The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-10 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1846.

The annual inaugural entertainment at the Guild-
hall of this city, commemorative of the assumption
on the part of the new Lord Mayor of the respon-
sible duties incidental to his distinguished office, is
always regarded with peculiar interest. The ancient
character of the corporation, its vast immunities,
privileges, and extensive jurisdiction—its proud asso-
ciations with most of the remarkable epochs in our
history—the deserved reputation it acquired in the
earliest times, and has honourably maintained down
to the present period—the great power it pos-
sesses, and the unparalleled influence which
it exercises and has spread to the remotest
corners of the earth, not more from its immense re-
sources of wealth than from the high moral fame
which is spontaneously conceded to the British mer-
chant wherever he is found, are all considerations
which impart an interest to the public introduction of
the chief magistrate of the city of London. More-
over, the invariable attendance of the Sovereign's
Ministers and other leading functionaries of these
realms at the first festive entertainment of the LORD
MAYOR, is an additional ingredient of laudable exulta-
tion with the citizens, and never fails to clothe their
magnificent hospitality with especial importance in
the eyes of a loyal and admiring public. The
circumstance, too, that this great civic fete occurs at
a period of the year when Parliament is not sitting,
leads men to listen to the responsive speeches of the
Ministers with more than ordinary anxiety, in order
that they may the better judge of the internal and
external prospects of the country. The approach of
Lord JOHN RUSSELL to the banquetting-hall was
greeted with the utmost cordiality ; it could not well
have been otherwise. Apart from the fact of his
being one of their own representatives, the citizens
could not be unmindful that his Lordship was
the Prime Minister of England. They must have
remembered also at the moment when the Premier
drew forth their plaudits, that after he had been re-
jected as a Minister by Parliament, on account of his
declared adhesion to the principles of free trade, he,
for the first time, presented himself, under great dis-
advantages, as a candidate for the city of London ;
that they returned him to the House of Commons,
where his principles triumphed, and that the digni-
fied position of the Chief of the Cabinet had devolved
upon the object of their choice. In our review of yester-
day of the intelligence received from Ireland we ex-
pressed an assurance that the murrain in the potato has
not been so extensively disastrous as has for a long time
been apprehended ; and we are happy to observe that
the LORD MAYOR, whilst proposing the health of her
MAJESTY'S Ministers, and expressing his confidence
that they would do all in their power to mitigate the
calamity, stated " it was not so great as it had been
represented to be." Sir GEORGE CARROLL is no
mean authority on these matters. He was actively
engaged in commercial business between thirty and
forty years, and conducted extensive financial
operations with the leading capitalists of Lon-
don. The merchants in our city have the swiftest,
the most precise, and the fullest information
upon everything affecting the trade and commerce a
the country. As Lord JOHN RUSSELL said,

" a sore

of electric telegraph communicates to the citizens of
London all that happens in every part of the empire."
We are satisfied that Sir GEORGE CARROLL would
not speak upon so momentous a subject as the failure
of a crop, which has brought thousands to the brink
of starvation, with insufficient data, or without due
reflection. In this view, then, we hail with grateful
delight the confirmation by the LORD MAYOR of our
impression, that the dispensation of PROVIDENCE has not
been so severe as was originally credited. But, be it
great or small, the Premier only did justice to his
audience when he declared, that "at whatever is
matter of joy they rejoice—in every matter of la-
mentation they hasten to contribute their utmost to
alleviate and remedy the distress." This sentiment
was loudly cheered, and the Irish may take comfort
in the persuasion that, whatever may be the amount
of assistance the Minister may think should be
afforded them by England under their present afflic-
tions, the wealthy, enlightened, and benevolent of
the mightiest city in the world will gladly counte-
nance. In all seasons of public distress the sym-
pathy, humanity, and generosity of the city of
London have ever been most prominent. So prover-
bial, indeed, have become these ennobling charac-
teristics of our citizens, that whenever, through ex-
tensive conflagrations, vast inundations, or other de-
plorable visitations, the cities and properties of foreign
lands have been consumed or devastated, to England,
in chief, have their appeals for alleviation been
directed, and never in vain. If such is the active
spirit with which England stretches the hand of suc-
cour to distant shores whence the cry of distress has
been wafted to our own, Ireland may rely upon it
that in the hour of need the munificence will be forth-
coming to assuage her sorrows. But, whilst we are
confident of this, we are nevertheless deeply grateful
for the belief that the produce of the sister isle has
not been so fearfully smitten as was anticipated.

Nothing has latterly indicated more conspicuously
the diversity of human opinion upon the principle
which should be regarded as the primum mobile of
legislation as the recent struggle connected with
British agriculture. Quot homines tot sententim was
never more strikingly illustrated than on the occasion
of the last Parliamentary campaign. " Restrictive
imposts are protective of native industry," said one ;
" The coni-laws diminish home eonsumption and cripple
our insular agriculturists," said another; "Free-

trade doctrines will produce a national bankruptcy,"
said the alarmist ; " Unless monopoly be relinquished
forthwith we cannot answer for the consequences,"
threatened the enthusiastic advocates of the popular
policy. One cried, "The markets will be swamped
by an inundation of foreign grain ;" another, "Bread
may become cheaper, but wages will proportionably
diminish;" another, "Prices will remain stationary
under all circumstances, and the speculators will be
alone benefited ;" another, " Our farming interests
will be sacrificed for the emolument of our man ufa c -
ture rs." Every shadow of difference in deduction
from the same identical facts variously handled, was
perceptible even in the discussions of our representa-
tive legislators. They were unquestionably divided
into two antagonistic forces ; but each force
numbered an astonishing variety of intellectual
weapons. The continuation of the restrictions upon
importation and exportation was advocated in every
conceivable manner; the supposed perils derivable
from the doctrines of commercial emancipation were
in like manner considered under every imaginable
aspect. The same statistical calculations fell under
the immediate observation of every one, but almost
every separate individual regarded those calculations
through a novel medium ; the figures were transposed,
and the results distorted according to the bias of
each observer. Among the protectionists alone we
could illustrate our meaning by an extraordinary di-
versity of examples, from Lord STANLEY himself down
to the most leaden-headed wine-bibber on the back
benches of an agricultural demonstration.
As time elapses, and the consequences of Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S commercial measure becomes
more apparent, those varieties of opinion
are assuming to themselves a most Protean and cha-
melion-like fluctuation. Animosity is dwindling
into indifference, indifference is merging into asto-
nishment, astonishment is resolving itself into en-
thusiasm. We shall ultimately behold the bitterest
enemies of the League swelling the ranks of its dis-
ciples and admirers. One by one the great landed
proprietors of the kingdom have confessed the fallacy
of their original impressions ; one after another they