The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-25 00:00:00

rtn Ant

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1844.

Admiral BOWLES took the oaths and his seat for
the borough of Launceston, in room of Sir HENRY
HARDINGE.
A vast number of petitions was presented against
the Dissenters Chapels Bill.
Mr. 'FERRAND presented a petition from a man
named LUI.CDY, at Hull, complaining that Mr. Humn,
the Chairman of the Smuggling Committee, had re-
fused to pay his expenses for coming up to give
evidence.

Mr. HUME said the man claimed 171.—he gave him
51. for nothing.
Mr. DARBY said it was the general opinion of the
Committee that the Hon. Member fur Montrose had
been done for the first time in his life. The un-
doubted fact of a Yorkshireman doing a Scotchman
excited much laughter.
Sir J. GRAHAM gave notice that on the first day
after the recess, he would move for a Select Com-
mittee on the Tenth Report of the Poor-law Com-

missioners.
A brief and rather amusing discussion ensued
on the order of the Home Secretary for putting
down gambling at the Epsom races. The dis-
cussion arose from a question put by Mr.
CAATEN BEILKELEY, whether the police had the right
to prevent people from throwing sticks, as they had
been accustomed to do.

Sir JAMES GRABAM gave one of those answers
which mean nothing. He said if throwing .sticks
were included in the existing law, it would be carried
into effect.
In answer to a question from Mr. MILNES, the Earl
of LINCOLN said the dinner to the Greenwich Pen-
sioners in Trafalgar-square had been prevented, be-
cause the pavement Was not complete, and great in-
convenience would result from such a dinner being
held in the centre of the town.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER announced
that on the day after the recess he would name the
day for the second reading of the Bank Charter Bill.
On the motion of Mr. WYSE, a Select Committee
was appointed to inquire and report on art-unions.
Sir R. PEEL said he could not fix any time for the
Irish Registration Bill.
On the motion that the House resolve itself into
a Committee of Supply, Mr. HUME asked Lord
STANLEY what sort of Government had been formed
in Canada.
Lord STANLEY said the administration had been
planned on the principles recommended by Lord
SYDENHAM ; some of the places had been filled up,
and he expected it would in a short time be com-
pleted.
The House then went into Committee, and a
number of votes, after some opposition on the part
of Mr. HUME, Mr. WILLIAMs, and Captain PEcHELL,
were agreed to.
The House resumed, disposed of the remaining
business on the paper, and adjourned at Half-past
Twelve.

A despotic and unwise interference with the amuse-
ments of the middle and lower classes has, for a
number of years, been displayed in both Houses of
Parliament. At one time it was seriously proposed, " •
and the motion was seriously entertained, to prevent
all Sunday travelling, to chain up the poor mechanic
in his house on the only one day of the week in which.
he could have recreation. He was not to be allowed to
travel by coach, railway, or steam-vessel to the out-
skirts of any town, but was to be immured in his
dwelling, and if he ventured to walk out at certain
periods, he was to be denied anything in the shape of
refreshment. Bread, ale, and cheese, and whatever
the hardy artisans of this great country, who do her
so much honour, might have an appetite for, were to
be forbidden. Fortunately common sense prevailed
for once over nonsense, and all the wild schemes of
Sir ANDREW AGNEW fell to the ground ; but the
public have not yet got rid of the incubus. There is
a constant pressure upon the amusements of certain-
classes, and the Legislature selfishly take care to
exempt themselves and all their brotherhood from its
effects. Sir JAMES GRAHAM, some three years age,
summoned the police force of the metropolis, and
also some of the royal troops, to put down a Chartist
meeting at Kennington-common. The most wanton
outrages were committed on the unoffending people;
they were trampled upon, struck with bludgeons, and
chased from the common like wild beasts because
they presumed to meet there to represent their griev-
ances. The same system is still continued. All the
amusements at Epsom have been put down by the
same arbitrary authority. We say nothing in defence
of gambling; on the contrary, we regard it as a great
vice ; but what will the public think of a Govern-
ment which, instead of correcting the abuses that pre-
vail among the amusements of the lower and middle
classes, abolish their amusements altogether, while
they leave the gambling clubs in St. James's sacred?
Possibly there were unfair dice in the lower hells;
but are there none in the higher ? A nobleman,
with his long nail, cut in a peculiar fashion, could
mark a card, rob his friend, and even compel
an Honourable Baronet, a Member of Parliament, to.
join with him in the game, from the fear of being
pitched out of the window. But did any policemen
ever enter these dens of infamy, which have mined so
many of the higher classes, and have compelled not a
few of the aristocrats of the land to resort to Rome
and Naples to obtain a livelihood ? No ; the Legisla-
lature cares only for, the poor. The• Bishop of Loit-,
DON, while these great crimes are committed in the
precincts of St. James's-square, thinks only of put-
ing a stop to boat-rowing on Sunday, and this game
of skittles on Monday. We want to see something
like justice and impartiality. It is impossible to put
down gambling, but it, is possible to correct its abuses.

The gambling booths at Epsom and Ascot are bad,
but they are only-once a-year. The clubs, where

thousands of pounds are lost every night, are perennial,

and they are left untouched—because they belong to
the aristocracy. These amusements or vices, at race-
courses have long been encouraged—they had the
sanction of the Sovereign ; the ownfrs of
the booths were regularly chargel So much
for the ground occupied, and it is a most despotic
stretch of authority 'to send a strong police force to
ride them down without any notice. Had due notice

been given, no one would have objected to such a
measure for preserving the morality of the unrepre-
sented classes, though many would say that abuses
might be removed without resorting to extreme mea-
sures, that may materially interfere with national
sports.

As the hour of final decision draws nigh, the event
of the election for South Lancashire becomes more
interesting, and at the same time its influences, direct
and contingent, are more justly appreciated. it seems
to be taken for granted on all hands, that the great
proprietors of agricultural lands in that district will
be found opposed, to the,free trade candidate, and that
such proprietors as Lord FRANCIS EGERTON and Sir
JOHN GERRARD will show -themselves hostile to the
manufacturing interest, as to one that threatens their,
order with rivalry in political power. Such conduct
on their parts will only be by a slight shade less sui-
cidal than that of the few manufacturers whom the
blind prejudices of party will lead to vote against
their order and their property. The agricultural
prosperity of South Lancashire is the direct result of
`its manufactures; spindles have ploughed their lands,
and shuttles fertilized their fields. Could farmers
alone support the Bridgewater Canal, consume the
cultivation those lands which, within
I produce of Lord EGERTON'S mines,
thin and
mnibr:ngory of
into
the
map, were but moors and marshes ? Can
the farmers
of South Lancashire be ignorant of the markets where
their produce is sold, and who are the consumers
their milk, their cheese, and their
butter ?
Were
they unscathed during the late season of agricultural Nere
distress ? They have had bitter experience to prove
that when the spinner is" unemployed the toil of
the dairy farmer is without remuneration, and when
the loom stands still the plough cannot be profit-
ably set to work. ate landowner and the farzner
in South Lancashire have just as much to gain by
the extension and expansion of trade—or, what
is
the same thing, by free trade, as the cotton-spinner