The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-10 00:00:00

CHARTISM.

In a country where the right of petition and of public
meeting, the license of printing and the licentiousness of
speech are unlimited, where every male adult possessed of
20/., may, by the existing franchise, command a county
vote, and the door of the constitution is open to at least
three times the number of those who choose to take the
trouble of entering it, sedition inust be supported by
the credentials of the most disinterested patriotism, to
make itself at all respectable. But at our present advanced
stage of intelligence, and in the state of implicit mutual
dependence, in which, in our artificial social condition,
we all exist in this country, any man who proposes to
accomplish any political good by means of disorder and
violence can only command credit for his sincerity at
the expet!e of his understanding. Order is the first
law of nature—it is the very life and soul of civil
society. To twenty-eight millions of human beings
crowded together on two small islands, surrounded
every where by rivals or enemies, and so broken
into civilization that even the poorest and
the meanest cannot be helped to the supply of his most
ordinary wants without the assistance of many of his
fellow-subjects, the peace, regularity, and security of the
movements of every purt of the social machinery are as
essential to the stability of the fabric on which all de-
pend, as the harmonious working of bees is necessary
to the existence of the hive. Our soil does no.
nearly support our population, increasing now at
the rate of 450,000 souls every year. Our mere
natural and physical resources are totally inadequate
to our subsistence. Our very being depends on mann
factures and commerce. We are the ministers of the
artificial wants of the world. We cannot, like Animus,
fall upon our mother earth and gather our strength from
that. Not one-fifth part of our population find employ-
ment iu the cultivation of our soil. In the present
year we have led nearly six millions of our people
entirely on foreign produce. Three millions of
Irish have been maintained exclusively at thea
public cost. The failure of a bank may
whole county starve. Send half a dozen in.anbuetniatkuerers
educed
into the Gazette, and tens of thousands_ I
to ruin. A run tor gold in Threadneedle-street,
of 10 per cent. in stocks, the bankruptcy 1
A'sid of all the
merchants, consigns millions to beggary.
Those who have
sufferers, the poorest are the
land can fall back upon tbat2rhe:se who have capital, can
is left. But those
take flight with it so lot)
who live from hand to anythingmougthasattidexist on wages, who can
get no food w n?ithout
employmentem-
ployment, without capitalists, and no
capitalists without
and no
credit,emp
who so helpless and destitutea. these,
when anarchy and distrust bring the social en.
Oiler) to a stand still ? It we grant that the French
Revolution was necessary, we mut,t also concede that
is was only a necessary evil. It has transferred
the money market of the Continent of Europe
from Paris to London. It has driven. the
whole available capital of France into our st,cks. It
has brought employment,
and therefore wages, and
therefore the means of mere physical existence, to a
temporary close in that devoted Republic. The heroic
men of France have lost their capital, and have no
means of conducting manufacturing enterprise. Their
powers of production are arrested by want of money,
and they have, consequently, nothing to sell.
They have no current coin, and they can, there-
fore, buy nothing. Cargoes of produce,ncghalarntedretdo
for French ports, have been sent directly to E
sell for what they would bring. Whole fleets of mer-
chantmen, laden with the raw material of manufacture,
cotton, silk, wool, and leather, have turned helm at
Havre, Toulon, and other Gallic harbours, the moment
their captains heard of the disorders of the. Republic,'
and steered their ships at once for Liverpool, Bristol,

and Southampton. Upwards of 6,000,0001. of
English_ man, y were annually sent in France
by our absentees—as touvii mere was ;early
scptaiioered in the other countries of Europe. The°,
12,000.0001., and their owners have all been frightened
home. Hosts 01 weali.hy conni:ental foreigners, fusing
faith in the stability of then. property from the
threatened violence offered by the people have col-
lected all their money, invested it in our securities,
and are trooping here to spend it among ne•
Vast consignments of colonial produce intended for the
,
continental market are sent on to us,-and large orders
for manufactures, originally destined for Germany.
Switzerland, Belgium, end France, have been trai"
ferred to England. Five millions of dishonoured bill'
have been returned to the United States alone from
Havre. Trade has no lofty aspirations. Commerce has
no preference for one paper constitution more than an-
other. Money is sordid, timid, and without magnani-
mity. They look to profits alone. Liberty, Equality'.
Fraternity, are to them but sounding brass and a
tinkling cymbal, unless they mean security, prompt
payment, and sure profits. They fly from the
Continent, because they cannot trust it. They'
come here because they think they are safe. They
refuse to give 35i for French Three per Cents., because
they cannot rely upon payment—they give 811-
for
English Three per Cents., because they have confidence
in their stability. So timid is capital, so nervous a thing
is trade, that in a few months we might be in possessiun
of that which made us great, omnipotent, during the war
—the commerce end manufactures of Europe. Intro-
duce order among us, shatter our credit by creating
tears of violence, destroy confidence in our security by
threats of rebellion, treason, or the subversion of our.
stability, and the goldEn opportunity will be lost, capital
and trade will fly from us to the United States, and the.
masses of our population will suffer an amount of
misery and permanent disaster, far greater then
that which is the lot of any other country in,
the world. The majority of the population 0'
every other state, except Holland and Belgium, is
dependent upon the soil, which can never fail them,
whatever other changes may happen. The masses
of our kingdom are as completely dependent upon credit
and commercial security, as the price of Consols, or the
rates of discount at the Bank. France, with her
6,000,000 of yeomen may survive a shock to credit. Eng-
land must sink irredeemably under it. At this moment
we have the ball at our foot. The fine weather is rapidly
reducing the price of food. The returns of the revenue
tire less discouraging than was anticipated, exhibiting an
increase on the quarter ending on the sth of April, of no
less than 402,375:. In the next three months the in-
crease of consumption from the influx of absentees.
foreigners, and capital, must be materially enlarged, and
it is just at this turning point in our fortunes that the
physical force Chartists du their best to frighten out
prosperity away from us, by the open avowal of designs of
treason, disorder, and violence. They import the Cetic fury
of Meagher and Mitchell, and the cellar martyr (O'Brien).
into the sober regions of the more calculating Saxon►
and considerately warn us that if their Irish patriots
become martyrs in Dublin, the whole Milcsian popula-
tion in England will rise en masse. and revenge on us the
punishment the law inflicts on the heroes of the Code-
duration. While we should be enjoying the advantages
of our insular position, of our political neutrality, of the
profits and the credit which are the material fruits of a con-
viction among mankind of our stability, good faith, and
love of order, the most strenuous efforts are made by those
who must inevitably suffer most by popular convulsion
to saw off the branch on which they are mounted front
the tree that supports it. Three months of tranquillity.
harmony, and peace, would see us with the whole trade and
the greater portion of the capital of Europe in our hands
our revenue flourishing—our labouring classes in tuner's-
ployment—our middle classes afforded breathing time to
devise and enforce needful reforms and extensive retrench-
'neut. Our internal distraction may not only deprive us °fall
these advantages, but encourage the violent and turbulent
spirits of the continent of Europe to overbear the peaceful
tendencies of the Provisional Governments, by pleading
our weakness as their opportunity for striking a fatal
blow at our power, and plunging us with Ireland on our
hands into a war that must be paid fur out of the sweat
of our toiling masses, and which may so embarrass oar
finances as to end in our ruin. The Reform Bill has placed
Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, and Annual Parlia-
ments, within the reach of the people by peaceable.
constitutional, lawful means. Nothing can keep the
Charter from them, if they choose patiently to fight
the battle of the Constitution in the registration Courts.
The power which achieved Free Trade can achieve
a Universal Franchise. There are thousands of the
loudest bawlers for the Charter, who are qualified
to be registered wider the existing law, but refuse
to take the trouble. There are tens of thousands more
who could buy a life rent charge of 40s. for £lO or
151., but prefer to spout and plot, and pick the pockets
of their gaping dupes, rather than to work out their
political salvation. It we are misgoverned, it is in I%i°
to deny that, with our present opportunities, it is our
own tault. We could puiut out many physical force
Chartists in the large boroughs, who sold their Tote°,
at the last election, for Tory gold. We know 0'
hundreds who were placed on the register b 1
the exertions of the Anti Corn-law League, in the
metropolitan boroughs, who hawked their franchise
to the highest bidders, and at last knocked them'
selves down to the monopolist candidates. It is
time that all this tomioolery were put a stop to. Let
the Irish, who are maintained in England, beware how
they abuse our hospitality, by putting into execution ens
attempts to create a disturbance among us, as the sym-
pathisers of the Mitchell conspiracy. It' they once
stimulate the national animosities of John Bull,
end the prejudices of the Scotch, they may
be the first to repent the retaliation their
ruffian bluster may provoke. Meanwhile,. it is time
for the well-affected to be up and doing. The best vref
to suppress disorder is to [Hove that it cannot succeed-
It the Government is paralysed, that is no reason
why the people should be unprepared to suppress
violence, or to concert measures to meet any emer-
gency which may result from the state of Ireland.
The cause of order is. the cause of liberty. Tyrant*
and thieves alone thrive by confusion. The progress
of popular power is founded on knowledge, and the
best fruit of knowledge is peace. It is kings and
autocrats whose trust is in the bayonet, and whose only
faith is in the rifle and parks of artillery. Let the people
*how they are worthy to be free, by practising the vit-
tues of freemen—by a reliance of the power of resew].
on the march of intelligence, on the force of public
opinion, on the justice of their cause, and the certain
triumph of truth and right, naked and unarmed.
except in the panoply of virtue, and the majestic
spirit of humanity. Let them look upon the
moral miracle which Lamartine is working and be
ashamed at their own scepticism of the efficacy of
moral forces. And let our middle-classes and rulers
redeem this stitring time, and by timely reform avert
merited revolution. Not an hour should be lost in pro-
posing to Parliament the more necessary and pressing of
many wholesome measures, which may relieve industry.
and promote popular contentment. Let them mingle
lit
uthsgeeyl
bf
,ee
hnoifrno
drbc.e—ei agl,uvteheokrlyi t
reformed,y.
conciliation with firmness, and eoncede. redress while
Dispatch.
Withwi I l
la 1
notl E u
dr oopfoo
ri sE raegfloarnmdi ntog

EAVA-1-AIiKET RACES.~
(THIS DAY.)

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
_ (Continued from our Third Edition.)
Match—Festus beat Lovelace.
Sweepstakes of 50 sovs. each. D.ll
St. Antonio walked over.
Sweepstakes of 50 sovs. each, for three yrs old not en-

gaged in either Riddlesworth, he. D. M.
Dover walked over.

HMI MAJUSTT'S TIIRATRE.—On Saturday this
House was honoured by the presence of the Duchess of
Kent, who occupied the Queen's box. Her Royal High-
ness's suite comprised Lady Augusta Bruce, Lady Anna
Maria Dawson, Baroness de Sped), Lord James Murray,
Sir George Couper, and Mr. Bruce. The Queen Dow-
ager's box was occupied by the Marchioness ut Ormond',
Lady Adelaide Paget, and Colonel Dixon and party.
There were also present the Duke of Wellingtou, the
Duke and Duchess of Montrose, the Duke and Duchess
of Leeds, the Prince Galitzin, Prii ce Louis Napoleon,
the Baroness de Brunnow, Madlle. Olga de Lechuer, the
Hanoverian Minister, the Swedish Minister, the Count
de Backe, the Sardinian Minister, M. de Berg, the
the Marchioness
Ladies, B roo of Ely,
the
Marquis and Marchioness of Douro, the Marquis and
the
C utie
Couatess Marchionesso
t ssDowager
of
l e sbn ry,
Sligo,the
Marquis of Clanricarde, the Earl of Chesterfield, the
Earl Spencer, the Earl of Lonsdale, the Earl of Besbo-
rEusuiVi,citrbsen
Earl
yle , r
theD'the
Ear!
Bruce, the Earl of Deltswarre, Viscount Ossulston,
Viscount Canterbury, &c.
oariiley the Earl of Pembroke
the
, of Cardigan,

NAM% ------
On the 81st ult., at Pakenham, near Bury St. F.dnoundie,
Mrs. S:edntan, of ...daughter.
On
of Dav id the
Fu 2d inllerton st., it
Es! king. street, Portman-square, the wife
, ughter.
On the 4th inst., at Long Bennda ington, the wife of the Rev.
G. E. Welby, of a daughter.
On the 4th inst., at Caiaberwell, Mrs. Stephen Spurling,
of a son.
On the sth inst., at Westbourne-park Villas, Bayswater,
the wife of R. A. Routh, Esq., of a daughter.
On the 313 t ult., at Wandsworth, the wife of Arthur Pryor.
Es.., of a daughter.

On the 4th inst., at St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington, Henry
It(1, ulfigaeryridAgne' En,ci.
daughter' ofSt.
to. AflVllrleiawm'g - hill,
Hoof, Esq., of Madeley
House, Kensington. Doctor's4ommons,
On the 4tk inat., at St. George's, Camberwell, Edwin
Dunkin, Esq.. F.R.A.S., of the Royal Observatory at Green-
wich, to Maria,
Esq., of Peckham-grove, Camberwell.
eldest daughter of Samuel Joseph Madlow,
At Trinity Church, Chelsea, Mr. James L. lialiony, of
Upper Chelsea, to Aliss E. M. Cierlans Roper, of Great
liussell street, Bloomsbury.

ED.
On the 17th ult., at Worcester, Sarah, relict of Dr. James
Egan, LL.D., of Greenwich, aged 90.
On the 31st ult., at Gainsborough, Captain Matthew
Jenour, of the 69th Regiment, aged 60.
On the 31st ult., at Chatham Barrack, May Clara, youngest
daughter of Captain H. Crickitt Tyler, 80th Regiment.
On the sth inst. , at Leek, Staffordshire, John Sleigh, Esq.,
aged 81.

,_,
On the 3d inst., Mr. John Allen, of Grosvenor Cottages,
Eaton-square, aged 88.

London: Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, at
No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun CAfiee, No. 112,
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, the county Of
MiddNoon, Monday, April 10, ma.