The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TUB PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Mr. Secretary Canning and Mr. Tierney were
present during the greater part of the discussion
last right in the House of Commons ; and it
was expected that the latter gentleman would
put some fresh questions relative to the still un-
`settledstate of the Ministry, from an unfounded
rumour which prevailed in the course of the
evening,
,that Mr: Canning was about to resign.
Upon this subject; we cannot avoid observing,
that we should consider the secession of that
gentleman at any time a deep source of regret,
and should particularly lament it in the present
circumstances of the country. To abandon his
post at such a moment would be to expose him-
self to the charge that he eagerly caught at any
pretext to fly from difficulties he had created
himself, but with which he could no longer
cope ; or that he preferred the gratification of
his vanity and resentment to the forwarding of
the public interests. Unfounded as such insi-
nuations would be, and wholly inconsistent with
his long tried merits and his noble mind, yet his
greatest friends and warmest admirers would have
most deep cause of regret on the occasion ; and this
consideration alone is a triumphant answer to such
ea pretend that he is anxiotis to resign. In the
.mean time, the motives which are assigned for his
-secession conld only originate in systematic hos-
tility ; and the simulated admiration and affected
-sympathy, by which it is attempted to disguise
it, only serve to render its malignity the more
glaring. None but the most designing and inve-
terate enemy could raise a report of this kind, un-
der the circumstances of the moment, because it
would imply a wish on the part of Mr. Canning
to make use of his popularity, in order to domineer over
his Colleagues, or should he fail in this, to embarrass them
and the affairs of. the country at the same time. Either
of these charges, if substantiated, would be sufficient to
destroy the reputation of any public man, however highly
gifted, or however meritorious his past services may have
been ; whilst the act would be harmless to every one ex-
cept its author. We are however fully aware how inca-
pable Mr. Canning iv of acting in the manner so insidiously
implied; and are anxious only to express our indignation
at so "weak an invention of the enemy ;" whilst we treat
with coratempt the extravagant notion that the services of
any particular individual are indispensable to the welfare
and tranquillity of the State.—Morning Post.

The Ministers seem at length to have agreed
that the_ present state, of things . can go on no
longer. The Cabinet met, with the exception
of Lord" Bathurst, on Saturday, and was in de-
liberation for several hours. It :is understood
that the King will come to town to-morrow,
and, before his Majesty returns to Windsor, it
may be presumed that Lord Liverpool's succes-
Tor will be appointed. Desirous as we are, and
important as it is, that this question should be
settled, we entertain no very sanguine hopes
that. any arrangement which shall now be made,
is likely to be of a fixed and permanent charac-
ter, or that a Government can be established on
such liberal principles, as well as on such solid
foundations, as to obtain the confidence and
allay the apprehensions of the country. The
Cabinet is -so equally divided, parties are so
nicely balanced, that neither side can obtain a
decided preponderanee to the exclusion of the
other ; but. the most discouraging circumstance
is, one of which we have only lately been aware,
and which we have learnt with the greatest regret.
We allude'to, the opinionS which an illustrious
Personage entertains upon the Catholic question
and which are said to be such as to offer invin-
cible obstacles to the formation of a Government
upon the principle of emancipation. We had
hoped this was not the case, and those hopes
-were c0nfi.v....1.1.4.-

taro persons on this subject—conduct which
might not unreasonably have been considered
indicative of the opinion entertained in that high
quarter. While we regret the incorrectness of
our inference, we are bound to acknowledge
that the independent mind on one side, and the
toleration of that independence on the other, are
equally creditible to both. The time is
happily gone by, when the conduct of af-
fairs depended mainly on the character of
the Sovereign. Kings are no longer am-
bitious ; and battles between liberty and prerogative
we shall hardly see again. It is always unfortunate
when Kings entertain strong political opinions, for
they seldom possess the same nicans of arriving at
Just conclusions with other men. Rarely accessible,
seldom contradicted, frequently deceived, and always
flattered, their minds never undergo that discipline
without which no judgment can be correctly formed,
even in the most. acute, observing, and patient minds.
The mantle of the late King, which we had hoped
was buried with the Duke of York, has been left (a
fatal bequest) to a quarter where it never should be
worn, nor ever can be, without endangering the peace
of the individual, and the safety of the State. There
never was a Sovereign upon whose brows the Crown
sat more lightly than it has done on those of
George IV.; and the attachment of those, who haVe
regardul him as one of the best, as he has been one
of the most prosperous of our rulers, has in no small
degree been founded on that abstinence from all poli-
tical interference, which is equally wise,: dignified,
and constitutional. The present King has had
nothing to do but to lay }pis head in the cap of vic-
tory, and slumber through a long period, embellished
with achievements and triumphs of which the tro-
phies were laid at his feet : if he has had to undergo some
moral and physical evils, if any dreadful nightmare did for
a while disturb the serenity of his repose, " time and the
he ir" have run through these rough days. The time is
now mine for the exercise of the most important i f the
Royal functions, and under such circumstances that be
cannot have recourse to the counsels of others, but must
act upon his own personal judgment. Earnestly do we
hope, that at this important crisis, he will choose for the
hest--at a moment which calls for something more than
mere nominal service. These are not times in which tie
choice of a Minister is a matter of little moment, and in
which the machine of Government can roll on, as usual,
by its own impetus. The destinies of this empire may de-
pend on the hands by which they are now to be directed.
In the glory of his reign, the King has hitherto been most
fortunate ; we may add, " fortunate, indeed, if he live to
see nothing which shall vary the prospect and cloud the
setting of his day."— Times.

The working classes of this country were,
within these few years, a thriving, comfortable,
careless body of men ; the vicissitudes of the
times have wrought upon them a succession of
awful changes. Failure of employment made
them a race of melancholy sufferers. Necessity
has rendered them a formidable class of thinkers.
Every day brings
proofs of the advances made
by What are usually, though rather scornfully,
termed the ~ lower orders of Great Britain, in
the knowledge of those high interests of the
community which comprehend their own. A
mechanics' m„tin,
was held last week at Bir-
mingham, for the Purpose of framing a petition
to the House of
Comm-ons, praying for a remedy
to the mass of
evils by which the labouring
classes of society are
as-
sembly was comp now afflicted. The as-
osed of deputies from the va-
rious trades, and we are bound to say, that for
deep intelligence, accurate reasoning, and forcible
expression, there exists no other body of speakers
in the kingdom who need blush to be compared
with these Birmingham " operatives," as their
kntiments come to us reported on this occasion
hY the local newspapers. The long petition
agreed to at the 'mewl,* contains a number of
W h o I e s o in e but probably unpalatable truths, in
connexion with the recent hist°
With the effects ry of the empire, and
produced upon the industrious

classes by the selfish legislation of their aristocratic
rulers. In approaching the subject of a .remedy, and
in tracing,
one branch of evils, there.is much, indeed,
from which we dissent ,•' but in a long and com-
plicated discussion, involving many questions of
extensive practical importance, it would, of
course, be impossible :to frame a long series of
propositions which should all command alike the
acquiescence of every reader. We do not
agree with our friends, the mechanics, that a return
from the false paper currency to specie has produced
one particle of the misery which oppresses them,
or that a revival of the paper system would add one
farthing to those means which might enable our
master manufacturers to resume the command of
the foreign markets, the closing tip of which to the
goods of this country has thrown the British jour-
neyman out of work. But we do agree with the
Birmingham petition, that xvlien Ministers increased
their own salaries, and those of their subalterns, to
meet the rise of prices under a depreciated currency, they are
bound, by the clearest principles of integrity and honour,
to reduce those salaries to their ancient standard now that
the prices have fallen. We are disposed very cordially to
admit that the civil list in all its branches, Royal and Mi-
nisterial, swollen as it was upon the same pretext of high
prices, ,ought to be reduced now that prices have fallen.
It is as strongly our conviction, as it is that of the mecha-
nics, that duties on foreign corn were a villainous inven-
tion of a rapacious aristocracy to grind down and starve
the poor ; and finally, it is our fixed belief that every day
which passes without the application of a decisive and
effectual remedy to the almost universal suffering among
both descriptions of English labourers—those engaged in
agriculture, and those no longer engaged in manufacture—
tends to make the compulsive remedy, more certain, severe,
and painful.—/bid.

The second reading of the Corn Duties Bill
took place last night. Sir Thomas Lethbridge
and Mr. Curteis spoke against the Bill. The
latter begged leave to remind Mr. Peel that the
project would destroy rent and taxes, that, with
the destruction of the Aristocracy, the Clergy
also must fail, and then, as no country can en-
joy liberty without a rich Aristocracy and rich
Clergy, with them would end the liberties of the
country, when even its existence in the map of
Europe, as an independent nation, would also
end. These are gloomy anticipations. But
prizing as we do our liberties, and consequently
prizing the bulwarks of them, the Bench of
Bishops and other dignitaries of our Church, we
confess we are not so much affected by the ap-
prehension of danger from this source, as by the
accounts of sufferings from the working classes.
throughout the manufacturing districts and the
great towns generally, which almost exceed the
,measure of human patience. If our readers will
look to an account of a late meeting at Birming-
ham, in another column, they will see some very
appalling pictures. This country presents alto-
gether a very singular spectacle at the present
moment. We have our Sir Thomas Leth-
bridges and our Mr. Curteises calling out lustily
for higher prices and additional protection ; and
the working classes complaining that working
sixteen hours a day, from one end of the week
to the other, they cannot earn sufficient to keep
soul and body together. Really liberties are
precious, and the bulwarks of liberties, the Clergy,
are also precious ; but cannot we enjoy our liber-
ties, and cherish our Clergy, without placing food
beyond the reach of the working people ? Mr.
Charles Grant read a sensible speech, in answer
to Sir Thomas and the Member for Sussex. He
showed them that-the existing measure had proved
a mischievous innovation; that it was founded on
an erroneous principle—namely, that Parliament
was bound to keep the prices of corn in this country
above the prices abroad; and that in a great corn-
'-mercial country like England, it was impossible to
cut off one main branch of intercourse with other
countries, without injuring:. both its laternaLantLex.,

a-dverted to one 'Fat
of great importance, with a view to the safety
of the farmer—namely, the ruinous consequences
of an excessive supply in a country, cut off by habi-
tually high prices from the benefit of exportation.
It is clear that our Corn Trade can never be on a right
footing, without we can have recourse to exportation,
as well as importation. If a tax is imposed on impor-
tation, a corresponding bounty ought certainly to be
allowed on exportation. Mr. Grant adverted to
the manner in which the distress of the working
classes is increased, if not altogether caused, by. the
unnatural attempt of the Landowners to found their
own prosperity on the ruin of the national industry.-
" It was generally admitted," he said, " that the price
of corn regulated the price of all other commodities;
and the sacrifice which must be made, in consequence
of a monopoly price of that article, would fall not
only on the profits of the manufacturing capitalist, but on
the wages of the labourer. The condition of the labourer
might and would he depressed. He might be made to
work for a greater number of hours than formerly, in
order to procure sufficient wages to maintain himself and
family. • His comforts might be diminished, until at last
he could hardly, with the utmost exertion, earn what
would be necessary for a bare subsistence on the worst
food, and to that state he was apprehensive this country
was fast approaching. A change would be effected in the
habits and comforts of the labourer, and the result would
be, tliat manufacturing capital would seek another coun-
try. The prohibitory price of corn was in reality a pre-
mium upon foreign manufactures." We considered the
oppOsition of the landowners to this bill assimulated in
order to induce the other classes to he satisfied ; and we
really can hardly bring ourselves yet to believe, notwith-
standing of the Lethbridges, the Lauderdalee, the Stan-
hopes, and the Malinemburys, that they will be mad enough
to give any serious opposition to a measure, which, in
principle, is more favourable to them than it ought to be.
—Morning Chronicle.

Though the conduct of the wrong-headed
Orange Parson, which Mr. Brownlow brought
before the House of Commons a few days since,
was in itself unworthy •of notice, it served to
show the precious want of union which exists
between the different persons holding Govern-
ment offices in Ireland. Here we have a Lord
Lieutenant with an acknowledged " Viceroy
over him," in the person of Mr. Goulburn :
and an Attorney-General by turns the apologist
and condemner of the Lord Chancellor. If a
Government ought to be " a thing of shreds and
patches," or as philosophers represent the planets
to be, poised by the counteracting powers of at-
traction, this may be all very well ; but that such
a state of things can be abstractedly right, or
that men of high character and attainments can
submit to be the tools and instruments of such
a system, seems, to us at least, not only prepos-
terous and absurd, but degrading beyond any
thing which a higher feeling than mere lucre can
account for. We are unwilling to break in upon
the happy exemption from political excitement
which the absence of the Dublin lawyers for a
moment blesses Ireland with. They. are now
reaping on their Circuits the fruits and objects of all
their patriotic endeavours; for, so that -briefs and
vises fiow-in from the notoriety their conduct excites,
their object, we believe, is answered. And not
much higher, we fear, must be the objects of some
of !hose who descend to mingle with qualities and
opinions so opposite to their own as those which
were elicited upon the occasion of Mr. Brownlow's
motion. We are not saying which of those parties
is right. That may be no easy matter. But we do
say, that a Government composed of such discordant
ca
materials can scarcely belled a Government at all;
and that men who, it is clear,
have no confidence in
the principles of each other, co„
be entitled to very
little
t from
to live,
confidence alone they
•ogh
and have g their•bein—.
It
is this temporizing system. which continues
eth6t tsned illno whoseve,
to keep
alive the constant state of exci 41 the
people of Ireland are maintained. Godsorbid that,a„,,i.,
sion and union in the Government should lead, to any
serious conseq ces in, that country. We believe it Would
produce the very reverse. On the contrary, while both

parties look to the Government as their friencis--while
in fact, affords support to neither—they naturally vent upon
each other the effects of their mutual disappointment. Let
any man only manage his private-affairs in the wal in
which the. Government of Ireland is constituted; let hint
by turns blow hot and cold ; let him resolve, and re-
resolve, and still continue the same promising and. denying,
promoting and thwarting to the end of the chapter, and he
will in the end find his life and exertions have been not
only useless, but the ridicule and contempt of all his ac-
quaintances. —Morning Hcrald.

We had occasion the other day to remark on
the extreme absurdity of calling on Parliament to
fix, a minimum of wages. The Spitalfields work-
men do not, indeed, ask it to do this in so many
words ; but they ask what is, in every respect,
tantamount to it, when they ask for the book-
prices. Wages are a deduction from profits, and
it is, therefore, the interest of the master that
they should be as.low as possible. When labour
is abundant, he haS it in his power to augment
his profits. by giving smaller wages ; when labour
is scarce, he must diminish his profits in order
to purchase it: No combination" on the part of
the master to lower, •-nor on the part of the la-
bourers to heighten, the price of labour, can ever
be successful, unleSs the state of the :market fa-
vour their endeavours ; and, where that is the
case, the purpose at which they aim will be 'ef-
fected as speedily and as certainly, in the ordi-
nary course of things, 'as if no•combinations had
existed. There is one•case-only in which com-
binations may produce results which the ordinary
state of the market does not indicate ; we mean
the case of a monopoly, whether of capital or of
machinery, or of any other kind on the side of
the masters, or of skill or privilege in, the
workmen. Something of the nature of a
monopoly the Spitalfields workmen long
enjoyed. , While no foreign silk could, with-
out a breach.
_of law, come into competi-
tiOn with their productions in the home market,
the principle which regulates the price of labour,
ceased in a certain.degree to be applicable to theirs.
That was the period of book-prices. Let -us see
how book prices can be maintained now. 'Silks
from every quarter of the globe, can at present be.
imported into Great Britain, on payment of a duty
of 301. per cent. That duty is equal to the sup-
posed difference between the expence of manufac-
turing silk goods at Spitalfields and at Lyons, and
from the state* of the imports, there is every reason
to believe, that the supposition is correct. Now, if
the present strike do any thing at all, it will enhance
the cost of the British fabric; that is to say, it will
make 30/. per cent. no longer a fair proteCtion, and,
consequently, it will drive the English manufacturer
out 'of the market altogether, ,and fill it, instead,
with the goods of the foreign manufacturer—and
where is the weaver to go then ? Even a temporary
rise of prices in this article of British produce, is extremely
dangerous. By sending the public to foreign manufacturers
for a aupply, they may acquire a fancy :or foreigniabrics, and
both weavers and masters must be aware, from experience,
that it is at all times easier to lose a customer than to win
him back again. Strongly, therefore, and earnestly, do
we advise the weavers of Spitalfields to give up the notion
of petitioning Parliament for relief, which it will not, be-
cause it cannot, give, and to renounce combinations which,
in the present state of the market, can produce nothing
hut unmixed evil. Let them meet their employers, and
meet them in a spirit of mutual accommodation, and obtain
the best and most equitable terms they can. Where two
parties must agree at last, the less time they spend in al-
tercation the better.—New Thus.