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

tion. The circles have been those presided
over successively by the intellects of successive
statesmen—those of WILLIAM HUSKISSON, those
of CHARLES VILLIERS, those of RICHARD COBDEN,
those of JoHN BRIGHT, those of ROBERT PEEL--
and now lastly, those of the present CHANCELLOR
of the EXCHEQUER. At first, we were only striv-
ing to obtain the abrogation of the obnoxious
Corn Laws. Then came a series of admirable tariffs,
opening the ports wider and wider for the admission
of an extraordinary variety of important articles
of consumption. After bread had been cheapened,
sugar was cheapened. After glass had been af-
forded the same release from restrictive imposts,
bricks were allowed a like enviable opportunity.
Then came the extension of similar advantages to
shipping—advantages already proved to be so
beneficial to the operations of commerce generally.
The abrogation of the Corn Laws was very speedily
followed by the abrogation of the laws affecting
Navigation. What Sir ROBERT PEEL commenced,
was continued by Lord JoHN RUSSELL. It now
appears, happily, to be in a fair way of still fur-
ther development under the auspices of the Right
Hon. Gentleman the present gifted CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER.

It were scarcely rational—not to talk about
its being ungenerous—to taunt Ministers with
their acceptance of Free Trade, and their
abandonment of Protection. Surely, Convert in
this matter cannot justly be regarded in the light
of a word of opprobrious signification. For,
more or less, we are all, of us converts to the be-
lief in unrestricted competition. Sooner or later
we have been all of us converts : for the truth
was first broached by the author of the " Wealth
of Nations," as already intimated ; and, one after
another, we have almost all of us come at last to
recognise the accuracy of the assertions made in
this matter by that greatest of political philoso-
phers. Mr. HUSKISSON recognised it very early,
, for he was a man of forethought, and one whose

intelligence upon many subjects was greatly
in advance of his generation. Still, he was
a convert, for even he was at one time
a conscientious advocate of Protection. Was
not Sir ROBERT PEEL avowedly a convert
from opinions he had previously advanced with
such eloquent and indomitable perseverance ?
He changed too, because he was a man of un-
questionable prescience, and he changed openly
because he was a man of most chivalrous courage
—a genius distinguished in an eminent manner
by the splendour of his magnanimity. Was not
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in like manner, an acknow-
ledged penitent once upon a time in the good
old city of Edinburgh ? Did he not make
a formal confession of the fact in a rather
celebrated document ? Well—Ministers are
converts too, like so many of their predecessors.
Only, instead of declaring as much through a
" Letter" or through a proposal for an " Order in
Council "—Lord DERBY boldly blurts out the
truth through the Speech from the Throne, and
Mr. DISRAELI through a financial statement.
However this may be, the gratifying fact can no
longer be matter for conjecture or cause for hesi-
tation. We are now all of us (whether in belief
or in practice signifies nothing) Free-traders to the
backbone : and for the avowal of this final triumph
of unrestricted competition we shall long have
reason to look back with gratitude to the present
brief but memorable Session of the Imperial Le-
gislature.

There is an unhappy craving after notoriety

. _
that leads persons so afflicted into all manner
of absurdities. Ridicule, contempt, anything
rather than pass in the undistinguished crowd
-without notice or observation. Digit° monstrari

eundo, to be pointed at or talked of is the great
desideratum. It matters little whether they are
spoken of in terms of commendation or censure,
whether they obtain approbation or the reverse.
The former would of course be preferred, but it is

not quite so easy of attainment. The path to the
Temple of true Fame is too tedious and difficult
—the way too long and arduous to suit such tem-
peraments. The goal must be achieved by a sud-
den exertion, and as the spring upwards is im-
practicable, the plunge downwards is generally
resorted to.

Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY appears of this mind.
From the time that he called the public attention
to the family quarrels in which he was unhappily
involved, when, unable to administer his favourite
remedy—" a punch in the head" to " his big
brother," he did his utmost to bring the ancient
name they bore into disrepute. There has been
an incessant straining after effect—a feverish
anxiety to rush into print, on any and every occa-
sion. DOGBERRY himself was not more solicitous
to be written down an ass, than the ex-Member for
West Gloucestershire. It was so at the time of the
Great Exhibition. It is so still. Indeed, the ne-
cessity is more pressing at this moment, as the
Honourable Gentleman no longer possesses a seat

in Parliament, by means whereof his antics might
be prominently shown off to the community.
Mr. BERKELEY has now adopted the expedi-
ent of lauding " Protection," of hugging the
defunct monster, as a mode of attract-
ing the coveted notice. He exhibits the
zeal of a convert in his proceedings, arraying
himself side by side with the SIBTHORPS, CHOW-
LERS, FOSKE'TTS, &c., &c. The device was inge-
nious—the result certain. The mental calibre of
the man who ratted to Protection must necessarily
be of an extraordinary description. We might
not feel any great astonishment at those who,
true to their ancient predilections, continue blind
to the changes that have taken place and are daily
occurring, but we cannot help wondering at the
man, once a professing Free-trader, who would
advocate the reimposition of a bread-tax, and who
actually glories in his infatuation.
But even Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY has not the

hardihood to deny the general prosperity at present
enjoyed by the industrious classes—or that it is
partly ascribable to the Act of 1846. He merely
declares that "it is incorrect to assert that it
arises solely from recent legislation, or the abroga-
tion of the Corn Laws." This is a virtual admis-
sion of the existence of that prosperity, and also
that the welfare and happiness of the working

man is in some degree promoted by the legislative
recognition of Free Trade. Oh ! but for some-
thing else they would not bo so well off. Every
man able and willing to work, would not be cer-
tain of obtaining remunerative employment—of
receiving a fair day's wages in exchange for a fair
day's work. " Had we as many labourers in the
United Kingdom now as there were in 1846,"
he exclaims, " the rate of wages at present paid,
must and would have been infinitely lower, or
half the hands been without occupation."
Here is a perversion of a distinct fact, on which
he founds his subsequent argument. We join
issue on the premises. We deny that the labourers
in the agricultural districts of England are less
numerous at this moment than in 1846. There
are, fortunately, fewer unemployed. The work-
houses are no longer crowded by able-bodied
paupers, but there are as many free families in
villages and hamlets, and scattered cottages, earn-
ing their daily bread by their daily labour, as in
1846, or in the most palmy days of Protection,
and they are in the enjoyment of comforts previ-
ously unknown. They are no longer unprofitably
consuming the resources of the country, but are,
as they ought to be, the creators and producers of
national wealth.
It is true that there has been an extensive
emig,ration—that landed proprietors have availed
themselves of the funds provided by the colonies,
to get rid of the idle and worthless, the permanent
inmates of the workhouses, sending persons very
different from the class bargained for by those
who supplied the means. Many industrious and
well-disposed personS were also attracted by the
promise of the unstinted abundance, the ample
provision which they would readily obtain in
Australia ; but the numbers who left their native
shores were not more than equivalent to the an-
nual increase, others spring up to supply their
places, and there are at this moment in England
as many labourers as there were in 1846. This
fact may easily be ascertained by looking to the
emigration returns, and comparing
the numbers of
English labourers vc lo have sought their fortunes
in other climes, with the average addition to the
population, which. experience teaches us must