The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-25 00:00:00

(Q'

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1846.

Singular intelligence has just arrived from Ame-
rica by the steam-vessels Columbia and Anglo-
Saxon, as well as previously by the packet-ship St.
James, dating to the sth from Boston, and to the
4th from New York. Our announcements of the
imprisonment of PAREDES, and the accession of
SANTA ANNA to power, are fully confirmed ; and be-
yond this it would appear that California is already
annexed to the territories of the United States. In
the restoration of the banished dictator there is,
however, some rational possibility of the Mexicans
extricating themselves from the fearful em-
barrassments into which they have been plunged,
firstly, by the avaricious depravity of their neigh-
bours, and, secondly, by the miserable inefficiency of
PAREDES. On entering the harbour of Vera Cruz on
the 15th of August, in the steamer Arab, General
SANTA ANNA was welcomed by an enthusiastic popu-
lation. Inasmuch as the confidence of his country-
men is concerned, the foundation of his go-
vernment has already acquired stability. His admi-
nistration is at its very outset essentially popular
and hence, despite the proverbial fickleness of the
Mexicans, it is tolerably certain that the Government
of SANTA ANNA may become permanently rooted in
the affections of the nation. HERRERA and PAREDES
have successively fallen because of the weakness
which was so conspicuously manifested in their pro-
ceedings. The expulsion of SANTA ANNA was,
however, the consequence of no political
imbecility; it arose, on the contrary, from
the unusual vigour with which affairs
were administered under his direction a
vigour wholly unpalatable to the sluggish and
effete inhabitants of Mexico. Peculation was un-
doubtedly some incitement to this demonstration of
national dissatisfaction, but, in reality, the main rea-
son for the deposition and virtual ostracism of
SANTA ANNA was the unfashionable energy of his
Government.

Circumstances have, however, latterly demon-
strated to this indolent community the advisability
of expelling from office those who are as incapable of
action, and as unfitted for the management of affairs
as themselves. The succession of disasters which
have attended their own forces in the Rio Grande,
the internal insubordination which the agents of
PAREDES have proved themselves unable to check,
the ominous front presented by their invaders, and the
utter impossibility of retarding their progress, much
less of driving them beyond the frontiers by some
sudden and ignominious defeat, have vividly displayed
to the Mexicans the necessity for some radical altera-
tion in the Presidency. While General TAYLOR has
been acquiring a psuedo-celebrity among the citizens
of the United States PAREDES has been accumulat-
ing upon himself the indignation and contumely of
Mexico. Every individual movement of the troops,
every separate proclamation of the Government,
every successive convocation of the Council, was a
fresh evidence of the incapacity of the existing
authority, and an additional argument in favour of
the re-exaltation of the banished General. The fla-
gitious seizure of California proves the wisdom of
such considerations. When the republic is assailed
by a power so lawless, so covetous, and so enterpris-
ing as that of the United States, none but a ruler
with an iron hand, a stern and inflexible will, and a
thorough confidence in his own judgment, can ex-
pect to battle successfully against such a boisterous
incursion.

SANTA ANNA returns to the government of
Mexico, with a hoard of invaluable experience; his
countrymen are filled with the most glorious antici-
rations immediately upon his arrival ; already have
-the departments- of Puebla and Mexico declared
themselves in his favour with alacrity and en-
thusiasm. They behold in him the man exactly
suited to the emergency—one of great military
intelligence and of singular prowess; one who
would not exclaim with the voluntary stupidity which
is not unfrequently found among trans-Atlantic
statesmen, " Video meliora, proboque; deteriora
sequor," but who would be as ready to proceed upon
as to recognise the most promising track. No gua-
rantee has been required from the new President as to
his future conduct, and this we are disposed to
regret. General SALAS has been as lenient in this
respect to SANTA ANNA as General MONK was to
CHARLES 11., and this, moreover, to an extravagant
extent. An admirable opportunity presented itself
in either instance for limiting, within constitutional
bounds, the prerogatives and powers of the indi-
vidual ; in both cases the opportunity has been
lost. Nevertheless, there is such an urgent ne-
cessity at this moment for a supreme dicta-
tor that, as far as the present emergency
is concerned, the blunder is calculated to be produc-
tive of temporary advantages. Some personage of
ability commensurate with the present difficulties cf
Mexico, and invested, moreover, with unlimited au-
thority, can alone repulse the invading armies of the
United States, and preserve the former republic from
piecemeal dismemberment, or—worse still—from
wholesale annexation. Such a personage is
General SANTA ANNA. "If the people of
my country are for war," said he, before
entering Vera Cruz, " then I am with them, but I
would prefer peace!" That is an honourable an-
, nouncement ; and, beyond that, it is a generous and
sagacious announcement. Yes, peace in Gon's
name ! But, if peace can only be obtained by de-
basing the character of Mexico, and rendering its
future independence questionable, if peace must ne-
cessitate pandering to the avaricious and selfish policy
of the United States, if peace is only to be synonymous
with the commission of larceny on a gigantic scale
and with impunity to the national criminal, then war!
That is the apparent policy of SANTA ANNA, and in
the event of his following that policy, the destinies of
Mexico will engage the sympathies of humanity.

The account of the interview which took place
between the Premier, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and the deputation from the baronies of
Duhallow, Orrery, Kilmore, and Fermoy, which was
contained in The Sun of Wednesday, will be perused
with the deepest interest. The memorial then put
forward, emanating from a public meeting at which a
population of more than 400,000 persons were repre-
sented, the statements made collectively and indi-
vidually by the respectable gentlemen selected at that
meeting to form the deputation, consisting of persons
of different classes, creeds, and politics, headed by the
High Sheriff of the county, and having among its
members clergymen both of the Protestant and
Roman Catholic persuasions, must carry with them a
weight, must command an authority, which could
not be expected for any private communication, no
matter how great the rank, how exalted the character,
or commanding the influence of the individual by
whom it was made. It was in other respects im-
portant; it brought before the Nobleman at the head
of the Government and the Minister whose especial
duty it is to preside over and regulate the financial
affairs of the country—who will be required to bring
forward the ways and means by which the vastly in-
creased expenditure of the nation is to be met and
provided for—the real state of the people, as *well
landowners as labourers, of the south of Ireland. It
pointed out the deficiencies in the existing laws, and
called the attention of those whose first care should
be to provide adequate remedies to the means by
which those laws might be amended, those deficiencies
provided for. Persons differing on all other questions
met in unity and harmony on that of their common
country, and vied with each other in a generous
rivalry as to which could most forcibly impress on
the Ministers granting the audience the interests
committed to their charge. A great matter was
achieved in procuring the attendance of the depu-
tation ; it secured a patient and attentive hearing by

the Prime Minister, whose well-known courtesy and
amenity gave the surest guarantee that when once he
consented to receive the deputation there would be no
attempt to cut short or diminish the time necessary
for the full explanation of its objects. It gave that
Nobleman an opportunity of stating his own feelings
and opinions, of explaining the difficulties to be en-
countered in legislating for a country so circum-
stanced as Ireland, and elicited from his Lordship a
declaration that must be hailed with the greatest
delight by every philanthropist, by every well-wisher
of Ireland, viz.—that his Lordship did not shrink
from the necessity or duty of interfering even where
the waste lands were the property of individuals.
Neither did he deny that while property had its
owners and rights, that such ownership and rights
should not be allowed to interfere with the operations
intended to develop the resources of the soil and
improve the social condition of the people. This is
the great principle for which we have long been con-
tending, on the adoption of which great and gigantic
measures for the national regeneration, for the per-
manent welfare and happiness of our sister kingdom
must be based. The rights of property are to be
defended and respected as far as possible. Every
fair and legitimate encouragement must be afforded to
private speculation, conducted in a fair and bon( I fide
spirit, and employing a due quantity of the super-
abundant labour. In no case where the proprietor of
the soil is willing, and will undertake to proceed
without delay in the improvement of his lands,
should he be interfered with, save so far as
may be necessary to ascertain that the money
has actually been expended in a fit and
proper manner, and granting every possible assist-
ance, by a loan of money proportioned to the amount
of his own outlay, and the quantity of land to be re-
claimed or improved. But where this is not the case,
where the owner positively and absolutely refuses to
avail himself of the opportunities afforded for the im
provement and cultivation of lands, which he and his
ancestors, or those through whom he derived his
title have suffered to lie idle and unproductive for cen-
turies, then we- at once and unhesitatingly say, that
the public welfare, the common weal, demands that
he should no longer be permitted to retain the owner-
ship of lands, the duties incidental to which he is no
longer able or willing to perform. We would not
deprive him of any portion of his property without
giving him a full and ample equivalent for that
taken away from him. We would have it fairly
valued by a jury of his countrymen, by his neighbours,
men thoroughly acquainted with the value of land in
the vicinity, and the amount paid to him either by a
sum of money, when he had clearly established his
title thereto, or by a reserved rent-charge issuing
and payable out of the lands themselves, for the pay-
ment of which the amount that would be expended
thereon, and the greatly increased value of the lands
consequent on such expenditure, would afford the
most satisfactory guarantee. This principle, that
lands the property of private individuals are to be
taken, whenever required for public purposes, has
been so long acted on, that it now scarcely requires
an argument to satisfy us of its justice. We see it in
daily use, whenever lands or tenements are required
for laying out or making a road, opening new streets,
improving or beautifying cities, and in many other
instances which it would be tedious to specify. Nay,
that power of the compulsory purchase of property
at its fair value has frequently been dele-
gated by the State to private individuals,
associated together for the execution of some work
of magnitude advantageous to the public. Witness
the cases of railroads, canals, bridges, docks, &c., &c.
No new precedent will therefore be established in
taking these lands that are to be improved either into
the hands of State or of the persons by it authorised to
proceed with the undertakings. But we see many
objections to the course suggested by the Rev. Mr.
COLLINS in his singularly impressive and able state-
ment. He drew a fearful and harrowing picture of
the scenes witnessed by him in the discharge of his
onerous and important duties. A mother feeding
her fever-stricken child with her own suck, adminis-
tered with a cup and spoon; a starving husband
and father going three miles to earn eightpence
for his day's labour, leaving his wife and
children prostrated under the same terrific
disease, unable themselves to stir or move, and
without one single human being to administer the
slightest relief, or even to moisten the parched lips
of the sufferers with one single drop of cold water.
The heart shudders, we stand aghast at the mere
consideration of such misery. What must be the sen-
sation of the lookers-on, of the, wretched victims
themselves ? what of the unhappy father who saw his
infants perishing before his eyes, and was obliged to
desert them in their afflictions, to leave them without
that soothing kindness that might alleviate their
miserable condition ? When such scenes as these are
deposed to by a trustworthy eye-witness, it surely de-
mands that the whole social condition of the country
should be closely reviewed and analyzed, and that we
should not be restricted by the maxims of legislation
growing out of a highly artificial state of society.
So far we agree with the reverend gentleman, but we
think that in place of the improvements being effected
by Government, without reference to the
wishes of the proprietor, and the amount
of expenditure made the first charge on the
land, such a course would be entirely new, and might
establish a precedent most dangerous to the rights of
property. Besides, for many years, the proprietor
during his own life, and perhaps that of his children,
might not receive anything out of the lands, the pro-
duce of which might be entirely required for the liqui-
dation of the public debt; but by the course we sug-
gest, he at once receives the fair present value of the
lands, and the State may be in a very short time reim-
bursed its outlay by the sale of the fee and inheritance
thereof, and have an opportunity of creating a class
of comfortable yeomanry and small landowners,
which may be productive of vast benefit to
the country. The interview was valuable
in another respect, viz., the marked assent given by
the Premier to the principle that the rule by which
the wages of a working man should be calculated is
what is necessary for the support of himself and
family, and the virtual abandonment by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer of the rule laid
down in the Treasury minute, that the wages given
at the relief works should in every case be 2d. per
day lower than the general wages of the district,
where such wages have already been reduced to the
lowest amount that can be considered sufficient to
keep life and soul together. Any further dimunition
must be wholly out of the question. The Right
Honourable Gentleman stated his opinion that wages
should be improved, and that the minute of the
Treasury was not the law, and might if necessary be
modified in the respect alluded to.

Nothing can be more disheartening than the slow-
ness
and apathy with which official bodies advance
towards the most substantial reforms. Evidence is
cumulated upon evidence ; interested and prejudiced
objection subsides into silence ; startling and cala-
mitous events, one after another, impress upon the
public the necessity of the change; but all these com-
bined are found powerless to stimulate into activity
official indifference. This observation is strikingly
verified in the history of that most important and
ingenious improvement in the structure of the anchor,
which has been repeatedly brought before the notice
of our readers by our reports of the results of nume-
rous trials of the anchor in question (PORTER'S)
against those of the Admiralty in different dock-
yards, as well as at sea. The result of these trials,
ordered by the Lords Commissioners of the Admi-
ralty, is thus stated in the official reports—viz.,
that the patent anchor is 172 per cent. stronger than
the Admiralty anchor, weight for weight, while in
holding power it has the advantage by 85 per cent.,
whether on soft mud, as in Portsmouth harbour, or
on hard ground, as Ryde sands, in both which situa-
tions the most careful trials have been instituted. In
addition to these demonstrated facts, the official re-
turns contain the reports of no less than thirty-five
officers of every rank and great practical experience
in the navy, in unqualified approbation and preference
of PORTER'S anchor, in every particular in which one
description of this instrument can surpass another.
Now, it is "estimated from authentic sources,"
says the Nautical Magazine for May, 1846, " that
the number of British vessels yearly destroyed by
shipwreck is six hundred, the value of property about
two millions and a half sterling, and the number of
lives about fifteen hundred and sixty." It may be sup-
posed that these facts taken in combination, together