The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-04 00:00:00

*trontiXiilition

SUN OFFICE, Three o'Cloch.

The phrase " bribery at elections " is now respected
for its antiquity, and has obtained favour from the
Tories, no doubt, from being part and parcel of the
wisdom of our ancestors. A contest for a borough
where these venerable, though generally poor gentlemen,
called " old freemen," have votes, cannot take place
without money passing from the pockets of the candi-
dates into those of the "calumniated " electors, with as
much certainty as the electric fluid passes from one body
to another by the slightest contact. In fact, they look
upon the change of ownership as a general law of nature,
which neither Commons nor Lords have any right to
interfere with, and they are not a little confirmed
in this belief by the chivalrous defence made for thorn
on the discussion of the Reform Bill, not by Sir ROBERT
PEEL or Sir CHARLES WETHERELL only, but by one of
the most Radical Members in the House of Commons.
When two extremes meet, and agree that the old free-
men are all honourable men, why should they change a
practice which works so well, which only takes a little
money from those who have too much, and transfers it
but once in three years to hard-working men, with in-
dustrious wives and large families of starving children.
really too bad for these niggardly, political-econo-
mical Whigs to be railing against a custom so beneficial
to the poorer classes, and so very convenient also to gen-
tlemen of independent fortune, to rising Barristers,
Peers' sons, place-hunters as well as pension-hunters,
and to those Honourable Members of the House who
throw self-interest to the wind, and give their votes
only for the good of the public. Would it not,
therefore, be better to legalise at once this
venerable practice ? Endless attempts to put it
down have been made, but without effect ; for,
according to speeches in the House of Commons, it is
extending in every direction. Freemen say, a present at
an election is their birth-right ; 101. voters say it is all
but granted to them by Parliament, for the majority are
the friends of the freemen ; voters worth hundreds
a year are subject to the contagion in one shape
or another, and many with thousands a year sell their
votes, if not for money, for something better. Members
on Election Committees are irerciful in the extreme to
the accused ; jurymen, too, are lenient; and even official
dignitaries, such as the Mayor of St. Alban's,
look upon bribery, as a matter of course.
The feeling in its favour somewhat resemble:
that which pervaded the minds of humane jurymen
when they preferred mercy to law, and by acquitting the
accused, though conscious of their guilt, compelled the
Legislature to mitigate the criminal code. We refer the
reader for further information on the subject to the trial
which took place at Hertford yesterday. It is full of amuse-
ment, and not destitute of instruction. The verdict of
the Jury was perfectly just, whatever might have been
the force of evidence against the defendant, and for this
good reason—that more than one half of the Member:
of one House are returned by bribery. The average
price of each borough is as well known as
the price of any commodity in our markets, and it is
therefore absurd to obey laws which the lawgivers them-
selves treat as old almanacs. Bribery cannot be put
down till our legislators, as well as other men in high
rank, set the example, and refrain not only from bribing
the poor, but from taking bribes themselves from the
Government in fifty shapes.

Mr. FRENCII'S motion in the House of Commons on
the Irish Railway Question has been productive of one
great advantage—the removal of all doubt as to the in-
tentions of the Government. The Tories adhere to their
Old policy of doing nothing for Ireland. This is a state-
ment which we no longer make on the authority of
DANIEL 07CONSI ELL and the Corn Exchange orators.
It is a fact deducible from the speeches made
by Lord ELIOT and Sir ROBERT PEEL in the House of
Commons last night. The greatest boon which the Go-
vernment could give to Ireland would be lines of railways
intersecting that fine country, and that boon the Minis-
try point blank refuses. Lord ELIOT, for example,
said :

He would not shelter himself by saying that the Govern-
ment had the measure under consideration—( Hear)—nor raise
illusory expections.—( Hear. ) But he thought it right to say
that the Government would not make any advance of public
money, or give the guarantee which was proposed by the Gen-
tioinan wise hid last addressed the House. There were, how-
ever, other modes of facilitating and assisting railway enterprise,
which the Commissioners pointed out, and which the Govern-
ment thought it would be proper to adopt. The Commissioners
recommended the Legislature to assist any body of capitalists
that might come together for the purpose of promoting rail-
ways in Ireland, by relieving them from unnecessary liabi-
lities, and by establishing one fixed and uniform system of
compensation, with less regard to the extravagant demands of
private interest than had prevailed in this country, and facili-
tate the Parliamentary proceedings with the least possible
expense ; that they should also be protects(' from the ruinous
competition of rival companies. To that extent the Gov, rn-
ment was disposed to assist.—( Hear. )
We know enough of Ireland to be able to lay down
two propositions as corollaries to Lord ELIoT'S state-
ment of the intentions of the Government. The first is,
that without Government aid, Ireland never will be
intersected with railways, and consequently never can
have her vast- resources developed, and her social and
moral condition greatly and permanently ameliorated.
The second, in a political point of view, may appear still
more important to the people of this country ; namely,
that it is only by intersecting Ireland with- rail-
ways, and facilitating the intercourse between the
• two countries, that their union as one nation
ever can be entirely consolidated. A line of
railway undertaken by the Government between
Dublin, and any port on the west coast of Ireland,
would do more to put down the repeal cry titan five
thousand penal statutes enforced by the whole British
army. Besides there is not the shadow of a pretence
for supposing that one farthing of the expense would
fall upon England or Scotland. The whole could be
easily defrayed by tolls upon the different lines, and a
mileage rate upon the several counties intersected by
them. It is not a little curious to hear Lord ELIOT ob-
jecting to such a rate, on the ground that it would fail
exclusively upon the tenants and not upon their land-
lords. In their debates upon the Corn-laws, the Tory
landlords contended that the country rate, or cess, was a
charge paid exclusively by them. It now appears by
the admission of a Member of the Government that they
do not pay a fraction of this tax. Lord ELIOT said :
The whole of the county cess was defrayed by the occupying
tenantry. He knew not what arrangement it might be pro-
posed to make on this subject between the owners and occu-
piers of land ; but, unless some arrangement were made, the
whole expense would lull upon the occupier, who would derive
little or no advantage from the railway.
The law could easily be so framed as to compel the
landlord to bear his proper proportion of the railway
tax. Nor would the occupier of the land grudge the pay-
ment of a ,rate which would secure to him a safe and
expeditious transit for his produce to the best markets its
the kingdom. We are therefore fully convinced that
Lord MoRPETH'S plan for snaking raillyays in Ireland
was practical, and the principles upon which it was
based were comprehensive and statesmanlike.
The National Debt is nothing in amount, however,
tothe debt of gratitude which the Irish landlords owe
• to Sir ROBERT PEEL. While the Governments of
France, Belgium, Austria, Prussia, and even Russia, are
declaring to the world that railways are undertakings
too vast for private enterprise, and of too much national
importance to be in any way regulated by individual ca-
price, Sir Roamer PEEL, with an urbanity of manner
worthy of the Master of the Ceremonies at th••
Court of Pekin, tells the House of Commons that lie
really believes the construction of railways in Ireland
will be best left to the patriotic enterprise of Irish land-
lords ! The bitterness of this irony will be felt in
Ireland. To the injustice of refusing to Ireland the
only means of removing the mass of misery under which
she now groans, is added an insulting allusion to the po-
verty and recklessness of her spendthrift landlords,
which will long rankle in her breast. Sir ROBERT said :
He declared most sincerely that if he thought mush an ex-
penditure (a loan of six or seven millions) could be encoun-
tered with profit—if he really did believe that the undertaking
by the Government to make 540. miles of. railways in Ireland
would be for the permanent and real advantage of Ireland,
many of bis scruples would be thereby removed ; but he be-
lieved it would be for the real interest of that country that Irish
Gentlemen should act on the principle which had been attended
with such satisfactory consequences in England—( Hear, hear)
• --,,--;eee.that it would be infinitely better if they were- undertaken by
•-• speculation.
,The reference tothe example of England, which, its an
entrinditnre of sixty millions in the construction of rail-
siverisoould afford, as Mr. FRENCH showed, to throw

away ten millions in useless Parliamentary and law ex-
penses, could only be intended as an insult in talking of so
poor a country as Ireland. However, the question is too
important to this country in a commercial, no less than a
political point of view, to be thus summarily disposed of.
It is the duty of all who take an interest in the prosperity
of Ireland to unite in compelling the Government to
adopt a policy towards the sister kingdom essential to the
happiness of her people, and the consolidation of the
English and Irish nation.

We have deemed the discussions in the French Cham-
ber of Deputies on the Right of Search question, the
Spanish question, and the Bank of Rouen, of sufficient
English interest to insert them in our columns. It will
be seen that M. GUIZOT denies that the English Go-
vernment has been truly informed respecting the
existence of a conspiracy in France to upset the
established Government in Spain. This denial is
couched in language which we regret to find M
UIZOT employing;. It is the language of trickery
:-Lid subterfuge. M. GUIZOT knows well that such
a conspiracy does exist, and he has recourse to trickery
to avoid saying directly that it does not, while he seeks
such an inference to be drawn from his words. He
knows, too, that the KING and Madame MUNOZ are at
the bottom of it. But M. Gutzon' has recourse to the
lying ecclesiastical distinction between the Minister and
,he man. As an individual, he knows the whole affair
of the treason, but not in his official capacity, and there-
:ore, speaking in the Chamber as a Minister, he affects
ignorance. Upon this point it is curious to read the
Following extract from the Paris correspondence of a con-
temporary, written on Wednesday, after M. GUIZOT de-
livered himself of his speech in the Chamber of De-
puties : . _ .

" In the mean time, recruiting is going forward in the depots
of Spanish refugees in France among the subaltern officers of
the Carlist party, a number of whom passed through Lyons on
the 25th, corani Israel, proceeding towards the Spanish fron-
tier. Baron de Meer and General Berton are the prime movers
of the attempt, which is to be made on the side of Catalonia.
They both remained at Montauban for the purpose until the
latter end of January, when, having completed the organization
of their forces, they repaired to Toulouse. On the 21st of
January they received considerable sums of money from various
bankers of that city, and afterwards shifted their quarters to
Perpignan, to be at hand to enter that principality on receipt
of orders from Paris.
" M. de Tinan, Aide-de-Camp of Marshal Soult, is still at
Bourges.
" A report having reached the ears of Queen Christina that
the northern Sovereigns intended to stop the supplies which
they have of late allowed to Don Carlos, her Majesty exclaimed
We have him at last. We will take him by famine.' She
immediately sent for Count Torreno, and it is said that it was
agreed between him, King Louis Philippe, and the ex-Regent,
to make an offer of succour to the captive Prince. This, it is
further said, was the object of M. de Tinan's visit to Bourges.
Fortunately, however, the report proved to be unfounded, and
the mission of that officer proved useless.
"'The greatest perplexity and confusion seem to prevail in
the councils of the conspirators. The Carlists, who have en.
lered it, propose a marriage between the Prince of the Asturias,
and Queen Isabella ; some, however, anxious to save the prin-
ciple of legitimacy, object to her being considered a Queen,
and will only recognise her as an Infanta of Spain. Count
Torreno, who is an anti- Carlist, will listen to no union between
the two braiches of the Spanish Royal family, and would pre-
fer a French or an Austrian prince. King Louis Philippe, on
the other hand, is willing to forego his pretensions in favour of
the Duke d'Aumale, provided he obtains for him the hand of
Isabella's sister. The calculation of the King of French
is this:—
. . .

' The young Queen is in a delicate state of health, and not
expected to live, while the Infanta enjoys robust health, and is
likely to survive her sister.' " Impressed with this conviction,
Louis Philippe would make a merit to England of accepting
the candidate of her choice for the throne of Spain, well know-
ing that the Queen, once dead, her husband would have no
claim in his own name, and that •the Duke d'Aumale would,
in virtue of the Infanta's birth-right, find himself de facto King
of the country.
" The conspirators likewise disagree among themselves re-
specting the forresof the future Government. The Carlists,
and what is strange, the Christino Generals, who fought so
tong for the constitution, recommended the establishment of
absolute monarchy. Few advocate the cause of the constitu-
tion, but the majority seem to incline in favour of the estatu
real, which has the advantage of being neither one thing nor
the other."

The President of the Council, Minister of War, has received
the following telegraphic dispatch from the Governer-General
of Algeria :
" Tlemcen, I &h.—The great tribe of the Beni-Hamer, which
brought 3,000 cavalry in the field, have just made its submission.
It may be affirmed without presumption that all the western part
of the province of Oran has submitted, with the exception of
some small tribes of no importance.
" From the Settel to the frontiers of Morocco, Ab-del-
Kader is on the frontier with 200 or 300 horsemen. He 13
spending his last treasure to enlist some adventurers."—
Moniteur.