The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-05 00:00:00

it be yielded under such circumstances to what might be
call the blustering announcement on the part of the
PRESIDENT of the United States." He should not have
interfered if the matter had been left to diplomatic ar-
rangement between Lord ABERDEEN and Mr. BUCHANAN,
but he felt that a Minister, from his position, could
not well introduce the matter ; and so he thought it
right to tell the House and the people of this country
what were their rights. With this statement he
would leave the matter in the hands of the Govern-
ment of the country, and he would not express the
smallest doubt that in all their proceedings they would
duly consult the interests of the country and the honour
of the Crown.

The Noble Lord sat down amidst loud cheering from
all parts of the House.

•
Sir R. PEEL was not surprised at, nor did he regret the
course the Noble Lord had adopted, and he did not
think the Noble Lord responsible for any consequences
that might follow from it. As a Minister he must ne-
cessarily speak with reserve, but he felt it to be his duty
on the part of her Majesty's Government to state,
in language most temperate, but at the same time.
most determined, that they considered their rights, in
respect to the territory of Oregon, were clear and
unquestionable; that they trusted still to effect an amicable
adjustment of their claims, but if, having exhausted
every effort to effect that, their rights were invaded, that
they were resolved and prepared to maintain them.
This announcement on the part of the Right Hon.
Baronet was received with the loudest cheering from all
prrts of the House.
The House was then briefly addressed by Lord PAL-
MERSTON, after which the subject dropped.
On the motion that the order of the day for the House
resolving itself into a Committee of Supply be read,
Mr. WARLEY moved for a copy of the warrant of the
Secretary of State authorising the opening of Mr. T.
DuNcossna's letters. The motion was opposed by Sir
J. GRAHAM, and after a short discussion the House
divided, and the motion was negatived by a majority
of 51.

After some observations by Mr. WILLIAMS and Mr.
HuME upon the expense incurred in maintaining the
Horse and Foot Guards,
The House resolved itself into a Committee of Supply,
and the Army Estimates were proposed by Mr. S
HERBERT.

Several votes were objected to and discussed, but ulti-
mately, the whole were agreed to, and the other orders
of the day having been disposed of, the House adjourned
at a quarter to One.

The House of Commons has at last spoken out abou'
the question of the Oregon territory, and with an
unanimity which can leave no doubt that all parties are
resolved, at every hazard, to maintain our indisputable
rights. These rights were admitted on all hands, and
the extravagant claims of the American Presi-
dent, made in his first inaugural address, and
made too in such insolent language, met
with universal reprobation. Lord JOHN RUSSELL
showed, that in whatever point of view the question was
looked at, our right to the greater portion of the Oregon,
including the Columbia River, was unquestionable. Ii
it rested on ancient discovery, England had a claim far
superior to that of the United States; if on treaty, the
United States had no claim whatever; and if on
modern discovery, the discovery of the Columbia, made
by regular officers of the British navy, and the subse-
quent settlement of the adjoining country by British
settlers, gave England a title which could not possibly
be displaced. Sir ROBERT PEEL was no less impressed
with the fact, and (a rare feature in the speech of a
Prime Minister) spoke his sentiments as openly
and as firmly as the leader of the Opposition.
I feel it my imperative duty," said the
Prime Minister of England, "on the part of her
MAJESTY'S Government, to state in language the most
temperate, but at the same time most decided, that we
consider we have rights respecting this territory of
Oregon which are clear and irresistible. We trust still
to arrive at an amicable adjustment—we desire to effect
an amicable adjustment of cur claim ; but, having ex-
❑austed every effort to effect that settlement, if our
rights shall be invaded, we are resolved—and we are
prepared—to maintain them." This spirited announce-
ment was responded to by loud cheers from all
parts of the House. The language of Lord ABER-
DEEN in the other House was equally explicit and
determined, and when he asserted our rights, with
the unanimous resolution of the Government to
maintain them at all risks, the Peers cheered with
as much fervour as the more excitable Commons.
The question is now brought to a fair issue. The Ameri-
cans make claims incompatible with British rights: ne-
gotiations may be still going on, fur since the accession
of Mr. POLE, our Government have received no intelli-
gence on the subject, but if they have been renewed, and
unfortunately should turn out umuocoegful, Crer.t Britain
has only one alternative. We have submitted too long
to the vain boastings and warlike threats of American
senators ; we have even scarcely adverted to the hos-
tile pretensions of the late President, and treated
these, and the wild and rabid effusions of the statesmen
from the " Far West " with equal ceremony; but in
that respect England has only shown her moderation
and her power, and her enemies in any part of the globe
will find that her " frightul silence " has not lost
any of its terrors. But there is another Power
besides this country that has affairs of import-
ance to settle with the Americans. The occupation
of Texas is a flagrant breach of good faith. It is repro•
bated by all civilised States ; and Mexico, weak and
disorganised, will not fight her battles alone. Though
she has neither fleet nor army that could make any great
resistance, she can furnish letters of marque to the ships
of other nations, and neither brave hearts nor willing
hands will be wanting to curb a power dangerous
to every peaceable and well-governed State. We have
no wish to enter into the quarrel; we would avoid it, but
only with honour. " Our honour," said Lord ABER-
DEEN, is a substantial property, which we shall never
neglect, and fearlessly leave the judgment to
posterity." Even Mr. HumE, the watchful, the
trustworthy, and prudent guardian of the public
purse—an office which he has now filled for
little short of a quarter of a century—last night
cast economy to the winds, and with a patriotic spirit,
withdrew his motion for the reduction of the army. The
crisis is one of fearful importance, but it is not of our
seeking, and confident of the justice of our claims, and
the integrity of our purpose, we are prepared to meet it.

It is not the least of the niany grave cbjections which
the experience of their operation every day establishes
against the Game-laws, that the taint of their original
institution affects their administration, even at the pre-
sent day. The Game-laws were, especially, a class-
made code for class objects ; and wherever country
juries are impannelled to try cases arising under them,
it but too often happens that their verdicts appear to
have a class bias. The framers and affirmers ef this.
oppressive statutes were ever the great landed pro-
prietary, nobles and commoners, directly interested in
providing for their favourite sports, and reckless of the
extravagantly penal consequences to which, in their
anxiety to protect and encourage and preserve for their
own use and pleasure the game upon their lands, they
subjected all persons who might be convicted of infrac
tions upon their enactments—committed in the absence
of " qualifications" that could belong only to individuals
moving in classes of society elevated above those
of the poorer and lower sort. To classes, only,
equally fortunate, could the property in. and rights
over game, which were to be protected, belong.
Does this community of class interests stop here? We
doubt it. Country jurors who are to try indictments
for Game-law offences, sit, as it were, on glazed boxes.
They know well enough that their deliberations are
transparent. They seem to think themselves ever in the
presence of the great man, at the great house in the great
park. It is well known that they are returned on the
panel ; shall they be astute to connect the evidence
with the guilt of the accused? or shall they show rather
a disposition to give to the acts proved against the men
placed at the bar a construction, if possible, which shall
remove them out of the reach of these penal enactments?
The tendency to propitiate those above them by affect-
ing sympathy with their prejudices, pursuits, and modes
of thinking, in reference to such pursuits or prejudices,
is natural, in an advanced condition of society, to its in.
ferior sections, in all countries. But we believe it is
most decided as actuating the lower ranks of an agricul-
tural community to gratify the assumed expectations of
a landed aristocracy. We are far from imputing to
juries, thus composed, at country assizes, for example,
any absolute intention or purpose of giving a verdict,
under any circumstances, contrary to their honest and
conscientious views of the evidence that may have been
tendered to them ; but we are arguing from the every
day's experience of the unconscious bias acting on the
impressions of such men—and the result of it—which is
their practical, albeit unconscious, fallibility as jurymen.
Cases to exemplify—and, we must add, to corroborate
—our apprehensions on this score are of constant occur-
rence. Take, however, for a single and signal example
the case tried at the present Chester Assizes, where
some culprits were arraigned as reputed poachers for a
very formidable attack upon certain keepers iu the em-
ploy of a Mr. Bitoox. The evidence, in this instance,
was much of the usual character in these cases. The
men were undoubtedly contemplating, under the usual
temptations, the commission of the usual offences of
poaching, when they were interrupted by the vigilance