The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-23 00:00:00

more convenient season. Manufactiirers and malt-
sters, deprived of their wonted pecuniary aceoma
modation, become insolvent, and their journeymen
are thrown out of employment. Landlords post-
pone contemplated improvements, and builders,
brickmakers, carpenters, and the like are all driven
to reduce the number of their hands. Of the work-

men thus compelled to inaction the better Glass
consume the savings which have cost them years
of self-denial to amass, and the worse sort
throw themselves at once on the parish rates. The '
small tradesmen, losing half their customers, sink
into a condition only just above that of paupers,
and are scarcely able to pay the enhanced rates
which go to relieve their late supporters. It is
scarcely necessary to add that all the institutions
for the moral improvement or comfort of the poor
receive a severe shock. Benefit clubs break ;
clothing clubs lose their members ; school subscrip•
tions and school pence fall off; infirmaries languish
for want of funds; and mechanics' institutions are

deserted.
But a merely local misfortune operates within
narrow limits. The neighbouring gentry, even if
they suffer, rarely suffer more than a temporary in
convenience. The more benevolent lay their heads
together with the clergyman and contrive some-
thing to mitigate the worst cases of misfortune, and
in the lust resort the Poor Law interposes a barrier
against absolute starvation. New capitalists soon
take the place of those who have been ruined;
active employment recommences ; and in two or
three years no manifest traces remains of much
misery except in the form of several new names
among the tradesmen and employers, and an un-
usual number of young children in the burial
register for the winter succeeding the crash.
But how different would be the effect of a blow,

which annihilated for an indefinite period allindus-
tries except those engaged in the supply of the
mere necessaries of life. Some faint idea of the
consequences may, perhaps, be formed by conceiv-
ing every town in the country reduced to the con-
dition of one in which a local bank has recently
stopped, and the metropolis itself retaining the
appearance all the week which it now presents on
Sundays. This illustration, however, involves the
assumption that the victorious enemy not only ab-
stains from all violence himself but contrives to
keep in their normal condition the 20,000 or 30,000
thieves and vagabonds who are now held as it were
in solution in the circulating tide of industry. How
would the working men fare after a fortnight of
such a state of things ? What would then be the
rallying cry of the trades-unions when they were
reduced to multitudes of hungry men clamorous
for employment at any wage, with alas ! no em-
ployment for them even on such terms ? No em-
ployment ; and what is more, no parish relief ! In
such a state of things as would arise, strong men
would die by hundreds, and women and children by
thousands throughout the length and breadth of
the land. Depend upon it, the security of the
country and the inviolability of the metropolis is
emphatically a people's question.
Happily, the dreadful contingency which has for
some time loomed before the eyes of many men who
are far from timid, is next to impossible, if English-
men are only true to themselves, and magnanimous
enough to prefer the honour of their country to the
interests of their party. A war with this country
must always be the last throw of a desperate
gamester. But a despotically governed kingdoni,is
a high pressure engine without a safety valve. Even
the ablest ruler can never be secure that the trea-
chery, the folly, or the fears of his agents--and, in
the last case, of himself in his weaker moments—
may not at any time produce an explosion ; and
should this occur, we may be pretty sure that some
desperate gamester will arise. It is, I believe, un-
doubted that in 1848 the proposal for a coup de main
on London was made to the revolutionary Govern-
ment of France, not by any obscure adventurer,
but by a general officer of great reputation for civil
as well as military qualities. True, our power of re-
sistance then was to our present means as the
strength of a child to that of a giant ;:but if our de-
fensive resources have grown, so have the offensive
powers of our only possible assailant, while in the
meantime the contrast between his institutions
and our own has become far more striking, and the
proximity of the two countries proportionally more
pregnant with danger.
But still, let Englishmen of all classes be true to
themselves, and place confidence in each other, and
there is no danger of defeat and disgrace, and next
to none of war. The patriotic spirit of a portion
of the nation has been thoroughly aroused. All
that is now wanted is that no petty social or per-
sonal jealousies should be allowed to check the
spread of the movement, from the higher and mid-
dle classes, even to the sound part of the lower.
The honest artisan has a greater interest in the
security of England and the stability of that free-
dom of which she is the chief representative in
Europe, than even the millionaire. If possible, he
should heave the opportunity of showing this, and
of contributing his part to swell the 120,000 volun-
teers of 1860, to double the number in 1861. If
this is done, whatever system of defence professional
skill may devise, there will be no lack of hands
when occasion demands to carry it out.

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