The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-08 00:00:00

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AbVERTISFits—The question of opening the ports
to the- untaxed importation' of foreign coru is hourly
becoming more urgent, It is the subject of universal
surprise, that Lord John Russell should not hasp resorted
to this expedient some weeks ago. Iu the omission of an
act so urgently called for he has been guilty of a grave
dereliction of duty. We should like to know on what
grounds the Noble Lord will attempt to justify his ne-
glect. He does not doubt his power to throw open every
port in the kingdom to the reception of foreign corn,
duty free. An Order in Council is all that would be re-
quired preparatory to the adoption of such a step. And
not only would the measure be constitutional, but the
Premier could urge innumerable
,precedents for re-
sorting to it. Had Sir Robert Peel been in office, there
can be no doubt that he would, betore now, have
caused the ports to be thrown open. He had deter-
mined to have recourse to that expedient on the Ist
of November last, although the then destitution in
Ireland bord no comparison to what it is now. It
is true his intentions were defeated, owing to
a majority of his colleagues taking a less alarm-
ing vicar of the distress at that time existing
in Ireland. But, though defeated in the Cabinet, Sir
Robert Peel attested the sincerity of his convictions and
the integrity of his purpose, by breaking up his admi-
nistration, because the power of carrying out his wiss
and statesmanlike resolves was withheld from him.
Who then can doubt that; in the present far more alara.-
ing state of matters, the ex-Premier, had he still been
at the head of affairs, would, without hesitation, have
unlocked the ports of the United Kingdom to the ad-
mission of foreign corn? And shall Lord John Russell
shrink from 'doing what Sir Robert Peel would have
been forward to do? The Noble Lord has a high repu-
tation for moral courage. Nothing, we are told, daunts
him: Only—say his friends—convince him that a par-
ticular course of action accords with the principles of
justice, and no apprehension of consequences wilt deter
him from adopting it. It would be paying a com-
pliment- to the Noble Lord's integrity at the cx,
ipnesnesne of s i
ble his d i
t e
tsbeee rnn
exigenciese nt, ssere •
of we to
the
existing suppose
We cannot divest our minds of the conviction,
that he is fully alive to the perils which
environ the social system in Ireland, in consequence of
the dreadful condition of affairs in that country. And
yet he has hitherto failed to take those decisive and
energetic steps, in dealing with Irish evils, which the
emergency requires. It is difficult to conceive what can
be the cause of the Noble Premier's hesitation in re-
ference to the opening of the ports. Not only has he
precedents before him, in all similar cases of a deficiency
of food of home growth, but he knows that such a mea-
sure is loudly clamoured for both here and in Ireland.
There is not, on the other hand, a man in the country
who would arraign the necessity or propriety of such a
step. Even Lod George 13entinek, emphatically the
champion of protection to the farmer—even he would
not object, in this emergency, to the opening of the •
ports. He and his party, while assailing the Ministerial
corn-law measure of last session, admitted that bad Sir
Robert Peel then decided on throwing open the ports of
Ireland, they would have given him, in that particular
instance, their most cordial support. They made it, in-
deed, a matter of grave imputation on the statesmanship
of the Right Hon. Baronet that he did not adopt that
step. Of course, then, a sense of decency would restrain
the protectionists from opposing any proposition made
by Lord John Russell for opening the ports to untaxed
foreign corn, when it is felt and confessed on all hands
that the present state of Ireland is tenfold more alarming
and perilous than it was in November last year. What,
then, the public are curious to learn, can be the reason
of the Premier's hesitating to adopt a measure so ur-
gently called for by the necessities of the case, and to
which the slightest objection would not be offered from
any quarter. At present the conduct of the Noble Lord
is enshrouded in mystery. It is giving great pain
to his best friends. It seems to indicate a deplorable
want of humanity, and an entire absence of en-
lightened and statesmanlike views. Has it not
occurred to the Premier that he is placing his sup.
porters in an awkard position, by not at once adopting
the only obvious course by which four millions of people
can obtaiu the amount of food necessary to keep soul
and body together? Has the idea not crossed his mind,
that contrasts most unfavourable to himself will be in-
stituted between him and his predecessor in office ?
What defence the Noble Lord can offer for his conduct,
in allowing the peasantry of Ireland to perish for want,
and to place the tranquillity of the country in the most
imminent peril, when the adoption of the course we are
recommending would avert such terrible evils, is one
of those things not dreamt of in the philosophy of any
one but himself. How he can repose on his pillow at
night, with so fearful a load of moral and constitutional
responsibility resting on his shoulders, is inure than, we
are able to divine,
HERALD.—The guerilla nature of that contest of
which Southern Africa is now the scene continues to
excite much uneasiness, chiefly arising, however, from
its own indeterminate and irregular character. The
accounts which we have received for a considerable
period have consisted almost wholly of a series of ma-
rauding exploits, in which the enemy and the colonists
are alternately the actors. Three or four hundred head
of cattle are descried at a distance in possession of the
Kafirs ; a score or two of men dash after them without
orders, and often in utter defiance of all military
discipline. Sometimes they are foiled, but more fre-
quently arc successful in plundering the enemy of that
which had been the sole object of the attack. The affair
nray be characterised by a brilliant charge, a gallant con=
test, a valuable booty, and a safe return ; 'out the next
day, perchance, is marked by reprisals ; and while such
a warfare continues, the prospects of a final settlement
become more remote than ever. In the same way, in-
telligence may be received that the Kafirs will attack a
given post on a given day. Provision made be made for
repulsing the enemy and avenging the insult, 'out when
all this is performed and completed, the veer stands just
where it was. In contests with uncivilised nations, who
are utterly ignorant of our vast military resources, and
wholly unconscious of the amount of that power
which they have provoked, petty successes of this
kind are vain and purposeless. It may be asserted,
with some plausibility, that attempts must unceas-
ingly be made to recover from the enemy that cattle
which the latter has swept off from the frontier ; but
no one will venture to say that the property dthus re-
covered is in any instance restored to its old owner, or
that any effectual :compensation is now being made to
him for the beggary and destitution to which he has
been reduced by the robbery of his stock and the murder
of his servants ; on the contrary, one of the reports con-
cludes with the statement that—" about 300 head of
cattle had been here picked up, which afforded a veils
seasonable supply of meat to the hungry troops." Of
course, the famished soldiers who recovered them- could
not part with this reward of their labours, for waste
their valuable time in the attempt to search out the old
owners, or to distribute the cattle equitably among the
plundered colonists, while their own physical necessities
were unsatisfied. But such facts, manifest as they must
be to the most cursory observer, completely discounte-
nance the idea that these excursions are undertaken for
there
thateover a pressureyand restorationfordi
imnoefsatotelesnuppprloiepse: oa,thety in
Iti!
evident
dulgence of predatory tendencies on the part of the
troops themselves, dictates these skirmishes—either of
which suppositions are in the highest degree discre-
ditable to those who actively influence the current of
affairs.

During the visit of the King of the PrerCh to the
fortresses on Friday, his Majesty percP'Lved a female
with
a wooden leg, and wearing the decoration of the
Legion of Honour. The King, 10-.4rning from General
Gourgaud that this woman had obtained her decoration
at the battle of Friedland, in which she figured as a non-
coocommissioned officer of hussars, made her a present of
1 f,
Plant Or FRIDtRICK LANE, ESQ.--LTXN, OCT. 5.
—lt is ourmelancholy duty to record that
Mr. Ln
who was severely burnt at the late fire at Tavannesa e,
in
Switzerland,_ breathed his last at 5 o'clock in the morn-
ing of the 25th ult. His loss, and the very distressing,
circumstances 'attending it, will, we are assured, excite
the deep sympathy and sorrow of a very numerous
circle of friends. Mr. Lane was distinguished amongst
the members of his profession for the remarkable rapidity
and sagacity of his judgment ; and amongst all his ao-
quaintauces for a most warm-hearted hospitality in so-
ciety, and a most liberal hand to the, poor and needy.
There were 38 strangers Caving at the hotel. Six of
them perished in the flames. Most of the travellers
were Englishmen; ';',nd amongst the inmates wel,e Michael
Stocks, Esq.. Solicitor, with his eldest dau O.
Gleac11;11, Esq, all of Halifax, but happilyghter they,
escapedescaped
with their lives. In eseaping from a window thrrfe
Vustories high, Mr, Straw Unfortunately broke his 'ea.—.
r/

in a great national conclave they will be able to mikv..
the edge of a repeal precipice without the least4fitiki-'----
of toppling over, we are still constrained to doulitier..
titer discussion of any kind is just now the mosttre.:o;-...-;-, jog duty of Irish landlords, and even if it were, whe•th.'l7.-''
the views and feelings at present prevailirg monestqata9
would, by a colketive expressioh, lead to any useful
suit. In the first place, the idea of journeyiag to the
capital to make speeches and pass resolutions, when
famine is stalking abroad in the pr,,vinces, savours . far
too much of the disposition to take iefuge in talk from
the pressure of an emergency which requires action.
The place of an Irish proprietor just now is upon his
estate. The poor, who are to be employed and fed—the
ignOrant, who are to be guided. and saved from the
ruin which violence might bring upon them —these are
the parties (hard enough, it may . be) to deal with, but
with whom it is now the primary and inevitable duty of
the Irish landlord to deal in the best way he can. He
may shut his eyes to the stern and menacing realities
of his own situation, or he may fly from their pressure,
but he does either at his own peril. An landlord
who, upon any pretext vv hates', r, shrinks from or
neglects any cflbet in his p,-.3ver to adevinte that portion
of thepublic calamity which shows itself at his own door, is
preparing for himself a day of strict and fearful reckon.-
ing. In -the second place, we may be sure that those
who leave the post of action and danger to harangue
and recommend, will lay stress upon something
which is to be done not by themselves, .but by others.
This tendency shows itself in Ireland to an extent which
is disheartening. Everybody is loud and eloquent in
enforcing what is to be done by somebody else. The
landlords, the priests, the repeaters, are called upon by
turns, and all with one voice join in iinpising impossible
tasks upon the Government. The Government is to
employ the people, and ifis also to feed them. It is to
give them wages such as they never yet obtained from
independent labour, and it is to prevent the natural in-
fluence of scarcity from being felt in the price of bread.
In this strain speak the assembled magistrates of coun-
ties, and to the same purpose, but in the language of
&diem speaks Mr. John O'Connell at the Repeal Asso-
ciation. The reckless and ignorant disregard thus shown'
of the impassable limits by which the powers of goy ern-
merits are bounded, and the tendency evinced to throw
upon them a vague and immeasurable responsibility,
forbid us..to expect-very useful or practical-results front
the Proposed Publin meeting.

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