The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1844.

The remonstrances of the press, the frequent sig-
nificant allusions to the subject in the House of
Commons last session, and still more, perhaps, the
midnight vagaries of Swing, have at length, we per-
ceive, had the effect of inducing the great land-
holders to turn their attention to the destitute con-
dition of the labouring classes, with a view, of
course, to see what is to be done in the way of
remedy. At all the late Agricultural Meetings—and
within the last few weeks they have been of frequent
occurrence—nothing is more remarkable than the
earnestness, to all appearance, with which the
different speakers impress on their audience
the necessity of endeavouring to provide adequate
employment for the labourer, and to ameliorate the
various hardships of his lot by every possible means
at their command. It is now beginning to be gene-
rally discovered by those who are placed in authority
over him, that the peasant is not such a mere clod of
earth as he was so long supposed to be ; but that he
has feelings and affections to quite as great an
extent as his betters, and that it is high time

that the kindlier impulses of his nature— should
be drawn forth by acts of courtesy and good-
will, instead of being repressed by a system of
haughty reserve and isolation being maintained
towards him by those whose station, and even whose

nterests, should induce them to act differently. At
;he Lichfield Agricultural Association, the Chairman,
Colonel ANsoze, observed that "the condition of the
farm-labourers was a matter which required the most
serious consideration, both:of the landowner and occu-
pier of the soil. It was, perhaps, the most difficult
question they had to meet at the present day. They
knew it was impossible at all times, in all places, and
under all circumstances, that regular employment
should be found for them; but where that employ-
ment was known to be precarious and insufficient,
it was the more incumbent on the landowner
and the occupier of the soil to do everything in their
power to better their condition." At the Suffolk
Agricultural Meeting, the following was the language
which was used by another Chairman, Sir EDWARD
KERRISOIC :—" The condition of the labourers was a
subject worthy of the most serious consideration.
It was the interest of the landowner and not
less so of the farmer, to endeavour to render
the labourer comfortable, without which it was idle
to suppose that he would be either contented or
peaceable." Similar language was held at the
Huts Agricultural Meeting; indeed at this meet-
ing one of the speakers grew quite sentimental
while descanting on the indifference, not to say
neglect, with which the labouring classes had for years
been treated, and predicted that if a different course of
conduct were not henceforth pursued towards them
by their superiors, the consequences might be most
disastrous to the welfare of the community. These
new views of the Squirearchy, as regards the labour-
ing portion of the population, constitute very encou-
raging signs of the times, so far as they go; but it is
one thing to preach and another to practice ; and it
is not enough that the great agriculturists indulge
in expressions of good-will and sympathy towards
their helpless and impoverished peasantry ; they must
act as well as talk—in a word, they must show• their
faith by their works. As their opportunities of
doing good are great, so should their inclination be
in proportion. A heavy accumulating debt has
for years and years been owing by them to the
labouring classes, and they should not lose a moment
in making the endeavour to liquidate it to
the last farthing, or at any rate, if this be for
the present impossible, to pay it off by regular
instalments. By these means only will they be
enabled to put an effectual stop to the midnight con-
flagrations of Swing, whose freaks, like those of
Captain Rock in Ireland, are the natural consequences
of the long neglect with which the peasantry in both
countries have been treated by their superiors. The
allotment system, of which Sir E.Kmmisoze spoke at the
Suffolk Agricultural Meeting, is one of great pro-
mise, and bids fair to benefit the labouring classes in
no ordinary degree ; but remedial measures of a
much more comprehensive character than this mus

be had recourse to, ere our great landowners can be
said to have adequately fulfilled their duties as the
legitimate guardians and benefactors of their respec-
tive peasantry.

We are glad to find that the rate-payers of the
Bradfield Union continue to manifest a determined
and vigorous opposition to the oppressive deportment
of the Poor-law Commissioners. In our paper of
Tuesday last, in reference to the election of a master
to the Bradfield Union 'Workhouse, we narrated the
circumstances attending the appointment, by the
Guardians, of the elected candidate, a Mr. BRANG.•
WIN ; the objections of the " Commissionery "
to that individual ;—the reply to, and disproof of, those
objections by the Board of Guardians ;—the subse-
quent arbitrary edicts for BRANGWIN'S dismission,
and the election of a successor in his stead, issued by
the Infallible Council of Somerset-house ;—the suc-
cessive resignations and re-elections of the indestruc-
tible BRANGWIR ;—the haughty but ridiculous inter-
positions of the Infallibles ;—the renewed communica-
tions addressed to them by the Guardians on this
case ; —and their supercilious and arrogant treat-
ment of those communications.

That the Poor-law Commissioners, at the distance
of half a hundred miles from Bradfield, should be bet-
ter judges of the fitness of a man whom they never
saw, for a particular office in that locality, than eight-
and-twenty Guardians of the poor (resident inha-
' bitants within the Union limits), cognisant of the
conduct, history, and reputation of the individual, and
personally associated with him for five years at the
\
same Board, where they describe him to have been an
active and zealous coadjutor) ;—all this may surprise
common men of common minds. But the New Poor-
law Act has ruled it so ! That the notion of " elec-
tion " supposes not a purposeless ceremony, but a
, proceeding to be perfected by the induction of the
I elected into the office for which he is chosen, is a de- 1
lusion naturally enough misleading those who, as to
such inferior matters as the exercise of a Parlia-
mentary electoral franchise enforce the prompt and
jealous recognition and protection by Parliament it-
self, of the objects of their choice. But still it is a
delusion. Such a notion is contrary to the whole
scope of the jurisdiction assumed and practically ex-
ercised by the Autocratic Commissioners—(which is
everything)—although it may be strictly conformable
with the intentions of the Legislature—(which are
of their most unconstitu-
nothing)--in the framing

tional and extravagant Commission. That these pre-
tensions, and this mode of enforcing them, on the
part of the Commission, are an insult on the under-
standings, an infringement on the civil privileges, and
an impertinent interference with the official functions
of Poor-law Guardians—may be true. But the Le-
gislature has smuggled into the darkest corner of one
of the multitudinous clauses of that dirty labyrinth of
a Bill, some vile and unsuspected authority for such
outrages, which, like an obscene bird of prey, never
sees the light except when it darts from its dirty
hiding-place to oppose the advance of some unsus-
pecting explorer who would penetrate too intrusively
into the mystery beyond it.
These are large concessions of fact. They are not
meant to involve a single concession of principle.
On principle, of course, we concur with the Guardians
and rate-payers of the Bradfield Union in indignantly
protesting against such insufferable assumptions of
despotic authority by the " Commissionery," founded,
as they necessarily are, on such premises as positive
infallibility, and an intuitive, Mesmeric susceptibi-
lity to the qualifications of workhouse masters—how-
ever remote, unseen, unknown, uncommunicated with !
But there are questions, both of fact and of principle,
involved in BxANewnc's case, which it may be well to
keep prominently before the public eye. It is clear
that the Commissionery do receive secret charges and
informations, and act upon them, without giving the
accused or informed-against any opportunity of per-
sonally confronting their deflators and vindicating
themselves. This practice, we suppore, explains the imi-
tative silence of the Mr. Horsnisosi (if we remember
his name aright) who, after the Imperial fashion of
the Fum-Hi Commissioners themselves, vouchsafes
in his " celestial " serenity, not one word of reply to
the civil application of the Guardians to be fa-
voured with the names of his informants. All
Englishmen, at all times, under all con-
ceivable circumstances, ought to put down
this villainous practice of delation. It is treason to
the Constitution under which we live ; a mockery
of the noblest birthrights we inherit; a scandal upon
the unity of the principles on which justice and equity
should be universally administered throughout this
country I Why should this excrescent Commission
disgrace the pervading element of all our institutions,
administrative or executive, by receiving private in-
structions and shaping their acts upon them, in any
single exercise of their functions ? The sooner they
are deprived, by a stern and memorable rebuke of the
Legislature, of this tyrannous and exclusive luxury,
the better. So much as to questions of principle.
What is their dealing with questions of fact? The
many-times elected master is desired, after two re-
signations, to remain in the exercise of his office by
the Board of Guardians, under whose orders he acts.
The Board of Infallibles pounce upon this
poor fellow, vibrating between the annulling
powers of an obscure clause in .an ill-framed,
unintelligible Act of Parliament, and his duty
to the creative commands of his immediate
official superiors. They institute legal proceedings
against him. He is actually subjected to penalties of
fine (and in default of :payment, to imprisonment),
and, parenthetically, as it were, to the damages of
suspension and interdict from his office ! This, be it
observed, is a man who bears an unexceptionable
character, and is of admitted activity and usefulness
in his management of parochial pauper business.
Surely, if the Guardians and rate-payers of the
Bradfield Union had permitted such oppressive va-
garies as these on the part of a costly, and therefore
meddling " Commissionery," without manfully resist-
ing them, they would have forgotten their duty to
themselves, to the Union they represent, to the un-
fortunate man they have appointed. But, having
stood forward, nobly, fairly, and decidedly as they
have done, they have exposed themselves to the hostile
visitation "at law" of the Triumvirs, it seems. Every
man in Britain who detests oppression in the abstract,
and is anxious to oppose the practical tyranny of
official oppressors, will respond, we are confident, to
the call which is now made upon him to contribute
his mite towards the fund which it may be necessary
immediately to provide for the conduct and expenses
of their defence, and that of BRANGWIN. They must
be held harmless for their calm but intrepid resistance
to the demands of these troublesome and mischievous
officials ; he must be indemnified for acting under
their very proper instructions ; and, on our part, we
shall willingly lend our services towards achieving
such an end by receiving subscriptions for its accom.
plishment, at our office, in conformity with the terms
of the resolutions agreed to at the meeting of the
Bradfield Union Guardians on Saturday last. We
shall readily acknowledge these, from time to time, in
our columns.

We have intelligence from Madrid to the 19th inst.
If we are to believe the Ministerial journals, Consti-
tutional Government has returned with AIARTINEZ DE
LA ROSA, and NARVAEZ and his army are now sub-
ject to the civil power. The Tiempo thus boasts of
the important change :
" The Cabinet of General Narvaez is now the Cabinet
of M. Martinez de la Rosa, of the old bead of the
other Ministries ; of the man who has never submitted
but to legitimate and constitutional influences ; of the
man, in fine, who will probably, more than any other
person, govern the majority in the next Cortex. In a
word, even the shadow of military power disappeared
from the Ministry from the moment that M. Martinez de
la Rosa entered it. Military power is changed into one
which contains within itself all the conditions of politic
power, and this tendency, which should be a benefit, ac-
cording to the opinion of every man who proposes to
make a representative Government a reality, and of which
the accession of the new Minister to power is the expres•
sion, in the eyes of all those who form a sober and dis-
passionate opinion of things, is precisely what the Oppo-
sition journals take care t) conceal in speaking of the
important change which has taken place in the Cabinet."
According to letters from Barcelona of the 17th,
placards had been posted in several streets, denouncing
the Government, and several arrests had been made
ii consequence. At Reusa similar feeling prevailed,
and the troops had been confined to their barracks, as
an outbreak was apprehended.

Madrid Bourse on
.the 19th.—Three per Cents.,
sixty days, 27i ; Fives, no quotation.

The articles in the Paris papers are generally des-
titute of interest. For want of more important sub-
jects, the Opposition journals still dwell on the affairs
of Morocco and Otaheite ; but the rage of the parties
has nearly died away, the fit is over, and we look
forward, therefore, to very dull declamation in the
war journals, till they can invent some fresh grievance,
or a new insult from England. The Journal des
Debuts, some days since, published the principal con-
ditions of the treaty of peace between France and
Morocco. These, however, were very incorrectly
given, if we are to believe the Constitutionnel, and

some of the more objectionable articles were entirely
suppressed. The following, says the latter journal,
is a correct summary of the treaty :—" Art. 1. By
this article the Emperor of MOROCCO engages to dis-
perse the troops assembled on the eastern frontier, not
to assemble an army on this point, and not to have
more than 2,000 men there, unless by common ac-
cord.—Art. 2. A chastisement is to be inflicted on
the Moorish chiefs who have violated the peace, and
invaded our territory. Before inflicting this chastise-
ment, the EMPEROR shall make known to France the
names of the offending parties, and the nature of their
punishment.—Art. 3. ABD-EL-KADER is outlawed
throughout the Moorish territory, and the territory
of our possessions in Africa. He shall be pursued by
the troops of both Governments until he shall be
expelled, or made prisoner.—Art. 4. Should he fall
into the power of the Moorish troops, he is to be sent
into the interior, until the two Governments have
decided on ulterior measures with respect to him.
Sould he fall into the power of the French troops,
the French Government engages to treat him with
proper consideration.—Art. 6. The frontiers of the
two empires shall remain the same as at the period of
the Turkish rule in Algeria. An ulterior convention
shall determine exactly these limits.—Art. 6. After
the exchange of ratifications, the isle of Mogadore
and the town of Ouchda shall be evacuated by the
French troops. The prisoners of war shall be ex-
changed immediately.—Art. 7. New negotiations shall
take place for the purpose of completing and consoli-
dating ancient treaties, which regulate our political
and commercial relations with Morocco. Meanwhile
these ancient treaties are maintained, and France
shall enjoy in the empire the privileges of the most
favoured nation.—Art. 8. The exchange of ratifica-
tions shall take place within a delay of two months."
The same journals assert that the Government have
also concealed some important facts relative to the
skirmishes between the Otaheitans and the French
troops. " The Government," it says, in announcing,
on the 17th, the death of MM. BBIGNZTTM and NAN-