The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL:.

The Reform Bill shook but did not oVerturn the power
of the Aristocracy of this country ; and the last general
el,ction suffie'cntly proved that, except in times of strong
political excitement, the two great parties of Liberal ani
Tory are nearly balanced. The Tories have the command
of oer Mouse of the Legislature, and the'Reformers that cf
another. Such a state of things is evidence of imperfect
work. Has the nation quietly sunk down to an acquiescence
iii the political predominance of the Aristocracy ? We do
not believe it. But, on the other hand, we see no evidence
of any general disposition to make the exertions necessary
to give predominance to the Reform principle. One gr, at
cause of this lethargy is unquestionably the dread among
persons possessed of property and influence of the wild and
anarchical notions entertained by the working classi•s,
especially in the groat manufacturing towns. One most mis-
chievous notion has taken possession of the working
elassei, that the capitalist—that is, the
_man who pos-
sesses the accumulations which support the labourer,
and give efficiency to his industry--is a drone, and
that the labourers ought to have no sharers with them in
what they produce. These principles, if acted on, would.
lead us by degrees to the savage state. If no man were to
be allowed to accumulate the fruits of his industry, cul-
tivation must be arrested, the edifices and machinery neces-
sary br conducting. complicated processes and abridging
labour w6.'ld cease to be erected. Let us take a culti-
vator of the !oil, for instance. The seed must be ob-
tained, and be most be maintained during the interval be-
tween sowing and reoping:. When the French evacuated
Germany at the end of the last war, the peasantry of
Saxony were in danger of starving from inability to pur-
chase seed to sow their lands ; and large sums were sub-
serlacd for them in this country. The physical powers of
the Saxon peasants would have been of little avail to them
hut for the aid of those who possessed the capital of which
they were in want. The man who lands in a new country
must starve if he have not brought with him the means of
support till his industry have extracted a supply from the soil.
We take these simple instances, because they can easily
be comprehended, to show that labour cannot be conducted
without capital, and that it is as absurd in the labourers to
complain of having to share with capitalists, as it is of the
bands to complain of the belly, or the belly of the hands.
In allowing that we owe everything to labour we do not,
therefore, allow that the existing labourers are everything,
for if labo:rrers had not preceded them, tire fruits of
whose industry "ad been accumulated, they could not have
been beneficially ems.oloyed. It is impossible, however, to
hear the speakers at ihs,!etings of the working classes with-
out being satisfied that error is almost universal that
the capitalists are the enemies of the workmen, and that
all the latter have to do is to zlis:ociate themselves from

the tyranny of the former, to monopolise themselvts the

whole produce of their labour. The w orst feelings pre-
vail between the employers and the employed, and, under
such circumstances, it is not astonishing that. great jealousy
should be entertained of all projects of ileti;rm to be
effected through the agency of the masses. Nien na-
turally say—
" Better bear the ills we know,
Than fly to others that we know not of."

Of all this the enemies of the people are well aware, anol
they do not fail to profit by it. The House of Lords
would not dare to insult the people as it does but for the
knowledge that at pres'ent the people are divided. There
is great truth in what is said by the author of a short
pamphlet lately published under the title of " The Pros-
pects of the People."
" It has always been more easy to incite men to efforts for
freedom, when bloodshed and violence were to be the means
of revolution, than where more safe and less costly measures
pointed to more certain and lasting results-. As no Govern-
ment can be either just or permanent which see'es not rest on
the will of the governed; so no people can have a tore or en-
lightened Government until themselves become unbiassed and
intelligent. Hence we perceive that a good and universal
system of education is the basis of every kind of outward hap-
piness and prosperity. The subject of education is too seldom
considered in relation to this. its most important bearing, by
the friends of the people. Their enemies are, however, as
instinctively alive to its power as they commonly are to that of
any agency which places their own rottenness in danger of
falling a sacrifice to justice and to the general welfare of
mankind."
The real friend of the people, who wishes to put an end
to the political abuses by which they arc injured, must look
principally to an improved education for this result. The
communication to the whole people of the suffrage does not
ensure the beneficial exercise of it. The number of elec-
tors in France does not amount to 200,000, which is
disproportionably small compaeed with the immense po-
pulation of that kingdom. Why is this state of things
tolerated? From the general conviction of the instructed
classes that anything approaching to Universal Suffrage
would be destructive of good government. The law of
self-preservation dictates to the middle classes, the ne-
cessity of securing themselves against the •danger of
ignorance. There is no doubt that the franchise might be
considerably extended with great advantage in France ;
but men arc afraid to move when they do not see
a resting place. In this country we would recommend to
all those who advocate Universal Suffrage to stand less on
their abstract rkbt, and to be more anxious to show that
their claims may be safely conceded ; and we know of no
more effectual means of producing this persuasion, than
z.ffording proofs of the possession of opinions compati-
ble with social order. In the mean time,
.whatever
men's opinions may be as to the. propriety of extend-
ing the suffrage, there can be no difficulty as to the
importance cf extending, education ; and we are glad. to
see that the subject is of late attracting the attention
which it merits. It is a 'reproach to a country in which so
many millions are raised from the people, in. which gorge-
ous religeous establishments are maintained, that there
should be no establishment for the instruction of the people
on liberal and enlightened principles.—Morrling
The threatening prospect of hostilities between France
and Mexico, and of an indefinite interruption of foreign
commerce with the territories of the Republic, is fraught
with too many dangers to the peace and prosperity of the
world to admit of indifference on the pi rt, of the Gov,-trn-
ment or the people of Great Britain to the origin, progress,
and probable duration of the impending struggle. A care-
ful examination of the published correspondence between
the two Governments leaves us under a strong conviction of
the impracticability of any arrangement being effected be-
teeen the parties, except through a negotiation on a basis
entirely different from that which has been proposed by
France, and through the mediation of one or more States,
friendly to the prosperity of both nations, andsuffi-
ciently powerful--single-handed or collectively—to en-
force their decision, in virtue of the rights of
arbitration with which they would be invested.
The estrangement of the two countries, however deeply
it may be deplored, originates in causes of no recent
date. The subserviency of the successive Administrations
of France to the policy of St. Petersburgh, from the time
of the exclusion of Prince Talleyrand from office in 181.5
to his return in 1830, the conduct of France in 1823 as
the acting agent of the Holy Alliance in overthrowing the
constitutional rights and independence of Spain, and
threatening even the invasion of Mexico, have necessarily
debarred her subjects from a title to an equality of rights
isith England in the western hemisphere. The first consi-
deration, therefore, which should have predominated in the
Government of France, had she desired to soften the irri-
tation created by her previous policy, should have been the
selection of a representative, qualified by his judgment,
knowl dge, temper, and discretion, to conciliate a people
proverbial for docility, and preserving in their religion and
former a'sociations a notorious leaning in favour of the
House of Bourbon. The communication of the Baron de
Deffatidis to the Mexican Minister, instead of being dated
from his post, the seat of the Government to which he was
accredited, and where his personal intercourse as a Minister
invested with full powers might have softened the asperity
of demands made by his Sovereign, on the faith of his own
representations alone, is written from on board a French
friente in the Gulf of Mexico, and does not even bear the
stamp of an official communication in the name of the
French Goverment. Six-and-twenty pages of irrelevant
matter appear to have been solely compiled with the
view of exciting irritation, by a jumble of irony,
insult, and personality, bearing out, in our opi-
nion, the justice of the words of the President of
Mexico to the rational representatives, " the
mission of the French Minister did not appear to have
had any other object than to conduct things into the, state
in which they are found at this moment." The indecorous
conduct of the French Consul at Vera Cruz 'itfter• the
commencement of the blockade—conduct which subjected
him to expulsion from the country—and theymost dignified
appeal on the part of the Republic, tend tracq-ipborate the
opinion we have expressed, and to imPese.nr oheG.overn•
ment ofFrance the duty to herself, to he.r Alliest to justice,
and to the world, of a special inquiry into the acts of func-
tionaries on whose responsibility alone she is about to com-
mit her national 'honour and encounter the fortunes of wer..
Of the paCific dispositions of the Mexican authorities, and
of their being enabled to
ggiill-eaagaisantsi satisfactory
against them
bexx ptlhaen aFt iroenn
French
evidence in the letter of an til‘Tinnyi s
toefr,the e charges
mbprol
eu
intel-
ligent correspondent inserted in another portion of our
columns.—Tinies.
A very important code of by-laws for regulating the
management of colliers in the Thames was yesterday, on
the recommendation of a Committee appointed to inquire
into and report upon the navigation of the river, adopted
by the Court of Common Council. 'These laws are con-
formable to the Act of Parliament recently passed for re-
gulating the delivery of coal in the cities of London and
Westminster, and are expected not only to facilitate very
much the free navigation of the river, but also to exerciss
considerable influence in breaking down, or at least in
mitigating, the effects of that odious monopoly by which