The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TER PUBLIC JO URN

(From the Times.) ,
In the absence of more promising-entertainment, Sir
Charles Wood is ,to, be asked this evening by Mr.
Disraeli whether he did really and indeed make the re.
marks on Napoleon 111. and the press, that appear in
his speech to .the electors at Halifax ; arid,ln order to
carry out the plan of simultaneous operations recom-
mended by Lord Derby, the. Marquis of Clanricarde is
to ask a question on the same subject in thelords. Sir
Charles will probably admit the substantiallruth of the
report, and it will then devolve on Mr. Disraeli-to take
. the further steps for the sake of which the, qu6stion is
asked. If the object, is simply to make a speech, even
that object will not be attained by a question, and some
further notice will have to be given. As it might be in
full sight of these consequences that the inquiry has
been made,.it is to be presumed that Mr., Disraeli thinks
ciSuetestionTihne' ntbooble Lordo
is a grave offence has been committed against Ministerial
decorum, the comity of nations, or the safety of the
ta
marquis
inw the habitwho has
asked
fsp
thee
oic i
ns a mge
often enough, out of office to make for his general
up
taciturnity when in, so he will probably be content with
a speech. But Mr. Disraeli has no taciturnity to re-
deem. He must do something more than rate at Sir
Charles, and contrast his rude tongue with the more
courtly phrase in which the late Foreign Secretary an-
nounced his friend's assumption of empire, Unless he
balks the just expectation of the public, the session is
likely to improve very fast on its prosaic beginning.
What, then, is the offence which has excited the in-
dignation or the terror of two men so'- different and
hitherto so wholly unconnected as the Marquis of Clan-
ricarde and Mr. Disraeli ? Is it that Sir Charles Wood
has said that which is not true ? Why, does anybody
doubt its truth ? Napoleon 111. himself, so far from denying, would exult in the statement that Le has
gagged the French press effectually, and that,hot a line
can be published in France but by his leave.; If the
word "gag," is not exactly true, because it' implies ab-
solute stoppage, and the press-is not absolutely stopped
in France, then take the, mfitaphor of the -truncock.,
The Emperor has at least secured a hold on the tap, and
lets the press run, or stops the supply, at his pleasure.
Only last week, after Sir Charles had made the speech
in question, NapoleOn 111. gave a fresh proof of its
truth, by executing a razzia on the Parisian correspon-
dents of the whole continental press; and at this moment
a score or two most respectable journals in various Euro-
pean nations can obtain no intelligence from Paris except
what is supplied by the Parisian press itself. As little
:doubt can be felt, we should think, as to the state of the
Imperial mind towards the press of this country. If
,English newspapers are not altogether pifihibited
in France, and their correspondents banished the soil, it
is not from any favour to them, but simply because it is
well known that we shall obtain information one way or
another, and that it is better for the Emperor that the
way should be open and acknowledged:' Between an
Emperor and a free press such as ours any truce is better
than downright war. No übiquity and ingenuity of the
police, no secret department of the post-office, can stop
the supply of information from Paris to London: - The
current of news is as deep and as silent as the pulsations
of the submarine wire. But, if there is a species of
truce, there is no pretence of love—no good understand-
ing between the head of the French despotism and the
organs of British liberty. Sir Charles Wood, then,
never said a more true, we might add a more admitted
thing, than when he told' his constituents of Halifax
that Napoleon 111. hated the English: press because he
could not gag it. How could it be otherwise, when he
had gagged all the press_ ghat he could possibly lay his
hands upon, and could notigag _ours ? (-
But the truth is not to be spoken at all time, it will
be said, or by all people, or to all people. Here we
must reply that England and France do their politics
and express their sentiments towards one another in
very different ways ; and that if France expresses its
policy towards England by a frequent allusion to
Waterloo, by nearly half a million of men under arms,
by reviews, on one pretence or another, of a hundred
thousand men at a time at Paris, by keeping that num-
ber of men always ready to march at a moment's notice,
by building large fleets of vessels, which are mail-packets
on the stocks but war-steamers as soon as they touch
the water, and, finally, by suppressing all discussion of
English questions in France, so far as to "warn" a jour-
nal that dared to speak civilly of the Duke of Wellington,
- -if France expresses its feelings this way, then we
also have our way of expressing our feelings and car-
rying out our policy. That way is to "gag" no press,
to tie no man's tongue. This freedom of speech, which
is an institution of the country, every Englishman
claims for himself and concedes to his neighbour. -
We do not forget the man or the neighbour in
the Minister ; and if Sir Charles Wood, in a meeting of
his constituents, addressing himself to ^people whom, as
he said, he had known from his youth, and could refer
to in the most familiar terms, chose to speak as he felt
about Napoleon 111. and the press, he was only using a
liberty in which we all recognise our chief security for
our freedom and independence. One man, indeed, will
express himself differently from another, and act alto-
gether differently. The Chief of the Cabinet might not
have said anywhere What Sir Charles said to his consti-
tuents ; but in England we are accustomed to take one
course ourselves, as being more suitable to our nature,
and to permit a wholly different course to our neigh-
bours or colleagues, whose position, after all, may not
be so very different from ours. We deny, however, to no
public functionary the privileges of a citizen. De-
barred, as we are, by our constitutional maxims and our
national character, from many means of political influ.
ence and operation—from coups de etat, from conspiras
cies, from vast armed demonstrations, from extravagant
shows, from profuse largesses, from annual appeals to
universal suffrage, and from the unscrupulous subser-
viency of official subordinates—deprived of these means,
we take refuge in the simple course of expressing our
opinions with the utmost freedom, and expecting the
like from our neighbours. This is our chief arm of de-
fence, and the basis of that mighty power—public opi-
nion—more formidable than twenty armies, and a better
protection than twenty citadels and twenty miles of cur-
tain, bastion, ditch, and glacis. Union, as the French
are ever telling the world, is force. Our union is that of
sentiment, and can only be obtained by a freedom of
expression, which, so long as it regards truth, does not
spare institutions, nations, or potentates, be they ever-
so far or ever so near.

(From the Morning Herald.)
The independent portion of the public is everywhere
asking, and in a grave and stern spirit, What have we
gained by the substitution of the present occupants of
Downing-street for their predecessors ? And why was
it made ? Two questions these, which the good sense
of the country will answer, we predict, and more peremp-
torily every day, by saying we have gained nothing, but
lost a powerful and practical Government, displaced by
faction at the very moment when they were doing the
business of the country in all its departments in such an
effective manner as had silenced all complainants. They
did instead of talked ; and those who out-did them in
talking can now do nothing, but either tread in their foot-
steps, or vainly try to satisfy expectations which they
stimulated only to disappoint. No thinking reader of
their versatile organ, the Times, of even only on Friday
and Saturday last, can fail to see that it is at its wits'
end to disguise its mortification, and its apprehension of
the contemptuous and indignant spirit with which the
country is likely to regard this loud-vaunting, do-little
Ministry. With a very sorry peculiarity it strives to
twist even the ugliest signs of its patrons' weakness into
evidence of their strength—through the weakness of
their predecessors. But this trifling will not do.
thisT rseemeeennddoeudsi
tiwenase
ft hAe
uflotuhreisrhaolefnttrsuwmapeentsehweirtehd winhibcyh
the Times. They positively absorbed all the adminis-
trative ability of the country, and their installation in
rup e thebe
thsaee atdi
et
hisno ef.
hands,
with gaping mouth,Go
j‘e-ehrnnmßenntllwouldjstify
listenedu commensurate ex-
opened his eyes, and said, "Bless'
me !" while a voice shouted in his ears, " Open your
mouth, and shut your eyes, and see what Aberdeen
send you !" Open went his mouth, and it remains open,.
honest John fancying all the while that nothing hair
gone into it ; but his friends telling him that there has,
and they have gone away under that pretended belief to
enjoy their own comfortable dinners ? " Lord Aber-
deen," quoth the Times of Saturday, " has made no
speech. The other Ministers have answered some
questions shortly enough." We have heard of one who
" died and made no sign ;" but here we have a Govern.
ment which "lives and makes no sign." The Times -would
fain resolve it all into apathy—the "weariness overtaking
excitement at last"—and says, "we have entered on a
period of collapse." That is not the solution of the pre-
sent ominous quietude of parties, as none know better
than the Times and its -patrons ; and both are quaking
at that silence. " A dullness so marked," it says, "may
admit of various interpretations. It may be the calm
before a storm." It may, indeed, be : yet no hostile in-
dication has come from the friends of Lord Derby, whose
resolute and dignified attitude of watchful fairness is the
source of undisguisable anxiety to his eager and unscru-
pulous opponents, as they begin to see the flimsy threads
gweitthherwohviling ytwheair patchwork covering is attached to-
even already. Ireland and Manches-
ter are already their " difficulties," and they will prove
insuperable ; for Lord Aberdeen, to conciliate both for
the moment, has promised each what will alienate from
him even those on whom he had placed his greatest re-
liance. But for adopting some of the measures of their
predecessors they would have nothing to lay before the
country. It yeas a blighting French criticism, "There is
e
much that is new and that is good in this boolcs, tn
author's mouth watered, " but that whicnhewinewthe
is not good, and that which is good is n
with
the present Government—what is
_go
from
fr their prede-
pro-
cessors is not new, being derive:
author's face fell. Thus it is, and wille .beo.nt fothuenidr
The Jew Bill, the Reform Bill, the Clergy
; what is new is not
ginootebeninitgagain round
Reserve their
own,Bi l
the income tax, as they would fa
veryour necks,
find to
m
to
of the Times to account satis-
factorily to itself for
present " dullness" are quite
"
weariness or satiety on
the
,but the dullness of disgust,
already with
.thtr. cost.
as the Government will
their " good,
The efforts, we repeat,
strongly tempered And, in the
the part It
oifs
meantime, we see distinctly that the Government steers-
man is quaking at the helm, for Scylla and Charybdis
the not thet dullness_of
are before him in the shape of Popery and Radicalism.

-
ALLEGED LOST RATES.—At the Marylebone vestry a
report was presented from the committee appointed to in-
quire into the losses alleged to be sustained by the vestry
on account of insolvents, removals, rates cancelled, and
other causes, in the year ending June 30, 1852. It stated
that the sworn balance sheets of the collectors for the year
showed the loss on account of bankruptcy and absconded,
1,452/. 4s. ; excused, by reason of poverty, 1,3491.45. lid.
—making a total loss of 2,801/. Bs. 11d. Of this amount
returned as lost, it appeared, on investigation, that no less
a sum than 1,0091. 2s. 2Ad. was written off by the col-
lectors without the knowleage of the board.