The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-10 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 1857.

April the 10th—a most memorable anniver-
sary ! We speak not here of its purely sacred
associations—GOOD FRIDAY being altogether too
holy and too awful a theme to be rendered the
subject of a newspaper disquisition, however re-
verential, in tone or in language, the allusions made
by the journalist to the Divine Mystery of the
Redemption. We refer simply to the great poli-
tical event of which this day—Friday, the tenth
of April, 1857—is peculiarly commemorative.
The ninth anniversary of the abortive Chartist de-
monstration !—the ninth anniversary of the ghost
of an insurrection on the transpoutine forum, the
Common at Kennington !—the ninth anniversary
of the day when poor FEARGUS O'CONNOR'S
Ragged Regiment startled the capital of the Bri-
tish Empire into a manifestation of civism so ex-
travagantly disproportioned to the revolutionary
outbreak it was designed to suppress ! When-
-with a mere and most miserable handful of excep-
tions—the whole adult male population of London
turned out into the streets—an Army of Special
Constables ! When the troops were distributed at
cockcrow about the metropolis when sand-
bags were piled up on the walls of
the Bank of England, and ordnance lay
concealed here and there at the more salient
points of the City, the gunners standing beside
them with lighted matches, as behind so many
masked batteries—when the reins of office wore
held in a firm grasp by Lord John RUSSELL, and
the Sword of State in the iron grip of the Duke
of WELLINGTON ! All this simply as a magnifi-
cent demonstration against the intended disturb-
era of the public peace—a stupendous extin-
guisher to a little farthing rushlight of Rebellion !

Disproportioned, however, though it was, that
patriotic display of the 10th of April, 1848,
while compared with the wretched fizz in the pan,
when the Great Gun of Chartism (loaded to the
muzzle, elaborately primed, and ostentatiously
cocked) missed fire—it was of considerable ulte-
rior import, and of no little immediate value,
nevertheless. It was a timely declaration made by
England of her utter abhorrence of Reforms
gained solely by Brute Force—at a period when
the hell-broth of Socialism was seething in
France, while the whole political atmosphere
of the Continent seemed to presage nothine,
but disaster and disruption. It was a resolute
reply to—a stern and emphatic negation of—
the monstrous axiom of the Communists just then
enunciated in their name by M. PETTDHOMME,
La Propriele c'est le Volt It was a decisive
pronunciamento on the part of England against
the atrocity of Red Republicanism.
Bat it meant at the same time anything
rather than a want of sympathy with the cause of
Reform, with the interests of Liberalism, with the
hopes and aspirations, cherished far and wide, for
the Popular advancement. It was a demonstra-
tion rather against the Chartists than against
Chartism 1 Against the Democrats rather than
against the Democracy ! It was a demonstration,
in. other words, against the Chartists, who dis-
grnced the cause of Chartism—against the Demo-
crats, who tampered with the interests of the
Democracy !

Signifying this,•-`l,at memorable manifestation

of the 10th April, 1848, may be profitably called
to mind, we cannot but think upon this its ninth
anniversary. It was ARISTOTLE'S advice to an

author that he should lay his manuscript by for
an interval of nine years before giving it to the
world—taking it up after the lapse of those
nine years for reperusal and revision. The re-
commendation might equally well apply to states-
men assuming to themselves the responsibilty of
Legislative and Administrative Reformers. And
now that the Aristotleian interval has actually
just passed over our heads—now that we can look
back over a retrospective gap of nine years at that
famous Tenth of April—what, let us ask our-
selves, and let us put it directly to our Prime
Minister, Lord PALMERSTON—what is its peculiar

significance ? Why—the fact is obvious, is glaring,
is undeniable, that the nation is more for Reform

than ever ! In proof of this it has just returned

—in answer to the Appeal of the Premier—a
thoroughly Liberal and Reforming Parliament.

And now that that Parliament is on the eve of
being assembled together in the Legislative
Palace at Westminster, it will be well for Lord
PALMERSTON-the man under whose auspices,
under the Agis of whose Popularity this New, and
Liberal, and Reforming House of Commons has
been elected—it will be well for him to remember
how large, how tempting, how comprehensive are
his opportunities ! His opportunities as a Re-
former—as a Reformer at the head of a thoroughly
Liberal Cabinet, backed by a thoroughly Liberal

House of Commons ! He has at this moment a
political carte blanche the whole " world"
of Reform is before him, " where to
choose !" Not one of the Six Points of
the Charter has been yet touched ! And—there
is no use whatever in being meally-mouthed—
the Reformers generally throughout the United
Kingdom are for the most part, literally, in
point of fact, Chartists. We hesitate not for
an instant to declare that we ourselves, in all
essential respects, are really and truly Chartists
—that The Sun is in favour of all that consti-
tutes the veritable pith and marrow of what is
called Chartism. Why, to descend at once upon
this subject to simple matter of fact, what,
after all, are the Six Points of the Charter ? Let
us look at them frankly and calmly one after
another in due succession. They are these :
I. Universal Suffrage.
11. Vote by Ballot.
111. Paid Representatives.
IV. Equal Electoral Districts.
V. Abolition of Property Qualification.
VI. Annual Parliaments.
Well, honestly we declare for ourselves, and we
believe the opinions we express are the opinions
entertained at heart by the vast majority of the
Practical Reformers throughout the United
Kingdom, there is scarcely a principle enunciated
in those Six. Points but what, in acknowledging the
justice of it, in recognising the reasonableness of
it, we cordially acquisce. About the only Point
we are distinctly adverse to, is the Third—that in
favour of Paid Representatives. While in refer-
ence to the Sixth, moreover, we take exception to
the limit specified, as just a trifle too narrow. We
conceive that Annual Parliaments would be alto-
gether so short-lived as to be a source of Confusion
rather than of Advantage. So that we would
substitute upon this Point " Triennial" for " An-
nual" Parliaments. But for the rest—premising
that we would take Universal Suffrage to be a Goal
towards which Reformers should struggle on-
wards (fixing that goal, observe, at no definite
period ) through the proper extension of educa-
tional improvements and the graduated advance
of the whole social status of the population—pre-
mising this, we are heart and soul for the re-
maining Points of the Charter ! We are for
Vote by Ballot ! We are for Equal Electoral
Districts ! We are for the Abolition of Property
Qualification ! But, particularly—because those
are the most important—for the Equalisation of
the Electoral D:stricti and for the Ballot : as
well as for a considerable immediate Extension
of the Franchise—with the prospect of further
advances in that direction hereafter, on the road
towards the grand Goal of Universal Suffrage !
And these we believe in our conscience to be the
views entertained by the vast majority of all Sin-
cere and Practical Reformers throughout the
Three Kingdoms ! Animated by these hopes,
guided by these views, cherishing these opinions,
the Constituencies have elected the present Liberal
House of Commons. Backed by this Reforming
Parliament—How much is expected at this mo-
ment by the nation from the Premiership of Lord
PALMERSTON ! Lord PALMERSTON must make a
beginning of it somewhere. He has the whole
World of Reform before him for selection. Sup-
pose, my Lord PALMERSTON, just to begin with,
you make a clear sweep of it, and give us—
observe, we say just to begin with—
THE BALLOT

Mr. COBDEN has spoken by a sort of " aside"
to the men of Huddersfield. Mr. BRIGHT, more
characteristically, has spoken " right out " to the
men of Manchester. They have both of them, it
should be observed, given utterance to their
thoughts, at once sorrowfully and reproachfully.
Mr. COBDEN, in a Letter to a Friend, marked
" Private," and which, in consequence, that
" d—d good-natured friend," so respects, that
he gives it to the world at large, through the
" stage whisper" of a newspaper paragraph down
at Liverpool—Mr. COBDEN, we say, after this
roundabout fashion, intimates, rather surprisingly,
that he regards his own exclusion from Parlia-
ment as "a positive relief." Rather surprisingly, we
say, seeing that he nevertheless did try the other
day, both by speaking and by writing, and by great
personal exertion, in spite of his "delicate state of
health"—(which from our very heart's core we are
deeply grieved to hear of )—Mr. COBDEN did try
thus energetically, only the other day, to get in
somehow or other, by hook or by crook, for
Huddersfield ! Remembering which abortive
effort of his —it is really wonderfully sug-
gestive cf the Fox and the Grapes, when
we find him exulting thus inconsistently, as
at " a positive relief," over his exclusion
from Parliament ! However, this is not by any
means the most conspicuous feature in Mr. COB-
DEN'S eccentric and oblique communication. That
is discoverable at a glance in his allusion to Mr.
BRIGHT'S rejection by Manchester ! A Rejection
of which he says—quoth the newspaper paragraph
in a Liverpool contemporary—" that political in-
gratitude was never before carried to such an ex-
tent, inasmuch as Mr. BRIGHT'S intellect, which
is of a commanding character, has been shattered
by too faithfully serving his constituency in the
House of Commons, and he now finds him-
self dismissed with less delicacy than is
usually acorded to a menial in a private
family." Really 7—we were not before acquainted
with the fact that Members usually received a
month's warning from their constituents. We
had not the smallest notion, until Mr. COBDEN
intimated as much, that any polite formula of that
kind had to be observed, before any M.P., like a
valet or butler getting his discharge, accepted the
Stewardship of Her MAJESTY'S Chiltern Hundred's,
the Stewardship of the Manor of Poynings, of Eat
liondrcd and NortWead, or the Escheatorahip of

Munster. Live and learn, they say ; and cer-
tainly in this Mr. COBDEN has decidedly favoured
us with a most .unexpected piece of information.

As for the downfall of Mr. BRIGHT at Man-
chester, and for that matter, too, of Mr. COBDEN
himself at Huddersfield—no one, we are bold to
say, more sincerely grieves over it than do we
ourselves. We regret more profoundly than we
have words at this moment to express, that this
twofold calamity should have been rendered—by
Mr. BRIGHT and Mr. COBDEN themselves, and by
no other than by themselves—absolutely neces-
sary I But their downfall together—was rendered
" so" necessary—and by themselves ! The whole
country still rings with the truth of it—as every
right-minded man in the country still grieves that
any such event should have become requisite at
Manchester and at Huddersfield. In testimony
of this, behold the two indisputable Facts
subjoined. The indisputable Fact that Reformers
generally throughout the land, muse with unfeigned
sorrow over every sentence of Jorm BRIGHT'S
Farewell Address to the Electors of Manchester.
And the equally indisputable Fact that—while they
lament most truly over his shattered constitution,
and over the delicate health of his distinguished
associate—they nevertheless exult over the re-
solute course adopted in regard to JOHN BRIGHT
and his late colleague by the electors of the city of
Manchester, and in regard to RICHARD COBDEN by
the " free and independent" constituency of the
borough of Huddersfield.

The wearied dwellers in the metropolis will
this day, at least, have the opportunity of enjoy-
ing a spectacle from which the spirit of the modern
Pharisees debars them on Sundays. At one
o'clock the portals of the Orystal Palace will be
thrown open, and thousands, aye tens of thou-
sands, will enjoy their holiday in a manner that
will at the same time improve their minds and
strengthen their bodies. The persons thus
engaged will return to their daily labours with
renewed vigour ! They will have something to
think and speak of in the intervals of toil. For
some days, if not weeks, the wonders they are
about to witness will produce a- healthy tone of
mind, a more cheerful and contented disposition.

Oh ! that it could always be thus—that families
could enjoy themselves, after the hours of Divine
worship on the Lord's-day, in an equally harmless
manner. It would be far, indeed, from " dese-
crating the Sabbath," of which it would produce
a more respectful and better observance than can
be anticipated under the existing system. At
present men spend their money and injure their
health in public-houses and beer-shops, or stupify
themselves in their own miserable apartments,
because they are debarred from obtaining inno-
cent amusement ! If the Crystal Palace, the British
Museum, the National Gallery, and other places
of a similar character were opened after the hours
of divine worship on Sundays—say a quarter to
half-past one o'clock—it would be very different.
The pater farailias, in place of spending his money
in selfish enjoyment, would rejoice to take his
wife and children to see what would improve as
much as it would astonish them. There would
be greater anxiety to obtain decent habiliments
and assume a respectable appearance ; and many
demoralising influences now in operation would
be completely abolished. Every inducement
should be -held out to tempt them forth. It
is true that the parks are open, and that
country air may possibly be obtained. But per-
sons who have been labouring all the week are
frequently unwilling to walk merely for walking
sake. They require something to attract and
divert the eye—to have some " sight" within
reach of which they can afterwards chat ! And
the Legislature, if it did not supply means of
gratifying the craving, should at all events remove
every restriction that prevents its attainment.
The apologies offered by Lord ROBERT
GROSVENOR for the grave error into which he had
been betrayed sufficiently prove the state of
public feeling on the subject. It is but a
narrow sectarian view that would compel the
Lord's-day to be ono of gloom and enforced
austerity. " The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath." And we are
convinced that true religion would be greatly pro-
' moted, if the boons above alluded to were con-
ceded to the People. We trust that a majority
of the representative branch of the Legislature
I may be of a similar opinion, and that no time
may be lost in inaugurating the interesting and
important experiment.

Our poorer brethren are expected not only to
be moral and well-conducted, but also to be per-
fectly contented with their ]ots. . They are to
eschew the temptations of the gin palace and the
beer shop to enjoy themselves in their respective
homes, and to cultivate all the domestic relations
of life. But what are these homes, and how can
they enjoy themselves therein Dr. LETHEBY,
the medical officer of health for the city, en-
lightens us on these points. Ho shows the
horrible and demoralising condition of the miser-
able and filthy rooms in which many adults,
members of the same family, not only live but
even sleep together. Nor is this all : strangers
are allowed to participate in " bed and board"
with the regular occupants.. He says, " Like my
predecessor, I have ssen grown persons of both
sexes sleeping in common with their parents ;
brothers and sisters and cousins, and even the
casual aquaintAnce of a day's tramp, occupying
the same bed of filthy rags or straw, a woman suf-
fering in travail in the midst of males and females
of different families that tenant the same room—
where filth and death go hand in hand—where
the child but newly born, the patient cast down
with fever, and the corpse waiting for interment,
have no separation from each other or from the
rest of the inmates. Such instances as these, and
I might add, others of even more extreme debase-
ment, are not uncommon within the walls of this
city, and though they call loudly for interference,
yet I hardly know bow the powers of this Com-
mission can be best exercised in suppressing
them."

This is indeed a terrible picture. How can
those who are compelled to submit habitually to
such degradation have any regard for the ordi-
nary decencies of life ? It is far more than a
mere sanitary question. It is not bodily health
only that is at stake. The mind must also be
corrupted, " where from three to five adults, men
and women, besides a train or two of children, are
accustomed to herd together like brute beasts or
savages—where all the offices of nature are per-
formed in the most public and offensive manner,
and where every human instinct of propriety and
decency are smothered I" It 'may offend the
squeamishness of many to allude to these direful
—these heartrending facts, which should not even
"be mentioned to ears polite." But the"journal-
ist has a stern duty which he cannot disregard.
Having ascertained the existence of the evil, it is
imperative to demand an adequate and speedy
remedy, so that the social nuisance may be forth-
with abated. _

Many will censure the filthy habits of those
who submit to such abominations. But it
is not the poor that are really to
blame. Their poverty, but not their will