The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-22 00:00:00

eittralTA

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1846.

Having already recorded the unanimous return 0:

free-trade representatives by the two most extensive
constituencies in the kingdom—namely, the West
Riding of Yorkshire and the City of London—it is
with more than ordinary gratification, that we an-
nounce a similar proceeding on the part of the next
largest constituency in Great Britain, namely, the
constituency of South Lancashire. The electors of
this most important locality assembled yesterday at
Newton, and returned, not merely unopposed, but
with acclamation, as their representative in Parlia-
ment, Mr. WILLIAM BROWN, whose name is so
honourably associated with the demonstrations for
commercial emancipation made at Manchester and
Liverpool. Did any uncertainty exist in the minds
of individuals as to the intellectual efficacy of the
League—as to the popular opinitm having under-
gone a thorough transformation on the subject of
political economy—as to the irresistible under-current
of public opinion having safely borne the vessel of
commerce over the sandbanks and breakers of monopoly,
by which it was hitherto surrounded and endan-
gered—as to the satisfaction, and not only the satisfac-
tion, but the gratitude with which the English people
have watched the recent proceedings of their states-
men—that uncertainty would be altogether dispelled
by the attendant circumstances of each successive
election. These circumstances we have already had
the gratification of particularising in a variety of in-
stances.
We have, as evidenced in the re-election of
Viscount MORPETH, observed the passive, and the
more earnest, because the more passive, unanimity of
an enfranchised community, seated in deliberate
tranquillity under the shadow of roofbeams, and re-
turning—unhesitatingly and earnestly—a free-trade
candidate as the exponent of their opinions in the
House of Commons. We have observed these
things, and have meanwhile borne in recollection
the fact that those identical constituencies were
wont, formerly, to assemble in uproarious multitudes
out of doors, to elect, in that same responsible capa-
city—sometimes with opposition, sometimes without
opposition—the upholder of the most stringent system
of miscalled protective imposts. Such are the moral
changes which have transpired even within our own
immediate recollection—changes as startling and as
impressive in their operation upon the intellect of a
whole nation as the alterations effected in the
material crust of this globe by volcanic eruptions and
convulsions. Geology does not unfold to us a more
astonishing series of phenomena than that disclosed by
history in the intellectual and political fluctuations of
a people. Insomuch are we impressed with the accu-
racy of this notion, that we are persuaded the advo-
cates of the protective system will, before many years
have rolled away, be regarded with some such cu-
riosity and astonishment as an Ichthyosaurus and a
Megatherium—monsters of a by-gone age—to be
labelled in the compartments of a museum ! Almost
equally striking, we repeat it, are the transformations
observable in the annals "of geology and of political
history.

Of this circumstance no more coneltuive evidence
could be adduced than that afforded by the election
of Mr. BROWN for South Lancashire. When
it is remembered that this constituency was
only vacated by the elevation of its Tory represen-
tative to the House of Peers—that this identical
free-trade candidate, Mr. BROWN, was formerly re-
jected by this identical constituency—that it had
hitherto through its Parliamentary mouthpiece en-
deavoured to perpetuate the despotism of monopoly—
and that now Mr. BROWN appealed to them for their
suffrages, after having been entreated so to
do by a requisition enforced by the signatures
of considerably more than half of the entire consti-
tuency—when these remarkable circumstances are
borne in mind, and coupled with others of a similar
character which have transpired in various quarters
of Great Britain, no one will deny the accuracy of
our original position. With these irrefragable
facts staring them in the face, no one will now
have the audacity to maintain that the League has
not worked marvels on the popular intellect, that an
under-current of public opinion has not urged on-
wards the adoption of free-trade measures, that the
people of this country are not animated by sentiments
of gratitude towards the statesmen who have con-
ferred upon them a boon so precious.
Although the cautious opinions expressed by Mr.
R. H. GREG upon the occasion of this interesting
election were unquestionably dictated by a sagacious
forethought, we cannot sympathise with that
gentleman in all his anticipations as to
the disappointments and chagrin which have
still to Le encounterEd by the advocates of unre-
stricted commerce. Our expectations have not a
colouring so sombre and lugubrious. We believe
that a machine has now been set in motion which
human ignorance can never stop, and which all the
petty obstacles of a discontented clique can
never by possibility retard. Some minor hitches
must undoubtedly be felt in the first workings of a
machine so colossal, but, saving these, it is con-
structed upon a principle so noble, so natural, and so
symmetrical, that we believe implicitly that the ag-
gregate of its produce will be found to be—happiness.

The new Member for South Lancashire has at
once proclaimed his antagonism to the differential
duties on sugar, his anxiety to see Ireland treated as
an integral part of England, his yearning for a re-
orginization of the Poor-laws, his interest in the
sanitary condition of the populace, and his resolve
to facilitate, if possible, their better education.
By explaining himself thus candidly and liberally
upon so many exigent points of legislation, Mr.
BROWN has worthily responded to the feeling of his
constituents, and is justifying even in his inaugura-
tive address the wisdom which has guided them in
their selection.

Mr. WILLIAMS deserves much credit for the manner
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with him on the iroptoper' and undue 'severity
entire code, and the imperative necessity that exists
for its revision and amendment ; in fact, the articles of
war shouil be altogether remodelled, and an
extensive alteration and reform should take place
therein. 'We trust that the opportunity will not be
cast away by our liberal Government. By their past
conduct they lave afforded the strongest testimony
that abuses and grievances will not be suffered to
continue in force .merely because they are ancient,
and have had an ,existence for centuries ; and they
have it now within their power to sweep away the
grossest and most crying evil—the most flagrant in-
fringement on the liberty of the British subject.

The entire system o. naval impressment is repug-
nant to the feeling of ev, 'try man of common humanity,
of every one who thinks: that his fellow-man should
be treated with comme al justice. Philanthropists
condemn in the strongest ter ms the practice of steal-
ing men and selling th em into slavery, and we
hope and believe that ti ere are few Britons,
certainly not one worthy of the name, who
could sanction or support so atrocious a practice;
and yet that 'which excites out 'deepest indignation,
and demands rind receives our warmest sympathy for
the unfortunate victim, when I perpt
grated on those of
other countries, colours, and la.aguage I, too q fre uently
takes place within our owls clonal:ions?
fellow-subjects, on British citizenr, whose on our
liberty
we are bound to protect, without attrac!ing extraor-
dinary notice, or calling ft firth any -general and indig-
nant remonstrance, without inflanaini 3 the public mind,
and producing an universi tl outer;, I and demand for
its immediate redress. They. British sailor, who has
been absent for years from his net/A 10 country, who
has, perhaps, j ust returned v rith his haa .dly-earned and

well-deserved savings, may at :the very hour of his
arrival be seized and torn from his home
and friends, without an opportunity being
afforded to him of seeing the one or enjoying the so-
ciety of the other : in vain may the fond wife
expect the cheering presence of the partner of her
affections, for whose return she has so anxiously
looked forward, so earnestly prayed. At the very mo-
ment of his expected presence she hears the bitter tale
of his being kidnapped away, and sent, perhaps, for many
years to a foreign and unhealthy climate, during which
period she may nine under the hope deferred which
maketh sick the heart. In vain may the widowed
mother look for the return of her gallant boy, to be
the comfort and solace of her solitaryhome; the same
inexorable policy has doomed her child to the loss of
liberty, to a compulsory service. On what plea or
pretext can such acts be tolerated or justified
for a single moment ? Solely on the imperative neces-
sity there exists for the maintenance of our naval
power, of procuring men for our vessels !

It has been said, and we believe truly—the autho-
rity of the gallant and distinguished officer by whom
it was asserted compels our belief--that if we wanted
at this moment to man five or six vessels of war, we
could not do so in less than five or six months.
What can be the reason of this unwillingness
to serve ? What is it that renders our navy
different from every other branch of the public service,
the exception to every other mode of employment, in
which there is an abundant supply of labour fully
adequate to the demand ? It is not the privation, and
difficulties, the dangers that must be encountered in
so perilous a vocation. No ; the hardihood, the
bravery, of the British tar forbids the in-
jurious supposition. It is the deep, the burn-
ing sense of injustice, that renders him un-
willing to engage in a service in which
he would be daily subjected to the degradation of
being lashed like a dog before his friends and ship-
mates, at the mere whim and caprice of a heartless
and tyrannical despot. His innocence of any offence,
his anxiety to do his duty to the best and utmost of
his ability, nay, the perfect and entire discharge
of that duty, may all be insufficient to
save him from the brutalising and hor-
rible flagellation. He may be tied up
without an opportunity of saying one word in his
own defence, and receive forty-eight lashes, inflicted
by a brawny and stalwart boatswain's mate, or rather
boatswain's mates; for we believe that they are
changed at every dozen lashes on such occasions.
What slavery is worse this ?—the slave owner
pays too large a price for the unhappy being
whose destinies are committed to his hands
to make him willing to deprive himself of the
valuable services during the sojourn in hospital of his
victim. It would be too expensive an amusement to
be frequently indulged in, but such is not the case
with the captain ; he can spare the man from his
labour for a season. The Secretary for the Navy
whose anxiety for the amelioration of the condition
of the sailor, and desire to do everything in
his power to induce them to love the ser-
vice, and willingly to enter therein we are
happy to acknowledge, states that the severity
of the discipline, the practice of flogging, has been
very materially relaxed; for that, while 2,000 men
out of 34,000 were flogged in the year 1839, 1,200
only out of 40,000 were lashed in the year 1845.
Good GOD ! can this be the mitigated system of which
they boast, against which a word is not to be spoken,
or complaint uttered, when in the very last
year, 1,200 English sailors withered beneath the
brutal and brutalising cat—no less than three per cent.
on the entire number employed ? Can it be wondered
at that the press-gang is necessary, that the navy
cannot be manned without force, when so large a
proportion is subjected to such a punishment ? But,
forsooth, the discipline of the service cannot be en-
forced, the safety of the vessel cannot be secured un-
less such a power is placed in the hands of the com-
mander. We wholly and entirely dissent from,
and enter our protest against such an opinion,
although we doubt not it is conscientiously main-
tained and honestly put forward by many humane
and honourable men. Thera are many means of
enforcing obedience, of securing the performance of
the duty, without having recourse to so horrible an
alternative. It is well known that Lord NELSON
abhorred flogging, and never resorted to it
but in extreme cases. Can it be , said
that the crews serving under his command did
not well discharge the duty they owed to their
country ? It was abolished by NAPOLEON both in the
army and navy of France. Can it be said that he
did not know how to secure obedience, or what was
necessary for its enforcement ? It has not since
been restored in that navy. Have we heard any
complaints from the French people of the im-
possibility of maintaining discipline in their
navy? In the American navy no man can be flogged
save by the sentence of a court-martial, and the Ame-
rican navy may challenge a comparison with any in
the universe. Nay, many of our own best and most
skilful sailors have sought and obtained employment
in their service; and why ? because there is a security
for the well-disposed man, who will perform
his duty fairly and truly. There must
be at least the form of a trial, and an
opportunity afforded of being heard in his own
defence, before he is degraded. 'We trust that these
considerations will not be lost on the Legislature and
the country, but that a loud and earnest demand for
justice to our army and navy will produce the total
and entire abolition of the cat.
"Delenda est Carthago."
The lash, with all its degrading incidents, must be
banished from both branches of our service.

Letters from Alexandria announce that MEHEMET
AL!, accompanied by his son-in-law, KAMILTACHA
and his grandson MusTarnA BEY, sailed from that port
on the 9th instant, on board the Turkish steamer Esseri
Djedid, for Constantinople. His grandson ABBAS
PACHA, was to administer the Government until the
return of IBRAHIM PAcHA.

It is said that the Bey of Torus intends to insti-
tute a Council of State, to advise in all civil, com-
mercial, and criminal matters.

Intelligence has been received from Constantinople
of the 6th. Sir STRATFORD CANNING had remon-
strated very seriously with the Porte on the con-
duct of the authorities at Smyrna, who had denied
the British Consul justice against the murderers of
Sir LAURENCE JONES, by refusing to take the evi-
dence of the witnesses to the murder, who were
Christians, against the murderers, who were Turks.
The Porte assured Sir STRATFORD CANNING that
full justice should be done, and that the testimony of
the Christian witnesses should be taken.

The Nuremburg Correspondent states that the
brother of M. METENDORFP has been entrusted with
a mission to negotiate a treaty of commerce between
France and Russia, and is about to proceed to Paris
for that purpose.

We extract the following from the Augsburg
Gazette :

" It has been latterly reported that the 'King intended to
effect great political reforms, but such is not the case. His
Majesty merely proposes to reform certain branches of the
administration: Counts Ferri and Bandelli, and other dis-
contented parties, have been dismissed from the army, and
the famous D'Are having been ordered to quit the kingdom,
the uneasiness felt on the one hand, and the exaggerated
hopes entertained on the other, will be removed."
The Danish journals of the 11th inst. contain an
important declaration of the King of DENMARK. on the
subject of the succession, which has been for so long
a time in agitation. His MAJESTY declares that the
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on April 22, 1767, and June 1, 1773. The KING is
far from being so explicit on the subject of Holstein.
He admits that there are circumstances which pre-
vent his declaring himself so positively. He reserves
to himself to give an opinion at a future period, but
promises that the privileges of the Duchies of Sleswig
and of Holstein shall be respected.

Madrid papers of the 15th have been received.
The Herald°, the organ of NARVAEZ, has an
article on the QUEEN'S marriage, recommending that
the future husband of the QUEEN should be a Spa-
nish Prince, with liberal ideas. This must
allude to Don ENRIQUE, whose claims have
hitherto been strenuously opposed by Ickavezzl