The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-16 00:00:00

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SUN OFFICE Three o'Cloch.

The Whig and Tory journals are very busy
writing-against one another. There is in this,
for their respective parties, an instinctive good
policy. They will raise a great dust, in which
both may perchance escape, but each hopes to
turn the rising indignation of the public on their
opponents. One says, " You Whigs began the
war in Affghanistan ;" and . the other retorts,
" You Tories mismanaged it, and deserve im-
peachment for your vacillation, and the discredit
you have brought on the national councils." " It
was the Whigs," say the Tories, ",who inter-
rupted the peace and the trade with China ;"
It is the Tories," say the Whigs, " who have
neglected to exert themselves, and bring the
EMPEROR to terms." " It was the Whigs,"
say the Tories, " who caused the defalcation
of the revenue ;" "It was the Tories," say the
Whigs, " who would not allow us to set trade
free and increase the country's. resources." "It
was the Whigs," say the Tories, "who brought
the country into its present terrible condition, for
distress was prevalent before we came into
power ;" "It was the Tories," say the Whigs,
"who would not allow us to cure the distress,
who undertook to cure it theniselves, and Ivho
have only increased the disease, and perhaps
rendered it incurable." The clear purpose of all
these eriminations and recriminations, is to
make out a case for the Tories on the one
hand, and the Whigs on, tbe other, by
proving merely that their opponents are
far worse .than themselves.. Both are con-
scious of.great demerits; neither party can say.
or ventures to say, " We have conferred great
benefit on the country, we have made the people
happy at home, and we have made the nation
respected and honoured abroad ;" but both do
say; and say loualy, " We have not done as
much mischief as our opponents—we have con-
tributed less than they have to bring on intense
distress at home, and cause'discredit abroad."

That kind of crimination and recrimination
which can scarcely be very pleasant to the gentle-
men concerned, must not be permitted to blind
the public to the faults and the errors of both.
Both are answerable for the condition of Eng-
rand. Both have undertaken conjointly in Par-
liament, and one after another, in office, to g,overn
the country. Both have said, in fact, and even in
words, " Our measures will promote the public
welfare. Give us power, place us in office, and
we will make the nation happ-rancl honoured."
Both have frequently united in Parliament to
pass the very laws which now cut up prosperity
by the roots ; and both have promoted
those measures abroad which have cOrapro-;
raised the reputation, if they do not affect
the safety, of the empire. Both being sections
of the aristocracy, having their power based-on
monopoly, have promoted restrictions on traffic,
and have silently carried on a continual legisla-
tive war against the democracy; that is, against
the interests, the freedom, and the hap-
piness of the bulk of the people, whose
present condition attests their fatal suc-
cess. For the moral degradation of the
masses—manifest in the increase of pauperism,
workhouses, and gaols—as well as for their
physical privations, bath Whigs and Tories are
deeply, nay, awfully responsible ;, and we, at
least, will not allow their mutual conflicts, as to
which of the two has incurred the heaviest re-
sponsibility, to turn from either the severe con-
demnation which the present condition of the
empire emphatically pronounces on both.

Certain of our readers, with whom we gene-
rally concur on political and commercial topics,
blame the present Government as well as the last
for keeping up so many military establishments
in different parts of the world, and waging war
on distant nations at an enormous expense, arid
without any probable chance of beneficial results.
. Mr. GISBORNE last week, in a speech delivered
at Derby, dello
Raced both Whigs and Tories for
the Afighan .war, and 'implied that, like most
other disputes with foreign nations, it had been
entered into rather for the purpoSe of benefiting
the aristocracy and higher classes, than for pro-
moting the power of the country or the wel-
fare of the people. We neither justify nor blame
Lord AUCKLAND for his Indian policy. We give
no opinion on the subject, because till all the
circumstances . which led to this expedition are
laid before the world, it would be extremely un-
fair, as well as preposterous, to give any decision;
but looking at the motives which generally actuate
mankind, and the mild and amiable character of
that nobleman, we may confidently assume that
a war so expensive, so hazardous, and so distant
from the seat of Government, would not have
been undertaken without some, great and im-
perious necessity. It is for his 'Lordihip to settle
his account with the country on these points,
he is fully heard in his
ando:cu tidlleftehnactei,s
,dvoene, till
must, as in all other cases
where persons lie under serious charges
of which absolutely nothing is known,
refrain from coming to an unfavourable conclu-
sion. The remarks made by Mr. GISBORNE on
this question, certainly are not at all strengthened
by his denunciations against a system to which
England chiefly owes her commercial and colo-
nial prosperity. Why should England, he said,
keep up an at
Gibraltar, another at Malta,
andgoonarny
erecting
l forts in almost every. quarter
of the globe ? He might as well ask, Why
should not the English confine' them Selves to
their own little island? Could we have ships,
and colonies, and commerce, without providing
means for their protection ? If his argument is
worth anything, we should dismantle Gibraltar
and Malta, and all the fortresses that secure us
the command of the sea, and leave unprotected
every harbour and bay that now serve as shelter
to our vast commercial navy. What would be
the result? The Mediterranean would in six
months be a French lake, and England in as
many years might be a French province. It is
natural enough for French writers to upbraid the
English for occupying these numerous stations,
and using every, exertion to establish com-
munications with distant countries; but we can-
not
of an Englishman iiiii-
uttinagt see
example,
the policy
the
which is absolutely:and running down a system
necessary to our existence as
a nation. Our friend STURGE, in similar strains,
lamented the war with China. M. THIERS'
journal; the'-'other''day, took up the burden of
the 'Sorig,,,
'11) in—a weeping mood, asks—
" What 45,Wer can be. given to' this honest
EMPEROR, who, faithful to the -traditions of his
fathers, will not suffer his subjects to be poi-
soned? Who:does not compassionate the suffer-
ings of this poor man, who blames and curses
himself for not having yet freed his subjects
from the miseries of war?" We lament the war
iocrime,
it had
death; With China as much as Mr. STURGE, hut for
very differentA reasons. We lament that British
Subjects, guilty of l
bad addeabee; thncart uelly
imprisoned and threatened the
Q-11'eri of ENGLAND had been insulted in the
which
person of her -representative ;;and that pro-
perty
been admitted in to
the ' Chinese :rivers with the, open :.sanc-
tion of this upotn.” • man's officers,' had been
faithlessly confiscated; to :the amount of several
millions sterling,. :Had the British authorities
'submitted 'to these:Aristilts and-robberies; the
French; Who cry out' iigainit this warTL•who de-
throned the Dey of ALGIERS, seized sonic Mil-
lions of hard cash in his treasury, and finally
occupied the country, for the grievous offence of
waving a fan in the French Consul's face—would
have described us as a nation of miserable ped-
lars, ready to sacrifice honour, and even life, for
permission to carry on trade with the insolent
aggressors. War is a great evil, but it is said by
high authority, that it is a necessary evil in the
Present state of society ; and any attempt to
escape from it by submissions degrading to the
national character, would only involye us in
greater difficulties and calamities,

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accounts from Alexandria and Bey..