The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-19 00:00:00

triening lilt

LONDON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1847.

CABINET COUNCIL.

Summonses were issued yesterday to the Ministers
to attend a Cabinet Council, at the Foreign-oftlce,
Downing-street. Three o'clock this afternoon was
the time appointed, and all the Ministers were ex-
pected to attend.

The House of Lords met at Five o'clock.
On the motion for bringing up the report on the

Destitute Persons (Ireland) Bill,

The Earl of ELLENDOROUGU said he viewed the mea-
sure with great distrust. HQ almost despaired as to the
future state of Ireland. He doubted whether the land-
lords of Ireland would avail themselves of the Govern-
ment offer.

The Marquis of LANsnowNE had no doubt but that
they would do so, and that the system of working would
be made " %stet. tight." He proposed to take the third
reading on Monday.
The report was then received.

Lord BEAUMONT asked whether any correspondence
had taken place with the Portuguese Government re-
specting the persecution to which Count Bomrxst and
his companions had been subjected.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that representations
had been made to the Portuguese Government on the
subject by the Ambassadors of England, France, and
Belgium, and that he entertained a confident hope that
the prisoners would be sent to a less unhealthy climate
than Angola. Our object in sending a force to Portugal
had been, not to interfere in the contest, but to
protect British interests ; but it would be there
to give protection to the QUEEN if she rewired it. It was

not their intention at present to interfere, but if Dom
DIIGuEL, or a party acting for him, were to interfere, a
new state of things would arise which would revive for-

mer treaties.

The Earl of ABERDEEN objected to the presence o
such a large fume in the Tagus, as appearing to counte•
nance the insurrection.

The Marquis of LANSVOWNIII defied any one to point
out a single instance in which they had countenanced
the insurrection. False ruinaurs prevailed on both
sides. He would not pronounce any opinion on the dis-
sensions at present existing in Portugal, but no instruc-
tions had been sent out either to the Admiral or the
Envoy which had not for their object the preservation of
a perfect impartiality between the contending parties.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGII considered that the pre-
sent Government in Portugal had violated every princi-
ple of constitutional liberty. The representations made
to them were a mere farce, and that, if it had been un-
derstood that, in the event of Admiral PARKER'S repre-
sentations being disregarded, the British fleet would
leave the Tagus, either these representations would have
been attended to, or the QUEEN would at
this moment have met Dom MIGUEL in London, while
the victorious troops of the Junta would have marched
as they had done before from Oporto to Lisbon.
Lord Baoucilitat then presented a petition from
Liverpool, praying for the amendment of the cri-
minal law as regarded juvenile offenders, and con-
cluded an eloquent speech, replete with statistics on
the subject of juvenile criminality, by giving notice that
he should, on a early day, move for a Select Committee
of Inquiry on the subject.
The Duke o: RICHMOND would support a motion for
a Committee of Inquiry.
Earl GREY said that 11-,e Government intended shortly
to bring forward a measure bearing especially upon ju-
venile offenders. Among other measures they proposed
to establish a penal school for offenders, and to which
vagrants might:also be sent. The subject of transportation
was under the consideration of the Government ; and
the measure to be proposed went as far almost as the
abolition of that punishment.
After a few words from Lord BROUGHAM, the subject
dropped.
Ca tain papers were then laid on the table, and their
Lordships adjourned.
The Commons met at Four o'clock, but there not
being forty Members present, the House adjourned until
t• -morrow (this day).

What is expended in the prosecution and punish-
ment of offenders would go far to reform the more
neglected portions of the community. The accuracy
of this estimate has become so universally obvious
as to have originated a very powerful movement in
behalf of the most despised and degenerated members
of the population. We are satisfied that a continu-

ante of the exertions which have been already com-
menced with these benevolent intentions is alone re-
quisite to purge from society a vast and horrible mul-
titude of evils, to render the lamentable duties of
correction in our criminal courts, and penitentiaries,
and prisons, and penal settlements less frequent and
less onerous, to reclaim many thousands who have
been hitherto regarded as irreclaimable, and to in-
crease the aggregate of prosperity and happiness of
the United Kingdoms by increasing the num-
ber of the honest and industrious. All
that is necessary for the realisation of these
inestimable advantages is perseverance on the
part of those philanthropic individuals who have
undertaken the advocacy of the dregs of the million.
Their cry is not that sublime admonition which has
been repeated and repeated until it has resolved itself
into a proverb—their appeal is not so much Fiat
justitia, real ad:lm, as it is " Act with justice towards
these miserable outcasts, because their sobriety and
enlightenment are directly associated with your own
well-being and safety !" There is an innate eloquence
and persuasiveness in these adjurations which must
perforce in the end prove irresistible. The entreaties
which are rising from the very poor, the very lowly,
and the very villanous, are appeals which strike at
once upon our reason and upon our religious sym-
and interested sentiments. In the
thedisinretecrlaestnteac!
Patties- They speak to
tion of a large concourse of vicious characters,
we perceive
simultaneously the blessings which must
necessarily accrue to them and the benefits which
must be conferred upon
reclama-
tion. We recognise the triple advantages which must
be the indubitable consequence of the ref •
ormati
our criminal code—the advantages on of
branching off to