The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-22 00:00:00

THE

army, that, according to Mr. Escorr, fights with the bellies i
of the people, driven from his county. Hall that the League
proposes cannot be done this year, we pray them to let there
be no doubt about Mr. MILES and East Somersetshire.
Bristol should set all doubt at rest on this subject, and, we
presume, will. We pray, too, that there may be no doubt
about Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY. Let the game-laws be
scourged in this their most unblushing champion.
We could have wished to see Buckinghamshire, Dorset-
shire, and• West Sussex in the next year's League programme.
It would be wounding the enemy in his tenderest part, t
beat him in the Duke of RicnmoNn's, the Duke of BUCK-
INGHAM'S, and Lord ASHLEY'S counties; and Buckingham-
shire is within an hour's reach for the London free-traders,
whe are willing to give fifty or sixty pounds for a freehold
that will enable them to vote at the next general election
against the Duke of BUCKDIGHAM'S nominees. Bucking-
hamshire, by all means, should be added to the list.
East Surrey, South Essex, West Kent, South Hants, and
East Sussex, is, in the meantime, the work provided by the
League for Londoners between this and the 31st of January
next. The possession of a forty-shilling freehold on that day
in any of these counties will entitle a person to be placed
on the register in next year's registration. Let all who have
fifty or sixty pounds to invest, and who wish to aid in giving
monopoly its death-blow, go to the League•-office, and make
themselves 'forty- shilling freeholders for the next registra-
tion. The money will not be sunk ; and to the pecuniary
return will be added the power of voting against the
enemies of free trade and good government.

The wretched condition of from three millions to four mil-
lions of men, women, and children in Ireland, so disgraceful
to a Christian community, has often been described by casual
visitors to that country, or by professed book-makers ; it has,

of course, made an impression on readers for a time, and ex-
cited wonder that so many human beings should exist under

the most civilised Government of the world, and in a country
overflowing with wealth, and furnishing employment to
countless labourers by the most gigantic and daring schemes.
In England, but a few miles distant, labour finds a sufficient
demand, trade is in the most flourishing condition, the poor ge -
nerally can obtain work and bread enough to stop the cravings
of their children, and even the very farm labourer, amidst his
extreme poverty, is comfortably lodged, and can eke out his
existence with decent endurance on an income of 10s. a week.
The condition of the lower classes in Scotland, with the ex-

ception, perhaps, of some remote districts in the Highlands,
is still more favourable. Recourse is rarely and reluctantly
had to parish relief; almost every one of the poorest class has
a decent suit, in which he can attend churches and fairs
without feeling shame in the presence of others in better
circumstances. But in Ireland there is only one uni-

versa' scene of misery; families half starved, the father and
the mother half naked, and the children in many instances
with only a tatter to cover their nakedness, but utterly use-
less either for protecting them from cold, or providing the
warmth necessary for their comfort and very existence. The
whole family, huddled together with the pig, or the cow, or
some domestic animal which their scanty means can
purchase, they appear to every observer but themselves in
the lowest stage of misery, and far inferior in condition to
the merest savages. But what renders the evil more in-
tolerable, there is no prospect whatever of improvement.
Government can do little, and those who are bound in a
moral and religious point of view to mitigate such a
horrible state of suffering, the landlords and priests,
appear to do still less. We hear of the starved
cotter driven from his wretched abode by the middleman or
his employer, or all his little stock seized for payment of
rent ; and we hear a great deal more about the piety of the
people, their reverence for their priests, and the sineere devo-
tion they display when in the most ungenial weather they
kneel before the crucifix, or at the observances of religious
rites in front of their district chapels, too small fur the super-
abundant population; but we rarely or never hear of these
parties laying their heads together to improve the moral and
physical condition of the people, to teach them agriculture or
economy, or any arts by which civilised man is distinguished
from the barbarian. Latterly another awful symptom
of their degradation has manifested itself in many districts.
The wretched beings, as if weary of life, have resorted to as-
sas,ination—the assassination of the very men who should be
their natural protectors. The crime is on the increase, and
how it is to be put down no human being can tell. Mr.
O'CONNELL seems to look to the constabulary force for pro-
tection, and blames the Government, who have such power
ful means in their hands, for not punishing the assassins.
But in such a ease it is well known that the most powerful

Government cannot do much without the aid of the more
respectable residents. These criminals appear to be bound
together by secret oaths, or, at all events, by a spirit of clan-
ship, which prevents every trace of proof; even the more
honourable among them, who are shocked at such atrocities,
and might be inclined to give evidence, are deterred by a
sense of self-preservation, for they reckon with certainty, and
they have but too good reason, that they would meet the
fate of the victim whose death they were anxious to avenge.
For this deplorable state of society we can see no hope of re-
medy at all so likely to effect a change as more activity and
watchfulness on the part of the Catholic clergy. The arm of
the law is utterly powerless ; the fear of priestly indignation
and punishment never was more prevalent among any people,
and the least thing the clergy can do is to make an experi-
ment and use their religious power in the cause of humanity and
good order, and for the sake of the people themselves. We
are firmly convinced that the will is not wanting on the part
of the priesthood, but only the means of carrying it into
effect. Let them combine together for the purpose ; they
have every means of intelligence, and the terror of their ven-
geance would do more in one year than all the constabulary
and all the military force of England. They are bound to
make the experiment for their own sakes. From all we can
learn, a more virtuous clergy does not exist than the Catholic
clergy of Ireland, and they would be the very last per-
sons in the world to wink at assassination ; but they
ought to remember that stigmas are not easily wiped out,
and that many Protestants still believe that the policy of the
Court of Rome remains the same, and that assassination, or
any other atrocious means of destroying an enemy, is still sanc-
tioned, provided such crimes can advance the interests of the
Catholic Church. That such a policy at one time was in full
vigour, and met the hearty support of the unprincipled men
that occasionally filled the Pontifical chair, there can
be no manner of doubt. Proofs are so numerous
and palpable, that it is needless to cite one in-
stance. But let the Catholic priests remember, that though
the policy is changed, prejudices have not changed with it,
and that it becomes them in a crisis like this te show to the
worldthat they make use of their vast influence itsliae cause of
morality, and, above all, in saving their native land/from utter
ruin. If a speedy end is not put to this system of assassina-
tion Ireland must decline every day in power and influence,
and reviving prosperity be banished from the country. No
capitalist will lend his money to such a people; no artisans
will teach them; for Englishmen, brave and daring as they
are, will flee before assassins, and Ireland must be left to the
iron rule of the military power. As for repeal, if it were
accomplished to-morrow, it would only add to the evil. It
would drive capital entirely from the country ; it would not
restore order; England would be constantly harassed by
her nearest neighbour, and nothing but a second conquest
could make her secure.

Madrid journals of the 13th inst. have been received. It
appears from some of them that General MAZZAREDO, Cap-
tain-General of Madrid, had resigned, and that both he and
General CORDOVA bad given up their important offices on
account of the offensive conduct of NARVARZ. The Eco del
Comercio says, that at Saragossa not less than forty officers
had been dismissed in one day. We infer front these move-
ments, as well as from symptoms of mutiny in some of the
regiments, that NARVAEZ is beginning to lose his hold of
the army, and that he is making every effort to recruit it
with men suited to his views. The accounts from Catalonia,
and especially the city of Barcelona, are rather alarming.
What with the conscription, the new income-tax, and the
wavering dispositions of the soldiers, and the reported at-
tempts of General PRIM, affairs in that quarter begin to
wear a serious aspect.
On the 13th the Three per Cents. closed at 371, at 60 days ;
the Five per Cents., 24i, at 60 days; and the Coupons, at
261, at 60 days.

Several of the Paris journals contain comments on the cir-
cular issued by the Minister of Commerce and Agriculture,
to the prefects of departments relative to the quantity of
corn in the country. All the important parts of that docu-
ment appeared in The Sun of yesterday, and the remarks in
the journals furnish no additional facts. The National, how-
ever, will not believe what the Minister asserts, that alarm
prevails, and calls upon the Government to adopt measures
for preventing the exportation of provisions. With the ex-
ception of this discontented organ of the Republican party, we
find no other journal containing any article of the slightest
interest to Englishmen. In that paper, however,
there is one relating to the entente cordiale, which we give as
a curiosity. We believe most of our readers will perceive
that it contains twice as many falsehoods as truths, and it is
therefore needless to point them out. The writer takes for
his text the late dispatch of Lord ABERDEEN to Sir EDMUND
LYONS, ironically points to that as a proof of the entente cor-
diale, and then strings together numerous illustrations of his
doctrine. "The whole system," says he, "of our foreign
policy, as is well known, is involved in a single principle, the
entente cordiale with England. This is the pivot of affairs
the axis on which rolls all our diplomacy. It must be clang
to as to a buckler, with which we are defended against abso-
lutist Europe. This has been repeated a hundred times.
What, therefore, is the meaning of the ill-humour of the
Debate? Why has it been so imprudent as to
scold the conduct of Lord ABERDEEN in his rela-
tions with,treece ? The British Cabinet throws every
kind of obstacle in the way of the CoLErn Ministry, and de-
, mands in sharp terms that the Greek Budget shall apply its
surplus to the payment of its debt. England is not a cre-
ditor little suceptible about events. It would be better if she
left the Greek Government time to liquidate its arrears, and to
extricate itself, by means of a good administration, from the
embarrassments which the past has created. It is thus that
France wishes to act, but it is precisely for that reason that
England pursues other designs. It is, therefore, the first time
that the entente cordiale has been manifested under these ap-
pearances ? Since the last revolution in Greece, have the
struggles between the diplomacy of the two nations been a
secret for any one? Is there anything in the world so cor-
dial as the antipathy of MM. LYONS and PISCATORY ? Is there
any one ignorant of the manner in which our Ambassador has
been treated in the House of Commons, without Sir R. PEEL
making any remark to the contrary? But Greece is only one