The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-25 00:00:00

THE SUN*, LONDON, WEDNESDA Y, APRIL 25, 1838.

eludes cheerful submission to political oppression, as
well as to unavoidable physical evils. It is an admi-
rable auxiliary when a Corn-law is to be upheld, im-
pressment to be ordered, or the Habeas Corpus to
be suspended. On the two leading principles by
which statesmen have guided their actions, that
of multiplying their dependents, and that of controling
and coercing the multitude, they have concluded that it
was their duty to provide for the religious instruction
of their subjects.. To provide them with plenty of food
would make them the reverse of tame and submissive.
Impediments rather were to be thrown in their way.
Rulers were afraid of their subjects, and to quarter on
them a large army of priests was, both by the poverty
they induce and the doctrines they taught, a remedy
for the dread which statesmen always feel of a proud,
a noble, and a courageous people. There is, then, on
the one hand, the use of the priesthood in making the
people poor and subservient ; and on the other, the
tendency of plenty of food to make them proud and
bold, which has led statesmen to repudiate the duty of
providing food and clothing for the people, and eager
to perform the duty of providing them with parsons
and churches.

This leads to a very curious reflection. Govern-
ment, we say, is intended solely to promote earthly
happiness. Now the desire to better one's condition
—to rise in the world, as it is called--to obtain more
of the good things of life—to win knowledge, and en-
joy comfort—is the very soul of social improvement.
Individual happiness is fortunately comprised in the
Chace, rather than in the possession of the things
to obtain which this ever-stirring desire prompts our
industry. It contains all the germs of social welfare.
If the Government itself stand in the way of its grati-
fication, the Government will be set aside, as parts of
every political system, in obedience to the demands of
this great desire, are continually improved. To better
the condition of individuals, Governments are reformed.
To this great principle of social welfare bad Govern-
ments are opposed, and they call in the help of the
priesthood to repress it. To enjoin patience under
suffering is to stifle the desire of bettering our condi-
tion. Thus, a National Church, which inculcates that
submission which politicians love, though a useful
auxiliary to tyrants, is obviously hostile to the welfare
of a free people. Thus, too, a Government which en-
dows and establishes a National Church, to check the
growth of that desire, violates the very first principle of
its own existence, and opposes itself to that social wel-
fare which it is established to promote. We hope that
the learned Presbyterian Doctor, who has run away so
many miles from his own flock to enlighten us, ignorant
and unreflecting Episcopalians, on the important sub-
ject of a National Church, will take these points into
his consideration, and condescend to prove that a Na-
tional Church, whether it be Episcopal or Presbyterian,
promotes social welfare in a greater degree than it ele-
vates and gratifies the priesthood.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT'S speech at Liverpool,
which he delivered in that astonished town on Monday
last, fully sustains his character as a twaddler of the
first magnitude. There is no falling-off in point of
dulness ; no diminution of prolixity ; no abatement
of idiotic malignity, or tame, flat facetiousness ; but
on the contrary, a manifest increase in all these at-
tractive oratorical qualifications. The Hon. Baronet
spoke about himself, his maladies, and his medicine chest,
in a style that might have excited the envy of an old
woman twaddling about her " rheumatiz." Egotism,
and of the most drivelling order, characterized all he
said. " I left London," he observed, " a very poor
creature. But I said, let me be ill or not on the
road, I will do what an Englishman ought to do—his
duty." Excellent man / Who can read, and not
reverence, the strenuous patriotism that dictated this
remark ? Though he is confessedly "a poor creature,"
with a " chalk stone " possibly in both heels, yet
Westminster's Glory does not hesitate an instant
in sacrificing himself, like a CHATHAM, for the benefit
of his country ! We protest we know of no parallel to
this amazing disinterestedness, except it be the case of
old TABITHA BRAMBLE, who, it may be remembered,
ill:lied down stairs at midnight into a clamp kitchen,
without her shoes, at the hazard of a severe attack of
the " rheumatics," in order to make a fire and warm
candle for her invalid brother MATTHEW. " England 'a
Pride" then went on to inform his delighted hearers,
that he had much improved in health since he left
London—adding, " the medicine chest with which I
was loaded, I have never opened, nor have I done
any thing which the doctors prescribed ;" which, in
our opinion, sufficiently accounts for his recovery.
We say nothing of the amusing quality of these
egotistical details, for they speak for themselves ;
but what is to be said for the sagacity of a ►nan
—and of a man calling himself a statesman too !
who formally promulgates them at a public dinner at
Liverpool ; whose whole speech is taken up with allu-
sions to himself and his medicine-el:lest • and who
issues his own official Bulletin of Health, with as
much set gravity as if it were a matter in which the
whole civilized work! was interested ! For our
own part, had we been in such a distressing
state as to be compelled to make a choice,
we solemnly protest we would far rather have
swallowed the contents of " Old Glory's" medicine-
chest, than have listened for even ten short minutes to
the egotistical drivel which he poured forth at Liver-
pool ; and we have no doubt that many of the enlight-
ened inhabitants of that town, could they but have
known beforehand the sort of infliction that was in
store for them, would have adopted the same alter-
native, and swallowed the physic as the most digestible
dose of the two.

The Herald has noticed this morning our obser-
servations of yesterday in a very long article, which we
cannot insert at length. The vast amplification of
our Contemporary on the possible good which msy
arise to some future generation, from keeping the
present short of food, and the great disadvantage
which would accrue from allowing our merchants to
trade just as they please, are exertions of a powerful
imagination which admit no other answer than conjur-
ing up a smiler array of advantages and disadvantages on
the other side. To that we can see no end, for men are
not to be taught by phrases, however eloquent. They
will only learn from facts ; and the foolish, as well as
wicked landlords, who by the Corn-law make rent
coincident with taxation, will not be convinced of
their error till, with the abrogation of the tax, which
shall
liful vindication,
be destroyed.
wi
Decl l l i an
ns tgi r eytdol
of what the landlords, who put the produce of the
insceor7thereHnteriatskfelfs
wrong into their pockets, declare to be expedient
robbery, we shall only attempt to correct one of the
numerous errors of our Contemporary.

" The impediment," says the Herald, " created by the
Corn Laws, is only the ' impediment' created by all good Go-
vernment—the impediment,' in short, which laws are designed
to offer, to the exercise of free-will in any individual or class,
when that free-will has for its object, the infliction of injury
on other individuals or classes. The ship-owners, and mer
chants, and manufacturers, therefore, would have no social nor
equitable right (if they entertained the desire) to force upon
the community a commercial system, of which the result must
be the destruction of landowners, the confiscation of fanning
capital, and the permanent debasement of the whole labouring
population, manufacturing as well as agricultural."
Now the shipowners, merchants, and manufacturers,
and we go along with them, deny positively that the
total abrogation of the Corn Laws would inflict any
injury on the farmers and landlords. They affirm,
on the contrary, that both landlords and farmers
would be benefited by the abrogation. But to show
in detail the effects of either continuing or abrogating