The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROX its. EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Four seats in Parliament are about to
be vacated in consequence of the change in rank, and
the appointments to offices under the Crown, which
the death of the Chief Baron, Lord Abinger, has oc.
casiooed. Theee new elections impose responsi-
bilides on the Liberals which they are bound to
meet with decision of purpcee, guided by sound
discretion. The duty ef exertion, for the sup
port and advancement of the principles they pro-
fess, is obvious. Encouragement to employ
every legitimate means for securing the objects
they desire to accomplish, is found in the increas-
ing probabilities of success. To convert. these proba-
bilities into certainties, promptitude mustbe shown in
'taking the field, and zealous co-operation exhibited,
from the commencement to the close of the several con-
tests. If these essentials to a successful result be dis-
played, two, at least, of the vacant seats will be
wrested from the Tories, and filled by good and true
Liberals. Divisions of opinion upon minor, and fre-
quently mere abstract question 3, in the Liberal
party, have in many places given their opponents
an obvious advantage, which they have diligently
improved. These causes of dissension must be lost
sight of in the hour of action—they must be
merged in the absorbing determination to com-
bine against the party to which, in its main prin-
ciples of national government, they are, in common,
opposed. The first sep to he taken is to come to an
' understanding as to the careii,late whom it will be
expedient to bring forward in the Liberal interest.
Though the gentleman in whose favour the majority
of Liberals may concur, may not be absolutely
approved by every individualof tth pirty, the
minority—if they be not blinded to the Ali-
in; ions which devolve upon tlem, and deter-
mined to bAray the conim,n cause into the
hands of the enemy—will forego mere personal pre-
ferences in the higher comeideraions oF public duty.
A Liberal candidate, as such, must he more
acceptable to a Liberal elector than a Tory :au be—
fur this obvious reason, tUt if there b, :iny value in
principle, those principles Ma diAiti;2;nish a Liberal
from a Tory afe t,vowei by him. A pledge is thus
given, that in pe!flnning the duties of a logs•
lator, he will regulate hrs course in con:‘i-Aency
with Liberal policy. No diTerences among R,:-
formers upon political questions can be so great
as those which separate them from the Tories, as a
party. The former relate to mere c;rcumstantiajs—
the latter to essential, fur.d.mental principes of go-
vernment. If, then, the minor points be elevated into
an importance which produces d:vision, the result is
inevitable defeat. The return of the Tory, in such
a case, is accomplished—not by a positive majority
of ebctors in favour of Tory principles, but be--
cause the Liberals were debating when they ought
to have been acting in cone:,rt —squabbling, when
each, in his appointed sphere, ought to have em-
ployed every legitimate influence in promoting
the return of the Liberal candidate. Whelever
defeats may be sustained in the approaching con-
teite, let not disgrace be asso.:iatA with &feat. If
the opta,s;ng elements preset themselves too nowerftd
to be counterected, they will be weak,-red by fair
and honourable col,flict. But if the Liberals betray
the cause they profess, the party to which they are
professedly opposed, and against the ascendancy of
which they ought to strive, might and mein, will
derive encouraeement from their disunion, and
triumph from their renegade abendonment oaf obvious
duty. The Anti-Corn-law League is eTecially culled
utein, by the great body of the Liberal pasty, to ah.
stain from interference in elections, where that inter-
ference is likely to divide, al -d thus cause the def,at ef.
the Reform candidates. This would have been the
consequence at Hastinws, had the gentleman who was
applied to by the Liberal electors of that borough con-
sented to come ferward, and Mr. R. R. Moore had
not retired. By indiscreetly pressing into boroughs a
candidate of their own, the local co-operation essen-
tial to success will be diminished in energy, if not
utterly broken up. The interference of a foreign
body will be always regarded with jealousy, and in
many cases will be resented with indignation. Thus
the Liberals will be divided ; a Tory candidate,
who otherwise had small chances of success,
will be returned ; and the very commercial
policy which it is the object of the 'Anti-
Corn-law League to advance, will be retarded by
the additional strength thus given to the monopolists
in the House of Commons. Where there is a proba-
bility of success—a probability ascertained by pre-
vious consultation with the Liberal leaders, and a
careful investigation of the views entertained by the
Liberal electors, upon the questions on which-they
make their exclusive appeal to the constituencies—let
the Anti-Corn-law League, by all means, make
the trial. But where there is no reasonable chance
of success, the obvious duty of the corn-law aboli-
tionist is to support the candidate whose views most
approximate to his own, even though no expectation
of his adopting the entire abolition of the corn-laws
be held out. To stand aloof from such a candidate,
and thus secure the election of a Tory monopolist, is
indefensible on any known principles of action, per-
sonal or political—an exhibition of folly w Web would
he ridiculous, were is not fraught w ith mischief to the
public interests. With reference to such places as
Devizes and Huntingdon, et id genus omne, it would
he better to leave them u„neonte4ted, than to waste ex-
ertions, and hazard repuralkmn and influence in public
opinion, by 'engaging in the contests against such odds
as involve the certainty of defeat. The Tory papers
which take care to keep out of view the peculiar position
of the localities, seize on such defeats as opportunities
for parading a triumph, when, in poTt:t of fact, there
never was anything worthy of the name of a con-
test : and where, the Only object of the Anti-Corn-
law League in going to the poll was to disseminate
.principles, and provoke discussion by means of the
speeches delivered by their candidate and his friends to
the electors. While we admit the ultimate advantages
which may result from this policy, we are not con-
eieced that it is the best. Lectures, public meetings,
and the copious distribution of the publications of the
League, would accomplish more good in such places,'
at less expense, and without the dieadvantages which,
under any circumstances, attend upon defeat.
STANDARD.—The remarks which the arrival of
the Three per Cent. Consols et par seemed to us to
call for, have .provoked an answer, suggesting some
useful considerations, though undeeignedly, but an
answer, as such, wholly unworthy of notice. The
rise of the price of the British Securities ie the re-
sult of two causes co-operating, both of them, in
our opinion, affording ground for congratulation ; the
first of them—time universal conviction of the sol
vency and good faith of the country—affording such
ground, we suppose, by the admission of ell ; the
other, the increase of the general wealth of the coun-
try. It is upon this last point that it is attempted to
raise an objection, and to this point, therefote, we
shall a-ldress our few observations. First let us,
however, explain the ground upon which we ascribe
the rise in the price of the public securities to
the increased wealth of the country. The
rise is obviously the effect of the declining rate of in-
terest. Men will give 1001. for 31. per annum only be-
cause they cannot get more for it upon equally good
security : this, we imagine, needs no proof. Now, the
low rate of interest, like the low price of any other
commodity, is the effect of the abundance of money
(by which it is to be understood all at once
durable and transferable representatives of pro.
perty) in the market, and the lowering of the rate
of interest is of course the effect of the constant in-
crease of money. It is true that money may be
thrown into the market, not on account of an
absolute increase in its amount, but because of
the inability of employing it more profitably
elsewhere; and, therefore, when we reason upon
• an apparent increase, we are bound first to in •
quire whether there has been a narrowing of
the channels of enterprise and industry. The
• result of such an investigation in the present case
will be quite satisfactory ; it will be found that all
the channels of enterprise and industry are at
. this moment more amply and mere actively,
and, generally, more profitably, filled (though
profit is not the itninediate question) than at any
period of our history. We have mor- ships, more
colonies, more manufactories, and better culti-
vated land than this or any other country ever before
possessed; and besides these we have railroads,
docks, foreign loans, &c., opened new and wide chin-
- nets of trade unkeown to our fathers. The in-
crease in money, therefore, of which the lower-