The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1851.

A question of some interest has arisen respecting
the disposition of the Flutn3 subscribed for the relief of
the surviving families of the unfortunate men who some
time since perished in the Worthing Roads, while en-
but ineffectual, attempt to convey
gaged in a gallant,
assistance to the distres,ed crew of the Lalla Rookh
Indianian. The nation has, it appears, responded
nobly to the thrilling appeal made on behalf of those
who lost their protectors and providers on that
melancholy occasion. No less than 5,0001. has been
collected, which remains at the disposal of the com-
mittee, or rather committees, of management, and is
now ready for distribution. This is as it should be.
The sufferers under such.
an awful dispensation
are at
objects
all times fitting
for
sympathy and
relief. No pecuniary giftscould compensate for the
loss of the husbands and fathers
who were cut off in
the strength and vigour of manhood by that fearful
calamity, but it is possible to mitigate the wretched-
ness, to alleviate the miseries theof
widows, the
orphans, and childless parents, who were reduced to a
state of poverty and destitution by that fatal event,
with no resource but the union workhouses, unless
rescued from so painful an alternative by the
hu-
manity of their more fortunate brethren. The
mere
loss that they sustained, the sudden nature of the
calamity, were alone sufficient to render the claims
of the sufferers irresistible; but these claims were
immeasurably increased when we considered the
character of the transaction in which they were
deprived of life. They were endeavouring to afford
succour to the unfortunate, endangering their own
lives in a heroic attempt to rescue the despairing sea-
men from impending death, and, if practicable, to pre-
serve the property of the owners or underwriters of
the vessel.- They were the soldiers of humanity, and
fell gloriously under that spotless banner. Such fear.
less conduct as they displayed should be encouraged
in every country, but it especially behoved a maritime
nation to render due honour to the memories of thos'
who perished while attempting to snatch others from
the 'Arils and dangers of the angry ocean. Ann
peeking would more powerfully Mono others to

emulate the brilliant example than the certainty that
their dependent relations would, in the event
of any fatal accident, be protected by their
grateful country. The judicious and proper ,'pplica-
tion of the sacred fund, so that the greatest possible
benefit may be conferred on the parties for whom it
was realized, becomes an object of national import-
ance, and the parties entrusted with the duty should
not suffer any peculiar fancies of their own to inter-
fere with the proper solution of the problem.
Now it has, we believe, been suggested that cer-
tain debts, due and owing by the deceased at the
time of their deaths, should be liquidated in the first
instance out of the fund. Although we would gladly
see honest tradesmen, to some of whom these debts
may be matters of importance, satisfied the full
amount of their just demands, we cannot consi-
der that any portion of the subscriptions already
handed in should be devoted to such a purpose.
It was not with that intent that the money was col
lected, and it would be a breach of faith if its desti-
nation were now altered in any degree. The sub
scription was for the benefit of the widows and
children and destitute parents of the drowned fisher-
men, and it cannot fairly be applied to any other
purpose, or given to creditors in their place. Even if
there were no special contract with the subscribers
by the terms of the appeal, we have a legislative pre-
cedent which must be decisive on the point. By the
9th and 10th Vic., c. 93, which gave an action for
damages against the person by whose wrongful act,
neglect, or default, the death of any party was occa
sioned, it was particularly provided that the creditors
of the deceased should have no claim upon the
amount of the verdict, but that it should be
for the benefit of the wife, husband, parent, or child
of the person whose death had been so caused ; -and
the juries were empowered to allocate the amount
between the several claimants. We cannot see any
grounds upon which such payments to creditors could
be justified in the present instance, unless made at
the special instance and request of the surviving re-
latives, and out of the shares to which they might
become entitled.

Again, it has been asserted that the fund being in
the nature of a national reward for a brave and gal.
lant action, the distribution should be made to
all alike, without any distinction as to age or circum-
stances. This proposition is far more plausible,
and can be supported by stronger arguments
than that to which we have just alluded;
but, on full consideration, it does not ap
pear to stand on a much more valid foundation.
The fund was collected chiefly, if not altogether,
for the relief of the distress occasioned by the calamity.
There are eleven classes of claimants, the surviving
relatives of each of the men who lost their lives on
the occasion, and we submit that the comparative loss
sustained by the respective families should be ascer-
tained in as just proportions as practicable. One man
might be capable of earning far more than another, and
his dependents might be much more numerous. It
would be by no means just to distribute the fund
in equal portions, without taking the various circum-
stances into consideration, and making each class pro-
portioned to the loss sustained by the parties belong-
log thereto.

When the fund has been thus apportioned in classes
the relative claims of the parties belonging to each
class should then be adjudicated upon. There may be
widow, children, and parent, whose various positions
should be accurately ascertained. The committee
will have imposed on them a function similar to that
of a jury under the 9th and 10th Vic., c. 93; they will
have first to a3sess the damages, and then to appor-
tion the amount between the various claimants.
Where the parties who may be deemed to be en-
titled to any portion are of tender years, of course
their share should be secured for their benefit when
they attain their majorities, a part being applied for
their present maintenance and advancement in life,
whenever a fitting occasion should arise,; but we
would suggest that those who have arrived at mature
ages should be handed over their portions at once, to
deal with as they think proper, and that there
should be no attempt to dispose of it " for their" ad-
vantage, without their full consent. A sum, that
would provide but a -few shillings a week, barely
sufficient to keep a party out of the workhouse,
might, if invested in business or available for any of
the many favourable opportunities that are constantly
occurring to persons of humble stations, who have a
little ready money at command, render the recipients
comfortable and independent, and in comparativel.)
affluent circumstances. We trust that the committee
will not lose sight of these considerations, or suffer
the temptation to keep up a constant interference in
the affairs of the families to prevail. 'Why should
they make any regulations to deprive a widow of her
share, if she should think proper to enter into a second
matrimonial connexion ? It seems to us that any
such rules as it is asserted are about to be adopted
should be carefully avoided.

We, perhaps, owe some apology to the committee
for supposing that any such suggestions should be
necessary. We are fully convinced that they are
collectively and individually animated by an anxious
desire to perform their pleasing duty fairly and im-
partially : it is only errors of judgment that are to
he guarded against, and feeling, as we have already
stated, that the matter is one of almost national im-
portance, we think that it comes fairly within the
province of a public journalist to notice and comment
upon.

It is the same with nations as with individuals-

those to whom much has been given from them is
much required. Where rank and station are con-
fz.rred it is naturally expected that the recipients shall
generously act up to the amenities of life. A stingy
Monarch would be an abomination in the eyes of
Englishman ; were such an epithet to be applied to
nis reigning Sovereign it would be instinctively re-
garded and repudiated by JOHN BULL as a national
libel. Proudly prejudiced in favour of a Monarchy,
which throughout its long historical roll is less tar-
nished than that of any other nation, and certainly
has culminated to a height of radiating power and
wisdom hitherto unattained by any of the great
families of the earth, ancient or modern, whatever is
Adequate to the regal sustentation of his favourite
Form of government, he has never grudged, but
il ways readily, and almost lavishly, provided. So much
does the Englishman abhor parsimony that his excess
of generosity might rather be viewed as a weakness,
And charged as prodigality. The inequalities of
wealth in this country are proverbial—so prepon
derating, that common sense revolts from the
propriety of their recognition. Unequal distribution
of property of every description has always existed,
and will never cease, but the more civilization ad-
vances, the more natural and legitimate the expecta-
tion that excrescences should be pared down, and that
A fairer diffusion of the accumulation of capital should
be the necessary result. But though beneath oligar-
chical influences, and monopolising laws—their cer-
tain offspring—property has been suffered to shape it-
self into such inequitable masses, it would neverthe-
less be uncandid to deny, that the extent, munifi-
cence, and almost infinite variety of the charitable
institutions that have sprung up under the auspices
of the affluent orders, and which now cover the land,
fortunately conduced for the time to reconcile the
operative portions of the community to the severe
pressure of class-legislation. Before the science
of political economy was so well understood as it
now is, the higher orders might, perhaps, have been
excused for not foreseeing that the exclusive and pro-
tective system, which governed their legislatorial
policy, was so perniciously calculated to endanger the
very fabric of the State. It was their ignorance that
gave splendour to their donative spirit, and the virtue
of gratitude led the humbler divisions of the commu-
nity to cherish and extol the spontaneous beneficence
of the aristocracy. Happily, enlightenment upon
every topic suggestive of the material progress of a
nation, has been rapidly spreading itself from the
time of Husarsson to the present hour, and, whilst
amongstmiu a tod us,
our
the feeling of individual charity is not abated one jot
westhaatuvete, within the last ten years, illu-
th
charity laws
the spirit of national
comprehensive form. This •
inthaittsbrematohset
Chancellor of the benignExche-
policy has
invigorated the empire throughout.
reanimated. Even a Whig We are
with the cry
qtier may greet the ears of St. Stephen's
if " Eureka." For two successive years he can de-
dare a handsome surplus. But the benefit of this re-
zenerative policy is not to be confined to the United
Kingdom. It would not be wise to be selfish M our
prosperity. What we have realized for ogreelvee we

must and ought, as quickly as circumstances may
justify, disseminate to all our colonies ; they have
a powerful claim upon our enlightened consider •
ation ; they have many grievances to be redressed.
We have a great civilizing mission to work out.
Great in ourselves, we are still greater from our vast
dependencies on the British Crown ; their reform
has been already begun in a commendable man-
ner.
Representative institutiong, have been recently
conceded to New South Wales, and, to use
the words of Earl GREY, in an important dispatch,
lately published, to Sir Cu ARLES FITZROY, " these
will, it cannot be doubted, very speedily be extended
to the other Australian colonies." In the same
paragraph his Lordship observes, " that all the re-
strictions heretofore imposed on colonial trade lay im-
perial legislation have now been removed." These
are grateful promises and grateful facts. The bless-
ings we have achieved for the mother country we
have aptly and generously bestowed upon our com •
patriots in another hemisphere. The advantages of
free trade are now not less with the colonists than
with ourselves. With free institutions they have a
lever in their own hands, by which they can raise
themselves to a scale of national importance and
dignity which will hereafter testify to the fostering
care and provident wisdom of their renowned political
architect. That much remains to be done for
our colonies, need not be controverted. We are now
reducing our military forces in Australia, evincing
our confidence that they are enabled to guard them-
selves against any serious internal hostilities. It will
continue to be our especial duty to repel any attack
that may be made upon them by a foreign enemy. It
should be the aim of the British statesman so to ma.-
nage the affairs of our colonies that the maintenance
of our regular forces within their respective confines
should be as limited as possible. To preserve their
loyalty and affection is the sole object we have to
covet. The work goes bravely on ;we have only to
persevere in the same course of universal charity,
alinking every portion of our empire with the pro-
gress and well-being of humanity, to ensure a rich
harvest to our immediate descendants and future
generations.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The debate on the CHANGARNIER affair was again
adjourned after the speech of M. DE LAI.tARTINE.
The situation becomes more clear as the debate pro-
ceeds ; it is evident that CHANGARNIER was all along
the general of the Legitimatists. The speech of
BEERIER avows as much, and is considered both
by Republicans and Bonapartists as a declaration of
war. In commenting on it the Presse says :
" For three years, since the revolution of February,
the Legitimatist party had disappeared as a political party.
It had veiled its altar, folded up its colours; postponed
to other times the vindicatisn of its old right; confounded
in the ranks of the reaction, it had co-operated, by its
votes in the Assembly, in that work of resistance which,
by ruse or force, has taken back from the democracy
all the advantages which the latter had wrested from
the monarchy. It is the common thought of self-pre•
servation which has been the cementing bond of the
majority. Born from fear, the majority necessarily
ended in violence. The Orleanists and the Legitimatists,
terrified at the same danger, fought together against the
Republic, which appeared to them as a forerunner of
Socialism. It is this negative coalition which has hitherto
been the point of support of the Government of Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte. The Legitimatist and Orleanist par-
ties formed what is called the party of order—that is a
party without principles, without character, without
object, which could not propose anything, found any-
thing, organize anything. The presence of the Count de
Cearebord near the. frontier of France, the Legitimatists
at Wiesbaden, end the Orleenists at Claremont, have
proved that this neutral situation of the majority had
reached its term, and that a new situation was about to
commence. M. Berryer's speech yesterday was only
the Parliamentary consecration of a political act already
consummated. After that speech no illusion is possible.
The white flag has been raised from the dust in which
it had fallen: it now floats in the ranks of the majority.
In a word, the Legitimatist party has ceased to be one
of the divisions of what is called the party of order.
It is a hostile camp. The La Venaie in the Parlia-
ment has risen; Charette is named Berryer. This re-
course to arms on the part of the Legitimatists, an-
nounced by M. Berryer with a frankness which does
him honour, and which he disengaged from the respon-
sibility cf the manifesto of Wiesbaden, in order to render
it less unpopular, does not allow to M. Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte any hesitation or illusion. There is no safety
for the elected of December 10 except in the Republic.
Henceforward, attacked by the parties he had made his
allies, he must either become the it prisoner, or must
break them in pieces with the only force that he can
employ—the Constitution and universal suffrage. If the
Republic could have suffered -from the attacks which
were made on it by M. Berryer, it was gloriously reha-
bilitated by M. de Lamartine. But it may be said that
in his language the reality was effaced by the ideal.
The speaker looked at the political situation with a
poet's ee e, and unfortunately if the mirror is enchautine,
it is not a:vrays true. M. Berryer and M. de Lamartine
have been only the eloquent organs of the Monarchy
and the Republic. It was between those principles that
the contest was engaged rather than between the two
powers of the State. The dismissal of General Chan-
garnier, the review of Satory, the minutes of the Per-
manent Committee, become secoadary facts, which faded
into comparative insignificance before the grandeur of
the struggle. However, the Executive power is not out
of the cause; the speech of M. Berryer aggravates its
responsibility by enlarging its duty. It is not any longer
enough fur him not to betray the Republic, not; to sa-
crifice it to his ambition, he must defend it against all
Its enemies, and must renounce seeing allies in the par-
ties whom he considered his accomplices."
The supporters of the PRESIDENT seem also to be
of the opinion of the Presse. It is clear from the
following, which appears in the Constitutionnel, that
henceforth there is war, irreconcileable war, between
the Bonapartists and the Legitimatists :
"Do you desire to have back the monarchy with M.
Berryer (asks the Constitutionnel), then act as he does.
Keep the head of the Executive on tutelage. Take
from him all liberty and dignity, and you must even-
tually undermine his power. Place by his side, rather
over his head, a man who, while he appears to serve
him, is in reaiity watching him, patronising him, and
eclipsing him. Should there be question of a dotation,
grant it only on the demand of this chaperon. Should
there be cries uttered by the soldiers, which, however,
is unconstitutional, yet excusable, in preserce of
the heir of the greatest name in modern history,
cause them to be suppressed by the general, who
placed by the side of the Constitution, is greater and
more respected. Let the eye of the country be di-
rected towards the elected of the 10th December, only
see his master, so that when in fifteen months France
shall have to elect a new chief of the Republic, she will
turn her eyes away with contempt and disdain from
the degenerated blood of Bonaparte, if she does not
even corVound in the same disgust the institutions which
he personifies. It is to attain this object, of which they
are so far from making a secret, that they glorify
themselves on account of it, that M. Berryer and his
friends have need of a President abased and dominated
General Changarnier and his protectorate, are ne.edfu

for their designs. General Neumayer was also wanting
for the success of this Royalist combination. M. Ber-
ryer has said what he wished for—he has done so with
frankness and clearness; and if he loses those who follow
him he does not deceive them."

The following four amendments to the resolution
proposed by the Committee on the proposition of N.
DE REMUSAT have been laid on the bureau of the
National Assembly. The first, by D'ADELSWABD, iS
as follows:

" The Assembly, firmly resolved to combat all parties
opposed to the Republic and to defend the Constitution,
passes to the order of the day."
The following is by M. SAINTE-BEUVE :
"The Assembly declares that it has not confidence in
the Ministry, and passes to the order of the day."
MM. LESTIROUDOIS, LEREUP, and MIBIEREL, pro-
pose :
" The National Assembly, recognizing the eminent
services rendered to the country by General Changer-
nier, but animated by a desire to preserve harmony be-
tween the powers, passes to the order of the day."
The following is by M. LACLAUDURE:—
" The Assembly, considering that the Ministry, by
favouring the sale in the streets of a great number of
journals which daily attack the Assembly, and,above all,
the:Republic and the Constitution,and constituting a pri-
vilege in favour of these journals by its refusal to permit
the sale of other journals which defend the Republic
and the Constitution, has committed a grave attack upon
liberty, and despised the rights of equality secured
by law to all citizens. Considering that the Ministry,
and the Executive power, by ordering extrordinary re-
views which were unnecessary, and the displacement of
large bodies of troops, have occasioned to the country
great and completely useless expenditure; and consider-
ing that in tolerating at these reviews seditious cries ut-
tered in the presence of the Ministers, the President of
the Republic, and the Commander-in-Chief of the army,
and in not proceeding, against the officers who were
guilty of these seditious cries, the Ministers have mad©
ablagnaraevsethaettmack uponinistryandmtiblietaEry dxeeiustciivpelirneo,wtehr,e
and
dsspemasbulys
to the order of the day."
The National announces, in an article signed by
LEOPOLD DURAS, who speaks in the name of the
whole of the opposition of the Left, that it is
only on condition of adopting the amendment of
M. SAINT-BEUVE that that portion of the majority
which is opposed to the Elysee can hope for the sup-
port of the Republican minority in the Assembly.
The Republican press has suffered a great loss, by
the death of M. Louis PEREE, chief editor of
the Siecle, who died suddenly, from congestion of
the brain, early on Friday morning. M. PEREE
had been engaged at the office the whole of the day,
appeared in the Siecle
oafndTabnuratirdtaiycl.e,
sktigenwdabsyohniem'of the founders of the
Siecle, under the Monarchy, was appointed Mayor of
the third arrondimment Iv the rrovizionid Quern. ,