The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-16 00:00:00

Zmitito
LONDON, SATURDAY, SLPTEMBER 16, 1848.

The accounts from Ireland are, as usual, of a very
conflicting character, so that it is difficult to record
with any degree of certainty the real state of facts,
or to discover the object of the movement. There
appears to be no doubt that considerable excitement
prevails among the labouring classes, that some threa •
tening demonstrations have actually taken place, and
that a collision has occurred between a small party of
police, at the Glenbower station, and a body of insur-
gents, in which the former maintained their position
with the utmost bravery, and succeeded in keeping
their assailants at bay until the approach of a rein-
forcement of military and police made the besiegers
decamp with the utmost rapidity.
We still adhere to the opinions which we yesterday
put forward, " that the movement is more of an
agrarian than of a political character"—that its object
is to obtain employment and provision for the popu-
lation during the forthcoming winter, rather than to
dethrone our most Gracious SOVEUEIGN, or to establish
an Irish Republic. The harvest has now in a great
degree been gathered in, landlords are looking for
payments on account of the large arrears of rents that
are owing in every district. The glowing descrip-
tions that were put forward in the earlier part of the
year by the revolutionary press, unier the head
of " Our Harvest Prospects," and others of a similar
description, have not as yet been forgotten,
but have sunk deep into the minds of the peasantry,
who are naturally delighted at the prospect of every
man retaining the produce of his own holding, with-
out performing the vulgar ceremony of devoting any
portion thereof to the wants or exigencies of the land-
lords. A. slight disturbance in the country will
afford a supply of excuses to the occupiers for the
non-performance of their contracts, and enable them
to make away with the secured crops during the
continuance of the outbreak, casting the blame
thereof on: the insurgents. This is an opportunity
that is not to be thrown away, and in all human
probability it will be found that the present demon-
stration—we can scarcely dignify it with the term
insurrection—is chiefly ascribable to this cause. We
doubt not that a very few days will bring the intel-
ligence of the entire dispersal of the peasantry, and
the restoration of order and tranquillity, so far, at
least, as it can be hoped for in the county of Tip-
perary.

' Military rewards are too often dispensed with a
niggardly hand under the British Government. NA-
POLEON, with the wisdom of a warrior and a states-
man, acted otherwise. If his policy of compensation
was ever carried to excess, it was always on the side
of munificence. He knew by experience that
patriotism is more generally diffused through the diff-
ferent classes of a nation by a display of generosity
towards those who have ever afforded an evidence of
its_ possessioe, than by a miserly distribution of
talec'wurs, and a despicable reservation of praise. He
moreover, that the prowess of an
army Was better cultivated by a display
of magnanimity
towards its chieftains, and by
the elevation of its
than by the more deserving subordi-
nates,exreerdise of a systematic severity
and the denial of
assuredly,
ready and graduated promotion.
We cannot, most
ssurez
Yi
same impulsive prudence plume ourselves upon the
and the same economical
prodigality.
There is the case of Lieutenant
who has
EDWI.IIDES. A
more gallant young officer, onedisplayed
more precocious ability in diplomacy,
to a ceaansblek warlike
ixtent also,
tactics, in administration, and,
cannot
even in the lofty science of statesmanship
be mentioned in the whole catalPoi
gxe
our brave and renowned soldiers. ra
n Tues-
day evening, September 12th (we are perfectly
aware), the Gazette announced that Lieutenant
HERBERT BENJAMIN EDWARDES, of the Ist European
Regiment of Fusiliers, on the Bengal establishment,
was promoted to the local rank of major (by brevet),
in the Lahore territories. We are also enabled to
surmise, from the declarations made a few evenings

back, in the House of Commons, by the Prime Mi-
nister, that a mark of honour will be forwarded to
Lieutenant EDWARDES, immediately from the hands
of his SOVEREIGN, that it is the intention of her
Majesty the QUEEN to evidence the earnest-
ness of 'her royal pleasure by bestowing
upon the young hero one of the military
orders of knighthood. Of the first recompense there
is no longer any room for doubt ; of the second there
is ample space for the indulgence of curiosity. The
first is a fact, the second a conjecture. Well, upon
these grounds we have no hesitation whatever in ex-
pressing our amszement at the insufficiency of the
rewards bestowed upon this very distinguished officer.
His extreme youth, relatively speaking, is nothing to
the purpose. The skill, the resolution, the prompti-
tude, the foresight, the strategies, the daring,
the brilliant courage and administrative saga-
city, the diplomatic achievements and the
martial victories, all the circumstances of the
career of Lieutenant EDWARDES in the field of his
brilliant operations, canstitutute a sufficient counter-
poise to the fact of his being merely in the twenty-
eighth year of his age. His deeds in the battle, and
in the council, impart to him at once the dignity of
a veteran. He requires no more remote date in the
registration of his birth to prove him, in an eminent
degree, to be competent to perform all the offices of a
Colonel. A Colonel ? Why, during the last quarter of
a year he has been fulfilling all the duties and satisfying
all the responsibilities which in the ordinary course of
things devolve upon a Commander in-Chief. If there is
wanting any proof of this, it is only necessary to
refer to the narrative of his proceedings in regard to
the barbaric despotism of the MOOLR AJ. Although these
occurrences are by no means comparable in magni-
tude to many of the warlike achievements which have
illustrated the history of the British empire in India,
we do not hesitate to declare that they may be numbered
among the most glorious testimonies of the superiority
of British intellect over Eastern craft, and British
valour over Oriental audacity. The suddenness
with which the Chieftain of Mooltan has been con-
quered by a simple Lieutenant of the Ist European
Regiment of Ftsiliers may vie with any event which
has illustrated the arms of England in Hindostan,
from fIYDER Aar down to TIPPOO SAIB, from
Seringapatam to Sobraon, from Lord Crave to Lord
GOUGH, frein the triumphs of Sir ETRE Cuore in
the Carnatic to those of Sir CHARLES NAPIER in
Sinde. It must be remembered that Lieutenant
EDWARDES stood alone on the first breaking out of
the insurrection on the frontiers of the Punjaub.
He was an isjlated Englishman, without so
much as an escort of Sepoys to aid him
in 1-ds heroic undertaking. Froin that
barren waste of circumstances he has reaped a rich
harvest of glory, and that too in his youth, and un-
assisted. His genius was more productive than the
dragon's teeth in the Greek myth—he not only
created an army of right thousand soldiera, but he
inspired them with something of his own enthusiasm ;
he set at defiance the Mooastaa with all his hordes,
the DEWAN with all his guile, the Goonoo with all
his fanaticisni ; he contrived to unite his Mahome-
dan foree3 with the troops of Colonel COURTLAND ;
he collected together 3,000 additional men, natives
of Affghanistan ; he joined that reinforcement
to the auxiliary legions of Bhawulpore ; he
rendered the leader of the Cashmere conspiracy, the
famous EMAUM•OOD•DEEN, one of his most formid-
able supporters ; he held under his command the
principal general of the Nawaub, by name FUTTEII
MAHOMED • G HOR EE ; he advanced rapidly from Jells-
pore to Alleepore, driving back the bands of the
Mooratee from Derajat towards the capital; on the
18th of June he gained a victory near Soojabad, and
on the Ist of July another at the village of Sadoosarn,
where he scattered his antagonists in disorder even to
the walls of the metropolis of Mooltan. On both
these occasions Lieutenant EDWARDES is de-
scribed as having secured the victory to
the British forces by personal acts of the most
incomparable bravery. And for these extraordinary
achieveme for this courage and this intelligence,
for Navin,., as one may say, alone crushed
under his heel what might ultimately have produced
a general conflagration of Rebellion, HERBERT
BENJAMIN EDWARDES is promoted to the rank of a
Brevet Major, with the feeble glimmer of a prospec-
tive knighthood. Whatever this recompense may be
to others, it does not appear to us as marked either
by the semblance of munificence or by the mere show
of magnanimity.

In another column we publish a letter which has
been addressed to us by Captain DIXON, in reply to
some observations which we felt it to be our duty to
make on certain proceedings which took place before
Mr. Baron ALDERSON, at chambers, on the 7th
of August last, in the matter of GEORGE WILLIAM
DIXON, an alleged lunatic.
As Captain Dexoei expressly declares that he does
not advocate the law of lunacy as it at present stands,
nor the certificate system, which are the only things
we attack, and as he comes forward mainly
to defend the character of Sir GEORGE PRE-
VOST, whom we have not attacked (for we always
have and always shall cautiously abstain from mak-
ing personal attacks), we might suffer the letter of
Captain DIXON to pass without observation, were it
not that he, by a side-wind, endeavours to support
that system of which he denies that he is the advocate,
and while defending Sir GEORGE PREVOST takes
occasion to attack in no measured terms that excel.
lent institution, the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society.
Captain Dixox says—
" The ' Lunatics' Friend Society,' who had heard of
Mr. Dixon's confinement, instituted an inquiry into the
case, and although there was ample medical evidence.
most conclusively establishing the necessity for the step
taken by Sir G. Prevost, yet they persevered in dragging
the whole of an exclusively private matter before the
rublic, and placing a wrong conclusion upon the pro-
ceedings. Not content with bringing the case before
Baron Alderson, the society contrived to have Mr. Dixon
examined by the visiting justices of the county and a
physician who attended them. This latter gentleman
made an affidavit, and the visiting justices signed a re-
port, and both the affidavit and the report speaking to
the result of their official examination, sere to the same
t ffect as those of the medical man who signed the certifi-
cates under which Mr. Dixon was placed in confinement."
Now, what was " this ample medical evidence
establishing the necessity for the step taken by Sir
G. PREVOST ?" As far as appears from the report of
the proceedings which took place before Baron AL.
DERSON, this " ample medical evidence" consisted of
the certificate of one medical man, and on the authority
of that one certificate Mr. DIXON was seized and
incarcerated, the certificate of the second medical
man only having been obtained after Mr. DIXON had
been brought to the residence of the keeper of the
asylum. This could not surely be considered ample
medical evidence, more especially when we recollect
the careless manner in which medical men are accus-
tomed to grant these lunacy certificates, and the fact
that within a month of the time of the commence-
ment of these proceedings by the Alleged Lunatics'
Friend Society, a highly respectable medical man
had been convicted at the Old Bailey of having
granted a medical certificate authorising the incar-
ceration, as a lunatic, of a person whom he had not
seen for three months. The law says that two
medical certificates are necessary to autho-
rize the incarceration of any person situated as
was Mr. DIXON, and in this case only one medical
certificate had been given prior to his arrest, and
therefore, although Captain DIXON may be of opinion
that there was " ample medical evidence," the law de-
cides otherwise, and considers that the certificate of
one medical man only in such a case is not "ample me-
dical evidence." As a proof that the parties themselves
were fully aware that they had not " ample medical
evidence" for establishing the necessity for the step
taken by Sir G. PREVOST, we would quote the (an-
swer we cannot call it, but) subterfuge by which the
madhouse keeper attempted to evade making any re-
turn to the habeas, when on the 17th July he as-
sured Mr. BOLDFEN, the solicitor to the so-
ciety, that " Mr. DIXON was sufficiently recovered
to be discharged, and that he was no longer
his patient." The fact of this attempt at evasion hav-
ing been made threw a taint of suspicion over the
whole case, and amply justified all the subsequent
proceedings of the Alleged Lunatics' Friend Society ;
and here we repeat the question which we put on the
9th August, and to which Captain Dixox has not
even attempted an answer,—" Was Mr. DIXON really
recovered,
or was he not, at the time that Dr. Fox
charged as
represented to Mr. BOLDEN that he had been dis.
such ?
If he were so, why was he kept
under surveillance r If he were not so, why did Dr.
H• Fox represe t
n to Mr. BOLDEN that he had been •

discharged as recovered ?" We cannot pass
over this portion of Captain DIXON'S letter
without protesting against the principle which he
propounds, that the incarceration of one of the
QUEEN'S subjects is to be considered as an exclu-
sively private matter. It was not so regarded by the
Barons who wrung from JOHN the charter of our
freedom. "No freeman," says the Great Charter,
" shall be taken or imprisoned but by judgment of his'
peers, or by the law of the land;" and our whole
contention throughout this controversy has been that
the law of the land ought to be such that no man
should be imprisoned as a lunatic except upon the
judgment of his peers, who, assembled as a jury,
and presided over by the corcuer, shall hear in
open court the witnesses on the one side and the
witnesses on the other, and a true verdict give ac-
cording to the evidence. If the incarceration of a
man on a plea of alleged lunacy were to be regarded
as an exclusively private of sir between himself and
his relatives, what would be the position of rich old
bachelor uncles who have lived too long to suit the
views of expectant nephews and nieces ? If the prin-
ciple propounded by Capt. DIXON were once admitted,
the liberty of no rich lady or gentleman who
happened to have expectant heirs would be safe. The
incarceration of an alleged lunatic by his relations is
no more an exclusively private matter than was the
poisoning of her brother by Mrs. MAY. No doubt
she considered that an exclusively private matter, and
was annoyed at " the vexatious interference on
frivolous grounds, together with the prying and in-
quisitorial (to say telling worse) method of obtain-
ing information on family matters," which charac-
terized the proceedings instituted against her, and
which ended in her conviction and her execution.
Now, whether a man be incarcerated or whether a
man be poisoned, the Sovereign is equally deprived of
the services of a subject, and as in the case of
death from poisoning or from any other doubtful
cause, the coroner holds his inquisition on the part of
the Crown, to ascertain how the Sovereign became
deprived of the sera, ices of his liegeman, so ought the
coroner to bold a similar inquisition when the allega-
tion is that the mini is dead, and when the Sovereign
is equally deprived of the services of his liegernan by
his incarceration on the plea of lunacy. We are com-
pelled, from want of space, to postpone our remaining
observations to another opportunity.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

-~---

%Ve have received the Paris papers of ye:terday,

In the Thursday's sitting of the National Assembly
the amendnient proposed by M. MATHIEU (de la
Drome) to the Bth article of the preamble of the Con-
stitution, (an amendment which declared that it was
the duty of the State to find labour for every one
who sought for it), was, as we stated yesterday,
withdrawn, and an amendment proposed by M.
GLAIS BIZoN was substitu'el for it. The amend-
ment was to the following effect The Re-
public ought to protect each citiz:n in his parson,
his family, his religion, his property, and his labour;
it recognizes the right of all citizens to instruction,
the right to existence by labour and assistance."
This amendment was opposed by M. DUFAURE) on
a question of form, as it had been brought forward
in an irregular manner, and on a division it was
negatived by a majority of 409, the numbers being—
fur the amendment 187, against it 596.

There are no leis than 105 candidates in the field
for the three vacancies in the representation of Park,
and, as is too often the case, the man among them
whose presance is most needed in the Assembly re-
fuses to go to the poll. At floitacn SAT, the only
man among the candidates who has any pretensions
to the character of a legislator, has retired from the
contest in disgust.
The National has the following on the Sicilian and
the A ustro- Italian questions :
" The news of the taking of Messina is unfortunately
confirmed to day. We have received details which leave
no doubt on that subject. Messina was carried on the
811, after a combat of five days. The commandants of
the English and French naval forces have done all they
could to prevent the calamities of this struggle, or to
soften them. Seven thousand inhabitants, the greater
number of whom were women and children, found a
refuge under the French flag. liTe learn, at the same
time, that the French Minister at Naples has wished the
Neapolitan Government to limit itselt to the occupation
of Messina, so that the rest of Sicily (Palermo, for ex-
ample) will Le sheltered from all attack. On the other
hand, Admiral Parker. on the propogition of .A.thotrai
Baudin, addressed a similar invitation tothe Neapolitans.
While these events are happening in Sicily, another in-
cident of incontestable gravity is taking place in the
Adriatic. The Sardinian fleet is quitting, it is said, the
waters of Venice, carrying with it the Sardinian troops;
and it is added, that the Austrians, finding
no further obstacles, were to occupy the city.
We do not believe the latter part of this, for the fol-
lowing reasons:—The armistice concluded between
Austria and Charles Albert stipulates (Art. 4) that
the Sardinian troops will evacuate Venice,' but it does
not rpeek of the occupation by Austria. Now in trea-
ties it is not permitted to give to the text an extension
beyond what is formally stipulated. It has not been
settled that the Austrians should enter, and in virtue of
the law of nations they are interdicted from entering.
But it is not our business to consider what interpretation
is to be given to the armistice by Sardinia. That armi-
stice was never recognized by France. That which
France has proposed, and which Austria has implicitly
accepted, with the mediation to which it serves as the
point de depart, is the statu quo. It results that nothing
should he changed in the position of the belligerent
parties since the day of the acceptance of the mediation
till the issue of the negotiations. Let the Sardinians,
then, retire if they please from Venice; we cannot op-
pose it, but we cannot suffer that Austria should take
advantage of that retreat to violate conventions subscribed
by her and with us."

In the sitting of the Assembly yesterday the dis-
cussion on'the Bth article of the preamble was closed,
and the clause itself passed after the rejection of a
Communist amendment, which was proposed by M.
PIERRE LEROUX.

The election of Prince Louis NAPOLEON for Paris
is considered certain, as is that of Count MOLE for
Bordeaux.

BOURSE—PARIS, FRIDAY, SEPT. 15.
THREE O'CLCCIL—The funds opened to-day rather
firmly at the closing prices of yesterday, but at half.
past one o'clock the following notice from the Minister
of Finances was stuck up in the hall of the Bourse, and
it created an immediate fall in all sorts of public secu-
rities:—

"NOTICE.—The Minister of the Finances determines:
From the 16th of the present month, and till further
orders, the payments by anticipation on the certificates
delivered in exchange of the shares of the Paris and
Lyons Railway, as well as on the certificates of the loan,
will 13~ admitted by the Treasury at a discount at the
rate of four per cent.

" GOUDCHAUX.

"Paris, the 15th September, 1848."
The effect of this was a depreciation in the Five per
Cents. of no less than 2r., and in the Three per Cents.,
of If. 25e. This enormous fall is caused by the belief
that the Minister of the Finances would never issue such
a notice if he were not in great distress for money,
There was no other news at the BoursA. The Bons du
Tresor are quoted at 21 discount.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, SEPT. 15.

Namur and Liege, VA —Orleans and Bordeaux,
Paris and Lyons, 4%.

SPAIN.

Madrid papers of the 10th have arrived.
Count 3liaAsoL, who it will be remembered was,
in the month of May last, dispatched in hot haste to
London, as the bearer of the confidential communica-
tions of SOTOMAYOR and NARVAEZ, anent the
BULWER affair, and who was on his return appointed
Captain-General of New Castile, has been dismissed
from his office and banished from Madrid.

THE PREMIER.—Lord and L ady John Russell
arrived at the George Hotel here yesterday, per the
Central Railway, from Glasgow, en route to Balmoral.
They spent the afternoon with their young son in peram-
bulating the town and suburbs, particularly the North
Inch, where his Lordship renewed his walk alone. His
Lordship seemed to be recognised by few, but answered
the salutations of such as did so politely. They leave
this morning for the north.—Perth Courier of Thursday.
Yesterday the Lord Mayor entertained a large
party at dinner, including several of the Masters of the
City Companies and influential gentlemen connected
with the commerce of the City of London, and particu-
larly of the wine trade. Covers were laid in the Long
Parlour for 62, and amongst the many delicacies pro-
vided was a splendid sturgeon, caught in the river
Thames, and presented to his Lordship. Amongst the
company were Aldermen Farebrother, Humphrey, M,p,,
Musgrove, Finnis, the Master of the Skinners' Company,
Merchant Tailors', Vintners', Cloth workers', Saddler?,
Coopers', Weavers', Woolman and Glovers', J. Master-
man, Esq., M.P., Alexander Raphael, Esq., M.P., Col.
Kennedy, the Recorder of Londonderry, J. E. Goodhart,
Esq., Sheriffs elect, &c.
NAILMASTERS' MEETING.—On Wednesday week
a meeting of the nailmasters of this district was held at
the Hotel, to consider the propriety of withdrawing the
proposed notice of reduction in the price of wages, when
it was fully determined to accede to the wishes of the
nailors, to give the prices of 1838, which are equivalent
to those given before the notice was issued. We are
glad to hear of this decision, as no class of men work
harder or fare worse ;ban the nailmakers of this locality.
—Telt Towns' Messenger.