The Sun.
London, England, 1830-11-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The National Congress at Brussels came on Wed-
• nesday'aftereomi to the important decision of for-
mully'deposing theb' King, and'of excluding his fa-
, mily for ever from all power is Belgium. The pre-
tensions, of the Prince of Orange to the Belgic
throne are dins irrevocably superseded. The As-
sembly consisted of its full complement of mem-
hers. The whole number present was 189, and
only 28 opposed the vote of exclusion, which wa-
carried by 161. The attack on Brussels and the
bombardment of Antwerp, which the Prince did
not certainly command, and which perhaps he could
not prevent, have been the real cause of the dimi-
nution of his partisans, and the loss of his crown.
The political " sins of the father are thus visited on
the son," and Belgium, from the impulse of pas-
sion, or the recollection of recent, injuries, has per-
Imps thrown away the best opportunity which can
ever occur of reconciling its own interests with the
general tranquillity of Europe. The overwhelm-
ing majority, against his Royal Highness, or rather
the minute number of deputies in his favour (for
the 28 who opposed the motion were not all
of them his friends), must for ever terminate all
hopes of reversing the verdict of. exclusion by
appeals to the people, by intrigues with the
nobility, by the inflUeece of particular towns,
or by the efforts of European diplomacy. At
the same time, persons the least accustomed to
political speculations, and the least acquainted with
the conventional jealousies of states, must see in the
vacant throne a source of great embarressmeot to
Europe. The candidates may be as numerous as
the suitors of Penelope, but are neighbouring
Powers likely to look quietly on While the choice of
one is Made ? Can the Belgic National Congress
elect a King as an English vestry; an overseer of the
poor, without attracting the notice of their neigh-
bours ? Would England see with indifference a de-
putation sent to the Pulais Royal to invite the young
Duke tie Nemours to accept of the. Belgic Crown ?
Or would France not view with equal jealousy the
elevation of a' Prince connected with England ?
Germany is'fertile in the kind of article now wanted;
but can Germany 'send her troop of cempetitoie
without 'alarming:ale or other of her two chief pm-
imitates? In stett, we tniglit heap question upon
question without, being.. able to, give a satisfactory
answer, and proceed from conjecture to conjecture,
in " wandering mazes lost," without coming to any
certain conclusion. One thing, however, seems evi-
dente—thet Belgium, or in other words, the Belgic
National Congress, is 'perfectly indifferent to the
opinion of the great European States, and considers
the opirit of the floly Alliance as for ever, extinct.
The Assembly knew that the Emperor of Russia
must feel an interest in hie brother-414w, the
Prike of Orange, and his children; they were ae-
rie tinted with the numerous ties which bind the
tQralige Family to the King of. Prussia; they were
aware of all the treaties to which these two Powers,
along with others, are parties; and yet they were
determined not to leave in existence a single shred
of their connexion with the deposed dynasty. Into
the probable consequences 'of this act of exclusion
we cannot at present enter, though we have no he-
sitation in saying that its supporters appeared to us
to ground it more on the antipathies of national
prejudice, titan on any reasonable objection to the
personal character of their Prince, or any statesman•
like regard to the interests of their country.,—Timed.
The disturbances are proceeding, and perhaps ex-
tending, in the agricultural districts property is
destroyed, violence resorted to, and personal out-
rages committed. This is e state of things which
undoubtedly must not go on; reed measures, officiel
and extra-officiel, are taken in all directions to put
an end to it. But what measures ? It is beyond
divot* that, wherever a breads of the public peace
has been perpetrated, the offenders ought, for
example sake, to be, punished'; and Still more,
wherever menaces are held out of the continuance
and multiplication of such crimes, the authority of
the magistrate Must be employed to Prevent them
or Meteor] of the existence of partial 'Suffering, from
which too many of such disorders are known to
arise, we "hall have terror, destitution, and wretched-
rub; expanded over the whole of society, and the
weak and immeent exposed without the shadow of
protection to the unthinking fury of mere physical
force arid vengeance. But where much want exists.
throughout the country, and where disorders are
traced to dimes who feel that privation, the punish-
ment of offences his than halt the proper but&
nese of Statesmen km power, because punishment
Call be but a transient palliative for the evil, need a
permanent cute for it is what the nation must
naturally, and may reasonably, seek. We should,
therefore, like to have observed aroong,st the
seeastiree adopted by magistrates, or the inetruc-
tions transmitted to them, some prompt and deci-
sive means suggested for getting at the origin of
this frightful—we believe, as Lord Grey gelled it,
this unparalleled—state of the relations between the
poor of England anti the other classes of their tele
tow-subjects. If the root of the mischief be nor
ascertained, all attempts at a remedy are, with a view
to hereafter, but so much time and exertion sacri-
ficed. In one short sentence we shall state, Ist,
our conviction that time peasantry are more oppressed
and more alive to the magnitude of their own wants
than et any former period; 2d, our belief us to the
stature and mode of that oppression, that it hat;
arisen from the endeavours of men of property to
squeeze out of the bodies of the labouring mule-
firm a larger share than justice or humanity would
have permitted of the general profits of land and
labour. In the war, it is well known that the rents
wera doubled, and wages were considerably, though
never proportionably, raised. Since the war the prices
of farm produce have fallen, and fallen greatly ; but
when this came to be represented to the couotry gentle-
men," Very well," quoth he, (we speak of generals,
not of exceptions), you shall have your rent re-
duced " a Wile—not a great deal; but if you want
to bring yourselves home, you have my leave to
mike a great' reduction in your labourers' tugger, fot
labour, you know, is plenty." Thus, then, it has
happened. Amidst the universal fall of prime the
landlord has been unwilling to bear his share of the
common loss. He insists on having the Mee in-
come as ever front an article—namely, land—which
in any fair market would no longer fetch the woo
price; and to enfeirce this pretension, he wrings out
of the farmer and the labourer a greater proportion
of their profits and wages then they ever before were
called upon to yield to hia exaction. Until the gen-
tleman is compelled to support his due share of the
general diminution of profits, the country never will
be right ; and in such a case err the present,` hi Who
limits his care to the proSecuting, impriseeieg, or
transporting the miserable ereeturee who have been
exaspereted into the perpetration of crimes, commits
a foul iniquity On behalf of wealth and eelfeindol.
gence, against want and suffering, most disgcateeful
to the magistrate and the eovoreign power. Tile
Corn Law—that most flagitious of monopolies—has I
contributed largely to this unnatural anal eruel evil.
The repeal of the Core Law, the consequent Ninth-
maim' of profits and fell of rents, will, we suspect,,
have in influence upon the puldie comfort and tram
quillity, more beneficial than the most !sanguine have
yet dared to hope would result home such a reform
of our Ititislation;--Titdcs.
Whets we first ammunced the nomination of Mr.
Stanley to the Chief Secretaryship of Ireland, we
et.deled an intimation that the appointment Ives um
gentrelly popular. Nor was the isms° of this ruse
poputsetty difhenit to discover, the youthful States-
men having curium:iced his career c,041, the deliver),
of a violent tirade iii the house of Cettlaretningitinet
mill ',4oltaired to retrenth the enormous rioeioe,
litiea .
of the Irish Church. In this coup d turd we
•
had vermeil. of the eiseirese conseapiences
of entrusting to men, of the clerical profession multi-
eieety, as is the establieherlpreetiee in this country,
she ethwation of youth& of every reek ;rind degree,
without reference to their treseraidestioartioee in life,
or to the variants deniers witieli tin y may be called upon
to dibellioge. Mr. Sfunley'a unolleo oration was, we
heat, impited shy the stifoimtiotitt of a zealous clefs