The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-09 00:00:00

be unable to take them in March, because he
may not know how soon the insurrection will be-
gin. So with the Exchequer bill forgery and the
burning of the Tower; if those events, whichwere
wholly unforeseen in September, now justify his
putting off financial and commercial reform till
February, it will be thus quite impossible to tell
what similar events may happen before the end
of the year, and the Right Hon. Baronet will
find his whole scheme of legislation paralysed
by his ignorance.
The justification which the Times attempts of
Sir ROBERT PEEL'S mischievous conduct in post-
poning the relief of the people for nine months
will be found on examination, a complete justifi-
cation for never legislating at all. At no time
can a Prime Minister tell that a Tower will not
be burned, or a number of Exchequer bills not
be forged, before the end of the financial session
for which he provides; and, on the principles of
the Times, he ought never to provide fbr a ses-
sion of which he cannot foresee all the demands
it will make.

After all, the Right Hon. Baronet is going to
do something; he has appointed two Commis-
sions to inquire into the practices in equity,
and the means of levying the taxes at a less
cost. He means, if his Commissioners can be
brought to recommend it, to consolidate the
Excise and Customs—a plan which the Whigs
entertained, and made arrangements with a view
of ultimately carrying it into effect several
months ago. The Times is careful to inform us
that these are none of the popular reforms
which the people clamour for and the Whigs
would grant. It is quite right; the
Tories will never give the people what
they wish. They will throw out a little
bit of mock reform, a humbug consolida-
tion of offices, a new digest of equity pleadings,
or some such matter, as a tub to the whale ;
but the public are no longer to be deceived by
mockeries of this sort, and the result of such a
long delay, ending in such trifling improve-
ments, will only bring the strong Government
of the Tories into contempt.

The municipal elections throughout the United
Kingdom will show the Tories that the reaction
of which they have so long boasted is all on the
wrong side. With the exception of the imtna-
culate town of Liverpool, almost every borough of
any note has elected a majority of Liberal
Councillors. Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds,
Stockport, Derby, Hull, Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Gateshead, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork,
and a great number of other populous places, have
testified that they have no faith in the PEEL
Cabinet, that they are not fairly represented,
and that, whatever the Cabinet and the Parlia-
ment may do, they are resolved to manage their
own affairs on liberal and rational principles.
The vast population of many of these towns
is calculated to make an impression even
on the Duke of BUCKINGHAM. Three of them
together contain nearly a million of souls, and
most of them can boast of the intelligence, in-
dustry, and public spirit of their inhabitants.
The opinions of such men are not to be despised
with impunity.

The French political writers are the queerest
people in the world. There is no pleasing them.
If the Government happen to forget that there
is such a thing as law or a constitution in France
—a rather common occurrence by the way
—an outcry is raised by the Opposition
Press; the revolution of July and the shades
of the martyrs of the glorious days are
invoked to witness the transgression, and an ap-
peal is at once made to the patriotism of the
people. On the other hand if the Government is
the first to set an example of obedience to the law,
as in the case of allowing 2,000 men to return
to their homes, whose legal period of naval ser-
vice has expired, nothing is heard but shouts
and yells of fury on the part of the Opposi-
tion Press. These Journals do not conde-
scend to examine the claims of the seamen to
their discharge ; and the fact of their being re-
placed by young conscripts, only provokes
a contemptuous sneer. They have not sense
enough to perceive that by this system
France, in time of peace, makes the
best provision for war, by increasing
instead of diminishing the number of her seamen.
Should a war break out in Europe, the men who
are discharged now would be among the first to
respond to the call of their country, upon
the destruction of those who are to replace
them. But this plain truth is too obvious for the
far-seeing sages who assume the guidance of pub-
lic opinion in France. Were it otherwise, we
should not meet with such a ridiculous
rhapsody as the following in the National—a
fair specimen, by the way, of the outrageous
balderdash, upon this subject, which fills the
columns of the Republican press of France :

" The disarmament is ordained; it has commenced.
That fine fleet, our only glory besides Africa for the last
ten years, and which for three years made England
tremble, is dissolved, mutilated. And who protests
against it? A few isolated voices; and scarcely do
they excite in the inert mass a feeble echo which will
soon be silent. There is no longer any response
in that France once so susceptible, amongst that
people who, although they may have submitted to ty-
ranny under a veil of glory, never before submitted to
dishonour. How weak, how enervated, how cowardly
resigned we are become ! The Ministry is without
doubt culpable, but are we nat the first the greatest cri-
minals ? What would the great men who lead us be if
we were not so little ? How profoundly astonished
Europe, which has felt the foot of our ancestors on
its neck, must be at the apparent final quietude into
which we are sunk ! We have been frequently
told, that in 1814, the armies of foreign powers
entered with a sort of timidity on our soil. Ac-
customed to see us in their own lands, they could
hardly persuade themselves of the change of charac-
ters which had taken place. At every moment they
expected to see this nation, so frequently victorious,
rise, and with a single effrirt crush them. Even in the
intoxication of triumph they seemed to be under the ef-
fect of a feeling of repentance for some great act of rash-
ness. In 1815 on the contrary, they entered boldly ;
they then trod upon. a conquered land, and their inso-
lence knew no bounds, and just such has bean their
conduct for the last year. When the treaty of July 15
was signed all Europe was affected, and there was every
where a silence full of respect. As in 1814 even they who
were in league against us, and who were invading our in-
fluence, preparatory to an opportunity for invading our ter-
ritory, were not free from a feeling of great anxiety. They
have gone too far, said reflecting men ; they have too
deeply offended a country so susceptible on points of
honour. Indeed, there was a moment when France ap-
peared to warrant this feeling, but it was only a
moment. The Government disappointed the nation,
and the nation was false to itself. Europe then saw
that we were conscious of our weakness and defeat,
and became bold. This was a second 1815. Fear dis-
appeared from the minds of the other Governments of
Europe in proportion as it increased here, and when
fear had ceased with them so did respect. Thou came
concessions on the part of France. The miserable,
coward,lz, note of the Bth October, which will be the
eternal opprobrium of the Minister who signed
it% was the signal of the debacle. All that was now
thought of was to return at any price into the family
compact of Europe, and the scandalous participation of
France, in all the shame which had for a year been ac-
cumulating upon her head, was at length crowned by
the despicable convention of the 12th July, to which
even Louis XV. would not have affixed his signature."
The National proceeds in a similar strain of excite-
ment, and then adds :—" Have we now done all that
was expected from us. We may suppose we have,
for what more could be required ? What had
we in honour or power that we have not given
up ? Our old influence ? We have renounced it. Our
renown ? We have destroyed it. Our army ? We
have not 200,000 men that we could draw out in line of
battle. Our fleet ? It is dislocated, dispersed, destroyed.
It is now only a vain show, or half-effaced reminiscence?'

The most important political news in the
French Journals are the decrees of ESPARTERO
for abolishing the fueros of the Basques, and
suppressing the political Juntas formed to coun-
teract the late revolutionary attempt. These do-
cuments will be found in another column..
A Paris correspondent wrote on ti % Ast instant to the
Gazette de Flandres et Artois—" 1044, Philippe was yes-
terday made acquainted with klo, conspiracy at Brussels.
He immediately sent for M. le Hon, who, although Leo-
pold's Ambassador at Paris, knew not a word of tlaks,
news. Louis Philippe was much moved by the cirettm-
stances of the abortive plot. As soon as M. le Hon had
retired, the French Ministers who had been summoned,
arrived. A Council wag held, and took into considera-
tion the measures to be taken in case the conspiracy
conceived to be extinguished should break out again.
Marshal Soult is said to have offered an opinion that
several regiments should be sent in all haste to the fron-
tier, in order to awe the conspirators ; but M. Guizot, on
the contrary, thought that there was no urgency. I lis
said that Louis Philippe participated in this advice, and
that he wrote to Leopold with the result of the Council,
recommending him to act with rigour against the Revo-
lutionists, and promising that in case of emergency he
would march troops upon Brussels."