The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-02 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

Contrasting the present with the past Government
the Morning Post says :—" We have now an Adminis
tration which, if it announces its design of doing any
thing, will feel itself bound to carry that design into
effect. The present Administration does not intend to
provide itself with the covenient plea of having been
obstructed, as a sufficient excuse for failing in its pro-
fessed objects. What the present Government proposes
to do, it will do, or resign the Government into other
hands. It is clear that, in such a case, much caution as
to tho nnnnnncemcnt of intentions is necessary. Our
present Ministers do not intend to rest timir otthu tt,
public support upon what they undertake to do, but are
not able to do. They have no ambition to prolong their
administrative position, and their individual aggrandise-
ment, by such means. They will undertake nothing
hastily ; but what they undertake they will do. They
will announce nothing for the gratification of talkers,
before they have had time to consider whether
it is politic or not. When plans are really formed
they will be announced ; when announced they
will be undertaken in good earnest ; and, when
thus undertaken, they will be accomplished."—
If, as the Post observes (and it is 1:good authority on
such matters) Ministers will announce their plans when
they have formed them, then it is clear, from their pre-
sent dogged silence, that as yet, they have formed no
plans at all. And these are the men who came into
power with an implied pledge that they would hasten to
relieve the country of those distresses which, they assert-
ed, their predecessors had brought on it ! They have
now been upwards of two months in office ; they are fully
aware of the pressing necessities of the people ; they
know that the long, inclement winter months are close
at hand ; that discontent is everywhere prevalent ; that
gaunt famine, with despair and anarchy in his train, is
stalking abroad through the manufacturing districts ;
and that Swing has already begun to light his destruc-
tive torch ; and yet, though they know and see all this,
Ministers, on the showing of their own Journal, are, up
to the present moment, unprovided with even the skele-
ton of a remedy ! Was there ever such a set of per-
verse, short-sighted, ill-conditioned incapables !
The Herald observes, in reference to M‘Leod's case :

" We should do well, while our sinews are yet strong
even for the very conflict which, had M'Leod been con-
demned, must ere now have taken place, but which his
acquittal has providentially averted, to assume a firm and
inflexible attitude in enforcing the immediate and unequi-
vocating settlement by the United States of dormant ques-
tions and latent pretensions which can be left unsettled
by no Government honestly desirous of maintaining
peace. The north-eastern and the western boundary ques-
tions are of this kind. It as little consorts with
the honour of Britain as it favours the dark and
unprincipled designs of those lawless adventurers who
seek their own bad ends and private aggrandisement
from the spoliation of British territory and property—
to leave in lingering uncertainty the formal specification
and establishment of the respective frontiers of the two
Powers in those regions."—The spirit of this, however
carefully disguised, is one of strong animosity towai ds
America, and cannot but have a mischievous effect.
Why talk just now about the United States equivocating,
respecting the settlement of the boundary question ?
Such a sneer can have but one result—namely, that of
exasperating still further a country with whom it is our
interest, not less than our duty, to cultivate amicable

relations.
The Chronicle says—" Sir Robert Peel will not be so
easily allowed to forget the time he so pompously asked
for. That time is the iron which has entered into the
soul of the people ; and should he dare to meet Parlia-
ment with poor, mean, contemptible measures, a burst of
indignation will greet him, that will send him once more
into private life. Of this the landed interest' is be-
coming painfully aware ; and they are becoming pain-
fully afraid lest their Prime Minister be tempted to
be a little extravagant in the way of falfilling some
of his promises. So now they are setting their organs
to work. So be it. Blackwood intimates that, at
some distant period, Sir Robert Peel may be gathered
to the House of Peers, after his timous labours are over.
So be it also, and let him him take tempos fugit for a
motto. Meantime, he had need rise early and sit up
late ; for assuredly there is a tempest brewing that will
test his principles. All we hope is, that that tempest
will not sweep down something more valuable than the
sliding scale' and Sir Robert Peel's Premiership."—We
are not alarmists ; but we do most firmly and conscien-
tiously believe that a tempest is brewing which, if not
looked to in time, will sweep away something more than
a Tory Ministry. The signs of its approach are
already visible on the skirts of the horrizon. "Far off
its coming glooms." Let who will suffer by it ; one thing
is certain, that it will fall with crushing power on the
Monopolists. The very sullenness of the people is one
of the surest indications of danger. It is the deep,
ominous lull that foretells the approaching hurricane.
The following is from the Edinburgh Chronicle:—
" When will trade revive ? The intense interest attached
to this question is not confined to the manufacturing
districts. In every part of the country the inquiry is
anxiously and constantly made—' When will trade re-
vive ?' All ask what none can answer. The vital ener-
gies of the nation seem prostrate, and not the least
prospect as yet appears of returning animation. From
almost every manufacturing town, the cry is ruin, ruin,
and increasing misery."
We quote the following from the Cambrian :—" It
cannot be expected that this district can escape, more
than the rest of the country, its share of distress re-
sulting from the blighting effects of monopoly. Ac-
cordingly we shall be prepared to hear from time to
time tidings of sufferings and privations as the
rigour of the season increases. Already the iron in-
terest knows not where to turn itself to find a vent for
its products. Stocks having accumulated beyond the
demands of the markets, forges become extinct, and
workmen silently suffer for want of work. The condi-
tion of the mining districts is getting truly lamentable."
In a leading article on the present state of the country
the Leeds Times says—" The gloom of winter is now
fast gathering around us, and thick clouds seem alike to
envelope our physical atmospheres. The wail of deep
distress comes up from all the haunts of industry : the
manufacturing and the agricultural districts echo with
the cry of mourning and lamentation: labourers and ar-
tizans droop their heads in idleness, and with their wives
and families retire into the remote corners of our towns
and cities to starve and to die in quiet. Shrinking even
from the light of the sun; and without human sympathy,
save of those as wretched as themselves, the poor dumb
tortured millions pine away in silent submission and
hopeless misery. There are nevertheless a few ominous
symptoms abroad, that the starved classes are in a des-
perate state, and ready for the commission of retaliation
and revenge upon the more fortunate portions of society."
MONEY—TRADE—COMMERCE.
The quantity of metal annually converted by the
French mints into coin—is 433,240 English lbs., produc-
ing 48,000,000 f.; 5,000,000 being in gold, and 43,000,000
in silver. It appears that there are 50,000,000 francs'
worth of copper money in circulation namely,
10,000,000 f. in royal sous, 19,000,000 f. in bell metal, and
21,000,000 f. in sous of the republic. This mass of metal
weighs 22,320,0001b5.
ECCLESIASTICAL.
Bishop Phillpotts has issued a charge to the Rev.
H. B. Head, announcing that he has appointed Commis-
sioners to inquire into a paper published by him res-
pecting the Lord's Prayer. The Bishop declares that
he will proceed against him with the utmost rigour, and
the Rector, equally headstrong, is determined to re-
sist to the last. We hope the Bishop has found his match.
The case of the Rev. A. Loftus v. Mary Ann Loftus,
his wife, which has been a long time pending, came be.
fore the Ecclesiastical Court at Sorwich last week, when
the Judge decided that the charges against the husband
were not proved, and that the wife must return under

his roof.
A vestry meeting was held at Leicester on Thursday
for the purpose of asking for a Church -rate, when after a
very uproarious discussion, only one hand was held up
for the rate, and forests of hands, says the Leicestershire
Mercury, were raised against it.
NAVAL. AND MILITARY.
According to accounts from Halifax, North America,
there were in that port on the 18th of October eight vessels
of war, among others her Majesty's ship Winchester, 50
guns, the flag-ship of Sir Charles Adam.
The Hampshire Telegraph states that it is now defini-
tively settled that the West India Mail Packet Company
will make Southampton the rendezvous for their steamers.
Ten persons were drowned on Thursday morning off
Blyth, a small seaport, twelve miles north of Newcastle.
It appears that they went out to try a new life• boat,
which was capsized by a heavy sea, and out of eleven
persons in it, only one was saved.
NLECTIONEERING.

At the close of the Registration of the West Riding of
Yorkshire, the clear Liberal gain is 468.

TYNE ARTS.

••••
The National Gallery opened yesterday for the first
time after the long recess. This public and gratuitous
exhibition contains upwards of 180 paintings by many
of the most celebrated artists of the different countries
of Europe.

THEATRICAL.
A meeting of the Drury-lane proprietors was held
on Saturday, when it was stated that the theatre had