The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-27 00:00:00

PUXI.GXC OPINION.

The Post renews its attacks on the manufacturing.
system in the following terms :—" The modern manu-
facturing System of thiS country has pauperised and
brutalised a fearful proportion of the labouring classes.
While the policy of England was purely agricultural,
the whole community was incomparably more happy and
prosperous than it has ever been since. Under the in-
fluence of our old agricultural policy, not only did the
labouring. classes find abundance of profitable employ-
ment, but their spiritual wants were faithfully minis-
tered to. This fact is indirectly proved by the enemies
of the Church. These men are in the habit of alleging
that the spiritual destitution of the manufacturin., dis-
tricts ought to be provided for out of the noble endow-
ments of the Church herself ! Yes ; the endowments of
the Church of England are noble ! They are evidences
of the piety of the territorial aristocracy of England
under the influence of a purely agricultural policy. But
why • should thes'e endowments be expected to provide
for the spiritual destitution of a population which, ac-
cording to the boast of our free trade manufacturers, a
manufacturing policy has created ? Let our `Liberal'
manufacturers—our champions of free trade, and of
cheap production'—let the men who boast that the
machine-owning capitalists 'could buy up the Peerage'
—let these men provide for the spiritual destitution of
those masses of human beings who have been made
paupt,rs, in order that the Widens, the BrothertonF, and
Greggs. and .Strutts, may claim to be the equals of
Peers !"

_ .
In reference to the Report of Mr. Roebuck's Election
Committee, the Advt., tiser says—" As was to have
been expected, the heals of the Tory and Whig Press
have aimed at what they can do to quash and to neu-
tralise thi, effect of the late Commitiee on Elections.
Deny the statements of tha Report they dare not ; but
evade. deride, choke them as far as they soul ', they have
endeavoured to do. The public, of course, may repro-
bate, but will not be surprised at it. The Whig party,
in the name of Sir John Cam Hobliouse, and the Tory,
in that of Mr. John Walter, are both so implicated in
the facts which have -transpired, that there can be no
aStOnishmentrelative to the manner in which they each
resolve either to give an erroneous impression of the cir-
cumstances, or to pass them off as if they were of no
moment. They are both, too, interested in the
maintenance of a corrupt system ; they both see in it
a way for themselves and their adhereats into
the House. One an acknowledged organ of the
ex-Whig Administration ; and the other, whether
the avowkd or otherwise, yet the notorious re-
ceiver of a bribe to an enermorts extent, for a change in
the tenour of its political advocacy, both sides of the
daily Whig and Tory Press are, therefore, literally the
interested,- as they may be considered, suspected media of
opinion on this grave topic. Their aim, of course, is to
cloak over the now revealesi state of the representative
question, if they can. As they cannot annul the facts,
their most earnest endeavour is either to put a wrong
face on them, or to drive them away into the oblivion of
neglect and silence as quickly as possible. But if there
is an honest party in the country it will not let such at-
tempts have effect. Audit is to this party the country
must look if it wish for truth on a subject really the most
vital that can be discussed. And the most alarming part
of the facts which the Election Committee have disclosed
are, by far, those relating to the compromises. It is this
compromise question which really betrays a more corrupt
state of the °representative. principle than even the bribery.
It may be safely said that the annals of political corrup-
tion exhibit no parallel to it.
The Chronicle observes, in allusion to the Mines and
Collieries Bill—" No unimportant. good will be accom-
plished by the measure: It will stop many horrible
scenes of cruelty and immorality. For numbers of
children it will create months and years of light and
sunshine, and afford opportunities of instruction that
may spread a blessing over their lives. Thousands of
women will be spared the degradation to which they are
now exposed, and raised to the decencies of their sex,
and its more befittine•6 occupations. Some check will be
interposed to frightful and fatal accidents ; and by the
withdrawal from thiS section of the labour market of
those who never ought to have been in it, either the value
of labour will be enhanced, or an opening will be affloded
for the competition of men who are at present unable to
obtain any employment whatever. We call this philan-
thropic legislation—a bright spot in the history of the
session ; and a benefit for conferring which Lord Ashley
deserves the thanks and blessings of thousands of grate-
ful hearts, as well as the applause of all who rejoice in the
contemplation of honourable and beneficent achievemen ts."
The Herald says—" A man like Lord John Russell
may be a fit leader for the Whig party coming into office, •
but we believe him to be too upright a. man to be a
fitting leader for it on its exit. For such a purpose it
requires a man far more conscious and far more knowing
—a man used to the convivial and forgiving temper of