The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-30 00:00:00

AYL-
AM

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1844.

At the weekly meeting of the Anti-Corn-law League
which, as usual, took place last night in Covent-garden
theatre, after Earl Dods, who was in the chair, had
addressed the audience in a speech replete with useful
statistical facts all tending to show the ruinous im-
policy of the bread-tax, Mr. HOLLAND, a gentleman
from Worcestershire, bore personal testimony to the
rapid progress that the principles of free trade were
making in that county ; and added—in reference to
the recent establishment of monopoly institutions—
that " through the means of these institutions the
farmers had been taught to think, and not only had
they learned to think, but also to act for themselves.
Living among farmers as he did, he really believed that
since the existence of Protection societies, and through
their becoming so rife, the free-traders had gained con-
verts among the agriculturists of Worcestershire." These
remarks fully bear out what we predicted in The Sun,
when we first heard of the establishment of monopoly
institutions. We then stated that these institutions
would serve no other purpose than to increase the
spread of free-trade principles, if only from the defec-
tive reasoning of their chief pamphleteers and speakers,
and their shallow and obviously selfish appeals to the
passions and prejudices of the agriculturists. Far
better that the Protectionists had kept a still tongue
in their heads, and contented themselves with the
exertions of their Conservative majority in Parlia-
ment; the rottenness of their favourite system of mo-
nopoly would not then have been made so obvious
to the generality of reflective people, as it now is;
but they could not deny themselves the pleasure of
entering the arena of controversy, and getting up
an agitation on their own account, by way of coun-
teracting the efforts of the League ; and now, as
might have been foreseen, their superficial argu-
ments, false statistics, fabricated facts, and angry
appeals to the prejudices of the agriculturists, have
recoiled on their own heads. The farmers—vast num-
bers of whom are no longer the obtuse dolts that
they were twenty years ago—have seen through
their motives and fathomed their profoundest rea-
sonings ; and the consequence is, that the engi-
neer is literally " hoist with his own petard."
When a party has notoriously little or nothing to say
for itself worth attending to, and can put forth no other
plea in its favour than present power, the wisest
thing it can do, is to preserve a sort of dignified reserve
and taciturnity ; to avoid everything that may pro-
voke a close discussion ; and to trust for the main-
tenance of its system to the power that it may possess
in Parliament and elsewhere. The Protectionists
seem, at length, to be awakened to a conviction of
this truth, for we no longer find them attempting to
rouse the country in their behalf by dint of sophis-
tical speeches and still more sophistical pamphlets :
but they are wise too late ; the mischief is already
done; they have shown hundreds of agriculturists,
what they did not know before, the utter rot-
tenness of the foundation on which the mono-
poly system is based; and it is of little
use to shut the stable-door when the steed is
already stolen. Mr. COBDEN, who took just
the right view of the South Lancashire elec-
tion, and whose observations made a deep im-
pression on his audience, told an emi-
nently characteristic anecdote of the high-minded
independence of a certain body of electors. "In the
contest of 1837," said the Hon. Member for Stock

port, " he had been at an inn where there were sitting
a number of persons decorated with ribbons of the
colour of the Whig party—blue, that of STANLEY and
TowNzLzr. A shrewd countryman, who was in the
same room, observed that at a future election they
would wear other colours. Since that time
the proprietor of the land upon which those

independent electors were tenants-at-will, had
changed politics, and he (Mr. COBDEN) had
seen the same men at. a subsequent election with
the favours of the opposite party on their coats. But
again the property was sold, and at the last election
the same tenants-at-will were again to be seen in their
blue favours." Oh virtuous times—oh immaculate
purity of election ! Who, after an anecdote like this
could :dare to advocate the ballot? But after all,
these weather-cock electors were by no means so
criminal as might be supposed, for they were merely
imitating, in their own limited sphere of action,

our own discreet Premier, and putting into practice
his favourite doctrine ofexpediency. It was expedient
for their interests that they should vote at one time

for a Whig, and at another for a Tory, and accordingly
they did so; and, apparently, with as much free and
easy indifference as Sir ROBERT PEEL evinces, when
impelled by circumstances, he throws out a word of

encouragement, now to the free-traders, and now to
the monopolists. Doubtless, it was by the votes of
expediency-courting electors, like those so honour-
ably distinguished by Mr. COBDEN, that the South

Lancashire election was lost. Had each man been
I9ft. free to act according to the dictates of

his own conscience, there is little or no doubt
that the free-trade candidate would have been
placed at the head of the poll by an overwhelming

majority. Even as it is, there is much more cause

fur rejoicing, than for desponding over the result of
the contest, for it is now placed on record that the

supporters of the good cause—notwithstanding all the
Conservative artifices resorted to against them—have
polled upwards of four hundred more than they polled
in the year 18371

The administration of justice in this country, the
forms by which it is clogged, and in many instances
prevented, afford ample opportunities for reform. But
in every stage of that process, the obstacles which
present themselves are great beyond all conception.
An unpaid magistracy, the great majority of whom
have gained the magisterial authority, solely as one
step in the ladder of aristocratical distinction, and
who have become justices of the peace, merely to ex-
cite awe and raise veneration in the breasts of the
neighbouzing clodpoles, oppose all attempts to estab-
lish resporisible, efficient, and competent stipendiary
tribunals. The same body, proud of the still further
distinction,. which the grand jury-box confers, and of
the importance which the grand jury-room brings
with it, uphold the necessity of that second investi-
gation, before a body of themselves, of cases which
have been previously inquired into by the separate
wisdom of portions of their number. And although,
in these days no one would think of establishing a
court for the ascertainment of probable guilt, by a repe-
tition of only a portion of the evidence which seemed
to warrant a primary committal, still the grand jury
is generally supported as an ancient institution of the
country, by men who, having thought but little on
the subject, connect the name with the boasted pri-
vilege of Englishmen--trial by jury.

We have long thought the grand jury system a
nuisance, and we are delighted to see that we are at
length supported in our views by men who, from
actual experience, are the best qualified to judge. The
following protest is worthy of every attention, and we
call the public mind to weigh and consider it. It
was delivered this week to the Chairman of the Surrey
Sessions :

'We, whose names are here subscribed, being the grand