The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-29 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Times relates several revolting particulars respect-
ing the treatment to which paupers are subjected in the
workhouse at Seven Oaks; and after observing that their
health has been sacrificed " to the maintenance of the
prohibitory orders of the Poor-law Commissioners," goes
on to state that—" In February all the children in the
house, of both sexes (except two or three infants) had the
itch; about a dozen had bad feet and chilblains, with the
bones of their toes protruding, in consequence of neglect.
On the 29th of April Mr. Adams reported to the Board
that there were then in the house 78 boys and 94 girls
and infant children; that all the boys had enlargement
of the neck, and 42 had likewise goitres; that of the girls
and infants, 91 had enlarged glands at the back of the
neck, and 63 also goitres. Mr. Harris, the present
medical officer, states, that in June there were 26
boys and 52 girls ill with goitres ;' and in July
almost the same number, though there was then some
improvement among the boys. In August (just when
harvest-time was coming on, and when, the house being
almost empty of able-bodied men, additional temporary
accommodation was afforded to the children) the disease
had almost disappeared. In answer to a question from
Mr. Tufnell, Mr. Harris observed, that ' in reference to
his private practice, glandular diseases were much more
numerous in the house than out of it ;' and to another
questioner replied, that of course a crowded state of
any house must be pernicious to health.' "—These are
crying evils that should be at once remedied ; the wonder
is, how they have been so long permitted to exist without
a rigid investigation.
The Post has a leading article on the subject of Lord
John Russell's reply to the complimentary address lately
presented to him by the inhabitants of Plymouth, in the
course of which our Contemporary makes the following
remarks :—" The allusion to the repeal of the Roman
Catholic disabilities is peculiarly unfortunate. The Duke
of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel changed their
course upon the Roman Catholic question as Lord
Melbourne and Lord John Russell have changed
theirs upon the question of, the Corn-law. The differ-
ences between the circumstances of the two cases
are only these—the former statesmen did not change
when they were on the eve of being turned. out."—
The difference between the two changes is' just this •
The Tories changed on the subject of Catholic emanci-
pation from expediency ; the Whigs changed on the
subject of the Corn-law from conviction. The latter
adopted an altered system of policy from the force of
reasoning and observation ; the former, because they
knew that otherwise they could not maintain
themselves in power. As far as Sir Robert Peel is con-
cerned, he took special care not to change his views of
the Catholic question, till his great rival—we should
rather say his immeasurable superior—Mr. Canning, was
dead, though the necessity for a change was quite as
obvious during the closing years of this stateman's life,
as after his death.

The Herald, speaking of the attempts of the Puseyites
to have an Oxford Professor of Poetry of their own, re-
marks as follows :—" How much Puseyism has already
spread by means of poetry, is well known to all who have
read the writings of Mr. Keble himself, the most amiable
of men, and the Tom Moore' of Puseyites. If the
ladies are to be made Puseyites, it must be done by
hymns to altars and candlesticks—by aspirations to the
Virgin, and by addresses to female saints and martyrs..
The Lyra Poetica' must be attuned to the notes of
Yr,.Willianis, whilst the Lyra..Logica' remains in all

its dissonance, to be scraped by Archbishop King and
Archbishop Whateley, with an occasional dirge from
Messrs. Newman and Pusey. We call upon the clergy
of the entire kingdom, therefore, not to allow this con-
test to be decided by the votes• of the resident members
of the University, but to remember that the chair of
Poetry at Oxford is, in fact, the chair of Puseyite theo-
logy. Should they obtain that chair—what, between
their poetry and their logic, they will cajole not only
the University but the Church itself out of the principles
of our Protestant Reformation—nay, it is possible they may
eventually cajole us out of the belief of all religion."—
A Puseyite poet is a contradiction that we cannot under-
stand. The mind of the one is at direct, open variance
with that of the other. The Puseyite is for keeping the
human intellect in chains; the poet is for allowing it to
expatiate, boldly and unfettered, over the wide realms of
thought and imagination. The Puseyite cannot soar
above ceremonial observances and worn-out common-
places; the poet cannot exercise his calling, unless he
have the utmost freedom of thought. A Puseyite Pro-
fessor of Poetry! Was ever anything so preposterous,
so contradictory ? We should just as soon ,think of
making a stoker to a steam-engine an Oxford Professor
of Poetry !
The following is from the Chronicle :—" In the high
opinion entertained by all Liberal politicians of Lord
Eliot's character we entirely concur. If all Tories
thought like him, there would not be much to say against
the party : if all acted with the integrity which he has
invariably displayed with respect to Irish affairs, the
rule of the Tories would be no great calamity to Ireland.
But it is precisely because we think him the best man of
his party that we think his appointment was the very
worst. He has not the independence of his party that
violent partisans enjoy. He cannot act liberally in reli-
ance on the confidence of bigots. He goes to Ireland
with his Irish policy an object of peculiar suspicion in
the eyes of, all the Irish supporters of the Ad-
ministration of which he is a member: He must
have found by this time that he has not yet succeeded in
winning from O'Connell the confidence of the Irish
people ; and he must surmise that it will take him many
a day to do so. Not trusted by the Irish people, he can
only fall back on the Orangemen. He must earn their
favour by his acts ; he must show that he has not those
dangerous Liberal tendencies of which he is suspected."
—Lord Eliot is placed just now in a false position, and
the time is not far distant when he will find out his mis-
take in accepting the delicate office of Irish Secretary to
an avowedly Orange Government. At present, he is
looked on with a wary, distrustful eye both by Tory and
Liberal, and cannot stir a step, either to the right or
left, without giving cause of offence.
We subjoin some observations from the Dublin
Evening Post on Earl De Grey's system of policy :
" With respect to his officials, from his Secretary down
—his agents, and, above all, his press, this Nobleman,
we repeat it, is most unfortunate. Mystified and cajoled
by those around him, he speedily became their tool,
while, poor simple gentleman, he thought he was acting
the master. Vowing and promising, and almost swear-
ing, either with his own proper lips, or vicariously
through the delicate organs of his poor Secretary, that
his administration in Ireland should be a pattern article,
one of his first steps was the appointment of one of the
most notorious and offensive partisans in the kingdom to
the office of Confidential Adviser. From that moment
the difficulties of Lord De Grey commenced."
The following remarks appear in the Cambrian :
" Two principles at the present moment are agitating
the country, namely, the principle of Conservatism and
that of Progress. If the former should triumph, the
people, bowed down by the iron hand of monopoly and
feudality, exhausted, like an inorganic material mass,
for the profit and pleasure of the few, have no other
hope, as it appears to us, than to sink down into the
condition of the Chinese, or to bury beneath the grave
the burden of their wretchedness."

Speeking of the necessity of union among the people,
the Bolton Free Press says' —" The people have good
reason to be jealous of the middle classes, but they may
carry this jealousy too far. It is only by gradual ad-
vances that an effectual union of our divided political
parties is to be obtained. If the fair, and perhaps, at
first, only partial overtures, of a portion of the middle
classes, are to be scornfully rejected by the people, that
union in which our common strength consists will be
impossible. And, let it be remembered that there must
be two parties to the grand desideratum of a Political
Union, which is to tell on our monopolising, aristocrati-
cal Legislature."
The Dundee Chronicle remarks, with reference to the
recent spread of incendiarism—" Whilst these fires are
embarrassing the Government, the Government is em-
barrassing the people. The people are becoming more
restless and discontented, and, we may add, disaffected
towards the Government. Even men who supported the
Tories at the late election, are tired of waiting for the
benefits expected from the Tory Ministry. It is easy,
during strong party excitement, to shout for the Tories ;
but that excitement which prevailed during the election
has passed away, and the badness of times, coupled
with the dearness of food, and restrictions on trade, have
brought them to their senses."
The Somerset County Chronicle observes, in an article
on the state of parties—" The Tories, as a party, were
destroyed by the Reform Bill. The Whigs, as a party,
have now ceased to exist. Far be it from us to assert,
as some of our readers appear to have understood it, that
Whig principhs are destroyed ; we maintain only that
the Whigs, as a separate and defined party in the State,
are no more. Upon the ruins of the old parties of Whig
and Tory two new parties have arisen, and are in daily.
nay, hourly progress.of formation, and in them all minor
shades of difference must ere long be merged ; they are,
Conservative and Radical—the former advocating good
government for the people, the latter government by the
people."
MONEY—TR.A.AIC—COMMERCE.

The Gosport branch of the London and South Wes-
tern Railway was opened on Saturday last. At the din-
ner given on the occasion, it was stated that the journey
from Gosport to London could now be performed in
three hours and a half, and that 15,000' persons on one
side the harbour, and 60,090 on the other, would be be-
nefitted by the railway in their trade and commerce.
The trades of Glasgow held a meeting in the City
Hall, in reference to the strike of the masons at the
Houses of Parliament, last Tuesday. The conduct of
Allen was severely reprobated, and a committee ap-
pointed to watch over the interests of the operative
classes, to be convened when requisite.
At Bristol, within the last few weeks, several hundred
hands have been discharged from the yards of the ship-
builders, engineers, glass-works, and other factories. One
large house in the glass trade has its warehouse full of
goods, upon which duty to the amount of 20,0001. has
been paid, but can find no outlet for them. Another house
in the same trade has stopped altogether twelve weeks,
but they still pay the men half wages, The shipping
trade, too, of the port was never known in so deplorable
a-state.