The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-11 00:00:00

SUMMARY OF NEWS

AND
publtc Optnton.

" Who runs may read."
____

FOREIGN.
The Journal des Debars has an attack upon The Sun, our com-
mentary upon which must stand over till to-morrow.
The French Opposition Journals cry out that England and
Spain are leagued together against Spain.
There were interpellations in the Madrid Cortes on the let.
Senor Mendez Vigo questioned the Ministers about Cabrera
and Narvaez's movements and machinations, and the doings
of the French Government. Ministers replied, they were
on the alert. The affairs of Portugal were also alluded to; the
Minister declaring he had no right to interfere in the affairs of other
countries.

PARLIAMENTARY.
A number of petitions were presented to the Peers for an al-
teration of the Pool-law, for the repeal of the Corn-lavrs, and for
legalizing Presbyterian marriages. Another case of doubt as
to their legality has come before the Assizes at Carrickfergus,
and as a special verdict was returned, that case will be argued
before the Lords about May next. On that account Lord Camp.
bell wished the Marriage Bill now in progress to be postpo ed.
In reply to the Marquis of Clanricarde, the Earl of Aber-
deen said he had received no further despatches from Paris con-
cerning the dispute about Algiers.
In reply to the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Duke of Wellington
stated that the Government intended to continue the grant for
national education in Ireland, and that no alteration is to be
made in the system.

Earl Stanhope, in presenting a petition from a working man,
declared that he waa the advocate of the rights of man, as laid
down at the commencement of the French Revolution, for
vrhich and similar sentiments, Lord Monteagle toJk the Noble
Earl to task.

The Loan Societies and the Apprentices' Regulation Bills
went through a Committee.
Lord Denman laid oa the table a Bill to enable Anabaptists
to give evidence on affirmation instead of oath, which was read
a fist time.

The Commons did not meet in sufficient numbers to consti-
tute a House. At four o'clock there was only one Tory and
thirty-one Liberals present, so the House stood adjourned. Sir
Robert Peel, it is supposed, did not like Mr. Ward's motion
for a Committee t,) inquire into the burden on land, and tlure-
fore shirked it.

PUBLIC OPINION.
The Times remarks, with reference to the late disastrous news
from India:—" This moment, so critical to ourselves, the Govern-
ment have chosen for exciting a mutiny in one of their fellow corps
at Madras by a sudden reduction of pay. It makes one believe
that there is a fatality attending our present efTorts in India, to hear
of such madness. Except cowardice, almost every fault of which
men in command could be guilty has already been committed.
The adoption of the cruel and contemptible Shah Soojah, instead
of an alliance with the popular Dost Mohammed, whom the ad.
dress of Sir A. Burnes had conciliated—the haughty and ill.judged
behaviour (though we do not now wish to dwell on that) of the
late Envoy—the reckless massacre at Khelat i Ghilzie—the
neglect of the warnings given to Sir A. Burnes by Captain
Gray of the intended rising the unfortunate departure
of General Sale's brigade from Cahoot at the very mo.
ment when his presence was most required—the neglect to secure
the magazines of provision, which fell a prey to the first rising of
the insurgents, and which would else, after all other mistakes had
been made, have saved our troops—crime—negligence—miscalcu.
lation—one upon another—ending in the terrible catastrophe
which people seem to apprehend has now broken upon us, would
indeed remind the superstitious that ' Quern Deus volt perdere
pries derneniat.' We cannot, however, yet believe the account
which is put forward. It is too terrible. It seems, not an event of
the English empire in the I9th century, but a hideous dream, a
horrible tale, when we read of 6,000 men massacred almost in
cold blood—a British Envoy treacherously murdered, and 16 of
our countrywomen (as is asserted) carried off by an army of savage
enemies, with sickening details which we could scarcely bear to
write, feeling, as we do, that there are those in England to whom
such particulars are not, as to ourselves, mere frightful barbarities
—a fearful page of history brought nearer—but piercing appeals to
their own personal recollections and affections. These accounts,
however, at the least have made our own course more clear. Any-
thing less terrible might have left us still hesitating from shame at
our original aggression, and the consciousness of the ill deserts of
our country. But by the treacherous murder of our officers, and
the settled determination with which they are pursuing, and are
said to have effected, the wholesale slaughter of our men, the
Affghans have at least released us from any debt to them, and left
us free to pursue that course which the blood of our countrymen
and the safety of our empire demand. They have yet to learn
what it is that they have provoked."
The Post says :—" The intelligence from India, which we were
enabled to pub ish at considerable length in our impression of yes.
terday, can excite but one feeling. The stain on the national
honour, the brave men sacrificed in vain attempts to sustain it, the
miseries endured by their survivors—all concur to stamp these ac-
counts with a character of the deepest melancholy. It would give
us unfeigned satisfaction if we could encourage our readers to de-
rive any comfort from the comparatively cheering manner in which
the intelligence is treated by a contemporary. But this is out of
our power. Our correspondent at Bombay is so intelligen! and
cautious, fine has always proved himself so well.informed, that im-
plicit re;iance may be placed on his communication ; and if it were
necessary to confirm his statements by additional evidence, such
corroboration would, unfortunately, not be wanting; for we are
enabled to assure our readers that the accounts received by Govern.
ment are, if possible, of a more disastrous nature than those which
we have been the medium ofgivieg to the public."
The Herald thus alludes to the rumoured massacre of the Bri.
fish troops by the native tribes of Affghanistan :—" In the depth
of a Siberian winter they have slaughtered a British army, mur.
dined two British civil authorities, and hem in three thousand Bri-
tish Indian troops in a frontier town. They first half starved the
force in Cahoot, and then cut it to pieces. In the midst of their
successes they offer terms; they are the immediate evacuation of
their country ; and they make this offer with a perfect knowledge
of the strength which the Supreme Government of India can in
the spring bring against them. They acknowledge that British
artillery can open the passes to Cabool, and clear the defiles; they
are aware that they cannot withstand the power of the British
nation ; you may,' they say, ' again occupy our cities, and by brist.
ling our hills by your guns preserve them from our attack ; but in so
doing you do not conquer the AfFghans; you can subdue us only
by extermination.' We may level the cities and scour the plains,
from Jcllalabad to Herat—our reward will be famine and
pestilence ; the Affghans will destroy all provisions, and drive their
flocks into the mountain recesses; each succeeding summer may
witeess our dearly-bought victories, but winter will yearly restore
to the Affghans their triumphs. Will, then, the British nation
enter into a war of extermination ? Will the British Parliament
sar.ction such a war ? Have we become such ennrmous hypocrites
as to censure the barbarities of the French in Algiers, and yet enact
similar scenes ourselves in Central Asia? What injury had the
Affghan tribes ever done to our empire in India, or to British
subjects, before we invaded their country ? What right had we
to occupy Affghanistan, and to disturb its Government, save that
which might gives to us? If Persia carried on war in disguise
against us at Herat, could we not have diverted the strength of the
Shah from his eastern to his western frontier, by debarking an army
from the Persian Gulf ? If Russia intrigued against us in Central
Asia, why did we not countermine her intrigues in the Black Sea ?"
The Advertiser, alluding to the disastrous reports from Affghan-
istan, says :---" The right divine' in the East is practically the
right of the strongest, and therefore England ought, Instead of
making a revolution in favour of an outcast Prince, to have conso.
lidated around herself the Powers already existing. This ought
to have been her policy. Now, however, there is no choice left.
Our authority in Affghanistan must be asserted, and the treacher-
ous murder of Sir W. H. Macnaghten must be avenged, even if the
whole resources of our Indian empire were necessary to accomplish
such results. There is no middle course open through which Eng.
land may retreat. She must unflinchingly maintain her autho-
rity in its widest latitude, so far as is consistent with native institu.
tions, or altogether abandon her eastern empire."
The following are the observations of the Chronicle, on the sub-
ject of the recent news from Affghanistan :—" In the dates to which
sothere are discrepancies which it
is intelligence is published in the
emdlheiffiiocfGazette,uttheto evuenwndtheircsahtraesnadya.ss ts TgantheduM: Major Pottinger as the successor of
Sir W. Macnaghten, commenced negotiations on the 24th of De-
cember : while all accounts agree in assigning the murder of the
Envoy to the 25th of December. At the dinner of the Seaman's
Hospital Society yesterday, Captain H. Tuckett, who may be re.
garded as an authority in Indian affairs, stated that he had had
letters by the last mail, a month ago, an-muncing the death of Sir
W. Macnaghten, and we believe the death of Captain Trevor was
pc oouser soot.,
tdisposed tdo,
tr. ebfte rutpoo stchree pgaennmsl oafect
uh
rl sa n
of ftohr
et hi
announced by a Contemporary at that time. We are not, of
Bence ; but until we shall have more authentic details we shall not
regard the position of our force in AfTghanistan as so desperate as
it has been represented."

NCONNIT—TRADE—COMMERCE.
The lace-manufacture at Taunton is in a very decayed state
more so than it has treett during the last seven years. The opera.
fives are all working on short time.

PIONEERING.
The Hon. Hanbury Tracy has been named on the Reform side
for the Brighton contest, and Lord Alfred Hervey, the Marquis of
Bristol's son an the Conservative.

NAVAL AND MILITARY.
The anniversary of the campaign in Egypt, under Abercromby,
in 1801, was celebrated on Wednesday at the United Service Club
with the usual splendour. Twenty.tive officers of both services,
and of all arms, sat down to dinner.
There Hill be three launches of vessels this season on the Thames;
the Worcester, 50 guns, building at Deptford; the Chichester, 50
guns, building at Woolwich; and another smaller vessel at the
latter dock-yard.
At a meeting of the Seaman's Hospital Society at the London
Tavern yesterday, Admiral Bowles stated that since its foundation
upwards of 60,000 seamen of the Port of London had been relieved.
Among the subscriptions received, the more prominent were, her
Majesty (annually) 1051. ; the King of Denmark, 1001.; Trinity
Corporation (21st donation), 3001. Merchant Elder Brethren
(16th donation), 1001. ; the Hon, East India Company (10th done.
tion), 1051. ; together with numerous others, amounting on the
whole to 1,0031, 108.

At Salisburi. on Tuesda Isaac Smith was indicted Cot the
LAW AND POLICE.
murder of Ann Little, a woman with whom he had Cohabited for
y,
several years. The untbrtunate woman had received three deep
cuts in the abdomen which cattsed her to bleed to death. The
Jury at first returned a verdict of "Guilty of murder," but on
some observations being made by Mr. Justice Coleridge, they al.
tered it to manslaughter. At the same assizes, a fine respettable
looking man, named Robert Crook, was indicted Rd* the murder
of his wife on the 7th of February. It appeared some dispute had
arisen between them about the payment of a bill, and that the pri=
soner had struck her, and she had fallen with the bank part of her
head on the ground with great violente, which caused her death
a few hours after. The prisoner was convicted of mansiaughtert
and sentenced to be kept at hard labour for twelve months.
Several new arrests of sawyers, making eleven in all, have been
made in Cork, on suspicion of being connected with the late out-
rage of throwing vitriol en Mr. Wilson.
At the Worcester Assizes, E. Maiden, a tailor, was indicted for
the manslaughter, of J. Fisher, an ostler, on the 26th of July last.
It appeared the deceased had applied an oftensive epithet to the
prisoner when a scuffle took place, the deceased was knocked down
and his head struck against the curb stone. He died three days
after. The prisoner was found guilty and sentenced to imprison.
ment for one month.
_ LITEILAR.Y AND SCIENTIFIC.

Among the present relics at Strawberry Hill, is the ;ed hat of
Cardinal Wolsey. Bishop Burnet found it in the great wardrobe;
it then passed into possession of the Bishop's son, the Judge,
and from him to the Countess of Albemarle, by whom it was pre.
rented to Horace Walpole.
The valuable library and collections of the !ale Aylmer Bourke
Lambert, Esq., F.R.S., have been left by him as a bequest to the
British Museum.

stated
ft
rtmeneedtienfg
hisof t
ah
te
Sandwich
had
Ited
s Society,e 11 e
,11trh.
ANewportearus
Crossii from a mineral solution, by a current of voltaic electricity,
continued for eleven months.
TUELILTRICA.Z. s
Her Majesty and Prince Albert *lilted edireitt:gatelt
on Wednesday, to itiiiiiii the. Theatr'e
heti coined of irubMel4't .e
D 4 'itns4 Comes. No* tlid her Majesty has affixed her itnprimateur on
this brilliant comedy, hundreds of the servile, would-be fashionable
middle classes will discover excellencies in it, who before were
stone-blind to them.
COVET---rasinrONAZILE.
His Grace the Archbishop of York arrived in Grosvenor.square
on Tuesday.

The Ma-r-cbioness of Lansdowne bad an evening party op Wed.
aft sz night at ;lantiowne