The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-06 00:00:00

,;ttrL

LONDON :
SATURDAY MOANING, AUGUST 6, 1842.

In the House of Commons last night Mr. InsuAELt ri
inquired of Sir R. PEEL whether the statement were 4
authentic that the British troops had been ord:Ted
withdr..w from Affghanistan ? Sir R. PEEL replied that;
he ma rstood despatches had been received, but he had. I
not y.et had an opportunity of reading them. It was un-..1
derstnod about the House that Sir ltonEwr is to give,
some further information on the subject to-day, in con-
sequence of an interrogatory put by Lord PALMERSTON...
The evening before Sir Reinmer admitted, in answer to
Mr. D'iSitA ELI, that a narrative of the occurrences in
Atlgintnisten, such as that described in . the Indian
J.mrtials. - had been received, in England ;, but it was al
such a nature that it could not be produced without at.
breach of 'confidence. The fact of that report having
arrived, and the statement of its nature, are calculated
to confirm the terrible suspicions excited by the articled
of the. Bombay Times. Before. Parliament .separates.
the fullest information on this momentous subject, which.
deeply concerns the honour and the power of England,
oug:it to be laid before it.

We cannot allow Mr. T. DuncomßE's motion for the
release of the Chartist lecturer, Mr.3IAsoN, and the
seven working men now confined in Stafford gaol, to palm
without expressing our hearty approbation of his great
though unsuccessful exertions. The motion was for an
Address to her MAJESTY to liberate these men. It did
not in terms call in question the decision of the Court
which passed sentence on them, but it was founded ont
an opinion that the constable had in the first instance.
overstepped his duty, and that the Magistrates had only ,
sanctioned his arbitrary injustice. It was to be ex—.'
petted, therefore, that Sir JAMES GRAHAM, who had.:
strenuously advocated the propriety of a constable being
allowed to decide concerning the sedition of languago,
which he might by possibility not comprehend, would
resist Mr. DUNCOMBE'S motion. He did so ; andL
having an unscrupulous majority to back him, it was•
negatived. The Minister decided that there should bet
no address to the Ministers, usurping the name and:
functions of the Sovereign, to pardon Mr. MASON. The/
source of mercy, which is also the source of power, was.
dried up by the dictum of Sir J. GRAHAM, to justify a..
meddling constable.

We congratulate the Whigs on having returned, on
this occasion, to their ancient constitutional doctrines ;
and we congratulate their Journals on their revived zeal
for popular rights; but we cannot forget, nor allow the
public to forget, that in 1839 and 1840 they did not act
on the principles they now espouse. We had then to
censure them as severely as they now censure the Tories.
Had they then listened to our advice, and been as ra-
tional in office as they are in Opposition—had they
acted on their present principles, in the cases of
STEPHENS, APDOUALL, LOVETT, COLLINS, and the Bir-
mingham meeting, they would not have been no much
hated as they now are by the bulk of the working popu-
lation. The change in the Ministry, which we, in com-
mon with others, objected to, has had the extraordinarily
beneficial effect of converting the Tories to free traders,
and thS Mtlbourne Whigs into advocates of popular
rights and liberties.

No pet;son treats his friends more seurvily than Sir
B. PEEL'. ', He has silently but certainly compelled the
DUke or RIM-MOND to swallow his own threat. The
pccr ignites, who at the election rode, and run, and
blustered In every county and at every town where they
had any influence, to return the friends of Sir R. PEEL,
have been obliged to accept grinding -Bills, importation
of calif, reduced duties on potatoes and meat, &c., and
sundry other things which they mortally hate, and have
scarcely dared to murmur their discontent. The deceived
parsons, too, who set such a splendid dining and speaking
example, who in thioir zeal for this world's favour
seemed careless of the next, and risked their 'salvation to
promote the success of their party, are not to be allowed,
after all they have done and suffered, to filch from the
people as large an amount as possible for Church-rates
without even rendering an account of the money they
cAlect. They are quite indignant that they were not
taken into the councils of the Cabinet before it assented
to Sir J. EASTHOPE'S 'Motion, and they are still more
indignant at the calmness with which the Premier be-
holds the bellowings of their impotent rage. To have
to the "motion of a low Radical, a decided enemy
to the Church," is complete treason to the party; and w,
have the authority. of the Post fur saying that;
the High-Church supporters of Sin R. PEEL are ex-
tremely dissatisfied •at the cavalier treatment they have,
received from the Right Honourable Gentleman.
He spites the Herald by obstinately following out Lord:
P4LMEIISTON's foreign policy, though that journal says.
the Noble Lord ought to be impeached ; and Thursday-
he even dared to blow up tli:!. great Times itself, Sir-
FiLtvis Bur.DETT, and the lit.,,Ltning inventor, whom.
they have taken under their express patronage. Oil oe
;
after another Sir R. PEEL slaps his friends and sup-
porters in the face, and they say " it is very distressing,
b d:at is the use of making a noise about it, we shall
P:
S 1.--, pia get laughed at
1.4.4
as ninnies ; we shall give an ad-
-- -Union 1 triumph to those hated free traders and Radical
anti-C.!hurehaieii. There is no use in taking any notice
0: it !. To bring back the Whigs would do us nu good;
and therfere, though we are very much disappointed and
dissatiSeed, yet still, as we cannot make better of it, we
thin!At neeJlesa.to weaken the Government by finding
. faitlf.4s So, with the meekness of lambs, the overbearing

squires and the arrogant priesthood receive th© chastise-
ment of the Premier.

Our readers may perhaps remember that about two
years ago we had to combat the extravagant assertions
of the Times in relation to the inventions of a Captain
WARNER. That journal held up this intrepid adventurer
as one of the greatest pyrotechnical geniuses that had
ever existed. He had invented, that journal assured us,
an explosive compound that would blow up the rock of
Gibraltar. At the distance of six miles he could knock
down the strongest walls, and scatter a line-of-battle
ship into fragments as easily as a child dashes its toys to
pieces. This wonderful genius was known as the Light-
ning Inventor, and it was a kindred genius made the
Thunderer take him under his especial patronage and
protection. _ _

For not allowing this paragon of a destroyer to pro-
secute his experiments at the public expense—for not
giving him a great sum of money, and so preventing him
from carrying off his invention to Russia or France, to
the permanent injury and dishonour of Great Rritain,
Lord MELBOURNE and the Earl of MINTo were spoken
of by the Times as the enemies of their country. They
were said to be sacrificing- its honour, and risking its
safety, by not patronising and rewarding the lightning
inventor. We are not sure that our Contemporary did
not conditionally threaten those Noblemen with im-
peachment for their studied neglect of Captain WARNER;
but we axe quite sure that the Times praised his inven-
tions to the skies, and denounced the Whig Ministers
most vehemently, for not profiting by them, and reward-
ing the inventor.
On Thursday that pattern of political honour and con-
sistency, who is every way worthy of the Times, Sir F.
BURDETT, brought Mr. WA.RNER'S inventions under the
notice of the House, and moved for a Select Committee,
to inqu ire into his negotiations with the Government.
Sir Ho WARD DOUGLAS, who had been appointed to
examine the subject immediately stated that every op-
portun!ity had been given to Mr. WARNER to prove his
assertions ; he had been invited, coaxed even, to perform
his wonderful feats, and receive in a full purse the great
reward of a nation's gratitude, but he had not made his
appearance. , Hulks and forts were prepared, but
not Mr.. WARNER. His familiars, probably, got sulky and
would not come to his cull, or the atmosphere was damp,
and his electrical machine would not work ; at all events
Mr. W rAIINER did not achieve the mighty things the
Times promised in his name. Mr. BROTEERTON men-
tioned on Thursday that the immaculate patriot had pre-
v;.ousl:y sold his invention to Dos PEDRO ; Sir G.
COCK' auto' deprived him of hi:. rank, by declaring that
be ne, ver was in the navy; and Sir ROBERT PEEL, by
taking ; the same course as Lord MELBOURNE, completely
vindicated the Noble Lord's conduct, and testified to
the a ccura,cy of his judgment. By one shell he blew
Capta in WARNER, Sir FRANCIS BURDETT, and the
Time 3 out of the water, and left these battered and
bruis ed personages to console one another.
it was very viteful in Sir ROBERT to defend Lord
MI :i,BOURNE, and to disparage the Times. It was
stilE more spiteful to resist his dear friend, and
sr ntl Sir FRANCIS BURDETT into the lobby with only a
jug le joint in his tail. The lion. Baronet's motion was sup-
/ orted by only 2 votes, and 72 were given against it.
Ve apprehend that will extinguish for ever Captain, or
Mr. WARNER'S claims on the national gratitude. There
yet one place of reffige for him. We recommend him
to) carry his scheme to the Chinese; they will at once ap-
pr mitt te an invention which will destroy the barbarians'
ips in a manner so agreeable to their caution. They
AX 2 fond of boasting, and the lightning inventor would
ast likely be there elevated to the rank of a deity.

it used, to be the boast of English gentlemen, that
'they were to be believed oh their honour, while other
-men could scarcely be credited on their oath. Hence, in
a certain House, whatever a Member asserts, the other
Members, fur the honour of the whole body, are bound to
admit it to be true. But this conventional respect for
each other's word seems Lot to extend beyond Parlia-
meet, and ever since Lord STANLEY stated that his
friend air E. FEEL was a capital hand at dressing up a
.;tatement for the House, a suspicion has grown up
in the public mind that all the things as-
serted by those honourable men may perchance
nat be true. So we see that Sir JAMES GRAIIA.3I'S asser-
,,ions in the case of Mr. M'DouALL, at Deptford, that
there had been a riot in the chapel, where the seats
were broken up, that the meeting at the Broadway was
a continuation of the meeting at the chapel, are ques-
tioned by Mr. WADE, one of the trustees of the chapel,
who seems not to share the conventional respect which
Members of the House of Commons have for each
other's assertions. Mr. WADE affirms that there
was an interruption at the chapel, but be denies
that the building was in any way damaged, and
he proves that both Sir R. PEEL and Sir J. GRAHAM
have dressed up the Deptford case for the House of
Comnions and the Tory public. If we are not to believe
the assertion of Members of Parliament, of what value
or utility can the laws be of which are founded
on those assertions? The Parliament has already sunk
very low, but to what depth it will reach if the public
generally discredit the assertions of Members, no man
can tell. If Sir ROBERT PEEL, Sir JAMES GRAHAM,
have no love for truth, the sooner they assume it,
and convince the world, if they can, that they are in
earnest, the better for them and for the world.