The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-27 00:00:00

incimint 41"'

LONDON, FRIDAY. MARCH 27, 1846.

oarncd.

There Lordships met at Five o'clock.
The Duke of WELLINGTON gave notice, that on Tuesday,
the 7th of April, he should move the adjournment of the
House until Tuesday, the 21st, for the Easter recess.
In answer to the Duke of RICHMOND, it was stated by the
Duke of WEttawevrox that the Corn Bill would not come
up before the 27th of April.
Their Lordships then adjourned.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
Several railway Bills were read a second time and ordered
to be committed.
Mr. CRAVEN BERKELEY gave notice of his intention, on
the Ist of April, to move for a copy of all orders by which
the post-master of Cheltenham was authorised to make an
additional charge upon certain letters in the town.
Sir Wm. SOMERVILLZ gave notice of his intention, on the
motion for the first reading of the Irish Life and Property
Bill, to move, as an amendment, that the other orders of the
day be read first.
Sir R. PEEL presented a petition from Aberdeen, in favour

of the Ministerial measure for the alterations of the corn-
laws. The Right Hon. Baronet also presented petitions
from Manche ter and Nottingham, praying the House
speedily to r ass the government measure with respect to the
corn-laws.

Sir R. PEEL, in answer to a question put to him the other
day by Mr. HumE, stated that it. was his intention not to
propose a longer recess at Easter than eleven days, and that
he would not even pledge himself to move so long an
adjournment.
Mr. M. Gussort wished to know whether it was the inten-
tion of the Government to proceed with the Irish Coercion
Bill on Monday?
Sir R. PEEL said he was not prepared to depart from the
declaration he had made, of his intention to move the first
reading of the Life and Property (Ireland) Bill on Monday
next. After the Bill had been read a first time, he should
propose that no Government measure should interfere with
the progress of the Corn Bill.
Mr. M. Giusorr said that it was intended, he understood,
to oppose the Irish Coercion Bill in every stage.
Sir R. PEEL trusted that Hon. Members would not oppose
the first reading, but make their opposition on the second
sealing, or some other stage of the Bill.
Mr. O'CoNNEL said, that such was the feeling with re-
spect to the Bill entertained by Irish Members, that they
felt bound to oppose the measure at every stage.
Sir R. PEEL would persevere in the course he had ch*lked
out, notwithstanding the statements that had been made.
Mr. G. BANKES, pursuant to notice, moved for the ap-
pointment of a Select Committee to take into consideration
the laws relating to the settlement and removal of the poor.
Mr. R. SPOONER seconded the motion.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM opposed the motion. When the House
went into committee on the Bill it would be competent for
the Hon. Gentleman to move such clauses as would accom-
plish the object be had in view.
After some observations from Mr. R. SPOONER, Sir R.
PEEL, Mr. CouvitouN, Sir R. Isaias, and Colonel SIB-
THORP. the motion was withdrawn.

Mr. FINCH then resumed the adjourned debate on the Corn
Importation Bill.
The House was afterwards addressed Lord RENDLI-
MA.M. Mr. BORTHWICKE, Mr. C. BULLER, and Lord Cr.
BENTINCK.

On the motion of Sir JA3INS GRAHAM, the deba'e was ad-

The remaining orders being disposed of, the House ad-
journed at a Quarter past One.

The news expected by the Indian mail has fortunately
been anticipated by the arrival of the Bombay Times,
published on the 15th of February, which contains a
general artier by the Governor-General of India. anneunc-
mg the important victory gained by the British forces
over the ailfns at Aliwal, on the 28th Jauuary, together
with the dispatch of Sir H. SMITH, describing the battle,
its results,. and the judicious arrangements made for
rendering it decisive, and decisive it has been to the
fullest expectation. One dispatch, however, is still want-
ing, namely, that relative to the attack made by the
Seikhs on the British troops while Sir HARRY SMITH
was forming a junction with Colonel GODDY ; but from
all accounts the loss was very small, and the General
acted with great prudence in avoiding a general engage-
ment before the proper opportunity had arrived. Indeed,
throughout the whole of the military proceedings, from
the 21st to the 28th, he appears to have acted with con-
summate skill as a commander. He did not rush into
battle without preparation or foresight; he submit.ed
to the trifling loss of some baggage, but kept the
main object in view—the certain and utter defeat
of the troops opposed to him. The result, when
all the circumstances became known, fully justified this
prudent conduct, for he bad opposed to him the very
best troops in the Seikh army—namely, those which
had been so thoroughly drilled and disciplined under
the immediate eye of General AVITABILE, and which
were called the " Avitabiles," in honour of this Neapoli-
tan officer. The General deserves praise, aLo, for the wise
and humane provision made for the relief of the wounded.
Owing, says he, to the judicious arrangements of Dr. MUR-
RAY, field surgeon, every wounded officer and soldier was
placed under cover, and provided for soon after dark,
and or. the 29th, the'day after the battle, the whole of
the wounded were moved to Loodianah, for the sake of
accommodation and comforts which could not be given
them in the field. What will strike:the reader most,
next to this humane conduct, is the admirable order in
which the British force was arrayed. They were all
properly organised and brigaded on the morning of the
28th, so as to render them manageable in action, and
they started for the contest alike prepared to march
or fight the enemy at a minute's notice. " The ad,
vance," says the General, " was steady, my troops well
in hare], and if the enemy had anticipated me on the
Jugraun road, I could have fallen upon his centre with
advantage." Fortunately, for good generals are also
rtunate if we are to believe the Romans, both the
ground and the weather were most favourable for his
purpose. The scene just previous to the onset is well
'r and the orderly manner in whit; the advance
eas made exhibits in the most striking manner the con -
fideree of the troops ender his command. "As I
neared the enemy, the ground became most favourable
fur h , troops to manoeuvre, being open and hard grass
land. I ordt red the cavalry to take g..•ourtd to the right
a-id left by b:igades, thus displaying the bends of the in-
fantry columns, and a-. they reached the hard ground I
directed them to deploy into line. Brigadier GODBY
ivittutle was in direct echellon to the rear of the right, the
She kawattee Infantry in like manner to the rear of my left,
the cavalry in direct ecbellen on, and well to the rear
of both 'flanks of the infantry. The artillery massed on
the right, and centre, and left. Ater depl yrnent I Oa-

s,Tved the enemy's left to outflank me, I therefore broke
int:, open columns and took ground to my right; when •
I had geir.ed sufficient g,rountl, the troops- wheeled into
line ; there v.-sts no dust, the sun shone brightly. The
manceitvres were performed with the celerity and pre-
cision of the most correct field day. The glistening of
the bayonets and swords of this order of battle was must
imposing, and the line advanced. Searce`y had it moved
forward 150 yards when at ten o'clock the enemy opened
a fierce cannonade from his whole line." And to the
honour of the native troops, we ought not to omit
to state, that, in almost every instance, they rivalled
the European regiments, and had, with the assistance
only of one regiment, the glory of defeating the " vita-
biles." Upon the left, Brigadier WILSON, with her
'AJESTY'S 53d and 30th Native Infantry, equalled in
celerity and regularity their comrades on the right,
and this brigade was apposed to the " Aieen" troops,
called Avitabiles, when the battle was fiercely
raging ; and, in another attack, a native corps
nobly obeyed orders, rushed among the Avitabile
troop, drove them under a bank, and thus exposed
them to the deadly Ste of twelve guns within 300 yards.
But it is needless to give more detaile The battle was
in every part favourable to the British fences, and that
Owing as much to the prudence and skill of the General
as to the milted superiority of the troops under his
command. Sir HARRY SMITH has well merited the
flanks of Parliament and other metre substantial honours
for one of tto most decided victories on record, and
g4ined, too, with comparatively small loss of life.

Every heart cap £b!e of sympathising in a reverence
for liberty—that handmaid of civilisation !—but a few
weeks shies was stirred to its innermost depths at the
news that Poland had once more risen to assert its in-
dependence ; that Cracow was taken, and that the troops
of its foreign government were driven back in conciee.
nation. Erglishmen, generally, could not but sympa-
thise in this movement ; cognisant of-their own felicity
in poses,ing .a political constitution essentially free,
they c, old not but commiserate the des-
tiny of a great nation, and of an illus-
trious race, subjected to the domination of three
separate powers of a most despotic character. It is
indeed from the inhabitants of Great Britain that the
-Poles have 'experienced the Inott Esethstantial and see--
r
shits -Of esteem ; dttting `the'tiine' of linir ap-
parent reconciliation to the authority of their triple-
rulers, English oratory, English poetry, and English
morie.y have been regularly, if rot lavishly, de%oted to
the solace of the refugees from Poland. Hence it was
that on the arrival of the intelli;enee from Gallicia a
vas nvijority of the people of this country participated
in the feeling of patriotism by which the insurgents were
acteatiai ; i.ild among that majority we: confess
that we ourst,lves felt earnestly. Our sympathy how--
et-or was iint,wd rather with sadness than «ith hope,
we could not but perceive the unfortunate ali.iuptne,s of
th cuthreak. The scheme was so crude, there was such
a manifest lack of preparation, that we saw only in that
pie mature ebullition a certainty of greater hardships
than had* hitherto been inflicted upon that land of
martyr:. We appreciated the glorious sentiments in
which that revolution had originated, but we mourned
the calamitous consequences which must ensue. It would
indeed he cruelty to assert that the present is not the
right time for the emancipation of Poland. Abstractedly,
it is the right time ; but practically speaking, it is not.
Without the most perfect unanimity on their own part
in action, as well as in thought, and without either the
virtu%l or actual co-operation of other nations, the re-
storation of freedom to the Poles is totally chimerical.
It is an impossiblity. The seeds of regeneration must
be sown, they mutt be tended and nourished, and com-
mence of themselves a secret germination before they
can burst from the soil and flourish. A trite philosopher
has said " Rome was not. built in a dq." On
the same principle, if the population of Poland
aspire to better things, their plans must be
gradual and systematic. Otherwise, the hour of their
emancipation will Lot merely be deferred, but more in-
tolerable miseries will aerue from the failure of each
insurrection. On these accounts, and on these accounts
alone, we have deeply mourned the recent struggles in
; we consider the instigators of the outbreak as
unwise and incompetent in the last degree.. They pos-
sessed enthusiasm and patriotism, but they wanted pru-
dence and tact. Nevertheless, though present suffering may
result from these proceedings, we are sanguine that their
ultimate effect will prove beneficial. A new victory for

Austria, Russia, and Prussia, will only serve to enhance
the commiseration of Europe and America towards
Poland; the effort alone of her people will revive—it has.
already revived, and will continue to do so—the ano-
malous position of a territory situated in the centre of
the civilised world being a prey to the avarice of three
adjacent states, her constitution dismembered, her cities
the spoliation of invaders. A sense of this anomaly, a
persuasion of its injustice, will ❑ever die away among
the nations of the earth, until the error is rectified, until
Poland iS restored to her original place in the
chart of Europe. As among the fir 4 indications of this
consequence of the late doings at Cracow, we bail with
real satisfaction a meeting of the friends of Poland, held
on Wednesday, in the Crown and Anchor Tavern, a
report of which meeting a great press of matter unfor-
tunately obliges us to postpone. That two thousand
persons were present, that a working man filled the
chair, and that all the speeches were characterised by a
fierce hatred of oppression 'and a cordial sympathy
with the Polish insurgents, will be sufficient to
show that the assembly was precisely what it should
have been, especially as being the representative of the
sentiments entertained in this vast metropolis. Occa-
sionally, perhaps, the holiness of the cause, for the advo
cacy- of which the parties present had been convened, was
tarnished by language too virulent and sweeping ; a
blemish in the speakers, which we the more particularly
regret, as it was derogatory..to the dignity of their
theme. For example, the Chairman was rather injudi-
cious, if not actually blind to propriety, in declaring
that the aristocracy of England, en masse, sym-
pathised in no manner with the grievances of Po-
land : it was a wholesale condemnation, the ieaccu
racy of which there are many living witnesses
to prove. The vituperation, in like manner, uttered by
Mr. FEARGUS O'Coareort ups n the newspaper press of
Great Britain for its " baseness, servility, truckling. cor-
ruption, and perfidy," was much too comprehensive and
violent to forward the cause of liberality in any one
particular. But enough of this demonstration in favour
of Poland ; it has afford, d us much satisfaction, as we
confidently regard it merely in the light of a prelimi-
nary movement. The civil rights of many millions of
our fallow-men are too holy, and are too intimately
blended by association with our own, to become
a matter of indifference or neglect. Poland, in
fact, demands the sympathy of every European race in
her present hour of tribulation, and the voice that issues
this mandate is the solemn voice of history. That
voice tells us, that the gratitude, the succour, the
hearts, and the hands of Europe, belong by right to Po-
land, whenever by her distresses she requires assistance.
Never should that glorious achievement of the Polish
troops, by which this right has been entailed upon
their posterity, be forgotten or disregarded ; nevershould
that memorable day be lost sight of, when, in 1683, the
auxiliary forces of Poland, under their monarch Jona
SOBIESKI (amounting, with a few German regiments, to
merely 70,000 men), routed an army 0f200,000 Turks upon
the plains of Vienna, and by so doing preserved Austria
and the rest of Europe from becoming the dominion of
barbarians and infidels. And this victory, be it
recollected, was attributable exclusively to the consum-
mate tact of the Polish Sovereign and the dauntless
bearing of his troops ; a faet the more re-
markable from the simultaneous pusillanimity
of the Austrian Emperor. Within five days
Vienna would have been compelled to capitulate,
when the continent would have beea wholly exposed to
the depredations of a lawless body of conquerors: from
this calamity were Austria and her sister kingdoms
rescued by the genius of SOBIESKI and the valour of his
soldiers. Have not the Poles therefore a claim—a won-
derful and deathless claim—upon the sympathy
and succour of every European empire ? And
has not ungrateful Austria a dire and unpa-
ralleled crime to answer for ? Had NAPOLEON
bat accomplished his views upon the Autocrat, Russia
would have been driven into a compromise, Austria and
Prussia would have been compelled to concede, and
Poland would have been again numbered among the
nations of the earth. An issue most emphatically
diverse prevented the accomplishment of this grand
design, and Poland remains in servitude. The day of
retribution must, hoe ever, come at last. Patriotism
must predominate over tyranny.

We have received Madrid journals of the 18th, but
their principal contents have been anticipated by the
telegraphic dispatches. The Chamber of I)..puties met
on that day for the last time, according to all appear-
ances, when Senor NOCEDIL. one of the Secretaries,
rose anti said :—" The President has directed me to in-
form the assembly, as his ill state of health will not
allow him to address it, that at a late hour in the
night he received a communication from the President
of the Council of the Ministers, signifying that the Con-
gress should meet to bear the organisation of the Cabi
net and other important communications." The names
of the new Ministers were then announced, and after
that the following royal decree was read
" In virtue of the prerogative conferred upon me by
Article 26 of the ConstiTution, and by the advice of ens
Council of ,'Nlinister,,, I haVe decreed and do decree as ful-
14ws":—The.sit'ings of the Cortes of the present Legislature •
ere pronugued.",
M. NOCEDAL, then, in the name of the -President,
declared , that the sitting was closed. The deputies
then retired. The'Gazette, of the same date, publishes
a royal degree superseding General CONCHA in the ge
nerul command ot the Basque provinces, by General
URBISTONDo, formerly an officer in the Carlist arm).
General CORTES, one of the chiefs of the War depart-
ment, had resigned, and AEETA, the political Chief of
Madrid, had been dismissed, and replaced by General
BILBOA. All the troops in garrison in Madrid had re-
ceived orders to be night and day under arms; and
ready to march out at a moment's notice, in case of an)
attempt at disturbance. We have given, in another part
of The Sun, the
,manifesto issued by the new Cabinet,
and it is quite in keeping with the character of the map
who has assumed the dictatorship of Spain. The Fund.
had risen nearly three per cent. On the 18th the 'rhret
per Cents. closed at 31 for cash, and 311 at thirty days ;
the Five per Cents. at 224 at thirty days ; the shares ot
the Bank of San Fernando. 255 ; cf Isabel, 168.

With the exception of an article on the affairs of Spain,
in the Journal des Debuts, the Paris papers contain little
news of iini.ortance. That journal and the Messager
appear to ba the onl:,. papers that had received detailed
accounts of the suspension of the Cortes, and the de-
struction of the freedom of the press, and the manifesto
of the new Government establishing arbitrary power.
The great press of other important matter prevents tp.
from giving the article at length, and we therefore coo
fine ourselves to a brief extract, which shows that tbi..
Government paper declares strongly against this new
33 stern of despotism. We only lope the Court of Franc
and the.GuixoT Ministry will evince a similar spirit:—

" The new Ministry formed under the auspices of General
Narvaez has inaugurated its accession to power by two acts.
of the- greatest importance, and which show in what a dis-
astrous path it wishes to lead the country and the young
'Queen. By a decree .Of March 17, the Ministry has ordered
the indetlialte prorisgation of the Cortes. This measure wil,
be, followed, no person can doubt, by the dissolution of the
Congress, which, •compcsed almost entirely of members of
the Moderado party, has given so many pledges of prudence
and devotedness to the throne and the constitution. This
suspension of the Gates is so much th- more inexplicable
thst it has been pronounced before ae vote of the budget
feriihe present ydhr; and before the present Cabinet has oh--
Li-hied a vote-of Confidence to' collect taxes and ontribu-
lions. The second decree of the new Ministry has an awk-
ward analogy with the ordinances of July, 1830. It pro-
nounces in reality the suspensiow of the liberty of the press.
The new Ministry has, in consequence, been looked on with
a generahentimenTof uneasiness. and even terror. Madrid,
on he evening of the 19th, was tranquil, and order had not
been troubled, but there reigled a great agitation• in the
public mind. The measures which the Government have
adopted betray its own disquietudes; the garrison remains]
day and night under arms, and several generals and
colonels have been already replaced or dismissed. The situa-
:jou is grave for Spain. The Ministry is placed at the head
.of an ultra and turbulent minority of 40 members, all per-
sonal friends of General Narvaez, or declared enemies of the
constitutional Government. Its first acts have been a fla-
grant violation of the constitution, and one may say an insult
to the convictions and good sense of the country. There is
no possible safety for Spain but in the maintenance of the
constitution, and with the concurrence of the whole Moderado
part-, which for four years has shown so much devotedness
to the throne, and so much attachtrent to the constitutional
institutions. We. hope that this party, so powerful by its
number and by its position in the state, will know how, under
actual circumstances, to remain united and firm in its prin-
ciples, and consistent in its conduA."
• Accounts Prim Algiers announce the arrival at that
place of the Duke D'AUDIALE and the Prince of SAXE
..:'OBIJRCi on the evening of the 17th. Their arrival had
just been preceded by the return of Marshal BEICIEAUD,
whom they visited immediately after landing. A violent
storm had been raging on the coast, and in comet parts
of the interior of Algeria, for two days.

A telegraphic dispatch from Milianah announced on
the 17th that General JOSCF had fallen suddenly cn
ABD-EL-KADER'S camp, not far from Boussada, The
ex-Emir had hardly time to escape with a few regular
troops. The details are wanting.

The Siecle states, that the— son of the celebrated
Titomas MooRE, who was serving in the French Fo-
reign Legion in Africa, died lately in that country, to
the universal regret of his regiment.

Mme. DE SALVANDY, mother of the Minister of Public
instruction, died on Sunday, at Paris, after a long and
painful illness.

The Three per Cents. closed on the Paris Bourse on Tuesday at
84f. 25c,; the Five per Cents., 1201. 60c.; the Orleans Railroad
shares, 1,315 f. ; ltouen, 1,057 f. 50c. ; Havre, 765 f. ; Great Northern,
7851. ; Avignon, 975 f. ; Viezron, 715 f. ; Bordeaux, 683 f. 75c. ;
Boulogne, 525 f. ; Baele, 241 f. 25c. ; Fainpoux, 4651. • Dieppe, 470 f. ;
P:ris and Strasbur:, 542 f. 50c. ; Tours and Nantes, 5721. 50c.; Paris
and Lyons, defluitive, 161 f.; Spanish Three per Cents., 37M ; Spanish
Passives, 5%.