The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-14 00:00:00

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diF • 'S.'

L°I4DON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1844.

While,
in common with the most enthusiastic of
his friends and admirers we heartily rejoice at Mr.
O'CoNNELL's liberation from an imprisonment to
which he ought never to 'have been subjected, and are
quite as anxious as he himself can be, to, see the
attention of Government turned in a conciliatory and
considerate spirit towards Ireland, • t we are as far
as ever from approving of his resolu3Jon to renew the
agitation of the Repeal question, more especially
when we bear in mind the announcement made by
Sir ROBERT PEEL towards the close of thelastsdees:
sion, to the effect that, during the recess, he Would
vise some remedial measures which he trusted Would
tend to allay the discontents that have so long been rife
in the sister country. The earnest manner in which the
Premier, usually so cold and reserved, expressed
himself on this subject, and the marked favour with
which his remarks were received by all parties in the
Honse of Commons, with the exception of a few
sulky, intolerant Tories ;—these considerations should,
we think, have had some weight with Mr. O'CoNxxx..r,,
and induced him to pause awhile in the work of agi-
tation, until he should have ascertained the extent,
and bearing, and efficiency, of the Ministerial reme-
dies. Sir R. PEEL having once before taken Ireland
by surprise, in the matter of Catholic Emancipation,
who could declare with any certainty that he
would not astonish her a second time by the enlarged
nature of his concessions ? At any rate the experiment
of a temPorary halt in the Repeal agitation was well

worth making, if only to satisfy the public notions of
equity, by giving Ministers fair play ; and notwith-
standing his emphatic declarations in the Dublin Con-
ciliation Hall on Monday last, we should not be at
all surprised were Mr. O'CONIELL gradually to dis-
continue the Repeal agitation, or if not exactly dis-
continue it, at least moderate its vehemence, until he
should be fully in possession of the remedial measures
of Sir ROBERT PEEL. Difficult as this may appear
to be, on the first view of the case, there is, neverthe-
-I.ess, no doubt that it is in Mr. O'CONNELL'S power
to do it, for his countrymen regard him at this mo-
ment with more respect, confidence, and affection, if
possible, than ever, and seem to take a pride in blindly
obeying his commands to the letter, under a strong and
unalterable conviction that he is the best judge of
what is good for their interests, and will never advise
them to adopt any step but such as may be benefi-
cial to them. As regards his proposal of endea-
vouring to procure the impeachment of the Irish
Judges who tried and sentenced him to, what is
now proved to have been an illegal imprison-
ment, we think he acts quite rightly in bringing
the matter under the notice of Parliament;
indee 1, it is his bounden duty to do so, for a great
Constitutional question is involved in the result of
the decision of the House of Commons on the subject.
Not less do we approve of Mr. O'CoNNELL's inten-
tion to visit in person the principal towns and cities
England, a month or two previously to the assem-
ding of Parliament, in order to explain the details of
his case, and show the rank injustice that has been in-
dicted on the " convicted conspirators," as they were
insolently—and as it now appears, falsely—called.
I'oo much publicity cannot possibly be given to such
iarsh and unwarrantable proceedings as the Irish
fudges were guilty of; and hundreds will listen
vith avidity to the Honourable and Learned
;entleman's recapitulation of the circumstances
,f the case, who may have perused them with
;omparative indifference when recorded in the
:olumns of the daily press. In the justice and pro-
?riety of these two propositions of Mr. O'CoNNELL
we cordially concur ; and we think we can assure
aim that, when he comes among Englishmen ;
.xplains frankly and boldly the nature and ex-
ent of the injustice of which he has for
hree months past been made the victim
it'd appeals to their cordial sympathies in his favour;
xis appeal will be warmly and generally responded to,
.Iren by those who may happen to disapprove of his
,olitics, for there is nothing that John Bull more
armly resents than an act of injustice, no matter
mow exalted be ale authority that perpetrates it, nor
low specious the legal forms under the sanction of
which it is perpetrated.

It has long teen our unpleasant duty to demon-
tate, from time to time, the vicious administration of
,ur Colonial (government. In speaking of Colonial
.government, we allude to that couese of policy, in its
strgest sense, which the Ministers of the British Crown
iriginate here—in the exercise of the imperial autho-
ty of the Sovereign over the affairs of her MA-
fiSTY'S colonial possessions and dominions ;—or which
s implied in their sanction to the acts of her servants
a authority over them, or of their Local Houses of
\ssembly, Legislative Councils, &c. Very recently
ye endeavoured to illustrate the vital importance of
,ur colonies to the greatness, commercial and politi-
:al, of this country; and to enforce the gravity of
England's responsibility to human civilisation, as well
is to her own fame and destinies, in respect of the
,acred charge devolved upon her with this immense
Ind scattered empire in each quarter of the globe.
'Ve did not anticipate so early an occasion for refer-
ing to the subject as that which is not only pre-
sented, but irresistibly pressed upon us, by the con-
:ents of the last Sydney papers, coming down to the Ist
,f May, that reached us the days, before yesterday.
From these it appears, that on the 24th of April last, a
fleeting was held at Goulburn, New South Wales,
to take into consideration the Squatting Regula-
ions,' lately promulgated by his Excellency the Go-
-ernor " (Sir G. Glees). Never, so far as we have
yet had the means of forming a judgment on the mat-
er, was a code devised of disabling ex post facto
' regulations," more unwise, more impolitic, more
arbitrary in themselves, or better calculated to ruin
he country for which they are intended, in their
peration. Our readers will not be misled by their
:nowledge of what is intended by the term " squat-
-2ra " in the forests of Canada, and on the prairies of
he United States or of Texas, as to the construction
t bears in New Holland. We will venture to dis-
inguish between these two sets of occupiers, in order
hat we may do justice, in the first place, to those
,vho are the subjects of Sir GEORGE Girrs's scheme of
leon2o fines, Rm., in New South Wales.
In America a " squatter " is synonymous with any
ndividual of desperate fortunes and sufficient per-
onal energy to bear with the privations, the perils,
Ind the loneliness of the wilderness; who, betaking
timself to some remote locality, far beyond the line
,f occupied districts and reclaimed land, settles, or
squats," upon some spot which he selects—without
listressing himself, in the remotest degree, 'about any
?resent rights or title, or any contingencies of future
,ale and transfer on the part of the State, of private
.)wners, purcheisers, or buyers. He fells the timber ;
se builds his log-hut ;he clears the ground, and sows
nig crop of grain ; he provides for the demands of
subsistence and shelter, as best he may, with his rifle
and his axe ; and if, some fine day, an emigrant pur-
shaser of the "lot" within which the squatter has
nade good his location come to take possession of it,
he not unfrequently finds that desperate men settle
ides—and competing claimants with the bowie
.:nife or a bullet. The American squatter is gene-
-ally a man of fierce nature and determined habits ;
'a wless, reckless, and vindictive; and, not being deli-
cate about the means, he usually manages, either
)y a dogged resistance to weary out the new claim-
int, or to dispatch him. It is not often that justice
can vindicate her MAJESTY against such delinquents.
If pursuit should ever grow hot, the guilty squatter
Jnly pushes further into the savage wilderness; and
the clamour of human voices, even—much more the
feeble whispers of human law— are soon lost in the
,hick forest, and behind the rocks and the rivers, the
lakes and the ravines, which his silent flight has inter-
posed between him and his fellows. This man's
-xistence, it is indisputable, is purely a selfish one.
tie is not the auxiliary of civilisation and her benign
influences, but their fellest enemy. He is not a
champion of society, but a traitor to its rights, and a
lestroyer of his species. Now, New Holland com-
prises a superficial area so vast, as to entitle it to take
rank as the fifth grand division of the land of our
globe. It is thinly peopled—to a degree, indeed, al-
:nost incredible. Its interior is, for the most part, a
grassy desart, here and there well wooded and finely
watered ; but in other regions ridges of lofty moun-
tains and difficult ascent intersect the country—and
vast rivers, of still uncertain origin, but subject to
frequent and capricious overflowings, suddenly inun-
dates the level and enormous plains, through which
they run, to an extent of many scores of miles; and
render the escape, or temporary shelter of men or
animals from those boundless " steppes," a work
of inconceivable difficulty and danger. It is
throughout the length and breadth of this mighty
land that the incalculable flocks of sheep are depas-
tured, whose fleeces form the " wool bales"—the only
available article of export on which the colony has to
depend for the maintenance of its white population.
This wool has now attained in Europe—especially in
the English market—the reputation of the highest
quality that can be procured; so that the colony ex-
ports to the mother country nearly 1,000,0001. worth
of this commodity every year. But, in order to raise
and maintain the requisite number of sheep, and to
provide them with such ample " runs " as are neces-
sary to keep up the quality of their fleeces, it is in-
dispensable to extend and change their pastures. The
growing numbers of the flocks demand incessant re-
movals, and the discovery of new grazing lands (al-
lowing range sufficiently wide to prevent the confu:
sion of these flocks, or of the numerous herds of cattle
which the settlers also raise). And who are the men
who traverse this enormous, this difficult and dan-
gerous country, in every direction—driving these'
herds and flocks from exhausted or over-crowded pas-
tures to others yet untried, far away in the heart and
solitudes of a region extending, almost as well in
breadth as in length, 2,000 miles ? The Squatters.
But let no less eminent authorities than Air. WAR,-
THUR (the son of that JOHN IVl`Asernurt, who must
ever be considered as the father of the pastoral great-
ness of New „south Wales) and Dr. Mustruz, one of
its most intelligent European residents, describe
them :—" Do they not, by their enterprise, exertions,