The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-11 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The following is from the Morning Herald:—" The
Globe joins the Chronicle in its hearty crusade against
the Christian instruction of the people by the only means
it is possible that Christianity can be taught to the po-
pulation of England and Wales. Four millions of that
population are now practically without the pale of Chris-
tianity, and the proposition that the State should aid the
voluntary exertions of the wealthier members of the Es-
tablished Church to teach them moral and religious truth,
is denounced by the.matutinal organ of Whiggery as;' bi-
gotry,' and is chirped at at vespers by the Globe as a
Quixotic scheme.' Is no attempt, then, to be made by
the State to remove the practical heathenism of that por-
tion of the people, for whom there is literally no religi-
ous instruction ? Did the State connect itself with the
Church, for the attempted salvation of a section of the
population only ? Have the means of the Church not to
be augmented, as the people increase in numbers ? Has
every other temporal institution to be expanded to
meet the growing necessities of the times, and the
Church alone to remain stationary and restricted?"—
If the Church remain stationary and restricted, it is its
own fault, for it has abundant means for increasing its
influence, and making itself more generally useful. If
new Churches are wanted, the Establishment has the
funds at hand ; a liberal subscription among its Bishops,
Deans, Prebends, and Pluralists, would at once procure
all that was needed ; and who can be so deeply inter-
ested in the welfare of the Church, as those who are its
ministers, and who are paid—the higher classes of them,
at least—so handsomely, for promoting its efficiency ?
It is disgraceful that the Church should sue in forma
pauperis, for pecuniary assistance from the State, to
enable it to extend the sphere of its operations. Despite
all the retrenchments lately made in the Establishment,
it is still the richest—would we could add, the most dis-
interested and conscientious—Church in the world.
The Advertiser thus expresses itself on the subject of
the encroachments of Puseyism :—" Puseyism goes to
the fountain head, and reverts back to Rome herself as
the source and origin of her authority. The Cardinal's
cap, and not the Archbishop's mitre, should, in their
opinion, lead them on in their attacks upon independence
and liberty of thought. The authority of the Church
of Rome, which they would impose, venerable and
ancient as it is, and hoary with the frost ofyears, is to
them an object of more bigoted attachment and reve-
rence than the modern and spurious claims of English
episcopacy. They turn with congenial feelings to
the times, of darkness and evil for the sanctions that
are requisite to give authority to their aggressions"—
Though the Church, as a matter of course, exposes its
distrust of, and even hostility to, Puseyism, yet its oppo-
sition is singularly lukewarm, compared with what it
would be, were pounds, shillings, and pence, involved in
the issue of the dispute. But as it is a question of ritual
not of revenue—of creed not of cash—the high Church
authorities content themselves with a mitigated opposi-
tion. Meanwhile Puseyism advances, and while our
full-fledged Bishops are still slumbering as grave as owls
on their perches, threatens, one of these days, to give them
such a rude shock, as shall set them hooting in solemn
chorus to the tune of the " Church in Danger."
The Times, speaking of the Marquis Of Lansdowne's
speech at the Wilts meeting, makes the following obser-
vations :—" When we bear in mind that Lord Lans-
downe's political party always betray am anxious desire
to miss no opportunity, fair or unfair, of conveying to
the throne their own representations about existing dis-
tress—a desire which, both from delicacy as an ex-
Minister and from a due regard to good faith, his Lord-
ship was specially bound to have refrained from gratify-
ing at the Wiltshire meeting—we must honestly own
that if any prudent or discreet purpose can have dictated
Lord Lansdowne's concluding hints. it has entirely eluded
our best endeavours to discover it."—To assert that the
Marquis, and the other speakers at the 'Wilts meeting,
were bound to refrain from alluding to " the existing
distress of the country"—in order, of course, to spare the
delicate sensibilities of the Tories—is as cool a piece of
effrontery as ever was exhibited, even by the Times. Why
should the Liberal party spare the Ministers, who never
spared them ? Above all, why should they neglect their
duty as citizens, in order to make such a sacrifice of truth?
Had they done so, they would have disgraced theniselves
irrecoverably, for they are bound by every strong tie that
can bind honest men, to expose the state of the country
without reserve, and even insist on the distresses Of their
fellow-countrymen with the more urgency, the more the
Ministers feel disinclined to suggest any scheme for their
alleviation.

The Post says :—" It was determined yesterday, at a
Privy Council held at Windsor, that the commencement
of the next Session of Parliament shall be on Thursday,
the third day of February, 1842. The country will look
forward to the meeting of Parliament for the dispatch
of divers urgent and important affairs,' in the present in-
stance, for the second:time during eleven years, with just
confidence that the measures to be proposed by Govern-
ment will have been dictated by an honest and exclusive
regard to its solid and permanent interests; and that no-
thing will have been concocted for the purpose of keep-
ing an Administration in place by
.creating an artificial
and abortive agitation during one Session, and giving
Ministers a fraudulent pretext for carrying themselves
and their defeated measures over to another. The
era of fraud in the higher, and of delusion in the lower,
region of British society is fortunately at an end."—
That the country looks eagerly forward to the next ses-
sion of Parliament is true ; but it certainly does not do
so with any thing like " just confidence." Why should
it? What reasons have the Tories ever given for the
confidence of the country ? The utmost that can be ex-
pected from them is, that in all their proceedings they
will have regard to the shadow rather than the substance
of reform.

The Chronicle remarks as follows on the great Derby
meeting, which took place on Thursday last :—" The
manufacturers of this great division of England all tell
the same melancholy tale. Their staple trade, hosiery,
has of late years experienced a great decline. Ger-
many, which used to import hosiery largely from
England, now not only supplies itself, but has alto-
gether superseded us in the market of the United
States, and is fast superseding us in South Ame-
rica. Nay, what is more startling, after paying an
import duty of twenty per cent., German hosiery,
and more particularly gloves, are sold extensively at
a, profit in this country. We have lost the fo-
reign market, and we are fast losing the home
market. Mr. -William Biggs, of Leicester, went minutely
into the condition of the principal manufacturing towns
of Leicestershire. In all these towns, and their neigh-
bourhoods, the distress is indescribable. It appears that
front 1815 to the present time there has been a constant
and regular downward progress. The population of
Ilinckley, in 1831, was 6,491 ; in 1841, it is 6,459 ; but
the reduced population is not half employed ; and wages,
which in 1815 were 12s. wweek, are not now 75., while
the men are not half employed. The poor-rates, in 1815,
were 2,9291. ; for 1841, they are 4,2401. The next town,
Loughborough, had a population of 11,000 tin 1831,
and, in 1841, the population has fallen to 10,000. The
workman receives now Ss. for what brought him 14s. in
1815. Leicester contains 50,000 inhabitants, and the
number of unoccupied houses, which in 1831 was 550,
is now 1,400. Wages arc little more than half of what
they were in 1815. IR all Leicestershire there were
16,000 frames in 1815 ; there are now not more than
14,000. While things have been taking this downward
,course in Leicestershire, in Saxony the increase has
been rapid in the extreme. In 1815 there were not
more than 4,500 frames in that State ; in 1835 they had
increased to 13,481; and now, in 1841, they are 25,000."
The Dundee Chronicle says, in reference to the present
distressed state of the country:—" Who can be patiet.t,
temperate, or indifferent to the cause of the poor, whilst
reading the details of wretchedness and woe so fearfully
depicted in our metropolitan and provincial journals ?
Who can keep his temper, whilst contrasting the extra-
vagance of royalty and its satellites, the aristocracy,
their palaces and dog-kennels, with the misery of the
weavers wretched cabin? Who can be calm, whilst
Tory impudence mendaciously asserts, that there is but
little cause for the clamours of the operatives of Bolton,
Stockport, and Paisley?"
The Leicester Mercury remarks as follows:—" Why is
emigration necessary at the present period? Is it be-
cause the population have really out-grown the means
of subsistence which the country affords, and to the use
of which they are legitimately entitled? Could this be
proved, we should cordially approve the remedy pro-
pounded. But we deny that this is the case. We nttin-
taiii that the Legislature, by laws; the most unjust in
principle, and stupid in policy, have produced, for the
most part, the misery which prevails around us."
The Western Times observes of the Government emi-
gration scheme :—" The Government are on the alert
to get their emigration schemes well received, but we
doubt whether they will be successful—we are certain
that they ought not, until they shall have done all in
their power to relieve the distress by removing the causes
which produce that distress. We see many cases in our
beautiful coast towns of patients sent down from distant
places to try change of air—which often means that the
Doctor having nearly exhausted the fees, and not caring
to see the end of his skill, gets the friends of the patient
to remove him to a distance, where he dies off quietly,
and the Doctor can say with a safe conscience, •' He did
not die under my hands.' "
The following is from the Dublin Evening 'Post f—
" Our precious Government has two organs, one of which
is constantly occupied in contradicting the other, whilst
both are fighting like fishwives. The Mail promulgates
what the Orange managers of the Castle require to be

performed. The Packet being instructed to play upon a
lower key, deprecates the impatience of the rival organ,
and describes him as a madman, in order to throw dis-
credit upon his information. A pretty Set they are—the
Government, their organs, and all."
The Durham Chronicle comments in the following
terms onLord J. Russell's answer to the Plymouth Ad-
dress :—" His Lordship's recent answer to the Plymouth
Address has provoked not a little vituperation. And
the more to be wondered at is this explosion of party
feeling, inasmuch as we are assured, by the same critics,
that Lord John is about the most contemptible person in
the three kingdoms ; and that his answer is even more
contemptible than himself. This answer we believe to
be exactly what it ought to be. It descends to no petty
grievance, and discusses the important topics to which it
relates with that temperate yet firm and dignified reliance
which nothing but a conscientious performance of duty
can ever inspire."