The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-18 00:00:00

A
~~ ~=~ifll

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1844,

We quote the following remarkable passsage from
the Post of this morning :—" Will the landowners of
England still refuse to learn wisdomfrom experience.?
Will they still support that insane policy which is
undermining their social position, and sweeping away
their natural supporters into the abyss of ruin ?
Landowners are unwilling to break with the Minister
of' their choice. The alternative, however, will not
long be left to them. Tke Minister will, at no distant
dote, break with them! Day by day the farmer-
chosen Minister draws nearer to the ranks of the free-
traders I Very soon will landowners be compelled,
openly, to adopt the principles of the League, or to
lock out for new leaders." There is a world of truth
in this prediction of our Contemporary, which is wrung
from him, as it were, in very bitterness of spirit. The
day, indeed, is not distant when Sir ROBERT PEEL,
true to that system of expediency which has always
governed, and will always continue to govern, his
every action, will break fully and completely with
the Conservative landowners, and carry out into prac-
tice those principles of free trade which he has long
since declared to be the principles of common sense.
Ile sees the direction which the stream of public
opinion is taking, and though he may for a time make
head against it, he has quite sufficient sagacity to
foresee that it will in the end overwhelm him, unless
he allow himself to be borne quietly onward with the
current. He is quite aware that the question of free
trade is one only of time; that it is a great
national necessity which, year by year, is be-
coming more and more apparent ; that the
Anti-Corn-law League is nothing more than the ex-
pression of this necessity, and is only popular be-
cause it expresses it with emphasis and particularity;
and our chief complaint against Sir ROBERT PEEL is,
that knowing all this—knowing that no party nor
combination of parties can protract much longer the
full and perfect triumph of the free-trade system, he
refuses to make the concession, while yet it is in his
power to concede with grace. He is evidently de-
sirous to play over again the old game of the Test
and Corporation Acts—that is to say, to make a show
of resistance to the last moment, long after conviction
has flashed upon his mind, and yield only to the irre-
sistible pressure of necessity. And wherefore this ?
Simply in order that he may for a brief while longer
secure the support of the Conservatives, whom
he cannot find it in his heart to break with, just at
present, notwithstanding that he has no sympathy
with many of their principles and prejudices, and
knows that the hour of his final separation from them
is at hand. There is, to our thinking, something ex-
ceedingly petty in this indecision and temporising.
It is very unworthy of the character of the first Mi-
nister of the first commercial kingdom in the world.
Far better would it be for the I'reraier' reputation
as a statesman, that he should do of once what must
eventually be done, and do it in a graceful, instead of
a churlish and reluctant, spirit. But Sir ROBERT
Para, is not A Minister of an enlarged or generous

turn of mind. He has nothing of the CHATHAM or
CANNING in his nature. He adopts popular measures,
not from conviction, but on compulsion. He is inac-
cessible to lofty and fervid impulses, and must be as-
sailed on the side of his apprehensions. Above all things,
he is the slave of precedent, and shrinks aghast from the
idea of originating anything for which he has not
some sort of warrant from the past. It is this marked
trait in his political character that induces many
people to give him credit for being a safe Minister;
but such people should bear in mind that there are
times and seasons when the boldest and most decided
course of policy is also the safest that can be
pursued. Such a period is the present, for there
is no question that the Premier's constant habit
of shilly-shallying on the subject of free-
trade, at one moment giving it his direct counte-
nance, at another repudiating the system,
as uncalled for by existing circumstances, merely in
order to keep himself for a short time longer in fa-
your with the Conservatives ;—there is no question,
we say, that this favourite habit, on the part of Sir
ROBERT PEEL, of playing fast-and-loose with free
trade, is daily tending more and more to unsettle
men's minds ; to engender in them a dis-
trust of Government and its policy ; and
by so doing, to affect in no inconsider-
able or remote degree, all the great commercial
interests of the country. And are the Conservatives
grateful to the Premier for this temporising course of
policy ? Certainly not. They see clearly enough that
it must ere long have an end, and already they dislike
their leader quite as much as they would do, were he
at once to cut all connexion with them, throw himself
into the arms of the Liberals, and publicly proclaim
his adhesion to the principles of free trade.

From the acceunts we have recently published of
the release of the gigantic " GREAT BRITAIN" from
Cumberland Basin in the Bristol Docks, our readers
will have learned, with pleasure, that the mightiest
ship in the world is now a free denizen upon her des-
tined element. This stupendous production of mer-
cantile enterprise and mechanical science at length
walks the waters " like a thing of life." Long may
it be her lot to attract the admiration of the civilised
world in general—the wonder and respect of
the nautical profession in particular as the
marvellous .' embodiment of the daring pro-
ject of her builders. They aspired to pro-
duce a specimen of steam-ship building that
should be matchless in its dimensions, its capacity,
and its velocity of motion. They have accomplished
even more. With the working of her " Archimedear
screw" she can run, it seems, from eleven to twelve
knots an hour, not stretching a yard of her canvass.
Her mighty fabric is said to be unaffected by the
vibration of the steam-engines which work that
colossal propelling power, and the passengers in het
rspaeious cabins can scarcely detect the momentum
of her speed. In less than seventeen traversing!
of her deck from stem to stern, the astonished voyager
will have paced one mile; and between two and
three of our old 36-gun frigates would represent no
more than her own single stowage of more that,
3,1300 tons ! What performances may not be antici-
pated from such powers and such means, working
with all the ease, celerity, and precision, which the
late trial-run demonstrated the Great Britain to pos-
sess ! To what increased facilities and rapidity of
transit from and to the remotest regions, under gua-
rantees how much enhanced for the safety of those
whose calling it is "to tempt the trackless deep,"
may we not be justified in looking forward, after this
test of a vessel thus stupendous in her construction !
The whole human race, perhaps—but assuredly the
great maritime and commercial Powers of the world
—may be considered as deeply interested in the
memorable and successful result of the experiment
we refer to. We make no apology for recurring to it,
and the rather as we have, of late, so frequently had
occasion to direct public attention to the progress of
naval architecture in another branch of that science—
namely, the construction of our ships of war.
We have no disposition to revive the controversy
which has been so long and warmly maintained be-
tween the advocates of the Surveyor of the Navy's
intuitive-principle" of ship-building, and the stick-
lers for the canons and practice of naval architecture
• according to the matured state of our experience in
the actual construction of ships. Yet we are grati-
fied to learn, on the authority of our vigilant Con-
temporary, the Plymouth Times (to whose strictures
on this very important subject we hold that the coun-
try at large is very much indebted), that the Admi-
ralty have given orders to suspend for the present
the building of any more ships on the principles
adopted in the construction of the Queen (110)
and the Albion (90). The time has come,
we trust, at which the judgment and ex-
perience of the acting Lords will induce them
to return to the adoption of such noble models of the
old school, but with all the improvements of modern
science and observation, as the Neptune and other
such three-deckers. But having already expressed
oiir reprobation of everything like favouritism in ad-
niinistering such vital interests as those wherewith
the Admiralty have to deal, we must enter a very
brief plea for their adoption of tried improvements
and certified inventions, having for their object to
supply existing deficiencies in nautical mechanism, ra-
ther than in nautical science. We are anxious, in ,
respect of one of the most extraordinary of these
improvements and inventions—the (as it appears
to us) invaluable " Ship Manosuvrer" of Mr. Roamer
FOULESTON—to learn the number of her MA.lnsre's
ships to which it has yet been applied? By this
" Manceuvrer," as it is shown by the abundant docu-
mentary papers and certificates just published by
its ingenious inventor, " a ship's head may be directed
at all times to any point required." The Earl of
DUNDONNALD, Captains T. BENNETT, Sir W.
Dri,Lost, W. H. SMITH, Sir TnossAs HASTINGS
and F. BEECHET, R.N., Comxnrsuders MILES, CRAU-
FURD, W. BROWNE, R. RICILILDSON, J. PAXLET,
R.N., Lieutenants BALLET, 31. COMBS, J. BIL-
LINGSLEY, HUGHES, T. CXREY, HENRY BUTT,
JAMES CLARKS, R. J. JErFRETS, J. WILLIAMS,
ALFRED MILES, R.N., arid Master SYMONDS,
R.N.—all attest their u nqualified satisfaction
with its properties. There are succinctly de-
scribed by Mr. Fouusserost himself :—" The
power of immediately turn ing a ship, so as to
direct her head to any givem pc Ant, independently of the
rudder and sails, has long be en felt to be a desidera-
tum by practical seamen. !This want is supplied by
the present invention, the principal advantages of
which are its simplicity; its general applicability; the
prompt means, both of atti ick and defence, it affords
to engagements ; its security from cannon shot ; and
the facility with which i t may be made to subserve
any other means that : ire now used for steering.
The invention consists in a powerful screw, secured
within a tube, and fixed (a ut of reach of cannon shot) in
the dead wood of a vessel's stern, at right angles to the
keel. It is worked by a capstan, operating on a ver-
tical spindle, which communicates by means of a
bevel wheel and pinion, with a horizontal shaft, into
which the pinion is keyed to the screw. They, acted
upon by the capstan and their. accessories." We shall
endeavour in a day or two 'to find room for some ex-
tracts from the pamphlet whence we extract this
description.

Accounts from Madrid of the 10th state that
Colonel Itaujiro, GARCL a, and ARILLA. had been
placed en capilla (in th a chapel). Their friends
were making great effort, i to procure a commutation
of the sentence,
with apparently little hope of suc-
ceeding; for NARVABZ, 'de spite the representations of
Mr. BULWER and the Ciou.nt DE BRRSSOI, seems de-
termined upon more slaughter, or examples, as he
terms his butcheries. We are inclined, however, to
believe the statement 'in the French Government
papers, that they had been pardoned. We find no
news of importance in the papers. The cold at
Madrid on the Bth was excessively severe. At
Bayonne the thermometer had stood as low as 24,
and vast quantities qf snow had fallen along the
frontier.

MADRID BOURSB, :Rac. 10.—The Three per
Cents. are 1 per cent. higher to-day, and transac-

tions to the amount lof 127,000,000 of reals took
place; they closed at 32i at 60 days. Five per
Cents. 21f at 60 days; Floating Debt 74 for 18th
instant; Coupons 25• at 60 days

The sudden departure of Sir STRATFORD CANNING
front Constantinople give 3 rise to several conjectures
in the Paris papers- Some infer that it is a mere
jaunt of pleasure, and divers that a serious misunder-
standing has taken place between the Torte and the ,

British Ambassador, and that he has demanded his
passports. It appears, however, from the statements
n these papers that there is little foundation for such
rumours. The Smyrna Journal states that the short
absence of Sir STRATFORD CANNING is no more than
in excursion of pleasure, which he has been in the
habit of making every year, and the Journal des De-
bats, which contains news from Constantinople to the
27th ult., says :—" It appears that the object of Sir
S. CANNING'S excursion was to visit the British Con-
sulates in the Troad, and a desire to ensure the sup-
ply of provisions which the English station of the
Levant required. Sir S. CANNING had passed over
to Tenedos on the 23d, and when the last intelligence
,eft was daily expected at Constantinople." M. TRIERS'
journal, however, takes a different view of the affiiir, and
infers that owing to the little support which the Am-
bassador received from Lord ABERDEEN, the report
;nerits attention, " not that it is true, but as it proves
the truth of an observation we have often made during
;he affairs of Servia, and which, indeed, has become a
;eneral opinion, that the British Ambassador is not
sufficiently supported by his own Government, and,
therefore, not in a position to obtain any important
concession from the Porte." The National has an
article on jobbing in railway shares and on the nature
if the contracts entered into by the Government with
he different companies, which it considers too favour-
Able to the latter. It states that the conditional pro-
mises of shares in the Northern line are sold at a pre-
mium of 401. each, that the shares of the intended
line from Amiens to Boulogne are at 180 f. premium,
those of Orleans to Bordeaux 130 f Vierzon 230 f.,
Rouen to Havre 293 f., and Avignon to Marseilles
1271. The National observes that, upon the shares
of the Paris and Rouen line, which is in action,
the shares are at a premium of 530 f., and
those of the Paris and Orleans line, also
in action, 6000 The Journal des Debats
announces on the authority of a letter from Madrid
of the 10th, that the Queen of SPAIN has granted a
pardon to Colonel REIIGIFO, Captain GARCIA, and
Don Menusi. ARILLA, who had been condemned to
death by a court-martial, and then adds :—" This act
of clemency and royal generosity does honour to
the Spanish Government, and is, in the present state
of disturbance, both a proof of courage and of
strength. Such acts do more to insure the duration
of a government and the peace of a kingdom than
those which we have been lately obliged to condemn,
and we hope that they are only the augury of a really
humane and liberal policy." We can see no proof
either of courage or strength in such a course. These
inen were unjustly condemned and NARVAEZ would
lave carried the sentence into effect but for the fear
universal execration. The following extract of a
Madrid letter in the National forms a strong contrast
to this proof of courage and strength :

" Each day brings us the news of some massacre. The
Government was not quite satisfied with having shot
Zurbano's brother-in-law and son ; it has also shot
mother, and with them all the victims taken with arms
n their hands, or without them. All this is done with-
out trial, and on the simple proof of their identity. They
,ave just shot twelve men in Arragon ; it is the begin-
,ing of a butchery which-will not stop there. General
Don Pedro Ramirez, 75 years of age, and who reckons
65 years' services, had the imprudence to make some
representations to the Government on all these acts of
barbarity, and at once he was arrested, and taken by a
file of soldiers to the castello of Cadia, where he is to be
embarked in the first vessel for the Canaries. Prison
first, exile next—such is the fate reserved for the oldest
and most faithful servants of the State."
The Constitutionnel makes these remarks on the
announcement of the Slack, that the King of
PRUSSIA is about to gire a Representative Constitu-
tion to his people :
-

" The Siecle announces that the King of Prussia is
about to give a Constitution to his States, and has al-
ready officially communicated his intentions to the other
European Cabinets. According to all the information
we have received from time to time from Berlin, this
news is at least premature. The King of Prussia, it is
true, long ago thought of giving a Constitution to his
people, and he has bestowed great labour on the project;
but nothing has yet appeared to show that the work is
completed, and that the population of Prussia is on the
point of seeing its present government transformed into
a representative government. It is certain that between
the elaboration of a Constitution, in the leisure hours of
a Cabinet, and its public promulgation, there must be a
long interval. There is no doubt, however, that at a
period more or less remote, and under divers forms, the
representative system will be extended to nearly all
civilised States. Prussia, that enlightened, wise, and
inquiring nation, the lover of controversy, will certainly
be one of the first to adopt a mode of government founded
upon free discussion. But whether her King will take
the initiative, is very problematical."
THE BOURSE—MONDAY, DEc. IG.

Highest Lowest Last

Price. Pike. Price 7 Price.
French Five per Cents...". 120 95 .. 121 .. 120 80 .• 120 88
Fours ..•• •••• •..• •• 108 .. 103 .. 108 .. 108
Three per Cents..... 85 .. 85 10 .. 85 .. 85 10
New Loan •••••• 86 50 .. 86 60 .. 86 50 86 60
Bank of France • 3275 ••3275 ..3275 "3275
Lailitte Bank, I,ooof. Sharealllo —lllO • • 1110 —lllO
5,000 f. Bhareasoo2 59 ••5092 60 ..5092 50 ..5092 60
Belgian Bank. ..... 585 • • 595 .. 585 696
1841 llOO —llOO ..1100 ..1100
Belgian Flves,lB4o lO3l • • 104 .. 1031 • • 104
1842 1061 •• 1061 •• 106 i .. 106 f
Two-and-a-Half— •• 62 70 •• 62 70 .. 62 60 62 60
Hutch Two and-a-Half.•••• 631 .. 631 .. 631 . 631
Portuguese Five per Cente• • 57 •• 57 .. 57 .. 57
ipanisn Threes •••••• • • • • • • 371 • • 37/ .. 3yi 37(
Passive 6 •• 6 .. 6 .. 6
Neapolitan•• •• •••• •••• • •• 80 ••• 98 60 .. 98 60 .. 98 60
Roman •• • ••••••

RAILWAY BILA-RER.
St. Germain •• • ••1015 ••1020 ..1015 ••1021
Versailles, R.B. •••••• • • • • • • 500 • • 510 .. 500
Roa°nu nn t o.• alt"y r. O. **
....•: •••
1048470 •:1081055 .10310074: ..10453807 50
Orleans .•..
Strasburg to Bale • • •••• •• •• 310 •• 318 75 . 310 .. 310
Avignon to Marseilles• • •... 917 60 • • 933 73 • • 917 50 .. 930

RAILWAY SHARES FOR SETTLING, Dac. 16.
St. Germaiii. ..... ..........1010 ••1020 —lOlO —lO2O
Versailles, L.B•
Ro„, ..., „ .. ••••••1037 50 ••1045 ..1037 50 ..1040
Rouen to Ilavre• •
orleans
.........--•• ••••1100 ••1122 50 ..1100 ..1115
Strasburg to Bale.••• •• •••• 318 •• 317 50 .. 310 .. 310
Avignon to Marseilles-- 926 25 .. 935 .. 926 25 .. 939
RAILWAYS FOR TIIZ ACCOUNT, JAN. 3.
St. Germain .•••••••
•. •••••• • • • •. 498 ••• • • 498 75 • • 498 75 .. 495 .. 495
L.B 395 •• 403 75 .. 370 .• 370
Rouon •• •• •• •• ••
Rouen to;Havro•• BO2 50 .. 805 .. 80) .. 800
Orleans ..............•••••1110 ..1127 50 ..1110 ..1127 50
Strasburg to Bale••••
Avignon to Marseilles— •••• 927 50 .. 937 50 . 927 50 .. 930

HER MAJESTY'S STAG HOUNDS.—We are requested
to state that her Majesty's buckhounds will meet on Fri-
day next, at Salt-hill, at eleven o'clock.
A deputation from the North Devon Railway di-
rect from the Tiverton-road station to Ilfracombe, in the
Bristol Channel, had an interview with the Earl of Dal-
housie and the Railway Committee yesterday, at the
Board of Trade. This line goys through Tiverton,
South Molton, and Barnstaple. Tiverton was repre-
sented by Lord Palmerston, Mr. Heathcote, M.P. and
Mr. Tripp ; Barnstaple by Mr. Tamlyn, barrister, and
Mr. Lionel Bencraft, town-clerk ; South Molton by Mr.
Bawden and Mr. Rickard. The deputation were very fa-
vourably received. This line comprehends the four towns
we have mentioned, having a population of nearly 40,000
inhabitants, and several populous villages, and will be in
length from the Tiverton -road station to Barnstaple only
34 miles, and to Ilfracombe about 45 miles.
—We have had occasion more than once of late to
refer to the indisposition of the Hon. C. A. Murray,
Master of the Household, who has been for the last three
months suffering from the consequences of a severe acci-
dent, but is now nearly convalescent. Nevertheless, it
being doubtful whether the Hon. Gentleman could ven-
ture, without risk of retarding his complete recovery, to
resume his present official functions, which require con-
stant activity, attendance, and exertion, we understand
that the Queen has, with her usual considerate kindness,
desired the Earl of Aberdeen to ascertain whether Mr.
Murray would prefer the less arduous duties of diplo-
matic employment, and, in the event of that Minister's
receivi❑g an affirmative reply, to offer him an appoint-
ment OR the occurrence of the first eligible vacancy. The
Gazette may probably bear witness ere long to the cor-
rectness of our intelligence.—Times.
SHOCKING CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.—The Animals'
Friend Society, of No. 18, Strand, last week charged
James King,'a costermonger, at Union-hall, with having
tied an ass to the shafts of a cart, which he drove too
fast for the poor animal to keep up with, and the wheel,
in consequence, run over its legs, and lamed it, so that
it went on three legs, while the fellow was beating it
cruelly. Mr. Traill fined him 10s., but not paying it be
was committed for fourteen days: as was also W. Dark,
a dust collector, for having gallopped on an ass for a
long distance, and violently beaten the ass all the time. 1
It also caused William Baker to be fined ss. at Bow-
street, by Mr. Twyford, for having worked and cruelly
whipped a horse which had a very bad wound under
the saddle, four inches by three. The Society has been
requested, by its foreign Hon. Secretary, to caution per.
sons who may travel in Germany,Dot to trust their dogs
to the hotel keepers, who, it appars, often poison them,
and report that they have died in fits.
DOVER, DEC. 17.—Their Royal Highnesses the
Duke and Duchess of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, with
their suite, arrived here this afternoon, about four I
o'clock, by special train, and immediately embael, '
the Black Eagle steamer, under a ro'•'' ---"'11 in
th, e afternoon tohfeanremenagiinnse
the Western heights. The Black -P" ~..* salute from
shortly after for Calais. ...agle left the harbour
THE LATE Acc--
On Sunday
Imenlll ed-by ~,DENT ON THE DOVER RAILWAY.—
Burin
zfOkritallyllearles, f , xtobert Buckley and Aaron Wilkinson, who were
Arms branch of the above railway, on Tuesday night
of
fn
tthhee
last, were interred in the burial-ground, attached to the
New Church, Deptford. A vast number of people assem-
bled lt New-cres7, ivliere they lately resided, to witness
the funeral, the expenses of which defrayed by the
Railway
Railway Company. Both men were single, and Buckley
was on the point of marriage
when the melancholy acct• dent occurred.

THIS DAY'S NEWS

PRIVY COUNCIL.-(THIS DAY.)

The Committee of the Privy Council for the affairs of
GuernFey and Jersey sat to-day, at the Council-office
Whitehall, for the purpose of hearing the further argu-
ments in the part-heard case with respect to the course
pursued by the Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey.
Mr. WADDINOTON resumed his arguments on behalf
of the Crown, and in support of the Lieutenant-Go-
vernor; and occupied their Lordships the whole morning.

VICE-CHANCERY.=(THIS DAY.)
(Before Sir J. WionAm.)
His Hortoun was engaged hearing motions, the argu-
ments on one of them alone occupying the whole morn-
ing. It was a motion for an injunction of the Court to
restrain a glove-maker named Thompson from infring-
ing a patent possessed by the plaintiff for cutting-out
pieces of leather used in glove-making, of a triangular
shape, called fourchettes, which are inserted between the
finger-pieces. This patent, it was alleged, Mr. Thomp-
son had invaded ; the affidavits were numerous, and se-
veral cuttings of leather were produced as exhibits. On
the part of the defendant, it was contended that there was
no novelty in the invention, and that it was not such a
patent as could be infringed.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.)
(Sittings at Nisi Prius at the Guildhall, before Lord
DENMAN and Lond«n Special Juries.)
HAYNE V. RHODES AND OTHERS.

This was an action against Messrs. Rhodes, Beauvoir,
and Lane, of Chancery-lane, to recover compensation in
damages for an alleged negligence of their duties as at-
torneys, by which the plaintiff had been induced to ad-
vance 6001. upon insufficient security.

Mr. BALL opened the pleadings: -
Mr. WATSON, in opening the case for the plaintiff,
said, that in the year 1839 the plaintiff had seen an ad-
vertisement for a secretary to some new formed com-
pany, and had, in consequeuce, applied to a Mr. George
Ross, who informed him that he was projector of a new
company for the improvement of Holborn' and
that the secretary to the new company would have
a salary of 4001., which office the plaintiff should have
on condition of his advancing to Ross 600/, for the pur-
pose of forming the company, Ross undertaking to give
security fur the return of the 6001. in the event of the
company not being formed. The security proposed was
a reversionary interest, which Ross alleged he possessed
in a certain freehold estate at Tittenhall, in Somerset-
shire. The plaintiff employed the defendants as his
attorneys in the transaction, and advanced the 6001. to
Ross upon the proposed security. The company was
not formed, and when the plaintiff attempted to have re-
course to his security, it was discovered that it was
valueless, inasmuch as the estate in question had been
disposed of to the person now in possession before the
date of the conveyance to Ross.
Evidence having been called to prove the plaintiff's
case,

Mr. PLATT (with whom was Mr. Peacock), on the
part of the defendants, took various technical objections
to the pleadings, which proved fatal, and
Lord DENMAN directed the plaintiff to be nonsuited.