The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-23 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONEOI4'

tent tribunal,,aulthe actual state of the Lau will
receive a calm and unprejudiced interp tf station
from those who are fully authorised a o.d pre-
eminently qualified to speak ex cathedra.
But, while leaving the subject for th at deci-
sion, we cannot help expressing our satisft Lotion at
the prospect of a speedy investigation intc • a topic
of deep and paramount importance to the iaational
welfare and prosperity. It is impossible to over-
estimate the magnitude of the interests involved
in the result, or the injurious, we might almost
say the ruinous, consequences of a further separa-
tion between masters and men—aye more, be-
tween labour and capital. Let it not be supposed
that the question is one solely relating to Preston.
That town is merely the " Cock-pit" in which the
battle is waged by the representatives and cham-
pions of the different clw,ses. The large contri-
butions afforded to the belligerents, the ample
supplies paid into the money chests on either
side, prove beyond the possibility of dispute or
difficulty that the affair is not one merely of out-
posts, but that its tecrmination is regarded as
indicative of the ultimate issue between the oppo-
nents.

" Who takes the foremost foeman's life,
That party conquers in the strife."

So it is at Preston- The victory there will
probably be decisive on the entire vexata questio.
Indeed, were it otherwise, a peace of some kind
would long since have been patched up, and the
ruinous internecine conflict would have termi-
nated in some way or other.

Strange it is that so little attention should
have been directed to such a matter as the volun-
tary cessation of labour by many thousands of
persons, and their support in idleness by the con-
tributions of myriads of working men, who spare
from their own scanty and hardly-acquired earn-
ings the assistance willingly bestowed on their
brethren, nor is it leas significant that other con-
tributions are also flowing in to the masters whose
factories are closed, and engines rusting, uselessly
and unproductively. In fact the dangerous com-
bination on one side is met by an equally dan-
gerous combination on the other, and the union
of the masters would be inexcusable but for that
of the men, which rendered it a necessary act of
self-defence.

The step just taken will bring this matter pro-
minently before the public, and will prove,
beyond the possibility of doubt; that which we
long since asserted, " the necessity for further
legislation on the subject." Many suggestions
have been offered (although not within the walls
of Parliament) as to the nature and extent of the
enactments that may be required to meet the
exigency. There is one, however, recently put
forward, which seems so simple, and yet so
effectual, so easily brought into operation, and
yet so potent in its effects, that we should be
inexcusable if we did not direct the legislative
attention to the valuable hint. " A Member of
the Teinple" is the CEDIPus who has solved the
problem—the COLUMBUS who has taught the
mode by which the egg may be balanced on its
narrow end. The remarks on the law relating to
combinations are, indeed, worthy ofnotice.* They
are brief, but to the point—manifestly the pro-
duction of a man capable of " condensation."
There is not a superfluous expression, and the
very simplicity of the proposition is perhaps its
chief recommendation. An enactment directed
against the " levying of contributions" on either
side is all that is required. The mere hint shows
us how effectual it would have been. It would
clearly have prevented the calamitous struggle
that has been going on for so many months. In
justice to the learned writer, we give an extract
from his able brochure, allowing him to express
his own views in his own words :

"We shall be asked for a remedy without calling into
activity the disused and dormant powers of the law. It
is not difficult to comply. If an act of Parliament were
framed, the main provisions of which struck at the levy-
ing of contributions raised by combinations, to aid em-
ployers against employed, and employed against em-
ployers, the tiling would be accomplished at once. If
heavy penalties were provided, who could object to
them ? They could only be enforced in favour of trade,
and therefore in favour of everybody, and of the well-
being of society at large. Destroy the thews and sinews
created and nerved by money, and there is an end of
the mischief. We throw out this suggestion, moved by
uo to either class, and we feel persuaded that no
man of sound and benevolent impulse will condemn us.
All we wish to show is, that there is a remedy within
the reach of the Legislature—a remedy that may be re-
sorted to, if good sen-R and good feeling among employ-
ers and employed refuse to assert themselves. Not only
is the present state of things against the `policy of
trade,' but against the peace and health of society ; and
the sooner it is put an end to the better for us all."

He also declares that he is quite prepared to
give the substance and effect of a more practical
suggestion. We trust that he will do so. An
exposition of the views of the able contributor to
Blackwood who gave.to the world the articles on
the "Revolt of the Workers," and " The Employer
and the Employed," must be well worthy of
perusal and attentive consideration.

* One or Two Remarks on the Law Relating to Com-
binations. By a Member of the Temple. London :
William G. Benning and Co., 43, Fleet-street. 1854.

It is rather hard to defend a well-meaning man
in a false position, or to argue the right of the
case as between parties, both of whom are more
or less in the wrong ; and this, we humbly pre-
sume to think, was the position of the able lawyers
who skirmished so briskly on Monday over
the Attorney-General's Bill for healing the mala-
dies of the boroughs which had been probed by
the Bribery Commissioners. No one denied that
something ought to be done, or that the voters
who had confessed to bribery richly deserved dis-
franchisement ; but the delicate question arose—
Are they to be disfranchised, first, on their own
confession ; secondly, after they were promised
indemnity from penal consequences, as all induce-
ment to confession ? On the second point, as even
Sir FITZROY KELLY showed, in strict law the
Attorney-General might be right ; and the mean-
ing of the indemnity clause might be that they
should be free only from pains and penalties
under existing laws. Still, the confessor pro-
bably thought that no punishment would
light upon him, individually, in virtue
of his confession ; though, after the examples of
Sudbury and St. Albans, he could not expect to
escape the effects of any general measure, to
which his conduct, and his confession of it, had
given birth. The Attorney-General and others
seem to think that as the confessing bribe-taker
might expect disfranchisement in company with
fellow-electors, there is no hardship in disfran-
chising him without punishing the innocent with
him, when the size of the boroughs in question
admits this mode of treatment. The opposition
lawyers, on the contrary, seemed to think that it
was just this distinction on which our national
faith hung, since the guilty man would be treated
differently to the innocent, although he had
thought the national faith was pledged to treat-
ing none the worse for his confession.

It is the first point, however, which will make
the bill unpopular. If the times of the STUARTS
left one feeling engrained into our national feel-
ings, it is that of hatred to the very thought
of compelling
a man to criminate himself. We
assuredly do not wish to argue against it, but if
we did it would be perfectly useless. A French
or Prussian lawyer might offer reasons in plenty
which we could not easily refute on their abstract
merits ; but we should have one unanswerable
argument which no Frenchman or Prussian could
gainsay, that we are Englishmen and not French-
men or Prussians, and that we would rather some
half-dozen of the worst scoundrels should escape
justice annually, than allow any man to interro-
gate us with a view to exposing us to penal con-
sequences. We would not dispute the merits of
other codes and other nations—but worse for the
Judge, or Jury, or Counsel, or House of Com-
mons itself, which in this our England attempted
to act on a principle odious to the inmost heart
of the nation. Sir A. COCKBURN, we are con-
fident, has no such wish whatever, and he does
not like probably to come so near in appearance,
if not in reality, to Star Chamber practice, but
we incline to think that his approaching so near
the detested idea will ultimately be fatal to his
bill. All agree it would be a great good to strike
every bribed voteroff the register for ever, but whe-
ther the House dares consent to do it, on his own
confession, remains to be seen. One view of the case I