The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-10 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1853.

Parliament resumes its sittings this evening
under more than usually important circumstances.
It was only very recently that we directed atten-
tion to the peculiarity of the internal situation of
Great Britain at the present juncture when the
destinies of the Empire are committed to the
keeping of a suddenly constituted and strangely
coalesced Administration. Possibly, it may not
be superfluous to recapitulate succinctly the prin-
cipal characteristics of that situation—now that
the nation may be said to stand more directly in
the presence of the Coalition Government. The
ABERDEEN Cabinet; to speak plainly upon a mat-
ter in regard to which there has hitherto
been so much confusion, finds itself surrounded
by difficulties of its own creation, and those diffi-
culties of more than ordinary magnitude. It
will have, first of all, to reconcile an almost incal-
culable number of interior differences. It will
have to sustain in a direct policy the various
opinions of the conflicting parties joined together
for the time being, as a sort of Make-shift Minis-
try. Besides this, it will require to exercise over
its councils an extraordinary amount of authority
in the way of prudential forethought, so as to
avoid, if possible, the peril of swelling the already
compact and formidable phalanx of the DERBYITE
Opposition. That Opposition, it is obvious, may
otherwise at any moment be transformed from a
minority into a majority, by combining the Inde-
pendent Liberals and the Irish Unpurchaseables
with the powerful body lead by Mr. DISRAELI—
the resolute and united body of the Tory Re-
formers. Upon some questions we cannot forget
that those same Tory Reformers would be enabled
to go to the country under more propitious colours,
under a' more auspicious pretext, than their
banded antagonists—the Whig-Peelites. Such,
for example, as the Income-tax Question !
Whereas, if the Ministerial cards be only adroitly
played, the tables may be turned by the present
holders of office even at the eleventh hour before
the necessity of a dissolution—by staking the
fortunes of the Cabinet upon the prevention of the
enhancement of the House Tax, and by the reor-
ganising of the entire system of our so-called national
representation. Latterly, it has unhappily been
only too apparent that the prudent occupants of
Downing-street are prepared to rid themselves of
any immediate annoyance in the way of legislative
reform and of further retrenchment, by resorting
to the old and atrocious alternative which, to-
wards the close of the last century, plunged this
country into a war, which cost it a debt of
500,000,0001. sterling, a sanguinary struggle
originated by England, and one which, com-
menced in the prostituted name of Liberty, closed
by binding, more firmly even than of yore,
in the iron bonds of Despotism the ravaged
realms and prostrate peoples of the Conti-
nent. The alternative submitted to themselves
in 1793 by the aristocratic monopolists of power
in Great Britain was simply . this—Peace with
abuses to remove, and leisure for the Re-
formers, and an unavoidable necessity for
retrenchment, or—War with all these evils indefi-
nitely postponed. History tells us in letters of
blood how the rulers of that age resolved to pre-
fer the latter course in defiance of all the dictates
of humanity, in spite of all the promptings of
prudence, in contempt of all the ills inevitable

from a retarded civilisation. Again, the alterna-
tive appears to be now, in this year ar Grace,
1853, submitted to themselves by the aristocratic
monopolists of power in the United Kingdom.
Otherwise, we should never hear so much of this
execrable and preposterous war-panic, at a period
when France and England are in a state of pro-
found tranquillity. Otherwise, we should not listen
to so much blustering about not merely the en-
hancement of our national defences, but about the
necessity of increasing our army by 20,000
or 30,000 men, when our neighbours across
the Channel have been decreasing theirs
by 30,000 or 40,000, and their navy by
2,000,000 francs, in their annual scale of mari-

time expenditure. Otherwise, moreover, we
should not witness the indecorous spectacle of two
Cabinet Ministers—one at Carlisle, the other at

Halifax—availing themselves of a hustings' audi-
ence to vituperate, in language of the most coarse
and scurrilous description, the elected chief
of 8,000,000 of Frenchmen. Everything, in-
deed, appears to intimate that the Govern-
ment of England is prepared to deprive

the real Reformers of anything like an oppor-
tunity for improvement, by plunging the nation
once more into an expensive, a perilous, and a
sanguinary contest, under the pretext of advancing
the cause of liberty and civilisation, but in reality
with a view to serve the interests of despotism
and retrogression.
Europe, meanwhile, presents to the view in
various quarters a gigantic conspiracy by way
of simultaneous preparation. Notwithstanding
that tranquillity has been again restored to the
majority of the races of Christendom, there are
visible here and there warning tokens that that
tranquillity, if interrupted forcibly by England,
may be the signal for a wide-spread convulsion,
such as even in our days shall have been altogether
unparalleled. Montenegro at war with Turkey,
has, moreover, precisely at this period, called
in the aid of the Austrian soldiers, under the
command of the Ban of Croatia, the renowned
and formidable JELLACHICH. Austria, mean-
while, though at heart the slave of the Russian
Autocrat, is lording it as haughtily as ever upon
those fair fields of Lombardy, where the volcanic
flame of insurrection has again flashed out from
the city of Milan, to the sound, if not at the
signal, of the oratorical thunders of the exiled
KOSSUTH. Switzerland, it is true, is no longer
ravaged by internecine contentions. Schleswig and
Holstein are no longer pitted against each other
in the name of the Danish Sovereign and of the
Germanic Confederation. Spain, relieved of
NARV AV; is no more threatened by per-
petual interruptions to the deliberative labours
of her Representative Legislature. Portugal,
rid at last of CABRAL, can find at least temporary
consolation from the councils of other patriotic
statesmen besides SALDANHA. There is a lull in
the lonian Islands. There is a momentary
cessation of intrigue at the Court of OTHO.
Naples is no longer frightened into quietude
by the lion - eyes and glittering blades of
the lazzaroni. Prussia, allowed for a while
to escape from the difficulty of the great
problem of national development, is coquetting al-
ternately with the Imperial Councils at Paris and
at Petersburg. Algeria has become in a manner
permanently tranquillised by the unconditional
submission of ABD-EL-KADER to his magnanimous
liberator—now that they have respectively " set-
tled down," the Emir at Broussa, and the Emperor
at the Tuileries. Egypt, again, is calmly extend-
ing the internal resources of her system of exotic
manufactures. Russia is stagnating in that stupen-
dous setiitude which requires a standing army of
nearly 1, 000, 000 disciplined soldiers for its continu-

ante. Leaving Europe for a moment, and turning
our gaze towards the Western Hemisphere, we find
at the present juncture the American Republic
restricting its warlike energies to the carrying out
of the American Japanese expedition ;
southwards, Mexico is overawed, and, north-
wards, Canada is cajoled into tranquillity. Eng-
land all the while finds her conquering arms called
again into action merely in two parts of her
enormous and scattered dominions, in Africa and
in Asia, against the Kafirs and against the Bur-
mese. At this critical interval it is that our
Ministers appear prepared to interrupt the per-
vading prosperity by fomenting the angry passions
lulled by thirty-eight years of peace into some-
thing like rational reconciliation. At this junc-
ture we hear two of the leading Members of the
Cabinet swelling the war-cry by abuse directed
against a neighbouring and friendly Govern-
ment. It is thus that 1853 is becoming
rapidly the counterpart of 1793—that our popu-
lation is being hurried into a blind hostility
against a race that should be regarded by us
rather with remorse than with hatred—a people
to whom we should proffer not angry words and
evil deeds, but an honourable and repentant repa-
ration. Formerly, in 1793, the alternative we
have already particularised was submitted to
themselves, as we have said, by the aristocratic
monopolists of power in England. Nowadays,
in 1853, in a more enlightened age, and a more
instructed generation, the alternative cannot be
thus comfortably decided upon—it must be drawn
from the obscurity of Ministerial Councils—it
must be an alternative to be decided between the
people and the Government.

The last remnant of Protection has expired, or
rather, like patients of whose recovery there was
no longer a hope, has been mercifully put out of
pain by its friends and well-wishers ! Start not,
gentle reader—the deplorable fact is but too true.
The National Association for the Protection of
British Industry is no longer in existence, and
the fatal blow that consigned it to the tomb of
" all the CAPULETS," was inflicted by the parri-
cidal hands of. Mr. G. F. YOUNG, its favourite
child, aided and abetted not only by his Grace of
RICHMOND, but also by the consistent BALL, the
valorous OHOWLER, and the energetic ELLM AN.
One solitary voice was raised on behalf of the un-
happy victim—which had long exhibited but very
slight symptoms of vitality, barely sufficient to
avert a premature interment ; but even the re-
doubted IvENs, like Serjeant LENS, in the cele-
brated case in Term Reports, moved "very faintly,
and as if with no hope of success." The single
negative, or rather protest, however, effected no
diversion in favour of the afflicted sufferer. The fell
resolution was carried into execution, and "The Na-
tional Association for the Protection of British In-
dustry" no longer cumbereth the earth—nay, more,
and that was " the unkindest cut of all," the re-
solution for its immediate dissolution declared that
" the continuance of the Association would be in-
consistent with its character" (! ! !)—at the same
time annomacing the termination of " the con-
test ;" a conclusion in which we suppose the 53
impracticables will fully concur, and that we may
accept the pledge thus given for future peace and
tranquillity on the subject of the taxes on human
food.

Something, indeed, was said anent the Asso-
ciation, Phoenix-like, arising from its ashes,
and " when the fitting time arrived" (alas for
the vague and indeterminate time of action) pre-
senting the " same bold front it had heretofore
maintained !" This, however, as well as the
general professions of undying devotion to the
sacred cause of " Protection," and unflinching
confidence in the accuracy of the principles that
justified the levying a 1 )18/3k mail on the rest of the
community, might be regarded as excuseable under
the circumstances. It was what DANIEL O'CON-
NELL was accustomed to denominate " Tallaght-
hill talk," where per sons attempted to take all the
grace from the cone •wsions they were compelled to
make, and with ex cessive bombast to assure their
auditors that only for something nothing could in-
duce them to do as they were actually doing.
The leek was, hov ;ever, swallowed—not a shred
or vestige was sr ifferecl to remain ; and we shall
exhibit the like s.nd.ulgence for the pompous plati-
tudes, so energetically enunciated, that FLUELLEN
'mighty valorous orts " of Ancient
PididsTotLo, "thewhile engaged in his unsavoury task.
We mar be permitted to say, that if everything
was so strongly in favour of Protection, and that
its principles could be sustained by reason and
argument,, the cessation of the struggle can scarcely
be acoolinted for. It was not by such conduct
that Ce.n3D.Pi org4niSed his forces under the Anti-

Corn-Law standard ; nor was any great reform
ever achieved by such strange apathy and excessive
pusillanimity. If the parties had such unqualified
confidence in the justice of their cause, they would
not have so hastily flung aside their " harness"
and abandoned the lists in which they had once
appeared as champions. The defection of others
would only have increased their energies and in-
duced them to make up for the desertion of the
" traitors" by additional activity on their own
part. It was, however, deemed expedient to act
differently, and it is not for those belonging to
the victorious party to question the prudence of
the course which induced the seceders to prefer an
inglorious peace to the maintenance of a hopeless
contest. And although we cannot very highly
estimate the chivalry evinced by the leaders, we
must confess that they have shown a greater de-
gree of common sense—a more valuable quality
than " chivalry " in these "piping times of peace"
—than we had given them credit for.
One remarkable feature of the proceedings was
the pertinacity with which the chief orators con-
tinued to ascribe the general prosperity, which
could not be denied, to every or any cause but the
true one. As Mr. SNODGRASS avowed that the
too apparent symptoms of inebriety arose " not
from the wine, but from the salmon," they disco-
vered sundry matters to which the mercantile and
manufacturing activity, the general employment
' at remunerative prices by which every man able
and willing to labour is certain of obtaining " a
fair day's wages for a fair day's work," the dimi-
nution of the poor-rates, and other unmis-
takeable indications of the national wel-
fare might be attributed, and it is but simple
justice to say that great ingenuity was evinced by
the parties. The Australian and Californian dis-
coveries were, of course, turned to good account.
It could not be that matters so obvious would be

lost sight of, or overlooked. A little inquiry might,
however, have satisfied the parties that, up to this
moment, more gold has left England in conse-
quence of these discoveries then has yet arrived
from the " diggins." The results of the almost
miraculous quantities of specie collected, and in
course of collection from the auriferous soil, will
arrive in due time, and England will, un-
less some untoward accident should mar her
auspicious prospects, enjoy a greater degree of
prosperity than at any period recorded in her
annals. But that time is yet to arrive, and to
neither Australia nor California can we attribute
the superabundance of specie, and the easiness of
the money market. The suggestion, however,
was plausible, and, as RICHARD CARSTONE,
would say, " answers as well as anything else
for the time." The idea, however, that the
present prosperity was owing to the revolutionary
spirit that prevailed on the Continent in 1848—
was indeed a discovery that showed the sharp-
sightedness of the worthy Alderman by whom
it was made. Had his vision been assisted by the
" ROSSE " or the " CRAIG " telescope, he could
not have seen " farther into the millstone."

The quondam Protectionists will now, however,
become the best Free-traders. BALL demnnded
" Free Trade in everything." CHOWLER declared
that it was " the bounden duty of Parliament to
carry that principle fully and fairly into effect;"
while ELLMAN added, " Let it " (i. e. Free
Trade), "be carried out fairly, and let us have it in
its full extent." Bravo, BALL Proceed, most
excellent CHOWLER. Be not discouraged—oh,
energetic ELLMAN ! We shall be good friends
yet. Arrayed under the same banner, and strug-
gling for the establishment of unrestricted compe-
tition in all its integrity, we tender our hearty
support to the new agitation, and are delighted to
witness the enlistment of such promising recruits.
Meanwhile peace to the manes of the deceased,
requiescat in pace. May no sacrilegious hand dis-
turb its ashes.

It has departed gracefully, " vanishing" like
the Cock-lane Ghost, "with an oderiferous twang,"

in the shape of a number of laudatory resolutions
in which everybody moved votes of thanks I
couched in the most eulogistic terms to every
body else for incessant and valuable exertions in
favour of the cause, whose obsequies were in
course of celebration, and accepted on their own
account the praise so freely and lavishly bestowed.

North Lincolnshire, Halifax, and Manchester
have favoured us with a little whet for the grand
feast of debates on which we are now entering.
We must own that they impress upon us the con-
viction that our surmises of late have been cor-
rect, that as little as possible will be done this
session, that our strong Cabinet is to drive a
vigorous trade in good intentions, promises, and
dilatory expedients, and that everything depends
on the vigilance and determination of Reformers.
Mr. CHRISTOPHER, indeed, meeting the farmers
at the ordinary at Lincoln, with his colleague,
Mr. STANHOPE, appeared to have very serious
fears for the Conservatism of the Government—
his dread was, not that the Liberals and Radicals
would be Torified at all, but that Lord JOHN
RUSSELL and Sir W. MOLESWORTII had converted
Lord ABERDEEN.. We must confess that our fears
are all the other way. Good-tempered people,
certainly, are the Lincolnshire farmers. The
Athenians used to cut off their generals' heads if
pma
rni Senatengo
of
t h
et oßepublic; thank a
t defeatedey lost
Cao
nbsatilttlfeo,r
not the
despairing
and the Lincolnshire farmers, preferring the latter
precedent, appear to have cheered Mr. CHRISTO-
PHER. to his heart's content, as he narrated his
hopeless labours for protection, and his stout and
successful battle against the odious " wise, just,
and beneficial " epithets, when all contest about
anything but epithets was perfectly useless. It
would seem from the report of the meeting as if
the farmers were in a very cheerful mind (it was
after dinner), for they even said, " Hear, hear,"
when Mr. CHRISTOPHER descanted on the mischief
of a Government which could leave the Ballot an
open question. We doubt not, however, that the
majority of Lincolnshire farmers would still vote,
Ballot or no Ballot, for any of the "old and tried
farmers' friends."
On the subject of the Income Tax these meet-
ings give us some encouragement. Sir CHARLES
WOOD, indeed, was ominously silent about it at
Halifax. Still this may be interpreted as shame
for the past ; it would have been a most unfor-
tunate thing to talk to Halifax manufacturers
(his cblleague himself being a very large one) on
the impossibility of doing justice to trade in-
comes. Silence was discretion in regard to the
past at least, and even if Sir CHARLES does not
wish to amend for the future, his silence showed
very plainly his estimate of the opinion of his au-
dience—an opinion he cannot afford to disregard.
If, however, nothing was said at Halifax, no such
timidity was evinced at Lincoln and Manchester.
Mr. STANHOPE laid stress on the measure of In-
come-tax equity proffered by the late Ministry,
and invited the attention of the farmers to it, as
one the merits of which they could fully appre-
ciate ; and at Manchester, Mr. BRIGHT paid a
handsome and well-deserved tribute to his politi-
cal antagonists, "for their bold deed in regard to
the Income Tax"—" for the country gentlemen of
England, themselves the owners of a vast propor-
tion of the fixed landed property of co
the untry—
for them to come forward and support a proposi-
tion which made a distinction in the rate charged
on fixed property, and that on income derived from
trade and other precarious sources, was a step
which we ought not to lose sight of, and
This is that we in
this district arc bound to applaud." as it
ought to be, and when we find Lincol applauding Man-
chester in harmony, and Mr. BRIGHT
what Mr. STANHOPE, the staunch Protectionist,
well hope that no
colftleecmiasl mobesrtiitn°aric;uso'r wperidmeaycan over-ride in the
House of Commons the great parties which these
gentlemen represent. We almost begin to hope
that Income-tax reform is sure. Thanks for that
without a question to the " boldness" of the
DERBY Ministry.
At Halifax, Sir C. WOOD declaimed against the
Ballot from the old story of France, as if he had
betted not 10,000/., but a hundred times that
invasion. Now, we may fairly
argue in this style which
sidle sk the
theyf gentlemenawviol l choosefavour
ofwho
of the dilemma ? Either the
Ballot, which elected LOUIS NAPOLEON Emperor,
expressed the choice of the French people, or it
did not. If it did, is it not a breach of all inter-