The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-20 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Times thus refers to the Corn-law question:—" We are,
in the abstract opposed to the restrictions of the present Corn
laws. We consider it clear, in particular, that the present
sliding scale has worked injuriously, has given occasion to an
extent of fraud which it is humiliating to think of. The very
daring and extent of these malpractices have made them suc-
cessful. Sad as the confession is, we do not believe that the in•
genuity of statesmen will be able to devise a plan which will
effectually baffle the acute and practised speculator : and we
are, therefore; sorry to see indications of an intention to retain
what we cannot but believe irremediably inefficient." The
Times then goes on to sneer at " that most impudent delusion
—the cry of cheap bread for the labourer," thus exhibiting the
grossest inconsistency, for what can be its object in opposing
" the restrictions of the present Corn-laws," except to make
bread cheaper; the idea of which it, nevertheless, ridicules as
a delusion ! Our Contemporary's logical faculty seems to have
deserted him of late.

The Post, with more than its wonted effrontery, insists on
being better informed of the exact state of her Majesty's health,
than even her medical adviser himself, observing:—" Her
Majesty is notoriously in as good a state of health as she was in
the month of August of last year. She takes and enjoys now,
as she did then, her morning walks and her afternoon drives in
the neighbourhood of Windsor Castle. When in London she
partakes now, as she did then, of the amusements of the capi-
tal. In the month of August of last year her Majesty proro-
gued Parliament in person, and in the following November her
Majesty, to the great joy of her subjects, gave birth to the
Princess Royal." The Post infers from this that her Majesty
is resolved to keep herself " entirely aloof " from Ministers—
an absurd remark which we leave the Court Circular to answer.
The Chronicle observes, with reference to the recent ap-
pointment of the Rev. Baptist Noel to be one of the Royal
Chaplains—" Were it possible for any doubt to exist on the
fact of her Majesty's earnest desire for the untaxing of the
people's food, that doubt must be instantly and triumphantly
settled by the appointment of the Honourable and Rev. Bap-
tist Noel as one of her Chaplains in Ordinary. This is truly
the act of a Christian Sovereign. The religion which suppli-
catei daily bread for those who earn it, is thus made practically
part and parcel of the law.' No clerical arrangement has
ever afforded more heartfelt. satisfaction than this does, to all
+•ho respect religion as involving human duties together with
divine doctrines. Her Majesty is with the people in treating
the bread-tax repeal as a religious question. She distin-
guishes the Christian preacher by his assertion of the rights
of the poor against the grinding oppressions of class monopoly."
That this is an appointment from which the country may dc-
rive the most flattering hopes, and that the Tories regard it in
this light, is evident from the loud clamour they have already
begun to set up against Mr. Noel. They have opened on him
like a pack of fierce wolves, and will do all they can to run him
clown, and worry him to death. The Rev. Gentleman may
well be proud of such rabid abuse. It is a proof of the high rate
at which the Monopolists estimate his moral influence in the
cause of justice.
The Hera7d, in an article on the subject of the factory
question, remarks as follows :—" All the efforts of Lerd Ashley
for the benefit of the factory question will, however, be thrown
away without general activity, intelligence, self-denial, and pru-
dence on their part. Now these qualities are very much the
result of what is still denied them—moral and religious educa-
tion. We do not mean such education as that devised by the
Whigs—a political education ; hut one which shall be based on

that truth . ' which was not for an age but for all time,' and
which, on the cessation of time, is for eternity. The adoption
of such a system cannot be far distant from the removal of the
resent Administration." A system of national education
based on Tory principles—for this is, of course, what our Con-
temporary looks forward to—is a system calculated not to en-
large, but to fetter, the mind ; not to encourage a healthy spirit
of independence in the national character, but to crush it. Such
a system might have suited admirably the days of George the
Third; but it is now too late to adopt it. The aristocracy
and the priesthood can nover again exercise their old influence
over the people.
The Dublin Evening Post says :—" That Ministers are
equal to the crisis, in the face of a hostile House of Lords and
of a hostile majority of landlords in the Commons, we believe;
and the Tory public, we anticipate, will be of our opinion
before the lapse of a month. Having taken their stand
against Monopoly, there can be no doubt at all that its knell is
rung. The time—the euthanasia is uncertain. It may take
a year in dying under the hands of Doctor Peel—it may expire
before Christmas. But it is booked. Its doom is sealed. The
debates on the Address, however, they may terminate, will deal
a heavy blow and a great discouragement to the Monopolists."