The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-27 00:00:00

ZVEN IN k 4 EDITION.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS•

FROM THE hIC,RNING AFERS OF THIS DAY.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
The Tory Journals allege, with as mach confidence as
if they expected people to believe it, that the object of
Lorca Stanley's registration project is " to complete the
Reform Bill:" That measure, a. boon of his Lordship's
b,stowing, was ttr a
_first instarment of enfranchisement,
which he is now desircue to pay up in full. Stanley, the
Tory, feels bound in honour to redeem the unfulfilled
pledges of Stanl.l the Reformer; and the whole Censer-
NIL ivo force of P-rliament must be whipped in to
enable him thug to keep his faith with the Irish people.
Seen au effort ot magnanimous virtue it is scarcely
reasonable to require of any set of politicians, and
could only be expected from the me high-souled
party which, under Sir R. Peel, in 1;33, evinced its
readiness to " carry out the principle of Reform," if the
country would have only given their professions a " fair
trial." But what is the topstone which they would put
upon the renovated teasple of Irish freedom ? Is the
Principle of popular rerxesentation, which is the living
spirit of all reform, to be carried to its just conclusions ?
No ; but the means and facilities of giving effect to that
principle arc to be so curtailed and beset with obstruc-
tion*, that two persons in three of those to whom Lord
Stanley himself, dales son quart d'heure de liberalite, de-
signed to communicate the privileges of the franchise,
will be debarred from it as effectually as if they were ex-
cluded by name.
( Front the Morning Post.)
The motion of which Mr. Palmer has given notice in
reference to the opium war will unite in its favour every
Member of the House of Commons who has the least re-
gard to national justice or morality. The motion differs
from that of Sir James Graham. the one having confined
its censure to the negligence and misconduct ot Ministers,
by which the actual state of our relations with China had
meinly been produced, while the other meets the question
of the justice and necessity of the war about to be waged,
more directly pronouncing, without reserve or equivoca-
tion, that the grievance chiefly insisted upon by Ministers
and their partisans as a justification of hostilities is
wholly insufficient to vindicate that extreme measure.
There is little doubt that the former motion would
have been adopted by a majority of the House of Commons
but for the discreditable trick to which Lord Palmerston
resorted immediately before the division, and when he knew
that no opportunity would be afforded for reply and expo-
sure. The manoeuvre by which his Lordship entrapped
his magnificent majority of nine, consisted, as the reader is
aware, of the production of a letter in favour of the opium
war, bearing the signateres of eleven individuals and nine-
teen firms, which had been suddenly and secretly prepared
for the purpose during the same day, in a manner eaten-
la•ed to create the impression, and, in fact creating it for
a moment, that these eleven individuals and nineteen firms
expressed the genuine opinion and represented the legiti-
mateand permanent interests of the mercantile body of the
city of London engaged in the trade with China.
(From the Morning Herald.)
Amongst the numerous able treatises in defence of the
Corn-laws, to which the recent Anti-Corn-law agitation
bas given rise, the " address " of the Earl of TYRCONNELL
to " The People of the United Kingdom" is deserving of
especial commendation. The noble Earl understamls tho-
roughly the complex question of which be treats; and pos-
sesses, moreover, the art of clothing his able rea-
sonings in language always eminently appro-
priate, and frequently eloquent. A wide diffusion
of his lordship's " address " might do much to-
wards counteracting the scandalous misrepresenta-
tions in which the assailants of the Corn-laws delight
to indulge. After exhibiting, by the aid of general rea-
soning, and by the testimony of Mr. Huskisson, the ulster
unsoundness of the views entertained by the enemies of the
Corn-laws, Lord Tyrconnel points to the effect on national
independence of a system protective of our agricultural
resources—points to some of the causes that really de-
press the English operative's condition—and demonstrates,
amongst other things, the delusive nature of the " fixed-
duty" project.

FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OP SATURDAY.
(From the Globe.)
Either the zeal of those who pretend to think our
affair of China an opium war is flagging, or the public
has become aware of their hypocrisy. For several
days advertisements had been issued, and placards
exhibited, announcing that a public meeting on the
Opium War would be held at the Freemasons' 'Ta-
vern on Friday, the 24th. Admission to this public
meeting was to be obtained by tickets, which must
have been sparingly issued or moderately applied for, as,
according to the Morning Post, the Chairman began
with an audience of " about two hundred and fifty, a
large proportion of whonz were ladies," and at no part
of the meeting, which lasted five hours, did the numbers
exceed " three hundred and upwards." After the sub-
ject had been so thoroughly exhausted by the Parlia-
mentary speakers little could have been expected from
the tavern orators, and the meeting would be influential
only from the numbers of those who attended, and the
importance of such as took an active part in the pro-
ceedings. Three hundred, including ladies, must have
looked rather insignificant in the great room as a poli-
tical assembly, and it is much to be regretted that the
Committee did not take advantage of the beauty which
graced the hall, and, by calling in a fiddler and getting
Up some dances, for which there was an ample space,
have given the affair an appearance of cheerful, instead
legubrious absurdity. They might have comforted
themselves with the assurance that the Celestial Em-
peror would be as much benefited, and the Government
us much injured, by their dancing as by their eloquence.
Any comment on the speeches would be waste of time
ztud paper.
(From the Standard.)
We et)py the following from the Aliorning Chronicle.
It seems to he due to our Contemporary to allow it to
correct its miFpret, of which, however, we made no use ;
and we think that it places, if possible, in a clearer light
than before the manner in which Mr. Stanley trifled
with tln.: t-uth in his Stockport speech. The
revectable Treasury Secretary asserted that a gen-
tleman (whether Catholic or clerical no matter)
had " stated that Sir Robert Peel had repented
of his error, AND WAS GOING TO RETRACE HIS STEPS.'
And the proof which the Morning Church adduces
in support of Mr. Stanley's veracity is the following
passage of a speech of the Rev. Hugh Stowell :—" He
was sure that the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert
Peel repented of the fatal act they committed in 1829."
And who, giving the illustrious Statesmen credit for
the wisdom and patriotism of which they have given so
many proofs, can doubt that they repent of the act of
1829? They may be proud of their conduct in the
affair, and their high and honourable motives
and sacrifices give them a right to be proud ; but still
they must repent that by an excess of generous confi-
, fleece the; l tin a pestilence upon the country. The
in nn point, however, is, that Mr. Stowell says nothing
about RETRACING OF STEPS, and merely offers his own
0 opinion of the probal.le repentance of the Duke of
Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, instead of that pro-
, mist of retractation and that authoritative statement of
repentance of which Mr. Stanley falsely spoke. Every
tionest man regr.-ts the Act of 1829, and every honest
man who had a share in it, we are sure, repents of his
part ; but none, save a madman, would think of re.
pealing it.

( From the Courier.)

TI-re different fassilion in which claim' sof the subjects

of this country are met, evaded, or denied by foreign
Powers. and in which claims as against us, or by one
foreign Power air dust another arc presented, pressed,
and enforced unrelentingly by persevering negotia-
'ions. menaces, or direct hostilities, has not to
be noted to-day for the first time. There is
no class of claims more justly founded, and
none so long delayed urdcr one fr:volous pretext or
another, than those of British subjects on Portugal.
We do not refer so much to those arising out of the

political changes in Portugal of late years, which, how-
ever, being manly for good service done, for service to
which the present Government owes its very existence,
4 should have commanded respect, and insured priority
of settlement over any clash of internal obligations, but
I
to that most sacred of all indebtedness, growing out of
the great war, ivlich P,n.tugai was rescued from foreign
sprit and domination at the cost of immense treasure
and by the skill and energii..s of civil and mili-
tary functionaries more valuable will than mere money
- ! treasure and above all price. The amount of this de-
smietion of obligations, still onarrangl'il and unprovided
A for, is believed not to be less than half a million ster-
i ing, and payment has not only been deferred for the
( sp,;(te of twenty-five years, but by every species of
chi„,,,e and delay the final examination and passage of
the aecnlnts thein,;elves has been deferred to this hour,
• although Cmatwissioners have been named, and pretend
to have been ~,tung in judgment upon them from time
to time at Listunt.