The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENI NG, MARCH l2, 1844.

a like result ? and that it may provoke an indignant
spirit throughout the country that may sweep the bread-
tax at once and for ever from the statute-book ? If we
may judge from the past, we should infer that nothing
was more likely than ,such an occurrence, and greatly
should we be delighted to find that the Duke had
become, however reluctantly and unconsciously,
a second time our sterling benefactor. Of one thing his
Grace may rest assured—namely, that it is no longer in
his power, nor in that of any Minister of the Crown, to
check the progress of the anti-corn-law agitation, no
matter how " earnest" may be his convictions on the
subject, nor how great his influence over the opinions
and votes of their Lordships. The movement must pro-
ceed—the question must continue daily and weekly to
gain an increased impetus, until it is brought to a
satisfactory termination. It is not the passions
merely of the people that are enlisted in
the cause, but their judgment—their cool, deliberate,
unprejudiced understanding. When, therefore, the Duke
of RICHMOND accuses the League—as he did last night
in the House of Lords—of appealing to the inflammable
feelings of the multitude, he makes an accusation for
which he has not the slightest warrant; for this great
national confederacy has no need to resort to any such
appeals; its object is rather to calm the passions of
those to whom it addresses itself, for it is only during
such calm that men's understanding stands a chance
of being convinced. But the League, it seems, if
we may credit the Noble Duke, not only does its ut-
most to rouse all the worst and stormiest feelings of the
mob ; but, what is infinitely more inexcusable, it " is
vulgar to the last degree." It is here the shoe pinches.
His Grace of RICHMOND might possibly be induced to
overlook its intemperate appeals to the masses ; but he
cannot pardon its hopeless, unleavened vulgarity. It does
not daintily mince its words, as gentlemen should do ; it
does not wrap up the truth in an elegant courtly dis-
guise ; but speaks what it thinks in the
first, plain, straight-forward language that comes
uppermost. Moreover, it has no white-waistcoated,
kid-gloved Exclusives among its members. It is com-
posed of men whose bow is far from perfection, and
who are by no means diligent in sacrificing to the
Graces. For these reasons his Grace, like Thwackum,
in Tom Jones, thinks it his duty to " saddle" the
League " with a judgment," and to proclaim to their
Lordships, in accents of aristocratic disgust and dismay,
his painful conviction that "it is vulgar to the last
degree." We have often been curious to know what
was the extreme point of vulgarity which it was possible
for human nature to attain; and now we find, on the
high authority of the Duke of RICHMOND, that the
" last degree"—the ne plus ultra of the vulgar—consists
in being a member of the League, and speaking home
truths once a week at Covent-garden.

Few of our readers can have forgotten the melancholy
circumstances of the duel which took place, in the be-
ginning of July last, between the late Lieutenant-
Colonel FewcETT and Lieutenant MUNRO of the Blues.
It will be recollected that the combatants stood in the
relation of brothers-in law to each other ; that Lieut.-
Colonel FAWCETT was an officer of great experience
and the highest reputation, and had then but recently
signalised his intrepidity and his military talent in some
brilliant operations on the coast of China ; and that
Lieutenant MUNR3 had risen by his own personal merit,
from the humbleA ranks of his profession—and, we
believe, in his own very distinguished regiment— to the
honourable rank which he held in it, at the time of his
fatal rencontre with Lieutenant-Colonel FAWCETT.
The latter fell by the first—perhaps, by the only—
shot which was fired. Great blame (we fear, it is
impo,zsiblct to deny) attaches to those who had, in
the first place, to determine upon the character of the
circumstances under which their opinions were solicited
primarily, as advisers, and their attendance on the
ground, subsequently, as seconds ; great blame, both in
the one capacity and the other. Before the principals
went on', these gentlemen appear to have treated the
affair without any reference to its own very special cir-
cumstances—and still less, as attaching its due degree of
weight and importance to the near affinity of their prin-
cipals, who had married sisters. After the principals
had met, the wounded and dying man was left, if we re-
member rightly, unattended to, and unwatched, except
by the medical officer who had been brought to the field
by Lieutenant MuNno. The seconds hail precipitately
escaped. Here, of course, our retrospect of the facts
of the duel must cease ; because nothing further has
been elicited in any legal proceedings, through which
the public have yet had cognisance of that melan-
choly transaction. But we have enough before us
to judge of the merits of the discussion which took
place, last night, in the House of Commons, on the mo-
tion of Captain BERNAL, "for the production of a copy
of any correspondence respecting the refusal of the War-
office to allow a pension to Mrs. FAWCETT," the widow
of the unfortunate officer who perished in the duel. And
if we had not this guide, even, we might be disposed to
eliminate some passages that would answer such a put-
pose, from the manly and affecting letter which Lieute-
nant Mumto, as it will be seen, has addressed to Mr.
Tuomas DUNCOMBE, M.P., giving a detailed account of
the circumstances oat of which his unhappy difference
with the deceased arose.

This letter is now very generally in the hands of the
public. We do Lieutenant MUNRO no manlier of wrong
in declining to deal with it as evidence, for that gentle-
man will sufficiently understand the legal principli,
which precludes a statement that is purely ex parte
(although that it is so may be, as in this instance,
the unavoidable result of the facts) from being ac-
cepted for evidence, without further corroborative and
legal testimony. But we are at full liberty to own that
the letter has excited in us the deepest interest and sym-
pathy, and that it is well calculated to leave strong moral
impressions on the mind of every reader, as to matters
upon which it carries with it no legal proof. For ex-
ample ; taking the document as embodying the personal
statement of Lieut. MUNRO, verified by his own signature,
and vouched by the speech of Mr. DUNCOMEE in Parlia-
ment, we may venture to assume, as admitted premises
between those who may approve, and those who may
protest against, the decision of Sir R. PEEL'S Govern-
ment in refusing to the bereaved widow the usual
pension—first, that the quarrel between the deceased and
Lieutenant MUNRO arose out of some worthless domestic
differences ; and second, that the insult given was not
offered by Lieutenant Dimino to Lieutenant-Colonel
FAWCETT, but that it was put by the latter upon Lieu-
tenant MUNRO in the most angry, coarse, and offensive

manner it was possible to conceive. A servant was in-

vited to become a witness of the insufferable affront, by
the order of the Colonel "to keep the door open until
Mr. MUNRO was turned out of the house." Now it is

enough for the argument we have to offer, if it be al-
lowed that this aggravated insult was one which Lieute-

nant MuNuo could not have passed over, without resort-
ing, in the usual way, to the opinions and guidance of
persona) friends. On this fact (and we might be enti-

tied, on Lieutenant Musuo's authority, to add, fortified,

as it is, by the circumstance of his having even subse-
quently requested, and offered to the Colonel opportu-
nities far, explanation) we must contend that the widow
of Colonel FAwcErr was, from that moment, brought
into a position, the issue of which was unavoidable on
the part of her deceased husband, so long as he refused
explanation or apology to Lieutenant MUNRO, and un-
controllable by any effort of her own. What are
the grounds on which the Government deny her her
pension ? None that can be taken to impeach her con-
duct. How far do they impugn that of the deceased ?
Because, said the Right Hon. the Secretary-at-War,
" there were no palliating circumstances in a case where
two brothers-in-law rushed out to shoot one another on
account of differences which might have been settled
easily in another manner."
talßmutanne. theyr " dTihde lnoturaursrl
rush out"
"in
ptllaciiseuonn a Thursdayreasoning,br
u-
NevNe•erneinugn,retmheitt2in9gthly
employed
pJloy
uneedlabst.'eruhennanexttmtwuNoßdoayins
consulting with officers in the y
army Lieutenant
oft te
long service, of
tried experience, of undoubted honour, of high
and
sound character. Their unanimous opinion was, that
Lieutenant MUNRo had no alternative but to call Colonel
FAWCETT Out. A general officer went further, and said "No
Officer holding her MAJESTY'S commission could exist un-
der an unretracted insult soinsufferable as the Lieutenant
had received." Even on the ground, Lieut. MUNRO asked
Mr. GRANT whether nothing could be done to obviate
the dreadful catastrophe which he seems to have antici-
pated ; but that gentleman told him that the Colonel
had received him the day before in so violent and obstinate
a manner, that all proposals of accommodation were
useless. What was the real feeling of the Colonel him-
self may be inferred from the fact, that lie had proposed
to Mr. GRANT that the meeting should take place the
day after the quarrel; but to this arrangement Mr.
GRANT objected. It was, then, under these circum-
stances—under this ol erwhohningnecessity—that Lieu-
tenant MUNRo went out to fight Lieutenant-Colonel
FAWCETT.

What were the particulars, we now ask, in which
Lieut.-Col. FAWCETT, in going out to meet him, so far
transgressed the conventional rules, within which, it
seems, officers in her MAJEsTy's service must take es-
pecial care to be shot, if they would not leave their
widows and orphans in the thraldom of poverty, super-
added to the despair of their bereavement—that the
Government deem themselves at liberty to refuse is
Mrs. FAWCETT the pension of a deceased field-officer?
If the principle of the refusal were, that duelling is, in
itself, a practice at once unchristian and unlawful, we ,

could understand it. We might admit it—with all our
conviction of the melancholy truth that it is an ultimo ratio,
to which, in too many instances of social feuds the re-
sort is inevitable. We might say, in reference to the
immense advantages of putting down so hideous a rule,
" waive all exceptions." The legal axiom "de minimis
non curat lex," might justify us in overlooking (we do
not say it would) the cruelty of individual cases of gross
and unmerited outrage being allowed to pass unpunished
by the law of honour, because of their not coming
within the pale of municipal law. But in the
House of Commons, exceptions were stoutly
and gravely insisted on by Sir HENRY HAR-
DINGE and Sir R. PEEL which recognised, under the
" circumstances reserved" by those authorities, the
practice of duelling. Thus,—a great fuss was made about
some future regulations to be introduced into the Arti-
cles of War, for its repression among officers ; but the
Secretary at War took great care to intimate " that they
were not to extend to half-pay officers." A lax sort of
morality this, to say the least, of which the elasticity is
so great, that it can be made to coop in officers on active
service, and let out officers on half pay ! Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S objection was eminently characteristic of the
man:—" Col. FAWCETT had selected for his second a very
young man, inferior to him in rank, years, and experience."
Alas for the poor Colonel ! Had he cast about, and
prevailed on some superannuated Equerry of—" the old
days when GEORGE the THIRD was King"— as BYRON
has it—could he have assumed one of the most plausible
and most mysterious looks of the Premier himself, and
gone out, under the auspices of some Nestor " unat-
tached ;" then, indeed, Sir ROBERT would have
reasoned, from the " respectable sanction," in presence of
which he met his fate, the propriety of granting
his widow the pension. Lord PALMERSTON, as usual
with him in all practical questions, took the fair and
manly view of the case. "As the Colonel was the
challenged, and not the challenger," the pension should
have been granted. Lord HowlcK took the higher and
inexpugnable ground of the moral consistency which
should have withheld Government from making an in-
vidious distinction in this case, whilst they countenanced
the practice in others.
With Lord Howlcx we would willingly exert every
energy to put down duelling altogether. Our wishes and
our fears on this subject we have explained in former ar-
ticles, and shall not therefore here repeat. Still less are
we disposed to enter into conjectural reasonings on what
may have been the terrible " suspicions" operating, as
hinted by Mr. MUNRO, on Colonel FAWCETT'S mind,
on the nature of the domestic dfference that had a few days
previously arisen between them, but only broke out on
the Thursday ; or on the degree of palliation, or even the
justification, for aught we know, which might be sug-
gested for Colonel FAWCETT'S immovable resentment.
It is clear Mr. MUNRO was cruelly insulted. It is clear
that Colonel FAWCETT fell by his hand, in a duel which
he had tried to avert. It is clear that the Colonel had
rendered most eminent and heroic services to hi;
country in the East. It is to us still in-
comprehensible why, or with what motive, of an official
or public character, the pension is withheld from his
widow. This, at least, is certain ; that the Duke of
WELLINGTON, Sir ROBERT PEEL, and Sir HENRY HAR-
LUNGE were not qualified, from previous personal ad-
ventures, to sit in judgment on the guilt of duelling in
I others.

A Bill has been brought into the House of Commons
for improving the Church Establishment in Scotland,
by di joining and dividing extensive or populous parishes
and erecting new parishes suited to the religious wants
of the people. Anything like improvement in that
excellent Church we hail with unmixed delight. It is
the cheapest, and we may add, what is more to its credit,
the most useful ecclesiastical institution in any part of
the world ; and if its beneficial influence can be increased
by any new Legislative act, all good men will rejoice in
the result. In many parts of the country there are
parishes of such a vast extent that the clergyman can-
not by the utmost exertion give religious instruction,
or perhaps what is of more effect, show a good example,
to his parishioners. Some of the Highland parishes
extend from forty to sixty miles in length, the population
is so thin and scattered that Dissenting clergymen could
not find subsistence among them, and the consequence is
they are left almost entirely without instruction.
and what they get is of the very worst kind. They
have no schools that are realty useful ; they have no
church within their reach; they flock once or twice
a-year, travelling fifteen or twenty miles, to the nearest
church, to attend the Sacrament; but in this they per-
form neither a religious nor a moral duty, for one-half
they hear they do not understand, and the other half
only excites some wild fanatical ideas, which neither
improve their morals nor give tlinri any correct no-
tions of religion. The Lord Advocate, therefore, de-
serves more credit for this Bill than for that which he
put into the bands of Lord ABERDEEN last year, to ob-
viate the objections of the Non•lntrusionists ; but has he
not begun at the wrong end? He seems to look upon
clergymen as the only real instructors, and to have for-
gotten the most useful class in Scotland— the teachers
of the rising generation. A minister, without a school-
master, is the most useless animal in existence ; yet in
the whole of this Bill not the slightest allusion
is made to parish schools. Of what use is it to send a
minister among a people who are ignorant of the
first rudiments of knowledge ? It is only casting seed
on waste land which springs up and is choked by rank
weeds. If Mr. M.NEILL had consulted any practical
man on the subject, the answer would have been—
" Begin with the beginning. Send schoolmasters among
the people, who would be passing rich with forty pounds
a year—lnstil into their minds some knowledge of
reading, and writing, and arithmetic, and the history of
their country, but on no other condition send a clergy-
man among them." Each clergyman is to receive 120 L
a year, no great sum; but the question is whether it
might not be better applied, and whether three school-
masters would not be a greater blessing than one
clergyman. But even admitting the use of the Church
Establishment, why not adhere to the old system, which
has done so much for Scotland. It is quite an anomaly
in that country to have a parish church without a pa-
rish school, and if the Bill is not materially altered in
this respect, it will give no satisfaction either to Church-
men or laymen. But this measure is only in keeping
with the Tory rage of the day. The cry is, not for more
knowledge, more sound principles of right and wrong,
more sound, religious, and moral doctrines but for
more Church, as if a steeple and bells, and a sermon
once a week would chace away ignorance, and make
the community happy. In our opinion, all these para-
phernalia have the contrary effect. They are in-
tended to mislead the people for the interest of the
Church, or make them subservient to State purposes.
Church extension, by itself, is only a wild delusion or a
wicked scheme, for enslaving the working classes. The
political and religious principles of the men who shout
loudest for' Mother Church " can leave no doubt as to
their object.

MARKET NEWS.-(THIS DAY.)
HA.YMAREETS.

SMITIIFIELD.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 21 12s to 3/3s ; use-
ful ditto, 3/ 5s to 31 lOs; fine Upland ditto, 3/ 12s to
31 16s; Clover Hay, 3/ to 5l; Oat Straw, 11 68 to 1/ 8s;
Wheat Straw, 11 8s to 1/ lOs per load. Both hay
and straw moved off slowly, at about last week's prices.
CUMBERLAND.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 31 to 3/ 103; useful
ditto, 3/ 12s to 3/ 16s; fine Upland ditto, 31 16s to 41;
Clover Hay, 315 s to 4116 s ; Oat Straw, 117 s to 1/9s ; Wheat
Straw, 118 s to 1/ 12s per load. Supply moderately good,
and trade rather dull.

WiIITECHAPEL.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 21 lOs to 3/ ;
useful ditto, 31 3s to 31 lOs ; fine Upland ditto, 31 12s to
31 16s ; Clover Hay, 31 to 5/ ; Oat Straw, 116 s to 118 s ;
Wheat Straw, 118 s to 11 lOs per load. A good supply and a
heavy demand.

taro who were the parties to whom they were supplying
goods. A married woman was not liable at law for goods
supplied to her.
Tho jury, who coincided in the view of the case taken by
the Secondary; gave a verdict for the defendant.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE

UNION HALL.-(THIS DAY.)
i !Eight young men, all in the workhouse garb, were charged
before Mr. Traill with destroying their clothes in St. George's
workhouse, and also with breaking open the bread-room.
The defendants, with 17 others, were admitted into the
workhouse as casual paupers on the preceding night. At an
early hour in the morning a great noise and disturbance was
heard in the ward they occupied, and on the porter going
there he found the defendants in a state of nudity, and their
garments in tatters scattered all over the place.
The defendants, one and all, said they came up to London
in quest of employment, but not getting any, they were re-
duced to destitution, and their clothes being in a dreadful
condition fr•m vermin, they tore them up to get others in
their stead.

Mr. TRAILL pointed out to the defendants the absurdity of
thus leaving their homes and roving to a strange place, where
there were so many persons already out of work. He then
committed the defendants for ten days each, a sentence with
whieh they all seemed well pleased.
Four men were charged with assaulting the landlady of
the Guildford Barge, and also with attacking the police, when
they went to the rescue of the female. The landlady,
had a severe black eye from a blow by one of the
defendants, for refusing to serve: him. When the
police were called, the defendants made a determined attack
upon them, tore their clothes, and committed other damage.
The defendants were fined 3/. each, or in default of payment,
committed for a month.