The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-28 00:00:00

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.

The Nobility, Gentry, Subscriber., an d the Public, are respectfully
informed that
ON MONDAYS, TUESDAYS, AND THURSDAYS,
GRAND EVENING FETES will be given, in which will be em.
boiled all those popular aitertainme.nts that havegiven to this fermi-
rite place el recreation its peculiar cs,lebrity, with additions and in-
troductions, which render them more generally attractive.
The MENAGERIE bas been enriched by many valuable and im-
portant acquisitions in the classes of both Quadrupeds and girds.
Feeding Time Five o'clock. _ _

The r7olossal VIEW OF ROME has been repainted, and in some
instances remodelled, with a Mechanical Tableau d'action, repre-
senting the Procession of the Papal Tr crops, Guards, and Roman
Nobles, to the Castle of St. Angelo.
The BAN I) i ucluthrs some of the most eminent Performers, con.
lucted by Mr. Godfrey, and the Program me of the PROMENADES
M USICA LES selectedf rom the noblest vorks of the great Masters.
The ILLUMINATIONof ST. PETER'S, the CROSS of FIRE,
and the GIRANDOLA of ST. ANG EL 0, wish all the gorgeous
Spectacles and naagnifieent introductions that have called forth ac.
elammations of delight and admiration on) each evening of their ex.
hibition, terminating with the triumph .of pyrotechnic splendour,
the CASC ,tDE of IsR.ILLI ANT FIRE, SIX I Y FEET in height.
The Gardens are open Daily from Test till Dusk. The Evening
Fetes, with the Promenades Musicales,. Ills, mination of Ft. Peter's,
Girandola of St. Angelo, Sm., will be given on Mondays, Tuesdays,
and Thursdays. Admission One Shilling.

Til E WEA TITER.— _lv
00N, JUNE 27.
GALLERY OF SCIENCE;) ADMLAIDE-STREET.
Thermometer .... 63 Highest....... 68 I Lowest s'2
Barometer 29.82. Wind S.W.

HIGH %V ATER AT LONINIF . BRIDGE THIS DAY.
111 aming 3 minutes after 5I 1 ening 2-2 minutes after 5.

rill Advertisements of a Disgusting Character,
or Immoral Tenderer 3y, are excluded from
the Columns of "TI le Sun."

- *,)
Ari..k.ts?" KL4):N—ZipiN) •

apply the same principle to their home-made woollens.
To Sir R. PEEL belongs the credit of having induced the
Americans and the Germans to heap additional duties on
the manufactures of Great Britain. Their new restric-
tions are planned contemporaneously with his, if they be
not their offspring.
There cannot be a doubt, if the present Ministry had
proclaimed the principles of free trade which science has
taught and experience has confirmed, and had acted on
them, by opening our markets to the wheat and flour of
the United States, and to the agricultural produce of
Germany, that at least those States would have waited
to see the effects of the new system, before they had re-
enacted and extended the old one. Had Sir R. PEEL, too,
instead of haggling with France about duties, lowered
our duties on wines, adjusting them on the ad valorem prin-
ciple, all the South of France would have been in arms
to resist new duties on English commodities, and the
demand for higher duties on linen yarn would probably
not have been acceded to.

But what are the principles Sir R. PEEL has recom-
mended to the world? For months and years our people
have begged and prayed for a free trade in food. Sir
ROBERT PEEL came into office, in the midst of great
public distress, and he has made it his especial business,
after inquiring into the causes of that distress, to uphold
the food monopoly in spite of the prayer of the people.
lie denies, therefore, that this law is the causo of dis-
tress, and by re-enacting it he has declared to all the
world that the principle of protecting native industry,
as this species of legislative plunder is called, is the only
safe and sound principle of national policy.
He has proclaimed by his conduct, that restric-
tions are the source of national greatness. The same
principle runs through his whole tariff. For the
first time he has given a general form to the
principle of protection as applied to colonies,
and established a whole series of differential duties.
France, Germany, and the United States, there-
fore, are imitating his example. They are acting on the
worn•out principle of protection, which he has conse-
crated anew. Ours is the most melancholy suicide that
ever a nation was guilty of. Great, powerful, wealthy,
and glorious by trade, we have laboured to put a stop
to it. We have laid violent hands on the neck of our own
paver, and infected other nations with the horrible mono-
mania of self•destruction.

The First Report from Mr. ROEBUCK'S, or the Com-
promise Committee, was made last night. It stated that
JOHN 'WALTER, Esq., having been summoned to attend
the Committee, had declined to comply with the sum-
mons ; and Mr. ROEBUCK moved that Mr. WALTER be
called to the bar. The motion was agreed to, and Mr.
WALTER ordered to attend this day.

Mr. WALTER may be able to give some explanation
of his conduct, which will place it in an improved light ;
at present, his refusal to attend the Committee seems
not to be justified. There is no difference between the
constitution and powers of Mr. ROEBUCK'S Committee
and other Committees, and attendance -on them has al-
ways been readily given, because it has always been en-
forced by the power of the House. Mr. WALTER can-
not be excused any more than others, and he will have
to suffer the consequences of his refusal.
He objects to the great powers possessed by the Com-
mittee, and if he mean to contest and try them by an
appeal to the law, should the House commit him for con-
tempt, if he be ready to suffer martyrdom for the public
welfare, we should not deny that he is animated
by a legitimate and honourable ambition. But Mr.
WALTER has a special objection to the Chairman, who
"at one time, in his place in the House, recommended
any one who might be attacked in the Times, and did
not wish to have the attack repeated, to horsewhip Mr.
WALTER." He declines, in truth, to submit to the tri-
bunal, because the Chairman " has shown undisguised
hostility towards him." Unfortunately for Mr. WALTER'S
reputation, and perhaps for the purpose ~he has in view,
this personal objection neutralizes all the patriotism we
had detected in the objection to the powers of the Com-
mittee. Against the Chairman's hostility he would be
sure to find protection from the other members of the
Committee, from the House, or, in the last resort, from
the public ; but neither the public, the House, nor the
other members of the Committee, will justify him for
refusing to obey its summons, because he has had, at
some former time, a personal dispute, which he remem-
bers with more keenness than the public, with its
Chairman.

Mr. WALTER has put himself in the wrong. At pre-
sent the Chairman of the Committee has only fulfilled
his duties ; the violence which Mr. WALTER appre-
hends has no other existence than in his own imagina-
tion. The House and the public know nothing
of it. He should have waited till Mr. ROE-
BUCK had committed himself, before appealing
from his authority. In the House last night
Major BERESFORD bore testimony to the inquiries
of the Committee being conducted in a courteous
though stringent manner. The world will infer that
Mr. WALTER would have met with the same treatment ;
and by his refusal to attend, precluding the possibility of
any contrary experience, he will appear to have dis-
obeyed an order of the House of Commons from per-
sonal pique towards Mr. ROEBUCK.
We do not for one moment suppose that Mr. WALTER
dreads any disclosures. The apparently frank manner
in which he refers to his agent, and expresses a wish to
afford the Committee every information, forbids the sus-
picion that he has any reason to shun the searching in-
vestigation in which it is engaged. At the same time,
the public would have been better satisfied on this head
had he as readily obeyed the Committee as he frankly
informed it of the name of his agent. It is not yet too
late, we presume, for him to retreat, and as his personal
obviously outweigh his patriotic motives,) we frankly
advise 'him to prepare his apology to the House, and
profess his readiness to obey the summons of the Com-
mittee.

We are glad to see that the subject of oaths, including,
we presume, the source and character of the obligation
they impose on men, is to be investigated by the House
of Lords. No subject is snore worthy of a solemn in-
qrtiry. Upon it rests the whole administration of the
law; and it will not tend to the future security of either
Us or property if the question, now that it is mooted, be
not probed to the bottom. To have the nature
of an oath clearly understood, and the obligation
it imposes brought forcibly home to the conscience,
so that it shall exist, and bo felt at all times and by all men,
independently of any vanishing and changing forms, and
independently of any inculcated, and perhaps erroneous
religious opinions, their Lordships must dive deep into
the mind of man. They ought to call before them those
who have studied the question, and who can point cut
the eternal and universal (so far as the globe is eternal
II and man is known) source of that obligation, which, in con-
junction with all creeds, false and true, and at all times and
places, men have felt and acknowledged to speak the
truth and the truth only. To do their work effectually,
the Lords must inquire into the meaning of the word
belief," and the state of mind which that word
expresses must be exactly defined. As the in-
quiry is forced on by a desire to give re-
lief to tender consciences, and to those who
entertain peculiar thoughts and principles, some per-
sons of that description will, of course, be examined,
and they will be the best able to explain the source of
their objections to comply with the injunctions of the
law. Of its mighty arch, an oath, or something equiva-
lent, is the key-stone; and we feel assured that their
Lordships, should they prosecute their examination fear-
lessly, are likely to clear up many doubts, establish some
important truths, and promote the advancement of cor-
rect knowledge.

As the distress throughout the country is becoming
every day more alarming, without any prospect of relief
for the season, it is the imperative duty of Parliament,
before it separates, to make some provision for contin-
gencies during the vacation. Should the crops turn out
light, and the dullness of trade continue—two circum-
stances extremely probable—a fearful responsibility
would rest on that Government which could contemplate
such results without obtaining from the Legislature the
means of at least mitigating the evils. It is useless to say
that the SOVEREIGN and her Ministers, and Parliament,
can do little or nothing for the relief of such a vast
starving population, and that they must trust to time
and Providence for the alleviation of their sufferings,
Parliament has interfered repeatedly under circum-
stances not half so afflicting as the present, or as the
future promises to be ; and when it is now placed beyond
doubt that the new Corn-law will effectually keep up
the prices of grain to nearly the old standard, it
becomes the duty of Sir ROBERT PEEL to follow
the example of his predecessors, and obtain from
Parliament the• power to meet any unseen emergency.
The Member for Aberdeen has given notice of a motion
on the subject for Thursday next, and will move that it
be expedient to vest in her MAJESTY, with the advice of
her Privy Council, power to reduce or discontinue,
should cimunistances so require, the duties which regu-
late the importation of foreign corn. No proposition
could be better timed, or more reasonable, and we cannot
discover what objection can be raised to it by any
party. If, fortunately, the state of trade should im-
prove, and the country be blessed with a favourable har-
vest, the authority thus entrusted to the Crown would
not be brought into operation, and, even under any eir..
cumstances, it would be optional for the Minister to use
it or not as he might see meet. It is true, that without
such a provision he might advise the Crown to issue an
Order in Council to that effect, and trust to a Bill of In-
demnity ; but why allow a chance for such an unusual