The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-21 00:00:00

4111
tiltlMl4 - int

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1844.

The Lords, observing the good old custom of trans-,
acting no business on Wednesday, did not meet yester-
day; and the Commons, from the little discussion which
took place, seemed inclined to follow the example.
A new writ was ordered for the borough of Hastings, in
the room of Mr. PLANTA, who had accepted the Chil-
tern Hundreds.

In answer to a question from Mr. TURNER, Sir JAMES
GRAHAM said it was not the intention of the Govern-
ment to introduce a measure to prohibit burials in
churchyards.
The County Coroners' Bill went through Committee,
and was ordered to be read a third time on Wednesday
next.

The House went into Committee on the Masters' and
'Servants' Bill, and after three clauses had been agreed
to, Sir JAMES GRAHAM said, as he had not had time to
eensider the Bill carefully, he thought it would be better
to report progress, with leave to sit again. This motion
was agreed to, and the House adjourned at Half-past
Seven.

Another of the greatly weekly meetings of the Anti-
Corn-law League was held last night in Covent-garden
Theatre. Immense numbers of free traders attended as
usual, and, among them, were two tenant-farmers,
Messrs. LATTIMORE and HUNT, who, though deriving
every farthing they possess from agriculture, yet in-
veighed against the principle of Protection in the most
decided and emphatic terms. The former speaker men-
tioned a striking prediction made to him when he was a
mere boy, by an old experienced farmer, to the effect
that,-if-the eern-laws were continued for twenty years
longer, the then existing race of farmers would, to-
gether with their capital, be entirely annihilated.
This prediction, added Mr. LArnmonE,had been verified
to the letter, for, of the agriculturists in the parish to
which it had been applied, some were in the union
Workhouse, others on the roads, and the majority in a
state of miserable dependence, their property destroyed,
their hopes blighted, their families ruined ! This anec-
dote made a forcible impression on the minds of all who
heard it, and no wond,r, for what could more strikingly
thmonstrate the egregious fallacy of the statements con-
stantly made by the Monopolists, that the corn-laws are
the greatest possible boon to the farmer, and that without
them he could no longer keep his head above water ?
His Grace of RICHMOND will, of course, discountenance
an anecdote of this clinching character as" vulgar to the
last degree," and beneath the consideration of gentle-
men ; but we doubt much whether, beyond the walls of
Parliament, he will - find a majority to agree with
him. But decidedly the most remarkable speech of the
evening was that made by the Earl of RADNOR, who
discussed the question of free trade in all its bearings,
with a calmness, a perspicuity, and an acuteness that,
were at once felt and appreciated by all who had the
good fortune to hear him. He, too, stated that he was
" wholly and solely connected with the agricultural in-
terest," and, like Mr. LATTIMORE, urged this as the
strongest reason why he should be an enemy to Pro-
tection. " The population of the country," observed his
Lordship, "increases every day at the rate of a thousand
persons. Now, as the manufacturing interest has
hitherto absorbed our increasing p-puiation, it is most
desirable, you will all admit, that an check should be
given to those manufactures which may be called on here-
after to absorb a much larger proportion of the agricultural
population."• One would imagine that the Monopolists
could scarcely fail to perceive the force of this reason-
ing ; but they are a pig-headed race, " styed "—to use
BURKE'S apt expression—in their own inveterate pre-
judices, and rendered blind to all rational considerations
by their own causeless apprehensions and jealousies.
They seem to think that agriculture can only flourish by
a constant check being put on the movements of com-
merce, though all experience tends to show that each
acts and re-acts on the other, and that the farmer is never
so well off as when the manufacturer is in a thriving
condition. "To.cripple trade is to cripple agriculture ;
to do injustice to the one, is to make the other the
direct victim of that injustice. This is a truth that is
daily making itse'f more and more felt by
the farmers ; and hence the alarm of the
great land-owners, who fancy that their own
selfish interests are injured by their dependents be-

- -
coming too vigilantly awake to the true state of things.
In the course of this temperate and argument stive specch
the Earl of RADNOR expressed his sentimonts on the
subject of free trade in these impressive terms.---" I be-
lieve that on the carrying out of these principles the
happiness and welfare of the country depend. I
believe, as has been said by others, that they are the
principles of common sense. I also believe than they are
the principles of benevolence, of charity, of sound policy;
and that they are the principles on which the whole
country will eventually be governed." No one who thinks
soundly can doubt the: truth of these remarks:; and
sure we are that Sir ROBERT PEEL and Mr. GLADSTONE
have long since at heart acknowledged their force,
though it may not suit their notions of expediency to
express publicly the convictions of their understanding.
After all, what more does free trade mean than the
granting of a permission to industry and enterprise to
move about the world unshackled ; to make the most
of such opportunities as may be thrown in their way
of increasing the wealth, and, concurrently with this,
the comforts, of the labouring population; and of binding
together, more closely than has yet been done, in one
comprehensive social compact, all the best interests of
humanity ?

On Tuesday evening last, as we learn from a report in
the Glasgow Argus, one of the most numerous and in-
teresting public meetings of the members and friends of
the Glasgow Emancipation Society that have taken place
in that city for many years, was held in St. John-street
Church, " for the purpose of remonstrating against so
flagrant a violation of the rights of humanity as is in-
volved in the conduct of the authorities of South Caro-

lina, in sentencing JOHN BROWN to be hanged for the
crime of aiding the escape of a female slave." The case
of this ill-starred young man is—as regards the conduct
of those who convicted him—the most disgraceful we
ever remember to have heard of, even in the just, tole-
rant, and enlightened country of Lynch-law. He was
tried, it may be recollected, at New Orleans some three
or four months since, for having assisted a poor defence-
less female slave to escape from the intolerable tyranny
of her master; and for this act, so highly creditable to
his humanity, he was sentenced by one Judge O'NEILL
to be hanged! In passing on him this awful sentence,
the judge—compared with whom our own SCROGGS and
JEFFRIES are prodigies of discretion and clemency—
took the opportunity of reminding him that he had
sinned grievously, not only against the laws of GoD,
but, what this judicial functionary seemed to think of
far more consequence, against the laws of man; and
conjured him, in a strain of the most impious and sicken-
ing cant, to make the best use of the short time allotted
him on earth, by reading the Bible with attention, and
humbly and reverently imploring pardon of his RE-
DEEMER. Conceive the daring effrontery of a man who
publicly in a court of justice could recommend his
victim to peruse a work, scarce a line in which
but tended to convince him of his own inno-
cence, and the atrocious inhumanity of his judge !
What says our SAvloua, in one of the most impressive
chapters in Holy Writ ? "Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy !" And this is the volume which
the man O'NEILL conjures his destined victim to study
with attention, in order that he may store his mind with
the wholesome precepts it contains ! Where—we think
we hear our readers asking—where did this public bur-
lesque on all reason, all justice, all humanity, take place ?
Was it among the half-savage squatters of the back-
woods of America, in some town just redeemed from tha
forest, where Lynch-law is the only law known and re-
spected ? Was it in an uncivilised locality like this
that the trial and condemnation of JOHN BROWN oc-
curred ? Far otherwise. It was in one of the most
populous, flourishing, and intelligent cities in the United
States—viz., New Orleans, whose wealthy inhabitants
pique themselves on their superior refinement—their
morality—their civilisation—and GOD knows how many
valuable qualities besides !It was here—in broad day-
light—in an open court of justice—and in the year
1843—that a man was publicly sentenced to be hanged
for the commission of an act which,- iu Europe, would
have won for him the esteem and admiration of his fel-
low-citizens ? How the jury who tried and the judge
who condemned JOHN BROWN, can reconcile his murder
—for murder it isi if not in a legal at least in a moral
sense—to their consciences, we cannot for the life of us
understand ; and still less can we understand how an
enlightened community like that of New Orleans could
have sanctioned such a deliberate atrocity by their ap-
proval. Shame on all parties concerned in this black
deed—a deed which should brand their names with in-
famy, and fill their breasts with remorse to the last hour
of their lives ! America has much—very much to an-
swer for, outraging, as she is continually doing, the first
principles of justice and humanity. Repudiator—or, to
speak in plain English—swindler as she is, slave-owner
too, and consequently murderer on a wholesale scale,
she has done more injury to the democratic principle
throughout Europe than she will be able to repair by
centuries of enlightened legislation, It is to her that
despots point exultingly in justification of the doctrines
of Absolutism ; and from her mischievous example they
derive their strongest arguments against the expe-
diency of making any further political concessions to
their subjects.

The Madrid journals of the 13th, those, of course,
under the authority of the Government, for no others are
published, applaud the zeal and vigour shown by the
Government at Alicant and Lugo. They also contain
official dispatches from General Pow SAMPER, dated
Lugo, the- Bth instant, detailing the execution, on that
lay, of CASTROVILAR, a priest, F. FERNANDEZ, and two
brothers, named CEIDE. " They were tried," says the
General, in his report to the Minister of War,
" and executed to-day. I had not flattered
myself that CASTROVILAR would make any im-
portant disclosures, and my opinion has been justified
by the event. His accomplices and he suffered death
with resignation and repentance, thus offering a useful
example to the immense crowd that witnessed this mili-
tary execution." liolicsu had left Alicant for Cartha-
gena on the 9th, and we may, therefore, reckon upon a
similar atrocious dispatch from him in a few days.

The Three per Cents. were done at 321 for cash,
and 33 at 60 days ; and the Five per Cents. at 231 at 60
days.

The discussion in the French Chamber of Deputies
on the vote of 1,000,000 f. for secret service money, was
brought to a close on Tuesday, when an amendment to
reduce the amount by 80,000 f. was re.lected by a large
majority. On Monday the most remarkable speech
was made by that singular personage, M. LEDRU
RoLLIN, who attacked the foreign policy of the Go-
vernment, and attributed irresponsible acts to the KING
without consulting his Ministers. lie alluded to the
frequent changes of Ministry in France, and asserted
that it was owing to the Cabinet never having sufficient
liberty of action that the foreign policy of France was
so unsuccessful. He instanced the Syrian question and the
right:of search, in which the Ambassador had received in-
structions evidently not proceeding from the Ministry. He
was interrupted by calls of " Order," when Marshal
SEBASTIANI said the Hon. Deputy was committing a
grave fault in introducing in the Chamber, under a
transparent veil, a name which ought never to be men-
tioned in their discussions. " If there was blame," pro-
ceeded the Gallant Marshal, " I was the only person to
blame, for I never received any order or communication
except from the Ministry." The speaker, nevertheless,
recurred to the subject, when the President interfered,
and said the Hon. Deputy ought to be aware that no
allusion such as he was evidently making could be tole-
rated. Ministers or Ambassadors could alone be men-
tioned in the discussions of the Chamber. M. LEDRU ROL-
LIN again proceeded in the same strain, and asked, since
M. GUIZOT pretended that it was only advice he had
received, whether that declaration could extend to
intercepting dispatches.—(Cries of " Oh, oh, non-
sense.") He would ask if it could be alleged that the
Crown only gave counsels, when M. TRIERS declared that
he ought to have known everything, and was not in-
formed of all ?—(Fresh noise and disapprobation.)
M. GUIZOT said there was not a single Minister of those
to whom the Hon. Deputy bad just alluded, who had
ever refusd to take on himself the responsibility of the
acts now spoken of. In every case alluded to by the
Hon. Deputy there was a Minister to cover the acts by
his responsibility. He would speak in the name of all
those Ministers, and declare that not any one of those
acts had been disavowed. M. de LAMARTINE also at-
tacked the foreign policy of the Minister, and said,
"whilst every day the official language declared an inti-
mate accord between' England and France, a secret
enmity was at the bottom of men's hearts. It was this
sentiment which caused that if two ships of the two
nations met 4,000 leagues off, a collision was to be
feared; it was this feeling which prevented the present
Government, possessing the numerical majority, from
giving the slightest movement to the helm of the State,
without fearing to strike against some hidden rock.
The consequence was Government could not perform
the commonest act of government without exciting the
threatening susceptibilities of the country. That sus-
ceptibility reacted on the Government, and produced
such conduct as increased the general distrust. Were a
French officer, for instance, when actuated by a feeling
of patriotism, to fire a popular cannon-shot 4,000 leagues
off, at once the Ministry disavowed him, and sent another
in his place." M. GUIZOT, without leaving his place, in
a few words, defended the Government. For three years
they had preserved peace, and without any sacrifice
of the honour of France. On Tuesday M. ISAMBERT

adverted to the late rebellious proceedings of the
Bishops, condemned the apathy manifested by the Ca-
binet in the quarrel with the University; and said that,
by their timid conduct, Ministers emboldened them in
their pretensions, and actually rendered themselves
their accomplices by not resorting to the means provided
by the laws to repress their liberticide attempts. The
Minister of Justice (M. MARTIN) could not justify the
conduct of the Church—on the contrary, it deserved
great blame, but the dangers to religion, to which the
Honourable Deputy alluded, vare unfounded, for they
had a constitutional Government, the tribune, the press,
and the institutions; ready to repress any unjust preten-
sions that might be raised by the clergy.
The French funds continued to rise on Tuesday, the
Three per Cents. having closed at 83f. 35c.
The following telegraphic dispatch appears in the
Moniteur:—

" PERPIGNAN, MARCH 17.

" Queen CanisTrxi landed at the Grao of Valencia on
the 12th, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the road to that
city being covered by at least 200,000 persons. Her
MAJESTY did not arrive there till 7 o'clock. Her recep •

tion was admirable.. Her MAJESTY was to quit Valencia
on the 18th."

The same journal officially announces that the
Duchess of NEMOU RS had entered the sixth month of
her pregnancy.
THE BOURSE—TUESDAY, MARcu 19.