The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-18 00:00:00

ran

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1844.

We would earnestly recommend all those who may
still entertain doubts as to whether or not the Anti-
Corn-law League is a "great fact," to' attend one of
the weekly meetings of that national confederacy, and
jndge for themselves of the extent of its moral influ-
ence, instead of taking their notions second-hand from
others. Let them attend at Covent-garden but once ;
let them exercise but ordinary' faculties of observa-
.tion ; and most assuredly they will come away with
th(t impressip that the League is not only " a great
fact," but incomparably the greatest that this age, so
fertile in movements 'of all kinds, can exhibit. It is
not that they will he struck with the bustle—the vi-
vacity—the entertaining character of the proceedings;
they will find no brilliant fashion able audience to delight
tisahmettaowl appeals of
v"" i
they will hear no clap-trap, or-
ppeals to the mere passions, neat, clever so-
phistry calculated to beWilder, while it amuses,; the
fancy—they will see and hear nottirnsg of this sort;
but, what is far more impressive--far an
indelible impression on the mind
Crowded assembly, calm, earnest, thoughtful, a.ndeeina.
in-
dicating by its demeanour the intensity of its interest

in the cause which it has met to forward ; and they
will hear strong, persuasive, practical reasoning, that
goes, straight as the crow flies, to its mark, and
that defies all the jugglery of the expertest sophist
—even of Sir ROBERT PEEL himself—to con-
trovert. When a popular body is really in earnest,
it has neither leisure nor inclination to resort to
tricky, superficial, common-place expedients in order
to pack an audience ; and accordingly the League
trusts to the justice of its cause—and this only—to
obtain hearers and ensure attention. And its confi-
dence is not thrown away. Week after week the
number of its proselytes increases ; and those who
last night witnessed its proceedings, who' heard the
subdued hum of heartfelt approbation given to the
clinching arguments of its speakers, and the stern,
indignant bursts of scorn that arose from the au-
dience, as from one man, when the selfish sophistries
of the Monopolists were exposed ;—those, we say,
who heard all this, must have been hopelessly
prejudiced indeed, if they did not leave Covent-
garden with the impression that the Anti-Corn-law
League is as " great a fact," as the circumstance of
the Duke of RICHMOND being a Tory is a small
one. The League a " great fact !" Aye, verily is it,
and the greatest, the most triumphant of facts—a
fact destined, ere the world is two years older, to
shake the rotten fabric of Monopoly to its centre—a
fiCt destined to re-model the whole commercial system
of the country—a fact destined to scatter far and
wide the blessings of intelligence, happiness, and
prosperity—a fact destined to raise the moral and in-
tellectual character of the vast masses of our working
population—a fact destined to make its influence
felt at the remotest regions of the earth—a fact des-
tined to bind adverse and distant nations together in
the bonds of one common brotherhood ;—in a word, a
fact destined to supply the one great want of the age,
and leave posterity its debtor to remotest genera-
tions ! So surely as the handwriting on the wall pre-
figured the fall of Babylon, do the weekly meetings of
the Anti-Corn-law League indicate the fast approach-
ing doom of Monopoly. Vain, henceforth, is all the
opposition that may be made, whether within or with-
out the walls of Parliament, to this mighty national
movement. The strong propelling impulse is given—
the irrevocable determination is made—the fiat, which
may not be disputed, is gone forth—and the whole false
system of Protection must, ere long, come down with
a crash on the heads of those who support it. On
the exertions of no one public-spirited individual does
the League now depend for success. The dap of its
comparative weakness are passed ; and were Mr.
COHDRN—which may Heaven, in its mercy, forbid !
to be removed from the stage of life to-morrow ; were
even the entire Council to be cut off by the scythe of
the old Destroyer, the League would still
exist—still be as influential a confederacy as
ever, because it has a dwelling-place in the
heart of the people—because it gives utter-
ance to the national will—because, in short,
it is a living, active principle, which no Government
can grapple with, which neither horse, foot, nor ar-
tillery can put down, which defies even the Cicero-
nian persuasiveness of SIBTHORP, and the Demos-
thenie vigour of PETER BORTHWICK. When you
can infuse grandeur and elevation into the intellect
of Sir ROBERT PEEL—convert a BLOMFIELD into a
paragon of Apostolic disinterestedness and self-denial
—or bid a Punrorrs cease to lament for the loss of
his rich rectory of Stanhope—when you can perform
impossibilities like these, then—but not till then—
will you be able to extinguish the Anti-Corn-law
League !

The debate of Monday evening last on the Miscel-
laneous Estimates, was calculated to produce a forcible
impression on the public mind of the really valuable
labours which, session after session, are undertaken
and performed by a knot of conscientious, vigilant,
and disinterested guardians of the public purse. The
truth of the old adage, that " what is every body's
business is nobody's business," is, under no circum-
stance, more instructively exemplified than in the
House of Commons' discussions on the management
of our national expenditure. The two startling facts,
that, of a total revenue from taxation and all other
sources, amounting to nearly 50,000,0001. per annum,
the interest and charge of the public debt are about some
two or three millions more than the moiety ; and that
the remaining balance only being available to the
indispensable services of the empire, its fleets and
armies, royal, judicial, and civil establishments,
pensions, half-pay, &e. &c., it therefore becomes
of paramount importance to keep down every
head of expense to a scale of the utmost
economy compatible with the efficiency and ener-
gies of the service ; these facts should suffice
to imbue every Member of the House of Commons
with a deep sense of the duty of vigilant supervision,
so far as he is concerned, over every proposed outlay
of the public money. He is returned by his consti-
tuents, invested with that as among the most im-
portant trusts with which it is possible for a fellow-
subject to be clothed, by those who confide to him the
exercise of their most important privileges. It is no-
torious, however, that unless, in respect of some par-
ticular and isolated vote, especially if it involve a new
grant not previously allowed by the Legislature, the
statements of the several functionaries charged with
the duty of bringing forward the estimates prepared
by the several departments over which they severally
preside—are made to almost empty benches. The Com-
mittee of Supply is usually graced, indeed, by the pre-
sence of the Ministerial Leader, and of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer. But how wearisome the attendance
on its sittings, in which beyond all question the most
important administrative business of Parliament is
transacted, is considered by the majority of Members,
may he inferred from tho common occurrence of the
House being, on such occasions, counted out, not
being able to make 40 Members. Even at this period
of the session only 58 Members, on both sides, divided
on Monday night on a vote, not calculated to " bore
them" by any considerations of political principles
involved in it, and one, therefore, which probably ar-
rayed many more Members than would otherwise
have been found in their places, for it regarded
the continuation of a provision for providing
" sixteen Queen's plates"—(at the public ex-
pense, though)—" to be run for at races in Ireland."
Mr. WILLIAMS and Mr. Hume, for the people, vhom
they seem to think overtaxed enough without having
to meet charges of this kind, opposed so much of a
particular vote RS went to appropriate 1,5741. for this
highly judicious, conciliatory, and profoundly-
politic purpose. Colonel Sir P. TRENCH and Colonel
SIBTIIORP, fur the races, " rode the high horse," and,
on a division, "won the plate" by a majority of 32.
This result is worth a remark. Sir R. PEEL'S Go-
vernment may have felt (as its advocates contend) so
keenly as to the jeopardy in which the Union between
the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland was
being placed by O'CONNELLS Repeal agitation, as to
have acted conscientiously in venturing on the expe-
riment of the State prosecutions. But with what
unmingled satisfaction must they now feel themselves
secure of Irish hearts, and Irish peace and thankful-
ness, by having practised on the liberality of the
Imperial Parliament with so much success as to in-
duce it to renew the grant of the Phcenix Park and
Lord Lieutenant's plates !

We find that without adverting to some larger
items, the amount of which would have considerably
swelled the aggregate we are about to speak of, the
very reasonable propositions, as they seem to us, of
Mr. HUME and Mr. IV. WILLIAMS on Monday night,
would, had they been carried, have effected a reduc-
tion of expenditure on the then submitted estimates,
alone, of nearly 100,0001. Mr. WILLIAMS thought
the expenditure (an annual one, almost to the extent of
5,0001.) on the improvements of Phoenix Park, Dublin,
do
very proper subject for curtailment altogether. So
:,anwteed this y fte
we. Itcanenaro_t be that
alhati thatsuch has been laid
everasumeanboeuton
proper
the same locality ; and the expenditure of the
woods and forests, or the royal
Ireland, demesnes,re palaces,
&c., in England, as well as in
for stricter attention and inquiry than the anoyusceaolsf
Commons at large has yet shown itself disposed to
to it. A vote of more than 58,0001. for the yearlypy
salaries of the officers of the two Houses of Parlia-
ment,
&c., and, in the absence of any detailed
estimate, for the Lords, Mr. Timm proposed to
reduce by 12,000/. ; and he wished altogether to
cancel another foolish item of 2,2501., for en-
grossing Parliamentary Bills. Why they should
not be written, nobody could show. No matter ;
all these proposals were rejected. The same
fate attended the remonstrance of Mr. WAR-
BURTON and others against a charge of 20,000/.
for one year's journeys of QUEEN'S messengers. It

seems these gentlemen don't travel by railroad. They
ought to do so for expedition's sake, and for economy.
This last consideration would certainly, we should
say, justify the reduction of the vote by 10,0001., or
one-half. Colonel SIDTHORP (whom it is lovely to
find, in spite of his beard, an occasional Reformer),
gave notice of his intention to move the Crown for
the removal of the present Comptroller of the Exche-
quer, as a most useless officer. This would bring the
Exchequer vote down to 2,0001. less than its present
amount. Mr. HUME, very properly considering that
the Church had enough wherewith to pay the Eccle-
siastical Commissioners for England, was for striking
out the item for their annual salaries and official ex-
penditure, 3,200/.; but this also was retained, like
preceding votes. The same indefatigable and useful
Member argued that inasmuch as six Poor-law Com-
missioners, at salaries of 2,0001. per annum each,
(very large allowances, we should say), would amply
and most efficiently replace the present Commis-
sioners and their ostentatious official staff, the vote
called for, on account of the latter, of 53,0001., ought
to be withdrawn, or reduced by 12,000/. ; say to
41,0001. His proposal was rejected. On this
point, again, it is impossible to deny that Mr. HumE
produced a good case, and made a very fair offer.
And we cannot refrain from saying as much of his
proposal to cut down the grant of 8701. for
travelling expenses (of one year) to Poor-law
Commissioners. It might have been, we appre-
hend, without injustice, reduced by one-half.
Of the 212,3241. voted as the expenses of stationery
and printing in the Government departments, a little
real disposition to economise, on the part of Ministers,
would have enabled them to dispense, say, with
12,000/. On these votes, also, from 90,0001. to
100,000/. might be annually saved, if such indefatigable
and upright labourers in the great cause of econo
raising the public expenditure as Mr. HUME and his
friends, could find a body of supporters as constant
in their assiduity to business of so unpleasant, cer-
tainly, but of so momentous and public-spirited a
character, as that to which Mr. HumE devotes himself
in the Committee of Supply.
Let us consider how small and insignificant a frac-
tion the grants :or votes we have written of form of
the great aggregate of annual charges on the public
revenue. If, by the application of similar principles
of searching and vigorous inquiry, and the same per-
tinacity in insisting upon explanations and informa-
tion, these reductions of charge could be pushed, as we
are satisfied they might be, in all the various depart-
ments of the public service, Civil List, &c., from hun-
dreds of thousands to millions ; who shall undertake
to say in what degree the burdens of the people might
be presently lightened; the debt decreased; the re-
venue enlarged by more of it being relieved for
various branches of service ; and thus, new develop-
ment be given to capital, labour, and commerce.

We learn from Constantinople that Sir STRATFORD
CANNING and the Baron DE BOURQUENEY, not satis-
fied with the answers to their demands given by the
Turkish Ministers, had requested an interview with
the SULTAN himself, and the request was instantly
complied with. The following is an account of the
interview, and of the state of affairs in Roumelia and
Albania, as given in the Journal de Constantinople of
the 26th ult.:—

" On the 23d his Excellency Sir S. Canning, the English
Ambassador, was admitted to a solemn audience of the Sul-
tan at the Imperial Palace of Top Kapou, where he was
treated with all the marks of the highest distinction. A
guard of honour, composed of the chief officers of the palace,
received bins at the outer entrance into the gardens, and
escorted him to the apartments of his Highness. The
interview was most cordial—the Grand Seignior giving
to the representative of her Britannic Majesty a wel-
come full of frankness and good will, and the senti-
ments interchanged between them cannot but contri-
bute to draw closer the ties which unite the Sultan
and her Majesty the Queen of England. His Highness
Abdul Medjid has on this occasion given a new proof of the
noble sentiments of humanity and justice which all the world
take delight in admiring iu him, by declaring spontaneously,
and in the most generous and dignified manner, that while
he reigned he would never permit religious persecution, and
that the Christians shall be treated with every kindness and
a strict observance of equity. On tho following day the
Baron de Bourqueney, Minister Plenipotentiary ffir France,
went to the palace on the express invitation of the
Sultan. To him were rendered the same honours as
had been paid to the English Ambassador, and, on being
admitted to the presence of the Sultan, his recep-
tion was most distinguished and flattering, the Grand
Seignior giving him the same assurances as he had
given to Sir Stratford Canning (the English Ambassador).
On the same day there was a meeting of the Council of the
Sublime Porte alter the weekly sitting of the Council. The
Ottoman Cabinet continues to be engaged in taking measures
for the most energetic and effectual repression of the afflicting
disorders which havelately disturbed several points of Albania
and Roumelia, and which have been committed by bands of
Albanian malefactors, accustomed from time immemorial to
live by violence and plunder. Politics have no connection
whatever with these excesses, but as a lengthened im-
punity or half measures only encourage these brigands,
and increase their number, the Sublime Porte has deter-
mined to use all the means within its power to put a
stop at once t• a state of things so adverse to that good
order and security which a peaceable people ought to
enjoy under a good Government. 'I o this end an
imposing force has been sent, partly from the capital
partly from the head-quarters of the army in Roumelia
against the disturbers of the public repose, and rigid orders
have been sent to the governors and other authorities of the
above-mentioned provinces to second the military power in
purging these countries of the wretches who are disturbing
the tranquillity of the inhabitants, and incessantly compro-
mising their safety by the most reprehensible excesses. No
doubt is entertained of the efficacy of the means employed,
and we hope that we shall be able to announce in a few
days that the offenders have received exemplary chastise-
ment, and rendered for a long time incapable of renewing their
atrocities."

The assurances given by the SULTAN to Sir STRAT-
FORD CANNING and M. DS BOURQUISNEY7 it is said,
were introduced into the text of the answer, which
had been rejected as insufficient; and that the answer
thus modified was sent to the Ministers and the
Ulemas, with orders to place their seal on it.

Madrid journals of the 10th inst. have been re-
ceived. It would appear from thee, as well as from
private letters, that considerable anxiety prevailed at
Madrid relative to the plots of the Carlists. Visible
symptoms of rebellion had manifested themselves in
several places, and a report prevailed that a body of
Carlists had taken possession of Morella. General
RONCALI was ordered, with all the forces under his
command, to proceed to the disturbed districts.
The Three per Cents. were done on the 10th inst.
at 35i cash; 36} at 60 days; and the Fives at 231
at 60 days.

In the French Chamber of Peers on Monday the
Prince DE LA MOSCOWA (son of the unfortunate
Marshal NEY) made a long speech on that inter-
minable subject, the deposition of Queen POMARE.
On the motion fur a vote of one million of francs for
secret service money, he took a review of the policy
pursued by the Government, and of course did not
omit the resolution come to by the Cabinet, by which
the QUEEN was restored to her former position, and
the brave Admiral DUPETIT THOUARS re-called.
This he condemned in strong terms, and after a
similar speech from M. DE LA REDORTE, the Minister
of Instruction (M. ILLEMAIN) spoke in de-
fence of the Government, when the debate
was adjourned. From all accounts, it was a
very heavy affair, and it is needless to advert
to it any further than by giving the following brief
and pithy arguments from the Journal des Debats in
favour of the policy adopted by the Cabinet :—"ln
our quality of conscientious chroniclers," it states,
" we are obliged to declare that the long speeches of
Prince DE LA MOSCOWA and Count MATIIIEU DE LA
REDORTR do not appear to us to change the state of
the question. The point still to be ascertained is
whether Admiral DUrETIT THOUARS had a right to
pronounce the confiscation and deposition of Queen
PO DARE, in order to punish her for having displayed
a fancy flag over her hut, which is pompously named
a palace. The Government thinks otherwise, and,
on mature deliberation, has deemed it wiser
and juster to confine itself to the pro-
tectorate, transformed somewhat abruptly into
a taking of possession by our Admiral, in
a moment of impatience and ill-humour. As
to our rights, the protectorate assures to us all that
we have seriously any interest in holding; as to our
flag, it floats and will continue to float over Otaheite ; as
to Queen POMARE, it does not appear absolutely neces-
sary that she should come and die wretchedly in France;
and as to Consul PRITCHARD and the English mis-
sionaries, as their Government has acknowledged our
protectorate, they will be obliged to recognise it too.
That is the whole affair, at least for those who form
their judgment of it by itself. Is it, on the
contrary, a subject of rupture with England that is
sought for, and a pretext to excite the seamen of
the two countries to a disastrous collision ? That
is another matter. The question then grows extensive.
'Treaties of July 15 can be produced everywhere, and
on any occasion. France knows what that of 1840
cost her, and the Chambers have not, without doubt,
forgotten it. The Count DE GARRIAC replied in a few
precise and clear words to Prince bE LA Moscow A's