The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-30 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1844.

The LORD CHANCELLOR moved for the re-appoint-
ment of the Committee on the Irish Presbyterian
Marriage. law, in consequence of the decision which
had that day been pronounced confirming the judg-
ment of the Court below. It appears from the Re-
port that the Law Lords were equally divided—two
voting for reversing the judgment, and two in favour
of it, which the House considered a confirmation of
the judgment given by the Irish Bench.
Some discussion took place on the appointment of
Mr. O'BRIEN as a Stipendiary Magistrate, which led
to no result.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE moved for copies of
any instructions that might have been given to the
Crown Solicitors in Ireland, relative to the late State
trials, and after a few words the motion was agreed
to, when the House adjourned.
The House of Commons was engaged almost the
entire night in a discussion on the Factories Bill.
Sir J. GRAHAM led the way, by presenting a petition
from 62 firms, employing upwards of 30,000 la-
bourers, and embracing nine-tenths of the capital
employed in that town, who stated that the proposed
change would reduce wages from 15 to 25 per cent.,
and deprive the labouring classes of the enjoyments
they at present possess. After the transaction of
-some other business, the Right Hon. Baronet moved
that the Order of the Day for going into Committee
on the Factories Bill be discharged.
Mr. COCIIRANE was opposed to the withdrawal of
the Bill, and though he did not blame Lord ASHLEY'S
motives, he blamed his want of that firmness which
was necessary in all the actions of life.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE also participated in the regret
expressed by Mr. COCHRANE at the concession made
by Lord ASHLEY, and without opposing the rescind-
ing of the order he would move as an amendment,
that in any future Bill a provision should be inserted
that the labour to be performed by young persons
and females shall be less than twelve hours.
Sir CHARLES NAPIER seconded the amendment.
Lord ASHLEY justified himself against the attacks
of the last speaker, but would not state what course
be should pursue till on Monday he ascertained what
were the provisions of the new Bill. A number of
speakers followed, when the amendment was nega-
tived without a division, and the order of the day
was discharged.
A motion of Mr. EWART, relative to the reduction
of duties on raw materials, having been, after some
discussion, negatived by a majority of 64, the House
went into Committee of Supply. Several votes were
' passed, and the House resumed.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM then moved for, and obtained,
leave to bring in a new Bill for the better regulation
of factories. It was read a first, and ordered to be
. read a second time on the '22d of April.
The. other orders of the day were then disposed of, I
and the House adjourned at a Quarter to One
o'Clock.

What a foolish set of people are the Anti-Corn-law
Leaguers. How absurdly they manage all their
affairs. Not content with frightening all the Whig
aristocracy, they are now breaking up the entire
Whig party throughout the country, by carrying
dissension into every borough ; and instead of putting
up candidates whose birth and parentage, connexions
:and family, entitle them to represent the constituen-
-,cies of England, they put up men merely of talent,
.and with no other earthly consideration to recom-
mend them. Such is the language of all the- old
twaddlers of the St. James's-street Clubs; of all the
.men who, without a single unencumbered acre, talk
loudly .and lustily of resisting the Anti-Corn-law
League to the very last shilling they possess—just as
the West India proprietors, whose estates have long
since been mortgaged over and over again, beyond their
value, resist any alteration in the sugar duties, merely
in the hope that dear sugar may enable them to
derive some little revenue from that property, of
which extravagance and luxurious expenditure have
long since deprived them. Poor fools—imbecile

dotards—you hope by aiming to keep up the price
of corn to secure high rents, and thereby realise an
income beyond the interest which you must of neces-
sity pay, unless content to let your mortgaged acres
be foreclosed. But you look only to time present—
to-day occupies your entire thoughts—and shortly,

very shortly, will you find, that your temporary
policy is all in vain ; and that the very means you
adopt to stave off what you fear may be your injury,
only makes certain that which is now merely cause
for apprehension.
The cause of the Anti-Corn-law League is the
cause of every patriotic man in the country—
the prosperity, the happiness of the entire population
of the empire, depend upon the success of the efforts
which that body is now making to emancipate in-
dustry from the shackles which monopoly has thrown
over it, and to set free the streams of commerce from
the icy fetters which the cold breath of a landed aris-
tocracy has frozen around them. The cause of the
Anti-Corn-law League is the cause of the overworked
labourer—of the half-starved artizan—of the suffering
shopkeeper—of the owner of unemployed shipping—
and of every class in the commercial community.
Such a cause must and will prevail, by its own intrin-
sic weight and merit, spite of the sneers of mere
party men, or the scoffs and frowns of interested in-
dividuals.

But we confess that we do not see the policy of
courting defeat, where defeat is certain; of entering
into a contest where nothing is to be gained, but a
rebuff and inevitable discomfiture. We cannot see
the wisdom of fighting merely to be beaten, and of
showing the powers of endurance without a chance of
conquest. 'We do not think it any part of the duty
of the League to put up candidates, like cocks on
Shrove-Tuesday, merely to be knocked down by a suc-
cessful thrower. The principles of free trade may be
inculcated in a far wider and cheaper—yes, and in a
far more effectual and less dekressing manner, from
Covent-Garden Theatre abi the magnificent ga-
therings there, and through the medium
of the press, than they can ever be on the
local stage of Hastings, or any other bo-
rough such as that. And the great Liberal party,
which in its every essence is bound up with the prin-
ciples of free trade, will be better kept together, and
more usefully brought to bear, if such defeats and
such contests as that of Hastings be avoided.

The League is destined to triumph—why should
it court defeat ? It is destined to victory—why
should the certainty of that victory be sullied by oc-
casional doubt ? The League would do well to take
the advice of its friends, and not be urged into indis-
cretion by its noisy and clamorous supporters.

Justice to Ireland has been the cry in this
country, ever since the last grand injustice, the
attempt to make trial by jury a farce. The visit of
Mr. O'CONNELL to England has been the occasion
for calling public feeling into demonstration ; and
from his first landing to his return to the shores of
Ireland, the voice of England has been heard in
accents not to be mistaken, proclaiming that its
people require and demand for the people of Ireland
equal justice, privileges, and rights. The last demon-
tration at Liverpool has not been one particle behind
those in London, Birmingham, and Coventry; and
O'CONNELL goes back to Dublin with the best wishes
of the people of this country.

On the 15th of next month the Court of Queen's
Bench will be moved for judgment. A motion in
arrest of judgment will then be made, and if that be
refused, sentence will of course be passed. A writ
of error will be sued out, and, as was stated two
days ago, counsel are already engaged in support.
But the Government and the Court of Queen's Bench
may either at once put the Fentence into force, or al-
low it to be respited until the writ of error be dis-
posed of. They may, if they choose, put a sentence
into execution, the validity of which is disputed, or
they may allow it to impend, until its legality be de-
cided upon.

Which course will they have the good taste to
pursue ? Will they punish first and debate the legality
of the punishment afterwards, or decide, upon the
powers of the law, to award punishment before they
put the sentence into force ? Time will show.

Some interesting remarks appear in t he Herald o
yesterday on the subject of the Caucasus, and the
brave Circassian warriors who occupy a large portion
of that magnificent mountain range. The position
in which these noble .minded patriots are just now,
and have been -for some years, placed, is one that
should awaken the sympathies of every lover of free-
dom in Europe ; but we regret to state that the
interest attached to their proceedings is by no means
so general as it should be ; and as regards the defen-
sive war which they have been carrying on with sur-
prising success and unremitting energy against Russia
for the last fifteen years, few seem to know, or care
to know, anything about its origin. Yet nothing
can be less complicated or freer from perplexities than
the causes which originated this war. The whole
case lies in a nut-shell, notwithstanding the studious
efforts of the St. Petersburgh Cabinet to shroud it
in mystery. By the treaty of Adrianople, forced
upon the Porte during the life-time of the late SUL-
TAN by Russia, it was agreed that the former should
surrender to the latter her claims over the Circassian
provinces. These claims, however, had never been
otherwise than nominal, especially as respects the
Circassian tribes, who had always strenuously insisted
on and maintained their independence. Even when
the power of the Crescent was in its full vigour, and
the AMURATHS, the BAJAZETS, the SOLYMANS, and the
MAHOMETS kept Europe in awe, and exercised un-
disputed sway over a large portion of Asia, they were
never able to bend the sturdy spirit of the Circas-
sians, who, though often worsted in battle, never
failed to rally again ; and in the treaties which they
made from time to time with the Porte, insured
terms favourable to their actual independence, though
they acknowledged—more as a matter of form than
anything else—the supremacy of the GRAND SEIG-
NIOR. Of late years, however, when the reforms
of MARMOUD had crippled his military re-
sources, and the Ottoman empire was tumbling to
pieces in all quarters, the Circassians had re-
nounced the idea of even a nominal dependency
on the Porte ; and at the period of the signing of the
Adrianople treaty, they were to all intents and pur-
poses as independent a nation as Great Britain
herself. What right, then, had Turkey to abandon in
favour of Russia claims which no longer existed, and
assign over to her the dominion of a country which
she could not possibly give away—for the best of all
reasons—namely, that it was not hers to give? The
transfer was, in every respect, an act of the most
monstrous injustice and absurdity ; and the subjuga-
tion—or rather the attempt at subjugation—of Cir-
cassia by NICHOLAS, is a worse crime, and this is a
strong term to use, than even the partition of Poland.
As vet, however, Russia—to use a Parliamentary
term—has " taken nothing by her motion." Notwith-
standing that for the last fourteen years and upwards,
she has been landing army after army on the shores
of the Black Sea ; notwithstanding that she has built
forts in every accessible place, and garrisoned them
with the very flower of her troops ; notwithstanding
she has had experienced Generals and skilful engineers
at her command; has long held uncontrolled posses-
sion of the Euxine, and has squandered millions of
money ;—notwithstanding all these advantages, Russia
has hitherto gained no solid footing in Circassia, and
the heroic mountaineers still remain unsubdued ! It
is impossible, when once their true position is under-
stood, to contemplate the struggle now going forward
between these patriotic tribes and their barbarian
oppressor, without feelings of the liveliest sympathy.
The entire population of Circassia scarcely amounts
to seven hundred thousand souls, which is little more
than one-half the population of London ; while
Russia can, ftoin time to time, bring her millions into
the field. s4nd yet despite this enormous disparity of
force,-iii aavantage hitherto has been on the side of
4n
the m ' taineers! Now, however, as the Herald
-,
informs u., \ NICHOLAS is resolved to make up for lost
time, and gush the presumptuons Circassians by
overwhelming masses of troops. "An immense dis-
play of military force is to be made, a hundred thou-
sand men at least are to be assembled in the Cau-
casian provinces ; and some accounts go so far as to
state that the EMPEROR will repair in person to the
seat of war to encourage the troops by his presence."
Most devoutly do we hope that this new campaign
may have as inglorious a termination as its prede-
cessors; and should a random or well-directed shot
chance to pick off NICHOLAS himself—that celebrated
warrior, whose military prowess at reviews and on pa-
rade is so remarkable—we are byno means persuaded