The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-26 00:00:00

E7ll E 3 E 114 ti

AND

Vittiitc pintoit.

" Who runs may read."

PUBLIC OPINION.

We quote the following from the Herald :—" Are
the Five Great Powers about to interfere in the affairs
of Servia ? Is England, undeterred by experience,
once more going to meddle actively with the internal
concerns of the Ottoman empire.? Are we again
foolish enough to advance the destruction of Turkey,
by mediatising between the Porte and its Servian sub-
jects ? An affirmative reply to these inquiries seems
by no means an improbable event. Sir Stratford Can-,
ring, it is boasted by a Contemporary, was the means
of overturning the last Turkish Administration. If
our diplomacy will busy itself in upsetting the Cabi-
net of a friendly State, why cannot it find employ-
ment in the Gulf of Finland rather than in the Sea
of Marmora? But Sir Stratford was, we are told,
impelled to bring about a change of Ministers at
Constantinople by the dangerous tendency of the acts
of the Turkish Government since July, 1840.
Wherefore were its acts dangerous ? Because of the
European intervention of 1840. Ought we not to
.see in such pernicious results the explanation of the
objects of the acts complained of? If five giants
unite to compel a dwarf to do certain things, he must
submit to their joint strength, however unjustly or
injuriously exercised; but what right would the
Titans have afterwards to complain that the coerced
being, when released from their grasp, had acted un-
graciously to them? This is just what has been done
to Turkey, and we regard the evil consequences of
interference and compulsion, not as evidence of our
own wrong doing, but as cause of bitterness against
Turkey."
The Post remarks, in an article on the subject of
the Anti-Corn-law leaguers :—" The men, who have
consigned eight hundred thousand human beings to
the wretchedness which has so long constituted the
unpitied lot of the handloom population, can pretend
to s►gh over the want of employment that prevails in
Stockport and Manchester! Away with the base
hypocrisy ! The free-traders sigh over the suspension
of their own system "of profits ; but as for the want of
employment under which the labourers now suffer,
let it not be forgotten, that to rob labourers of
employment—to dispense with their services—to
produce all commodities by the cheaper agency of
steam and iron—is the great aim and object of
all the advocates of a Liberal' commercial po-
licy. In the case of Stockport and Manchester,
at the present moment, we, in fact, only witness
(in consequence of the schemes of our free-trade
manufacturers having been confounded) another
form of those very results which the success of
these schemes is destined at all times, although
more gradually, to produce. The fate of the hand-
loom weavers has, prematurely for the plans of the
Anti-Corn-law League, overtaken vast bodies of ope-
ratives in Manchester, Bolton, and Stockport. Hence
the sorrow which the Anti-Corn-law League ex-
presses. Join in demanding a repeal of the Corn-
laws,' exclaims Mr. Prentice to the Lancashire
farmers. Why so, good Mr. Prentice? Have you
not been engaged in describing the lowered prices of
agricultural products, as the last and worst of those
evils that may befal a farmer ? And yethaving done
so—and with much effect—you, without the slightest
warning, call upon the farmers who have been listen-
ing to your dcctrines to join you in demanding a le-
gislative change which would, if conceded, be alto-
gether inoperative—unless in so far as it might in
duce those very lowered prices which you had just
described as equivalent to the overthrow of those who
cultivate the soil of England. If the members of the
League could blush, they might be tempted to try the
experiment, after weighing these logical achievements
of their worthy servant, Mr. Prentice."
The Times, alluding to Mr. Duncombe's
threat of bringing Lord Abinger's late charges under
the notice of Parliament, says :—" Lord Abinger need
not much disquiet himself on this score. Nor can we
see much amiss in the phrase which is ascribed to
him with even warmer indignation. A kind of men
called Chartists' appears to us to designate, with a
very adequate degree of distinctness and respect, that
particular class of revolutionists who are at present
dominant in the sphere of ultra-Radicalism. Yet,
while we treat with a natural contempt this un-
founded carping at unpopular phrases with which Mr.
Duncombe's speech is seasoned, we must guard our-
selves from being supposed to express an unqualified
approval of all that Lord Abinger has said or done in
the performance of his trying office. We are
much inclined to regret, as at present advised,
the severity of some of those punishments. with
which he has visited many of the subordinates
in their ill-judged and ill-fated rising. Examples
are doubtless necessary ; the majesty of the law must
be asserted, and a lesson, striking and unambiguous,
read to the misguided or seditious ; yet we cannot but
regret that acts, scarcely amounting to tumultuous
begging, and with no proof of violence, should, in
these excited times, have been visited with that length
of transportation which, as robbery, has been awarded
to them. Nor is our dissatisfaction lessened by the
comparative impunity which is likely to be enjoyed
by such men as Feargus O'Connor, on whpin the real
criminality of these misdeeds must he held to rest.
Upon this subject, untouched by Mr. Duncombe, it
is hardly our present duty to enter. We will only
express a wish that some of these sentences may un-
dergo a serious and kindly consideration on the part
of those whose office it is to dispense mercy, and who
have shown no disposition to deal harshly with any
but forward and violent offenders."

The Chronicle says :—" The Council of the Anti-
Corn-law League asks the public for fifty thousand
pounds, and there can be no doubt of its obtaining
that sum. Expended, as we understand it is pro-
posed to be, in bringing the merits of the question
home to the comprehension of every villager and cot-
tager in the country, and accompanied by the general
registration of the opponents of monopoly, this will do
much, perhaps everything, towards bringing the
question to a final issue. Five hundred thousand
pounds would be a cheap price to pay for its speedy
settlement. There is something very English in the
fact that money should have so material an influence
in a struggle of this nature. In France, the machi-
nery would be more likely to be that of the musket;
and in America, that of the ballot-box. Italy would
organize a secret society. But here we are all for
money. The question is one of justice or injustice,
of policy or impolicy, of safety or confusion, of morals
and legislation ; still we must look to money for the
triumph of justice, policy, and peace over wrong, in-
expediency, and confusion : we must rely on its agency
for the assertion of public morality, and the correc-•
tion of legislation. Without that potent aid, there is
no rectifying mistakes, no redress for wrong, no de-
fence against impending calamity."