The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

With deep regret we have to announce the
death of Major-General Sir Neil Campbell, late
Governor of that destructive settlement Sierra
Leone and its dependencies. -Like his unfortu-
nate predecessor, General Turner, this gallant
and lamented 'officer fell a victim to the infatuated
policy which has for so many year condemned
the King of England's subjects to inhale the
poison of the upas-tree of Africa. To send
Englishmen to such a pest-house,----to yield to
the mixture of quackery and hypocrisy which has
instigated a certain class of people in this country
to press upon Government the retention of a
costly grave for British subjects, by nicknaming
it a school for the civilization of negroes,s--has
indicated in the King's Ministers the most con-
temptible weakness, or the most shoeking indif-
ference to human suffering. If, notwithstanding
the long experience obtained by Lord Bathurst,
in the course of his colonial administration, of
the effects produced both to Englishmen and
Africans by the continuance of this fatal esta-
blishment, his Lordship advised! his associates
in the Government to uphold it, we can use no
stronger language than by declaring that we
think more indifferently of Lord Bathurst, as a
man and a minister, than ever. If, in spite of
the clearest evidence, he could fancy that the
horrible traffic in slaves by foreign Powers was
effectually diminished or restrained by the waving
of a British colour upon the walls of Sierra
Leone, or that the habits of those who escaped
the deportation were softened, and their morals
mended, by such an isolated phantom of Euro-
pean power on the coast, why then his Lordship,
must have possessed an imagination more inven-
tive, or a credulity more incorrigible, than any
other gentleman of sixty-five or seventy who ever
kept his head out of a private madhouse in Mid-
dlesex. But finally, if, knowing the false pre-
tences on which Sierra Leone, Cape Coast
Castle, and the contiguous abominations mis-
called colonies of that dreadful region, were held
for thus so many checks upon the slave trade by
a party at borne, to which we have before al-
luded,—knowing likewise, even if the restraint
upon the slave trade had been as real as it was
delusive and chimerical, at how infinitely a dis-
proportioned price of English mortality it was
obtamed,—if, with either of these truths im-
pressed upon the minds of Ministers, (and to us
it seems impo3sible that they could have been
deaf to either), they prolonged this death-scourge
on the people of 'England, to secure to them-
selves some wretched dozen or two of bargain-
making votes .among Members of Parliament,
then we do affirm that a more shocking crime
was never perpetrated by any gang of dealers in
the blood of negroes, than by these grave poli-
tical traffickers, who sold innumerable cargoes
of living English flesh for a few dead
votes in the House of Commons. Mr. fins-
kisson is about to enter on this the most trying
of all Herculean tasks—the cleansing the colo-
nial system of Great Britain. The Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman is, we are sure, too clear-
sighted to be deceived by plausible representa-
tions, whether made by prejudiced or interested
parties ; and, once having found the 'truth of a
subject, he will prove himself (we hope at least)
too fearless and incorrupt to blink it. From this
new Colonial 'Minister we may, expect, that if
any veil has hitherto obscured the actual merits
of the question touching our colonization of
Western Africa, it will with all fitting expedition
be withdrawn ; and that if the system be one of
exclusive or preponderating evil, it will be abo-
lished also. It is inconceivable with what a dis-
regard of British life the public establishments
of our most valuable or least pernicious colonies
have been managed. We are informed, on good
authority, that the mortality among the regi-
ments sent out to garrison our West India co-
lonies have been aggravated beyond calculation
by the injudicious choice of ground whereon
many of the barracks have been erected, and the
cruel state of dilapidation in which they are kept.
Reports, as we are informed, have been sent
home from one General Officer after another,
to the Ordnance Department, and to the
Colonial Secretary, of the ruinous effects on
the health of men and officers, produced by
the imperfect condition of the barracks, through
the- roof's and sides of which the tropical
rains are suffered to pour, upon human bodies
often, frOm the nature of the climate, undergoing
profuse perspiration, and thus exposed to the
alternate risks of , extreme .heat and sudden hu-
midity. If troops must still be sent to such
dens of disease as Demerara and Dominica, for
instance, let, at least, some humane attention lie
given to the alleviation of their sufferings. It
Is not merely the black inhabitants of the colo-
nies who require 'some exercise of care and wis-
dom on the part of the British Government; but
our own brave countrymen who are equally slaves
to the rigorous, enforcement of overpowering
duties, for which their constitutions have unfit-
ted them, and among whom nine-tenths have
perished miserably of those who left their
native shores -in health. These are all so many
considerations which we trust. will attract the
notice of our Colonial Secretary, and if he sets
his useful mind to the work, he may count se-
curely. on the strenuous assistance of the nation.
We began this article by lamenting the sacrifice
of Sir Neil Campbell to the horrible service
which had been inflicted on him. It gives us
but slender consolation to add,---what is. due,
nevertheless, to our own personalfeelings, to the
friends of that meritorious officer, and to his own
-Anblemished fame,--that the British army did
not boast a soldier more intrepid, or more de-
voted to honour and to duty ; nor did society
centain a gentleman whose heart was more gene-
rous, affectionate, and true.--Times.

The proceedings at the Catholic association
assume a bolder and bolder character. It will
be seen from the account in another part of our
Paper, that ;Air. O'Connell, on Saturday last,
went a step farther than in the case of Mr. Mar-
shall ; and the instance of the China dog butchers
would, no doubt, be greedily caught at. We
agree with a eonteinporary (the Times), that
" the poor families have just as great a right to
send the rich away, as the rich the poor;" and
we cannot easily understand why the former in-
justice of the rich (in neglecting to discharge
their duty towards the poor, by malting those
provisions for them which are indispensable to
the existence of order and civilization), should
entitle them to exercise still further injustice. We
have again and again said, that the land of a
country belongs to the people of that country ;
and though it be found best for the good of. the
community, that the land should not, as in the
case of our German or Gallic ancestors, be oc-
cupied in common-by the tribe or clan, but be
allotted' to individuals, s, as
forth industry, yet itthe means of calling
must never be forgotten,
that this allotment is. only -justifiable with refer-
ence to the interests of the people as a whole.
But Nvhen all principles of right are openly set
at defiance, as in Ireland, and a parcel of pro-

prietors conceive their right to land absolute and
unclogged with any liability, calling into exist-
ence millions, when it suits their views to do
so, and issuing what would amount to sentence
of death to millions, if practicable—namely, the
detruding the peasantry from their possessions,
their only means of existence, then the common
feelings of nature rise up in arms, and the in-
dignant public appeal to a law, superior to posi-
tive law, which cannot be violated with impunity.
We have expressed ourselves distinctly and un-
reservedly on this subject, because, differing as
we do from the opinions held by Messrs. O'Con-
❑ell, Sheil, and Macdonnell, and conceiving
strong measures necessary for the recovery of
Ireland, we are far from advocating the doctrine
that the people are to be sacrificed for the sake
ofthe Landed Proprietors. The population of Ire-
land is unquestionably excessive, and under the.
present system it will always be excessive ; but to
remedy the evil strong measures must be adopted
'with regard to landlords as well as people. The
Dublin Evening Post of Tuesday last contends,
and we think on just grounds, that the land and
the Church of Ireland should be forced to con-
tribute to the support of the poor, from which
they are now entirely exempted. We need not
say that Ireland is the only country in Europe in
this predicament. In all the countries of the
Continent there are either Poor Laws, or the
peasantry have lands belonging in common to
the several villages, which enables them to take
care of their own poor. Shall the Irish land-
holders, because they were the legislators of the
country, plead their trampling in that capacity
on every principle of justice, as an exemption
now from burdens which attach to land in every
civilised community ? The following passage
from the Journal in question is an answer to the
argument of Sir Henry Parnell, that the poor
would swallow the whole produce were they pro-
vided for as in England. At present the poor
made on the estates of the landlords are thrown
on the citizens of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and
other towns.

" If the demand from England ceased—and be it ob-
served, it was Sir Henry Parnell himself who opened the
English market to the Irish grower only about twenty
years—or was even diminished (neither of which occur-
rences, we are confident, can take place)—the ground
would be still cultivated--not to the extent, we admit—
not entirely so much for wheat, and oats, and barley, but
still to a great extent—and one of the consequences
would be, on account of the surcease of the demand from
England, that the Irish poor would begin to cultivate corn
for their own consumption. 'We admit very readily that
the landlord would lose three parts of his present rental.—
But when Sir H. Parnell asserts, that if the landlords were
to give up the whole of their rents, and surrender their
estates to the pauper population, it would only postpone
the evil of a convulsion, we beg to remind him of the
theory of Mr. Malthus or Mr, iWCulloch---.ve for-fret
which—namely, that population treads closely upon the
heels of subsistence, and that Ireland is capable of sup-
porting half as many more inhabitants as are now crowded
within her four shores. • It is a well-known fact, and no
one is better acquainted with it than Sir Li. Parnell, that
in the year of famine the corn which was exported from
Westport and Tralee was bought up at Greenock and
Liverpoel with English money, and sent back to save the
people here from the horrors of starvation. It is well
.known that they were saved from starvation by the corn
grown in Ireland, and which corn was bought from the
Irish landlord for the purpose of saving his tenantry from
death. Honour to English generosity by all means—but
what shall we say of the generosity of the Irish landlords ?
What of the charity of the Church established by law ?
We remember perfectly well—for we took a deep
interest in the matter—reading of a Nobleman who
was spending his princely income on the banks of the
Seine during this terrible year, subscribing a hundred
pounds to the Relief Committee, and we know that on this
very Nobleman's estate thousands were reduced to destitu
tion, while the corn grown upon his lands was exported—
while he received the full value for that corn in rent, which
was afterwards bought—the identical grain—by English
money, and re-shipped for the sustenance of this very te-
nantry. This Nobleman, notwithstanding the misery of
the people, from whose labour be derived his income, re-
ceived notwithstanding the full amount of his rental, or
nearly so. He was absolutely paid out of the charitable
II fund raised in England. We also remember having read of
a Bishop, we believe it was him of Ossory ; Fowler, we
think, is his name—a Prelate of considerable celebrity in a
certain walk of exertion—who, amusing himself in the
purlieus of London, took it into his head to preach a cha-
rity sermon to the good people of Fulham, with a view of
collecting money towards Irish Relief. We believe, by
this display of hie zeal and talents in the cause of huma-
nity, the good Bishop was enabled to dispatch thirty or
forty pounds to the starving Irish—the good Bishop, how-
ever, besides his estates—for we believe ie is a Proprietor—
derives some seven or eight thousand a year from the
Church. What shall we •eay of these instances? Vtly,
my Lord, we would make this Nobleman and his like—we
would make this Bishop and his confraternity contribute to
the support of the people."
A great deal is said by Messrs. O'Connell and
Shiel, as to the relative criminality of the Catho-
lics and Protestants in Ireland, and of the Irish
and English. Our English fanatics make them-
selves ridiculous throughout Europe, by their
gross ignorance of the causes of the phenomena
of Irish society ; but we cannot say that Messrs.
O'Connell and Shiel, in their remarks on crime,
have not much mended the matter. When was
it ever known that crime in rude and civilized
life, assumed the same form ? Our criminals
are cool and calculating, because civilization
makes all men more or less cool and calculating;
the Irish criminals are wild and ferocious, be-
cause the savage gives way to all his impulses
without restraint. The Irish criminal burns and
murders ; the English criminal steals, picks
pockets, and swindles. But the English crimi-
nals are not cruel or ferocious ; and though the
police of England is exceedingly lax, we be-
lieve fewer deeds of violence are perpetrated
in England than in any country in the world.
In Mr. Mill's History of British India, there is
much valuable evidence from the Judges of that
country respecting crime ; and the following ex-
tract from the evidence of Sir Henry Strachy,
which points out the circumstances which render
poverty in one situation more criminal than in
another, is not inapplicable to the present state
of England and Ireland :—" This assertion,
however, that the vices and crimes of the people
proceed from their poverty and ignorance, I
would wish to be understood with limitations.
‘Vhere considerable numbers are collected and
associate together—especially if there happens
to be much inequality of rank and fortune—the
morals of the people are worst : the same may
be observed respecting such persons as have oc-
casion to attend our cutcherries ; they get into
bad habits. It is not always, therefore, that the
people are the worst where they are the poorest
and most ignorant ; nevertheless the assertion is,
in my opinion, generally speaking, true. It is
certain that where labour is amply rewarded,
where all can easily get employment, and where
the poor are provided for, the people lead indus-
trious and virtuous lives ; and it will be observed
that in remote parts, where debauchery and dis-
sipation are little known, very few except from
necessity resort to depredation on the public.
Most, but not all decocts begin their evil prac-
tices from necessity. A rigot, finding some dif-
ficulty to subsist, either from his imprudence or
ill fortune—a peon or other servant losing his
place and unable to procure another—a coolly
finding no employment ; such persons, of whom
in this populous country there are always many
thousands, often take to stealing—are corrupted
by vicious companions—drink spirits—and are
gradually led on from impunity and habits of

idleness to become deceits, and • depend on rob-
bery alone for subsistence."—Morning Chron.
Some of our contemporaries apprehend that,
as soon as the Turks hear of the destruction of
their fleet, they will wreak their vengeance on
the English, French, and Russians in Turkey.
We do not apprehend any thing of the kind—
for such would not be the interest of the Turks.
They could effect no good to themselves by it—
but the reverse ; for such a measure would, in a
great degree, injure their commercial relations
with the three Allied Powers. Besides, as long
as they have those Europeans resident among
them, they have so many hostages in case the
Allies should follow up their aggression by pass-
ing the Dardanelles and appearing before Con-
stantinople.—Morning Herald.

We are far from undervaluing the feeling of
nationality, which makes it a part of the creed of
our countrymen that one Englishman can beat
three Frenchmen, because we have no doubt
that the belief has not unfrequently led to its
own practical fulfilment—possunt quia posse vi-
dentur. There are, • however, limits to the sel-
fish indulgences of nations, as well as to those of
individuals, and times when prejudices are to
be cast off and false estimates unlearned. Long
may our countrymen in war entertain that high
idea of their valour and power of which all his-
tory is replete with exemplifications ; but in peace
it is just that every means contributing to the
growth of kindly feelings between people and peo-
ple should be zealously cherished. If we inquire
what has been the reason, that for so many years,
we might say ages, the English and French have
been taught to look on each other as natural
enemies, we shall probably find that it has been
chiefly owing to the relative superiority of those
two nations over the rest of Europe ;—that
in fact the one great cause of their almost
uninterrupted hostility has been, that neither
had within its reach another rival worthy of
its arms. There is no hatred like that of
brethren, says the wise man ; and, extending
the remark, it will always be found that there is
no enmity like that of two States, which in re-
sources and civilization approximate to each other.
There is, however, this remarkable difference in
the two cases, that though in both the strife may be
waged with equal fury in the latter, it is not
only compatible with, but invariably accompanied
by, a strong feeling of respect and even affection.
Indeed, next to the most powerful attachment
that is felt among men engaged in the active
business of life—that attachment which binds a
soldier to the comrade who has weathered the
chances of flood and field along with him—is
the kindliness with which he is disposed to wel-
come a brave and intelligent enemy. And were
he free to make choice of an ally, and had the
different nations of Europe been presented for
his selection, there can be no doubt that a plain,
unsophisticated John Bull, with all his preju-
dices against slavery and wooden shoes, would
sooner give his hand to a Frenchman than to a
Spaniard, a German, a Russian, or any other
candidate for his notice. Those feelings of mu-
tual respect we are most desirous to deepen and
to fix ; and we cannot help thinking that many
cii cumstances concur to render the task, at the
present moment, both easy and advisable. Dur-
the long period of the rivalry of France and Eng-
land, these two kingdoms have had little to fear
but from each other. Up, indeed, to the war of
1793, which has converted Russia into a Power
whose limits it is difficult to define, and whose
plans it were yet' more difficult for any single
nation to cross, . although France was
not without her enemies, and although in
Charles V. she met with one who threatened her
existence, yet, with that remarkable exception,
she was, with England, the joint mistress of
Europe and of the world.. Ii the latter rode
triumphant on the waves, the former marched
triumphant on the land. The issues of the war
of 1793 have materially altered her position.--
Prussia has risen into a powerful kingdom on
her northern frontier, although somewhat
weakened by the detached nature of its posses-
sions. Austria, more compact and more formid-
able, now extends her dominions over the fairer
portions of Italy, and threatens Turkey from the
eastern shores of the Adriatic ; and Russia has
established her strong hold in the very centre of
civilised Europe. What is there to withstand the
progress of this last gigantic power, aided as she
must be, from the nature of its frontier, by
Prussia, and able at all times to secure the neu-
trality, if not the co-operation, of Austria ;
with ample means, when she chooses to use
them, of' pouring her legions over the gay
vallies of the west, from the commanding po-
sition of her Polish dominions ? There re-
mains no Power but France, and it is at least
doubtful, with all her valour and all her
skill and resources, whether she_would be equal
to the task. We are not anticipating, any more
than we are wishing, an irruption of the Musco-
vite barbarians into the abodes of civilised life ;
but the event is a possible one, and who will say
that it would not be as deplorable in its issue to
the general interests of mankind, as disastrous to
the countries immediately subject to the visita-
tion ? In the progress of art and the diffusion
of intelligence, no nation is more deeply interested
than Great Britain, and none would be more
deeply and lastingly injured by the retrogression
of social liberty—the corruption or annihilation
of liberal institutions—the decay of arts—and
the destruction of literature, which would follow
the conquest or depression of Western Europe.
It is most suitable that the bonds which accident
has entwined between us and France, should be
strengthened by policy if possible. There is,
on either hand, every material of sympathy—
every foundation for mutual respect. Fortune
seems, indeed, to have dealt out her gifts so
fairly to our lively neighbours and ourselves,
that each party has abundant positive causes of
self-congratulation, without the necessity of de-
preciating the other. In our national characters
we seem fitted for communion. The gravity
which we draw from our Sallon origin requires
but a small addition of the cheerful levity that
has run unadulterated from the days of Cxsar in
the veins of the Gauls, to render it the most
agreeable moral mixture in the world, while the mo-
bility of the Frenchman might be advantageously
regulated by combination with a portion of our
plain English solidity. In every department the
two countries are, if not balanced, at least so
nearly on a par as to leave no occasion for inde-
cent exultation on either side. If in the field
we boast of our Marlborough, they can point to
their Turenne—if we have had our Black Prince,
they have had their Du Guesclin. When we
refer to our own days, if our Nelson annihilated
the fleets, their Napoleon destroyed the armies
of Europe. We boast of Newton, and they of
Des Cartes ; and if the latter fall below his rival,
theyl have the preponderance in more recent
t ns• If they have no Principia, we have no
Mecaniqzte Celeste. We have a Shakspeare,
they have a Moliere , each perfect in his walk.
The Henriade is but a poor thing compared to

the Paradise Lost ; but then the Patriarch of
Ferney, in the amazing fertility and extent of
his powers, leaves all that have succeeded or gone
before him at an immeasurable distance. It is
unnecessary to pursue the parallel, but it is not
unworthy of remark, that that very description
of force to which Our safety and renown are
chiefly indebted—our navy—is built upon
French models ; and the blocks by which
it is worked are the production of French
ingenuity. Two nations that have so much in
common, that approach each other so nearly,
yet in whose pursuits and modes of thinking
there is enough of diversity to attract attention
and excite kindness, seem, above all others,
fitted for intimate union. We are most happy
to perceive the commencement of an attachment
which promises to be at once so agreeable and so
profitable, both to themselves and to mankind at
large. Englishmen now laugh at Moliere in
the Tottenham-street Theatre, and Frenchmen
sigh over the woes of Juliet, at the Favard ;
while in the career of fame, as in th• in-
' terchange of sympathy, the same unanimity
is observable, and the gallant De Rigny
fights hand in hand with the brave Codrington.
Long may such friendship prevail ; and may
every coming year but knit its bands the closer.
—New Times.