The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-05 00:00:00

ago, personal slavery—hardly yet extinguished
in some States—existed throughout Europe.
Most of our institutions are derived from that
condition of society, and to uphold them is the
great object of Conservatism. Though the pro-
gress of civilization and the extension of trade
have raised a numerous middle' class in society,
and have in some sort emancipated the lower
classes, our institutions have not kept pace with
these changes in the condition of the people.
Between Conservatism, which seeks to uphold
the dead letter of the law without regard to the
living spirit of society, and the masses of the
community, there is a continual strife. The true
source, then, of the difficulties of the Govern-
ments of Europe is their unfortunate opinion
that they must resist and control the ten-
dencies of society. Those, we repeat, are to
freedom and democracy—the Governments of
Europe have sought to uphold slavery and aris-
tocracy. _

W e will take them in the order mentioned by
the Times. In Russia the Conservative cause
has undergone no depression. Despotism is, as
heretofore, unmitigated, save by the lash-, which
performs the duties of a bowstring, and keeps a
refractory or drunken CZAR obedient to his
Nobles. The great expenditure of Russia within
the last ten years was caused by its efforts to
annihilate the nationality of Poland, to dismem-
ber Turkey, and extend its own dominion over
the territories of Persia. Conservatism has been
always strong in Russia, and that was the first
State to increase its debts in a season of peace.
Austria followed. No democracy has made
head in Austria. No adventurers have there ac-
ceded to power. No places of profit have been
created for the purposes of corruption. Prince
METTERNICH has governed in peace for up-
wards of a quarter of a century, and Austria was
the second State to augment its debt. He was
alarmed at the growth of freedom abroad, he
was afraid that the iron yoke of Austria would
be broken in Italy, and he kept a large army on
foot to crush the rise of freedom in every part of
Europe. If Switzerland be yet a prey to anarchy
and subject to vast expenses, it is mainly due to
the selfish intrigues of Austria, which has kept
the aristocracy there in power, for the purpose
of impeding the success of the democracy.
France saw in 1830 the momentary ascendancy
of the democratic principle, and saw it betrayed
the next and every following- year by the Citizen
KING, in whose hands, in total violation of the
democratic principle, France blindly placed iti
destiny. The Citizen KING, forgetting his origin,
made common cause with the ancient conserva-
tisms and aristocracies of Europe. Some adven-
turers have indeed climbed to power in France;
some offices have been created for the purposes
of corruption ; but the expense thus entailed
on that country has been one franc in ten
thousand which have been expended to main-
tain Conservatism and Royalty in France, in
opposition to the democratic tendencies of
society.
Has anything different occurred in England?
No. The Whigs excited the democracy in 1830,
failed to gratify it, and, for the last six years of
their administration, have laboured, in conjunc-
tion with the Tories, to resist its demands. Now
and then they gave way, but their obstinate
maintenance of the Corn-laws, the refusal to ex-
tend the suffrage, the slow grant, and the
long denial of Reform to Ireland, the determi-
nation to maintain, at all hazards, the Church
there against the demands of the people, the
coercion directed against the Chartists, were all
sources of expenditure for the Government, and
of diminished resources for the people. In
England, therefore, as in France, the increase of
the expenditure, and the slow increase of the
revenue, have been caused by the striving of the
respective Governments to resist the democratic
tendency.
We therefore differ entirely from the Times,
and ascribe the necessity for contracting debts,
' which has been felt and acted on by all the Go-
vernments of Europe, to those Governments not
being in harmony with their people, and to their
foolish attempts to model" society after their own
hearts, thwarting and controlling the democratic
tendency. They have brought the Governments
of Europe into conflict with the people, and how
that great conflict—the great conflict of our time
—may end, no human eye can foresee, no huma-d
heart conceive.

As long as the Tories were completely masters
of the Legislature there was nothing the
omnipotence of Parliament could not accom-
plish. Corn-laws, it was supposed, could keep
the price of corn perfectly steady at 80s. the
quarter, and Corn-laws were passed. A law-
established and law-extended Church can,
without any doubt, said the Tories, ensure
the morality of the people, and society was shook
to its centre to support and extend the Estab-
lished Church. An array of frightful punish-
ments, which were greater crimes than the crimes
they were instituted to prevent, was expected to
put a stop to criminality. A police, it was sup-
posed, would guide every man and every woman
aright, and give an ALFRED security to pro-
perty. Individuals were born according to law,
baptised under the same direction, and were
married and buried by regulations. Trade, the
Tories said, was to be promoted and regulated
by laws, and the fetters of protection were fixed
on every branch of industry. In short, there
was no part of society, when the Tories had the
complete control of the Legislature, which could
not, they opined, be improved by legislation,
and they accordingly sought to make laws for
every domestic, every private, and every public
relation of every individual.
At present, however, the Tories are not mas-
ters of legislation. The people have got a voice
in it, and insist, somewhat pertinaciously, that it
be exercised in a particular direction. They de-
mand employment, wages, relief. Because
the Legislature, under Tory guidance, has un-
dertaken to regulate everything, the multitude
believe that it is omnipotent, and they demand
satisfaction. Suddenly the Tories alter their
tone :

" It is the vice of the present time," said the Post
yesterday, " and a very lamentable vice it is, to regard
Acts of Parliament, and public institutions, as if they
were capable of doing everything—of securing whatever
is desirable and good in human conduct, and guarding
against that which is evil. Christianity—philosophy—
experience—all teach a very different lesson. Good in-
stitutions are great and valuable auxiliaries to the prac-
tice of virtue, but the main thing is, that people should
be virtuous. If they are not, it is in vain to expect that
the enactments and forms of law, or that public institu-
tions, however liberally and loftily framed, will secure
just conduct, and constitute an insuperable bar in the
way of evil-doers."

In order to make our people virtuous, the
friends of the Post reduce robbery to a system,
and lend it the sanction of solemn enactments.
" And with regard," says the same Journal,
" to all that is said about legislation for the re-
lief of distress and pauperism, it would be very
well, also, to take counsel from the same philo-
sophers." Then it quotes NIEBUHR, who recom-
mends public writers to devote themselves to
the education of children, to give the hand of
friendship and consolation, if they have nothing
else to give, to the poor; and, of course, in our
case, allow the (Tory) Government to pursue its
own mischievous career, unchecked by any
public opposition. Herr NIEBUHR'S advice
would be very good, if statesmen were not just as
weak and wicked as the rest of mankind, had
they not as many blind and base passions to
gratify, and did they not continually use the
power Kith which they are entrusted to aggran-
dise pi ivate individuals or classes.

This is our case here in England. Legislation
has long been exclusively in the hands of a class
who have made laws exclusively to aggrandise
themselves and their supporters. They still have
the power of making laws and were the people
in silence to allow them to pursue their own
course, they would soon raze half our cities, and
leave just slaves enough to minister to their
necessities. Englishmen cannot sit still under
our present laws without suffering great. damage,
and they know that the law-makers-are wedded
IQ their, bony.. - - •.
What they ask, however, rightly .11ittrOstiTh

is .not new laws, but the repeal of the old laws.
We do not say that the legislator can model
society according to his own plan ; on the con-
trary, we say he has tried, and has signally
failed; and now, when the Tories are requested
to abstain from the attempt, and begin by abo-
lishing some of their most pernicious enactments,
we are treated with a homily on the impotency
of legislation. We agree with the Post—the
legislation of its friends the landlords has been
a complete failure; and we shall be content if it
will join with us in calling on them to nullify
their own acts, and replace society under those
better principles the Post enumerates.

In our article on Sir ROBERT PEEL'S ever-to-
be-celebrated fever returns, we pointed out,
from his own documents, that it supplied one
striking illustration, by the increase of fever
patients in 183 S, the first year of slack trade and
deficient harvests, of the mischiefs inflicted on
the community by withholding food. A Cor-
respondent of the Morning Chronicle has sup-
plied us with some additional illustrations.
There is a town of the empire, (he says,) in which a
board constantly sits, for the special purpose of hunting
out cases of fever, and giving the earliest notice of the
invasion of an epidemic. This town is Edinburgh, and
if Sir Robert Peel have any candour left, let him read
the following table, and blush for shame. We have
coupled with the report of cases of fever in Edinburgh,
for seven years, the return for the same period of quar-
ters of corn imported into Great Britain and Ireland.
This is one of the best indications of the imperfection of
the harvest, and the degree of suffering of the people.
It is, indeed, by no means an unerring index, and we
know all the risk of giving such insulated facts, when
dealing with so accomplished a trickster as Sir Robert
Peel. Very likely, in pursuing the same fact through a
course of years, large importation may be found coinci-
dent with sufficient employment and health on the part
of the people, because some other cause, studiously con-
cealed by the Right Honourable Baronet, will have tem-
pered the severity of the seasons. We leave such inge-
nuity to the gentleman who understands "dressing a
case" and his colleague and accuser, who is not less ex-
pert, notwithstanding his sentimental and religious
affectations.

Quarters of Corn Cases of Fever
Imported. in Edinburgh.
1839 375,789
1833 .... 83,714
1834 64,552
1635 27,529
1836 30,096 B4l
1837 244,086 972
1833 1,834,453
1839 2,681,390

Sir Robert Peel has now stated his opinion that " a
Minister of the Crown should not silently hear that
thousands in this country were actually suffering from
typhus fever from want of sufficient food ;" and " that a
subject of this kind should not be heard without in-
quiry, and the result of that inquiry ought in sonic way
or other to be communicated to the House." Will he
now grant inquiry ? or will he set his ponderous wits to
work out some new dressinc, for his case, plausible only
to the empty and jingling heads on the benches behind
him ?

If fever returns are to be quoted in the con-
troversy, what better illustration of the fever-
producing effects of short commons can be found
than these facts? From 1832 to 1837 inclusive,
there was comparatively plenty of food; we had
no occasion to import much ; the average prices
were respectively—

1832 ... 58s. Bd. 1835 ... 395. 4.
1833 ... 525. 11d. 1836 ... 48s. 9d.
1834 ... 465. 2d. 1837 ... 535. 10d.

And in those years the fever patients were only
the half, or one-third of the number in the years
1838, 1839, when the importation was nearly
2,000,000 quarters per year, and average prices
were high—in 1838, 645. 4d., and in 1839, 705.6 d.
Either Sir R. PEEL must instantly hasten to put an
end to this frightful condition of society by admit-
ting food, in spite of the awful responsibility taken
on himself by the iron-minded Duke, or he must
admit that, notwithstanding his Parliamentary
skill, he is wholly unworthy to preside, at such a
contingency as the present, over the national
councils.
There is one consideration connected with such
returns, which ought to influence a statesman, who
is too apt to consider only the strength of tle
whole, without troubling himself about the -dime_
tion of the units which compose it.
..L statisti-
cal writer says, that about 1-2,J:,:t1 part of the
community is continually th prey of sickness,
and unable, for the time toeing,to contribute to
the wants of the community.
Admitting then (s'to quote the passage) that the annual
mortality is 2.13. per cent., after the corrected returns,
and that tte population of England and Wales is
14,000,0
C.,0, the total number constantly disabled by sick-
Zss'win amount to 600,000 persons ; and if the same
oportions be extended to Scotland and Ireland, to
1,130,000. This reduces the efficient population of the
empire 1.24 th part, and the productive power, so far as
it dep€nds upon human labour, 1-18th part, if the main-
tenance and attendance of the sick cost half of the pro-
duce of their labour in health.— Vital Statistics : Sta-
tistical Account of the British Empire.

A dearth, therefore, or a deficiency of food,
which, judging by the fever returns of Edin-
burgh, augments the number of sick probably a
third, to that extent impairs for the time the
national resources. rutting out of view the suf-
ferings of the individuals—for which we know
selfish, avaricious, and iron-hearted Dukes care
not one straw—this diminution of the national
strength and national resources ought to have
some influence over politicians. By allowing the
supply of food to be increased as much as possi-
ble, not merely more human beings would be
called into existence, but those who were so
called would enjoy more health, and a happier
existence, and contribute more while on the earth
to the wealth and strength of the community.

Lord FITZWILLIAM'S letter to Mr. GOODMAN
of Leeds, inserted in yesterday's Sun, explaining
that, as her MAJESTY at present held no Courts,
he could not present the Leed's Memorial to her
personally, without intruding on her in a manner
which the memorialists would be the last to sanc-
tion, should serve to put an end to the expecta-
tions still nourished by some of our Liberal Con-
temporaries, that some Peer will demand an au-
dience of her MAJESTY to present to her the me-
morials of her people's distress. It may be a
misfortune, but it is undoubtedly one of the
consequences of having a female on the throne,
that the SOVEREIGN cannot be approached and
agitated with business—particularly business of
no pleasant nature—at all times. The memorials
to the SOVEREIGN will, we presume, be con-
veyed to her through the usual official channels;
so that her MAJESTY'S masters, and the people's
tyrants, will keep from her all knowledge of
their condition and their wishes.

We rejoice to read the noble sentiments and
language which were used at the meeting at Li-
verpool. Neither the broad cloth, as Mr. RATH-
BONE styled die middle classes, nor the fustian
jackets who. originated the meeting, are disposed,
to lie down and allow the Tory aristocracy to
squeeze the wealth out of one, or trample the
other out of existence. They know, as Mr. HGL-
LAND expressed it, that the Prime Minister seeks
for time, in order to reconcile the discordantele-
ments of his Cabinet, looking to a season of dis-
tress to frighten the BUCKINORA.MS and tne
KNATCLIBULLS into a sense of justice, or to a,
season of returning prosperity, to rr...fieve him
from the necessity of thwarti.ag the mono-
polists. He knows that if the people sub-
mit to starvation through the winter, spring
will bring relief and hope) and he may
then take his own measures to rivet in peace
Tory shackles on the community. But we are
assured that the people will not submit to starva-
tion to confirm the theories of the Duke of
WELLINGTON. and give a triumph to the duke
of BUCKINGHAM. The strong language ap-
plied to the Corn-laws at the luceting
says
plainly, that they are properly appreciated as 3a
a matter of principle; and all sense of justice and
religion must be swept out of the minds of the
people before they again tamely acquiesce in the
continuance of the Devil's laws.

the idol of the Conservative).
Poor Alderman Tuomsox, sr
'veryrecently
fallen under the bann of 1, • of Sunderland, has
:.s old Tory worship-
pers. His political file
attions have grave names
applied to them by +'
ne Conservative magnates of
that venerable 1-
to °mantes 'orough; his portvtit is no longer
•are Lis -74. it Excharge.buildings ; nor
.4rtnot to iliyeet the ,-thirsty traveller to
.012 pite best treble X. is t6.19e Otainect. 'The
Crvativei‘.oe 'Stuiderldlid do- not .like-being
J jilted by such everyday catches as the Alder-