The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-06 00:00:00

ff

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1856.

Some light has at length been thrown on the
untoward event that " satisfied the honour of the
Russian arms," and inflicted serious injury and
indelible disgrace on the cause which the Allied
Powers had made such serious sacrifices to main-
tain. The official " papers relative to the military
affairs in Asiatic Turkey, and the defence and
capitulation of Kara" have just been published.

Authentic data are thus supplied from which
every man can form his own judgment as to the
causes that led to that deplorable catastrophe, and
enabled the CZAR to offer something approaching
to an equivalent (in the eyes of Asiatic potentates)
for the fall of Sebastopol and the other reverses
that attended his arms in the Crimea, the Sea of
Azoff, and at Kinbouni—which enabled him to
maintain at leapt a portion of his quondam prestige
in the eyes of those whom it was of vital import-
ance to impress with an accurate knowledge of his
true position. They are indeed of a truly painful
character, and prove beyond the possibility of
doubt the gross mismanagement and incapacity,
or something worse, to which the fall of Kars and
the sacrifice of the gallant men by whom it was
eo efficiently defended may justly be attributed.
It is, of course, impossible within the compass
of an ordinary article to discuss all the matters
contained in a blue book,:containing no less than
356 pages and 390 despatches. It is only pos-
sible at present to glance at the salient points,
arid to indicate how the parties chiefly concerned
are thereby implicated in there infortuna,te pro-
ceedings. Thero will, of course, be a complete
discussion in Parliament of the entire matter,
when the contents of the voluminous addition to
the Blue Book literature have been completely di-
gested, and maturely considered by Honourable
Gentlemen. It is to be hoped that the result
will be to place the responsibility on those by
whom it should fairly be borne, to justify the
innocent, and to cast the entire burden on the
real offenders.

One fact is dearly and unequivocally eF,t).- .the national schools ancl.the magisterial lectures
bashed. General Wrilacutz and hia cleYotecl cora. on the subjc.t will nil to CQUYiLIO3 him. Tha

faith of the Squires, and the faith of all besides,
are as different en this point as that of the
Mahonarnedans of Turkey and their subjected
Christian rayahs.

Now, we take it for granted that these bloody
conflicts must be prevented. Society is not to go
on having now a poacher, now a gamekeeper, and
once in a while the gamekeeper's master killed, to
the end of the story. What shall be done ? In
some counties the squires have saddled their game-
less neighbours with the expense of a county
police, chiefly to watch the poachers ; and Sir
GEORGE GREY would help them to generalise the
system. Yet even in those counties which adopt
the police, so rooted is the evil that they have
not yet got rid of it, and are not likely to do so.
There has been no lack of zeal on the part of
magistrates—especially those of the clerical
order. With evidence—against evidence--on no
evidence—poachers are convicted, fined, and
imprisoned without mercy. The poacher must
be convicted—that is settled ; and on one
occasion, when the evidence would in no way per-
mit it, a poacher was actually convicted and
punished in reality for poaching, nominally for
neglecting his parish Church ! Thanks to Lord
BROUGHAM, the abuse in this case has brought
the remedy. Poachers, however, like the
Israelites in Egypt, seens to multiply and grow
under all their oppressions. The worst is, that
under the unholy inspirations of their calling,
they sometimes kill the Egyptians who harass
them. What with the original injustice of the
Game Laws, and the unrelenting harshness of
the Squires in their administration of th.tm, the
peasant poacher lives in a state of constant
exacerbation with the proprietors and protectors
of game.

It is painfully true that the poacher is generally
about the worst character in the parish. So
was the smuggler under high protective duties.
The obvious reason in both cases being
that something felt as a wrong by the com-
munity generally was defended by force of
arms. Hence the practical impugner of the wrong
was driven to become a desperado, yet neither by
himself nor his neighbours was he classed with
acknowledged felons. A. keg of moonshine and a
pheasant were not regarded by the generality of
the receivers as stolen goo Is. The men were
made bad by the course necessarily adopted to
obtain what few shrunk from receiving, provided
they felt themselves safe in so doing. It is thus
that frequently from comparatively innocent be-
ginnings the village lad is induced to violate law,
but not, as ho believes, to violate right ; and thus
by degrees he is trained to a measure of cunning
and boldness in outwitting and facing his enemies
to which, but for such influences, he would have
remained a stranger.
The particular case of the THURGOODS and the
unfortunate victim is but the worst form of an
evil fostering in every game preserving neigh-
bourhood. They are manufactories of murderers,
and still more abundantly of lesser rural criini- I
nals. Crimes in the rural districts would be rare
indeed but for the training furnished by those
badges of the Norman Conquest, the Game Laws.
And for what do they exist ? To preserve to
landed gentry in a populous and cultivated ceunty
the amusements of the jungle, the prairie, and
the moor. We admit the right of every man to
use his land as he pleases ; but. if he be a member
of civilised society his pleasure must have the
limit of his neighbours' well-being and pleasure.
If a man choose to breed rats let him do so, but
let him not complain that his neighbours do
not care so much for the rats and " the deg
Billy," as to give him special laws for protecting
his rats. Yet we have known men, and men of
fortune too, who fancied rat hunting more than
following the hounds. The remedy we believe to
be a simple one ; to abolish totally theGameLav s.
To enforce the Trespass Laws—but to re'y for the
preservation of game to those who wish for it, on
the moral relations between man and man. A fair
and honourable landlord would find no difficulty
in preserving on his estate whatever he wished.
His tenants are but too ready to gratify him ;
and if he had not game preservers in the vast ma-
jority of the working men, the fault would be h'e
own. Be this as it may, we cannot afford the
landlords game at the cost of monthly murders.

Of all that " gorgeous temple " of art—the
Covent-garden of imperishable, histrionic, operatic,
and scenic renown, consecrated by the awful whis-
per of a SIDDON3, immortalised by the transcen-
dent genius of a KEAN and a KENIBLE, festooned
and revivified by the classic taste and dramatic
power of a MACREADY, hung with the airy webs
of enchantment by a TELBIN and a GRIEVE,
hushed with the waving light and shadow of a
CERITO, stirred to its foundation by the resonant
organ and vis comica of a LABLACFIE, and fl )oded
as with the music of the spheres by the entrancing
notes of a Cans', a GARCIA., and a PERSIANI—
of all that scene of artistic triumph, with which
are associated a myriad .of most pleasing reminis-
cences, nothing- is left but the bare walls. From the
remotest extremity of the structure the spectator
looks over the smoking debris within to the blue
sky beyond the towering windows of the atnphi-
theatre. Rarely has the work of destruction been
accomplished by the " devouring clement" more
rapidly and completely.

The inspiring strains of the National An4hem
had just begun to reverberate through the mighty
building, and the gaily-attired groups of m.s.
queraders reminded by the sound to turn their
thoughts homeward, and anticipate in repose the
renovation of their jaded energies, when wi'hout
a moment's warning down came a burning rafter
crash on the stage. Hardly more appalling was
the appearance of the hand in whose tracery was
recorded the fate of the Assyrian King. " Fire !
fire !" exclaimed the temporary lessee in a voice
of thunder ; aid " Fire ! fire !" was whispered
by a thousand tongues, and might be read in the
blanched cheeks of the endangered revellers.
Then was seen the triumph of self-possession and
order over senseless terror and selfish anxiety. A
frightful rush was made towards the doors, and
hundreds might have been trampled to death,
maimed, or left a prey to the devouring flames,
but for the interposition of the police. Promptly
taking their stand at the doors, the members of
the force present withstood the frantic rush, and
by their aspect of resolution, well-timed directions,
and steady assurances, restored the thickening
crowd to reason, and enabled them to issue in
rapid succession and in safety into the streets.
It was high time, for the conflagration stole on
with remorseless speed. To tongues of fire,
darting forward and licking the emblazoned pro-
scenium, succeeded volumes of dense and varie-
gated smoke and showers of sparkling embers.
In all that vast amphitheatre, and over and
under all that vast extent of stage, no human
being might now remain and live. Presently the
external roof shot forth a stream of fire, and in
the radiations of one mighty blaze the heights
of Islington and the hills of Surrey
were alike illuminated. Vainly did the
active and courageous firemen ply their
engines with untiring zeal under the skilful
superintendence of their head—out, in every
direction, burst the iinpriaoned demon at- once