The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-07 00:00:00

tht

LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1852,

Although the present extraordinary Session of
Parlianient has been extended beyond the period
originally anticipated—it is certain to terminate
very speedily in consequence of the approach of
Christmas. • February will be the limit of the
prorogatiottuntil which time the country will
have ample leisure to coon the results of the past,
and to meditate over the prospects of the future.
Experience will, under these circumstances, more
than ever influence the character of the national
anticipations. It
_will be remembered by the ma-
jority of the more reflective observers throughout
the -country, that the principal, and certainly the
most significant, truth proclaimed by the New
House of Commons, is—that there is no longer
any chance of retrogression. The policy of Great
_ . . _

Britain' is now definitively decided.—it is onward-

a, policy
_of prog,ress, and of improvement. Free
i Trade is accepted even by the most enthusiastic
,leaders of the Protectionists. Monopoly can

no more be- dreaded •in the old threation

has yielded up its claims entirely to the trium-
phant .principles of .unrestricted :competition.:
Instead of endeavouring to force the people back
upon there-acceptance of the commercial code
z_..:abandoned by. them in 1.346--the Cabinet pre=
sided over = by the chiefs of the country party,
have actually advanced upon the pathway of inno-
_ yation. Cheap "bread is '' an• inevitable bless
sing to the community--L-they see that at
•last, but - -seeing - • it, they find it by no
.
means enough for them :Under the circum-
.

stances. They consequently propose that v not
merely cheap bread,-4ut that cheap tea, and cheap
beer into the bargain, should be supplied to the
population. If the benefit of consumers is really
to be the
.object of legislation—let that benefit,
say they (and reasonably enough too), be sought
cut, not in one direction alone, but in all direc-
tions with impartiality. If we remit the duties
upon corn, let us at,least relax them upon barley.
If we must.needs. have a .Tariff supplying the
0, nation with divers articles of consumption no
"longer Cursed with the interdict of the Customs—.

• let us have. tea (decidedly. one. of the necessaries of
life to a vast proportion of the multitude) as rea-.
sonably as we possibly can, without any grievous
j,11•1,11TY to the revenue. Thials all good—this.
- . clu- reasenable--there. is. a logic. in. it that appeals
salt
teithe eommon sense of the population. It is ab-
elY, se far 'as-the-system- goes, as nothing, if
we re4iiet unrestricted competition to this
article °I consumption and that, to this
necessary
of'- life. and .. that---without man-'
fully extendillg- it 'Over the whole category. of
that class of requisite importations. Free-traders
the
themsoargumentive. w,ere the firet to recOgnise the justice of
, and, therefore, it -so happened that
the House on, Friday evening
from no part .of
did
warmer applause greet those earlier portions of
the Financial Statement submitted to the Legisla-
utehiadint_y
sbtyranthgee
such very_ matstgetTrinyit? ture with
CHANCELLOR of the -MOH
of the benches
occupants
to remember--the
Opposition..
.Here was + :
.urning the
of the Conservatives tables with a vengeance, e. were
expanded,
intellectually and morally, into
Reformers. Wisdom --
had again been learnt at the
knees of the political GA3III4IEL. As Sir Anent-
BALD ALISON says so admirably In his Great His_
tory, the original advocates of Free Trade were
ADAM SMITH and QUESNLY, and not either COB-
DEN, or Buionr, or PEEL, Or HITSICISSON. So it
has fallen out--the pebble dropped into the deeps
of opinion by the hand of the philosopher, has
'wakened circle after circle in perpetually in-
creasing expansion. - The pebble in this in-
stance .ivas the truth of the system now
, known as the .system of unrestricted competi-