The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-09 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Times, speculating on the probable course of
Sir R. Peel's policy, says:—" He will govern Ireland,
like every other part of the British empire, upon the
principles of equal justice, and with the full determina-
tion of vindicating the supremacy of law." This is
plausibly enough said, but who is to understand what the
Right Hon. Baronet means by the "principle of equal
justice," as applied to Ireland. A Tory notion of jus.
tice in this respect is apt to be a very erroneous one, and
to border very closely on pure despotism. In the fol-
lowing passage the Times evidently gives Sir R. Peel a
hint of the propriety of putting down the Dublin Repeal
Association :—" Nor should we expect him to look
tamely on, while an organized society collected subscrip-
tions and held public meetings for the purpose of esta-
blishing an independent monarchy at Birmingham or
Manchester : if Ireland is treated in the same way, what
right can she have to complain ?" If the Tories attempt
to put down the Repeal Association without giving
Ireland some redress of the many wrongs of which she
complains—and this they are likely enough to do—they
will find that, instead of diminishing:, they will only be
adding tenfold fresh fuel to the flame that already rages
in the sister country.
The Herald, recurring to the Iva-worn question of the
Corn-laws, observes,—" If corn were high, the wages to
purchase would be in proportion ; and therefore there
ought not to exist such a:condition of distress. If corn
were low, low wages would still bear their proportionable
relation for the means of purchasing low-priced corn.
Therefore, under that state of things, such a condition of
distress ought not to exist. Finally, if corn were, low
and wages high, it would seem impossible that *such a
condition of distress could co-exist with. thrit relation
between wages and prices. We undertake to show, in .
a future article, that manufacturing.distress on a scale of;
enormous extent has prevailed Coincidently with each of
these conditions of the pried of corn and the rate of
wages." •

The Advertiser strenuously insists on the necessity of
an immediate extension of the. suffrage :—" The inte-
rests of the many must continue to be sacrificed to the
prejudices and interests of the few, so long as the present
contracted state of the electoral qualification is suffered to
remain. The aggressions of Toryism in its most ultra
and audacious forms, can never b' successfully re-
sisted until the franchise be enlarged to at least such
an extent as shall include all the householders of the
land. The result of the recent elections affords demon-
strative evidence of this ; and has called forth, from
one extremity of the empire to ar.other, a louder
cry
- than was ever heard before in favour of household
6uffragp. To that loud and universal demand for an
extended suffrage, we would entreat Ministers
to respond in the approaching Speech from the throne,
if they would wish to retire from office with credit
to themselves, and amid the plaudits of the people."
The object of the Reform Bill was chiefly to benefit the
middle classes, who may be said to have been almost the
only great gainers by it ; and we think it is now full
time that a still further reform should be granted, which
may include those immediately below the middle classes,
and by whose active, zealous exertions, it was that the
first Bill was carried. An extension of the suffrage,
conjointly with the Ballot, would produce this desir-
able effect.

The Morning Chronicle remarks :—" Admitting,
for argument sake, the superiority of the rural popula-
tion and the depravity of the urban, we again ask how
are the latter to be disposed of ? The process of starva-
tion is slow. The shutting up of the factories may throw
the operatives on parochial relief ; but the farmers, who
insist that there are labourers enough for their purposes,
will be unable to bear the additional burdens of several
millions, for whom there is no work, and whose vices
will contaminate their purer dependents. "What is to be
done with them ? Will Lord Francis Egerton answer
the question ?" This is the very question—more im-
portant than all others—that Sir Robert Peel has so
often been called on to answer, and yet it is the very one
to which he either cannot, or will not, give any reply.
The Morning Post states that Mr. O'Connell's
public purposes are revealed in every speech he makes,
and that they are to " ripen the spirit of insurrection in
Ireland until it can no longer be restrained, un!ess by an
overwhelming military force, and, with this view to lead
the Irish malcontents to rely upon the aid of the foreign
enemies of England." Ireland is the Tories' weak point ;
and whenever it evinces a more than ordinary disrelish
of their policy, they invariably cry out, as in the present
instance, that its great leader is busily projecting an in-
surrection.

The Leeds Times, commenting on the present state of
affairs, remarks as follows :—"Sir Robert may think that
he has now obtained a power by which to stay the :ad-
vancement of reform and revolution ; but let the hour of
trial come when it may, he will find himself utterly
powerless to control the progress of events. Circum-
stances, are even now working out the ruin of his party."
The Devonport Independent thus defines the cha-
racter of Sir R. Peel's policy :—" What will Sir Robert
Peel do ?—ls the question. The answer is—precisely
as he has done before—accommodate himself to circum-
stances—cat his own words, and belie his own professions,
if expedient so to do. He will do as much as he must,
but no more than he can help."
The Cambrian, remarking on Sir R.Peel's reserve,
says, "However unpalateable to the plain honest mind
of the country such unworthy silence on its vital
measures may appear, we ought not to grudge the
short period of suspense during which the actor re-
hearses his part and lays on his paint. We can
only remark; that in history no great man was ever
known to malse a secret' of what in hi; opinion, w,4s best