The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-31 00:00:00

to any time when he would be liberated from his part '
of the bargain, the nation reserves to itslf the
power of discharging him at any time when it
may be expedient to do so. How often have cases
occurred of young men, who having lost their health,
or even been disabled by wounds received in actual
service, have been turned off without provision or the
means of obtaining an honest livelihood, to starve in
the streets, become mendicants, or have recourse to
the tender mercies of the union workhouse. The
case of poor COTTON, the man who was brought to
Worship street Police-court, during the latter part of
last year, for exposing wounds received at the battle
of Hyderabad, and by which he was incapacitated
from earning his daily bread, establishes the fact that
there is little hesitation evinced in getting rid of
those persons the moment their services cease to
he valuable, and yet they are retained for their life-
time without consideration of their feelings or wishes,
if the State requires them. These contracts are too
often obtained in the most discreditable manner. A
raw lad of seventeen or eighteen years of age is dis-
covered by a wily recruiting sergeant ; he is taken to
a public-house, plied with intoxicating drinks until
he becomes perfectly inebriated; during that period
he is told the most outrageous falsehoods,
and at last is induced to take the bounty by means of
false pretences and practices that would justly sub-
ject the perpetrator to severe punishment if he ob-
tained any pecuniary advantage thereby. As a
matter of simple equity, therefore, the claim of the
soldier to a limitation of his term of service should be
granted.
From the statement of the Hon. Member for
Wiltshire, it appears that in the year 1845 there
were but 2,000 soldiers in the British army who had
served more than 21 years ; that the moment they
became entitled to their pensions a series of frauds
commenced, which never ceased until their dis-
charges were obtained—that, in fact, the great majority
of the soldiers left the army after 18 years' service.
If this be so—and we see no reason to doubt its ac-
curacy—it is an additional reason why they should
obtain, as a matter of right, in an open and honour-
able manner, that which is now procured by under-
hand and fraudulent means. It takes from the
sticklers for unlimited enlistment their chief ground,
their strongest argument. There cannot be that
great inconvenience to the public service that is so
loudly asserted, when the average service is so little
more than that which has been fixed as the period
for which the soldiers are to be bound. Every in-
ducement should be held out to them to re-enlist for
the time that would entitle them to full pensions.
We would gladly see the amount of those pensions
increased, and some little mark of distinction in the
shrpe of a cross or medal, &c., with a small additional
pecuniary advantage attached to it, conferred upon
soldiers who had served their full time, with credit to
themselves and advantage to their country. These
tokens of their country's approbation might be
conferred for gallant actions in the field, or for
undeviating good conduct in the barrack, and
would have a wonderful effect in stimulating
those whom it was desirable to retain to endeavour to
gain them. The objection that the country would
become martialised by having among its citizens so
many who had served is quite untenable. Those
men will have a direct interest in the preservation of
the public peace in the deferred pensions to which
they may look forward ; they will also be enrolled in
the public service; and all experience has shown that
they will form a class whose loyalty may be relied on,
and who will oppose the strongest barriers to any in-
sidious attempts to create public disturbances.
The gallant acts of our young soldiers in the
Peninsula and at Waterloo prove that even
raw recruits, certainly men of very inferior standing,
may perform the most brilliant actions, and that
the honour of the British name and the safety of
the British nation may safely be entrusted to
their keeping. The statistical returns quoted by
the Secretary at War, showing the increase of
mortality in our colonies after men had passed a cer-
tain age, establishes that, on the ground of
humanity alone, if there was nothing else to recom-
mend it, the measure should be sanctioned and
adopted. We trust that we shall see it followed by
other regulations for the improvement of the condi-
tion of the private soldier, that will make him an
object of envy to persons of the class to which he
originally belonged, and induce them to endeavour
to obtain similar advantages by entering into the
service of their country.

The Berlin correspondent of a Frankfort journal
states the receipts of the Zollverein during the last
year were much less than in 1845, and attributes the
reduction to the dearness of the necessaries of life and
the scarcity of money. The writer adds that the
Zollverein has renewed its negotiations with America
for a commercial treaty.
A correspondent writes from Vienna, on the 22d,
to the Journal de Franefort—
" In consequence of the continued dearth of provi-
sions, there were riots on the 20th at Funthans, a village
in the environs of Vienna ; the bakers' and other shops
were forcibly entered, and a quantity of bread and
other provisions was carried of; but a detachment
of hussars soon dispersed the mob. No act of
personal violence was committed. The Government
is taking all possib'.e measures for relieving the
general-distress. It is increasing the public works, and
urging the formation of railroads with redoubled vigour.
Nevertheless, all the hospitals, prisons, and houses of
correction are full, and it is evident that all human re-
sources will not suffice to remedy an evil so general.
Every one is persuaded that, if the next harvest is not
abundant, the Government will be compelled to interdict
the exportation of corn. At the last market there was
a great number of French buyers. The Government
has ordered the issue of 500,000 florins in Treasury bills
for the benefit of the town of Brunn, celebrated for its
industry, and particularly for its woollen manufactories.
These bills bear three per cent., and may be paid at any
time. A similar issue at Prague has been perfectly suc-
cessful."

The Cologne Gazette states from Vienna, that it
is not intended to make any formal reduction in the
Austrian army, but to give unlimited furloughs to
30,000 men.

We learn from Breslau, under date of the 23d, that
public order had just been disturbed there, in conse-
quence of the discharge of SOO workmen, who had
been employed during the winter on the fortifications.
These men, instead of seeking work elsewhere, went
through the town uttering menacing cries, and it was
found necessary to call out the troops to disperse
them, which was done without bloodshed.

Madrid Papers of the 24th have arrived.
The Herald() denies, in the strongest terms, that
any intention has ever existed on the part of the
Ministry to propose entrusting to the KING-CONSORT,
either alone or in conjunction with the Due DE
MONTPENSIER, the power of administering the mo-
narchy in the event of any failure in the QUEEN'S
health. The same journal suggests the union of
NARVAEZ, MON, BRAVO MURILLO, and OLIVAN in
one Cabinet, as likely to secure the confidence both of
the QUEEN and of the Chambers. The discussion on
the Address still continued. It has outlasted one
Mini3try, nearly outlasted another, and will possibly
never be concluded, as it is more than probable that
a continuance of the Ministerial crisis may necessi-
tate an immediate dissolution of the Chamber.
MADRID BOLSA, Mascii 24.—The Three per Cents. were
done at 30i for cash ; the Five per Cents, at 19 ; the
Debt without interest, at 53/4 ; and the Coupons, at 17.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday.

The Journal des Debats has an article extending
over four columns, which is full of the most gloomy
forebodings as to the next harvest. It prophecies a
failure of all the crops of 1847, and urges the neces-
sity of taking immediate measures to secure immense
importations of corn and provisions during the course
of the ensuing year. Speaking of the prospects of
the future, the Daats says—

"In such a matter we can only have probabilites for
the basis of reasoning. But then the subject is of such
gravity, that however slight the probability may be,
hesitation is not to be permitted, and we must, under
the penalty of incurring a terrible responsibility, reso-
lutely take the side to which the probability leans. Now
what is it that probability indicates for the next harvest?
As regards grain, properly so called—wheat and rye,—
the abundance of the next harvest is the secret of the
I attire. We ought to believe that we shall have the
ordinary quantity. It appears, however, that the recent
colds, which have been late and intense, have injured
the rye in some cantons of the south. Let us, however,
pass over that circumstance until it shell be better proved.
But there is another harvest, the fate of which is at
present certain; we shall not have this year more than half
of the ordinary potato crop. The malady, which came un-
expectedly to attach itself obstinately to this product, and
against which all the art of our farmers, and all the
science of our academies, have tailed, has destroyed the
potato almost everywhere before it could be sown; and
where it has been preserved, it has become so enormously '