The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-26 00:00:00

Unfortunately, however, a nobleman of the
highest rank in the peerage had married his
deceased wife's sister, the niece• of another Peer
of equal rank and vast influence. A bill
was introduced for the purpose of rendering
that marriage effectual, and preventing the youth-
ful heir from being deprived of the numerous
honours and wide-spread domains of his ancient
family. It would, however, be invidious to spe-
cify a particular case, and, therefore, the privilege
was extended to all similarly affected. The Right
Rev. Prelates could waive their conscientious
scruples where one Duke and the niece of another
were concerned : they were quite willing to render
all marriages that had previously bean celebrated
legal, which was all that the measure provided.
But one of their number, the Bishop of LONDON,
at the last moment, introduced a clause, rendering
them absolutely null and void for the future. It
was rejected by the House of Commons, but un-
happily they yielded in the too great anxiety to
save a few from inconvenience, and in the
hope that the obnoxious clause would speedily
be repealed. The measure was thus carried, and
serious grievance inflicted on large and respectable
classes of her Majesty's subjects.
The evil has now continued more than 20
years. Many efforts have been made to obtain
an adequate remedy, but hitherto they have been
foiled by the mischievous zeal and energy of the
occupants of the Episcopal Bench. We trust,
however, that these efforts will not be relaxed—
that the question may be unceasingly agitated,
until it is finally and satisfactorily dis-
posed of. Truth is great, and must ulti-
mately prevail. Parties will at length
be induced to inquire for themselves, and to form
their own judgments, without suffering them-
selves to be led astray by the lawn-sleeved gentry.
Possibly the Prelates may, by a much-required
act of peerage reform, be exempted from the
labours of legislation, in which case there caa be
little doubt that the wishes of the great body of
the people will receive immediate attention, and
the obnoxious enactment be for ever erased from
the National Statute Book.

PEACE and PLENTY—of—Gun-boats, when we
do not want them ; hardly one to be had in
1854 when we did, and could have had them ;
not even in 1855, when we might have had them
all in the Baltic as easily as at Portsmouth on
Wednesday. Plenty of gun-boats now no Swea-
borg, or Helsingfors, or Cronstadt may be touched
—scant supply enough when those fortresses
might have been tumbled into a convention with
the Aland Isles ;• and when the CzAR, battered out
of St. Petersburg, would have given up gladly,
not a paltry strip merely, of Bessarabia, but the
whole of it, and mach more to boot.
Plenty of gun-beats—some 250 of them—now
they can do no harm to the great modern spoiler
of nations, to the Emperor of all the Russres, but
the oppressor of a vast territory which never was
a Ritssia, and which honest nations ought to have
wrested from the dishonest one. Plenty of gun-
boats for sight, none when they were wanted for
service. Plenty of gun-boats to create nice little
steps of patronage in peace, none when there was
work for them to do.
PEACE and PLENTY—of consideration for Russia
—none for Poland, Finland, the Tartars, and the
Circassian& Plenty of humiliation spared to the
aggressor ; plenty of money left in his bands,
which, according to his own practice, he ought' to
have paid to Turkey at least, and to the partners
of Turkey too. Plenty of fortresses left to
him with which to menace Germany ; a " Con-
tinental Sebastopol" among them, Lord PALMER-
STON being witness. Plenty of exiled Poles in
Siberia, and plenty of Crimean Tartars journeying
thither for selling food to our troops ; plenty of
consideration for the oppressor, none for the op-
pressed. Plenty of delicate silence about the
atrocities and knaveries of the Great Despot, and
total silence touching the rights and wrongs of
the Rations. Peace, and plenty left undone which
ought to be done.
PEACE and PLENTY—Of Austrian troops in the
Principalities, and on the borders of our noble-
ally, Sardinia ;—of money in the pockets of Prus-
sians for a hostile neutrality ;—of military tro-
phies for France, while Kars and its English
General, perhaps, the greatest hero of the War,
was left to his fate ;—of Coburg influence at the
Court and the Horse Guards ;—of Crimean Reports
on the " want of promptitude and ingenuity" on
the part of the English commanders, and of Chel-
sea inquiries to prove the truth of the Report, but
to let off the honoured incapables of the War-
office. Peace, and Plenty—of money spent, of lives
thrown away, of horses killed, of battles won by
soldiers, of assaults miscarrying through the Ge-
nerals; Peace, and plenty of—" care for Down."
Peace and Plenty—of despots and despotism
—little enough of liberty, civil or religious ;
some thirty or forty, we forget how many, pup-
pet, yet real despots, in Germany ; a despot in
Prussia, a despot of the most odious descent, in
Austria, a despot in Naples, another as bad, or
worse, in Rome, another in Tuscany ;—and what,
as to his form of Government, can we denomi-
nate an Ally who will not permit the nomination
of any but a Government candidate for election

—Sardinia is, of course, a happy exception ; and
the despot of Turkey seems to be next in honestly
liberal tendencies. Elsewhere we have plenty of
Concordats, and oppression of Protestants by
Catholics, and of both by the Greek Church in
Russia ;—plenty of religious intolerance on the
part of monarchs who will give to no Christians,
but those of the despot-favoured Church, the
religious liberty and equality which the SULTAN
now concedes to all ! Peace, and plenty of civil
and religious tyranny, and civil and religious

slavery.
Quite natural, then, that we should have PEACE
and PLENTY—of Government shows. Splendid
naval reviews, peace and splendid Government

fire-works--peace and rejoicings made to order ;
all very reasonable, when the people will not re-
joice for what Government has dove, that Govern-

went should rejoice itself. Nothing like a bold
face on a thing. EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS worth
of Fireworks ! ! Why all the lads and lasses under
fifteen will applaud the peace to the echo, and
wish for a peace every year. The Moniteur, the

Invalide Busse, and all the despots' journals of
the Continent, will re-echo the Government re-

joicings for England to the tune of "Exhausted

Albion." A Ministry gilding their own misdoings

and not.doings v ill, over all the Continent, be
represented as the nation. Yet what a difference!

Those who are old enough to recollect the last
peace cannot understand this. They remember

the spontaneous and universal fetes, illuminations,

and rejoicings ; whatever Government did was
anticipated everywhere by the people. It was

peace and plenty of—heartfelt rejoicing. Now it

is what au eloquent Athenian orator so justly

denounced—what the same Government has also
done in the case of the Crimean commanders—an
attempt by rewards and honours to anticipate the

scrutiny. How are we to condemn the of6..3ers
whom the Hare Guards have honoured for the

very conduct for which they were rewarded ?

How to censure the peace which a naval review,

salvos of artillery, and 8,0001. worth of fireworks

have proclaimed to be a splendid achievement of
war and diplomacy ?

The worshippers of the Sabbath have received
a call to arms. About a hundred clerical Sab-
hatarians have indeed taken the field. The
friends of a rational worship on the Sabbath will
do well to buckle on their ara-lour and prepare for
the coming conflict. Sir BENJAMIN HALL is not,
if the Sabbatarians can help it, to have his own
way. The pleasing, wholesome, and wholly in-
nocent recreation he has promised the frequenters
of the Parks on each successive Sunday afternoon
is, if possible, to be withheld from them—Sir
BENJAMIN notwithstanding. " The whole metro-
polis " is to be appealed to—then " the whole
people of England"—to petition against measures
conceived in such a spirit of anti-Sabbatism,
and threatening that idolatrous creed such
a mortal blow. We wish they may but
they wont. The Sabbatgrians instinctively
shun appeals to the people not in print
—hole-and-corner meetings by ticket—deputa-
tions of oily professors to Members of Parliament
threatening them with the loss of their seats if
they vote according to their consciences—hawk-
ing petitions in quarters where a refusal of signa-
tures might be followed by the stoppage of daily
bread—obtaining signatures privately on false
pretences—collecting them from Sunday scholars
—these practices, and others less creditable, are
more in their way. An abundance of signatures
will, however, be obtained ; and these will, it is
not improbable, have a similar effect to that pro-
duced by the last harvest, unless the friends of a
reasonable observance of Sunday bestir themselves.
The present Ministry hold the reins of power on
too precarious a tenure to he trusted. Unless the
people combine and strengthen them to resistance
by an unmistakeable demonstration of opinion on
the matter, Sir BENJA3IaS measures will assur-
edly be thrown overboard. Public meetings
should. be held all over the metropolis, and peti-
tions carried about for signatures in the streets
and through the parks. Deputations should be
counteracted by deputations ; sophistry by argu-
ments, and misrepresentations by fair statements
of the merits of the case. Above all things,
let it be insisted on that no intention and no
desire exists to deprive the working man of his
weekly day of. rest. That monstrous calumny
has been hitherto but too successful, and cannot
be too speedily or too thoroughly exploded. It
is not the abolition, but an improvement in the
character, of the day of rest that it is sought for—
recreation for the mind and heart as well as the
physical frame, such a recreation of the entire
man as will make worship a little more the act
of a reasonable being, and not abstinence from
attendance on public worship. This cannot be
too forcibly inculcated, nor can the facts that
JUSTIN MARTYR, in the second century, LUTHER,
CALVIN, and CRANMER, in their day, held the
teaching of the Sabbatariauism of Ours in abhor-
rence, and pronounced most strongly against it,
and that it would be as Christian to insist on
"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth"
indeed for the observance of the entire Je wish
law as it is to insist on the present puritanical
observance of Sunday. Scripture authority, rea-
son, common humanity, are alike in antagonism
to Sabbatism. The measures cf Sir BENJAMIN
HALL do credit alike to his head and heart—let
him, we say in conclusion, be supported !

THE FOUR MISSING ARTICLES OF
PEACE.

We are assured that the four missing Articles
of Peace were preiented from appearing by the
wish of Lord Clarendon himself ; and that they
are of such a nature that all England will exult
over them as containing everything to be desired
—more especially an indemnity for all the ex-
penses of the War, which will relieve us from the
Income Tax. His Lordship, it is thought, pre
ferred to enjoy the pleasure of first communicating
them to Parlisonent himself ; but the Chancellor
of the Exchentier was of course fully aware of
them when he granted the 8,000/. for fire-works.
—Government Paper (24th).

THE INTERNAL CONDITION OF
TURKEY.

) THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

----
SlR,—Peace is re-established, but have we attained
the object so much sought for ?—have we improved the
condition of the unfortunate population of Turkey ?
Promisee and Hatti-Hutnayouns we have in numbers,
but are they obeyed by the governors of the Turkish
towns ? I am sorry to say no. The condition of Turkey
is worse now than ever, as I learn from friends residing
there ; and from a letter of eine I extract the following,
which I hope you will be able to publish in your valu-
able columns, that it may become known, and then, per-
haps, a remedy attempted.

My friend writes :—"Tbe country is infested with
robbers. We hear of nothing else but murders, and
people carried to the mountains for ransom. Stores in
this town have been plundered, but where are the
authorities f—what has become of the firmans ? The
guards sent to protect the pnvinees commit the greatest
enormities—enormities which will bring disgrace on the
allies if they overlook them. If a Christian has a pretty
daughter he is sure to become the victim of the precious
commander of the Guards. We have had several cases
lately of young fema'es being carried away by force, and
when the bishop insists on their being brought befcre the
mizlish to declare herself that she has willingly embraced
Islamism, they bring a Turkish woman let° the court
covered with her garmack (and thus rendering it impos-
sible to be recognised), who declares that she willingly
accepts the "true faith." Such is the state of affairs
here, and such things the poor Christians suffer. Where
is Christian Europe ? Where are the protectors of the
Christians in Turkey ?"

Thus my friend write; and I trust you will find a
corner in your valuable paper for this ; and may it be
the cau-e of some improvement. —I am, &C.,
April 25, 1856. A CHRISTIAN.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY JOBBERY.

TO THE EDITOR OF TEE SUN.

SlR,—Whilst the Chelsea Commission is endeavouring
to entangle some small fry of puppets in its meshes,
permit me, Mr. Editor, to call its attention—or better,
the attention of your readers—to the following brief
summary of facts.

Whilst our gallant allies the French were successfully
approaching the redoubtable Malakhoff with the assist-
ance of 4,000 sappers and miners, the English were try-
ing to approach the equally formidable Redan, with but
250 sappers and miners.
The French leapt into the Malakhoff and victory from
their ten yards' distant entrenchments, without the loss
of a single man. The English, in attempting a similar
feat from their two hundred yards' distant cover—only
realised death or ignominious defeat. Thanks to the
Filo-Russians at hame, who, in plaCe of emulating the
French in forwarding to the Crimea a quantum sufficit of
engineers, of whem'no country in the world could have
furnished a more ample supply than England had our
rulers willed it. But these preferred rather to devote
the funds which I and my countrymen cheerfully con-
tributed towards the effective prosecution of the war
to the buying of pictures !—and such pictures ! !--to the
paying, for the first time, one thousand per annum for
a National Gallery director !—and such a director ! !
to the paying, for the first time, some seven or
eight hundred a-year to the director's secretary,
to draw up a Catalogue Raisonnee! (shades of mutilated
Claudes and Canaletties !!) To the appointing and pay-
ing, God knows how much, to a foreign collector of pic-
tures, that he might buy u.) such " vamped-up " Paul
Veroneses as the newly-mitalled "Adoration of the
Magi," at the price of blood-1, 9771. For who would
deny that bad this one thousand nine hundred and
seventy•seven pounds—in addition to the foreign collec-
tor's commission, added to the slight shade worse than
useless National Gallery Director's 1,000/. per annum,
added to the 8001. a-year of the suspicious " Catalogue
Raisonneer "—been offered in the shape of increa,ed pay
to some two or three hundred able-bodied and ictelligent
mechanic, a sufficieut number of sappers and miners
could have been improvised in six weeks to have enabled
our bravo soldiers to realse as glorious a triumph at the
Redan as, on the contrary, they were betrayed into so
deplorable a defeat ?

but, if such convicting letters as that of Mr. W. Co-
ningham's of the 30th ult., and the startling denouncer
of tha 17th inst., from the pen of that veteran foe to
picture mutilation and disgraceful National Gallery
jobbery—Mr. Morris Moore—fail toshame the betrayers
of public trust into the amende honorable, then, in-
deed, should I feel disposed to endorse the following con-
cluding paragraph of the Times' leader of Saturday :
" It is England's own fault if the commits htr
her Ler traau,r, affil in men venom
e..-en experience will not make wiser ; and who, while
alone responsible for her calamities, seem alone uncon-
cerned." NEMESIS,