The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 1850.

In another column will be found a report of Mr
SIDNEY HERBERT'S committee regarding the mos

advi3able mode of transporting the female emigrants
We recommend this report to the consideration of al
who may be hesitating as to whether or not they shal

add their names to the list of subscribers to the fund.
Many persons are at first sight captivated by the ap-
parent benevolence of the proposition, who, on second
though's, hesitate to countenance a scheme which
they apprehend may result only in disappoinment and
delusion. Such prudent individuals will do well to
examine the report above mentioned. There they
will find that although the scheme may have origi
nated in goodness of heart, it will be carried out in a
spirit of sober rationality. The sub-committee have not
wilfully shut their eyes to the dangers and difficulties
which threatened from its first establishment to over-
whelm the proposed undertaking. They do not insanely
anticipate that the transportation of the female emi-
grants will be characterised by perfection from
within, or an easy success from without.
Duly aware of the peculiar necessities of the case,

they have wisely attempted, by a prudent fore-
thought, to provide for them. The report is
divided into four heads. The first considers
the proper selection of emigrants; the second
the most effectual mode of protecting them
during their transit to the colonies ; the third
suggests the necessary aid and protection to be
insured to them on landing ; and the fourth calculates
the cost of their outfit and passage. As regards the
selection of emigrants, it is firmly resolved that a
virtuous character shall be a sine qua non precursor
to an election to the emigrant list. However much

we may feel disposed to lend a helping hand to assist
those unhappy ones whom terrible temptations
have lured from the path of virtue, we cannot
but approve of this inexorable decision of the com-
mittee. As is truly observed in the report, the ad-

mission of one bad character into an emigrant ship is
productive of incalculable evils. The character of
virtuous passengers is perhaps contaminated thereby,
and the whole proceeding becomes suspicious in the
eyes of the colonists. How much better is it to send
out these surplus workers, while their lives are
yet pure, to where by honest labour they may
support themselves in virtue, self-respecting and
earning the respect of all around them—how much
better is this than to leave them here until, corrupted
themselves, they taint the social atmosphere they live
in ! Such, we doubt not, will be the beneficial
result of the labours of the committee and the
donations of the subscribers. It is quite
superfluous to wish success to a scheme cha-
racterised as much by its prudence as by its
benevolence. This is no Utopian vision, born in
the brain of an enthusiast, and exciting hopes only
to disappoint them. Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT'S propo-
sition has been marked throughout by its exceeding
Practicability, as a further evidence of which we
again refer to the resolutions of the report.

The long-expected and anxiously- looked- for mee

ing in favour of " Protection " came duly off at the
Rotunda on Thursday. The " peers, baronets,
deputy-lieutenants, gentry, merchants," &c., mustered
in go3dly numbers, and went through the appointed
manoeuvres with a fair degree of precision. The
" drill-sergeant" deserved much credit for having
. brought " the awkward squad " into some sort
of organization before the day of the grand de-
monstration. The cheers were given at the
proper periods, as if the orators had
previously marked the points where torrents of al,-
please would be desirable. If the audience did not
quite understand all the allusions, they, at least, ap-
peared to do so, which answered every required pur-
pose. A perfect unanimity was obtained, which
would have appeared wonderful to any who were not
aware of the extraordinary precautions taken to pre-
vent the rssibility of any difference. There was no
voice uplifted on behalf of free and unre-
stricted commerce, and that, of course, implied
that the Irish people, without exception, had repu-
diated the fallacies to which they hid at one period
given in their almost unanimous adhesion. But un-
fortunately this strange unanimity might be fully
accounted for on other grounds. The Free-traders
had been scrupulously excluded from the "round-
room." None but those of the right kidney could
obtain tickets of admission, and ample preparations
were made to snub and, expel from the august as-
sembly any evil-disposed person or persons who
should dare to prate of cheap and untaxed food for the
people, or of the propriety of rendering the poverty a
charge upon the property of the country. Yes, the
so-called "National Demonstration" was limited to
the members of one particular party. The great
majority of the " nation " were forbidden to appear.
The lamentable failures of Downsbire, of Monaghan,
and half a score of other county meetings had taught a
salutary lesson to the requisionists, and they were but
too well aware, that if the meeting were thrown
open to all, without distinction, they would suffer
another and more mortifying defeat than any which
they had previously sustained, and that they would
become the " laughing-stocks" of Europe. They
could not, however, consent to relinquish the title
they had assumed. The play of Hamlet was exhi-
bited, the part of the Danish Prince being omitted by
" particular desire." So there was that " par-
ticular universal"—a select national demonstration ! !
We shall next hear of ,the inmates of a well tiled
Orange lodge demanding in the name of the entire
people, the repeal of the Emancipation Act, or the
impeachment of Lord CLARENDON for objecting to the
innocent amusements of their brethren at Dolly's
Brae, or of a snug party of boroughmongers insisting
on the resuscitation of Gatten and Old Sarum, and
the other hapless innocents so ruthlessly consigned to
Schedule A. Verily, the three tailors of Tooley-street
, were wise in their generation ; they afforded a pre-
cedent which the " peers, baronets, deputy-lieutenants,
magistrates, gentry, and merchants," &c., of Ireland
were but too happy to follow.
It was not, however, sufficient to chaunt the
praises of monopoly, and to point out the advantages
of a highly taxed loaf. The law that forbids the
destruction of the people—that declares that no man
shall be permitted to perish of hunger in a Christian
land—must also he erased from the national statute-
book. Such paltry considerations as the safety of the
"Si r°XX4I" must be disregarded. The peasantry may
perish by thousands and tens of thousands, but of what
consequence would that be, provided the palmy days c f
landlordism were restored, and the embarrassed pro-
prietor enabled to retain possession of their encum-
bered estates, which are so rapidly slipping from their
feeble grasps ? Would it not have been equally,
judicious to have had a grand national demon-
stration for the purposes of proclaiming a jubilee
of all debts--of wiping away the mortgages,
"judgments," and "family charges," that are re-
corded in terrible array against the Noble and
Honourable Monopolists ? Would not at least equal
unanimity have been exhibited in a well-packed
meeting of " owners in fee ?" Would not six thou-
sand, in place of six hundred, have congregated to- ,