The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-25 00:00:00

Nothing could more concisely or accurately depict
the situation of the country at this time.—(Cheers.)
I Must now call your attention to some of the reme-
dies that are proposed ; and one of these is a reeiedy
eagerly caught up and promulgated by the needed
interest of the country, who are roost anxioes in
Pressing for a reduction of rents. We are told list
the landlords must reduce their rents.—(Cheer ..)
Good
God ! to be sure they prices ere to
continue at the low rate at which they are new, it
Will not he matter of choice, but of grinding arid
cruel necessity. But how are the landlords to reduce
their rents ? Are the charges upon land, the taxes,
or tile provision made for the younger ranches of
tseeilies reduced !? What would the reduction of
°t rents indicate but a general decline of the agricul-
ture of the country ? Hence should we see !he mort-
gagee foreclose on his mortgagor—the links of so-
ciety dissolved—the poorer classes, who once by
thtjr own industry had maintained an honest liveli•
h"'ir tearing themselves away from their home and
their country, to seek a refuge in other climes—sub-
tilitting to be transported across the ocean, to locate
ur the wilds of America, or encamp in the Savannahs
clt•N'ew Rolland; while the land-owners, who had
lived for centuries upuii the domains of their ances-
tar% which they had enriched by their expenditure
--beautified by their improvements—and consoled
‘,by their charities, would be compelled to pine out a
sreptstable existence in some petty town of France,
lu
e"'irlie no trace of their connexion with the neigh-
bourhood but the rtrieed family mansion, venerable
even in decay it—
" Like some lone Chartreux stands the good old hall,
Silt:ace without, and fasts within the wall ;
N 0 mitered roofs with dance and tabor s;,und,
No noontide bell invites the country round :
Tenants with sighs the smokeless towers survey,
Amid turn th' unwilling steeds another way :
Renighted wanderers, the forest o'er,
Cursed the saved candle, and unopening door :
While the gaunt mastiff, growling at the gate,
Affrights the beggar whom he bons to eat."
• Such is Pope's celebrated description of a miser's
Mansion, and such is my application of it to the pre-
sent melancholy condition, of the residences of many
of the landed gentry of this kingdom.' Now sup-
Posing there was an issue of a small paper currency
--and I have not been able to convince myself that
such a measure may not be resorted to with advan-
tage to the country—(A cry of "Never, never.")
Never ! It never may be ; but I believe that as
1011 g as it can be done with a paper convertible into
gold it would be attended with great advnntage to
• the community, and would operate as a relief to
• agriculture ; and I can only say to those gentlemen
Who object to the experiment, that the 15th re-
solutiou of Mr. Horner's bullion committee, de-
clared the only security against excessive paper issues
to be its convertibility into gold on demand.—
The mischiefs of that currency have probably been
over-rated, perhaps as well as the advantages of it;
but considering the case of Scotland, I think it is
too much to say that we should never again resort to
small paper currency.. But if Government are de-
termined to hold the reins unrelaxed, arid to perse-
vere in their present course, only one of two mea-
sures can be adopted—either to reduce our expen-
diture, or expand our means ; though if both could
he done at the same time, something would be done
at both ends, and a greater relief effected than by
merely reducing our expenditure without expanding
our means. But if they will not resort to either of
these remedies, we must remonstrate, and if our re-
monstrance be not listened to, we must enforce, hr
terms of strong dictation, the most unsparing eco-
nomy in the management of the public affairs.—
(Applause.)—I am not the advocate of this Ad-
Ministration or of that, but ant purely independent,
and my only object is to consult the interests of my
country and my constituents on all occasions.—
(Cheers.)—The Illustrious individual now at the
head of the Government I believe to be the most
conscientious and single-minded man that ever stood
in that situation; depending less upon jobbing with
this party, or negotiating with that, but relying
solely on the public support for the success of his
measures. I have every dispositions to support the
Duke of Wellington, who has shewn a greater
power of enforcing economy than any other mug that
ever existed. While he had the command of armies,
never was army so economically conducted or the
commissariat departments so well provided. When
at the hurl of the ordnance, the same judicious re-
! forms distinguished his administration ; and now
that he is placed at the head of the Government, he
has manifested a determination, by cutting off here,
and docking there, to forward, as much as lies in
his power, the measures of retrenchment and eco-
nomy. I have seen it stated, though not in an
oflieial quarter, that a saving of 800,0004 is to be
made in the present Session ; and, mark me, Gen-
tlemen, if that reduction or part of it of it be effected
in the army, it will be in a great degree owing to
the measure which was passed last year for the pa-
cification of Ireland, and which has enabled Govern-
ment to dispense with a great portion of that mili-
tary force which it was necessary to maintain for
the preservation of tranquillity in Ireland. Indeed,
I always considered that question was so much con-
'meted with finance, that I once had an inclination,
and was. only prevented by the apparent absurdity
of the thing, of Proposing to refer it to the Finance
Committee; and I am persuaded that the happy
consequences of the measure will amply reward
those who have all their lives advocated the conces-
cessions of those important claims. There is now
only• one subject upon which I must say a few
words, and I feel happy in having the opportunity of
mankitig the observations I am about to offer.
A. anonymous correspondent in the Tylic Mercury
has asked- me, among other things, if I am pre-
pcairieudl to advocate the seizure of the property of the
v. i towards the exigencies of the public ser-
tee Now, it is
certainly true, that the church
Possesses great reverie .‘ .- • and I should always be
willing to assist anypsla.nof amelioration or reform
H+hiclt eery be Scr •
holy Mother uesre within the pa t
d I. of our
(;Burch. Any commutation of Tithes,
priesthood
which
would do ;it'll disputes between the
.
alteration of tli
receive so their pans_tioners,
and \raY ‘.
or 'my judicious
e revenuee, by which sonic should
somewhat less, and some of the working
and more laborious somewhat more—in all such
am:ea:ores I shall most gladly lend my humble assist-
h • But if lam asked whether I would seize
r 0 proper -
te of the church, and apply it to the ex-
(llelletes of the State, I say boldly, " Never !"
''.Pplause and disapprobation.)—But I have higher
;luietile3ritY than my own—l have to refer to one of
most eminent statemen—most eloquent orators
most sublime writers—and greatest philosopher
this country ever produced, and whose writings had
raised Ilim a monument more imperishable than brass
and
that man is Edmund Burke.—(Cheers.)—
Speaking on Church confiscation he says,
the teachers
people of England know how little influence
aune. of religion are likely to have with the wealthy
then
newly of long standing, and how much less with
assorteewd 1Y
fortunate, if they appear in a manner no way
whom they
to those with whom they must associate, and over
lik
must even exercise in some cases, something
Our provident Constitution has, there-
core that those who are to instruct presumptuous
te--.--those who are to be censors over insolent vice,
neither incur their contempt nor live upon their
alms—neither will it tempt the rich to a neglect of the
true medicine of their minds. For these reasons whilst we
provide first for the poor with a parental solicitude, we
have not relegated religion (like something we were
ashamed to show) to obscure municipalities or rustic vil-
learc Nu ! we will have her to exalt her mitred front in
titis andlh Parlian,eut4. We will have her mixed through-
outv ole mass of life. and Mewled with all classes of
u't'ters .4
wile these
the Conn ideas rooted in their.
,„„arene
jet
will never
of Great Britain in the national
fiscation of 'thy' never seek their resource from the con-
crik and
proes,„eita.tes of the Church and the poor. Sa-
gein our Connnitteelpotru are not among the ways and means
in referringt
mands-- to the possibility of such de-
, " Was the public
debts? Assume that
estive a sufficient stake for the public
whN,vas not, and that a loss must he
ceased, and which the incurred somewhere—
,inthe only estate lawfully pos-
the time when the bas arcleit .acting parties had in view at
s
vas trade, happens to tail, who,