The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-30 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1844.

The Agricultural Monopolists who have been hold-
ing several public meetings of late, have, at most of
these meetings, adopted a tone which is in an inverse
ratio to their prospects. While the latter have been,
and still continue to be, gloomy and disheartening,

the latter has been boastful and exultant in no ordi-
nary degree. This was more especially the case at
the first annual gathering of the Essex Agricultural
Protection Society, which took place on Priday at
Chelmsford. At this meeting over which the Rev.
Mr. Cox presided—parsons, in general, it has been
observed, are strongly wedded to the system of Mo-
nopoly—the Secretary read the Report of the pro-
ceedings of the Committee during the year, in which,
among other matters, the members were congratulated
upon the encouraging success which the Society had
met with, " they having put down the demoralising
and dangerous system of agitation which had been got
up by the Anti-Corn-law League, by means of their
perambulating paid lecturers." The Report went on
to observe that the Protection Society had been in-
stituted for the express purpose of abating the mis-
chief of anti-corn-law agitation, and its endeavours
had been crowned with entire success. Similar asso-
ciations had been formed in almost every county
in England, " but although their efforts"—we quote
the language of the Report—" in the first year of
their existence as a body was most cheering ; yet
as their enemy was still in the field, and as he
had declared his intention never to abate his exer-
tions until he had met with complete success, it be-
hoved all Protection Societies to be most vigilant;
and the Committee hoped that the efforts of the mem-
bers of their Association would be redoubled until he
was laid in the dust." Our readers cannot fail to
observe the absurd contradictory spirit that pervades
the passages which we have quoted above from the
Report of the Committee of the Essex Protection
Society. In the first instance, the Monopolists are
congratulated on their having " put down the de-
moralising and dangerous system" of anti-corn-law
agitation. They have not merely " scotched the
snake," but they have "killed it." The agitation
of the League is not merely checked, but is " put
down"—in other words, extinguished. There is no
more itinerant lecturing—no more energetic pro-
vincial meetings—no more active, wide-spread dis-
tribution of free-trade tracts—all this is at an end;
the Essex Protectionists have willed that it should he
so, and so it is ! Presently, however, we find—
on the authority of the very same Report that an-
nounces its extinction that the Anti-Corn-law
League, so far from being dead, is not even dying,
but, on the contrary, "is still in the field!" Yes,
and not only this, but it still continues to be so
great a bugbear to the Essex Monopolists—who,
like their own calves, are by no means the wisest of
created animals—that they are urgently implored by
their Committee to be "most vigilant," and to " re-
double their efforts " until their enemy should "be
laid in the dust !" Strange, that a system of agita-
tion which, in one sentence is formally and officially
declared to be " put down," should in the very next
be represented as being still in a state of active
existence ! But, however crafty and sagacious
they may be in other matters, no sooner
110 the Monopolists begin to talk of the Anti-Corn-
law League than they seem to be all at once scared
from their propriety, and to give free utterance to
the most inconsistent and contradictory opinions
possible. Though their numerous Protection Societies
have, with scarcely an exception, been arrant failures
—at least as compared with the extensiye popularity
achieved by the League—they are constantly boasting
of the wonderful success which their virtuous and
disinterested efforts have met with, and speak-
ing of the antagonist power of the Leaguers
as a thing that has no longer an exist-
ence, while, perhaps in the very same breath, they
deplore it as an evil that is not to be crushed without
the most herculean and continuous exertions on their
part ! These contradictions and inconsistencies are
only to be accounted for on the presumption that
the Monopolists are so completely bewildered by the
fast increasing moral and numerical power of the great
Anti-Corn-law Confederacy, that they really are not
aware of the full force of the absurdities to which
they give vent when alluding to the disheart-
ening subject. And this we believe to be the
true secret of their recent incoherent utterances. 'We
believe that they are quite sagacious enough to foresee
that the period is near at hand when the proud and
costly fabric which they have erected with so much
labour, and kept up with so much difficulty, will fall
in ruins to the ground, bringing its architects among
the fragments. Men who are incessantly taunted by
such melancholy anticipations, may well be excused
if they are a little inconsistent and contradictory in
their sayings.

Within our recollection we have not known re-
' corded, in so short a space of time, so many frightful
acts of outrage and violence, arising out of our
execrable Game-laws, as have been perpetrated within
the last six months, and of which the tragedy at
Croome Park forms the last acted scene. The last
statute for the " protection," as it is called, of game,
was the labour, if we remember aright, of the pre-
sent Duke of RICHMOND. His Grace, at all events,
did not demur to its affiliation upon him in the
House of Lords. The ostensible object of the two
last Bills which underwent any considerable discus-
sion was—to legalise the sale of game. What was
their real design we suspect scarcely appears upon
their enactments, but is to be learned only from their
framers. The Duke of RICHMOND'S exertions in
this line have been as unfortunate as theirs will in
almost every case be, who attempt to build upon a
rotten foundation. What superstructure could that
code of penalties bear, which should either command
respect or acquire permanence and solidity—a code
which was the disgrace and reproach of the land—a
bye-word among all the nations of Continental Eu-
rope whenever it was sought to prove that the gran-
deur of Britain contained within its system some
elements of active decay ? It would have better be-
come the character and dignity of the House of
Lords—it would have spoken far better for the
genuine and disinterested principles of their legisla-
tion—standing as they especially do in the capacity
of large landowners, and especially as breeders and
preservers of game—to have kicked out every Bill on
the subject of protection to game which did not go
to the root of the existing evils connected with the
taws those Bills professed to amend. The Game-
laws, as they stood at the beginning of GEORGE the
FOURTH'S reign, for example, were partial, arbitrary,
fraudulent, and oppressive. They were a premium
on treachery and perjury, by reason of their ma-

chinery touching the laying of informations and the
recovery of penalties; but being so clumsily drawn
and of such conflicting enactments, they were easily
evaded by unqualified bumpkin squires ; openly defied
by sporting small attorneys, roue sportsmen, and
other such worthless and profligate gentry; and made
the subjects of clap-trap declamation in Parliament

by candidates for popularity and the fame of political
liberality, there, who were themselves the strictest
preservers on their own lands, the most vindictive
prosecutors at sessions, and the most inexorable ma-
gistrates at quarter sessions, whenever there was an
information to be tried for the unlawful destruction
of a hare, or a murderous assault on a pheasant.
These Agrarian Solons made up by their tendencies
to condemn, and their consistent severity on sen-
tencing, for the miserable technical deficiencies of the
statutes. The Act to legalise the sale of game was
one of the most sordid in its results—whatever its
real aim—that ever received the sanction of an as-
.ernbly of gentlemen of rank and fortune, surrounded
by all the proudest ancestral and historic recollec-
i ions of their country. How the descendants of the
Howsups, the STANLEYS, the FIELDINGS, the Rus-
SELLS, the FIENNES, and the TUFTONS, could ever

have been brought to put themselves in the position
of poultry farmers fur the supply of the London
dealers, we cannot imagine. It is notorious that
some of our great landed proprietors absolutely pay
-he expenses of their battu slaughters, signalised by
the presence of noble and even royal guests.—by the
sale of the game victimised to those who retail them
to that large class of her MAJESTY'S subjects who
can get at no game but that which they bring down
with their own silver shot. This is an instructive
key to the solicitude and devotion with which Noble
Peers, as well as lion. Members, attend to the busi-
ness of game-law making. It is also an instructive
lesson on the sort of compromise which pride in
high places sometimes makes with thriftiness. At
the end of the season, imagine a great landowner's
account balanced thus :

Da.—To expenses of three grand battu days,
at 100 L per diem £3OO
CR.—By (so many) head of game sold this

season £3OO
Now, it is the legalised, merchantable, or commer-
cial value you have imputed to this commodity—game--
which is the great temptation to poaching. Poachers

can dispose of their plunder without difficulty, when
stewards and bailiffs can carry the same articles
to sell openly in the market. In these times of pres-
sure —of diminished occupation and miserably reduced
wages—is it not too much to expect that you can put
down poaching by legislation ? The more severe your
laws, the more determined will be their violation.
The range of the covers, the woods, and the shaughs,
the concealment of night, the excitement of the occu-
pation, to say nothing of the means of satisfying at
once the claims of hunger and the desire of making a
little money—are temptations too strong for the stal-
wart peasant who would labour, it may be, but can-
not procure employment; who would be honest if you
would only permit him to live. By every degree in
which you exercise the severity of your penal visita-
tion on this crime—(a crime undoubtedly it is, inas-
much as it is a gross trespass on other men's property)
—in a similar ratio you tempt the offender to aggra-
vate his offence. You exaggerate violence into blood-
shed, assault into murder. The poacher and the game-
keeper look upon each other, not as brother men,
but as animals, the contact of whom must be fatal to
the one or the other. It becomes, with every fresh
struggle, a more desperate, because more certain,
question of who shall soonest dispatch the other. How
long will the Legislature permit this hideous state of
things ? How long will the nobility and gentry of
Britain consent to retain the " protected" enjoyment
of a luxury or an amusement, at the inevitable price
of tempting men into crime, and punishing their crime
in blood, or the loss of their liberty for life ? The
only remedy must be found in the utter abolition of
the Game-laws, or in the treatment of poaching,
according to the modification and variety of the cir-
cumstances under which it shall be committed, as
simple trespass or as larceny. It cannot be borne
much longer that human lives shall answer for the
safe keeping of partridges and pheasants.

The whole of the Madrid journals of the 20th have
arrived. The only intelligence which they contain,
in addition to that which we published on Friday, is
the following :

" Commandant pAUMES and another officer have
been arrested at Requenne. Among the papers, it is
said, some very important documents relative to
the late revolutionary movements have been dis-
covered, and which will lead to a great number of
arrests. Colonel RENGIF and his fellow-prisoners,
whose lives were recently spared by her MAJESTY,
have addressed a joint letter of thanks for the lively
interest taken in their fate by the public at large."

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.
The King of the FRENCH opened the Chambers on
that day in person. His MAJESTY'S speech on that
occasion appeared in The Sun of Friday. It would
appear that the speech„was received but coldly by the
Members, but the reception of his MAJESTY personally,
and that of the whole of the Royal Family, was
everything that was cordial. A slight attempt was
made to get up an exclusive cheer for the Prince DE
JOINVILLB, but it was drowned in the midst of loud
cries of " Vives les Princes." The effect upon the
Bourse was not very marked, but the funds were upon
the whole steadier.
In the preparatory session of Wednesday, M.
SASSEY was elected temporary President, as the oldest
Deputy present. The Members chosen for the grand
deputation to receive the KING were—Messrs. Colt-
Dan, HENRY LACAZE, DESSAURET, CERTHEER
GLAISBOISIN, DE GOLBERY, JUSTE DE CHISSELOU P,
LATJBAT, GARNON, DAVID, JOLLIVET, POISAT,
AL-
LIBR, EDMOND BLANC, DE LA TOURNBLLE, GRA-
VIES, BOBLATE, LAUJAINAIS, BOULAY, NARCISSE
LAFOND, and MATHIEU.
Three hundred Deputies had arrived in Paris on
Wednesday.
But few Deputies or Peers entered the Chamber
before twelve. Amongst the earliest arrivals were
MM. SAUZET, DUPIN, Count Rossi, &c. About half-
past twelve much interest was excited by the entrance
of the Arab chiefs who lately arrived in Paris. They
were eight in number, and took their places under the
seats occupied on ordinary occasions by the Ministers
of the Crown. They were, consequently, right in
front of the royal estrade, and faced the KING. Four
of them wore white burnous, the hoods of which came
over the 'mad, but without in the slightest degree
concealing the features ; the others had on dark
coloured cloaks, with white hoods, and cashmere
turbans on their heads. The ladies in their immediate
neighbourhood pronounced them to be fine looking
men. After remaining about a quarter of an hour,
an officer entered, and signified to them some message,
for they instantly rose, and followed him from the
Chamber. They returned to their places, however,
just before the KING'S arrival.
A little b.?fore one, M. TRIERS entered, and nearly
at the smile moment the Foreign Ambassadors and
their suites took their places in the tribune reserved
for them, close to that appropriated to the QUEEN,
and the ottter ladies of the Royal Family. The whole
of the corps diplomatique were in full-dress uniform,
with stars and orders, and their tribune was exceed-
ingly brilliant in appearance.
A few minutes after Marshal SOULT, in his Mar-
shal's uniform; M. GUIZOT, looking remarkably well
M. DUMO,N, and Admiral DE MACKAU, took their
places on the right below the royal seat. The other
Ministers,. M. MARTIN (du Nord), M. DUCHATEL,
M. VILL Mum, M. TESTE, and M. LACAVE LA-
I'LAGNE, seated themselves on the left, all in official
costume. The other benches in front of the estrade
were by f;b is time completely filled, and presented a
close mass of brilliant uniforms.
At one o'clock the cannon of the Invalids gave
notice that the royal cortege had left the Tuileries,
and in ab out a quarter of an hour afterwards, the
salute of drums and trumpets announced the KING'S
arrival.

His M. 4.ESTY ascended the steps firmly, and, on
his appear t.nce on the estrade, he was most warmly
greeted w ith cries of " Vive le Roi !" He was dressed
in the uni form of a Colonel of the National Guards,
and was f a-Mowed by the four Princes—the Duc DE
NEMOURS and the Due D'AumALE, in generals' uni-
forms, tool It their seats on the right of the KING, whilst
on the oth,n• side were the Prince DE JoiNvrixs and
the Duc D e MONTPENSIER. The KING acknowledged
his recept;ton by repeated salutions, and, we are
happy to 5, iy, looked in excellent health. His MA-
JESTY, hay i.ng intimated to the Chamber to be seated,
then read t)he Speech.
The Kr, NG read the Speech with a firm voice, and

is a very deliberate manner. An approbatory
murmur a, rc)se through the Chamber after the word
" moderati o n," but beyond that expression of feeling
the whole Speech was listened to in deep silence•
The KING 'pronounced the part which alluded to his
visit to Er eland with evident satisfaction, and at the
phrase which spoke of the continuance of peace, his
voice beca me more emphatic. In the last paragraph
his MADE: ITT raised his voice, and was, we thought,
slightly m o ved as he alluded to the burden which he
and his I a mily had accepted for the happiness of
France. Alt the conclusion of the document, loud
acelamati, vas again greeted him.

When si lance was restored, M. MARTIN (du Nord)
the Mini sf.er of Justice, administered the oath to
Count Jr ► ÜBERT, lately raised to the Chamber of
Peers; an Al M. DUCHATEL, Minister of the Interior,
did the sa rile to such Deputies as had been elected or
re-elected since the last session. M. MARTIN (du
Nord) ne xi', announced in the usual form that the
session for 1845 was opened, and the KING and the
Princes Ore n rose, and, after saluting the Chamber,
retired amii Ist fresh cries of" Vive le Roi l" cries of
" Vive le . Prince DE JOINVILLE 1" also arose, and
were responded to by the more general one of

" Vivent Le s Princes !" The Queen and the rest of
the royal rtzarty, left their seats at the same moment,
and were tAgain greeted with tokens. of respect. The
time whi mil elapsed from the KING'S entrance to his
departure z occupied exactly eight minutes.
A salv o of artillery gave notice that the ceremony
had concl !laded, and the royal cortige returned to the
Tuileries the same order as had been adopted on
its coming r to the Chamber. Loud acclamations arose
along the line from the troops and the National
Guards as; • the KING passed by, and the most perfect
order ',viol don every point. The fog continued to
be as dense: during the return of the royal party as it
bad been ill the morning.
The coz 3t4 .nts of the Paris papers are unimportant.
The Cons tit utionnel has a long article on the right of
search IT et scion, and the Presse, a short one on Mr.
O'CoNNE u, while the Debats makes the election of
Mr. Poi,' to the Presidency of the United States the
subject of ! some rather lengthy observations.
T BE BOURSE--THURSDAY, DEC. 26.

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