The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-22 00:00:00

MORNING E

ITION

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FOOM rite Deity- PAPP:RS OF YESTZ;I.DAY.,
CHRONICLE.Sir Robert Peel appears to have satisfied
neither his own party nor his opponents by his speech of Tues-
day night. The Times, in an article of yesterday, takes him
retindly to task for his indiscretion and his deficiency in the
qualities which a statesman out el office ought to possess. But
before proceeding further, let us hear the accusation against
ahe night Hon. Baronet :
I 'here was one inlet cf it ( Sir Robert's speech), however, says
the Times, which we must acknowledge gave us considerable pain,
- and which -must also give pain to no small number of the Right
- Hon. Baronet's friends, who support his general view of Gin-
, sesvatieis policy. lie repelled the charge of faction absurdly
brought against him by Lord John Russell, in what sve cannot
but r birth tut injudicious manner, by reminding the House that
he hal assisted the Nob'e Lord and his Ministry on the pri-
vilege question, and on the question of the New Prior-
law—or, in other words, thAt he had identified him-
Felt" with the Whie party on two very unpopular ncca• ions.
Surely thi, is not the time to boast of such aehierements as
these. II there was merit in such a coalition, we are at a loss
to see what should hinder the Right lion. Baronet from giving
his general suppert to the Mirristry which he then upheld.
Beth thoac measures were characteristic of the party
from which they came ; and ter way that those were _nod
measures,' seems to us much the same thing as saying that.
Lord elelbeurne ought to continue Miniser. Surely it is an
eromeons system of action, in the leader of a great end
influential tarty, to show disrespect (without any apparent
motive or resomi), riot only for those who, agreeing to his ge-
nera principles, may differ from hits on oe.•• or two important
poin.s, but for chat above all things otatht to he dear to a
public man, e-pecially -when out of eiliee—the affections of the
mejority of his counarymen. If it be a merit to have supported
Loud John Russell in tho.e particular measures which have
' tended to make the Whigs most odious in the couetry,
it may l erhaps be a merit tit hare originally brought
him into office, and placed him in a pesitien to carry them, by
trhoin itely resisting the common se se of the nation upon the
subject of reform. Afe we to hive, in the year 1841, another
exhiletion of that species of political wisdon, which in 1839 re-
_ fu-ed to enfranchise even one of the great raanufactn-
ten towns ? If so, it eannot be liing, before we
hare a imiiiar result. We reseectfully think that these
are sertoue errors is the policy cf the Right Honourable
Baronet. 'They tend to throw into perplexity, net one or two
only, but great many of his most zealous supporters. and the
great body of tire people. It seems diflir•utt to account for
them. eiteept by suppo-ing eithrr that the Right Hon. Baronet
is Bette. qualified to gain a victory thin to u•e it, o- that he
thinks it of little importance whether the country is governed
by Lor I Melbourne or by himself."
• There steak • the genius of the monopolists! What, above all
Ihi legs, ought to be dear to a public man. especially when nut
ofnfice. the affections of the majority of his countrymen.
whet out of office, to be forgotten when in. itio
mete r what tale promises are made; no matter what delusions
ate encoueagsd when out of office. The end sanctifies the
means. Couh: lie not, like very mrny of his party at the last
geticra'. cleerion, affect an extraortlimiry hatred of measures
they were ret that time determined to support ie their places in
Pat-he:meet? All is 1 twful to a man out of office, to gain the
.fre,:l an of his countrymen. We call on the potpie of Eng-
land to rote this revel ition. " f hit of the fulness of the heart
the mou:h ypeaketh." The Times knows no principle, but
• tire readnese to profess any priziciple to serve a turn. It
_tut plied to Sir bohert a chaeter out of its ethical code fir
- edilicatiore The Times and the party understand each
settler welt. We have a wire on our own account to say to
Si:elle:beet before concluding. We hare refrailiel from ex-
pnsing any strong op nion on the srhject of the want of fair-
neso he dis; laved in the treatment of the denotation from Man-
chester. ,'i have have dove so, in the confidence that the Right
lien. Partner, wochl himself see tint it was due to his own
clineerter as a public man to sst hienelf right with the country
witla referrnee tt. whit, cerrainly has, at.present. an appearance
not et all favourable to him. We put it to him as a public
Man, whether he deesnot owe some explanation to the depute-
firm an i the House fir the injuarce he evidently commie erl
to a, ards the firmer. But we will net press the subject further
at tiser;ent, referring our readers to a letter from Mr. Ash-
at orths in our colemris of this 'lay.
ADVERTISIeII.—eWe congratulate the country that the
ate ninsizig in a right direction. The prurience and the coo-
, • raest Of ti c Government in their difficult circumstances are
heyoini all priii•e. It now rests with the people who have
oceseionaliy chid them for their baeltivardnes, to show that
the support which it is necessary to carry through Par liameat
there: excel!ent measures :s at hand. There is now an interval
of ten slays before the (him-laws will be broached ; this inter-
s/el sheuhl he actively employed in preparing and forwarding
trerittons expressive of the national freline en the subject.
':ranks to railrea•ls and the peony-pest, there is ' abundant
tiree for the purpose, and it will he treachery to the great
cerise to neglect it. Moreover, very direct hairnet:cans should.
be sent to all the Regress ntatives of commercial Wears, of
the ilesi.-et of the censtitueneies with regard to this matter ;
and as sir Robert Peel expressed his disbelief in the ertisterce
of &stress, at Itaet to the extent alleged, statements of the
eon:lift:it of the manufacturing- and labouring classes in these
places should be forwarded to their Members; and also to those
Members who take a more active interest en behalf the people.
Something more than a p +ay struegle is involved in the
forthcoming debate. It will be a debate on the condition
of the people of Engle-ad—of the numerous classes—the ar-
tie in and the I•bcurer. It is not enough for Sir Ro-
bert Peel to allege that these things have always been—
that the masses of the people have ever been distressed.
We know it. It was fo: ants reason that Reform in Parlia-
ment was sought ; and it is a consequence of that Reform
that the prayers of the people can-and will now be heard. Par-
- Bement is, in fact, on its trial. Is it so constituted as to give
place to a sympathy, an active efficacious sympathy, with the
wants and feelings of the people? The sepposatien that it is
not has given rise to Chartism. Destroy Chartism by proving
the reverse. Again, we say that it is net enough Sir Robert
Peel should allege that, there has ever been distress. Ttis is
true. lint the question is, shall it be allowed to continue, or
rather shall it be allowed to augment with the grewth of
the population? The Government have exerted themselves
in every way to promote the welfare of the people ; by
their commissions of inquiry those wounds in the state
which have been created by the dis' ressful poverty
of the people have been probed. They have endeavoured in
various ways to add to comforts, and ameliorate the condition
of the people ; but by the necessity of their position, arising
out of the state of Parliament, they were compelled to begin
at the wrong end—with the Poor-laws instead of the Corn-
laws, the master grievance. But at last, taking advantage of
exigencies which all must needs admit the force ef, they have
boldly seized that by the horns, and if the people are as much
an earnest about the matter as the Government is, success
will crown this grand effort of statesman..hip. This, indeed,
is the grand reform—the result which the people too san-
,guinely hoped for,` as the immediate consequence of the Re-
lorm bill. By this reform, the whole political character of the
Tories will be changed.
TIMES.—The announcements in the House of Commons
yesterday evening leave no doubt as to the intention of Minis-
ters to dissolve Parliament immediately after the division
-which they hope to have the opportunity of taking upon the
question of the Corn-laws. It is fur the Conserva'ite leaders
to determitie whether they shall be permitted to carry this
intention into effect without impediment. And it is for the
Conservative people to lose no time in girding up their loins
for the approaching contest, and to take such prompt and vi-
gorous measures as will enable them to follow up the series of
triumphs which have hitherto rewarded their efforts in and
out of Parliament with a signal, decisive, and universal victory
throughout the country. When the hunted wolf turns to bay, the
chase is nearly at an end. To comment upon "the unparalled te-
nacity of office " (as it was well expressed by Lord Dar-
lington) which these men exhibit, has become almost as stale
a thing is to illustrate the inconsistencies of Mr. Daniel
O'Connell. They stand in a position ia which no Govern-
ment of this country ever stood before. When Mr. Pitt was
first intrusted with' the formation of a Ministry, he had to
contend with an adverse majority in a Parliament summoned
by his predecessors. To have resigned without dissolving that
Parliament, because he did not possess its confidence, would
have been self-eontredictory ; he had virtually dissolver it
from the moment when hit accepted office, and the event justified
the course he took. Sir Robert Peel, in 1835, was placed
in a position precisely similar; and in his ease also, the effect
of a. dissolution was to bring so decided a change in the rela-
tive po,itien of parties, as sufficiently eroved that a
great reaction ' bad taken glace, and that the dissolved
House of Commons bad ceased to represent the opi-
nion of the -country., If,tsftli,-JOffn Ruisell. on Tuesday night
had the temerity to represent the conduct of Sih Ritibert Peel,
after the meeting of Parliemept in 1835, es a precedent for
his own continuance in officeiwrider ?relent eircutnstarices. It
is true that Sir Robert Peel dida'not relinquish office till after
four adverse divisions bad taken place bat why ? &cense
there were•facts connected with each of those divisions which
justified the Right Hon. Baronet in requiring from.tbe House
of Commons a more decisive and unequivocal declaration of
want of confidence itt his Government: No sooner was that
declaration made than he quitted the scene. He never thought
or. forcing upon the Howe motion after motion fur the pur-
pose of seeing them rejected, or of converting Parliament into
an arena for the dieplay of a series of manoeuvres intended to
- tell' on the hustings ; he did not dream of dissolving a Parlia-
ment which he had himself called together, when it gave him
warring that the hour for his retirement was come.
_HERALD.—Last nights Lord John Russell, in answer to a
question,. preceded by a severe and just rebuke from the Earl
of Darlington. stated that lie would bring on the discussion of
the Cornelaws on Friday, the 4th of June next. We could
have been well content to have wanted this additional verifica-
tion of the charges we have brought against his Lordship of
political duplicity. So lately as the 30th of April Lord John
Russell, far the first thew, announced from his place in the
Douse of Commons, that he meant to bring forward certain
resolutions, modifying (in their most essential bearings) the
-present Corn-laws. We remarked, in a leading article which
ate-reared in the Herald of the Ist instant, tin the utter in-
compatibility of this intention--the total inconsistency of
these views—with the declarations contained in his me-
morable letter to the electors of Siroud in 1837. And
if we amused ourselves with discussing the oddity of the
coincidences--to say no more of them—by which it hap-
petned that this astounding ennouneement was made the very
day after a signal defeat sustained by Lord John's Govern
anent, mainly at the hands of that interest thich these changes
of. duty were vhiedy to affect, we had amply e authority for our
remarks in those which were made on the Some subject in the
House of Commons on the following Monday evening. In
the course of that 'monster debate of nine days, whin Wed-
ne,day morning brought to a termination, Lord John—re-
proached with the. same " coincidences —relies angrily in-
sisted that thri'it= new lights" which had dawned upon the
minds oe.'4linitters in respect of the sugar dtr.;es, the timber
duties, arui thy` corn dutes, were of no recent kindling, but
had absolively illuminated the recesses of the Cabinet before
even the commencement of the session. The Chancellor of the
Eitcheipter, Mr. Labowthere, and Mr. Shiel, als,, protested that
-these new-proclaimed opinions of her Majesty's advisers had
'd'g been entertained by them. An .1 what was the general
ateason they gave for their now promulgating them ? Simply
this, that the changes proposed
could be no longer delayed ;
that it was essential to the best interests of the country that
tti:ey should he instantly
adopted. 'Why, then, as it was well
asked in the House of Commons, or. the 30th of April. was the
Measure as to the Cron-laws, then arinoneved, proposed to be
'elated over till the 3let of this current nionth' What else
but thtt mischiefs of uncertainty, fluctuation doubt, and rip-
-prehension could pervinle• the rneanwhil; the dealings of
all who were connected with the production of 'corn its import •
alien from abroad, or its purchaist:tiaitoldit
forcibly
here, at home ? This question w e in thei markets,
horcibly addressed to
the Noble Lord by Sir Edward Knatehbult, and it was not an-
sivered hy any intelligible reply.
POST..—At the present moment there are two di •
different matters of high importance before the uttltincc.tt which
ought by no means to be confused fogether. One of'
them
natural position of the Government, and the other istllp"°;'t."
which the Government h&1 announced in its financial budget
The Government may attempt to act unconstitutionally, andeitn.
a way dangerous to the liberties of the nation, and to the sta-
bility of the Monarchy, even though its policy be right. This
is the first thing to he considered. Ought a Ministry, beaten
as that of the Whigs has been in both !louses of
Parliament, to retain office? We say it ought not
and that even they who most approve of its potie;
ought to join in protesting against its retention of offisiie
under such circumstances. For, if it be allowed, where is the
Parliamentary control over the Ministry ? Must we at all
times wait* the desperate expedient of stopping the supplies?
thittr9 t. 4. be no constitutional means of power of getting rid
or a Ornailie saeth
-0 a ennvul,'so with the Executive
c‘.
drit t
hcro4,ll. ? ire contest •
hys if that were the case, how often