The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-22 00:00:00

*tronteWbition

SUN OFFICE, Three o'Cloch.

The Whigs, with all their faults, have one claim on
the gratitude of the British nation, which, though occa-
sionally forgotten amidst the noise of party contests, and
the " finality" fits of Lord JonN RUSSELL and his party,
can never be effaced from the public mind. The Tories
of the old school ruled the people with a rod of iron.
Imprisonment, flogging, banishment, and, above all,
death, were their most approved means for repressing
liberty, or checking crimes often committed through ,
want, or that deplorable ignorance in which the
wealthiest Church and the wealthiest aristocracy
of the world left the great mass of the middle
and lower classes. A hungry man was hanged for
stealing a sheep, for stealing from a dwelling-house after
a certain hour, and for uttering a forged note of the -value
of 20s. Scarcely any offence, indeed, which amounted
to a crime, was omitted in that awful catalogue which
ended with the words " he shall be hanged by the neck
till dead." During the assizes, for some three months
every year, the savage disposition of the ignorant multi-
tude was ministered to by brutal exhibitions in every
county town, while the humane Chrjstians, the tender
mothers of families, and their rising offspring were hor-
,rified by the destruction of human life for offences which
are now regarded as of the most venial description. The
Whigs, to their eternal honour, led the way in effacing
this national disgrace. In Parliament and out of Parlia-
ment, by writings and speeches at public meetings, they
excited the attention of Englishmen, and still more the gen-
tle feelings of English women, till with one voice the
nation cried "Shame" on our barbarous land, jurymen
forgot their oaths in the course of mercy, and twenty or
thirty bloody statutes became obsolete, before the stern
dispositions of our lawgivers were moved to abrogate
them. This noble trait in the character of ROMILLY,
MACKINTOSH, BROUGHAM and JEFFREY, with many others
of the same party, covers a multitude of sins, and will be
remembered by a grateful nation when their eloquence
and their political deeds are forgotten. A return just made
to the House of Commons, moved for by Mr. EWART,
places the result of their labours in a striking point
of view. This return gives the total number of persons
executed in London and Middlesex for the last twenty
years, divided into triennial periods; and though con-
tained in only one small sheet, furnishes greater
subject for congratulation than ninety-nine out
of a hundred Parliamentary documents. For the
three years ending 1821, ninety-eight persons
were executed in the metropolis alone ; and
during the triennial period ending with 1839,
the number was reduced to three; and for the three
preceding years the return is marked—nil. But this
is the least gratifying result, for it appears that the
humanity of the law has humanised the public mind.
The number of persons committed for murder from
1821 to 1833, was about 14 every year, while for the
remaining periods up to 1842, it averaged only
five. What a noble contrast these returns
furnish ; and were they carried farther back the con-
trast would be still greater; for they would include those
years when in one cold winter morning, frequently,
twenty human beings were hanged like dogs at New-
gate, exceeding by five the total number executed for the
last nine years!

Mr. MONCKTON MILNES is a better poet than debater,
and if he were to write more and speak less, it -would,
we think, be greatly to the advantage of his repute.
tion. He should remember that loose, haphazard
assertions are not arguments, and that flowers of fancy,
however pleasing, are but sorry substitutes for facts.
Last night, in his speech on the Corn law question, he had
the rashness to assert that the whole discussion was a mere
battling about a shadow—or to use his own more ornate
expression—" a vain and fruitless sciomachy." So a debate
involving in its issue the best and dearest interests of the
people—which is an absolute matter .oUlife or death to
e:rmmininee therte q
thousands—which vitally concerns the two great
,iviahtiicohnagloeps far, to
to of
determine the
there
and and
shall be content or discontent, distre os or prosperity,'
peace or convulsion throughout the country ;—a debate
of this substantial, paramount importalKe is, according
to Mr. MONCKTON MILNES, a mere empty talk about a
shadow ! Now if the Corn-law question be in truth a
shadow, it sat any rate a most ominous one, brit is thrown
from thunder clouds, which, if not seasonably averted, will
ere long burst in storm and tempest far and wide over the
face of the country. We believe the lion. Member is
the only man in England who would thus flippantly ex-
press himself respecting a question, the vast conse-
quences
involved
in which have not been equalled since
the days of the Reform Bill. A shadow, indeed .? .Is
Mr. MONOCTON MILNES deaf or blind, that he :can
neither see the tokens, nor hear the warnings, of
the coming tempest ? Is the stern, deliberate,
progressive agitation in the manufacturing districts, a
mere trifle in his estimation ? Is there nothing signi-
ficant in the hints lately thrown out about "passive re-
sistance ? " We tell . this very superficial gentleman,
that the materials of combustion are slowly but surely
collecting in all quarters of the country ; that deep and
bitter discontent is eating, like a cancer, into the very
heart of the community ; and that nothing will allay this
discontent, but the total overthrow of that gigantic mono-
poly, to discuss which is—according to Mr. MILNES—
to battle about a mere shadow ! But not content with
this flippant assertion, the Hon. Member proceeded to
observe that he "had the consolation to know that
scarcely one clergyman of the Established Church bad
degraded hituselftY .taking part in the agitation of the
Corn-laws !" What, does a Protestant clergyman de-
grade himself by endeavouring to procure cheap food
for the people ? Is it to his discredit, if he endeavours,