The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1841.

too, the different Governments of Europe, no
longer harrassed by strife amongst themselves,
have bent all their energies to promote the wel-
fare of the community. In most States, where
representative bodies did not before exist, they
have been established, the great passion of the
day appearing to be to promote the public wel-
fare by legislation. We have had here in Eng-
land Parliamentary Reform, Municipal Reform,
and a variety of other reforms, :calculated to in-
crease the happiness of the people. We have
had very extensive reform's in the lawf and in
prison discipline; we have had also tithes set-
tled, and the Poor-law altered ; education has
been promoted, and civil government reformed;
in short, the Legislature has for twenty-six
years bestowed almost undivided attention on
promoting the welfare of the people, and the
result is the present condition of society.
Such a connection between the great exer-
tions of the Legislature, and the inefficiency of
the results, is calculated to excite a doubt
whether legislation has answered its end. Most
diligently have our senators toiled, and our news-
papers written, in favour of new laws, and the
result is the present condition of England. The
labour has been in vain, and in vain through ig-
norance. It is, for example, quite plain that the
facts we yesterday stated in relation to-paper
money—namely, that banking facilities supply
the place of a bank-note circulation, and that the
latter is slowly but surely becoming of compara-
tively little importance, have been unknown to
our lawmakers, or they would never, with, a
view to keep credit in check, have promoted the
establishment of banks, and sought to regulate
and control the issue of paper promises to pay.
The Legislature has, in fact, defeated its own
object. This is only the example, but from that
we deduce the rule. Thus it has been ignorance
in the Legislature, which has rendered itslabours
for twenty-five years nearly or completely abor-
tive, and which has made it the source rather of
mischief than of benefit to the community.
It must not at the same time be concluded, that
old laws are better than modern legislation, and
that PEEL'S caution is better than Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S zeal. Except the Corn-law, which,
in thorough ignorance of the progress of
society, was first passed in 1815, and renewed and
and altered in 1828, we know of no modern law
which has muelt tended to increase the misery of
the people. Reform Acts and remission of taxa-
tion have had no such tendency. The old laws,
laying restriction on trade and heavy burdens on
the people, are the causes of distress, and we
must have legislation to abolish those old laws
if the country is to be restored to prosperity.
Legislation to abolish old laws we must have,
but beyond that, till legislatOrs are much more
sure of their ground than at present, they ought
to proceed with the utmost care and caution.
But, without entering into details, either as to
the causes or remedies of the national distress, it
is clear, from the present condition of the
country, that 'since the peace legislation has
been signally inefficient, and the inefficiency
must have been caused by the ignorance or the
malignancy of the Legislature. Such a :reflec-
tion should make the Members of both Houses
cautious of their sayings and doings.

One of the subjects debated of late in Parlia-
ment, which has probably failed to interest the
people from a want of acquaintance with it, is
that of having a naval officer in the Board of
Ordnance. The reason of this is, that the Ord-
nance supplies arms to the navy as well as the
army, and only a naval man can judge whether
the arms supplied to the navy be well or ill
adapted to the purpose. In one of the brief dis-
cussions which have taken place on the subject
the peculiarity of gun-carriages on board
ship was adverted to, and what can mere
artillerymen know of the sort of gun-carriage
required for' different vessels ? Nothing.
Again, it has long been a subject of com-
plaint that the cutlasses supplied to our
seamen were no better than Iron-hoops with
a handle. This is quite true, and it has been a
standing reproach to the Ordnance Department
for nearly half a century. Similar remarks apply
to the muskets supplied to the seamen, who
are expected to defend their lives and gain
honour for their country with instruments that
would be a disgrace to the rude arts of Syria or
Arabia. In fact, as Sir CHARLES NAPIER ob-
served, the English sailor is worse supplied with
arms than the sailor on board MEHEMET Am's
ships, and it may reasonably be expected, were
a naval officer connected with the Board of Ord-
nance, that he would be able to remedy these
glaring evils. To secure the appointment of one
—which we regard as indispensable, and not as.
some journals have ignorantly or malevolently
misrepresented the matter, to place a naval officer
at the head of the Board—was the object of Sir
Sir CHARLES NAPIER'S recommendation. Every
naval officer in Parliament concurred in the re-
commendation, and the Tories will probably ere
long regret that they have not conciliated the
navy, and promoted the good of the service by
adopting it.

In a discourse of Dr: ("MANNING'S, delivered
in January last in the city of Boston, in the
United States, we find some remarks on the ob-
ligation of a city to care for, and watch over, the
health of its members, which we would gladly
see adopted by the wealthy classes in the cities
and larg►e towns of the United Kingdom. No-
thing can be truer than that a very large amount
of the misery and crime which disgraces such
cities as London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, would
disappear were the wealthy and influential inha-
bitants seriously to undertake the improvement
of the moral and physical condition of their neg-
lected, starving, erring brethren. But unhap-
pily a residence in cities, instead of bringing all
classes into collision, has generally the effect of
entirely separating them. In London, for ex-
ample, the rich and poor never meet but in the
'theatre, and even there the noise from the shil-
ling gallery is all that reaches the dress boxes.
The (h.:to:nee of a single street will frequently
carry a person from the excess of refinement to
a state of barbarism, of which it is impossible to
form an adequate conception. The most brutal
ignorance, the most deplorable indigence, the
most loath Some squalor and disease, the most
reckless, low, and depraved ruffianism, is fre-
quently separated only by a few hundred yards
from the gay abodes of accomplished elegance,
and the satiety of super-abundant wealth; and
yet the one knows nothing and cares nothing
for the other. " There are travellers from Lon-
, don," says Dr. CHANNING, " who come to visit
our Indians, but who leave at home a community
as essentially barbarous as that which they seek,
who, perhaps, have spent all tlteir lives in the
midst of it, giving it no thotight. To these tra-
vellers a hovel in one of the suburbs which they
have left would be as strange a place as the wig-
wam of our own forests. They know as little
what thousands of their own city suffer, to what
extremities thousands are reduced) by what arts
thou'sands live,'as they, know of the Modes of life
of savage tribes. How much more useful lessons
would they learn, and how much holier feelings
would be awakened in them, were they to pene-
trate the dens of want, and woe, and crime, a
few steps from their own door, than they would
gain from exploring this new world." But of the
tew who attempt the exploration of the haunts
of the destitute, not one in ten is actuated by the
only motives that could endear them to the poor,
and obtain from them their confidence. They
arc for the most part the female self-appointed
apostles of some Tract Society, who see nothing
but sin in rags, and who insult time sufferings,
and chafe the temper, of starving wretches, by
recommending to them the perusal of lying
legends, concocted by some Evangelical Jesuit
in- petticoats. For their many miseries they are
to seek consolation in the fabricated record of
the spiritual birth of " Sinful Sally," or " Dicky
Brown the Sweep's Conversion," from the sin of
two-pennyworth-of-gin potations before break-
fast. No wonder that the poor regard the in-
trusion of such Pharisees into their miserable
dwellings as an insult to their poverty, and that

they receive the i3roffefr6d tracts with an inward
determination not to read a line of them.

As for the authorised ministers of the Gospel
in London, they certainly cannot be accused of
insulting the wretched by any fanatical sym-
pathy for the sins or sufferings of the soul or
body. They are to be met with in the large
squares, the parks,
,and the fashionable pro-
menades, but never in the lanes, the alleys, and
the courts, where want seeks a last asylum, and
where squalid vice slums the noon-day con-
coutse of the affluent and the respectable. Po-
pulous , abodes of wretcliedness and crime, and
suffering- and death could :be, pointed out in
London; in which the footeal-Of the minister of
the Gospel was never heard.within the memory of

the present occupants. A salvationable soul
in London must reside in a fine house
in a respectable street, with a good larder and
a full cellar upon the premises. The
smell of good cheer is requisite to guide the
priest even to tict: Igcr--side of the dying. Mark
with what different eyles the r.
eloquent and bene-
volent CHANNING; looks upon the true greatness
of a great city :
It is a plain, truth, and yet how little understood, that
the greatest thing in a city is Man himself. Ile is its
end. We admire its palaces ; but the mechanic who
builds them is greater than palaces. Human nature in•
its lowest form, in the most abject child of want, is of
more worth than all outward improvements. You talk
of the prosperity of your city. I know but one true
prosperity. Does, the human soul grow and prosper
here ? Do not point. me to' your thronged streets. I
ask, who throng them ? Is it' a low-minded, self-seek-
ing, gold-worshipping,"man-despising crowd, which I
see rushing through them ? Do I meet in them, under
the female form, the gaily-decked prostitute, or the
idle, wasteful, aimless, profitless woman of fashion ?
Do I meet the young man, 'Showing off his pretty per-
son as the perfection of nature's works, wasting his
golden hours in dissipation and sloth, and bearing
in his countenance,, and gaze the marks of a
profligate. Do I meet a grasping multitude,
seeking to thrive by concealments and frauds ?
An anxious multitude, driven by fear of want to
doubtful means of gain ? An unfeeling multitude, caring
nothing for others, if they themselves prosper or enjoy ?
In the neighbourhood of your comfortable or splendid
dwellings, are there abodes of squalid misery, of reckless
crime, of bestial intemperence, of half-famished child-
hood, of profaneness, of dissoluteness, of temptation for
thoughtless youth ? And are these multiplying with
your prosperity, and outstripping and neutralising the
influence of truth and virtue ? Then your prosperity is
a vain show. Its true use is to make a better people.
The glory and happiness of a city consist not in the
number, but the character of its population. Of all the
fine arts in a city, the grandest is the art of forming no-
ble specimens of humanity. The costliest productions
of our manufactures are cheap, compared with a wise
and good humane being. A city which should practi-
cally adopt the principle, that man is worth more than
wealth or show, would gain an impulse that would place
it at the head of cities. A city in which men should be
trained worthy of the name, would become the metropo-
lis of the earth.

It is by corporate rather than by individual
exertions that'the health, and morals, and com-
forts of the potir Of our great cities can ever be
extensively , improved. The facilities of cheap
locomotioro has destroyed the necessity for the
old crowding of cities. An improved police and
superior lighting renders courts, and alleys, and
narrow lanes so many obstacles to cleanliness,
ventilation, and traffic. The squares and courts
of the 17th century were protections against rob-
bers by clustering people together. Now, in
building squares, it is not robbers, but
abundance of room, plenty of breathing-
space, that the architect is bound to care for, if

he have in view the comfort and convenience of

the future residents therein. Again, instead of
sectarian dogmas and pious fictions, the visitors
of the poor must consider in what way they can
be usefully employed, and properly self-instruct-
ed. Instead of driving silly women out of their
senses with ridiculous legends about the death-
bed conversions of imaginary men and women,
those who interest' themselves in their welfare
must teach them useful lessons in household
economy ; convince them of their errors by ex-
ample rather than bY precept; and, by represent-

lndin their owillives.the humility, and self-denial,
and charity of sincere Christians, gradually win
the least considerate to an admiration of the
spirit and an observance of the precepts of the
Gospel.

As it is quite settled that no alteration is to be
Made in the Poor-law, it seems ill-timed to dis-
cuss the subject in the press. That great desti-
tution prevails is unhappily certain ; but no per-
son dreams of charging that on the Poor-law.
If relief have not been adequate to the wants of
the people we are not sure that, under the old
system, when they were more completely at the
mercy of their masters than at present, that it
:would not have been lesS. We are no advocates,
:however, particularly in the present state of so-
ciety, for a harsh administration of thelaw ; but
:we should much prefer a system of legislation of
;whiclrthe object should be to restore industry
!independence and comfort, instead of providing
'for the wants of unoccupied pauperism. We
)lave read many discussions in Parliament, and,
except as that of Tuesday • evening might tend
:to rouse in the Members feelings of humanity,
and make them in general ashamed of oppres-
.sion, seldoM have we read one of less practical
'importance. For one thing it was -remarkable,
;which the upper classes may see with regret, and
!the lower with something like malignant satisfac-
tion. Mr.- FEnnAND and others accused the mill-
;owners of oppressing the people, while gentlemen
of a different party retorted on the landlords.
The people will conclude that they have now in
,their hands a certificate from each that the others
are oppressors. Surely those gentlemen who
provoke such exhibitions in Parliament can
never have heard of the contest between labour
and capital, and of the fierce hatred which is
nourished against the aristocracy, or they would
have been careful not to have put such powerful
arms into the hands of those they have made
their enemies. If discussion on the Poor-laws
can only give birth to such criminations and re-
criminations, the sooner, for the upper classes,
they are wholly suppressed the better.

Madrid Journals of the 21st instant have been
received. The Government had brought no
fewer than four prosecutions against the Correo
Nacional. Upon the only two tried the Journal
obtained a verdict of acquittal. M. ON's, well
known in England, has been appointed Ambas-
sador from Spain to the Court of London.

The Paris Journals of Tuesday have all reached
us. The Journal des Debats contains a remark-
able article, the puiport of which is that France
will not reduce her navy. The fine speeches
of Sir ROBERT PEEL have, therefore, been
thrown away, as, notwithstanding his friendly
assurances and the Treaty of the lath of July,
France has really no confidence in the pacific
.pledges of a Tory Government. The 'spirit of
M. TRIERS, who arrived in Paris -on Monday
evening, appears already to impart a warlike
• tone to the leading Ministerial journals.
The KING'S speech at the camp of Compiegne
has excited considerable 'interest in Paris. 'His
MAJESTY'S assurance. that. the troops would have
less to do for the present against foreign enemies
.than the factious -at home, was well calculated to
create distruSt among a large body in Paris.
The Opposition journals still attack the Minis-
terial circulars in the most unmeasured terms.
We doubt whether the KING, supported as he
is by the army alone, will be able to carry out
the threats of the Ministry against the Press.
The Giornale delle Due Sicilie gives an account of
disturbances having broken out at Aquila, in the
;' Abruzzo
, on the Bth instant, while the troops were
called to Naples to assist at the fete of the Pie di Grotta.
According to this official Journal, a body of labourers,
after having attacked Colonel Tanfani, commandant of
the province, while returning from the country with his
orderly officer, and killed them, entered the town and
• fired on a detachinnt of gendarmes and chasseurs, who
had assemble& at the first alarin. The latter yeturned
the fire, and killed four of theinsurgents. 1-,The rest re-
tired into the neighbouring country, whiih for a time
was thrown into a state of agitation. Troops were imme-
diately marched out in every direction, but the result
of their operations is not mentioned.
The Commerce gives tho following details of the voyage
of the Iphigenie frigate, recently arrived at Toulon from
the island of Bourbon:—" This frigate was despatched
for the island on the 27th of December, with 400 men of
the 3d regiment of Marines. Shewas about nine months
on her passage out and in, during which she lost 23 sol-
diers and 14 of her own crew. Capitaine de Corvette
Espanet, who was second in command, died after a shOrt
illness. She had sprung a leak, and it was necessary to
keep 12 men at the pumps, working night and day. She
is in want of repair, and must be hove down.
The Courrier Franfais gives a letter from Tripoli, in

Barbary, dated 25th ult., stating that the Turkish
troops, after having spread misery and desolation in the
province of Gorian, were preparing to re-enter Tripoli.
Forty Arab chiefs who had submitted were retained as
hostages in a fortress, and a large quantity of arms
taken from the Arabs of the province had arrived at
Tripoli. The letter adds that the crops have failed,
and that the duty of 40 per cent. upon the corn brought
to market was ruinous to the population. Unless,
says the writer, the Porte wishes to prevent the Arabs
or Gorian from 'dying of hunger, it will change the
present Governor. ,
The Frankfort Journal states that Prince. Paul Ester-
hazy will be probably replaced, for the present, as Aus-
trian Ambassador at London, by Baron Neumann:
The Emperor and Empress of Austria arrived at
Selicenbrunn on the .20th inst., from their tour in Styria
and Upper Austria.
The Com)nerce says, " We hate received accounts from
Bologna of the 18th inStant. According to certain ru-
mours in circulation, the late arrests in the Roman.
States were 'Conneeted.with a society called the Fereli-
nandine. 'rile Pope, after having remained three days
:at Loretto, left on the 14th for Ancona, arrived there
on the same day, and remained till the 18th. Both at
Loretto and Ancona there were illuminations, fireworks,
&e., in honour of his visit. The Pope has signified his
intention of visiting Bologna next year. There is no
talk of an amnesty.
The Univers states that a college, or school, for the
inhabitants of Beyrout, has been opened in that town
by the Jesuits, and that more than 140 young Syrians
attend it. _

While the King of Prussia was at the Camp in Leig-
nitz, Silesia, there were presented to him an old soldier,
105 years of age (who had served under Frederick the
Great), and his son aged 70.
The celebrated sculptor Thorswalden returned to Rome
on the 12th inst. He was received with great honour by
all the artists of Rome, and the Academy of St. Luke
sent a deputation to compliment him.
The Sentinelk des Pyrenees states, that some priests
arrested at Toledo, 45 in. number, for refusing to obey
the authority of the Government, by adhering to the
orders of the „Pope, have been tried 'for the 'offence, and
sentenced to a residence of nine months, and separately,
at a distance of at least 12 leagues from Toledo, but with
the power of evading this sentence by paying each 1,000
reals to the public treasury.
The Constitutionnel states that whilst the arrests were
going on at Chauriat, near Clermont, a peasant who had
compromised himself in the riots blew out his brains with
a pistol.
" Great and numerous difficulties," the Moniteur Pa-
risien states, " are said to have arisen to hinder the nego-
tiations between France and Belgium, for a commercial
treaty."
The Bayonne Journals announce the arrival there, on
Thursday, of the Count de Parsent, and add that it is
expected Don Francisco de Paulo will shortly follow on
his way to Madrid.
A letter from Constantinople, Bth inst., in the Augs-
burg Gazette, informs us that the schismatic Armenians
had presented a petition to the Sultan, complaining of
various acts of oppression on the part of their Patriarch,
and demanding his removal from that post. The peti-
tion, after much delay, which nearly produced a revolt, has
been crowned with success, the Patriarch having been de-
prived of his office. The Patriarch of Antioch arrived
at Constantinople on the 4th inst., as did also the second
son of.the Emir Beschir. From Malta, letters had been
received announcing the cessation of the plague at Tre-
bisonde, but it continued, to ravage the Pachalics of Bag-
dad and.Mousul. Fifty persons died daily at Erzerourn.
Tux. HAGUE, SEPT. 21.—The First Chamber of the
States-General, in its sitting to-day, gave its assent to
the first project of law for the anticipated conversion of
the Deferred into Active Debt ; and second, to that for
the redemption of debt for the year 1841. On the other
hand, the First Chamber has respectfully requested his
Majesty the King to take into further consideration that
containing instructions for the General Chamber of
Accounts.
BOURSE--PARIS, TUESDAY, SEPT. 28. ,
Sleet Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price
French 5 per Cents. ex. di,. 114 40 ... 114 49 ... 114 35 114 40
434 per Cents lO5 so ... 105 50 ... 105 50 105 50
4 per Cents 97 40 ... 97 40 95 97 25
3 per Cents... 7B 95 78 95 .7890 .. '7B 90
dank of France 2320 :4..3320 ...3517 50 ...3317 50
&Mate ?Sank 5,000 f. Shares 1.080 ...5080 ...SOSO ...5083
-vietan Bank
Belgian 5 per Cents.
per Cents., 1840 104% ... 104 ... 104% 194%
ipanish Active ....»......» 12% ... 22% ... 22% ... /2%
Passive ...... 514 ••• 5 ••• 5
New Deferred.. 10 'lO ... 10 ... 10
Neapolitan ........................ 105 10 ... 105.10 ... /15 105
103% ... 104 • ... 10536 ... 103(
_ _