The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-29 00:00:00

Ni

TUESDAY

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
Fltr-M THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIME.—Of all the different ways by which man-
kind achieve gri-atitess the most singular and lest saaa-
factory has been tek n by her Majesty's present ad-
visers. It any one veer° candidly to ask himeelf why it
is that Lord Darby and his followers are in possession
of the sweets and emoluments of offic", the only reason-
able account he could give would be that they are chosen
to rule us because they lacked the log,cal acumen which
wou'd have enabled them to see throtgh the transparent
fallaejses of an exploded economy—because they had not
thecandour to pay that deference to the teaching of ex-
perience which they had denied to the dictates of reason
—because they had not tact sufficieri; to catch the spirit
of the age, or enough readiness.and versatility to shift a
position which every one but themselves had long seen to
be untenable and absurd. Such be'eg the characteris-
tics of what used to he celled
the Protectionist party,
tbe presept Ministry were, selected because they embo-
died these qualities in the very Lghest degree. The
criterion Lord Derby. looked tee in selecting advisers
for here 4ajesty was a ,a 1 in the cause of artificiel
ecareitY, and, wit, re this was :efound . -in -a epe -
cial , degreo,. ,:the,: -qe,alification of eupeerior talents
cud,' aptittide for business was ,disregarded; The
-one pi.nciple on .which the Ministry awere chosen,
Which they embody, which they advocate, and of which
they are the liveliest and most earnest, living represen-
tatives, is the enormous faith that the many are made
for the few, the consumer for the prodacere the nation
-
-
for the Ouse, and the, poor for the rich. ~It is very ne-
cessary for tin? electors of the United Kingdom to bear
in mind that, a.latever may now be'iaid; it was on pro-
tection, and protection etone, that the Derby ,Cabinet
was built All other professions, whether of Protestant
zeal, of a desire for legal reform, or of dread of demo-
cracy, are mere accidents, the substance end the essential
having always been protection. It is, we'say, very ne-
cessary to remember these things, because,'although
protection has been in terms disowned, Ministers have
place;
found nothing new to put in its it is dead, and
has left no avowed successor. If the Derby Ministry
were to speak candidly in aPpealing to the votes of
the ,country, they would say that they ask for.our sup-
port because tney have always
held opinions which
the rest of the country utterly abhors, and because,
having abandoned those opinions, they feel them-
selves entitled to our personal confidence. Now, as to
the first of these grounds, we feel ourselves constrained
to say that such striking evidence of an imperfect sym-
path), between the Ministry and the nation bodes little
.onger continuance of
their union; as to the second, the disclaimer has been
made with so bad a grace, and with the -retention of so
many principles equally groundless and odious, that it
does not entitle the culprits of Protection to a complete
amnesty from the followers of Free trade. We rejoice,
of course, to hear that the endless
good as likely to result from a t
abuse of their great
leader for his change of opinion h 55, for the future, be-
come a topic too dangerous for as
ention •; and that the
desire to raise the price of food is disowned with as much
earnestness as it was wont to be Proclaimed. But we
are sorry to see, and cannot bat feel it as an insult to the
ee
common sense and intelligence of the nation, that all those
principles from which the doctrine
of Protection rigor-
ously follows are restated and insisted upon in almost
every Min'sterial 'address. We are reminded that the
agricultural interest hrs been n ;
ena uetly treated; that
it is distressed by exposure to unfair competition; that
it is the duty of the Legislature to foster every interest,
and take care that it be properly. remunerated; and that
it is the intention of Lord Derby's Government
"vernment, by some
means other than protectiveduties, to
owners and cecupiers of the soil. Now all
this is, we
apprehend, not merely Oise in theory' and discreditable
in statesmanship, but an entire misrepresentation of the
feelings of the people Of this country. It is net, merely
egainst the abuse of import duties for the purposes of
Protection, and the taxation of the consumer for the
benefit of the producer, that the nation compensate the
has manifested
such unmistakable repugnance. Protection is odious in
itself, butit is still more odious as a manifestation of that
unfair and partial spirit of government which deals with
4.7,ht5, but ac-
cording which a to the degree of pressure community
may enable a class to exert on the Government. We
claim to b 3 equal before the revenue as before the
law. We rill not pay taxes to any class, normen, not according to their individual ~.1
will we assume upon our shoulders the burdens which
no duty in Go-
vernment to foster the welfare of classes, and no mission
to reconcile their disputes, so long as those disputes are
occasioned by the desire of one class to live either di-
redly or indirectly at the expense of another. We have
rightfully belong to it. We recognized
not merely shaken off Protection;
Wego-
verned
by men who regard our interests from a protec-
tive—chati anti•national
point of vieisw. ,froTmhae
principles on which free trade is narrow, unsound, and wle not be
cased are more valuable than free trade itself, for the
one is only the correction of a particular abuse, while
the other, when well understood and fairly applied, fur'-
nish guarantees for progress, equality, and justice. We
shall never be able to tolerate a Government the sympa-
thies and feelings of which are opposed to our own,
which insults us by bewailing abundance,
and still looks
for consolation to. any causes likely to bring back
that scarcity which it dares not enforce by legislative
enactment. Free trade must not be tolerated as a
great evil, but accepted and embraced as a great good.
No idea can be more absurd than that any Government
can be permanent in a free country whose sympathies
are in a contrary direction to those of its citizens. We
must not only have abundance, but we must have Minis

ters who do not grudge us its enjoyment. Are the peo-
ple gorged and satiated with the necessaries of life, and
anxious to return to a sparer diet and more ascetic fare?
Do they read in the increasing abundance which every
Quarter's Revenue discloses symptoms of decline and
ciecay ? Do the meat and the bread, the coffee and the
sugar, and all the other homely luxuries of the poor
man's board, come to him in such lavish abundance that
he has learnt to loathe them, as the Israelite in the de-
sert did his dear-bought banquet of quails? If so, let
us by all means take the shortest cut back to the blessed
state of want and scarcity from which a few short years
have delivered us, and, without troubling Lord Derby to
rack his brains for a Enccedaneum, let us bolt the pill of
Protection at once. But if, as we rather think, there is
no disposition to curtail these things—if every individual
of the community, though content to bear his own bar-
dens, is determined not to assume those which right-
fully belong to his neighbour, let us return men to
Parliament determined to resist not only Protection, but
every alternative, substitute,
or equivalent which the in-
genuity of Lord Derby may suggest. While the Go-
vernment was still Protectionist, we were told that Par-
liament wag to meet in the autumn for the purpose of
considering measures for the relief of the landed interest.
Protection is disavowed,
but the meeting of Parliament
is still to take place, and measures of relief to the landed
interest are still announced. The country can have no
confidence in the spirit in which these measures will be
prepared. Many candidates have announced before-
hand their intention of voting for them, be they what
they may, merely from reliance on the spirit of undue
favour to the landed interest by which they believe Lord
Derby to be actuated. It behoves the friends of free
trade, therefore, to be careful in choosing Members
friendly, not merely to the letter but to the spirit of
free trade—not merely to unfettered imports, but to the
wide and comprehensive principles of the absolute
equality of all clssses in matters of finance. We do not
went merely the absence of Protectioneany more than
we regard a man as our friend and benefactor because
he does not pick our pocket.
Live. We want, in fact, that gurrantee for good govern-
ment which nothing but a fair recognition of sound
economical principles, and an earnest desire to carry
them out in their own way and ;
We want something posi-
general election was ever pre-
:Meaning addresses as the contest
---- in their true spirit, Can
pre-
ceded eodcs
es kale
RibyyoaNsffolo
mrcdLa tnEer uu
which is to occupy the first half of July.
In former
times, if candidates used conventional language, consti-
tuencies at least understood on which side each aspirant
was likely to vote, if returned. el
the present occasion
it is perhaps possible to discover, through a cloud of
election address implies
an intention to support Lord Derby; but even this
words, that a particular style of
slenple pledge is, in most instances, limited by the very
confidencel:ehriemh
the promised adhesion. The trust which an expectant
and justify
uasetcobalepasunpyposed to be
grounded on a belief that the latter will carry out some
definite line of policy; but, at this Point, all further in-
vestigation is baled. Some one or two hundred gentle-
pktreomi ebs seironpsig(ole
sin t
gentle-
men are resolved to assist Lord Derby in doing—nobody
can discover what. If the Ministerial Party were likely to
form a majority in the new Parliament, there would not
be much difficulty in understanding its present intentions.
There are always reasons enough for standing by the
actual holders of office. The' real difficulty will arise
when, in the course of the autumn, a change of Govern-
ment occurs. It is really impossible to understand what
the ex-Protectionists will attempt, or profess, or wish
for.' Mr. Disraeli made it his business, during three
sessions, to teach them how a campaign in which they
were engaged might be conducted with the beet hope of
success. Li resuming his place as leader of the Oppo-
sition, he will be called upon to provide his friends, not
only with tactics, but with a cause. The agitation
against the supposed " burdens on land" was always
understood by the party to be an underhand and in-
genious contrivance for carrying on the battle of Pro-
tection. The landowners know how trifling would be
the utmost relief which they could seriously ask; and
they certainly have no intention of relinquishing the
local powers which must necessarily be trans-
ferred to some central authority, i„
the event
of the Consolidated Fund being charged with
the amount of the present local burdens. It
is scarcely worth while to bring together a large Parlia-
mentary minority, who, as soon as Lord Derby is driven
from office, will have no principle of cohesion whatever.
The fallacious hopes of the existing Cabinet are based
on the personal differences which are supposed to divide
the Opposition. But more far-sighted politicians un-
derstaud, that general agreement on the immediate
questions
• of the day will ensure sufficient unity of action
so long as Lord Derby is in power. The formation of
a new Geverutnent will, no doubt, require concessions;
but it is the tendency of office to consolidate an imper-
fect union by the multiplication of common interests,
and by the habit of joint resistance to the same oppo-
nents. The present minority of the House of Commons
suffers little from active dissension, notwithstanding the
resentment of its more tenacious faction at the open
apostasy of the pure Ministerialists. Party union,
whether it depends on personal or on political grounds,
is always strengthered by the possession of office; but
some principle, good or bad; is required to make an
Opposition respectable. We assume that there is no doubt
as to the result of the elections. Even the loudest friends of
the Government have ceased to effect sanguine hopes
of success. The counties cannot add ten supporters to
Lord Derby's ranks, and he can hardly expect the
broil ghs will give him one additional adherent. The
Roman Catholic constituencies in Ireland are naturally
indignant at the Maynooth agitation, and at the late
Procinx-ition. The Goverment might fairly have at-