The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-10 00:00:00

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LONDON:
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1841.

It seems perfectly clear that the Whigs can
only recover their strength by falling back on
the people. That is the mother earth they
spring from, and they must touch it again to get
back into power. Accordingly it was well done
at the Whig dinner given to Mr. BYNG, on Wed-
nesday, to make "Extension of the Suffrage and
Vote by Ballot" one of the most conspicuous
toasts. It was well dune to place that toast
in the hands of Mr. WARD, who put himself too
prominently forward in resisting Mr. S. CRAW-
FORD'S amendment• to the Address, embracing
an extension of the suffrage. The Hon. Member
had :111k opportunity of explaining his conduct to
the salt sfaction of the assembly. He proved by
his conduct at the dinner that he was not hostile
to the extension of the suffrage, though from a
notion of Parliamentary etiquette, and a much
greater deference to the House of Commons than
the public think it deserves, he threw obstacles in
Mr. CRAWFORD'S way. The Hon. Member well
observed, enforcing on the Whigs around him the
truth we set out by stating, that the Tory aristocracy
could only be resisted by the middle classes en-
listing the sympathies and interests of the masses.
Conformably, therefore, to the true interests of
the Whigs, the party assembled at Brentford
advocated an extension of the suffrage.
But while the Whigs at that meeting were
propounding a just and wise doctrine, a Whig
journalist was inditing a.!paragraph deprecating
an extension of the suffrage. We copied it yes-
terday into The Sun, and from that it appears
that not only the Globe, which has been supposed
to speak the sentiments of some Members of the
late Cabinet, but the Morning Chronicle and the
Leeds Mercury, both being also leading organs of
the Whigs, are of opinion that the " Parliamentary
constituency wants expurgation much more than
extension." This is an unhappy schism, which
strikes at the root of all zealous co-operation
amongst all classes of Reformers, and shuts out
those who most need the aid of the people from
all claim on their support. The bulk of the
landowners, the bulk of the priesthood, and a
large proportion of men of property in the towns,
are opposed t 9 the Whigs. From them the Whigs
can get nothing, because they cannot pos,ibty-
serve Conservatives as well as Sir R. PEEL.
They can only get strength from the people, and
three of their leading organs contemptuously
reject the condition on which alone the people
can be even asked to support them. It may be
that the opinions of the journalists are merely
those of individual editors which are not adopted
by the party, but if so they ought to be publicly
disowned and reprobated. To give such a toast,
and not to repudiate the opinion of the presumed
organs of the Whigs, gives a colour of truth. to
the Tory accusation, that the Whigs arc double-
faced, and wish to use the people for their own
purposes, and will deceive and betray them.
The ground on which at present the Liberal
press people for support is, that
appeals to the
monopoly of all kinds is injurious ; but three of
the journals which make that appeal are the
advocates of a monopoly of legislation. Not
contented,
too, with the present narrow mono-
poly, they wish to make it narrower and more
exclusive.
If the Whigs mean to throw them-
selves wholly on
the Conservatives, and sepa-
rate themselyes altogether, and for ever, from
the original source of their power, they do right
in acknowledging the Globe, Chronicle, and
Leeds Mercury, when they advocate a more
limited and more aristocratic coustituency.
What is the motive for this suicidal policy ?
Not a principle, for neither of these journals
contend that one man or one class has not as
good a right to share in the Government, and
in making laws, as another. Neither will affirm
that the poorest man in the kingdom is not
affected by laws equally with the richest, and
therefore needs quite as much as the other the
political power which may serve to protect him
The immediate motive is, we are afraid, personal
vexation. The Whigs have been defeated. It
cannot be denied that bribery and intimidation
have contributed to that end, nor that
these lave been chiefly effective with
the poor and the dependent. Hence these
writers jump to the conclusion, that with
fewer poor and fewer dependent vusers the
Whigs would have triumphed, and hence they I
become advocates for Lord STANLEY'S plan of •
contracting the constituency. They would
fashion it to ensure, if possible, a perpe-
tual triumph to the Whig party and Whig
0
principles. They are rigid monopolists after
~, .., . tlaeir own fashion, and if they continue to es-
‘ la It !ri)gtl4 Igkiii principles, we must, in all cases, as in
"-----
c•-- ---ihiS c.dse, - arate ourselves from them.
'-- --"--' h ' t mot.
4,:r.,-.4,
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scp
. we for tl.is doctrine is the ter-
r4r-1 ' rible mistrulit which most of the upper and mid-
-4,7„---_, • dle have do the lower classes. They hate them
7 ---: as if._ the were conscious they had injured
. --_,-, < ••••• .
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