The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-30 00:00:00

.' riit •

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1850.

Reaction is so inevitably the consequence of carry-
ing any principle, whether good, bad, or indifferent,
it matters not, to an extravagance—that we look for-
ward with no small amount of apprehension to the
bare possibility of a system being adopted such as
the one about to be advocated by Lord ASHLEY in
the Commons House of Parliament this evening. Ac-
cording to the notice already given by him to that
effect, it will be formally proposed by that benevolent
nobleman that the total cessation of Sunday labour
in the post-offices throughout the United Kingdom
shall be decreed by the Legislature. Anything at
all approaching even to an inclination to im-
pute evil motives to Lord ASHLEY, or to those
who sympathise in his proposition, is entirely beyond
the limits of our intention. While it is, unfortunately,
out of the reach of denial that many persons can
claim not such high moral approbation, it is equally a
matter of conviction to us, that upon this view of the
question, in regard to this antipathy to business oecu-
pations on the Sunday, there are multitudes actuated
by opinions thoroughly and earnestly conscientious
We believe them to be conscientious, we respect them
inasmuch as they are conscientious ; but, differing
as we do with them diametrically in reference to this
branch of national employment, we must equally de-
mand from them a belief that we too are arguing
from convictions as thoroughly and as earnestly
conscientious as those which render them our oppo-
nents.

Our solicitude in protesting against any such
scheme as the one about to be brought forward in
the House of Commons this evening has a twofold
origin. We are anxious, in the first place, not to wit-
ness any such calamitous interference with the unin-
terrupted flow of communication throughout the
United Kingdom, simply out of regard for a mistaken
crochet of ecclesiastical discipline. We are anxious,
in the second place, not to witness the development
of a very noble sentiment of moral propriety to
such an extreme pitch of extravagance as to lead the
way, as it were by necessity, to a reaction most de-
trimental to the interests of true religion.
Upon the first objee"on we may observe, that the
transmission of correelence through the channels
- - - uepori, `Hence • •
into a circumstance the r cltinuance of which essen-
tial to the healthy exist&ce of society. It is as much
a necessity to us, in the present state of civilization, as
the air we breathe, as the water we drink, as the
bread we feed upon. Without it the maintenance of
the public mind in a wholesome condition is altoge-
ther impracticable. The stoppage of these diurnal
and almost hourly intercommunications is incompatible
with the peace, the happiness, or the well-being of the
community. The mere proposal of a proceeding so
blind and arbitrary is, to a civilised population like
that of England in the nineteenth century, as pre-
posterous as to dream of preserving life in the human
frame, and yet at the same time of interrupting the
circulation of the blood at periodical intervals. What
the molicules of the blood are to the frame of a living
creature, the letters transmitted perpetually through-
out the Post-office department are to the whole
fabric of the State. Every delivery is a throb in the
veinous and arterial system of the country. The re-
gularity of this continual transmission of correspond•
ence constitutes the pulsation of our commerce, and
not only of our commerce, but of all our social in-
tercourse and domestic affection. To interfere with
this pulsation would be to jeopardize a multitude of
noble and beneficent principles—the principle
of justice, the principle of friendship, the
principle of humanity. To .resolve that hence-
forth, during twenty-four hours every week, the flow of
general intercommunication should cease, would, to
our thinking, be productive of consequences so
disastrous and irremediable as to transform the new
regulation at once into an act of the grossest impiety
and irreligion. The evil results of the system would
necessarily prove unavoidable. Traders would be
ruined and families be plunged into unnecessary
bereavement through the impossibility of communi-
cating between one quarter of the kingdom and
another—and all this out of an erroneous notion that
morality is dependent upon the occasional quietude of
post-offices, and that religion is incompatible with
the unbroken toil of steam-engines.
Upon our second objection we may remark that
the scheme about to be submitted to the Legislature
by Lord ASHLEY appears to us little better than a
perilous experiment, one the mere suggestion of
which is calculated to prove most inimical to the
spread of theological truth, and to the maintenance of
sobriety among the multitude. History has pro-
claimed, and never more signally than in her narrative
of that memorable epoch, the anniversary of the com-
mencement of which we commemorated yesterday
by ringing joy-bells in our churches and cathedrals,
and by carrying about branches of the oak-tree,
history and experience have alike proclaimed that
the cumpulsory display of sobriety is ever productive
of an after-triumph of licentiousness. Of this the
downfall of the reign of the Puritans was a sufficient
illustration ; the previous assumption of su-
perior virtue and godliness, so soon as the
necessity of it was removed, imparting an
unutterable zest to the immorality of the volup-
tuaries of the Restoration. So it has been, so it is, so
it will be, always. The more arbitrary the enforce-
ment—the more glaring and conspicuous the re-
action. Hence it is we regard with alarm, as friends
of ptiblic morality, the mere supposition of the pos-
sibility of an enactment such as the one which Lord
ASHLEY will this evening formally demand from the
Parliament. The peremptory and decisive refusal of
that demand we conceive to be required as much by
the real interests of religion as by the necessity of
oublic convenience.

The rumour respecting the early resignation of the
Lord Chancellor is, it appears, well founded. From
the statement made by the Premier on Tuesday
evening, it appears that as soon as Lard C
_OTTENiIiaI
has given judgment on various cases which have been
under his consideration, he will feel himself called
upon to resign the Great Seal, and also that any
parson appointed to the office must t she it " subject
to any regulation which Parliament .may adopt on
the report of the Committee." This is, to a certain
extent, satisfactory, but we confess we should have
desired a more decided answer on tl ie subject of the
suggested separation of the judicial r indpolitical func-
tions of the office. The First Lord of the Treasury
declares that "it is a subject which has engaged the
attention of her MAJESTeII Government. That he
that the object is. one very desirable
has no doubt
himself
--

SUN,

to obtain, and trusts that he may be able to propose a 1
measure to Parliament on the subject." This admis-
sion was, however, qualified by subsequent doubts
respecting " the difficulty of the question," and the
" serious consideration " that would be necessary
before anything certain could be decided on.
The Noble Lord is apparently dazzled.by the ancient
traditions connected with the office. The evil has
been endured for several centuries by successive gene-
rations; it has become
" An aged vice, a grey iniquity ;"
and, therefore, a certain superstitious veneration
must be exhibited for its undoubted antiquity. Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, however, was not always accustomed
to yield to such feelings. He acted a bolder part
when he introduced the Reform Bill to the House of
Commons, and, without remorse, consigned the rotten
boroughs to " the tomb of the Capulets." If antiquity
could have preserved these monuments of the wisdom of
our ancestors, we should still have Gatton and Old
Sarum returning their representatives, and neutraliz-
ing the West Riding of Yorkshire and the county
of Middlesex. But, happily, the Noble Lord then
looked to the existing exigencies of the country,
rather than to past recollections, and took a bold and
comprehensive view of the national requirements.
We trust that the author of the Reform Bill will not
now disappoint public expectation, but that he will
act in a manner worthy of his former reputation.
If any Chancery reform is to be sanctioned, no
better opportunity than the present could be
anticipated. It is seldom that any political party are
not under peculiar obligations to some leading bar-
rister, which entitle him to demand the highest re-
wards that can be bestowed for past services. With a
party in actual possession, or with such a claimant, it
would be a most invidious and painful task to curtail
the emoluments, or even to abridge the duties sus
responsibilities of the office. It would appear to be a
direct censure on a colleague, and one too who, from his
position and acquirements, would be well able to avenge
himself. Few persons once placed in possession
of 14,0001. per annum, and with the enormous
patronage attached to the office, would be willing to
relinquish a portion of either to a rival ; and, there-
fore, the mere proposition would excite a strong op-
position in the Cabinet itself, arid perhaps a formid-
able split in the party. A man who had so many
good things to give away, either in possession or ex-
pectancy, could not be without a multitude of friends
and dependents who would feel directly interested in
any diminution of their patron's wealth or power.

But at this moment there is no such obstacle.
After many years of efficient and valuable service
Lord COTTENHAM is about to retire to the enjoyment
of the °tine cum di gnitate which be has so well earned.
The Attorney-General, who, according to the ordi-
nary professional etiquette, is considered to have a
prior claim to any appointment that may become
vacant, is not an equity lawyer, and, according to the
precedent established with respect to his distinguished
predecessor, the present Chief Justice of England,
could not reasonably hope for the appointment.
The Solicitor-General, although be has already
distinguished himself as a legal reformer,
and although his very name attracts the utmost sym-
pathy, is still a young man, who would willingly
accept the situation either of Minister of Justice or
Chief Judge in Equity. There is no other candidate
for the situation with higher claims. The ordinary
difficulty is therefore removed, and any alteration,
however sweeping, may be easily effected
under present circumstances; but if the ap -
pointment be once filled, although on the
most distinct and positive understanding, an
almost insuperable obstacle will be raised,
the contemplated reforms will be postponed for many
tedious years, and the Court of Chancery will remain
a s by-word and reproach to the nation," involving
in ruin all who are brought within its vortex. What-
soever may be resolved on should, therefore, be de-
cided on speedily. There is yet time to pass a mea-
sure within the present session, and nothing but
what we have already styled a " superstitious vene-
ration for antiquity" can prevent its speedy intro-
, duction.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

Tyr - - •-st vflV.
A.s the discussion of the Electoral Law proceeds so
do the reactionaries throw off the mask of decent
hypocrisy which they have hitherto worn, and openly
avow themselves guilty of the crime for which they
have condemnediM;Lzueu Romax.and his companions,
viz., an attack on the constitution ; so impatient are
they that they will not even suffer any of the amend-
ments to be discussed, but demand la cloture at every
instant ; and, not content with stifling discussion, they
take every opportunity of wantonly insulting those
who differ from them in opinion.
We give the following report of the scene pro-
voked by the Legitimatist M. BERRYER, as a spe-
cimen of the polish and refinement which
the French Legitimatists have always claimed as
their exclusive and peculiar characteristic. It is neces-
sary to premise that General LAMONICIERE had been
previously speaking, and had designated the proposed
law as a violation of universal suffrage, and an attempt
to introduce a property qualification. "Not daring,"
said the General, " to revive your 200-franc electors,
you invent in despair franc-and-a-half electors."
Stung to the quick by this taunt, M. %REM rose
to reply, and had not proceeded far before he offered
the following wanton. insult to the Republic, to which
he has sworn fidelity. Drawing a distinction between
honest and dishonest politicians, he said--
I do not here mean to allude to real Republicans—l
respect all sincere convictions; but as to the Republi-
cans of the veille, we know nothing about them but by
the acts of Louvel and Alibaud.—(Tremendous tumult
and interruption on the Left; a number of members of
the Mountaia rose, gesticulating and crying with great
violence.)
M. Schalcher—lt is infamous!
On the Right—Order, order!
M. Baune descende d from his place towards the tri-
bune. using the most e nergetic gestures, and addressing
the Hon. Representative in the tribune most loudly.
So great was the nois e that it was impossible to make
out what he said.
The President—M. Baune, I call you to order!
M. Baune, notwithsaanding the call to order, went on
gesticulating in his wild manner.
On the Right--The censure! the censure!
M. Pascal Daprat, M. Bourzat, and General Leydet
all went on, crying and gesticulating in the midst of
the greatest tumult. The last was particularly violent.
The President—General Leydet, I call you to order.
—(The agitation continued.)
M. Berryer—lt is impossible, surely, for any persons
to suppose that I desired to give offence by,my language.
I declared that I respected all sincere convictions, and
that in consequence mine ought to be respected also.
But I also said, and I repeat it, that until the day on
which the Republic was proclaimed the opinions of the
Republicans were made known only by the most detest-
able acts.—(Loud applause on the Right; renewed ex-
clamations on the Left.)
MM. P. Duprat, Baune, Baudin, and others rose and
spoke together.
M. Berryer--I speak frankly and clearly—you pro-
claimed the Republic, and I have not ceased to serve it.
I ask any man to point when I ever refused to take my
?fn
r the Thoughß epnuohthn a
infinitely Republi-
can, e p u bli-
ca
greaterpart, as a political man, in any of the acts emanating
from that form of goverdnimenitty
afne el
thating of
gleams through your interruptionsdignity
and exclamations.—(Hear, hear.) It is because the
Committee feels like ale that the dignity of thetßepublic
ought to be upheld, that it excludes so sedulously every
hatThean ay
man who is at the charge of the commune. It is said
that it is a Bill of monopoly. Strange monopoly, cer-
tainly, which includes nine millions of electors ! No,
the Bill is not one of monopoly, but a measure calculated
to serve the general good, and your Committee has re-
mained perfectly within its right in maintaining 'the
sincerity of universal suffrage.—(Loud applause.)
The Hon. Representative, on returning to his place,
was received with loud clapping of hands and congratu-
lations by the members of the Right.
General Leydet and General de Lamoriciare met in
the tribune; the former very unceremoniously took his
younger comrade by the shoulder, and pushed him gently
to the steps.—(Laughter.)
General Leydet--Citizens--(Cries of "La cloture! la
cloture! great noise)."
The President—The close of the discussion being de-
manded, I proceed to put it to the vote.—(Exclamations
on the Left.)
The Assembly, being consulted, decided that the dis-
cussion was closed.
General de Lamoriciare, on the steps of the tribune--
M. le President, I asked for permission to speak against
the
ThePresident—The cloture.
noise was so great that I never
heard you. Now speak.—(Noise on the Right.)
On the Right—No, no! The cloture has been pro-
nounced.—(Continued noise.)
General de Lamoriciere ascended the tribune, and,
placing bis back against the bureau, seemed determined
to speak. The noise having a little subsided, he began
—Gentlemen—(lnterruption.)
On the Right—No, no! the discussion is closed.—
(Noise).
General do Lamoriciare—l merely wish to say a word
or two on the regulations.
Voices—We shall get to an end in this way.
General de Lamorici4re—l had asked for leave to
speak against the cloture but the noise prevented my
demand being heard. I bad, however, something further
to say. At present you must decide whether you will
hear me or not.