The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-10 00:00:00

titz .Atit,

LONDON:
TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 10, 1842.

Mr. R3EBUCK'S motion as he originally made it, was
objected to last night by Mr. WYNN and most of the
leading Members of both parties. They all professed a
wish to put down bribery, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL and
Sir ROBERT PEEL agreed that a Bill should be brought
in to effect that object, but they demanded that Mr.
ROEBUCK should make some specific charges, in order
to limit the inquiries of his Committee. They would
not consent to what was called a fishing and roving
Committee, and Mr. ROEBUCK modified his motion to
meet their views. He made, therefore, specific charges,
that compromises had been entered into in the case
of Reading, Nottingham, Harwich, Lewes, and Fal-
mouth elections, and he moved for a Select Com-
mittee to investigate them. That motion was acceded to
without a division, and the Committee will be appointed.
Mr. ROEBUCK has also promised to introduce a short
Bill of Indemnity, to enable witnesses to give evidence
without criminating themselves.

We are not sorry that the Committee is appointed,
but we care nothing for the success of the motion. The
exposure was obtained when Mr. ROEBUCK made his
speech, and the investigations of the Committee can
only reduce that information to a specific legal form,
which is already possessed by the public. To have re-
fused the Committee, would only have spread over the
whole House the accusation which will now fix itself on

the few boroughs, and the few Members subjected to
the inquiry.

In the course of the debate Lord PALMERSTON stated
.uch compromises had long been known and practised,
and he doubted whether they were either illegal or a
breach of the privileges of the House. Lord JOHN
RUSSELL referred specifically to the case of Norwich,
in the last Parliament, as a notorious compromise which
had not called forth the censure of the House. It
seemed to be considered, as Major BERESFORD stated,
that such matters were private affairs, of which
Honourable Members, from a sort of fellow feeling,
were never to inquire into. That House of Commons'
law and House of Commons' logic, is consistent with its
general conduct. The decision of an election petition
concerns the constituencies, and about them the House
never troubles itself, unless they happen to be coincident
with the party or private interest of some of its own
Members.

Whatever may be the result of the inquiry, the
public are so convinced of the great corruption of
elections, that they will not be satisfied with any-
thing short of a general measure to repress it That
House has essayed in vain, for several years, to
re-establish itself in the public esteem, and all its efforts
for this purpose—whether they were partial alterations
in the constituent body, new contrivances to settle con-
troverted elections, or bills against bribery—have only
damaged it more and more. Its conduct of late is uni-
versally stigmatized as in the highest degree immoral. The
bulk of its Members were elected on the principle ofpreserv-
ing the Farmer's Protection Bill entire, and the bulk of
them have voted to lessen that protection. They have
forfeited their word, and have broken all their vows.
At the same time they have signified that the measures
for which they have voted do not meet their approbation.
They have been equally false to themselves and false to
their constituents. Their votes and their convictions,
their acts and their consciences, have been at
variance. To keep in Sir P. PEEL they have cast
political honesty to the winds. Now has come this ex-
posure of the manner in which many of them have
obtained their seats, and there is now not a debating
club in the country which, on account of the sincerity
and honesty of its proceedings, and the just manner of
entering the club, is not more respected than the House
of Commons.

We fancied yesterday, as we copied from the Morning
Post the announcement that a general charity sermon
is to be preached for the relief and subsistence of the
starving millions of the manufacturing districts, that
we saw their pallid faces, at first lighted up with smiles
of joy and hope. They started up, we thought, as the
news reached them, and huzzaed for delight. Then
came over them a doubt, and they whispered, " Is it,
indeed, true ? Can it be that the humane and patriotic
advisers of her MAJESTY' have thought of us poor
wretches ? Can it be that they have counselled with
the Great PRIMATE and the Bishop of LONDON, the
lineal heirs of CHRIST ? Can it be that these wise men
are coming to our aid ? The news is too great and
good to be true. But it must be true, it is printed ;
it is double-leaded in the Pest; it is sent forth by au-
thority ; it is propagated throughout the empire in a
solemn manner, as an important piece of news, that her
MAJESTY'S humane and patriotic advisers' are coming
to our help by ordaining a universal charity sermon."
Wonderful, indeed ! And is this the quack nostrum,
we think we hear them saying, as they become sensible
of the mocking insult, which PEEL offers to a starving and
industrious people, after ten months' cogitation ? We
think we see the people recovering from their astonish-
ment, the smiles of joy and hope changing into smiles
of withering contempt and derision, followed by one
universal shout of indignation. We want justice not
charity. "We spurn your charity, and we will have
justice."

The announcement in the Post is the most awful event
we have yet witnessed. We thought the National Peti-
tion ominous enough, but a general charity sermon,
ordained by the Prime Minister, because he finds his
hopes and his schemes for relieving the people a dead
failure, as he avowed on Friday, is a subject for more
painful reflections than the presentation of the National
Petition. What ! the industrious millions of this
country, who have just appeared in the House of Com-
mons, by a petition to demand admission into the pale of the
Constitution, to be relieved by a charity sermon ! Are
they tube so fobbed off by the Prime Minister! What! the
groat distress that is eating into the core of the nation,
the flagrant injustice of which the leople complain, to
be relieved as money is gathered for a mission to the
South Seas, or to rebuild a church struck by lightning !
Impossible, absurd—a proof only that Sir It. PEEL has
lost his senses, and knows not what to do. We have
entertained an opinion from the first that his policy
was shortcoming and inefficient. But this plan of
eking it out by a great charity sermon, makes it abso-
lutely despicable. A masqued ball at Court to give
vigour to our arms in India is not a mare contemptible
expedient.
Can Sir ROBERT PEEL suppose for a moment that
the people will be gratified by such a course of pro•
ceeding ? They ask for Universal Suffrage ; he con-
sults with the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and issues a
QUEEN'S Letter. They ask for the abolition of
the landlords' monopoly and of class legislation ; he
ordains a charity sermon. Does he now suppose
that the people are to be so bribed and preached into
contentment ? Does be expect, by thus putting for and
the priesthood, in what he supposes a good work, to re-
store them to public esteem ? If he means both to
elevate the priesthood and content the people by such a
contrivance, never was a poor charlatan more miserably
deceived. The cunning trick is at once seen through, and
the people will only despise the more the bungling con-
triver, as well as the ministers of religion, who are so
willing to substitute the charity of others for doing
justice themselves.

But will this scheme even answer Sir R. PEEL'S
object ? The plain intention of it is to bolster up, if
possible, the landlords' injustice. We take it for granted,
therefore, that not a single free-trader or Radical in the
empire will contribute a farthing to the fund. It is
intended also to relieve the manufacturers, they there-
fore can contribute nothing. Adding the unwilling to
the unable, there will remain few persons to con-
tribute beyond the landlords themselves, and a few
of the opulent tax receivers of the metropolis.
The already over-burdened middle classes will need all
that they can scrape together to pay Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
Income-tax, and it is not likely that they will contri-
bute largely. The bulk of the funds, therefore, will
come from the pockets of the landlords and clergy, who
will probably give more than they will gain by the
Corn-laws. They will have, therefore, all the disgrace
and all the odium of supporting those laws, without
reaping a single penny profit to compensate them for
the just indignation and hatred of the people.
The curious announcement of a general begging in
behalf of men who despise the alms, is accompanied
by another equally curious announcement. We say
nothing against the benevolent motive of the amiable
and well-meaning Lady who is about to enliven her
Court, and excite the attention of all Europe, by a most
splendid and novel entertainment. We believe that she
and'•her Ministers entertain the opinion that the
extravagance of the rich benefits the poor. Thinking
neither of the bad example nor the unproductive con-
sumption, they suppose, therefore, they are doing good
to the nation by giving splendid entertainments. On that
economical question we now offer no opinion ; but we
may venture to remind those who are continually admo-
nishing the people to take the Bible as their guide—that
the wise Kings of Judah, when their kingdom was
afflicted, clothed themselves in sackcloth and ashes.
Our rulers, on the contrary, when the nation is in dis-
tress, ordain charity sermons, and give masqued balls.
The same journals which contain the announcement of our
" patriotic Ministers" to issue a QUEEN'S Letter, inform
the public that " for years there has not been a season of
so much festivity, and so many amusements of every descrip-
tion, as at this moment; all thoughts are absorbed in
breathless expectation of her MAJESTY'S Masque." Are
the nobility and gentry about to dance over the grave
where they have buried the national welfare ?

Some of the Tory journals have been, and occasionally
still are, virtuously indignant against the repudiating
States of the North American Union. " How atrocious,"
they have exclaimed, " in those States not to pay the in-
terest on loans contracted in their name ! They have lost
their credit in the market, and no capitalist will now
lend a farthing to an American repudiating State." We
agree in this instance with our Tory Contemporaries; but
wha; can they say for England, become a repudiating
State to a certain extent under the administration of Sir
R. PEEL ? England does not repudiate—the fashionable
phrase for artfully defrauding a State's creditors—the
whole of her debt, she only repudiates, at present,
2/. 18s. 4d. per cent. of it. But it is whispered
that the Income-tax is by and by to be ex-
tended, in order to give more commercial relief,
and instead of 21. 18s. 4d. per cent. it will be 10 or 12
per cent. Sir R. PEEL having established the principle
of repudiating to the former extent, must carry out his
own principle, and make all the State creditors pay 10
or 12 per cent., as he now proposes to make them pay
21. 18s. 4d., whenever the Income-tax is extended. It
is, however, a certain fact that England has become a re-
pudiating State under the moral Government of the
Tories, and has so become, on Sir R. PEEL'S theory, to
preserve public credit. What is a crime, therefore, in
the new republics, is a virtue in the old Tory monarchy.

UNITED STATES..

By the packet ship New York, arrived at Liverpool
yesterday morning, In eighteen days from New York,
we have received papers from that city of the 20th ult.,
but they contain no news of the least importance. The
Great Western reached New York on the 17th. The
Warspite had left Annapolis, for Bermuda. After re-
maining a short time at that place, she will visit Halifax
and New York, and remain for orders from Lord Ash-
burton. Texas had occupied the attention of the Con-
gress, and some discussion had taken place on the sub-
ject, of the effects which a union with Texas would have
on promoting and extending slavery. In the course of
the discussion, a Mr. Jones, of Maryland, expressed the
following characteristic sentiments :
Let President Houston but establish his standard,
and proclaim a war of conquest, and twenty thousand
men, from Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ark-
ansas, and Louisiana, would arm themselves to destroy
the humiliating despotism of Santa Anna and the
Spanish priests, and to enrich themselves with the idols
(which were now worshiped in defiance of the command
of the Deity) and treasures with which Mexico abounds.
Let but that day he announced by President Houston,
and that House should not detain him in his seat ; he
considered the " plunder," if it must be so called, of
Mexico, under such circumstances, justifiable, and the
golden images of Jesus would be not the less valuable
when converted into American " Eagles."
We add the following extracts
:
THE BOUNDARY QUESTION.—The Boston Transcript
says that Governor Fairfield was about to convene the
Legislature of Maine, in consequence of despatches just
received by him from Mr. Webster, stating that Lord
Ashburton was fully authorised to settle the Boundary
Question, and that there was every prospect that this
long disputed matter would be soon adjusted to the satis-
faction of all parties.
IMPORTANT FROM MEnco.—We have received, via
Natchitoches, intelligence of a battle between the Mexi-
cans, who sacked San Antonio, under Velasquez, and
the Texians, under Burleson. It took place near the Rio
Grande. None were killed, but all the Mexicans surren-
dered. We give this intelligence as we have received it.
There was great excitement in Vicksburgh about a
Dr. Smith of Cincinnati, an abolitionist, who had been de-
tected in an attempt to steal three slaves. It appears that
the Doctor had Lecreted them on board of a steam-boat,
disguised as Indians; they were detected and the Doctor
arraigned for trial. It is said that an offer of $lO,OOO
was made to two lawyers there to appear fur him, which
they refused; but that a Mr. Chase, a distinguished
lawyer and abolitionist, volunteered as his counsel, and
that a mob had risen, headed by some of the most re-
spectable citizens, had taken Smith and Chase into cos •
tatty, and intended to hang them forthwith.
THE MuminiiEss.—lt is said that Miss Hamblin, who
recently murdered her husband, or cher amie, between the
acts of a tragedy in the green-room a the Mobile
Theatre, has been seen in this city. If so, she must have
travelled in the disguise of a man from the South. She is
said to be a fine-looking, black-eyed woman, and with a
bit of a moustache, would pass off for a fashionable youth
with great success.—New York Herald.

The House of Representatives was visited by the
Right Rev. Mar Yohanna, Christian Bishop of the Nes-
torian Church, of Oorootniah, in the north of Persia, ac-
companied by by Mr. Perkins, a Missionary of the Ame-
rican Board of Foreign Missions.
DEATH OF THE RIGHT REV. DR. ENGLAND.—This
eminent Prelate breathed his last this morning, about
five o'clock, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, exhibiting,
throughout a lingering and painful illness, unabated
courage and strength of intellect, with an unwavering
reliance in the promises of a steadfast faith. Bishop
England has been a resident of our city fbr twenty-two
years, during which period he has presided over the dio-
cese committed to his charge, comprising the States of
South Carolina. North Carolina, and Georgia, with sin-
gular talent for both civil and ecclesiastical administra-
tion, and with a paternal regard for the interests of his
church, while in the civil relations created by the alle-
giance to his adopted country he ever exhibited respect
for her institutions, zeal for her interests, and sensibility
to her rights.—Charleston Patriot, April H .
MEXICAN ARMV.—We find in one of our Campeachy
papers of the 15th ult., a statement of the force of the
Mexican army, that had just been received by an arrival
from Vera Cruz. The force actually on foot, and mounted,
was upwards of 40,000 men; and -although not thoroughly
disciplined at the time, there was no doubt it would
soon beco►ne nearly perfect, from the unusual exertions
and activity displayed by the officers to effect that object,-
The army was the❑ stationed thus :-2,600 in Xulapa ;
1,500 in Perote ; 2,000 in Puebla ; 500 in Vera Cruz ;
1,200 in Ulta ; 22,000 in the capital, and the remainder
at various points. No mention is made of a probable
movement of this army upon Texas ; and, indeed, it
is believed few of them can safely be. spared from their
present locations. _

' The papers state that a great struggle is preparing for
the next Mexican presidency, the candidates being Santa
Anna, Valencia, and Paredes, and with every probability
that the former will succeed.—N. 0. Bulletin, April G.
NEW YORK MONEY MARKET.
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