The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-28 00:00:00

!lours which constitute the Sabbath! The tra-
yeller who may happen to sojourn in an hotel or
public-house, in town or country,
.can get no
!meal during the long day and night I Will this
he endured ? Will the authors of such Bills
escape the public execration ? Would the
Parliament which could pass such a Bill as
this be deemed the proper representative of
even a fraction of the people of England?
,Why, it is not the innoxious amusements of
;this country that are swept away by it,—the
very essentials of life are, in some instances,
;withheld from British subjects. The reasona-
hle enjoyments of the middle "'classes, and
'the necessary recreations of the' poor, are all
invaded. The poor men, old and young, pent
lip the -whole six working days of the week in a
,close and unwholesome atmosphere, are not to
walk to any distance in the country, because no
public-house throughout the country can supply
their most necessary wants. Families must re-
main in their confined dwellings or lodgings,
because in the suburbs of a great town they can
find no resting place. The thing is atrocious :
1, LA.° centuries have passed since it would have
been tolerated in any civilized region of the
earth. On the second reading, which is fixed
for this night, it will be of course rejected.—
' Times.

An Evangelical and Sabbath Bill Member
of the House of Commons, Mr. Finch—one
of the itinerant and Quixotic missionaries, who
was aide-de. camp to Captain Gordon in a late
crusade in Ireland, to bring about a second Pro-
testant reformation among the Catholics—made
a motion last night against Political Unions.
The religious nominee of the Marquis of
Exeter, Member for the close borough of
Stamford, moved a resolution to the following
effect :—" That certain voluntary associations,
denominated Political Unions, are subversive
of the authority of the Crown, unconstitutional
and and that his Majesty's Ministers
will be fully justified in enforcing the law of
the land for their suppression, and for the sup-
pression of all Political Unions, be their deno-
mination what they may, of which the nature,
principles, designs, and operations are subver-
sive of the authority of the Crown, unconstitu-
tional, or illegal." The devil never spread a
net wider to catcli a shoal of his Majesty's
liege subjects, than the super-religious Mr.
Finch has done in the meshes of this notable
resolution. With whom was to be intrusted
the prerogative of deciding what objects of
Political Unions were " subversive of the autho-
rity of the Crown," the Honourable Member
omitted to mention. We presume that he
would revive the Court of Star Chamber, for
the purpose of exercising its ancient and
odious powers inquisition and trial with-
out jury. We do not doubt that we should
have a very quiet country if the resolution had
been carried, and provided it had been acted
upon—a matter, however, of some little diffi-
culty. There are various species of Political
Unions in Great Britain and Ireland the
Anti-slavery societies—the Orange lodges—the
Carlton-house club—some of the Bible societies
to which Mr. Finch belongs, founded on the
express principle of upholding " Church and
State"—Conservative and Pitt clubs--and various
political associations of different parties, for the
purpose of enforcing and stretching the law. The
Society of Friends would alone furnish ample
occupation for Mr. Finch, if he could have car-
ried his resolution, as those active and philan-
thropic members of the community will soon
proceed to other political objects when they have
settled the Negro Slavery question. The ex-
tensive range of the motion, and its comprehen-
sion of the members of the Carlton club, ac-
' counts for the thinness of the House of Com-
mons during the discussion, and the smallness
of the minority (of ten) which supported the
Honourable Mover. Mr. Finch displayed no
ordinary tact and disingenuousness in the course
of his discursive speech on Political Associations.
His object was to throw dirt on the Govern-
ment ; and the manly way in which he was met
by Lord Althorp deserves particular commenda-
tion. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert
Peel were the legitimate parents of Political
Unions. There was no society of the nature
in Birmingham, till the ministerial opposition to
Mr. Tennyson's motion for the transfer of the
' franchise of East Retford to that populous and
public-spirited town. All hope of any substantial
amendment of the representation vanished, when
the Noble Duke, and his pliant Secretary of
State for the Home Department, defeated the
motion of Lord John Russell, for the moderate
proposition of enfranchising a few of the unre-
presented towns. The Political Unions were
the produce of the folly of the Tories. The
Duke of Wellington, in his ever-memorable
declaration on the meeting of the new Parlia-
ment in 1830, that the representative system
was perfect, issued a proclamation for the for-
mation of Political Unions throughout the
country ; and it is not a little curious, but lite-
rally true, that they became so far the masters
of his Grace that he condescended to correspond
with them, and reply officially to their public
memorials and communications. If these Poli-
tical Associations had been really illegal or
unconstitutional, it was the duty of the Duke of
Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, and their Law
Officers to suppress them in their birth. They
did not do so—a fair presumption of the lega-
lity of the Political Unions—and it is rather
too bad a joke now for the Tories, who thus
tolerated them, and who left them as a legacy
to:: the Whigs, to turn tail and revile .
Lord Grey's Administration for not hav-
ing attacked theist in their full growth. We
never contended that these societies were expe-
dient in all times, or under every Government ;
but we admit that they did much towards fur-
thering the cause of Parliamentary Reform, and
perhaps ultimately insured the triumph of that
great question, without bloodshed or devastation
of property, The torpor and political indif-
ference of a large portion of the middle classes—
or rather their dependence on a domineering
Tory Aristocracy—notoriously excited the mass
of the people in this country to make war on the
boroughtriongers, The nation took the field
against the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert
Peel, and outmanoeuvred them. Political Unions
were the excrescences of bad government, Peo-
ple well governed, and enjoying popular repre-
sentation and institutions suited to their times,
never enter into these eztra-constitutional so-
cieties. We hear of no Political Unions in
the North American Federal States. If these
associations are let alone, they will soon die a
natural death ; if they are prosecuted, and uncoil,
stitutionel laws made for their suppression, they
will increase in nvinber and power. Mr. Finch
took upon himself to be very facetious on Mr.
Thomas Attwood, Mr. Parkes, and other pre-
sent or former members of the Birininghain
Union. Mr. Parkes joined the Birmingham
Union in May last year, with
many thousand
new members; when the puke of Wellington