The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-08 00:00:00

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LONDON:
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1841.

Nations, like individuals, we apprehend, can-
not successfully attend to more than one thing at
one time. Whenever a nation, consequently, has
any great object to accomplish, he is not a wise
man—he may be a vain man, a self-conceited
man, a crotchety man—who essays to attract its
attention to many things at the same time. Still
less is he a wise man who admits the importance
of some one paramount object, and yet is per-
petually frittering away and diverting atten-
tion from that to some crotchet or conceit of his
own. Without meaning to be particularly per-
sonal in the application of these remarks, we
must say that the Liberal or Radical Members
seem to us to act in direct defiance of this princi-
ple, and try all they can to dissipate and divert
attention from that which is most essential.
It is not for us to assert that one grievance is
more pressing than another, that the abo-
lition of Church-rates should have the pre-
ference to the abolition of the Corn-laws,
that the revision of the tariff should pre-
cede both, or that the extension of the
suffrage should come first of all; but we do say
that the great mission of the Liberal or Radical
Members is to remove or abolish grievances, and
that they ought to make all their personal
crotchets, plans, and considerations, subservient
to that great public end. Their business is to
study the wants and wishes of the people, and,
disregarding their own views, to endeavour to
give effect to public opinion. However flat-
tering it may be to Messrs. HAWES, EWART,
GROTE, &c., to suppose that they are sent into
Parliament, each man to embody his own pet
crotchet into a law, we beg to assure them that

such is not the case, and as popular representa-
tives they are bound to do the work of the popu-
lar party, not their own. If it be otherwise,
what better off are the people than when they
had a boroughmongering Parliament, and when
Gentlemen, because they bought their seats,
avowed that their time, their talents,, and their
votes were at their own irresponsible disposal ?
The only difference will be, that under the
old system the man representing his pro-
perty had a common interest with other men
of property, and was not likely to injure them ?
while under the new system, if the representa-
tive disregards the popular voice, he will chase
after his own visions, which may be of serious
mischief to every body but himself.
On these principles, we ask Mr. EWART where
are the great number of petitions requiring the
appointment of a Minister of Public Instruction,
with which he would have diverted public atten-
tion if he could front all other things, the night
before last? Did the public demand it, or was it
Mr. EWART's own peculiar nostrum? We ask
Mr. HAWES, too, when has the public voice
cried so loud for his Medical Reform that it must,
whether or not, be thrust on the public notice ?
When such things are mooted in Parliament, the
public are obliged to attend to them, otherwise
we should be soon overwhelmed with noxious
restrictions. But though the medical profession
may be far from theoretically perfect, it answers
all the purposes of society tolerably well, and
those who most complain of it are men who,
from some circumstances or other, have little or
no practice. We must ask Mr. GROTE also,
where are the many petitions calling for a diffe-
rent appropriation of the New South Wales Land
Fund, that he should wtake that the object of a
repeated motion in Parliament ? Some little
clique of jobbers in the City, anxious to profit by
what is now called the bounty on emigra-
tion, may be deeply interested in that lane fund,
but for the public here, for whose especial bene,
fit the Parliament legislates, it is of the smalles
conceivable importance.

We make these general remarks because we
frequently see the Parliament and the Ministers
reproached with not redressing the grievances of
the people, which is unjust as long as their at-
tention is continually occupied by new schemes,
projects, and contrivances brought before them
by the popular representatives. LUTHER did
not accomplish his great reform by discursive
dissertations on all the sciences; Mr. O'CoN-
NELL did not effect Catholic Emancipation by
entertaining his countrymen with discourses on
improving the Liffey, or providing for the poor ;
and in like manner the public grievances never
will be redressed, be they Church.rates, Corn-
laws limited suffrage, or any other thing, as long
as our representatives imagine they may indulge
their legislative fancies with schemes for pro-
moting Medical Reform, for establishing a Mi-
nister of Public Instruction, or for giving addi-
tional wealth to land jobbers in New South Wales.
As for Mr. EWART'S motion, it appears to us
nothing better than a sorry imitation of the cus-
toms of other countries, a part only of which Mr.
EWART sees and comprehends. In England the
greater part of the education of the people is
conducted by private hands, as a private specu-
lation. Few or none of our endowed and public
schools, and none of our private schools, are un-
der the control of the
State.
Schoolmasters
are not licensed, nor appointed by any council
or board ; they engage in this
work as a matter
of trade. With us education has hitherto formed

The account which appears in another part of
The Sun of a meeting of the electors of Lancas-
ter, is for us a happy augury of the final and
speedy success of the cause which we have
much at heart. The electors of Lancaster have
come to a resolution to promote the return to
Parliament of none but Members pledged to the
immediate abolition of the Corn and Provision-
laws. In that neighbourhood, as in other places,
the farmers are beginning to perceive that they
are not benefited by a law which impoverishes
their best customers. At the Lancaster meeting—
a glorious meeting, as it is properly called by our
Correspondent—the greatest enthusiasm prevail-
ed, particularly when it was addressed by Mr.HEy-
WORTH, the President of the Total Abstinence
Society, who has taken up the cause of the
abolition of the Corn-laws as a great moral
and religious question. Such men's motives
are above all suspicion, and such are the men
we like to have for auxiliaries. Their Convictions
are fervent, and they penetrate the minds of i
others. The art of producing conviction seems
little studied, but the main secret consists in
being first convinced oneself. Mr. llErwoßni,
the Rev. Mr. HAWKES, Mr. PRENTICE, Mr.
COBDEN, and Mr. BROOK; are all thoroughly con-
vinced themselves, and they make a powerful
impression wherever and whenever they speak.
The enthusiasts in the cause are daily increasing,
and we shall, ere long, have as many preachers
against the Corn-laws, should they not be re-
pealed, as there are ministers of religion.
We rejoice very much at the progress of free
trade principles which our friends now recog-
nise, and our opponents cannot deny. We see
with much satisfaction, too, that the Anti-Corn-
law men are all rallying around the great prin-
ciple of total repeal, which we have long steadily
advocated, even in opposition to some of our
most valued and most honoured supporters. When
the principles of free trade may be embodied into
law, when precisely the Legislature may give
a technical form and its technical sanction to the
growing public opinion in favour of the abolition
of the Provision and Corn-laws, we cannot tell;
but we are convinced that the principles of free
trade have now been effectually sown in the pub-
lic mind, and they will in due time bear their
proper fruit. Whether it be this session or the
next, the Legislature must yield to reason and
justice, and the sooner it yields the better for
its credit, and the safer for its authority.

The Ottoman fleet came safely to anchor at
the Golden Horn, to the no small delight of the
demure citizens of Constantinople, on the 16th
ult. Some days previously a Council of Foreign
Ministers was held at the palace of Lord PON-
SONEW, at Therapia, when it was unanimously
agreed that the modifications which MEHEMET
ALI required to be made in the firman were
reasonable, and that it should be represented to
the Porte, that if rejected, the SULTAN would
obtain no further support from the Four Powers.
Such a representation would materially assist in
bringing the Eastern Question to a final settle-
ment, and we therefore trust that it has been
made.

Extract of EARTHQUAKES.Iette rt
m z an
te
:. _
_.A. , T,
43 Zn At hNe
.2hT6Et .
of February,
after three days andm
violent gale
owindnights of incessant rain, attended by a
e must alarming shock of earthquake was
felt about seven in the
that of the 30th of October,evening. It was not so disastrous as
the vibration being continued but the duration was much longer,
while the former lasted inued from thirty to thirty-five seconds,
was general and extreme only
eight,i or nine. The consternation
filled with the terrifiedpeople te streets were in an instant
to seek safety. In their hou,seenr toll) but not knowing where
ruins, in the streets they were dreneehyedd•eaded being buried in
with
were all filled, it being the hour of the eveningrain. The churches
Virgin, offered up every Friday during - prayers to the
and confusion were terrible. Only afewer!t ; and the cries
tile
in the town or the surrounding country ; others fell
either swere more or
less shaken, and, as the shocks recur daily, we ha
fear that in the end the town will become a heap of ruins.
reason to
ms. After
the earthquake of October 30, which destroyed nearly all the
houses on the island, Zante experienced successive shocks
more or less strong, during forty days, making the number'
amount to no fewer than 259, and during the remainder of
1840, vibration of the earth, more or less perceptible, nearly
every day. All the violent shocks were attended with dull
rumbling sounds and subterranean explosions. Sometimes
these noises were heard without being succeeded by any
vibration, and sometimes the shocks were silent. Since 1514
Zante has experienced twenty-one earthquakes. That in
1514 divi,led the hill on which the fortress stood, and buried
part of the ancient town in the ruins. In 1767 the shocks
were repeated for three months, during which an epidemic
disease prevailed. In 1791 the great shock lasted several
minutes, cau!ed immense damage, and was followed by minor
shocks for six weeks. In 1820 the earthquake, which once
mere desolated the island, was preceded by a single flash of
lightning. That of 1837 lasted with great intensity for 20
seconds ; and that of 1840 was the most disastrous of all. In
fine, the unfortunate island of Zante has suffered during the
sixteenth century two earthquakes; duringthe 17th three; dur-
ing the eighteenth, ten ; and during the first portion of the
nineteenth century, six."

The whole of the Paris Journals of Monday
have reached us. A bulletin posted at the Bri-
tish Embassy stated that Lord GRANVILLE had
passed a tranquil night, and felt himself much
refreshed on Monday morning.
It is confidently stated by several Parisian
correspondents of German Journals, that France
has signed a treaty, in conjunction with the Four
Powers, for closing the Straits of the Dardanelles
and the Bosphorus against ships of war of all na-
tions, but opening them to all merchant vessels

no part of the duty of the State. It has left the
people to teach themselves. As the State cannot
possibly know what sort of education will
be useful to individuals, or suitable to their cir-
cumstances, the State acts only in accordance
with the principles of freedom and common
sense wherilt contents itself with protecting and
enforcing the right of individuals, and leaves
them to learn what is useful.
This may be, in Mr. EWA RT'S opinion, and the
opinion of some other gentlemen, a bad system,
but we cannot adopt their conclusion. Looking
at the great results, seeing the commanding po-
sition Britain has attained in Europe, seeing the
talents and victories of her naval and military al-

cers, and the intrepidity of her people, seeing
the skill of her workmen, the superiority of her
literature, the clearness of her practical philoso-
phy, and her equality nearly to other nations in
most of the fine arts ; looking at the results of
this system in the great renown of the nation, we
cannot agree with those who decry it.

' In France and Prussia the whole of the educa-
tion of the people is under the direction or con-
trol of the State. No schoclmaster must teach
without a license. No gentleman or lady take
boarders, without the sanction of the public au-
thorities. Every high school in France is con-
nected with the University of Paris; or, in Prus-
sia, depends immediately on the Council of State,
or City Authorities, which are under the General
Government, as Parochial Schools are regulated
by Parochial Authorities, which depend on the
Provincial Governments. Their system may be
better than ours; but, looking at the enterprise,
mental independence, and success of the different
nations, we do not think it is. But be that as it
may, a Minister of Public Instruction may be
very suitable to the general educational institu-
tions of France and Prussia, which are all de-
pendent on the State, and very unsuitable to our
educational institutions, which are of the nature
of private speculation.
The returns of the Minister in France and
Prussia would comprise every scholar in the
kingdom, but the returns of such a Minister in
England could not include the pupils of private
schools. Those who keep such establishments
would refuse to make returns, and they would
resent the demand as an infringement on liberty.
As compared with the number of scholars in
France and Prussia, such returns might show a
lamentable deficiency of instruction, and lead
statisticians into grievous errors. Unless our
whole system is to be made conformable to that
of Prussia and France—and it would be disgrace-
ful, after heading them so far, to return into
their wake ; after, in fact, surpassing them, to
become the pupils—a Minister of Public In-
truction is wholly uncalled for. He would
cause expense, and create confusion. Mr.
EWA RT'S scheme, for the sake of which he di-
verts public attention from more important mat-
ters, would saddle the country with an additional
public officer who would be to a large part of
the community a nuisance.
A despot might by his power inflict such an in-
stitution on a free people ; it is unseemly for a
popular representative to attempt it. Apart from
the fact that the great mission of Liberal Mem-
bers is to procure the redress of those grievances
of which the people complain, not plan new
laws, and new restrictions, Mr. EWART de-
serves the public disapprobation for propounding
a scheme essentially foolish.

whatsoever. The 15th ult. is given as the date of
this treaty, which puts an end to the isolation of

France.

We further find it rumoured that Lord PAL-
MERSTON communicated to the French Plenipo-
tentiary in London, a copy of fresh instructions,
which his Lordship had sent Lord PoNsoNny,
which were exceedingly favourable to MEHEMET
ALI. The Noble Foreign Secretary accompa-
nied these instructions with the significant inti-
mation, that if Lord PONSONBY found them likely
to place him in an unpleasant position with the
Sublime Porte, his Lordship was at liberty to
return to England for a few months, for the be-
nefit of his health. We cannot of our own
knowledge confirm these statements, but they
are nevertheless exceedingly probable.
The Chamber of Deputies was occupied on
Monday with the joint motion of MM. PAGES
and MAGUIN, for diminishing the number of
public functionaries in that Assembly. The whole
number of Deputies does not much exceed 400,
and of this number 179 are functionaries, more or
less dependent upon the bounty of the Crown.
The debate was proceeding when the mails left
for London.

The Papal Nuncio in Switzerland hasaddressed
a second note to the Federal Government, justi-
fying his interference in any matter affecting the
rights of the Roman Catholic Church. Letters
from Rome announce the recal of the Nuncio,
who is to be replaced by Cardinal ANDREA.
The Pi'esse says that, independently of the
troops of the line, 30,000 labourers are to be em-
ployed in carrying on the fortifications. The di-
rectors of the works have ordered 3,000 new
wheelbarrows for the excavators.
We find by the Journal de Toulouse of the 2d instant, that
the domiciliary visits continued at Careassone on the 30th ult.,
and that a quantity of papers, brochures, and arms were seized
on that day by the police.
The Journal des Debats publishes a telegraphic despatch,
announcing the departure on the •29th ult or the expediti-n des-
tined to revictual Aleleah and i\liliana. The Duke d'Aumale
was at Blidah.

The Toulonnaise contains the following news in its number
of March 31, which has reached Paris to-day :
There is not a sincle stone left. at the Camp of Foudouc,
which has been just abandoned. This is another four millions
thrown away. It is said to be in contemplation to evacuate
the maison carree, the • model farm, and iMehelma. These
unaccountable measures excite general dissatisfaction ; people
are quite at a loss what to conjecture, and nobody has yet di-
vined the plan of the new Governcr- General. Meantime we
begin to feel the bad effects of the system of General Bugeaud;
they are not such as were expected. The Arabs continue
their plundering incursions, and, with unheard of audacity,
commit murders in the country almost at the gates of Algiers.•—
La Gazette de France.

The Moniteur of the sth of April has no official part. The
Minister announces that her Majesty the Queen of Naples
was happily delivered of a Princess on the 28th of March.

SWITZERLAND.
(From the private correspondence of the Constitutionnel )
BERNE, APRIL 2.—The last four articles of the project of
the Committee have been adopted by an absolute majority of
votes, composed of the twelve States which voted yesterday, in
favour of the Ist article. There being twenty-three Cantons
the absolute (the smallest possible) majority is twelve.—lhe
2d article invites Argovia to make its decree harmonise with
article twelve of the Federal Compact. Article three fixes the
middle of May as the latest time by which Argovia is to com-
municate its resolutions to the Vorort (the presiding Canton.)
Article four determines that the Diet reserves to itself the
measures to be ultimately taken, in case Argovia should not
conform to the invitation made to it. Article five invites it to
suspend all measures for executing the decree, which suppresses
the convents.

It seems certain that M. Guizot has offered the mediation of
France to terminate the differences existing between Great
Britain and the United States. This eagerness to relieve the
English Cabinet, our determined enemy, from the embarrass-
ments in which it is involved cannot pass unnoticed. M.
Guizot owes an account to the Chamber of conduct which in a
country where opinions were more energetic, would be consi-
dered as an act of treason, and we hope that the Opposition
will take advantage of the debate on the Supplementary Credit
to question the Minister on the subject. We cannot, how-'
ever, believe that M Guizot, not content with offering his ser-
vices as mediator, has threatened the United States (as a
journal affirms that he has) with an armed intervention.
Fiance invading the United States in favour of England ! It
is an idea too ridiculous to be entertained, even by the men
who abandoned Egypt to the mercy of the Powers.—Le
Courrier Francais.