The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-20 00:00:00

ter of their.: Lordships fully and fairly before the
public, 1 nust be for the national advantage.
We are not disposed to extenuate the conduct of
i the B;smingham Magistrates, but we must observe
1 that no Magistrates, no civil power, can at all times
I pre. ient outrages; if they could, their functions would
be much more valuable to society than we deem
them to be. Between the performance of their duty
and the acts of the people there is a wide difference ;
and it is by no means a necessary consequence that
they were negligent because the people committed
outrages.
The London Police, diligent and well-
organised as it is, has neither wholly repressed out-
rages nor thieving ; and all that is expected of
it is, that it should put down outrages when they
arise, and bring thieves to trial. We are not
of opinion that the Magistrates were vigilant,
and were not conceited and self-sufficient ;
at the same time we must remark, that less than
an hour and a half elapsed, after the mob began to
assemble and indicate their designs, before the mili-
tary was on the spot, and the rioters driven from
the scene of mischief. According to the MAYOR'S
letter, the fire and all were completely extinguished
before twelve o'clock, or in less than three hours
and a half after the first appearance of riot.
The rapidity with which it was suppressed is rather
creditable to the Magistrates, as the celerity with
which the work of destruction was accomplished is
a terrible evidence of the power which can be exer-
cised by a maddened and mischievous people. We
have no wish to make light of the riot, but looking
at the rapidity with which it was put down, and
comparing it to other riots, we can only conclude
that the impassioned notices it has called forth
from the Peers are much more indications of their
own alarm, and of their desire to make a factious
handle of it, than of anything serious .or extraordi-
nary in the riot itself.

We publish to-day, as we find it given in the
Votes of the House of Commons, the petition
which was presented on Thursday night from
Messrs. LOVETT and COLLINS by Mr. LEADER,
a counterpart of which was presented to the House
of Lords. It is admirably drawn up, and de-
scribes a series of wholly unmerited indignities to
which they were subjected in due course of law.
They were not injured by individuals, but by the
operation of the law itself as made by the Parlia-
ment, and as administered according to its direction.
The Peers contributed to make the law, and one,
perhaps more, of them, were parties to those prison
regulations by which Messrs. COLLINS and
LOVETT suffered. It might have been expected,
therefore, that the Peers should have received
their petition with consideration and favour,
if not with shame. They heard, however,
the description of sufferings, of which they
are partly the authors, with indifference,
and some of their Lordships even laughed,
and were justly and properly rebuked by Lord
13RouGHAm for their merriment. In our opinion,
men of common humanity and common reflection
should have felt seriously ashamed at being the
authors, by their injudicious legislation, of such
suffering, and should have hastened to atone, as
much as possible, for the evil they had caused.,
But when men become law-makers they seem
to put off the ordinary feelings of human nature,'
and, with the greatest coolness and the greatest in-
difference, inflict more misery on their fellow-crea-
tures than the most brutal of our species inflict on
the meanest animals which contribute to the wants
of man. A dog compelled to drag a cart through
the street, and sometimes unnecessarily kicked and
beaten by a brutal master, would excite the com-
passion of their Lordships and they might even
hasten to pass a law to improve the condition of
dogs ; but here were two human beings. and
one of them well known to be a most intelligent,
able, and honest, though possibly on political sub-
jects a misled man, shut up in a gaol fur nine
days, by their Lordships' instrumentality, during
which they were treated with much indignity ; and
their Lordships heard the recital with indifference
and merriment. Such conduct makes, we can
assure them, a powerful impression on the classes
to which Mr. LoVETT and Mr. COLLINS belong ;
and it would surprise no man that the Peers should
yet rue the day in which they heard of that peti-
tion, and neglected to aftard the pet;tioners either
consolation or redress.

We would advise all unfortunate persons
who hold Turnpike Paper to " look sharp," or
they will very soon have little but waste paper to
look after. They have, been strangely blind to
their own interests in not making common cause
with the postmasters and innkeepers for the pur-
pose of procuring a reduction of that heavy taxa-
tion with which the latter are burthened, and which
in no small degree affects their interests also. Had
they bestirred themselves as they ought to have
done, and backed with the powerful influence
which they can command, the application lately
made to the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
on this subject, that Right Hon. Financier would
not have ventured to meet the just demands of a
respectable deputation from a suffering body of his
fellow-citizens with the pettish reply, that " he
could not legislate for particular interests." What
does he mean by particular interests ? Is
it not his duty to see that justice be done
to all interests ; and is he not actually
doing the very thing which he condemns,
when he refuses to remedy the evil which he has
done to one interest in legislating for another ?
What is it that has brought the postmasters, the
innkeepers, and the numerous class of persons de-
pendent on them, to the brink of ruin ? What is
it that threatens ruin to all whose livelihood de-
pends in any way on the continuance of that mode
of travelling which universally prevailed till within
the last two or three years—what is it that is doing
this, but legislating for a"particular interest—namely,
the Railway interest ? It is, therefore, absurd as
well as unjust in Mr. SPRING RICE to say that no
relief is to be given to those who are the victims of
a new mode of travelling, which exists only by the
patronage of the Legislature, because, forsooth, to
afford the desired relief would subject him to the
charge of legislating for a particular interest.
The truth is, that this is a mere shuffle on the
part of the Right Hon. Gentleman—one of those
discreditable shifts to which he is rather too much
in the habit of resorting when he does not choose
to take an unpleasant matter in hand. The parties
interested must, therefore, press upon him with
vigour and perseverance, or they may be assured
that they will be left to their fate. Were there
anything preposterous or even unreasonable in
their demands, there might be some excuse for the
cavalier treatment which they have received ; but
when it is remembered that they require only a
simple act of justice, which is equally required by
a sound view of the public interest, we must say
that the country ought not to see quietly a numer-
ous, highly respectable, and most useful body of
tradesmen sacrificed either to a grasping spirit of
monopoly on the one hand, or to official caprice
and testiness on the other.

How stands the case? A very large capital has
been invested in the businesses carried on by post-
masters and innkeepers, who have been burthened
with peculiar and heavy taxes. These taxes they
have paid without murmuring as long as the profits
of their trade afforded them the means of doing so.
A plan of travelling which necessarily draws from
them the greater part of their customers is adopted,
and favoured with extraordinary privileges, by the Le-
gislature. They see, and everybody sees, that it is
impossible for them to compete with the patentees of
the new plan. They are content to submit to a
great falling off in their business, but in
order to give them an only chance of saving them-
selves from absolute ruin, they pray that the taxes
which bear upon them exclusively may be remitted,
and that those which they are subject to in common
with their privileged rivals, may be so far at least
reduced as to put both parties on a footing of equa-
lity. Is it not a monstrous injustice that a stage-
coach should be liable to a duty of a penny per mile
for every four passengers it is licensed to carry,
even though it go all the way empty, while the rail-
way carriage pays only a halfpenny per mile for
every four passengers actually carried by it ? Let
it, be remembered also, that the consequences of
this gross inequality in the passenger duty between
the two modes of travelling are greatly aggravated
by the entire exemption from duty of all passengers
conveyed by steam-power employed on water
The post-horse duty, the license, the assessed
tax on the coachman, are all of them burdens which
must be greatly reduced, or rather entirely abo-
tithed, unless it is wished that every stave-coach
in the kingdom should be laid down. This is a
consummation to which matters must soon come,
it immediate steps are not taken to prevent the
breaking up of the existing establishments. What