The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-04 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Morning Post thus endeavours to account for,
what it calls, the late reaction in favour of Toryism :
" There can be no doubt that a considerable part of the
popular re-action in favour of the Conservative party,
which placed the present Ministers in office, arose from
the earnest and hearty sympathy with the better feelings
of the humbler classes of society, which many Conser-
vative gentlemen have of late years exhibited. Ten
years ago the people had very great expectations from
the Whigs, who told them everywhere that if they were
enabled to carry a reform of the Parliament, the condi-
tion of the common people would thenceforward be the
thing principally attended to in the House of Commons,
and great good to them would be the result. But the
people found out by degrees that these were false repre-
sentations, and that they had gained nothing by the
great change called • Parliamentary Reform.' They
found that the Whigs and Radicals had gained the
means of keeping the Government in their hands, in
spite of the great majority of the nobility and gentry ;
but they did not see that they had gained anything, or
that any more cordial feeling subsisted between them and
the ruling power than there did in the time of the Tories."
—To account for the reaction in favour of Toryism by the
" earnest and hearty sympathy" which the Tories have
shown of late years for the humbler class es of society, is
the sheerist absurdity. How do the Tories evince this
sympathy ? Is it by refusing to allow the poor man to
have his daily bread at a reasonable price ? Is it by re-
fusing to inquire into the causes of his present destitu-
tion, with a view to ameliorating them ? Is it by refus-
ing to take those restrictions off trade, the benefits of
which would of course be shared by him, in common
with his superiors ? No, no; our Contemporary must
look for other causes for the reaction in favour of Tory-
ism, than the one he has assigned above ; and if he be
at a loss for a cause, we will furnish him with one. Toryism
is just now in the ascendant, because the Tories, as a body,
are the richest in the kingdom, and because at the last
elections they unsparingly applied their wealth to the
purposes of bribery and corruption. Even their own
journals allow that never were such corrupt practices had
recourse to as at the last election ; and we all know how
lavish Toryism has always been of its superfluous wealth
whenever political influence is to be gained. Here is
the true secret of Tory ascendancy ! There is no moral
re-action in the case ; but simply such a result as must
always follow from the lavish expenditure of cash, in a
country where the worship of Mammon is all but universal..
The Chronicle observes, in a spirited article on the sub-
ject of the Oxford Professorship of Poetry :—" The
pending contest for the Professorship of Poetry at Ox-
ford derives its main interest from the test it will afford
of the strength of the two great theological parties, as
connected with that University. It is not Mr. Williams
or Mr. Garbett, but Puseyism or Evangelism, that will
triumph. There has not been so fierce a contention with-
in the bosom of the Church for a long period. And the
tendency of the Church, as leaning more decidedly than
heretofore towards Catholic ceremony on the one hand,
or Calvinistic zeal on the other, cannot but be
affected by the result. This hot electioneering will in-
fluence the religion of the nation, as well as the character
of the University. The candidates seem little better
than men of straw for the purposes of their supporterF.
We might parody the question of the demoniac, and
say, Wordsworth I know, and Campbell I know, but who
are these ? Who is Mr. Williams ? Who is Mr. Gar-
bett ? Where shall we find their poetry ? Were it
as well known and appreciated as that of Bloom-
field, the farmer's boy, or Clare, the Northamp-
tonshire peasant, or Elliott, the Sheffield man,
who works in iron, we then might say some-
thing of its merits and of their claims."—We
fear that the Professor of Poetry is' required to
be resident at Oxford ; but if not, where is there a man
better qualified for the honcurable office than Professor
Wilson—decidedly one of the most eloquent and ima-
ginative men of his age ; who, though a Tory, is one
of the most generous and enlightened class, and who
would never make his poetical lectures subservient to
his political creed. Such a man would confer more
eclat on the office than the office would ever confer on
him ; and is worth a thousand of the Garbetts and Wil
liamses, whose tom-tit chirpings on the lower slopes of
Parnassus, have never yet found, and never will find,
listeners. It should be remembered also that Professor
Wilson is an Oxford man, and gained high distinction
there.

The following is from the Times :—" The Lord
Mayor's refusal to call a public meeting in the City on
the subject of emigration, does great credit to his Lord-
ship's prudence and good sense. Undoubtedly the whole
question, whether viewed with reference to colonial in-
terests, or the welfare of vast multitudes annually hiving
off from their fatherland, or the condition of our indus-
trious countrymen whoa remain at home, is a question of
the greatest practical importance that can engage
the attention of statesmen ; and the wonder is, con-
sidering the manifest evils inseparable from those
obnoxious schemes of emigration which, partly by
the mandates of the Poor-law Commissioners, and
partly by the lures of private trepanners, have been
inflicted on vast numbers of our aggrieved countrymen,
that the matter has been allowed to remain so long in its
present objectionable state. If the Whigs, with all their
flaming pretensions as reformers, had directed their ef-
forts, not to tantalize a redundant population with the
visions of democratic felicity and the illusions of work-
house relief, but to the arrangement of judicious plans
for enabling them to earn a comfortable subsistence,
they would at least have shown a disposition to confer
some solid benefit upon the country. Perhaps, however,
it is more fortunate upon the whole that they have re-
frained from interfering in the matter. From all the
experience we have had of their official incapacity, we
may be morally certain that in such hands as theirs the
whole undertaking would have degenerated into a base
system of jobbing and party patronage. It is better,
therefore, on every account, that the consideration of the
whole subject has been reserved for a Government dis-
posed, we trust, to place it on the best possible footing ;
and this, though it may not be overtaken by Sir Robert
Peel with the suicidal precipitation characteristic of his
political opponents, will, we fondly hope, constitute one
of the many advantages which may reasonably be antici-
pated from his Ministry."
In a leading article on the Slavery Question, the He-
rald makes the following remarks:—" Convinced though
we are that the United States Government is morally in-
defensible in refusing to enter into those treaties with
England which we have contracted with every great
Power of the world, and most of the lesser Powers, save
the Republic and Russia, we still feel assured that the
exercise of the great and probably illegal powers con-
ferred by the Act of 1839 ought not to be persisted in.
Even in the suppression of the accursed slave trade we
must be certain that our proceedings are in strict accord-
ance with international law ; any illegal steps taken by
us will recoil on our own efforts, and ultimately tend
much more to prevent the accomplishment of the object
proposed than to promote it. If, then, the subject of the
exercise of the power of search given to our cruisers by
this Act be now under the discussion of the Governments
of the United States and England, such discussion will,
it is to be hoped, lead to the reconsideration of the law
of 1839, with a view to its amendment, if not of its re-
peal. The probability is that the Act will, if persisted
in, ultimately create a serious misunderstanding with the
United States."

In a leading article, suggested by the present state of
trade, the Derby Reporter says—" Day by day distress
increases, and manufacturers are reducing their estab-
lishments. Christmas will be ushered in by other
sounds than the blythe carol, by other scenes than those
of revelry and feasting. To the la!muring population it
will come the unwelcome season of new sufferings and
privations--when the stern elements would compel them
to shelter and fuller diet, but the sterner hand of ne-
cessity prevents them from earning the sums which
might purchase these common comforts. We say the
misery is increasing. We see it at our doors—it stares
at us in our streets. We trace it in our emptying fac-
tories and filling poor• houses."
The subjoined remarks are from the Dublin Pilot :
" It is said that Sir Robert Peel has imule up his mind
to call Parliament together on or about the 25th of Ja-
nuary, and that he will then be prepared to submit to its
consideration—what does the reader suppose ? A plan
for relieving the country from the misery and destitution
in which it is involved? No such thing—a commission,
or, as others have it, a. committee to inquire into the
cause of the existing distress ! We can scarcely bring
ourselves to credit, the truth of this statement. Sir Ro-
bert Peel has shown himself on many Occasions totally
indifferent to public opinion ; but he dare not so palter
with national calamity as to postpone its consideration
for a single week after the meeting of Parliament."
The Chelmsford Chronicle thus expresses itself on the
subject of the Government emigration scheme :
" Without foregoing our opinion that an effort might be
beneficially made to employ a vast number of our poor
in bringing into profitable productiveness the waste
lands at home, emigration, properly conducted, offers a
means of mitigating the distress which is caused by want
of employment., at the same time that it extends our
strength by enriching with peopled industry the remotest
corner of the empire, thus extending at the same time
the market for our home productions."

MONEY—TRADE—COMMERCE.
Among the Glasgow shoemakers there is at present
existing a strike, which has continued for the last seven

months ; a great number of this class of journeymen are
in a miserable condition.

The Colonial-office has issued notice that no more
emigrant ships will leave England, under contract of
Government, till March next.

At a meeting, convened by the Mayor at Nottingham,
on Monday night, for the purpose of promoting a sub-
scription in aid of the distressed poor of the town, 8001.
was subscribed on the breaking up of the meeting, and
lists opened at the bankers.