The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-07 00:00:00

eitintiiT nit

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1846.

The LORD CIIANCELLOI: took his seat on the Woolsack at
Five o'clock.

The Indemnity Bill was read a third time and passed.
Various petitions were presented.

The Marquis of LioisniEw.Na then rose, and, after passing
a high eulogium on the officers and troops engaged in the
late glorious war in India, asked if it was intended to lay
before the House the proclamation issued by the Governor-
General after the battle of Sohraon, and also the preliminaries
for a treaty of peace with the Seikhs on the 17th of February.
He thought the moderation of the Governor-General did
honour to the country. Although he had hoped that some
communication would have been made on the subject of the
rewards to be conferred on the most meritorious servants her
MAJESTY ever had for their services, he would not press that
subject.
The Earl of RIPON replied, that the substance of all the
information received had been published. The preliminaries
with the Durbar of Lahore had not yet been reduced to the
form of a treaty, and until it should-.be in possession of the
Government in a regular form it would be impossible to lay
thorn before their Lordships. He was not authorised to
state anything on the subject of rewards to the officers, but
he could say that her MAJISTY had not had the dispatches
in her poyessiort half an hour before she gave directions that
patents of nobility should be made out for Sir H. Gown and
Sir H. HARDINGE.

Lord liKAumovr, after a most vituperative speech against
.t
au,stria, asked if it was true that the Austrian authorities
1 instigated a servile war against the landed aristocracy
in Gall, in, and had rewarded the peasantryr for killing the
_o
nobles by paving a sum of monythe head of every
noble, and if any means had been taken by the Goverleusnett?ot
this country to express its disapprobation of such conduct?
The Ea; I of ABERDEEN replied that the subject was
not affecting British interests, and that the statementse
one
on the subject were so contradictory that it was almost im-
possible to ascertain the truth. From his knowledge of
Prince Merreinucti, he felt that it was as impossible
for him to adopt the course alluded to
as it would be for any of their Lordships.
Certainly since Gallicia had been under the Austrian Govern-
ment the condition of the peasantry had been much ame-
liorated, and it was therefore natural that they should be
actuated by feelings of loyalty towards Austria. He did
not think it his duty to interfere in the matter.
The accounts be had received from the British Chargé
d'Affaires in Austria gave a very different account of the
transaction, and represented that the nobility had failed in
their attempt at coercing their peasantry to take part in the re-
bellion which they so strenuously and successfully resisted.
Now, in all this he saw nothing but what was praiseworthy.
But he had received no further information on the subject,
and he could not state how much of the published accounts
were true or false.
After a few words from Lord KINNAIAD, the subject
dropped.
Lord DENMAN presented a petition from Mr.. Joseph Toul-
min Smith, complaining of the conduct of Excise officers in
breakinginto his house in search of an illicit still, they acting
on anonymotis information ; and praying for an alteration in
the law on the subject.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE rose and defended the superior
officers of the Excise for the attack made upon them in the
petition. The conduct of the officer who entered the house
was blameable, and he had been punished for it.
The petition was ordered to be laid on the table, and the
House adjourned.

Want of space compels us to omit our usual summary o,
the debate in the House of Commons.

The House of Commons has only two nights for
diicussion previous to the Easter holidays, so that bosh
the Corn-law Bill and the Bill for the better Protection
of Life and Property in Ireland must be stopped in their
course for at least a fortnight. Parliament has now

been sitting for ten weeks, to a late hour every business
pirja t, with a very few exceptions. There has been more
1...\V Sll 1) Vali: during that time than during any previous session
for 11‘ears ; the two questions have been fully debated;
and ,gfiough the great majority of the public have made
up thtir minds on both; and are most anxious for a spf edy
they are obliged to wait still longer, in
the must intense anxiety, for a deliverance from their
• , • present doubts and difficulties. Trade is paralysed ;
_.• _

the best season of the year will thus, in all probability, be
lost before the opponents of the Government can make
up their minds to let Parliamentary affairs take their
usual course. No impartial observer can blame the
Government for this delay. We believe Sir ROBERT
PEEL and his colleagues are most anxious to have the
corn-law question settled, and could have adopted no
other course. It is admitted on all hands that the state
of certain Irish counties is frightful, that no man's life
or property is secure, and that a general system of
assassination prevails unheard-of in civilised countries.
The Government would have been only abettors of these
horrible and un-English crimes if they had delayed till
after Easter measures for abating the evil, and would
justly hare incurred public indignation for such apathy.
A Bill—whether exactly suited to the purpose or not we
cannot say—was passed through the House of
Lords, with very general consent from Whigs
as well as Tories, and sent down in due form
to the other House. According to universal
-estom and the recognised regulations of Parliament, a
Bill of this character coming from the Upper House is
read a first time without delay, the discussion being
taken on the second reading, or some other stage of the
Bill. Any other course by which delay could take place
would be considered not only as an act of contempt to-
wards the Lords, but would cast great blame on the Go-
; ernment, who might be justly accused of attending
;core to their own-favourite measures than the peace of
Ireland, or the protection of innocent men from the
lily plots of assassins. But they have been thwarted,
Lnd may be utterly defeated in their views, at least as to
any seasonable relief for such crying iniquities, by the
elvantage which some of the Irish Members have taken
privileges allowed to a minority in the House. The
haziness of Parliament, and the very.relief of the starving
Irish, are stoppc'd in their course, because Mr.
O'CoNstELL strongly objects to certain clauses of
he Bill, and considers himself therefore justified in
resisting it with unyielding hostility at the very thresh-
iold. Previous to the meeting of Parliament he an-
nounced his intention to depart from a course of policy
which he had for some time adopted, and take his
Pat as usual, in order to assist the Government in
(elreying their great and benevolent scheme for the
abolition of the corn-laws. Whether he has fulfilled his
[)romise we leave our readers to judge.
In fact, he and Lord GEORGE BENTINCK are
working together, though, we trust, with different
purposes, to defeat a measure so urgent and necessary,
and so anxiously desired by many millions throughout
I the United Kingdom. And for what purpose? To mark
his hatred of some clauses which could be modified or
struck out in Committee. Even admitting that they
are not justified except on extraordinary occa-
sions, and that the liberty of the subject ought always
to be one main object in the view of every good
legislator, we must bear in mind that this Bill is to be
ally temporary, and that it is not to be called into ope-
ration except in cases of great atrocity, and almost

,otal dissolution of the bonds of society ; and be-

.ides, it is the bounden duty of the innocent to submit
.'or a time to some curtailment of their rights and pri-
vileges for the good of the community at large. We
cannot imagine any infringement of the law of the land
half so insupportable as the state of society that
prevails in some of the Catholic counties of Ireland.

is assassination, and an utter contempt of law, and
.ustice, and religion, to be suffered to remain unchecked,
',name a severe remedy may be proposed? Is the main
,usiness of the session to he stopped ? Are the protec-
ionists to be encouraged in their opposition, and the
rade of the country to be thrown into utter confusion,
•ecause the Government have resolved on strong
oeasures to put down atrocities which are a stain and
I, disgrace to a Christian community ?

An important discussion was raised last night by Lord
".,:ANDON, with respect to what course the Government was
7,reparcd to recommend for the purpose of checking the
amount of railway legislation during the present session.
The:Membcr for Liverpool quoted the circulars of mercan-
,.i le bodies of high authority, expressive of their greatest
1;-prebensions tor the welfan, of our trade and coin-
alre:uly considerably affected by the conse-

fences of the railway mania of last year, if steps be
Ott speedily taken against COll%-t.lting the nrillions that
lay be required for the projected railways from fl.iat-
ig into fixed capital. tiir ROBERT PEEL at
ice recommended the following plan : To pass

Bill as speedily as possible liwited to this ob
-ct—viz., that a majority holding more than half the
cock of, a company should be entitlel to represent to
'arliatnent their desire of nut prozeeding with the Bill,
that thereupon Parliament should refuse their sanc-
tion to any further proceedings ; that those by whom
he scheme was originally propos, d should remain re-
-ponsible for all liabilities. And he also thought that it
night be desirable that a trustee or official assignee
hould be appointed to take possession of the pro-
)erty and appropriate it to those who have claims upon it.
Die known caution of the Premier, and his unrivalled
• xperience and skill, in all matters of finance, impart the
reatest weight to any suggestions he may off, r, or to
illy plans he may devise. In the early part of the ses-
.ion be warned Parliament of the commercial derange-
ment that would be likely to ensue unless some power-
ful check was imposed in the way of diverting from the
industrial and ordinary channels of trade so enormous
an amount of capital. He did not at that time meet
with the support necessary to carry his plan into exe-
cution. Having failed in inducing Parliament to put a
direct check to the threatened evil, his proposition of last
might, as an indirect means of compassing the same end,
is, perhaps, taken altogether, the most reasonable, safe,
and fair that could be made. The plan is to be more
fully developed to-night in the House of Lords, the
pressure of business in the Commons rendering it im-
possible to introduce or make any progress with the
Bill there at present.

We have received numerous communications calling
our attention to the various devices adopted by the
managers of several of the defunct railway schemes, who
ire attempting to take advantage of the supposed legal
lecision in the case of WooLmEa v. TOBY to extort
from the allottees contributions varying in amount on
the number of shares allotted to them. In our columns
of the 23d and 28th of March we impunged the justice
of the verdict, stating the reasons why we did not con-
,!eive it could stand, and also showed that, in point of
:act, no decision whatsoever had be, n arrived at, but
that the very important questions of law involved therein
were reserved for argument before, and the decision of,
the full court.

Circulars have since been sent, calling attention to
that case, by which (es it is said) the legal liability of
the several parties to whom shares have been allotted to
pay the whole of the deposit on such shares is fully- es•
tablished. They then, although having this power, in
their disinterested affection for the allottees, express
their readiness to accept a small sum, which they think
parties may be induced to pay rather than go into a
court of law to contest the claim, which they state that
they are willing to accept in full for all demands if paid
before a given day (always fixed before the final
decision of WOOLMER V. TOBY can possibly be:obtained),
by which time, if the sum claimed be not paid, immediate
proceedings are to be instituted for the entire demand.
Such is the usual course. Sometimes, however, th,
letter comes from an attorney, who demands a further
aura of ss. for his printed or lithographed letter; but all
these attempts have been far cast into the shade by one
recently adopted in a circular, bearing date the 31st of
\larch (and since also adopted by another company),
which purports to contain a leading article of
the Times of the 24th of March. They have therein
printed all such portions of the above article
is appear to be in favour of the demand, but they
.autiously omit the part bearing the other way, wherein
the case of NOCKELS v. CROSBY, ane the judgment of
the Court of Queen's Bench thereon is cited, and the
observation that, " Unless this can be distinguished
from WooLMER v. TOBY, the verdict in the latter is
clearly wrong, so far as it went, upon the defendant's
liability not being released by the abandonment of the
scheme," what can be thought of the conduct of those
persons who thus attempt, by garbled quotations, to
induce the public to believe that they have an
authority in their favour, which, if the entire
was given, must appear to bear the other way? Must
they not be conscious of the weakness of their cause when
they have recourse to such unworthy means? What-
ever may be the result of the question as to the liability
of the allottees, we should consider ourselves unworthy
of our position as public journalists, did we not discoun-
tenance by every means in our power such a proceeding,
and expose the trickery by which it is characterised.

Our friends are proved in the days of trouble, according
to an ancient proverb ; and, acting upon this principle,
Ireland may now discover those who sympathise
with her sufferings, and those who are indifferent to her
misfortunes. Fortunately for humanity, the number of
the former infinitely preponderates over the number
of the latter. Those must be callous-hearted in-
deed—those must be impervious to every feeling
of benevolence—those roust richly merit our execra-
tion, who can behold the aggregation of cala-
mities now pressing upon our sister country without
some sense of commiseration, without some wish to par-
ticipate in the d. velopment of ameliorative measures.
Men who can witness, without a pang of pity, whole
• •. ,

famine and disease, by the lamentable squalor and pri-
vations of their fellow-creatures, cast out into the
hedges and ditches, houseless, hopeless, foodless, penny-
less, would naturally be regarded with detesta-
tion. Some may imagine that no such individuals
can be in existence—that the supposition of
such tacit atrocity is but the exaggeration of
a morbid fancy. Gladly would we think so ourselves.
Hard facts, however, stare us in the face ; and we are
reluctantly forced into the knowledge that there are such
men amongst us, that they blush not to avow their own
heartlessness, and that their cruel indifference to the woes
of the human family spring from the basest of all motives
—self-interest ! What are these facts ? Alas ! they
are simple enough, and GOD knows they are painful and
degrading enough to our common nature. It actually
appears, from our Irish intelligence, that many of the
farmers of that unhappy country, far from endeavouring
to allay the woes consequent among their neighbours
from the scarcity of provisions, have been rendering
those woes more grievous and intolerable by keeping back
their stores of potatoes and other food in order to extort
from their starving countrymen famine prices! Surely
there is much atrocity in this ! Surely these men de-
serve the abhorrence of mankind ! At a time when
whole parishes are raging with fever, or stricken with
other diseases, from the consumption of decayed vege-
tables, or from an absolute destitution, these persons
could look on unmoved, with their premises stocked with
provisions, rejoicing within themselves at the prospect of
an extortionate payment. They could act thus with the
spectacle of extreme want immediately before their eyes,
while the Ministry are striving to afford sustenance
where it is required, and conjuring the more fortunate
among the Irish to co-operate with them in their
charitable and generous labours, or the official
efforts to make up the deficiency would be utterly
inefficient. To contrast the matter yet more strongly:
while the gallant regiments of Irish, who are hazarding
their lives upon the banks of the Sutlej, are subscribing
somewhere about eight hundred pounds for the poor of
their native land, a woman in Blackrock, who is in pos-
session of a large quantity of potatoes, announces her
resolution not to sell until she can obtain a farthing
a-piece for them! When such a villainous want of
sympathy is evidenced by people situated in the midst of
the calamity—people allied by ties of kindred and country
to the victims of starvation—it becomes indeed a most
difficult task to assuage the pangs of Ireland. Far from
any gratitude being expressed towards the Ministers for
endeavouring to diminish the scarcity by the importation
of foreign provisions, no sooner is a cargo of Indian corn-
meal landed at Cork, than a panic seizes the holders of
potatoes, and a cry is raised at a public meeting in
that city, " that Sir ROBERT PEEL be hanged fur
bi inging fresh food into the market." To say that this is
ungenerous and ungrateful to the last degree, would be
an inadequate expression of that thorough and heartfelt
abhorrence with which we regard these ignoble Irish
malcontents. Such conduct is repugnant to us as mem-
bers of a civilised community, as Christians, nay, as men.
It is a most miserable exhibition of turpitude on the part
of those Irish farmers, and will cause every right-think-
ing mind to rejoice at the disappointment of their avari-
cious intentions by the arrival of that food which
the precautionary policy of the Premier has conveyed
across the ocean. In the town of Ballyjamesduff, its
wretched inhabitants are so completely without a crumb
of nourishment, and so entirely without the means of
obtaining any, that, according to a letter received from
that neighbourhood, " they had shut themselves up in
their dwellings for two days, with the apparent determi-
nation to conceal their state of want, and abide their
dreadful fate !" Yet this is the very time a certain
proportion of the farmers were reserving their stock
until they could safely require a famine price. Like the
gravediggers mentioned by DEFOE during the great
plague of London, their trade was to thrive most at the
height of the visitation.

Madrid journals of the 30th have been received. The
capital was tranquil, and all the accounts from the pro-
vinces were favourable. It would appear that the
country is resolved to wait patiently for the result of the
late extraordinary Cabinet measures. The Council of
State having drawn up a report on the new law relative
to time bargains on the Bourse, had submitted it to the
Cabinet, who are said to be divided on the subject.
On the 30th the Three per Cents. closed at 32 for cash,
and 321-16th for the 19th of April. The Fives were not
quoted.

In the French Chamber of lleputi. s, on Saturday, an
animated discussion took place t,n the presentation of se-
veral petitions front Protestants, complaining of the religi •
ous grievances is which they are .I,l.,joeted by the Gov, ru-
ment and the Catholic Church. They complained that
a Protestant congregation cannot assemble for religious
purposes without a license from the minister or prefect,
which to a certain► extent placed them at the mercy of
one of these functionaries ; that Protestant pastors are
.t allowed to %i it military hospital's regularly, and in-
deed cannot enter them unless at the special request of
the sick soldiers ; and, lastly, of the improper means
used by the Catholic clergy to convert children of tender
age, and even shut them up in convents. M. GASPARIN
supported the prayer of the petitioners, and several
leading Members spoke on the occasion—among others,
M. ODILON BARROT, M. LUPIN, and M. MARTIN (du
Nord) ; but a general feeling seemed to prevail that these
religious discussions in the Chamber could lead to no
satisfactory result, and the petitions were therefore re-
ferred to the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice.
The Committee on the proposed establishment of trans-
atlantic packets had drawn up their report, in which

they propose the following plan:—That the Government
be authorised to treat with one or more commercial
companies, for the establishment of either sailing or
steam•packets on four principal lines, namely, to New
York, to the West Indies, to Rio Janeiro, and to the
Havannah. The departures are to take place from
Havre and Marseilles, and the packets to be adapted for
sailing, or for steam on the principle of the screw. The
rate of sailing to be at least nine miles an hour, and the
vessels are not to be allowed to carry more than 200 tons
of goods. The distance from Havre to the West Indies
to be dune in 20 days, and to Rio Janeiro and the
Havannah in 27 days.
The accounts from Algiers are more favourable than

they have been fur some time. The Moniteur Algerein
states that the province of Constantine was perlectly
quiet, that General JUSUF displayed great activity in
Pursuing ABD-EL-KADER, and, after a march of three
days, had reached the town of Zamina, only about a day
after the departure of the EMIR., who had taken to the
mountains, accompanied by 400 or 500 horsemen. On
the 26th of March the Duke D'AUMALE, accompanied by
the Prince of SAXE-COBURG and a brilliant staff, entered
Blidah towards five in the afternoon. A detachment of
cavalry, with a body of spahis, commanded by General
COMMAN, went to meet the Prince at the village of Beni-
Mered. On the following day they left for Milianah,
where the Duke D'AumiLE takes the command of the
district. According to a letter in the Presse, fever pre-
vailed in some of the hospitals to a great extent. In th,e
hospitals in the province of Oran alone 1,000 persons bad
died during the last three months.
The Journal des Debats contains the following details
relative to the Western. Railroad—that from Paris to

Brittany :
" The two companies candidates for the Western Railway,
the one represented by Messrs. Laffitte and Blount, the
other by Messrs. Emile, Pereire, Thurneyssen, and Tarbe de
Sablons, have, according to the desire of the Government
and of the C.,minitteo of the Chamber, come to an under-
standing. The Committee, it is said, proposes to the Cham-
ber the concession of the Western Railway to these two com-
panies, united with branches to both of the Versailles lines,
and the concession of the line from Bounieres to Caen to the
Company. be Bretenil joined with the companies Laffitte
and Athalin. The Western Companies and that of Caen
remain, like the railways which they work, completely in •
dependent of each other. Of the social capital of the Wes-
tern Railway, 148,000 shares will be assigned to the share-
holders of both the Versailles lines ; the proportion to be
settled by an arrangement between the directors of the com-
panies if the concession be voted by the Chambers. Each
share of the right bank Versailles will be received into the
Western line for 550 f., and exchanged against four Western
shares of 1251. each, with 50f. returned, representing the value
of the shares of the Company. In the same way, each share
of the left bank Versailles will be received for 375 f., and ex•
changed for three shares of the west line of 125 f. each. Ac-
cording to this arrangement, both Versailles lines may be
immediately incorporated with the Western Company.
Questions of detail will be settled by the Minister, and the
report presented on Monday or Tuesday."
The French Three per Cents. were done at TORTONI'S
on Sunday at 83f. 50c.

BII4INESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT TIE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, APRIL 6.

Boulogne aid Amiens, 121,1—Dutch Rhenish, 5 %-:East Indian
3(—Great Northern of France Constituted, 14%—Great Western'
Canada, 4—Louvain and Jemappe, 1% —Luxembourg, 1/2 ,—Namur
and Liege, 2—Orleans and Bordeaux, 11% —raris and dtrasbourg
(Constituted), 5N —.Sambre and Meuse, 3%.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert has subscribed
251. to the City of Westminster Literary Scientific and Mechanics'
Institution as one of 30 donors to liquidate the balance of its building
debt, the list of whom already includes the names of the Earl of
Radnor, Lord Robert Grosvenor, the Lord Mayor, Charles Hindley,
Esq., M.P. (who originated this subscription), and 12 other gentlemen.
CHAPEL ROYAL, WHITEHALL.—Thursday next being
" Maunday Thursday," the annual and ancient ceremony connected
with the distribution of her Majesty's bounty will take place in her
Majesty's chapel at Whitehall, where it has been the custom for
many centuries to distribute money, clothes, &c., to as many poor
men and women as accords with the age of the Sovereign. This in
teresting ceremony commences at three o'clock by a procession front
the Queen's Almonry-office in Scotland-yard, to the Royal Chapel,
where Divine service is performed, during which the distribution
takes place.
GREAT FOOT RACE FOR 201.—Yesterday the long-
pending issue between Mountjoy and E. Smith was decided at the
Beehive cricket-ground, Walworth. The men were matched to run
over one mile of ground, and leap one hundred hurdles, placed at
equal distances. The men are first-rata pedestrians, and drew a
large number of persons to the race. Smith tesk the lead. Mount-
of I joy made an ineffectual struggle to come up, but fell at the twelfth