The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-25 00:00:00

PUBLXC OPINXON.

The Post thus alludes to the new Reform Association of
which Mr. Warburton is a member :—" We see little reason
to hope that the new reform movement will be a whit more re-
spectable or more efficacious than the old one, althongh the
Parliament, the thing to be reformed, stands unquestionably in
greater need of that process now, than it did when the charla-
tans first began to operate upon it. Nor can our diffidence be
regarded as unreasonable when it is seen that the new Re-
formers are no other than the men whom the old ones were
compelled to throw overboard, because they were too silly and
impracticable to be of any use—the men who were felt to be a
drag and impediment to the cause they affected to espouse—the
men with whom all persons of influence and respectability, how
much soever addicted to the delusion of reform, have always
felt it a disgrace to be associated."
The Chronicle says :—" Lord Ashley has, we perceive,
given notice of motion, on Thursday next, for leave to bring
in a Bill founded on the Report of the Childrens' Employment
Commission, and subjecting labour in mines to certain regula-
lations as to sex and age. In framing such a Bill, WC trust it
will be remembered that the Commission has only begun its
work, not completed it. Other inquiries remain to be insti-
tuted ; and some have been already made, or are in progress,
the results of which are not yet before, the publie. These hor-
rible disclosures, as to a portion of the mining system, are only
a partial development of the toil and miseries to which the
children of the poor are subjected. Not that any delay in
legislation should take place on that account. Heaven forbid
that such cruelties as have been described should be allowed to

continue for a single day longer than is requisite for putting a stop
to tl.em. At the same time it should be borne in mind that
Parliament may be called ere long to apply to the farm and the
factory the principles of legislation which shall now be sanc-
tioned relative to the colliery and the mine. The whole sub-
lea be of infantile labour must eventually taken under legis-
ative cognizance. The State must go through with its work
of guardianship; and the particular instance of hardship will
best be met by looking fairly in the face the whole extent of
the task to be achieved.

The Times alludes to the decision of the Election Committee
in the county of Cork case, in the following terms :—" Of all
the decisions which have been arrived at by Election Com-
mittees, it is impossible to conceive any more injurious to the
public than that of the Whig majority in the ease of the county
of Cork. Had any less person than the arch-Agitator been
concerned, justice must have been done upon such overwhelm-
ing evidence as was submittedto them. The most favourable hypo-
thesis of their conduct which we can suggest is, that they were more
afraid of hei n? the objects of M r. O'Connell's foul.mouthed obloquy
j
than of facing the reasonable indignation of their countrymen
in general. They have decided that, for the future, no voter
for any
O'Coonell-ridden county in Ireland shall venture, on
pain of death, to exercise his franchise in favour of a Conser-
vative candidate. That such a. system of savage lawlessness,
so blood-thirsty a conspiracy against freedom of election, as was
disclosed by the evidence in this case, should exist is a disgrace
country which
to any professes to have laws and a Govern-
ment—that success should be guaranteed to its machinations,
by the decision of a legal tribunal, is a blow to society of which,
it it were to pass unreproved, the consequences must be worse
than any thing which we could predict."
The Herald remarks, in an article on the subject of bribery
at elections:—" For the social estimation in which bribery is
held, the House of Commons is chiefly to blame. There has
hitherto been a total want of earnestness in that assembly as
to the suppression of bribery ; corruption has been fostered
into its present rank growth and pestilent strength by legislative
negligence and indifference, aided very much by the Reform
Act; and so long as the House determines to retain its judi-
cial functions in matters of bribery, when brought before it by
election petitions, that negligence and indifference will con-
tinue, because they are involved in party tactics and struggles.
The proceediugs of Election Committees are brieging the
House into sari contempt with the public."
The Advertiser, speaking of thej present distressed state of
the country, says :—. The distress of the country is extend-
ing. It hid traversed through many districts, and desolated
thousands of once happy homes; but now it bids fair to em-
brace all—to leave none uutouched—none unvisited. It first
overtook the operative employed in supplying clothing for the
consumption of those of his own class: It ruined his employer,
and shut up the active, busy mill. Silently, yet surely, it sped
its way amongst the fabricators of articles of less necessity than
these. Circling wider as it progressed, it weekly embraced
more extensive limits, and brought down fresh victims. In its
stern inevitable march it has gone through nearly every branch
of industry, and despite the eight months' trickery and cajolery
of a Tory Cabinet, its removal is as far distant as ever. The
paltry charity of a Queen's letter is an insolent mockery of the
working man's demand for justice. It . can neither satisfy his
fixed and 'determined pUrpose, nor overtake the terrible suf-
fering he endures. The rise And progress of that distress sufl-