The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-07 00:00:00

Oltening

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1846.

Immediately after the triumphant acceptation of
free-trade principles by the Legislature the advocates
for the adoption of some comprehensive and bene-
ficent system of national education appeared to ac-
quire additional vigour, both by numerical reinforce-
ments and by an accession of individual earnestness.
In the moral changes which were thus manifest In
the multitude, the grand characteristic of this age
became more than ever apparent—that characteristic
being none other than the combined struggle of the
more intelligent members of the community for the
moral, intellectual, and social advancement of the
entire population. Having subjugated that monster-
evil Monopoly, by the existence of which the energies
of the agricultural and commercial labourers had been
so long and so grievously hampered, the popular in-
telligence turned with renewed hope and renovated
strength to the destruction of, if possible, still
greater difficulties. From endeavouring to promote
the corporeal nourishment of the people, we have
reverted to the still loftier endeavour to pro-
mote their spiritual and intellectual nourish-
ment. From striving to eradicate what may
be called the commissariat abuses of the empire,
we are now striving for the eradication of those still
more gigantic and pernicious abuses which have mili-
tated against the morality of nations. We have
struggled to render provisions accessible to all, accord -
ing to the beautiful ordinations of Nature ; we are
now struggling to render knowledge equally ac-
cessible, and to relieve the mind of the populace
from a domination infinitely more irksome
and productive of immeasurably greater mise-
ries than all the prerogatives of despotism or the
repressive influences of feudality. Our recent triumph
in the former struggle has only imparted a more
hopeful energy to the latter. Where tens coalesced
for the emancipation of commerce thousands are now
happily combining for the enfranchisement of the
popular intellect. All the invidious distinctions of class,
all the diversities of political opinion, all the antagonism
of religious factions, have failed in preventing the
mass from uniting together for the instruction of the
ignorant, and the reclamation of the criminal. If
ever there was an opportune moment for the realisa-
tion of any national reform, the present is unques-
tionably the one for eliciting a system of education
from the British Legislature. The whole mind of the
community is filled with a conviction of what is requi-
site ; the whole heart of the community is beating
with a generous anxiety for the alleviation of so
much wretchedness ; the whole vigour of the com-
munity is prepared for the achievement of this moral
and intellectual reformation. Let U 3, men of Eng-
gland ! avail our-elves of this glorious and precious
vantage-ground. Unanimity, earnestness, honesty,
—with these our struggle meat prove victorious !
The million w ill be elevated from its present
abyss of moral debasement and mental degradation ;
the hulks, and the prisons, and the penal settlements,
and the madhouses, will be rendered to a consider-
able extent only the raemorlds of our former blind-
ness ; the rookeries of our great cities will be purged
away, their degenerate inmates changed into a
thriving and industrious body, and the trea.!mill and
the gallows preserved as the symbols of a past and
mistaken generation.

Every fresh inspection of criminal statistics only
demonstrates yet more vividly the necessity for sonic
immediate and wholesale purgation. Often as the
official reports of tie Inspectors of Prisons have been
issued, repeatedly as we ourselves have in.
ve,tigated the moral and intellectual wants of the
poor, through the assistance of numerical calculations.
and deeply as this great wound of centuries has been
probed in preceding documents, we must acknow-
ledge ourselves to have been appalled by the picture
unfolded to us by a letter addressed two mooth,
since to Sir GEORGE GREY, and written by Mr.
WiiirwouTu RUSSELL, an ecclesiastic, and one
of the home Inspectors of Prisons. The
amount of crime which has been detected in the
quinquennial period, 1839 to 1843, is there calcu-
lated, and presents such a world of agony, wretched-
ness, and degradation as one would not have dared
to have imagined. Some faint conception of the
horrible nature of these revelations may be formed
from the single fact that, in 1843 alone,
the number of commitments under summary
convictions is estimated at no less than 73,196;
and this awful amount is, moreover, exclusive
of " all those who pay their fines or produce
their required securities." Seventy-three thousand
one hundred and ninety-six criminal offences in a
single year! and beyond this, of course, a vast
amount of undetected crimes, besides the num-
berless vices and sins which are only recog-
nisable by religion and philosophy. An esti•
mate so horrible is enough to cause the
most obdurate mind to shrink within itself with
amazement. But when we perceive the depths
of ignorance by which this criminality is invariably
accompanied we have reason not merely for astonish-
ment, but for self-reproach and anguish.
The cause and the effect are both reckoned in
the tables of Mr. WHITWORTH RUSSELL'S remark-
able epistle to the Right Honourable the Horne
Secretary. Of the effects we have already given
some calculation. Of the causes, namely, the ignor-
ance of the criminals, we can afford a corresponding
specimen. Out of the prisoners at assizes
and sessions 901 per cent. are discovered
to have received no instruction whatever, or
something absolutely worse than total ignorance,
while merely 9 per cent. were able to read and write

tolerably. Out of the prisoners confined under sum-
mary convictions, 91.9 per cent. were found to have
received little or no education, while only 4 per
cent. could read and write well. With perfect justice
may this intelligent and industrious Inspector of
Prisons observe that "no statement can be stronger
as to the state of ignorance amongst criminals, even
as regards the most elementary instruction." Such then
is the demon we have to vanquish before those crimes

which cry to heaven for vengeance in this country
can be rendered less frequent, and the reprobate
dregs of the population changed into upright and in-
dustrious citizens. With courage and perseverance
and unanimity this great work may, however, be
accomplished. Let us, therefore, emulate each other
in this struggle for national love and philanthropic
glory.

Each day's accounts from Ireland fearfully corro-
borate the tale of misery and destitution existing in
that unhappy land. We regret to say that the dis-
turbances are also spreading, and that the greatest
excitement prevails in many districts, threatening in
the most serious manner the peace and tranquillity of
the entire nation. As yet the outbreaks and the acts
of violence have chiefly related to the food of the
people. Bakers' shops, provision stores, and other
places where edibles of any kind could be obtained,
have been pillaged, and the transit of provisions
through the country, for the purpose of exportation,
has been forcibly stopped—indeed any removal of
corn for any object whatsoever is watched with a
jealous eye. The unaccountable attack on Lord
STUART DE DECIES, a resident nobleman, affording
extensive employment to the people on his extensive
estates, appeared of a worse character and description
than any of the other acts of violence it has been
our painful duty to record. We are happy, however,
to find it stated, in a letter written by his Lordship,
that none of his tenantry were guilty of taking a
part in the disturbances which occurred upon the oc-
casion in question, indeed he appears to acquit the
people generally of any premeditated intention to in-
sult or attack him, and states his opinion that the real
cause of the feeling excited against him arose from
the outrageous conduct of a man, who had attempted
4o address the Court, and who had been removed

therefrom by order of his Lordship. How unsettled
must the state of the people be when any mischievous
or badly disposed person can exasperate them to such
a pitch as to induce them to attack and injure one of
their best friends.

In the meantime no exertions have been spared by
the Government or the people throughout the greater
part of the kingdom. Each Gazette contains a
number of additional proclamations by the Lord-
Lieutenant for the holding of extraordinary present-
ment sessions, the total number of which that hay e
already been convened amount to no less than 236.
A spirit of unanimity appears to have prevailed at
almost all of those that have already been held.
Religious and political differences have, in the great
majority of instances, been laid aside, and the magis-
trates and ratepayers have contended in a generous
rivalry as to who shall do most for their suffering
and impoverished neighbours. The Roman Catholic
clergymen have devoted themselves in the most
praiseworthy manner to the preservation of the peace in
their respective parishes; they have publicly harangued
their flocks from the altars, have addressed them
whenever a larger number than usual were assembled
together, and have in every way used the vast influence
they possess for the maintenance of order, and in de-
precation of any riot or turbulence. The committee
of the Repeal Association have issued a most admir-
able address to the people, signed by Mr. JOHN
O'CoszstEkr, their chairman, imploring them in the
most earnest and impressive manner to be patient--
to break no law, to commit no violence, to plunge
into no crime ; and they bear their testimony to the
exertions made by the Government, the landowners,
and all classes throughout the country for their relief.
Wherever the public works have been commenced,
and food provided in sufficient quantity, and
so reasonable in price as to be within the
reach of the people, there the tranquillity
has been restored. In Youghal, which was lately in
so fearful a state, the greatest order and decorum
prevails ; handbills have been posted in all the public
situations, and extensively circulated among the
people, telling them what has and what will be done
for them, pointing out the consequences of a conti-
nuance of the bread riots. They say " that if the
mills are stopped and prevented working, if the mer-
chants are prevented from pursuing their trade and
business, the people themselves must be the greatest
sufferers," and " that no man will lay out his money
in buying or bringing into store that which he is
afraid will be pillaged from him. The miller won't
grind, the baker won't make bread, the merchant
won't bring Indian meal and Indian corn home, and
then there will be no food at all for them; they will
be out of bread and out of work ;" and they exhort
them by every motive to keep the peace and discoun•
tenance disturbers. This is indeed a plain unvar-
❑ished statement, and cannot be without its effect
upon so intelligent a people as the Irish.
His Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant has also put
forth a proclamation, announcing'his firm determina-
tion to protect that lawful trade in the article of
food, the complete security of which is essential to
the subsistence of the people ; and also to prevent
the labourers employed on public works from resist-
ing the arrangements which the officers of the Board
of Works have made for task or piece-work, or from
attempting to obtain by violence any higher rate of
wages. Should such efforts be made, his Excellency
threatens forthwith to stop the works in the district.
This is perfectly right. It is essential to teach the
people that they will gain nothing by intimidation
and violence.

A strong feeling exists throughout the whole of
Ireland in favour of an immediate meeting of Parlia-
ment, in order that the provisions of the Labour-rate
Act may be modified, so as to permit the money
about to be raised by the presentments under it to be
applied to the development of the resources of the land,
rather than in public works of an unproductive nature.
A requisition, most influentially and respectably
signed, calling a meeting of the landowners of Ire-
land, to be held in Dublin, for that purpose, is at this
moment in course of signature. How fully and cordi-
, ally we agree with the object of the requisitionists,
will be well understood by our readers. We have
repeatedly urged the adoption of such a course, and
pointed out the extensive field for the valuable em-
ployment of the people, in the reclamation of the
waste lands and the improved culture of those
already in tillage. 'We are rejoiced to find that
feeling so universally participated in by men of
all varieties of political feeling. Such a de-
monstration as will most probably take place,
Iwhere every Irishman may join, cannot Gil

in obtaining the desired object. We have already
expressed our conviction that, in a Parliament as-
sembled for such a purpose, no embarrassing motions
would be brought forward; nor would the time of
the Legislature be wasted by any unnecessary
speeches. Of course, it would be quite impossible to
restrict their deliberations to any specific purpose, the
good feeling of every individual Member must be re-
lied on, that he will not abuse the power he has, or
seek to divert the attention of the Senate from the
great object for their consideration, viz., the means
by which the existing distress in Ireland can be
most beneficially dealt with, and the labour of the
people applied in such a direction as may be of per-
manent and lasting advantage to the entire empire.

A rescript was issued by the Emperor of RUSSIA,
on the 23d of August, conferring on Prince WORON.
ZOW, the Governor General of Southern Russia and
the Caucasus, almost sovereign power within the
limits of his government. The Governor-General,
in addition to the rights and powers granted to him
previously, is authorised to confer, for signal ser.
vices, the rank of officer up to that of citptain exclu-
sively; he can also distribute the ord,r of St. George
and St. Vladimir of the fourth class ; of St. Anne of
the second, third, and fourth class ; the order of St.
Stanislaus of the second and third classes, as well as
swords of honour with the words "For bravery" in-
scribed on them. lie is also authorisel to promote
and grant crosses on the representations of his
officers.

Madrid papers of the 30th have arrived.
The Eco del Comercio having paid the fine fin
posed upon it reappeared, on that day.
_ _

The Herald() announces officially that the two royal
marriages are to be solemnized on the 10th of Octo-
ber. The Due DE MONTPENSIER is expected in Ma-
drid on the 6th. The same paper denies emphatically
the statement made by the rimy°, that the Spanish
Cabinet had received from the British Government
dispatches of the highest importance.

The Bill authorising the Ministry to levy taxes
had passed the Senate, General SERRANO alone
dissenting.

The officers of the garrison of Madrid, with
General PEZUELA at their head, had waited on the
QUEEN and the INFANTA to congratulate them on
their approaching nuptials,
According to the Espanol, SILVA CABRAL left
Cadiz on the 23d for Paris, Via Marseilles. Is he
going to head-quarters for instructions ?

The much-talked-of amnesty is to be upon a very
limited scale, "in consequence," says the Heraldo,
"of the machinations carried on abroad against the
institutions and the throne itself." This is a dan-
gerous phrase, and must have been inserted without
the imprimatur of M. BRESSON. In reading it, the
memory is naturally carried back to the intrigues of
the Hotel de Courgelles.
The English squadron passed by Ceuta on the 23d
ult. on its way to Tetuan, when it came to anchor
at the mouth of the river. On the morning of the
24th the squadron, after leaving two steamers off
Tetuan, got under weigh, and shortly afterwards
came between Mouseri and Bermeja, two leagues
from Tetuan.

MADRID BOLSA.—Three per Cents., 34i cash;
Four per Cents., 211 ; Five per Cents., 22 cash;
Debt, without interest, 6i ; Coupon, 201 ; Exchange
on London, 361 cash.

We have received the Paris papers of Monday.
The Government papers publish a telegraphic dis-
patch, announcing the arrival of the Dukes DE
MONTPENSIER and D'AUMALE at Vittoria on the 3d.
They left the next morning for Burgos, and had ar-
rived at Miranda when the last accounts left.
The Journal des Debate states that M. GUIZOT
would, in the course of the Monday, deliver to the
Marquis of NORMANBY the answer of the French
Cabinet to the protest of the British Government
against the Montpensier marriage. The answer was