The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-28 00:00:00

Oteninit 51111:1:

LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1850.

It is difficult to say whether feelings of profound
disgust or burning indignation will predominate in
the public mind at the disgraceful and cowardly
attack last night made upon our Most Gracious
SOVEREIGN, by a ruffian who formerly held a com-
mission in one of the most distinguished regiments in
the service. Such outrages are at all times
almost unaccountable, but never was one
calculated to excite greater astonishment
than the brutal assault, the particulars
of which will be found in another part of this day's
imprestion. It is of a totally different character from
the atrocious attempts of the miscreants who, actuated
by a morbid desire for notoriety, formerly assailed

her Royal person, but it is not the less infamous on
that account. The feeling of intense horror will not
be diminished because the offender was not armed
with a deadly weapon, or did not ape the
act of a regicide. The paltry scoundrels
who pretended to fire on her MAJESTY on former
occasions had probably no real intention of injuring
or inflicting pain on the Royal Lady. Their object
was attained by the mere semblance of the act ; their
names received the infamous notoriety which they
coveted, and they were either banished the country,
or retained in a tolerably comfortable seclusion,
without being required to earn their daily bread by
the sweat of their brows. But, in the present in-
stance, there was a deliberate determination
to insult and hurt an amiable lady—a young
mother surrounded by her children. The weapon
was not very formidable, it was but a thin walking-
cane, that could not, by any possibility endanger life,
or occasion any permanent injury, but care was
taken that the blow should take effect, that it should
give pain, and most probably mark her MAJESTY,
so that she could not appear in public for
some time. The former station in society, the
rank of a lieutenant in the 10th Hussars, once held
by the culprit, aggravate the atrocity of the outrage,
and increase the general detestation of the offender.
The blow crushed her MAJESTY'S bonnet, which
providentially broke its violence to a certain extent:;
it also severely hurt her forehead, but it will be gra-
tifying to the loyal inhabitants of this country to
learn that their beloved QUEEN exhibited the
same dauntless resolution and unflinching courage
for which she was so much distinguished on the
former transactions, and that she had speedily so
far recovered from the effects of the assault as to be
enabled to attend the Royal Italian Opera in the
evening, where the rapturous and enthusiastic recep-
tion which she received must have been such as to
more than compensate fur the brutality of her
assailant.

It is at present premature to speculate on the
motives of the offender. It will speedily be
ascertained whether he was suffering under an
aberration of intellect, which rendered him really
and truly irresponsible for his actions, or whether he
was merely avenging some fancied wrong to himself
or to some friend or patron. In the former case the
wretched man would be merely an object of pity,
who should be kept in close confinement and de-
barred from any further opportunity of injuring
himself or others. In the latter, the most severe
and ignominious punishment sanctioned by the
law of the land should be unhesitatingly inflicted.
On the former point, if insanity be made a ground of
defence, the evidence should be of the clearest and
most satisfactory character. Many verdicts of ac-
quittal on the ground of insanity have been returned
during the past year which could scarcely be justi-
fied, in which, in fact, there was no particle of proof to
sustain the plea ; nothing, in fact, but the mere sugges-
tion of counsel that the:man's mind must be diseased,
or that he never could have contemplated so useless a
crime. Such a defence should at all times be received
with the utmost caution. It is not because there migh
be a certain feeling of pity for the criminal that he
should be permitted to escape from the consequences
of his guilt, or that the majesty of the law should be
permitted to remain unvindicated. But in the present
instance it would be dangerous in the extreme if the
jury should suffer themselves to be hoodwinked, or
to return a verdict on such trivial or inadequate
grounds. There can be but little sympathy enter-
tained for such an offender, but care must be taken
to guard against a repetition of similar acts. If a
conviction be obtained, there never was a case where
the salutary provisions of the Act passed for the pro-
tection of the Royal person could be more usetully
brought into operation. Although no advocates for
" corporal punishment," generally speaking, we
must admit the effect of public flagellation on three
separate occasions would be most beneficial, and
would put an effectual stop to the freaks of parties
anxious to spring into such notoriety.

An intermediate discussion, like the one of last
evening, a discussion consisting for the most part of
the prosy twaddle of sixth-rate Members of the
Legislature, necessarily denudes of considerable in-
terest a subject of such grave importance as the one
now under the consideration of the House of Com-
mons. Any orations more deplorably bald in argu-
ment, drowsy in delivery, and shallow in sentiment,
any harangues more depressing from their enormous
stupidity, and for their jolter-headed repetition of
statements that bad been already disproved
over and over again, so as to be comprehensible
by this time to the dullest blockhead in the United
Kingdom, we cannot call to recollection, than
the majority of the speeches which , were last
night delivered upon the subject of the Foreign
Policy of her MA.JesTy's Government. It is upon
such occasions as these that we can really estimate
the amount of commiseration due to the Right
Honourable Gentleman the Representative of North
Hampshire. Yesterday, for example, as Speaker of
the House, that unfortunate legislator was required
to listen to the very stale iterations of the Member
for Radnorshire, to the respectable common-places of
one of the Members for Oxford University, and to the
partizan platitudes of another, to the intemperate
vituperations of the Member for South Wilt-
shire, to the indecorous sophistries of the Member
for Southwark, and to the unmitigated nonsense of
the Noble Lord the Member for the Borough of
Stamford. Than this, scarcely anything in the way
of Parliamentary routine could be devised as a more
stupendous affliction. We sympathise most cordially
with the Right Hon. Gentleman the SPEAKER of the
House of Commons—the debate of yesterday having
been only thrice relieved from its pervading inanity
once by the brief and manly comments of Sir
HARRY VERNEY, once by the refreshing influ-
ence of the equally brief observations of Mr.
SDAPTO ADAIR, and again by the admirable
and comprehensive, though condensed and sententious,
oration of the Right Honourable Baronet her Ma-
jesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home
Department.
A superficial glance at the attacks, both personal
and political, levelled against Lord PALMERSTON
during this most momentous discussion, will be suffi-
cient to show at once the venom of private animosity
and the pitiable chicane by which the assailants of
the Noble Viscount endeavour to misrepre-
sent the character of his diplomatic admi-
nistration. In illustration of the casuistry
employed by these opponents of the Foreign
Secretary, we need only direct attention to
the speeches delivered on Tuesday night by Lord
JOHN MANNERS and yesterday evening by Sir WIL-
LIAM MOLESWORTH. More shameless perversions of
the truth than may be culled from these two most
vituperative harangues we challenge any man to ad-
duce from the orations of the least fair and the least
honest disputants. That the Noble Lord the leader
of the chivalric faction of Young Eng-
landers should condescend to assail a great
statesman with mere sophistries and mis-
representations, weapons unbecoming the subject of
the debate and unbefitting the House of Parliament,
is to us matter of real surprise, notwithstanding our
knowledge of his strong political predilections. But
that the.tionourable Baronet, the pseudo• Liberal Re-
presentative of Southwark, should have the hardihood
to rise in the House of Commons, as he did last even-
ing, and attack the policy of an illustrious adminis-
trator like Lord PALMERSTON with the merest quib-
bles and the most wilful prevarications, arouses
within us feelings of the deepest astonishment, and,
we doubt not, will agitate every right-minded person
in the land vs ith emotions of the keenest indignation.
The course pursued in this matter last night by Sir
WILLIAM MOLESWORTH IS a Course which not only
reflects disgrace upon him as a Liberal representative,
but one which amounts, moreover, to an act of the
grossest political tergiversation. Let him rest
assured of this—his constituency of Southwark will
not allow it to pass from their recollection. They
will announce to him, when next he ventures to ap-
pear before them as a candidate for their suffrages,
that they regard his conduct of last evening as
having altogether dissipated their confidence in him
as their representative. But that there was no
mistaking his identity, we should have imagined
ourselves the victim of an illusion. Sir WILLIAM
MOLESWORTH has affixed a blot to his political
escutcheon such as we fear must prove wholly in-
delible.

What we object to as a most shameful mis-
statement in the speech of Lord Jowl MANNERS is

LONDON,

that portion of it in which he sneers at the Foreign
Secretary for, as he intimates, cringing to the United
States and bullying the Greek Government. The.
circumstance upon which this disgraceful accusation
was founded had been given already in the police
reports, and hence we might reasonably have expected
that the Noble Lord would have refrained from dis-
torting facts so peculiarly notorious. Lord JOHN
MANNERS inquired why her MAJESTY'S Foreign
Secretary had not demanded reparation from the
republican Government at Washington for the seizure
and imprisonment of a free-born British subject,
a negro, at Charleston? He asserted that the parti-
culars of the outrage had been authenticated before
Mr. YARDLEY, the metropolitan police magistrate, and,
maintaining that a black sailor was as deserving of
protection as a "wandering Jew," insinuated that
Lord PALMERSTON had been bold to the weak, and
obsequious to the powerful. Now, either Lord JOHN
MANNERS was ignorant of the subject upon
which he was speaking, or he was advancing
wilful mis-statements; in either case, his con-
duct being flagrant for its culpability. Had
the Noble Lord taken the trouble to inquire further
into the particulars of the case he was adducing, he
would have discovered that so far from these facts
having been proved before Mr. YARDLEY, exactly
the reverse was the case—it having been clearly de-
monstrated before that magistrate, upon a subsequent
examination, that this negro seaman was no free-born
British subject at all !—that he was, on the contrary,
a subject of the United States Republic ! !—and that
so far from the authorities at Charleston having ex-
ceeded their power over him in their treatment they
might not only have thrust him into prison, but, ac-
cording to the laws of their country, have sold him
publicly as a slave in the market place !! ! So much
for the accuracy and appositeness of the attack le-
velled against Viscount PALMERSTON by the Noble
Lord the chivalrous leader of the Young Englanders !
Equally explicit, manly, and magnanimous were the
aspersions hurled against the Foreign Secretary last
evening by the Honourable and ingenuous Baronet
the Member for the Borough of Southwark.
Alluding to the circumstance of Lord PALMERSTON
having demanded compensation for the injury done
to Don PACIFICO, Sir WILLIAM MOLE3WORTH main-
tained that henceforth, according to the same prin-
ciple, " if an English traveller were to be robbed by
Italian banditti, the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs would be entitled to demand compensation for
him in the event of the Italian Government not being
able to capture the banditti, and restore the property
of the traveller ; and consequently it would follow re-
ciprocally, that if a foreigner were to have his pocket
picked in London, the Government of that
foreigner would be entitled to demand com-
pensation from the British Government, if the
thief were not caught and the property re-
stored." Consequently—nothing of the sort ! A
petty larceny committed in the streets by an indivi-
dual pickpocket, is in no degree comparable to a riot by
en infuriated mob, led on by the relative of one of the
Chief Ministers of the Government. Against such
disgraceful arguments as these we protest with all the
energy of our indignation. And we doubt not but that
the sympathy felt by the people of England for a bold,
and patriotic, and manly, and magnanimous statesman
like Lord PALMERSTON must be materially enhanced
when it is seen with what virulent hatred he is being
hunted down by his antagonists, and shamefully
stabbed in the back by the most odious misrepresen-
tations. All these extraordinary and unprecedented
proceedings, we doubt not, will exercise a powerful
influence over the more generous and independent
Members in the House of Commons when the hour
arrives for this important debate to be consummated
by a division.

MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS.
CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.
The sales of Cotton at Liverpool yesterday were esti-
mated at 7,000 bales, of which 2,000 were taken for ex-
port and on speculation. The market was firm, at full
prices.—Railway Shares were quiet, but steady.
The arrivals of foreign Wheat in Mark lane to-day
aro 16,420 qrs., and of Oats 12,690 qrs.
In the Foreign markets there has been no feature
this week. A steady demand has existed for Sugar,
and Coffee within the last two days is firmer. In
Indigo there have been a fair number of sales privately,
and Cotton has been at fuller prices. Wool continues
to be taken at full rates at the auctions in progress, and
Tea is rather dearer.

A very encouraging statement as to the position and
prospects of Canada was made yesterday at the meeting
of the proprietors of the Canada Company. The
excellent harvest of last year, the full prices
obtained, and the general increase of trade
have been powerful in restoring to British
North America a portion of the prosperity which it
had previously and temporarily lost, owing to,the altera-
tion in our tariff. In a country like Canada nothing
can be more important than that the agriculturists
should be successful in their pursuits. They are the
strength of the colony, and a fair index to their posi-
tion may always be found in the receipts of the Canada
Company, dependent as that is upon the amounts ob-
tained from sales or rentals of land. During the present
year, and to the 6th inst., the amount paid on these
accounts was 22,2401., or an increase of 9,8411.
over the corresponding period of 1849. The
land sold this year is 3,608 acres against 1,751 acres,
and leases have been granted of 34,626 acres where last
year to the same date only 24,580 acres were taken.
The Governor of the company affirmed that the social
affairs of Canada were seldom more prosperous, that
the settlers were doing extremely well, aad that if the Act
of reciprocity with the United States was brought into
force, there was every reason to believe that the value of
produce would be fully supported. The excellence of
the leasing system, with the option of purchase, was
working to the mutual advantage of the settlers and the
company.

Ifamtiurgh advices of Tuesday notice a further decline
of in the rate of exchange on London, viz., to 13 71-.
Not much was doing in bills. The Money Market was
still rather light.
It is stated in letters from Cologne, that all hope was
lost of getting the Belgian Government to accept the
modifications proposed in the treaty of September, and
consequently this treaty might be considered as de-
nounced.

At Amsterdam on the 26th instant, the Dutch Secu-
rities were firm. Spanish Bonds were rather lower.
The Committee of Mexican Bondholders have re-
ceived advices of further shipments of Specie and bullion
to the aggregate amount of 19,625 dollars from Mazat-
lan and Guaymas, for the payment of dividends.
In the English Funds there is the same want of ani-
mation, and with scarcely any change in prices. Consols
have been 95i to 96, after having closed yesterday at
96 to It is felt that when ultra-liberals, like Sir
W. Moleiworth, desert their principles and op-
pose a humane and enlightened policy abroad, the
extent of the Ministerial majority may be lets than
could be desired. The New Three-and-a-Quarter per
Cents. have been 97i and the Three per Cents. 96i
Bank Stock has been marked 2081 to 2091. Excue-
quer-bills have been quoted 675. to 70s. premium.
This is settling day in the Foreign Market, and
has led to some fluctuation. Spanish Three per Cents.
have been 38k, and Portuguese Four per Cents. 3.1 i.
Mexican Bonds have ranged from 29f to 30k: Buenos
Ayres Stock has been at 55.
Shares are scarcely so good.
QUARTER TO THREE.
Consols

Ditto Account ... „, „, 95i 96
BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
(From the Official List.)
Bank Stock OOBl. 2091/2
8 per Cent. Reduced Annuities
New 314 per Ccnt. Anna. 9734 7/8
India Stock _
Do. Bonds, 10001 B6 87. p
Consols for Account 96 95%
Exchequer Bills. lihd. 241.
March. June.
1,060/.
5001 — 67 70 p
Small — 67 70 p
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS AT ONE O'CLOCK,
Brazilian Bonds, 5 per Cent 49%
Buenos Ayres Bonds, 6 per Cent 55
Grenada, 14 per Cent.
Mexican Bones, 1846,5 per Cont., Coupons
Ditto Ex Jan. Coupons
Ditto for the Account .... . 3Ol/8 293 k
Peruvian Bonds, 4 4 per Cent 7B
Ditto Deferred
Portuguese Bonds, 5 per Cent B5
Ditto 4 per Cent.
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent — 4
Ditto 41X! per Cents 97%
Ditto Scrip 41,2 p
Spanish Bonds, 5 per Cent l7l/4 IA
Spanish Bonds, 3 per Cent,1840
Venezuela Bonds —
Do. Deferred
Dividends on the abrove payable in London.
Dutch 21% per Cent., 12 Guild
Ditto 4 ner CezAt. Certificates

BUSINESS DONE IN RAILWAY SHARES AT ONE OCLOCIE
RAILWAYS. PAID. PEA SNARE.
'aledoninu
Ditto, New 10/, reference 10 ...... 5% to
Eastern Count.es
@reat Northern .
.)0., 5 per Cent. Pref. ...... 14:2 105A% .. to
•ceat Western 100 . . 59;,2
Lancashire and Yorkshire, ...100
Ditto Fifths ..
Lond.,Bright.,& South Coastloo ..... 83 . ... to
Do. Guaranteed 5 per Cent. 9 . ..... 11,4 to
London &North Western.....loo ......1091/2 io 109
Do. New Quarters.
Do. Fifths
London and S. Western .......100
Manch Buxton, & Matlock 5
Midland.. .... ........ ...10u
Ditto, 501. Shares ...

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