The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-27 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

Earl de Grey's replies to the congratulatory addresses
of the Dublin Corporation, and of Trinity College, fur-
nish the Heratl with the subject of a leading article,
in the course of which it observes :—" It will be Earl
De Grey's duty, as it will be his pleasure, to render
Dublin attractive to the nobility and gentry of Ireland,
to make the metropolia of the island again the residence,
for a season of each year, of its wealth, its education, and
its aristocracy, and to cor.vert his Court into a school
where true patriotism may be taught, and whence a
national enthusiasm for the development of the great re-
sources of the country may be diffused throughout the
length and breadth of the land. No man can better in-
struct Irish landlords in the delights of a residence on
their own estates, in the mental joy consequent on the
appearance of well cultivated farms and a contented and
prosperous tenantry, and in the satisfaction of erecting
a residence on patrimonial lands occupied by grateful
dependants."—There is much good sense in these re-
marks of the Herald. By encouraging the residence of
the great Irish landlords on their estates, and dis-
couraging the prevalent evil of absenteeism by every
means in his power, Lord De Grey will be taking the
surest steps to promote the welfare, too long neglected,
of the Sister Country. It is thus, too, he will best diminish
the popular cry for Repeal, which will necessarily fall to
the ground the instant confidence and prosperity give
indications of taking up their abode in Ireland.
On the important question of the present distressed
state of the country, the Chronicle says:—" Appeals for
public charity, bankruptcies multiplying, incendiary
tires beginning,bread-corn rising, and aggravated distress
rapidly extening amongst multitudes ; such are the
fearful symptoms of what the condition of the country
will be through the coming winter. What, then, is the
first duty of every honest and good man ? Plainly, to
turn his best attention to the means of averting im-
pending evil, and of mitigating actual distress. This is
not a state of things to slumber upon. There is much
in it to reach the most callous feeling. There is also
something in it which might startle into thoughtfulness
the most obdurate selfism, if not absolutely infa-
tuated. What can be done ?' That is the one great
question on which every man should consult his
neighbour; or, what is better, task his own mind for a
reply. It is no mere mathematical problem, for the
solution of which the world may wait. The question
urges, from day to day. Already thousands are
half-famished, and disease stalks abroad. What can
be done ? The public mind demands an answer."—
And the only answer that Ministers deign to give to this
question of questions—the only notice they see fit to
take of it is—an exhortation to the people to wait coolly
and patiently, till they are at leisure to take their case
into consideration ! Not a word of a present remedy—
scarcely even a promise of a future one I No, they must
wait till next February ; they must be content to starve
on throughout the long, dreary winter months, at the end
of which time those who may happen to be alive, and
have not been carried out on four rough boards from the
workhouse, and flung like dogs into their grave, will
have their situation inquired into, with a view at some
time or other to have that situation remedied. Eels, said
the old fish-woman, are used to be skinned, and
think nothing of it. The people, say Ministers, are
used to be starved, and think nothing of it—consequently
they can afford to wait our time.

The Post says:—" It cannot be supposed that a Go-
vernment, which is no more than barely in office, should
have, either by its acts or its omissions, already affected
the condition of the great mass of the people. The cir-
cumstances in their condition which are complained of
are not of the growth of yesterday. It is quite true that
at any time these ten years the great mass of the fixed
wealth of the country, and a large preponderance of the
manual labouring power of the country, were closely con-
nected with the land—that they, in short, formed the land-
ed interest;' but it is not true that the landed interest bold
the governing power in this country during the period
specified, though it did hold a very important check
and control over the governing power."—lt was not ex-
pected that the Tories, immediately on taking office,
should have been able to remedy the distresses of the
country; what was expected from them was, that they
should have betrayed an honest disposition to investigate,
with a view to remedying, those distresses. But this
they have not done. On the contrary, they have dis-
played the most remarkable apathy, on every point, ex-
cept that of ventilating the House of Commons.
The following is from the Times :—" So numerous
are the verdicts of death from want of the common
necessaries of life' returned by coroners' juries, that Mr.
Assistant Poor-law Commissioner Mott, when engaged
in the task of vindicating from misrepresentation the
guardians of the Bolton Union, could not refrain from
travelling into a long digression, in order to account for
this unpleasant phenomenon. It is to be lamented,'
says he in his report, that verdicts should be given
implying such an awful neglect of duty as that of allow-
ing a fellow-creature to die of want without the most
satisfactory corroborative evidence.' Far more is it to
be lamented, say we, that restrictions involving such
awful consequences should be imposed on the adminis-
tration of the English Poor-law, against the deliberate
sense of the English people."

In an article on American affairs, the Ipswich Express
remarks as follows:—" Ministers having left our domes-
tic affairs to the chapter of accidents, we are for the pre-
sent chiefly indebted to Courts in other countries for in-
dications of the change which has taken place in our
own. War with the United States forms the unceasing
theme with the Ministerial journals, and sundry vitupe-
rative comments invariably accompany every statement
of border excitement on the Canadian frontier. There
inky or may not be in this a design to prepare the public
mind of this country for an American war; but it is, at all
events, too likely to pave the way for such a calamity."
The following is from an article on Toryism in the
Liverpool Albion :—" The people are not likely to tole-
rate the permanent stability of a Government whose
avowed object is to restrict commerce and keep up the
price of food, and who have entered upon their career
by adding largely to the public debt under which the
country was already bowed to the very dust."

MONEY—TRADE—COMMEIJOE.
In the neighbourhood of Ingatestone, Essex, upwards
of 300 railway labourers, in consequence of the bad
weather, have been for some time past out of work,
and are in great distress.

All the Jam grown on the island of Jersey is sent-
to England free of duty, and the Jersey people import
from France and the Baltic. The high duty in Eng-
land has made it more profitable to cultivate corn.
The orchards are fast disappearing, and the parsons
are petitioning the States for a fixed salary, as the
livings are so reduced in value it is hardly worth
while for any man of edncation to accept them. A
ship is now delivering from the Havannah, sugar which
will be sold to the Jersey public at 30. per pound of
two ounces more than the English. The English
shilling goes for one penny more. The principle of
free-trade is fully carried out there, and the Jersey
people go to the cheapest market regardless of free or
slave labour.

Such is the stock of ore in some of the iron-works,
says the Welshman, that only a certain number of trams
are allowed daily to the workmen ; this, in addition to
the late reductions of wages, makes the circumstances of
our workmen very distressing.
The line of the Manchester and Sheffield Railway ex-
tending from Manchester to Godley, a distance of from
eight to nine miles, will be opened in the course of a few
weeks.