The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-11 00:00:00

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SUN OFFICE Three e'Cloch.

The two Houses of Parliament met yesterday,
and the ceremony of proroguing them till the
13th of December took place. It is now certain,
therefore, according to a Morning Contempo-
rary, that the Parliament will not meet for the
dispatch of business before Christmas, and pro-
bable that it will meet towards the end of Janu-
ary. We cannot say that we much regret the
postponement of legislation till the coursing
season is nearly at an. end. The Parliament
has done too little good for the public to make us
extremely anxious that it should again meet.
The nation seems to get on quite as well when it
is not of when it is assembled. We know its
works, and feel them chiefly in additional taxa-
tion. Its yearly grants, the extravagance it
authorises, come home to us in the shape
of large demands on our pockets and our pa-
tience. If it were now to be summoned, it might
be to beat us with some other scourge, similar to
the Income-tax. Sir ROBTART PEEL is much
more anxious to uphold public credit than give
relief to the people; and if he call the Parlia-
ment together earlier than usual, it may be to
bolster up the Funds by taking more money from
industry. Parliament has long ceased, both in
its unreformed and in its reformed state, to be a
protection for the people against the Executive

it is the mere instrument with which the Execu-
tive works against the people, and seldom comes
together without strengthening the hands of
power, and placing additional shackles and addi-
tional burdens on its constituents, and on

those who ought to be its constituents.
Its principal use is as a large and
powerful instrument of Government. If it were
summoned, it would be for the purpose of in-
creasing Sir ROBERT PEEL'S strength. But he
assured us at the LORD MAYOR'S dinner that all
the authorities of the metropolis arc animated by

the best spirit, and were ready, when some little
alarm was excited, to support the Govern-
ment with the utmost zeal. We know that
the Justices in the various counties are actively
engaged in organising a new military force,
under the name of a police. Many of them are
Members of Parliament, and it would take them
from their useful labours to summon them to
London. Everything which the Executive
requires of the Parliament, or which the
Parliament can do for it, is already done. New
and large taxes have been voted. The system
of coercion is everywhere perfect, or in a state
of progress towards perfection. The supremacy
of the laws, even without the aid of any new
soldiery, hasbeen successfully vindicated. Every-
where and on all points the Executive Govern-
ment is completely master of the resources and
the powers of the State. Its authority is unde-
nied. Parliament could not make it stronger.
Wherefore, then, should it now be summoned?
That pauperism is increasing ; that cog merce
does not revive ; that the agriculturists are
becoming discontented; that incendiarism has
again begun to alarm the dwellers in rural
districts ; that the rate of mortality is rapidly
increasing. ; that men grumble at the Income-
tax, and wonder how they shall pay it ; that
discontent is leading to many wild and
visionary projects; that strange theories are
getting fast hold of men's minds, so
that even the courtly Post takes the side
of labour against capital, and apologises for
being a demagogue,—all these things are nothing
to the Parliament, or rather they are the neces-
sary, if not the designed and willed consequences
of its acts ; and the probability therefore is, that
assemble wlten it may, the condition of Eng-
land will only be made worse by its means.

The parishioners of Marylebone intend meet-
ing at the Court-house, on Saturday next—as we
see by a printed circular—for the purpose of
of monumental
considering the propriety of adopting the Report
o
the=einnditgoour the Scotch Reformers
erection of a
f
1794. We are glad of this, for never were men
more Woithv of posthumous honour than those
who, in a stormy political period, when the lynx
eyes of a despotic Government were fixed
keenly and distrustfully on every indivi-
dual who dared to doubt the sagacity and
patriotism of a selfish, corrupt oligarchy,
which called itself a Parliament—testified by the
ready sacrifice of all that makes life desirable,
their devotion to the cause of Reform. Few
non can remember the fierce political excitement
that prevailed towards the close of the last cen-
tury, when the French Revolution was shaking
the fabric of Absolutism throughout Europe to
its fbundations. Men's minds were then in a
state little short of frenzy. The Few trembled
for the loss of privileges which they ought
never to have possessed ; the Many 'were
filled with the wildest joy at the, idea of regain-
ing rights of which they ought never to have
been deprived. The
consequence was, that the
two parties were drawn up in direct battle array
against each other, and the cry of both was "No
surrender." On the side of the Governmeut were
ranged all who fattened, and all who hoped to
fatten, on the public plunder—pensioners, place-
men, sinecurists—a prodigious host, and, unscru-
pulous in their mode of warfare ; the Church,
too, and the Law, the Army, and the Navy--each
and all of these contributed their quota to the
Ministerial party, which derived, besides, no
inconsiderable aid from the spy system, then in
_ _

the full vigour of its rank luxuriance. To oppose
this formidable phalanx,
the .people bad, what?
A deep, stern 'conviction of the justice of their
cause—a powerful auxiliary certainly, but which,
alas! in the present instance, availed but little
against the terrible assaults of the Government.
But though the two opposing parties were thus
unequally matched, and the chances were
at least a hundred to one against the
success of the People, the brave Scotch Re-
formers hesitated not an instant as to which of
the two they Should join. Unhesitatingly they
threw in their lot with that of the weaker party ;
led—if we may so express ourselves—the for-
lorn hope -of Freedom against Tyranny ; and
abandoned the struggle only with their lives.
For this heroic net of self-devotion, be
'their names ever held in grateful remembrance
by all Reformers! To forget them, is to
,forget Justice—to be indifferent to Truth—
to give up the claims of Honour, and the
dearest interests of Humanity. Sure are we,
that the Reformers of IVlarylebone will never
lay themselves open to such a reproach a 5 this ;
but bear in mind that by paying due respect to
the memory of the patriotic dead, they will be
encouraging others—should the Bad necessity
ever arise—to follow in their footsteps.

In the beautiful and interesting- edicts issued
from time to time by the Emperor of CHINA, the
dread which he entertains of the " traitorous
natives" forms generally an important feature.
He describes them 'as " traitorous banditti,"
" abandoned traitors," and, in the last proclama-
mation, states that many " traiterous natives"
had been caught. This can excite no surprise.
The greater portion of the Chinese are kept
down merely by the terror of punishment. They
are treated as an enslaved race; they are not
allowed the use of swords or fire-arms,
and thereby prevented from rising against
their Tartar conquerors. The EMPEROR, there-
fore has great reason to dread the approach
of the English, who may not only teach the
subdued race the art of war, but furnish them
with means to recover their independence and
restore the ancient dynasty. The British Go-
vernment probably has no such intention as yet,
but should the war be
prolonged, and our
just . demands resisted, it may be necessary
to adopt another system. If we cannot ob-
tain redress by compensation for the unjust