The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-20 00:00:00

Tht

LONDON :
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1841.

It was very properly remarked by Mr. -el
.20-
THERTON, at a public dinner given to him at
Salford, of which a report appears elsewhere in
The Sun, that the chief reason why the Govern-
ment has done so little in the way of reform has
been the disposition, and, particularly, the
supineness, of the people themselves. The lion.
Member referred to Lancashire, and styling it
very Properly the hot-bed of reform, for
it is tho centre of that new population

EVENING EDITION.

from which all - reform must conie, i''
asked, how could the pe,:),-1P 10-1 f'•-• -:-..l'.='":
si v : i., n proven-1 e;y ~.vlien T : ,- , -, ,; i•.:.-
cashire thirteen Tories to nenaalise the votes 4
thirteen Reformers 1 What Mr. B.aoT'urnr:"
said of Lancashire is nearly true of the gre4e.t
part of the empire. A great multitude of the_
people, most of the parsons, the bulk of the
landlords, and a considerable intinber of the opir
lent master-manufacturers, are Tories ; they
send to Parliament almost as many Tories Pile'
formers ; and the, Ministers, whatever may be,
their inclinations, are obliged to comply with
this balanced. state of public opinion, and all'°
to stand still.
At the Salford dinner Mr. GREG pointed 0.31 .'
we think, one great source of this neutraliza.ti°'
of the popular power, withont perhaps intendil'b.
it. The Hon. Member referred, with somethin4.
like apprehension and dismay, to the Cliartist
The stout-hearted, well-fed, lusty middle einsli
have really been more frightened by a little Idle,
Irish vapouring—for most of the violent speaki4:;
and writing has been done by some great 010
other—and a few torch light meetings than et
they were by the armies and threats of BoNAPAV7
and their fears, their terrible mistrust of the peoP,'
have driven them to sacrifice Reform, as the}
supposed, to obtain security. They have acted
foolishly. Had they exerted themselves to
obtain bread and freedom for the people, instead
of penury and prisons, discontent would. 1*,e....
subsided, and those political reforms, whieb aii"t
necessary to adjust legislation to society, nliP,
have been ensured. We are quite clear, then,;:'
fore, that the bulk of the middle classes are --if
much to blame as the Ministers for the Of
progress which Reform has lately made.
; t'
We do not wholly exonerate the Minister
If they had acted as boldly to the landed gelli.r
men as they have to M. Timms and MEno',l.
Am—if they had explicitly and manfully st3te,
that the condition of the people absoluteli ,
:;
quired those practical measures Mr. BaurnOT":
speaks of, the landed geatry, like M. DO:
would have quailed before the force .of til,:it;
and Ministers would have been able to earrYi4
effect their own views. But they have been,lPL/Si
terrified by the opposition of a few Whig le:.,
e
,
and Commoners than by the whole force ofFrof4
and they have sacrificed the prosperity 0. f
country, and their own real greatness to a 'Tetri,
idle fear. One bold measure, throwing tbeto
selves on the honest and just feelings of, thepeople, would have placed them far 'hero' 4..
reach of such pitiful politicians as my Lord .th.',
BURTON and Mr. BENETT.
hell°
They have not adopted this course, and --i.e.
it is that Correspondents at Nottingham and else
where, ask us, What have the W'„31,11
done ? We are rather surprised at 5".0.4
a question from Nottingham, because the Will
g,
gave the Nottingham citizens, with others' i e
Municipal Reform. If they have not given, tt,'3,
stocking-weavers the abolition of the Corn-W'ot
the weavers will probably remember that .I‘,lo,
above one Tory voted for Mr. VILLIER'S 1110-0
that Sir R. PEEL and all his friends spoke 311 e
voted against it, and that two or three CPf , !
Ministers spoke for it, and the bulk of the W.`"g•
0,
party voted for it. If the Ministers have d91.1° 110,1
thing towards abolishing the Corn-law, the red' 5
is that a few Whig Lords and Whig Squir :
combined with the Tories, would not allow therna,
We may say the same of many other thinfo
Five or six sessions of Parliament have bPei
wasted by the squabbling resistance of the Viie of
to the measures for reforming the Corporatio in
e ,
ir
England and Ireland, for commuting tithes n
tery
land, and other measures which the Mini 9, „0.
proposed. The Ministers—and we blame t!!`_,,,
for it—have not been earnest enough in abore%
ing Church-rates, and in getting rid of the 1111.,.e
paying clauses of the Reform Act; but to bla9',
them for not extending the franchise, when at°,
were not allowed even to extend the time for psY
inogr
n..thelarwats7N—vhteonbtlahmeye twheeime
notfor noolltoaNbved olistloti pagasisibiei:
Corn-laws,
Bill to authorise the grinding of wheat in bon
is as absurd as to blame a man for not mum ?„
who is so overloaded that
. ,
the people want reform the only
way to get it v
to command it, and as long as 1),
the people are 1
different to the subject and sell their libertg,
they will not • have _reform and will remain er
slaved. he cannot move. 1.!
',,0, - ~. • ~,.:• .
...„6/'
One thing the present :Ministers, 'or •Priv
Lord ALTIIORP and Earl GREY'S Adminisletiak
did, for which they are_ much blamed by 41e ,
1-
or
ing Tory journal. The aristocratic Times, the 'e#
sons' journal, condemns them for passing the 00
Poor-law, and it hopes to hoist Mr. 1"tot
into Parliament on the condemnation. Nfis: fir
law when passed was almost universal)
rtjes
proved of. Very large majorities of both P, .oar
carried it through Parliament. Few Peht'e olit
were sent against it. The complaints of t.'00:1,
law were numerous and just, and, so sanetici..o
the new Poor-law had all the charaeteri'vio
of a popular measure. At any rate it oie,
the parsons' and the landlords' Ineas.shif
One of its great patrons was the 11140
of LONDON. It was chiefly- intended t°
I,:et9),
the landlords' and the tithe-lords' P°c die
and to this day it is zealously supported bYOOO.-
parsons and the landlords throughout the estwe
try. It is not a Whig measure, but a ille;t, i
of the clerical and landed. aristocracy' Tioes
little less than shameless, therefore, for the gee 4
and Mr. WALTER, the supporters and Prgte ev
of the parsons and the landlords, to essgY alii . tile
trance into Parliament for hint by abusirl6lo,
Whig Ministers as the authors of the ro°l;ce
When Mr. WALTER. and the Time4rdericA we
the landed aristocracy and the priestho°" ,ip
nes*
shall give them credit for sincerity and ho weals
denouncing the Poor-law. We do not. iiterg
by these remarks to exonerate the 'Till wig
from all blame ; but where they, " °have
the old practices of the Constitution,
file
scourged the people with whips, the Tite
would .have scourged them with scorPions't old
worst that can be said of the Whigs ig, dip' _ dis.
are too much like the Tories, and it will be,3:_et a
grace to the people of Nottingham to el'
worse enemy to the public liberties even t'ho
any Whig.

to the

We drew attention, on the 9th instant, - hbe
Rev. Mr. PARKINSON'S pamphlet, in whic
explains that one great source of error ill 0
tempting to heal the disorders of societY,
ignorance of each other. We enforced his Itibleo
and applied it to the Legislature, which Iv° beg
maintained, is essentially ignorant of the ".,0
and feelings of the people, for whom it.pretedu,
glibly to legislate. To .us it seems, lo trY
n"er
diously to,preserve its ignorance, and 00)71 op
it wastes the public money in order to keq.iot
the light,: We refer, for example, to the ,` Lo"
Report of . the Committee on Emigration, PI; at
land," which has recently been published.,
Committee was appointed," to iminireAtit°-fici
condition.of the population of .the Islands.-iity'
Highlands ofScotland, and into the practicablo'
of affording- the people relief by means of e
gration." The words " population "and "Pe lye'
evidently apply tolthe lower classes, not to o'4
to • the Signet, .Ini°;,tre-
ocaf
relii2;aigo
ne,?n ttisr;
dw e
factors;itrs
and if any thing wer; it
quired to n-tak6 the matter cleat and certa%ll
would be supplied by the term " emigration, illa•
the, genteel classes we have 'alluded to sP°flllielii
the aid and 'advice of the Legislature to 1,;,),
them to emigrate. The inquiry relating, te the
wholly to the condition of the lower class the
Highland community, if the Committe tiny troe
Legislature had really wished to learn dto
thing of their conoition, not to have trliste,iiiect
hearheaays and gnesses, ought it not to have e- be
before it some of those people ? There' Oil bl
ot!
no doubt it ought. We affirm that they s h4lO
have been the chief persons examinc!ily :.001
it should have been first ascertained. :op
their own mouths, what is their presented:cey
tion, what was the condition of their pe;_,.tigel
sors, to what causes they ascribe the cop
if any, and how -they think their condi I°_: die
be improved. By pursuing such a eon" to
what the past condition of the 'p
Committee, instead of mere co
ot at
their present condition is, mi no
ght have g
i_ne
approximation to the truth; but it has auto! co'
of the P
pying the names and callings
s'
such thing. We will prove our assertion
examined : njeeoeptuleresvvoa;
toot
Esql.r:Ajdovhoncartr.WCrhitaerrlestoßtolabeertSßign'airet4,

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