The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-10 00:00:00

le teats, if arvests are bad, and his landlord be able
and willing to mke it ? Or is the importance of his
posposition to be found in his right to vote at
the election of knights of the shire in which
he dwells, as he may be requested by his
landlord's steward or agent ? If, indeed, we happen
to live ander such a landlord as the Earl of Radnor,
`he franchise is an honour. His are the independent
t nants of a man, who, throughout a long and valua-
ble life, has uniformly shown himself to be the un-
daunted advocate of right, the unwearied friend of
the poor—whose consistency has shone forth a bril-
liant virtue, for when the Viscount Folkstone of
former days became the Earl of Radnor of the latter,
he was changed but in rank and title ; he carried
with him into the House of Lords the same stern
integrity, the same honourable determination to pro-
mote and maintain the rights and interests of the
tenants of a man, who throughout a long and valuable
life has uniformly shown himself to be the undaunted
advocate of right, the unwearied friend of the poor—
whose consistency has shown forth a brilliant virtue,
for whenn the Viscount Folkestone of former days
became the Earl of Radnor of the latter, he „:as
changed but in rank and title ; he carried with him
into the House of Lords the same stern integrity, the
same honourable determination to promote and main-
tain the rights and interests of the people, as had dis-
tinguished him in the Lower House. "These praises
will wear well, fur they have been dearly earned."
Descending to the farm-labourer, he too may look
in vain for the importance of the position he now oc-
cupies Important enough it is to the community,
for by the sweat of his brow we are mainly furnished
with our daily bread. Hard labour and scanty food
are his daily portion, and at night he " shrinks into
the sordid hut of cheerless poverty." If he hold fast
his honesty, and be able to obtain work, he has no
prospect fur his latter days but the union workhouse ;
if he infringe the law, and seek to eke out his
sustenance by killing a willd animal, fed on his em-
ployer's ground, the county gaol receives him for a
time, and he leaves it a broken-spirited wretch, or a
reckless vagabond.
Tha landowners, who are not agriculturists, any
more than a mineowner is a cutler or a coppersmith,
are in truth the class of persons, whom Mr. O'Brien
is desirous to maintain in " the important position
they now occupy." Here he has unwittingly but
plainly stated the whole gist of the question ; this
reason is in Mr. O'Brien's mind, and in the minds of
the landowners in general, "convincing against the
abolition of our corn-laws." They believe that the
abolition of those laws would reduce their rents,
would compel them to confer independence on their
tenants, and thereby affect their own political in-
fluence ; would strike at the root of all monopolies ;
and enforce upon the Legislature the necessity of
providing for an increasing population by extending
their means of utility and productiveness.

" Sensus moresque repugnant,
Atque ipsa utilitas, justi prope mater et equi."

It is absurd to insist upon the maintenance of agri-
culturists as a class in their important position, for
land depends for its value upon manufactures. It
was well observed by a writer, between sixty and
seventy years ago, that " the lands of a country must
every where depend on the manufactories of it fur
their value ; and not the manufactories on the lands,
in order to be made flourishing and beneficial to a
state. These are truths highly necessary to be
clearly comprehended by statesmen in a trading
country, for regulating their conduct, because wher-
ever a tra, ling interest is sought to be rendered
subservient to a landed, the ruin of both will in-
fallibly prove the consequence."
Before Me. O'Brien enters upon the " History of
the Leaghe" he indulges in a sort of self gratulating
eulogy upon the state of the country under landlord
legislation. He gives extracts from speeches made
by Mr. Cobden, Dr. Bowring, and Mr. Bright in
1841 and 1843, as furnishing favourable testimony " as
to the state to which this country had risen during
the period in which the laddlords enjoyed a mono-
ooly of its legislation." Admirable inference ! Be-
cause Mr. Cobden declared that "in the Levant, in
Arabia, and in China,
Tou will be told the best of
everything is going to England, because Dr. Bowring
rejoiced " that there was something in England that
entitled her to be honoured and loved : it was in her
pacific pursuits—it was the power of her manufac-
turers, the enterprise and character of her commercial
men, hat she was looked on with honour and respect
by the nations of the world":—and because Mr.
Bright very beautifully described the harmony,
regularity, and precision with which all the arrange-
ments of life are carried on in this metropolis, as an
illustration of the principles he advocated:—therefore
Mr. O'Brien adopts the whole as evidence in favour of
landlord-legislation, and attributed the wealth, the
enterprise, the character, and the domestic economy of
England to the legislation of Parliament of Landlords !
Acts of Parliament may regulate industry, but they
cannot create it; they may control the outlay of
capital, but they cannot enforce it; they may stimu-
late enterprise, but they cannot command it ; they
may preserve invention and encourage discovery, but
they can neither cause the one nor produce the other :
the energies of man and the price of corn are alike
iudependent of statutes and lawgivers.
And of what materials do our readers imagine that
the vaunted "History of the League" is composed ?
Of extracts from the papers and circulars they have
published no particle of which, we apprehend, they
would now be at all disposed to revoke. With the
exception of an occasional prophecy of early success
and a few hasty expressions uttered under the tem-
porary impulse of plauditory excitement, we see
nothing which the League has any reason to regret.
So far from answering the purpose which Mr. O'Brien
had in view when he compiled his history, we think
it more than probable that the distribution of his
pamphlet amongst the members of the "country
societies" in communication with the head-quarters
under the command of his Grace of Richmond, may
have the effect of making converts to the League.
The history s introduced by Mr. O'Brien as fol-
lows :-

" It may not be unimportant if I attempt some hasty
and outline sketch of your past labours, and of your
present position, for in proportion as you have laboured,
in proportion as you have promised, above all, in propor-
tion as you have spent, ought we to expect vast effects,
and magnificent results. You have brought before this
House a question whose agitation you have monopolised.
The conduct qf any body of men out of doors, in reference
to the particular question of politics to which they devote
themselvee, can never be unconnected with the discussion of
that question in this House. Ido not say that the question
should be decided by snch references, bnt I say they form
an important part of its discussion. If in this statement I
should seem to draw too largely on the indulgence of the
House, I would ask the House to remember, that it is
only by tracing a cause as it were step by step, that we
can be able to judge of it aright. Had I, from a perusal
of the writings of the League, compiled its history up to
the present period, I then need not have occupied, per-
haps, one quarter of your time ; but I have thought it
best, though at the risk of tediousness, to let these gen-
tlemen speak for themselves. I shall do little more than
read extracts from their own writings. I intend to make
no quotations from hostile writers. My difficulty has
been, first, to obtain a copy of their early newspapers,
which difficulty I am happy to say I have surmounted ;
and my next, what to omit. Some of the passages lam
going to quote are very violent, and some, under favour,
supremely ridiculous. But it would have been easy to
have given extracts, still more violent, and still more
ridiculous, however sceptical the House may be, when it
has heard the autobiography which I now submit to its
atrention."
Here we have to thank Mr. O'Brien for an im-
portant admission. He felt the "pressure from with-
out," and, under the influence it produced, he acknow-
ledged that " The conduct of any body of men out of
doors, in reference to the particular question to. which
they devote themselves, can never be unconnected with
the discussion of that question in this House. Such
references form an important part of its discussion."'
Persevere, then, ye men of the League ; your opera-
Cons are declared, within the walls of the House of
Commons, to form an important part of the discussion
in that assembly, of the question of the Corn-laws to
which you devote yourselves.
Mr. O'Brien also acknowledges that he has had
ample materials from which to compile his History of
the League. His difficulty was, first, to obtain a
copy of their early newspapers, which difficulty he
surmounted; and his next, what to omit." And, yet
from an entire collection of the papers and circulars
of the League, extending or a period of six years
to r
(according . O'Brien s computation), during
which " with vast expenditure,d considerable activity,
energies unwearied, r. severance, unabating,
they had toiled," ouranhistpoe nyiohlasneb,een unable., to
extract anything sufficiently violent" or •' ridicu-
lous"fth to excite the dispprobation ore
Honse, except an accidental allusion, in laughter
ofo Mr.e
Bright's speeches, to the Post-office arrangements,
and a record, in the Sheet Almanac of the League, of
the days on which the Hon. C. P. Villiers, Mr.
Cobden, Mr. Bright, and Dr. Bowring were born
•
The expenditure of the League has excited the in-
satiable curiosity of Mr. O'Brien. He has taken the
trouble to furnish the House of Commons and the
public with his account of their receipts and payments,
striking a balance in his own way. In one of their
very earliest papers, published in 1840, he discovered
an account of their expenditure at that time, and we
presume he has printed this account, because it happens
to be of small amount. His own pamphlets, a few
pages before, explains the manners in which the
League had disbursed, for the purposes they:described,
a very large sum of money; and he has altogether
overlooked, or wilfully suppressed, a subsequent
statement of expenditure, which appeared in the
columns of this journal, as well as in those of their
own organs and other newspapers. These statements
are entirely (and it may be intentionally) unnoticed
in Mr. O'Brien's debtor and creditor account; and
havin_g thus most unfairly attempted to impose upon
the Houss',and the public, he exclaims with all the
dignity of injured innocence,

* Comparative Value of Trade in Manufactures. 1771.