The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-14 00:00:00

The Tories are to be led to the onslaught upon
education, which is to take place in the House of
*Commons this evening, by Lord ASHLEY, Why
the leadership is to be committed, pro hac vice, to
this Noble Lord, to whom the Times of yesterday,
as if in indirect condemnation of him who ought to
have taken the lead, applied the epithets " resolute
and conscientious" we do not pretend to know. It
is possible that the Right Hon. Baronet shrinks
from the responsibility of identifying himself with the
advocacy of the principle which his less cautious fol-
lowers are neither ashamed nor afraid to avow,
namely, that it is their best policy to keep the people
in ignorance. He well knows the odium which
that statesman deserves and is fated to en-
counter, who, at this time of day, heads
a crusade against the enlightenment of the
people. Sir ROBERT is no bigot, though he
often uses bigots as his tools ; neither has he a par-
ticle of enthusiasm in his composition ; for him,
therefore, the crown of political martyrdom has no
charms. Though his late una'enerous and ungen-
tlemanly conduct towards the QUEEN, which has

' been so justly termed " disloyal insolence," has,
all probability, closed the door of office again&
him for a long time, if not for ever, he,
notwithstanding, looks upon himself as a Pre-
mier in posse, and naturally enough backs out of
any untoward position which may expose him to
the unenviable distinction of being at once the object
of Royal disfavour and popular hatred. This may be
the reason of the temporary substitution of a subal-
tern for the Commander-in-Chief of the forces on
the eve of a pitched battle, which, if we are to be-
lieve the scribes of the party, will decide the fate of
the Church and its helpmate, the State.
The Times sounds the alarm of the Priests, the
ministers of darkness, in the following words—
"We call upon the Conservative mind of Great
Britain to stir itself at this alarming hour, and
not merely to avert the immediate peril which
threatens us, but to crush, by some strong de-
monstration of the public will, every chance of
a speedy revival of the mischief from the same quar-
ter." This breathes the genuine spirit of Tory-
ism. We here see all disguise thrown off, and the
inseparable connection between it and popular de-
gradation openly avowed. To instruct the people
is to undermine the stronghold of the system, there-
fore the Times describes national education as full
of peril and alarm, as a " mischief" which it is the
duty of every Tory, who is true to his principles,
to crush, both now and for ever I

How far this demon-like cry of the Times
against the education of the poor, will be responded
to by the party at large, of which it is consi-
dered the organ, this night will show. We
tell the Hon. Gentlemen who represent that party
in the House of Commons that they never came
to the consideration of a question involving more
weighty consequences to themselves—to say no-
thing of its national importance—than that which
they will have to decide to-night. There is now
no room for subterfuge or evasion. The Govern-
ment plan of education has been pared down al-
most to a state of inefficiency to suit the taste or
appease the clamour of those who disliked or pre-
tended to dislike it. It has been deprived of that pro-
vision which formed the sole (ostensible) objection on
the part of its opponents. What remains can give
offence to no one who acknowledges the proposi-
tion, that knowledge is better than ignorance, or, to
express it in the language of Scripture, " For the
soul to be without knowledge is not good." The
question to call forth the strength of trial to-
night, is simply whether the poor shall be educated
or not—whether an attempt, a beginning, shall be
made to diminish the vast mass of ignorance which
disgraces this land, filling it with crime and misery,
or the continuance of the intellectual and moral
eclipse which overshadows so large a portion of the
nation, shall be sanctioned by a solemn decision of
of the Representatives of the people.

Since the above was written, we observe, by the
report of the proceedings in the House of Com-
mons last night, that Lord STANLEY is to super-
sede Lord ASHLEY. Consistently with the cha-
racter of the Member for North Lancashire, he is
to take a bolder step than Lord ASHLEY would
venture on. He is to move an

" Address, praying that her Majesty will be graciously
pleased to revoke the Order in Council of the 10th April,
1839, appointing a Committee of Council to superintend
the application of any sums voted by Parliament, for the
purpose of promoting public education,"
The Noble Lord goes the whole hog, therefore,
as the slave of the priests, and declares, that not
only shall there be no secular control over the
public money (=ranted for education, but there never
shall be any such control. Lord STANLEY, the
Oxford bigot, the pupil of Bishop PHILPOTTS, iS
the proper man to undertake such a cause.

Mere is to be a grand meeting in favour of the
Poles held at the Freemason's Tavern to-morrow.
We have no doubt that it will be well attended, and
that much interesting matter will be brought forward.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Susszx will take
;he chair.

We understand that a Deputation of Paper Ma-
kers is in town with a view of communicating with
the Government on the subject of Post-office Re-
form. These gentlemen are apprehensive, we un-

people in ignorance, and at the same time to secure
their obedience. The Ballot Would enable the I
enthralled elector to give his suffrage freely. A
good syster,./4 secular education would enable him
to distinguish with increased accuracy his politi-
cal friends ; the Tories are therefore decidedly
opposed to both. They arc quite greedy of
opprobrium. Even if we had some trifling objec-
tions to the Ministerial plan of education—it we
thought, with the late Mr. COBBETT, that educa-
tion was a farce—if we were ready to say that the
education which fits a man to perform his duties,
the chief of which is earning his own subsistence
by his own labour, is the only education which the
State ought to encourage, and that school instruc-
tion is not necessary for all, we should be extremely
careful how we opposed a scheme which is founded
in the best motives, which has in view the most
praiseworthy objects, and which, if it be not at
first complete and perfect, will be susceptible of
continual improvement. But the Tories are quite
regardless of all such feelings and recommendations,
and only anxious to increase the odium which the
,resent generation bears towards them, and which
posterity will say they most richly deserve. Such
an aversion have they to light, that to extinguish it
they are ready to trample charity and bene-
volence under foot, and were Christianity
now first to be taught, they would be
the men to cling to the established and an-
cient idolatry, and insist on perpetuating the Mo-
loch faith of their ancestors. They are the coun-
terparts of the Jesuits described by BERANGER,
and are for fanning the flames of bigotry while they
extinguish the calm light of knowledge.
Of the Ballot they say it will destroy the Consti-
tution, that it will put an end to the Monarchy, and
they denounce as traitors the Ministers who consent
only to allow their usual followers and friends to
vote on the subject as they please. The Monarchy
must be in a wretched state, the Constitution must

already be on its last legs, and WELLINGTON'S pills
and PEEL'S scouring draughts will never restore it
to vigour, if it is so weak as to be overturned by
the Ballot-box. What the Tories really mean by
these wrathful denunciations is, that the Tory Con-
stir ution, the Tory Monarchy will be destroyed by the
Ballot. They know that they influence the votes
of electors, not by love and frankness, but by ter-
ror and delusion. They know that whenever the
electors shall be free agents, whenever the Tory
squire shall not be able to threaten his tenants to
turn them out of his farms unless they vote as he
wishes—as we see by the Brighton papers, some
of the squires of the Rape of Bramber have been
threatening their tenants should they vote for Mr.
SA LONIONS, the Tories know that whenever
the shopkeeper shall not dread the loss of the
parsons custom, and the custom of those whom
the parsons can influence, their power over the
constituencies will be at an end, that their
numbers in Parliament will be thinned, and that
their ATonarchy, their Constitution will be at an
end. Now, as they are everywhere the advocates
of tyranny and oppression, at home and abroad,
loving coercion, calling out in their fury day after
day for a strong Government, that is a Government
by the sword, as they are seeking to keep back
knowledge, and to maintain priestcraftin all its vigour,
..he ballot which would be the destruction of their
Monarchy and their Constitution would be a great
moral benefit to the public, and a great advantage
to the constituencies. We were not fully aware of
all the blessings of the Ballot till we witnessed
the determined hostility of the Tories.