The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-13 00:00:00

this high character, and degrade the first institu-
tion of the kind in Great Britain, must excite deep
regret in the minds of Englishmen, and call for concqgn
puishment on those who from sinister motives, or jea-
lousy at puperior merits, can descend to the most despi-
cable tricks for the purpose of furthering their own
groveling and vulgar schemes. Such schemes we have
every reason to believe have been for some years in
operation in this august body, and what renders the evil
the more intolerable, the Council declare that they have
no power to correct the mischief already inflicted. In
another part of The Sun will be found explanatory ex-
tracts from the Lancet, that has devoted several interest-
ing articles to the subject. The question will be fully
discussed at a meeting of the Royal Society to be held
on the 23d inst., and in the meantime we give a brief out-
line of the case. Some years since Dr. ROBERT LEE
made an important anatomical discovery, the paper de-
scribing which was presented to the Royal Society,
and referred by the Council to a commit-
tee of medical Fellows, among whom was Mr.
LAWRENCE, one of the first anatomists of the day.
They reported most favourably, affirming that Dr. LEE
had made good his claims 11 the most unquestionable
proofs. The paper was approved, ordered to be pub-
lished in the " Philosophical Transactions," and it ap-
peared in due course, accompanied by beautiful plates
illustrating the discovery. These facts made a great
noise in every medical school in Europe, and raised the
name of Dr. LEE to much celebrity abroad as well as
at home. But, like the authors of other important dis-
coveries, he had his detractors. The same class that
wished to deprive HARVEY and JENNER, of their high
honours, so justly merited, formed a plan for robbing
Dr. LEE of his discovery ; a surgeon was appointed by
them to make a dissection of the part, and as far as is
known by report (for the paper has not been published),
he declared that no such nerves as those described
by Dr. LEE existed. For this paper, whi-•h
had not been read to the Society, which had not even
been seen by any one connected with the Society,
excepting the secretary and the two referees, and which,
contrary to the regulations of the society, had not been
printed in the Transactions, the royal medal was
awarded. In every respect the award was in direct op-
position to the acknowledged laws of this learned body,
and the committee that made the award was illegally
constituted. Mr. LAWRENCE, who knew the merits of
Dr. Lee's discovery, was first of all got rid off by being
told that there was no further business for the physiolo-
gical committee, and as soon as he had left a new com-
mittee was formed, at which a recommendation was
passed to award a medal for a paper that had not been
read, and the medal was afterwards voted by the same
parties in viola ion of a regulation approved by her
Majesty, that "the royal medals be given for such papers
only as have been presented to the Royal Society, and
inserted in their Transactions." No attempt even at
defence has been made by the secretary or any member
of this committee. The affair altogether is most dis-
graceful, and unless the guilty parties be exposed and
the honour and character of the society vindicated by an
open disavowal of such clandestine and illegal practices,
as well as the iafliction of a stigma upon the offenders,
the public will make their award, and reckon the Royal
Society among those defunct bodies which have perished
by their own acts.

The intelligence received from the United States, up
to the 18th of March, though not very precise in its cha-
racter, nor announcing any decision on the Oregon Ties-
tion, is altogether, however, more important than any
which kas arrived since Pomes offensive and violent
Message. Thanks to the firmness of the British Go-
vernment, and a portion of the British press—nearly the
greater portion, we are glad to say—both the Senate
and the President begin to consider seriously what may
be the effects of a war with
sEngland. The Senate is
evidently in no hurry to come to a decision— not from
any love or respect for this country ; for the great ma-
jority of the Members are as hostile as any of the re-
presentatives of those inland states which neither British
ships, nor cannon, nor bayonets can reach—but from a
regard for the safety of the union, and a fear of unfor-
seen events which may spring out of a war so unpro-
voked, and a selfish and unjust policy, denounced as much
by French and German writers as by the press of
England. They begin to see that if a war, under
such circumstances takes place, they must fight single-
handed with the most powerful nation in Europe, that
they can expect no sympathy from any one European
state, for all were alike insulted by POLY'S Message, and
that even the people of France, so long attached to the
United States from former recollections as well as
I policy, is more indignant against them than the people of
the United Kingdom. The manner in which General
CASs conducted himself, when at Paris some eight or ten
years since, and the rude and haughty manner in which
the large sum of 25.000.000 t. was extorted from the
Chamber of Deputies for losses said to have been sus-
tained by the Milan decrees, have sunk deep into the
hearts of all true Frenchmen, and they have sunk the
deeper, because the money was extorted from a friend')
people, who cheered on the American patriots to resist
the despotism of the mother country, and who maiul)
contributed to that independence and power which en-
abled them to enforce this base act of ingratitude. But,
independent of these considerations, by no means light,
the Americans know that a struggle with Eng-
land, when seriously provoked, is a fearful alternative;
their statesmen, and their merchants, and slave owners
Know, if the common people do no!, that since the days
')f the obstinate and imbecile GEORGE 111., and his still
more imbecile Ministry, the strength of England has
never been put forth in any quarrel with the Republic—
that the collision of 1813-14, was merely an episode in
the great contest with the French, and that when th€
principal war was brought to a glorious termination, the
English people and the Government looked upon the
American affair as a sort of by-play or adventitious
scene, which must necessarily close with the great drama.
Affairs are new different. Pretensions are put forth to
which no independent European nation can submit—

encroachments are made upon a neighbouring state of
the most unjust, violent, and deceitful character—the
very existence of all the British colonies in the New
World is endangered by this invasion, as well as by
threats not disowned b.? American statesmen or Ameri-
can presidents ; and should a war about the Oregor,
commence, it would involve many points, it
comparison of which the navigation of the
Columbia, important as it is, or the fixing
of any particular line of latitude, or the possession
of Vancouver Island, or any island or territory what
ever in that quarter, sinks into absolute insignificance.
American statesmen have long been well aware of thest
facts, and they now make no concealment cf their ap-
prehensions. Mr. CALsouri but the other weel,
earnestly impressed upon the Senate a speedy adjust-
ment by compromise, because, " among other measure,
the settlement of our controversy with Mexico depended
upon the adjustment or non-adjustment of the conflict
ing claims to Oregon between us and Great Britain. In
the event of a war upon this question, Mexico would
at once act upon the offensive, and by Mexico on th,
south, under the discipline of British officers, and by
British steamers along the sea-board, the Canadians on
the north, a British fleet upon the lakes, and the Indians
on the west, we should be enfiladed on every side." Be-
sides, it is well known they have no navy, no war-steamers,
that can for a moment be taken into account with
those of England. They have no debt, it is true; at least
they acknowledge none, but that is counterbalanced by a
very important consideration—they have no credit. No
human being, nut even a Yankee, would lend money t.
the American Government, and any loan-contractor
commissioned by President FOLK to raise money on the
Exchange at Haniburgh, or Amsterdam, or Paris or
London, would be received with universal derision. We
put all this, however, out of the question. What Eng
land wants is only justice, the settlement of her rightful
claims on the shores of the Pacific, as well as in the•
Gulf of Mexico, and a security that her colonies shall
not be endangered by such wanton acts as the annexation
of Texas, or by the enforcement of such preposterous
and insolent claims as those put forth by American
senators in regard to the interference of Europear
powers with the political affairs of the new world. Sir
ROBERT PEEL and Lord ABERDEEN have only to re-
main calm and firm in their purpose, for that is the only
certain means for preserving the blessings of peace.

As a better opportunity is now afforded us, by the
Easter recess, for taking into consideration twitters not
immediately comprehends d in the current Parliamentary
business, we gladly take advantage of the interval
ti
emphasise (by repetition) our opinions upon education as
a means of exercising a vast moral influence over the
multitude. Our views upon this particular
theme received a fresh illustration only yesterday in
our reference to the last monthly meeting of
the magistrates for the metropolitan county. It is,
however, with renewed pleasure, that we obterve almost
every successive day some circumstance transpiring
whieh tends materially to enforce the advisability of some
official interference with the social condition of the
humbler classes of our fellow-countrymen—some equit-
able exchange of principles, such as the resignation of
.tn exclusively penal system for the purpose of interpo-
lating certain pages in the criminal code of
an educational character. That irresistible sub-
,:urrent of public opinion, which ultimately subverts
every fallacious doctrine, moral, political, and social, is,