The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-12 00:00:00

SIR WALTER SCOTT AND THE AUTHOR

OF EUGENE ARAM.

The following interesting literary anecdote is contained
in a letter from a friend at Rome to the Editor of the
Literary Gazette:—
" When Sir W. Scott arrived at Rome, he asked me for
a book. 1 enumerated the few I had got, and be imme-
diately pitched upon something by the author of Pelham.'
I accordingly sent him Eugene Aram,' which be re-
turned me in a very few days, saying, that since he left
England, he had not enjoyed so much amusement. He
talked a long time about Bulwer and his productions;
and I sincerely regret not having made a minute of his
remarks. I recollect, however, distinctly his saying,
Oh, that is a man whose name always puts me in mind
that I must look about me;' and after expressing his high
approbation of the tale he had just been reading, be
added, I can hardly conceive a greater proof of talent
than this, that a writer should take for his subject
Eugene Aram,' a story well known to almost every one
of his readers, and that he should be able to work it up
in so artful a manner as to produce such intense interest.
For this,' he said, laughing, is the fault of the book. I
read late—l could not lay it down; and twice it has
spoiled my night's rest.' " We believe it was the last
work of fiction the illustrious bard ever perused ; for after
this, a hurried journey, a fatal illness, and death, con-
cluded his great career.

It is reported that P. M. Stewart, Esq.,
M.P. for Lancaster, will be invited to fill the chair at
Lloyd's.

DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK.-
Died, on Monday last, at East Hill, Wandsworth, in the
59th year of his age, after a long illness, the Right Rev.
John Jebb, D.D., F.R.S., Lord Bishop of Limerick,
Ardfert, and Aghadoe. For nearly seven years he had
suffered under the' effects of a violent paralytic attack,
which compelled him to withdraw from the more active
duties of his see, and to reside i❑ this country for medical
advice. But his mind survived his body ; and, while an
invalid, scarcely able to move about his room even with
assistance, he continued an anxious and watchful care over
his diocese ; and employed the hours of languor and
sickness in the preparation and publication of works,
original or these of other great divine., for the benefit of
the Church of Christ. In private life he was among the
most amiable and beloved of men, with a singular faculty
of attaching all of every age to hint ; in literature he was
among the most distinguished Biblical scholars of the
age ; and in personal humility and piety he was worthy
of his office as a Christian Bishop.

A new edition of Captain Skinner's very
lively and descriptive " Excursions in India" has just
been published. This work, like the " Tours" by Major
Archer, abounds in details of hunting and shooting ex-
ploits, and comprises admirable sketches of native scenes,
of native portraits, picturesque, amusing, and impressive.
Indeed, Captain Skinner paints so well, that we almost
seem to be present at his hurried marches. Indian fairs,
Oriental ceremonies, British encampments, with all the
♦arieties of traits with which be improves and embellishes
these agreeable delineations. A more pleasant work has
not, for a long time, occupied our attentioe.

Private letters from Naples announce the
dangerous illness of the young English nobleman, Lord de
Tabley, from the effects of a coup de soleil and pleuresy.
His Lordship's recovery had been despaired of; but at the
tritest date be was considered out of danger, and gradually
improving. Lady de Tabley (the young and newly mar-
ried daughter of Lord de Salis) was slightly indisposed,
horn her unremitting attendance on her invalid husband.

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 111, 1833.

In consequence of stormy weather in the
Channel, we have not received any Foreign
Mails to-day. There are eight now due.

No official account has been received at the
Portuguese Embassy of the object of Colonel
HARE'S mission to the head-quarters of Don
MIGUEL. It is understood, however, that the
chief object was to require the departure of
Don CARLOS from Portugal, and that he would
avail himself of the opportunity to propose terms
and terms
of accommodation between Don M
the DUKE REGENT.

We understand that General Sir JOHN MIL-
LEY DOYLE, the Aide-de •Camp of' Don PEDRO,
who arrived a few days ago in England, has
already made considerable progress in his ar-
rangements for establishing a regular communi-
cation by steam vessels between Liverpool and
Lisbon.

M. VAN DE WEYER, the Minister Plenipo-
tentiary of the King of BELGIUM, has left Lon-
don for Brussels on business connected with
the Belgian question, and is not expected to
return for some time, fresh and important ob-
stacles to an arrangement having been started
by the Dutch King. M. WALLEz, the first
Secretary of Legation, has been appointed
by the Belgian Government Charge d'Affaires
during the absence of M. VAN DE WEYER.

The Marquis of FuNcifAL, the late Portu-
guese Ambassador, who died at Brighton, about
a fortnight ago, was interred this morning. The
body was followed to the grave by most of the
diplomatic corps, and by a large number of the
friends of the deceased.

The long duration of stormy weather and con-
trary winds, has caused serious inconvenience to
merchants and ship owners. It is said that
nearly 270 sail are now lying wind-bound in
Ramsgate harbour.

We understand that the Foreign-office has
notified to the parties interested, that instruc-
tions have been sent out to Lord WILLIAM
RUSSELL, at Lisbon, to demaltd the immediate
release of the Caroline merchantman, from New-
foundland, lately captured off Oporto by the
cruisers of Don PEDRO.

The following has been received at LLOYD'S

this morning :
Copy of a letter from the Secretary of the African
Inland Commercial Company, dated Liverpool, Dec. 10.
" I have the pleasure to inform you of the safety of the
Quorra, Alburkah,and Columbine, which vessels arrived
at Fernando Po early in September. I have also the
heartfelt gratification to add that Mr. Lander and Mr.
Laird were in good health. The Columbine was preparing
to return with them to this port, and she may he expected
in a few weeks. Our letters have not yet reached us, but
this is the substance of the information I have received
from the George Canning just arrived from Fernando Po,
anti I hasten to communicate it to you."

We have so often advocated the adoption of
some temporary system of Poor Laws in Ireland
which should give the Irish labourer some as-
surance of employment till education and the
enjoyment of some of the comforts of life have
had an opportunity of teaching him providence,
that we shall not be suspected of arguing against
that great measure in some observations we think
ourselves boind to make upon a second letter
from Mr. POULETT SCROPE to the agricul-
turists of the west of England, given in another
column. Poor Laws, of some kind or other,
should be tried in Ireland, but not for the rea-
sons stated by Mr. SCROPE. We should not
have deemed it worth while to notice those
reasons had they proceeded from any but an
opponent of the principle of the Corn Laws.

Nearly all that Mr. SCROPE urges to the
farmers of 'Wiltshire to induce them to press
upon their representatives the necessity of
establishing Poor Laws in Ireland, might be
urged just as strongly against admitting foreign
corn. " The Irish are not burdened as you are,"
says Mr. SCROPE, " therefore they are able to
sell their produce cheaper than you who have
Poor Laws ; this is an injustice to you, therefore
we must force Poor Laws upon them." Mr.
SCROPE will find by and bye, that some of the
corn monopolists to whom he will find himself
opposed will use precisely the same language
with respect to foreign corn, merely substituting
a Corn Law for Poor Laws. Fortunately,
however, much of Mr. SCROPE'S present line
of argument may be suited to the capacities
of those whom he addresses ; it must
be held as utterly untenable by any man whose
ideas have extended beyond the fattening of an
ox, or killing a pig. The question is, whether
the farmer of Ireland would not cultivate at a
dearer rate, from being obliged to pay poor
rates. It was urged from several quarters,
when Mr. SCROPE'S first letter appeared,
that a poor rate would be a deduction from
the landlord's rent, and would not affect
the price at which the Irish farmer would sell
his produce. What says Mr. SCROPE to the
West of England farmers in answer to this ?
" I think I may safely appeal to you whether,
if you were wholly relieved from poor rate, and
could hire labour at sixpence a day, you could
not afford to sell your produce at a cheaper
rate, and pay a higher rent to the land-owner ?''
No doubt they could afford to do so, but the
question is, what would take place? A West of
England landlord is able to get, say, a pound
per acre for a particular farm. The competition
of several farmers enables him to ask and obtain
that rent. If other charges upon it, in the shape
of tithe, of poor rate, or of labour, were after-
wards reduced a pound per acre, it is clear
that at the next letting of the farm the same
competition would raise the rent to two pounds
per acre. It is very true the landlord could
afford, perhaps, to take less, but if he could get a
good tenant to give him two pounds, he would be
a fool to take less. So also in the interval before the
expiry of the first lease, although the diminution
of the charges of tithe, labour, and poor-rate,
would enable the farmer to sell his produce
cheaper than before, he would be equally a fool
to sell it for less than the market price ; and un-
less the field of production had been enlarged so
as to bring other corn into competition with his,
that market price would be unaltered by the di-
minished cost of cultivation on the same extent
of soil. The case, therefore, which Mr. SCROPE
puts to the Wiltshire farmers is a mere delusion.
But then he asks whether they would not be be-
nefitted by the diminished supply of food from
Ireland, in consequence of the peasantry being
better fed through the operation of Poor Laws ?
Another very good argument for the parties ad-
dressed ; but do you see where it will lead you,
Mr. SCROPE ? The food that is brought from
Ireland is not, we suppose, burnt or buried.
It is brought, we venture to think, because
people want it to eat. lf, then, it be not
brought, if the peasantry of Ireland, represented
to us as being now half starved, eat it them-
selves, under your proposed Poor Laws, one of
two things must happen. Either the bellies it
now goes to fill in England must remain half filled,
or they must get a supply for their money from
elsewhere. Now, if they get a supply from
elsewhere, the case of the Wiltshire farmers is
not mended, for it clearly cannot matter to him
whether the corn which competes with his in
the market comes from Ireland or the Baltic.
If, on the other hand, no supply is to come
from elsewhere, the argument goes the length
of telling the agriculturists of the west of Eng-
land that they are justified in taking measures
which shall half starve their fellow subjects, or,
at the least, that they, the sellers of corn, have a
right to take measures to compel the buyers
to pay a price for it which the latter would
not pay if they were in the full enjoyment of
their natural rights. If we could suppose that
Mr. SCROPE saw the full bearing of his own
argument, it would be impossible not to come
to the conclusion that he wishes to have Poor
Laws in Ireland, not for the benefit of the people
of that country, but for the benefit of English
landlords, by giving them higher prices for their
produce ; that is to say, by robbing all who
have to buy bread.
We would observe, by the way, that
Mr. SCROPE'S reference to the case of
Chorlesbury, in Buckinghamshire, where the
people have all become paupers, because taught
to depend upon the Poor Rates instead of their
own exertions, and have caused the land to be
thrown out of cultivation as involving loss, is
rather unfortunate, for it is one of those strong
cases which the opponents of Poor Laws in Ire-
land justly rely upon as proving the badness of'
the principle on which they rest.

ROLLS' COURT.-(THIS DAY.)