The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

If it is by the labour of the artisan, aided by the
capital employed, that profit is derived and the com-
munity enriched, how necessary and politic it is to
keep and preserve the industrious working man in a
state which will enable him to "labour, working with
his hands the thing that is good," by guarding and
protecting him under unmerited casualties or oppres-
sion. This is an axiom admitted in political economy,
and it is applicable to all classes of society, high and
low, rich and poor, in the respective vocations—to
none more than the conductors of the public press.
The opinion of the public as to the measures before
and about to be brought before them—the labour of
the leading and popular advocates and promoters of
these measures—is that on which their capital is em-
ployed and the " profit" derived. " Whatever (as the
Times paper justly observes, Dec. 25, 1833,) there-
fore, relates to the uprightness and honour of public
men at the head of affairs, and especially of those con-
fleeted vvith the administration of justice, is a matter of in-
terest and importance to all." Now, the most fortunate
hits on which the labour and capital of the Times were
expended were—their advocacy of the cause of the
late Queen Caroline, and the great question of Parlia-
mentary Reform. In " patronizing" Harry Brougham
in both these great measures, they took the popular
side, in which his labour was employed ; and if he
obtained their justly-merited eulogies, and they were
the means of first bringing that great man into public
notice, the obligation was mutual, his labours contri-
buting materially to their "profit," in the progressive
increase of the circulation of their journal ; and surely
they could never have passed over his speeches, or all
that he then did and has since done, without drawing
down upon themselves the imputations which they
passed on the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Times, Sept. 2. 1833.—" It is strange that the
Speaker, in enumerating the measures that had
been completed by the Commons, made no mention
of the Lord Chancellor's admirable Law Reforms,
though the Sovereign thought them 'worthy of a very
distinguished notice !" In despite of all the unme-
rited attacks, insinuations, and inconsistency of the
Times, we should hope that Lord Brougham will not
(to use the powerful and emphatic language of that
journal—Times, Aug. 23, 1833), "as a man of less
firm purpose of soul might have done, relinquish the
people's cause. Having triumphantly proved the uti-
lity of the measures which he proposed—having re-
futed all the arguments which have been alleged against
them--he will still persevere in his career of public
utility, and in, fitture firing forward measures of re-
form calculated to serve the public to the utmost ex-
tent which they by whom these measures must be
sanctioned will allow. The right mode of answer-
ing false imputations is to put the accuser to open
shame by the clear light of truth."—Morning Chro-
nicle.

" To live and let live" is one of those terse and in-
telligible maxims which comes home to the feelings
and understandings, and generally to the situations of
most men in society ; conveying a much stronger
practical lesson than is sometimes to be found in the
lengthened dissertation either of the moralist or divine.
It is to this valuable maxim that we wish we could
effectually draw the attention of the large body of ope-
ratives and their employers who are now involved in a
state of hostility, mutually mischievous, and, as we
believe, mutually provoked. We fear it has hitherto
been too much neglected or lost sight of by them
both. Of the tyranny exercised by the Trades Unions
there have been too many instances, some of them pro-
ducing acts of the most frightful enormity, to leave any
doubt in the minds of the calm judging, disinterested
lookers on, that to live, and not to let live, is the maxim
which they substitute for that which we allude to. On
the other hand, the master builders, by a grasping mono-
poly, have been long endeavouring to centralize the vast
business of the metropolis, and the larger works of the
provinces, into a comparatively small number of hands,
thereby lessening the number of workmen, diminishing
their means of acquiring skill, and enabling them to
dictate terms to them in a spirit of arbitrary exclusive-
ness, not less at variance with the above maxim. That
the public are interested in seeing an end to both such
Unions, but especially the latter, can admit of no
doubt ; being, as it really is, a union to keep up
prices and keep down competition, which, if allowed
to prevail, actually inflicts a much heavier tax upon
the community than any which is paid to the State.
Siding then with neither party, but holding both to be
decidedly in the wrong, can we do a better service to
both, or to the public, than by counselling them, as we
earnestly do, to pause—to look upon their present con-
test as a drawn battle, and to retire from it as from a
field where victory is very unlikely to be obtained; where
if obtained, it must be unaccompanied by any honour ;
and, above all, by the consideration that while wran-
gling and arraying themselves against each other, the
only prizes worth having, labour and the profit of
labour, are either dispensed with by the employers, or
of necessity falling into other hands ? But who is to
give way ? 4, Not the masters, surely," answers some
one ; " they are not to succumb to the men." If we
could decide which were most in the wrong, with that
party we should say the retreat ought to commence.
But we cannot do that, nor is it necessary. But there
is one thing which each may do, and which would
speedily work the end we have in view ; that is,
let each party put itself in the right. Let the masters,
from whom good examples should come, abolish their
union and disclaim their monopoly ; and let the work-
men cease to molest each other by exercising or holding
out a tone of persecution totally at variance with the
liberty of free agency, which they in the same breath pro-
fess to expose and practically disclaim. We hear of
leaders and prompters in this latter class. It is natural
enough that those in the lower grades of life should
look for counsel, at least, from the best-informed
among themselves. If there is any fault in this ab-
stractedly, it arises from the unnatural position in
which the masters place themselves. The master is
the natural friend and counsellor of the workmen. The
maxim, " Live and let live," would make him so still.
But we would urge the workmen to be on their guard
against evil counsellors, against interested counsellors,
and above all against the demagogues. That there
are but too many in one or more of these capacities
ready enough to take advantage of their excited feel-
ings admits, we believe, of no doubt. At any rate
the true and obvious interests of all but those last
alluded to, is that this strife should be at an end. Good
sense dictates this ; and right feeling will, we trust,
prompt its immediate adoption. It is false pride of
the very worst description which induces any one to
hesitate as to who shall first do right.—Morn. Herald.
When Lord Melbourne was advanced to the head
of the Ministry, the people were told to expect more
forward and decisive measures of improvement—they
were assured that the clogs, and hindrances, and coun-
teracting powers were removed, and that thenceforth
the Government would advance in a more free and
steady conformity with the wishes of the nation. To
what purpose, then, can the ill-omened declaration of
the Chancellor have been made, that " too much

rather than too little has been done ;" and that if
little was done in the last Session, less is to be ex-
pected in the next ?" To what purpose, we ask, can
this declaration have been made, unless to damage the
Ministry of Lord Melbourne in public opinion ? And
it is to be observed, that if Lord Brougham can in-
jure Lord Melbourne's Ministry by assigning to it a
Conservative character, and preaching despair to the
people, he can do this safely to .himself, for the Tory
language by which he discredits Lord Melbourne's Go-
vernment accredits him with the party that would rush
into power upon the ruin of the present Ministry.
If Lord Brougham can sink the bark by the odium of
Conservatism, he will not sink with its crew, but swim
with the Tories. The doctrines which operate to the
damage of his present colleagues recommend him to
their successors. While he makes the Whig Govern-
ment appear too Conservative for the support of the
Reformers, he may make himself appear sufficiently
Tory for a cordial coalition with that party in power.
The very means by which he sinks the Cabinet of
which he is now a member, raise him with the rival
power. In the appropriate language of the turf for
such jockeyship his conduct bears a strong appearance
of hedging, and he seems to be laying his stake on the
horse apposed to that on which he is riding. It looks
like a Newmarket-triek, or a 404 for a new market.

The Chancellor may be honester than he seems ; but
it will be well for Lord Melbourne to look to his
escapades. The Chief has to consider whether it is
for the honour and advantage of his Ministry that the
Chancellor travels through the country " crying stink-
ing fish" (as the homely saying most aptly describes
such conduct). Lord Grey's Government fell short
of public expectations—it was a disappointment ;
and Lord Brougham goes forth to declare that less is
to be hoped from the Melbourne Ministry than the
little which was done by the preceding Cabinet, di-
vided in its counsels and impeded in its action by the
Conservatives, who finally seceded. After disappoint-
ment this is a preparation for despair. Injurious as
such language is calculated to be, it may yet be as
much without motive as without sense or justice, but
it should he watched by those whom it must damage,
if any force or authority continues to belong to any
thing proceeding from the Chancellor. The supposi-
tion that Lord Brougham may be laying himself out
for the Tories—and he has already succeeded to some
extent, as we showed yesterday by extracts from two
organs of the party—may be met by the remark that
he cannot cont mplate any thing so wild as the stabi-
lity of a Tory Ministry ; but those who have marked
the late wildness of the Learned Lord will so no force
in that argument, for his views may easily be supposed
as wild as his language and his conduct. He wishes
to be Premier—he is dissatisfied, and not without rea-
son, with his judicial office—and his wishes fashion-
ing his judgment, he would never mistrust any ground
that presented the darling object of his ambition. An
egg-shell would loom a line-of-battle-ship in his sight,
so that it was freighted with his fortunes as Prime Mi-
nister. The Ministry that would seem stable in his
fancy is the Ministry in which he should be chief.—
Times.