The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-08 00:00:00

anA3

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1846.

The Lords met at Five o'clock, and shortly afterwards
The Earl of DALHOUSIE rose to detail to their Lordships
the course which it was the intention of the Government to
pursue with regard to railway legislation. After going into
the past history of railway legislation, the Noble Earl pro-
ceeded to state the plan proposed by the Government.
The statement made by the Noble Earl did not at all differ
from that made by Sir ROBERT PEEL last evening on this
subject in the House of Commons. He concluded by stating
that he should introduce a Bill on the subject shortly after
Lord z 126; the matter would be fully discussed.
the Government had teat
fled that the attention of
tance of the subject. He only reeratazused to the impor-
ment had not adopted this course at an e...;;;:f the Govern-
thought that long since, in the House oft;E::^11; and he
classification of Bills, with a view to priority, ought fo 39
been adopted; and surely some such proposition as this might
have been brought forward at an earlier period of the session,
+hit wiEnt-nave had something tangible in the shape of
a printed Bill, and not nave been sett ;filth% the whole of the
recess without any definite document to which parties in-
terested could appeal, so that they might know wb '"I
were about. He therefore urged erbnn tb. _Noble Earl the
necessity of at once gi-eiag- his plan in extenso to the public.
Certain limits should be placed upon the powers proposed to
be given to shareholders, for parties having a disposition to
harrass a competing line, might by purchase obtain
an interest, in the rival company, and dissolve it.
He hoped all the railway Bills would be stopped for the pre-
sent. He, for one, would not consent to proceed with a
single railway Bill until the Government measure should
have been introduced and decided on. Such he understood
to be the intention of the Government, and if it were not,
he should certainly call upon their Lordships not to take any
further steps at present with regard to any particular railway
Bill. Great care should be taken so to modify that part of
the proposition relating to the consent of the shareholders to
dissolve as to secure that those persons petitioning for the
dissolution should be bond fide shareholders.

Lord KINNAIRD thought the Government had acted wisely
in hitherto abstaining from interference with railway com-
panies. He could, however, have wished that the proposition
of the Government had been made a few days earlier, in order
that it might have been discussed before the holidays. He
suggested whether they might not pass, even before the re-
cess, a standing order extending the standing order now ap-
plicable to existing railway companies applying for fresh
powers to railway companies applying for new Bills.
After a few observations from Lord WHAENCLIFFE and
the Marquis of LONDONDERRY, and a reply from the Earl of
DALHOUSIE, the subject dropped.
Their Lordships, on the motion of the Duke of WELLING-
TON, adjourned to Tuesday, the 21st instant.

The SMAIER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
On the motion of Mr. TUFNELL, a new writ was ordered
for Malton, in the room of Mr,CIIILDEas, who has accepted
the Chiltern Hundreds. _ _

On the motion of Lord G. SOMERSET, it was agreed that
all proceedings on Railway Bills should, after Thursday
next, be postponed until Monday, the 27th inst., and that no
Railway Bill should be read a third time before that day.
On the motion for the consideration of the report on the
General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Bill,
Mr. HUME moved as an amendment that the evidence
taken before the Committee on that Bill be printed, and on a
division the amendmers was carried by a majority of 8 ;
there being for the mo. ion 74, and for the amendment 82.
Sir R. PEEL gave notice twat he should to-morrow, if it
met with the approval of tin House, move the adjournment
for the Easter holidays till Friday week, on which day he
proposed to proceed with the Protection of Life and Pro-
perty (Ireland) Bill, and on the Monday following with the
Corn Bill, provided the Irish Bill was disposed of on Friday ;
if, however, it was not, he proposed to give it precedence
on Monday.
Mr. Wyss then moved for a Select Committee to inquire
into the present state of legal education in Ireland, and the
means for its further improvement and extension.
At the conclusion of the Right Hen. Gentleman's address,
the House was counted out.

The House of Commons has only two nights for
discussion previous to the Easter holidays, so that both
the Corn-law Bill and the Bill for the better Protection
of Life and Property in Ireland must be stopped in their
course for at least a fortnight. Parliament has now
been sitting for ten weeks, to a late hour every business
night, with a very few exceptions. There has been more
talk during that time than during any previous session
for years ; the two questions have been fully debated;
and though the great majority of the public have made
up their minds on both, and are most anxious for a speedy
decision, they are obliged to wait still longer, in
the most intense anxiety, for a deliverance from their
present doubts and difficulties. Trade is paralysed ;
the labouring classes already begin to feel the effect, and
the best season of the year will thus, in all probability, be
lost before the opponents of the Government can make
up their minds to let Parliamentary affairs take their
usual course. No impartial observer can blame the
Government fur this delay. We believe Sir ROBERT
PEEL and his colleagues are most anxious to have the
corn-law question settled, and could have adopted no
other course. It is admitted on all hands that the state
of certain Irish counties is frightful, that no man's life
or property is secure, and that a general system of
assassination prevails unheard-of in civilised countries.
The Government would have been only abettors of these
horrible and un-English crimes if they had delayed till
atter Easter measures for abating the evil, and would
justly have incurred public indignation for such apathy.
A Bill—whether exactly suited to the purpose or not we
cannot say—was passed through the House of
Lordq, with very general consent from Whigs
as well as Tories, and sent down in due form
to the other House. According to universal
custom and the recognised regulations of Parliament, a
Bill of this character coming from the Upper House is
read a first lime without delay, the discussion being
taken on the second reading, or some other stage of the
Bill. Any other course by which delay could take place
would be considered not only as an act of contempt to-
wards the Lords, but would cast great blame on the Go-
vernment, who might be justly accused of attending
more to their own favourite measures than the peace of
Ireland, or the protection of innocent men from the
daily plots of assassins. But they have been thwarted,
and may be utterly defeated in their views, at least as to

any seasonable relief for such crying iniquities, by the
advantage which some of the Irish Members have taken
of privileges allowed to a minority in the House. The
business of Parliament, and the very relief of the starving
Irish, are stopped in their course, because Mr.
O'CONNELL strongly objects to certain clauses of
the Bill, and considers himself therefore justified in
resisting it with unyielding hostility at the very thresh-
hold. Previous to the meeting of Parliament he an-
nounced.lais intention to depart from a course of policy
which he had for some time adopted, and take his
seat as usual, in order to assist the Government in
carrying their great and benevolent scheme for the
abolition of the corn-laws. Whether he has fulfilled his
promise we leave our readers to judge.
In fact, he and Lord GEORGE BENTINCE are
working together, though, we trust, with different
purposes, to defeat a measure so urgent and necessary,
and so anxiously desired by many millions throughout
the United Kingdom. And for what purpose? To mark
his hatred of some clauses which could be modified or
struck out in Committee. Even admitting that they
are not justified except on extraordinary occa-
sions, and that the liberty of the subject ought always
to be one main object in the view of every good
legislator, we must bear in mind that this Bill is to be
only temporary, and that it is not to be called into ope-
ration except in cases of great atrocity, and almost
a total dissolution of the bonds of society ; and be-
sides, it is the bounden duty of the innocent to submit
for a time to some curtailment of their rights and pri-
vileges for the good of the community at large. We
cannot imagine any infringement of the law of the land
half so insupportable as the state of society that
prevails in some of the Catholic counties of Ireland.
Is assassination, and an utter contempt of law, and
justice, and religion, to be suffered to remain unchecked,
because a severe remedy may be proposed? Is the main
business of the session to be stopped ? Are the protec-
tionists to be encouraged in their opposition, and the
trade of the country to be thrown into utter confusion,
because the Government have resolved on strong
measures to put down atrocities which are a stain and
a disgrace to a Christian community ?

An important discussion was raised on Monday by Lord
SANDON, with respect to what course the Government was
prepared to recommend for the purpose of checking the
amount of railway legislation during the present session.
The• Member for Liverpool quoted the circulars of mercan-
tile bodies of high authority, expressive of their greatest
apprehensions for the welfare of our trade and com-
merce, already considerably affected by the conse-
quences of the railway mania of last year, if steps be
❑ot speedily taken against converting the millions that
may be required for the projected railways from float-
ing into fixed capital. Sir ROBERT PEEL at
once recommended the following plan : To pass
a Bill as speedily as possible limited to this ob .
ject—viz., that a majority holding more than half the
stock of, a company should be entitled to represent to
Parliament their desire of not proceeding with the Bill,
and that thereupon Parliament should refuse their sanc-
tion to any further proceedings ; that those by whom
the scheme was originally proposed should remain re-
sponsible for all liabilities. And he also thought that it
might be desirable that a trustee or official assignee
should be appointed to take possession of the pro-
perty and appropriate it to those who have claims upon it.
The known caution of the Premier, and his unrivalled
experience and skill, in all matters of finance, impart the
greatest weight to any suggestions he may offer, or to
any plans he may devise. In the early part of the ses-
sion he warned Parliament of the commercial derange-
ment that would be likely to ensue unless some power-
ful check was imposed in the way of diverting from the
industrial and ordinary channels of trade so enormous
an amount of capital. He did not at that time meet
with the support necessary to carry his plan into exe-
cution. Having failed in inducing Parliament to put a
direct t• heck to the threatened evil, his proposition of
Monday, as an indirect means of compassing the same end,
is, perhaps, taken altogether, the most reasonable, safe,
and fair that could be made. The plan was more
ully developed last night in the House :of Lords, the
pressure of business in the Commons rendering it im-
possible to introduce or make any progress with the
Bill there at present.

We have received numerous communications calling
our attention to the various devices adopted by the
managers of several of the defunct railway schemes, who
are attempting to take advantage of the supposed legal
decision in the case of WoOLMER v. TOBY to extort
from the allottees contributions varying in amount on
the number of shares allotted to them. In our columns
and 28th of March we impugned the justice
of the veru.,_,
ceive it could stasn'anZ the reasons why we did not con-
(„,„ wh-its'oever had De-en- arrtvea gt, nut
that the very important questions of law involved therein
were reserved for argument before, and the decision of,
the full court.

Circulars have since been sent, calling attention to
that case, by which (as it is said) the legal liability of
the several parties to whom shares have been allotted to
pay the whole of the deposit on such shares is fully es-
tablished. They then, although having this power, in
their disinterested affection for the allottees, express
their readiness to accept a small'sum, which they think
parties may be induced to pay rather than go into a
court of law to contest the claim, which they state that
they are willing to accept in full for all demands if paid
before a given day (always fixed before the final
decision of WooLmen v. TOBY can possibly be:obtained),
by which time, if the sum claimed be not paid, immediate
proceedings are to be instituted for the entire demand.
Such is the usual course. Sometimes, however, the
letter comes from an attorney, who demands a further
suns of ss. for his printed or lithographed letter; but all
these attempts have been far cast into the shade by one
recently adopted in a circular, bearing date the 31st of
March (and since also adopted by another company),
which purports to contain a leading article of
the Times of the 24th of March. They have therein
printed all such portions of the above article
as appear to be in favour of the demand, but they
cautiously omit the part bearing the other way, wherein
the case of NOCKELS V. CROSBY, and the judgment of
the Court of Queen's Bench thereon is cited, and the
observation that, " Unless this can be distinguished
from WOOLMER V. TOBY, the verdict in the latter is
clearly wrong, so far as it went, upon the defendant's
liability not being released by the abandonment of the
scheme," what can be thought of the conduct of those
persons who thus attempt, by garbled quotations, to
induce the public to believe that they have an
authority in their favour, which, if the entire
was given, must appear to bear the other way? Must
they not be conscious of the weakness of their cause when
they have recourse to such unworthy means? What-
ever may be the result of the question as to the liability
of the allottees, we should consider ourselves unworthy
of our position as public journalists, did we not discoun-
tenance by every means in our power such a proceeding,
and expose the trickery by which it is characterised.

Our friends are proved in the days of trouble, according
to an ancient proverb ; and, acting upon this principle,
Ireland may now discover those who sympathise
with her sufferings, and those who are indifferent to her
misfortunes. Fortunately for humanity, the number of
the former infinitely preponderates over the number
of the latter. Those must be callous-hearted in-
deed—those must be impervious to every feeling
of benevolence—those must richly merit our execra-
tion, who can behold the aggregation of cala-
mities now pressing upon our sister country without
some sense of commiseration, without some wish to par-
ticipate in the development of ameliorative measures.
Men who can witness, without a pang of pity, whole
districts thrown into confusion by the visitations of
famine and disease, by the lamentable squalor and pri-
vations of their fellow-creatures, cast out into the
hedges and ditches, houseless, hopeless, foodless, penny-
less, would naturally be regarded with detesta-
tion. Some may imagine that no such individuals
can be in existence—that the supposition of
such tacit atrocity is but the exaggeration of
a morbid fancy. Gladly would we think so ourselves.
Hard facts, however, stare us in the face ; and we are
reluctantly forced into the knowledge that there are such
men amongst us, that they blush not to avow their own
heartlessness, and that their cruel indifference to the woes
of the human family spring from the basest of all motives
—self-interest 1 What are these facts ? Alas ! they
are simple enough, and GOD knows they aro painful and
degrading enough to our common nature. It actually
appears, from our Irish intelligence, that many of the
farmers of that unhappy country, far from endeavouring
to allay the woes consequent among their neighbours
from the scarcity of provisions, have been rendering
those woes more grievous and intolerable by keeping back
their stores of potatoes and other food in order to extort
from their starving countrymen famine prices Surely
there is much atrocity in this ! Surely these men de-
serve the abhorrence of mankind ! At a time when
whole parishes are raging with fever, or stricken with
other diseases, from the consumption of decayed vege-
tables, or from an absolute destitution, these persons
could look on unmoved, with their premises stocked with
provisions, rejoicing within themselves at the prospect of
an extortionate payment. They could act thus with the
spectacle of extreme want immediately before their eyes, a

are striving to afford sustenance
.
oniuring the more fortunate
while the Ministry
where it is required, and e with them in their
among the Irish to co-operate
the official
charitable and generous labours, o:
utterly
efforts to make up the deficiency would be
inefficient. To contrast the matter yet more strongly .
while the gallant regiments of Irish, who are hazarding
their lives upon the banks of the Sutlej, are subscribing
somewhere about eight hundred pounds for the poor of +
their native land, a woman in Blackrock, who is in pos-
session of a large quantity of potatoes, anncunces her
resolution not to sell until she can obtain a farthing
a-piece for them! When such a villainous want of
sympathy is evidenced by people situated in the midst of
the calamity—people allied by ties of kindred and country
to the victims of starvation—it becomes indeed a most
difficult task to assuage the pangs of Ireland. Far from
any gratitude being expressed towards the Ministers for
endeavouring to diminish the scarcity by the importation
of foreign provisions, no sooner is a cargo of Indian corn-
meal landed at Cork, than a panic seizes the holders of
potatoes, and a cry is raised at a public meeting in
that city, " that Sir ROBERT PEEL be hanged for
bi inging fresh food into the market." To say that this is
ungenerous and ungrateful to the last degree, would be
an inadequate expression of that thorough and heartfelt
abhorrence with which we regard these ignoble Irish
malcontents. Such conduct is repugnant to us as mem-
bers of a civilised community, as Christians, nay, as men.
It is a most miserable exhibition of turpitude on the part
of those Irish farmers, and will cause every right-think-
ing mind to rejoice at the disappointment of their avari-
cious intentions by the arrival of that food which
the precautionary policy of the Premier has conveyed
across the ocean. In the town of Ballyjamesduff, its
wretched inhabitants are so completely without a crumb
of nourishment, and so entirely without the means of
obtaining any, that, according to a letter received from
that neighbourhood, " they had shut themseks up in
their dwellings for two days, with the apparent determi-
nation to conceal their state of want, and abide their
dreadful fate I" Yet this is the very time a certain
proportion of the farmers were reserving their stock
until they could safely require a famine price. Like the
gravediggers mentioned by DEVOE during the great
plague of London, their trade was to thrive most at the
height of the visitation.

Madrid journals of the 30th have been received. The
capital was tranquil, and all the accounts from the pro-
vinces were favourable. It would appear that the
country is resolved to wait patiently for the result of the
late extraordinary Cabinet measures. The Council of
State having drawn up a report on the new law relative
to time bargains on the Bourse, had submitted it to the
Cabinet, who are said to be divided on the subject.
On the 30th the Three per Cents. closed at 32 for cash,
and 321-16th for the 19th of April. The Fives were not
quoted.

In the French Chamber of Deputies, on Saturday, an
animated discussion took place on the presentation of se-
veral petitions from Protestants, complaining of the religi •
ous grievances to which they are subjected by the Govern-
ment and the Catholic Church. They complained that
a Protestant congregation cannot assemble for religious
purposes without a license from the minister or prefect,
which to a certain extent placed them at the mercy of
one of these functionaries ; that Protestant pastors aro
nut allowed to visit military hospitals regularly, and in-
deed cannot enter them unless at the special request of
the sick soldiers ; and, lastly, of the improper means
used by the Catholic clergy to convert children of tender
age, and even shut them up in convents. M. GASPARIN
supported the prayer of the petitioners, and several
leading Members spoke on the occasion—among others,
M. ODILON BARROT, M. DUPIN, and M. MARTIN (du
Nord) ; but a general feeling seemed to prevail that these
religious discussions i❑ the Chamber could lead to no
satisfactory result, and the petitions were therefore re-
ferred to the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice.
The Committee on the proposed establishment of trans-
atlantic packets had drawn up their report, in which
they propose the following plan :—That the Government
be authorised to treat with one or more oommercial
companies, for the establishment of either sailing or
steam-packets on four principal lines, namely, to New
York, to the West Indies, to Rio Janeiro, and to the
Havannah. The departures are to take place from
Havre and Marseilles, and the packets to be adapted for
sailing, or for steam on the principle of the screw. The
rate of sailing to be at least nine miles an hour, and the
vessels are not to be allowed to carry more than 200 tons
of goods. The distance from Havre to the -West Indies
to be done in 20 days, and to Rio Janeiro and the
Havannah in 27 days.
The accounts from Algiers are more favourable than
they have been for some time. The Moniteur Algerein
states that the province of Constantine was perfectly
pursuing ABD-EL-KADER, and, after a march of three
days, had reached the town of 'Lamina, only about a day
after the departure of the EMIR, who had taken to the
mountains, accompanied by 400 or 500 horsemen. On
the 26th of March the Duke D'AUMALE, accompanied by
the Prince of SAXE-COBURG and a brilliant staff, entered
Blidah towards five in the afternoon. A detachment of
cavalry, with a body of spahis, commanded by General
COMMAN, went to meet the Prince at the village of Beni-
Mered. On the following day they left for Milianab,
where the Duke D'AUMALE takes the command of the
district. According to a letter in the Presse, fever pre-
vailed in some of the hospitals to a great extent. I❑ the
hospitals in the province of Oran alone 1,000 persons had
died during the last three months.
The Journal des Debar contains the following details
relative to the Western Railroad—that from Paris to
Brittany :
" The two companies candidates for the Western Railway,
the one represented by Messrs. Laffitte and Blount, the
other by Messrs. Emile, Pereire, Thurneyssen, and Tarbe de
Sablons, have, according to the desire of the Government
and of the Committee of the Chamber, come to an under-
standing. The Committee, it is said, proposes to the Cham-
ber the concession of the Western Railway to these two com-
panies, united with branches to both of the Versailles lines,
and the concession of the line from Bounieres to Caen to the
Company. De Bretenil joined with the companies Laffitte
and Athalin. The Western Companies and that of Caen
remain, like the railways which they work, completely in.
dependent of each other. Of the social capital of the Wes-
tern Railway, 1414,000 shares will be assigned to the share-
holders of both the Versailles lines ; the proportion to be
settled by an arrangement between the directors of the com-
panies if the concession be voted by the Chambers. Each
share of the right bank Versailles will be received into the
Western line for 550 f., and exchanged against four Western
shares of 125 f. each, with 50f. returned, representing the value
of the shares of the Company. In the same way, each share
of the left bank Versailles will be received for 375 f., and ez •
changed for three shares of the west line of 125 f. each. Ac-
cording to this arrangement, both Versailles lines may be
immediately incorporated with the Western Company.
Questions of detail will be settled by the Minister, and the
report presented on Monday or Tuesday."
The French Three per Cents. were done at TORTONI'S
on Sunday at 83f. 50c.

=ICINESS DONE IN FORF.IiN RAILWAYS AT TIIE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, APRIL 6.

Boulogne and Amiens, 12IA —Dutch Rhenish, by,—East Indian,
%—Great Northern of France Constituted, 14%—Great Western
Canada, 4—Louvain and Jentappe, I%—Luxembourg, 1 !‘, —Namur
and Liege, 2—Orleans and Bordeaux, 11%—l'aris and Otrasbourg
(Constituted), 5%---Sambre and Meuse, 3%.

REPRESENTATION OF MALTON.—A new writ was moved
last night for the borough of Malton, in the room of Mr.
Childers, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds. It is
understood that Lord Milton will succeed him. The borough
is under the influence of his father, Lord Fitzwilliam.

CityO.
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Highnessnote
21n5/.ll.tittoi:tthioßenLiterary
tA tl
hb ce rt has subscribed
Princertuid Scientific
balancean odt.Mechanics'tsb uildg
debt, the list of whom already ino ciclndeasethe names of the Earl of
Radnor, Lord Robert Grosvenor, the Lord Mayor, Charles Hindley,
Esq., M.P. (who originated this subscription),
_and 12 other gentlemen.
CHAPEL ROYAL, WHlTEUALL.—lhursday next being
" Melinda), Thursday," the annual and aneient ceremonyti connected
&c toa ae
na
sdistributeaccords
withmn o
the e y , clothes,age t
h
with the distribution of her Majesty's bounty will .
scteiminn herfr
of
e .Sovereign. This in.
Majesty's chapel at Whitehall, where it has been th
many poor
nmleannyanedenwtuotrinees t o
teresting ceremony commences at three o'clock by a procession from
the Queen's Almonry-office in Scotland-yard, to the Royal CI p
where Divine service is performed, during which the dlstrillatiol;
takes place.
GREAT FOOT RACE FOR 201.—0 n Monday the long-
pending issue between Mountjoy and E. Smith was decided at the
Beehive cricket-ground, Walworth. The men were matched to run
over one mile of ground, and leap one hundred hurdles, placed at
equal distances. The men are first-rate pedestrians, and drew a
large number of persons to the race. Smith took the lead. Mount-
joy made an ineffectual struggle to come up, but ten at the twelfth
hurdle, and Smith ran in an easy winner.
MISS KELLY'S THEATRE.—Mr. Henry Russell (the
American vocalist), whose name has become familiar from the de-
served popularity of his compositions, concluded his musical enter-
tainments at the above theatre on Monday evening. The house
was very full, and his truly excellent delineation of the music and
peculiarities of the negro elieited a just awed of hearty approbation.
THE LATE LOSS OF LIFE AT YARMOUTH. The
coroner has at length registered the death of the unfortunate crea-
tures who perished by the falling of the bridge last May. Bat lie
did not do so until the Registrar-General threatened him with an
action in the Court of Queen's Bench. This delay on the part of
the coroner is, we believe, attributable to a quarrel between hint
and the bench of magistrates, for his fees upon the inquest he held.
LECTURE BY A RETURNED .CONVICT.—On Tuesday
night last a lecture on the horrors of transportation was delivered in
the theatre here by a returned convict. The lecturer, who is a man
about forty years of age, appeared in the dress of a Norfolk Island
onvict--half grey, half yellow—and gave a painful recital of the
manifold miseries to which the trausperted criminal is subjected. The
sufferings and hardships they endure lie described as being worse
than those of absolute slavery, and to get rid of such a miserable
existence murder and suicide were frequently committed. The
limited attendance showed that the subject was. one in which the
people of Ayr took but little interest.—Ayr Advertiser.
AN ALARM.--On Sunday afternoon the officers on
duty in thus St. 'Catherine Deck were alarmed by the report of fire-
arms, Which proceeded from the ship Shepherdess, lying in the
basin, and on proceeding to the vessel to inquire the cause, they
ascertained that two apprentic4l4 had loaded an old blunderbuss and
fired it at a target in the cabin. The windows of the cabin were
blown out by the explosion, and considerable damage was done.
The foolish lads had closed the doors and stopped up every crevice in
the cabin to prevent the noise being heard, and the consequence was,
the windows were blown out by the concussion. On searching the
apprentice's chest, the offfcers found upwards of two pounds of gun-
powder, which they seized. The lads have subjected themselves to
a penalty of 51. each for taking onpowder into the dock, and it is
believed they will Po preitclit44 by this Pick Company M Waruivis
to ottioro,