The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

SOCIETY IN AMERICA.
BY 111RRIET 31.4RTIXFAU.
In 3 Vols. Saunders and 011ey ; London, 1837.
This is the most philosophical work that has ap-
peared on the subject of American civilization since
the publication of M. Tocqueville's « Democracy in
the United States," which has already acquired for
its author a European reputation. We anticipate for
it an extensive popularity, especially in the Unitec]
States, where we doubt not such a compound of philo-
sophy and fact—of principles and deductions—of
theoretical speculations and anticipated practical re-
sults, will be canvassed with a freedom and a zeal un-
known to the less interested communities on this side
the Atlantic. Miss Martineau tells her readers in
the introduction to her work, that at the outset two
expedients occurred to her for the communication of
her impressions on American society, without arro-
gating a pretension either to teach the English or to
judge the Americans, both of which she adopted.
The first was to compare the existing state of society
in America with the principles on which it is professedly
founded ; thus testing institutions, morals, and manners
byan indisputable instead of an arbitrary standard, and
securing to herself the same point of view with her
readers of both countries : The second expedient was to
submit to her readers her means of obtaining informa-
tion, and thus enable them to judge for themselves the
worth of her testimony in all matters of fact. To
the first of these rules she has adhered throughout,
with a fidelity which is not so strikingly exemplified in
the case of the second. Of her actual journeyings
through the United States we learn very little, except
in the summary of her travels included in the introduc-
tion ; so that, in point of fact, her work may be more
properly classed under the head of philosophical dis-
sertations on the government, the social and political
economy, the laws, the religion, and the moral culture
of the people of the United:States, than a journal of
events and occurrences during a tour of observation in
that country. Miss Martineau is both a bold and
original thinker, and an enthusiastic admirer of demo-
cratic institutions. Her standard of morals and reli-
gion is higher, perhaps, than that of any other
writer of the present day ; and therefore it is not
surprising that she found much to shock her
previous conceptions in the discrepancies between many
of the fine philanthropic theories, and the semi-
barbarian practices of our Trans-Atlantic brethren.
Nevertheless we know of no writer that has done such
ample justice to all that is good and great in the cha-
racter, the conduct, and the institutions of the Ame-
ricans. There is no tawdry sentimentality in the
groundwork of her censure ; no vulgar affectation of
prim purity in her repudiation of the immoralities
of her Republican neighbours. But as she is
above wilfully misrepresenting or undervaluing the
good qualities of the Americans, so she is equally in-
capable of hiding their faults, or concealing the senti-
ments with which they inspired her. Throughout she
has told the whole truth, putting the best construction
on whatever seemed doubtful ; and what is more, she
has so told it that the people of England and America
will profit, without either being offended, by it.
We quote from the introduction a summary of Miss
Martineau's travels, and the length of her stay in
America :

" At the close of a long work which I completed in
834, it was thought desirable that I should travel for two

years. I determined to go to the United States, chiefly
because I felt a strong curiosity to witness the actual
working of republican institutions ; and partly because the
circumstance of the language being the same as my own is
very important to one who, like myself, is too deaf to enjoy
any thing like an average opportunity of obtaining correct
knowledge, where intercourse is carried on in a foreign lan-
guage. I went with a mind, I believe, as nearly as possible
unprejudiced about America, with a strong disposition to
admire democratic institutions, but an entire ignorance how
far the people of the United States lived up to, or fell be-
low, their own theory. I had read whatever I could lay
hold of that had been written about them ; but was unable
to s,itisfy myself that, after all, I understood any thing what-
ever of their condition. As to knowledge of them, my
mind was nearly a blank : as to opinion of their state, I did
not carry the germ of one.
" I landed at New York on the 19th of September,
1834! paid a short visit the next week to Paterson, in New
Jersey, to see the cotton factories there, and the falls of
the Passaic ; and passed through New York again on my
way to stay with some friends on the banks of the Hudson,
and at Stockbridge, Massachussetts. On the Gth of
October I joined some companions at Albany, with whom
I travelled through the State of New York, seeing
Trenton Falls, Auburn, and Buffalo, to the Falls
of Niagara. Here I remained nearly a week ; then, after
spending a few days at Buffalo, 1 embarked ou Lake Erie,
landinc,travelling
in the back of Pensylvania, and down
through Meadville to Pittsburgh, spending a few days at
each place. glen, over the Alleghenies to Northumber-
land, on the fork of the Susquehanna, the abode of Priest-
ley after his exile, and his burial place. I arrived at Nor-
thumberland on the 11th of October, and. left it, after
visiting some villages in the neighbourhood, on the 17th,
for Philadelphia, where I remained nearly six weeks, hav-
ing very extensive intercourses with its various society.
My stay at Baltimore was three weeks, and at Washing-
ton five. Congress was at that time in session, and I en-
joyed peculiar opportunities of witnessing the proceedings
of the Supreme Court and both houses of Congress. I
was acquainted with almost every eminent senator and re-
presentative, both on the administration and opposition
sides ; and was on friendly and intimate terms with some of
the judges of the Supreme Court. I enjoyed the hospi-
tality of the President, and of several of the heads of de-
partments : and was, like every body else, in society from
morning till night of every day ; as the custom is at Wash-
ington. One day was devoted to a visit to Mount Vernon,
the abode and burial-place of Washington.
" On the 18th of February I arrived at Montpelier, the
seat of Mr. and Mrs. Madison, with whoM I spent two
days, which were wholly occupied with rapid conversation ;
Mr. Madison's share of which, various and beautiful to a
remarkable degree, will never be forgotten by me. His
clear reports o the principles and history of the Consti-
tution of the United States, his insight into the condition,
his speculations on the prospects of nations, his wise play-
fulness, his placid contemplation of present affairs, his
abundant household anecdotes of Washington, Franklin,
and Jefferson, were incalculably valuable and exceedingly
delightful to me.
The intercourse which I had with Chief Justice Mar-
shall was of the same character, though not nearly so
copious. Nothing in either delighted me more than their
hearty admiration of each other, notwithstanding some
wide .differeeces in their political views. They are both
gone ; and I now deeply feel what a privilege it is to have
knorn them.
" From Mr. Madison's I proceeded to Charlottesville,
and passed two days amidst the hospitalities of the Profes-
sors of Jefferson's University, and their families. I was
astonished to learn that this institution had never before been
visited by a British traveller. I can only be sorry for Bri-
tish travellers who have missed the pleasure. A few days
more were given to Richmond, where the Virginia legisla-
ture was in session ; and then ensued a long wintry journey-
through North and South Carolina to Charleston, occupy.
ing from the 2d to the 11th of March. The hospitalities
of Charleston are renowned ; and I enjoyed them in their
perfection for a fortnight ; and then a renewal of the same
kind of pleasures at Columbia, South Carolina, for ten
days. 1 traversed the southern States, staying three
days at Augusta, Georgia, and nearly a fortnight in and
near Montgomery, Alabama ; descending next the Ala-
bama river to Mobile. After a short stay there, and a
residence of ten days at New Orleans, I went up the
Mississippi and Ohio to the mouth of the Cumberland
river, which I ascended to Nashville, Tennessee. I visited
the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and spent three weeks
at Lexington. I descended the Ohio to Cincinnati ; and
after staying there ten days, ascended the river again,
landing in Virginia, visiting the Hawk's Nest, Sulphur
Springs, Natural Bridge, and Weyer's Cave, arriving at
New York again on the 14th of July, 1835. The autumn
was spent among the villages and smaller towns of Massa-
chussetts, in a visit to Dr. Charming in Rhode Island, an:',
in an excursion to the mountains of New Hampshire and
Vermont. The winter was passed in Boston, with the ex-
ception of a trip to Plymouth, for " Forefather's Day." In
the Spring I spent seven weeks in New York ; and a
month in a- farmhouse at Stockbridge, Massachussetts

•
making an excursion, meanwhile, to Saratoga and Lake
George. My last journey was with a party of friends, far
into the west, visiting Niagara again, proceeding by Lake
Erie to Detroit, and across the territory of Michigan.
We swept round the southern extremity of Lane Michigan
to Chicago : went a long day's journey down into the

prairies, back to Chica.:o, and by the Lakes MiLligan, lit
ron, and St. Clair to Detroit, visiting Mackinaw by t
way. We landed from Lake Erie at Cleveland, Ohio,
the 13th of July ; and travelled through the interior
Ohio till we joined the river at -Beaver. We visit.
Rapp's settlement at coaonty, on the Ohio, and return,
to New York from Pittsburgh, by the canal route throe:
Pennsylvania, and the railroad over the Alleg-LaHes.
sailed from New York for England on the Ist of Aug:.
1836, having then been absent just two years.
" In the course of this tour, I visited almost every kiz
of institution. The prisons of Auburn, Philadelphia, al
Nashville : the insane and other hospitals of -altntA eve:
considerable place : the literary and scientific institutions
the factories of the north ; the plantations of the south,
the farms of the west. I lived in houses which might :
ca!led palaces, in log-houses, and in a farm house. I tra•
yelled much in wagons, as well as stages ; also on 1.0
back, and in some of the • bet and worst of steatn-b.-at,

I saw weddings, and christenings ; the gatherings of the
richer at watering places, and of the bumbler at country
festivals. I was present at orations, at land sales, and in
the slave market. I was in frequent attendance on the
Supreme Court and the Senate ; and witnessed sonic or
the proceedings of state legislatures. Above all, I was
received into the bosom of many families, not as a stranger,
but es a daughter or a sister. I am qualified, if any one is,
to testify to the virtues and the peace of the honk, of the
United States ; and let it not be thought a breach of coc-
filence, if. I should be found occasionally to have spoken of
these out of the fulness of my heart.
" It would be nearly impossible to relate whom I knew,
during my travels. Nearly every eminent man in politics.
science and literature, and almost every distinguished wo-
man, would grace my list. I have respected and beloved
friends of each political party, and of nearly every religi-
ous denomination ; among slave-holders, colonisationists,
and abolitionists ; among farmers, lawyers, merchants, pro-
fessors, and clergy. I travelled among sevend tribes of
Indians ; and spent mouths in the southern States, with
negroes ever at my heels.
" Such were my means of -information. With regard
to my power of my making use of them, I have hut a few
words to say."

We intended to have given in our own words a sum-
mary of the convictions at which Miss Martineau had
arrived on concluding her tour in the United States.
On reflection, however, we consider it more just to the
author and the people of America to end our notice of
a work unsurpassed in the force and originality of its
strictures on the theory and working of democratic in-
stitutions with the following concluding and recapi-
tulatory extract from the last volume:—
" My book must come to an qad ; but I offer no conclu-

sion of my subject. Ido not pretend to have formed any
theory about American society or prospects to which a
finishing hand can be put in the last page. American so-

ciety itself constitutes but the first pages of a great ltook of
events, into, whose progress we can see but a little way ;
and that but dimly. It is too soon yet to theorise ; much
too soon to speak of conclusions even as to the present en-
tire state of this great nation.
" Meantime, some prominent facts appear to staz,l out
from their history and condition, which it may be useful to
recognize, while refusing to pronounce upon their positive
or comparative virtue and happiness. _

" By a happy coincidence 0.1 outward plenty with liberal
institutions, there is in America a smaller amount of crime,
poverty, and mutual injury of every kind, than has ever
been known in any society. This is not only a present
blessing, but the best preparation for continued fidelity to
true democratic principles.

" However the Americans may fall short, in practice, of
the professed principles of their association, they have
realized many things for which the rest of the civilized
world is still struggling ; and which some portions are only
beginning to intend. They are; to all intents and purposes,
self-governed. They have risen above all liability to a he-
reditary aristocracy, a connection between religion and the
State, a vicious or excessive taxation, and the irresponsibi-
lity- of any class. Whatever evils may remain or may arise,

in either the legislativepr executive departments, the means
of remedy are in the hands of the whole people ; and those
people are in possession of the glorious certainty that time
and exertion will infallibly secure all wisely desired objects.
" They have one tremendous anomaly to cast out ; a
deadly sin against their own principles to abjure. But
they are doing this with an earnestness which proves that
the national heart is sound. The progress of the Aboli-

tion question within three years, throughout the whole of
the rural districts of the north, is a far stronger testimony
to the virtue of the nation than the noisy clamour of a por-
tion of the slave-holders of the south, and the metchant
aristocracy of the north, with the silence of the clergy, are
against it. The nation must not be judged of by that por-
tion whose worldly interests ate involved in the mainte-
nance of the anomaly ; nor yet by the eight hundred flou-
rishing abolition societies of the north, with all the sup-
porters they have in unassociatcd individuals. The nation
must be judged of as to slavery by neither of these parties ;
but by the aspect of the conflict between them. If it be
found that the five abolitionists who first met in a little
chamber five years ago;to measure their moral strength
against this national enormity, have become a host beneath
whose assaults the vicious institution is rocking to its
foundations, it is time that slavery was ceasing to be a na-

tional reproach. Europe now owes to America the justice
of regarding her as the country of abolitionism, quite as
emphatically as the country of slavery.
The civilization and the morals of the Americans full
far below their own principles. This is enough to say. It
is better than contrasting or comparing them with Euro-
pean morals and : which contrast or comparison
can answer no purpose, unless on the supposition, which I
do not think a just one, that their morals and civilization
are derived from their political organizat'on. A host of
other influences are at work, which must nullify all conclu-
sions drawn from the politics of the Americans to their
morals. Such conclusions will be somewhat less rash two
centuries hence. Meantime, it will be the business of the
world, as well as of America, to watch the course of re-
publicanism and of national morals ; to mark their mutual
action, and humbly lea► u whatever the new experiment may
give out. To the whole world, as well as the Americans,
it is important to ascertain whether the extraordinary mu-
tual respect and kindness of the American people gene-
' rally arc attributable to their republicanism ; and again,
how far their republicanism is answerable for their greatest
fault—their deficiency of moral independence.
" No peculiarity in them is more remarkable than their
national contentment If this were the result of apathy, it
would be despicable ; if it did not co-exist with an active
principle of progress, it would be absurd. As it is, I can
regard this national attribute with no other feeling than
veneration. Entertaining, as I do, little doubt of the ge-
neral safety of the American Union, and none of themo-
ral progress of its people, it is clear to me that this n itional
contentment will live down all contempt, and even all won-
der; and conic at length to be regarded with the same ge-
nial and universal emotion with which men recognize in an
individual the equanimity of rational self-reverence."

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.-(THIS DAY.)

DEAL, MAY 14. —Wind W.S.W.—Arrived the Thomas
Grenville, from Calcutta ; Martha, Robson, from Sierra
Leone; Tobago, Bull, from Tobago ; John Poynter, from
Youghal ; Limerick Lass, from Limerick.
PLYMOUTH, MAY 14. —Wind W.—Arrived the New Jane,
from Palermo.

FALMOUTH, MAY 13.—Wind W.S.W.—Arrived the Bra-
zilian, White, from Pernambuco—sailed March 24; Scipio,
Wylie, from Port-an-Prince; Iberia, from Malaga—sailed
28th ult., Gibraltar 29:h, Cadiz May Ist, Lisbon May 6th.
DOVER, MAY 14.—Arrived the Romulus, Garson, from
Faro; Two Brothers, from St. Vincent ; Broxbornberry,
from Calcutta.

GUERNSEY, MAY 13.—Arrived the Auguste and Ch&rlotte.
from \Voolgast.
JERSEY, MAY 13.—Arrived the Charlotte Frederick, from
G

BRISTOL, MAY 14.—Arrived the Ada, Faro, from Hon-
duras; August, from Demerara; Ire, Stanton, from Cha-
rente ; Neptune, from Memel.
LIVERPObL, MAY 13.—Wind S.W.—Arrived, the Port-
land, from Bombay ' • the Urania, from Bombay; the Fair
Barbadian, from the Cape of Good Hope; the Thomas Bat-
tersby, from Paraiba ; the Superb, Cook, from Jamaica ; the
Sarah, Trotman, frum Barbadoes ; the Emulus, from St.
Vincents; the Mohauk, from New Orleans; the Lotus, from
New Orleans ; the New England, Grozier, from New Or-
leans; the Avis, from Mobile; the General Hodgman, from
Mobile ; the Russia, Manna, from Mobile ; the Medora, Budd,
from Chatleston ; the Maria Dorothea, from Rostock ; the
Auguste Matilde,. from Strasland. Off, the Collingwood,
from Calcutta ; the Elizabeth, from Demerara ; the Silas,
Richards, from New York ; the Trafalgar, from New Orleans ;
the Adrian, from Mobile; the Chatham, from Savannah.
'CLYDE, MAY 12.—Arrived, the Elora, Blair, from Canton;
the Commerce, from Trinidad ; the Arethusa, Boyd, from
Trinidad; the Clydesdale, from Antigua.

The Meitrc frum Embden to London, is on shore,
near
The Ottoman, from Aalbou-g, arrived at Christiana Sad
very leaky, nod must di:el.arge, having struck on a bank, bound
to Newcastle.

In consequence of the fatal termination of a duel
that took place last year between M. Prestat, now a sub•
Lieutenant in one of the regiments in Africa, and M. Hans,
both at that time in the Polytechnic School, and in which the
latter was killed, the mother of M. Hans, a widow, brought
r. action aguinst his adversary for a compensation for her loss.
the case was heard lao: week before the Tribunal de Pre
tniere Instance, and Lieutenant Prestat was adjudged by di
Court to pay the widow, an annuity of eight hundred franc;
f i
or her life. This example might be happily followed in oar
law Courts.

SvIIIIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It seems that Sir R. Peel was not in the House
when Sir Francis Burdett took his seat, so that we
were misinformed when we stated that the Hon. Ba-
ronet sat beside Sir Robert. The fact is admitted,
however, that though Sir Francis has not changed his
principles, he has changed his seat. And having
changed his seat, he will perhaps also change his at-
tendance, for it would not surprise us to find him a
tolerably constant voter against the people. Sir Fran-
cis began his political career by imputing the worst
motives to all public men, of whatever principle. In
himself was centered all political honesty, and he had
no patience with those who, at a time when the alarm
caused by the French Revolution made many very
worthy men startle at the very thought of the most
trifling change in our institutions, and rendered it ut-
terly impossible to effect any, were not prepared at once
to rush to the extreme of annual Parliaments and uni-
versal suffrage. On all who would not go the
tvhole hog he was unsparing in his vituperation.
'Sir Francis is not the only .instance of this rush-
ing from one extremity to another. It it by no
means uncommon to find men who are all eagerness
for measures when they cannot possibly be obtained,
as violent in their dislike of them when circumstances
prove more favourable. It is happily observed by the
Examiner, with reference to Sir Francis's puerile at-
tempt to prove himself unchanged as to universal suf-
fra•Te, the ballot, and annual Parliaments at the least—

" lie says that though he once thought such a plan of
reform the most desirable, he accepted the Reform Bill as
a. compromise. To this our answer 'is, that he argued most
distinctly, upon repeated occasions, that the extreme or-
panic changes advocated by him_ were absolutely essential
to.secure the liberties of tile people against the increased
rowers of the Crown ; and he has now either to confess that
be misled the people in such arguments, and vilified
ether men as false or foolish who would. not go so far, or
th.it be' is now acting in opposition to his secret con-
-I;eailsts fer the gratification of a vanity resentful of ne-
glt.4 and ravening after any kind of notoriety, however,
In the extension of popular rights we have always
Pre:oed 6,r a progress in some correspondence with the in-
(Teasing intelligence of the people. We have objected to
the insecure position on the house-top, and desired to de-
scend to the broader and safer basis below ; but. We
have never advocated jumping from the top to the bot-
tom ; we are content to come down step by step by the
stairs. Sir Francis, on the other hand, contended that
the proceeding essential to safety was a jump from the
Louse-top to the street ; nay, to the very area—to the
foundations of the social fabric ; but having, instead of
:Lis desperate leap, taken the one step of the Reform
Pill, he protests that another step would break the neck
o• the Constitution. He has been a man of one jump ;
nil ats •he could not jump from boroughmongering to
tiniversat suffrage—as he could not jump from the top of
the _monument to the base of it—but instead of this
ii,mped the ten inches of the 101. franchise—there is
litin in any other movement. And why ? Because the
Fseform, Bal was a final compromise. But assuming
rat fast. (which we dispute, for the legislative
t rst admits of no final compromises, and is only go-
ented by the people's interests) how is an 'advance, far
ort of the objects Sir Francis pronounced indispensable,
If ale destructive to the monarchy by the fact that the
Reform Bill was taken as a compromise ?* What -con-
t; etion is there between the alleged effect and the question
of a compact ? He may tell us that we have bargained
t2-I;nst taking a second step ; but that does not prove that
:1;0 second step would in its consequences, apart front the
I reach of compact, be mischievous or ruinous. Then as
to the ballot, the patriot argued that it was essentially ne-
cessary, together with universal suffrage, but now declares
.t it is unnecessary after the inktittaits of the 101. fran-
; the obvious truth being that with a large constituency
0 Itli'ot is least ne3ded, and crtsalueatly that it 13 more
for the protection of a 101. franchise than for uni-
v,rsal suffrage. But it is not only to organic reform that
the great unchanged is hostile. lie is equally opposed to
now fangled' measures of the Administration, though
he has never condescended to spec 4 them ; but the propc-
sal of any improvement whatever seems a sufficient objec-
tion in the sight of the Westminster 'patriot. Front the
passi'tg of the Reform Bill, Parliament, acconliog to him,
siosold have eonfinel itself to taxing the people, and pay-
ing the establishments-"

This reasoning is unanswerable. As, however, Sir
Francis was never a reasoner, but at best a violent
ch what was not required to satisfy every other
pceson of the utter absurdity of his defence Will be
thrown away on him. He embraced Reform principles
when Reforms were impracticable, and when Reforms
:tsre practicable he abandons his principles in order to
4'efeat them. The wayward Reformer becomes a way-
ard Tory. He never cared for the people, but em-
-1 raced Reform for the sake of personal distinction, and
1 e quits Reform at the time the people have a fair
respect of benefiting by it. The Examiner thinks
ri•at in present circumstances " it would be wise in
P.eformers of all shades of opinion to take for their im-
r-ediate object the completion of the Reform Bill ac-
outing to the declared design of it, which included
3.0 petty boroughs, and no Chandos clause. The
eform Bill, as first proposed, was a great step, but it
as a step which has not yet been made good ; and
relay would join in perfectint, it that hesitate at
more advanced move. The completed Reform
Hill, unfettered by the fiscal restrictions, with the,
"ballot and the repeal of the Septennial Act, would
-very considerably fortify the popular influence.", The
"Constitution which reposes on the foundation of an
dextensive suffiage is always more safe than one which
:reposes on a narrow foundation. But the reflecting
:portion of the community can hardly be blamed for en-
itertainingan apprehension lest the liberties of all should
le endangered by the communication of. the suffrage to
rlasses not at present, at least, qualified to exercise it
I.:a. the benefit of the community. It may be true that
-Cie object of Government should be the greatest hap-
iness of the greatest number, but it does not follow
logreatest number know what would promote their
3.lppioesc. We observe, for instance, in a Sunday
aper, which addresses itself to the working classes, the
following -exhortation to the men of Huddersfield to
return Richard Oastler :—" Strain every energy, use
4.7ery. effort to oust the paltry, truckling, dirty
Wing, and to maintain the man of the people,
the hated of the ' respectable' consumers and non-
producers, and the beloved of the disrespected,'
abused, trampled upon millions of producers, and
non-comsumers.- Oppressed, starved, insulted, tramp-
led-upon working men, now is the appointed
time, :stand fast by Richard Oastler, the real
d.emocrat, the working man's friend, the worthy suc-
cessor of Saddler ; one that is better than him, for
(beside all that good man's noble qualifications) he
is the advocate of universal suffrage." What signi-
fles ~vhether he advocates universal suffrage or re-
stricted :suffrage ? This man, had he been returned to
Parlitu aunt, would have voted' with those who seek
pnwer, not to benefit the people but to plunder them,
and who would not consent to universal suffrage
merelytgcause of his profession of it. The friend of
the working classes is not he who seeks to create a
bad' feeling bet Ween them and their employers, and to
cut up the sources of employment, by driving capital
from the country, but the man who aims at practica-
ble ameliorations, and who seeks to make the people
acquainted with the manner in which their true inte-
rests ma.y best be promoted. Mr. Richard Oastler's
opinions in
:favour of universal suffrage are of little
imporrance to any one but himself ; but his vote in
favour of the enemies of the people, would have been
of some importance.

len we see," observes the Scotsman of Wednesday
last, with, reference to Oastler, " how readily the Radicals
are cajoled and led blindfold to work evil to their own cause,
by stupid acts like this, we do marvel at those who see in
the grosAy ignorant and prejudiced mass of the English
pol)ult-tion, as it now exists, the elements of a sound con-
titiun.cy for the exercise of universal or even household
Ifulfrac. We do not mean to say that our own people
:are much better—witness the proceedings at the late elec-
vien in Renfrewshire, where so many Radicals gave their
thi toy eturn an inveterate Tory, in opposition to an old
and consistent Liberal, who declared himself in favour
,of Triennial Parliaments, Household Suffrage, and Vote
lby Ballot! Such acts call a blush into the face of every
one' who honestly maintains the competence of the people
to exercise political power. We can almost pity the infa-
-I;:ttion of the Huddersfield Radicals ; but we feel nothing
1.. t. dis rust at the conduct of the Tories, who basely stooped
ieliaiee the passions of the populace against a law which
tie Leaders of the Tory party approved of, and had no in-
leJi;'.oo to repeal. Had this low quack, and three or four
eV, -rs who have lately tried . to get into Parliament by the
NEL, e dirty expedients, succeeded, their votes would _have
14-.;beted materially to nullify or defeat every measure
ipeneticial to the people ; but the Poor-law, the grand

rc .::,,

object of their hostility, would have remained exactly where
it was."—Morniny Chronicle.

Whether we consider the proved deficiency of
Church accommodation in Scotland, or Lord John
Russell's former declaration, that Government are
bound to supply it where needed, or the very terms
under which the Whig commissioners were appointed
to act, we confidently submit, that the erection -and
endowment of a sufficiency of new' churches to meet
the wants of the destitute population is not less
cumbent on Ministers as a measure of wise economy
and good faith, than due to the neglected poor of that
country, whose habits and interests are so imminently
at stake. Viewed as a mere question of social order,
which of course every Administratioa is bound to con-
sult, the adaptation of an efficient moral discipline to
the growing numbers of the, people is beyond compari-
son the cheapest and best police that can be main-
tained. In Ireland, we are obliged to uphold a mili-
tary, constabulary, and ecclesiastical-force (the Dis-
senting clergy of Ulster) at an enormous expense ;
and with the exception of the latter body, whose
services are above all praise, we daily see to
how little purpose the outlay is incurred. The
very exception which every impartial man must make
in favour of Ulster, where mpral means super-
sede the more costly appliances of physical coercion,
is as pertinent to our present purpose as it is condem-
natory of the Government whose inconsistencies we
now arraign. So peaceful and orderly is Ulster found
to be under the ministrations of the branch of the
Scotch Church located there, that no sooner is a new
place of worship erected by voluntary contribution,
than the rep,ium donum is extended to it as a matter
of course. Of the soundness of that policy in re-
ference to the north of Ireland there can be no
better proof than the tumult and crime, the insecurity
of life and property, prevailing in the other provinces,
where, owing to Popish ascendancy, the moral organi-
zation of a Protestant Church cannot be thoroughly
introduced. Why, we ask, is the same wise policy
to be withheld from the hundreds of thousands in
Scotland, who have immeasurably outgrown the estab-
lished means of instruction ? Surely, in declining
to give additional Churches, the Government do not
mean to prefer the alternative of covering that country
with the barracks of Munster and Connaught ? But
the fact is, the people of Scotland do not at present
ask the Treasury to build the new Churches which
their poorer countrymen so urgently need : they are I
willing, as far as possible, in the mean time, to do this
themselves. Already have they spontaneously contri-
buted for this purpose. nearly 150,0001. Since 1835
upwards of ninety churches have either been actually
rased by their voluntary subscriptions, or are now in
progress. These churches the subscribers ate willing
to make over to Goverment in permanent connection
with their native establishment ; and all that they ask
in return is, that each new church and the old chapels
of ease (now recognized as separate parish edefices)
may receive a Treasury endowment of only 100/. per
annum, in order that this small independent provision
for the clergy of these places of worship may enable the
managers to let the pews at time cheapest possible rate,
or give them rent free fur the benefit of die unreclaimed
poor. Now, with such a reasonable proposal before '
us, accompanied with such disinterested sacrifices on
the pat t of the subscribers, involving a complete renun-
elation of all beneficial investment or right of property
in the churches they so build, we fearlessly say,- that as
far as regards the security of Government against
unnecessary outlay, the reports of all time stipendimy
Whig Commissioners who have ever fastened or fat-
tened on the public purse are not worth a single far-
thing. On this point, the best possible guardntee is
furnished by the apphcants themselves. Prudent men,
and least of all prudent Scotchmcn, will not subscribe
their money unnecessarily. Whomever, therefore, they
voluntarily undertake the pecuniary burden of rearing
a church, without reserving the slightest claim for an-
nual interest or return of any kind, we hold that' to any
Government professing to maintain the principle of an
ecclesiastical establishment, the necessity of endowing
that church is completely made out, apart from every
other evidence. The stron case of necessity established
by the rzport of the Commissioners, and so ably inns-
trated by Sir W. Rae on Friclav last, render this argu-
ment impregnable. Another consideration which ought
to weigh with the Ministry is, that they are bound, if
They have a shred of chrfracier VI, to keep good faith
with the Scottish people. From the terms of the
Commission's appointment, and from Lord John
Russell's solemn pledges, as recently interpreted by
Lord Moncrieff and other Mi.- adherents in Edin-
e burgh, the people of Scotland' were entitled to in-
fer, and' did infer, that on cases of spiritual des-
titution being made out, a suitable Treasury grant
would infallibly follow. On the faith of this, they
have built and are building nearly 100 churches in the
worst supplied quarters,or their cities and provinces—
quarters about whose spiritual wants there cannot exist
the shadow of a doubt. Christian charity, a sense of
deep necessity, and a confiding reliance on the inte-
grity of,Government to give the necessary endowments
in completion of their enterprise, could alone have
impelled them to. consecrate their money in any such
way. To give effect to their philanthropic intentions,
the endowments which they counted on are absolutely
indispensable .; otherwise the pews cannot possibly be
distributed on the cheap or gratuitous terms which
alone can meet the case of the neglected poor. Will
Lord John Russell really have the heartlessness and
perfidy to say, that under such circumstances these
expected endowments shall be withheld ? But his
Lordship, it . seems, has discovered that the work
of reclaiming the population who have no places
of worship to attend can be best accomplished, not by
regular pastors invested with the full authority and in-
fluence of the sacred office, but by unordained parochial
missionaries ; and the Noble Lord wished to insinuate
that for this expedient he had the sanction of Dr.
Chalmers, though if he had adduced the unmutilated
testimony of that eminent person, he would have shown
that the comparatively small respect which the people
generally entertain towards inferior agents, and the
impracticability of procuring funds for their support to
any extent adequate to the emergency, had convinced
Dr. Chalmers, and everybody else, that the idea of
removing the existing evils by ally such means is
utterly futile and hopeless. Let us see, however, what
his Lordship would be at BY this new device of his
14e must mean either that these " parochial mission-
aries" are to be maintained by voluntary contributions
or supported by a Government stipend. Now, as his
adherence to the former of these modes would be equi-
valent to a Ministerial declaration that henceforth the
due supply of religious instruction in these realms is to
be intrusted to that voluntary principle which he and
his colleague, Mr. Rice, took such pains to repudiate
during the recent Church-rate discussions, we are of
course shut up to the conclusion that his Lordship
means the parochial missionaries to be nationally en-
dowed. Well, if this please hiM, let it be so. To
these missionaries; all of whom must be regular licen-
tiates of the Church, he will scarcely be disposed to
offer less than 1001. per annum. The best thing he
can do then, on his own principles, is to announce his
disposition to concede this immediately. The people
of Scotland, we can aver, will not quarrel with him
about the mere designation of the spiritual functionaries
to be thus appointed. Let his Lordship call them "pa-
rochial missionaries" by all manner of means. The
church of Scotland will cordially welcome their ap-
pointment, subject to ecclesiastical law. Nay more,
she will prOvide them with suitable edifices, into which
they may gather the wanderers whom they reclaim.
Better still, she will ordain them on their small en-
dowments of 1001. a-year ; she will invest them with
the full authority and influence of her orders ; and
while Lord John Russell will be in extacies at the
clever trick of endowing only " parochial missionaries,"
the Church will be equally delighted to honour
and enrol them, among her regular parochial clergy.
Come, we begin to see our way out of this affair, after
all I The point, however, which we now approach
forbids us to prosecute this strain of levity. A shame-
ful attempt (we say it gravely and advisedly) was made
by Lord John Russell, and -followed up with more in-
decent emphasis by Mr. Horsman, to persuade the
House of Commons that the cry for Chinch accommo-
dation in Scotland is a mere political manoeuvre ; and
that the question is exclusively a Tory one, got up for
were party purposes. Considering that Mr. Horsman
is one of the paid impartials, whose signature is attached
to the Commissioners' Report, testifying the present 1,

want of Church accommodation in Edinburgh, we de-
nounce his misstatements as wholly without a parallel
in the usages of Parliamentary warfare. A party and
political question indeed I Why, there never was a
question that was less so in any section of the empire :
and Mr. Commissioner Horsman, whose vaulting per-
formances are so conspicuous, knows
,this as well we
do. The following facts are known to himself and to
us, on the best authority, and we defy him to contradict
them. • At the recent Church extension meeting held
at Kirkaldy, the assembly was presided over by the
Whig provost of that borough, a supporter of Mr.
Fergus, who represents it in Parliament. In the case
of Kinross, where it had been arranged that a highly
respectable Tory should take the chair at a similar
meeting, all parties agreed in setting aside the Tory
gentleman, and in nominating a decided Whig, who
accordingly presided over one of the most harmonious
assemblages ever convened. Lord Belhaven, a sup-
porter of Government, took the chair at the Church
extension meeting in Glasgow, surrounded and sup-
ported by gentlemen of every shade of political senti-
ment. More recently, the Edinburgh meeting for the
same object was presided over by the Whig Cord Pro-
vost, a supporter of Sir John Campbell ; while reso-
lutions in favour of new churches and endowments
were moved and seconded by Lord Moncrieff, a
Whig judge, as well as by Mr. Graham Speirs and
Mr. A. Dunlop, respectable Whip: advocates. The
story which Mr. Horsman trumped up about .Lord
Moncrieff having at first been excluded from taking
a motion at that meeting is in every jot and little un-
founded ; and we have reason to believe that Mr. Hors-
man has declined to give his authority for that state-
ment. Equally revolting was that Hon. Gentleman's
averment that Dr. Chalmers had absented himself from
the meeting in question, in consequence of its being
known that Lord Moncrieff was to take part in the
business. Dr. Chalmers was absent from no other
cause than that of serious indisposition. Then, again,
what are the party biasses of the Rev Dr. Simpson,
who, next to Dr. Chalmers, has done more in the
cause of Church extension than perhaps any other
man in Scotland, who has been its able and welcome
advocate in almost every provincial town, and who,
associated with Mr. J. M. Hogg, cf Newliston, has
just been in London, as a deputation to watch its pro-
gress ? Dr. Simpson is a man of high character,
who, with a fastidious regard to the proprieties of his
sacred calling, has kept aloof invariably from every
political party. His temptations to a contrary pro-
cedure have often been strong. Sir G. Clerk, the
Member for the county in which Dr. Simi son's parish
lies, was his class-fellow at the High School of Edin-
burgh, whose acquaintance he has since been honoured
with in private life. Sir George,_at the last election,
was hard run by his opponent, but Dr. Simpson
would neither vote for him himself, nor ask any of his
parishionsis to do so ; and yet, in the teeth of all
these facts, combined with the notorious support which
the cause of Church extension is receiving every where
from the Whig nobility and Whig gentry of Scotland..
the worthy Mr. Horsman must assert that the whole
afrair is merely a question of Tory po!itics, and a stalk-
ing-horse of Tory artifice ! But the credit of this
gentleman will find its proper level we have. no doubt.
In one word, we ask the country—we ask even the
Whig gentlemen of England —what particle of con-
fidence can be placed in the Government whose impo-
litic and evasive conduct to the people of Scotland we
hare now- briefly exposed ? The salaries of their
Comn6isioners will still continue to be paid ; no
wonder' Mr. Horsman is an advocate for (Nag : hut
the righteous thing which ought to be done will be de-
ferred till they are kicked cue, and the sooner the
better.—

His Majesty's present Ministers seem to be at their
%lits' ends (which indeed they may be without making
any great journey), about the policy by which their
plaoes may be secured -for some time longer. The
great questions in dispute are the Irish questions—the
great difficulty to manage upon these questions that
something may he done, so as to save their Ministerial
credit, and yet that nothing may be done to promote
peace, and the exercise of legitimate authority in Ire-
land, which—if it wet c accomplished—would sap up
the foundation of all Mr. O'Connell's influence in that
• kingdom. On the one hand the Ministers find the
House of Lords determined to consider the whole
policy of the Government with respect to Ireland in
one view—to give it a deliberate and business-like
examination, and to admit or reject it according to its
merits as a general and comprehensive plan. The
House of Lords will no longer consent to deal
with Irish measures as the expedients of a party.
They wish, if possible, to come to 'some rational
settlement of .the distracted affairs of that country,
and for that purpose to consider the several proposed
plans, not merely with regard to their isolated appli-
cation to the state of Ireland, but with reference also
to the relation they bear to one another, and to their
combined effect as a system. On the other hand the
Ministers find that it is in vain to think of altering this
determination of the Lords by the O'Connell plan of
popular bullying. This design they no doubt.did en-
tertain for some days, but a little consideration showed
them how improbable it was that this could be ma-
naged, and the Westminster election has shown them
that it is utterly impossible. The people of England
are itt no disposition to find fault with the House of
Lords. They perceive in that House the best safe-
guard against the designs of an unconstitutional and

Popish faction, which the present " weak and vacilla-
ting Administration" is too dull to understand, and too
feeble to resist. There is not the slightest chance of a
popular explosion against the House of Lords, which
was one stay. of Ministerial hope, nor of juggling
that House with a bit-by-bit consideration of Ire-
land's affairs, which was the other stay of Ministerial
hope, and they are consequently left in the agreeable
situation of not knowing what to do, and yet convinced
that the game of not doing anything must soon come
to an end, and leave them without official power, with-
out offiCial emolument—without anything, save the
universal contempt of the nation I The affairs of the
Westminster election so absorbed public attention
during the last week, that very little consideration was
bestowed upon the curious Parliamentary ind;cations
which it afforded. It will, therefore, be very well worth
while to " try back" upon them, for the sake of more
clearly perceiving the undecided and embarrassed state
in which Ministers evidently find themselves. Our
readers are aware that as soon as the House .of Lords
had determined, by a large majority, to postpone going
into Committee upon the Irish Municipal Bill until
the other measures of the Government with regard to
Ireland were before the House, there were exhibited in
the other House some ridiculous and unseemly indica-
tions of Ministerial exasperation. It is enough to say
of these, that, however consistent they were with the
character and general conduct of Lord John Russell,
they were very inconsistent with the dignity and the pru-
dence which are the leading characteristics of men who
are worthy the name of British Statesmen. It seemed,
however, as if this idle and impotent peevishness were
soon repented of, for on Monday evening, the Bth
inst., Lord John Russell uttered an elaborate ha-
rangue, in which his object seemed to be to acquaint
the House that the wrath which Ministers had nursed
for a little while had not grown warm by its nurs-
ing, and that, however indignant they were at the
course taken by the Lords, they would go on with their
other Irish measures in the House of Commons just
as if nothing of the kind had happened. The
speech of Lord John on this occasion was, as even
the Examiner admits (with the reservation, however,
that the blame • may be with the reporters), both
" confused" and " obscure." The understanding of
it in the House, however, may be gathe ed from
some of the observations, in reply, by Sir Robert
Peel. "He was glad," he said, "to learn from
the Noble Lord that it was his intention to proceed
with the Poor-law Bill and the Irish Tithe Bill.
He considered this determination a much more pru-
dent one than the declaration made by the Noble
Lord on a previous night. He referred to the sub-
ject not by way of taunt, but if a Minister of the
Crown saw reason to retract a hasty or unguarded de-
claration, made at a moment when he had not an op-
portunity of consulting with his colleagues, lie was
perfectly right in doing so." This compliment of Sir
Robert to the wiser second thoughts of Lord John
Russell was not disclaimed. Neither the Noble Lord
himself, nor his colleague, Mr. Spring Rice, who fol-
lowed Sir Robert Peel, and who was that evening in

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 15, 1837.