The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-09 00:00:00

C '*A)111

LONDON :
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1841.

Again in the House of Lords the Corn-laws was the
subject of conver3ation.

The Earl of RA.DNOR topic the opportunity of some pe-
titions being presented to re-state, on the authority of the
Poor-law Commissioners for Irelandi-the fact, which some
Noble Lords had questioned, that the average of wages
in Ireland is from 4d. to sd. per day. -
Lord BROUGHA3I presented the City petition, w hich
he said was signed by 21,000 persons in thur days. A
little conversation arose as to its prayer, which is, we
believe, fora reduction of duties, with a view to their abo-
lition. Lord ASHBURTON thought it had been misre-
pre:;ented, and that it was not for repeal.

The Earl of WINCHILSEA declared that the total abo-
lition of protective duties would render it impossible to
pay the national debt. This Lord has no more notion
of the origin of wealth than a horse. What pays
.the national debt ? what pays Lord WINCHILSEA'S rent ?
Labour, which now, as at first, is the purchase money of
all the Wealth of the world. The whole income of the
Noble Lord and all the dividends are annually consumed
and annually produced ; and the industry of the people
produces both. Now Lord WINCHILSEA says that the
industry of the country will be less able to pay the divi-
dends only, than the dividends and the bread-tax. He
says that to talie away from industry the burden which
hree?-tax lays on it, will rend; it unable to bear the
burden of the dividend. That discovery is Ina 'e valuable
even t'f,an the Kentish fire, for ii the Nc'ole Lord's
principle be true, in. proportio.t. :L5 burder-s are accumu-
lated on industry it. must - beat them easily. If it be
no* enabled to pay the national debt by having the
bread-tax to pay, the tree way to make it able to pay
more is to levy more.taxes on it. We understand now
why the Tories resist the reduction of the planters' tax
on our super ; it is to enable the people the better to
pay tile bread-tax. They ought on the same principle to
praise the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER for increas-
ing the national debt, for the larger the annual interest
the better able will industry be, according to Lord WIN-
cHILREA,. to pay heavy tithes and exorbitant rents.
Lord .WINCHILSEA is evidently an ingenious man, who
has' invented a theory of political economy of his own, to
justify the landlords' plunder.
The Earl of FITZWILLIAM wished to have a return of
the number of petitions and signatures presented in fa-
vour of the Ministerial measure, but did not persist in
his motion after it had been represented that there would
not be time to comply with his wish.

• Their Lordships adjourned to Thursday.
In the Commons, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
explained that the petition against the Corn-laws, about
whic:l Mr. G. PALMER inquired the night before, had
been placed in, that part of the Excise, buildings which
had been granted by the Government to the merchants of
London as au Exchange-
The County Coroners' Bill, the Irish Chancery Bill, the
litettiries: Bill, and the Medical Reform Bill, wers all
den lip.
'The Clerk of the Peace of Hertfordshire was again at
the Bar, and was called on to deliver the copy of the
register, but, on the motion of the SOLICITOR-GENERAL,
he was ordered to produce a copy on Thursday next.
Mr. Wirxx moved that the ATTORNEY-GENERAL be
directed to rrosecute Dr. RICHARD WEBSTER for
liOn.,ryitt the last St. Alban's election. The facts of the
ea4eNcre all brought before the public when the St.
Alban's Committee sat ; and therefore it is only neces-
sity to say that, after a short debate, the motion was
sot red to.
'A. Short conversation took place about convicts and
Mal settlements, occasioned by Sir C. GREY submitting
4.40ti0n to make Labrador a penal settlement, but it led
to. nothing.
Withont transacting any business of public importance,
the House sat till Half-past Twelve.

"We
hear a great deal about improper candi-
-414j,42 and about the want of candidates, and
about, gentlemen unrequested coming forward
to solipitthe suffrages of electors. We hear and
read; too, of local great men, who manage
loOrOughS for the gratification of their own
pride, or their personal aggrandisement. We
regret to hear all this, because the elec-
tOrS fcirget their duty to themselves and their
country when they allow any individuals to
selezt their representatives, and when they (1
not at once frown down the person, be he irlao
he may, who unasked solicits their suffrages,
At Liverpool and London, the Ref crmers
have got up requisitions to Lord PALMERSTON
and LorclJ. RUSSELL; at
.Leeds they have deter-
mined on clecting Mr. HUME; at. Bath they have
decided in favour of Lord. DuseAN and Mr.
Ronnucx; in Marylebone they are to bring for-
ward Sh B. II ALL and Commodore 'NAPIER,
Nyw si,,,,whic.li is acting properiy, and we should be glad
Th set' the electors everywhere imitating such
~!. eocarn. 1)les, and everywhere resolving to send
their repreientativei'
• t; Parliament free of all
eiPense": tlrtt - they
..be
el~etpr ,vwell ser44,ly-,n,,tst • well mastered. IC the
cto,,:ftt• 'pre,serve their indevendencc
Prez •
• erl 't
011 some

worthy man as au honour, and not allow them-
selves to be cajoled or seduced into voting for
the nominee of any influential person, or for ally
man more ambitious of serving himself than his
constituents.

it is, undoubtedly, one great misfortune of
the Liberal cause, that there is a whole army
of intriguers who seek to hoist themselves, by
public excitement, into place and power. The
constituencies should be on their guard against
such persons, and where they • cannot select
some man well known tbr his public services, and
well proved for his integrity to represent them,
it will be better for them to select the least in-
formed of their townsmen, provided he be ho-
nest, than any of the persons who embark in
politics as a profitable speculation.
If we do not mistake the present contest, it
turns chiefly on three subjects—the bread-tax,
the sugar-tax, and the timber-tax, and a stubborn
citizen resolved on the repeal of the first, and at
least a modification of the two others, though he
may never 'nave thought of other branches of na-
tional policy, will now be the most approved repre-
sentative of every suffering community Let the
constituencies, therefore, not trouble themselves
about selecting accomplished orators and profound
politicians, but let them send to Parliament men
determined to abrogate the bread-tax, and so
put an end to the vilest system of fraud that ever
was perpetrated in the name of law—bringing all
legislation into contempt and hatred—and that
ever disgraced a civilized land.

In the debate on the Confidence motion,
I Lord STANLEY threw out some accusations
11 against Mr. MAN-Duly which were loudly
cheered by the Tories,. and damaged that
gentleman in the eyes of his friends and the
public. To the circulation of the accusa-
tionsso made no limit can be set. A libeller in
one newspaper is limited to the circulation of
that journal; but a libeller in Parliament may
spread his calumnies through every journal of
the world. It kcomes gentlemen, therefore,
who speak in the House of Commons, and parti-
cularly leading speakers, the oracles of party, to
he extremely cautious- in what they say, and,
above, all,- cautious in. making charges against
individuals. Lord STANLEY, however, appi,ars to
have no restraint over his tongue, and, according
to a correspondence which has passed bet,ween
the Noble Lord and Mr. HANDLEY, and which
We insert elsewhere, the Noble Lord, to gain a
temporary advantage, libelled a political oppo-
nent most grossly. We never place much con-
fidence
in. what Lord STANLEY says. He studies
effect, not truth; and he has before now proved
that. he can libel a nation as well as an indi-
vidual. We refer to the debates on the Irish
Coercion Bill and to Mr. HANDLEY'S letter to
establish lwth delinquencies.
As to libelling a nation, tha, is so common an
occurrence on the part of the Lord STANLEYS of
all ages, that it is regarded as a matter of course.
Half their power is founded on depreciating and
ealrmniating mankind, and more than half the
Statute-book. law originated in such libels. Men
with a ready tongue and a black heart make long
speeches against some class or other of their
fellow-creatures, and, as speedily as forms will
allow, the libel is embodied into a law, and
after a few years becomes, the " wisdom of our
ancestors." We are grateful to Lord STANLEY
for affording us a clear illustration, both by his
former and his recent q)eeclies, of the possibility
of laws being merely the embodiment of per-
sonal malignity. Libels against a nation are not
so easily detected and repelled as libels against
an individual; but, happily for the instruction
of mankind, Mr. HANDLEY has been able to ex-
pose the carelessness with which Lord STANLEY,
to gain his ends, throws out unjust accusations.
It is good just now to be reminded that the Tory
cause derives all the semblance it has of justice
from the vile libels which the Tories, in all ages,
have heaped on individur.ls and nations.

A long correspondence has taken place between Sir
ItonEuT PEEL and the Members of the Chamber of
Commerce of Mancliester, which places him in the
same position, _with reference to them, as . Lord
STANLEY is placed in with reference to Mr. HANDLEY.
We shall have more to say of this correspondence
when we can find room to insert it. At present we must
content ourselves with stating, that Messrs. J. B. &writ
and HOLLAND HOOLE have convicted the Right Hon.'
Baronet of having sought `` to obtain a temporary triumph
of party interests, not only at the expense of the cha-
racter and reputation of the Chamber of Commerce at
Manchester, but also at that of truth and justice."
The Right Hon. Baronet is convicted of having re-
ferred to documents, as emanating from the Chamber, to
which the Chamber never called his attention, and which
it disowns ; and he is convicted of having styled a gen-
tleman a champion of the Chamber, to give force to his
arguments, who had no connection with it„ and had never
been put forward by it. Re is further convicted of hav-
ing admitted the accuracy of a report in which he is made
to accuse the Chamber of declaring that it would abide by
the book of its assuraed champion, and yet of having ex-
pinged tbat passage from a report of his speech cor-
reetei by himself, as if he were conscious of its inmr-
reetness, and ashamed of what he had said.
The two great Conservative leaders stand then in this
position bel'ore the public, of having calumniated mid mis-
represen',ed individuals to gain a temporary party triumph.
Of the me, Sir ROBERT PEEL is less sincere than Lord
STANLEY, for the Noble Lord has not persevered in his
error, while the Right lion. Baronet has wriggled himself
deeper into the mire.
We had occasion yesterday to contrast his language
as an assumed free-trader, with the violent language
of the anti-free-trade Standard. But though in words
the Tory Baronet supports the manufacturers, by
deeds he tries to crush them. He maintains the
Corn-law, and submits therefore to be the tool of that
rabid party which. actually attempts to extinguish cur
manufacturing population. A greater degradation
than thus to be the instrument of executing
the ivickedn.:ls he pretends to abhor, and of strik-
ing down the origin of his own and his family's
greatness, we cannot conceive ; except, indeed, it be that
of subr4tting to male misrepresentations in Parliament,
and to calummiate his opponents, in order to attain the
ends of the destroying party, of which he is the head.

Lord MORPETII has many strong claims upon the gra-
titude of the Irish people, and upon no question of great
national interest has his Lordship done more to
strengthen these claims than upon that of the necessity
of establishing railroads in Ireland. Men of a less san-
guine ;temperament, and of more contracted sympathies
,than the Noble Irish Secretary, would have abandoned
the question of Irish railways in disgust, had their labours
met with half the opposition from aristocratic selfish-
ness and popular ignorance, which his former exertions
experienced. But temporary obstructions only increase
the zeal of those who have really at heart the welfare of
their fellow-creatu'ees ; and in the House of Commons
last night Lord llotte.met obtained leave to bring in a
Bill, ter making railroads in Ireland, which if not so
extensive •as his former measure, has the merit of
bear eminently practicable, and every way calculated to
taci .irate the moral, physical, and commercial improve-
tre.elt of Ireland. The outline of the Bill, as detailed in
the speech of the Neble Lord, is very simple, and may
be easily comprehended. Some large English capitalists,
whose names we omit for the present, have offered to
raise a capital of 1,300,0001. sterling in debentureS, beer-
ing an interest of four per cent. for completing, in the
first instance, the great line of railway hoween Dublin
and Limerick. The construction of the WOrksispirlor-e
pro-
posed to be under the management of three CommiS:.
stoners, which, to avoid all favouritism and jobbing,
to ho named in the Bill. The Commissioners propo.ed
by the Goverment are Sir .Josh BURGOYNE, MT,
RENNIE, and Mr. JONEV., WhO, being Secretaries 'to
Irish Railway Commission, are_conversant with all the
details of the presumed advantages ,of conflicting.
These Commissioners
.will of course be paid for their
trmble, but the Bill proposes that the expenditan shall
be under the management, of a Board of Ce;ritri)l,
posed of seven metehrs, to whom no
,saTaries
lowed. The Bill empowers the. Commissietetl 40,4-a
the line of railway F, k rlll Limerick to (..74„f16q.„,f4te
completion oft .t fir:' beti.e~n Dublin
Jd
vate or cross-lines, to un:.e then► with
tami:a4y'g.r-itftntrtai.
in-
terNseoctthiniilggtheaei:ikbi7d69itinni.lier;
or
, fairer
than
the proposed
yvh-

Plan for Paying the interes=t upon the debentures. Where
the line is profitable the interest is to be paid out of the
profits, and where. for a time' no Profits arc realised the
amount will be levied upon the counties through which-the
railway passes, in proportions cornthensurate. with the ad-
vantages which they derive from it. In Ireland this can be
felt by no party as a gri•wance.- There roads have been
constructed and repaired frtim time hnmemorial by means
of county-cesses, tre road-rates, imposed by the Grand
Jurors. The railway tax will, therefore, be but
an old tax under 'a new name, with the advantage
of not being liable to be increased through the obstinacy
of Nome thick-,:k1:11cd 'coa:ary squire, or the .dishonest.V
gohie lauded prk.)prietor eager tOvi,.inkttive, his own
tate.by- krcoa,vt the eNponsu of ibt'xiounty, • .
I ft 7 ,ri is i 17,tt
too cakitrtl '0:: Ireland With
tip ,iii ruth t j fhe-S.hanni_,n,.and `situ a eitV