The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have not to learn that to take an independent
line either in politics, or on any subject either of tem-
porary or permanent excitement, is an unpardonable
'offence in the eyes both of the contending parties and
those of violent or interested partisans. Such is our
own case at present in the unfortunate disputes which
are still going on between the master-builders and
their: workmen. Our repeated assertion (of the truth
of which we are every day more and more convinced),
that we consider both parties in the wrong, and that
we thereto& take part with neither, is met by the ab-
surd assurance that such an avowal proves us to be the
advocates of the workmen, and accordingly in the co-
lumns of the Morning Post, and of an obscure Even-
ing Paper, the public are' favoured with a version of
our sentiments totally at variance with the truth, and
with what our recorded sentiments are known to be.
Our Contemporaries, and those whose interests they
espouse, are mistaken, if they imagine that they will tempt
us, either by taunts or misrepresentation, to swerve from
that line of impartiality which we have chalked out to
ourselves. The master builders, or the workmen, may
assume, if they please, that those who are not with
them are against them. We, on the contrary, who know
our own mind, will not embark in the contest either
way. We deny that we are with or against either party
in the spirit of contest ; but are with both in that spirit
of conciliation which we wish to lead to and see pre-
vail between them. We hold it, both as regards the
public and the parties themselves, to be a lamentable
state of things when union produces disunion to the
extent which unhappily now prevailing, and when
the character of master and servant, which must more
or less be that of the great bulk of the community, and
is calculated to be productive of mutual benefit, is
placed in abeyance, and the habits and profits of
labour abandoned to an extent which not only must se-
riouslfaffect the families of the parties themselves, but the
various trades through which wages circulate as blood
through the arteries of the body. We have been glad
to perceive, in the " Statement" put forth, and so
widely circulated by the masters, much of that spirit of
kindness and conciliation displayed, which we are our-
selves desirous to inculcate ; at the same time we con-
tinue to be persuaded that, in demanding the signa-
tures of workmen to the declaration which that state-
ment concludes with, they impose a condition at once
at variance with the principles of free agency, by
which, in the second resolution of the Bth of July, they
profess to be governed, as one which they have no
right upon earth to impose ; and which, if signed by
every operative in the kingdom, would not be worth
in value, or in consequences, the paper which it is
written upon. We think, then, that the workmen
have a right to have this declaration withdrawn. By
withdrawing it the masters would yield nothing worth
contending for, while by so doing they would place
themselves, so far at least, in the right. This done,
we trust, and indeed think, that there is good sense, and,
at any rate, a principle of self-interest strong enough
among the men to receive such a concession from their
employers in a kind, conciliatory spirit ; and that both
parties, seeing their mutual dependence upon each
other, might meet in amity, burying, as far as possible,
in oblivion all that is past. Unhappily the workmen
are not, we fear, without advisers who are profiting by
this disunion, and who would gladly continue to carry
off the oyster, leaving them nothing but the shell.
For the defeat of such persons, and such objects, we
rely on that spread of intelligence which is evidently
making its way among them. We regret and condemn
the acts of violence and intimidation which are too

frequently occurring. The law, we repeat, is strong
enough to deal with such outrages, and it ought to do
so. But still we do not wish to speak too harshly of
the many for the crimes and errors of the few, feeling
persuaded, as we do, that the case is one where mild
conciliatory language and conduct, accompanied by
justice, are much more likely to be available, than any
strain of vituperation or acts of one-sided justice,
which the portion of the press we have alludedto appear
inclined to deal in.—Morning Herald.
From all quarters we hear complaints of the per-
plexities in the law of the voters' registration, and
alarming reports of the decrease of constituencies.
There is doubtless much obscurity, much uncertainty,
and consequently much trouble and vexation, which
should not exist ; and we have reason to believe that
many persons, in disgust, take no pains to qualify them-
selves, because they are apprehensive that their pains
inay be taken in vain. A little consideration will show
that nothing can be more unwise than this conduct.
Admitting that the law requires amendment, what
better course for its amendment can they who find fault
with it pursue, than to endeavour to enrol themselves
in the constituencies which influence the Legislature,
and thuS to obtain the necessary alteration through
their representatives ? They may not succeed—they
may be disappointed, balked by some unforeseen ob-
jection, defeated through some neglected formality ;
but let them try, and if they fail, they will have
the satisfaction of knowing that they have done
their duty to themselves and society ; and if they suc-
ceed, they will in the electoral body be in a position to
relieve themselves and others from a repetition of the
same troubles, by calling upon their representatives to
exert themselves for the improvement of the system.
A petulent abandonment of an object because diffi-
culties and annoyances are thrown around it
which should not be thrown around it, is
not in the English character. Nelson never
would listen to the plea of impossibility ; his answer
was, " How do you know it is impossible till you have
tried ?" The maxim should be applied to very at-
tempt in which a duty is concerned. The constitution
is to be manned, and let every man who believes him-
self qualified, make his claim, and if rejected, the fault
is not his. Every man dissatisfied with the condition
of registration should feel that as an elector his com-
plaints will have an influence which they would not
have if he were to remain a non-elector ; and each
should act as if all depended on himself, for so it is that
the strong pull and the pull altogether is effected which
carries all before it. To stand aloof uttering noisy
complaints is worse than idle, when a legitimate power
is within reach, by a proper use of which the causes of
complaint may be removed ; it is true that the legiti-
mate power may not always be possessed by those who
give themselves some trouble to obtain it, but we hold
that no man is privileged to indulge in complaints till
he has made the attempt. A, traveller having remarked
a poor Englishman day after day walking up and down
the parade of a continental town in great distress of
mind, asked him the cause of his trouble ; the man
answered that he was some hundred miles from home,
and unable to get a conveyance thither, upon which
the traveller answered, " My friend, if you had
walked resolutely and steadily in the direct road to
Calais, the distance you have daily walked up and
down this parade, lamenting and complaining, you
would have been within reach of home long ago."
This is the lesson we would teach the persons who
walk up and down complaining of the Reform Bill,
and the defects in the registration system. Let them
but employ the same activity and astuteness in endea-
vouring to qualify themselves which they exercise in
finding fault and reasons for their disgust and omis-
sions, and they would soon arrive at the goal which
they allege to be unjustly placed out of their reach.
We have so far addressed our remarks to persons
who may refuse to take the trouble of securing their
franchise, because they may apprehend the denial or
defeat of their claims ; but much less excusable is
another large class of people, who, from sheer negli-
gence, fail to perform the most easy conditions of
qualification. If surprised by a general election, in
which the great interests of the country might be at
stake, these persons would bitterly reproach them-
selves with their inability to serve the just cause. Every
indolent man making excuses for his own omissions is
apt to say " What matters it whether I have a vote or
not ? What is my single vote ?" But he should ask
himself what would be the effect of thousands reason-
ing in the same manner, and the answer will admonish
him. that each should act as for each and for all.

The man is a bad thinker or a bad moralist who ne-
giects his own public duty in the reliance that others
will be better citizens than himself, and do for him
what he has failed to do for them. The divine rule,
"'do as= you would be done by," serves in this as in all
other cases to prescribe what is just and useful. We
observe that in the Tower Hamlets the right of lodgers

to vote has been discussed. The claim was dismissed
upon a point of form, but the objection of Mr. Ware,
the vestry-clerk, that if it were admitted the population
of the parish would be enfranchised, cannot be of any
legal validity. Such a result may be extremely incon-
venient, but the question was not of the convenience
or political fitness, but of the dry right according to
the letter of the law.—Tines.

We have had handed to us a pamphlet, entitled
" Statement of the Master-builders of the Metropo-
lis, in Explanation of the Differences between them
and the Workmen respecting the Trades' Unions."
We know not whether this " Statement" be the saline
which appeared, some weeks ago, as an advertise-
ment in some of the daily papers ; but whether it be
or be not, we notice it for the purpose of protesting
against being included in the sweeping condemnation
which is passed by the master-builders upon that
portion of the press which " is devoted to the in-
terests of the Trades' Unions." We have unques-
tionably leaned more to the side of the men than
to that of the masters, and for the simple reason,
that we conceive the former to have been harshly
dealt with, and the latter to have arrogated to them-
selves a power to which they have no legal or moral
right ; but we deny that "we have been active and
violent in using towards the master-builders all possi-
ble epithets of abuse and contumely, and every species
of misrepresentation." On the contrary, our language
has been that of mildness and moderation—our object,
the defence of the weak against the strong—our de-
sire, to conciliate, not to produce irritation, or to pro-
long strife. Again, say the master-builders, "it has
been perseveringly stated that the masters have re-
quired the men to sign a declaration that they do
not, and will not, belong to any trades' union ; and
when, in answer to this, the real declaration is
republished, it is asserted, to countenance the
former deceit, that the clause binding the men pros-
' pectively, has been abandoned.' That this is false
may be at once proved by a reference to any of the
public papers in which the resolutions were adver-
tised three weeks before the 16th of August." This
statement, we beg leave to say, is a fallacy, if not a
misrepresentation and intended deception ; for what
can it possibly signify to the poor workman whether
he be called upon to sign a document declaratory of
his not belonging to any Trades' Union, or to sign
one to the additional effect that he will not at any
future time belong to one, when it is the determina-
tion of the masters not to employ him in either case ?
We should like, at least, to be shewn the difference.
—Morning Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

Sarah M'Cann, a pauper of the Middlesex part of Ald-
gate parish, was brought before the LORD MAYOR, charged
with a robbery.
Mrs. Sarah Loftus, a shopkeeper in the city, stated that
the prisoner walked into her shop on the preceding day, and
asked her whether she knew of any place vacant for a ser-
vant ? Witness replied in the negative, and the prisoner,
without asking for charity or saying another word, took up
about six lbs. of bacon, and walked off with it. A police-
man, however, having been called in for advice, soon took
the prisoner into custody.
The prisoner was driven to the extremity by the cries of
her infant child for sustenance. She had been sent to a
farmhouse at Islington, together with her child, who was
just weaned, and the food given to her was by no means fit
for an infant. The consequence was she was often obliged
to sell her own dinner to procure the necessary nou-
rishment for her child, and there were four days in the
week on which she received not a morsel of meat.

The LORD MAYOR—To whom do you sell your dinner ?
The Prisoner—To the person who serves it to us. It is
the rule of the place. You have either your dinner or three
halfpence, and I have preferred the three halfpence to buy
something for the infant.
Mrs. Loftus—She never begged of me, not told me a
word about her wants ; if she had I would have relieved
her, and I hope your Lordship won't send her to prison.

The LORD. MAYOR—She must know that what she says
is no justification of the offence she has committed, but I
cannot think of detaining her under such circumstances.

The Prisoner—Whai am I to do ?
The LORD MAYOR-1 shall send an officer to the Ma-
gistrate at Lambeth-street, who, I have no ;doubt, will at
once make inquiry into the fact.
The Prisoner—l now and then got a little salt meat, but
that is not the thing for a child just weaned.
The LORD MA YOR—Does not the father provide for his
child? The Prisoner—Not now. He is gone off to France,
and left me without a farthing.
The LORD MAYOR—Does not the matron of the work-
house visit the children ? The Prisoner—No. Her servant
maid now and then goes round the workhouse.
The LORD MAYOR.—Ay, the deputy's deputy-deputy.
If some of these appendages were removed, there would be
more to divide amongst the poor.
His Lordship then sent an officer with the woman to the
Magistrates of Lambeth-street.

A man of respectable appearance and good address, who
refused to let his name be known, was brought up, charged
with having stolen a coat, or rather, according to the
thieves' vocabulary, exchanged another for it.
Cope, porter to Mr. Johnston, of Gracechurch-street,
salesman, stated that the warehouse contained a considera-
ble quantity of unredeemed pledges which were for sale.
Persons were in the habit of &ting on coats, and some-
times a thief slipped off, leaving an old coat in the place of
a new one, and Mr. Johnston was determined to prosecute
the first " exchanger" he should discover. The prisoner
upon entering the room pulled off his coat, which was worth
about 10s., and slipped on a very handsome coat with silk
lining, worth about 405., which was hung up for sale ticket-
ed. The customer then walked out, and was just in Lom-
bard-street, when witness followed and tookhim into custody.
Prisoner.—l assure you, my Lord, that I had not the
most remote idea of taking away the coat. This man most
grossly misrepresents the matter. The fact is, I was just
gone to the door to ascertain by the light whether the coat
was worth the money, and whether it would fit me—(A
laugh.)
The LORD MAYOR-But was it necessary to go all the
way to Lombard-street to see whether it would fit ? Pri-
soner—l only just went but into the light to see whether
the colour of the cloth was to be depended upon, for people
have so many ways of cheating people in this town.—(A
laugh.) It may appear very ridiculous, but I assure you I
am speaking the truth.
Cope—Not at all, my Lord ; he was regularly making
off with the coat. He never intended to come back.
Prisoner—lt's a falsehood ; I was returning when you
met me at the door. I was just going to pull off the coat.,

The LORD MAyou— Was -that the case, porter 1
Cope—Not at all, my Lord ; he was off, and I over•
took him.

The prisoner was then remanded.

G UILDIIALL.

Yesterday a gentleman named Thomas Collins was
brought before Mr. Alderman KELLY upon a warrant
granted upon a certificate of the Clerk of the Peace, that
Mr. Collins was and stands indicted for wilful and corrupt
perjury in a certain affidavit in writing made by him before
Wadharn Wyndham, one of the signers of the writs of
capias, to cause Muno Alvarez Pereira de Mello,. Duke
de Cadaval, to be arrested for the sum of 10,0001., at the
suit of the said Mr. Collins, to which indictment he had not
appeared-or pleaded.
The Clerk stated that it was not necessary to enter into
any particulars of the case, as the Grand Jury had found an
indictment, and the duty of the Magistrate was simply to
ascertain that the person brought before him was the one
referred to in the indictment.

The prisoner inquired what amount of bail the Alderman
would require.
Mr. Alderman KELLY was not empowered to accept bail
in such cases. The application must be made to a Judge.
The prisoner was then removed to Newgate.
William Thompson, one of the workmen in the employ of
Messrs. Webb, the builders, in St. John's-lane, attended
before Mr. Alderman COWAN, on a summons, for assaulting
Robert Masey, who was said to be one of the Builders'
Union fraternity.

Masey met Thompson in the street, and only called out
" Bah" to him, when the defendant said if he did that again
he would punch his head.

Mr. Alderman COWAN asked what he meant by saying
" Bah" to him ? Complainant could not tell, and, resuming
his story, stated that he said " Bah" again, and Thompson
instantly struck him.
Mr. Alderman COWAN said, that by repeating the offen-
sive word, which he professed not to undorstand, after the
warning the defendant gave him, he had invited the assault,
and must put up with it:
Complaint dismissed.