The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-07 00:00:00

~rurst':-

suppose a eo.neral election about to take place. and that the
twri :cats for 7Vottingliam were about to he molested; a sort
of a Parliamentary Napoleon leterminee to conquer that torn;
he jumps upon it, as Napoleon would say, with both his feet—
he rushes down into the town, he bribes every man he meets,
he frightens his opponent out of the town, and he is returned.
Ile party who has lost, pcti4ions ; the Committee is to be
struck, say on Monday—fear seizes the Members, and they en-
ter into a compromise with the party opposed to them. They
PaY down money for the purpose of exculpating themselves,
anti of escaping from the scrutiny of a Ct,mmittee. 'I hey tur-
ther pledge themselves to allow the other candidates to walk
over the course.

Mr. Romnrca then emphatically asked the House,
would it allow such gross bribery to escape ? Will it
allow, also, those honourable Members to sit who
have, by these comptemises, confessed their guilt ?
By bringing i those questions before the House,
and before the public, Mr. RoEnucK has rendered
a must essential service. The Hon. Member concluded
by calling on Sir J.. Honuoursu to second his motion,
and by moving for a Committee to inquire into the
charge he had made.
Capt. FrrzaoY in a manly speech, Sir J. HODHOUSE not
hat log cornpli(d with the call, seconded the motion; but
the debate was, on the suggestion of Mr. WT. IVYN-,
ado:irned till Monday. That Tight Han. Gentluman
admitted that it was a most important question, deeply
concerning the honour of the Members,' and therefore
rcquireil time for consideratior,.
To that Mr. Iloanuca. made on objection, and on Mon-
(lay the debate will be resumed, when it will be proved,
wr apprehend, to the public conviction that seats in the
House of Commoni have been made the sub-
ject or sordid and disgraceful bargaining. We cannot
without saying, that Mr. ROT. BUM Won the
pr,,'oation of the whole House, and merits the approba-‘
tioli of tile public.

ASHLEY has. entered a notice on the books of
the House of Commons, " for a Bill to make regulations
resnecting the age and sex of persons admitted to work
in mines dud collieries. " The subject, too,'was brought
b(! ,re tboLords last night, b)' the Bishop of Noawicu
prT:enting five petitions against the employment of
chil&en,.and espeCially of females, in mines. The Rev.
Prelate pointed to the profligacy- which results, and
said,i on the authority of the Commissioners, that other
la:' curers would not marry the females who had been
brought up in mines. A short and interesting debate
ensued, in which Earl FITZWILLIAM, with his customary
good sense, dispelled the illusion that the cruelties and
hardships to which children are exposed nre chiefly con-
fine tto manufacturing. districts. We agree with the
Noble 14H, and say with him that the inquiry will not
be
complete unless it be extended to the " healthy em-
ployments" of agricultural districts.

Admitting that the employment of women and chil-
dren in mines and collieries, is a disgrace to the commu-
*,-, we entertain grave doubts as to the propriety of
I7,,i.ti.ring with it by legis4tion. Lord ASHLEY has
alr(ady interfered very largely with factory children,
without doing much good ; while the present increased
demand on his exertions is cztleutated to excite sonic
alarm as to the CN tent of his self-imposed task. Where
is he .to stop ? He must consider, as Lord FITZWILLIAN
svid, whether there be rot equal degradation and depra-
vity in other employment.;for females.

rifler pre,cribing Tidies for working boys and girls in
mine:, will not the:solitary little herds who lie out on
the hills 'in nil weathers, with no companions but their
flocks and their dogs, lie deserving of legislative care ?
May not the young females also demand it, who are

frequently kept at work making ball-dressos or court-
mourning for the gentry and nobility till they fallfrorri
.their seats, and' whose hard - niaT a 'tlieinf fall an
easy prey to any seducer who promises them food,
clothing, and relaxation ? To many a sensitive personit
must seem a terrible hardship for young lads to climb
ap shrouds and lay nut on yards when the vessel is rolling,
the sleet falling, the ice hanging on the rigging, and
the hands are benumbed with cold, so that they can
hardly feel the rope, on holding fast by which life de-
pend 3. Ilarcj, sery , hard, is the-life of a dredging boy
in a Peter •boat, fereed to 'go to ,work on the water in the
depth of winter ; and there are hundreds of them
between Buyer and Yarmouth. The complaints of
the shopkeepers' assistants in London of being
overworked are numerous. All these classes will
be entitled to receive the attention of the Legis-
lature, if it begin to regulate and prescribe em
ployments. In short, for it to enter into that
career opens up a prospect of such fearful trouble and
responsibility, that it ought ti pause and deliberate long
before it proceeds further to interfere with the employ-
ment of the pink. We ask again, if Lord Asntarr
begins, where will he stop ?

Our legislayms, who obstinately refuse to admit the
working classes to be either constituents or representa-
tives, know practically little or nothing of their toils.
Accustomed to find most of their pleasures in ease,
idleness, and bodily comforts, they form a very exagge-
rated notion of the actual sufferings of those who toil.
Use is second nature, and living in squalor, or dabbling
in dirt, shut up in a pit,.is perhaps not near so painful as
appearances make the rich, and the tenderly brought up,
suppose. GOD tempers the heat of the mine to the col-
liery girls, and the fierceness of the blast to the dredging
boy, as he tempers the wind to the shorn lamb; and the
Legislature, which is composed exclusively of the upper
classes, will commit a gross mistake if it attempt to legis-
late about employment from its own views of the happi-
ness or misery of theworking-elasses.
On these accounts we doubt very much the propriety,
of making laws for the regulation of employments. Hard
and irksome as may be the lot of these children, it is
better than starvation ; and if the Noble Lord cannot
supply them with plenty of food in idleness, it is, per-
haps, cruel to interfere with their occupation. The peo-
ple themselves scarcely complain of their toils. They
want less work, and better wages, not the abo-
lition of their employments. We confess that
we mistrust those who, while they pretend to feel for
these infants, cruelly tax their food to enrich themselves.
Let Lord ASELEY and his friends set a good example,
let them abstain from plundering the people by laws, let
them resist Sir ROBERT PEEL in squandering the pro-
perty of the people as if it belonged to the Parliament, and'
they will confer more benefit on the working classes by
their conduct, than they can possibly do by any laws.
One part of the work for which children are required is
to ope'n and shut doors, which might be easily done by
machinery ; but when the population is ground down
to poverty. by mischievous laWs, they look with.
abhorrence on the employment of machinery, as
depriving them of bread, and they petition against
it, as if the benevolent agent that spares their toil
were a curse, and not a blessing. To make them prefer
machinery to irksome toil, and to put an end to these
degrading and deMoralizing employments under ground,
the first requisite is, that the people be able to get cheap
and abundant food aboveground ; and till the Biskops
demand the repeal of all Corn and Provision-laws—till
the Lords repeal all such barbarous and brutal enact-
ments, we shall hold them to be the guilty authors of all
the miseries in mines, collieries, and factories they pre-
tend to deplore, and will vainly essay to prevent by legis.
1 ation.

The Chartists may congratulate themselves on
having attracted public attention. Their' petition is
generally noticed, and both Whig and Tory Journals
have undertaken to controvert their arguments, or
expose the absurdity of their demands. Great good
will arise. 'At present it is a subject of general con-
gratulation amongSt the Liberal Journals, that PEEL'S
Tariff, and PEEL'S Corn-law, by touching the farmers'
pockets, are rousing them to consider questions of
political economy, from which it is expected they will
ultimately arrive,at sound conclusions. In like man-
ner; the Chartist petition, by touching the political
fears of the upper classes, is compelling them to over-.
haul their political theories, and, in the end, will lead
them to adopt the truth, and do justice.to the people.
It has, for example, been long held in theory that
.
Government, which practically and historically we
know was founded on ignorance, usurpation, and
conquest—the first laws, as it was once expressed in
the Edinburgh Rer,ip7, (perhaps by Mr. MAcAuLAY,
the defender of flogging,) having been written by the
sword—it has long been held in theory that Govern-
ment is intended to promote the general benefit, the
greatest happiness of the greatest number, and not to
promote the aggrandisement of or give wealth and
security to, particular classes. Whether the Govern-
ment answer that noble theoretical purpose or not
en never. be decided,: by those who administer
it, nor by any particular - classes on whom it may
confer special benefits. On that point the authority of
Whigs and Tories, and of the priesthood, who are en-
dowedand supported, goes for nothing. It can only be
decided by the , opinions of the governed, who alone
can form_ an opinion, by feeling the action and opera-.
tion of the Government throughout their existence,
whether or not it answer the assigned end.
Nor can the power of judging of that be, by any
possibility, taken away from the multitude. The pe-
titioners in question are of opinion that our Govern-
ment has not answered this end. They point to the
unrepresented masses whose wishes have been stifled,
and whose opinions the laws would fain suppress.
They point to a so-called Christian episcopacy, gorged
with wealth, and to a starving people. They
point to a vast national debt, incurred for purposes
wholly foreign to their happiness, which their in-
dustry must annually pay. They point to a regal
splendour, raised by taxes on those, who re
ceive twopence-halfpenny per day per head
for irksome toils ; and, comparing the professions of
the Government with the actual results on the com-
munity, they, justly conclude that the. Government
has not answered the end for which, according to the
theory, GoveAnment exists.
Now, it is because Governnrnt is sail to serve this
sublime purpose, that writers on morals and govern-
ment have concluded that therefore the people were
bound to obey it. Allegiance is the' correlatiVe duty to
protection ; and where no protection.3s given—where
starvation is inflicted--allegiance is no longer a duty-
The persons who have signed the 'National Petition,
have come practically to the-conclusion—
That any form of government which fails to effect the
purposes for which it was designed, and does not fully
and completely represent the whole people, Nvlt o are
e•nnpelled to pay taxes to its supportand obey the laws
resolved upon by it, is unconstitutional, tyrannical, and
ought to be amended or resisted. .
~.. . • ..
Their language and conduct have startled those
who have hitherto contended the most strenuously
for the principle that the Government, ii ius'titakted,te.
promote the public welfare, and that the community
at large, to whom they daily address their lucubra-
tions, are the only persons to judge if the Government ,
answer that end. Being startled, they at oncethyOW ‘
the whole theory overboard, and revive the almost for-
gotten and long since exploded doctrines of DiVine
right. They' essay to re-establish the wealieued
ower.of Government over the minds of the multi
tudei by such doctrines as this :

That Goi,ernments do not rest their authority on fi
consent ff the people, but simply on their own established
existence—that the powers that be have a claim upon
oar allegiance because they are,—and that we, bore
under their authority, receiving, before we have the
power to express assent or dissent, the benefits of their
protection, through our whole lives as unable to dis-
el4im as they are to withdraw those benefits, and finally
specifically commanded by that authority from which
both they and we derive all such rights as either of us
possess .to pay them honour and obedience, are thus
morally and religiously bound to accept such a definition
of our rights as is given us by the Constitution under
which we live ; and within these limits only, to exert our-
selves for the development of all of its beneficial, and the
extirpation of its pernicious principles.
it is now ascertained that the great constitutional
doctrine of co-extensive existence of representation,
and taxation is not borne out. by the present condi
tion of society. It is _found also that the Govern 7
ment cannot stand the test of promoting' the public
welfare ; and therefore. refuge is taken in the asser-
tion that we are all born under the authority of the
'landlords, and that we are all cOmmanded by that
POWER which is superior to all human authority to
pay them honour and obedience, and accept from
them such laws as they think fit to enact, and
such rights as they, not the. ALMIGHTY, think pro.:
per to bestow on mankind. The conduct of the
petitioners has at once brought to the test the most
approved political theories, and overthrown them by
a touch. At once public writers give them ,up, and
tell the people, that they did well enough "as long
as they were confined to the draWing-rooms and
ture-rooms of the aristocracy;" but- directly the
people appeal to them, these public writers take

fuge in that blind obedience :Ind in that Divine right
')-111,-,:h our ancestors, over and over pgaiu, practically
refuted. That the petition of the people has already
provoked these,results will b 4 an immense benefit to
them in future. A more solemn discussion, and one
going to the very foundation of political society, than
any Sir"R. PEEL provoked by his Tariff and his In-
come-tax, has been already kindled by the Nationa,
Petition.

It will not do for writers to play any longer with
principles. They are now found to be a two-edged
sword ; and those who profess the principle that Go-
vernment is for the benefit of the millions, will have
to demonstrate its benefits to them, in spite of the
daily and unceasing evils it inflicts ..on them, or give
up the theory, and acknowledge that Government is a
usurpation. We have before row stated that Pusey-
ito doctrines had a political origin. They sprang
from the conviction that neither the Church nor the
State, as now constituted,' can bear investigation on
the principles of the Reformation and Revolution.
Puseyism is, now extending its donain from the
Church, where it has established the Divine right of
the Bishops, to the State, where it seeks-to establish the
Divine right of the landlords. In the progress of society
the knowledge that was confined to drawing-rooms and
aristocratic lecture-rooms, has spread, like other
luxuries, over the humblerclasses. This is the age of
diffusion. Doctrines, as well as Manchester and Sheffield
ware, have become common to the multitude. Hence
there is no alternative but either to re-establish the
principle of Divine right in politics,-or concede great
alterations to the demands of the people. The Tories
prefer the doctrine of Divine right, and the claim
now put forth by the people has forced them to avow
their slavish creed. The authors of the Income-tax
and the Corn-law demand On principle the most
abject submission from the people, and assure them
that by divinee authority they are morally and religi-
ously bound to accept poverty, slavery, and starvation,
from the landlords.

BRIGHTON ELECTION.
FINAL CLOSE OF THE POLL.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, an hour after the
close, Mr. Cady, the returning officer, made the follow-
ing official declaration of the state of the poll, on the
Permanent hustings in front of the Town-hall, viz.:—
Lord Hervey
Mr. Harford 640
Mr. Brooker l6
Giving a majority for Lord
Hervey of
This announcement was received with a loud and long
shout of execration from the supporters of Mr. Harford,
followed by deafening plaudits on the part of the suc•
cessful candidate, which lasted for several minutes.
Lord HERVEY, having been declared duly elected,
came forward amidst much confusion, in which he was
pelted by some of the crowd, and said he had to return
them his warmest thanks for the courtesy with which he
had been received by gentlemen of all political feelings
during the contest.(Uproar.)
Mr. HARFORD next came forward, and was loudly
cheered by his partisan's. He thanked the 640 indepen-
dent electors who had voted for him, probably at the
hazard of injurious consequences to themselves.
Mr. BROOKER afterwards addressed the electors, and a
vote of thanks having been passed to the Returning Offi-
cer, and duly acknowledged by that gentleman, the large
concourse of persons that had assembled dispersed.