The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-01 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 1844.

Whatever may be said or thought of the late pro-
secutions
in Ireland, it is quite clear that the feelings
of the people of England have been roused from
apathy and indifference, as to the state of the sister
country. Never, at any period of his life, did
O'CONNELL stand so high in the opinions of
Englishmen as at this moment—never did sym-
pathy for the wrongs of Irishmen, and admiration
for the constant champion of his countrymen, prevail
to anything like the extent now exhibited, and
never did persecution produce results more unfavour-
able to its originators than the persecution set on
foot by the Irish Government, to crush the man whom
it has tended to exalt. And we believe that Irish
gratitude bears equal pace with English sympathy ;
that conciliation rules where exasperation lately pre-
sided ; and tliat the very kindliest and best feelings
have taken the place of bitter hatred, and undisguised
detestation. The tone in both countries has changed,
is changing, and will change still more, when the
cause of Ireland becomes, as the late trials have tended
to make it, the cause of the whole empire.
The demonstration of English sympathy which is
to take place at Covent-garden Theatre on Tuesday,
the 12th instant, will increase the kindliness which it
is so important to encourage. Seldom have we seen
a list of names joined for such a purpose, equal to
that which our columns this day show joined as
stewards, for the purpose of fraternising with Ireland
and O'CONNELL.

May such meetings, and such feelings as they call
into action, prevail ; and then England and Ireland
united, happy, and free, may show the blessings
which spring from good government, free from
partiality, jealousy, and suspicion.

The LORD CHANCELLOR and the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON were absent from the House of Lord.; last
night, and no business was transacted.

In the Commons, after the presentation of petitions,
Mr. V. SMITH gave notice that on Thursday se'n-
night he would move for leave to bring in a Bill to
alter the oath taken by Roman Catholics before en-
tering Parliament.
Mr. S. CRAWFORD gave notice that, on the motion
for going into Supply this day, he should move that
the petitions presented to the House relative to the
grievances of the people be referred to a Select Com-
mittee, and that till such Committee be granted the
supplies be withheld.

_ _
Mr. MACKINNON gave notice that he would on
Thursday se'nnight move for a Select Committee to
inquire into prison discipline.

In answer to a question from Mr. HAWES relative
to the Custom-house robberies, Lord G. SOMERSET
said the inquiry was going on with all possible speed,
but he could not say when it would terminate.
In answer to a question from Mr. WALLACE, Mr.
GLADSTONE said that in all cases when railways were
brought before Parliament, in which any new powers
were required, the clause recommended by the Rail-
way Committee would be brought into operation.
He understood the clause would apply to the whole
line in each case.
The Earl of LINCOLN brought in a Bill for regu-
lating the building of houses in London and the
neighbourhood. It applied chiefly to drainage, to
the prohibiting the carrying on of dangerous trades,
or trades noxious to health, in crowded districts, and
the appointment of surveyors.
Mr. RICE called the Attention of the House to the
Report of the Committee on Shipwrecks, and moved
for a Select Committee to carry the objects of the
Committee into effect.

Sir ROBERT PEEL said the subject was under the

anxious consideration of the~government, but they
---(t-Torernment,
would propose nothing till the Report of the Commis-
sioners was completed and duly considered. Several
Members spoke on this important subject and others
connected with it, and finally the motion was with-
drawn, on an understanding that the Government
would take the affair into their own hands.

Sir V. BLAKE, after a brief discussion, withdrew
his motion relative to a more speedy communication
between Great Britain and America.

Mr. WALLACE postponed his motion on railways
for three weeks.

Colonel RAWDOW moved, that owing to the late-
ness of the proclamation to prevent the Clontarf
meeting, a risk of dangerous collision was incurred,
and a precedent, therefore, established dangerous to
the lives and liberties of her MAJESTY'S subjects.
Mr. V. STUART seconded the motion. Lord
ELIOT, in a lengthened speech, detailed the circum-
stances which led to the proclamation, and trusted the
House was not called upon to express its censure of
the Government in the way asked for by the Gallant
Colonel.

The House divided, when there were for the mo-
tion 62, and against it 90.

Lord WoRsLEY brought in a Bill to inclose com-
mons, and land held in common.

The LORD ADVOCATE brought in a Bill to amend
the law with respect to prisons and prison discipline
in Scotland.

The House rose at a Quarter before Eleven o'clock

All the excitement caused in France by the occu-
pation of Otaheite, and the bad feelings generated
between the two countries by the late proceedings of
Admiral DUPETIT THOIYARS, might easily have been
avoided by common prudence. No spot on the face
of the earth could have been selected which was less
suited than Otaheite for a French colony. It is, from
the education, the habits, and the aspirations of the
people, peculiarly English. It was discovered by
Englishmen, it was visited by English missionaries
more than forty years ago, and these missionaries, or
their successors, have ever since had ,a most powerful
influence over the petty Sovereign and the barbaric
chiefs who govern the country. Whatever intern-
' gence they have acquired, and whatever religious
ideas may have sprung up among them, are
purely English , and Protestant, and they
will suffer no amalgamation with another
creed or another nation. What madness, then, to
throw a firebrand among them, and exhibit in a new
colony all the horrors of religious dissension ! If the
French retain possession of Otaheite either as protec-
tors or supreme rulers, they must expel the mis-
sionaries, they must change the religion of the coun-
try, they must make the whole system French, and
necessarily lead the people to believe that the men
that come from the East are a selfish and degraded
race, who have no settled points of faith, and who
only vie with each other in disturbing a little peace-
ful community, which would have been tenfold more
happy if no European had ever been amongst them.
While the French remain protectors of that
country, there can be no peace. Is it not,
therefore, a matter of serious consideration for
the Governments of England and France to do away
with this French Protectorate, and find out some
other islands in the Pacific, or elsewhere, which
might equally suit the purposes of France ? England
has no reason to be jealous, she has no reason to be
niggardly, she has colonies in every quarter of the
globe; and when the French Government has shown
such a friendly disposition to this country, and the
Cabinet has risked its existence to suit the views of
the English Cabinet, ought we not in return to show
some generosity, and assist the GUIZOT Ministry, not
only in repelling the attacks of the Opposition
journals, but in conciliating, by some acts of kind-
ness, nearly the whole of the French nation ? We
have taken possession of New Zealand. The French
were there before us, but they have been ousted from the
country, or if any colonists remain they are subject
to English dominion. We have added immense
territory to our Indian possessions, we have taken the
Falkland Islands, we have occupied the whole of
Caffraria, and find a harbour in every quarter
of the globe for our shipping, yet the British
Government seems determined to grudge the
French every inch of ground out of their own
territory ! This is not the way to maintain the
entente cordiale. There must be reciprocity of con-
cession, or the two countries cannot long remain at
peace. Even Louis PHILIFPE, with all his skill, and
GUIZOT, with all his determined bravery, must at
last give way, if England will not virtually assist
them in conciliating public opinion in France.
England can afford to be generous, and shame to her
if she loses the fairest opportunity that ever occurred
of reconciling the two greatest civilised nations of the
world, and securing universal peace.

Mr. RICE called the attention of the House of
Commons, last night, to his motion on the Report—to
which we have, on two previous occasions, largely
adverted—of the " Committee on Harbours of Re-
fuge." This motion urged upon the House the pro-
priety of addressing the Crown "for the appointment
of a Commission of scientific and competent persons
to consider of the best means for giving effect to the
recommendations of that Committee." The Hon.
Member, with reason, rested his appeal to the Legis-
lature on the main ground of its connexion with
truly conservative duties of the highest order, inas-
much as they respected not only the security of our
commerce, but the protection of life and property
from losses at sea. We think Mr. RICE is fairly
entitled to every credit for having divested his ad-
dress to the House, as much as possible, of all appear-
ances of local prepossession. He felt, as we do,
that the interest of the topics embraced in his
speech was national ; and he treated those
topics, accordingly, in a large and general manner.
On this point we are compelled to repeat the expres-
sion of our own feeling—that matters of higher im-
port—of nearer concernment—not merely to the
trade, coasting and foreign, and to the commercial
marine and capital of the country, but—to the safety,
and consequent political independence and grandeur
of the empire, cannot be brought under the conside-
ration of Parliament. It was obviously impossible
for the Hon. Gentleman to avoid attributing para-
mount importance to the plans already submitted to
the Select Committee by civil engineers, and sanc-
tioned by the very highest naval and military autho-
rities, for the construction not only of a harbour of
refuge, but of strong forts and commanding
batteries at the mouth of the Thames. Our
only wonder is, how works of such indispen-
sable necessity and palpable importance can
have been so long neglected, in the face of such
earnest suggestions as those offered by the Report of
the Select Committee in question. What have the
Government been doing in the interval which has
elapsed since that "first" Report (laid upon the table
in August last) was issued out to Members? What
has been " moved," in the business, by the coun-
cillors of her MAJESTY since the appearance of the
second Report ? Absolutely nothing. No man
can tell how nearly the moment approaches when
reasons of State—not the mere suggestions of a wise
fore-casting policy, but the imperative demands of
some present, overruling exigency—may require that
those works should have been deliberately planned—
carefully constructed—completed—in an effective
condition. Let us forbear to draw more distinctly
the outline of unfortunate, but very possible, contin-
gencies which may arise to interrupt our present re-
lations with some of the Foreign Powers, from whom
her MAJESTY, indeed, always receives "the most
friendly assurances"—at the beginning of the session,
and before the voting of supplies !
Grant the contingencies in question to be but
"possible,"'—we ourselves entertain no notion that they
are "probable :"—and there is case enough for the
duty of at least preliminary preparations in such
matters on the part of the Government. But what is
the fact ? The various professional and civil wit-
nesses who gave their !valuable evidence before the
Select Committee, with the Duke of WELLINGTON,
and a dozen Captains of the Royal Navy—Mr.
WALKER, and many other eminent engineers at their
head—might as well have sat down with the Tam-
worth farmers, to dine off Sir R. PEEL'S imaginary
Birmingham bull,—as to have calculated on any more
substantial benefit resulting from all the pains they
took to satisfy the inquiries of the Committee.d
Our paragon of Premiers—whose self-appre-
ciation doubtless attributes to his own official
individuality all the administrative sagacity of a
COLBERT, united with the executive energy of PITT,

and the dispassionate judgment of Fox, has not only
done nothing in the business—he has not yet come
to any determination, even ! To the 'temperate, sen-
sible speech of Mr. RICE, and the liberal offer of Sir
Jour? REID, to raise any money which might be re-
quired for carrying into effect the proposition to make
Dover a " harbour of refuge," he replied by a sorry
joke about the singular coincidence of this motion
having been brought forward by one Hon. Member for
Dover, and seconded by another. Then he went into a
rambling summary of the evidence given by some of
the principal witnesses examined, in order to illustrate
the conflicting nature of their views as to the preferable
localities to be selected for the harbour of refuge ;
and, by what we must denounce as a mere clap-trap
to enlist a few cheers from Irish Members, hinted his
own preference for Holyhead over Dover. Now, no
parties can be more perfectly alive than we are, to the
value of any undertaking which shall shorten and im-
prove the communication between the two capitals,
Dublin and London; but really the best answer to
all the balanced pros and cons of Sir ROBERT'S
mystified oration—his sage discoveries that A.
was for one point, and B. was clear that
another was the more eligible for a new harbour ; and
his tedious platitudes about the duties of the Scientific
Commission, of which he gave a quasi promise,—is also
the shortest,—Dover MUST BE made a harbour of
refuge, and immediately.
W e shall return to this subject in the course of a
day or two. For the present we can only enter our
protest against the withdrawal of such a measure as
Mr. RICE'S, on account of a speech so jejune, feeble,
and worthless, so full of plausible nothings, and slip-
pery common places, as the Premier's.

The Chronicle of this morning contains some judi-
cious remarks on the subject of Parliamentary de
bates. Our Contemporary—and no wonder—is sorely
afflicted at their intolerable length and prosiness, and
suggests the expediency of their being subjected to a
rigid process of curtailment. " Why on earth," he
asks, "do we repeat all the rubbish which no one
listens to in the House itself ? The reporters should
take the tone of the House in this respect ;
one of the body might stay to make a brief
note of all that passed between five and nine
o'clock, and the rest might pair and dine. If
it were once well understood that, on ordinary
occasions, men who had got no footing in the
House would get none in the newspapers, a
great check would be placed on mediocre oratory.
We invite our Contemporaries, without reference to
party, to give a candid consideration to this project
of Parliamentary Reform." There is no question—
to parody the language of BURKE—that: a predilec-
tion for prolixity in the House of Commons " has in-
creased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished,"
and we trust, therefore, that the Chronicle's seasonable
hint will be carried into practice forthwith. It will
not, indeed, put a stop to that cacoethes loquendi in
which many Honourable Members are so prone to
indulge, and to which—it may be observed by the
rl way—those are usually the most addicted, who are
the least gifted with the oratorical faculty; but it
will, at any rate, be attended with this beneficial
effect—namely, that it will spare an inoffensive
and long-suffering Public the infliction of perusing
an almost interminable mass of, what our Con-
temporary felicitously calls, " rubbish." In some
cases this infliction amounts to a positive
calamity. Conceive, for instance, two mortal
columns of a PETER BORTHWICK, such as ap-
peared in the Post the other day ! The effect
of perusing a speech of this length, unrelieved by
the slightest fancy, wit, sarcasm, or information
of any kind, must be quite excruciating; and the
Public will no doubt jump eagerly at the opportunity
of being disembarrassed henceforth of such an appal-
ling 'visitation. In the extended form in which the
debates at present appear in the daily prints, it is im-
possible for nine out of ten readers, whose leisure
hours are necessarily restricted, to peruse them with
attention; they must perforce skip every second
column, as little boys skip the tall words in their
nursery-books ; and the consequence is, that they
glean but an imperfect and superficial view of the
question in discussion ; and not seldom throw down
the paper, • from sheer despair of being able to
farm any sound opinion respecting the cogency or other-
wise of the different arguments urged in the course
of the debate. Hon. Members should bear in mind
that an English day consists but of twelve hours, and
that the industrious portion of the community, who
constitute the mass, can devote but a small portion of
these hours to the perusal of their speeches. A very
sound and argumentative oration may be commenced
and concluded within a quarter of an hour, but not a
few of our Parliamentary debaters take a whole hour to
say nothing ; and, consequently, theyproduce no other
effect on the House than that of setting it fast asleep,
or occasioning a desperate rush of unsympathising
senators to the door. But if Honourable Members
must needs talk their full of " fluent nonsense,"
at least let them, in compassion to the Public,
allow a respite of one day in the week
from the visitation of their oratory. Let them give
up 'Wednesday to peace and quietness—make it, in
short, a sort of Parliamentary Sabbath—and thereby
establish a claim to the undying gratitude of the vast
majority of their readers. Surely if they get upon their
" eloquent legs"—as Counsellor .Parmars would say
—four days in the week, they have every reason to
be satisfied with their good fortune, without encroach-
ing on the Wednesday !

Madrid papers to the 22d have been received, but
they add little to the intelligence published yester-
day. The Corresponsal states that the English and
French Consuls at Carthagena had proceeded to Mur-
cia on the 17th, for the purpose, it was supposed, of
offering terms of submission on the part of the insur-
gents. According to the same authority, the
blockading force before Carthagena consisted of 4,000
troops of the line and 6,000 National Guards. This
is inconsistent with the fact stated in the Ministerial
journals, that all the National Guards had been dis-
armed.

The Three per Cents. were done at 30k at 60 days ;
and the Five per Cents. at 23 for cash, and 221 at 60
days.

The affair of Otaheite is the passion of the :day
among our volatile and excitable neighbours. No
one talks or writes about anything else; but, with
the exception of a brief statement in the Paris Globe,
by no means creditable to a French officer, there is
neither argument nor news in the articles on this
nine days' wonder. " It appears to us evident," says
that journal, " that Admiral DUPETIT TROUAES, a
seaman so distinguished, and so worthy of the esteem
of all, was seized with a momentary hallucination,
when he took it into his head that the flag of Queen
POMARE, with its closed crown, was an insult to
France. It does not appear to us less evident that
this his first mistake generated a second, when
the QUEEN, having written a letter addressed to
the King of the FRENCH, prayed him to have
the kindness to get it carried to its place of destina-
tion. The Admiral refused her his direct intervention,
and referred the QUEEN to Captain BRUIT, who
had been installed Governor of Otaheite, directing his
letter with the address of—To MadamePomare! Thus,
a French Admiral thought he owed no special respect
to a Queen whom he had just dispossessed; he
refused her, even on the ground of temporary respect,
the qualification which he gave her the day before,
and which was due to her at least until his acts had
been approved of by his Government. It is difficult
to comprehend how the Admiral, whose character is
honoured by every one, did not perceive that Royalty
always leaves an august trace on the brow where it
has resided, and that the example of the brawlers of
1793, who called the noble and unfortunate MARIE
ANTOINETTE Madame Capet, was not precisely of all
historical examples the best and most happy to
imitate?'

The National reckons on a speedy change of Mi-
nistry, but unfortunately for its party the change
would be of no service, as it would only substitute
for the " man of Ghent," the man who has aban-
doned Ancona. The following are the only extracts
of the slightest interest from the Journals :
" The Aube frigate arrived at Breston the 24th inst., bring-
ing home M. Barroitd by th
, theFe tiarnenacyhCn Governmentonsul-Genera as
Consul-General at
the in-
stalment'
Ha3ti
withl6
oil"fthe., pa
indemnity to the colonists. As to the loan,
the President, not being able to meet the payment, has,
says the Moniteur Paramen, entered into a solemn engage-
ment, in the name of the Republic, to pay the three half-
years' interest in arrear on the Ist July next."
" The Official Gazette of Naples, of the 16th ult., publishes a
debtßoy falrodmecrfievee, reducing
fduocuirngpetrheceinnt. tereTstheofhtohlde
e.,:sea,%po,hloitparnetpeurblic
re-
imbursement to the conversion of their stock are to be repaid
at par, gradually by lots to be drawn twice a year—viz.,