The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-28 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT-GARDEN.

UNDER the MA NAG EIIESIT of
THIS EVENING, APRIL 28,
Will be presented Bellini's Opera of LA SONNAMBULA.—The
Character of Amine, by miss Adelaide Kemble; Count Rodolphu,
Mr. Leffler; Elvino, Mr W. H.rrison ; Alessi°, Mr. G. Horneas_
t le; Notary, Mr. A. Wigan ; Lisa, Miss Grant ; Theresa, Mrs. R.
Hughes.

Aber which will be repeated the Grand Romantic Fairy Extrava.
g.anza, entitled THE WHITE CAT.—Wunsuponatyme (King of
Nevermindittnamia), Mr. J. Eland ; Princes Paragon, Precious, and
Placid (his three Sons', by Madame Vestris. Miss Murray and Miss
Lee; Jingo, .Mr. Harley; t. e White Cat, Miss Marshall.
Doors open at half-pait Six, anti the Performances begin at Seven.
Dress Boxes is.. Second Price Ss. 6d ; First and Second Circles 55..
Second Price is. fal.; Pit 35., Second Price es. ; Gallery Is. Tickets
and Places for the Boxes to be tuken of Mr. Grogan, at the Eox.of.
lice, from Ten till Four, where Season Tickets may be had upon ap.
plication. Private Boxes to be had solely of Mr. Andrews, Book
seller, 167, New Bond.street.

Dudley, the nailers have ri*)n in great numbers to
remonstrate with the masters against the recent re-
duction in their wages- of twenty per cent. Now,
when the workmen are generally exposed to great
distress and privation, and when they are beginning
to resist, by violence, further reduction of wages, the
tirades in which Mr. FERRAND has indulged in the
House of Commons, which the Tories cheered to the
skies, when they served the purpose of diverting atten-
tion from the iniquitous corn-laws, will tell with
great force on the minds of the people. They have
Mr. FLRRAND'S authority, they have the authority of
the applauding House of Commons, for believing that
their masters and employers are all intent on cheating
and defrauding them ; and they will no doubt act—
they have already acted—on that lesson. Mr. FEE..
RAND'S teaching will now turn to profit, and he and
the Tories will no doubt have the satisfaction of seeing
that enmity between master and' workmen, which they
have evoked, rife in the land.
We remonstrated the very night we heard Mr.
FERRAND'S first speech, against the encouragement
given to him by the grave Tories of the House of
Commons, including Sir R. PEEL. Now, when the
hunger caused by the Starvation-laws, when
low wages and slackened employment, the
results of restrictions on trade, and when the
inflammatory harangues of privileged speakers, are
producing their appropriate effects, and nailers and
colliers, and other classes, are collecting in multitudes
to settle the rate of wages by force, the military are
put into requisition to keep the peace ; we read of
squadrons of dragoons riding about the country with
drawn swords and loaded carbines. Sir ROBERT
PEEL and the landowners persist in maintaining
laws which keep away food, and take away
trade from the people, and, persisting in that
policy, they are compelled to carry it out by
establishing in the crowded districts of the empire a
complete military rule. Half, or even two-thirds, of
the soldiery kept in garrison at home are plainly
required by the mischievous consequences of the
Corn-laws, which Sir R. PEEL would rather main-
tain by military violence than preserve peace and
order by allowing the people to be prosperous and

ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.
Wonderful attraction, and matchless Stud of Horses.
THIS EVENING, APRIL 23, •

happy.
Whenever sugar is mentioned, our Tory rulers
profess a holy horror at interfering with it, lest they
might impede the prosperity and happiness of the
blacks. At present they seem inclined to lay their
own disturbing hands on Canada ; but when the
Whigs proposed to touch the timber duties they could
not think of risking the prosperity of that colony.
But, with marvellous inconsistency, or with im-
measurable hypocrisy,. these very men have not
the smallest regard to the suffering mil-
lions at home, and witness with the greatest
indifference masses of poverty, distress, and suffering,
caused by their enactments, such as never before ex-
isted. For the blacks and for the Canadians they
have the tenderest sympathies ; for the starving mul-
titudes at home they have hussars and brandished
sabres. They are accustomed, like the fishwoman
skinning eels, to their trade of keeping order at
home by the sword; but they feel appropriate indig-
nation at other persons using the whip. What with
Corn-law makers keeping food from the people, and
at the same time keeping them quiet by the use of
soldiery, England—once, it is said, free and happy
England—has fallen below other nations.
According to the accountsirom Ireland, that coun-
try is neither tranquil nor safe. Edinburgh was
alarmed, a few days ago, by a large assemblage of
the working people ; while we know that at Greenock,
Paisley, and Glasgow, the utmost distress prevails. Such
is the condition of the empire after twenty-seven years'
peace, and a much longer uninterrupted continuance
of all kinds of natural advantages. Obviously the
cause of our national distress is not physicial, but moral.
It springs from our institutions, and is a terrible re-
proach to our statesmen. It is the result of the joint
and combined labours of both Whigs and Tories ;
and neither of them have any better remedy to offer
us than an Bs. duty on corn, or an Income-tax. What
will follow this we cannot tell; but neither Whigs nor
Tories, who are the causes of this great social disease,
will ever cure it.

Will be presented Lord Byron's M A ZEPPA ; 011, THE WILD
HORSES, with increased splendour, extensive auxiliary aid, avid
unspitroachable effects.
_ _

After which, in a more extensive and splendid Arena than ever
before witnessed, THE SCENES IN THE CIRCLE, introducing
Mr. BATTY'S unrivalled Collection of Animals, consisting of nu.
nicrous and matchless Cream-coloured Horses, Andalusian Chargcri,
Spotted Couriers, Fairy Palfreys, and Pigmy Poneys, and the most
talented Vaulters, Riders, Gymnastisli, and Contortionists in the
kingdom.
To conclude with the Historical Pantomime (with Ncw Seenery)
of PER OUSE ; or, the MONKEY of the DESOLATE ISLAND.—
Chimpanzee, the Monkey, by Mons. Gouffe.

All Advertisements of a Disgusting Character,
or Immoral Tendency, are excluded from
the Columns of " The Sun."

• LONDON
THURSDAY MORNING. APRIL 28, 1842.

The debate on Mr. ELPSHNSTONE'S motion to sub-
ject real estates to the legacy and probate duties, is a
good illustration of the pertihacity with which selfish-
ness in lawmakers, as in individuals, pursues its own
gratification. The poor. argument against -.Mr.
ELPHINSTONE'S motion, found equally satisfactory by
Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Mr. GOULBURN, was, that
the probate duties on personal property did not apply
to settled property, and were those duties, therefore,
as proposed, extended to landed property, a great
Portion of which is settled, the revenue would be very
little benefited. Those who have not a strong interest
in the question, at once say, that this is- not an argu-
ment for exempting the land, but for subjecting all
settled, as well as unsettled property, equally to
the duty. We are quite sure that no reasoning in
Parliament, and no sophistry out of Parliament, will
ever make the public believe that it is not a monstrous
injustice that the vast estates of the Dukes of NOR-
TRUMDERLAND, DEVONSHIRE, and BEDFORD, should
pass from heir to heir—from age to age—without
ever paying a farthing to the State, while every
thousand pounds which a tradesman scrapes together
by a life of labour, and leaves to his family,- must pay
:kW. to the State. The lawmakers, however, do not
see, and will not see, the glaring injustice of this, 4-
cause, in the great majority of cases, they are the
holders of settled property, and benefit by this parti-
cular injustice.
We cannot altogether blame them for this. Man is
a selfish animal ; and when lawmakers act on the
good old rule, though it be a breach of confidence, of
getting and keeping all they can, they only follow
their natural instincts, like a cat watching for mice
and seizing them. That they should so act is neither
unnatural nor surprising. What is unnatural, and
what is very surprising, is that we should continue to
believe, after such an immense range of contradictory.
;experience, that man is not a selfish animal, and con-
tinue to place as implicit faith in the professions of
lawmakers, as if they had never beguiled, deceived,
and betrayed our hopes.
Year after year, and age after age, have demon-
strated that all statesmen think much more of
themselves, or of their class, than of the com-
munity. It must be. so. The faculties of each
individual are adapted to provide for the welfare
of the individual, not for regulating the whole
globe, or providing for the welfare of the spe-
cies, and, by his very constitution, he must chiefly
consult his own welfare. What is wrong, what is
contemptible, what is • even silly, is the belief that
things are otherwise ordered, which places those who
entertain it, bound, as it were, hand and foot, at the
mercy of the selfish lawmakers. Rather than be
angry with them for so much using legislation- to
promote their own interest, we ought, perhaps, to be
grateful that they are no worse. We must recognise
too, in their qualified ambition, kept in cheel
by their fears of rousing the confiding people,
a strong proof of the advantage of mutual and
reciprocal dependence, such as equal freedom
maintains. It teaches us, too, that the way to keep
selfishness in check, is not to indulge, it ; and con-
sequently, to make legislators honest and just, we
must not submit to their dishonesty and injustice. In
spite of Mr. GOULBURN and Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the
tradesman who has a legacy duty of 301. abstracted
front every 1,0001. he leaves behind, while the Duke of
BEDFORD'S estate will not pay a farthing, will persist
lin thinking that the Legislature is dishonest and
yinjust.; and, so thinking, he must, in the • end-he
,Annot help himself—throw off its authority, for he
dare !tot obey dishonesty and injustice.

The assimilation of the criminal law in England and
Ireland is one of those praiseworthy objects to which we
are glad to find the attention of the Irish law officers of
the Crown particularly directed. Among the Bills re-
cently prepared for this purpos'e one is now before us,
brought in by the Solicitor-General fur Ireland, and Lord
ELIOT, repealing Acts awarding the punishment of death
for eighteen offences committed in Ireland, for which
various terms of transportation are awarded. By the
12th of Geo. 1., chap. 3, it was a capital felony for

`►oman Catholic priests to celebrate marriages between

Protestants and Catholics. This Act is now repealed,
and transportation for seven years substituted for its
penal provision. It is still monstrously severe. No
penalty whatever should attach to the celebration of
marriage by a State-recognised clergyman of
any religious communion. Why should not a Catholic
priest be allowed to marry a Protestant and a Catholic,
as well as a priest of the Established Church ? What
has the State to do with the ceremonial of marriage,
when there is nothing criminal in the circumstances of
the parties professing different creeds ? They violate
no law of GOD, or of the Church by marrying ; why
then compel them, more than others, to wed according to
the forms of a particular ritual ? The execution of a
clergyman under the Act of Geo. I. would have been in
the eyes of GOD and man a judicial murder ; the banish-
ment of one under the proposed law will be an atrocious
violation of justice and religious liberty. Where there
is no crime there ought to be no punishment.
Burning and destroying ships was under the 11th of
Geo. 11., c. 5, a capital felony in Ireland. Henceforth
°Tenders in this respect are to be transported for fifteen
years, or imprisoned for periods not exceeding three.
This amendment of the law is just and humane, and has
our cordial approbation.
By the 29th of George 11., chap. 5, serving in the
army or navy of France was in Ireland a capital felony.
This law is now simply repealed, and thus an indirect
compliment is paid to France. 'We trust so barbarous a
statute—peculiarly barbarous when a penal code pre-
vented Irishmen from fightiag in the armies of their own
Sovereign, simply because they were Boman Catholics—
will never again be re-enacted. Indeed it never can in
all its barbarity, while Irishmen, without regard to creed,
are eligible to shed their
.blood in defence of their Sovb•
reign and their country.
The other offences for which transportation and various
terms of imprisonment are substituted are—for rape—

embezzlement of the property of the Bank of Ireland—
obstruction of the corn trade—riotously assembling to
pull down churches (what a satire upon the Irish Church
Establishment !)—preventing persons giving evidence—
exciting riots—receiving escaped prisoners—escaping a
second time from prison—returning from transpor:ution
—killing or houghing cattle—abduction—and, as a
climax to to the whole, resisting the revenue collectors !

For all these offences the laws in force in Ireland adjudge
the-punishment of death, without benefit of clergy, and
the object of the Bill before us is to wipe them from the
Statute-book, as disgraceful to a civilized country in a
civilized age. Legislation, when needlessly and barbar-
omly severe, is tantamount to no legislation at all.

The appel made by the Southampton Election
Committee to thit Rouse of Commons against Mr.
FLEMING, and the ordt.7 issued by the House for Mr.
FLEMING to attend the Z...'.ommittee and answer its
questions, have made quite a sensation. All the
journals write about it, and all the Members talk
about it. Their own law now hits one of themselves,
and it has instantly become a subject of deep consi-
deration. Committees might have gone on com-
mitting Luclsgs to prison, and forcing WuE3(Ns to
answer, ad infinitum, without exciting any observa-
tion ; but the instant an Hon. Member is assailed, the
powers of those tribunals become objects of intense
interest and discussion. We sea nothing in Mr.
-FLEmING's Case more than irt that of any other re-
fractory
witness ; but we presume that the Hon.
Member is not likely in the end to be dealt with quite
as severely as a Person who is not a Member of the
Honourable House. One lesson is thus forcibly
impressed on the public, namely, the propriety of al-
make the laws who are to obey
lowing only those to
them, and be subject to their operation. This obvi-
as to taxation, and penal statutes,
ously holds good
as well to Committees of the House of Commons ; and
the land would not be afflicted with its present load of
taxation, nor with an immense mass of absurd and
contradictory laws, had those who made them been
really liable to pay the taxes without the means of re-
lieVingthernselves, and had they been practically sub•
ject to the operation of the laws. But they have
always knc,in how to escape the. curses they have
heaped on the people.

When the punishment is revoltingly disproportiuned to
the offence, offenders escape altogether, as no humane
man can reconcile it to his conscience to prosecute them.
Who, for example, would be guilty of the barbarity of
bringing to the gallows a father for harbouring a child
who had a second time escaped from prison ? 'rho Law
Officer of the Crown who could enforce so unnatural a
law, would be himself unfit to live. We therefore en-
tirely of the principle of this Bill. It is as

humane as it is politic; for at last we have made the
discovery that a Draconian Code is as impolitic as it is

revolting.

Since the above was written, a Correspondent at Ips.-
wich has called our attention to the following extract
from a pamphlet, published by the Committee for the
Abolition of Capital Punishments, in reference to a
former article in The San, to which we here readily give

In Wales the colliers have, it seems, boldly carried
away a Mr. STALEY, and have threatened to take
away his life if he do not expatriate himself. At

THE SUN. LONDON, T!-IMISDAY EVENING-, A PRI L. 28. 1842.

investors and his sword, another title, derived from his
last and proudest acquisition. His style should run
thus:—Frederick, King of Prussia, Margrave of Branden-
burg, Sovereign Duke of Silesia. Possessor of Voltaire.
But even amidst the delights of the honeymoon, Vol-
taire's sensitive vanity began to take alarm. A few days
after his arrival he could not help telling his niece
that the amiable king had a trick of giving a sly scratch
with one hand, while patting and stroking with the
other. Soon came hints not the less alarming because
mysterious. "The supper parties are delicious. The
King is the life of the company. But—l have operas
and comedies, reviews and concerts, my studies and
books. But—but—Berlin is fine, the Princesses charm
ing, the maids of honour handsome. But —'

This.eccentric friendship was fast cooling. Never
had there met two persons so exquisitely fitted to
plague each other. Each of them had exactly the
Fault of which the other was most impatient ;
and they were, in different ways, the most impatient of
mankind'. Fredrick was frugal, almost niggardly. When
he had secured his plaything, he began to think that he
had bought it too dear. Voltaire, on the other hand,
was greedy, even to the extent of impudence and kna-
very ; and conceived that the favourite of a Monarch
who had barrels full of gold and silver laid up in cellars,
ought to make a fortune which a Receiver-General
might envy. They soon discovered each other's feel-
ings. Both were angry, and a war began, in which
Frederick stooped to the part of Ilarpagon, and Voltaire
to that of Scapin. It is humiliating to relate, that the
great warrior and statesman gave orders thathis guess's
allowance of sugar and chocolate should be curtailed. It
is, if possible, a still more humiliating fact, that Vol-
taire idemnified himself by pocketing the wax-candles
in the Royal ante-chamber.
" Moore's Poetical Works" is a notice of the latest
edition, revised by himself, of the poems of this accom-
plished versifier. It is introduced by some remarks
on the difference between fancy and imagination, in
which the Reviewer succeeds most happily in bewil-
dering his readers. His cursory observations on
Moore's ,satirical powers are much more concise and
intelligible ; and we cordially agree with him in his
opinion of the wit of the author of the " Twopenny
Post-bag," which is, perhaps, the most remarkable
faculty of his mind. " France, America, and Bri-
tain," sketches with much truth and force the leading
features in the characters of those three great nations.
"America," says the Reviewer, "is certainly irri-
table. She is apt to take offence where no insult was
intended, and to consider herself injured when the
treatment which she applies to third parties is adopted
towards herself. She ought to feel how impossible it is
that any other Power will wantonly offend her. But
though America is irritable, she does not bear
malice—a defeat does not rankle in her mind
as the subject of revenge at the distance of half
a century." " The Glacier Theory" is ably and in-
geniously argued, but the theme is one which will
be chiefly interesting to the scientific Few. The un-
learned will 1:)e apt to find it wearisome. In the
" Budget of 1842," the Reviewer, speaking cursorily
of Sir Robert Peel, says that he " is not distin-
guished for political knowledge," and that he " has
often yielded to circumstances, but always too late."
In reference to his favourite nostrum of the Income-
tax, we are assured that " when once it has come
into operation—when the painful exposure and the
humiliating discussion have been undergone—when
men have felt what it is to tremble at the knock of
the tax-gatherer, and to deprecate the suspicions of
a Commissioner—when the pain of loss has been em-
bittered by that of degredation ;—a detestation of the
tax will arise which all the discipline of the Tory
party will be unable to contest." This is a bold,
straightforward prediction, which we are convinced
will, ere long, be realised to the letter.

ATHELWOLD—A TRAGEDY.
Blackwood, London, 1842.
There is much graceful poetry in this play, which
indeed is its chief recommendation, for as a drama, it
is deficient in action. The period referred to is the
reign of King Edgar of England, who, as romancers
and historians tell us, formed a desperate attachment
for the beautiful Elfrida, daughter of Olgar, Earl of
Devonshire—an artful, ambitious woman, who, taking
advantage of the Monarch's infatuation, prevailed on
him to raise her to the Royal dignity. Mason, it
may be remembered, has already dramatised this inte-
resting historical episode ; but his was a cold, elabo-
rate, though showy production, without an atom of
feeling to Vivify it. In this respect the present drama
is far superior; it has many passages characterised
by genuine earnestness and sensibility ; but, as we
said before, it is languid in point of action, and the
principal personages labour under :a decided inconti-
nence of speech. Archbishop Dunstan, in particular,
is singularly fond of the music of his own voice ; but
in justice to the author we must add, that he has put
many striking thoughts and poetical images into the
mouth of the priest, so that we are in a great degree
reconciled to his volubility. As a dramatic poem,
" Athelwold" deserves high praise ; but as a tragedy,
we fear it must be pronounced ineffective. We quote
one or two of the passages that have most pleased us :
" I taste love's sweetness but in love's despair;
It has been sung in many a gentle verse,
That scenes of natural beauty calm the heart,
Suffusing their own peace ; they find it so
Who bring that peace they wisely love so well
To the mute vision. lin vain retreat
To this fair solitude—the placid world
Of wood and water, hill and verdant plain,
Is all on fire with love ; the liquid lake
Glows with a beauty warmer than its own ;
In the soft air the breath of woman burns
Upon my conscious cheek ; and nothing lives
0 er all the scene, as nothing lives within,
But one consuming passion !"
" Grieve not so much that sin
Hath found a stealthy passage to thy heart,
As now rejoice that penitence bath tracked
Its subtle footsteps there. Sin and Repentance—
These two give men religion and their God,
Their faith, their hope. It is not innocence,
It is not wisdom claims the skies for man,
Or wings his soul to immortality.
'Tis Guilt that leads to the celestial gate,
And weeping Mercy stands to open it."

_ •
CANADIAN
tue,SLoCEndAo'En,R7B472.Part 24.

This Part contains four engravings, illustrative
of some of the most picturesque landscapes on the
Canadian frontier. One of these, representing the
tower of St. John from the Signal, is exceedingly
beautiful, and, as a work of art, is by no means amiss.
The letter-press department of the work is under the
superintendence of Mr. Willis, author of " Peneillings
by the Way"—one of the most flippant and indefati-
gable scribblers of the day.

• GRANT'S ORIENTAL BEADS. No. X.
These form four excellent wood-cuts of the present
leading Affghan Chiefs, and, from the accompanying
letterpress, gathered from the 'latest travellers; we
collect the following account of them .
Dost Mahommed Khan first signalized himself in an
expedition against the Khans, who had possessed them-
selves of the fort of Attock, on the plains of Chita : he
here headed a body of 2,000 Affhans, commenced the
attack, and captured the whole of the Sheik artillery.
He himself dismounted two of their guns, and was pro-
cecding to improve his victory, when he found that he
was without support, and that his brother's army hat'
fled. It only remained for him to retreat, which he ef-
fected with honour.—Mnjur Hoityh's Narrative.
The unfortunate Shah Soojah, appears to be an author,
"his adventures," says Sir Alexamkr Burnes, "detailed
by himself in a small volume ar,e replete with interest,'
and might, with those of his heroic Queen, the Wulfadei
Begum, form material for a romance." Burnes adds in r
note, "I am in possession of this curious work, which
Shah Sottjah himself did me the honour of presenting."
The Diliii Gazelle of 1838, gives a very accurate
picture of Dost Mahommed : he was then 40, though in
appearance much younger ; in height he it at the utmost
five feet eleven inches ; his countenance is sallow ; in
person he is prone neither to obesity nor leanness ; in his
youth he was accounted very handsome ; his eyes large
and black, and capable of fine dilation. His mother
was by birth a Persian ; he is connected, by marriage,
with Shah Sottjah, both having married sisters.
In the affair at the " Glio<trbund Pas,," Dost Ma-
hemmed, though the day went finally against him, was
seen the busiest in the melee ; he wore a large white
turban and light-coloured dress, and was always Wendt d
by a sky-blue banner. At one part of the battle, the
Affghan cavalry were fairly in our ranks, cutting and
dashing in all directions. Dust Mahommed led his men
down thei hill—was seon to take oft' his loongee from
his head, and stand calling to his brave followers, "In
the name of God and the Prophet fight ; drive those
Feringhee Katfirs out of the country, Or I am a gone
man."—Operations of the Army of the Indus.
Dost Mahomtned's appearance is very distingue : he
wears a white muslin tunic, or Anghur, and over this a
light blue Urldaduk, or coat of merino, trimmed with
gold, with erhnson pajahmahs' or loose trowsers, and
Persian boots. " This," said the Ameer, "is my usual
dress (that worn on the 2d of November had been Asked
tor)—if you want my fighting—my iron clothes—they
are at Loodiana."—Calcutta Paper, Oct. 1841.

An impressive ceremony took place a few Bays
ago in the Tribunal de Commerce at Bordeaux. The Pi esi-
setit having ordered the name of Buffet to be called out, a per-
son in the dress of a sailor, with a complexion evidently hard-
ened and embrowned by a seafaring life, came forward, and
o ith modest firmness stood in front of the Court. The Pre.
sident addressed him in very impressive terms on his brave
and devoted conduct in saving the erew of the Commerce de
Bordeaux. "In the night of March 11, this vessel," said the
" was thrown en the rocks at the mouth of the
every soul would have perished, but for the cou-
rage undaunted perseverance of Buffet, The National
river,S hii President,)
warane anal
Shipwreck
k Society, informed of his noble conduct, had
awarded him a medal of honour, which he (the President)
had great pride in presenting to him. The owners of the
ship to which lie belonged, in testimony of their admiration,
had resolved to promote him to the rank of mate, and the
Tribunal of Commerce had likewise determined to confer upon
him a pecuniary reward, as a testimony of its admiratlm."
The President having presented the reward, the brave sailor
returned his thanks in grateful but modest terms, and retired,
leading by the hand a child whom he had saved, amidst the
praises and cheers of a crowded audience of all classes of
soc ety.
THE ROEHAMPTON MUEDER.—Yesterday the police
in the various metropolitan districts were made acquainted with
the fact that the Commissioners had suspended Inspector
Sergeant Berry, and Constable Butcher, all of the
R (Greenwich) division, for alleged neglect in the case o.
Daniel Good.

•
41.
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