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

puerile, because it is manifestly and absurdly false. Whether
it was desir•ubie to leave the Corn-law untouched while the
timber duties and stigat duties are altered, is a different ques-
tion; most indisputably it was possible. And to allege (as
Lord Melbourne in substance does) that financial embarrass.
ments, arising from his o•rn ruinous nzisniandgement of the
public resources, have made it necessary to bring off "a most
violent struggle, stirring society to its foundations, and leafing
behind every sort of bitterness and animosity," is profligate be-
yond expression ; it is equivalent to a denunciation of himself
and his colleagues as worthy of impeachment. When then,
after all, is the peculiar and pressing emergency of the present
moment? Plainly, that Lord Melbourne and his colleagues
have just now lost the confidence of Parliament andthe country,
and must resign, unless, by stirring society to its foundations,
arraying the commercial and agricultural interests in dewily
bitterness and animosity against each other, and taking their
side with the former, they can contrive, upon a dissolution, to
gain such a majority as may enable them to fester on a few
years longer in the infamy of salaried contempt.
HERALD.—Our readers saw, in our Parliamentary report
of Monday, that Lord Stanley, in answer to a question put to
him by Mr. Smith O'Brien, said it was not his intention to
proceed with his Lush Registration Bill on Wednesday next
(this day)—he intended to postpone it for a fortnight. We
know not for what reason the Noble Lord has interposed a
fortnight's delay to the prosecution of so important and salutary
a measure—a measure intended to purify from one of the
foulest systems of fraud and perjury that ever existed the Par-
liamentary registration of Ireland. We cannot believe, with
the Globe, that this is only a step to the abandonment of the
Bill altogether; we do not think that Lord Stanley is the man
to labour in the vain toil of a Sisyphus, by rolling the stone up
the hill only that it may roll down again. The Globe, indeed,
boldly asserts that we shall hear no more of Lord Stanley's
Bill during the present Session, nor in the next, except
some new source of dissatisfaction arise between Sir Robert
Peel and his party, and Lord Stanley be again prompted
to try his " 'prentice hand" on Irish legislat►on, in order to
gratify his own restless ambition, and to show that he is pre-
pared to step into Peel's place so soon as an opportune occasion
presents itself. It is quite new to us, as we believe it is to
most people, that Lord Stanley's Bill was originally introduced
because of differences existing between that Noble Lord and
the acknowledged leader of the Conservative opposition. Our
friend of the Globe is not unaccustomed to exercise a poetic
faculty on historical subjects, and to draw from his imagination
the evidence of his facts; in the present instance he has car-
ried that propensity to an inordinate length, as we believe that
it is perfectly well known that Lord Stanley originally intro-
duced his Irish Registration Bill with the perfect and cordial
concurrence of Sir Robert Peel. On the whole, we Lave no
doubt if Lord Stanley presses on his Bill with his usual energy
and determination, Ministers will meet the alarming exigency
of the case by pressing on a dissolution ; but not until they have
got hold of the sinews of war by carrying, if they can, their
financial measures.

POST.—Very justly has it been stated by a Morning Con-
temporary, possessing great influence in the mercantile world,
that the advocates of Corn-law repeal practise a gross delu-
sion upon the working man, when they tell him that the pro-
posed benefit to be derived from the repeal of the Cern-law
would find its way into his pocket. If, continues our Con-
temporary, " if this were so, we should hear very little of the
Corn-law grievance from its most active opponents, the hiero-
phants of the political economy school and the overgrown cot-
ton Lords." Most just, we say, are these statements, and they
are of the very highest importance to the great mass of the peo-
ple of this country. If they will consider the subject of Corn-
law repeal calmly and dispassionately, and as practical men
ought to do, whose daily comfort is concerned in the mat-
ter, they cannot, we think, come to any other conclusion
than that which has been pointed out. They cannot fail
to perceive that the clamour for Corn-law repeal is nothing
but the outcry of the grossest selfishness—the most heartless,
grasping cupidity, the object being to take a greater advan-
tage of the poor and helpless than can be taken at present, and
to grind down the labourer to a more dependent condition than
he is in at present. Let it not be supposed that there is any
heat or exaggeration in this view of the case. We believe it
to be as capable of demonstration as any point can be which is
inferred from probabilities and general experience. The ca-
pitalists of the political economy school are jealous of the Bri-
tish labourers. They think these labourers take too large a
toll ont of the capitalist's profits. They believe they could
have the labour they require performed by foreigners at a
cheaper rate, or that by allowing foreign labour to come
into competition, the British labourers would be forced
by hard necessity to accept a worse remuneration than
they now receive. Harshness, excessive harshness, to
all who have no capital is the rule of the political economy dis-
ciples. To make the utmost profit on capital is the sole ob-
ject, and to do that labour must be ground down to the lowest
scale of remuneration. Those who are able to work must be
afforded but the lowest wages, and those who are not able, or
who cannot find work to do, must be allowed only the barest
pos'ible amount of subsistence by the public, and must be
frightened from the acknowledgment of destitution by the
grinding severity of au ungenerous and inhuman poorhouse
discipline. This, we say, is an exaggerated, unimpassioned
statement of the philosophy of those who are most clamorous
for Corn-law repeal. Such " philosophers" deserve the
abhorrence of the labouring multitude, and not their sup-
port. These cruel, heartless clamourers for repeal of
the Corn-laws, talk of the " monopoly which the land-
owners insist upon maintaining—the monopoly of sup-
plying this country with corn. But surely the labourers
must see that if there be any monopoly, the landowners have
but a small share of it. We grant they have a share, but by
far the largest share is that of the labourers. Who is there so
egregiously ignorant as to suppose that the rent which a farmer
pays his landlord is anything like the amount of the wages
be pays his labourers ? Every body knows that the farmers sell
the produce of their tillage lands for six times the amount of
the rent. What becomes of the rest? Why, it goes to pay
various expenses, of which labour is the chief. The effect,
then, of the Corn-laws is to give to British labourers the mo-
nopoly of supplying Great Britain with food, and this is rea-
sonable, because, if they had not this monopoly, the .foreign
landowners and labourers would undersell them, and their em-
ployment would cease ; and there is no other existing means of
supplying them with remunerative employment.

ADVERTISER.—Of all the considerations which weigh
with us in favour of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's budget,
there is none more cogent than the debt of justice which it dis-
charges to the poor. The Poor-law Amendment Act was a
severe but a necessary measure, intended alike for the protec-
tion of the capital and property of the country, and to throw
the people upon their own resources—their own steady industry
and prudence—as the best safeguard against destitution. But
it implied that the channels of industry should be free ; that
every shackle and impediment to the exertion of enterprise
should be removed; and that, if the people were not to count
upon subsisting upon the resources of others, they should
enabled, so far as righteous legislation could effect it, to
subsst upon their own. Owing to the predominance of class
interess in this country, the friends of free trade in the
Government were unable to carry into effect what ought
to have been the wings or riders of the Poor-law Amendment
Act ; they were Compelled to await the time when the necessi-
ties of the country should teach the lesson of honesty and jus-
tice. They saw the cotzntry gentlemen relieved to the extent
of millions, by the econorni enforced by the Poor-law; the
oppressions of the tithe-systen; removed, and other measures
of relief afforded, and yet were doomed to• behold the just
price and compensation of these beneilts withheld. More than
that, the very interests so largely benefitted were found to
fraternise with Chartism ; to foster discootent with the Go-
vernment on account of the Poor-law, by which those bene-
fits had been secured, reckless of the eongortence which
might follow to the peace and good on:Ler of the
State. Mr. Walter, and his late proceedings at ,Notting-
ham, typify this class of Toryism. So that the people
be excited, it matters not what may be the cause ; indeed, it
would seem to be better if, Machiavel-like, they could hatch
the mischief out of their own malignity, and then attribute it
to the enemy. During the period which has elapsed since the
passing of the Poor-law Amendment Act, the Government
have been engaged in a continual effort to secure and enlarge
the political rights by which all other things can be secured ;
and a survey of the results of their untiring exertions will
show that, in spite of their failures and disgraces, they have
realised to the nation immense benefits. That their work has
been arduous, and their success less than they might have
hoped, are not causes of blame to them, but to their oppo-
nents, who planted the obstacles, and made success impracti-
cable. At last, having conquered many political positions,
they have, with judicious skill, applied themselves to
secure the practical advantages and to make up lost ground,
which :they could not contend for earlier with any chance of
success. In the release of the three great articles of corn,
sugar, and timber, in which the poor are so largely interested
as consumers, and net less as labourers, the Government will
provide some degree of compensation for the severities of the
Poor-law. It will no longer be a harsh injunction "to go
elsewhere, and find relief by your own right hand," the means
being all the while denied ; but there will be opened to him
a field of exertion, which will, to a great extent, enable him to
protect himself from the necessity of having recourse to the poor-
rates. The demand which will grow up for English manufactures
to be exchanged for foreign corn, must give not an occasional im-
petus to trade, but one constant and unlailing ; and a result not
less favourable must Sow from the relaxation of the duties on
the other articles of sugar and timber. Thus in both ways, by
an additional demand for the labour of the poor, and by a di-
minution in the price of the principle articles of their consump-
tion, the resources of the poor will be increased—events,
doubtless. to be deplored by the Tory and the Chartists, inas-
much as by producing contentment and prosperity they are
calculated to lessen the ranks of the friends to disorder arid
faction ; but events which will bring joy and gladness to every
honest patriot, as realising the objects of his efforts to improve
the political condition of his countrymen. It pleased the
Tories, when political organization was the main object
of contention, to hold the doctrine that there were other
things to be contended for of far more value ; but now they
repudiate and seem to think that political contention is
the endantdasien; of enlightened politicians. For political or-
ganization the Whigs fought as the means to attain ameliora-
tion of the condition of the people, because the latter was hope-
less without it, Having attained the former as far. as possible,
they now aim at the latter. Whip high, and whip low, how-
ever, the Whigs, like Sleridan's Drummer-boy, are incapable
of giving satisfaction to the Tories under the lash of defeat, for
such it is in point of principle, notwithstanding majorities
gained by an appeal to every factious interest, or mortified
ally or renegade. We have addressed these remarks to the
poor, to the labouring classes, "as the parties most immediately
concerned in the measures propounded by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. It is emphatically a poor man's budget; not, indeed,
confined to the relief of the poor—for as they are relieved so must
the rich be in like proportion—but making the improvement
of the condition of the poor—of the largest number of con-
sumers—the main object of his care. This is enlightened
policy in all senses ; the best statesmanship both as a financier
and as a politician ; and albeit some classes may clamour, the
people at large will have the wit to see their interest in it, and
will lend a less noisy, but more certain support. There
should, however, be no delay in the expression of popular sen-
timent. It should be immediate, clear, and unequivocal. Nor
is it a mete party matter. Unless the people are disposed to
quarrel with their own bread and butter they should make the
advantage which the Chancellor of the Exchequer offers a
common concern, and postpone party talk till they have ena-
bled him to carry his measures. If a Tory should counsel
the contrary, tell him a " bird in the hand is better than two
in the bush ; ' and that what the Tories will giVe will be taken
when the Whigs will give no more.

EXTRAORDINARY MONUMENT. —ln the
church of St. Florentin there is a sepulchral monument, repre-
senting a sarcophagus with the figure of a dead Christ in it,
and seven other figures standing around it. These represent
St. John the Baptist, INicodernus, Joseph of Arimathea, the
Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalen, and two others of th me
e won
mentioned in the gospel. The figure of Christ represents
Philbert Babou de la Bourbaisere, to' whose memory the monu-
ment was erected. The St. John and INicodernus are his sons,
Jacques and Philbert. One of the holy women represents his
wife, dame Madame Gaudin; and the Virgin lary,wife, Mary
Magdalen, and the other female figure, are the likenesses of
her three daughters. This is all vastly well 1 but who is the
eighth statue ? Who is the tall, handsome figure which per-
sonifies "the jut man, who waited for the kingdom of God?"
Joseph of Arunathea, reader, is nu other than the gallant
Francis 1., who thus takes his place among this "united" fa-
mily, so highly honoured by this permanent association with
their sovereign, no less naturally than condescen
dingly,
characters
e u
the
that the exemplary mother, as well as all three of the seeing
ladies, who have so appropriately chosen their
family group, were all .of Ahem, one after the other, his mis,
tosses.— Trollop's Simmer ht. wot
ern France. •