The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-08 00:00:00

The speech of Mr.. T. Attweod in the House cf
Commons cn Monday night, though it contains much
that is novel (especially in rhi:toric), will not he ad-
mitted, we are afraid, to have thrown, notwithstanding
his cry of " tire," very much light upon the numerous
topics it embraced. y This iN rather extraordinary,
considering what a length of time Mr. T. Attwood
says he has devoted to (nonetary and commercial mat-
ters, the very liiL!lt character he gives of his own
powers and capabilities, and the very low estimate he
makes of those of his opponents. Indeed, he seems
inclined to think his own opinions worth their weight
in gold, and those of gentlemen who differ froM hiin
abcut as valueless as the flimsy of that currency he
sighs so piteously after, but, we are happy to say, in
vain. Thus we find him Celli.ig the " Oxford-bred"
gentlemen of the House of Commons, that, as
compared with him, in knowledge of commerce
and mannfacturg>, they were " 1:k:: so many but-
terles that he knows more about such matters
than any body else ; that the merchants of Lon-
don generally know nothin of commercial concerns,
and that those who do, when asked questions respect-
ing them, will " tell nothing but mighty great lies ;"
that in so great terror do his opponents hold his know-
ledge and poer, that they would as soon see &seize.-
bu'i as him upon a Committee of Inquiry. This is,
to say the least of it, modest in the extreme ;
,and in
order that our readers may see how true it is withal,
we shall draw attention to some. of the most striking
passages.of the wise and -eloquent speech of this Bruin-
Jrirein representative of all the, sages- roiled into one.
It has always been as true of this amusing orator as .it
was of Huaihras, that

" Fur rheto; is he can not ape
Ms mouth but out there flies a trope."
Hence, ire suppose, his name, \lr. T. Attwoid, which
means, we take it, Mr. Trope Attwood. Accordingly
he began be telling the House that they were " like
Nero fiddlinff while Rome was burnhiffn •" aria he
quickly made good his title to a place in such a party,
by persis.ing, notwithstanding the conflagration to
which he ever and anon alluded, in repeating his
lengtherp.d crotchets long drawn out througla three
mortal hours; at one moment out of the fiddling into
the fire--at another cnitting the flames for his fiddle•
stick. Mr. Trope Atwood insisted that " ruin was
marching into the vitals of English commerce," and, as
though this were not a helkful of caiamity,:hat "a gene-
ral conflagration had arisen among the commercial and
manufacturing classes," so it would appear that the
part of the community is undergoing the fate that
awaited convicted traitors in olden times—that of
being crnbowelled first, and burnt afterwards.
atrocious act of barbarity is being perpetrated, accord-
ing to our friend Trope, by that monster " metallic
currency ;" but we confess we marvel not a little that
it should n it have occurred to this '' walking cyclo-
paelia," that, supposing matters to be so far gone as
this, they are clearly beyond the reach of remedy, and
that he was therefore either spending his eloquent
biemth in vain, or only employing it to fan the ge-
neral conflagration he so much lamented. Yet, if
Mr. Trope appear to have failed in prudence by ex-
erting his lungs either misehievotudy or uselessly, it
will be admitted, we think, on all Irinds, that he made
ample amends in the perfection of the consistency
he displayed. He complained that men who had con-
tracted debts when cotton was B]. a-pound should be
called upon to pay those debts when cotton was titl. a-
' pound,and he insisted that it was unjust to call upon men
who had contracted debts under one set of prices to pay
those debts under another set of prices ; while at the
same time he called most lustily for the repeal of the
corn laws ! We are far from being able to understand
either the nature of the injustice Mr. T. Attwood
complained of in this matter of prices, or how it could
be possibly avoided even if it be an injustice; but as
the repeal of the Corn Laws must necessarily greatly
affect the prices of all commodities generally as well as
the price of corn, we cannot fail to discover Mr.
Trope's consistency in clamouring for the repeal of
those laws, and in the same breath urging that it is
unjust to call on men who have contracted debts under
one set of prices to pay those debts under another set
of prices. We fancy, too, that we can now also see
why the House of Commons would as soon see Beel-
zebub himself as Mr. Trope upon a Committee; for
if folks are to have the devil played with them, it can
matter little to them whether Beelzebub does it in
propria persona or by deputy. Again, as to Mr.
Trope's consistency. After abusing the Acts of all
past Parliaments and of the present—declaring that
" the bees of the social hives were not represented
in the House of Commons, but that the majority of
the membeis were " drones,"—and lavishing equal
abuse upon Tory and upon Whig Administrations, the
ingenious gentleman wound himself up to this:—
" If the sound principles on which a currency should
be conducted had been observed in 1815, you, Sir,"
(meaning Mr. Abcrcromby, the present Speaker)
,‘ would not now be sitting in that chair—a reformed
Parliament would not now be sitting in this House—
tbe Test :and Corporation Act would not have passed--
the Catholic Bill would not have been carried ; but
when the public mind became excited and exasperated
at the course pursued with respect to the currency,
first came the Dissenter, And then the Rornan Ca-
, thohe, and each grafted his own specific on the general
mass of discontent." The Lord help us ! What
good in some men's estimation—what mischief in the
opinion of others—has not this said currency worked
without anybody but Mr. Trope finding it out ! We
thought, indeed, that the discontent of the Dissenter
and the Papist, and that plans for their sctisfact:on
were of much more ancient date than 1815—nay, we
even made the mistake of supposingthe same of pro-
jects for Parliamentary Reform ; but as Mr. Trope
knows better than an and everybody else, he
must be 'right of course, and we wrong. What