The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-07 00:00:00

reckless dissipation—and their oppression of a pea-
santry as docile, as self-denying, and as high-principled
as any in Europe ? We hear a great deal about
mortgages upon estates, as if the Legislature was called
upon to be more tender of the wrecks of extravagance
than of the lives of an innocent people. But inde-
pendently of the justice of the principle of the Bill, we
contend that it will have the effect of raising the value
of landed property in Ireland to an extent almost
incredible, and thus confer a mutual benefit
upon the poor and rich of that country. The
instant landlords find that their property is liable
to be taxed to a large amount annually, to support
the famishing idle on their estates, they will adopt
measures for the establishment of such manu-
factures, and the encouragement of such agricultural
improvements, as will enable the idle to find profitable
employment. Thus self-interest will prompt landlords
to study and promote the welfare of their tenantry,
and the natural consequence will be—improvement in
the soil, an increase of manufactures, a growing rental,
and a happy and peaceable tenantry.

We are rather surprised that the Chronicle this
morning should attack the Right Hon. CHARLES
WILLIAMS WYNN for acting in his vocation. Some
men, like BONAPARTE, are born to raise up empires ;
others, like GEORGE IV., to adjust the tags of aigu-
lettes. In the House of Commons, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, when not hampered by some lingering
likings for Toryism, is celebrated for expounding the
soundest principles of statesmanship, and Mr. WYNN
is prodigiously great at little technicalities. He was,
in fact, only fulfilling his destiny, when he strenuously
objected last night to the reduced lists of the Election
Committees being presented three minutes before the
half hour, required by the law, had elapsed. To obey
the law, and particularly the Grenville law, because it is
clear, definite, useful, and just, is the first duty of all
the people ; and how could Mr. WYNN call on them
to perform this duty, if he suffered such an important
statute to be violated in such an important point un-
der his very nose ? If one man, too, may interpret
half an hour to mean twenty minutes, another may
say it is forty--and then each would follow his own
devices by interpreting the law according to his own
views. Moreover, the House of Commons unani-
mously refused to her MAJESTY in Council only a
few nights ago, the power of suspending the Act fur
suppressing the Constitution of Canada ; and it was,
therefore, clearly impossible for Mr. WYNN, in the
teeth of such a solemn proceeding, to allow the Clerk
of the House, and the Counsel for the parties, to
suspend for three minutes the clue operation of the
Grenville Act. Mr. WYNN was well aware that
if Barristers might suspend the law, so might Judges,
and Lord ABINGER would then have been deserving
of the censure of the House, for not having suspended
the law relative to clergymen engaging in trade, in-
stead of interpreting it literally, strictly, and legally,
and so exposing the wisdom of the Honourable
House to many caustic remarks. In the course of
the evening the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER moved for leave to bring in a Bill to alter
that law ; and he means, the law is so bad, to give his
measure a retrospective operation. Now that expo-
sure of the House might have been saved, had Lord
ABINGER, like the Clerks and the Counsel, suspended
the law, and Mr. WYNN could therefore do no less
than irisist on all the technicalities being strictly pre-
served as a shield for Lord ABINGER. As the Chro-
nicle remarks also, how could Mr. WYNN, or any
parchment grub, possibly tell what would be the con-
sequence of not adhering to the strict rule ? We can-
not, therefore, agree with our Contemporary in blaming
Mr. WYNN for fulfilling his part in the social system ;
it being clearly of no consequence to him whether the
State be saved or justice done, provided only the letter
of the admirable Grenville Act be scrupulously ob-
served. Of course the Right Hon. Gentleman will
follow his rule on all other occasions, and compel, as
far as he can, all the Judges to act on it ; and when
technicality shall in every branch of life have sup-
planted justice, we shall be a great, happy, and glo-
rious people, and have a WYNN for our Emperor.

The nickname of " Shabbies," given by the Tory
Journalists to the Ministers, is at present the chief
missile which they hurl on all occasions. By contrast
they claim for the Tory Ministers the epithet of " the
Splendids." To make a great show on credit, and to
spend in magnificence the property of other people, is
one of the vices of our times; and the race of the
Splendids, whether in Downing-street or on the Ex-
change—whether they live in tasteful villas, like
FA UN TLEROY, or haunt lodging-houses like those
who make tradesmen their victims—are amongst the
greatest inflictions the honest and industrious part of
the community now have to bear with. How far the
extravagance in private life may have been caused by
an unthinking imitation of the reckless extrava-
gance of Tory Governments, throwing away the
wealth of the people, is a curious enquiry into
which we cannot enter ; but the record of their
waste, to be found at the Bank of England, is
the schedule of the insolvent JoHN BULL'S estate
under the management of the Splendids. That he is
bound to keep the peace in a penalty of 800,000,0001.
may possibly be a benefit for the whole world; but
the Herald mourns over the bond which the Splendids
have made him sign. " England," it says, " cannot
have a little war, but how is England to sustain a
large war ? The non-productive classes, the idle
consumers, the mere monied capitalists, never yet, in
the history of the world, cared for aught but to extend
the power of money, and to secure their enjoyments."
These are the classes of course who were made the cre-
ditors of JOHN BULL by the Splendids, and the Herald
insists that they care nothing whether the power of
England be destroyed or not. By the proceedings of
the Splendids, then, England is now obliged to crouch
according to their own journals before the despotic
empire of Russia, and the free republic of the United
States. The present Ministers entered into the admi-
nistration of a devastate property ; they could not be
generous nor magnificent like their predecessors ; and
those who dilapidate the national resources, like other
spendthrifts, now continually abuse them.
The new projects of the Splendids are as extra-
vagant as their former acts. " If," says the Herald,
" it be desirable to avoid a war with the United
States," we must have 50,000 men in the
North American Provinces, 30,000 in Canada,
and 20,000 in the direction of the boundary line,
or 100,000 men in America. To frighten Rus-
sia, we must treble the number of our ships
in the Black Sea, and in the Mediterranean. In short
to avoid a war, we must at once incurr all its evils,
except its bloodshed. The means proposed by the
Herald to resuscitate the national resources, and give
energy to patriotism is worthy of the splendid PEEL
Bill, described by our Contemporary as the curse of
the country, and the " repeal of the deadly Currency
Bill of 1819," as the first necessary step towards re-
covering the power of England. The Splendids would
begin their new career of extravagance by cheating
their creditors. To have the power of making a
" great war," they would again, by paltering with the
currency, inflict a severer visitation on the country
than famine or pestilence.

The ballot on election petitions commenced yester-
day, and as the result often depends on the composi-
tion of the Committee, the Liberals have reason to be
thankful to fortune for such a good beginning. The