The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-11 00:00:00

cun.

LONDON:
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER U, 1841.

In making a few remarks yesterday on the
schism which prevails amongst the Liberals as to
the Extension of the Franchise, we wished to
bring the fact clearly before our friends, with a
view to their providing a remedy. We shall
never get over the schism by shutting our eyes
to its existence. If the Liberal party is to be
built up, some clearly-defined principles of ac-
tion, some common objects of pursuit, must be
agreed to. Compromises of opinion must take
place, and however cogent may be the argu-
ments by which the Editors of the aristocratic
Whig Journals can support the diminution of the
suffrage, they must keep them fir their own
private circle, and not ruin their party by de-
nouncing in its name the object which is dearest
to the heart of the unenfranchised.
It will not do for these gentlemen to tell us
that they are full of a burning zeal for the sys-
tem of restriction, and that they cannot restrain
the impulses of their own genius. It will not do for
them to say that they must preach their gospel
of monopoly or die. On other subjects they can
close their hands firmly enough, and will not,
unless it suits the purpose of the party, allow
the smallest portion of the truths they have
locked up to escape. They must exercise the
same restraint as to the suffrage; and how-
ever ardent local and other rivalries may have
made them in disseminating their opinions, they
must, as organs of the Whigs, cease to advocate
a more limited constituency.
we agree with the Non-Conformist, " that
Principles will henceforth engage the public
gc Government by party," it says, " is
to an end." Names and individuals
fast coming
will no longer engross the public attention, but
systenis. What is one unit, though it be called
WELLINGTON or PEEL, to the 130,000,000 of
similar units who now dwell within the wide
limits of our empire ? What can there possibly
be in the thoughts of that one man, engaged in
his own narrow and selfish pursuits, and ignorant
of the diversified pursuits of the great multitude,
that he should be a rule for all others, and that
they should wait his guidance and his bidding?
The command, or the wish of Lord J. RUSSELL,
no more than the command or the wish of Sir R.
PEEL, can henceforth be the law of his party.
One advantage of the new position of the Libe-
rals is, that they cannot now be bushed into
quietness by the whisper, " You will endanger
the Government." Principles alone can hence-
forth be the basis on which the T iberal party is
to be founded, and they must be clear, defined,
and homogeneous.

Two systems now appeal to mankind for pre-
ference. They stand face to face, and plead fbr
the honour of moulding, and governing society.
On•the one hand is the supremacy of one or a few;
orfhe other, the equality of all, save and
eNcept the differences amongst individuals not
involving inferiority, which are to be found
amongst all the children of men. No two are
alike. On the one hand is distrust, generated
by fear; on the other, mutual confidence, grow-
ing from mutual service. On the one hand,
terror alone is relied on to keep slaves obedient ;
on the other, obedience, or rather concord, is
dictated by manifold personal advantages. On
the one hand there is nothing but restrictions
imposed by the few on the many, but equally
foixious to all; restrictions on locomotion, re-
rrictions on buying and selling, restrictions on
speaking, writing, and printing, all of which are
amazingly costly to society to maintain, employing