The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-27 00:00:00

Pitor' iltg

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 27, 1846.

By a majority of eighty-three, in a House of merely
one hundred and fifty-nine, Lord G. BENTINCK'S
Amendment, that the continuance of the existing
duties upon sugar be for eleven months instead of
one, was on Friday evening defeated. Although the
discussion which arose out of that amendment was
superficially insignificant, we may nevertheless derive
such deductions from the tone in which it was con-
ducted as are in the highest degree acceptable, and
not in the very lowest degree significant. There was
a brevity of opposition and a quietude of expression
about the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn, and a
feeige reflex of those characteristics about his abettor,
Sir ROBERT H. INGLIS, which induce us to antici-
pate an agreeable moderation in the attitude to be
assumed by the Protectionists. Hitherto they have
been manceuvering in a blaze of intense light
or in a gloom of unnatural shadow ; they
have revelled, as it were, in a species of Parlia-
mentary chiaroscuro—their distortions have been
only the more apparent from the exaggerated
lustre of their diction ; their deformities
have only been more manifest from the meretricious
decorations by which they were bedizened. Now,
however, we are gratified to observe among them in-
dications that they are becoming conscious of their
blunder, and that they henceforth purpose to speak in
moderation, to asperse in moderation, and to protest
in moderation. Such are evidently the intentions of
their principal leaders; and although those intentions
may be occasionally frustrated by the enthusiasm of
some fanatical cadet, we shall cordially anticipate their
fulfilment until we observe a total alteration in their
tactics.

On Monday evening the question will be defini-
tively submitted to the consideration of our legis-
lators, and when we reflect upon the impossibility of
maintaining the present system of differential duties
longer in operation, the rapid approach of
that critical moment cannot but afford an
universal satisfaction. Not only are the con-
sumers of sugar anxious for a speedy and per-
manent settlement of the question, but even
those most interested in the prosperity of our colonial
possessions, the importers and the merchants them-
selves, are equally desirous of such a settlement of
the matter. They feel that some alteration of the
importation duties must take place, and they long to
know what that alteration will be. It is preposterous
for Lord GEORGE BENTINCY to haggle about
the produce of a mere segment of our
colonies, and to insist upon settling whether 60,000,
or 46,000 tons are imported from the Mauritius ;
the great fact is—and there is no gainsaying it—that
the cultivators of our colonial sugar-cane are unable
to satisfy the demands of the mother country, that the
annual importation of sugar has been gradually de-
creasing since 1840! Since that year the individual
consumption of sugar throughout the kingdom has dimi-
nished nearly twenty-four per cent. Such facts there is
no means of vanquishing. The Protectionists perceive
this ; they also perceive their own false position as
cavilling debaters, and they are therefore affording us
every token of a more subdued behaviour in future.
‘Ve may consequently anticipate no very pro-
tracted discussions upon the sugar question, but may
look for a rational and satisfactory close of the pre-
sent session somewhere towards the termination of
August. And while we may congratulate Parlia-
ment upon the arrival of this periodical hiatus of re-
laxation, we may in solemn truth congratulate the
country upon the character of the great session which
will then have been brought to a happy conclusion.
What has commenced with the attainment of one ex-
traordinary commercial boon promises to close with
the realisation of another. We have already ob-
tained a free access to the most necessary and the
most nutritious article of food in creation ; we
have every prospect of receiving every facility for the
purchase of another, neither so necessary nor so nu-
tritious as corn, we will grant, but which is
nevertheless, in our artificial state of society, abso-
lutely requisite to ensure the comfort and the
sobriety of the poorer classes. With no sugar to
sweeten his tea, or to render his coffee palatable, is
there not a lure to the labouring man in the well-
flavoured beverages of the beer-shop and the gin-
palace ? An easier access to this single article of
consumption would, we are most fully persuaded,
promote to no inconsiderable extent the temperance
of our industrial population. Hence it is that we
are anxious to perceive a reduction in the duties upon
tobacco, since that sober means of excitement forms a
beneficent substitute for the intoxicating effects of
beer, brandy, and other fermented liquors. By such a
reduction in tobacco, not only might the morals of
the community be improved, but the revenue likewise
he materially benefited. It is in these apparently
trivial modifications of our import duties that the
sagacity of a wise Government frequently
consists. The reduction of a few shillings
per hundredweight in a given article tends
not unfrequently to elevate the moral condition of a
whole nation. The obliteration of a cipher may
sometimes advance civilisation by half a century.
Such are the simple solutions of some of the most ab-
struse problems of legislation ! Such are the minute
strings which move the colossal machinery of an empire !

night moved for a Select
Mr. DUNCOMBE on Friday
Committee, to inquire into the charges contained in
the petition of EDWARD BAKER, late a warden of the
Millbank Penitentiary, in which situation he had con=
tinned from the month of September, 1842, until
April, 1846. The petitioner preferred serious
complaints against the Governor of that prison,
alleging that great abuses existed both in the
management of affairs, and as regarded cruelty and
oppression towards the prisoners. It will be recol-
lected that Sir PETER LAURIE, some time since, pub-
lished a pamphlet under the singular, but expressive,
title of " Killing no Murder," in which the results
of the system adopted in that prison as to the in-
sanity, deaths, or pardons on medical grounds, of
the prisoners, and also the state and condition
of the convicts who have been removed to the hulks
after undergoing the discipline sanctioned therein, is
fully set forth and commented on. The worthy
Alderman ascribes the frightful consequences to the
" separate system," which he asserts to be injurious
to the minds of the prisoners, dangerous to their
bodily health, demoralising in its effects, and
burdensome to the country from its great
cost. If any of the above are really the
consequences of the system, it is high time that
it should be abolished, and that some better and
more humane plan should be adopted in its place.
The extraordinary data on which his argument is
founded cannot be controverted, for they are taken
from statistical details contained in the reports of
the Inspectors of Prisons ; and from the very
large proportion of the cases of insanity, so much
greater than that which is found to occur in other
prisons, and also from the extraordinary number of
suicides and attempted suicides, which were mentioned
by Mr. DUNCOMBE on Friday, it is perfectly manifest
that there is a screw loose somewhere, that there is
something either in the system itself, or in the mode of
its administration, which requires a strict investigation
and an immediate remedy. We,therefore, regret the
decision of the House in refusing the Committee
asked for. We cannot accede to the argument urged,
that to appoint a Committee of the House would be
at once to condemn the Governor. We know nothing
of Captain GROVES, and we award him that which is
the privilege of every Englishman—viz., that he is to
be supposed innocent until his guilt is proved, and
in proportion to the weight and magnitude of the
give credence cbreedearencrieeatotoththee
charges, so much the greater should ibe our reluct-
tahniese staextetemntenotsf ;rebfuustinsugreallyl
is not
investigation until full and ample proof be given.
If this was the case the labours of such a Committee

might well be dispensed with, the condemnation would
be contained in its appointment, and the House would,
like the inexorable Rhadamanthus, first punish and
then inquire into the complaints. We do not go
the length of saying that the House ought, on every
trivial charge, to subject the accused to the trouble
and annoyance of entering into his defence; but
when there is a degree of probability, a verisimili-
tude, in the charges, when they are brought forward
by a man of unimpeached character, who,
from his situation, has opportunities of know-
ing their truth, and when such a person pledges
himself to prove their accuracy before
a Committee, we think that a sufficient ground at
least is laid for a full inquiry and investigation, the
granting of which could not be supposed to militate
in any degree against the person or persons charged.
And such an inquiry must be far more satis-
factory to all parties, if conducted before a tribunal
which cannot be suspected of any partiality, and the
proceedings of which are open to the public, than
any private investigation by prison inspectors, no
matter how respectable they may be, more particu-
larly when it is alleged that those inspectors are in a
certain degree under the influence of the party
against whom the accusations are made.
No charge whatever has been made against the
character or motives of the petitioner; he held for
more than three years and a half a responsible
office in the prison, which he alleges that he was
obliged to resign in consequence of the oppressive
and tyrannical conduct of the Governor towards
officers and prisoners. The charges are plain and
distinct, and, if well-founded, must be perfectly ca-
pable of proof. We should think that Captain
GROVES would himself be most anxious for a full in-
vestigation ; for, until such takes place, the public
mind cannot be satisfied on the subject ; if by a pos-
sibility those charges should be established, the
person who could act in such a manner must be
held quite incompetent and unfit for the discharge
of duties requiring the greatest degree of discretion
and judgment.
The decision of the House appears to have been
greatly influenced by the promise of the Home
Secretary, that a full inquiry should take place
without delay, and his statement that he was
prepared to lay the report of the Inspectors of
Prisons, which contained a distinct answer to
each of the sixteen charges, on the table. The
matter, therefore, is not yet concluded, and on the
result of the promised investigation being made
known, and the report of the Inspectors published, it
will be competetent to any Honourable Member
again to call the attention of the House to the sub-
ject. From the advanced period of the session, and
the delay which must necessarily occur before such
an investigation can take place, it will be impossible
for the matter to be brought to a conclusion until
next year, and the public mind, during that period,
will be kept in suspense on the subject.

From the Roman States the news continues to be
of the most cheering description. The new POPE is
occupying himself in introducing reforms and im-
provements into every department of his administra.
tion. He is daily signing orders for the liberation of
political prisoners. The following official announce-
ment on the subject of railroads was published on the
14th in the Privileged Gazette of Bologna by
Cardinal VANNICELLI CASONI, the Legate who
had just returned from Rome :—" Amongst the im-
portant affairs that have engaged the attention of the
Holy Father since his accession to the Pontifical
throne is the construotion of railroads in the Papal
States, for which several projects have been presented.
Pius IX. being desirous of acting with prudence in
this serious affair, which is of the highest interest to
his beloved subjects, has resolved. to-appoint a. corn-;
mission to examine these projects. His Holiness has
consequently ordered, that if there are other propo-
sitions to make they shall be sent to the Secretary of
State for the Interior, who will receive and collect
them together, waiting the ulterior decision of his
Holiness."

Prince HENRY, of Prussia, uncle to the present
KING, died at Rome on the 11th.

The greatest excitement had been occasioned in
Kiel, by the publication of the decree of the King of
DENMARK, on the subject of the succession to the
Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The students had
met and proposed to burn the obnoxious decree. This
proposition, however, was not carried into effect, but
Professor CHRISTIANSEN, the representative of the
University, was directed to solemnly protest, against
the decree in the name of the German people, and
to defend their rights.
The Post Ampt Gazette of Frankfort has the fol-
lowing from Posen, dated the 15th :—" It is reported
here that the Emperor of RUSSIA intends to grant an
amnesty to all the Poles still remaining in Siberia,
who were sent there for the part that they took in
the revolution of 1830. M. KOURNAOFFSKI, who was
arrested and put in prison at Sonnenburg, just after
the last insurrection of Posen, for publishing a revo-
lutionary lithogtaphic print, has attempted to commit
suicide by stabbing himself in four places, but he is
expected to recover."

Madrid papers of the 18th have arrived. The
Heraldo, in an article on the subject of the QUEEN'S
•
marriage, proposes that Don FRANCISCO D'Assls, the
eldest son of Don FRANCISCO DI PAULA as a candidate
for her MAJESTY'S hand, in preference to his brother,
Don ENRIQUE. Don FRANCISCO, it appears, has
been specially invited to the royal banquet
to be given in honour of the birth-day of
the QUEEN-MOTHER. The Liberal party con-
sider that the object of the QUEEN-MOTHER,
in thus apparently favouring Don FRANCISCO is to ex-
cite a jealousy between him and Don ENRIQUE, and
to create dissensions in the Liberal party by starting
two candidates. :While Dcn FRANCISCO, however, is
thus ostensibly put forward as a candidate for the
QUEEN'S hand, an intrigue is, it is said, going on in
Paris under the auspices of MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA
to bring about speedily, but quietly, a marriage be-
tween the QUEEN and the Duke of GENOA, the
second son of the King of SARDINIA. It is true that
of late his Sardinian Majesty has exhibited
slightly liberal tendencies, or to speak more
correctly, has had something like a personal
quarrel with Austria, and is endeavouring
to rally an anti-Austrian party around him, but the
base treachery of the Prince DE CARIGNAN of 1821
has never been forgotten or forgiven, and an alliance
with his son would justly disgust the whole Spanish
nation. The Trapani alliance seems to be completely
given up, Prince DE CARINI, who had been sent as
Ambassador from Naples to Spain for the purpose of
forwarding the views of Count TRAPANI, has been
recalled, and M. ANTONINI, late the Neapolitan Am-
bassador at Vienna, has been accredited to the Court
of Madrid.

MADRID BoLsA, JULY 18.—The Three per Cents
were done at 34} for cash ; the Five per Cents., at 21;
the Debt without Interest, at 61; the shares of the
Bank of San Fernando, at 390; and those of Isabel,
at 203.

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.
The Moniteur Parisien of Wednesday publishes
the following as the official defence of the Northern
Railroad Company, against the attacks of the
papers :
"The Courrier Francais persits in affirming that an acci-
dent happened on the 12th, on the Northern Railroad, and
that, in consequence of a land-slip, an engine and six car-
riages went off the rails. The Company affirms that, since
the unfortunate event of the Bth, no engine, no carriage
has run off the rails. From the 9th the working of the
road has presented none but simple incidents, unavoidable
by the best regulated services, and which have not occasioned
any misfortune. On the 11th, a piston of the engine, No. 42
(a new engine), broke, and the bouchos used in clean-
ing the boiler came off, and the water and steam escaped.
This occurred at the Arras station. The passengers may
have been frightened, but they did not run the slightest
risk. On the 12th, a regulator got out of order between Mon-
tigny and Somain, on the line between Valenciennes and
Douai. The only result was a trifling delay. The statement
of the land-slip on the 12th is as incorrect as that of the
sinking of the ground to which the accident of the Sth has
been attributed. Since the Northern Railroad has been
opened there has not been any land-slip, nor even any indica-
tion of it in the causeways to give any evidence of such slips.
The railway was not given up to the company by the Go-
vernment until after the two chief engineers, who had the
direction of its construction, had declared by a report under
their signatures that it was ready for public use. The re-
port for the first section, from Paris to Amiens, is signed
by M. Onfroy de Breville; the report for the second section,
from Amiens to the Belgian frontier, is signed by M. Busche.
Independently of the watching, and the ordinary superinten-
dence of the road, the company, from the time of its open-
ing, has specially appointed to the keeping up of the road a
number of cantonniers, much exceeding the usual propor-
tion. Besides the superintendents and watchmen, there
have been stationed three or four workmen for every kilo-
metre (quarter of a league) according to the nature of the
ground, whether embankments or cuttings. These are pre.