The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAii,APRIL 2(, 1844.

In the House of Lords, after the presentation of
certain petitions, and the postponement of several
Bills, the Bishop of EXETER presented petitions
syclanat the Dissenters' Chapel Bill, and intimated his
intention oc opposing the Bill. In presenting these
petitio,, iv., took
the opportunity of exhibiting a
sPectllletn-.o'.laigh Cairch bigotry. It was stated
thA sptikelytAena __ _ . _ .
viilit the
eZrom the Presbyterian Church
orlre was no such Church in Ireland
°OA , 1171 tliilri,w
_ _._,
~.. , al. an express canon of the
otrirrit iv, , ,
Church
themselves mernbcrb
r4-*j'--_,_tiq)..- -,,, 4., CaUrCh of England, Die
. „ JE

canon was established in 1603 in England, and about
thirty years afterwards in Ireland.
The Marquis of NORMANDY gave notice that on
Monday he would call attention to certain omissions
in the papers recently laid on the table relative to
G walior.

Adjourned at Half-past Five o'Clock.
In the Commons several petitions were presented
against the Masters and Servants Bill. Mr. T. Dux-
COMBE presented thirty-six petitions of this descrip-
tion from some of the most populous towns in Eng-
land, among others Manchester, Birmingham, Bolton,
Norwich, Nottingham, and Rochdale.
Dr. BOWRING gave notice that on Tuesday he
should move for the newspaper stamp returns.
Mr. BRIGHT called the attention of the Home
Secretary to the conviction of an unfortunate woman
at the present assizes in London, for the murder of
her child. It appeared from the evidence that she
had attempted to commit suicide and destroy her
child at the same time, from the utmost destitution.
The Judge in passing sentence held out no hope of
mercy.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said his attention had not
been called to the fact till that moment. He could
not, however, enter into a discussion on such a sub-
ject, but the Hon. Member might rest assured he
would do his best to exercise a sound and dispas-
sionate judgment on all the circumstances of the
case. It is singular that while this melancholy affair
has excited general attention, the Home Secretary,
who, above all others, should have known the merits
of the case, had never heard of it.
In answer to a question from Mr. Ross, Sir JAMES
GRAHAM said he had every reason to believe that a
Bill would shortly be brought into the other House
on the subject of Presbyterian marriages in Ireland.
On the motion of Lord ELIOT, the Irish Municipal
Corporations Bill was read a second time, and ordered
to be committed on the 29th.
The Committee on the County Courts Bill was
fixed for Monday next.
Mr. TUFNELL asked why a writ had not been
issued for Horsham on the accessionof Mr. SCARLETT
to the Peerage.
Sir T. FREMANTLE presumed that the writ of sum-
mons to the House of Lords had not been issued, and
consequently the Hon. Gentleman was still a Member
of the House.

Lord J. RUSSELL blamed such a slovenly mode of
proceeding, and intimated his intention of bringing
the subject formally before the House, in case such
negligence should again occur.
On the Order of the Day being read for the House
resolving itself into a Cornmitiee of Supply, Sir C.
NAPIER moved for certain returns respecting the
timber received into the royal dockyards during the

last ten years.
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT did not find himself justi-
fied in giving the returns, but he was willing to give
every information to the Gallant Member which he
could, without prejudice to the public service.
A discussion took place on the appointment of
stipendiary magistrates in Ireland, and chiefly on the
late appointment of Mr. O'BRIEN, but it led to no
result.
The House then went into Committee of Supply.
Several votes for colonial establishments were agreed
to. On a vote of 13,G801. being proposed for the
civil charges of St. Helena, Mr. HUME moved as an
amendment that the sum be reduced by 2,0001., when,
on a division, the amendment was rejected by a ma-
jority of 45. Several other votes were agreed to,
and the House resumed.
The other Orders of the Da7 were then disposed
of, and the House adjourned at twelve o'clock.

In the House of Commons last night, Mr. BRIGHT,
greatly to his credit, called the Home Secretary's
attention to a recent capital conviction at the Central
Criminal Court, which has excited public sympathy
in no slight degree. "The case," remarked the
Hon. Member for Durham, "struck him as being one
of the most extraordinary that had ever occurred.
It appeared that a poor woman had thrown herself
and baby into the water, being at the time in circum-
stances of the utmost destitution. Apparently
her intention was to commit suicide, and not
leave her infant alone and unprotected in the
world behind her. Her own life was preserved, but
the child perished. The unhappy creature bad been
sentenced to death for her crime, and one of the news-
paper reports stated that the judge gave her no hope
whatever that mercy would be extended to her.
Such a statement required no comment, and he now
wished to he satisfied that the Right Hon. Gentle-
man's attention had been called to so distressing a
case." Now, what was Sir J. GRAHAM'S answer to

this affecting statement ? "In point of fact," said
the Home Secretary, " his attention had not been
called to the matter until the present moment. In the
very delicate duty which would devolve upon him, the
Hon. Member might rest assured he would do his best to
exercise a sound and dispassionate judgment; but be-
yond this, he could not then say anything, as the
House must be aware of the inconvenience attending
such discussions." Anything more cool—we might
almost add, supercilious—than this reply we do not
often remember to have met with, even in the records
of Parliament. It exhibits all that free and easy in-
difference to human life for which SIDMOUTH and
CASTLEREAGH were so remarkable. The whole town
is just now ringing with the case of poor MARY
FURLEY ; the judgment pronounced on her—legal
though it undoubtedly is—is generally declared
to be harsh and unmerited; yet the Home Secre-
tary knows nothing at all about the matter !
The very Minister, who, from his official position,

should be perfectly cognizant with every case of
moment that transpires in tho criminal jurisdiction
of the country, boldly states that his " attention has
not been called" to one of the most heart-rending
trials that have taken place at the Old Bailey for
many a year, " until the present moment !" Does
Sir JAMES GRAHAM never read the newspapers ?
If be is in the habit of doing so, he cannot fail to have
read the whole circumstances of this distressing case,
which have been detailed at length in the columns of
the daily journals, wherein also may be found most
unquestionable proof of the public sympathy for
MARY FURLEY. But we are forgetting ourselves;
Ministers of State make a point of never reading
newspapers —on the same shrewd principle, we
presume, that boys fight shy of a dose of wholesome
physic—they tell us so themselves, and even seem to
take a pride in their ignorance. Does an Opposition
Member put an inconvenient question to Govern-
ment, on the faith of some perfectly just statement
that he has met with in the columns of the daily
press, some Minister or other is sure to get up and
reply, that, for his own part, his time is so
fully occupied that he really has not a moment's
leisure to read newspapers, and consequently
cannot be expected to know anything at all

about the merits of the ugly questions put
to him. But how changed the case, whenever
the press happens luckily to furnish Ministers with
wzap3m. whcrerrith to assault their opponents—with
apt nicknames wherewith to cast ridicule upon
them ! Then, it is quite beautiful to see how well
read they are in newspapers—with what studious
attention they keep in mind their agree-
able arguments—what a vivid recollection they re-
tain of their apt felicities of sarcasm ! The other day,

for instance, Sir JAMES GRAHAM—who, of course,
never reads either daily or weekly journals, or other-
wise he would have been fully acquainted with all
the particulars of MARY FURLEY'S case—the other
day, we say, this singularly organised Baronet, being
indignant with the Opposition for presuming to differ
with him on the Ten Hours' Factory Bill, coolly told
them that they were encouraging a " JACK CADE "
system of legislation. When called to account for
this insulting expression, what was his reply ? The
sarcasm was not his—" Non meus hic sermo est, sed
quae precepit Ofellus"—he had met with it in a news-
paper Yes, it was one of those insignificant,
plebeian journals, which well-bred Ministers of State
never
of a
read,
his
invective athadcs,upplied him with the ma-
terials! Finding not a single
shaft left in his own quiver, he had—with a condes-
cension which cannot be too highly. appreciated—bor-
rowed one from the well-stocked quiver of the Exa-
miner. But, to return to the far more important
subject with which we set out. Sir JAMES GRAHAM,
it seems, has promised to exercise " a sound and dis-
passionate judgment" on the case of MARY FURLEY.
We:MOSt devoutly hope that this judgment will lean to
the side of mercy, for never yet was there a case that
more imperatively demanded the lenient interpreta-
tion of the law.

The ad\ ance of a country in wealth and civiliza-
tion•--that progre6s to wbich all legislation And policy

are subservient—is, after all, a benefit dearly pur-

chased at the price inevitably to be paid for it; for,
the test of present experience, and the records of all
history show, that the price consists in the displace-
ment of many thousands of families from a position
of comparative competence or ease, and the sacrifice
of many more in the competition between the exclu-
sive privileges of the distinguished few, and the sordid
wants of the indigent multitudes, which seems to wait,
like a shadow, on the march of opulence and refine-
ment. No State on the globe, perhaps, exhibits a
more remarkable-instance of these conflicting elements

of extensive pauperism and accumulated capital, than
Great Britain. But it is not our purpose to write,

at present, of her extraordinary, her almost incon-
ceivable wealth. We may, indeed, epitomise the idea
of it by stating, on the authority of Mr. PORTER'S
last Statistical Paper, that the total sum paid by
railway passengers, last year alone, on the several
working lines of the United Kingdom (58 in Eng-
land and Wales, 10 in Scotland, 2 in Ireland),
amounted to 3,063,0001. sterling! Our wish at pre-
sent is to direct attention to the enormous pressure of
poverty and destitution on our social system ; and this we
may evidence in three words, by a statement of the
last authenticated Poor-rate aggregate return (Ses-
sional Paper, 11. C., 1844, No. 63). From that paper
it appears that the total amount of money levied for
poor-rate, for the year ending Lady-day 1842, was
6,552,890/. for England and Wales, alone 1
The most disastrous aspect which this pauperism
presents is, that it " grows by that it feeds on." In
four short years, as we lately took occasion to show,
the levy for this rate has increased one million ; on an
average, at the rate of 250,000/. per annum for Eng-
' land and Wales only. There have been, in the same
interval, railroads and other mighty public works in
full activity of construction ; yet the market of labour
has been so greatly overstocked that at no former pe-
riod, probably, was the number of able-bodied paupers
larger than it is at the present moment. In the ma-
nufacturing districts the demand for labour has fluc-
tuated as usual, and just now may be somewhat more
active than for some time past ; but it is not even pre-
tended that this improvement is one for which any
permanency can be safely anticipated. And, indeed,
as to manufacturing labour, we see nothing, either in

the general state of trade, or the bearings of improved
commercial relations with foreign countries, to induce
us to look for any other but the usual circle in which,
from some cause or other, our manufacturing energy
seems destined to revolve,—sudden excitement ; in-
tense activity ; rapid and unparalleled production ; de-
clining, because glutted and overstocked, markets;
lassitude, panic, decay ; displaced labour, on a scale
the most appalling. We are now once more com-
mencing this series of phases ; and we wish we could
add that, with our still crippled system of commercial
polity, aggravated by the mischiefs of our monetary
system, we could look forward with any confidence
to the cessation of those fatal sequences which have
so often followed close upon the same cheering pro-
mises of a largely increased demand for labour.
The real remedy for this destructive tendency of
our pauperism to re-produce and multiply itself co-
incidently with—and as if in mockery of—capital,
would be an extended permanent demand for able-
bodied labour. If any plan could be devised by
which able-bodied pauper labour, in its more simple
forms, and without the requisition of extreme manual
dexterity or technical facility of manipulation, could
be, at all times, largely employed throughout the
country, the market of independent, in contradistinc-
tion to pauper-labour, would be proportionably relieved,
and the wages of those able-bodied pauper labourers
would be paid by municipal and other communities,
not in the shape of an unproductive and annoying tax
upon their own capital or incomes, but of a legitimate
consideration for value received.
We are much disposed to think that we can see in
the further progress of the efforts of the " Committee
for promoting the greatest attainable cleansing in
the public thoroughfares, courts, and alleys of
the metropolis"—a deputation from which, a
day or two since, had a satisfactory conference
with the LORD MAYOR, on the mode of car-
rying out their objects—the germ of some such
permanent demand for able-bodied labour. Mr.
C. COCURANE stated that the object of the deputa-
tion in waiting upon his Lordship was to read to him
the substance of resolutions which had been passed at
a meeting at the Hanover-square Rooms, relative to
the immediate employment of the able-bodied
poor, in the hope that he would assist by his
powerful co-operation, in accomplishing an object
calculated to do the most important service to the
physical and moral condition of the public—
keeping the streets free from mud and dust, according
to an experiment which had been most successfully
tried in Regent-street and Oxford-street. No objects
immediately connected with the ornament, salubrity,
and pleasantness of all large towns, as well as of our
own noble capital, could be suggested snore legitimate
in themselves, or more easy, we should think, of
practical attainment. The report proceeds thus :
" The cleanliness of the thoroughfares would, it
was needless to say, lead to the moral, healthful, and,
as the Bishop of LONDON had stated, to the spiritual
improvement of the people."
We have high authority enough in the testimony of
St. PAUL himself that " next to Godliness, cleanliness
is a virtue," without applying to the Bishop of Lox-
DON for his Lordship's private opinion on the matter.
And any one who has admired, as we have done—the
dexterous accuracy of our sleek diocesan—(when he
does walk)—in skipping over impromptu puddles de-
posited by water carts, or shirking gutters that have
not yet come under the supervision of his New
Churches Building Committee, will be apt to suspect
the Bishop of somewhat too decided a personal solici-
tude as to these objects, to attach much importance to
his views of their public influence. Of much graver
import to the country is the question whether the
anticipations entertained by the Committee, as
expressed in that part of the Chairman's speech
which follows, would be realised. Mr. COCHRANE
proceeded to remark—" The experience the Com-
mittee had had convinced them that the most
effective way of keeping the streets clean
was to prevent the accumulation of dirt by re-
moving the manure immediately after it was depo-
sited by the passing cattle. Hundreds and thousands
of able-bodied labourers would thus be employed, and
the pauper would be converted into an independent work-
man, and the great losses to which shopkeepers were now
subjected from the masses of mud and dust, would be
immensely diminished by a comparatively insignifi-
cant outlay. The shopkeepers of the two great
thoroughfares at the west end, to which he had
alluded, embraced with delight the proposition, and
the efficacy of it far exceeded their expectations."
Without pausing to consider how far the City of
London might be justified, under the circumstances
touched upon by the LORD MAYOR, in cancelling an
ill-executed contract for the cleansing of its streets
and thoroughfares, we have only to express our
most anxious hope, that the municipal aathorities of
all the other great commercial emporiums of the
kingdom may set about investigating the extent to
which they can apply the same principle of
means of permanent employment for their able-bodied
poor. The scheme appears to us so simple, yet of
such grave moment, so singularly important, that no
time should lye lost in bringing it into general ope-
ration all over the country. It might be made to
embrace so extensive a proportion of those whose
labour is at present useless to themselves and to the
State—to relieve so largely the burden of the poor-
rates—and to exalt so beneficially the feelings, the
character, and the social relations of the parties to be
employed, by restoring them to the ranks of honest
and independent labour, that we await the further
development of the plan, and, we trust its early
experiment, with equal curiosity and impatience.

It is long since we have opened a Parliamentary or
Sessional Paper of more extensive importance and
interest than the " First Report of the Select Com-
mittee" (appointed on 16th February last) " to inquire
into the state of the laws respecting Joint-stock
Companies (except for banking), with a view to the
greater security of the public." This "Blue Book"
(No. 19 of 11. C., 1844) comprises the Report of the
Committee in question ; a detail of their proceedings
de die in diem ; minutes of evidence ; an appendix ;
alphabetical heads and analytical digest of the evi-
dence taken, &c. &c. Joint-stock companies are, obvi-
ously, such powerful means for accomplishing signal
good, or producing incalculable evil, in all the varied
fields of enterprise upon which it is proposed to launch
private capital for lucrative investment, that no more
legitimate object could bAie been propounded for the