The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-15 00:00:00

Government formed on the pure principles of the
Church, the PLUMPTRES and the TEIGN-
MOUTHS, on the old principle of parties being
moved by their tails, would dictate its measures,
and the persecution of the Catholics on the
one band, and large additional grants to the
Anglican priesthood on the other, would be
amongst its first measures. They would add
a religious war to the conflict now going
on between Chartism and Aristocracy, or
between labour and property. To keep that ex-
plosive element of confusion out of out troubled
society, is now the duty of the Liberals. The
Liberal Member who is absent from his post this
evening, and fails to support his party, never need,
we believe, face a Liberal constituency again. The
existence of the Ministry, the duration of Parlia-
ment, a prorogation, a dissolution, and the giving
a fearful impulse to all the half-stifled political
passions which only wait an opportunity to burst
forth, hang on the vote of this evening. Liberals,
be not absent from your post

Amongst the wise sayings of the Peers during
the Corn-law debate deserving notice, the Earl of
FALMOUTH said that the present agitation against
the Corn-laws was not natural. If it had been
natural the Noble Earl would have paid great de-
ference to it, and at least have conceded an examina-
tion of the Corn-laws. What the Noble Earl
meant, we apprehend, is that had the mob arisen
in blind passion, and been directed by no
guiding mind, he might have been terrified,
and would have listened to their prayers,
but their present demand being reasonable, and
they acting under the influence of rational well-
informed men, the Noble Lord thinks it unworthy
of the least attention. He would have answered
to the discordant bravings of passion, but he re-
fuses to listen to the articulate speech of rational
men. It is not natural.

The remark shows a profound ignorance of what
is going on in society, as well as a muddle-headed
view of what is proper. Why is the agitation
for the abolition of the Corn-laws not more pro.
found and more extensive ? Why has not Glas-
gow, and Finsbury, and a score of other large bo-
roughs, petitioned Parliament for the abolition
of those laws ? Because at the public meetings
called in these places the Chartists overpowered
the Abolitionists. They professed a deadly hatred
of the Corn-laws, but at the same time they
avowed a profound contempt for Parliament, and
refused to petition it, because they knew, they said,
it would not listen to their prayers. The Anti-
Corn-law men sought to substitute agitation for a
repeal of the law for the five points ; the Chartists
have on this account reproved them, and the Lords
on this account are filled with anger, and denounce
them as stirring up all the evil passions of the
people. If they had wished to do that, it was only
necessary for them to have coalesced with the
Chartists, and then not the Corn-laws, but the Aris-
tocracy might have been abolished. TheAnti-Corn-
law League, has, in fact, stood between the
Peers and danger ; it judged, as it now appears,
less correctly of Parliament than the Chartists, and
told them, what they refused to believe—that Par-
liament would listen to the just demands of the
people. The Chartists derided its opinions, and
refused to petition ; and the vote of Thursday night
has amply justified the opinion of the Chartists,
and made many converts to the Charter. The agi-
tation for the Charter is spontaneous and natural,
and, according to Lord FALMOUTH, far more de-
serving the attention of the Peers than the agitation
for cheap bread. The Chartists are of the same
opinion, and will call on the Conservative Lord for
his vote and interest.

The Report of the first Annual Meeting of the
Westminster Loan, Discount, and Investment So-
ciety, which appears in another part of this Paper,
is worthy of serious attention. It is evident, from
the statement of the Trustees, that the Institution
fulfils the ends of those who have confidingly in-
vested their money in this undertaking, ostensibly
as a merely commercial speculation, but in reality for ,
the reciprocal advantage of their fellow-citizens
and themselves. Although the Hon. Chairman at '
the meeting said that the commercial was the primary
object of the association—the benefit of the
public being, in his view, a matter only of secon-
dary consideration, we are disposed to regard the
Westminster Society, and all similar institutions,
with favour and interest, solely on the ground on
which a liberal and judicious Government induced
the Legislature to pass the Act (the sth and 6th
of WILLIAM IV.) to regulate their pi oceedings,
and to protect the subscribers from fraud,
and the borrowers from extortion. The
object of that Act was unquestionably
to facilitate the distribution of capital amongst
small tradesmen of industrious habits and good
character. Th o benefit of that meritorious class
has been promoted certainly to a surprising ex-
tent, at the same time that the lenders (in this
Society, at least) have derived considerable
profits ; and it is highly honourable to the in-
dustrious classes of the metropolis, that, out
of three thousand borrowers, there has not been
ONE DEFAULTER : The sums thus bene-
ficially (if we may not say benevolently) lent,
but FAITHFULLY repaid, amounted, in little more
than ten months, to upwards of 20,0001.
It is impossible to read this statement with-
out feelings of gratification, when we consider the
large amount of suffering and distress, if not fre-
quently of ruin, from which such assistance,
timely administered, must have saved many a
worthy and struggling family. We refer with
pleasure to one important feature in the manage-
ment of the Westminster Society, that it has
given assistance to industrious females ; and we
cannot help expressing our regret that it
is the only institution of the kind which
does so. Indeed, notwithstanding the Ho-
nourable Chairman's disclaimer of benevolence
as a motive—or, as he more wisely put the princi-
ple of the Institution, the reciprocity of advantage
between the lender and the borrower—we must re-
gard the Society as highly benevolent in its tend-
ency, and we wish it continued and increased pros-
perity.

Charity made us willing to hope that the wild
and wicked attempt of the boy OXFORD was the
offspring of insanity. Certainly the attempt was
in itself insane, but some facts are now stated which
give the affair a much more serious aspect. 'We
must, therefore, suspend our judgment, and call on
our readers to do the same, till the investigation
now in progress be completed, and the whole of the
examination be made public.
We have always dreaded, and always condemned,
the pertinacious efforts of ultra-Protestant par-
sons, the itinerant authors of the DEN'S forgery,
and spouters at Exeter Hall, to fanaticise the
people. Connecting religious doctrines with
politicEl principles they have lifted up, with the
most powerful combined lever man can employ,
the gloomiest and most furious of human passions,
and hare spread them over society. They have,
in one breath, denounced the Catholics as idola-
tors,
and the Government for favouring them.
They have, in the same breath, spoken of the doc-
trines of the Church as sure passports to salva-
tion, and the advent of the Tories to power, and
of an Orange Sovereign to the Throne, as the only
guarantees of liberty ; and what wonder will it be
if such doctrines—though the pious men had no
such intentions—should have roused some slum-
bering fanaticism, and have directed the assassin's
ball against the life of her whose conduct and cha-
racter, and the principles of whose Government,
the fanatics. have assailed. We look with intense
interest for the disclosure of all the facts connected
with this'wicked attempt.

In the German Papers just received we find the fol.
lowing intelligence from Constantinople. We shall offer
no comment upon it ;
CONSTANTINOPLE, MAY 21.—M. de Pontois, whose ta-
lents many journals attempt to question, enjoys at this
moment a great triumph. Ho is the soul of the politics
of this place, and the Porte, which endeavours were made
to prejudice against him, place entire confidence in him.
Chosrew Pacha, who probably feels that he can no longer
continue with the existing state of things, would willingly
take another course ; but it appears to be too late, and
there is every reason to believe that he will be dismissed
f; oat office. All depends on this to effect an arrangement
between the Porte and Mehemet Ali, without foreign in-
tervention. Redschid Pacha, who certainly is still inclined
to Lord Ponsonby, and has identified himself with his
policy (which, by the way, is not precisely that of his
Court,) seems to be uneasy, and will very likely have a sue.
cessor, if he does not make haste to retrace his steps.
It is of great importance to him to keep his post, and he
is e ideavouring to approximate to M. de Pontois. Lord
Ponsonby is much v,,xod at the approaching- change. He
Las esvatched a s.te: m-boat in all haste with a Courier,
who is to proceed to London by way of Toulon. He ap-
, pears to desire to acquaint his Cabinet with the ill effect
produced here by the supineness of the Cabinet in the