The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 839

incapable of inquiring into the merits of Anything which I
is submitted to them. The present Bard is probably
not more ignorant than its predecessors.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL stated that he means to pro-
ceed first with the Jamaica Bill; and on Friday he will
inform the House when he means to bring on the
Canada Bill.

Sir EDWARD CODIUNGTON moved a resolution
censuring the practice of reducing the crews of
men•of-rear, and declaring that whenever they were
about to leave the Channel they should have
the same number of men in peace and war. The
Gallant Officer pointed out with considerable force the
disasters which accrued from our ships not being fully
manned, and complained of the Admiralty being so con-
stituted as to render it incapable of appreciating the
virtues and wants of seamen.
Lord INGESTRIE seconded the motion.

Mr. C. Woon opposed it, because it was interfering
with the duties of the Admiralty. Several highly dis-
tinguished Naval Officers had approved of the present
plan of manning our ships. Moreover their complements
now were larger than in 1815, and the number of able
seamen on board them considerably greater than at
former periods.

Captain PECIIELL and Captain BERKELEY supported
the motion. Admiral ADAM opposed it. Mr. HUME
deprecated the cry for war establishments kept up by
professional men. On a division the motion was lost
by 27 to 90.

The House again heard Counsel against the Ja-
maica Bill, and settled that the discussion on it should
be taken on going into a Committee on Monday. It
adjourned before Twelve o'Clock.

We said yesterday that we did not ask the Mi-
nisters so much for organic as administrative Re-
forms, and our reason for this is, that with such
an Opposition as that headed by Sir ROBERT
PEEL, pledged against all organic Reforms, none
of them could be carried. The Ministers might
break their own staff of office against such Reforms,
but could not break with it the serried bands of
their opponents. Since they came into office the
increasing and even wild demands of the Chartists
have made a great number of the moderate Re-
formers adopt the conclusion that further organic
Reforms would be dangerous. They say that
" the country has gained but little from that Reform
Act, which promised to be an effectual renovation
of the Constitution, and we feel very adverse to
again opening the dykes, lest the flood of Chartism
should overwhelm us. The middle classes are
openly attacked and vehemently abused by the
Chartists, and while they threaten us with physical
force, and a determination to obtain the Charter at
whatever cost, we cannot consent to commence
a further theoretical change in the Constitution,
when we know not whither it would carry us ?"
Such is, we have reason to believe, the sentiments
of the great bulk of the Reformers of the middle
classes, and they, if the Whigs, whom they at pre-
sent support, were to propose further organic changes,
would unite with the Rodenites, and give them, on
the first election, a great superiority in the House
of Commons. It is very unfortunate for the
country that there should be such extensive
demands on the part of the people enforced
by such extraordinary means—that there should be
such bitter and hostile feelings between many of
the middle and lower classes, because while they
last, they place both at the mercy of the oligar-
chy, and give up industry to be flayed by
idleness; but while they last, the Ministers who
derive their Parliamentary existence and official
power from the present constituencies, are bound
to consult their opinions, and defer even to their
unfounded apprehensions. On principle we are
as ardent organic Reformers as any of our Con-
temporaries. To have a proper representation
of the people, which is at present a mere mockery, not
one of them is more convinced than we are that it
is necessary to make sweeping changes, but we can-
not shut our eyes and our ears to the sights and
sounds around us, and they have convinced us that
besides the whole Rodenite phalanx a great por-
tion of the present supporters of the Whigs, both

in Parliament and out of Parliament, are opposed
to further theoretical changes. Let us not, there-
fore, like children, cast away the benefits which the
support of the bulk of the community will ensure
us, because we cannot have the particular trinket
on which we have set our hearts.

The Ministers, in giving up the appropriation
clause, in resisting at present further organic
changes, in appealing to the House of Commons
against the Rodenites, profess an obedience to
public opinion. On this principle alone can we
support them. Now, there is one question of ad-
ministrative reform on which all the people seem
united—the Reform of the Post-office on Mr.
HILL'S plan. The whole City of London
is in favour of it. Manchester, Glasgow, Edin-
burgh, have all declared for it. Night after
night petitions pour into both Houses from all
quarters, demanding it. Men of all parties agree that
it would be advantageous to the morals and the
commerce of the country. It would tend to culti-
vate the social affections and to enlarge the power
of the community. The Tories would not oppose
it, and probably were they in office would make a
point of granting it. Not a soul would be injured by
it. There are no vested rights in question, no pre-
judices are assailed by it, no class would have its
property or privileges injured by giving us a uni-
versal Penny Postage. If the Ministers adhere to
their principle of deferring to public opinion, let
them take up the Postage question warmly, sin-
cerely, and judiciously, and they will find the whole
empire will second their exertions.
We have never heard of but one feasible objec-
tion to Mr. HILL'S plan, and that be has
completely disposed of in an article which we shall
publish to-morrow under the head of Post-office
Reform. Mr. S. RICE may say he dreads the
revenue : let him him issue a few more Exchequer
Bills, which the community in such a cause
will readily pardon, and that difficulty may be
•obviated. The pretext of the revenue ought
not to be suffered to stand in the way of
such an improvement. A tax on communication
Lord ASHBURTON described as the worst tax ever
invented. If Ministers had any scheme of their
own to carry into execution they would think no-
thing of expending twice as many hundred thou-
sand pounds as the revenue would lose by substi-
tuting a Penny Postage ; and whereas one of their
schemes, like the unfortunate treatment of Canada,
might only lead to devastation and bloodshed--.a
reform of the Postage would cement the affections of
distant relatives, would increase the friendly commu-
nications between different classes of the people,
would promote science and art, and increase the ci-
vilization and prosperity of the nation.
We long ago directed public attention to same of
the moral effects of the present plan, and some of
them were thus described at the meeting of the
Town Council of Manchester on Wednesday by
Mr. BROOKES

working classes, while it would be a new source of revenue.
But what was the fact at present? Correspondence to this
class was utterly prohibited; for a man out of employment
would have to pay in postage what it would take two days'
work to earn.

A. Penny Postage would be a blessing to the
workmen and the poor, would hand down to
posterity the name of the Minister with honour
who bestowed it, and would ensure him a great
accession of present popularity and present power.

The speech delivered by Mr. BURGE, the Agent
of the Jamaica Planters, at the Bar of the House
of Commons, on Monday evening, against the
Government Bill for suspending for five years the
Constitution of that Province, in consequence of
the refractory conduct of the Provincial Legislature,
would lead the public to suppose that the question
at issue is yet capable of the simplest and easiest
arrangement. Mr. BURGE assumes it as an in-
controvertible fact, that the House of Assembly
has never yet openly resisted the known determi•
nation of the Imperial Legislature ; that, though
unwilling to be driven by menaces, it has
always submitted to be led by kindness ;
and that, in fact, all it now wants is time
to yield with a good grace to a power which
it never seriously meant to resist. The Learned
Gentleman likewise made a strong appeal to the
well-known disposition of the House and the Go-
vernment, to promote the growth of kindly feelings
among all the inhabitants of the West Indies, of
whatever race or colour. He contended that to
suspend the Constitution of Jamaica would be, not
to equalize, but to reverse the condition of the
whites and blacks—to disgrace the former in
the eyes of the latter, and consequently jeo-
pardise the peace of the island. He even con-
tended that the House of Assembly was ignorant
of the provisions of the Bill now before Parliament,
and that he himself, though the recognised Agent of
the Planters—recognised by the Government here,
knew nothing of this Bill before its provisions were
made the subject of debate in the House of Lords.
We are not in a condition to state positively whe-
ther or not these assertions be correct—our impres-
sion is the very reverse—but if they are really true,
then we do not hesitate to say that the Government
has acted with undue precipitancy. That the House
of Assembly, in first refusing to originate, and subse-
quently to adopt the Prisons Bill, was guilty of a flag-
rant outrage against the principles of humanity, and the
respect due to the Imperial Government, is indis-
putable. That this outrage was, moreover, an in-
sult offered to the Parliament that passed the
Emancipation Act, and that it was designed to
render the humane provisions of that Act inopera-
tive, is equally clear. Nor was it the result of a
momentary ebullition of excited feeling. On the
contrary, repeated prorogations, and addresses on
the part of the Governor, Sir LIONEL SMITH,
failed to induce the Assembly to rescind resolutions
subversive of the administration of the colony. Such
refractory conduct could not be tolerated, but still
Ministers ought to have fairly and candidly apprised
the colonists of the steps which they meant to take
in order to enforce the supreme authority. We are
here assuming Mr. BURGESS statement to be true.
Had the planters continued to bid defiance to the
Government, then would it have been competent
for the Colonial Secretary to submit the question
for the consideration of the House of Commons,
certain of receiving all necessary support.
There is still ample time for the correction of
any mistake resulting from the precipitancy of the
Government. Sit ROBERT PEEL well observed
on Monday evening, that this is not, and ought
not to be, regarded as a party question—an obser-
vation the truth of which being acquiesced in by
Mr. LABOUCHERE, must prevent its adjustment
in any form, from being tortured into a party
triumph. Any expense or inconvenience to which
the Executive in the Colony may be put by delay,
can very easily be thrown on the shoulders of the
Planters, who alone ought to bear it. We do not
say that the present Bill ought to be abandoned ;
we only suggest that its operation be rendered con-
ditional, that the Colonists may have a last oppor-
tunity of testifying their repentance. Knowing
that the Planters, as a body, neither merit, nor will
meet with sympathy from the House of Commons,
we are the more disposed to recommend to Minis-
ters the adoption of a generous policy towards them.
They have been
,tyrants and oppressors ; they
sought not only to enslave the bodies, but
to degrade and corrupt the souls of their unhappy
victims : but let it,be remembered that former Par-
liaments sanctioned their claims to a right of pro-
perty in their fellow-creatures, and so far allowed
them to usurp a power which never was, and
never can be exercised without evil—a power which
as naturally tends to the degradation of the charac-
ter and the perversion of the moral feelings of those
entrusted with its exercise, as wet fuel cast on the
fire to produce smoke.

Sir ROBERT PEEL has two most important
grounds of congratulation for his defeat on the
Irish question. Had he succeeded, Lord RODEN,
the head of the Orange party, must have been ap-
pointed to some high office in the administration,
and having had the honour of originatino•
he would the mo-
tion which defeated Ministers, 0
not have
been satisfied with an appointment only for himself,
he must also have had his followers with him, the
VERNERS and PERCEVALS, and other chiefs of
Orange lodges, who have vowed eternal war aaainst
Catholicism and O'CONNELL, and who bwould
have embarrassed and perplexed him on every
Irish question. He could have done nothing with
them, and nothing without them. He would have
been only the nominal leader of a mongrel party,
and at best but second in influence in the Orange-
Peel cabinet. The defeat on Friday night has
saved him from this degradation for the present.
In the mean time, the inquiry goes on—an inquiry
which, judging from the whole tenor of his speech,
he dislikes, and which, in the end, must lower
these Orange leaders in public estimation, and
thereby lower their pretensions to controul his po-
licy. It is well known that this is not the first time
he has in vain reproved the ardour of_his followers ;
and that it is not the first time also that he has
allowed them to take their own course to convict
them of folly. Never were men in a more likely
train for such a consummation than the Rodenites
now under the leadership of Lord WHA RNCL Ile FE.
The House of Commons have DO occasion to take
further steps to render the inquiry nugatory, and
the Ministry would only act the part of madmen by
following the advice of some of our Contemporaries
who recommend another motion for disallowing the
expenses of the witnesses. This would only miti-
gate the strong public feeling against them. Let
them have the inquiry all their own way—let the
Liberal Members of the Committee adhere to their
resolution. of heating the proceedings with contempt,
and they will have the thanks of the people of Ire-
land, and of every friend of Ireland, and among the
rest the most cordial thanks of Sir ROBERT PEEL.
No event could be more injurious to the moderate
Conservative party than a successful issue to this
invidious inquiry.

the especial duty of the Commons House of Par-
liament to watch over the conduct of the Govern-
ment and its functionaries. The utmost that the
most slavish advocates of the oligarchy have hither-
to presumed to demand for the House of Lords,
is, that it should have a sort of co-ordinate authority
with the House of Commons in making the laws ;
that is to say, that no law should pass without its
consent. And this, it must be confessed, is no
trifling privilege, when it is considered that this
august assembly is composed of men whose Legis-
lalive qualifications are not the result of laborious
study and long preparation, but an inheritance,
handed down to them from their forefathers, totally
unconnected with what vulgar people call merit.
That three or four hundred persons, very few of
whom have either the capacity or the knowledge
possessed by tens of thousands of those industrious
and intelligent men who are debarred even from the
elective franchise, should, merely in consequence
of the accident of birth, be allowed to have an
equal voice in making the laws with the twenty-five
millions of people who constitute the British nation,
is a thing which would be pronounced incredible,
were it not proved by the evidence of the senses.
The existence of such a phenomenon in an age of
high civilization, and in a country distinguished
above all others for the rapid and extensive dere-
lopement of mental power, affords an overwhelming
proof of the influence which prejudice is capable
of exercising over the mind of man.
The force of prejudice, however, though great, is
not invincible. The dropping of water wears the
stones, and perseverance in a judicious course of
attack will weaken, and at last conquer, the most
deeply rooted prejudice in the public mind. The
great changes which have taken place within the
last ten years have done much to open men's eyes
to the folly of preserving that which is hurtful,
merely because it is old. Reform has been car-
ried, to a certain extent at least, into every depart-
ment, civil and ecclesiastical, of the State, and the
greatest benefits, it is admitted on all hands, have
resulted from the adaptation of the institutions of
by-gone times to the present. Why the House of
Lords should be exempted from alteration is a
question that cannot fail to be asked at a
time like this, when, not content with
paralyzing the exertions of the representatives
of the people to go en with the great work of na-
tional improvement, that House has, in fact, as its
late proceedings abundantly show, usurped the func-
tions both of the Commons and of the Executive
Government. It is impossible, we say, that this
question should not often occur to every th;nking
person in the three kingdoms, and as often as it does
occur, will such person be at a loss for an answer.
The real truth is that no answer that will satisfy a
rational inquirer can be given.
A fatal mistake was committed in succumbing to
the Lords when the Government might have van-
quished them, and deprived them of the power to
do evil. Had Lord GREY, when they showed their
refractory spirit in 1832, acted upon the all but
unanimous decision of his Cabinet, and swamped
them by a large addition to their number, we should
have realised all the advantages which we had a
right to expect from the Reform Bill. Such a pro-
ceeding, it might easily have been foreseen, was in-
dispensable to the successful working out of that
measure, for it was to be expected that, after the
inveteracy of their opposition to its passing, they
would do all that in them lay to render it ineffectual
in its operation. They submitted, it is true, but
grumblingly, and so as to show plainly enough that
they were still bent on mischief. They were not
deprived, as they ought to have been, of their sting,
and Reform rues the consequence. Happily it is
not yet too late to repair the mischief.

The rejection, by a large majority, in the House
of Commons, last night, of Sir E. CODRINGTON'S
resolution—" That the system of reducing the
crews of her-Majesty's ships in time of peace, be-
low the number required to make them efficient in
time of war, is injurious to the best interests of the
service ; and that it is the opinion of this House
that all her Majesty's ships, when actively employed,
or about to quit the British Channel, should in
future have but one complement of men, whether
in peace or war"—is not to be understood as im-
plying that the majority of those who voted
abstractedly condemned the proposition of the
Honourable and Gallant Admiral ; but that they
were not prepared to sanction so direct an inter-
ference with the functions of the Board of Admi-
ralty. On the contrary, we cannot but feel per-
suaded, that were the House at all wanting in con-
fidence in the Ministry the resolution would have
been carried by an overwhelming majority. The
vote is, in fact, a vote of confidence in the Mi-
nistry, rather than a vote of censure upon a mea-
sure which every friend to the best interests of this
country must desire to see speedily adopted,
and adhered to undeviatingly. There ought to
be no such thing known in the British Navy as a
peace complement of seamen. The wooden walls
of old England should never be left for an instant
without a stout garrison. In reducing the defensive
establishments of the country in time of peace, the.
proper quarter for all reductions is the army.
Soldiers are rarely essential to the success of our
arms in any quarter of the globe, and they are
always to be had when wanted. Without sailors,
on the contrary, we would be at the mercy of any ;
Power that might choose to attack us.
Mr. CHARLES WOOD contended that the peace
complements of our ships now, are greater than
they were in 1815. The Hon. Gentleman, to
prove this argument worth anything, ought to have
shown that in that year the peace complement of
the Navy was sufficient for all emergiencies that
miglit have arisen. He ought also to have pointed
out the exact relation of our naval strength then
and now to the marine forces of Russia,
France, and the United States. But indepen-
dently of these high and national considerations,
it is a notorious fact—a fact established by the evi-
dence of hundreds of our ablest and most distin-
guished naval officers—that the peace complement
of our ships is too small to allow the men to work
them without enduring the toil of galley-slaves.
The Hon. Captain BERKELEY, whose retirement
or dismissal from the Board of Admiralty Sir E.
CODRINGTON attributes to the honest expression
of just opinions upon this question, in his " Letter
to Sir J. BA R now," states this very clearly and for=
cibly. He says, " I feel convinced that the difficulty
in procuring seamen, arises in a great measure from
our ships being undermanned—from the injurious
system of a short complement of men on a peace es-
tablishment. In the ships on a peace establishment,
in fresh breezes or short tacks, all hands are con-
stantly on deck. The spirit of the men is broken
they are cowed and depressed." And yet to men
so overworked the Board of Admiralty would con-
sign the defence of the country rather than propose
to Parliament the replacing of ten or fifteen thou-
sand useless soldiers by an equal number of able
seamen. All that England wants to maintain her
greatness abroad and at home is a good, well-
manned fleet, in a constant state of readiness for
proceeding on any mission to any part of the world.
By this means we shall avoid wars ; as all that a
nation, so advanced in civilization as Great Britain,
seeks from the presence of a❑ armed force is a sense
of security—a freedom to enjoy the blessings by
which it is surrounded.

We have received the following article, with an
urgent request to publish it, which we comply with,
in order to make known in the proper quarter the
suspicions which the Hanoverians begin to enter-
tain of him whom they formerly looked to as their
friend and protector :