The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-24 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Times has no great opinionof Sir James Gra-
ham's statesmanship as regards his proposed amendment
of the Poor-law Bill, observing, "we only hope it may
not turn out to be something more positively mischievous
than we were prepared for. We should be betraying our
duty to the poor if we did not advise them to abandon
all hope of good from a Minister who deals thus with the
people. Sir James Graham is evidently doing his best
to ruin the Government with which he is connected.
From the sample of his intended measure which he has
thought proper to disclose, we augur the worst of what
remains behind."
The Chronicle remarks that, as the chief of a new Mi-
nistry, Sir Robert Peel has made a great blunder ; as
the agent and champion of the food monopoly, he has
made a greater blunder. Both ways his error is irre-
trievable. But he can neither recall the past, nor avoid
the future. He must go on. He has to work through
the Legislature a law which the people are publicly dis-
cussing previously how to render of no effect as law. It
is doomed to contempt, hatred, and' resistance, before it
is enacted. _ _ _

The Adveriiser has an article on the subject of certain
treaties entered upon between this country and some of
the Courts of the Continent, wherein our Contemporary
observes that Denmark will no doubt benefit herself by
these modifications of her Tariff, but that it will be
equally to the advantage of Great Britain, to meet that
Northern Power in the ports of this country in a spirit
of equal liberality. To lower duties on, is to cherish
commerce - _

vv
The Post. comments as follows on some remarks about
"the dependence of man upon man," made by Lord Pal-
merston in his late speech in the Commons:--" The de-
pendence of ' man upon man,' may, we repeat, be a very
delightful thing when the dependence' is mutual. and
the conditions of the dependence' honest. But the
' dependence' to which free-trade must always lead
never can be mutual—its conditions never can be honest,
The very object of free-trade is cheap production ;'
and cheap production involves; of necessity, a low re-
muneration to the labourer. The more widely, there-
fore, the principles of free-trade shall be acted on, the
deeper must become the misery of the labouring classes
—the more extensive must become the power of capitalist
and of idle consumers over the humble order of pro-
ducers."

The Herald observes in an article on the affairs of
Portugal.:—" The abrogation of the ultra-liberal Con-
stitution of Portugal, and the restoration of the charter
of Don Pedro, is an affair which is of itself of little in-
terest. Portugal can scarcely be worse governed under
the one than she has been under the other. The abne-
gation of the necessary power from the Executive under
the Constitution, and the personal restraint and subser-
vience which is imposed on the Sovereign, sufficiently
account for its unpopularity in the Court of Donna
Maria—for the Royal desire to return to the charter of
her august parent. If such only be the provocatives to
the recent revolution at Lisbon, it is, we repeat, an affair
of little intrinsic importance."
MONEY—Tnambr.--cowwERCE.

At West Bromwich nearly all the men are out o:
work, and the utmost destitution prevails among the poor

COMMERCIAL REFORM.

A great out-door meeting was held at Manchester on
Monday evening in Stevenson's-square. There were no
less than 7,000 men assembled on the occasion under the
full moon, and a larger meeting has not taken place
within the last ten tears. A report will be found in anu-
ther part of The Sun.
An important meeting took place at Wolverhampton
on Tuesday, composed of tbe leading men of the town
and the Chartists, between whom a common union nas
made, and both joined in resolutions for the removal of
the Premier from office, and petitions to the Queen were
carried to that effect.