The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-26 00:00:00

PUIMIC CPINXO az.

The Times is slowly waking to the discovery that
electioneering corruption is notorious, and that a
prompt and decisive stop should be put to such an ini-
quitous system. If our contemporary grounds his as-
sertion ou the bribery that- took place at the late elec-
tions under the especial patronage of the Tories, he has
ample warrant for what he says, and we cordially agree
with him in the truth of these remarks :—" There
never was a House of Commons, in the election of
which bribery was so universal. The greater part of
the electors—the whole, in truth, of the electoral body
created by the boasted Parliamentary Reform—
consider the elective franchise as the mere means of
serving themselves and their families—as an article
for sale, to be obtained by the highest bidder. The
awful crime of perjury has been thought nothing of."
This is giving the Tories as hearty a slap in the face as
Mr.: Roebuck gave them the other night in the Com-
mons. But this is not the first, nor will it be the last,
blow that the Times will give the Tories. It is noto-
riously a slippery party organ ; has strange fits, not of
manly independence, but of capricious waywardness ;
and will leave its friends in the lurch at the time that
they most calculate on its support. As the Baron of
BrLiwardine said to his guests, " Beware the hear !" so
we say to the Tories, " Beware the Tines !"
The Morning Post accuses the Liberal party of being
divided among -themselves, and hints at the same time
at the unanimity that exists among the Tories. The
unanimity of these latter is yet to be proved. As yet
they have had no time to exhibit discord. But when
Lord Stanley comes prominently into action with some
pet crotchet or other, such as his absurd "Irish Arms Bill,"
we shall confidently expect to see some very pretty quar-
relling among the Tories. The following are our Contem •
porary's words :—" While the Conservative body are re-
proached with having divisions among them, but exhibit
none, the party which takes the liberty of making the re-
proach-is palpably and practically divided upon what is at
preient considered the great question of the day, namely,
the law which restricts the importation. of foreign corn.
It would be great injustice to some of the opponents of
the present Corn-law to confound them with the rabble
of revolutionary blasphemers who make such a noise
about repeal,' and yet when Miristerialisti sum up
their forces they reckon all sorts of opponents of the
Corn-laws as belonging to their party."
The Chronicle says :—" It is a palpable fallacy that
the displacement of the present by a Tory Ministry is
essential to the satisfactory results' of a legislative
deliberation' on the Corn-laws. Those results cannot
be rendered one jot more or less satisfactory by the Chris-
tian name of a Secretary of State being Robert instead of
John. The satisfactoriness must be, if anywhere, in the
results themselves. If those results be wise, just, and
useful; if they tend to revive trade, to pron:ote steadiness
of price and demand, and to exonerate the commu-
nity from the class impositions of monopoly, then
they will be satisfactory, whatever Ministers be
in ; and if not, then they will be unsatisfactory,
whatever parties be out. No Government can make a
heavily taxed loaf satisfactory to the toiling inil-
lions. No confidence' can feed the half-famishing."
We agree with the spirit of the above remarks, that a
Ministry should be tested by its measures rather than
by its men ; but if these latter, from mingled prejudice
or self-interest, are notoriously incompetent to the task
of just. and enlightened legislation, then. it is fair to pre..
dune thatthe measures thy bring forward will partake
of their own incompetency. Men do not gather grapes
from thorns, nor figs from thistles, nor .cari a liberal re-
form. in the Corn-laws be expected from
.a Ministry
whose majority was gained by the Ch.andos clause, and
whose chief supporters are those who are entrusted in
maintaining the abuses of the Corn-laws.
The following is from the Herat :—", That portion
of the Queen's Speech which emanates from the Foreign-
office is quite characteristic of Lord Palmerston. .Its
chief assertion is a stupid, because. a notorious, falsehood.
The temporary estrangement of France is not at an
end, and the best understanding does not prevail
among all the great Powers of 'Europe. Lord Pal-
merston
deals only with verbal declarations or written
assurances, while the rest of mankind look to actions and
realities, and judge from practical and material results.
That Marshal Soult and M. Guizot desire to place
France on terms of perfect amity with England we
have no doubt ; but were the greatest obstacle
thereto removed—which is the savage and hos-
tile feeling, revived by the Treaty of July, towards
this country, entertained by nearly all classes of
Frenchmen—there would still remain an insuperable
difficulty, and that is—Lord Palmerston himself.".
The Worcester Chronicle thus alludes to the late Man-
chester Conference :—" Prayer meeting' may engage a
due share of attention, but awe is leisure also for • Corn-
law Conferences. No one, except such as profit by the
corn monopoly, who has read the valuable report of the
proceedings of this Conference in the Morning Chronicle
can justly accuse the ministers who composed it of misap-
plying their time, or hint that they had better been em-
ployed in prayer. Action is the test of sincerity."
The Stafford Gazette, alluding to the Queen's Speech,
says, " Ministers have, in the Royal Speech, raised the
question of the budget. They have, in that Speech,
presumed to dictate measures to the nation, though by
the angry voice of that nation they have been pro-
nounced unworthy of confidence, and utterly incapable
of guiding the reins of Government. The object of this
hitherto unheard-of proceeding is the hope of embarrass-
ing the Conservatives in the formation of their reply."

ELECTIONEMIUNC..
According to the resolution of last session for regu•
lating the order in which election petitions should be
taken into consideration, the names of the places were
drawn in the House of Commons last night from a box.
They Great Marlow, Nottingham, and Weymouth.
At Bradford, the two candidatQs in the field are Mr.
W. Busfield, of Upwood, who represented the borough
in the last Parliament on Whig principles ; and Mr. W.
Wilberforce, Conservative, late Member for Hull. Mr.
Busfield was.enly four votes lower on the poll than the
late Mr. Lister.