The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-15 00:00:00

et oniug Zunc

LONDON, AIOND AY, JULY 15, 1844.

The House of Commons met on Saturday, at
twelve o'clock, when Mr. GLADSTONE moved that
the Committee on the Railway Bill be postponed till
Thursday, as it was his intention to propose certain
amendments.

The House went into Committee on the Poor-law
Amendment Bill, and several clauses were adopted.
In the course of the discussion on one clause, Mr.
WAILLax made some remarks about incendiarism in
Norfolk and Suffolk, and seemed to attribute great
blame to the landlords and tenants for the nightly
conflagrations that were taking place in these
counties. This remark roused the ire of Mr. WODE-
HOUSE, who said the crime of incendiarism was as
common in other counties, and said no man was more
capable to give an opinion on incendiarism than Mr.
WARLEY. This remark was not noticed at the time,
but on the motion that the Committee sit on Monday,
Mr. WAKLEY begged the attention of the House,
and adverted in language not to be misunderstood
to the imputations which public opinion had cast on
his character. He knew well what Mr. WoDE-
MOUSE meant by the remark—he had suffered much
from the imputation ; but never was any imputation
so unfounded. The case had been tried before Sir
CHARLES ABBOTT (Lord TENTERDEN), the jury
returned a verdict for the whole amount claimed,
and the expenses were paid by his friends, and among
these was one of the shareholders of the Fire In-
surance Company which had resisted the claim.
_ _

Mr. WoninousE, on hearing► this, apologised for
the attack he had made on Mr. WAKLEy, and the
House adjourned.

The result of the Birmingham Election has sur-
prised neither Whig nor Tory. When it was known
that Mr. STURGE would go to the poll, and set him-
lf in opposition to the party with whom he had
hitherto acted on all the great points of political im-
portance, no man had the slightest doubt that the
Tory candidate would be returned. Mr. SPOONER
owes his election to Mr. STURGE. The town of Bir-
mingham, which obtained its franchise from a Liberal

In the discussion that took place in the House of
Commons, on Saturday last, on the subject of the
Poor-law• Amendment Bill, several remarks were made
respecting the necessity of educating the humbler
classes, which show that Hon. Members are at length
beginning to awake to a consciousness of the many
serious evils which are the inevitable results of popu-
lar ignorance. In this respect, Swing, it must be
confessed, has done some good, however unwittingly;
for had it not been for his alarming demon-
strations, we question much whether such a
House of Commons as we new possess—a House
elected for no other purpose, apparently, than
to promote the interest of the great landowners—
would not have allowed things to remain in
state quo, and postponed the momentous question of
national education to the indefinite period of the
Greek Kalends. But Swing's vagaries are hints not
to be misinterpreted nor trifled with, and when the
agricultural Members find their tenants' barns blaz-
ing, they know not but it may he their own turn
next—" nam tua res agitur parks cum proximus
ardet." Hence we now find many of them full-
fraught with the discovery that the poorer classes,
more especially in the rural districts, are not quite so
illumined a 3 they had imagined them to be, and
professing their readiness to assist them to the
benefits of a cheap practical education. Alluding
to the benighted condition of these long-neglected
masses Mr. WAKLEr observed :—" The subject of the
education of the poor had always been postponed in
that House to other subje3ts, and, in consequence,
they now had the most ignorant population on the
face of the earth. They were a right-thinking and a
right-feeling people, bat they had not the materials for

thought. If the people had been properly instructed,
would they have had the incendiari.m which they
now had in Norfolk and Suffolk ? The moral, phy-
sical, and intellectual education of the masses had
been too long neglected. The religious question had
been made the great bone of contention, and the
poor children had been neglected." Severe as are
these animadversions, there is but too much

truth in them, as recent events have shown. We say
nothing of the midnight", freaks of Swing, who,
with the destructive torch in his hand, may justly be
considered as the symbol of rustic ignorance ; but it
is not long sinc&it was proved beyond the possibility
or refutation, that of upwards of a hundred individuals
committed at the quarter sessions of two western
counties, at least two-thirds of them could neither
read nor write, and the remainder had had but the
scantiest possible share of education ! And yet, de-
:pite these acknowledged and generally-known
t'acts, Colonel RusunacoKe had the folly to state
,-,hat the Honourable Member for Finsbury
was greatly mistaken when he ascribed the recent
inc-ndiary fires to the deplorable ignorance of the
?eople ! If the fires in question do not originate
ignorance, in what do they originate ?
[n discontent, perhaps, induced by the pres-
,nre of extreme poverty. Granted. We do not
for an instant deny the hypothesis ; but surely dis-
!ontent would never here dreamed of manifesting
itself in such a manner, if it had not been for the
.dank, besotted ignorance of the incendiaries! We do
not find Swing exhibiting his vagaries in the mann-
l'Acturing districts, notwithstanding the deep and
general distress that has prevailed there with little
ntermission for the last s:x years and upwards ? We
lo not find him shaking his blazing torch over
'he Scottish barns and hay-ricks. And why? Because
in Scotland, as in the northern manufacturing coun-
ries, the humbler classes are, generally speaking, a far
Netter educated set of men than are to be met with in
Ile agricultural districts of England. But the question
:s scarcely worth discussion, and admits not even
if a doubt. Thu plain truth is—and it. is a truth

hat cannot be too often or too earnestly insisted
on—that at least one-third, we might almost
.4.0 further, and say one-half, of the crimes com-
mitted by the poorer classes have their origin in
ignorance. As for the idea of Arcadian innocence
And simplicity—notwithstanding Mr. BANKES' asser-
:ion that these virtues are still to be found vegetating
in full luxuriance in Dorsetshire, under the shadow of
his own park-walls—it is a mere delusion,—

a theme fit enough for poets, but not for
men who have to deal with the stern
realities of life. IVe no longer live in the
golden age ; and if our swains, as they are constantly
doing in Virgil's Eclogues, still have recourse to the
pipe, it is not for the purpose of discoursing sweet
music, but of " blowing a cloud ;" and this, not by
the banks of " purling streams," but over a pint of
purl at the beer-shop or the ale-house.

Madrid journals of the 7th have been received, but
they bring no news. Pompous declamations appear
in most of them relative to the Morocco war, and if
we were to believe all that these miserable boasters
state, the war cannot last for a month. Spain, by
her strong arm, will obtain reparation not only for the
insult offered her by the Moors, but will take pos-
session of an extensive tract of country adjoining
Ceuta, where she will establish a strong line of forts.
A letter from Seville states that M. CARDER°,
who was lately arrested at Madrid, has passed through
the former city closely guarded.
On the 6th, the Three per Cents. were quoted at
25i for cash, 26 at sixty days, and the Fives at 191.

In the French Chamber of Deputies on Friday the
navy estimates were passed, and an extraordinary
credit of 8,000,000 francs were voted for the current
year. Though the pamphlet of the Prince DE JOIN..
VILLE made a vast noise at the time of its publication,
and angry debates were expected when the marine
budget was brought forward, no allusion was made
to it on Friday. Possibly even the opposition thought
there was too much truth in the statements made by
the Prince, and the less said on such a painful subject
the better. In reference to the expedition sent to
Morocco, M. LIIERBETTE wished to know if events
in that quarter would not occasion an increase of
their expenses. Considerable sums of money were
due for former expeditions. For that of 1823, Spain
owed 43 millions ; for that of 1827 to Giitree, 6 mil-
lions were due; that to Belgium, in 1831, 2 millions ;
to Mexico in 1838, 6 millions ; to Buenos Ayres, 16
millions, giving a total of 73 millions. He hoped,
too, that the Emperor of MOROCCO should be made to
defray the present expenses, whatever they might
amount to.

Admiral MAcKau could tranquillise the llc,n.
Deputy's mind on the subject, as the vessels and fri-
gates sent to the coasts of Morocco would not •t pre-

Government, has now returned a Member who will
support the party that would not, but for the indomi-
table perseverance and moral, perhaps, also, physical
courage, of the inhabitants, have allowed ( ne of the
most influential manufacturing towns of the kingdom
a vote in the Legislature. Birmingham had great merit
in carrying the Reform Bill. No town did half
so much, and we should not be far wrong in stating
that all the towns together in England, Scotland, and
Ireland, did not make such an impression on the
House of Lords as Birmingham, when tpe inhabi-
tants, almost to a man,:assembled on New Hall-hill.
Now times are changed. Radical Birmingham re-
turns a red hot Tory, and rejects a moderate Whig
and an ultra-Radical. Never had the Tories such
cause for triumph. The men who call themselves
Liberals squabble with each other—they prefer per-
sonal interests to the good of their country—they
fight without any political national object, and allow
the remnants of a broken faction to seige the citadel
of Reform.

Sudbury is about to be disfranchised ; but
are there no other boroughs that deserve the same
fate ? Birmingham was the loudest for reform—it
obtained its object, and now turns round upon the
party that obtained f,,r it a place among the repre
sentative boroughs of England. Never was there
such political suicide. It is said that Mr. STURGE'S
party, when they found—and they knew the fact
from the beginning—that they had no chance, they
gave their votes to the Tories, because Mr. STURGE
considered himself ill-used. But are these the men
to rule the destinies of a country—men who throw
their principles to the wind to gratify sonv., personal
pique or assert some miserable distinction, which
they cannot understand ? The Tories say, and they
have good reason, that men like Mr. STURGE and
Mr. FRARGUS O'CoNNoR are their best friends ; they
divide the parties opposed to them, and of course the
Tories come in for the plunder. We will not add
another word of comment on this disgraceful pro-
ceeding. The result of the poll, and other circum-
stances, show that Mr. STURGE had not the slightest
chance of success, and that but for his party, a
Liberal candidate would have been returned.