The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-14 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1848.

After all, the Monster Petition has burst like the
veriest bubble of suds ! The parturient mountain of
Kennington has brought forth the merest mouse of
a grievance. The whole demonstration of Chartism
on :Monday morning, turns out to be one of the
grossest delusions ever practised upon the Legislature
)y a clique of unprincipled and designing demagogues.
After the revelations and explanations of yesterday
evening in the House of Commons, it is altogether
impossible for us to express ourselves in sufficient
terms of disgust at the vulgar
ara
aenhdunpardonable
s
transaction. Language i
insolence which has throughout
too
feeble to express our
contempt for the authors of a
the
movementgsloordye,roageadtothrye
to the name, and the fame, an
dignity of the working classes of
the brutalities,
obscenities, England.
ru
however, be it from us to associate taliFatiesr,
obscenities, and ribaldries of
this notorious
petition with the masa of our industrious countrymen.
W i
e know them to be incapable of participating n
any manner whatever with a scheme so utterly despi-
cable and insensate. The five enormous rolls of
writing Paper presented on Monday evening to Par-
liament, and designs de, with an intolerable audacity,
A Petition from the
odious
was,
the fabrication of an in fact, merely
depravity
dregs
population
t;
means disposed to
terms of abhorrence, we are by
implicate in the deception all those
have appeared conspicuously in the courseeownfhatmilsreinceanyt
agitation. And first of all we would
thoroughly exonerate Mr. FEARGUS O'CoN:soay frond
any share—the most trivial—in this disguAting ruotirn
stupendous humbug. His character, both as a gen -
tlernan and a representative, is 6 f itself a sufficient
testimony that any such participation would under
every circumstance have been impossible. Every o e
of the many entertaining incidents which interrupt
yesterday's discussion in the Commons, was a co .
roboration of this fact and an additional testimony f
the personal respect entertained for the Honour-
able Gentleman, the Member for Nottingham.
iris positive and reiterated repudiation of all
knowledge of the foul and flagrant trickery
of the position received, as it deserved to do,

the implicit credence of the House, and his ultimate
resolution—the abandonment of the motion fur this
evening—bas elevated him, we are bold to say, in
the consideration of every sensible man in the United
Kingdom.
Even the Hon. Representative of Cirencester must
by this time, we imagine, be disposed to sympathise
in the opinion here expressed by ourselves in refer-
ence to the Bon. Member for Nottingham. Now
that the excitement of Mr. CRIPPS has abated under
the assuaging influences of sleep and reflection, we
are satisfied that his conjectures as to the actual con-
nexion existing between the designs of the petitioners
and those of Mr. F. O'Cozvsioa are altogether different
from the ideas expressed by him yesterday in regard
to that supposed complicity. Not that we view with
any degree of amazement the emotion displayed on
that occasion by the honourable representative of
Cirencester. That emotia4 was the natural conse-
quence of the indignation si ith which he had perused
the fictitious signatures at,d indecent absurdities
mingled together in the petition. We as thoroughly
appreciate the cause of his excitement as we do the
honourable completeness of his apology, and the
laudable cordiality of his explanation. When it was
proved on examination before the Committee on
Public Petitions that the document called the
Chartist Petition was one of the most shame-
faced and disgraceful humbugs ever brought
within the cognizance of Parliament—that in-
stead of containing 5,750,000 signatures, it

contained only 1,g75,496 ; that among those signa-
tures occurred the names of her Most Gracious
Majesty the QUEEN, of his Grace the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON, of Sir ROBERT PEEL, of Colonel SIBTIIORT,
of Mr. COBDEN, &C. &c. ; that other pretended auto-
graphs were merely phrases from the slang dictionary,
or words that, accumulated together, formed " a
mass of impiety, of blasphemy, and of ribaldry"—
when all these disgusting particulars revealed them-
selves under the scrutiny of the Committee on Public
Petitions, it is anything but surprising that Mr.
CRIPPS, himself a member of that Committee, should
have commented upon the transaction in language
such as, under other circumstances, might have
been considered intemperate. Insomuch was
this allowance for provocation manifestly neces-
sary that the Right Honourable the Speaker of
the House, in his official capacity, thus alluded to
the observations of Mr. CEIPP3 :—"The Hon. Mem-
ber for Cirencester certainly contradicted with
warmth the statements of the Hon. Member for Not-
tingham ; but I did not conceive at the time that the
Hon. Member bad gone beyond the rules warranted
by the usage of this House." Yet, notwithstanding
this decisive exoneration, Mr. CRIPPS subsequently
apologised to Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR, and the latter,
in frankly accepting that apology, announced his
determination to abandon the motion on the petition
fixed for this evening!

So terminates this miserable result of dema-
goguism! So ends this parody upon the sublime
achievements of the Parisian Democracy ! If we
imagined for an instant that THE PEOPLU of Eng-
land were really implicated in an affair so dishonourable
and indeceot we should, assuredly, have ample cause
fur grief and lamentation. Knowing, however, that
the odium of the proceeding is solely attributable to
a few base and contemptible brawlers—brawlers who
have made Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR their generous
because reliant dupe--we have only reason to regard
the transaction with a scorn the most unmitigable,
and an indignation the most unutterable.

The pacific character of the present European re-
volution receives daily additional corroboration. This
pacific character, in fact, constitutes the main distinc-
tion between the great revolutions of 1769 and 1848.

In the, former war and liberty became synonymous
'erms. Every people that dared to as.
sert their rights and throw off the yoke of
their native oppressors, were compelled at the same
time, in self-defence, to unsheath the sword, and re-
sist the attacks of foreign aggressors. They had to
withstand not only the endeavours of coalesced sove-
reigns to preserve the inviolability of the rights of
kings, but they had also to encounter the subtle at-
tacks of rival jealousy, personal ambition, and internal
discord. The proverb declares, that a kingdom
divided against itself cannot stand, and the truth of
this assertion was abundantly demonstrated by the
evils consequent on the terrible dissensions which
characterised and marred the liberal crusade of former
times. " Never was truth defiled with so much
blood," exclaims LAMARTINE, in enumerating the
terrible and glorious scenes of the first revolution.
Blood, at home streamed from the guillotine, or stained
the assassin's dagger, abroad was shed in the fields
of carnage and dishonoured the laurels of liberty ;
discord at home and warfare abroad were the distin-
guishing and melancholy traits of the Revolution of
1789. And in this, as we have said, is the great dis-
tinction which exists between the present movement
and its predecessor. Unanimity and peace
are now, happily, the watchwords of Li
beralism. Unanimity knits together each pa-
triotic band labouring to assert their native inde •
pendence; and peace among nations, facilitates the
interchange of those kindly sympathies and the exer-
cise of those moral influences which surpass the most
effective weapons of international alliance. In pur-
suance of this principle it was that the French
Minister of Foreign Affairs ventured to
give utterance to that most un-Ministerial
declaration—" the old regime had diplomatists and
treaties, our diplomatists are nations, our treaties are
sympathies." This assertion, poetical as it may
appear, is practically correct. Its truth receives
new confirmation by every succeeding depu-
tation from foreign nations that has has-
tened to ratify a treaty with France by
the expression of its cordial sympathies Deputa-
tions from England, from Ireland, from Poland, from
Hungary, and numbers of others have already testi-
fi ,d their concurrence in the pacific sentiments of
lil.ral France. Spain and Venice have recently
expressed similar feelings. The Spanish Charge
d'Affaires has addressed a letter to M. LAMAR-
TINE, in which, in the name of the Spanish
Government, he emphatically disavows all reports
which describe the Spanish Government as enter-
taining hostile feelings towards the Provisional, Go-
vernment of France. This letter, amicable though it
be, nevertheless bears a close affinity to a diplomatic
dispatch, but the address of the deputation of the
Venetians must have been as undiplomatic and as
isno
little in accordance with the doings of the
old regimehaslaenvgenuslgle u. Lrold aserizocwouseld dessioreb.eg"inls
ils' "It
the address of the Venetia "
hP Y
„
ft at we shall address
to the French Republic
our
fraternal acknowledg-
ments. It has pitied our
misfortunes, felicitated our
regeneration, promised
us aesuucipport from which we
have much to hope
Then, perhaps, eme nothing to fear."
mberin
dressing a Poet, they proceegdthey were ad.
inimitable pathos:---" The unhapp with eloquent and
it is sometimes well to have beenYo know how to love ;
to better feel what real greatnessPiParessleyd in order
our prayer fur the prosperity and glory ofe offer
up
We stretch forth the hand to it with a sentimFrance.ent. ost:
gratitude which time will only render more enen;
The address of the Venetians is unimportant ingiettsielf
but we are inclined. to welcome with interest and
satisfaction every incident, however individually
insignificant, which increases the bonds of inter-
national amity, and further demonstrates that
pacific character which is the greatest glory of the
new Revolution.

find that the attention of the Legis-
latureh been directed to the 9 and 10
has at length
Act which was passed avowedly,
jcoaicpe. t to
95,an
Vicllto'erirae,
but
which really contains
recovery of small debts,
under colour of which
for the purpose of affording greater facilities for the
more monstrous provisions,
alty other st,itufe that cou
greater oppression has beenidpbrae referred to. IV e
desirable that thectised, than almost
readily concede that it is most
recover small to
delays and difficulties which were formerly inter-
posed in the way of the parties who were entitled
cheap and expeditious remedy should be provided
amounts should be removed, and that. da
against those who had the ability, but not the will,
ito satisfy their ju•it liabilities. The intention,
therefore, of the
sure was brought parties by whom the mea
code for the recover forward, to give a complete
was most laudable y of all debts not exceeding 201.,
, haps inadvertentl , and if the abuses that were, per_
y, suffered to find their way into the

Act itself, and which have also been occasioned by
the manner of its administration, were removed, it
would have been regarded as a boon by the great
body of the people, but those abuses are of such mag-
nitude, and press with such severity on the hard-
working classes, that a general feeling Of indignation
has been excited against the law under colour of
which such atrocities could have been sanctioned or
tolerated. These are scarcely the times when there
can be one law for the rich and another for the poor
—when a person owing a few pounds only may be
Punished with the most stringent severity, while
the man who is indebted thousands is treated
with comparative leniency and indulgence. Yet
such is the case under the present system.
The treatment to which Mr. CHARLES POELETT was
subjected, which so strongly attracted the public
attention, is similar to that which every person com-
mitted for default in the payment of a single instal-
ment is likewise exposed. By an extraordinary
species of refinement, he is told that he is not impri-
soned for debt but for contempt of court, in not
obeying the order of the judge; he is therefore dealt
with not merely as a debtor, but as a criminal. lie
is not merely deprived of his personal liberty until
he makes full satisfaction, but he is associated with
persons who have offended against the laws, and is
bound by the same stringent regulations and the
same discipline as his guilty companions. Even
payment of the amount of the full debt and costs is not
sufficient to liberate him from his confinement. If once
he is taken into custody he cannot be discharged
until a certificate of payment or satisfaction is signed
by the clerk of the court, and the leave of the Judge
by whom the order of imprisonment was made has
been obtained. If he has been unfortunate in his
dealings, and should be obliged to have recourse to
the Bankruptcy or Insolvent Court, and should fully
and fairly surrender up his entire property to be
equitably divided amongst his creditors, and there-
upon obtain the protection of the Court, or even an
order for his discharge, that will not be sufficient, for
it is enacted (by the 102 d section) " that no protec-
tion, order, or certificate granted by any Court of
Bankruptcy, or for the relief of insolvent debtors,
shall be available to discharge any defendant from
any commitment under such order." It has
even been held that a person attending his
examination before the Court of Bankruptcy, and
who is protected, eundo raorando et redeundo, from
every other liability may be captured under the order
of the County Court Judge, and incarcerated until
payment, which payment would justly be regarded as
an undue preference and fraud upon his other
creditors. In every other case, if a creditor should
~eize the person of his debtor in execution, so that he
should be incarcerated thereon, the debt would be
thereby satisfied if he obtained his discharge from
that custody, but here it is quite different, for "no
imprisonment under this Act shall in anywise ope-
rate as a satisfaction or extinguishment of the debt,
or other cause of action, on which a judgment has
been obtained, or protect the defendant from being
anew summoned or imprisoned for any fresh fraud or
other default, rendering him liable to be imprisoned
under this Act, or deprive the plaintiff of any right
to take out execution against the goods and chattels
of such defendant, in the same manner as if such
imprisonment had not taken place."—(Sect. 103.)
We trust that the Bill, which was last night read
the first time, will fully meet the several defects we
have above enumerated, and others to which we shall
endeavour to direct the public attention on a future
occasion.