The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-05 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Morning Herald commences an article on the sub-
ject of the present Ministry in the following terms :
" The most determined opponents to Conservative Go-
vernment must admit that the facility with which the
new Administration has got into working, is a prodigy
in the history of parties."—lt is easy enough for a
Ministry to get "into working," when it is resolved to do
little or no work. It is like slipping into a sinecure which,
when one has the power to do so, is the easiest thing
in the world. For our own part, the only thing that
surprises us is, the facility with which the new Admi-
nistration has got into a system of non-working, and the
diligent perseverance with which it follows up this sys-
tem. This really is, to quote the Herald's own words,
" a prodigy in the history of parties l"—In another
article, on the question of bribery at elections, our Con-
temporary exhibits a fine sense of horror, observing.—
" An Englishman cannot cross the Channel without
being reproached with the venality of his brother elec-
tors ; he will hear his countrymen accused of selling
their birth-right for a mess of pottage, and he cannot,
with truth, repudiate the charge ; he must listen to ac-
cusations, that England, which gave to modern society
well regulated and constitutional liberty, is now an
example of the worst excesses of representative Govern-
inent; and he cannot deny the fact. In short, bribery
and corruption at our general elections are a by-word
and stigma to England in every quarter of the globe ;
they have become to every patriotic and thinking man
at home perfectly intolerable."—And who have been the
great promoters of this system of bribery? The Tories.
The Whigs are certainly not immaculate, but it is the
Tories that have invariably been its chief promoters.
Their leading organs winked at their doings in this re-
spect, until the Tories had got all they were likely to
get by bribery ; and now they come forward and ex-
press their indignation at such a long prevailing system
of iniquity! Their indignation is of course all the more
genuine for having been so long bottled up.
In an article suggested by last night's debate in the
Lords, the Advertiser says—" The Earl of Ripon con-
cluded a ' no-nothing' speech by the audacious assertion
that if the Government had acted differently from what
they have, they would have deceived the people, and
that was the very last thing of which a Government
should be guilty.' It required no ordinary assurance for
a Member of the Peel Cabinet, whose whole stock in
trade is the deception of the people, to give utterance to
such a sentiment as this. The Duke of Wellington met
the question less adroitly, by confessing at once that he
had not made up his mind with regard to any alteration
in the Corn-laws. This avowal was perfixtly consistent
with the Noble Duke's assertion on a preiious evening,
that there was no real distress in the country from want
of food !' How long will the suffering millions submit to
such fraudulent evasion of their claims, such heartless
disregard of their destitute condition?"
The Times thus alludes to Lord Minto's nepotism while
at the head of the Admiralty :—" No sooner was the
Earl of Minto installed at the head of the Admiralty
than he constituted his brother, the Hon. George Elliot,
and his brother-in-law, Sir Charles Adam, two of his
assistant Lords. The late Sir Rufane Donkin, another
brother-in-law of his Lordship's, was created Surveyor-
General of the Ordnance. The renowned Captain
Elliot, of China fame, became shortly afterwards
her Majesty's Plenipotentiary to the Celestial Em-
pire. Presently, Captain Plumridge, another near
kinsman, was appointed Superintendent of the Fal-
mouth packets, and more recently transferred to
a snugger post, now happily vacated, in the Ord-
nance-office, Pall-mall. Then, when the prospect of
a change of Ministry seemed somewhat threatening,
the Hon. George was providently put into commission
and sent to push his fortune with his beloved cousin at
Canton. Subsequently to this, foreseeing the inevitable
expulsion of Sir Charles Adam from home employment,
the Noble Earl promoted him to the command of the
North American station. Anon, the Hon. Charles.
Elliot, of the Hazard, is suddenly raised to the rank of
post captain ; and last of all, though we have omitted
many minor jobbings, the Superintendent of Quarantine
at Stangate-creek is presented with a frigate in his old
age, in order to make way for Captain Loch, Sir Charles
Adam's cousin, who thereby; succeeded to a very com-
fortable supplement to his other professional resources.
Whether the Captain Elliot, whose incapacity has
necessitated his recal from China, have not received
another appointment elsewhere, appears to be some-
what uncertain."

The Post says :—" As for the leaders of the Whig
party, they adopted their new views of the Corn-laws as
a matter of finance. Under their management the public
Exchequer had become embarrassed. They tried the
ordinary mode of replenishing the Exchequer by in-
creasing the taxation of the people, but they failed, and
were afraid to go further in the same road. When men
combine ignorance with fear, they usually run into some
kind of extravagance. Having failed in what they un-
derstand, they seek relief in mystery and paradox. The
Whigs; finding that the increase of taxation which they
tried left them no better than before, desperately re-
solved to try what virtue there might be in reducing the
protecting duties which have heretofore been held essen-
tial to the prosperity of native and colonial industry."—
At any rate the Whigs are entitled to the merit—no
slight one--of having attempted a remedy for the dis-
tresses of the country ; while the Tory Premier, not-
withstanding he has pocketed his fee, refuses to prescribe
any remedy at all for his patient's malady. As he got
ill, so must he get well again • this is the Tamworth
quack's ideas on the subject, who, nevertheless was ex-
pressly called in to expedite, by his supposed skill and
experience, the period of convalescence. There is not
a quack in England, from Qoctor Morrison down to
Doctor Solomon, who would not be ashamed of such
conduct.

We quote the following statistics from the Chronicle :
—" The argument against the alleged extent and severity
of the existing distress, deduced from the deposits in
savings' banks, is worth about as much as that from the
number of patients admitted into the Manchester Fever
Hospital. The real test is not in the deposits, but in the
withdrawments. By Sir R. Peel's own statement, there
has been an increase, not only in the amount deposited,
but in the number of depositors. There are 1,200
persons in Manchester and Salford who have brought
money to the savings' Wink in 1841 more than had

done so in 1840. Now, what does this prove ?
Only that a new class of persons has taken to use
the savings' bank. That may very well happen, from
varioas causes, without the condition of the industrious
poor being at all improved ; nay, while it is under-
going progressive deterioration. The number of bank-
ruptcies has been increasing, in Manchester, at a much
more rapid rate than that of the number of depositors
in the savings' bank. Why did not Sir Robert Peel in-
clude that fact in his statistical argument ? But the true
test is in the withdrawments of money from the savings'
bank. While many circumstances may lead fresh classes
in society to resort to such an institution, and thus
present an increase of depositors and deposits, there
is but one main cause for withdrawments, and that
is, distress. How stands the withdrawments, according
to Sir Robert Peel's statement to the House on Thurs-
day ? Why, that during the months of July, August,
and September, in the years 1837, 1838, and 1839, the
average amount of withdrawals was 21,03 W.; in the years
1839 and 1840, for the same months, the average amount
of withdrawals was 23,800/. ; showing an increased pres-
sure upon the former contributors.; and in the same
three months of 1841 the withdrawals had a further in-
crease to 25,3561., indicating the continued and enhanced
effect of distress with a certainty that no addition of new
depositors can explain away."