The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-19 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

In an article suggested by a letter from a Correspond-
ent on the subject of the disturbances created at public
meetings by persons .calling. themselves Chartists, the
Morning Chronicle observes So long
.as Chartism
has, in its nominal ranks, a supply of vendible scoun-
drels who will take Tory cash, or of ruffian slaves, who
will obey Feargus O'Connor, . the repetition of the dis-
turbances-. complained of will not fail to be attempted-.
The agents are becoming pretty 'well known now, and
their infamy follows them. Men who are
_base enough,-
either'for sordid gain or in. blind obedience, to stand in
the way of justice towards-the poor and wOrking Classes,
and abet by their clamour the robbery committed by the
monopolist upon the food, of the industrious,, are. not.
likely long to, retain any power of disturbance. beyond
that which their fellew-conspirators can exercise. They
are disarmed. by. exposure. Accordingly we ,find, by
our Correspondent's own statement, that the parties -of
whom he complains-'-were, at the J-Itte -meeting, a very
contemptible minority. He estimates them 'at not
more ttan one- in •-fifteerl.' • This is a very different
state of things from that Which existed not Many
months ago,' when actual majoritieS'Were get:up ,age,inst
the anti-bread-tax agitation. A gricAt change in the
feelings of the' any is: plainly,in rapitl.progess..Andno
wonder, . The.y find that, they. cannot. feed. upon- the hope
of. the.,suffrage. tbe. Charter falls in their :market as
rises."--'-The Chartists can only snake themselves
a really influential party by.listening to thettnerring,4dic-
-tates-of- common sense:- Let theni cease to'clanionrs for
the impracticable, and , stick to the practicable,
and - they May • further' -• the' cause of JmproVenient
so as to benefit- themselves to art extent of which
at present ihey seem to.' 'have no , conception. But.
the political
-fanaticism _which.; they maLifested at the
commencement
.of, their. -career.can be attended with no
other result than that of- bitter-disappointment.
,Reason-
is the-banner under which they must enlist, if they desire'
to become really efficient Reformers. Let them combine
their efforts with those of the Anti-'oOrrf-law agitators,
and they will'at once secure a high vantage ground fOr
their further operations. We do not -desire: to see them
tame or lethargic; far otherwise. Let theaekhibit the
same vigour they have always exhibited; •but ipt that vi-.
dour be influenced and directed :by. common sense. In
polities as in religion, ill-regulated enthusiasni,.hOwever
it tnay succeed for the time, is sure. in the long run. to
defeat its own purpose:

The Post isiabOuring hard ••to Convince... the agricul—
tural lahourers that the Corn-laws are kept up in all'
their severity expressly for their • intsrests. If the.
landowners alone," says our Contemporary, " were the.
persons interested in this limited and graduatedmono-
poly of the supply of corn to British consumers, the
question would be greatly changed. 'ln that case we
might venture 'perhaps upon the experiment of 'doing
without the monopoly, because the• landowners are not
utterly dependent *upon the rent of arable land. It
would be possible to try-the experiment without inflict-
ing • physical misery upon any portion of
the people. But that is not the case as
,rnat-
ters stand, because the agricultural labourers can-
not afford to lose -the limited monopoly they
possess. It is the only thing between them and cessa-
don of demand for their labour—in other words, the
only thing between them and utter ruin. It is, then,
emphatically a labourers' question. The Corn-laW is
maintained chiefly because it is the interest of the la-
bourers that it' .should be maintained. Other clasSes
might bear the ioss of protection, but they could not.
They who clamour for Corn-law repeal, clamour for the
immediate degradation and ultimate destruction of the
British labourer."—Not so. They who clamour for
Corn-law repeal, clamour for the destruction of a
grinding impost kept up for the sole benefit of a few
selfish monopolists. Swift's definition of party applies
admirably to this impost—lt is the ruin of many for the
gain of a few.
The Times says :—" The grand hypocrisy of the day
is the pretence continually set •up by those who call
themselves' Liberals' to be regarded as the only sincere
friends of the people. The chief amusements of the
=Tories' are generally assumed by these gentlemen to
be the devising means for starving or !tormenting the
population ; while their political opponents are repre-
sented as abounding in the milk of.human kindness, and
delighting in conferring benefits upon. the people. The
wickedness of all this chiefly consists in its being not
merely untrue, but the very reverse of the truth.
There is no fact more unquestionable in modern
history than this—that the political economists, the
grand enemies of the people's comfort and happiness,
have ever been, in the main, a sect of the Whigs."—
TA refute this observation nothing more is needed than
to refer to the history of the last ten years, which will
show that the Tories invariably opposed every measure
brought forward by the Whigs- for the benefit of the
people, and increased their opposition in exact propor-
tion to the good expected to be derived from it. Thus
they opposed the plan for cheap and expeditious jus-
tice ; for a system of national education ; for loosening
some of the most oppressive restrictions on trade ; and
indeed every measure that came recommended by reason
and equity. But this, on the Times's showing, they
did out 'of their excessive affection -for the people !
They " chastened" them, because they " loved" ,them.
We suppose it was this intense love on the part of the
Tories, that induced them to cut down the people by
wholesale at Peterloo, and build new jails and
.barracks
throughout the country for their accommodation ! The
" milk of human kindness," which our Contemporary de-
scribes as running in the veins of Toryism, is just equal
ia amount and quality to that which runs in the veins of
a tiger.
The Herald makes the following remarks on the con-
duct of the Poor-law Commissioners :—" The Somerset
House despots have triumphed over humanity ; they
have driven the poor from the country into unwhole-
some cellars and half-covered garrets in towns ;
they have lightened the rates by demoralising and starv-
ing the population. They have diminished the agricul-
tural population, it is said, more than two per cent. within
six years, and they have proportionablyswelled out those
great national wens —full of corruption and disease—
which deprive the empire of its real strength. They pro-
' posed to elevate the morals of the poor by pinching their
bellies, and depriving them of the enjoyment of the
only solace poverty can have in that holy union between
man and wife; and yet they have produced an emigration
into those sinks of moral depravity and political crime—
the manufacturing districts, in which, according to' the
Secretary of the Anti-Corn-law Conference, it is difficult
to: restrain the young men' from pillaging the pro-
vision warehouses around them.' They litiVe drawn
away the people from rural homes, where there was com-
paratively speaking, little or no surplus labour, to towns
where the population was previously overteeming; and
they have thereby greatly augmented the distress pro-
duced by over-production. Hero then is a clear.connec-
Lon-between the Poor-law and the present distress."
, ittnCTILTIETRATA.

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Guernsey this year has produced a superabundance of
the rich Chaurnontel pear ; but another of its peculiar
products, the Guernsey lily, has entirely failed.
• NAVAL AND IVEZ.I.ITARY.

The Royal West India Mail Company has memo-
rialised the Treasury to run once a month, instead of
once a fortnight. ; and
,it is supposed Government will
accede to the.proposal, at least during the winter months.

LAW AND POLXCE.

The magnitae;ndimP;rttiTnceof the operations of
the Court of Chancery will appear from the statement
just completed, that the balance of cash and securities
placed to the credit of the various accounts in Chancery
amounts to the sum of 42,000,0001. and upwards I At
present the number of these accounts is about 12,000 ;
but Parliament has recently ordered that all the accounts
belonging to the Court of Exchequer (amounting to
about 1,600), shall be added to them, forming an ag-
gregate of 13,600. For facilitating the business inciden.