The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-22 00:00:00

John Kemp, Lewis Boshof, and Benjamin King, and-tsvo
Hottentots. Four Kafirs were seen to drop.
_ _

• TUESDAY.—Received information from Fort Beaufort,
that 1,400 sheep, belonging to Mr. B. Trollop, were taken
by Kafirs from Fort Beaufort, also thirty or forty cattle,
the property of the contractor, with a number of others
belonging to different people. A party was sent out the
same day, and recovered 900 sheep, and a Pingo received
a severe assegaai wound in the back. On Sunday about
forty head of tattle and 400 sheep were on their way
from the Tarka to the contractor at Fort Beaufort, in
charge of six Hottentots. These men were waylaid by
Kafirs, at a drift near Hermann's Place, Blinkwater, who
fired a volley amongst them, but without effect. The
Kafirs afterwards surrounded them, and rushing on
them with their assegaais killed four and wounded two.
One of the wounded men was pursued for some distance,
but fired on his pursuer and killed him. Another party
was sent out in pursuit of the marauders on Sunday.
Fort Beaufort is represented as being in a defenceless
state. A muid of meal lately fetched 51. 4s. 6d. on the
market. . . . At a late hoar last night the bodies of
the five Stellenbosch Burghers who were killed on Sun-
day were brought into town by Lieut. Skead. The ex-
pense of their funeral will be defrayed by the public.
Their remains were borne this afternoon to their last
resting-place, the Episcopal churchyard, and were fol-
lowed by their respected Commandant, Mr. Onkruydt,
and their comrades, and a very numerous throng of the
townsmen, anxious to pay all possible honour to the
slain. The funeral procession consisted of at least 500
persons.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

TIMES.—The notion of a dictatorship has been lately

revived and pushed to a considerable extremity by those
who think only of the classical form, and who hail it as
an escape from the wise precautions of government, and
the safe delays of legislation. A crisis of unexampled
urgency has come upon us, if not unawares, at least
unprepared. It is an agreeable solution of the embar-
rassment to declare the whole commonweal bankrupt,
and resign all its affairs to some great official assignee,
some Cincinnatus, or even some Caesar, who, with a
slight amplification of the Roman precedent, shall take
and pay without limit or check, compel the benevolence
of the rich, and hear the prayers of the poor, and, pro
hac viee, do everything that the Constitution has hitherto
forbidden to be done. The storm once over, the dictator is

to retire, and all is to go on as before. The dictator is
to do for the emergency, while time is to corrects its own
evils. Nothing is more natural, nothing more comfort-
able, than such a dream. One thing only is wanting,
and that is something like a parallel in the circum-
stances of the two cases. If the potato blight was only
an invasion of the Volsci, and Celtic degradation was
only a Catilinarian conspiracy—if sixteen days would
suffice to rescue the state, or one glorious consulate to
reinstate and reform all the affairs of the empire—then
we might all take our rest while one mighty mind was
giving us a new lease of tranquillity, justice, and power.
But, unhappily, the evils which have now come to a head,
and which must and will be redressed, being partly the
growth of centuries, and partly common to all climes,
are such as cannot be stayed by a few Treasury
minutes, or any amount of mere pecuniary relief.
But the idea of a dictatorship is the natural fruit
of the crisis, and has a right to be gravely con-
sidered. How far does it apply to a great, an an-
cient, yet a complex, and to some extent an unsettled
constitution ? It indicates that something may and
must be done corresponding to the greatness and im-
portunity of the occasion—something which, though
always good, yet in ordinary times the state would
hardly be sufficiently trusted and supported to do. The
facts as well as the day prove as much. Starving mil-
lions present themselves before the officers of the Crown,
and demand a relief which cannot be effected, even for

this once, without an enormous departure from usages
and even the every-day maxims of the state but which
it is evident must be granted, not only for this once, but
for all future time. A disorganised realm is reduced to
a multitude of heads. The historical kingdom of Ire-
land, with its plantations and pales, its vast territo-
rial sovereigns, its absentee lords, its rapacious agents,
its hungry subdivisions, all seems to disappear before
the eye of the statesman, and a nation of Irishmen is
to be provided for by any lawful or possilA means.
The state, not to say the rights of property, must be
remodelled. The people stand first ; and, after them,
all that Providence or man has ordained for the people.
This is a simple account of the crisis, such as all parties
agree—nay, even vie, in describing it. The titled pro-
prietors of Ireland, the sworn maintainers of Protestant
ascendancy, the very men who are most forward to de-
inana-the sword of the state to protect the rights of the
landlord and the sovereignty of religious truth, are now
'wining forward and requiring that the state shall feed
that vast and fainting rnultitudelby a miracle of consti-
tutional power—by any sacrifices—at any expense—by
any precedent—with any stretch of authority—at any
danger to commercial prosperity—even at the risk of a
famine to the whole of these islands—at all events to
feed the people. What is this but a comprehensive
commission, after the Roman formula, "to see that
the commonweal sutler no harm ?" It proceeds
from those who have usually been thought most
deeply interested in the maintenance of existing in-
stitutions. The appeal embraces within the range •f
the desired interference not merely those three or four
millions, but all that inhabit these isles, every subject of
this empire—it embraces all who are affected by the
perils of the crisis, by the cost or the risk of the reme-
dies demanded. It is impossible to say how far the
scope of such a commission extends. But it clearly is
safe to make a large use, perilous to attempt a small use, '
of so great a responsibility. As for the idea that the
state really can employ and feed so vast a population
from any inexhaustible resources involved in the fiction
of an overflowing treasury, that is as baseless as the
wealth of Aladdin's lamp, or any other childish fable. 1
The state has nothing of its own. It only exists as the
mediator between all the interests and resources of the
nation. The question simply is, on what men, on what
property is to be thrown the duty which must be dis-
charged both now and for many years to come, of main-
taining certain necessitous multitudes in Ireland and
Scotland ? Such, at least, is the present question—one
which has not been suggested by writers and parties, but
which Providence has thrust on the Legislature. Are
millions upon millions of Scotch and Irish paupers to be
thrown upon the Consolidated Fund ? Are the heredi-
tary tenants of the Dukes of Sutherland and Argyll to
be maintained, and a hundred Anglo-Irish potentates to
be supported by " public works," and fed on charity
wales by the industrious and orderly population of
England, in addition to its own proper burdens ? It is
unnecessary to argue against so absurd, so indecent a
proposal. It will not be done. It will not be attempted.
The proposal is only taken as an admission that some
fundamental change in the relations of the Scotch and
Irish poor to the land on which they and their fathers
were born, and to the chiefs to whom they and their
fathers have paid tribute, is imperatively and instantly
required. We think we shall not err in describing the
importunities
roused point to which the crisis and the
roused by that crisis all tend ; the great point to
which the extraordinary responsibility and presumed
" dictatorship " of the Legislature should now be
directed is such an amendment, and, if necessary, recon-
struction of the rights of landed property, as shall most
encourage the investment and consequent production of
capital. It is impossible to feed without food, or to give
profitable employment without the existence of mercan-
tile and agricultural enterprise. If the Treasury were
ever so incontinent of its borrowed resources it could
not go on long affecting to provide for half the popula-
tion without taking some effectual steps to replenish the
store it was wasting. The land must be made to produce
all it can. Amongst toe many other restrictions and
burdens on agricultural improvement, such hereditary
curses on the fruitfulness of the soil as that the opera-
tion of which our Scotch Commissioner this day
describes must be removed. Nearly half Scotland
is in bondage to a law which condemns the
soil to barrenness, the owners to poverty, and the
bulk of the inhabitants to degrading destitution.
Taking away all inducement and even all power to im-
prove, to build, to drain, to enclose, to manure, or to

bestow upon the soil the smallest aid of human industry
and skill, it accomplishes but the unnatural result of
leaving everything unaltered on the face of a world upon
which the Almighty has marked the destiny of perpe-
tual progress. Such is the inevitable operation of a law
which, four centuries ago, England found it her interest,
if not to repeal, at least to evade ; but which has only
been amended in Scotland to mak it still more intole-
rable and ruinous. This is one of the reconstructions
which comes within the just authority and " dictator-
ship " of this crisis. The whole population is thrown
en masse on the state. Land, also, must now be regarded
as a whole. In a certain constitutional sense, it must
be resumed by the state and granted anew to its pro-
prietors, newly enfranchised and conditioned. Starving
millions demand it, the common weal demands it, the
great body of landowners themselves virtually admit the
necessity.

HERALD.—The accounts from the naval ports speak
of sudden and urgent orders for the preparation of men-
of-war, small and large, for immediate service ; and
speculation is busy as to the objects of this heavy arma-
ment. Alarmists point to the Spanish marriages, and
hint at a possible rupture with France ; others of the
same nervous class strain their vision towards California,
and oracularly ask if it is likely that Lord Palmerston
will permit President Polk to take possession of that fine
country, and thereby acquire the power of controlling
the navigation of the Pacific ? We believe that we can
considerably moderate the fears of these sensitive
lookers-out for squalls. There is little danger of break-
in upon that entente cordiale which is so beneficial alike
to England and France ; or that we shall quarrel with
the United States about a naked and distant tract of
country, which, under existing circumstance; cannot
add strength to the aggressive republic, though it
might make a large addition to its permanent ex-
penditure. The last news from Portugal is evidently
the cause of our preparations. It is well known
that on the 12th instant the Cyclops war-steamer
hastily left the Tagus, and that Lord Howard de
Waldcri, the British Minister to the Court of Portugal,
came home in her. Ile has, of course, conferred with
Lord Palmerston since his arrival, and pointed out, pro-
bably, that the recent changes in Lisbon go a long way
towards a revolution. England, as the old and faithful
ally of Portugal, has a double duty to perform. She has
to protect her from self-violenen—that is to say, from
the madness of internal faction ; she has also to take
care that Spain has no just plea for interference. It is
not too much to say that the Spanish Government has
long shown a disposition to busy itself inconveniently
with Portuguese affairs. A Spanish army is not very
formidable ; but were it once in occupation of the strong
positions which the country affords there might be some
difficulty in persuading it to retire. Prevention is always
better than cure. By a prompt demonstration England
will show at once to the internal and external enemies of
her ally that she is, as usual, quite ready for action. In
a word, that she will exert her power to preventcomplica-
tions which might place the peace of Europe in jeopardy.


-CeHßONlCLE.—Considering our enterprising and
commenial character as a nation, our neglect of several
valuable markets within our reach may well excite sur-
prise. The fact, however, is susceptible of explanation.
Almost exclusively devoted to the study of what is
called practical knowledge, we are apt to narrow the
signification of those terms, and content ourselves with
a very imperfect theory of what is practical and what is
not. Nations are often hard to move in proportion to
their power and grandeur, as bodies in proportion to
their bulk ; and the same remark should be applied to
the regulation of public opinion, the breadth and depth
of whose current may be said to indicate the Her-
culean labour of those who seek to impart to it a
new direction. We have already, on former occa-
sions, pointed out in what way, and by what means, the
new settlement on Palo Labuan is likely to prove ser-
viceable to the trade of this country; and have hinted,
that among other good effects it is likely to produce is
the opening of the ports of Japan, and of those vast and
fertile regions extending from the Straits of Malacca to
the confines of China. Many expected these conse-
quences to follow from the establishment of Singapore;
aud, directly or indirectly, that event has exercised much
influence over the predilections and traffic of the Hindu •
Chinese nations. But commerce, like everything else,
has its caprices, and it may be inexplicable, according
to the ordinary laws of reasoning, why the inhabitants
of the states in question prefer being cheated by the
Chinese to carrying on honest and gainful dealings with
other merchants. Events, however, of recent occurrence
in Siam, to which we shall barely allude at present,
scarcely allow of room for doubt that among the
first effects of hoisting the British flag at Labuan
will be the acquisition of large trading privileges
among the Hindu-Chinese communities, whose so-
vereigns, in imitation of Mohammed Ali, are desirous of
transforming themselves into merchants, and long for
the possession of steamers, to enable them to conduct
their operations with the greater rapidity and profit.
Hitherto Europeans have carried on little direct trade
with Bankock or Saigun, though several attempts have
been made to overcome the prejudices of the people, or
the barbarous reluctance of the Governments to be en-
riched by the affluence of strangers. Among the causes
of failure may be reckoned the influence of the Chinese,
who, along many thousand miles of coast, have enjoyed
for ages something like monopoly; and, like the Dutch
at Nangasaki, are beyond measure jealous of such Eng-
lish, French, or Americans as display an inclination to
interfere with their gains. For this reason little reli-
ance is to be placed on any information they may sup-
ply to our envoys or political agents, or even to our mer-
chants, in such matters less likely to be deluded. No-
thing more is needed to show the great value of
success in this quarter than a knowledge of the im-
mense number of junks which set sail thrice a year
from Hainan, Quangtuug, Foquien, Chekiang, and other
maritime provinces of China, for Tonquin, Cochin China,
Cambodia, and Siam, where they easily dispose of their
rich cargoes at large profits; after which they return
home with the valuable and varied products of that im-
mense line of coast. On another occasion we may pass
in review the principal exports of these regions, which
have always been greatly coveted both in the East and
in the West. Here, formerly, the junks of Japan sought
ivory, and ebony, and camphor, and cinnamon, and
wood of aloes, and that precious perfume called Kalam-
bale on which the grandees of the Celestial Empire still
set so high a value; and here also the European traders
of the seventeenth century habitually obtained many of
those costly commodities by which large fortunes were
realised in a few voyages. For many years past European
intercourse with these countries has been on the decline,
chiefly, as we have said, through the predominance of
Chinese influence, acquired fur the most part through
intermarriages.
ADVERTISER—The Bishop of London delivered
on Monday his triennial charge to the clergy of his
diocese. It is, we admit, an able address, but farther
than that our commendation cannot go. It is pervaded
by a controversial spirit, and goes out of its way to load
indirectly with obloquy all who venture to think that
good may be done beyond the pale of the Establishment.
The Right Rev. Prelate, we are bound to believe, is not
ignorant of that portion of revealed truth in which a
certain class of persons are cautioned against condemn-
ing in others the very things they have done themselves.
It were well if he were to take out the mote which is in
his own eye before referring to the mote that is in his
brother's eye. Dr. Blomtield arraigns the conduct of
those clergy in the Church who have, either by their
preaching or theic practices, been parties to the seces-
sions from Angalinism which have been so frequent of
late, and which, there is every reason to believe, will
ere long be of still more common occurrence. "Wherein,
in this matter, thou judgest another," may it please your
Lordship, " thou condemnest thyself." We boldly and
broadly assert that the Bishop of London has done more
to unsettle men's minds, and show them the high road
to Rome, than any other person of the present day, al-
ways excepting such men as Dr. Pusey and Mr. New-
man—men who have devoted the last twelve years of
their lives to the one great object of un-Protestant-
ising the Church of England, and prevailing on her
children to throw themselves unreservedly into the
embraces of Catholicism. Has the Prelatic Lord of
Fulham House forgotten his memorable charge in 1843?
Does he not remember what was the burthen of that
charge ?—the great purpose, seemingly, for which it had
been prepared? The main object of that address ap-
peared to be to bring about a compromise between the
Church of England and the Church of Rome. In rail-
way phraseology, his Lordship sought, to all appearance,
to eft ct an " amalgamation" between the two Churches,
and thus to convert their past enmity into future amity.
And, to a great extent, Charles James succeeded—only
that the amity, like Irish reciprocity, was all on one
side. Rome neither felt, nor affected to feel, any friend-
ship for the Anglican Church; but the latter began to
form and cherish an intense friendship for the former.
On this point there was no room for doubt. The clergy
gave, in various instances, the best possible proof of the
sincerity and strength of their new-born friendship
for Rome, by throwing themselves into her arms.
But while the Right Reverend Prelate thus sent
numbers over to Catholicism, we have never heard of
any whom his "Charge" of 1843 prevailed upon to
quit the Romish territory, and take up their abode
within the pale of the Episcopal Establishment. He
cannot have forgotten his earnest recommendations to
them, amounting almost to imperative injunctions, t•
recur to the forms of service which were observed in the
Church in the early part of the seventeenth century, and
how he expatiatedon the solemn obligations under which
they lay to put on the surplice—to be especially parti-
cular as to the postures of their persons in the various
portions of the service—and on no account to neglect the
offertory, nor the prayer for the Church militant, as pre-
scribed by the rubrics. And yet the Right Rev. Prelate
now comes forward and declaims against Romanism and
every thing tending to Rome, just as if he had
not himself, three years ago, made virtual proposals for
a
atmheayl
hissocrlte rogf ys et
that semi-amalgamation withtheir hpeeripitHmeineitsijtoraintisenosn,
into controversy with the Roman Catholics on the points
on which the two Churches differ. The deep earnestness
of his manner, and the great length at which he presses
the adoption of this course, would almost justify a sus-
picion that he is, in his heart, after all, still friendly to
the Church of Rome; for, undoubtedly, he could pre-
scribe no better method for thinning the ranks of Angli-
canism and swelling those of the Romish community.
Assaults on the Church of Rome from the pulpit, in con-
junction with the Exeter Hall onslaughts of the
M'Neiles, the M'Ghees, and the Sullivans, have, we
verily believe, proved one of the principal causes of the
rapid spread of Catholicism during the last ten years.
If the clergy of the English Church would confine them-
selves to the simple preaching of the Gospel they would
scion find a great diminution in the number of " conver-
sions" to the Church of Rome.

DEATH OF THOMAS NEFEAN, ESQ.—We regret
to announce the death of Thomas Nepean, Esq., the son
of Sir Molyneux Nepean, clerk of the Crown and clerk
of the courts. Our correspondent, alluding to the event
says—" He was a fine strong young man, but relied too
much upon the strength of an iron constitution. He
died of dysentery or inflammation."—Jamaica Morning
Journal.
ANOTHER RISE IN THE PRICE OF BREAD.--TlleS-
day the bakers in the metropolis again advanced the
price of the 41b. loaf one halfpenny. The price of what
is termed the best bread is now by most of the full-
priced bakers charged at 11d. per loaf of 41b., though
psortineeescltilraerge upbwuart
dlsOd the w
of;
one-fourth
price is 9d. These
prices higherthau twelvehsee
months since.
The opening of the Margate branch of the South-
Eastern Railway is to take place to-day.
WINTER.—The Ochils were on Wednesday clad
around their summits with snow. In 1836 snow was seen
on the Grampians on the 3d of September.—Edinburgh
paper.
DISTRESSING CASE.—At Torhouse Moor, by Wig-
town, Cormick Flanigan had been confined to bed for
about eighteen months; when in September his family
were attacked with British cholera, and himself and four
of them have since died, viz. :—Mary Flanigan, the
mother, Sept. 23, aged 42 years ; Peter Flanigan, son,
Sept. 28, aged 8 years ; James Flanigan, son, Sept. 30,
aged 21 years ; Cornick Flanigan, the father, Oct. 8,
aged 41 years ; Jane Flanigan, daughter, Oct. 13, aged
17 years. We are sorry to add that there are still four
more of this family lingering under this 'complaint, and
that they stand much in need of the kiruinpas of a
generous public.—Dumfries Herald. . •
LORD NELSON'S LETTERS AND DISPATCHRS, VO-
LUME Vii.—This volume forms the conclusion of this
truly national work, for if any otitileation merit the
name of " national," a complete biograillly a Nelson is
deserving that title, Nelson being,".to use, the wprds of
Sir Harris Nicolas, the greatest of all he heroes that
adorn the naval history of Great Britain, and his career
of unprecedented triumphs, which was consummated by
his death in the arms of victory, renders him for ever a
paramount object of national pride, gratitude., and affec-
tion. As we have before noticed, this history of Nel-
son is comprised in his Letters and Dispatches, the nar-
rative being aided by notes from the editor. The letters
show, in an eminent degree, the beautiful simplicity and
high integrity of Nelson's private character, which, with
his public dispatches, present a truthful portrait of a
public man—for what can produce a more faithful pic-
ture of a man in all the relations of life than his own
letters, written at all times and at all seasons, in which
are contained the simple expressions of his thoughts,
conduct, and intentions. The editor has published the
letters unmutilated, and the hero now appears for the
first time in his own writings, as he himself did in his
life-time, without concealment or disguise ; and the
public will find in them Nelson's own generous and im-
petuous spirit, free from the alloy of editorial adultera-
tion, or editorial squeamishness. Such is the general
character of a work which should be found in every
public and private library in the kingdom. With refer-
ence to the seventh volume, we perceive, in addition to
the completion of the letters, that a variety of informa-
tion has been inserted which renders this volume the
most interesting of the set.—Plymouth Herald.