The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-01 00:00:00

Motnin Aims

LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1847.

When MACHIAVEL wrote . his " Prince " he so
far appreciated the difficulties of legislation as to
sanction the employment of the most questionable
means for the gaining of any political end. So
thoroughly was the mind of that profound thinker
impressed with the comprehensiveness of foresight
and the extent of analogical power required in states-
manship, that he found it impossible to purge from
his philosophy the cunning and reprehensible prin-
ciples which were prevalent in his day. What was
difficult in his generation is no less difficult in ours.
And the same great science of civilization which pre-
sented obstacles to the depraved and licentious saga-
city of the I3oecre3 has, in different epochs, presented
equally gigantic obstacles to LYCURGUS and ALFRED,
to MAHOMET and DRA CO, to RICHELIEU and CON-
FUCIUS. Whether we look to the pandects of Jus-
TINIAN or to the code of NAPOLEON, we shall recog-
nise, even in those miracles of human wisdom, the
magnitude and intricacy of the evils which must be
vanquished by the legislator. Nor are the evils op-
posed to the proper administration of the law less
numerous and embarrassing than those opposed
to the accumulation and fabrication of the law. In
each of the grand stages of legislation—the creative
and adMinistrative—the obstacles to government are
so enormous as to be almost incapable of exaggeration.
As Sir PETER Pate RUDENS said, we think it
was, of Meseccio, " It is impossible to speak of him in
language too extravagant," we ourselves might say
of these difficulties of statesmanship. The mainte-
nance of a country in a state of happiness and pros-
perity requires of itself a vast exercise of intelligence.
It is, therefore, easily comprehensible that in times of
general involvement and national destitution the ad-
ministrators and improvers of the law must be taxed
to the utmost stretch of their sagacity. Plain and in-
disputable as these things are, there are thousands
who regard them with either a real or pretended in-
credulity. We more than suspect it is the latter ;
we mire than suspect that the multiplicity of the
duties and responsibilities devolving upon an Admi-
nistration are wilfully depreciated by many for the
furtherance of their own selfish interests.
What we have just observed, with reference to
legislation generally, is peculiarly applicable to legis-
lation in our own country, and at this particular
period of scarcity and indigence. Indeed, the diffi-
culties inseparable from legislation are multiplied in
exact proportion with the progress of civilization and
the improvement of the constitutions of the empire.
To express this plainly—it requires less exercise of the
intellect to become a despot than to become the parent
and guardian of a nation. The preservation of a
proper balance among the interests and liberties of a
populous kingdom necessitates the utmost caution ;
the deliverance of a populous kingdom from want and
wretchedness necessitates the utmost precaution.
These truths are literally the A B C of political
knowledge; yet the ignorance or blindness of a large
portion of the community upon this point is so
obvious, that we conceive it would be well for them
to revert to their political hornbook, and relearn by
heart the chapters of their political catechism.
It is very easily to see that there is an enormous
amount of disquietude amongst a certain class at the
precautions adopted by the Government at this ex-
traordinary crisis ; and it is very easy also to perceive
the cause and origin of that disquietude. Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, like a prudent and sagacious statesman,
conceals from this class the precise proportions of
the debt which must ultimately be incurred by
the Exchequer for the alleviation of the pre-
sent distresses in Ireland and Scotland, and the estab-
lishment of permanent sources of prosperity where-
ever the existing evils indicate the insufficiency of
the existing system. The other day we likened the
miseries which have succeeded each other in Ireland
to the emergings of the destructive agencies from the
box of Pandora. We said, moreover, and we said it
with exultation, flea now those deplorable visitations
have streamed out upon that island, there is still a
residuum, as in the beautiful fable of Greece, and that
that residuum is Hope. Yet it is this last boon, this
last saving clause, this solitary cable which alone
prevents the vessel of Irish Government from drifting
out irremediably into the dark sea of national ruin
and debasement; it is this sacred solace—Hope—which
the class we have mentioned would eagerly destroy—
if they could. They know that it is the impera-
tive and solemn duty of a Prime Minister situated
as the present Prime Minister of England, is to em-
ploy every rational and honourable means for impart-
ing confidence to the popular mind in these hours of
peril. They know perfectly well that the machinery,
of this constitution is so exquisitely and intricately
contrived that the very exposure of its secret opera-
tions would inevitably throw it into confusion. They
know perfectly well that, while Lord JOHN Russee.s.
must in the end require an extraordinary loan for the
expenses incurred in the alleviation of the sufferings
of Ireland, it is for a million reasons as clear as the
daylight that it would be criminal in him to make mat-
ters worse by prematurely divulging the extent of that
ulterior loan. Yet, knowing these things, and ap-
preciating their justice, the great class of egotists to
which we are referring are indignant with the Go-
vernment, because, by postponing the announcement
of the additional revenue requisite for the emergency,
Government deprives them of that most lucrative
card--an,opportunity of turning money with a maxi-
mum of interest, and the State the borrower! When
the secrets of Government are known, these men

may, it is true, act prejudicially upon the national
interests by furthering their own, but, thank GOD,

,hey cannot arrive at those secrets, in defiance of the

wisdom and silence of the Cabinet!

Mr. Su A RMAN CR A wroRD has long been honourably
distinguished for the zeal and energy with which he
has applied himself to what may be termed the land-
lord and tenant question in Ireland ; he has made him-
self perfect master of all its details, and after ful
examination he has satisfied himself that to its prac-
tical defects, and the manner in which the letting and
management of land has been conducted in his native
country, much of its distressed state, and the dis-
ordered nature of its social relations, may be attributed.
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