The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-14 00:00:00

Etrtuftg .Im4

LONDON, FRIDAY. AUGUST 14, 1846.

The operations of Parliament are, by a merciful dis-
pensation, accelerated as the termination of eaeji ses-
sion approaches. If we might be permitted to trace
an analogy between what is august and what is
merely commonplace, we should hint that this faculty
in our legislators resembles the instinctive manner in
which the horse is observed to mend his pace on ap-
proaching the conclusion of his journey. Grouse,
and stubble, and relaxation, are to the former what
chopped beans, a cleanly manger, and idleness are to
the latter—namely, a wholesome stimulus and a ra-
tional lure. In accordance with this circumstance,
the Sugar Duties' Bill has passed rapidly and
smoothly through the Commons, and precisely upon
the same principle it is receiving a generous welcome
from the Peers. Last evening, after an amendment
by the Bishop of OXFORD, that this Bill should be
read a second time that day three months, and which
amendment was rejected by a majority of eighteen in
A House of thirty-eight, it was read a second time,
ind ordered to be committed on the following day. A
tew fleeting hours, and her MAJESTY'S sanction to the
measure will be alone required to bring it into
operation.
Whenever the prelacy takes upon itself to
interfere in commercial legislation, it imme-
diately becomes a matter of curiosity to dis-
cover upon what precise plea that venerable body
of senators bring ecclesiastical astuteness to bear
upon monetary transactions. Mammon and world-
liness are things so entirely inimical to the genius
of Christianity, that we are almost unconsciously
impelled to scrutinise the motives of such a start-
ling interposition. We have scrutinised it in this in-
stance, and however much our conclusions may be
opposed to those deduced from the Ministerial propo-
sition by the Right Reverend the Bishops of Ox-
FORD and of LONDON, we cannot but altogether exone-
rate them frotn being actuated by petty or interested
c.efirepetq Indeed, we could almost find it in our
hearts to admire the obliquity- of judgment which
has, in the instance of these ecclesiastical Peers,
evolved such moral symmetry. And we should pos-
sibly feel the more inclined to utter such an eccen-
tric and one-sided panegyric, because, in the present
case, we could afford to do so with impunity. By
lauding the motives of a WILBERFORCE or a BLOM•
FIELD, we could not be taxed with deserting the
cause of free trade at a moment when its safety was
perilled, or its stability dubious. The paucity of
noblemen, whether Protectionist or Ministerial,
who decided as to the postponement of the
second reading of the Sugar Duties' Bill is,
assuredly, a sufficient indication in itself that the
mind of the aristocracy is definitely settled as to
the destiny of this and all similar measures of
mercantile reform ; that the sticklers for the
protective system know that " their game is
up ;" that the promoters of freedom to trade
are indolent, in the consciousness that the
victory may be achieved without their being required
to wag a finger. They know that the waters of com-
petition have broken through their unnatural barriers,
that they require no impulsion to flow onwards and
to fructify the world by their irrigation. Aware,
therefore, of the certainty of ultimate triumph
to that noble and humanizing cause which
it has been so long our privilege to advo-
cate, we can avail ourselves of that conviction
to express our admiration for the manifest motives of
the two Prelates already mentioned, and our reverence
fur those benignant principles which were so beauti-
fully and so nobly avowed by the Right Reverend
the Bishop of OXFORD.
The Bishop of OXFORD declared that he believed
that the Sugar Duties' Bill would act " as a stimulus,
and as a bonus on that great crime, the slave trade."
Believing that, he inveighed in earnest and eloquent
language against a measure of this character—a mea-
sure which, according to his view, was to sweeten the
viands of our own labourers by the wholesale murder
and excruciating torments of the unfortunate Africans
—a measure which,: in his opinion, could only produce
us a very questionable advantage (perhaps slightly
increase the comfort of our poorer population, and
find additional employment for our manufacturers),
by bringing new agonies to the poor blacks, by
dragging millions of fresh victims across the Atlantic,
by excoriating their backs by more stripes, and
grinding them down to a state of more hope•
less and intolerable degradation—believing that
such would be the consequences of this
measure, it is not surprising that the Right Rev.
Prelate should speak in language of the most per-
suasive adjuration, that the earnestness of his fea-
tures should betoken the earnestness of his whole
soul, that the tremor of his voice should betray the
bleeding of his heart. We believe, and we most
cordially acknowledge, that we believe the Bishop of
OXFORD to be sincere. His voice, his manner, his
language were an assurance—his name was
an assurance. The most frigid sceptic could not
presume to tax with hypocrisy the owner of a name
so memorable in the annals of consistency and bene-
volence. The most heartless believer in the univer-
sal corruptibility of human nature would pause before
he taxed with insincerity a man who is kith and kin
to that illustrious philanthropist whose effigy has
been enshrined by a grateful nation in the
shadow of Westminster Abbey. A WILBERFORCE
speaking upon the slave trade is not one of those Par-
liamentary occurrences in which we could amuse
ourselves by collating the adroitness of the rhetori-
cian. It demands a more serious consideration, but,
above all, it demands that the imagination and the
nobler passions should be Eubservlent to the judgment.
Otherwise the prestige of the speaker would be likely
to warp the latter by enkindling the former.
So impassioned were the remarks delivered by the
Bishop of OXFORD that the calm and rigid rationality
of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE came after it like a
relief. It reminded one that nothing is so liable to
delusion as benevolence ; it said to us, " Yes, in GOD'S
name, let us endeavour to root out that damning vice
of slavery, and to do so most effectual and speedily,
let us adopt this measure, which is erroneously
pronounced to be its encouragement!" It required
the placid manner and the shrewd sense of a LANS-
DOWNE to counteract the mistaken fervour and con-
tagious kindliness of a WILBERFORCE. Howbeit the
Bishops have spoken generously, though injudiciously,

4
4.>
', 'lll „„ .fl u, • MA, . ..,..vr / 4,,
. ~,,, • - , -
- • -. e ...," v^-.r.• , 7 . -, •-• b----
,iyf , , , , • , •m o , .
' p--\