The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 19, IS4o.

noble and the rich feel how much they are the
slaves of the priesthood. They y have fan-
cied that, in recommending and upholding the
Church as something extremely good for the
poor, it would always be their humble auxiliary,
and never dare to assail themselves. They will
now find, however, like the blundering dealer. in
magic, that they have evoked a spirit which they
cannot lay. The craft of the priests is endan-
gered ; their wealth and power are threatened ; and
those wino have put them up to teach obedience to
the lower classes must now subserve their purposes,
submit to their decrees, bear their inflictions, or be
dragged into ruin with them. If the Bishops go
on assailing the nobility, the inferior clergy get-
ting clerks and registrars turned out of their places
for their opinions, and the 'limes and its cor-
respondents continue io attack rich aldermen ; it
the noble and the rich are mads to feel the bigot's
fangs, the lowly and the poor will have a better
chance of escaping—of beihg relieved from the
merciless infliction.

One of the arguments of the Chartists for de-
'manding Universal Suffrage is, that were they
properly and completely represented they might
pursue their bread-winning avocations undisturbed
by the necessity of protecting themselves from in-
justice, or of engaging in political agitation. In our
opinion that is a mistake, and no extension of The
suffrage, as we have already stated, would relieve
the bulk of the community from the necessity of
watching over public affairs. It must at all times
be impossible to prevent different classes and ranks
of men from associating to obtain their peculiar ends,
and they must be opposed by counter associations, or
they will impose their will as a law on the commu-
nity. In no country is the suffrage so extensive as
in the United States, and in no country are public
meetings so frequent, and in no country is
political agitation so continual. Delegates,
whose power is to be periodically renewed, ate no
more to be implicitly trusted than those who. hold
their office for life under the continual threat of as-
sassination if they fail to give satisfaction to the
multitude. The rivalry among men, the real and
well-grounded suspicion of those in power, and the
efforts made to foster it, will always render any sys-
tem of representation, however extensive, to super-
sede the necessity for public agitation, and to extin-
guish it, a vain chimera.
We cannot, however, be surprised at the Char-
tists taking up this notion, for we find the
Morning Chronicle, yesterday, moaning over the
imperfect working of the Reform Act, because it
has not accomplished whit no reform can accom-
plish, and what we take leave to say, it is not
desirable any reform should accomplish—the extinc-
tion of the necessity for agitation. Our Contem-
porary said—

The need of having recourse to the associating principle,
on such a subject as this, is one sign of the imperfect work .
ing of the Reform Act. It might have been hoped, when
that passed, that all such occasions were over; and over
they would be, so far as the majority of the nation is con-
cerned, if the result had been a real and proportionate re-
presentation. Agitation could then have been abandoned
to the factious minority tl at has of late dealt in it so
largely.

Now, the agitation of this factious minority
must be met by a counter-agitation, or it will in
the end succeed, and get the majority over to its
side. Our Contemporary therefore, in fact, gives
up his own argument in the last sentence, and ad-
mits that however admirably a Reform Bill may
work, a factitious minority niust make an agitation
by the majority necessary.
We make these remarks not to oppose the ex-
tension of the suffrage, or throw doubts on its
value, but to place it on its light basis. Our op-
position to the demands of` the Chartists has al-
ways been founded on the principle that their suc-
cess would not relieve them from the necessity of
watching over public affairs ; and our preference to
Anti-Corn-law agitation, has been dictated by a
conviction that they have no present chance of ob-
taining Universal Suffrage, while they might
command the repeal of the Corn-laws, which
would help forward the extension of the suf-
frage. We advocate- an extension of the
suffrage, because it would do away with odious
distinctions, put an end to a political master and
political. slave-class, connect all the community
together by mutual and. reciprocal political feelings,
and' make all feel that they had a common interest
in the public welfare. It would lead, which is
most desirable, to less partial and class legislation ;
laws would not be made exclusively to benefit one
class ; but to suppose, with the diversity of feelings,
thoughts, and wishes, with the many classes, ranks,
and interests, with the differences of talents, educa-
tion, and _wealth, which prevail in England, that any
extension of the suffrage could or ought to put an
end to political agitation, or could at once relieve
the bulk of the eJmmunity from the necessity of
acting in separate associations, we hold to be one
of the most itUe chimeras that ever entered in the
brain of a theorist. It «'OIIICI increase and foster
political agitation, bringing about political improve-
ment. S, despotic Government is the instrument
for suppressing agitation ; a free Government
lives and flourishes in the equal and unfettered
conflict of all ranks, conditions, anti classes.

The Royal idol of Tory worship, King EaNTEsT of
Hanover, has issued an address to the Electors of his
kingdom, dated the 10th inst., convoking., the States-
Gaicral, proregued on the 20th of last June, for the
19th of March, and directing the Eeetoral body to ex-
creLe that right of electron which they had be!Ore re-
fused to do, lest they might indirectly acknowledge the
validity of his MAJESTY'S act in abolishing the Consti-
tution of 1833. In this address, which is very long,
King ERNEST condescends to enter the arena of dispu-
tation with his subjects, and to convince them by rea-
soning that he has been all along in the right, and they
in the wrong; and that though he was not without the
power of punishing them for their naughtiness, yet,
overcome by emotions of parental tenderness, he chose
to pity and pardon them. He hopes the deputies
will all, like good boys, wait upon him in his capital at
the time fixed for opening the States-General, and as
they f,olishly persist in their absurd partiality for a Con-
stitution which he gravely assures them revtr had a legal
existence, although granted by his brother K.;ng
Wit-
i.iAsi, and for years the fundamental law of the King-
dom, he promises to present them with a concoction of
his own, vi Ilia will satisfy them to their hearts' content,
His MAJESTY spurns the idea of being supposed ca-
pable of wheedling his subjects into an indirect sanction
of the Corstitution of 1819, by means of an election
according to its forms ; and.he is pleased to add that be
has no ground for doing so, as that Constitution exists
legally, being only suspended during the reign of his
Royal predecessor. This is but the old assumption
over again ; but it is satisfactory to know that his MA-
JESTY repudiates the notion of its receiving any confir-
mation from an indirect sanction by the electoral body.
The only thing we cannot account for is the good tem-
per that pervades this address. The royal coffers, we
suspect, are nearly empty ; the hopes of succeeding to
the throne of Great Britain and Ireland arc waxing
fainter and fainter; and possibly fears are entertained
that a collision with the States might re-open the ques-
tion of the eligibility of a blind prince to the regal dig-
nity. If these suspicions prove unfounded there is
mischief brewing. We expect an early explication in
Hanover of the cunning policy of a fox in a hen-roost.

We have received Madrid Journals of the 10th inst.
The following is a list of the Deputies and Senators
elected by the capital to represent it in the new Cortes.
Deputies :—Senora CANTERO, OLOZAQA, ARGUELLES,
CALATRAVA, LOPEZ, OCA, CABALLERO, MENDIZA,
BAL, GOMEZ PARDO, and MIRANDA. Senators :---
Senors SAN MIGUEL, FERRER, and LOPEZ.
We have. given in our extracts from the Paris Jour.
nals the latest news from the theatre of war. Madrid
continued perfectly tranquil. On the Stock Exchange
no ready money business was done en the 10th. The
Fives were at 28 5-16 at 604,1ay5:

Letters from Athens of the 27th ult. state that King
Onto has expressed to Sir G. LYONS an earnest wish
for the restoration of friendly relations with England.
As a proof of his sincerity he has given up the Russian
system of banishing his subjects without trial, and
ordered that such as were so banished should be re-
stored to their homes at the expense of the Govern-
ment. lie is said to be more frightened than he pre-
tends by the Russian conspiracn in which nearly the
whole of his Cabinet is implicated. He has proofs i
his hands that nearly every individual about his perso
was in the pay of Russia ; but such is his awe of th
CzAa, that were it not for the presence of the Englis

Ambassador, and the firmnez.s of the Lord High Com-
misclioner of the lonian Islands, he would destroy
every one of them, rather than incur the displeasure of
Russia.

The Paris Journals of Monday attribute to the in-
discretion of the KING the last cruse of disagreement
between the Cabinets of the Tuileries and St. Peters-
burg. It appears that it was.his MAJESTY who circu-
lated the report among the Foreign Ambassadors that
Russian gold was expended in supporting the Capitole,
and that the liberation of M. DURAND Was his own act,
in order to avoid the scandal of convicting his "
brother NICHOLAS" of being no better than a
vulgar conspirator against the Monarchy of July. It
scents also that Louts PHILIPPE gave utterance to
these extraordinary sentiments without the knowledge of
his Ministers, end the consequence was, that when
Count DE MEDEM demanded from Marshal SOULT
the publication of M. DURAND'S paper, the President of
the Council declared that Russia was not at All impli-
cated in any of the documents seized. A Cabinet
Council was held on Sunday at the Hotel of Foreign
Affairs, which sat three hours, and as the Russian
Charge d'Affaires, Count DE MEDEM, paid a short
visit to the President of the Council in the course of
its deliberations, it was generally supposed that the
qaest:on under consideration was the charges ,referred
by Louts PHILIPPE against the Czar, and his Ministers.
Official despatches from Algiers of the Bth inst. had
reached the Minister of War. They represent French
Africa as tranquil. They bring long details of Marshal
VALLEE'S defensive measures, but they are not of the
least interest to an English reader.

Oa the 12th inst. Lord BROUGEIAM passed through
Lyons. His Lordship will re)ide at Cannes, where he
has an estate, for about two months, in order to recruit
his exhausted strength.

The Moniteur of this morning has no official part.
The Gazette du Cesare states an order of the Minister
of the Interior has just enjoined several Spanish refugees
in the depot at Limoges to repair immediately to different
placer, raclt of them to the North of France. M. de
B.,l4nawda, formerly Minister to Ferdinand VII., and
Colonel Cancio, Marquls of Villagodio, set out on the 15th
at six o'clock in the morning, the first for Beaune, the
s,cond for Yssengeaux. A report has been spread at
Saragossa, that Zurbano has been killed. Letters from
that city say that Cabrera, whose recovery has been an-
nounce.t, is not yet out of danger. lie has been removed
from Morella to San M !tes, for the benefit of a milder
elimete.—Le Cons'itutionnel

MAS DE LAS MATAS, FEB. 9.—The battalion of Char-
seurs of Luchana set out this morning for Alcoriza. This
is the commencement of the movement against Segura,
which the General.in-Cuief will direct in person. It is
thought that he will set out on the 12th or 15th, with part
of the division of Puic-Samper.
Some deserters have come from Molinos ; they say that
Cabrera's troops are ill paid and ill fed ; as fur him no-
body has yet seen him, and the soldiers begin to murmur
at this ignorance of his fate. In a word, the faction is
discouraged. —Phare des Pyrenees.
Metter from Saragossa, dated the 10th, published in
the sama Jaurnal, says that operations would he deferred
till the return of fine weather, the mountains being covered
with snow, The artillery is still at Saragossa, but ammuni-
tLn Waggons are daily despatched to Muniessa.
The same letter says that M. Avirioreta, whose name
has been so often menti.,ned for some days past, was set at
liberty the day before yesterday, by order of the Duke of
Victory, and is, I believe, already on his way to France.
Le Conimeree.