The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-11 00:00:00

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314''

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1853.

There are times when the public attention is
almost entirely directed to a single point. It is
difficult to obtain this exclusive, all-absorbing in-
terest ; but when once it has arisen, there can be
neither doubt nor difficulty as to the result. Sooner
or later the obstructives must surrender their op-
position and fight under the people's banner.
That which a few short years previously had only
excited a laugh of derision, will then be regarded
as an incontrovertible principle, which it were
heresy to deny or cavil at. Such was the case
with the Roman Catholic Relief Bill and the repeal
of the Test and Corporation Acts—both measures
founded on the basis of civil and religious liberty,
and the impropriety and injustice of persecuting
any man on account of his religious . opinions.
The broad doctrine was, that every man should
be at liberty to worship his CREATOR in the
manner which, in his soul and conscience,
he deemed most expedient, without ox..
periencing active persecution in the shape
of fine, imprisonment, or even death ; or that no
less disgraceful and indefensible persecution which
contented itself with the exclusion of the victim
from places of trust, honour, or emolument,
casting ou him a petty slight in the face of his
fellow-subjects.
This persecution for conscience sake was thus
abolished ; some enactments still remaining to in-
dicate the previous state of things, and to show
the people how deeply thankful they should be for
the improved spirit that had followed from the
:pressure from without to which the popular Repre-
sentatives had been subjected. The next crusade
was instituted against the rotten-borough system,
and the anomalies of the then system,—when
Oatton and Old Sarum sent each two Members to
Commons House of Parliament, and Man-
el tester andßirmingh wore wholly unrepresented.
There an easy vict-orc.faomrwtas obtained. The public
mind was prepared "
seed, which had lon., he agitation. The good
remainedf barren and unpro-
ductive, lx to bear
; which, fostered by
the warmth, of Ministerial fiat
ma-
turity with extraordinary
who, after a protracted excrluaiiioudnirtsyfr.soPinrunofoffieg cWte:hsaigws of
making a dashing
ancaudpecimrprpeuhblic
the necessity •
thvour, brou gh t forward a large

sive measure, which astonished and delighted even
veteran Reformers—and thus obtained a long
lease of the situations for which their hearts had
been yearning during many successive years.
Some time elapsed, during which measures of
comparatively minor importance were brought
forward, before public opinion was again concen-
trated on a single object. At length the Anti-Corn-
Law League, which owed its initiative to seven
energetic and determined men, sprang into exist-
ence in a small back room in the manufacturing
metropolis of England. The iniquitous Bread Tax
—the impost on the very staff of life, the article of
primarynecessity—which compelled the over-toiled
operative to bring home the dear small loaf to his
children, and to see them pining and dwindling
away from an insufficiency of nutritious food, was
assailed. Here, however, there was no easy vic-
tory. Every position was defended with almost
incredible obstinacy. A zeal and energy was ex-
hibited, which, in a better cause. would have been
deemed highly meritorious, and deserving of the
highest approbation. Inch by inch, and foot by
foot, was gained ; and at length, after a seven
years' contest, the citadel was conquered—the an-
ticipated triumph achieved. Even then tranquillity
was not restored. A guerilla warfare was carried
on, and more than six years were consumed before
perfect peace was accomplished.
A new point has at length arisen, of not infe-
rior importance, and on which public opinion is
once more concentrated. Fiscalßeform is required.
The people have discovered the incalculable ad-
vantages arising from the partial substitution of
direct taxation for certain indirect burdens that
pressed with destructive weight upon the springs
of industry, and they desire that the system should
be further extended. They find that the welcome
boons accorded to them have not produced an
empty Exchequer—but that, on the contrary,
while they have enjoyed almost unprecedented
comforts, the Financial Minister has had a con-
siderable surplus at his disposal, which, if judi-
ciously applied, would confer additional benefits
on the industrious classes.

There is, however, one point that creates a
well-founded apprehension that this beneficial
system may not be persevered in. It is based on
injustice of the most flagrant and intolerable
description. And with such a rotten foun-
dation it cannot possibly be extended, or
even be maintained. In every country
there has been extraordinary favour ex-
hibited towards the privileged classes—those from
whim the legislators are selected, where there is
anything like a shadow of representation, or who,
in despotic nations, are permitted to approach the
autocrat. But never, perhaps, was there a more
extraordinary instance of favouritism than in the
so-called equal taxation of every description of
income, without reference to the source from
whence it was derived—that taxed equally the
hard earnings of the struggling artist—of the
literary man, coining his brains into scantily-
supplied sovereigns ; and the dividends of
the fundholder—the well-secured ground rents
of the landed proprietor. The income of
the one perishes with the effort by which
it has been achieved. Not a single shilling may
ever again be obtained from the same source.
The hand that applied the brilliant colours with
careful and discriminating taste, may become para-
lysed. The excited brain may have done its work,
and the owner become as pitiable an instance of
mental incapacity, arising from the over-pressure,
as he had once been envied for his extraordinary
attainments. They, with their helpless fami-
lies, may become dependent on the ten-
der mercies of the Union Workhouse ; the
fund that might have made some provision
for the emergency being absorbed by the inces-
sant demands of the insatiable tax-gatherer.
Meanwhile the fundholder or the landowner may
live up to his full receipts, certain that they will
never fail—that he will be comfortably provided
for under any physical or mental infirmity, and
that the only loss his children can experience at
his death is the absence of a " familiar face."
The one has in the world but a single 3001. on
which he •is taxed ; the other has the 3001. of
dividend, and the 10,0001. capital from whence it
is derived ; his property being thirty-four times
that of the other, and yet with a monstrous ine-
quality—a total absence of equity—they are
charged the same ! ! The system based on such a
principle cannot stand. Every effort, then, must
be exerted to obtain, if not perfect justice, at
least such an approximation thereto as may be
practicable. If the people resolve on this it will
be accomplished. All that is required is "a long
pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together." But
any carelessness or apathy in the present instance
will be attended with very injurious consequences,
and if it do not altogether prevent, it will, at least,
Materially retard the accomplishment of the na-
tional will.

That spirit of enterprise and that love of pro-
gress which are dominant characteristics of the
Anglo-Saxon race, were perhaps never more re-
markably displayed than at the present day, when
thousands and tens of thousands are leaving their
native shore to seek better fortunes in unknown
lands. The emigration which is daily taking place
around us is on a scale so enormous as to excite
the astonishment of the careful inquirer. Not
one of our readers, perhaps, but can, among his
own acquaintances, cite numerous examples, con-
fined to no class or station. Young and old, rich
and poor, the idle and the industrious—those who
can at home find no work to do, and those who,
already well-provided, seek to " better them-
selves"—all kinds and conditions of men swell
the vast concourse which daily throngs the emi-
grant vessels. They go from a world in which
every avenue to advancement is so crowded with
eager claimants that only comparatively few
can reach the goal. In another, and, as yet,
scarcely populated land, they reasonably expect to
find that opportunity which is denied them here
—not wealth, not ease and relaxation, but oppor-
tunity of acquiring both the one and the other.
This laudable ambition, stimulated by the pres-
sure of circumstances in many cases, is quite con-
genial to that adventurous spirit which our people
inherit from their ancestors, that same spirit which
in early times brought to our shores the warlike
Danes, the vigorous Saxons, and the enterprising
Northmen—that spirit which has extended the
British Empire " far as the breeze can bear
the billow's foam," and established our
colonies in every quarter of the world, and
peopled whole continents with men of English
blood, speaking the English language. But, while
fostering this spirit of enterprise, let us not forget
one important fact. Advancing civilisation brings
with it its own responsibilities. In former days,
when the sword obtained the territory for the
colonist, martial law prevailed among the intru-
ders, and, obedient to the captain of their
choice, they brought to their new settlements
the same order and discipline which they
had enjoyed
at home. Now it is otherwise.
Feudal tyranny and martial power have at home
(riven way to the nobler dominion of law—law
which no man is justified in disobeying, seeing that
its object is the welfare and protection of all ;
and seeing, moreover, that, in this our country,
every reasonable man is supposed to have a voice
in the
making of that law. Whether or no this
hypothesis be
ess
justified to the full extent, matters
not at the present moment. No Englishman will
gainsay the blings
of that jurisdiction which
makes his house his castle, gives him a right to
" do what he will with his own," and surrounds
his person with a panoply of defence more
potdnt than the guards at the Palace gates. If
asohmaendmii
sserraaibsleed
outcastagst
without home an
noar n. infantamt name—
the the terrors of the law are called forteh
withgains the
visited death.
offender, and the crime is
If some trifle is purloined from its possessor, a
handkerchief or a few sticks of wood, again do
Police and Magistrate exert all their diligence
and display all their severity to maintain the
sacred rights of property, and to chastise the
convicted felon who has been guilty of
the theft. Such facts hardly need enumerating.
(alas of daily occurrence, they
are
of the daily press ;
but while they give us continual reminders of the
Theythe are
standard topic
prevalence of crime, they bear also convincing

testimony to the vigilance of justice and to the
efficacy of the law. We are so accustomed in
this country to entrust our lives and goods to the
protecting influence of that supervision, that we
perhaps hardly estimate the full blessings of the
privileges we enjoy.. In order to appreciate it,
however, we have only to go with our emigrants
beyond the seas. There, nominally, perhaps,
English law and liberty exist; but the liberty has
degenerated into licence, and the prevalent law is
the right of the strong. Side by side with the
stories, almost incredible, of gold acquired by the
handful in a few hours' labour, are records, also,
happily almost incredible in this country, of that
same gold being torn from its possessor by stronger
hands, with crowds, perhaps, looking on, and not
interfering, because such incidents are so com-
mon ! Weapons there, are as much in use as
walking sticks here ; and the prudent housewife
will only open her door when she has reconnoitred
from the window. Such are the stories which
are brought to us from the gold regions ; and,
making every due allowance for exaggeration, a
fearful picture still remains. We earnestly exhort
those in authority to lose no time in
procuring for our fellow-subjects in those distant
dominions of her MAJESTY the same blessings
which the law affords to us here. What avail
treasures of gold if they bring robbery and death
upon their possessor ? Where are all the advan-
tages which the friends of emigration so reason-
ably anticipate, both for this' country and for the
colonies, by the happy adjustment of the surplus
population, if the first blessings of civilisation
are to be denied to the unhappy emigrants? The
Government cannot be too prompt and energetic
in carrying out some means more effectual than
any yet put in practice. The lives and security
of thousands depend upon their measures ; and
we trust that the present Colonial Secretary, the
Duke of NEWCASTLE, will add to his well-esta-
blished reputation for business habits by leaving
the department to his successors in a much better
state than he found it. The labour is colossal,
but so are the manifold benefits to be achieved ;
and the glory to himself will be the proud reflec-
tion of the vast good his wise policy may have
conferred not only on the new world, but on
generations yet unborn. •

EDUCATION.

FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

It is with pleasure we welcome the intentions
of the New Ministry on the subject of Education—
the hitherto stumbling block of several Adminis-
trations, and the battle-ground of the bigoted
and rancorous of every religious denomination.
There are few who will deny that education for
the poorer classes on a comprehensive human
scale is the most pressing of our social necessities,
and that that which is the best moral food during
the growth to manhood is withheld from the
lips, hearts, and minds of the majority of the
children of the poorer classes. The absence of
education forms the foundation evil, and is the
parent of nearly all the crime and mischief that
afflicts and contaminates society. The children
of the poorer classes are growing up, in increasing
numbers under the tuition of three of- the best
professors from the Dark College, Messrs. DIRT,
Runs-, and DEATH. Efforts certainly are being,
made by the good and true men working on be-
half of Ragged Schools, but their labours are in-
significant in comparison with the work to be
done, and the speechless cries for help from thou-
sands of our poorer child-brothers.

The annals of our Police Courts—which may
with some truth be called the " Annals of the
Poor "—foim but the surface-sample of the want,
destitution, and crime that lies buried in our
great metropolis. We have our hospitals for
diseases of the flesh, for the reception of insanity,
for the rescue of saddened, fallen women ; but
where are the adequate temples and shrines where
truth and the nobler influences of humanity are
taught to the wretched child of the streets
We have prisons, and into. those darksome dens
the convicted child is sent— a fine finishing
school into which to usher an almost drowned
child-soul. The principal causes acting as pre-
ventives to, the adoption of a noble system of Edu-
cation are two ; the foremost appears to be the
want of sympathy and sincerity between man and
man, and the influence of that hideous hydra sec-
tarianism.

It is absolutely necessary that the consciences
and hearts of men possessing power and influence
be awakened, and the spirit of hate evinced by
the sectaries crushed, ere the Gon-like work can
in any way be commenced to advantage. We are
surprised that the large body of Churchmen and
Dissenters, who stand wrangling upon tenets and
creeds—like tribes of uneducated Indians, whilst
souls are perishing around them, upbraiding them
in look and voice, and in many cases cursing Reli-
gion—have not ere this been put to shame, on
viewing the unobtrtisive efforts of a few lowly,
manly-hearted men in our worst localities, on be-
half of their poorer brothers.

Little do the Christian wranglers think that
while they are quarrelling in which way the work
shall be done, they are swelling the ranks of Infi-
delity, and heaping coals of fire upon their own
heads.

We would urge the consideration of the follow-
ing—That the decay and fall of nations has ever
commenced from the loss of the love of Truth,
Virtue, and the Beautiful, as taught to man in his
higher instincts, moral and spiritual capacities.
That the small thoughts and aspirations of small
men, have been the germ of many of the Hercu-
lean labours of after-men, who with wiser heads
and larger hearts, have given tangible shape and
utterance to them—that a few true-hearted and
soul-strong men may conquer a nation in thought
and feeling.
Hit is our wish to keep our England at the
head of the nations of the earth—to continue a
free, thoughtful nation—a thought-giving, hand-
and-heart-helping people, to those who are borne
down by despotism and Church tyranny, we must
urge on the work of Education, not alone for its
social benefits to all concerned, not alone as a
duty, but as the fulfilment of the dictates of our
consciences and hearts.

THE FRENCH MAIL.—Up to the hour of our
going to press the French mail of yesterday had
not arrived.

The Lord Chancellor and Lady Cranworth attended
divine service on Sunday morning at the parish church
of Erith. The duty was performed by the Yen. Arch-
deacon Smith, who has lately been instituted vicar of
Erith by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Lord Wodehouse, the Under Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, is the youngest member of the present
Administration, having been born in 1826. His lord-
ship succeeded to the title on the death of his grandfather,
who was for many years lord-lieutenant of the county of
Norfolk, which high office was conferred upon him dur-
ing the Earl of Liverpool's Administration. The present
noble Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs married Lady
Florence Fitzgibbon, daughter of the present Earl of
Clare. •

The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, M.P., Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster, has appointed his brother-in-
law, Mr. W. M. James, of the Chancery Bar, Vice-
Chancellor of the Duchy.
THE SOLITARY SYSTEM. Yesterday afternoon, a
lengthened inquiry was held before Mr. Bedford, the
coroner for Westminster, 'and a respectable jury, in
Milbank Prison, on the body of Thomas Wilkinson,
aged twenty, a convict under sentence of transportation,
who committed suicide by nearly severing his head from
his body with a razor. It appeared that the deceased,
described as a cloth-dresser, was, on the 12th July, 1851,
convicted of robbery and wounding, and sentenced to
twenty years' transportation at the York assizes, pur-
suant to which sentence, on the 25th of August last, he
was received into the above prison, apparently in good
health. After being three two months, being ill, he was
removed to the infirmary, where in a short time recover-
ing, he was transferred back to the prison, and placed
in separate confinement, to follow the tailoring trade, of
which he had some previous knowledge. He never ap-
peared desponding, or intimated by his demeanour that
he meditated self-destruction. On Saturday last, War-
den Thomas Roach gave him into his cell some shaving
tackle, which he left with him while he proceeded along
the passage, when on returning he found the cell door
shut, and on looking through the signal-hole discovered
that the prisoner had nearly severed his head from his
body. Dr. Bailey, physician to the prison, said that he
considered the act of suicide by the deceased was in-
duced by the impression on his mind of his length of
sentence, and the separate confinement he underwent
?dual gave the opportunity to the prisoners of self-vio-
lence. The jury, after a few minutes' consideration, re-
turned the following special verdict :--" That the deceased
Thomas Wilkinson destroyed himself by cutting his throat
with
a razor, while in a state of temporary insanity pro-
duced by separate confinement."