The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-19 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1855.

Will Lord PALMERSTON continue to resist in-
quiry? Should he do so, his term of office will
be of brief duration ; and the Premier of whom
suck sanguine hopes ware •nce entertained will
become as unpopular as he had at one time bees
popular. He should not forget that one of the
great causes of public respect and admiration for
his character and conduct was that he was sup-
posed to be the unflinching opponent of all un-
constitutional influences. His manly principle,
that " nations have no cousins," was hailed
with delight throughout the length and breadth
of the land, and at once placed him in the com-
manding situation which he has since occupied.
Has he, however, become a convert to " Ger-
manism ?" Is he now ready to truckle to that
hich he formerly zealously and energetically re-
sisted. If so, let him bid "a long farewell to
all his greatness." The admiration of the people
will not long survive the qualities the possession
whereof commanded and insured it.

It is said that the real objection of the Noble
Viscount to the investigation is zot so much
as to what may be elicited respecting the civil as
the military departments. He wants to screen
the Horse Guards ! to prevent the purification of
that Augean stable ! to avert the exposure of
the secret machinery by which the wires are
pulled in the background. It is net merely
Lord HARDINGE that is to be exoner-
ated. A great deal may slip out before
an independent and resolute committee, which,
it is plausibly asserted, he desires to keep private.
Hence his attempt to induce the House of Com-
mons to stultify itself by rescinding the resolution
carried by such an overwhelming majority, and to
permit the inquiry into the conduct of the elder
Dromio to remain in the hands of the twin
brother.

This, however, will not be tolerated, either by
the House or country. The inquiry must go on
Nay, more, it must be carried on in a bona fide
manner, and-all matters relating to the conduct
of the War, and more especially the Pioceedingi
of the Horse Guards, subjected to a strict and
searching scrutiny. A stubborn resistance would
be fatal to the " reburnished Administration."
It would elicit a storm of indignation throughout
the entire country, of which it would be impossi-
ble to predict all the results. One, at least,
would be the ignominious expulsion from office of
Lord PALMERSTON and his colleagues ; and
should the threat of a dissolution bo verified
—should an appeal to the nation be made
—it could not come under circumstances
more favourable to the advocates of inquiry—
more injurious to those who endeavour to prevent
full publicity. We trust, then, that Lord PAT.,
MERSTON may, ere it be too late, avoid this dan-
gerous error, and that he will not inaugurate his
accession to office by a signal and decisive defeat,
and that on a question where the sympathies of
the entire community will be against him, and all
those by whom ho may be abetted in the impolitic
attempt.

This evening the Chancellor of the Exchequer
will explain his new plan relating to journalism to
the House of Commons. He apparently tenders
a valuable boon to newspaper proprietors, but a
slight examination will show that the benefit is
not wholly unalloyed, and that he is, in fact, to a
great extent, merely changing the source of
revenue, hoping to receive very nearly as much
from the Post-office as he surrenders under the
head of stamps.
The arguments of the Right Hon. Gentleman
are certainly plausible. He says—" I repeal one
of the taxes on knowledge. I give up the news-
paper stamp, which has hitherto produced some
350,0001. per annum, and any person may now
at any time publish an unstamped sheet containing
the latest intelligence, with comments thereon,
&c., without incurring penalties, or being respon-
sible for any breach of the fiscal regulations."
So far good. But, unfortunately, he does not
stop there, but proceeds to take away all the
postal facilities so long enjoyed by public jour-
nals. The existence of " the Fourth Estate" is
to he practiedly ignored ; for the Right Hon.
Gentleman le as incapable of recognising any dis-
tinction between newspapers and books or other
printed matter, as between the precarious, fluctu.
ating, and hardly-acquired wages of industry and
the dividends of the fundholder or the rents of
the landed proprietor. The point to be avoided
is the definition of a public journal. Mr. GLAD-
STONE desires to get rid of the vexata gwestio
" What is a newspaper ?" and therefore includes
every description of printed matter in the same
category. Formerly books weighing less than a
pound were transmitted through post under cer-
tain regulations, at a uniform charge of sixpence.
Henceforward the charge is to be one penny for
every four ounces or fractional part of four
ounces—a course which a morning contemporary
felicitously remarks will convert the Post-office
into a parcels delivery company, doing an exten-
sive trade at a rate which cannot prove remu-
nerative, and which will render the position of a
letter-carrier anything but a sinecure.
Considering the generally-received opinions
really think that
respecting the value of the national Press, we
s
shown, and that there
niontdtbilegesuneceh
emxacyQebde.
allowing newspapers known
jug difficulty in still
as
such, by registration at the Stanp-ofilee or
otherwise, to retain Bowe trifling
privileges.
There surely may as well be the difference
between nowspal)crs and other printed
papers
as between written and printed matter, and
the Chancellor of the Exchequer may fairly
be asked to reduce all communications to the
uniform rate of one penny fur four ounces,
h Mr. ROWLAND HILL may
a point against which
well protest, as it would make the Post-office a
source of loss rather than of profit to the country.
The trifling privileges accorded might still be

The inclemency of the weather at the present
time very naturally suggests increased considera-
tion for the welfare of what is left of our gallant
army in the East. Knowing what sufferings
they have undergone, and aware of the depressing
influence of long-continued privation and expo-
sure on the constitutions of the strongest, we can-
not, as the bitter cold catches our breath and sets
our ears a tingling, but wonder how they bear
such weather, and ejaculate something like a
prayer for their deliverance. The little suffer-
ings and inconveniences we experience, protected
though we are against exposure and with the com-
forts of home in prospect in ease of illness, render
us more sensitively alive than we otheiwise would
be to the condition of those who, with the strong-
est claims on public consideration, have to stand
for hours in the freezing cold of the trenches to
their arms or on picquet. Nothing can be more
natural, nor more laudable, than sympathy like
this.

What we have to urge we are happy to think
need not interfere with its indulgence. Our fel-
low-countrymen, wherever they are, and of what-
ever calling they may be, have, in the hour of
distress, an irrefragable claim on our considera-
tion. The gallant soldier, however heroic, and
especially attractive of attention from the pride
and pomp of war, the perilous nature of his call-
ing, and the important issue at stake in the con-
flict in which he is engaged, does not require ex-
clusive consideration, and he would be the last to
claim it. He knows the race to which he be-
longs, the privations they have to undergo, their
fortitude, their endurance, and, above all, their
honest pride—that pride that, as it were, defies
fate, and will not humble itself to the workhouse
—too well for that.

As our readers know, for several weeks past
we have had, with but little intermission, down-
right winter weather in the metropolis—storm
after storm of snow, sleet, biting winds, and the
intensest frost known for years, the thermo-
meter actually having sunk, on one occasion,
twenty-three degrees below freezing point.
During this period, we would ask, what has been
the condition of our artisans and the labouring
classes generally ? Of course there are certain
trades which cannot be pursued during the slight.
eat frost, and these where the amount of pay
during the other portions of the year may suffice,
with management, to keep the artisan in tolerable
comfort till the spring sets in. Painters, brick-
layers, &c., may be numbered in this class ;
though we fear the requisite forethought and self-
denial is too frequently wanting to admit of a
confident belief in the well-doing of all. The
elapses of artisans and labourers to whose
condition we are more especially desirous to
call attention are those generally able
to find work all the year through, and who there-
fore are not prepared against an exceptional year.
Among these are watermen, lightermen, coal and
corn porters, labourers on the docks and wharves,
and every class of persons employed in loading,
unloading, or navigating eraft on the Thames—
the greatest commercial river in the world. The
number of these now thrown out of employment
must be very large, and their necessities verygreat,
for we are afraid they have net been able to "lay
up against a rainy day." Here is an ample field
for the benevolent. In numbers of these men
the hatred of parish relief, and, above all, of the
workhouse, is intense ; they would die sooner
than have recourse to either. Men like these and
their families are just the sort of people who
should least willingly be let die. Their
manly pride should speak strongly and effec-
tually in their favour. Th•y are the very
objects for private benevolence ; and if the
reader has an odd half-crown in his pocket,
and knows any deserving indi►idual or family of
this sort, let him as unostentatiously as possible
transmit it, and repeat the process as soon as he
can. Has he any woollen or linen the worse for
wear. He cannot part with it in charity better than
at the present time. Let him consult his better
half, and between them they may succeed in
earning that choice reward, the blessing of
the high-spirited and industrious poor. Above
all, let him not wait to be asked, or play the Lord
•r Lady Bountiful. One half of a good deed is
in the way of doing it, and a train of good things
may follow from an act of charity considerately
done.

While, however, appealing to private benevo-
lence we would by no means exclude combined
effort. The necessity for relief we are disposed
to believe is great and wide-spread. Besides the
classes named, those engaged in agriculture are out
of employment, and many others it is needless to
specify. Combination may effect in the way of
relief what, without it, would be impossible ; all,
therefore, we would urge is, combine or not com-
bine, whatever you may bestow, let the feelings of
the industrious poor be respected. To be an ob-
ject of charity is not necessarily to be an object
of contempt. The bands of society are, it should
be remembered, not so strong as to warrant the
neglect of any means whereby they may be
strengthened, and, among such means, a kindly
consideration shown for the working man in Lis
hour of trial is a very effective one, but only can
be so when the object feels himself respected.

TIIB SARDINIAN ARMY.

The Sardinian army in time of peace is reckoned
at 41,647 soldiers ; that is to say :

Mon.
10 brigades of Infantry of the Line .... 26,470
10 battalions of Rifles .

10 regiments of Cavalry 5,221
3 regiments of Artillery 4,162
1 battalion of Sappers and Miners
~ 1 waggon-train corps 464
1 battalion of Chasseurs Francs 644

41,647
To which must be added Gens-d'armes 3,904

Making in all..

- 45,551

In time of peace the Gcns-d'arnies, or Carabi-
neers as they are called here, aro employed as
police, but in war they form a Royal body guard,
and in that capacity a portion served with Zing
Charles Albert in the last war.