The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-30 00:00:00

structive lesson for those who have been beguiled
into believing that the Tories are the friends of
the people, by the Tory assertion that " if capi-
tal and -poverty be let alone, capital will make
poverty its slave." While they say that, they are
fighting, as they avow, for the purpose of giving
political power to capital, or keeping politi-
cal polfer in its hands, to the utter exclusion of
poverty, in order that capital may do its will on
poverty unrestrained by any laws but those of
its own making, which it cunningly substitutes
for the laws of GOD. Their gross and grievous
inconsistency may perhaps be accounted for by
some blindness to the consequences of their own
assertions and principles, or it may be referred
to arrant and wilful hypocrisy ; but on either
principle they proclaim themselves the dire ene-
mies of popular rights, and the champions of the
abominable principle that the work of man's
hand is more worthy of estimation than man
himself. The Tories contend that property is
to be represented and man not.
But while they give this great power into the
hands of the capitalists, or into the hands of men
of property, they seem to look to some regula-
tions to be made by capital which will prevent it
encroaching on poverty. They first invest capital
with unlimited power over labour, by placing
legislation exclusively in the hands of the former,
and then they expect that it will make laws to
restrain its own wishes and desires. They remind
us of the Right Hon. Gentleman referred to by
Mr. BURKE in his speech on Mr. Fox's India Bill :

That is, he would appoint the old offenders to correct the
old offences ; and he would render the vicious and the foolish
wise and virtuous by salutary regulations. He would appoint
the wolf at, a guar.tian of the sheep , but he has invented a cu-
rious muzzle, by which this protecting wolf shall not be able to
open his jaws above an inch or two at the utmost. Thus his
work is finished.

Mr. BURKE was not disposed, like Tory Jour-
nalists, to place the power of controlling abuses in
the hands of those to serve whose interest they
originate. He added—

But I tell the Right Hon. Gentleman that controlled depra-
vity is not innocence, and that it is not the labour of delin-
quency in chains that will correct abuses. Will those gentlemen
of the direction animadvert on the partners of their own guilt?
Never did a serious plan of amendment of any old tyrannical
establishment propose the authors and abettors of abuses as the
reformers of them.

Our Tories, however, would confine the power
of restraining the tyranny of capital in the hands
of capital itself. We accuse them less of malig-
nancy than ignorance. They are led astray by
false analogies, by a reference to words instead
of things, and they deem themselves to be main-
taining a principle while they are perpetuating
an abuse. They say, in common with many
Whigs, that property has always been the prin-
ciple of representation in England, and they
only propose to preserve the principle of the
Constitution.

Let us grant that property has, if not always,
for a long period been the sign of representation ;
but then let us look at the circumstances of so_
ciety when it was established, and at the present
circumstances of society, and we may discover
whether it were reasonable then and reasonable
now.

When this principle of our Constitution was
established, society consisted mainly of four
classes, the great barons or landowners, the
smaller franklins, the landowners—serfs, and free
inhabitants of towns. To give the serfs the fran-
chise, would have been absurd ; the barons had
it by right of their swords or as a feudal privilege ;
and as the serfs did not own property, and,
above all, not property in land, the possession of•
that was held to be the sign of a freeman. The
franchise, then, was not conferred on. the
property, but the property was held to
be a sign of freedom, and freedom was en-
dowed with the franchise. We deny, there-
fore, that property was the original principle
of representation, it was freedom ; but, as in
other cases, the sign of freedom, property, has
become of more importance than the thing signi-
fied ; and freedom is trampled under foot that
property may be exalted.

A princiae similar to that which made our
ancestors assume property as the test of free-
dom in the counties, operated in making them
select the residents of towns, or the freemen of
corporations, as voters. They were emphatically
enfranchised and emancipated as compared to
the landlords' serfs, and it was not the possession
of a 101. house, or a house of any size, that gave
the man a vote, but his quality of a freeman,
contributing to the burdens of the town. We
maintain, therefore, in opposition to the assertion
that property has always been the basis of our
representation, that it was not property, it was
freedom, (as con tradistinguished from serfdom),
of which the possession of property was an in-
fallible sign.

The Tories are very fond of adhering to the
wisdom of our ancestors. We wish they would
adhere to it according to the spirit, which giveth
life, not according to the letter, which killeth.
At present serfdom is abolished. We are all
equally free. Property, instead of now being a
sign of freedom, is a sign of power and oppres-
sion. It enslaves poverty. Our ancestors, who
acted on circumstances, and were not bound, as
we are, by the dead words of their predecessors,
were theyin oursituation,would infallibly establish
the representation on the basis of population,
with a view of enabling poverty to resist being
enslaved by capital. Our Tories all talk about
it, and yet insist, like the Times, on capital
and property being exclusively represented.
Nay, they resist every attempt to give a re-
presentative to the present race of freemen as
a violation of the wisdom of our ancestors.

Want of modesty in a woman is not half so
offensive as a wanton display of party or na-
tional prejudices by a Judge on the bench. In
civil cases this is sufficiently disgusting ; in
criminal trials it is absolutely revolting. Without
any wish to palliate the dreadful crime of which
three Irishmen were capitally convicted at the
Glasgow Assizes, on Friday, we call the atten-
tion of our readers to some remarks made on the
occasion by the Lord Justice Clerk, the chief
Criminal Judge in Scotland. Before quoting
the words, it may be proper to mention a strange
feature of the trial. Three or four accomplices
were examined, and the evidence was considered
conclusive, whereupon the public prosecutor
simply asked a verdict of guilty against all the
prisoners, on an intimation being made by Mr
PATRICK ROBERTSON, the Counsel for the un-
happy men, that he would not avail himself of the
privilege of addressing the Jury in their behalf;
but leave their case in the hands of the Court and
Jury. This certainly was a strange departure
from the English practice, and from what,
hitherto, we believed was the universal practice

in Scotland. When three of the principal wit-
nesses were accomplices, and to a certain extent
guilty of the crime which they were called to
prove against their countrymen, there were
sufficient grounds at all events for the Counsel
addressing the Jury, without throwing up his
briefs, and deckling the fate of the men at once.
Lord MONCRIEFF summed up very fairly, but,
possibly owing to the circumstance mentioned,
judged it prudent to make the following- re-
marks:-
4, These men are strangers in our country ; they are of a
different religion from us; and I dare say it may be in their
imaginations that they are not in safe hands with us ; but
they know little either of the judicial seat here, or of a
a
British Jury, or a Scotti,h Jury especially, if they think there
is the slightest chance that they shall not 1:e dealt with with
our
ownreilrnigpi on.rtiality as if they were of our own country, of
Possibly this is true, but prejudice often gives
a bias to the judgment; and no man could con-
sider himself fairly tried if his jurors were imbued
e"
with such sentiments as those which seemed to
guide the Lord Justice Clerk. The
following
are his remarks, the first part of which certainly
is sufficiently intelligible—the other reminds us
of a character drawn by SHAKSPEARE

" It is a crime," said his Lordship, " I am happy to say, very
rare ineeed in this part of her Majesty's dominions, but it is
crime by no means rare in another part of her ,Majesty's dorm_
mons, from which these three prisoners have lately issued; and
I am too much afraid that the brutal conduct they see exhibited
in so many counties of that cwuntry, and the many eicapes from
justice there, have encouraged them to enter into this most foul
and deliberate murder, and to carry it into execution. But
atrocious as the crime is, the more unexampled as it is in this

country, the more necessary is it that it should be repressed
with the arm of the law. The Jury have done their duty in
regard to this case ; and; painful as that duty is, it only rernain4
for us to do bur duty to the country, in order to deter others
fr.,m crimes of a simi;ar description in all time coming."
This was pronounced in Glasgow—in a place
notorious for the most alarming combination
that ever existed, for murders but a short
time back that made the blood run cold,
and possibly in the presence of Sheriff ALI-
SON, who, in his evidence before the Cont
mittee of the House of Commons, drew such
a frightful picture of society in that very di:
trict which the charitable and Right honourable
DAVID BOYLE would hold up as a model to the
Irish people. Has his Lordship forgotten, too,
the murder of Mr. ASIITON—have his prejudices
blinded him to the notorious fact, that a number
of Englishmen bargained to murder, and did mur-
der, a fellow-creature for the price of 101., and
expiated the horrible crime on the gallows ?
Some of the workmen employed by this manu-
facturer had vowed vengeance against him for
some cause like that which led to the death of
GREEN; but, in place of committing the murder
themselves, they hired a man of the name of
GARSIDE, and two of the name of IllosLLv,
brothers, to perpetrate the foul crime, which was
ultimately discovered by one of the MOSLEYS.
This man appeared in the witness box, and gave
evidence which consigned his brother to au
ignominious death. Did the maligned Irish ever
commit such mercenary, cold-blooded murders
as this, or was Dublin ever so disgraced as Lon-
don has been within the last few years by tra-
gical deeds, one-half of which, as the Lord Jus-
tice Clerk says, have escaped the strong arm of
the law? A Judge who can thus malign a whole
nation, and encourage dangerous prejudices
against his fellow-subjects, is not fit to sit on
the Bench; and Irishmen may therefore say with
truth, that, in tome instances at least, they have
no chance of being dealt with in Scotland as
they would be dealt with in their own country,
or among men of their own religion.

The sudden death of General HARRISON, who
had been nursed in the cradle of the great
American Revolution, and who throughout an
honourable life boldly supported as a soldier, a
citizen, and a chief magistrate, the principles of
Government consecrated by that Revolution,
has naturally produced an impression of deep
sorrow throughout the United States. If General
HARRISON was not what is commonly called a
great man, he was at least a good one—a man
who regarded political power as a trust in which
only villains trafficked to advance their own in-
terests, or those of their friends. He had not,
like the majority of modern statesmen,
two consciences, one for his GOD and him-
self; the other for his country. The
bitterest of General HARRISON'S opponents
never denied him the merit of being an honest,
self-denying man, who dreaded nothing so much
as the growth of an aristocracy either of wealth
or of political influence, and whose policy, had
he lived, would have been directed to the putting
it out of the power of any future President, by
the help of a corrupt majority in Congress, to
overturn or undermine the free Constitution of
the United States. This course, it will be re-
membered, the late PRESIDENT indicated to
Congress in his inaugural address, only delivered
thirty days before his death.
The alarming crisis at which the financial state
of the country arrived under the Presidency of
Mr. VAN BUREN, and to which the sub-Treasury
and banking policy of that Magistrate was
supposed greatly to contribute, naturally directs
all eyes to General H ARRISON'S 'successor, Mr.
JOHN TYLER, who, as Vice-President, succeeds
ex-officio, by the lamented death of his chief,
to the direction of the government of the United
States. That gentleman has lost no time in
publishing an address to his fellow-citizens,
setting forth his principles, a copy of which
will be found in another column. We profess
our inability to comprehend in what sense
strictly to understand it. President TYLER
does not profess much admiration for the
political principles of his predecessor, and
holds out no pledge to carry on the
Government in the spirit which he had
intended. He agrees with General HAR-
RISON in thinking that a constant vigilance
should be exercised to prevent the growth of
unconstitutional power in the hands of the Pre-
sident; and he condemns sinecures and national
debts. But while he is for dividing the sword
and the purse, SD that one hand may not grasp
both, he is likewise for increasing the navy, and
for putting the country more upon a war footing
than he finds it. About banking and currency
he is silent, although these are by far the most
important questions which can occupy the atten-
tion of the American Government. Some of his
expressions are singularly infelicitous, as where
he says, " Freedom of opinion will be to-
lerated.' There are countries where freedom of
speech is not allowed, but we should like
to hear of the region in which the freedom of
thought is not tolerated to those capable of
thinking. Before thought has found a tongue it
is as much opinion as after it has been shouted
by a thOusand mobs ; but to assume the right of
tolerating it at so early a stage is to assume a
function to which human authority is not compe-
tent. But if by opinion the PRESIDENT means
the voice of the Republic, how is it that he dare
to propose tolerating that of which he himself is
but the creature ? Such language, as we said be-
fore, is very infelicitous. CLAY, WEBSTER, and
FORSYTH will consult the dignity of the high
office of President of the first Republic in the
world, by affording Mr. TYLER their literary as-
sistance in the discharge of his present arduous
duties. •

We are not here attempting to prejudge the
career of the new President. His address fur-
nishes no materials from which we can draw
other than " most lame and impotent conclu-
sions." But, among his countrymen, he enjoys
a high reputation for honesty and talent. We
haye not space for the extracts to this effect,
which we might glean from the American papers_
of every political hue, now before us ; and'
therefore, we shall only quote the following ex-
tract, from a letter dated New York, April the
10th, addressed to a Contemporary :
By the Constitution of the United States, the successorship
devolves upon the Vice-President, John Tyler, of Virginia.
In many respects his
.political opinions differed widely from
those of General Harrison, and of the party by which he was
elected. 'Mr. Tyler is a Virginian, of the state-rights party,
di,posed to construe the Constitution strictly, and opposed to a
national bank, a tariff, and the prosecution of internal im-
provements, by the General Government. He is alto opposed
to the exercise of the veto power by the chief ma-
gistrate, and believes in the right of the Feople to instruct
their public servants in the policy which they shall pur-
sue. He is a man of unbending integrity and unsullied
honour, and would refute to exercise any poser placed
in his hands in a manner adverse to the wishes of those
from whom he received it. During the canvass for the
Presidency, many important questions were before the
people, on which General Harrison was fully committed.
He was tin'Terstood to be friendly to the distribution of the
proceeds of the public lands, to a moderate tariff, to the re.
peal of the sub-treasury, arid to a national bank. His opi.
mons on these subjects are assumed to have been approved by
the people in his elevation to the Presidency. To this extent,
therefore, President Tyler will doubtless consider himself in-
structed by the people, and called upon to carry out their will.
if a national bank should be chartered by the next Congress,
he will doubtless give it, h'is assent. He has already given in-
dication of his intention to pursue the policy of his predeces-
sor, by retaining all the Members of his Cabinet, and exhi-
biting a general acquiescence in all his arrangements.
On all new topics, undoubtedly, President Tyler will
I.e guided to some extent by his own peculiar political
doctrines and views of the Constitution. Our Virginia Presi-
dents have always been the most popular and successful in
their administration. Of ten Pi esidents—Washington, Jeffer-
son, Madison, and Monroe, were natives of Virginia, and
served two terms of four years elch ; the two Adamses, from
Massachusetts, father and son, and Van Buren, from New
York, served one term each, and failed of a re-election ; Ge-
neral Jackson, from Tennessee, south-west of Virginia, en-
joyed the common popularity of our southern Presidents, and
served two terms. Harrison and Tyler were both natives
of Virginia, and both pledged to the one-term principle. On
this ground Mr. Tyler will not be a candidate for re-election;
but I have no doubt that his administration will be as strong and
popular as that of any one of his Virginian predecessors.

The Paris Journals of Wednesday have all
been received. The Government is disgracing
itself by its prosecutions of the Press. As tLe
September laws, allow Ministers to prosecute
journalists without the inconvenient formality of
an appeal to the honesty of a Jury, convictions ale
no longer doubtful. On Tuesday the responsible
Editor of the National was tried for publishing