The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-17 00:00:00

int 4 the tohaf,s.by the nobles and the ecclesiastical Lords.
We shall ,not undertake. to describe. aft renumerabl..!
scenes in which barricades played a [m.0..: -conspicuous
part in our'• provinces during the -'course of feudal
struggles, -but skill collOw their rise and pre;kressin the
Capital, whore they dicl.not make their appearance until
a very late period. Paris, kept, in awe by the: great
- tower of the Louvre and the Royal power, did not at-
t (inapt until the middle Of the fourteenth century to conquer
the municipal privileges who% lihceating -charter was
denied it by 1-Loyalty. In the year ''lBsB, during the
.ceptivity9f Kiag. John in England, the bad conduct.of
the favourites of the Dauphin Charles, .their want -of
deference of tic coarse's given in them by the States
Geheral, the' l'arisisn people to desperation.,
Etienne Marcel, provost of the tradespeople, had then
1-the idea of barring each corner of the street with strong
passing throtigh a ring, which flied them nuoss
the street and fastetied them on the other side with au
iron hook. These chains remained at the angles of the
streets since the time of the Dauphin Charles until the
year 1358, 'at which time the Dukes of Anjou. Bear-
gougne, and-Derry, uncles of the King Charles VI., de-
prived the Parisieos of them, to prevent their offering
any resistance to their horrible exactions. Some years
afterwards John the " Fearless" had the chains brought
back from the castle of Vincennes and rcturaed to the
..P,arisiatis. This restitution was very soon taken advan-
tage of, and the chains were in Ira quent use during the
dissensions of the .Armagais and the Bourguignons.
In 1436 the Parisian peep;:', 'exasperated by the ty-
-rainy of the English, rose with fury at the same time
-as the men at arms of the " Connetuble do Richemont"
were penetrating into the town. Tiler, earthenware,
furniture, is hurled from every window on the champion
of the' Leopard," whose progress is arrested on all sides
by the barriers erected suddenly, and-nu-is recovers,: if
not its liberty, at least its national independence.
We must now pa.ss over along interval before we find
any more mention made of barricades—we do not
see them rise until a century and a half later, to
consnhanate the lines 'of the last ot. the Valois, Henry
- This great event. took place on the 12th.of
May, 1588. Tho reign of.ilenry the Fourth and the
dcspotisin a. the Caraing4l&B.i.chelleta_,:prevehted the. -
recurrence of popular outUreaks. But alter the death of
Lotis theiirhitrary
,ttcltninistration. of Ann of
Austria,ancl'ithe insolent pillages Of r.!ezatin and of his
greedy courtiers, caused the ieng-impending; storm ,to
break forth. Una;hundred thousand Paristels rode in
arms behind 'two thousand barricades, • " They were,"
say the records of those times, "built with so much art,
that the entire strength of the realm put together would
not have been capable of forcing them." The pride of
the Court was . humbled by the pikes of the burgher
guard, rallied to the populous shades IX the. "
and the Place Matibert. From the reign of Louis XIV.
barricades disappeared entirely;- even the terrible voice
of 'B9 did. not wake them up, the 14th of July and the
10th of August did not
.accept their dreaded aid. in
1830 they rose suddenly, and drove legitimacy from the
FFeneh soil. During the days of the sth and 6th of
• lune, 1832, they made a most formidable appearance,
and demonstrated all the power of dereeeratic ideas. In
February, 1848, the republic rose triumphant from the
barricades established by the valiant people.of Paris.

NATIONAL POOR-RATE.
[We have great pleasure in quoting the followipg
sensible observations from our excellent contempo-
rary the Hull Advertiser. The worthy editor of, that
journal, with more generosity than is common among
Provincial Papers, has thus prominently drawn atten-
tion to the' opinions of a rival, by giving them far
more extended currency. We could heartily wish .to
see this manly spirit more generally adopted; for it
•assuredly is by the practice of such liberality that the
interests of the public are best consulted, while news-
_paper proprietors would not fail_ at" the same time to
promote their own. A national poor-rate is but up-
plying the principle of the consolidated fund. The
proceeds are contributed to the rational exchequer
for a benevolent purpose, and are dispensed from the
collective *fund free from the contumely, degrada-
tion, and bitterness of spirit, too often inseparable
from local administration. The relief is the donation
of.all, but the gift of none in particular. The nation
dispenses, not the parish.—En. Suit.]
—Arthe risk of doing sometking as unpleasant' as re-
questing the narration of a alike-told tale—or the pay-
ment of an old debt—or the recognition•in publid °tan
11-used benefactor—or of a poor relation—or any

other disagreeable incident resulting from well-meant
but luckless busybodybon, we venture to recommend
,to . the Hull guardians of the poor the subjoined.
very ''sensible artiele on the Lew of Settlement
question, which we have great pleasure in quoting.from
the Eastern Counties Herald of yesterday It is based
on.a sound politica!, as welt as moral principle; and ,
contrasts most favourably with certain views which ap-
peared in the same journal a few months since, but for ,
which the writer of the welch) quoted below is
not to be held responsible. We venture .to say
that we have considered the question of atoor-law
t - lenient .as etere ully as. -..ariat guardian of tho
poonirratill, an the result of that consideration is the
1 conviction that the proposed change in the law is ea.-
-aeedingly desirable. Conkl a plan be elesimd for guard-
ing effectually against abuse in the administration of tho
law, 110 remedy for the prevent abuses in the operation
of the poor-law could equal abet of a national rate.
This would put an end to all litigation about settlements
and all expenses of removal. The destitute would cease
to be treated as if they were criminals, by being exposed
at any time to what to them is tantamount to banish-
ment from everythingjpossessing a hold on their affee-
tions. In the case of the Irish poor, removal to Ireland
is about as reasonable as the return of the new swarm
of bees to the old over-crowded hive. It is to them' as
certain death as if they had sand bags attached to
their heels and sunk in the Dumber. We tlierefere
adopt both the letter and the spirit of the tollowlng
well-timed obseevations, which we hope will net fail to
attract the notice of our very diligent Member, Mr.
Bainess:—
" Unless the poor-law gauardians of Hull are pre-
pared to dissolve the Scotch as well as the MAI union,
we must say their proceedings on Monday gore im-
politic and inconsistent, it not rsh and unjust.''%
" The reader may require to be informed that a Bill
:now before Parliament contains a clause that will place
the peer of the three countries on a footing of equality
as reeards the right to parochial settlement after a five
,iyears' residence. 'Nothing could be fairer in the abstract,
'and few things have been more iiiiperetively required
in actual prictiel,. Where a man expends his strength
in honest industry, there he should have a title to relief;
' whether born in Hull, Edinburgh, or Dublin, is a point
quite unimportant as regards the merits of the cage.
He is required to contribute to all the local rates as long
as he is able to pay, and to discharge all the duties that
devolve upon him as a citizen; he does both irrespec-
tive of the place of his nativity; and justice obviously
requires that when he needs relief it should be granted
to him without reference to distinctions which bed
not previously been recognised or acted upon. At
present the whole law of settlement lequires recon-
sideration and essential amendment, an d there
shrink •
arc reasons for hopieg that Mr. C. Buller will not
from the task reeptired of him. That, however, is a
_
.question too broad to be opened at this periodef theses
stop ; and he has therefore confined his attention to the
act of equity towards Scotch and
thlraiithcopn
ofertbe ptivi'
Bill to. which Wie.have alluded, to the perteromrtepwchooomfaayn
have tomplied.with the conditions.
in
_flniand.,,, .
loges of settlement on. parties born E
protest, assigning various roansoenni.: h
themselves irate this—That
"Against this principle the mull
~w gouni,e,doinen
es4a. stmoiunialy_
tion, will be found to resolve. t
large importations of alien paupers,
the enactment of
by larrates. But. this object.
b addition to the poor.
the obnoxtouclaus ea
need lel_obnes
etiolul
eozi
3d.
by a heavy c.'
' Fiat justitin, rust caluth
lusty°.
• lion is far from cone
let notice be done, though the heavens should tall.
we have shortly stated be tenable,
Andj if the 1-vinei`Dk
it cannot he shaken by a mere pecuniary consideration.
Increased local txffai tio
a will doubtless be a great evil,
-
• and may form a
, .
aucient motive ter demanding changes
that will 'newt'
the maintenance of the pauperism sof
_
1 T 1 nil on the property of those countries;
Scotland ane .re,ti _ s
i concerned, cost becomes tof
but where right
tay,e.
r c The national debt is an incubits
interior
in
cheerfully spare, but we are not, there-
fore, we snarliate our liabilities. So, in. the same why,
fore, to rePti .
yc of large towns may grumble at an in-
the rater'' rb
purposes not
of rates for
cress? -
public body should hesitate ,before advising them to
a because it entails •
resist a proper claim • disagreeable con-
sequences. Even the Hull guardians concede the right,
when fairly stated: are they to reject it
,because they
cannot ace upon it without a sacrifice?
.. The alleged expo Sure to fraud is true enough, aid
will call for vigilance on the part of the itelnainietratora of
the law;' but it must be remembered that the trickery of
ono does not disannul the claim of another. Remove, if
you can, the motive to fraud by other laws and
regula-
tions; don't make, the whole *bl.
responst e for the misdeeds
of a part., albeit a very large one.
" Equally true is the assertion
that the apprehended
evil will be felt most severely by large towns. The law
of settlement already operates unfairly
The remedy should, however, be sought in some. other
direction than 'that suggested by our guardians. A
national poor-rate, or an approximation to it, might be
an improvement."

- ---- --- -------- —7— •
COAL-4"HO Newcastle coal formation contains
about 5,575,680,000 cubic yards, extending in length
to miles;
28,000,000 tuns of coal are annulary
raised, being 31,000,000 of cubic yatds.--The Trade's'
Weekly Messenger.
A deputation from the Colonization Society, con-
sisting of the following genilenien, Jehn Boyd, Esq.,
M.P.; Captain Ilureiltoti, RN.; Adalk Body, Esq.;
thur Mills, E-q.; and Arthur Reade, Esq., waited .0)on
the Lord Mayor.on Saturday afternoon, at the :11ansion-
hotise, for the purpose of asking his Lordship to aid at
the present eventful moment the great national and vita
question of the emigration of the lab wring classes tb
the British colonies, and we understand that a public
meeting will be announced in a few days.—Observer.
ARRIVAL OF CHINESE INSECTS.—On Saturday a
vessel arrived in the West India Docks, from China,
having on board 400 cases, containing about 140,000
Chinese insects imported from China fur the purposes of
natural history. Among the collection is said to be
several-varieties not hitherto described by naturalists.