The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-09 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.-Suw OFFICE, MAI 8.

• • ---- -----
THERMOMETER, Lowest, 38 ; Highest, 10; Noon, 46.
BAROMETER, 29.55.—W1ND, W.N.W.
NoTx.—The figures which follow the words "Lowest" and
" Highest" denote the lowest and highest state of the
Thermometer during the preceding twenty-four hours. All
the other observations are, made at noon.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Morning •. 31 minutes after 3 I Evening 47 minutes after 3.

from our own knowledge to the comparatively easy and
fortunate position of the labouring poor who have parti-
cipated in the advantages of Mrs. GILBERT'S system, in
a county where the general condition of labourers in
agriculture and husbandry, not enjoying the same ad-
vantages, has been for years past of a most deteriorated
and distressing kind.
Now, we have heard a great deal of late from the
Duke of RICHMOND, and other wealthy landowners,
about the hardships sustained by the great landowners
and the farmers, in consequence of nothing been done,
as they say, for the relief of agriculture. But we hear
little or nothing from them about the necessity of " doing
something" for the vast community of agricultural and
husbandry labourers. In almost all the great districts
of the kingdom their number is redundant, and their
wages scanty in the extreme. Their families are largely
domiciled in poor-law union houses, or are the recipients
of a miserable amount of out-door relief. But this has
been the case, with all submission to the Duke of Rica-
MOND and his pattern farmer friends, for many years
past ; in those very years in which they themselves at
least must be supposed to have been prosperous, for they
made no complaints in Parliament. Now, there should
be a reciprocity in these cases. If they were fortunate,
they should have allowed a share of their prosperity to
fall upon their neighbours. How to accomplish such an
object, if they ever entertained it, Mrs. GILBERT'S gene-
rous example must have taught them. We will not ask
whether his Grace acted upon such a precedent when he
succeeded to the magnificent GORDON property; but in
Sussex, in the same county in which Mrs. GILBERT has ac-
complished so much good in the way we have described,
we should be glad to learn that his Grace of RICIDIOND,
upon his far ampler domains, had conferred as much, by
the same means, on the same most meritorious classes. We
could then listen with patience to the Duke's Jeremiads in
the House of Lords. But why, let us ask, in these times of
agricultural distress, when both Houses of the Legis-
lature seem to abandon in apathetic despair the notion
of relieving the distress of an entire section of the
labouring poor, as if it was something utterly hopeless
—why is not this allotment system—this appropriation
of garden fields, as they have been called—pursued by
our landowners on a scale commensurate with its bene-
ficent effects, with the magnitude of the interests to be
embraced by it, and with the enormous area at their
disposal for such a purpose ? The truth is, that with
the millions of acres of waste and common land in the
midland, home, and southern counties of England alone,
after allowing an ample margin for those purposes
of healthful recreation and sport for the poorer classes
of which we shall always be the consistent advocates,
this scheme of allotments for the purposes of domestic
subsistence to the poor labourer, carried out upon a
scale of corresponding dimensions, but in the same libe-
ral spirit which guided the views of that excellent
woman, whose death is deplored by all who came within
their influence ; " the prevailing distress" of our agri-
cultural labourers, of which we now hear so much and
so incessantly, ought to be a solecism in the statistics of
our social economy, and a fallacy as a practical fact. Is
there no man to be found in either House of Parliament,
Whig or Tory, Radical or Young Englander, who,
spurning alike the " Inclosure" encroachment legisla-
tion of Ministerial or Opposition Lords—your LINCOLNS
or your WORSLEYS-Will boldly step forward to vindicate
some such scheme of allotments as the champion of jus.
ice to the industrial million of English agriculture?

We have received Madrid journals of the 30th ult.
In the Chamber of Deputies the discussion on the Minis-
terial plan for arranging the public debt was renewed,
but it led to no result, and was again adjourned. The
fete given by Queen CHRISTINA was, from all accounts,
cn a magnificent scale. In the gardens there were games
of various kinds, in which the young QUEEN joined.
Senor Blawriraz DE LA ROSA. drove a light vehicle in
which her MAJESTY sat and enjoyed the gay scene.
The QUEEN has conferred on this Minister the Grand
Cross of Isabella, the Catholic ; and he has received
from Louis PHILIPPE the Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honour.

The Three per Cents. closed at 34i for cash, and 35
7-16 at 60 days ; the Five per Cents. at 25!, at 60
days ; and the Debt without interest at 9 1-16 at 60 days.

At the meeting of the French Chamber of Deputies on
Tuesday, the Minister of Marine proposed a grant c.,1
20,000,000 f. for improving the harbour of Toulon, and
2,500,000 f. for Port Vendre. The discussion on the
fortifications of Paris was continued on the preceding
day till the rising of the Chamber, bur, with the excep-
tion of M. ARAGO, no speaker could arrest attention on
the subject. His speech was rather of a singular cha-
racter, and, if he is correct in his views, the vast sums
spent and to be spent on the fortresses, slight be saved
to the nation. In fact, he would have only two or three
great guns, a la Perkins, which, by an ingenious
piece of mechanism, could send forth enormous quantities
of balls in every direction. The Duke of WELLING •
TON, he said, who had examined pieces of
that sort, had made use of the remarkable
expression, " Henceforward assault is impossible,"
" and, in fact," M. ARAGO added, " a single piece of this
artillery would mow down a whole regiment as it ad-
vanced. Such were the arms that ought to be fabricated
if the fortifications were to be armed. Why use inferior
ones, which, it was almost certain, must be thrown away
after a time as useless ? For his part, since the cannon
sufficient to arm the fortifications of Paris could be got
ready in twenty days, he saw no reason why the matter
should be so hurried on." The Hon. Deputy then adduced
mathematical considerations to prove that bombs sent
from the forts must fall in various parts of Paris—in
fact, two-thirds of the capital, he said, could be
reached by the artillery from the forts. But this is only
a part of M. ARAGO'S plan. He suggested to the
Chamber a scheme which would tend to inspire the po--
pulation with confidence in the safeguard afforded by
the continuous wall, which was to fill the entire ditch
with water from the Seine, and, from the great im-
provements recently discovered in the science of hy-
draulics, this might be easily effected. The Journal des
Debats humourously alludes to these visions of the
philosopher, and says :—" It is impossible to listen
without interest and pleasure to scientific details so
clearly explained. But what, added to the interest
created by the discourse of M. ARAGO was, that the
greater part of it referred to other subjects than the for-
tifications of Paris. M. ARAGO spoke of inundating the
ditches, of barring the Seine at the Pont Neuf, and
of the means of illuminating the environs of Paris
from the heights of the ramparts—a fabulous mode,
which should first be tried within the walls. He
spoke of a steam gun which would fire so many
balls within a minute, and the efiect of which would
be to render an assault against a town hereafter impos-
sible ; and many other subjects certainly highly in-
teresting in the mouth of M. A asco." The discussion was
resumed on Tuesday, but it possessed no interest. The
Constitutional says, " a report prevailed in the Chamber,
that M. Rossi had failed in the mission with which he
was charged at the Court of Rome, the latter taking de-
cidedly the part of the Jesuits. This news, which
reached Paris on Sunday, had the effect, it was said, of
causing M. MARTIN (Du NoRD) to send in bis resigns-
ion."

The Three per Cents. closed at 85E 75c.; the New

Loan, at 86f. 15c. ; the Five per Cents. at' 120 f. 95c. ;
Orleans shares, 1,208 f. 7.Sc. ; Rouen, I,oBof. ; Havre,

867 f. 50c. ; Avignon, I,olof. ; Basle, 262 f. 50c.; Spanish
Actives, 40i ; Spanish Three per Cents., 42 ; Spanish
Passives, 71-.
The following are the quotations of shares for the
new lilies of railroads :-
Orleans and Bordeaux, 2251. premium ; Boulogne, 160 f,
ditto ; Troyes and Montereau, 75f.; Paris and Lyons (La-
fitte), 20f. ; ditto (Calon), 2f. 50c. ; ditto (Ganneron), 13f.
75c. ; Northern Line (Lafitte), 32f. 50c. ; ditto (Rosainel),
Bf. 50c. ; Tours and Nantes (Mackenzie), 15f. ; ditto (Drouil-
lard), par; ditto (O'Neill), 17f. 50c. ; ditto (Jaques Le-
fevre), par; Lyons and Avignon (Lecointe), 31f. 25c. ; ditto
(Talabot), 35f.; ditto (Cam pagnie Meridionale), 15f. ; Bor-
deaux and Toulouse (Mackenzie), 6f. ; ditto and Cette (Espe-
leta), 17f. 50c ; Creile and St. Quentin, lf. 50c.
MAnsEtr,LEA, MAY 6.-Marseilles and Avignon, I,ooof. ;
Boulogne, 600 f. ; Orleans and Bordeaux, 675 f. ; Vierzon,
800 f. ; Avignon and Lyons (Talabet), 532 f. 50c. ; ditto (Se-
bastiani), 532 f. 50c. ; ditto (Compagnie Meridionale), 515 f.:
Bordeaux and Cette, 517 f. 50c. ; Toulon, 500 f.

THE CHESTER CUP.

CHESTER, 1\
..rEDNESDAY NIGHT,
TWELVE O'CLOCK.

Mr. Gully has objected to Intrepid on the ground that
he is thoroughbred, and the stakes are withheld. The
proof rests with Mr. Gully.

--
MORTALITY IN TUE METROPOLIS.— The number
of deaths has how fallen below the average. The total number
during the week ending May 3, was 883, showing a decrease of
i, as compared with the average of five springs, and 80, as corn.
pared with the average of the year. There has been a marked decrease
in the deaths from diseases of the lungs and other organs of
respiration, bronchitis only being much above the usual number.
The deaths from small pox were 19, and occurred at the following
ages :—three under 1 year, eight 1-3, two 5-10, one 17, three
20.30, and two 30.40 years. Violent deaths 27, of which six were
suicides, one by execution, and two from burns.
WEST INDIA MAlLS.—Anotice was on Wednesday
posted at the Post-Aloe, St. Martin's.le- Grand, that the Trent,
Captain Boxer, will sail from Southampton on the 17th inst., with
the mails of that day, for the British and foreign colonies in the
West Indies (except Honduras and Havannah), Venezuela and
Madeira, Bermuda New Granada, and San Juan de Ricaragua.
gsthattelieswono.rriß
The will of the Hon. Caroline Fox, late of Little
Holland House, Kensington, was proved on the 29th of April by
it
ihosne4aslß.
estate
underobert 1,0 VernonooL s Smith,he diedthe
esole h
e executor.l2 th o
March, ler
many Th
epeciacwainlid was made in November, 1842, and contains
pecuniary bequests, legacies to her sister, Lady
Refund, Lady Arbuthnot, Lady Scott
elects. . and to her eschews and

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