The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-02 00:00:00

i-EC-45ND EDITION.

•\,147 to:Mir% fly
LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1848.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Woolsack a
Five o'clock._

The Irish Great Western (Dublin ar.d Galway) Railway
Bill, and the Midland Great Western of Ireland (Dublin and
Mullingar) Railway Bill, were, after a discussion, respectively
read a third time and passed.
_ _ _

Lord MONTEAGLE moved the second reading of the Rail-
Way Deposits Bill.

The Duke of BEAUFORT wished it should be postponed, in
consequence of the absence ofseveral Noble Lords who wished
to take part in the debate.

The second reading was postponed accordingly.
In answer to the Bishop of Ext-TEn, it was stated by the
LORD CHANCELLOR that the house would not go into Com-
mittee on the Religious Opinions Relief Bill before Tuesday.
On the motion that the order of the day for the House
going into Committee on the Railway Dissolutions Bill being
read,

The Earl of RADNOR protested against the Bill, which
was calculated to break up many excellent projects for
rail-
ways, and in all instances to encourage intrigues and gam-
bling.
After a few words from Earl GEEY,
The Earl of DALHOUSIE said that the Bill had received
the most attentive consideration, and that he believed it
*. • would meet the exigencies of the case, and that he should
rr _ feel it his duty to oppose any amendments which the Noble
Earl might propose.
After speeches from Lord Ifonteagle, Lord Brougham,
Lord Ashburton, Earl Fitzwilliam, and the Marquis of Clan-
ricarde,tb*Uouse went into Committee on the Bill

1

After a few alterations the Bill passed through Committee,
and the House adjourned.

The SPEAKER took the Chair a t Four o'clock.

A letter was read by Mr. E. B. RocnE7rom Mr. Fmrni
O'BRIEN, complaining of the course the House had adoptek
towards him in ordering him into custody, and giving at
explanation of his conduct relative to his refusal to sere
upon railway Committees. No notice was taken of the letter,
but
Mr. O'CONNELL expressed a hope that the House would
allow him to bring the subject forward on Monday.
Sir J. GRAHAX then moved the resumption of the debate
on the Irish Coercion BiIL
Mr. P. SOMERS contended that a measure like the present
would inflict the most serious injuries on the people of
Ireland.

Mr. Mmisicit O'CoNNzLL opposed the first reading of the
Bill.
____

Mr. Cor.catmourt supported the first reading of the Bill
and defended the Irish landlords from the imputations that
had been made against them.
Mr. J. O'Brien, Mr. Bellew, the Attorney-General, Mr. H.
Grattan, Mr. W. Collett, Mr. Sharman Crawford, Mr. Roche,
and other Hon. Members having addressed the House, a divi-
sion took place, when there appeared—
For the first reading
Against it 125
Majority
Sir R. PEEL said he proposed to take the second
d readingl4 of
the Bill on the 25th instant.

Mr. O'CONNELL stated that on that occasion he would
move for a Select Committee to inquire into agrarian offences
in Ireland, with a view to provide some means for their pre-
vention.

The ether orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned at a Quarter past Two o'clock,

1 Mr. and Mrs. GERRARD appear not to be satisfied
with the unenviable notoriety they have already at-
tained, but to desire that an additional portion of public
indignation should be visited on them in another and
different capacity from that in which they have ahead)
figured. It appears that they lately summoned ne
less than thirty of their poorer neighbours, who,
fortunately for themselves, were the tenants of an-
other, and it is to be hoped more considerate land-
lord, for a malicious trespass, an offence which.
in Ireland, is deservedly visited with penalties
far more severe than those with which an ordi-
nary trespass is punishable. On the investigation it
appeared in evidence that these poor persons occupied
adjoining lands, and that their cattle had strayed into
those of Mr. and Mrs. GERRARD ; for the defence, it was
proved that there was not sufficient mering, or boun-
dary—that a gig might be driven over it—that it was
quite insufficient to keep out any beast—and that the de-
fendants had requested the plaintiffs to join them in
making one. The above statement has been
made by a respectable contemporary, the Roscommon
Journal, which adds the magistrate (the Honourable
Mr. FRENCH, R.M.) dismissed the complaint with nee
small degree of indignation. And justly might the
worthy magistrate pour forth, in the warmest terms, the
honest disgust with which every right-minded man must
view such a vexatious course, such an attempt to op-
press the poorer and more unprotected class of our
Irish brethren. Can it be wondered at if, after
two such exhibitions in one vicinity, the count)
should be disturbed, outrages should be rife, and that
the ordinary operation of the laws should be found in-
sufficient for their suppression, and to restore peace t,:
the district ? Where the law, in place of being fout.d
protection for the well-disposed and industrious peasant,
is turned, or rather attempted to be turned (for hap .
pily, in the present instance, the attempt was unsuc-
cessful) into an instrument for his oppression, a net
within the meshes of which he is sought to be entangled.
he soon comes to look at it as unjust and partial
in its operation, to be made:fur, and accessible to, tl.t
rich man alone, that under it he may be unjustly pu-
nished, or in vain seek redress for injuries inflicted, he
seeks every means for its evasion. Sympathy with tht
habitual law-breaker shelters and protects him; whet.
pursued steadily refuses to afford even the slightest in-
formation by which justice may be vindicated, and thus,
through the petty tyranny of a few heart-
less and oppressive members of the higher class a high-
minded and generous people come to be stigmatised
as the aiders and abettors of crimes, the supporters of
the blood- stained assassin, of the midnight disturber of
the peace. This is, indeed, a lamentable state of things ;
and if it is desired to be amended, the force of public
opinion must be brought strongly to bear upon the per-
petrators of such actions—the real delinquents—who are
morally responsible for the deplorable results too
likely to be the consequences of their reckless
proceedings. Well might the Premier exclaim
that he finds it impossible to control the
power of the landlords, and addressing them emphati-
cally, say—" You rely too much for the amelioration of
your social condition upon the executive Government.
You rely too much upon the Government passing laws
to effect what yourselves should accomplish. My firm
belief is, that you yourselves have it in your power to
;ply a remedy. By pursuing a course adapted to meet
the requirements of the disorganised state of society
which prevails, you would be able to effect more
than could ever be done by legislation. This
would do all that any Government could accomplish."
This is indeed the truth; a generous combination should
exist amongst the landowners to effect the greatest pos-
sible amount of gou'd amongst those who are dependent
on them, who look up to them for protection and guid-
ance, whose temporal welfare is placed in their hands ;
let them recollect that they are but the stewards of a
higher pbwer for the distribution of the gifts entrusted
to them. Let them consider their first duty, which will
also be the highest pleasure, the greatest delight
of every one capable of appreciating the luxury of doing
good—to be the amelioration of their tenantry—the im.
provement of their condition—their advancement in the
social scale ; let them see that the blessings of education
are placed within the reach of the rising generation ;

let them see that no rack rent is extorted from the ne-
cessities of the heads of the families, that they shall be per
mitted,to retain their little tenements at such a tair and mo-
derate rent, as while, on the one hand, it affords a fair re-
turn to the proprietor of the soil for the capital invested
in its purchase, they, on the other hand, may be enabled
by the exercise of industry and jealous attention to the
improvements and cultivation of the soil, to acquire
some degree of, and taste for, the comforts of civilised
life ; let them look for the possession of a better class of
cottage, and a diet something better than that which is
afforded to their pigs ; convince them that these results
are sure to follow increased exertion on their part, that
good conduct and character will most a suredly obtain
its reward ; above all, satisfy them that there is nu
possibility of their being driven from the possession of
the little spots where they were born, and which are
endeared to them by a thousand associations and re-
miniscences, which are more highly prized and valued,
no matter how barren they may be, than every other,
no matter how highly endowed by nature and cultiva-

Lion—satisfy them that the improvements which they
have effected by the sweat of their brows may not, by
attracting the avaricious eyes of a heartless agent, or
needy proprietor, be the real cause of their expul-
sion, and consequent misery and destitution, and you
apply a motive which, in ninety-nine cases in one hun-
dred, will be effectual, and productive of all that
canhe effectmb must
thiss eat
iiashotethdesufporrequiredsatfbee atwp
as
ht i theirshort
rn tt a hands.nodn
th persevering
kt o;
landlord
os er t n i a
that
lie d different willrasegnets lineo fta
oe
away
op-
pression the
and distrustexa c
tnecessarilyexaction,
during
musta consider
conduct was upon.ado,pttheediranpdreacidtdedice3,
their ignorance and, by
to which they will cling with a greater fidelityraeirticaets.
position on his part, wean them by degrees fromp kindly
dis-
position
them that the first, theprimary
telltpted to be subdued by too rude a shock
their own welfare and benefit, and i
time cold distrust will give se
hatred and dislike to esteem and respectay
feel-
ing and relationship will spring up betwe;ena
out-
rage will be unknown, peace and prosperity
place of riot and destitution. Confidence object,
jecCt,onis-
n a short
to
kcionfidence,
hndly
wtillem,
in take the
the law,
under which they prosper and are protected, will be re-
established. Murder will no longer stalk through the
land without an effort being made for its suppression,
with a sort of tacit encouragement of the peasantry;
there will be no necessity for Coercion Acts or Bills
restrictive of the liberty of the subject. Every man
will support the law under which he enjoys the
blessings then more keenly felt from the contrast they
exhibit to his former oppression, and Ireland will indeed
be a land of happiness and prosperity. This must
spring from the landlords themselves; but much may
also be effected by good legislation. Take away all
well-grounded causes of complaint, remove the pressure
of unequal laws, above all, exteild through the entire
nation the existence of the Ulster tenant right. Let no
man be removed from land without receiving a fair
compensation for the improvements which he has
effected, and let no landlord have the power of
clearing his estates to gratify some petty whim
or some vindictive feeling. Let the occupier be
entitled to retain the possession of land, so lon--;• as be
shall be satisfied to pay his landlord the fair value, to be
assessed by a jury of his neighbours. Many other mea '
cures might be mentioned, but let the proprietors of the
soil once see that Parliament is in earnest, that they will
not be suffered to play such fantastic tricks as they have
hitherto exhibited—let a beginning of legislation once
take place, and it will effect much, and perhaps obviate

the necessity of a further interference with what is
termed the rights of property.

T i
tbe
ti. , „non ,ccasionally made by a mi•
y in ex
thea L u s
u 0
s3O
' Commons, the resistance to use•
n o ry
till measures co ,rive parties of the most opposite
political principle cool .:ned chiefly to throw busines:.
into contusion, and .he .ujury caused to the public ser-
vice by explanations often required by a popular assem-
oly, with other drawbacks, which it is needless to enu-
merate, have made, not the despotic rulers of the
continent only, but many of the inhabitants of the
United Kingdom doubt the policy of constitutional go-
„•(..rnment, and prefer a violent stretch of power on the
art of the executive to the established laws
ind principles of the constitution. A little r' flection,
however, soon dispels the doubts of such waverers.
There is an inherent vital quality in such a work
AS the British Constitution, which in time corrects the
evils complained of. The machine may be clogged for
t time, and apparently on the eve of a dead-lock, but it
seldom or never fails to right itself, or to be put to
rights by the hands that constructed it. The English
Constitution may be said now to have been in full
operation for more than two hundred years, and durinp,
that period many obstructions have taken place. The
Chief Magistrate at one time has been de.

throned and expelled from the kingdom; at an-
other tried, convicted, and executed as a grew
state criminal. The Constitution has been in

vaded by a violent and unwarrantable creatio►
of Peers, mock representatives of the people been forced
by the Minister of the day into the Lower House, ano
rotten boroughs, and bribery, and the corruption of
Members, regarded by unprincipled statesmen as the
best means of ruling a people. In fact, some of then-.
have approached almost to the ♦ery brink of absolute
government ; but the spirit of the people, the love of
freedom inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race, and thi
zenius of the Constitution, have surmounted all obstacles.
When a part of the machinery has become defective.
the executive, with all the army and navy, and the
vast numbers that always cling to the powers that be.

have been able for a time to prevent the necessary re
pairs, but in no one instance have they finally prevailed.
The people have asserted their right., and never was
this vis vivida of the Constitution so active, or produc-
tive of such effects, as during the present age. Som(

ten great measures, opposed by the Government at
every stage, repeatedly rejected by both Commons and
Lords, and denounced as ruinous by the most powerful
party in the state—that party long accustomed t'
office and all the secret tricks of government, and sup-
ported by the whole Church—have been triumph
antly carried within the last twenty or thirty years,
by the untirirg energy and courage of the people
The Constitution still remains net only entire.
out greatly improved, and the machine goes on with a
vigour and a steadiness unknown at any former period.
These very interruptions, caused by the minority of a
popular assembly, are of themselves great preservatives.
because they convince a people divided in their opinions,
as is always the case, that a tyrant majority cannot
have everything its own way, that even a small propor-
tion of the community can compel the rest, at least, to
listen to them, and refute or admit their reasons; ant
this very power only the more attaches them to L
system which gives even the weaker party a large share
.f influence and authority. Despotism is not acknow
:edged, not even known in the British Consti
cution. All have a share in its advantages
more or less: the voice of the unreprtsented must b.
listened to like that of the represented; they have a
•take in the property as well as the rest, because they
know that only a little more industry, in many instances.
will place them on a footing of equality, in regard
political privileges, with the more wealthy. For these
reasons the prosperity of England increases every clay ,
find throws even the most thriving (and that is
-tot saying much) absolute states entirely into tin

,hade. The potter of those states is all external, a:h
,n the surface. They have vast armies, guns, ace
oayonets, and fortresses, and every instrument of what
is considered essential to strergh, in counties:
numbers, but when they are put to the test of experi-
ence, they crumble to pieces, without the aid of the
people, like a baseless fabric. Witness the successive
downfal of Austria, and Prussia, and Russia, before th.
armies of France. The last was only saved from utter
destruction by the hatred excited among a superstition:
people by the excesses of the invaders. And what wa:
the attitude of England during this awful destruction o
armies, thrones, and dynasties ? She remained amidst
the general havoc conscious of her strength, woul:
yield nothing to the conqueror, and Snail\
prevailed. Her free Constitution saved her front
destruction, because that encouraged commerc.
:end trade, which furnished the sinews of war,
and gave every man an interest in preserving the in-
tegrity of the empire. If there can be any doubt ef the
fact, it is only necessary to refer for a moment to the
history, and more especially the commercial history, o'
representative countries. The free spirit which animate:
the Dutch in their immortal wars against the Spaniard:
afterwards made Holland one of the first commercial am
naval powers in the world. What else raised Venice
:nd Genoa and other Italian free states to their high
pre-eminence? Even Switzerland, shut out from th.
ocean, and surrounded by jealous and unaccomodati4
neighbours, surpasses the nations around her in the activity
and industry of her inhabitants, and can undersell mos.
of them in foreign markets. It is needless to refer more
particularly to England and the United States, except
simply to ask what absolute Government at all ap-
proaches them in the vast extent of their commerche
transactions, the means of acquiring wealth, and al
the great elements of power. These are sufficient rea-
•ons to make us bear patiently with the occasional ob
-tacles thrown in the way of necessary legislation, an:
to view with unabated veneration a constitution whicl
has worked for two hundred years so well, and only
acquires additional strength in its progress.

We find the following under the date Breslau, 21st April
in the German Universal Gazette :—"The nobles who hat
taken refuge in the Carpathian Mountains are again silo, •
ing themselves, since they have found that the peasantry art
turning their arms against the Government. DEMBROWSKI
ex-secretary of the revolutionary Government of Cracow, is
the chief of the movement. He was at Cracow on Good Frida:%,
His party is re-assembling. SZELA offered him the post o
Commander-in-Chief, but he refused it, because SZELA pos-
sesses entirely the confidence of the peasants. Many of tin
nobles have been appointed officers. Many a Polish refuge,
in Germany is no doubt anxious to return to his country.
Several of the merchants of Limberg have become bankrupt
The Russians are establishing magazines on the frontier, ant
seem watching the course of events.

A letter from Florence announces the arrival of the Em-
press of RUSSIA in that city. The EMPRESS did not visi
Rome.

Accounts from Madrid to the 24th ult. have been re-
ceived. With regard to the movement in Galicia the Ga-
zette publishes the following official bulletin :
‘ Home Department of the Peninsula.

" The news received to-day from Gali. is surplies no in-
formation beyond that we gave yesterday. In the othei
provinces there is perfect tranquillity."
It is evident from this bulletin that the QUEEN'S troop,
have not gained the slightest advantage, for, had such beet
the case, the authorities would have been but too glad to pro
claim it. Information from Galicia to the 18th represent:
the insurgents as in possession of the whole line of coas
from Cape Finisterre to the frontier of Portugal, and as oc-
cupying Vigo, Pontevedra, and Tuy. Tuy, which is situ-
ated in the Minho, is a regularly fortified place, with
strong citadel.

General BALBoA has been dismissed from the Captain-
Generalship of Burgos, for having issued the ferocious procla-
mation which we gave yesterday. General Don JOAQuni
BAYONA has been appointed in his place.
General BRETON has been reprimanded for the sever(
baud° he issued at Barcelona, and has been admonished to
confine himself henceforth strictly to the execution of hi:
duty.

El Eco says that a conspiracy has been discovered iu
Murcia; several arrests had taken place, and some officers
and subalterns, military and naval, had been arrested, and
sent to Cadiz.

ParzoN has been appointed to the command of the naval
force appointed to operate on the coast of Galicia.

The French Government, too, has ordered a ship of war to
proceed from Brest to the Galician coast to protect, and, if
necessary, receive on board the French residents at Vigo,
and other places in possession of the insurgents. This cer-
tainly looks as if matters were assuming a serious appet.r-
ance, and we are inclined to believe that the following ac-
count of the state of affairs in Galicia, which appears in the
Paris Nittiona/, approaches much nearer the truth than those
we receive from Madrid :
" Accounts which have just reached us represent the insur-
rection to be triumphant throughout the whole of Galici..
We will first give a summary of what we find in the El
Tienipo, correcting, as we proceed, the errors of that journal,
and afterwards add the facts which have reached us from
our private correspondence. El Tiempo announces that
Vigo made its pronunciamiento on the 9th, Tuy on the 10th,
and that the movement rapidly spread to the towns and
villages of Callas, Padron, Corril, Estrada, Redondela,
Guardia, Bayona, and Cambedos. In the juntas which have
been established are to be found the most influential men of
' the country—ex-Deputies, officersii of the army, merchants,
Puig Samper
at e Junta of Vigo, and Esteban
the Cortes, is President of the Junta
that
The ,
~
and chiefs of the militia. Don Ramon Ruch, ex-Member of
facked oGtenTeurayl.
adds, that the insurgents
It was precisely the con-
trary.at Signeiro, and were repulsed.
_rense,
the chief of the in-
surgentUrreal, another ex-Deputy,
In marching on,ooils,
met General Puig Samper
with two battalions of
marching out of Signeiro
Puig
Samper
was of cavalry.
infantry and a detachment
beaten, and moral of
division, under S
was attacked and completely