The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-14 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Herald has the following remarks on the meet-
ting at Brill. It is cruel to turn round thus upon
the " Farmer's Friend" :—" The spirit which animated
the speakers at the agricultural meetings recently
holden at Yeovil, Clevedon, and Leicester, is cer-
tainly preferable to the feeling which pervaded the
Brill festival, if it were only because at the former
there was a fine display of ener6y, hope, and deter-
mination, while at the latter a reiteration of personal
opinions and of unavailing regrets was the ' be all and
the end all' of post-prandial eloquence. To repine
at what is past never to return is waste of time ; in
preparation for the future alone is there safety for
agriculture. The present Corn-law is the utmost pro-
tection land will in these days receive, and no time
ought to be lost in making ready for greater compe-
tition by increased industry and skill. The Duke of
Buckingham stands alone in his expectation that the
county gentlemen in the House of Commons will
come back and again support him in the principles
'which he advocated.' Even Mr. Miles of Somerset-
shire has abandoned all such anticipations—' improve-
ment in agriculture' he assured his' constituents the
other day was ' the only means, of meeting the altered
state of the times.' A perfect revolution in hus-
bandry is now the recommendation of those agricul-
tural leaders who formerly relied solely on high
duties. That revolution consists in firstly having all
the soil of Britain as highly cultivated as that of
Norfolk, North Northumberland, and the Lothians,
and then not resting ratisfied that productiveness has
reached its utmost limit."

The Chronicle thus replies to the violent article in
the Quarterly Review on the Anti-Corn-law League :
—" The foulest selfishness ; sedition, hypocrisy, and
blasphemy; and polluting and perverting the most
sacred topics into incentives to pillage and bloodshed,
are the charges made in direct terms by the Quarterly
Review against the Anti-Corn-law League. It is
superfluous to say that this is not the language of civi-
lity or courtesy, of philosophic calmness, or of Chris-
tian meekness. Imputations of this sort are not tole-
rated in the intercourse which is carried on orally;
nor are they more excusable in that which is sustained
through the press. In fact, the press is only, as it were,
a huge speaking trumpet, through which people may
be spoken to by scores of thousands, and at the remotest
distances. Its language, is under the same laws. of
civility as that of direct personal communication be-
tween man and man. And those laws are observed
by all but base minds.as faithfully as if there were no
such screen from responsibility as,, that ' of anony-
mous authorship. The ,sin of their violation offends.
not only against manners but morals. What
.can the •• Tory reviewers , plead in .its defence ?
They may say that they believe all this ; that they
speak the language of sincere conviction ; that .they
have proofs, which they adduce or offer to adduce,
which satisfy their own minds of all that they affirm.
We allow,:so far as it is true, the validity of this
excuse, and we claim it in turn for the i violent lan-
guage' imputed to the adherents of the League:, Their
convictions are as sincere, their. belief as firm, and
their proofs as satisfactory to their own minds as
those of any Quarterly Reviewer. To them, the
base selfishness of landowning legislators, who take
advantage of their position to enact laws for enhancing
the price of food, is most demonstrable. To them,
the hypocrisy and blasphemy of praying to the Deity
for daily bread, and levying a tax which often de-
prives the poor man of his daily bread; is manifest.
To their perceptions, the impost which raises rents at
the risk of starvation, is pillage in itself -and blood-
shed in its consequences. Why, then, should they
not speak out ? Why should they be more mealy-
mouthed than the Quarterly Reviewer ? Is free speech
and sincere writing a monopoly, as well as corn ?
They only do that which the Reviewer does • and he,
doing as they do, yet dares to threaten them with
criminal prosecutions:"
The Times has the following remarks on the Bar-
celona insurrection :—" The outbreak of an insurrec-
tion in Catalonia, or, to speak more correctly with
reference to the ate disturbances, in Barcelona, is an
incident which has unhappily been of far too frequent
occurrence to occasion much surprise. Nor has this
Catalan spirit of revolt been more conspicuous amidst
the modern vicissitudes of the Spanish monarchy than
in the days of its most absolute power. Of the four-
teen or fifteen sieges which the city of Barcelona has
at various times sustained, by far the greater number
have been occasioned by the rebellious resistance of the
population to the Generals of the Royal armies;
,and
the severity of the language which Espartero or his
Ministers are reported to have used is readily accounted
for, if it be not wholly justified, by their knowledge
of the incorrigible temper of the people arrayed in
arms against the Queen's Government. As a political
movement, it is impossible to conceive a more ill-
regulated and incomprehensible demonstration of a
desire to do mischief, without either a scheme or a
leader to give effect to the brutal passions of as igno-
rant multitude. But the combustible elements which
are so well known to exist in the city and the pro-
vince doubtless attracted the machinations of those
foreign incendiaries, whose cause is irrecoverably lost
if, in spite of their predictions and conspiracies,
Spain remains tranquil, and the Government of the
Regent unassailed by weapons more formidable than
those of constitutional debate. As we do not possess
at present any complete account of the real origin or
extent of the insurrection, it would be premature to
speculate on its causes or its ultimate consequences.
But our attention has been excited by the very sin-
gular tone in which the leading organ of the
French Government, or more especially of the
French King, has from the first spoken of these
events. There has been an obvious endeavour to give
them the utmost importance ; and although it was im-
possible for a journal (professing, before all things,
to uphold the principles of monarchical power
and public order to avow an open sympathy or to
afford direct encouragement to a mob of revolutionary
enthusiasts, led on by a few Republican desperadoes,
yet it is evident that the enemies of Espartero, be they
who they may, were not viewed with much horror or
repugnance by the Court of France."
• The 'Post forgetting old friendships, tells the Tory
landlords that they have not made a proper use of
their brains. " There are a great many very respect-
able persons (says this journal) who, from want of use,
find it very irksome to harbour two leading.ideas at
one and the same time, and to act upon their impulse.
To this we attribute a good deal of the very strange
abandonment of formerly avowed opinions, which of
late it has been our unpleasant duty to criticise.
Certain gentlemen who, from the easy circumstances
that have surrounded them from their birth, have not
had occasion to make very active use of their brains,
are very apt to fall into mistakes through the habit
of throwing aside one leading idea, as soon as. the
events of the day, or the accidents of their position,
cause them to take up another. 'These gentlemen to
whom we refer were fora long time told by those to
whose guidance they chiefly looked in public affairs,
that the securing to the cultivator of the land a remu-
nerating price for his produce (so. far as the regulation
and restraint of foreign competition could do it) was
their duty as members of the landed proprietary and
friends of the agricultural population. Upon this
idea they constantly acted, in which we think they
were very right ; but (for the most part) they acted
upon it exclusively,•in which we venture to think that
they were wrong.. Giving their chief, and almost
their whole attention, as guardians of the landed
togai-
terest, to agricultural protection, they neglected,
very blameable degree, that agricultural improvement
which always ought to have been aleading object of
their care. But how stands the case now ? They to
whose guidance these gentlemen chiefly look in pub-
lic matters; do not now inculcate the policy of protec-
tion, but say a great deal upon the policy of improv-
ing the -:process - of agriculture, and obtaining better
crops. The idea of improvement -has, therefore, be-

-
come the leading idea of certain. rural senators. But
it seems that, in .order to keep hold cf this idea, they
areri obliged to let go the other idea about protectior!:
heir new zeal for improvement is great, and:we
think it is not at all greater than it should be ; bat
their old zeal about protection is utterly fOrgotten;,:or,
looked upon as something obsolete, and no longer
use, which we take leave to say is quite a-mistalre,!!•
-The Advertiser thus comments on the forme and
present litical opinions of Sir James Graham :
" A few weeks ago a paragraph appeared in the Ob-
server, stating that Government had employed some
person in their confidence to collect all the more vio-
lent passages he could ferret • out in the speeches of
the members and abettors of the Anti-Corn-law
League. What the object was in making these ele-
gant extracts,' as our Contemporary characterisehd
them, the Observer did not preteri-to.know. Te
murder is. now out—the secret has transpired—the
collection has been made for the pages of the
Quarterly Review, in the current number of whlch
there are many scores of such extracts.
nlh.e
article into into which these quotations from
Zorn-law speeches are interwoven is evidently rt
forth as a feeler, with the view of ascertaining
whether or not it would be advisable, ond twtnhe
part of Government, to attempt to
out
e.
theAnti-Corn-law League, on the ground Of itsbeteg
anillegal association. There can be no doubt that
the parentage of this idea belongs to Sir Jsne'
Graham. It i 3 just of a pieca with his " constitu-
tional " instructions to policemen to prevent or.this:
perse all meetings at which these police spies ungni
fancy they heard, or might think it probable thef
,would hear, seditious matter uttered by the speilker!"
The Home Secretary was once an AntiCe doing
law
orator and pamphleteer himself. It might sab
the cause an essential service, were some one
the requisite leisure for the .task, to mali,e s°lll3
" elegant extracts " from his Anti-Corn-law
there
and pamphlets. If we remember rightly
the.m.
was no lack of the quality of violence, 4.1,A;
Indeed, violence is a characteristic or orl,...tPnngt,
the Cumberland Baronet says or does—no InAtw.,h-
what side of the House of Commons he sits, or eri
he be a Member of the Cabinet of the 141;511,. who
spech%
Grey or of the Tory Sir Robert Peel. The yurf an
atone time could.carry his Reform notions to silo
.n
extent as to lose himself in the revolutionary , fi:s'
under the inspiration of opinions of
could coolly talk of the gratification it woulisd:s4sed
hun to see the heads of those monarch. 101° Prtgt_
the progress of Liberal principles rolling in the
Era
the man who could give utterance to *uch.
the latter.. cLo ,
•
as this; is just the man` to be capable of anYt_';',
That he should, therefore, now that he has beenTe to
rank apostate to all his former' principles, Pirs°P7o'ng
put down the Anti-Corn-law League h.Yr the s
arm of the law, does not at all surprise us. Ao„ed
. The leading outlines of a plan have` been der Cur-
in the first number of a series of Goern.men_bec. as
rency Pamphlets, which, if acted upon,
great a-revolution in our banking and monetary
tern as Railways and Penny-post have our,
of travelling, and in giving facilities to corms'
pondence. The Times of the 7th instant s'l
-with
" The main principle of the scheme is the .saul., have
ett Lso.
that which many sound thinkers on the ourre%ottld
lately advocated, namely, that the Governrnen:b;t. the
be the sole issuer of a paper currency,
.an 4 :flieent
different banking institutions which enjoY
the right of issuing notes payable on "` The
should be deprived of that privilege.Pe years
Government is to issue the amount °OOl
varying
revenue derivable from taxes in notes, vacrngt' oer
11. to 1001., which are, of course, to be a leg!
throughout the British dominions."
PUBLIC IMPBOVSPIIarrg prison for
It has been proposed to take the Fleetivo
the Law-courts; it is otherwise thought that n
tweea
advisable situation would be the .sPacr bFthin $
Picket-street and Carey-street, 'whichls Vtilts of
quarter of an hour's access from the four. ond
London, and close to the offices, to the barn
Lincoln's Inn.

PINE ARTS.
An extensive and valuable collection of erlfavinpgrl
the property of the late Mr. Binmer, formerly s 1%
chant of eminence in the City, has been sold ran
h! past week by Mr. Sotheby.
c. iefly of fine antique prints of .the seventeenth bt
eighteenth centuries, and brought f
from four to eig
guineas a lot. ut' 10
The X • anthian marbles from Lycia, - Weig,;'" be
tops, have arrived by the Cambridge, an
mill
The lots consisona
speedily deposited in the British Museum. ,
LITERARY ANB SCIENTO- school this
The cast of the Adelphi at Westminster old
year. is spoken of very creditably ; the prologued the
epilogue will not be spoken till to-m
last op
ow, Sl'
performance will take place on Monday .
the 2 6tht,in
~ ..son
Thnpanteininies will be brought-out 00 is to
'TheCovent Garden (viewi..
pantomime at Prig)" I:'sne to
be Ha 14 ' 14771.
r. in 1 win 7'.11, the iniisie IV 1,10;
founded on the tr4,l.)Tall ....ee '
Hughes, leadei','"f7thue-vbta°7l6:::gsdrt°llbl9;• jjiih:"."7-7'ln-:-sitsec b3r,
The New lieatre "Agioyal, -MietrikAl!aitrziondor
Chur,ch-.__
,_street, : ispii,..rgit,,,, ~,,,-dpento, los.
,inst. TheTREATEICA.y.
night 4111T1-1.4 f lesseesl4 of MieT .10"RD9ligeol•
I. Miss Vineent, and Afessrs. Oshaldistoni T. lie, e'• pie
theatreins, and. Cobham, have promised thg? 'sld'
is capable of contaii - .
0.300 1108°t1:
&c., for stakes,
ig 4., . i..,,,
nominations, SPoier 0. 51. SuncisP
The Ist of January fillingliiext year on . , . i.e
will be received on Monday the 2d, as allowed q
resolution of the Jockey- Club.
01.0. • ' t
which close-on. plt. 0.71,
COURT-r.asusooft d spell
His Royal Highness the Duke of-Canibri ge ~.vni
Ili* 1".
yesterday in shooting in Coombe 1117°°1•1*
Hi 4-i -
1„ ness afterwards came to town.
; 2. the OW"
The Marquis of Queensbery is pass•no
at Kinmont Hall, Dumfriesshire. returned to
her
The Countess of Huntingdon has
villa, in the Regenes-park, from a tour. . town °t
The Earl and Countess Grosvenor leave. i pito
the eild of the week to pass the Christi-0:w 6,. West,
Hall, with the Marquis and Marchioness. or
minster.• t fester,
The Earl ~
i he Earl 01. Yarborough left Arlington-50e ,
day for Appuldercombe, Isle of Wight. ' oiled "
The Earl and Countess of Clanwilliam.ne -nolo-
Wilton House, near Salisbury, the seat dal
ger Countess of Pembroke, on Tuesday,: lost.
rived lot
The Dowager Countess of Liverpool sr castle.
week at Norbito Viscountesse from over the 1-11
Viscount andis Acheson, Ow, the Pr
Francis and Mrs. Howard, are on a Visit 7 t
and Countess of Wicklow. - ' hue • trived
$
The Dowager Viscountess . Anson;9
Cannon Hall, Yorkshire. •• • svioter
...oui the
Lord and Lady Montagu intend 0 r"—;
at Ditton Park, near Windsor. - -' the Ter
to
Lady Charles Somerset has returned •
race, Piccadilly, from a tour. • - ...eh ittlebtiri
vr"
Lord and Lady Southampton are A
Lodge, Northamptonshire.
I"
vuswaxasaorsoll*,, A 130,1 ,'
A large bonfire was made last wee'ttinger' 11;
macarret, in Ireland, 'near to Moun re e titopic,e
honour of Sir Henry Pottinger, under Vil's jog vlc-
the British army have achieved their er • 4, piece'
his tistr,
tories in China. i Mount Pottinger is *a/ iSt
and receives its name from the faltillP the Soei, of
Harmony
Hall, the head-quarters of masts,
Community, in Hampshire, was ereet,eci lof 1"
30,040/. It is not yet half-furnished,' ifo4.ualts i!re
..habi on'
rooms are handsomely fitted uP; 'the .--- aion .
clean, and the workmen en industrious. •• The 20, At A
no vi• 1,00
of land is 1,000 acres, held on lease ef "'" WAD
a 9 J
rent of 15s. an acre, and is considere
well worth 3/. an acre under cultivation.
..-----...--.. gi 1110
rll5
WILLIAM . KENNEDY, Q', A7°, rCCelltlY sir
ADVERTISFR."---Wiliam Kennedy,
(I.'et GalYestofo;
pointed her Britannic 3.la.jesty's consul 1 °
in the Republic of Texas, sailed fr°rc. ThursdAP
Texas, edY, on Mr,
accompanied by Mrs. li--enn„„•ai duties, ''.,,,,
the 24th u1t.,.t0 enter upon his official art not pr
Kennedy was for many years editor and pry'
prietor Of this journal ; and to his un‘ve3rli.,e the hig
rare talents, and undoubted genius, is u" the rr,°-
position which the Advertiser holds ainong,cessor oe'
vincial Press of this country. "Upon hi's su 'gr. roe'
valves the painful task of announcing. that.. and
is
nedy has withdrawn from the proprietorsn Acker'
no longer in any way connected with the 1111°to 0111 Y
riser. As few men are so rarely gifted as ii fejt bi
his place, his loss will be long and painftlo:ecilli
our readers in the East Riding, and more es!tiie---'
-in the metropolis; but his successor trusts tb3!',_ theill
the worker of so many miracles—will reconci,lor-ndon
to a change which undoubtedly implies no auhittis.ell
meat of Liberal principles. He cannot flatter ,
came,
that he has the "ability" to serve the Libel's' io 50;
but he is not less sure that he has the Lib' o
and that the honour of succeeding the wish se
scholar, so eminent a poet, and so able a politi $ 1
isoys
Mr. Kennedy, will prove an unceasing, as it csi
r of
must a most generous, incentive to a
caree
usefulness.—Ha Advertiser. rth'
Wisin.—One of the cattle waggons at the
~L 01'
allerton station of the Great North of EfiglanLecoll3
way, was shifted, a fewdays ago, by some miscidi the
' person, from the side rails to the main way. ar!l, 3
wind blowing tremendously from the north, 1" ,e of
forced forward init southerly direction at the re0',6,3
twelve or fourteen miles an hour, and was not st P_Ko.
until it reached the Alne station, a distance.of tWeV,
miles from its starting point.— Great Norther's "
vertiser. rr lA' Pie
ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.--",- -° pos
tures, one of Ghuznee, the other of the Bolen be
d to t
from Atkinson's sketches have just been Ode _OOO
dissolving views at this place, and the new inicrost; r
was yesterday used for the first time publicly. 3for,
WOOD PAVEMENT—The street fronting t' r„ent,
tin's Church is now being laid with vvood 01'171-tole
There seems to be little doubt that. nearly tlri
enjoy
of the great thoroughfares pf the metropolis vol` 1
the same advantage withiwth*neiLt Ax 1119nt115'