The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-28 00:00:00

and every man also, what Lord Palmerston ex-
horts these operatives to do, i.e. help themselves ;
no thanks to any Government. Bat until M:
Comte's golden age arrives, and so long as there is
an executive, we must expect of governments to
do that for us which we cannot do for ourselves.
And this is one of those things ; "We cannot help
ourselves," say the men, " and therefore Govern-
ment must interfere for us.
Now if Lord Palmerston had been a Cyrus the
Mede, or a Gregory VII. (which by the bye he is
not); but if he had been, he would not have said
" Government cannot help you," but " Govern-
ment can and shall ;" and if men did. not want, if
they did not feel the value of Government and cry
to it for aid, he would have sent emissaries among
them and made them cry. But being a very honest
and candid man, and estimating the governments
of these days at their value (a lesson which he
learned in the Foreign-office), and knowing the real
worth of his own Government in particular, he
blurts out very sincerely, "the Government is of
no use : it cannot help you. lou must govern
yourselves. If indeed. it had been a dispute about
pocket votes and pocket boroughs, about reform,
about free trade, about Canada Reserves, about
education, about churchyards, about the dead and
not about the living—about questions dead or good
as dead, why Lord John would help you to get rid
of them, or help you to bury them, that's much the
same. But as this is a vital question, one that
must be met face to face, and can't be dodged,
can't b. e compounded with, won't cry peace when
there is no peace—Government can't help you ; you
must help yourselves."
The working men have no cause to complain of
Lord Palmerston. He can't help them—we never
thought he could ; "as a member of the Govern-
ment he cannot interfere." If the dispute is ever
settled it will not be by this Government • if it re-
mains unsettled—poor, helpless Government—it
must remain unsettled ; there is no help for it.
So says Lord Palmerston, and he is the Govern
meat's man. Well, this shows Lord Palmerston's
opinion of it ; and by the time that his letter has
been freely circulated among the working men of
this nation, his opinion on this matter will be theirs.
"Government cannot and will not help them."
How should they ? Like Lord Palmerston they
regret their inability to interfere ;
.like him they
find it " impossible to form even a just opinion as
to the merits of the dispute' without much morein-
formation." Good men and conscientious, do an act
of injustice by interfering in matters they do not
understand ! For the last three months and more a
dispute has been going on, involving the prosperity
of this country, the life and death, the comfort and
happiness, of thousands of men, women, and children
employed in our manufacturing districts—eating
into the heart's-core of the working-men—discussed,
reported, argued in the columns of every morning
paper and of the leading provincial journals. How
is it that Government should be expected to know
anything about it ? How can they form, in the
absence of more detailed information, any just con-
clusions ? For the life of us we cannot see. Per-
haps, in his hot haste for disfranchisement, Lord
John has stumbled on the name of Preston ; per-
haps Lord Aberdeen or the Duke of Newcastle, in
their foreign musings, have been interrupted by a
paragraph or a leader on strikes in general and
Turkish strikes in particular—perhaps the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer or Mr. Cardwell may have
had some misgivings about tariffs and trades when
the exports of manufactures were brought forward
by the working men ; but how is it to be expected
that they should have gone out of the way to gain
information, to have formed opinions, to be willing
to interfere? Is it not a sufficient reason for knowing
nothing about it, because every one else does know
about it ? That's
a sound and sober principle of
action. Besides, it is a home business, and Lord
Palmerston is Home Secretary. Let him look to
it. If he cannot decide, who can ? " Every man
for himself, and God for us all," is the true maxim
in religion and in politics, in society, in economy.
It is at the bottom of all our greatness as a nation,
as a trading and commercial people. If you don't
believe it, ask Moses and Son, from whom our
Ministry buy their paletots and their principles.
But we have yet a word more for this famed
etter.