The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Mr. COMBE said, he was well aware of the evils re-
sulting from the injudicious spirit of competition exist •
ing amongst the manufacturers of such articles, and felt
much gratification that the exertions of the society to
which the gentleman belonged for promoting the benefit
of such an unfortunate class were likely to be attended
with so much success.

SOUTHWARK
William Fitzpatrick, a man of respectable appearance,
attended for the purpose of making the following appli-
cation :—He said that he had a wife and five children,
rEsrkelgttlhhhileenArdestralia, and had assurances
and in May last was compelled to quit Lille, in France,
where he had been for the previous eleven years engaged
in the extensive lace manufactory of Mr. Massey.
finding that he could obtain
do
ws
oe
vme rabnen
determined s o
uponmany
m gratin
ohoeoerville, the Secretary for Ireland, that
wanfSrloi
iornt
emhceaemdhis
i Sirlsoo
familyVV.
Somerville,
not
mt
wt
the object he had in view should have his sanction and
assistance., to the disturbances in
Owing,hhahad not time to devote to the emi-
gration otherlimportant affairs
aaat hnmet and his family, and the latter were
driven to great distress, and in their emer-
gency,lodged in St.
tt to Ireland,earte tfeonrdeosS
fti
droarWpit
they
Saviour's, they applied to
the officers of that parish for relief, but they refused to
assist them; the object of the present application was to
ascertain if the magistrate could compel them under the
peculiar circumstances of the case. The applicant then
went on to describe that, being a man of some ingenuity,
he had, while on the Continent, devoted a good deal of
his time to mathematical and scientific inventions; that
he had discovered an invention which would prevent the
destruction oflivesand property by collisons on railroads;
and another important invention likewise— that of super-
seding the'steam-engine in propelling carriages on a rail-
road. The applicant here handed to the magistrate a
written paper descriptive of his plans with reference to the
above. He added that if he was in possession of only a
little money, he would be enabled to construct models of
his inventions which would convince the most sceptical
as to their practicability for the intended purposes.
Mr. COTTINGRAM having psrused the document, said,
that he thought the invention of such a plan as that set
forth--namely, one to prevent collisions on railroads,
whoever he might be, or in whatever sphere of life he
moved, would not only be well entitled to remuneration,
but also to the gratitude of mankind. If applicant had
not already communicated his inventions he had better
lose no time in transmitting letters to Mr. Hudson, Mr.
Glyn, and Mr. Chaplin, and if they were of opinion that
the invention could be carried out there was very little
doubt the applicant would be furnished with the neces-
sary means for enabling him to put it to the test. "At
all events," added the worthy Magistrate, " I shall order
you some assistance from the poor-box until you have
made the necessary application on the subject.'
The applicant, having expressed his gratitude, then
withdrew.

TIMES.—The insurgents of Waterford and Tipperary,
we are assured, are not without either object or plan.
Their present object is sheep-stealing, and their mode of
operation is to steal in gangs, The " six or twelve
thousand" who are said to be encamped somewhere on
the top of a hill, after looking at one another for some
days in that bleak situation, have made the discovery
that their commissiariat was not likely to flourish by
such 'a concentration and in such a locality. Ac-
cordingly,: Messrs. Doheny, Mahony, and O'Gorman,
or whoever else are the Rob Roys of Tipperary, have
had recourse to 'a very vulgar expedient. The rebel
forces have divide'd themselves into parties of thirty or
fifty, who have forthwith ;proceeded to break the eighth
Commandment and divers laws of this realm, by
forcibly abstracting, slaying, and eating the flocks
and herds of their neighbours. The strength
of the detachment in each instance, we pre-
sume, is according to the importance of the
" object," fifty Irish felons being considered a
proper number to sit down to an ox, and thirty to
a heifer or a couple of sheep. The patriots, we
are assured, have the range of an extensive posi-
tion. The chain of mountains which extends right across
Munster from Waterford harbour to the mouth of the
Shannon, with its secluded glens, deep ravines, and
labyrinth of footpaths, affords unrivalled facilities for
dispersion and escape. Here, then, is the Torres Vedras
of Repeal. The long nights are coming, and we are to
have a winter of forays, of black mail, and such romantic
amusements. Stolen mutton is sweet, and should it be
found possible to get meat seven days in the week, all in
the cause of " Old Ireland and Rapale," we have no
doubt that many will take part in so delightful a duty.
Nothing can be more intelligible than such a proceeding.
Living in the mountain or the desert, every now and
then pouncing on the plain, and driving off a few head of
cattle or a few loads of corn, is one of the oldest profes-
sions of life. In the Homeric times it was all but
respectable ; indeed, quite so when the plea of re-
taliation could be alleged. But the heroic ago is
past, and with it pirates and robbers are gone out
of fashion. The taste of this age may be very unro-
mantic, but it is decidedly against thieves. For
this reason we think the rebels were very unwise to ac-
cept so freely the title of " Felons." They were trifling
with a very ugly word, and the result shows that they
have weakened a moral distinction. But the age, we re-
peat, is against them. Should Mr. Doheny and his
brother felons be apprehended with a stolen leg of mut-
ton or fillet of veal in their possession, society will not be
indulgent to the offence, and the confounders of meant
and teens will be consigned without pity to the hulks, or
some antipodean purgatory of rogues. We are not in-
clined, therefore, to the opinion that, as often happens,
the "short cut " to popularity taken by the rebels will
not be found the best in the long run. It is true they
have imparted an attractive look to "felony ;"
but, on the other hand, they have stripped
off
a little of that disguise they assumed towards
the more respectable and more comfortable classes.
Every proprietor of cattle, we should think,
will be opposed to a system, the first principle of which
is that they be killed and eaten by the peeple at large.
The British Government, too, can act with all the less
scruple and reserve in the protection of property and the
suppression of pillage. But, surely, an organization of
cattle-stealers is not so hard to be suppressed. Munster
is not quite so interminable a region as our colony at the
Cape of Good Hope. We shall not have to march our
troops five hundred miles from our resources, to protect
an undefined frontier of two thousand miles, and follow
in the trail of savages a week without seeing them.
Cattle-stealing has long been put down in this
island, though cattle and hungry men are quite as
numerous here as in Ireland. The experience of
ordinary warfare will suggest the right methods of
dealing with the evil. How would any Peninsular
soldier cut off a party of the enemy's foragers ? When
our cavalry and rifles have exhibited a few success-
ful manoeuvres, the felons, if they have any spark of
sense left in their minds, will begin to reflect that it
is better not to be sent to one's account in the very act
of robbery. Under such circumstances there must be no
foolish delicacy. There is only one aspect under which
a hundred armed men descending from the mountains
and pillaging the plains can be viewed. They are in-
vaders, and as invaders they must be treated. We have
no alternative. They inflict famine and starvation on
the peaceful, and we have to choose between the death
of the robber and that of the honest man. For our own
part, we would rather see the bones of a hundred felons
bleaching. on the mountain side than hear of myriads
slowly pining through the pillage, anarchy, distrust, in-
security, and neglect, which a continuance of the evil
will certainly occasion. We rest much on the audacious
and unmistakeable character of the offence. The Celtic
Mahrattas will be shortly dealt with. The population
who are preparing to pass the winter in pillage
are by no means the worst off in Ireland. On
the contrary, they have always had the re-
putation of comparative prosperity. The Tip-
perary " boys " boast that by their determined spirit
they have won better terms than ordinary from their
landlord. The Suir passes through the richest districts
in Ireland, through " golden valleys," and through vast
stores of mineral wealth—through a country of mines,
quarries, railways, good roads, and works afferding
every variety of employment. These people have no
more right to wage war against property than our own
English labourers, who are often enough in great straits
for a living, and who are as little acquainted with roast
beef and mutton as with turtle soup and iced punch.
rho only difference is, that the Irish peasantry arecursed
with factious leaders, a dependent priesthood, and with a
constitutional waywardness and contempt of law. We
have no doubt whatever that many of the worthies who
calculate upon fattening this winter on felonious mutton
are actually investing in the savings-batiks or buying
into the funds. Is this very improbable, when
we consider that at least a million of the
relief money wrung from honest, easy Eng-
land, was snugly invested, as it now appears,
by tho Irish recipients? The cattle-stealers will, of
course, save their maintenance, their rent,. their rates,
and a portion of their taxes; and will find themselves so
much in pocket when spring comes round. We trust,
however, that Lord Clarendon, and the military autho-
rities at his command, will take care that the base spe-
culation is not without its risk. The spirit of the ad-
venture will cool down when the company begins to
thin, and when the painful thought each day presents
itself, that though they succeeded in carrying off the
sheep they left a comrade in the fold. We are sorry to
allude to such horrors, but mercy itself suggests the re-
collection of them. Bullets are better than anarchy and
famine. If there must be some public calamity, let it be
confined to the dreary hill sides, to defiles and glens, to
midnight and to armed marauders on the one hand, and
soldiers on the other. But spare the peaceful homestead,
the rich valley, 'and the industrious town. Save those
who have not thought of death, and are not armed either
for crime or for protection.
POST.—M. Thiers is rising in the National Assembly.
He is made of buoyant stuff. The violence of the demo-
cratic storm cannot submerge him for ever. If we may
apply to human what was said of divine subjects, Non
confundetur et ceternum. We are glad to see M. Thiers
thus vindicating the cause of sterling and tried ability
against clap-trap talents; of long public practice against
the temerity and empiricism of the new men; of know-
ledge and learning against flippancy, theory, and dog-
matism; of statesmanship against visionary promises;
of experience against experiments; of old fame against
new notoriety; of order against anarchy; of society
against barbarism. In the present state of the French,
General Cavaignac is a fitter ruler for them, not only
than M. Thiers, but than perhaps even the Emperor
Nicholas himself would be, because the latter is so very
far short of the despotic master they require. Van
Amburgh is the proper " moderator" of the tigers,
and the present military chief of the French is the
man for the Parisians. His rod of iron is a good
answer to their insensate clamours and their blood-
thirsty struggles for liberty. But they are men at
bottom, in spite of the more than Circean enchant-
ments which have momentarily reduced them below the
level of the wild beasts. And when " the wand" shall
have "been reversed," and the nefarious charms shall
have been backward muttered, we look to see a milder
and larger-hearted rule prevail, in the midst of a less
menaced and less precarious prosperity, upon the soil of
France. M. Thiers will then perhaps resume his natural
position among the statesmen of Europe, and the least
of the great men of the monarchy show as a giant among
the Republicans. When the Commons of England in
King Charles's time wanted to substitute their corporate
tyranny for the much exaggerated oppressions of their
lineal born Sovereign—when they had locked up the
doors of the House of Peers, all for liberty, and mur-
dered the King, for liberty too, and declared themselves
perpetual (thus re-establishing on the unauthorised and
perfidious destruction of the people's franchise, to
which they owed their own existence, the very thing
which they had pretended it needful to abolish, that
is, an independent, irresponsible House of Legisla-
ture)—when the Commons of England had thus trampled
successively on the Lords, on the Monarch, and on the
people, all for liberty, we say, and for the constitution,
what did they gain? They gained a Cromwell instead
of a Charles, and became the slaves of their servant,
who were too proud to rest content with less than being
masters of their Lords, Sovereigns of their King, andb
tyrants of their country? And so now, after the Seine
has been turned into blood, that Paris might be the
paradise of unbounded freedom, equality, and fraternity,
the Parisians have no freedom to move from the Fau-
bourg St. Antoine to the Faubourg St. Germain, with-
out as many forms as under the system which they
found so oppressive would have carried them round .the
globe ; they have no equality save that of helotry to one
common superior ; no fraternity save that of courts-
martial, transportations, and executions. This is the
moral, the eternal moral of revolutions, in whatever
epoch, or under whatever sun, their disastrous and in-
sensate course may roll—that mob violence and anarchic
uproar lead only to temporary license of an intolerable
kind, to be quickly followed by oppressions ten thousand
times more severe and grinding than those for which (a
short time previously) men were ready to wade through
oceans of carnage and horror. Nations, being composed
of men, must be subject to the laws physical and moral
which govern men. Contentment, moderation, diligence
in the pursuits of peace, frugality in their use—these
are the only roads to national prosperity, as they are the
sole by-paths to individual felicity. Let the friends of
order take heart. Society will for ever be too strong for
its enemies, however loud at times the roar of turbulence
may swell upon the ear. The rule must in the end pre-
vail over the exception. The future will be like the
past. National Jack Sheppards and national Gawtreys
will meet the fate of their individual prototypes. In
past ages there have been revolutions. But the inevitable
step of order more or less severe has marched over their
necks. Governments have died, as men have died. But
they have also lived; and as life is longer than:death, as
the calm is more frequent and more constant than the
storm, so are power and law longer, more frequent and
more constant than anarchy and rebellion,

CIVRONICLE.—We have said that Lord Grey re-
ferred the report of the Legislative Couucil of Sew
South Wales (on the " Regulations" for the disposal of
land) to the Land and Emigration Commissioners, and
that their answer to that report is now published. We
have great pleasure in bearing testimony to the ability
with which that answer is drawn up, and to the sound-
ness, speaking generally, of the views which it embo-
dies; at the same time, disapproving of the " Regula-
tions" as a whole, we regret that the success with which
the Commissioners have defended one part of them—
that relating to the price of land—is neutralized by the
tacit sanction which they givelto another part—thatirelat-
ing to squatters. As we have already observed, the;chief
force of the argument used by the colonists against the
maintenance off 1/. per acre as the minimum price of
land, lies in the coincidence between the establishment
of that price, and the falling off in land sales—the colo-
nists contending that the former is the chief, if not the
sole, cause of the latter. To this point, accordingly,
Messrs. Murdoch and Rogers first addressed themselves.
In 1837-38-39 and 40, an extraordinary mania, as
they justly observe, for buying land, prevailed in
Australia ; and the results were, on the one hand,
the creation of a large land fund, and consequently
a considerable immigration at the public expense—but,
on the other hand, the absorption of nearly the whole
available capital of the colony, and a proportionate re-
action in the value of land. At a time when the colonists
—not 100,000 in number—were thoroughly impoverished
by the immense drain which their resources had ex-
perienced, they found themselves in possession of five
million acres of land, which they did not know what to
do with. At about the same time came " Lord Stanley's
Act," raising the price of land, but unfortunately not
soon enough to prevent this enormous accumulation of it
in the bands of individuals; yet just in time to give
colour to the assertion, that the effects which could not
but follow directly from that accumulation were really
attributable to another cause. The illustration used
by the Commissioners is an extremely apposite and
forcible one. In 1844.45 there was an analogous mania
in this country for investigating capital in railways,
andfin the latter year 1,129 projects of that nature were
registered; but from that time the number rapidly
decreased, until 1848, in which year not one was regis-
tered. Now this is quite as striking an instance of re-
action as has taken place in the land sales of New South
Wales; and if had happened that, at the end of 1845, a
law imposing (designedly or otherwise) additional diffi-
culties in the way of railway investment had come into
operation, the reaction, which we now see to be a per-
fectly natural and even wholesome process, might, with
quite as much plausibility, have been attributed to that
law, as the reaction in Australian land-sales to the rise
of price. The same process which ruined Western Aus-
tralia operated, though with less injurious effect, in New
South Wales, causing the accumulation of excessive
quantities of land in the hands of individuals, and the
consequent depreciation, or rather annihilation of its
value; so that not only the sale of Crown lands sunk to
an extremely low point, but, as several of the witnesses
examined before the Committee state, there are vast
tracts now for sale at less than the lowest price for
which it was ever sold by the Government. We con-
clude, then, that if " the exchangeable value of an
acre of land in New South Wales is not twenty shil-
lings," the reason is, that the supply of it greatly exceeds
the demand; and the only remedy for such a state of
things is—not to add to that supply by facilitating the
acquisition of more land—but (if practicable) to acce-
lerate the desired equalization by measures tending to
restrict the supply. The colonists urge that the high
price of land in New South Wales makes it less attrac-
tive to settlers than other countries where land is cheap.
We believe that it is the cheapness, and not the dear-
ness, of land which constitutes the great drawback to
prosperity of New South Wales, as it undoubtedly does
to that of Western Australia and our American colonies.
If mere cheapness of land constituted attractiveness, we
could point out many countries where 10,000 fertile
acres may be bought for a musket and a few beads.
It is quite true that land is not worth twenty shillings
an acre for pastoral purposes, but no more (accord-
ing to the testimony of every witness examined) is
it worth five shillings ; and the general opinion seems
to be that it is not worth buying at all. Used
as an argument, therefore, for any specific reduction of
the selling price, that fact is absolutely worthless; in-
deed the refusal of the colonists to recommend any such
specific reduction shows that they perceive how clearly
they would, by so doing, expose the weakness of their
own case. We have, next, to consider the objection
which is urged by the colonists against the other part of
the ." Regulations" alluded to, and which Messrs. Mur-
doch and Rogers pass almost unnoticed—that part,
namely, which relates to "squatting leases." On this
point we think the colonists altogether in the right, and
Lord Grey altogether in error. In the first place it is
extremely wrong to give the Governor the arbitrary power
of deciding on the rights and properties of individuals,
which, according to the regulation enabling him to say
what shall be "' settled' and what shall be unsettled"'
land, he possesses. But a far more important objection
lies to what the colonists justly term the practical fixity
of tenure, which is given by leases of 14 years certain,
with a right of pre-emption; and a further right
of renewal, if one-fourth of the run be not bought, at
one-tenth of the rent reserved on free grants. Agreeing
in Lord Grey's opinion, that the over-supply of land is
a very great evil, we can conceive no course more in
consistent with that opinion than a policy which (as the
colonists justly maintain) will make land a drug, anni-
hilate the capital vested in it, and expose the purchaser
for a good consideration to a ruinous competition with
the occupant who acquires land at a nominal price. Nay,
we feel with them, that if this part of the regulations be
adhered to, all haggling about the "price of land" is
superfluous; for, of course, nobody will give 1/. an acre
for land if be can get it for next to nothing; but neither,
we should think, would he give ss. In fact, the regu
lation appears to us equivalent to a grant cf all the waste
land is the colony to the first persons who apply for it
at the nominal rent of one-tenth of a penny—which
must necessarily amount to a prohibition of sales. We
are not to be understood as deprecating a system
of pastoral licenses ; for we are quite aware that squat-
ting must take place in a country like New South Wales;
and, indeed, it is highly advantageous and profitable that
it should do so, and we are inclined to think that no pe-
cuniary restriction, however small, ought to be imposed
upon it. What we object to is the " fixity of tenure,"
which the squatters have been allowed to anticipate and
Ito claim, and which Lord Grey's, " fourteen years' lease,
( with a right of pre-emption,' makes practically con.
plate. A free enjoyment of pastoral rights over unoc-
cupied wastes would, by attracting and creating capital,
increase the fee-simple value of every acre in New
South Wales, just as the fisheries on the banks of New-
foundland increase the value of St. John's ; but the
practical possession of those wastes in perpetuity, at a
nominal price, of course annihilates the selling value of
the legal fee-simple. While the colonists are objecting
to a high price as preventing the sale of land, they for-
get that a disturbing cause exists, which makes any
price impossible. While they complain that 20s. is
asked for land which is not worth that sum, they refuse
) to see that the true source of the evil lies in a policy
which prevents its being worth any sum at all.
HERALD.—Though there has evidently been some
exaggeration in the accounts received of the rebel diss
turbances in Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary—there
is in every country exaggeration under such circum-
stances, and in Ireland more than in any other—yet no
man of common sense can doubt that there is in the con-
dition of the sister country much to appal the timid, and
even to cause apprehension to the stout-hearted—appre-
hension not certainly of the ultimate result—apprehen-
sion not as to the final quenching and extinguishing of
the rebellion--but apprehension, humane apprehension
that it can only be quenched and extinguished in Irish
rebel blood. This is the apprehension felt by brave
men in her Majesty's service, and is certainly long since
known to wise men—to men well acquainted with Ire-
land and thoroughly knowing Irishmen—to such men as
RthaedDicaulkemof Winis
te(l,rlisngatorne animd
bLuoerdd Swtaintble)tsbeTaehafteeWthahgig_s:
or impressed with this responsibility, we do not be-
e iftabcetri o n-
thesta i ndedan,
dangers
sd
norbe s o tttheed
ml i eevne: tPh
el ayc e - ckonvoe
wt i n gn,
remedies for the many evils their rule has
brought on this empire. But Providence has so willed it
that the army is now in the hands of the Duke of Wel-
lington, and that is to announce to all men that the
Horse Guards at least is wide awake as to the nature and
exigencies of the present Irish crisis. All the available
marine artillery from Woolwich and Portsmouth have
been ordered to embark at once for Ireland, and 200 men
of that force have, while these lines are under the
reader's eye, been landed on some portion of the coast'of
Ireland, with the proper amount of officers, and a bttt-
pterrayetiocfa foofurtbgeunms.arinNeoAortnielle:37
tabvoe
twitnessed
per-
fectly fectly conscious, that it is the most perfect sermvaice
bof
the kind in the world; but, at the same
time,
well doubted, whether, unaided by other branchesit
oithee
service, it is the fittest to undertake the harassing du-
ties which will now be cast upon it. We are not
about
to commit the folly of schooling those who know much
more on the snbject than we possess; but, at the same time,
we would suggest to General Macdonald to be prepared
for
a desultory and guerilla warfare—very harassing in
its nature, and often fruitless of result. In dealing with
the rebels of Kilkenny, Waterford, and Tipperary, he
should feel his way cautiously by videttes, by light skir-
mishers, and, to borrow a word from the Cape warfare
by bush-rangers. No troops are more calculated for
such a service than the rifle corps—light,- active, and
composed of first-rate marskmen—but even a rifle corps
should feel its way cautiously—should creep, so to speak,
about the mountains and fastnesses, and never advance

a step too far into thicket or ravine. A great point
would be gained if the General commanding could,
among the servants and dependents of the gentry, ob-
tain the necessary scouts. Huntsmen, whippers-in,
game• beaters, game-keepers, woodmen, to whom in
Ireland the generic term of " Mickies " is applied,
&c., might be brought into requisiqon, and pushed
forward in twos and threes at considerable distances
from each other. Many volunteers, gentle
and
simple, would follow men thus knowing tho bye-
paths ; and posses of the constabulary might be first
pushed on before a rifle or light infantry regiment.
In such sort the army would be forewarned, and
every shot would tell. The experience of Sir ,J. Mac.
donald in Sicily, Spain, and Portu
the naturefu o gerilla warfare,pde
an gal, has taught him
he has gill the (I)!tatitiunrge ot of
learn but the character of the peol,
only dlillc.ulties of thecase.
the country. But herein lie the
The nature of the country is most favourable to such a
peasant warfare, and the character of the people is an
enigma to those not initiatf d. In our Peninsular cam-
paigns tile " rodomantades Espagnolles" of the peasantry
were the wonder, if not the admiration ot
and the
but the b,asting, the romancing,
,faonfurrrraonruna
of the Ibero-Celt must "pale its ineffectual ray " before
the more fast and furioui fires of brother Par. What
with lying, false news, affected ignorance, and positive
knowledge as to thirws happening and never about to
happen, the general must be occasionally sorely puzzled.
To find a reliable person will be the great difficulty
where all, even the honest and the well-meaning,
esra,:'