The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-20 00:00:00

PTIBLIC OPINION.

In a leading article suggested by the proceedings of
the late Manchester Conference, the Chronicle makes the
following remarks:—" We regret to be obliged to ob-
serve that there is but too much foundation for the re-
semblance which has often been discovered of late
between the aristocracy of France before the Revolution
and the present aristocracy of England. The French
aristocracy refused to pay their share of burdens to the
State. The English aristocracy not only refuse to pay
their share of burdens, but actually avail themselves of
their power as Legislators to tax the industry of the
country for their separate profit. At the revolution in
1688 nearly the whole of the public burdens were levied
on land. Since that event, which gave the powers of
Government to the great proprietors, the landowners
have contrived to throw all the burdens off
their own shoulders to those of the other classes."—
There is a greater likeness between the French aristo-
cracy before the Revolution, and the present English
aristocracy, than is to be found in the fact that both
refused to pay their share of the burdens of the State.
The English, equally with the old French, aristocracy,
hold themselves haughtily aloof from the people ; en-
courage a special ignorance of their pursuits and feel-
ings ; refuse to assist them in their distress by sound
remedial measures of legislation ; and even reject all
ideas of sympathy with them. Can they wonder, then,
that the people look on them with other feelings than
thosesof respect and gratitude ? Rank is fast losing its
false glitter in the eyes of the country at large ; and
the time is approaching when an English nobleman must
have other recommendations than those of a star or a
coronet, if he would desire to maintain the respect of
the people.
The Post says :—" The opponents of the existing Ad-
ministration tauntingly demand of its supporters in the
public press what are the projected measures of which
we are illustrating the principles, or the necessity, or
the tendency ? The answer to this is plain enough.
The existing Government did not come into office
under any pledges to any particular measures.
They came into office in consequence of the House
of Commons avowing, by a large majority, that
it had no confidence in the late Ministry, and
that it did not approve of the plans put forward by
the late Ministry for raising the public revenue
to an amount equal with the public expenditure."—
We agree with the Post in these remarks. The Tories
did not come into office from any merits of their own,
but solely from the demerits of the Whigs. They did
not come in " under any pledges to any particular mea-
sures," because no really serviceable measures were ex-
pected from them, except by those who are more san-
guine than sagacious. It; therefore, they give nothing
—which is by no means unlikely—they will, at least,
have the consolation of knowing that they have not dis-
appointed the public, for nothing was expected from them.
The Times makes the following hap-hazard observations
in reference to the recent great Manchester meeting :
" Another Anti-Corn-law meeting has taken place, and
Manchester, the great centre of the cotton trade, has
been the scene of it. Again the items of distress have
been minutely particularised, and again the pernicious
attempt to excite the people against the laws and the
Legislature has been renewed by their pretended and
self-retained advocates. But the thermometer is mani-
festly falling. 'The atmosphere has been refreshed with
a little truth from without, and the mercury of the League
can no longer be kept at fever heat. The symptoms of
cooling were very evident at this Convention, which was
held on Thursday last in the Corn-Exchange-buildings,
under the presidency of Mr. R. H. Greg, the late
Member for the town. It had been announced that
this meeting, the object of which was to receive com-
munications respecting the depressed state of the
cotton trade, would consist of the principal merchants
and manufacturers engaged in it, who were to
attend as deputies from their respective districts in
Lancashire, Cheshire, and elsewhere. But the at-
tendance was such as to evince far less the depressed
state of the cotton trade than of the cotton agitation."—
If the Tories will not be convinced by the late great pub-
lic meetings in the manufacturing districts, that the trade
of the country is in a state of extreme depression, and
that it is hazardous much longer to protract the consi•
deration of a remedy, we know not by what facts or a'

guments, or warning's or indications, it can be convinced.
At Stockport, at Leeds, at Oldham, at Derby, at Paisley,
at Manchester, and several other places that we could
mention, the sentiments broached and the arguments
advanced, would, one would thank, be quite obvious and
significant enough to bring conviction home to the minds
of even the most prejudiced. But none are so deaf as
those who will not hear—none so blind as those who
will not see ; and the Times, like many others of its
party, has neither eyes nor ears, except for its own par-
ticular views of a question.
The Herald, reverting to the sprightly question of the
Corn-laws, remarks as follows :—" Improved details in
the Corn-law, so as to regulate the more easy supply of
food in deficient seasons, to regain a part of the carry-
ing trade with South America and the West Indies,
which we have of late years lost by our inability to sup-
ply those countries with flour, and to render grain a
more important item in the commercial exchanges be-
tween this country and the rest of the world, are by no
means incompatible, as we have frequently shown, with
due protection to native agriculture. But any Corn-law,
which assumes, as Lord John Russell's fixed duties did,
that in ordinary years the United Kingdom is incapable
of growing an adequate supply of corn for the consump-
tion of its inhabitants, will be founded on so fatal an
error as to provoke the general hostility of all patriotic
politicians. Believing that there is in these islands an

increasing power of production the result in Great
Britain of improved, and in Ireland of extended, culti-
vation—any law which aims at a large annual importa-
tion of foreign grain, and thereby at throwing domestic
soil out of culture, or by preventing the development
of the great resources—now in waste—of Ireland, will,
we trust, meet with a very general and irresistible op-
position."

In an article on the subject of the advantages that
have accrued to the country from the Reform Bill, the
Advertiser says :—" All that is intelligent and virtuous
about Chartism may be said to arise from the agitation
for Reform. The deep, earnest, and intense desire of
the working men for the franchise was enkindled during
the struggle with the boroughtnongers. The principles
they avow in the Charter (not perhaps the opinions) are
but the legitimate consequences of the arguments that
demolished the decayed boroughs of Sarum and Gatton,
and gave the franchise to the great metropolitan con-
stituencies. The torch of Chartist enthusiasm was
lit at the altar of Whig Reform. It has been fearfully
misapplied. With careful guidance, prudent energy,
and close union the Chartists might now have pre-
sented a phalanx less powerful in its numbers than in
its moral weight and influence. Sincerely do we hope
they may avoid their former errors, and would they
but heartily coalesce with the middle classes in
the struggle for commercial freedom, they would
do more to secure a favourable consideration
for their demands than by any other course."—
The Chartists can never hope to become' a really influ-
ential body, except by abandoning some two or three of
their, at present, impracticable opinions, and making
common cause with the middle classs in their efforts to
obtain such sound,. serviceable Reforms as are really
practicable. One Reform will be sure to pave the way
for another—it is, in fact, to get the wedge in, which
may afterwards be driven home. In holding aloof from
the middle classes, and sternly cleaving to every minute
item in their political creed, the Chartists are beginning
agitation at the ivrong end.
Alluding to Sir R. Peel's difficulty as regards Ireland,
the Dublin Evening Post observes :--" Sir Robert Peel
has enhanced this difficulty ten-fold by the appointments
he has made or sanctioned, and by the wild way in which
his officers have gone to work. We said repeatedly at
the commencement of Lord De Grey's Lieutenancy, that
though he might not receive cordial and earnest support
from the Liberals—this, indeed, he could not expect—
yet, that if his Government was conducted with common
sense, he would not experience the opposition with which
it is now beset."

The Scotsman, after remarking that the reign of
Castlereagh has come again, goes on to remark

" A good Government appeals to the people's sense of
justice, a bad Government to their tears. The Whigs
showed how Ireland, with all its imputed turbulenc
might be safely governed on the former principle, and
some fondly hoped that the old system of insurrection.-
bills, and seditious-meetings-bills, and State prosecutions
for libel, was gone for ever ; but Tory rulers have
brought back Tory practices, and coercion is once more
in the ascendant."
The Devonport ludependent contains the following
observations, in an article on the operation of the Corn
laws :—" Fur the moment, the Corn-laws are deservedly
the leading topic, for people are day by day perishing,
for lack of the food they would have but for the opera-
tion of those laws—enactments, in our deliberate and
sober judgment, as tyrannous and impious as any to be
found in the blackest codes of the misrulers of mankind.
Egyptian bondage was light compared with English ser-
vitude."
Speaking of the tactics of the Puseyites, the Oxford
Chronicl3 says :—" We mentioned last week, upon the
best authority, that Dr. Pusey had declared the success
of Mr. Williams to be of" MORE IMPORTANCE THAN
THE APPOINTMENT OF A CABINET MINISTER ;" and it
appears, from their movements, that the party generally
concur in this estimate of the importance of the struggle
to them : they are straining every nerve for victory.
with as little scruple, as to the means, as any Committee
of mere secular men anxious to carry their candidate at a
borough election."
• The Cambrian observes :—" Hundreols are starving,
thousands are thrown out of employment, and thousands
are forced to accept of wages which barely keep body
and soul together, and which, after all, there is reason to
fear, can only be paid out of the decreasiny capital of
the masters. The literally total stagnation of the ird'n
trade, coupled with the simultaneous extinction of their
forges by the English, Scotch, and Welsh miners, must
throw countless multitudes upon the poor-rates in the
course of the winter."

The Blackburne Gazette remarks, in an article on the
present distressed state of the country—" It will end—
"it can only end—unless immediately arrested—in the de-
struction of the trade of the country, the utter demorali-
zation of the labouring Population, and the consequent
demolition of the fabric of social order."
MONEY—TTLADM—corani.Ezzem.
The commerce of Trieste has been progressively in-
creasing up to July 15, 1840. In 1839 it amounted to
9,500,000 f., and in 1840 reached 12,000,000 f.. but since
that period has decreased. On January-1, 1640, u dif-
ferent ports of Greece possessed 2,354 vessels under thirty
tons, and 886 above that burthen. She reckoned 18,66 f
sailors in employ, and 15,891 unemployed.
A gentleman at Bristol, highly connected, and holding
a high situation in the Custom-house, is alleged to have
absconded, having committed forgeries to the amount of
about 8,0001. or 9,0001. About 7,500/. of forged accept-
ances have been already ascertained, one or two of which
it is said are held by the braneh of the Bank of England.

ECCLESXASTICAL.

A French Paper states on authority that the Sultan
has refused to allow a Protestant Church to be erected at
Jerusalem. The English Bishop, therefore, on his a-ri-
val, will be absolutely unable to present to the inhabit-
ants of the country a celebration of his worship. Galig-
nani doubts the statement.
A " Chartist Clergyman" asks whether he may not,
when Parliament meets, omit • the *prayer for the High
Court of Parliament when he reads the Liturgy, as cler-
gymen at their option omit .the offertory and prayer for
the Church militant, and as he fancies David's Psalms
very deficient in politital allusions, why may he not in-
troduce a selection of Corn-law and Chartist hymns?
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.
The Coventry family have refused to surrender the
ground in the Green Park, opposite Coventry House,
which was to form part of the new improvements, they
having it on a lease for sixty years, granted to them by
George IV., at a ground-rent of thirty-six pounds.
STATISTICS.

The number of foreigners who have been sent out of
Belgium, or who have been prohibited from entering the
kingdom during the first eleven months of the year 1841,
amount to 1,350.
NAVAL AND MiLITAILIT.
The gentlemen cadets underwent their half-yearly
examination, previous to the Christmas vacation, before
Lord Blomfield and the officers of the Ordnance corps
on Saturday last. The Master-General will, in a day or
two, report the names of those entitled to commissions.

LAW AND POLICE.

George Haley, a middle-aged respectable man, was
this morning fully committed at Marlborough-street for
stealing publicans' pots. He has five times before been
convicted of the same offence, and had been but a short
period before released upon his last committal.
It is invariably observed that on approach of the in-
tensely cold weather, the number of charges for drun-
kenness at the Police Courts of the metropolis invari-
ably increases. No less than twenty-three cases of this
description were brought to Marlborough-street Police
Court this morning.

COUICT----FASTIXON.II.23LE.
Sir R. Peel leaves town to-morrow, or on the following
day, for Drayton Manor.
The French Ambassador and suite intend to pass
Christmas day at the Marquis of Lansdowne's.
Colonel Peel, M.P., the Surveyor-General of the Ord-
nance, has taken Lord Berwick's house in the Stable-
yard, St. James's for a term of years. The house is
now undergoing repairs, with a view to its occupation
early in February.
Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston left Carlton
House-terrace, on Saturday last, for Broadlands. .
Lord and Lady John Russell have gone to Woburn
Abbey, on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Bedford.
Lord Stanley leaves St. James's-square on Wednes-
day next, for Knowsley.
Viscount and Viscountess Villiers leave Mivart's Ho-
tel to-day for Drayton Manor.
The Duke of Sussex and the Duchess of Inverness
are expected at Woburn Abbey on Wednesday.
The Duke of Buckingham has left Buckingham House
for Stowe, Bucks.

Earl Spencer arrived at Althorpe Hall, Northampton-
shire, on Wednesday last, from Spencer House.
The Earl of Aberdeen arrived in town on Saturday,
from Windsor Castle.

PINE ARTS.
A beautiful statue of Northcote, the artist, executed
by Sir F. Chantrey, according to the Western Times, is
placed by the Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral in
such a position as completely to hide its beauties from
view.

LiTZIZARY .A.ND SCZENTIrIC.
The house No. 5, Craig's Court, is being fitted up for
the Museum of Economic Geology, to be under the
direction of Mr. Delabeche, the Government Geologist,
and Mr. R. Phillips. No. 6, the adjoining house, is to
be the depository of mining records.
A letter from Brussels, of the 18th inst.. states that a
splendid painting by Rnbens 'has just been discovered.
The subject is the battle of the Amazons, of which
there is a finished sketch in the Gallery of Munich,
which is well known to connoisseurs by the engravings.
This newly-discovered painting is said to be one of the
most highly finished and the most powerfully coloured
of that great master. It is in the possession of M. La-
inoens, a rich amateur of Antwerp.

THEATUXCAL.
Monsieur Perlet, so great a favourite in London a few
years since, has been engaged by Mr. Mitchell to com-
mence the season of French plays at the St. Jame4's
Theatre. Many of Moliere's finest comedies will be
given before Easter. Plessy, Dejazet, and Bouffe, ap-
pear at the conclusion of M. Perlet's engagement.
Private theatricals have been performed during the last
week at Woburn Abbey, in which most of the distin-
guished guests took a part.
Mr. Lumley has re-,engaged the celebrated artistes of
the last season at the Queen's Theatre, except Signor
Tamburini, who holds out for the same terms he received
under the late Mr. Laporte. Carlotta Grisi, cousin to the
cantatrice, and her cara sposa Perrot, will lead the ballet
at least before Easter.

sPonTING.
Prince Albert hunted with the Royal stag-hounds on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday last. The stag on. the
last day, after an hour and a half's run, took refuge in
the chimney corner of the kitchen at the Rose and
Crown, about a mile and a half from Sandhurst College.
To-day the Prince hunts at Stoke Common, and on
Thursday with the hounds in Surrey.
Lady Gardner's coursing establishment at Kinmel has
been broken up in consequence of the late calamitous
tire ; the greyhounds are to be sold this week.
Ballinkeele, the famous Derby racer, has been sold by
Mr. Maher for 2,000 guineas to Mr. Dixon, of Knights-
bridge.

MISCELLANEOUS.
On Friday evening last, owing to the collision of the
down-train from London with another engine on the
Croydon railway, three or four railway labourers, and
four or five passengers were severely injured.
At Hatfield, the Marquis of Salisbury's seat, which
her Majesty is expected to visit in the spring-time, there
still exists the oak-tree under which the Princess Eliza-
beth sat when the messengers from London came to re-
move her from a species of prison to a Throne.
At Malta. illuminations in the public streets .of Va-
letta, the naval and military offices of Government, and
the ships of ult. in the harbour, celebrated the birth of
the Prince of Wales : the people are stated to have
shown but faint demonstrations of joy.
To-morrow will be the shortest day. The winter of
1564-5 was remarkable for a very severe frost, which
began on the 21st of December, and, according to Hol-
lingshed, " some plaied at football on the river as boldly
as if it had been on the drie land ; diverse of the Court
being then at Westminster, shot daily at targets set
upon the Thames; and the people, both men and women,
went on the Thames in greater numbers than in anie
street of the Citie of London."

A man named James Fryer. one of the workmen em-
ployed at the new glasshouse, Mexborough, near Don-
caster, has manufactured a glass coffin, which he has
bequeathed to his cousin, who holds a situation in Guy's
Hospital, London, for his own body to be inclosed in
when he dies, so that his cousin will see if he rots any
faster than if he was coffined in lead. The coffin is made
of clear glass, quarter of an inch thick, six feet two
inches -long, 21 inches across the bosom, and 15 inches
deep. He has ornamented it with blue glass death's head
and cross bones on the side, and his name is inscribed
on the lid.

rarmoun Or THE DAY.
A report has been current during the week that Sir
Walter James is about to be called to the Upper House.

THE DEPOPULATION SYSTEM IN IRELAND.
—During the last ten years, as appears from the result
of the Census, the decrease in the population of Ireland
has been 527,590!

The three sons of General Raindre, of the Ar-
have all served in Africa, and have become vic-
ttiilmlesr',
to
their duty. The eldest lost a leg at the siege of
Constantine; the second was killed before Blidah, towards
the end of 1839, and the youngest died lately in the hos-
pital of a disease caught in the last campaign. Neither
of them had attained more than their thirtieth year, and
each had reached the rank of Captain.