The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-04 00:00:00

THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 4;

end
to
policy;t
othen,ro
roundwah edn aas
andth mana
abuset
ph oa s.
h.lereenwtaekfiihrsgt
ittofcgirivtewaodyveicaer,a,
him for doing so? Our political
hdeeuhtmitehesentrloesfl:itLeaannochthltevosettehares,
om r u ca ho "countryyc othe=r
r't party,"
men,
,thoughconsideration
o tthh
their
licy is cow very much what it has been for two years,
and what we urged upon them, we don't see why we
' morality of
to assume that it is a fraud on the coun-
try. Oa the other hand, where is the virtue, the high
trying with all the force of speech-
/ illiberality,hm ceasedaayuintag tig et
taught.
make?gmiptt We
thee
rasking; multitudes, and money, to , drive these
wciasadomseewi
men to resume demands which they have long
alchcetutxapineriepnocleicyinaivia
pressing hard on an antagonistic party, in irritating
it, in piquing it, in goading it, in maddening it, and
)i'sattrhoeCiollosl.icyltw mh it:
be Mr.p Cobdenlhi c , b has
adopted in this instance; but so far from its being the
policy of morality, it seems to us, besides its inteese
t it
is false anti foul, for it proceeds on a false assumption as
to the facts of the case, and appeals to the most deplor-
able weaknesses of humanity. What else is it but
simple wickedness to pique and taunt a man back into
an error from which he has long since been struggling to
escape?. -Mr. Cobden himself betrays the falsity of the
premises on wheh he founds these -charg6s of immo-
rality, when he lets out, in a subsequent passage of his
speech, " They are all anxious to get rid of it (Protec-
tion), no doubt." So this high moral authority manu-
factures his facts just as it answers his purposes. When
he wants to stir the country against the new Ministers,
he says they aro really practising to bring back
Protection; When he wants to make them out
contemptible, he calls Protection a tin kettle tied
to their tails, which they wish to get rid rif. Of course
we are not objecting to any decided and vigorous policy
if cause can be shown for it. Should it appear that the
Government will gain ground by forbearance, arid will
appeal to the country with a better chance of success in
July or August than this or next month, and that, it
will appeal on the ground of protection, then compel the
earliest possible appeal. We have el.ready given it as
our opinion that the brightening prospects of agricul-
ture will every month weaken the case for protection,
and we now find the scarcity so great in the States
of the Zollverein that the duties on the importation
of corn, flour, and vegetables are sutpeeded by
decree till August 31. But this policy, mainly
an d compellingw hh without
t tub
:auvntt, r
net
nao
nyet
lappeal,
tr, sohLiuvtlphd ttiieoott:h;ciphienter-
tainedene (
o.a ;
ee
the present, and, possibly, also, of the pee Nor
!should it be overlooked that if the.apptai be precipi-
teteti by violence, the war of classes, which has been
aimGst slumbering for these two years, may be revived
into datigerousetctivity. These considerations enter into
the question of policy, for it is not at all clear that
when Mr. Cobden urges au immediate settlement of the
controvcrey, he is not taking the very course to revive
and perpetuate it. We object to no policy which can
be proved to be such, so as it be, honest. But we do
object to a policy which proceeds upon falsehood. ehich
plays upon weakness, which panders to malignity, and
which, under the disguise of patriotism, seeks only the
iecid ,ntel advantages which strife and confusion may
possihls bring to its particular authors.
lIEB,A.LD.—Mr. Disraeli's admirable address to the
electors of _Buckinghamshire describes in a few words
the position of the Queen' Ministers in reference to the
greet social and economic questions, the advocacy of
which unquestionabiy gave to them the position which
entitled them to be called to the councils of their sove-
reign, Their first care, says the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, must be to provide for the exigencies of the
puhlic service—but, he adds, that they hope, " at no
distant day," to establish those principles which they
have advocated in opposition. These words indicate a
complete appreciation of the position of the Ministry
arid of their dories. They have not been invited to the
councils of the Queen because they are Protectionists,
because they exercise such an influence in Parliament
and the country as to offer a reasonable prospect of their
being able to carry on the Government of the country.
They owe, indeed, that influence to the fact, that in the
schism of 1846 they continued true to the principles
upon which the Conservative party was originally consti-
tuted, and as the reward of that fidelity they now pos-
tress the " following" of the Conservative portion of the
community. It is, nevertheless, true that they have
not been called to power by their advocacy of Pro-
tection. In this respect their position is peculiar,
perhaps anomalous. Other parties have succeeded
in this country to power, because they advocated
some principle for which the country and Parliament
had declared, and which, therefore, its advocates were
called in administration to carry out. This is not the
case with the present occupants of the Treasury bStich.
Parliament had not condemned a single principle held
by their predecessors—not a single vote had affirmed
any one of the maxims of policy upon which the Pro-
tectionists are at issue with their opponents. The late
Ministry fell, not because they were at issue with Par-
lioment upon any one principle upon which the affairs
of the country are to be managed, but because, by per-
sonal incompetence and internal dissensions, they were
incapable of governing the country, even with a Parlia-
ment that approved of their principles. The Country
party have been been invited by their Sovereign to
her Cabinet, not because the Parliament demanoed a
policy of which they were the representatives, but be-
cause, in the broken and distracted state of parties,
they alone had the elemenes of power suffi-
cient to give to a Ministry the means of existences—
or even to supply to the Sovereign the materials of
an administration. The duty of a Cabinet called to
direct public affairs under such circumstances, the Chau-
cellor of the Exchequer has most clearly and forcibly
expressed. They are bound, in too first instance, to
meet the exigencies of the public service which have
induced the Sovereign to appeal to their assistance;
after this they are bound to endeavour to impress upon
the course of public affairs the principles which they
believe essential to the welfare of the country. These
duties the Chancellor of the Exchequer promises that
the new Ministry will perform. In the performance of
the first of them they have a right, let us say, to the
they
yn—hainve
athheetilunaelviyitaeblelear proit4trpaou:tehuetfoorhf
etahre.
cordial and generous support of every loyal
suejtiet of
itehceongduthe
mice and indulgence of their friends. They have " re-
canted" no declaration—they have altered no opinion—
they have abandoned no principle; and Mr. Disraeli
promises that at no distant day they will obtain the
concurrence of the country in putting into prac-
tical operation the great principles of policy to
which they have committed themselves in opposi-
tion. To the solemn and deliberate decision of the
country the Queen's Ministers refer the determination
of the great question of social policy upon which they
are at issue with the Free-traders. We say the oeltecrare
decision, for it must net be forgotten that Ministers
are practising nu surprise. So far from it, the complaint.
of their opponents is that they are giving the coun,ry
too much time for reflection. Neither do they attempt
to disguise the issue which will be submitted to the
nation. They neither practise deception nor surprise.
They distinctly warn the country of the time and the
consequences of the appeal. They give ample limo for
preparation for everything that can tend to secure the
true expression of the national opinion. There is not a
politician in the empire who does not now know that a
general election is intended by Ministers at the close of
the present seseion, and that, if the new Parliament ex-
hibit the decision of the country to be in favour of u protec
live system, Ministers are prepared to shape their policy in
obedience to that. decision. It is not often that a great
political question is thus fairly and calmly submitted to
the judgment of the nation. The course proposed is one
from which only faction can shrink, and which nothing
tent political dishonesty can seek to embarrass or interrupt.
Those who desire a premature appeal to the country can
only do so because they dread its deliberate judgment,
and desire to snap, if possible, a declaration of opinion
in opposition to the true sentiments of the nation. If
we were to sit down to frame the wry method in which
the sense of the constituencies of the empire could be
fairly, taken on the question of free trade—would it he
possible to frame a plan better calculated to attain the
object than that which Ministers propose? Would we
not say, that, in order fairly to collect the opinion of the
country, due notice should be given of the intended appeal
to that opinion—that ample time should be given to every
constituency to deliberate upon the mode in which it would
express its sentiments. But this is the very mode which
Ministers propose to adopt, and while they refer to the
constitutional decisions of the people at a general elec-
tion the question of Protection, they ask in the mean-
time for the support of Parliament in providing for the
indispensable exigencies of the public service. These,
we take it, are the views pet forward, with singular force
of expression, in two sentences of Mr. Disraeli's ad-
dress, Equally remote from any base abandonment of
their own opinions, and any unworthy attempt to force
those opinions upon a reluctant country—Ministers man-
fully avow their principles—candidly acknowledge, that
in the present Parliament they ought not to be entorced;
and fearlessly and in good faith refer to the decision
rof
the country, after an interval amply sufficient to soefcu e
a deliberate expression of opinion, the question
re thea_
ultimate triumph of those principles. Sure. we
oe
erot_n_!
any attempt to interfere with a course so fair,
Wshet
maPkee
rate, and so just, will only bring upon tho
country is always sure to provoke.
it the contempt and indignation which faseetion in this

1 i 8,256 i/-.2
-
_ ___ _ -
THE EXPORT TRA.DE.—According to the monthly
accounts relating to trade and navigation (yesterday '
printed) the declared value of British and Irish produce and !
manufactures exported fr,:m the United Kingdom was, in :
area
~3i9f
840
the month ended the sth February, 4.821,718/. In the cor-
responding period of the preceding year the amout.t was
4,817,870/., and in the like period ot 180, 4.06.:',43 'l. , show.
ing an increase in the three years to some extent.
Cape of Good Hope at the Census of I.lla,
slgEn,ecaninilteasi.nedTleas
return to Parliament was printed, from which it appears that
ttielc‘golEony
PoofFtuhLe A:alp° ri AT TEE CAPE.-17,,5.er1,,y a
aud 36.650 females, ana the coloured population 90,25.) males
and 94,694 females, the estimated population being in the
western and eastern divisions of the colony, 285 27,1'"e
141,609 males and 143,670 females. It is stated that - -.:}:
number of the coloured population, from their wandering --
pwo;uslact°iotilieirea(4l:hiatells
unsettled mode of life, cannot be accurately aseert-C and
it is supposed to exceed that given in the return.
'hied, but
Dr;ATII OF THE PROVOST OF GE v,
for three years '.I"CR —Mr
Paterson, who has filled the office - •
magistrate of Greenock, was, after spending Saturday 'ce of chief
usual health attending busily to the duties
of
expectedly cut off about midnight, almost his &ice, un-
expectedly
Be was attacked, shortly after retiring without warning.
coughing, which induced him to • to rest, with a tit of
could not clear his throat of an ::rise. He felt as if ho
minutes wife that he was dying, in"
after, remarking to his obstruction, and a few
stantly expired.— Greenock Adverwt
tser.
Tan DUTY ON RAILWAYS
RlAGEs.—Last year the income AND STAGE CAR
railways and stage carriages was very great. It is stated in
was
287
3311 _ _ just printed, that the duty on rail-
ways' • I Is. 3 ',d., and from sage carriages
as much as 217,0521. 2s. 834
Ad. was realised.