The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-02 00:00:00

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_SAUL

LONDON:
THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 2, 1842.

Some of our Contemporaries seek consolation, under
the national' affliction Of.another attempt to assassinate
her brizEsTi, by:describing the assassin as insane. To
to that swords no consolation: Whatever state of mind
prompts such attacks;
their effects are equally
,disas-
trous. Her MAJESTY'S life and the peace of society are
equally endangered.), To refer thorn to insanity, rather
than to political enthusiasm, or political machination, is
only to refer them to an exception to the general laws
of mind ; and to extinguish the hope, without
lessening,
in the least degree, the dread of danger that, by
bringing them under those laws, we may remove the
cause. For insanity there is no cure ; the exacerbations
of political feelings may be put an end to by redressing
political grievances. For her MAJESTY'S sake, and in
order that we may hope' that such diabolical acts will
not be repeated, we are inclined to discourage the opinion
that they spring from insanity.
But, whatever be their cause, one of the best cures
for either political insanity or political enthusiasm is
rectitude in the rulers of society. Let there be no de-
ceit in them, and there will be little in the people. Let
them not deal in exaggeration, and the public mind will
be calm. Let them be truthful, and the people will
despise falsehood. We regret, however, to say that these
qualities are not always found in them, and that we
notice their absence on even so solemn au occasion as
offering an Address to her 11.L.Tzsry on the preservation
of her life.
The Address, to which the Lords and the Commons
we are " attached to your
ur.kanimouhly- agreed, said,
Miar,sTY by a sense of the bereft we derive from your
majesty's just dud mild. Gorernnient:”- .I\T° w,
0%11..030(1,y.
hnows that these words convey a false idea, Royalty

has in fact, and in truth, become in England one of those
simulacri of which Mr. CA.RLYLE speaks—a name, a sound, I
a mere show, and nothing more. A deep feeling of respcct
for her MAJESTY, and a sincere wish that this courageous
and noble-minded lady may live a long and a happy life,
require us to remind the much-suffering people of Eng-
land that this part of the Address is not a truth, and that
her MAJESTY has little or nothing to do with the Go-
vernment. Be its character what it may, be it just and
mild, or unjust and cruel, it is not, except in form
and name, the Government of her MAJESTY. It is the
Government of the aristocracy, the Government of the
two Houses of Parliament, the Government of Sir A.
PEEL and the Duke of WELLINGTON.

So little is it the Government of her MAJESTY that she
cannot even appoint the Ministers who carry it on. Ten
months have not yet elapsed since we saw a complete
change made in teem, contrary, as the public believes, to
her MA.JEsti's inclination, and accompanied by the
sudden stoppage of a benevolent policy, which was said to
have met with her MAJESTY'S approbation, and promised,
as many of her suffering subjects believed, to lessen their
urgent distress. There are thousands—it is not even an
exaggeration to say millions—of mature beings in this
empire, who are suffering most grievous poverty and
destitution, and who believe, and have asserted in peti-
tions to the House of Commons, that the GOVERNMENT,
not of her MAJESTY, but of the aristocracy, is the cause
of their distress. It is not only, therefore, false, it is
unjust and cruel to a noble-minded Lady, to speak of the
Government as her Government, and direct against her
the unmitigated and embittered hostility which the
people entertain for those who deny them their political
rights, and tax their food.
When we remember that those who thus speak of the
"just and mild Government," really speak of themselves,
there is much vain self-laudation in the passage, if there
be not a little cowardice in sheltering their own deeds
under the name of her MAJESTY. To speak now o; our
just and mild Government is a mockery which will be
tolerated only by the sycophants of those in power, in the
mouths of those who compose it. When the people are
actually starving, that Government has passed a law to
deprive them of food. It persists in levying enormous
taxes on their meat, cheese, and butter, not to support
the State, but to enrich a class. To speak of that Govern-
ment as just, is a terrible want of truthfulness, which must
have the most pernicious effects. In private life a
scrupulous adherence to truth is essential to well-being,
and it is not possible that public affairs can be well
managed by totally disregarding it. The passage of the
solemn Address we have quoted, is a mere fiction, and
both loyalty to her MAJESTY, and duty to the public, re-
quire that it should be held up to censure.

As some of our Contemporaries already demand the
blood of FRANCIS, and ascribe his audacity to the lenity
shown to OXFORD, we think it a duty to remind the
public, that treason and murder are two of the very few
crimes which the law still punishes with death. Whe-
ther the two miscreants be insane or not, the fact that the
dread of such punishments will not give security to her
MAJESTY, is proved by their attempts. That taking life
at the gallows does not contribute to make men hold the
taking of life in abhorrence is quite certain. Independently,
therefore, of the arguments which we stated on Tuesday,
for giving as little notoriety and as little eclat as possible
to such infectious attempts, these considerations make it
very doubtful whether it be for the public advantage to
execute such wretches as OXFORD and FRANCIS. At
least, we will not call for the blood of the guilty man.

The rage for introducing Bills, or clauses as riders to
Bills, into Parliament for regulating and controlling the
actions, habits, and trade of individuals, as well as
classes, is become altogether insufferable. Every ses
sion brings forth some new scheme for harrassing the
public, under the hypocritical pretence of promoting re-
ligion and virtue, but in reality to gratify the vanity,
power, and paltry ambition of petty tyrants, who com-
placently regard themselves as the only " holy ones of
the earth." The PAKINGTONS and the PLUMPTEES, ill-
_ __

stead of looking at their own faults and sins, are occu-
pied entirely with the doings of their neighbours,
and whenever these come in collision with their
own miserable preconceived opinions of virtue and vice,
they are struck with horror at the wickedness of the
age. These immaculate Arcadians then commence in the
same strains, and exclaim " This must not be allowed—
to drink beer or travel on Sunday is a crying sin ; the
nuisance must be put down by the strong arm of the
law ; an Act of Parliament must be framed to punish
the malignants." And forthwith they lay their heads
together, draw up a Bill, manufacture petitions, and, day
after day, annoy all the rational Members of the House,
with their impracticable schemes, and unmeaning ha-
rangues. What right have they to tell a fellow-creature
when he shall eat, and when he shall drink, and when
he shall walk ? They have no authority from Scripture,
nay, they are absolutely forbidden by the sacred volume,
to meddle with a brother respecting the observance of
the Sabbath ; and presume upon the brief power and au-
thority conferred on them as Members of Parliament, to
take into their keeping, the consciences, the morality, and
religion of the whole of the community. This, to say the
least, is insolent assumption, and every man that regards
freedom, and above all, the freedom of the mind, revolts
at the idea of being restrained by the bigoted doctrines of
such empirics. The laws for the observance of the
Sabbath, and for preserving order in public-houses, are
already sufficiently strong for all useful purposes, and
we can therefore regard these attempts as springing
chiefly from a morbid lust of power, and a vain desire
to show their importance as legislators, and exercise
uncontrolled jurisdiction at Quarter Sessions. It
is high time :for the Government to interfere.
Sir ROBERT PEEL, does not concur in the views of these
men. He has ever opposed the Sabbath schemes of
AGNEW and PLUMPTRE, and it is therefore not fair to-
wards the community to allow, session after session, plans
like these to be brought forward, which unsettle and
injure the trade and property of numerous classes, and
actually bring Acts of Parliamept into contempt. A
deputation from a numerous and respectable body—the
licensed victuallers—has been sent up from the country,
at great expense and inconvenience, to protest against
the motion of Mr. PAKINGTON, and we are happy to
announce it has been successful. On that Gentleman
bringing forward his clause last night, its absurdities and
cruelties were ably exposed by Mr. ROEBUCK. Sir J.
GRAHAM took a liberal view of the whole subject, dis-
dained to profess any horror at working-people drinking
a glass of ale on Sunday morning, and declared that he
was opposed to extending the regulations of the Police
Act to all the rural districts. Captain Rots, Mr.
HARDY, and Mr. FERRAND, all Tories, opposed Mr.
PAXINGTON, who found nobody to speak in favour of his
clause but Sir R Nous. The two Members for Ches-
ter, indeed, begged the Hon. Member to withdraw the
clause, and, we believe, did not vote against it. Mr.
PAEINGTON, however, pressed it to a division, and he
was defeated by 110 to 7. So may the meddling saint-
Hugs be always met and always defeated.

The Marquis of CLANRICARDE and Mr. VERNON
SMITH deserve the thanks of the country for having
brought before the Houses of Lords and Commons on
Tuesday night the disgusting theatrical exhibition made
of DANIEL GOOD by the authorities of London, in. the
Chapel of Newgate on the Sunday previous to his
execution. We ourselves read the report of the
assemblage of ladies, of the parade of the miser-
able man on the brink of .eternity, and a sum-
mary of the sermon preached on that occasion,
with commingled feelings of indignation and loathing.
The language made use of by the Chaplain, was the
most improper for such an occasion that ever proceeded
from the mouth of a Minister of the Gospel. The Go-
vernment, we are happy to find, took the same view Of
the affair that we did, but Newgate being within the
jurisdiction of the LORD MAYOR, the Ministers of the
Crown were withheld by a feeling of delicacy from
interfering. We do not like to speak harshly
of the females who attended this exhibition of
human atrocity, but from our . hearts we pity the
husband or father whose wife or daughter was among
the number. We would not for the world be in the
situation of either.

The people of Scotland are considered second to none
is the world in the general exercise of strong, sound
common sense. The tone of their minds is healthy,
and save upon a few speculative theories in religion,
they are eminently a practical people. But the obser-
vance of the Sabbath is one of those points upon which it,
seems impossible to :make them rational. Had they
lived in the days of our REDEEMER'S sojourn on earth,
we verily believe that they would have joined
the Pharasaical Jews in accusing- him of " a
breach of the Sabbath, for ehoosing on that
day to open the eyes of the blind. They have
taken,: it seems, an invincible dislike to railway travelling,
on Sundays, and on Tuesday night the Earl of GALLOWAY
presented, in the. House of Lords, a petition from the
Presbytery of Edinburgh, praying that a Bill might be
passed to prevent .such travelling on Sundays altogether.
There is no mode of travelling in which so little labour
is performed by man or beast as by railway. Steam is
not, surely, in the eyes of the Presbytery of Edin-
burgh, a responsible being, and steam does all the work
in railway travelling. For one , man employed on rail-
ways to enable thousands to be carried from one end of
the island to the other, there are some hundreds in
moral Scotland who neglect to observe the Sabbath tha(
the 111iniatera and the Elders of the Kirk Tv. enjoy thel
luxury of a comfo*riableliei dinner. This is very well
known to the Presbytery of Edinburgh; to whose' peti