The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-04 00:00:00

THE " TIMES " v. THE MINISTRY

We deeply regret that Ministers should have departed
from the discreet reserve which, upon other subjects,
they seem to have proscribed to themselves, for the
purpose of disappointing, in a most material point, the
hopes which we and many others had conceived of them.
It was impossible, indeed, that we should not have en-
tertained certain misgivings, when we saw Sir James
Graham selected for the office of Home Secretary ; yet,
upon the whole, it seemed not inconsistent with the
tone adopted by the .t Right lion. Baronet in the last
Session of Parliament , and throughout by Sir Robert
Peel, to believe that they were prepared to re-con-
sider the principle at; well as the details of the New
Poor-law. Even so, late as on Monday evening Sir
James Graham declared that during the interval between
the present and -the approaching Session every portion of
that law would he carefully reviewed ; and certainly we
did hope that this review would be carried on without
a foregone determination upon any particular ques-
tion involved in it. But in Tuesday's debate the un-
welcome, and to us., unexpected, announcement was
made, that the Home- Secretary holds himself " con-
scientiously pledged to, the principle of that measure, al-
though it may require, some consideration, and be sus-
ceptible of some am .endments ;" and that he " will
not recede from it." . • Recede from it, of course, he
cannot, while he foels himself under a conscientious
obligation to pursue the opposite course ; but how this
supposed obligation can ) 3resent itself to his mind under
the form of a pledge, ve are really at a loss to under-
stand. Does he mean th at, in a matter which depends
entirely upon practice, In:, feels his moral freedom of ac-
tion, and his power of a ttending to the results of expe-
rience, compromised by what he may have said or done
antecedently to experience ? If so, we cannot augur
good from the administi %don of such a statesman.
The principle of the New Poor-law, if we at all
understand it, consists in this—that it establishes a
floating legislative dir .cr etion in the place of law,
and substitutes a cents 'al for a local authority. This,
or, in other words, the y tower of the Poor-law Com-
missioners, is the es sent, !, the whole sum and sub-
stance, of the act of 1` 334. • And the principle of the ad-
ministrative system, or oi? the law for the time being
laid down by the C emu tissioners, in the exercise of the
authority thus devolved upon them, consists in the work-
house test. To both cif ;these, we fear, Sir RObert Peel's
Government . must now be considered pledged. What
the consequences ma y 1 )e, we grieve to think. To Us,
personally, they witi in' olve the painful necessity of
waging war, ‘.-vith as much perseverance as ever,
upon principles with wl rich the Ministers whom we
support
will from this time be identified. The
poor must submit -to they postponement, for an in-
definite period, or that just and constitutional settle-
ment of the law on which their interests so largely de-
' pend—a settlemer A which vze had vainly flattered our-
selves it was rest awed for th e present Administration to
effect. The Got
a fortnight since of that
m ust b© prepared fora formi-
dable diminutioi
that erithusiastic confidence which
IV:1S at th eir command, and will pro-
bably find the y crese.-vation of order during the ensuing
winter infinitely mor a difficult than if they had taken a
different cours,::
Tin 't remote effect upon the duration of
Sir Robert Peel's as( \endancy we shall not pretend to
foretel, but we fear t leis untoward resolution will prove
a heavy blow and disc( .uragement to Conservatism, and
greatly strengthen the hands of the Opposition, espe-
cially upon the subject of the Corn-laws.
It is to us inconceival le how any statesman, who has
attended to the lessons of history, can fail to see that
the perpetuation in a fre le country of such an institution
as the Poor-law Comm, sion, is not merely an impolitic
or an unjust measure, an impossibility. We are sure
that if the whole Bi it' .sh nation could be polled,
an
overwhelming majority would affirm the sentiments of
Mn Wortley, the Gona t ,rvative Member for the largest
constituency in Vaek ir igdorn. "No man," he said,
" could deny th! at the powers of the Commissioners,
notwithstanding th..v ' vere overlooked by the Se-
cretary of State, tad :iotwithstanding •he was re-
sponsible to Coat) -louse for the manner in which
they were used, were t unusual and extensive, and, looking
to the principle of the mutter, unconstitutional. They
would not be justitie lin continuing the Commission one
moment beyond the necessity., for he felt that one of the
most valuable parts c f the social institutions of this coun-
try was that habit of local self-government which had
prevailed from the remotest ages. This was not his
opinion only, but V je ()pillion of many of the best and
wisest men of all ti es,"

.........
If so, a Minister , who pledges himself to act upon the
contrary principle in the Government of England, is like
a man who deli!), -irately swallows a dose of slow poison,
or lays a train of
g vepowder for his own destruction.
With respect to ',b e .
workhouse test, Sir James Graham
justly observed or, Monday, when Mr, Yorke's amend-
ment was under dis
3ussion, that it would be impossible
to avoid the sePtrat ion of husband and wife, and parent
from chi!,d, wb ile ;his test was maintained. But he
might as soon hops i to regulate the seasons by Act of
Parrlament as to IN xi oncile the feelings of the
people of
England to this 1 iractiee. Why should the deserving
poor of this count iy be worse' treated than the West
India negroes ? - " -