The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-06 00:00:00

( __. ATVIItiIS .L 7 litt

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1844.

Doo r •

OVERLAND MAIL
EXPRESS FROM. PARIS.

MOST IMPORTANT.
MALTA, FEB. 28.
MARSEILLES, MAR9I 3.
PARIS, MARCIE 4.

The Indian Mail of the Ist February announces
the taking of Gwalior after two battles, in which
the Anglo-Indian army lo .t more than 1,000 men in
killed and wounded— the enemy sustained an equal
loss.

(Telegraph interrupted by tim night),
THE GWALIOR.

We reprint the following letter, which we received
fro :n our Bombay correpondent by the last Overland
Alail, in reference to the condition of our relations
with the Gwalior Government. This document may
serve to illustrate the important intelligence which
reached us last night in anticipation of our expected
dispatches from India.

" BOMBAY, JAN. 1,
"The most important intelligence of the month is that from
Gwalior, where one of those sudden turns which are so often
occurring in the affairs of India has relieved us of the ap-
prehensions of immediate war, which a fortnight since seemed
inevitable. The army of exercise, whose details were partly
gieen in my last letter, having been called together with the
utmost dispatch, was, by the beginning of the month,
found complete in all its details. Lord Ellenborough
left Calcutta 'ion the 25th of November, and with the
utmost dispatch reached Agra on the 10th December, and
reNiewed the troops. On the 12th, the first brigade under
General Valiant marched, the remainder following on the
three next ensuing days. The left wing of the army, under
General Grey, had meanwhile assembled at Jansi, and com-
menced its advance simultaneously with the force from Agra.
The Gwalior chiefs, seeing themselves placedbetwixt a couple
of magnificently-appointed advancing armies, and also know-
ing that they had to deal with one not to be trifled With, at
once lost heart. The malcontent chiefs were placed in cus-
tody, and afterwards surrendered to us. The Government of
the country was placed in the hands of the chief most favour.
able to our interest.

" A question of peace or war continued still to •be stoutly
debated in the l)urbar, when the approach of the British
troops frightened them into submission. Lord I,.ll.6n-
borough, it is said, still means to go forward, but with a
small fragment of the army only, such as may be con-
sidered requisite to expedite the tranquillisation_ of, the
country. The terms agreed ,upon are, of . course, as
yet, scarcely known to the public. Their general
tenour is said to be to the effect that the. Gwailor
Government shall hereafter maintain a large con-
tingent force, and pay the whole costs already incurred on
their behalf; and that an extensive piece. of territory, in-
denting inconveniently into the Company's dominions, shall
be ceded in perpetuity to the British Government in security
for the payment of the contingent. When it is -consideted,
that in reality the Gwalior States lapsed to us 'as heirs of the
King or. Delhi some eight months since, and that they only
maintain a show of independence by our grace and favour,
they seem to have been treated with much leniency and Con-
sideration."-Herald. „ , .

In the House of Lords the Horze-Racing Bill and
the Metropolitan Improvement Bill received the
Royal assent.
In answer to a question from Lord NORMANDY, the
LORD CHANCELLOR said the law Lords were divided
in opinion in the case relating to Presbyterian Mar-
riages, but when a decision was given he should move
the re-appointment of the Committee.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE put three questions
to the Earl of DEVON relative to the Irish Land Te- '
nure Commission. They were, whether the COMMis•
Sioll. would affect leases already entered into; whe-
ther they had prepared any report as to the propor-
tion. area to the value of land; and whether the
evidence taken before the Commission would be printed ?

The Earl of DEVON said the whole of the cases in-
vestigated would be reported, but he could not answer
the other questions.
The House adjourned at a Quarter-past Six.

On a question put by Sir WILLIAId HEATHCbTE,^
Chairman of the Colchester and Ipswich Railway
Committee, relative to the claim of certain parties to
act as agents before Committees, those parties not
being Parliamentary agents, a discussion arose, which
was terminated by the opinion of the Spsmunt,Nwho
said that Parliamentary agents were the/onli-persons
admitted by the Standing Orders of the House to
appear before Committees. The House acquiesced in
this, decision.

After the presentation of a number of petitions,
Mr. WARD gave notice that, on an early day after
Easter, he would move for a Committee of the whole
House, to inquire into the present state of the tem-
poralities of the Irish Protestant Church. This
announcement was received with cheers.

Mr. WILLIAMS moved that no motion, if opposed,
shall be brought on and discussed in the Huse after
midnight.

The CHANCELLOIX of the EXCHEQUER opposed the
motion, and blamed the Honourable Member for
Coventry and others for making long speeches, which
led to the inconvenience complained of.
Mr. BROTHERTON said he never made long speeches,
and expressed a wish that the QUEEN would. imitate
the example of her illustrious predecessor, ELIZA-
BETH, and admonish Members not to consume so
much time in making long speeches.
The House divided, when there were for the motion
16, and against it 146.

No other business of importance came• before the
House, which adjourned at a Quarter to Seven o'Clock.

The persecution of the Jews, we regret to state,
still continues with unabated virulence throughout
the Russian dominions, as also in those provinces
which once formed portions of Turkey and Poland,
but which are now in a great degree under the direct
influence of the Czar. "Letters from Moldavia and
Lithuania," says a Morning Contemporary, " give
most harrowing accounts of the sufferings of the Jews
in those countries. The Moldavian Government de-
sirous, why or wherefore we know not, of diminish-
ing the number of Jews resident in the State, has
recently enacted that none shall be admitted without
a regular passport, and that any one detected
contravening this law shall be sent to the salt mines
of Olma. In the town of Jassy a daily report is to
be made to the police-officers of the number of Jews
that arrive, and of each they are to require a carte-
de-sqour." When we read of these tyrannical acts
o 1 legislation, we are carried bdck in fancy to the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when the Jews
were treated worse—if that be possible—than the
black slaves in the Southern States of America;
visited with fine—imprisonment—torture—death—
according to the caprice of the . great and petty
despots of Europe ; and scarcely recognised as
forming a branch of the vast, comprehen-
sive family of humanity. From the.: above accounts
it would seem that the -Moldavian and Lithuanian
authorities—acting, no doubt, under Russian influ-
ence—look upon the Jews as a sort of.moral pesti-
lence, and require them to perform quarantine, and
bring a sound bill of health with them, previous to

their being permitted to reside .in those•enlightened
countries. We always knew that NICHOLAS was a
tyrant —a systematic, remorseless tyrant,-utterly re-
gardless of the claims of humanity, when those
claims interfered with any favourite project; but we
little thought that he was a fool as well as a tyrant,
without wit enough to see what was beneficial or other-
wise to his own interests. We could understand
his policy much as we abhorred it, when. he sacrificed
Poles by thousands to his hist of arbitrary, irresponsi-
ble power; tore the mother from the son, the wife
from the husband, and heaped up, like another TA-
MERLAIq, but without his intellect, a pyramid of
corpses on the highway as an awful monument of his
Imperial, vengeance—we could understand, we re-
peat, this ruthless, straightforward policy, emanating,
as it avowedly did, from the CZAR'S desperate deter-
mination. to strike terror to the heart of Poland;
but we must confess we are wholly at a loss to
Understand the motives by which he is in-
fluenced in his present persecution of the Jews,
which seems to us the niost suicidal act of atro-
41ty that ever yet was perpetrated, even by a Rus-
Sian despot. As for the pretext that they are en-
gaged in smuggling, surely this is not sufficient
to explain or justify the banishment of an entire
people, many of whom are among the most enlight-
ened of the CZAR'S subjects, diffusing the arts of civili-

nation by their wealth, and,fostering a taste for itj en-
joyments by their example ! There must be some petty,
Corrupt, underhand agency,at work; and NICHOLAS
has doubtless been led to believe, by certain crafty,
interested counsellors, that the Jews have been actively
dnga" ged in fomenting political disturbances in the king-
dom. Be the motives of his conduct, • hoWever, what
they may, he hat shown the Most deplorable fatuity
in expatriating his Jewish subjects, 'and the conse.:
ciuences cannot fail, in the long- run, to' come home to
him, and verify SUAKSPEARE'S remark, that " the
great Gods are just, and of our vices make instruments
tb. scourge
,us," Should, Poland ever again threaten
ihstirrection—should another such conspiracy break
Out among.,,the Russian military as' that *hiCh
nalised the, EMPEROR'S accession to the throne—

should, in short, any event arise 'that may require a
vast increase
.in his_expenditure, from what quarter
is the So'vereign of all the Russias to .derive the
means of replenishing his exchequer ? Will the
Jews, the great bankers for ages of-all the Courts of
Enrope, hith ? • Certainly not. They will

bear diligently in mind his. remorseless perse-
cution of their Russian brethren, and reject all
his supplications for a:loan with contempt, :were he
even•' to- offer an interest of cent. per cent.' for thQ,
money. , Meantime, we trust that our brave and
generous countrymen, always the advocates of the
oppressed, will not fail to mark their sense
of the atrocious conduct pursued by NicnoLate
towards -tlie• Jews. We trust that they will

forthwith hold public"meetingson the subject, • and al
these meetings express their sentiments of disgusi

and abhorrence in the strongest terms that the Eng-
lish language allows. A tyrant, even .though he be
a Russian tyrant, and call himself NICHOLAS, mnst
not be permitted to trample on the laws of justice
and humanity with impunity..

We return
.to the debate of Friday last, the 2c,i
instant, on the Navy Estimates,. in order to direct
attention more particularly tof some of the important
points, calling for the early attention of the 'Adnii-
ralty authorities, to which our limits, on aformer
sion, did not allow us to advert. The result of our long
experience as journalists is a conviction that no means
can be employed for the retnedy of abuses in any
department .of the public service, so effective as
the pressing them on the public at large, rathor than
on any given branch of its executive service. We,
therefore, make no • apology for repeating Captain
RECIIELL's remark, that when there is some difficulty
in getting good seamen to volunteer, those boys who
have already acquired some proficiency in gunnery,
ought to be kepLin.. the service. They 'were, how-
ever, discharged at thoexpitation of their apprentice-
ship: Only 'those-Who were-as' much as 7 'stones (of
141 b.) weight were taken. - Now, thereltaybe -some
force in the answer,'" that it would .not be fair _to
retain the 'boys, after completing theirappienticeship,
seeing thafnthers are always waiting to be admitted
on ships' books • in their places." But, on 'the 'One.
hand, the policy is obvious; of retaining theserVicei-
of thoroughly drilled and efficient boys, -after -.they'
have grown -up,- as 'it were in this 'very professional
discipline, to manhood,
.and have attained a tharongh
aequaintatice with- , the ships in Which- they have
served; arid, on the other, the 'danger is immi-
nent; br 'discharging the boys just as you
have made them sensible of their worth,
utility, and handiness—of inducing them to enter into
foreign service, in which no 'man can say how soon it
might happen that their ". gunnery practice" would
be directed against-our own fleet. The question of
retaining them, 'it 'is true,' is a question of 'expense.
But,that might be in a great measure-.obviated by
some isttch arrangement as Sir CnAni..ES ' NAPIER
sugg*ited. The Gallant Commodore at the same
time thus described the imtnediate consequences of
their discharge on completing their apprentice. term:
When," said he, ". they came home and were dis-
charged, they were 4 hobbledehoys,' neither 'Men
nor boyi—,-(A laugh)—were caught up by the
crimps, taken to houses, and spent their time • in
dancing with the girls, while, some fellow fiddled
away.—(Laughter) That was the way in which
their 'morality Was•tuiried,' and"he thdught that~tlM -
Government, whatever might be the cost, should take

Iniltnboard the flag-ships, instead of letting them
shift for themselves."
With regard to the complaints that masters in the
Royal Navy were seldom allowed to attain the rank
of lieutenant, although this was nominally open to
them, the reply of Sir GEORGE COCKBURN does not
appear to have been either conclusive or satisfactory.
The professional and scientific skill, the theoretical
and practical seamanship, the coolness, judgment, and
other moral qualifications, as well as the technical
ability requisite for the efficient discharge of their
very responsible duties, would seem to give these
officers an a priori claim to the advantages of promo-
tion as opportunities offered.. We are much-mistaken
if the " masters" of the present day in her MAJESTY'S
service, rate the point of honour so low as to find suf-
ficient compensation for their almost total exclusion
from the rank in question, in Sir GEORGE'S apologetic
defence of the Admiralty practice towards them,
namely, " that, as it was, the master of a line of battle
ship got greater pay than the first lieutenants, and
other masters of different classes got the same pay as
other lieutenants." How many a gallant BENBOW or
intrepid BoscAwEN, even in the earlier period of his
naval career, would have pitched into the sea a whole
year's salary of a First Lord of the Admiralty himself,
to be allowed but " to pluck bright honour" in the
well-earned distinction of an epaulette, from the
hand of official patronage ! Each of those brave
worthies, if we. remember rightly, had been, in the
toilsome course of his perilous career—" a• master."
Good fellows ! fine officers ! brave seamen !—these
masteri, it seems. But then, quoth Sir GEORGE COCK-
BURN, " they were persons who went through the
coarser line of 'seamanship; and, though they were
excellent seamen, they were :not" the same class of
persons as lieutenants, who, it should be remembered,
had to serve a considerable number of years before
they got their• commissions." This is " ominous
stuff" to be uttered by a British Admiral,. of Sir
GEORGE'S distinguished bravery and conduct ; but he
is of that ' new-fangled school—half civil, half mili-
tary—neither flesh nor fowl—that amphibious com-
pound of modern Admiralty Boards, the constitution
of which is so distasteful to the gallant NAPIER.
What would some of the higher, thorough-sailor
class of Admirals of the old school, GELL
or RODNEY, STRACHAN or NELSON, lIRVe
said to this disparaging estimate of masters of the
navy in general, and those of their own ships. in par-
ticular ! " Coarse line of seamanship,"L--we think we
hear not JOHN " angry Spirit of the water
shriek,",—but the savoury spirits of tar and
picked oakuin venting their sighs of passionate indig-
nation, at this disdainful notice of those who, for-
merly, lived so much among them. But. Sir GEORG E
is unwilling to drive the masters to despair. In the
lottery of promotion there may be, it seems, some
half a dozen chances for their whole body: " The
masters were ;eligible to be made lieutenants when
any gallant act or particular good service was per-
formed by them."
We have long concurred in an opinion professed by
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, "that the standing of the.petty
officers ought to be -raised, so. that they might be
more identified with the officers than with the men.
If that were done, there never would be any mutiny,
or if there were it would very soon be put down."
For what we stated, in a former article on the sub-
ject of steam men-of-war, we venture to cite the Un-
impeachable and emphatic "authority of Captain Rous.
This officer remarked—" It had been proposed to
provide 200 steam-ships for our navy; but had they
200 officers wild were so well acquainted with steam-
ships as to 'be qualified to take the command of those
vessels ?" It was the same officer who, in common
with Sir CHARLES NAPIER, insisted on the palpable
disadvantage, as well as imPropriety, of employing
aged, to the exclusion of younger and more vigorous,
officers in command. "He had told' the House for

two years past, that if the Admiralty persisted in ap-
pointing to the command of ships Officers who had
been a quarter of a century on shore, this state of
things must continue."

But perhaps.the most Striking feature in the whole
debate was -`the protest against the further implicit
adoption of all the plans of the present Surveyor of
the Navy, Sir W. SYMONDS. We offer no opinion
on the merits or deficiencies of this gentleman—the
Government naval architect ; hut the question of his
success in, or inadequacy to, that responsible office,
well deserves the most profound attention of Govern-
ment. It is a matter as to which not a fraction of

personal prepobsessions or partialities should be
allowed to -influence the judgment of the authorities.
Yet the authorities were broadly accused of over-
weening prepossessions on behalf of his models, and
partiality in favour of his opinions, by Captain. Dux-

DAS, out of the House, Captains PECHELL and Rous
and Commodore NAPIER. within it. Captain Rotis
said; `j' He saw by the newspapers that a number of
what were called very magnificent frigates were in
Course of construction; but he believed that nearly
all of .them, before they were put in commission,

would be found to be worthless. He believed that

many of theSe ships, some of them built by Sir W.
Symorins--sbips upon which millions of money had
been expended—would turn out to be' fit only for
firewood."

I It seems that for any officer to impute in his re-
Ports to the Admiralty bad sailing, or other qualities,

tb - craft that have been turned out by Sir W.
Svmoans, is -a " damnable heresy." "But," said
Captain Rous, " the officers were well 'aware that, if
they reported unfavourably, there was at once an end
to their hopes of promotion. • When the 18-gun brigs
were converted into ships, the officers in command
were required to report on their qualities. This was
idnown to be an Admiralty whim, and all the officers

reported favourably, except. Captain DUNDAS, a son of
one of the Lords of the Admiralty, who said that his
vessel had been a very fine brig, and had been made
illtto a very bad ship. That officer, in consequence of
expressing this opinion, was remonstrated with; pri-
vately and publicly, but still he maintained that his
()Pinion was correct."

In relation to this subject, the complete failure of
the Water-Witch (built at West Cowes by Mr.
WHITE), purchased from her noble owner, and con-
verted from about the finest, fastest, and most beauti-

ful two-masted yacht that ever sailed, into -a very
bad three-Masted vessel of war, by the Government's
,dip-builder, was largely dwelt upon. Captain Rots
,did not hesitate to say, that no Government ship.:
wright's ' reports were worthy of credit when they
sere made of vessels not r built by themselves ; that

all builders hated one another ; and those of our dock

y'ards invariably disparaged the craft turned out o
private yards. How this may be we know not; but
the case of the " Water-Witch," which we saw our-

selves when on the stocks, whilst building for the Earl
of BELFAST, afterwards on various trips, prior to her
alterations, and subsequently, in the ruined state

'described by Captains Rous and PEcnELL:did go far
to show that a most searching inspection and reform

are
.needed in this department of our naval adminis-
tration. The matter is one which, if the allegations

we have quoted be well grounded, admits not of

delay in providing a present remedy for past errors,

and attempting to guard against the future peril to

our navy, which the practices complained of cannot

but have incurred.

We, some months ago, urged upon the consideration
of the Government the propriety, not to say, the
duty—of opening to public competition, the designs
for the new buildings to• replace the old faqade and
quadrangle. of the British Museum. With what
signal success the latent genius of English art—un-
trammelled by the conventional intrigues, and
favOuritisms of incorporated associations—may be
appealed to, when a worthy object of national emu-
lation is proposed for competition—was singularly
evinced in the-recent collection of histofical cartoon
drawings. The decoration of the halls and chambers
of the New 'louses of Parliament offered 'a fine
scope to the talent of our native artists for design
in the highest branch of pictorial composition. The
result was most fortunate. It may. be considered to
have called a new era of art into existence among us,
and-will alwayi be remembered to the honour of
those who so worthily -responded to the summons of the
.Legislature. •

If the British Museum appeals less forcibly to that
enthusiasm which .is‘based on historical associations
and reminiscences,.than the seat of our ancient Con-
stiutional Legislatme, it has claims at least as
powerful. on the affection, the solicitude, and the
respect of every British scholar and student; of the
_lovers of national science and philosophy ; and above
111,- of -the admirers of Greek-Sculpture; with -all its
infinite varieties of idealized beauty, in form,