The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-22 00:00:00

calico printing in Ireland, and for extending a similar
copyright to other fabrics and stuffs as well as calicos.
Colonel SIBTHORP obtained some returns relative to
the expense of the Earl of DuitHAm's mission, but was
involved by it in a little personal dispute with Lord
JOIIN RUSSELL.

Mr. BARRON moved for leave to bring in a Bill to
consolidate and reform Ecclesiastical Courts in Ireland,
but, on the representation of several Members, left the
matter in the bands of Lord MoaPETH, making the
third abortive motion (luring the evening,. There was
some other minor and formal business, but it did not
keep the House later than half-past ten, it having re-
solved apparently to keep good hours.

We are glad to see that the Corn-law Delegates
have come to a wise resolution, and that they sup-
ported it by strong words. They have for the
present finished their labours in London, have
broken up their mission, and proceed home to agi-
tate in their respective districts for the abolition of
the Corn-laws. In adopting this resolution the
gentlemen, particularly Mr. COBDEN, recommended
a union of the townspeople, such as is formed by
the rural population under the guidance of the
squires and the clergymen, and recommended the
townspeople not to rest satisfied till the Corn-laws
were repealed. The Gods always help those
who help themselves ; and now that the inhabitants
of our towns have put their shoulders to the wheel
in good earnest, the national waggon, loaded and
lumbered, and almost broken down as it is with
useless baggage, will no doubt be extricated from
the mire. In another part of our paper the last
and the best proceedings of the Delegates will be
found reported at full lcngth,and we recommend them
to perusal as better worthy of attentive study
than the twaddle of certain Tory Lords about
Spain, or the gossip of. the Commons. The
language and determination of the Delegates
foreshadows what is to. come, and we read' the
downfall of the Corn-laws, and the destruction of
the strongholds of our feudal robbers, in the em-
phatic words of the Manchester men, as surely as
if both were accomplished.
To the recommendations of the Delegates we
must beg leave to add our own : Sir JOHN
NOB/MUSE and Lord MORPETII, as well as
Mr. Po ULETT THOMSON, voted for the in-
quiry,: because they are under the controul
of their constituents ; Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
Lord PALMERSTON, and Mr. SPRING RICE,
may also be made to feel their dependence
on the towns they represent. If they arc not
already, as we hope and believe they are, deter-
mined to vote for the abolition of the Corn-laws,
the Electors of Cambridge; Tiverton, and Stroud,
will, on such a supposition, understand what is
their duty. If these Members of the Ministry do
not support the views of the Corn-law Delegates it
will be the fault of their constituents.

Besides operating on the Ministers in this mode,
the Members of Parliament favourable to the abo-
lition should made a point of bringing forward
the Corn-laws on all occasions as the one vital
question. Following CATO'S example, they should
round every period, stop every vote for supply, in-
terrupt all debates on trivial and nonsensical
subjects, by recommending the abolition of the
Corn-laws, as necessary to save the State. They
should bring the question forward on petitions as
Mr. WARD is doing in the case of the Sheffield
petition. They should move for all returns which
can elucidate the question—such, for example, as
the additional number of acres taken into cultiva-
tion since and before there were restrictive Corn-
laws, such as the relative increase of population and
wealth in agricultural and manufacturing districts—
such as the state of wages in agricultural districts
and in towns, with hours of work, &c., and on
moving for all these returns,each Member should
make a speech. The Members of the Commons
favourable to the abolition shou!d, in short, pro-
ceed on a determination to stop the whole business
of Parliament, already much in arrear, already press-
ing that assembly down into disrepute, and perhaps
perdition, till the Corn-laws be repealed. They
will be justified in so doing, because the evils of
which they justly complain are caused by the Le-
gislature. The Corn-laws, unlike the relation be-
tween employers and labourers, which is regulated
and determined by natural causes, are wholly cre-
ated by Parliament, and can be removed by it.
Those who have created them did so to promote
their own selfish interest ;they constitute a majority
which will not hear reason,, and will not do justice,
and the minority therefore will only doiwhat is right,
in having recourse -to all the arts and privileges
which a minority may or can -use to compel the
majority to hear reason and do justice. While the
Delegates, therefore; are agitating in their respec-
tive districts—while they are encouraging; and aid-
' ing Colonel THOMPSON, Mr. PAULTON, and
others, to go amongst the agriculturists—while they
publish and distribute tracts and papers to enlighten
the benighted victims of the landlords'. arts, let
their friends in Parliament. keep up an incessant,
agitation there, and. two Sessions will not elapse,
nor perhaps two months, before they will be certain'
of attaining their object.
We are glad to see that the Delegates,,amongst
other things, mean to . take steps .to undeceive
the workmen who have been taught that the
sole object of the Abolitionists is- to lower
wages. To succeed in this the short time
at which they are now compelled to work at the
mills in the manufacturing districts will be a power-
ful help. The mannfacturers can stop .their mills
altogether if they please, and we know not why they
should continue to pay the landlords' tax, or why
they should make themselves auxiliaries.to the Le-
gislative plan of degrading, by hunger and want, all
the labourers of the empire. The game is in their
own hands—proud and mighty as are the BUCK-
INGHAMS, the HEATHCOTES, the WORSLEYS,
and the HA NDLEYS—if they will but play it boldly.
It may now be expected, too, that those young po-
liticians, as Col. THOMPSON calls his friends the
ChartistS, and the working classes generally, will be
convinced by the strenuous exertions of the land-
owners to oppose the repeal of the Corn-laws,
and by the clergymen arraying themselves on
the same side, that the abolition is of infinite
importance; and the Chartists will now be con-
vinced that they will take a long step towards
attaining their own objects by joining_ the middle
classes to get rid of the Corn-laws. Whatever
may be done there is no reason to despond. A
very short time has elapsed since the cause 'was
taken up seriously, and the union which has already.
been formed amongst the town population, the nuin-
ber of Members of Parliament who, support them,
and the rapid progress they have already made, are
sure indications of success.

There was a droll exhibition in the House of
Commons last night, in which Colonel SIBTHORPE
played the principal part, and played it with re-
markable grotesqueness of humour, though to
Benches by no means so crowded as they ought to
have been, considering who was the chief actor.
The Hon. and Gallant Colonel—whose per-
formancA, by the bye, ought in strict justice to be
noticed under the head Theatricals"—in moving
for certain returns, relative tohe-expentes of. the
Earl of DURHAM'S Canadian mission, was corr.
gratulated in reply by Lord J. RUSSELL, on having
altered the terms of his motion, because, " as it
stood upon the paper, it was consistent neither with
common sense, nor the rules of the English lan-
guage." On this the Gallant Colonel fired up, and
vindicated his common sense, and more especially
his acquaintance with grammar, in terms which
showed that he was by no means in habits of close
intimacy with either. An impeachment of his po-
litical principles he could have borne with meek-
ness ; but to doubt his possession of common sense—
to insinuate that he was anything but remarkable
for his rigid adherence to grammatical propriety—
he who but half an hour before had been quoting
Latin to his own especial delight, and the manifest
astonishment of the House !—no wonder the Mem-
ber for Lincoln was in arms at such a galling af-
front ; and vindicated his parts of speech with all
that indignant energy which Mrs. Malaprop evin-
ced under similar circumstances ! But not only
Was the gallant Colonel choleric to a degree that
at one moment seemed to threaten the utter extinct-
tion of Lord JOHN RUSSELL ; but he was also face-
tious, as if to show the incredible versatility of his
powers ; and speaking incidentally of a lawyer
working for nothing," hazarded the witty sarcasm
that such a man must be a " rara avis"—in plain
English, a
" rare bird." The Honourable Mem-
ber has here helped us to a simile, which, in one
sense, we may retort upon himself, for he too re-
minds us of a " bird, though assuredly not of a
" rare" one, as is -apt to be abundantly testified on
Michaelmas Day.

It Will be seen by reference to the proceedings in
the House of Cotnmons, that the CIiANCELOR