c6oomoinogo
mtoena. saotinsftahcitosrpynian:
how keep up an army of , .
e:ver, he said the Alinister of Foreign Affairs refused to
I''.,,er into any discussion; but notwithstanding his reserve,
the treaty, the signature to which had been promised, was
known. It was a very insignificant affair connected with the
passage of the Dardanelles, and amounted to nothing like that
position in Europe which it had been the object of the late
Cabinet to attain. The Hon. Deputy then aollfuhdedis
speech
oeeh
thee
large expenditure which had been incurred for public works by
preceding Governments, observingtt.htehthcatihs partameacbhe
Chambers
ntihsterypehpaud_
been compelled to give way to the influence of the Deputies,
each railway and each canal having its representative, and
ttthes, the Ministers being
sbetihe ng deeiepeetnodres. n t rit
there was much interruption frorn the left, and cries of " No,
no." M. Thiers said it was a fact, to which one De-
puty replied, " This is a fatal admission." M. Thiers
observed it might be fatal, but it was the truth. )
It .viP;'however, a fact that no Niuister finds greater support

than the Minister of Public Works, for he has on every side
persons who are soliciting him for public works; the conse-
quence is, that the Budget of the Minister of War is neglected
for that of the Minister of Public Works. To such an extent
had negligence been carried in this department, that there were
some stables in which the loss of horses was 12 per cent, in=
stead of 6 per cent., which it ought to have beem It becathe
our duty to repair the negligence and onAlSsions of this depart-
ment. But is this any reason why we should declare in the
face of Europe that we are in a state of absolute destitution ?
When we shall have finished Cherbourg, repaired our fortresses,
fortified Paris, and completed our principal civil works, we
shall, indeed, have expended a milliard, but with the reserve of
the sinking fund and a loan, we shall have executed immense
works, and still be very far from the position of an unfortunate
nation.

At a subsequent period of the debate, he thus
attacked the policy of the SCIULT-GUIZOT Ad-
ministration :

M. Thiers asserted that the Cabinet was play►ng a farce.—
(Tumult.) lie had hoped nothing from the policy of the
Cabinets but it had beaten his expectations. Its policy is
quite negative. The lion. Member then entered into the
Eastern question, and endeavoured to prove that Syria ought
to remain under French influence; that the isthmus of Suez
should support French preponderance; and that the object of
the negotiation pending for the purpose of closing the Darda-
nelles against its maritime powers was a complete humbug;
that it was to the advantage of Russia. The Hon. Member
added that he still regretted the English alliance, and ►hat if
the present Cabinet wat one day obliged to return to that al-
liance, it would find that it had been advancing the interezts of
Russia.

To this and other attacks upon him M. Gui-
ZOT replied as follows:

It was said by their adversaries that they were advocates for
peace upon any condition, but such was not the case ; on the
contrary, they maintained the armed peace, and would do so
as long as the interests of the country required it. On the
other hand, they were not disposed to threaten and brave all Eu-
rope, or declare, as M. Thiers had said, " that it was the intention
of the Government to raise 900,000 men, and a large fleet, to ne-
gotiate in the Spring, and declare war against Europe, in case
she refused to modify the Treaty of the 15th of July."—( Sen-
sation.) The present Cabinet had no idea of exacting such a
modification ; its policy was simply to keep up an army of 500,000
men, and maintain " armed peace," until France could resume
with dignity and propriety her seat in the councils of Europe.
This debate, which was so anxiously expected
by the Journals and the public, will lead to no
result. The impenetrable reserve of the Govern-
ment defeats all the projects of the opposition.
The only facts of importance elicited were, that
a Treaty was in the course of negotiation, and
that M. THIEns is for France disarming the in-
stant the Treaty is signed.
The Moniteur Parisien states that Lord PON-
SONBY has received from the British Govern-
ment leave of absence from his post as Ambassa-
dor, and that he was preparing to leave Con-
stantinople. We trust the leave of absence
granted to his Lordship is unlimited. The
country has had quite enough of his diplomacy
in the East,
_ _

Le -F,ancais der Ouest complains in angry terms of the ap-
P"..ance of some English cutters come to dredge oysters on
the bank of St. Marc, on the coast of the Cotes du Nord.

" The National Guard of Binit is on the watch," says this
journal. "If the English approach sufficiently near to the
coast to be reached by their muskets, they arc burning with
desire to shoot them. The Mayors of the communes in the
neighbourhood of the coast have informed the Prefect now in
Paris of the state of affairs, in order that he may solicit the
Minister to give him the means of repressing this robbery,
and to make our flag respected. If Frenchmen had committed
such acts on the English coast, there would be no want of
voices in the British Parliament to demand full satisfaction."

The barracks and the camps no longer sufficing to receive
the troops that are accumulated in Paris and the environs,
the Minister of War has just had twenty large buildings
erected in the great court-yard and the garden of the infantry
barracks of St. Denis, three buildings (a wooden barracks)
are arranged parallel to the great barracks. These buildings
are much better and more solid than those in the camps. The
whole of the 4th' Regiment of light infantry here has been
quartered for these three days in the barracks of St. Denis,
and these new buildings. Ihe soldiers complain of having no-
thing to he on but bad straw in sacks, and the bad bread
which they receive, added to the fatigue of the exercise, and
the manoeuvres, which are incessant, are, in their opinion, the
great causes of the diseases, which prevail to a frightful extent.
A letter from Toulon gives the following particulars relative
to the expedition which is preparing for Africa :—Within these
six weeks 10,000 soldiers and 1,200 mules have been embarked
at Toulon for Algeria. Measures are taken to revictual Me-
deah and Miliana, to make them the basis of the operationsof the
campaign, which is going to be opened from Algiers. Oran
will act on its side, so as to make a diversion in the west, and
General Negrier will operate in the east. The object of our
efforts will be to take Tedekempt, Abd-el-Kader's capital.
General Negrier has already struck a great blow at Constan-
tine. A chief, hostile to our powers, and whose influence is
great, has been seized and brought away prisoner. He is now
at Fort la Malque, at Toulon. He expected to be beheaded ;
but he has recovered his confidence, and now complains bitterly
of being detained. " Why do you detain me?" said he to Ge-
neral Boyer, Commandant of Toulon. " I have four wives
and eight children, who call for me, and cannot do without me."
—Le Commerce.