The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-07 00:00:00

'')IIAX.4

LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1844.

The account we have read of the proceedings that
took place a few days ago at the "Watlington Petty
Sessions," before Lord CAluoYs, has impressed us
with a momentary doubt as to whether we are really
living in free England, or writing in the Year of
Grace 1844. We are obliged to the Oxford Chro-
nicle for a report of the business transacted at
this justly-designated "PETTY" Sessions. Offences
of a character more trumpery ;—the invocation of
penal justice on account of more flagrant abuses of
legislation, under the name of " Game-laws ;"—a
more painful or contemptible exhibition of magis-
terial sagacity under the high-pressure action of
statute-vouched absurdity—we never heard of. The
whole account makes us blush for the point of civil
degradation we must have touched, when such
"serious fooling " as this—involving the personal
liberty, property, and action of fellow-countrymen,
whom, in our waking dreams, we have been wont to
term fellow-freemen (!)—when such intolerable op-
pressions as these—can be openly enacted, in a legal
tribunal, with the forms of law—and tolerated by
the boasted majesty of public opinion. We hare,
ourselves, a passionate attachment to field sports
but we feel a stronger, because a better-reasoned,
attachment for our own species. It is well, we.
think, that country gentlemen and landed proprietors
should be confirmed in their habits of rural residence
by any reasonable and legitimate means of encou-
ragement. But if the enjoyment of the sports we
mention be essential to this end, and form an im-
portant element of those means—that enjoyment
mustt. be qualified, and those means must be sane-
d—in reference to higher and more extensive
interests. They must not, for a moment, come into
collision with the first principles of human
liberty and individual action, as these are reduced
but ascertained, controlled but protected, by the
enactments of general laws,
and the
usages of per-
mitted custom. They must not interfere
mwith that
reserved liberty which these laws leave to
after this incorporation into the system of civian
lised
society, in things indifferent. Among these " things
indifferent," it would be difficult to show, on the

enunciation of the abstract propositions, that such
matters are not included, as how a man shall walk;
on which side of him he shall look; what weapon he
shall carry in one locality that he shall not be
allowed to carry in another ;—what vermin he may
kill, and what he shall not touch, though others may
destroy it ad libitum. Now, the present Game-
" laws," as they are called, although they may be
the concentration of land-owning wisdom as developed
by its representatives for Sussex, and Hampshire,
and Wilts—for Norfolk, and Suffolk, and Essex—
for the East and the North, the South and the West
of broad England—cannot override the established
orders and ranks instituted by nature through all
the kingdoms of creation. Weasels and stoats she
prompts us to look at, intuitively, as vermin. They
are destructive and sanguinary. Hares are not
sanguinary, but they are ♦ery destructive, as the
poor cottager and small farmer, whose rising crops
are ravaged by puss's furtive propensities, know to
their cost. The Game-laws kindly concede to the
cottager and the small farmer the privilege of de-
stroying, by wholesale, stoats and weasels, which
neither consume their green corn nor devour their
turnips, nor commit petty larceny on their cabbage-
plants. Hares, and even rabbits, those great de-
stroyers, the Alarics and Attilas, of garden devas-
tators—they must not even wound, nor unlawfully
detain in snare or springe. Not but these animals,
by their very fecundity, are vermin ; not but that
their community of habits with weasels and stoats,
in many respects (despite of their natural antagonism),
as in burrowing, &c., are vermin. But they are not
good for eating when shot at. Rabbits and hares are
good eating when shot ; but then—small farmers,
or cottagers, or labourers, are not held good enough to
shoot them. Now, let us see how these canons of
squirearchical equity operate in practice.
At the Watlington Petty Sessions, ABRAHAM
BIRD was charged by a gentleman's gamekeeper—
we shall quote the words of the Oxford Chronicle's
report—" with the crime of carrying a gun across a
field leading to Stoken Church." Have the Irish
people so long assumed to themselves, as an "exclu-
sive grievance," the being subjected to an "Arms
Act," occasionally, whilst our English yeomen are
living under the infliction of a permanent tyranny of
this kind ? For what was Btan's defence ? The
gun had been left at his house for sale, and he was
only carrying it to its owner. To his solemn assevera-
tion of this fact, the informing gamekeeper himself
attempted no denial—opposed not even the suggestion
of a doubt. The Bench adjourned the decision of
this knotty case for a fortnight ; and at the end of
that period, the man was fined 11., and costs! These
county SoLoNs might just as well have fined one of
Mr. PURDY'S workmen, "detected" in the act of
carrying home a new double-barrelled piece to a
customer.

JoHst lIAWKIxs was charged by another man's
gamekeeper (Lord MACCLESFIELD'S) with actually
throwing a stone at a hare—not in any copse, or any
park or field, in which he had trespassed, but on a
footpath. The informer (a gamekeeper) admitted
that he was 200 yards off at the time from HAwatsis,
and that HAWKINS was 30 yards off the hare when
he threw. It will be anticipated that the hare was
not hurt. HAWKINS suggested an excellent reason
for this, for he denied that he had thrown at all.
The prosecutor knew nothing else against him. What
should the Bench—(which seemed fully imbued with
that degree of wisdom that the hare itself will suc-
ceed to next March)—what should the Bench have
done with so trumpery a charge, thus utterly
unauthenticated by proof, and presumptively dis-
credited by the fair character of the accused?
Dismiss it with contempt, and costs, or at least a
reprimand, to the gamekeeper ? Oh, no ! Their
worships, or his Lordship and his worship, seemed
almost sorry that if the man did throw, he had not
proved himself a better shyer. llAwatsts had not
been sufficiently annoyed by being called before them
on so vexatious, so paltry a charge. They " ad-
monished" him. "If it had been proved that it was
a stone he had thrown" (it could not be proved, and
he denied that he had thrown at all), " they would
certainly have convicted him. But as the case stood,
they would give him the benefit of the doubt," for-
sooth ! In his place we would give the gamekeeper
the benefit of an action. The wisdom of their wor-
ships is beyond " doubt," altogether.
The same far-seeing gamekeeper next charged a lad
of fifteen " with looking at seven wires" (we quote the
words of the Oxford paper) "on the 15th ultimo. The
boy protested that, coming along the path, he did see'
the wires ; that he did not attempt to touch them. He
was fined 155., including costs, and in default fourteen
days' imprisonment." This righteous setitence on a
free-born English lad was passed, not at Constanti-
nople, not at Cabal, not at Fez ; but by the Alfqfti of
Watlington !

Another party was charged 'with carrying a gun
for the destruction of game. (The latitude of con-
struction in charging design is of a " range," under
the Game-laws, that beats Captain WARNER'S longest.
Why may not the gun have been for the destruction
of crows or rooks, rats or pole-cats ?) " Prisoner
was in the field, and when he" (qu. ? the prose-
cutor ?) " came up with him, he took his gun to
pieces and put it in his pocket." Fined 21., and
15s. 6d. costs.

Another " Joxii HAWKINS" was seen by the same
amiable servant of Lord MACCLESFIELD, in company
with the preceding prisoner, whose name was " Jon N
IlAwxs." This JOHN -HAWKINS was charged " with
keeping an instrument for killing game," i.e., "he
had a large stick in his hand." (I!) The informer,
PALMER, "did not me him use it for any purpose.'
(Why did not he charge the man with having two
eves, two arms, two hands, and two legs, all "for
killing game," but not "seen to be used for any pur-
pose ?") The Bench really "deemed this evidence
insufficient to convict ; and this Jowl HAwitiNs
"the luckier," like his namesake, was dismissed
scot-free.

One THOMAS HOWLETT (whether a pupil of Par,
MEWS or not, is not stated) charged a farmer, named
EUSTACE, with keeping a gun for destroying game.
For if not for that purpose, what other could it be
for ? True, they brought up a witness to prove
on a stated day, the farmer had been seen .
and in a
field, too, to fire at some birds; but `':nether tomtits
or bustards, pheasants, or hedge-,,parrows no man
could tell ! So farmer EusT:,cE, too, "stole away,'
and the prosecutor waswn out ;"—no sport.
But these proceedla have another phase, besides
v
their puerility. Do county magistrates imagine
that, at tbi.l"; time of day, against the universal feeling
of the public and of the press, they can venture, with
impunity, to trifle with the grave business of the
laws—to add to the burden of the expenses of criminal
prosecutions—to harass the peasantry of their district
by encouraging the worthless informations laid by
every gamekeeper who desires to impress his master
with an idea of his activity and usefulness, by hunting
up for fine and imprisonment every offender against
the strictest letter of the most oppressive and
selfish laws that disgrace our statute-book ?
Is this a time at which it is wise or safe
—expedient, necessary, or just—merciful or equitable
—to aggravate the sufferings of unemployed indigence
and thoughtless youth in the rural districts, by affix-
inf..; to the offence of looking at wires, or carrying a
gun, or shying a stone at a hare (if proved), the same
penalty which is awarded to misdemeanours of a
ra ,st disgraceful character, and even to some felonious
acts ? Is it, indeed, a mode to attach the peasantry to
the proprietary interest, or to inculcate respect for
the rights of property and station, to visit with the
the yet more enormous penalty of the disgrace attach-
ing to imprisonment in the common gaol, such inde-
scribably, petty, worthless, miserable escapades, as
those of the 'rural delinquents, tried before Lord
CA MOTS and Mr. J. BROWN ? It would be absolutely
sickening, were not the emotions of disgust over-
powered by those of anger, to see the liberty and the
conduct of the poorer classes so insolently trifled with
as they are by these " Game-laws." We will predict
their repeal for the next sessisn of Parliament. They
cannot be submitted to.

Earl RADNOR has addressed a letter to the Editor
of the Economist on the subject of the Allotment
System, of which, as might be expected, he strongly
disapproves, chiefly, however, because it " is opposed
to every principle of political economy." We do not
think the system is to be thought the worse of on this
account, for political economy is by no means infal-
lible, and though it has been the rage among our
legislators and many of our public writers for some
years past, it has been productive of little or no good
on a comprehensive scale, while in not a few instances

it has shown itself wholly at variance with the dictates
of humanity, and though it may have the effect of
sharpening the understanding, and imparting to it a
keen, worldly, practical tone, we are yet to learn
that it improves the qualities of the heart, or elevates
or enlarges the intellectual nature of those who make it
their rule of faith. But, perhaps, it may be urged by the
advocates of this over-rated science, that it is rather
a shrewd head than a feeling heart that is wanted in
matters of legislation. This is undoubtedly true, but
it is at best but a partial and limited truth, and the
experience of many years has shown that a keen
and worldly understanding, unaccompanied by a
kindly nature, is incompetent to legislate in such an
enlightened and comprehensive spirit as shall be pro-
ductive of general benefit. Our rulers have been
steering by the lights of political economy ever since,
if not before, the days of HusKissoN, and how haa
the country at large been benefited by their gui-
dance ? Class interests, indeed, have derived
advantage from their narrow system of legis-
lation, but the vast mass of the people have
in no respect been bettered by it. Look at
the condition of the poor man, whether in the manu-
facturing or agricultural districts ! What has political
economy ever done for him or his ? Has it elevated
his position in society—has it improved his moral
character—has it drawn forth the kindlier and nobler
feelings of his nature—has it even increased his pecu-
niary means, or given him a slight taste of some-
thing like prosperity ? Nothing of the sort. It has
left him in precisely the same condition in which it
found him—we might almost add, in a worse condi-
tion ; fur by avoiding everything like an appeal to his
feelings, by treating him like a machine rather than
a human being, and accommodating him with a strin-
gent New Poor-law—which, though equitable enough
in some of its provisions, is cruelly unjust in others
—by way of showing its sympathy for him ;—by so
acting towards the poor man, political economy has
at length succeeded in alienating him from his
superiors in station, and converting him into a
Chartist, a Socialist, a rick-burner, and what not.
If public attention be now fully directed to the case
of,_ttif poor and destitute ; if it be at length dis.
Covered that something must be done for them, and
that they must be treated in a far more kindly, re-
spectful, and considerate manner than has hitherto
been the case, it is not political economy we
have to thank for this tardy discovery, but
the antagonist principle of humanity, which is now
corning actively forward in the hope of remedying
the evils of the former system. It is not as political
economists that the manufacturers are now endea-
vouring to secure pleasure-grounds and parks for the
recreation of the workmen in their employ, to instil
into them a feeling of self-respect, and to improve
their social and moral condition in every possible
ovay ; but as humane and beneficent men, who have at
length become awakened to the great truth that the
poor and humble have affections, as well as prejudices
and passions, and that these affections may be appealed
to with success. Nor is it as political economists that
the landowners are now making such an active stir in
behalf of their peasants, but they are urged to it by
precisely the same motives that are influencing the
manufacturers. Political economy deals only with
the understanding, and in the pride of its pedantry
'corns to take into consideration the important fact
that the humbler classes have quick and ardent
feelings which are not to be neglected or trampled
on with impunity. Hence the notorious decline
of this cold, calculating, selfish system, and the
rise of that more enlightened and philanthropic party
which calls itself " Young England," and which, by
appealing to the heart as well as the head of the com-
munity, and adopting as its rule of action the divine
behest, "Do unto others as you would they should
do unto you," bids fair to confer an immense amount
of benefit on all classes, but more especir;ily on the
humbler and more hard-working orders of the com-
munity.

The discussion on the address was resumed in the
Spanish Chamber of Deputies on the '29th, when
Senor ISTURITZ brought forward his amendment, but
he appeared to speak as one not in earnest, or who
had no hope of success. He declared that if he
thought his amendment would lead to confusion, he
would at once withdraw it, because he was anxious
to see revolution at an end, and order and peace
restored. He could not, however, help thinking that
OA present time was very unfavourable for such im-
portant changes, and that it would havebeen more wise
and prudent to have established first of all organic laws
which might have worked well, and thereby have
rendered any inroad upon the Constitution of 1837
unnecessary. Senor Ma'am.° defended the Go-
vernment scheme, and reminded the House that no
Minister had been able to govern within the limits
of the Constitution of 1837. He, therefore, contended
that it was absolutely necessary to remodel the ma-
chine of Government. The President of the Council,
in reply to a question relative to the affair of the
Razo schooner, said that they had received from the
English Ambassador at Madrid the assurance that
every necessary satisfaction should be given. The
discussion was adjourned. Preparations for the trial
of PRIM were going on. No more arrests had taken
place.

The Three per Cents. were done at 27f for cash,
and 27i at 60 days ; the Five per Cents. at 21f for
cash, and 20} at 60 days ; and the Floating Debt at
64; at 60 days.

The I'aris papers, especially those of the Opposi-
tion, are still occupied with the affairs of Spain. In
fact, the only political articles are on the Reform
Bill and the conspiracies said to have been discovered
at Madrid and Barcelona. The National, &ode,
and Quotidienne, throw the blame of the late inroad
on the Constitution upon the French Government ;
and the articles which appear in some of their jour-
nals amply confirm the fact. Yesterday we pub-
lished a long account, taken from the Journal des
Debats, of the late proceedings, in which a most un-
justifiable attack was made on ESPARTERO, as if the
man who had conducted himself during the whole of
his regency with the strictest honour, and a scru-
pulous regard for the laws, would lend his nn—
__.
influence to murder NARVAEZ, a'' .se and
a second St. Bartholomew.
from the National, as a reply
his own selfish tiring about, for
We give the.
to tile atrocious article :

" We fully expected the Ministerial journals to utter
tine phrases upon ,the frightful plot, of which Narvaez
had so mach need, in order to strike terror into the
hearts of the Deputies, who were determined to contend
against his counter-revolution. The Debats did not fail,
yesterday, to place this ittfair its its most dramatic light.
It says that the manifesto of Espartero gave the signal.
Several refugees attempted to return, but were stopped
by the French police. Nevertheless the conspiracy fol-
lowed its course, and this time it was assassination—
systematised assassination that was resorted to—a sort
of Saint Bartholomew—which was to extend to the
Ministers, Captains-General, and principal functionaries
of the Government. Let Narvaez and his allies put
forth as many such fables as they please—they and
their object are well understood. Let them mock the
people of France by repeating these odious stupidities—
let them represent a great man, who has been invested
with the government, as being enrolled in a systematic
plan of assassination—let them have the courage to accuse
a late Regent of having organised and directed a
St. Bartholomew for public functionaries—this is
an impudence so glaring, that it needs but
to be seen to meet with justice. We can
treat accusations of this nature with nothing Ir:`„
dain, and we are doing them too re
noticing them. The only portant thing to tall th 6
Honour by
public is, that the Pro^ :
geessist party hits never, either in
France or Spai, disguised Its firm resolution to Mote in
defence a the Constitution and liberties of its betditry,
against all,the enterprises of reqtttors. It has not con-
spired in secret, but in open day. Espartero has loudly
declared that he would place himself at the service of
the coot for which he fought during seven years. Let.
the tnen who seriously enter into politics separate en-
tirely the action of parties, the march of events, from
these insidious attempts, whether true or false, which
are wished to be made use of to delude public opinion.
There is some consolation, however, in the fact that the
Generals said to have been thus threatened have neither
of them received the slightest scratch. Narvaez and
the Baron de Meer are both in the enjoyment of perfect
health. The first, to keep his hand in, has already shot
folic persons, who were arrested one day and executed
the'next ,/ His court-martial is in permanent sitting,
and he is said at the same stroke to have sent nine
other men to the gallies I It seems that these people
may be left to their own vengeance, which they
follow up with so much ardour, promptitude, and
ferocity, so devoid of all that bears the semblance of
the calm forms of justice, that our Ministerial jour-
nals have no occasion to stimulate them by their decla-
mations. Far be it from us to entertain the thought of
encouraging assassination; if it be true that any man
has rendered himself guilty of this trim a, we shall never
express a wish that he may escape th.e chastisement of
the law. But is it the law that 1-,as decreed the san-
guinary executions at Barcelow. ? To seize a man in
the evening, and to shoot him the next morning :it day-
break, are these the regular proceedings of any tribunal
—even of a court-martial ? Is not this another murder,
no less infamous that; the
,rot ? If he first justly )

merits severity, how can any indulgence be shown to the
second ? These reflections are applicable, even if there
has been a premeditated insidious complot between a
small number of persons. But how could it be, should it
turn out that this business was got up by a police capable
of any crime ? We do not put this question unadvisedly.
The man who is put at the head of the police of Madrid
has a character which warrants suspicion. This Avira-
neta, of whom our correspondent has written to us, has
passed his life, his whole life, in conspiracies and secret
plots. There is not in all Spain a single cut-throat of
whose services he has not on occasion availed himself.
He has himself boasted, as we can confidently affirm, of
having the precise statistic of all the elements which are
disposable for any dark manoeuvre—any coup de main.
'ltis I alone,' he has said, who am able to be the
most terrible revolutionist in Spain.' "
The Slide thus winds up an article on the same
subject :
" The honour of Narvaez does not shine forth with so
pure a brilliancy that Prim, who is accused, may not
stand in face of it. It is already known who is the con-
spirator and the perjurer, and it will be speedily known,
it' some great injustice does not throw an obstacle in the
way of the defence, which of the two is an imposter.
These troubles, which announce a general explosion,
show how mad and criminal is the enterprise in which
the Spanish Government has embarked. That Maria
Christina, to cause her weakness to be forgotten, to
obtain from the Pope and the absolute monarchies a
dearly-purchased pardon, should arm the crown against
the laws and factions against the crown ; that Narvaez
by audacity, the military qualities which he does not
possess, should push on his fortune, and endeavour to
ensure his safety by coups d'etat, is a blind self-deceit,
which does not go beyond the common measure of
follies that have stained unhappy Spain with blood ; but
that a grave Minister, recalled for the third time from
exile, tried if not matured by political revolutions, that
Martinez de la Ross, upwards of GO years of age, should
follow in the train of these adventurers is unpardonable.
If there remains to this latter, as we suppose, some sen-
timent of generosity, his punishment commences at
present, It is, in fact, a cruel one to see his country in
insurrection around him by his fault ; to cause, and
even perhaps to suppose crimes ; to be led, in fine, in
an impious struggle, to adopt measures of violence and
terror which a legitimate defence does not warrant.
Here.we see the prisons filled, and courts-martial as-
sembling ; Narvaez declares that the army is faithful,
and that the executioner is ready. That is enough for
him to be at ease, but the conscience of M. Martine' de
la Rosa will, without doubt, inform him that condem-
nations passed in the name of a perjured Government
against the defenders of national rights and liberties are
also assassinations."
The Carlist Qnotidienne is equally indignant,
though for a different reason :
" The grand conspiracy announced was so probable,
and had broken out so apropos, that every one was, with-
out doubt, at the windows to see it pass. In the printing-
offices of the good press there had certainly been com-
posed beforehand the consecrated phrase, discovery
appears to have rendered the position of the Govern-
ment stronger,' or this, They find in them (happy
words of Al. Dupin) that they only draw closer the
ranks of the Conservative party.' But a sanguinary
conclusion is always required in regenerated Spain to
these odious intrigues. Scarcely has a new military idol
been raised up by the sad imitators of the Protorians of
the Bas-Empire, when all watch for the sun which is
soon to arise. The young general whom the public in-
stinct designated as the nearest hero or the nearest
victim—inevitable alternative—was Prim the new Count
of Reuss. His turn was about to come on, and the end
is hastened. He might have a fortune similar to that
of Narvaez against Espartero. The fate of the unfortu-
nate Diego Leon is prepared for him. What matters a
sanguinary stain the more, if the madmen of the Mode-
ir
if
Idvoh
aparty
adishl
called
acceont
stei t Governmentr
ms o
ims e
votedda)t s
by
oyn
ageecri —a
mations of fear—if they are at liberty to afford an ap-
pearance of satisfaction to the French dynastic interests,
a real satisfaction to the national interests of England ?
A strong moral presumption weighs on Prim. It is the
Debats which very coolly says so. We recommend the
French Opposition to well consider this system of moral
presumptions. It is pregnant with the future, once that
the Bastille constructions shall have been completed."

The Frencli Funds rose 30 centimes on Mon I.-
from a report that the Government loan w:kruld not
exceed. 1150,000,000 f., one-half of that said to have
been, intended. The Three per Cents. closed at
B:.e. 30c.

!THE BOURSE- -MONDAY, NOT. 4.
First WOW Lowest Last

rri oe. Price. Price. Price.
french Five per Csnt.e.. •• •. 119 .. 119 20 .. 119 .. 119 10
Four-and-a-Half...• 112 50 •• 112 50 .. 112 50 .. 112 50

Thrte pie Genus..... 59 10 •• 82 30 82 10 .. $2 20
lank of Trans 3072 SO ••3072 50 ..3072 50 "3072 50
Laffitte Bank, I.ooof. Ethereal 120 • •1120 ..1170 50 ..1170 50
3,000 f. Bhare4so3o .•$O4O ..5030 ..5040
Belgian Bank .....• .. • 655 .. 655 .. 655 .. 655
Belgian Fives, 1840 ••• . • 1031 • • 1031 •• 1031 .. 1031
Tne-gad-a-HaY 62 • . 62 • . 61 85 61 95
Dutch Two and-a-Half .• ..• 63 • • 63 .. 63 • 63
Spanish Threes •• • . ••• • • • 341 • • 31; • • 31; • • 34;
Active ••• • • 32; • • 32; • • 321 • • 321
Old Deferred 6l . • 61 .. 61 • • 61
Portuguese Five per Cents .• 53 .. 53 .. 52; .. 521
Neapolitan• ••• •....• 98 80 .. 93 85 .. 98 80 .. 98 85
Replan • • •••.

Vti't N
A OP.
tor:, 0
jre :?:t.T, • '
~ • * Aka ' 11 7
. Di, ':'1111116‘‘ 4
%
41•14 . •
r• • „
• A infoiT