The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-10 00:00:00

inftrltin "rult4

LONDON. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10. 1:444.

Con.idering that the Anti-Corn-law League—accord-
ing to the statements of the majority of the Ministerial
jou nals—has been dead or dying tor the last three months
and upwards—we never knew a confederacy in so
uncommonly healthy a condition, or which gave such
unequivocal indications of longevity. It is a great
act of presumption in the League to persevere in the
enjoyment of such excellent health, when it ought
long since to have given up the ghost, if only to jus•
tify the statements of the Herald, the Standard, &c.
Had it possessed the slightest sense of feeling and
delicacy, it would long since have put an end to its
existence, and thereby saved the character of these
estimable journals for sagacity and foresight. But the
League has no sense of propriety—no sense of disinter-
estedness ; it is purely selfish, otherwise when the
organs of Monopoly insisted on its dying, and even
tried hard to kill it, it would have died with the
utmost readiness, and with the best grace imaginable!
Thu a who have read SUETONIUS, may, perhaps, re-
-- ',er the curious anecdote w hich the biographer

. --
AGRIPPINA. Anxious to disembarrass her of the
troubles of life, this affectionate son administered a
dose of poison to his parent, and immediately spread
abroad a report that she was dead. But 10, to his
exceeding discomfiture, the poison produced no
affect, and the next day the old lady met NERO at
the dinner table, looking as smiling and comfortable
as if nothing had happened ! Annoyed at his
ill-success, the tender-hearted son next invited his
mother to an evening party at the island of Caprice,
and gave orders to the skipper of the vessel in which
she embarked, to drown her on the passage. The
man of course was all compliance, but alas, NERO
had never taken into consideration the fact that the
old lady swam like a duck, and was not less asto-
nished than horrified at finding her swim safe ashore,
and be among the foremost to enjoy the festivities of
the evening ? Just as ISenao acted towards his
refractory parent, have the Ministerial prints
acted towards the League. They have tried
to poison it by their deadly slanders, and
to drown it in the fierce, headstron g torrent of their
abuse ; but in spite of all they can do, it still persists,
like the tough AGRIPPINA, in living, and whatis worse,
in terning its (Aistence to the most active and efficient
account. What won'tl@r;:tliat,ita ienethitafareAnab-
dened at their ill-success, and more inveterate than
they have yet been aga'nst the League ! But, fortu-
nately, they have less power than ever to injure this
great popular confederacy, which on 'Wednesday next
will again take the field at Covent-garden with aug-
mented resources, renewed energies, and talents sharp-
ened a= d disciplined by exrerience. We anticipate mueh
suhstaetial good from the exertions of the Anti-Corn-
law League in the approaching campaign. We
beli-eve that it will give another serious shock to the
crazy fabric of Monopoly ; set poor Mr. BANKES, of
the •Dorsetshire Elysium, quite beside himself with
rag,. anal despair; draw fc-rth new powers of abuse
from the Duke of RICHMOND ; and elicit from the
reluctant, but expediency- guided Premier, a more
explicit declaration in favour of the principle of free
trade than he has yet ventured to make. As we have
observed on more than one occasion, Sir ROBERT
PEEL only bi4s his time to come round to the
views of the League. He is too observant a
statesman not to see the strict justice of its
demands, but feeling that the Monopolist party
and those who side with them, are yet too strong for
him, he quietly rests on his oars, confidently antici-
pating the approach of the hour when he will have
both wind and tide in his favour. Under such cir-
cumstances, what is the course that the Anti-Corn-
law League should pursue ? It should keep itself
before the public eye, more prominently than ever;
persist in its-constitutional agitation with a boldness
And pertinacity abundantly justified by the gradual
progress of events ; and, above all and before all, not
neglect the circulation of tracts, to the fullest
extent possible, among the inhabitants of the agricul-
tural districts, who at the present moment
are from a variety of causes—not the least of which
is their state of physical destitution—well disposed to
give a favourable consideration to such clear, forcible
arguments as the League, through its tracts, may ad-
dress to them. It is by adopting such a strenuous,
course of agitation only that Messrs. COBDEN and
BRIGHT, and the other members of their confederacy,
car hope to bring the Premier round to their own
views, for impervious as he is to conviction, he is,
and has always been, and will always continue to be,
exceedingly seesitive to the effects of the "pressure
from without."

Among the chronicles of worthless follies perpe-
trated by the aristocracy, whose fortunate destiny has
decreed to them an unlimited command of the means
and the modes of personal enjoyment, those which re-
to7d their exploits against birds and hares, with double-
barrelled (MANToN's, or MOORE'S, or PURDY'S) pigeon
guns, are antong. the most egotistical and nauseating.
It were well for a vast community of their fellow-
countrymen if the results of this intense devotion to
sylvan slaughter, for we shall not designate the in-
dolent.and facile amusements of which
we speak as
,porting"—a designation to which it
hasnolegiti!
if
the
!Nate claim—it would be well, we say,
resultst were simply distasteful—a "hronic nuisance ;
a
bore ;--a t upid farce. would be w,ll if the