The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-17 00:00:00

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LONDON:
WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 17, 1842.

l!F our Government be commonly prudent, much
:11,We if it be wise, •it will be induced by the general
excited by the turn-out in the manufacturing
`‘i..triets, to institute a searching inquiry into the
ik'lldition of the people there, with a view to amend
t* If the Government should not, of its own accord,
stirldertake it, the public will be wanting to its own
interest if it do not press on the Government such
ii
'll investigation, and compel it to find a remedy for a
41.4 e of things which is at once dangerous to so-
itletY and disgraceful to the Legislature. Either
is in the power of the Legislature to ward
0, 3uch evils, to train up mankind in the ways ol
:11141e and of peace, and to provide a full measure of
1111'istence for all who are born on the earth, and then
;Ire Legislature has grossly and shamefully neglected
,:s duty ; or, it is not in the power of legislation to ac-
Mplish these grand objects, and then the sooner our
egislature and the people are convinced of its ineffi-
eleney, the sooner both will seek some rational means
t 0 attain the end desired. An infinitely less evil than
he turn-out of the operatives, which, in one short week,
thas paralyzed trade, and given a heavier blow to
•11)11.'lic credit than all the imputed inalversations of the
ti pigs, which the Income-tax is to remedy, was no
il)elit'v revealed to the country by the Commissioners
for inquiring into Mines than there was an almost
Z)lversal shout for a law to correct it, and a zealous
.'ste in passing suth a law, which no considerations
What was due ti) the colliers could restrain. • We
crave a right, therefore, to expect that the con-
tiotr or the operatives generally, which their
Present cond'.tct proves , to be pregnant with
terror for the rest of society, shall immediately lead
t 7, ft diligent and searching investigation, and to the
Ltenglitrut suggestion of appropriate remedies. So
°1 the Government, following that Being whom
said to represent on earth, educe good out
_Titling evil, and promote the present peace of
ety and its permanent and ever growing pros-
rity.
The, extension of Military power, if necessary at
this moment to preserve life and property, greatly to
the discredit of the Government, cannot, it is plain,
alvv ays had recourse to. A military Government
iS
SO . costly that it is ruinous. It may possibly
serve•
for a military people, but for a 'commercial
and manufacturing nation, which carries on its
Multifarious operations by credit and cenfidence, it
Wholly out of the question. Nor does the success
Zhsuch a system on the Continent, .where it degrades
e pefiple without preserving peace—for we have
leen 'emeutes, insurrections, and revolutions there,
we enjoyed internal peace—recommend that sys-
rta to our adoption. For the prosperity of England,
,t is essentially necessary that confidence between the
L'if:erent classesberestored, and that the attachment of
th' people to the Government be revived, which it can
'4i-137 be by the Government acting justly, honestly,
444 sincerely, and by the constable's staff again be-
t''')ro'ing, from ALL the people loving and honouring the
aw, the emblem of irresistible power. While we do
'llll justice to the promptness by which a great mili-
It4r3' power has been assembled in the manufacturing
-we must at once assert that its use can only
-o tolerated as the most b-mporary expedient, and
that successful rebellion is to be preferred to the
Permanent establishment of a military tyranny. Be-
Sides,, we have ourselves tried this military and police
"overnment without much success. It has been gra-
dually growing into strength here, gradually repress-
ing every little harmless ebullition of popular feeling,
till
it has turned attachment into dislike, and has
concentrated dislike into ardent hatred, gradually
eatilig down the multitude below the level of hu-
llitY, and at length has brought on a wide-spread
111sur rectiori.

Nor ea•A we rely on the old Tory system.
That has -seen carried out both by Whigs and Tories,
:11": our present condition is the result. The power
,
Nwzalth of the priesthood have suffered no abate
It is the boast of the Tories that the influence
of the Church has been wonderfully increased. Go-
'verrnnent is as expensive as ever. The tax-gatherer's
exactions are increased, not relaxed. Extravagance
In Ilia?; ?wces is continued. Tic riches of the aris-
tocracy have not declined. Great fortunes are still

made and enjoyed in the City. Every feature of the
Tory system is yet retained, even to the corruption
by which Tories obtain an ascendancy in Parliament,
and yet there is great distress, great discontent,
and an alarming outstand amongst the people. When
the Tories left office they left a rebellion in the agri-
cultural districts ; they have scareely had time since
their return to office to cheat the hopes they inspired
when they find a rebellion in the manufacturing dis-
tricts. Toryism, therefore, cannot help us out of our
difficulties. In truth the evils ciSinplained of are the
consequences of our political systeiri, and that requires
investigation. Heaven has been•hbuntiful to us. It
has endowed our people withi ,unsurpassed skill
and unwearied industry. Our land is fertile, and
teems with mineral wealth, as our, seas teem with fish.
Our commerce and our colonies- epable us to supply
our wants from the whole globe., With advantages
such as no nation ever before was blessed with, a
great multitude of the people are sorely degraded and
distressed, and their grievous dis'Ontent continually
causes nlarm and insecurity. Intoq&se circumstances
a solemn investigation is requir4; and if the out-
stand of the manufacturing labourers lead to that, it
will not be without a beneficial result

An Evening Contemporary, whose remarks we in-
tert, tries to throw the whole blame of all possible
dissatisfaction and discontent on the
.Whigs. It was
they, according to the Standard, who taught the
people to be dissatisfied with the law, and to seek
their objects by violence. They must have caused,
then, the progress of society, and the increase of
knowledge, for it is these which have made old insti-
tations and old laws unsuitable to our present con-
dition. We have, however, •of late been boastingly
reminded that our commercial code was first reformed
by the Tories, and Sir ROBERT PEEL disparaged
What -he left of our criminal code by what he
altered. For the last twenty 'years there has
been a regular and continual retreat from old posi-
tions, as they were successively invaded by popular
knowledge. How could the people continue to re-
verence laws ,which they were practically taught
were erroneous and unjust? Both parties have.equally
lifted the boundaries of the law and the Constitution,
and moved them away ; but the Tories have set the
bad example of seeking to maintain a false position
by violence, till they have roused threats of violence
in attack, and then they have fled. • They • have
been the men to have recourse to force, and by
yielding they have taught the people the art of
conquering the Government. lt is, however,
not at all desirable at present to bandy accu-
sations between Whigs and Tories ; the condition
of society has become troublesome and alarMing, and
it is now the business of every patriot to use his best
exertions to restore peace, concord, and prosperity.
Without blaming either party, or -any individuals, •
and without specifying the immediate causes of the
existing evils, we lay it down as an incontrovertible
fact, which must he the foundation of all improve-
ment, that the labouring classes of the community
are too heavily burdened. They ;work too hard, and
are too little rewarded: They ar,e not only exposed
to great physical privations, but they see others re-
lieved from them at their .expense.' They bear, in
truth all the burdens of society, ,and are scarcely 'al-
lowed to taste its benefits. Lawi which are for them
fetters, are privileges for others. ,While the salary of
every servant of Government is fully assured to him—
while the income of the priest is made as certain as
the return of the seasons—while The rent of the land-
lord is subject to very little Variation—while the
owners of the national debt are guaranteed their income,
and every monied man gathers in his interest with
mathematical certainty, the reward of labour is not
sure from day to day; and, squeezed down by profit,
rent, and taxes, seems . continually growing smaller,
or is kept at that pittance which barely supports
existence. These are facts ; they • may- be in the
order of nature; they may not be the consequence
of positive enactments ; but the consequence is the'
existence of an immense mass of poorly fed, badly
lodged, and incompletely clothed labourers, who are
filled with discontent, and whose discontent is a per-•
petual source of uneasiness to others.

If they be in the order of nature and irremovable,
let that be demonstrated, and let the Legislature
bend its exertions to lessen the evils as much as pos-
sible; if they be not in the order of nature, but the
consequence of positive laws, it follows that some.bad
laws are the causes of the national trouble. All
classes are deeply interested in demanding a solemn
investigation into this point, for the landlord is
alarmed for his rent, the priest for his tithes, the
capitalist for his profit, the monied man for his in-
terest, the moment the labourers begin to stir in pur-
suit of their rights, or even cease to labour ; and they
seem incapable of fancying or finding any remedy
for their own apprehensions, but the establishment of
a complete military government, which must, in our
judgment, be fatal to the commerce, the prosperity,
and the liberty of England. It is now the duty of all
these claSses, not only to inquire, but to take an in-
creased share of the national burdens, and allow
labour to have more social advantages. If they con-
tinue rapaciously to extort all that can be extorted
from the labourer, expecting to keep him for ever
toiling hard, and obtaining little or nothing, it re-
quires no search of sagacity to predict continual com-
motions, national decay, and ultimately national ruin.

Though the mining and manufacturing districts
still continue in an uneasy and unsettled state, yet, on
the whole, the intelligence received from them is of a
more tranquil character than could have been hoped
under the circumstances. The sea still runs high, but
the tempest seems to have pretty well exhausted its
fury, and we may shortly expect a calm. From Hanley,
indeed, the accounts furnished by our Correspondent
are, it must be confessed, somewhat ominous, and things
begin to wear a gloomy appearance at Derby and
Nottingham; but we have every reason to believe that
the prompt and vigorous precautionary measures of
Government will effectually prevent any outbreak in
these towns. As regards Manchester, all is quiet
there ; and the proclamation of the civil authorities,
warning the people of the illegality of their as-
sembling, under existing circumstances, in large
masses, will no doubt have the effect of convincing
them that to attempt to better their condition by
means of a system of lawless agitation is an utterly
hopeless task. The influence of Manchester is great
throughout the manufacturing districts, and we may
calculate with tolerable certainty on finding the
tranquillity that now pervades this metropolis of
the cotton tradei' extending itself to all the great
towns of the north. Meantime it cannot be de-
nied that the danger has been most imminent,
ar.d that we shall at all times be liable to its
recurrence, unless Ministers take an early op-
portunity next session of adopting remedial measures
of a far more directly efficacious character than any
that they have passed in the session that has just
closed. Something more is required than an Income-
tax, a Tariff, anUti lame and halting Corn-law Bill,
to tranquillize the minds of the working classes; and
if Sir ROBERT PEEL, when next he meets Parlia-
ment, does not meet it with a firm and generous reso-
lution to abandon altogether the system of class legis-
lation, which has already been productive of such a
world of mischief, and to which we undoubtedly owe
the origin of Chartism, •he will find that a spirit of
disaffection will be roused in the country which it will
be wholly out of his power to check or control.

We have received the -whole of the French Papers
but they contain no news, being chiefly occupied with
the speeches of Lord PALMERSTON and Sir ROBERT
PEEL, in the House of Commons on the 10th inst.,
and the disturbances in our manufacturing and
mining districts.
The Committee of the Chamber of Deputies appointed
to examine the Regency Bill, held its third sitting yes.
!,erday. It heard the Marshal President of the Council,
the Minister for Foreign Affairs, end Keeper of the Seals,
on the whole of the clauses of the Bill. The Committee
adopted unanimously two amendments, the first to the
effect that the Regent shall take the oath, before enter-
ing on his functions, and by a. solemn document inserted
in the Bulletin des Lois, the oath shall be repeated before
the Chamber ; the second amendment reduces to forty
days the time within which the Chambers must be con-
' yoked. The Committee will meet to-day (Sunday) to
hear the report of M. Dupin, which will be presented to
the Chamber on Tuesday. The debate may, therefore,
begin on Thursday. The CoMmittee for inquiring into
Elections is summoned for to-day.
The Deputies of the wine-growing countries met
yesterday, M. Zesmeres presided. At the meeting there
wero representatives 'of the following departments :
the two Charente, the Gironde, the G and, the Yonne, the
Herault, the Var, the Saone and Loire, the Upper
Rhine, and some others. The meeting decided that a
committee should be appointed to collect all the docu-
ments necessary for the examination of this important
branch of French agriculture, au 1 to make to the Go-
vernment all the representations which circumstances