The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-04 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 1854.

If the performances of Mr. GLA.DSTONE in any
degree correspond with his promises, he will be
regarded as a very great man by posterity. Nor
will the gratitude of future generations be un-
merited by one who has so strenuously exerted
himself to diminish their liabilities. But there
are unfortunately two sides to be heard, and the
policy which is so very advantageous to the coming
men, cannot unfortunately be equally beneficial to
those at present engaged in the struggle for ex-
istence. The Right Honourable Gentleman made
an energetic appeal to the House of Commons to
induce it, on behalf of the people generally, to
make a resolute attempt " to defray the charges
of the coming war." He earnestly inquired whether
it would be just, whether it would be manly,
whether it would be worthy of the wealth and
power of England, that we should charge these
burdens on our posterity ? The interrogatory
was one of very great importance, requiring calm
and mature consideration before suitable answers
could be returned. The responses should not be
hastily given, or while influenced by the enthu-
siasm of the moment. We must carefully reflect
on the causes of the war ; and, whether it is
undertaken to suit the purposes of the present
generation, or to avert the necessity of a more
protracted, a more expensive, and a more perilous
contest, in which those very descendants will have '
to struggle for their liberties, religion, and exist-
ence, to prevent Cossack domination and despotic
power, the propagation of the " orthodox faith"
at the point of the sword, and tho wholesale
destruction of every adult male, either in manly
opposition to the barbarian. cohorts, or by
a more protracted, but by no means less certain,
doom, while serving in the ranks of their op-
pressors, compelled to a fight in a cause that they
detested, and under a banner they repudiated.
We resist the possession or occupation of Constan-
tinople and the Turkish dominions in Europe by
Russia, simply because it would enable her to
realise her wildest dreams of universal domination
—at least so far as the old world is concerned.
The clans of which Mr. BRIGHT is a representa-
tive do not feel this. They know full well that
the possession of Stamboul and the adjacent
country, coupled with the key to the Euxine, and
a commanding force in the Mediterranean, would
be regarded by NicRoLAS as a very fair stage on
which be might rest contented for some years,
during which cotton-spinning would flourish,
while their own children might emigrate with
the wealth gained during the interval, and seek
a congenial home among the drab-coated brethren
of Pennsylvania. But this is not the feeling of the
great body of the people. They are still prepared
to struggle in the cause of truth and justice, and

at any risk to hand down to their children the
inheritance to which they may succeed, as secure
and unsullied as they themselves received it from
their forefathers. It is for this purpose that they
rapturously responded to the Declaration of War ;
that they have enthusiastically accepted all its
risks and responsibilities, and that they are even
now willing to undertake burdens under which ,
it is by no means improbable that they may
eventually sink.
Bat is it well "to spur a free horse to death"
—to take advantage of the liberal and generous
spirit to press unfair demands, or to claim more
than could equitably be required ? We name it
on high authority, that the war has not been oc-
casioned by any motives of aggrandisement, or
designs of ambition. We believe even Mr.
GLADSTONE will not contest the point, or deny
that it is chiefly, if not altogether, on behalf of the
rising generation, and in defence of their real
interests, that we have entered on the contest.
Why, then, we ask, should not some portion, at
least, of the outlay be charged to posterity ? It
is surely enough for the present time to defray
the interests of the public debt, and the ordinary
charges for the maintenance of the National
Establishments, without being expected also to
bear, at the very moment of incidence, all the
expenses of a war solely undertaken in the
interest of posterity !
Bat this by no means shows the extent of the
evil or the magnitude of the burden which our
Financial Minister imposes on the shoulders of
that patient animal " JoHN BULL." Not only
are we to defray the ordinary expenditure of the
country, and the extraordinary expenses of the
war, but we are at the same time to satisfy a large
sum (no less than eight millions sterling) of the
principal of the debts created by our progenitors,
and to extinguish so much of the national liabili-
ties. This is unquestionably going beyond ex-
isting precedent. Never was such an attempt
previously made. Most assuredly when the
project for the Conversion of the South Sea
and other comparatively small stocks, was
promulgated, the Chancellorof the Exchequer never
anticipated having to provide for the demands
of dissentients to the amount of 8,000,0001.
sterling, and being compelled to draw on the Ex-
chequer balances for that large amount. To con-
cede the possibility for a moment would be to at-
tribute to the Right Hon. Gentleman what his
worst enemies never dared to assert. That there
was an absence of caution it is impossible to deny ;
but we believe that the energy and determination
then exhibited afforded hopes of obtaining an
ample equivalent at another time, from a person
who had thus decisively disregarded the trammels
of " red tapism." To think otherwise would be
to brand one whose honour had never been im-
peached as a " Russian agent," rather than an
" English Minister." We do not for a moment
impute sinister motives. It is the mistake
of the head, and not of the heart, of which we are
complaining. But why, then, has not due pro-
vision been made for the change so as to replace
the Exchequer balances in the same position as
they stood before the ill-advised attempt ? If we
are net to liquidate the claims of the dissentients,
why are not the equivalents offered to be placed
to the credit of the Treasury, and sold from time
to time for the benefit of the community ? Then
we should meet a certain loss of a million or
twelve thousand pounds, but we would know the
worst, and not be compelled to increase our stakes
on what is manifestly a losing game. Every other
nation in any degree concerned " takes time by the
forelock," and endeavours to make due provision for
the war in anticipation. We alone disregard the
obvious precaution, and in the very plenitude of
confidence, the wantonness of prodigality, in au-
gurating hostilities by an attempt to pay off eight
millions sterling. Is this reasonable ? Is it
politic? Is it just ? Or, is it the very excess of
recklessness to place such a charge on a nation
afflicted with a stringent monetary code ? If a
fettered currency be inconsistent with free trade,
it is much more so with a contest in which we
have the most powerful nation on earth as our
opponent. An adversary, too, as unscrupulous as
it is powerful.

It will be matter for deep regret if the Settle-
ment and Removal Bill be defeated or postponed
through Irish jealousy or party tactics. Like the
great Whig measure of 1832, to which this is
but a sequel, and which was so cordially accepted
by the Duke of WELLINGTON, the Present question
is one which, however strong the temptation,
every man of right feeling ought to keep sacredly
aloof from party politics ; and we are happy to
believe that the cause of the poor is generally felt
to be far too grave and important a matter to
become a subject of political strife. The necessi-
tous poor are the legacy of long civilisation, a
permanent charge on an advanced state of society ;
and the problem for us all is, not merely to cul-
vate, in our working classes, the self-reliance,
energy, and providence which will save them from
depending on legal relief, but also to make the
necessary adjuncts to such relief as little annoy-
ing and oppressive to the necessitous man as pos-
sible. We quite concur with the best thinkers
on the subject, in believing that the abolition of
the power of compulsory removal would serve
both objects. It would make labour free of the
whole country—enable the working man, without
apprehension, to migrate whithersoever a third-
class carriage or a steerage in the steam-boat could
take him would thus perfectly adapt the
labour supply to the labour demand—and for
these reasons would most certainly diminish ulti-
mately the general pauperism of the kingdom. A
few parishes may be able, for the first few years,
to produce some instances of paupers not very
fairly thrown upon them, but in the next few
years some of their own destitute poor will be pro-
bably receiving relief from other unions. Mean-
time, labour is the very life-blood of the nation,
and, by its freest possible circulation, every part
of the social body will best receive its due nourish-
ment, and the whole system be better able to bear
its burdens.
We would put it, then, to the Irish members
whether they have done quite wisely in checking
the progress of the measure, and whether they
will not do yet more unwisely if they further ob-
struct it on the plea of justice to Ireland. We
cordially
sympathise with their anxiety to place
the Irish in
England on a level with the English
themselves. Every consideration of humanity and
justice is on their side. They could nct state
their own case better than Lord. PALMERSTON did
and they may be
it for them, sure that the gene-
ral English sentiment is, that where any man,
English, Irish, or Chinese if they will, spends the
days of his strength in labour advantaeeous to
those who employ him, there he ought to be able
to claim relief in unavoidable calamity and desti-
tution. All that is asked by the more intelligent
and benevolent members of the House is, a little
leisure to arrange, so that the Irish pauperism
relieved in England shall be bona fide the
pauperism of the Irish labour which England
has employed. The fears of Liverpool, Bris-
tol, and Marylebone on this head may be ground-
less ; if they be so, either a little examination
may show it, or defensive provisions, if enacted,
would be inoperative from want of occasion to
enforce them.

Mr. MAGUIRE despaired of obtaining justice for
Irish paupers, if Euglish paupers obtained it first,
and warned the Irish members "not to forfeit
the power they now had of putting the screw on
Government." We would strongly counsel, in
the interest of the Irish themselves, a more gene-
rous policy. England has borne now for hundreds
of years the burden of poor laws, and its poor the

restraints of the Law of Settlement ; while Ire-
land's poor-law troubles are but of yesterday. tI
seems natural, therefore, that those who have
suffered longest should be first relieved. It must
appear, moreover, very dog-in-the-manger-like
policy to say to the English labourer, If your
Irish guests cannot at once obtain equal privileges
with you on this side the Channel, we will keep
you out of your privileges till they can. Nothing
must be trusted to English sentiments of humanity
and fairness, but the Government must be
screwed," and English labourers pinched, till
" the Irish difficulty" is settled—not after fair
investigation, but to get rid of troublesome oppo-
sition. It may have been bad generalship in Lord
PALMERSTON not to have arranged the Irish part
of the question before allowing the measure for
England to be introduced ; but it was bad
only on the supposition that Irish members
would prove themselves factious against benevo-
lence to English labourers. Suppose the worst ;
suppose the present bill carried, and Government
unable to carry the promised supplementary mea-
-1 sure for Irish labourers, what would they be the
worse for it ? The English labourer would
achieve a certain gain, the Irishman would lose
nothing if he gained nothing ; and we must think
a generous Irishman would not wish to retain a
law bearing hardly on his English neighbour
because, when he came here, he did not himself
enjoy its benefit. We are confident, however,
that the Irish members are mistaking their true
policy. By blending the two measures, or striving
to advance them pari passu, they may incur the
rejection of both ; but if they cordially pass the
English bill it is morally impossible that the Irish
one should not promptly follow. The good faith
of the Government and the good feeling of this
country are far better to rely upon than the
squeeze of the Irish screw. Should they succeed,
English labourers, more than the Government,
will be the sufferers ; and it may well happen
that if all becomes known, it will be only mini-
stering to the too prevalent between the
labourers of this country and those of the sister
isle. Paddy will be regarded more than ever as
an intrusive foreigner—as the fellow who not
only reduces wages, but who straps a harsh law
on the backs of unfortunate Englishmen when
the Government would have removed it.

DEATH OF PROFESSOR WILSON.

(From the Caledonian Mercury of yesterday.)

With the same sincere and profound sorrow in which
we write—Scotland, and many a place far away from it,
will hear—that Professor Wilson is no more with us.
That great and good heart stirs not again on earth.
Professor Wilson died this morning at ten minutes after
midnight. We cannot, at this hour, venture to give
feeble utterance to that grief which a nation will feel at
the de arture of one whose name has been to the pre-
sent generation of men familiar as a household word. We
must reluctantly to-day simply record a sad event, which
deprives our country of a bright glory, while it bequeaths
to it a memory which will not merely be cherished as a na-
tional honour, but be dear to the homeliest and truest of
fections of thousands wherever they may d well. The son
of an extensive manufacturer in Paisley, he was born in
the year 1783, and was thus in his 65th year. At the
age of 13 he commenced his studies at the University of
Glasgow, and continned them for four years after at
'Magdalen College, Oxford, where the genius of which
he was possessed soon manifested itself, and enabled him,
among other honours, to carry off the Newdegate prize
for an English poem. At the end of that period he left
Oxford, and having purchased the estate of Elleray,
beautifully situated on the Windermere, he found, for a
time, in the picturesque beauty of the district, something
to minister to his naturally high poetic temperament.
He was at this time distinguished by that fine physical de-
velopment on which, even till lately, years produced but
little effect, and which, among his college friends, had
acquired for him so much pre-eminence in all the athletic
exercises in which they engaged. Having been obliged,
however, through some reverses, to abandon his roman-
tic retreat, and all the charms—the society of Words-
worth included—who endeared it to him, he came to
Edinburgh, and after passing Advocate, commenced that
connection with Blackwood's Magazine, which, for
years after, identified him with all the brilliant fancy
and exquisite taste with which its pages were adorned.
The productions of his eloquent pen were in 1842
published in a collected form, under the title of " Re-
creations of Christopher North," and which, in many
respects, manifest that true poetry with which his other
works were characterised. The chief of these are
the "Isle of Painls," and the "City of the Plague," the
former published in 1812, and the latter in 1816. Soon
after this he was appointed to the chair of Moral Philo-
sophy in our University, and by the fervid energy of his
character, and the impassioned eloquence with which
his lectures were characterised, shed a lustre around it
which will long continue to add to its pre-eminent cele-
brity among the other academic institutions. He con-
tinued in the office till the close of the session of 1850-51,
when advancing years and declining health compelled
him to resign. Rest and retirement brought, however,
little relief ; the san had evidently set for ever, and now
he has sunk into the grave to be honoured for ages to
come regretted wherever the English language is
known.