The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-21 00:00:00

OXltiltft

LONDON, MONDAY, DZCEMBER 21, 1846.

The meeting of Parliament will, by the deci-
sion of the Privy Council held on Saturday
afternoon, take place on the 19th of January,
as we previously stated. Enormous duties will
then devolve upon our Legislators; a vast and
almost unprecedented responsibility will repose
upon the two 113 uses. In the foregoing session the
facilities afforded to commerce and railway traffic
were wonderfully increas3d ; in the approaching ses
sion those facilities will not so inuoli require to be
enhanced as to be assured and perfected. The Par-
liamentary campaign of 1846 was consummated by the
victory of new knowledge over ancient ignorance; it
was rendered for ever memorable by the subversion of
monopoly, by the conquest of hereditary prejudice,
by the destruction and dispersion of political party.
The Parliamentary campaign of 1847 must be sig-
nalised by circumstances of equal importance to
humanity, if not of equal interest to the yeomen and
landowners of the United Kingdoms. Lc,rd JOIIN
RUSSELL will not possess, in the approaching session,
any opportunity for the display of his magnanimity
and disinterestedness comparable with that evinced
in the previous session by his illustrious pre-
decessor ; but he will possess inestimable opportuni-
ties for developing the resources of the great empire
committed to his direction ; for preventing the re-
petition of numerous and grievous wrongs ; for
benefiting the physical, moral, mental, and social
condition of the community ; for transforming an
island of destitution and ignorance into a land of
prosperity and knowledge ; fur maintaining the in-
violability of treaties ; for ensuring the preservation
of European tranquillity ; for administering to the
necessities of our populous cities ; for fostering the
intellect of the British people, as well as advancing
the interests of British agriculture and British manu-
factures. That is a plain catalogue of the acts ex-
pected from our Legislators in 1847. If any one of
those advantages be overlooked in the forthcoming
discussions, the Parliament will have neglected a
matter intimately associated with the happiness
and prosperity of the multitude. We do
not, of course, ourselves anticipate that so
much will be accomplished in a single session—
we cannot, indeed, anticipate the realisation of so
many magnificent boons within so short an interval.
Could these changes and modifications be effected
with such a facile rapidity, the labours of HER E s
would be eclipsed. Something, nevertheless,
must be
done in each of the particulars we have enumerated •
seine distinct step must be taken for the realisation'
of those national wishes. On the approach of
1848 the education of the people must not be
in its present neglected and lethargic state—
the peace of Europe must not tremble upon such

calamitous uncertainties—the population of Ireland
must not be in continual and imminent peril of
starvation and bankruptcy—the cities of Great
Britain must not continue to be polluted with the
odious sources of criminality and disease. None of
these wants must be left altogether unsatisfied, or the
Legislature will be responsible for the consequences
which will be inevitable fiom that procrastination.
We are not requiring miracles from the Govern-
ment—we are only requiring possibilities and neces-
. sities. We do not expect the present Admin!stration,
within the limits of the next twelve months, to render
Ireland a land teeming with riches like a cornucopia—
to reduce the nations of the world to an eternal
quiescence with the Gorgon-shield of diplo-
macy— to transform our towns into paradises of
health and splendour. We should be insane
were we to do so. But we do unquestionably
expect active measures towards the attainment of
those golden advantages from the Government. We
do expect, that before the arrival of 1848, the deplor-
able ignorance, and the still more deplorable
immorality resulting from that ignorance, will
he in a fair way of being considerably abated by a
national system of education—we do expect that
before the arrival of 1848 the recurrence of forty-
seven deaths within one week in a single province of
Ireland will be impossible—we do expect that our
relations with foreign countries will be placed
upon a foundation of sufficient security to prevent
such compacts as the treaties of Vienna and Utrecht
being laughed to scorn, and their most solemn stipu-
lations violated--we do expect that before the arrival
of 1848, the mortality will give promise of an extra-
ordinary diminution in consequence of certain judi-
cious sanatory arrangements.
In the approaching session there will be no plau-
sible excuse for dilatoriness in the settlement of these
four questions. The Lords and the Commons will

not be enabled to demand any delay from the un-

expected character of the revelations. There will be
no longer that room for personality and
vituperation, which existed in 1846. Those,
who may indulge themselves in the utter-
ance of supplemental recriminations, will only
criminate themselves the more. One indisputable
excuse must, however; remain to the Ministers—the

multitude of reforms, each necessitating instant at-
tention. They are surrounded by applicants for
assistance in all directions, and consequently some
sort of hesitation is unavoidable. The landowners of
Ireland, the peasantry of Ireland, the manufacturers of
Ireland, the fishermen of Ireland, the municipalities of
Ireland, are all vociferous in demanding their extrication
from their difficulties. The number of juvenile offenders,
the prevalence of vice, the frequency of crime, the
populous condition of ourpenal colonies, the enormous
sums required annually for the administration of jus-
tice in our criminal courts, and for the maintenance
of our gaol establishments —all plead with a voice
that commands a hearing for that prevision for the
social mind, which is, if possible, of more vital im-
portance than the nutrition of the social body. The
periodical recurrence of contagion in our towns and
cities, the pestilential atmosphere breathed by our
artizqns and civilians, the noxious water imbibed by
so many thousands, the waste and the pestilence
resulting from our present system of sewerage, the
pernicious and irreligious results of the interment of
the dead within our places of habitation—all these
things impress upon the minds of our statesmen the
necessity there is for some novel and immediate
sanatory regulations. The uncertainty of our
understanding with the Cabinets of Continental
Europe, the trickstering which bas deprived the Ibe-
rians of their independence, the shameful intimida•
tion employed towards Switzerland, and the ruinous
duplicity exercised towards Cracow and the Polish
dependencies, prove beyond all denial the
impossibility of preserving international tranquillity
without some decisive arrangement and some em-
ployment of diplomatic astuteness. Besides a mul-
titude of subordinate matters, there are four subjects
requiring the most earnest attention of Parliament,
and the most assiduous support of her MAJESTY'S
Ministers :

1. The preservation of peace.
2. The improvement of Ireland.
3. The establishment of a system of national
education.
4. The passing of certain sanatory enactments.

(The marked thanks of the community are due to
the authorities of the Horse Guards for removing,
even at the eleventh hour, the reproach that has so
long been attached to the British name. Yes, the
stain of ingratitude has been wiped away, and tardy
justice has, at length, been accorded to the veterans of
the Peninsula, whose gallant actions during a series of
heavy campaigns have immortalised the honour of the
English army, and preserved their native land from
the invasion of a hostile armament. The heroes, whose
indomitable courage sustained them on the sanguinary
fields of Talavera and Vittoria, at Badajoz, Busaco,
Albuera, and Salamanca, in every conflict from
Vimeira to Toulouse—who accompanied, and by their
unshaken valour achieved, the victories and triumphs
gained by their illustrious General in the greater
number of his " hundred fights"—who have hitherto
been undecorated, save with thu scars of honourable
wounds, the records of many a well-fought field—are,
at length, to receive the medal so richly deserved, and
hitherto so unaccountably withheld. The hoary-
headed survivor of • these fierce encounters will be
enabled to point w ith an honest pride to the testimony
of his bravery, to the mark of distinction, which he
may now bear upon his gallant breast, which he will
esteetn as his highest and most valued treasure, and
which will be handed down as an heir- loom in his
family, that his children's children may exult in the
glory, and regard with veneration the military honours
of their ancestor. Their country's renown will, in-
deed, be brought home to them, and become dear to
their hearts, when they see those near and dear to
them clothed in its brightness. Let it not be said
that the humble soldier is regardless of this badge of
merit, or that honours can only be appreciated by the
wealthy and the high born. The private soldier will
display his medal at hii parish church, or in the
,imple festivities of his native village, with as deep a
reeling of gratified ambition, as pure a delight as the
highest Peer will his star and garter. It confers on
him increased consideration, character, and importance
amongst his associates ; it elevates him in his own

estimation and that of those by whom he is sur-
rounded. It has been said, and we believe truly, that
the sale or loss of a Waterloo medal by any of those
on whom it was conferred is wholly unknown. We
doubt not that the same may be said of every other
medal bestowed for similar services. Can there be a
itronger proof of its due appreciation by the recipients ?
Who can tell the privations that may have been
endured, the pecuniary difficulties encountered, the
temptations resisted by the soldier, without the oc-
currence of a single thought of procuring relief by
the sale of his treasured testimonial ? Such feelings
should not be despised or neglected, they are moral
engines of extraordinary power, of which the greatest
use might be made in the government and regulation
of our forces. If judiciously used, we doubt not that
a system of giving medals to deserving men, who
have preserved an unimpeachable character for a series
of years, and have efficiently discharged the duties of
their station, might be made in the highest degree
subservient to the maintenance of military discipline.
We arc convinced that it would, in the majority of
instances, be more efficacious than the brutalizing and
degrading "cat." Teach your soldiers to respect
themselves, and you may be certain that they will

desire to obtain and preserve the respect of Others,
and more particularly of their officers and comrades,
Satisfy them that every deserving, meritorious man,

who has resisted the temptations of vice, who has

steadily attended to his duties, and has never been

punished for any breach of the regulations affecting
him either as a soldier or a citizen, will be sure to
receive his reward sooner or later, and you insure an
attempt to deserve it. All men will seek reward, and all
are disappointed when it is placed beyond their reach.
The fear of punishment may be insufficient to deter
a high-spirited young man from some reckless or
foolish act, but if he has for years laboured for the
rewards that await good conduct, he will hesitate be-
fore he endangers that for which he has so long
toiled. - Hitherto the chief, if not the only, motive to
good conduct has been of a negative character, viz.,
the punishment for bad. If he has sufficient skill to
avoid that punishment, which he may do by a little
caution and cunning, he is as well off as the most ex-

amplary of his comrades. This is not as it should