The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
CHRONICLE.—WhiIe Parliament is not sitting,
and official men are realising the pleasant anticipations
of Sir James Graham in the sports of the field, the
policy and proceedings of Government can be known
only from such revelations as are permitted to be
made by the Ministerial press. This must be our
apology for again adverting to the sort of defence, if
we must so term it, that is put forward by the only
journal that still ventures to defend the conduct of
Lord Ellenborough. On the 11th of March, in reply
to a question from Mr. S. Wortley, Sir Robert Peel
obserVed, "By an act, marked with a perfidy and
treachery almost as gross as that by which Sir W.
M‘Naghten lost his life, the English troops were at-
tacked three days after they had entered into a capi-
tulation, and had certainly sustained great logs. Her
Majesty's Government would take every measure that'
it might be advisable to take to repair this partial
disaster. Under the circumstances, he had no
doubt Parliament would give her llajesty's Go-
vernment its confidence and support, whatever
might be the demands which they s.7ntld feel it their
duty to make, in order to repair the disaster that had
occurred, and to satisfy the public in this country, in
India, and throughout the world, that they were deter-
mined to spare no sacrifice in order to maintain their
Indian empire." Subsequently, upon the Bth of
April, inethe most effective speech which he made
upon the Income-tax, Sir Robert Peel remarked,
" This disaster, I trust, will be speedily repaired by
the spirit and vigour of your counsels, and by the gal-
lant exertions of your armies The loss, I
say, is not irreparable. Every effort ought to be made,
and every effort shall be made to restore it. And shall
we not have the means of doing so ? How can we
judge of the moral effects of these occurrences ? (How
indeed!) Recollect what efforts it may be necessary
for Government to make for the purpose of retain-
ing that great empire, which depends less upon
your physical force than upon the moral power
which you exercise over its numberless inhabitants.
If some decisive effort must be made for the res-
cue of the troops---(prisoners, we presume, too) who
are still in Affghanistan—if some strenuous mea-
sures must be taken for the reparation of that
great disaster—if some glorious feat of arms
must be achieved
,for the retrieval of that temporary
slur which has been cast upon your commanders and
your, fiffces, if that must be done, cannot you perceive
the positive necessity of your making here, at home,
some vigorous exertions for the sake of supporting
Government in those efforts which you admit that it
is absolutely requisite that the Government should take ?"
~fit the very time, upon the very day, we believe,
that Sir Robert Peel was entering into these engage-
leants with the representatives of the people of Eng-
land, _Lord Ellenborough was issuing his commands
for " the withdrawal of the army serving north of the
Indus within the British provinces." What a corn-
me.etary upon the promises of the Prime Minister are
the proceedings of the Governor-General ! Of
this Apparent inconsistency, let us hear the ex-
plaalaion, or rather one of the explanations,
ot the Government journal. "We think it is
eery- injudicious," says that most judicious
. scribe, "to be jumping at strained conclusions
from the few words uttered by Sir Robert Peel in the
. House Of Commons just at the moment when the news
..of that
.fatal affitir had arrived. Every man's mind
- was at that time in a state of very painful excitement
eel the subject, stud, it was impostible that these delibe-
m'ions should have been gone. into by the Governrnent,
an the decisions arrived at which so momentous an occa-
sion demanded. Sir Robert Peel gave utterance at the
atone, ,t to the sentiments which were burning in the
heart ca' every man, but to fasten upon his words as if
They were pledges to a scheme of policy, which at that
lime coula: not possibly have been considered, is un-
worthy of Any rational commentator upon public
anise." Tits we extract verbatim et literatim from
the Ministerial journal, which appears to have been
entrusted with the defence of Lord Ellen-
borough. Admitting for a moment (extravagant
though the admission be), that when Sir Robert
Peel made his first declaration on the 11th of March,
his mind was in that " state of very painful excite-
ment," is it, may we be permitted to ask, " un-
worthy of any rational commentator upon public
affairs, to suppose that by the Bth of the following
month he was sufficiently calm and collected to give
a dispassionate reply upon the very same subject ?
Referring- to the Right Hon. Gentleman's speech of
the sth of April, it seems as little to have resulted
from " a state of painful excitement" as any speech
we have ever heard measured out by the same cold,
calculating dealer io parliamentary common- place. Sir
Robert Peel, indeed, " give utterance to the senti-
ments which were burning in the heart of every man !"
Not only the passage we have quoted, but the whole
speech from which,it is taken much more resembles
the counting-house calculation of some skid-flint
economist, than the outpouring of a heart capable of
feeling any degree of excitement, except such as pre-
vailed upon that memorable night of the gth of April,
lest the Minister might not have been able to bring up
his report upon the Income-tax.
POST.—We should hope, from the tone which
public discussion has taken in the Journals for some
time past, that statesmen will begin to think more sea
riously than they have ever yet done, of looking very
earnestly into the condition of the working masses of
our countrymen, and determining what is to be done.
It appears very probable, and almost certain, that
something must be done for the relief and support of
industrious poverty, different from anything which
has yet been attempted. Contemporary journalists
remind us that the harvest is abundant—that, besides
the produce of our own fields, the nation has posses-.
Sion of a large quantity of foreign grown corn—that
there is, in short, great abundance secured within the
kingdom, but as yet there is no impulse given to com-
mercial enterprise. To come more directly to the point,
the case' is this—that a sufficient stock of comforts ex,.
ists in the country, but the means of their distribution
du not exist. Now, the problem for statesinen to work
is this—to find additional and sufficient means of dis-
-tribution, which shall nevertheless give no rude shock
to the existing arrangements of society, and which
shall not award to the wilfully idle, or to the violent,
that share—amounting to a decent subsistence—
which all who are willing, to work and to obey the
laws slight to have. The Minister has said that, after
considering the state of the country, and the distress
of the working people, the only remedy he saw was in
the extension of commerce. But if the Minister
should see that after all he can do to extend com-
merce it does not extend, or at all events, it does not
remove the distress, and the difficulty of finding decent
subsistence by the exertion of labour, then he will no
doubt take a wider view of the great question, and
try to find some honest method by which the accumu-
lated wealth of the country may reach the labouring
classes, and be reproduced. In the existing state of
things commerce may be very much extended, and
netieh may be added to the wealth of the manufactur-
ing- and mercantile capitalists, without materially be-
nefiting- the labouring masses. For the existing
machine power is capable of greatly extending its pro-
duc=tions, with very little extension of the employ-
ment of manual labour, and thus, while the work of
accumulation goes on extensively and rapidly, the
work of distri'mtion is very little and very slowly
increased. Formerly, the necessity of employing
mar alai labour, in order to make a profit of capital,
wa: a sure guarantee that a considerable amount of
the profit would be distributed among the working
Pei .ple. Machinery greatly interferes with this mode
of distribution, We do not want to say anything
age ;inst. the use of machinery—all we desire to sug-
get t is, that its employment is a very serious abridge
me et of those means of distribution of wealth among
the working people which formerly existed, and as
distkibution is Ate object to be attained, it is right
theft this .1?-4a/ranee should be taken into account. It
is saic 1. that landlords live •on the produce of other
men'g. labour, as if they were in an especial manner
bound` to take the responsibility of all the difficulty
• which "...Lists:
money
lent
out But the lords of cotton-mills, and of •
at interest,
of other men's labour.
or embarked in trade,
equally Jive on the Produce
The pity is that they all do not require at
much
greater amount of men's iab
for if they did, then the poorr
who
which
who are willingo live ;
work; would get a larger proportion of the rents and
to
• profits and annuities of the rich thann
they do. Let
us steadily bear in mind that distribution
point to be held in view. It is not as if the thceouinain
country
• slid not contain enortFh to maintain the people. In
that case a totally diftorent kind of remedy
should be
thought of. The thing to be done is to distribute
without wasting.
• TIMES.—The official statement respecting the
conaneercial relations of Russia and Prussia, which
- has been put forth by the Frtissian Government, and
which appeared in the Times' of last Thursday, does
far more than the speculations eit' all Europe to confirm
4he view We have taken of .the circumstances which
attended the: recent interview of the two Sovereigns
at St. Petereburgh, and of t: le consequences of that
inharnionione confio-ence. Thy' whole tone of the paper
a.; which has been inserted in Vee official journal of the
Cabinet .1 Berlin ie one of hr stility to the commercial
policy of Russia, and of the apology for the apparent
-canceesions, or rather arrangen tents for reciprocity of na-
vigation which have been madein the present occasion.
The Prussian Government tlel'ares " that a more ex-
tended trade, such IN formerle • existed between the
eastern provinces of Prussia at d Russia, to the ad-
vantage of both, cannot in the present situation of
• Russia be restored ;" and that although an attempt
t'as made in last; to place the saommercial relations
of the two -States on a better footle*, " unfortunately
the regulations having reference to the commerce and
intercourse of the frontiers sir ice thhe Made have been
found More embarrassing an d oppressive." Nor is
this all. It is added, with, brevity which by no
means diminishes. the impoi
.-tai ice of the fact, that
" the cartel convention with R essi I expired on the 29th
of March, and is now only cued till the 29th of
September." That is to sae f, that: after the expiration