The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-13 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

Alluding to an article that appeared in an Evening
Contemporary last night, recommending Sir R. Peel to
look before he leaps, and to consider whether State pro-
secutions will prop up the Corn-laws, the Morning Post
remarks as follows :—" It is known that Sir R. Peel
habitually looks before he leaps, and is more inclined to
look too long than to leap too soon, a disposition of
mind in the Right Hon. Baronet which has had the
effect of giving additional security to his actual position,
but which had the previous effect—for which the Whig-
Radical faction ought to be deeply grateful—of enabling
them to retain place and pay for some two or three
years at the least after they had become objects of
suspicion, contempt, and aversion to the country"—
The Post is right in asserting that Sir R. Peel is more
inclined to look too long than to leap too soon; but the
worst of it is, that for all his looking he never sees any-
thing. He has been looking—God knows how long !
at the Corn-laws, yet he cannot see that they are a nui-
sance requiring to be promptly remedied! He has been
looking also, ever since the days of Huskisson, at the
restrictions upon commerce, yet he cannot see that these
restrictions ought to be considerably relaxed! Of what
use, then, is his looking, if the more he looks the less
he sees? The truth is, he is one of those purblind, short-
sighted, narrow-minded statesmen, who can just see the
length of their nose, and no further, and who are resolved
to look at those things only which make an agreeable
impression on their senses. .

tfhe Herald contains an article, suggested by the ap-
proaching execution of Blakesley, the murderer, in
which it deprecates all capital punishments, as at vari-
ance with the scheme of Divine Justice, and adds ;
f' Does the infliction of capital punishment on criminals
deter those who, from vicious propensities, temptation,
or any peculiar condition of circumstances, are mostlikely
'to engage in criminal practices, from giving into them ?
We reply, with the strongest evidence to back our opi-
nion, No.' The desperate man or the profligate,
the hardened, the abandoned, the penniless vagabond—
or the idle but sturdy ruffian, attends a public execu-
tion as students of the classes in our colleges and
hospitals attend a lecture. He goes to study the de-
portment of the condemned at his last hour. He does
not conceal from himself that his own career, in all hu-
man probability, must be of brief continuance and violent
termination. He knows, beforehand, that he himself
could bear anything but the horrors of reflection on his
offences and his fate, if he have any—reflection ; if he
have not, then, of the weariness of hopeless imprison-
ment. But he is gratified to find the obscure and miser-
able companion of his debaucheries or his burglaries
transformed into an object of eager public interest."
The Chronicle, speaking on the subject of Ireland, ob-
serves:—" All the evils of Ireland have resulted from
the existence of a system of double law. The landlords
have introduced one law for themselves, which the people
have always repudiated ; and, on the other hand, the
people have retained their traditions derived from their
own laws, such as they were, which existed before the
invasion. There are literally at this time two nations,
and two systems of law in Ireland."—lt is these, and
other grievances, that have armed Mr. O'Connell with his
present power. Would the Tories deprive him of his
power? Let them hasten to do justice to Ireland, not in
a niggardly spirit, but fully and generously. We fear,
however, that it is not by Tory means that the great
Agitator will be shorn of his prodigious influence. So
long as the present Ministers rule the helm of State, so
long will Ireland continue to be a thorn in the side of
England, and Mr. O'Connell the powerful demagogue he
has been for years.
Referring to the Rev. Mr. Sibthorp's recent conversion
to Catholicism, the Times says For ourselves, we
blame and regret the secession of Mr. Sibthorp, and we
see no more reason to anticipate that the men against
whom the censure of our Contemporaries is directed
will follow him in this respect than that they would imi-
tate him in the sale of his church to a clergyman of
views opposite to their own. Nor can we see any pro
liable ground for mistrusting their consistent perseverance
in the doctrine, which they have always taught, that Ca-
tholicity is to be found in the Church of England. That
Church could not affordito lose either them or their prin-
ciples ; nor would they gain any thing, upon their own
principles, by separating from her."—That Puseyism is
the first step to Catholicism has been acknowledged by
others beside the Rev. Mr. Sibthorp; and such being the
case, we still think, notwithstanding the hypothesis of
the Times, that these zealots would only be acting con-
sistently and conscientiously, by hauling down the fake
colours under which they are at present fighting, and
following the example of Mr. Sibthorp, who professes
to have been convinced and converted by their Tracts.
The Advertiser says :—" It is of the essence of Pusey-
ism to repudiate the right of any man to think or act
for himself. It demands the surrender of his private
judgment, and the independence of his action, to the
teachings and injunctions of the Church. Men are to be
mere machines—passive agents. equally in civil and
religious matters. Hear the Church,' is the sum and
substance of Puseyism. It sets aside, with unceremo-
nious hand, the Bible and the Constitution ; and would
compel universal obedience to its despotic dicta. It
usurps authority over the State and the Sovereign, and
is prepared to trample on Monarchy itself, should it dare
to oppose its designs."—This is strong language, but
nevertheless it is a just definition of Puseyism ; and we
defy any thinking man, who has read the Oxford Tracts
with attention, not to come to the same conclusions as
our Contemporary. Puseyism, however it may deny
the imputation, is in essence neither more nor less than
Catholicism. It tramples, equally with the Vatican, on
the right of private judgment; passive obedience is the
leading feature of its creed ; and he who adopts and
does his best to promulgate this creed, has no right to
remain longer within the pale of a Church which
professes toleration, and as such virtually repudiates
Puseyism.
The Coventry _Herald, speaking of the rejoicings on the
birth of the Prince of Wales, says :—" The general joy
must be much less perceptible by reason of the thick
cloud of adversity which presses down the millions of
our industrious and deserving population into the depths
of distress ; for it is beyond the possibility of doubt,
with any who have a real knowledge of the state of the
poor, that poverty—we may safely say a murderous de-.
gree of poverty—abounds. Such an amount, and so uni-
versal. that no efforts of private benevolence can make
the least perceptible general impression by way of abat-
ing it ; for however great and earnest those efforts may
be, the evil grows so rapidly as to baffle all such exertions."
The Leeds Mercury observes—" At the very time that
we see the French woollen exports increasing so fast,
and the English woollen exports declining so fearfully,
what is the price of Food. paid by the manufacturers of
the two countries respectively? Why, this very week,
Bread is 60 per cent. dearer in London than in Paris!
Is there no connexion between these facts, viz., flourish-
ing trade and cheap food in France, and failing trade 1
and dear food in England? It is worth the while even
of so great a statesman as Sir Robert Peel to inquire. It
is almost as important an inquiry as that of how many
clerks, excisemen, and tidewaiters can be got rid of in I
the collection of the revenue."

We quote the following from the Durham Chronicle :
" The • money-power' is at present, chiefly in the hands
of the large landowners ; and its effects have been most
sensibly felt in the operation of the Chandos clause of