The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON

up by actors who in another age would each have
been some " bright particular star," instead of being
an almost unnoticed burr of light in a sort of
nebulous constellation. Such were the effects of
popular regard upon:the cultivation of the drama as a
distinguished and intellectual profession. Yet, while
remembering the number and variety of the public
favourites in those palmy days of the histrionic art, it
would be an absurdity to speak now•a•days of the
drama as of a profession so far decayed as to be
devoid of talent of a very superior description. Ex-
perience, on the contrary, assures us that, considering
the little support, comparatively speaking, which is
given to our legitimate theatres, they are rich in
those diversified abilities which are found requisite in
the performance of either comedy or tragedy. Nor
are the many brilliant actors and actresses of our own
generation, now on the boards of the principal
houses in the metropolis, the only powerful induce-
ments to the encouragement of their profession ;
there are, moreover, still visibly connected with the
theatres of London (either public or private) some of
those most felicitous performers whose genius for
the stage have long been the objects of
deserTed admiration.' Not to enumerate the surviving
actors of the previous generation, such for instance as
FAnxxi and HARLEY, it will be sufficient to refer as
examples to two actresses of very eminent reputation,
whose powers are still preserved in a kind of peren-
nial excellence, Mrs. GLOVER and Miss KELLY. To
the latter we have unfortunately occasion to allude in
that language of condolence to which she is entitled
out of consideration for her pecuniary misfortunes.
A letter, addressed by Miss KELLY to one of our
morning',Contemporaries, will be found in another part
of this evening's impression ; and we doubt not that it
will be perused with that respectful attention always
due to unmerited calamities. The appeal made by this
gifted lady requires no enforcement from the pen of
the journalist among those whose familiarity with
her career has; enabled them to appreciate the purity
of her reputation. With others it may be different;
and to them we would more particularly direct those
hopes which we cannot but entertain, that after a life
of toil, anxiety, and consistent perseverance, the
woman whose very profession has elicited so many
proofs of the exquisite sensibility of her most womanly
temperament, the woman with whom so many have
wept and laughed almost at a breath, and whose
union of heart and intellect has not only amused but
also ameliorated the dispositions of her auditors,
should not be abandoned in a day of necessity to the
miseries accruing from an unlucky speculation, and to
the still greater miseries flowing from a conviction that
no spark of friendship has been kindled among the
crowd by the light of that intellect and the warmth
of that sensibility in the evidences of which they have
so often exulted.

The public attention has already been strongly
directed to the symptoms of disunion and insubordi-
nation manifested in the Protectionist camp. The
orators who undertake the task of enlivening the
bucolic fancy at the various meetings of the party no
longer waste their eloquence or their indignation on
the Free traders. Their own recognised leader, the
only member of the popular branch of the Legislature
in any degree qualified ;to guide their councils and
direct their efforts, is the principal object of their
abuse. The vituperation that was formerly lavished
on Mr. COBDEN is transferred to Mr. DISRAELI ;
and as a greater degree of virulence is always excited
in a family quarrel than in one among strangers, the
reproaches and censures are more earnest and hearty
than those bestowed upon the Free-traders during the
late struggle. The various suggestions thrown out
by the Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire since the
prorogation of Parliament have in turn been attacked
with the most vigorous determination. The propo-
sitions, which it was fondly hoped would have been
received with the warmest commendation, and served
as rallying points for the defeated troops, have been
despised, repudiated, and even ridiculed. "Protection,"
and nothing but " protection," will satisfy the agri-
cultural taste. The bitter pill cannot even be gilded,
it must be swallowed in all its naked enormity. All

the protestations of Mr. DISR&ELI, with respect to
his unflinching allegiance to the principle, and his fixed
determination to labour for itsultimate restoration, are
not sufficient to appease the malcontents, or to restore
order or discipline. He has admitted the impractica-
bility of any immediate effort in that direction,
and he has even ventured to bring forward
objects as worthy of attainment, and he is
therefore no longer worthy to lead his unruly co-
horts. Sir GEORGE ROBINSON, Lord BRAYBROOKE,
and a host of others, had already raised the standard
of rebellion. But it was reserved for the meeting at
Bromley, on Friday last, to exhibit in the elearest.light
the heterogeneous elements of which the so-called
party is composed, and its utter disunion and want of
coherence. We have it on the highest authority that
" a house or a kingdom divided against itself cannot
stand." What, then, can be expected or hoped for
from the once formidable Protectionists ?

On that day the agriculturists assembled in goodly
numbers in the fair county of Kent. Not a town or
village in the "garden of England" was unrepresented.
The " eccentric Earl who believed in CISPER
HAusEa, but who would not believe in Mr.
DISRAELI," filled the chair. Mr. G. F. YOUNG, the
uniinching champion of the navigation-laws, and
Mr. MALimis attended on the invitation of the com-
mittee az a deputation from " The National Associa-
tion for the Protection of British Industry and
Capital," and many a stalwart yeoman was prepared
to uplift his voice, and cheer with the utmost strength
of his lungs the anxious orators. From such an
assembly much might have been expected. It was
intended as an exhibition of strength—a demonstra-
tion that, although " worsted" they were not alto-
gether vanquished ; but that by unanimity and
energy the contest might yet be prolonged, and fair
terms eventually obtained from their antagonists.
But, alas ! the vanity of human hopes and human
wishes, a stronger illustration could not have been
afforded of their complete and irretrievable discom-
fiture, and of the disorganization that prevailed in
their ranks. It proved at least that nothing is to be
dreaded from the exertions of their mutinous and
badly disciplined forces.
The Noble Chairman opened the proceedings in
the gloomy strain so agreeable to the agricultural
taste. He declared that "their future prospects were
far worse than their present situation, and that unless
speedily and effectually remedied the most calamitous
consequences must be expected, and that bankruptcy
and beggary would extend throughout the length and
breadth of this once happy and prosperous, but now
ill-governed and ill-fated country." After this satis-
factory announcement, he cautioned his auditors
against the folly of attempting to mend their position
by "high farming," or raising a greater quantity of
produce from their lands, and clearly pointed out the
calamitous results that must necessarily follow
from a sixfold increase of crops. " Take the case
(said the Noble Earl) of a labourer whose family
required six loaves, but who was unfortunately able
to buy but five. If the price were reduced from
sixpence to one penny the loaf, of course he would
provide himself with six loaves, but would he pur-
chase six times six, or thirty-six loaves ? Why, his
family could not eat it, if they had it, and the labourer
would purchase other articles of provision useful or
necessary to him. The consumption would not be
commensurate with the production !1!" After thus ex-
citing the terror of his audience at the bare possibi-
lity of so deplorable a catastrophe as that the labourer
should be enabled to obtain a sufficient num-
ber of loaves for his family, and even to
purchase " other articles of provision useful
or necessary to him ", a possibility which
naturally produced a feeling of horror in the
assemblage—his Lordship made a furious onslaught on
their recreant general. The equalization of the land-
tax, the first and most equitable suggestion to the
meeting at Aylesbury, provoked his utmost
wrath. He would not be contented with
the virtual abandonment of that fair and
reasonable proposition. " There was no mistake, there
re-
solvedknthe
wat
i‘t‘ tlhieardebsehenousladiabebynothmi." could be no mistake," and Earl STANHOPE was
rabillee Gsaeind:
tleman's friends that his first speech on this subject
was misrepresented in the newspapers, but they all
knew the fidelity and accuracy with which the gen-
tlemen of the London press discharged their very la-
borious duties. As in other cases, there would be an
occasional error; there might sometimes and necessa-
rily be omissions, but did anybody ever bear of a re-

porter for a newspaper inventing a whole speech, with
a long array of figures ? That excuse,
therefore, would not avail him, and he
(Earl STANHOPE) pinned him down to the first
speech." Poor Mr. DISRAELI, it's all in vain—you
are pledged to the general equalization and more
equitable distribution of the land-tax, and Lord
STANHOPE is resolved that you shall not evade the
self-assumed responsibility. You must go on, and
we can only say, we most heartily pray that success
may attend your exertions in that respect.
After having thus castigated his chief, the Noble
Earl explained the folly of those who exhibited "an
ignorant impatience of taxation," or deluded them-
selves with the notion that " any paltry remission of
taxes, such as the abolition of the malt and hop
duties, would give effectual or substantial relief."
Nothing but a " restoration of protection—a full and
effectual protection to every branch of British industry,
whether at home or in the colonies—whether on Bri-
tish soil or on the ocean, upon which Great Britain
rode supreme" would answer. His Lordship con-
cluded by an expression of the most perfect want of
confidence in, or respect for, the House of Commons.
that would have delighted the most strenuous advocate
of Parliamentary reform. He:asked, " Was the
House of Commons elected, in part even, by those
whose interests were so much at stake—the labouring
classes ? Did it express the opinions of the pro-
ductive classes ? Was not party spirit predominant
in that assembly ? Had any of its decisions been
patriotic or profitable to the community ?" and after
giving the strongest negative to these several interro-
gations, declared that "no hope could be entertained
that the House of Commons would pursue a different
course, unless it should be compelled to do so by a
powerful popular movement—by what was
termed the pressure from without." The en-
thusiastic and rapturous applause elicited by
then declarations might have led a by-
stander to suppose that he was attending a meeting
of the' Metropolitan Parliamentary Reform Associa-
tion," calling for the establishment of household suf-
frage, the vote by ballot, triennial Parliaments, and
the equalization of the electoral districts, and not an
assembly convened for the purpose of resuscitating
monopoly, and imposing taxes on the poor man's food
for the benefit of a privileged class. No part of the
proceedings was so loudly and universally applauded.
We trust that the constituency of West Kent may
instruct their Representatives to sustain by their
votes in Parliament the measures on which they
bestowed so unqualified an approval. We shall
venture to remind them, on a fitting opportunity, of
their recent demonstration,`and,t to use the language
of their Noble Chairman, " to pin them. down " to
their recent expressions.
Mr. PAUL FOSIKRTT followed in a similar strain,
repudiating the leadership of the Hon. Member for
Buckinghamshire, while Mr. G. F. YOUNG attacked
every one of his propositions in detail, and denounced
with equal energy the plans for the establishment of
a " sinking fund," the " equalization of the land-tax,"
and the " transfer of the local burdens to the national
Exchequer," and declared that "the fact was that Mr,
DISRAELI was following an ignis fatuua, and mislead-
ing them from the real point to which they should
bend all their efforts, and from which alone they could
expect solid and substantial relief."
We really pity the Honourable Gentleman. What
can he hope to accomplish with
,such mutinous and
ill-disciplined troops ? He should no longer waste his
unquestionable powers in such a cause. He should
refuse " to march through Coventry" with the ragged
regiment. Let him no longer endeavour to please those
who will not be satisfied or contented, or "listen
to the voice of the charmer, charm he never so
wisely." But let him, carry out his own just and
equitable suggestions, and labour for what would
really bestow " equal taxation and cheap capital,"
without seeking to gratify his headstrong party.
Thus will he become a benefactor to his country, and
receive the blessings of the people in place of the
cheers of a discontented and rebellious faction.