The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-08 00:00:00

THE GREAT CITY MEETING.

(From, the Times of this day.)
Everybody will have his own opinion with regard to
Saturday's meeting in the city of London, according as
hope or fear, prejudice or interest, sways his judgment.
Some will dwell on the absence from the list of requisi-
tions of names familiar in the annals of civic agitation,
and others may consider that, since members of Parlia-
ment were admitted, a stronger cast in that part of the
performance would have been desirable. For our own
part, making allowance for these and all other reason-
able deductions, we are disposed to consider this meet-
ing as a demonstration of good sense, backed by a very
large amount of social and commercial influence. The
want of the prominent leaders in city matters was com-
pensated by the undoubted respectability of the audience
and the speeches delivered breathed a tone of strong
English feeling, and firmness tempered with moderation,
honourable to the assembly itself, and very impressive
to those who carefully consider its proceedings. It
would, we believe, be found impossible to express more
completely and accurately the prevailing sentimet of
We
the public mind, and at the same time give it more
faith-
ful picture of our national character.
niss altodeclama-
tion
gether in the proceedings of this meeting the
of the practised agitator, or the arts of the hack-
neyed debater. There is a just indignation
mismanagement of the war,rules
at the
ue
and a referenlcse
aonfdevfaemrYi:
thing to the standard of plain business
liar common sense ; a fairness ite
nhyaredealingmost imntt irritatedh es
;p eaker s
even with those against whom
and a downright honesty in the language employed,
aftermployed,
'
which has in it somethin,, wholesome and refreshing
the quibbling, the. evasion, the "explanations" by which
nothing
is explained, and the "communications" by which
nothing is communicated, which occupy so large a portion
of our Parliamentary columns. Let those who have
persuaded themselves v. that this contry exists for the bene-
fit of a few great families, and that for the sake of being
governed by them we are willing to renounce all con-

rPRicE SD.

trol over our own affairs, remark how keenly the acts of
our public men are watched, and how thoroughly appre-
ciatedthe by the mercantile classes, and how strong is
condemnation which they deliberately record against the
system under which they live. Aristocratic factions
may afford to despise the clamours of a mob, but they
must feel that they have trespassed btyond the bounds
of prudence when . their conduct is t nanimously con-
demned by an assembly of men yielding to them neither
in wealth nor intelligence.
What makes this meeting still more formidable, not
only to the present Government, but to the system out of
which that Government springs, and which it has so
marvellously caricatured and exaggerated, is, that the
speakers earnestly protest that they have not left their
counting-houses for the mere purpose of making speeches
and passing resolutions, but with the view of inaugu-
rating a movement which shall not cease until the re-
form they seek be fully and effectually obtained. The
object of the meeting of Saturday was not the display
of oratorical power, but the foundation of a league de-
signed to upset the whole system of corruption and
favouritism, and to introduce into public matters the
energy and enterprise of private management. To such
a movement we can only wish all the success it deserves,
and trust that the discontent so justly excited will not be
allowed to evaporate in mere words, but leave clear and
distinct traces of its action legibly inscribed on the in-
stitutions of the country. At the same time, let no one
suppose that the conquest will be easy or the vic-
tory certain. Those who ask for administrative
reform ask exactly for that which all concerned in
returning members to Parliament believe themselves
to have a common motive in resisting. Administrative
reform calls upon every voter to surrender those secret
influences by which his son finds his way into the Excise
or Customs, and devotes to the public service talents
and energies for which no private establishment is dis-
posed to compete. Administrative reform would de-
prive the richer elector of the commission for his eldest
son, and the assistant-surgeoncy or cadetship for the
yeunger ; and, worst of all, Administrative reform
threatens to make rode havoc in those halcyon abodes
contrived especially for the benefit of young men of
family—the public offices, where work is doled out on
the most humane principles, and the wind is tempered
so adroitly to the shorn lamb. Nay, more, Adminis-
trative does not respect even the very highest positions,
but assumes to carry change into the very councils of
the Sovereign. It demands the surrender of family and
hereditary influence, and the throwing open to men
whose pedigrees are invested with no hereditary charm,
the very government of the country itself. No demon-
stration less signal, no disclosures less startling and less
complete than those which recent revelations have af-
forded, and are still continuing to afford, would have
enabled any class of men in this country successfully to
cope with an evil so thoroughly intertwined with every
fibre of our system.
Another difficulty with which the originators of this
movement will have to contend is the abstract and re-
mote nature of the subject, appealing directly to no
popular sympathy, and resting on so little that can be I
brought do wn to the level of the vulgar apprehension.
This is no question of the extension of rights of fran-
chise,
of the persecution of one set of opinions and the
toleration of another, of the large or small loaf, or even
of the 'great and little shilling, Still, a nation that
has been found capable of clearly apprehending
and logically applying the abstruse doctrines of political
economy involved in the question of free trade may well
hope to be able to unravel the mysteries of public offices,
the causes of defective organisation, or the ways in
which interest and favouritism shroud themselves from
public view. It will, however, require not a little tact,
j.udgment, and moderation to preserve to this movement
its neutral character, and to prevent it from being used
by selfish arid ambitious men as a means of political ag-
gr andi3erneatt. It was for the Whigs that the leaders of
the Anti-Corn-law League, as experience has shown,
fought and conquered ; and it may well be that there
are persens in the political world who are mentally ap-
propriating to their own use and behoof the labours of
this new combination.
We have but one more remark to make. The effect
of a vigorous agitation for administrative reform, in
which the gross misconduct of our military departments
must be exposed, will undoubtedly, in some degree, tend
to disgust the nation with the continuance of the war,
and render those classes whom such an organisation
attacks more anxious than ever for peace. We hear
already much less than we did in certain quarters of the
" vigorous prosecution of the war ;" we trust, however,
that it will be the effort of the new organisation to re-
mind the people of their own inherent strength, and to
point out to them that the remedy for existing evils is
not in an ignominious peace, but in a thorough and un-
sparing redress of abuses. Even while we write, Lord
Ellenborough has raised the whole question of adminis-
trative reform in the address of which he has given notice

in the House of Lords ; and the Peers will have the op-
portunity of showing how far they sympathise with this
commercial movement sooner than the representatives
of the people, since Lord Palmerston bas, with rather
scant courtesy, desired Mr. Layard to find a day for
himself, ,Ctpubtless however, scuch,,Ak_diky will soon be
found, and the Ministry whit& has just hleen enlightened
as to the views of the City of London will not long re-
main in ignorance of those held by both branches of the
Legislature.