The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-22 00:00:00

etenin), 2rAttto

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1844.

Mr. O'CoNNELL's new scheme of a Federal move-
ment, which was formally propounded in the last
manifesto issued from Derrynane, does not appear to
have been received so favourably by the Repeal agi-
tators as the Hon. and Learned Gentleman antici-
pated. We say " anticipated," because there was a
confident tone in his communication on the subject,
which implied his belief that Federalism, on his puis-
sant recommendation, would be welcomed with
eagerness by his trusting countrymen, and occupy
their attention to the exclusion of total and unqua-
lified Repeal. But on this occasion Mr. O'CONNELL
seems to have been somewhat out in his reckoning, and
to have over-estimated his own influence. Symptoms of
dissatisfaction are beginning to exhibit themselves
among the Repealers and their organs, who do not at
all relish the idea of being compelled to stop half-
way, when they had made active preparations for
going boldly on to their journey's end ; and more
than one journal has pretty openly intimated its
opinion that Federalism is little or no better than a
humbug, calculated only to amuse and divert the at-
tention of the people, without being productive of any
substantial, comprehensive, or permanent good. The
Belfast Vindicator, which seems nervously solicit-
ous to speak the truth in the gentlest and least
offensive manner possible, says with marked sig-
nificance—considering the peculiarly awkward
position in which it is placed—" There is
no concealing the fact that some discontent has been
expressed by many parties that Mr. O'CONNELL ap-
pears to have forced the adoption of the Federal prin-
ciples upon the people." Two of the principal Dublin
journals have expressed themselves to a similar effect;
and Mr. GAVAN Durrv, the sanguine and energetic
editor of the Nation—who, it may be remembered,
rushed from the undesired embraces of the Richmond
Penitentiary about the same time with his great leader
—thus records his opinion of Federalism in a respect-
ful, well-written letter to Mr. O'CONNELL :—" Fe-
deralism, as it is interpreted by some of the soundest
men of that party, demands local Parliaments for the
three divisions of the empire, and an imperial
one in common. Now, if this principle be in-
sisted on, Federalism is an impracticability, for it
implies a re-organisation of the British Constitution.
Apart from any other objection to it, it raises a new
and tremendous difficulty, which does not exist against
Repeal. We want to restore an institution of which
we have been robbed; the Federalists, who insist on
pushing their principle as far as it will go, want a
reconstruction of the empire upon a new basis. If I
am not deceived in believing this to be the object of
the party, are we not wooing shipwreck if we embark
in the same boat with them ? Moreover, some of
the Federalists would give us a legislative council,
consisting of only one chamber. Here we have a
second innovation, and, of course, a second difficulty.
They ask a thing foreign to the British Consti- 1
tution, and a thing which, for that reason, would un-
doubtedly be refused." In the above passage Mr.
DUFFY clearly proves, not only that Federalism is
an impracticability, but that it is an impossibility—
Repeal itself not more so. His opinions are, at the
present crisis, well worthy of attention ; for, as editor
of the Nation, he exercises an influence over a large
body of the more uncompromising Repeal agitators ;
and this influence it is pretty clear he will
be exceedingly reluctant to exert in favour
of Federalism. From these and other indica-
tions, it is manifest that Mr. O'CONNELL will
have to encounter a more decided opposition
than he had calculated on, in his endeavour to substi-
tute Federalism for total Repeal ; and we should not
be at all surprised were his next manifesto from
Derrynane to announce his abandonment of the mea-
sure in deference to the popular wish. For our own

• part, we regard the one crotchet in precisely
the same light as we regard the other—that
is to say, we think them both equally imprac-
ticable, and if practicable, pregnant with hazard
not only to England but to Ireland also. Impressed
with this conviction, we are by no means too sorry to
see the Irish mind beginning to be divided between
the three visionary schemes of Triennial Parliaments,
Federalism, and a total Repeal of the Union, for by
such division the agitation for unconditional
Repeal will be greatly weakened, and the
question will cease to wear that alarming
aspect which it wore throughout the memo-
rable year of the monster meetings, when Ire-
land bade fair to be at length united on the subject
of the restoration of her domestic legislature. We
have said that we do not regret this division among
the Irish agitators ; we should add, however, that
in one respect it is to be regretted, inasmuch as it
will tend to impress Sir ROBERT PEEL with the belief
that the Repealers are not so united or so formidable
a body as he had imagined them to be, and conse-
quently furnish him with a plea for conceding less to
the sister country than he had previously determined
on, for all the world knows that he is one of those
statesmen who yield nothing, except from the pressure
of necessity.

The report which we published on Thursday last
of the proceedings at the Maidstone Petty Sessions
involves a case, the importance of which is not to be
measured by the miserable amount of the property—
ten turnips valued at 4d.—for which the unfortunate
delinquent, charged with:the offence of stealing it,
was brought before a bench of Kentish magistrates.
Those magistrates, we at once admit, had no discre-
tion leit them in this case of SA.RAII GREENGROVE.
The prosecutor, a farmer named BAXTER, disregard-
ing the statement of the unhappy girl herself, who
acknowledged that she had taken up four turnips,
prompted by the cravings of fierce hunger—unmoved
by the simple but impressive appeal of the Chairman,
who recommended him not to press the charge, per-
sisted in his demand for " justice" (1); and the Bench
sentenced her to pay the value of the turnips and the
amount of the penalty and the costs. Now let us
examine the facts of this case a little more narrowly.
They may supply a key to the origin of prevalent
offences—aye, f prevalent crimes of a far deeper dye,
and of consequences infinitely mo?e wasting and ter-
rible.

The girl, aged fifteen years only, was on her re-
turn from Marden, where she had been hopping ;
and, exhausted with fatigue, thirst and hunger, she
was observed by a labourer in BAXTER'S service to
enter one of prosecutor's fields, and iciraw, not ten, but
four, turnips. The Chairman remarked on the posi-
tion he was placed in by her own .admissions, sug-
gesting, however, that, as she did neat appear to have
committed any depredations of this. kind before, he
would leave it to Mr. BAXTER'S discretion whether
to proceed further or not. BASTER, not be-
cause he disputed the fact of the' girl's being
unimplicated in any former depredation, but
"because he had lost a great :many turnips
by other offenders," and been, subject to,
several severe " depredations" lately on his farm—
insisted on pressing the charge against GREENGROVE.
The Chairman in vain pointed out the difference
between her case and that of the fold offenders, of
whom he was now speaking. BAXTEn, who talked
as if it was a question of hungry rabbi ts, instead of
human beings, remarked that 4" he had a
great difficulty in catching them, and he
was determined to make an example"- —not of them,
the " old offenders"—but "of the figs .t one he ,could
lay hold of," old or new. The Chs ir man was thus
compelled to proceed in the discharge of his painful
duty. When he had delivered the sentence of the
Court, the wretched girl stated " she: :had no money."
With a degree of humanity, which it does not seem
that the prosecutor had the merit o& originating, the
Court desired her to sit down ; and we can well ima-
gine the trembling anxiety with whi cls she must have
awaited the making out of the order to commit her to
gaol in default of payment. Was she , though young
in years, old in crime ?—an experie ed depredator ?
—a regularly trained "depredator 4?" 'Was she, of
that character and those connexion s which would
justify, in the opinion of some, thes remorseless se-
verity of the farmer towards her ? Why, what
followed ? Let us judge of the 'probabilities by
the facts. A little boy entered t.i,e court crying
bitterly, approached the bench, ;aid tendered the
amount " decreed and decerned against her," as the
Scotch lawyers would say, whicva amount he had
raised by taking his shoes fruns off his own
feet and pawning them. Thi was the poor
delinquent's brother. Will any man undertake
to say that the girl can have been a, depraved and ac-
customed thief, or her family one sar,pported by field
" depredations," or other courses -of habitual dis-
honesty, in the face of so touchig an example of
disinterested affection as this subsi'at,ing between the
brother and the sister ? Is theirs ss case with many
parallels in higher ranks and among relatives of much
ampler and loftier fortunes ? Do the records of our
courts of law, or our criminal judioature, supply many
such exemplifications of that princilge of pure affection
which prompts one individual to. denude himself of
his own property to rescue another, .his kinsman, from
the inability to meet the amerce' nisnt of a criminal
court or the finding of a jury in a, -civil action ? Be
it remembered that the boy's sacailfice was fully as
great in proportion as any which wealthier parties
could have made, to whatever =scant they might
hare carried theirs.
But now what shall we think cif the landowner
legislation—of the landlord-me le laws which
enact such monstrous immorality and injustice
as are obviously illustrated by this very
case ? To steal turnips is an offence against
property, and must be represse d by certain pe-
nalties. Granted, if you will. E .ut are there to be
no checks, no modifications, up m those penalties,
according to circumstances ? The, value of the pro-
perty, here, is found—(on no lenient mitigating re-
presentation, observe, of a reluctant accuser, but on
the statement of a party, anxious, 11, his own showing,
to inflict, on the first offender " he. can catch," his re-
sentment for the depredations committed by others)—
at fourpence. The bench, under. the instructions of
the statute, award fourpence for the property. But
then the penalty ? How much, in such a trumpery
case, shall be the penalty to vlnedicate the offended
law ? Sixpence more. The sum 'of tenpence the poor
girl cannot pay—the hard-heartnil prosecutor will not
relent. Of non-payment, imprisonment for a limited
period—nicely ascertained by a I)enal "sliding scale"
of terms of incarceration—is the, assigned and only
alternative. Hard enough this on the delinquent. But
is this all ? No. Property and penalty are satisfied,
with tenpence : but costs—costs, that is to say, in the
shape of fees to the magistrates' clerk, or the clerk
of the peace, or some other sm all legal minnow of
insatiable office appetite;—theses amount to rather
more than four times the whole 'charge for penalty
and property ! Away, then, mirth the trumpery
pretence of vindicating law an& property by such
atnercements. They are meant to feed the never-
ending, everywhere planted, all-ala; ;orbing feelers of
the law staff, which in this country tare the beginning
and the ending of all things. In the case of GREEN-
GROVE, a benevolent man sat as chairman, and doubt-
less his brother magistrates concurr ed in his feeling.
The money was refunded—by souse one—to the
noble boy.
e gAi s wa
toorrds n onwo, ttoh
eoyv eirmsaeg enree farm(w ee
pr su
tanthdelacnasdelowrde
have been discussing out of the quest .on, and speak of
a whole class, not of a solitary exa mple)—do they
suppose that they will increase, in sta .rving and pau-
perised labourers, respect for propert F, by overstrain-
ing the vengeance of the law against; the most paltry
transgressions upon it ? Do they fancy that the
public cannot see through the flimsy disguise which
interposes itself between the ostensi b;le object of petty
larceny and summary jurisdiction Ac ts of Parliament
such as we have alluded to, and the zl iiserable, sordid
selfishness, which originates and p; asses them ? Do
they expect to extinguish the sec ret torch of the
prowling incendiary, by multiplyin g penalties upon
their devoted heads whom the desperation of hunger
has driven to a twopenny outrage on the products
of other men's fields ? Do they eon ceive that the best
course of securing the abstinent :e of wayfaring
paupers in search of work from pillage, and even
violence,—" is to lie perdue," as it: were, " to catch
the first" and most helpless and most pitiable of-
fender? Do they persuade themselves that, to show
no pity for others, is to ensure TOspect for theta-
selves ?

.ew
Intelligence has been received from Lisbon to the
6th instant. The Minister for 1'1(AI ign Affairs re-

cently called on the Chamber of Deputies, to take
into consideration the proposed abolition of the privi-
leges of the conservatory tribunals, possessed by
foreigners. The Report of the Committee ap-
pointed to inquire into the use made of the ex-
traordinary powers granted to Government dur-
ing the late troubles (of which Committee the
brother of the Minister CABRAL was a mem-
ber) was favourable to the Government. The
documents referred to in the Minister's report of the
use made of those powers were moved for, and their
production opposed by the Government. The ac-
count of the expenditure of the loan of 2,000 contos
for the suppression of the revolt were likewise
moved for, and refused, but promised to be
produced at some future period. The report
of the Committee appointed to inquire into
the legislative decrees of the Government, pro-
mulgated during the recess, speaks in very doubtful
terms of the licitness of those measures, but ends by
recommending the Chamber to grant for that time
only a Bill of Indemnity, in order to avoid greater
evils from discordant relations between the legislative
body and the Government.
A Bill introduced into the Chamber of Peers for the
abolition of slavery in the Portuguese possessions in
Asia, by the Count DE LAVRADIO and the Viscount
SA DE BANDEIRA, was opposed by Ministers, and
lost by a majority of 23 votes against 18. The right
of appointing bishops to the Asiatic sees, in places at
present or formerly under the dominion of Portugal,
in virtue of what is termed " the Royal Padroado,"
had been recently referred to a Committee of the
Chamber of Deputies, in whose report the right is
asserted of appointing to the Bishopric of Bombay.
The right is contested by the Court of Rome, and
if we mistake not, about two years ago Dr. WHELAN,
an Irish ecclesiastic, was elevated to the Episcopacy,
placed in possession of the See of Bombay, and re-
cognised in his episcopal capacity by the East India
Board.

Madrid Journals to the 14th instant have come to
hand. Intelligence up to the 17th has, however,
reached Paris by telegraph. The following is the—

TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCH.

" MADRID, OCT. 17.—The two Chambers are consti-
tuted. M. Castro y Orocso has been elected President of
the Congress. The four Vice-Presidents and the four
Secretaries have been chosen from the different fractions
of the Chamber.

" The Vice-Presidents are MM. Pacheco, Govantes,
Areneco, and Pepena.
" To-morrow the Ministry will present the project of
law for the reform of the constitution."

Thus the PRESIDENT selected by SALAMANCA and
hostile to MoN has been chosen.

" On the 13th instant the Patriarch celebrated, in the
apartments of the Queen-Mother, Maria Christina, her
marriage with the Duke de Rianzares (" Munoz"). The
Ministers who were present are called upon to decide
various important questions connected with this marriage,
namely, the form in which it shall be published; whether
Maria Christina shall retain title of Queen-Mother
what pension the young Queen shall allow her mother
out of her patrimony ; and whether, in the event of such
pension not being equal to her present jointure, the
Cortes shall not be applied to for an allowance in the way
of a national reward and a testimony of gratitude."
As yet the Gaceta makes no mention of the Rayo
affair, but the Heraldo says :
__ _ _

" Negotiations hare commenced respecting this un-
fortunate event. According to a Cadiz letter of the 10th
of October, witnesses of the occurrence have already
given evidence before the Marine tribunal. It has yielded
only known details, save the following :—When the
Rayo's crew was received on board the Portuguese vessel,
the boat of an English man of war approached that
vessel, and the Lieutenant commanding it asked what
had happened, when the captain of the Ray° briefly re-
plied, It is a Spanish war schooner that has been sunk
by a Gibraltar battery."'
At a meeting of the Senate held on the 14th inst.,
the Duke DE Golf in the chair, a resolution proposed
by M. ANDOVILLA in the following terms was unani•
caously adopted:—
" That, as the number of Senators admitted exceeds 50,
the Provisional Committee for the verification of powers
be suspended."

The sitting of the Chamber of Deputies on the 14th
,nst. was occupied with the admission of members.

The Phare de Bayonne of the 10th inst. mentions
the arrest of several Carlist refugees, who had clan-
destinely left their residences. Among them is
LARUMB, whom the English and several French
journals supposed to be at the head of five hundred
Carlists in Navarre.

The Constitutionnel says, "As to the present feeling
of General NARVAEZ and M. MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA,
we persist in believing that these two Ministers are
not in accord, and that it is not the former who in-
clines to the proposal of counter-revolutioniary mea-
sures to the Chamber of Deputies ;" and it reiterates
its former assertion that the Progressistas had re-
cently made overtures to NARVAEZ.
The Three per Cents. were done on the Madrid
Bourse on the 14th inst. at 26k, at 60 days. The
Five per Cents. were not quoted.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday.
The Monileur contains a royal ordonnance, pro-
moting several officers of the French navy, for the
part they took in the recent events at Tangiers and
Mogadore. The ordonnance declares that the pro-
motions are made on the report of the Prince of
JOINVILLE. Captains HERNOUX and Count MOl
TAGNIES DE LA ROQUE are appointed Rear-Admirals;
Commanders BONET, DUQUESNES, GALIER, DORET,
CLAVAUD, and CLEM', are appointed Captains in the
navy; and there are numerous promotions in the
lower grades, and among the officers of the Marine
Artillery and Marines.
On Saturday evening, the Duke D'AUMALE arrived
at Saint Cloud, from Africa. He had been absent
from France above a year.
The Commission appointed to inquire into the con-
stitution of the Ecole Polytechnique has completed
its labours, but has not yet presented its report; but
the Constitutionnel says, that twenty of the students
are to be expelled—that the uniform is to be changed,
and some other marks of disfavour shown.
The Journal des Debats has a long article on the
subject of the visit of Louis PHILIPPE to England.
The following are extracts .
" There are people who ask with grave looks whether
the King's visit has removed all the causes of secondary
rivalry that exist between France and England ? No ;
but the King's visit has proved that, above those petty
causes which may again produce some transient misun-
derstanding between the two countries, there is a
grand cause which will always tend to bring them
together—the cause of peace and liberty. Such is
what the good sense of the people has foreseen—such is
what has been meant by those manifestations, the vivacity
of which has surprised our statesmen. The King's visit
will therefore not prevent contentions from arising from
time to time between English and French interests in
some corner of the world. Two powers, two navies, two
commerces that meet one another everywhere cannot
exist without ever having some differences between
them. English pride and French vivacity will some-
times be at variance—the press, which is equally free in
both countries, will not always observe, in judging of
its neighbour, and in its language, due moderation and
decency—France will not make any progress without
the jealousy of some old Englishman being alarmed at
it ; and, among us, the ambition and perfidy of England
will continue the favourite topic of the Opposition's
orators and prints ; and short-sighted statesmen in both
countries, reckoning but petty interests, will strive to
build their fortunes and fame upon the war, the kindling
of which they will deem easy. The King's visit will
not prevent all this. But unless the two Governments
be, one day, mad enough to rush on to their own de-
struction, despite the lesson just given to them bypopular
wisdom, it will prevent little interests from prevailing
over great ones, and the cause of peace and liberty from
being sacrificed to the narrow cause of partial vexations
and rivalries ; in short, it will prevent inevitable discus-
sions and contentions, which good faith and good will
can easily settle, from ending in a war which civilisation
would eternally regret."

La Presse, on the other hand, publishes an article
which the known connexion of that journal with
Count MOLE renders important. It would appear
from this article as if the treaty of the right of search
was to be made the stalking horse for Count MOLE, to
mount to power, to the exclusion of M. GUSZOT. "It has
been said," says La Presse," that the cry of Long
live the Queen of ENGLAND,' repeated enthusiasti-
cally by the crews of the entire squadron, is the faith-
ful expression ofthe sentiments of the country. We reply
that such assertion is false, and that no one is honest
who attaches to a mere courteous hospitable mani-

festation political importance or a national character
which it does not possess ; and this fact will be proved
in the discussion on the approaching address in the
Chamber of Deputies ; for either the Minister will

abstain from introducing an explicit phrase intended
to recal ' the cordial understanding' which will be

significant; or, should such phrase be introduced, it
will be more completely modified than it was last
year, unless the following wish expressed by the
Chamber of Deputies last year be realised :

" This good understanding will, no doubt, aid in the
success of the negotiations, which, whilst they guarantee
the suppression of an infamous traffic, will tend to replace
our trade under the exclusive safeguard of our own flag.'
" It would be a strange abuse to believe that ha-