The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 6, 1858

persuasion. Then there are the officers of the
"Church of England Toting Men's Society," one

of them rejoicing in the surname of SNosswELL,
another in a name which, though he is " Clerical
Sec.," reminds ono of the injunction, ne Smolt
ultra erepidam An injunction which, if remem-
bered, might have kept the name off the
petition. And not to mention more, four of the
dignitaries take their style and title from the
" Society for Promoting Christianity among the
JEWS !" Do they hope to find the lost ten
tribes anywhere in India ? We believe some
wonder-telling travellers or geographers have
talked of alighting on them in Affghanistan.
Well, but the-substance of the petition, that is
the chief point. We do not wish to, and do not
know that we can, find anything to censure in it.
It seems, according to Lord SHArrESEURY,
intended chiefly as a manifesto. The Evange-
licals wish their moderation to be known
unto all men, and they make it known
by a petition to Parliament. Its prayer
divides itself into two parts—one is a self-denying
petition, "do nothing for us, as a Government, but

also do nothing against us—we ask nothing but
your abstaining from all that obstructs us—do
not forbid our Bible to be used in Government
schools, do not exclude our converts from ap-
pointments, because they are Christians. Leave
us to ourselves." The other part is a petition not
to countenance heathenism by connection with its
superstitious worship, or by acknowledging caste
in the Government service. The petitioners repu-
diate any other means of conversion in India than
the " exhibition of the Gospel ;" and they sug-
gest a proclamation on the part of Government
distinctly informing the natives that abstention
from force, bribery, or any mode of Go-
vernment interference for their conversion to
Christianity, is not merely a measure of policy, but
that it springs from the very genius of Chris-
tianity itself.

We imagine, however, that we see in the peti-
tion the results of the compromise. The Church •
of England and the Dissenting officials would have
expressed themselves very differently had each pre-
sented their own petition ; the Churchmen would
have contrived to insist upon some recognition of
their Church, as the Church through which the
Government should show itself a Christian
Government ; and Dissenters would have
plainly said, that, in their view, to build
Episcopal Cathedrals, and to support Indian
Bishops and clergymen out of taxes ex-
tracted from the heathen, is, in an im-
portant sense, supporting Christianity by force,
and as wrong on the principles of religious
equality, as contributing to the car of Jugger-
naut. For ourselves we should like to have seen
the two great classes of religionists speaking their
unfettered opinions. In this petition both say
less than they mean. We think, however, the
general duty of Government, in regard to religion
in India, is now well understood. It is to do
nothing on the one hand to discredit the religion
of our fatherland, nothing on the other to indi-

cate approbation of abject and obscene supersti-
tion. A NAPIER, a JACOBS, and a LAWRENCE
have all easily solved the problem in practice. It
should now present no difficulty at all.

Gen. THOMPSON, in presenting a petition, signed
by some 5,000 persons, last night from Bradford,
in support of Lord BURY'S Bill, said that every-
body in Bradford wanted to marry his wife's
sister. In glancing at the debate last night, we
may justly remark, that any speaker who was op-
posed to the bill, argued as if it compelled every
widower to marry his wife's sister. To us is
seems impossible to account for the perverse bit-
terness of Mr. HOPE and the Lord Advocate. We
can only resolve it into that bane of social life—the
odium theologicum. What hut a bigoted and
dogmatising belief in a man's own Church or
creed could dispose men of education and sense
to rake up arguments out of filthy visions
of the imagination, which they would in-
dignantly repudiate if applied to them-
selves and to their own relations ? Were
we to judge from their speeches only, we should
take Mr. HOPE to be one of the most impure-
minded men on earth, and the Lord Advocate not
to be one of the most virtuous. We must tell
Mr. HOPE that if he and his circle are only to
be kept from the unworthiest sentiments in the
relation of brother and sister-in-law, that such
was not the case with other brothers and sisters-in-
law. But indeed, of all who argue from the way in
which a sister-in-law would misbehave herself—

we are always disposed to e.sk, would yours, or
would any one you know do so ? Are our wives
and sisters such a depraved race as to be
capable of such conduct ? No—we are
happy to believe that such are not the
women of England--and all the ima-
ginary arguments on which we will not further
dilate, are foul libels on their virtues. Mr.
HOPE, and every man in England would indig-
nantly resent them, if it were hinted that they
applied to any of his own kindred. Let him believe

hat other persons' relatives are as trustworthy as

his own.

Mr. HOPE may think bi,nself a very expert
theologian, and well versed in the opinions of Sr.
this and St. that, about whose opinions, we, and
we presume the House of Commons, too, care much
less than we do about Mr. Horz's ; seeing that a

living M.P. has a vote, but a dead saint has
that Mr. HOPE'S ex-
enrocnieta.t ioßnsut inno se ub pr
ep
wo s supposing r
iticism were as correct
as we are confident they are erroneous,
what is it to his purpose ? Even admitting,
which we also entirely deny, that the law of those
whom we as yet exclude from our Legislature is
binding on Christians, of what service to Mr.
HOPE is a law which the Hebrews themselves, and
the vast majority of commentators interpret quite
differently to himself which even our own
authorised version gives against him ? Will Mr.
HOPE in this 19th century, and in this England
of ahundrei Protestant confessions, pretend that
hisinterpretations of Scripture are to be enforced
by the heaviest of penalties on those who do not
admit them ? The whole of Mr. HoPia's crabbed

theological reasonings are based on the assumption
that Mr. HOPE has succeeded, here, to the chair
of St. PETER, and that whoever does not
" hear Mr. HOPE," or, which is the same
thing precisely, Mr. HOPE'S Church Canons, is
not only an offender against Gon, but a criminal
worthy to be denied the rights of legal marriage
and legitimate offspring !
We hold it as a settled question with all but ex-
treme bigots, now, that the Houses of Parliament
have nothing to do with enforcing the laws of
GOD, because they are Hrs. Knowingly, indeed,
to legislate against his will were, of course, wrong.
But it is quite another thing to attempt to
enforce, by penalty, all that GOD makes binding
on conscience. The House of Commons has i o
more right to enforce the higher forms of sexual

enforce
purity by law than it has to
generosity or charity. Oa the marriage
question, as on ten thousand others, Mr.
HOPE and others may properly have scruples as to
Iwhat they are bound to do, in obedience to GOD ;
but wllat we protest against as the most rabid in-

tolerance is, that they shoald fetter others' liberty
by their own consciences. Every man of fairness
respects even another's conscientious weaknesses ;
but ►hen it is sought to make those weaknesses
law for stronger minds, it is then that the Horns,
and Lord Advocates, and PULLERS, become a
Legislative nuisance, which must be abated.
A few plain facts seem to us to be conclusive. 1.
All Protestant countries, Scotland being to some ex-
tent an exception, think the marriages in question
not only lawful, but generally commendable.
2. Roman Catholics so far approve them,
that they provide for them by dispensation. 3.
The feeling in England is so strong in their favour,
that, notwithstanding all legal impediments, they
have been contracted by thousands, and 4, so
general, that in no single case have the females of
this country declined the most unreserved asso-
ciation with such of their number as have married
in this manner. 5. That it is utterly impossible
to prevent these marriages by law, amongst the
poor especially, and that even the better-off classes
will brave a law which they think an impious and
unrighteous one. As to the law of GOD in the
case we have no doubt whatever. As to the
law of nature no man can doubt. As to the
advantage to society, the thousands of fathers
who have sought a wife's sister as a second
mother for their children, and the numerous wives
who on their death-beds have wished they should
do so, are the best evidence. We gave yesterday
a copy of an Act which has passed the legislature
of South Australia, legalising marriage with a
deceased wife's sister : we only hope that ere the
session concludes we shall be enabled to record
that the Houses of Parliament at home have been
as wise as those of the distant colony. Lord
DERBY, in his reply to the deputation on Tuesday,
appears to be in a transition state to the tolerant
and just view of the case ; and, as he thought
public opinion must decide, we may put it to him
whether on a question affecting but a limited
number of persons, public opinion has not ex-
pressed itself, in truth, very strongly.

Never was there a bolder, or, we may add, a
more successful experiment than that creating the
Encumbered Estates Court in Ireland. By many
it was considered a revolutionary law, virtually
amounting to an act of confiscation. And there
is no doubt that there were many hard cases, and
real grievances inflicted under its operation. Sales
were forced under the most untoward circum-
stanoes, and there were many terrible sacrifices
made which reduced the old proprietors, who
' ought to have rescued something from the wreck
of magnificent properties, to a state of poverty
and destitution. But the nation profited largely
by their sufferings. Those who were merely
nominal owners, or, at best, mere agents, receiv-
ing rents which they were compelled to disburse
forthwith, unable to improve, and obliged to
screw their tenants to the utmost, were got rid of,
and others substituted, who were far better
qualified to discharge the duties incidental to
property. At first there was a panic. Well-

circumstanced estates sold at from seven, or eight,
to fifteen years' purchase ; or, from a quarter to
a half of their actual value. The vast advan-
tages of obtaining a "new root to tide," and
thereby avoiding the necessity of all searches and
investigations prior to the time of purchase, were
at first disregarded. Men with ready money at
their disposal were unwilling to part with it.
They fancied that by biding their time they could
obtain still greater bargains, and very foolishly,
as it subsequntly turned out, held back until the
biddings were increased from 50 to 100 per cent.
The great evil was occasioned by the restriction
of the powers and jurisdiction of the Court to
estates encumbered to at least half of. their esti-
mated value, and the summary manner in which
they should be disposed of, however inade-
quate the amount of the bidding. But gra-
dually the matter righted itself, and of late
years there has been no real or well founded
grievance to complain of on the part of the
owners. Indeed it was all the other way, for
they possessed advantages which more provident,
or more fortunate men would have paid very
highly to obtain. The Parliamentary title greatly
enhanced the value of the land, and even lenders
were unwilling to accept mortgages on estates
that had not passed through the crucible, and
whose titles had not been thus rendered unexcep-
tionable. In many instances properties were en-
cumbered, and heavy expenses incurred for the
purpose of creating the jurisdiction; and the policy
of extending the principle of the new code to all
classes of property, whether encumbered or other-
wise, was thus established on the clearest and
most unquestionable testimony.
It is greatly to the credit of the Irish Attorney-
General that ho should have so fairly grappled
with the difficulty, and produced a measure
so sound and judicious in every r,Bpeot—a mea-
sure that elicited the encomiums of men of all
shades and varieties of political opinion. For
once, we have Ireland taking the lead in measures
of wise reform. There can be no doubt that
the landowners of England will desire to obtain
similar advantages, which will improve the value
of real estate by at least to per cent., and add
fully two hundred millions to the national wealth

by the mere process of the simplification of titles,
and enabling persons who have retired with small
sums to invest their savings in land, which can
easily be transferred whenever it becomes desir-
able to divide the amount between numerous
legatees.

The Attorney-General for Ireland proposes the
creation of a new court, that shall exercise all
the functions of that about to be abolished, but
with greatly extended powers. It is to app!y to.
all sales of real property, whether judicial or
otherwise. Any person desirous of disposing of
his property will be authorised to go before this
tribunal, which is to be termed " The Landed
Estates Court," without the intervention of a
Chancery suit or the creation of fictitious charges,
there to make out his title and dispose of his
property. Nor is this all, for the owners of pro-
perty who do not wish to sell will be entitled to
go before the Court. The propriety of this pro-
vision has been questioned, but it is in our judg-
ment a very prudent regulation. Nothing should
be done by circuitous means which could not be
effected directly, and it would be worse than use-
less to compel men to enter into fictitious or
merely colourable contracts for the purpose of
obtaining a declaration of statutable title, which
would enable them to borrow money on easy
terms,
and with the utmost facility, whenever
they required to do so.
With this bill we anticipate the inauguration
of
do a better
n ot system
despair
of seeino respectingthe ena e
vr
ena l es, t u
a leventually
t e and
do
rd
disposedi
of with as much ease as consols or railway stock.
The Court itself is to be self-supportiov, and tl.®
charges now falling on the Consolidated Fund will,
ere long, be provided for from a very moderate
percentage on the amounts realised. This will
only be 4 per cent. on sums under 5,0001., 021
sums between 5,0001. and 10,0001., and 1 per
cent. on all above 10,0001. This will be but a
very trifling deduction from the benefits conferred
—one which the vendor will gladly pay, and which
t will greatly increase the amount of the purchase

money, with the addition of a moderate allowance
by the Bank of Ireland for the sums remaining in
its hands, and which will, doubtless, be readily
paid. It is calculated that 18,0001. per annum will
be realised, amply sufficient to pay all the expenses
of the Court, and thus to relieve the consolidated
fund of same 16,000/. a-year, now charged on it
for the present Court.
Two of the present commissioners are to he
judges of the new Court ; and the third, Mr.
HARGREAVES, is to receive his full salary until he
can be otherwise provided for. We doubt not
that the Master, Mr. FLANAGAN, who was vir-
tually a fourth commissioner, will be treated with
similar liberality, and that all the officers of the
former Court will have no reason to complain of
the change. On the whole, the measure is one of
the best that has been introduced for many years,
and we have no doubt that it will receive the full
and fair consideration to which it is so eminently
entitled.

LXTEST NEWS.

A telegraphic despatch from Naples says,—
the Neapolitan Government has changed its ori-
ginal intention of sending a positive refusal to
compensate Park and Watt for injuries received.
By the close of the week an answer will be sent
direct from Naples to London on this subject. A
Cabinet courier arrived in Naples from Vienna on
the Ist with important despatches. It is pro-
bable that the Bing will order the tribunals to re-
lease the Sardinian steamer ; at least, this is the
opinion of a foreign diplomatist at Naples.

FRANCE.
PARIS, WEDNESDAY.
The Empress Eugenie yesterday completed her
32d year. _ _

The Queen of Holland is expected in Paris on
Saturday next. Her Majesty will be accompanied
by her second son. _

Every one is talking to-day of an incident said
to have occurred at the reception at the Tuileries on
Monday night last. A Deputy, named Cally de St.
Paul,who enjoys the twofold advantage of being a
wealthy capitalist and father-in-law to one of the
Imperial Aides-de-Camp, made an unusuAlly spirited
speech in his place in the Legislative Corps during
the discussion on the Budget. Even after under-
going the process of filtration in the Moniteur, the
oration is one which would not disgrace a member
of a really independent Legislature ; we may then
judge what it was as it came from the lies of the
speaker. M. de S. Paul, while protesting " his
sincere respects for the Constitution, and his
hope that no one doubted his devotedness to
the Emperor," and admitted that "he had no
right to demand a revision of the amsau-
tion, yet expressed his confident hope that one
of these days the Sovereign would take the
initiative in giving to the Legislative Corps a
little move liberty in the exercise of its control over
the finances ;" and, continuing in the same strain,
he declared that the Budget as presented by the
Government " was not the Budget of the Le-
gislative Corps, but the Budget of the Council of
State." This occurred on the 27th. Two days
after a very silly paragraph appeared in the Momi-
tour, denying there was any truth in the rumour
that the Minister of Finance was to go out ; and
adding that "the confidence of the Emperor in
M. Magne is still the same, and the attaAs of
which he is the object rather increase it than other-
wise, for these have no other origin than the impar-
tial firmness with which this Minister performs his
duties, and on every occasion defends the great in-
terests which are confided to him." It was thought
at the time that the paragraph was meant as an
indirect admission of the retirement of M. Espi-
nasse, about whom, and not about M. M igne,
the said rumours circulated. Others believed
it was directed against the persons at the
head of the Credit Mobilier. It is now ascer-
tained that M. de St. Paul was the object aimed at.

Be this as it may, the irritation excited by the

bold comments of the Deputy, evincing a spirit
of independence which is growing up in the Cham-
ber, was very lively. On Monday night M. de
St. Paul presented himself, with the other De-
puties, in the Imperial saloons. It is related
that his Majesty took the opportunity to addreEs
a few words to the Deputy. He said that he
did not mean to arrogate the right of dictating
the words a Deputy should speak, or the vete that
he gave, but when M. de St. Paul had presented
himself to the electors as a Government candidate,
and had courted the interest and protection of the
Government towards attaining his object, he con-
sidered that the Government had a right to his
support. M. de St. Paul said something in reply ;
what it was is not stated, but the manner in which
his explanations were received did not seem to be
satisfactory.

BOURSE, May s.—The following were the
closing quotations :
CI, por Cents .
Do. end month
3 per Cent. .....
Do. end month _ -
Bank Shires
Credit Mobilier 770
Do. Account 770

69 30
69 45

ItAiLwAYs..
Orleans
Northern
New Ditto 7(2k
Lyon and Mediteran. 775
New Ditto
Genevi .....

Credit Fonder
Belgian 4.1
Piechnontese (5)
Roman 9O
Austrian
Spanish Threes
Home Debt 43i
- FOR CASK.

Midi
Western 605
Strasburg
Crawl Central
Sardinian
'Austrian

A letter from Mostar, in a Vienna journal,
states that on the 21st ult. a combat took place at
Xargota between the Bashi-Baz yaks and the insur-
gent; the latter being assisted by a number of
Montenegrins, and that the number of killed and
wounded was 140.

A letter from Berlin of the Ist, in the Hamburg
News, says :—" The Tolkszeitung has been seized)
and it now appears that proceedings have been in-
stituted against it for publishing an offensive article
against the Emperor Napoleon. It consisted prin-
cipally of quotations from the pleading of Mr.
James at the trial of Bernard."

THE FALL OP LUCKNOW,

Wo extract the following from the letter of the
Special Correspondent of the Times:—

THE ATTACK ON THE LUATIMBARRAH.

The enemy gave up the key of their position
almost without a struggle. The news took every
one by surprise. The Kaiserbagh is a series of
palaces, kiosks, mosques, all of fanciful Oriental
architecture—some light and graceful, others
fantastic and curious, connected generally by long
corridors arched and open in the front, or by ex-
tensive wings, which enclose the courts and gardens
contained within the outer walls. In every room
throughout the endless series there was a profusion
of mirrors in ponderous gilt frames. A universal
gilding of cornices, furniture, and everything that
would bear the process seemed the prevailing taste
in the Royal Court. From every ceiling hung
glass chandeliers of every age, form, colour, and
design. As to the furniture, in many instances it
looked like collections from the lumber-rooms of
all the old Palaces in Europe—Louis Quatorze
clocks and cabinets, Renaissance mirrors and chairs,
buhl-worked ebony chests, marqueterie tables, solid
lumpy old German state chairs, gilt all over ; but
these wore relieved by the richest carpets, by sump-
tuous divans, by cushions covered with golden em-
broidery, by rich screens of Cashmere shawls, and
by table covers ponderous with pearls and gold.
There were numerous portraits of the present and
former Kings of Oude, and oil copies of the por-
traits of Governors-General, of Wellington, Nel-
son, George IV., and Bonaparte, many Chinese
drawings, French crayons, and English engravings
of all sorts, in gorgeous frames, but the hand of
the spoiler was heavy among them all. Those
hung out of the reach of the musket stock and
bayonet were scarcely safe from a bullet or the leg
of a table. Down came chandeliers in a tinkling,

clattering rain of glass—crash ! crash ! crash ! door
and window, and mirror and pendule ! Sikh and
soldier were revelling in destruction and delirious
with plunder and mischief. Those who could not
get in at once to carry on the work searched the
corridors, battered off the noses, legs, and arms of
statues in the gardens, or, diving into cellars,
either made their fortunes by the discovery of un-
suspected treasure, or lost their lives at the hands
of concealed fanatics, There was no time to guard
against indiscriminate plunder, inasmuch as it
never expected that the Kaiserbagh and all its trea-
sure would have fallen that day into our hands.
THE RECEPTION OF THE COMMANDER IN-CHIEF.

How the soldiers cheered when Sir Colin made
his appearance in the Imaumbarrah and proceeded
ihrough them to the stairs which led up on to the
roof of the Palace, from which a good view could
be obtained of portions of Kaiserbagh ! It was
tather a hot place at times, for the enemy in mina-
rets and in the buildings all round us kept up a
constant fire, and the people at the other side of
the Kaiserbagh were firing at our men ; but still
hotter was it from the burning sun, which blazed
fiarcely over the smoke and tumult in the courts
below.

THE KING'S ZENANA.

Our men were in high delight with the gay
dresses of the eunuchs which they found in some of
tie rooms, and it was with difficulty they were in-
duced to take off the crowns of lace and peacock's
plumes, and bird of paradise feathers, and the
swordbelts they stuck over their heads and shoul-
ders. Here, as in every other building, there
were quantities of kites, the flying of which seems
a favourite amusement of these childish but fero-
cious races. Goats, horses, the stately Cyrus
cranes, tame monkeys, apes, antelopes, numbers d
paroquets in cages were also appropriated by the
men. But it was scarcely a place for zoological
investigation. I was looking at one who had decked
himself out in a fantastic eunuch's attire, when a
shot, evidently from one of the rooms of the court,
passed between us. Very soma afterwards a man
of the 90th was shot through the body, and Lieut.-
Col. Kelly was struck by a spent ball on the head.