The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-14 00:00:00

afiX6E
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Wilford Clitheroe, Mr. F. Saville ; Hugh,Wynsley, Mr.
James ; Hollyhock, Mr. Gardner; Scaresbrouk, Mr. Seaman;
Kate Wynsley, Miss Vincent.
To conclude with,
THE WOOD DEMON.

Hardyknutc, Air. E. F. Saville; Willikmd, Mr. Gardner;
Una, Airs. W. West.
Boxes, 25.—Pit, Is.—Galler3, 6d. Half-price to the Boxes
only, at Half-past Eight.

Ont THURSDAY NEXT, the 19TH,

AND

FRIDAY, the 20TH of AUGUST,
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THE
PARLIAMENTARY SUN:

CONTAINING,

AT ONE VIEW,
THE NEW PARLIAMENT,

Embracing all Particulars of Interest, together with the
ELECTION OF SPEAKER,
IN TIME FOR POST ON THURSDAY
EVENING.

And on TUESDAY, the 24Ta,
THE NEW PARLIAMENT
Will be REPEATED, with

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH ON
OPENING THE SESSION. •
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PEEL, if he be not aware of the fact, that to re-
sist him and his supporters, though he be clothed'
with the authority of the Ministry, though a great
majority of the House of Commons and the
House of Lords combine to force him into
office, will be neither treason nor rebellion.
The Tory faction are not, they cannot be,
the Sovereign. It may be rebellion to resist the
Sovereign, or treason to set the law at defiance,
but we are not aware of the existence of a statute,
or any declaration of the will of the QUEEN con-
ferring the Ministry on the Tories. Before it

I can be rebellion to resist Sir R. PEEL, even by
force, if necessary, a law must be passed, or a
proclamation must be issued, to constitute him
the Sovereign of the country. •
Sir ROBERT PEEL is not freely chosen by the
QUEEN to be the depositary of her power : he is
the creature of a foul brood of monopolists. As
the leader of the Tories he is the spawn of cor-
ruption. The majority he represents is not the
majority of the nation, but the majority of a
comparatively small class. He is the servant of
a usurping oligarchy. Were he and h 6 friends
the fairly chosen representatives of the majority
of the whole empire, obedience might be a duty ;
but elected only by a small portion, in which
one sect predominates—the working classes, who
most suffer by the laws, having no part in the
choice; and the laws concerning food, which are
now a question affecting them more nearly and
dearly than any other class,—we cannot consider
that obedience to him and the oligarchy in the
abstract and generally, whatever a love of peace
or prudence may counsel to individuals, is either
a virtue or a duty. On the contrary, pledged as
he and his friends are to a most immoral and
most unjust course of policy, it would be vicious
not to resist them, and not to do all in our power
to put an end to their ascendancy in the Govern-
ment of the empire.
Look also at the means by which that majority
was obtained. The Times has admitted

" A prevalence of bribery in the English city and
borough elections, which could scarcely be exceeded if it
were lawful to sell votes. The evil has attained to such
a flagrant height, that if it is not soon put a stop to, it
will Xie impossible for the House of Commons to retain
Any considerable portion of the esteem or respect of the
people. Bribery is not either a Whig or a Conservative
vice ; it is a vice of the whole political system, iris often
forced upon candidates against their will, and even the
most profligate candidates are generally met half way by
the electoral bodies. During the late election it was
practised more shamelessly than ever. We could men-
tion cases in which 100/. and upwards has been given for
single votes."

Every person knows that the county elections
were decided by the landlords, who forced their
serf tenants-at-will to vote as suited them. The
majority of the tenants have no firm conviction
of the utility of keeping up the duties on timber;
they desire to have cheap sugar, and would re-
joice in low rents. They have no attachment to
PEEL; probably all they know of him is, that he
sacrificed Protestant ascendancy to keep his
place; but they have voted for him, for high
rents, high-priced timber, and dear sugar, in
obedience to the command of the rent-owners.
A majority so constituted has no just claim on
the obedience of the community.
When the political machine went forward by
a sort of routine, it was of no consequence, per-
haps, how Members were elected; but now, when
the public continually interferes to guide and di-
rect it—now when attention is continually called
to the manner in which it is formed, and what
it is to do—now, when men feel them-
selves individually responsible for the Go-
vernment—to tell them they must obey Sir
ROBERT PEEL because he is the favourite of a
narrow oligarchy, who have got possession of the
Government by corrupt and immoral means, is
to insult the public understanding, and delibe-
rately to recommend men to honour and obey
the most notorious and avowed political .protli-
gacy. We cannot agree with our Tory Contem-
poraries; and the Ministry which is founded on
exclusion, corruption, and intimidation, should
be as speedily as possible destroyed. If to resist
and thwart Sir R. PEEL and the Orangemen, the
squires, and the parsons, be rebellion—if to hold
mm up to • reprutr4pon as the hiked servant or
greedy and unjust monopolists be treason-if to
urge the people all in our power to resist or over-
' tarn the policy he has followed in opposition, be'
both treason and rebellion, we shall continue to
be guilty of both till our object be achieved or
PEEL be enthroned.

To form a just estimate of the character of our
statesmen, we must always distinguish between
he effects of the Legislature and of the Execu-
We hold with Mr. MAcAuLAY

ye powers.

that the Ministers for the time being are not
responsible for legislation, but they are respon-
sible for the execution of the laws. In propor-
tion, therefore, as our present financial and com-
mercial difficulties arise from the laws them-
selves, or from the manner in which they have
been carried into effect, the Legislature or
the Ministry must be condemned. For the de-
fects of the laws, particularly if they have not
endeavoured to amend them, the Ministers, as
members "of the Legislature, must take their
share of the responsibility; but for all neglect in
executing the laws they are exclusively respon-
sible.

Now, it does not admit of one moment's
doubt or hesitation, that the sources of our pre-
sent difficulties, both financial and commercial,
are bad legislation, and not an inefficient ad-
ministration of the laws. Undoubtedly there
are some parts of the conduct of Ministers, in
relation to Canada and China, which have aug-
mented the public burdens; but they would not
have been felt, though we make no excuse for
imposing them, had not the energies of the
country been crippled by legal monopolies.
Who are most responsible for that legislation,

I the Whigs or the Tories ? The greater part of it
I was formed under Tory auspices, yet the To-
ries say that the Whigs are exclusively in fault,
because they have been. in office eleven years.
Throughout that entire period one branch of the
Legislature has been decidedly opposed to them.
They had no certain majority in the House of
Commons till after the dissolution of Parliament
in 1831, and with that majority, aided by the
people, they carried the lletbrin Act in despite
of the House of Lords. They did not perhaps
employ
very wisely the large majority they had
in the first
Reformed Parliament, but they eman-
cipated the
negroes, and improved the govern-
ment and trade of
India, and China. That ma-
jority, however, was under Lord GREY'S ad-
ministration, and Viscount MELBOURNE, in
addition to having had the
him, II ruse of Lords
n tt6oh e n
eleven always opposed
has never had a
mveoriyise. omFmoranhdainlig majority in the House of Com-
the yearsTorieawhhaivche
had
Whigs have been in power
ven
Legislature, and the
the Legislature,
more to blame than
ug eune cnet tahr
Tories,the ecfoinnsfle
the Whigs for not having improved faulty and
abrogated
vicious laws.
We have never been the indiscriminating ad-
vocates of the Whigs, and we have frequently
condemned their policy, because it injured their
party or the public; but it is excessively unjust
in the Tories to find fault with them for not hav-
ing done what the combined Tories in the Upper
and Lower Houses would not allow them to do.
Be it an anomaly or not, the Whig Ministers
have been fur only a short part of the period
they have been in office the masters or
guide of the Legislature. The Tories, form-
ing a large majority of the House of Lords, and
an obstructing minority in the House of Com-
mons, having grown, in fact, during the last two
sessions, to a majority on many questions ; the
Tories have had in their hands the chief power
of legislation, and they must be held responsible
for its exercise. If, therefore, the source of our
difficulties be unjust and improper legislation,
it is clear the Tories, who, as the rule, have re-
sisted change, must be more to blame on ac-
count of our present difficulties than the Whigs.
Sir R. PEEL and his friends—short-sighted men
—were not aware that they would be dreadfully
embarrassed when they were about to take
office, by the consequences of the legislation

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