The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
• TIMES.—Ia Drury-lane, not quite a stone's throw
from the Royal_ Italian Opera, is a spacious and gloomy
pile, which still retains the traditionary name of a
" Theatre Royal." In the last generation it was
used for the legitimate drama ; and to keep up the
prescription it was opened, we believe, once for that
purpose last year, and once again, for the benefit of
an ex-lessee, on Monday night. Such a place must
inspire some melancholy reflections on the fate of
British talent and the woi th of aristocratical patriotism.
Insensible, however, to that omen, or nothing daunted
by it, a troupe of dukes, and lords, and squires yes-
terday thronged the neglected stage, and obliged
the public with a gratuitous entertainment.
The subject was a " Midsummer Day's Dream,"
or " Prott ctinn Revived." As the story was founded
on the Shaksperian model, it will not surprise the
reader to hear that Britannia was represented in love
with an animal much beneath her legitimate regards. The
order of nature was inverted throughout. For a story so
preposterous the adjuncts should have been equally fan-
ciful, the personages goblins, and fairy land the scene.
Unluckily the performance was spoilt by the utter
unfitness of the characters and circumstances. In an
unprotected theatre, ruined by the competition of
foreigners and the foreign predilections of our No-
bility, under a canopy of all but unprotected calico,
and on an equally unprotected drugget, clad in fo-
reign linen and foreign wool, assembled the mem-
bers of the National Association for the Protection
of British industry and capital, and, to the best of
their ability, proceeded to lay the foundations of that
I patriotic design. Britannia, of course, was in the pit—
the Duke of Richmond in the chair. As the only object
was to amuse, it would be vain to look for facts, or any re-
semblance to facts, or indeed any serious design in the ex-
hibition. There was nothing in the proceedings that bore
any resemblance to this waking world. Though the sub-
ject was the present distress of the country and the most
likely remedies, we did not hear from first to last the re-
motest allusion to those miserable realities with which
we are actually surrounded. There was not a syllable
about the failure of the potato crop, which has now for
three years deprived several millions of their usual food.
There was not a whisper of the railway mania, and the fact
that scores of thousands in trade and out of trade have been
ruined by indulging in that folly. There was not a hint
at the universal war which is destroying or impoverish-
ing our customers abroad and blockading their ports.
There was no allusion to the fact that within four years
we have had to pay forty millions for foreign corn.
which we should have had to pay, will, or ?all,
under any legislation whatever, even if Lord
Stanley had been leader in the Lords, Lord George
Bentinck is the Commons, and both Houses had
been under their thumbs. In fact, though some elaborate
historical reviews were attempted, the real history of this
empire, as known by every man, woman, and child in it,
and as entering into the experience of every British adult,
was as utterly ignored and put out of the question as if
the purpose of the meeting had been to send Bibles to
China, razors to Timbuctoo, or milkmaids to Rio Janeiro.
The assembly met with closed eyes as well as closed
doors. They stopped their ears to realities as reso-
lutely as if they were passing the shore of the Sirens.
A stranger unacquainted with our history—if there ex,
ists any savage so remote or so stupid as not to know our
unparalleled calamities—would certainly learn nothing
from yesterday's speeches, except that we had enjoyed an
unbroken tenour of prosperity, and should still be en-
joying it but for free trade. • If in our remarks on such
a farce it is worth while to ask any question or
draw any conclusions, we will just ask why the terribl•
events which darken the present page of history, and
which a thousand years hence will be inscribed in a few
simple words on the years 1846 and 1848, have been so
industriously and so ridiculously suppressed. Why—
if not because they negatived the factious conclusions
the movement was intended to palm on its dupes? A
theory cannot be good for anything when it requires all
the facts of the case to be k .pt out of sight. Happil3
these serious omissions are rendered of very sligh
moment by a similar absence of practical conclusions. I
a man fancies himself a lion, it matters very little so
long as he eats nobody; or, to come nearer the presen
case, a lunatic may think himself the victim of
conspiracy, yet be quite harmless if he ceetent•
himself with burning the effigies of his supposed
enemies on paper. What is to be done to restore
protection? Long did we wait for a reply. A list o'
vice-presidents was read as long as Homer's catalogue of
heroes and ships, and their names were freely offered
in pledge for the reality of the undertaking. But what
was the mode of operation? How was anything to be
done? What was the first step? Nut subscriptions,
for they were judiciously postponed till there shall
be something to show for them. At last we seemed
to hear something to the purpose. We could not be mis-
taken. A twofold plan was suggested. The tenant
farmers were. recommended to stop payment en masse,
and petition the Queen to dissolve Parliament.
A general election and a general repudiation to-
gether would set up the country. As the project
was received with tremendous applause, and a
thousand burly figures stood up to cheer the prin-
ciple of repudiation, we presume it was understood.
For ourselves, we must confess to being rather in the
dark. Is it seriously proposed by an association founded
and governed by landlords, that the farmers shall bilk al'
their creditors in order to give weight to their demand
for a dissolution ? Or are they to escape payment
of just claims by means of a general election ? Whae
is the plan ? Good reader, do not perplex yourself ;
there is no plln at all. These gentlemen are alt
sound sleep. They know nothing, and mean nothing.
They have not heard of the famine or the war, and then
intentions are equally dreamy and unreal. Stop pay-
TttatciZZUe 4r"."""

—ackea _ y cannon, and try to catch the balls in your
hands. Happily it is only the postman's knock. W.
will not wiah these gen:lemea wiser, so long as their
methods are harmless. We have no fear for their pro
dente and patriotism. His Grace the President is much
too good a subject to allow any dangerous excesses, and
we feel prfectly sae so long as the cause remains in
his hands.