The Sun. — London, England, 1832-05-17 00:00:00

!'IPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. WC gin to breathe more freely, although our drubti et not yet wholly removed. Lord Grey has been with the King, and two Cabinet Councils have been held on the subject of their conference. Reports differ 9s to the precise nature of the first communication from his Ma jesty. We believe that it merely referred to the conver sation in the House of Common , on the preceding evening, as expressive of the general wish that Ministers should resume their offices ; at the same time adding his Majesty's hope that no creation of Peens might now be required, since the failure of the attempts to form another Admi- nitration rendered all successful opposition to th.t further progress of the Bill hopeless. We hope also, that the further experience anti humiliation of the Tories may have made them more tractable ; and that it may be possible to avoid so extensive an use of the Royal prerogative as wss at one time supposed necessary. It would indeed be some reparation for their past folly, and one step towards a re conciliation with their countrymen, if they would even prere their loyalty to the King, by saving him from 'iris painful sacrifice of his feelings. The other report S —and which is spread with much induvry by the 'hungry adherents and followers of the faction, and for which we do not believe there is the slightest foundation, if, that the King's offer to restore his Ministers was conditional, on their giving up their request for a crea tion of Peers, and agreeing to modify such details in the Bill as his Majesty had ascertained by his communication , with the Tories, would neutralize their opposition. We are satisfied that his Majesty mhat hays too just an esti mate of the character of Lord Grey to have entertained for an instant, the idea of such a proposition. The Conser. vatiyes—for these reports are generally the fruit of the in ?dative faculties of some member of that distinguish; d uluh—proceed to state, that such an overture having been made, was peremptorily refused by the late Government ; that they insisted upon an immediate creation of at least sixty Peers; that his Majesty in despair had again thrown himself upon the Duke, who upon this occasion had been more fortunate in obtaining the open and avowed assistance f Sir Robert Peel, in formir p er a party to protect th e King against the immod e r a t e an d outrageous demands of the Whigs. We can safely assure our readers that there is not one word of truth in these statements, and that from the kind terms in which the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, :itati the ultra divisions of the discomfited faction, pay compliments to the conduct of each other in the late dis 4;,,,sions, there is no danger—we should rather say, if honesty has not become a by-word amongst public men— no possibility of the re-union of those discordant materials of the late Opposition. Lord Wharneliffe and Lord Har eowby are no longer of any party, The Duke of Wed :ingeon, it is understood, declines all intercourse with Lord Wharocliffe, in his arrangements, fearing that the assist ance of so notorious a Ailarplot might destroy his other wise slender chance of accomplishing his object. The negotiations now going on between the King and his late Government must be brought to a close in the course of to-morrow. The case in certainly, in one point of view, a 'lelicite one. It is understood that the parties wbo have failed in forming a new Government have assured the King, that they will ssti'adt,w all further opposition to the Bill, to prevent the alesstsaity of a creation of Peers. But what security can the public, or the late Ministers, if they resume the management of affairs, have that this un derstanding shall be carried into effect? Are the Pro testing Peers to sign a declaration or engagement to re tire ; or by what process are their sentiments to be as certained ? On the other hand, if Lord Grey, before he has ascertained, to the clear satisfaction of the country and himself, that all further opposition to the Bill would be withdrawn, should insist upon a creation of Peers, might he not be accused of forcing the King ? We fear all these doubts cannot he cleared up till the discussion in tile House of Lords to-morrow. But, delicate as the po si ion of Lord Grey may be, the public will repose confi dence in his observance of the same tact and caution which has hitherto Cistinguished all his proceedings on this momentous question. But of one thing the country may he assured, that the integrity of the Bill is safe in his hands; and that no consideration will ever induce him to return to power without having ample security for its full and final accomplislment.—Morniny Chronicle. The events of yesterday confirmed the opinion which we expressed on Tuesday, that the debate of Monday night would give the coup de grace to the " Phantom Govern ment." The universal cry of indignation, the burst of indignant contempt which resounded from every bench of the House of Commons against the exhibition of political pia fliga c y anno unce d b y the Duke of Wellington and his adherents, has preserved the country from the fatal con sequences which must have inevitably attended it, although it leaves its authors covered with the infamy which they have merited. We congratulate the country upon its escape—we congratulate the House of Commons on having nobly discharged its duty—we rejoice that, at a mo ment when, as we in our conscience believe, the choice lay between order and confusion, between regular Govern ment and anarchy, between—we fear not to express our opinion --the present institutions and revolution, we rejoice that the great majority of the House of Commons should have stood forward to advocate the cause of the people and vindicate the insulted character of public men. The tri umph is complete, and we desire not to sully our record of it by even an allusion to the miserable apostates, whose base attempt has met the signal failure which sooner or later the indignant feeling of their countrymen must have insured. We leave them to sneak into obscurity, pro tected from the effects of public indignation only by the contempt disappointed baseness must inspire in every honest l i bosom. But if this be the inevitable fate of those who stood prominently forward in the attempted execution of this great act of " public immorality"—if it be certain that, for the remainder of their career, the finger of public scorn will point at them, there are yet others who must in justice share their fate, and who have deserved and should undergo the same degree of punishment. Let not the 'midis:, in pouring forth the vials of its indigna tion, expend all upon the heads of those who boldly avowed their guilt—let it deal out with an equal hand their due proportion on those who, less bold, but still more mean, would have shared the booty, although they slunk from the open struggle. Let us not be deluded.— The scheme of tire Tories was deep laid. Power and place were the idols, not of one, but of all the party—not of the ambitious General only, but equally of the plausible and double-dealing ex-Secretary. Whilst the Field-Mar shal, with a boldness congenial to his character, in utter recklessness of consequences, scoffed at protests, laughed at solemn declarations, and gallantly con.ented to stand for ward in front of the battle, and boldly brasen out the basest apostacy, the more cunning cad was at hand, ready to share the spoil but not the peril. Safe from the charge of change of opinion for the sake of office, he was to have given his disinterested support to the Reform of the non-reforming Premier. His plansibility, his dexte rity, his candour, were all to have been at the command of the chief performer, and Joseph Surface would have shone forth in all his glory, whilst the dirty work was professedly performed by others. But the transition state once past--hey presto ! a change of scene—the minikins would have been withdrawn from the stage; those who really pulled the wires woisid have assumed their parts. The temporary Leader would have received his reward in • • a Peerage ; the subs were to have been transported to the colonies, or translated to the Pension List, whilst the ex- Secretai y would have stepped back into power and place, the object of his fondest desires, and of his most self-deny ing protestations. This was the scheme; we defy contra diction. And was it really supposed that so flimsy a de vice could deceive—that so miserable a trick could escape detection? Could it really be conceived, that whilst the sacrifice of recorded opinions at the shrine of power ex cited universal indignation, their abandonment for the pos session of place, deferred only for a few short weeks, or even days, would escape? Is the distinction be tween virtue and vice so small, that he who receives money down is to pay the penalty of the one, whilst he who accepts a bill at a month's date as his price, is to ride off with the honours of the other ? No, truly. The offence only disgus's the more. It is the same meanness without its only palliation, the boldness with which it was avowed. Let the party look well to tbisi Let him not hope to escape his just reward; above all, let him nut venture to plume himself on his itnmacu lite virtue, or chuckle at the comparisons drawn between h.s conduct and that of his chief—comparisons which he may choose to treat as made in good faith; but in which every by-stander reads the bitterest sarcasm.—Morniny Chronicle. The Duke of Wellington has turned a new page in the volume of history. Other men have proved that an able soldier is not necessarily a wise politician—other men have modestly alleged incapacity for office, which they have afterwards grasped on the first offer—other men have pu nished with a severity not less than that which outraged Huskissou, a political inconsistency not greater than what themselves would practise when adequately tempted... other men have sacrificed conviction and principle to expediency, and with the tyrant's plea--necessity— have effected changes to which they had solemnly pled ge d their opposition. Bat no other into, in times ancient or modern—in countries civilized or barbarous— ever made the badness of a measure at one moment his pretext for wresting power from others, and the goodness of that measure at the next his pretext for keeping power himself ; no other man ever called on his countrymen to tad eject his rival's party for striving to do t!•r,t for which, when done by him, they were to trust aril . maintain his awn.. Foul, indeed, in other times and na tions, have been the deeds of public men, unblushing their falsehood, audacious their tergiversation ; but still there has been some pretended palliation for their crime— some alleged alloy in their depravity. They have excused the breach of faith by the impossibility of keeping it—they have couched the low asperities of party in the exalted phrase of patriotism ; the mask they have worn may have been thin, very thin ; but they hare sirorn one. They have neglected virtue, not defied her , --they have sneered at troth, not trampled on it. It was reserved for the Duke of Wellington alone to parade before the abhorrent eyes of England ambition in all its reckless selfishness—insince rity in all its naked hideousness. Oh, what a fall is here I A few months past, and meet of all parties and opinions spoke of this man with some respect. The Reformers might call hint arbitrary or bigoted ; but still they said the Duke was honest. They liked him, for he always spoke his mind ; no trick, no subterfuge in him. They distrusted Lyndhurst, and despised Ellenborough ; but the Duke was an honourable adversary. If be opposed the Government, they thought it was from conviction, and not for personal or party ends; or, if he might be called a partisan, it was for the privileges— just as he believed them—of his order, not for place that he was fighting. What, then, does this man feel, when he hears one dreadful chorus of scorn and indignation rising from a no-longer deluded people, drowning the feeble clamours of his military parasites ; when his effigies are given to the tire, and his pictures to the hangman, and his very name is become a byword for dis honour in the mouths of men of every political opinion ? We answer—nothing, He who could so brave universal obloquy and contempt for any earthly distinction, must be insensible to the pangs they are supposed to inflict on a►l mankind. But will the people of England endure this public insult to all truth and ♦irtue ? Is their mo rality sunk so low that they vlew as calm spectators the triumphant pageant of iniquity ? Will they accept the medicine of their ills from such a poisoned hand ? Will they take the Bill or any Bill from one so mired with in famy. No I we trust, and we believe they will not. Com pared with such a question as this, that of Reform itself shrinks to insignificance. Valued, as it has long been by the nation, as the means of good—valued as it now is as the end itself, it were better that Reform should be in definitely protracted, than that our countrymen shrufd manifest, by their acquiescence in the rule of this " triple turned" 3linister, that they have ❑o longer any love or sympathy for virtue, any hatred or antipathy for vice; that this our still glorious realm of England should brand itself before the eyes of Europe with that most degrading of all characters, which, provided it obtains its object, cares not for the guilt or injustice of the means by which it wins it, and can calmly and supinely see the authors of its good the victims of a heroism of which their treache roue enemies reap the benefits.—Morning Chronicle. It will be a proud ri flection for the people of England if they carry the great question of Reform by moral force alone. The victory, in itself, will be great, but 'he means by which it shall have been achieved will render it more glorious. It will give success to that pure lustre which belongs only to the triumphs of mind, when great acts of political deliverance are accomplished by the power of public opinion—by efforts of national energy without in temperance, and by the array of irresistible strength, un sullied by ferocity. From the time that the alarming an nouncement was made of the King having withdrawn his support from the Reform Bill, the people of Great Britain, from one end of the island to the other, have shown, cer tainly, not any want of vigeur, nor have they stained their righteous cause by any violence. In a few instances, and those very few, some portions of the mere rabble, as in the case of the attack upon the Bishop of Lichfield, have acted as if they wished to bring Reform into disgr ice; but we have beard of no instance which militates against the assertion that the people—and we use the term em phatically—have conducted themselves with a peaceable determination and fortitude calculated to display in the strongest light their manly firmness and power of self control, under the most trying circumstances of political alarm, peril, and excitement. This is the more credit able to the people of this country when we recollect the counsel which they received from many of those indiscreet and addle-headed advisers, who substitute noise for spirit, abuse for argument, and would have truculence of speech pass current for energy of patriotism, Such persona spoke and acted as if they wished to make an irr,-parabli. breach between his Majesty anti the people, by commit ting one party or the other in acts of decided hostility, and that too befote time had been given fur any explana tion by which the veil of tny.tery might be removed from recent transactions, and the blame he fairly thrown upon those to whom it was due. These efforts to turn a temporary evil into a lasting source of sorrow and affliction to the country have, happily, proved abortive. For our own part, we neither think it a sign of devoted loyalty to excessively flatter a King, nor a proof of patriotic courage or gentlemanly taste to grossly and personally abuse the first Magistrate of the State. If the strict rule of consistency were ap plied to the actions of some of our patriots for a course of years past, they would show strange deviations from the right line of rigid principle. This ought surely to induce them to exercise a little forbearance when they find that a King is not altogether free from the errors or infirmities of human nature. But, from whatever cause that error of his Majesty arose, which caused a sudden and unex pected interruption to the progress of the Reform Bill, we have reason to believe that the King will repair the conse quences of the mistake, which, if the counsels of some of the more vehement advisers of the people had been acted upon, might have led to the most deplorable results. We never told the people—and, let them remember, we do not tell them now—that the Reform Bill, when carried into a law, will cure all the political evils of this country ; if we did, we should lend ourselves to a great delusion, and cause them hereafter the more bitter dis appointment. But it is necessary that the Reform Bill should be passed, in order that we may have a House of Commons, the majority, at least, of whose Members may be the real representatives of the people, and not the no minees of the House of Lords. Gre it are the labours of Government which such a House of Commons will have to undertake :—the distressed condition of the labouring population—the embarrassments of the financial system— the ruinous operation of " free trade" upon our manufac tures—the breaking down of the interests of the ship owners by the abolition of the Navigation Act—the state of Ireland and of the Colonies—the Bank Charter and East India monopoly—the Criminal Code—the poor laws—the pressure of inordinate taxation on the produc tive industry of the nation ;—all these, and other ques• tions, will try the wisdom and integrity of Statesmen and ' reformed Parliaments ; and, therefore, it is the more ne cessary that Parliament should be as speedily as possible reformed.—. Morning Herald. Whatever force may be employed to retard the natural progress of events, or whatever skill to cover them with a short-lived mystery, every thing around us is rapidly ripening to a conclusion, which, in spite of intriguers of both sexes, must within a few hours be disclosed. That the people of England may be enabled to act effectually, which in the present case means promptly, they ought to he told, without disguise, the imminent danger of their situation. Up to a late hour last night the Reform Bill stood • upon a precipice. We know not that its position is yet improved. One result of the Duke of Wellington's interview with the King on Tuesday last, was communi cated by Mr. Baring to the House of Commons: it was to the effect, that his Grace having totally failed in the laudable endeavour to form a renegade Administration ' the authority to do so had been withdrawn from him by the power which gave it. Had this been the " end all" of the Tory Duke's good offices between the King and people of England, both might have had unmixed reason to rejoice that the attempt thus frustrated had been so vigorously made. It would have furnished a fresh proof of the strength inherent in an intelligent and united nation, and might have thrown again wide open the door of access for the Sovereign to his people's affec tions. But there seems to be a second result of that in terview, which Mr. Baring did not avow in Parliament, and on which it does not appear to us that the King has muck ground for rejoicing. The Noble Duke, like a ge nerous enemy as he is, took care, at parting from his Ma jesty, to leave a sting behind him. There was a com munication, it is rumoured, transmitte d from the King to his ostensible Ministers (for they were not yet actually out of office), and, as Lord Grey, Lord Althorp, an Lord Brougham told their hearers, relat in g to the present critical state of public affairs. What was that communi cation? Was it cold, or was it cordial? If we may trust the rumours propagated by the Conservatives themselves, the message or letter was any thing but such as the friends of Reform coul d desire, or the Cabinet of Lord Grey could contemplate. It was in fact, neither more nor less (we quote from a Journal of the party) than a repetition by his Majesty of the scouted proposals made some months ago by Lords Har rowby and Wharncliffe to his Ministers, viz., that Lord Grey and his colleagues should consent to modify or muti late the Bill, rather than create some Peers ! When we recollect that his Majesty had retained his Ministers in offic e , and showed them every mark of kingly regard and confidence, after he was aware that they had rejected thi s v e ry proposal now tendered to them in his name, and a, his proper act, what must be thought of tbii alleged pro_ ceeding ? But when it is brought to mind that the Duke of Wellington had treated the wavering or half-and-hall Lords with contempt, for so abandoning their original ob jections to the Reform Bill, and entertaining any middle course whatever, " weakness" is an epithet which by no means adapts itself to the conduct of that man who could, in his quality of closet counsellor, advise the King to " repeat" in principle the proposition for the first sug gestion of which he had covered Lord Harrowby with scorn ! What ! this champion of salaried chivalry en courage the Sovereign to set his Ministers the eximplr of deserted principles and of forfeited pledges,—to bur render the fairest and noblest attributes of the Re fo:in Bill, that he might not be called upon to fulfil the obligations by which he had bound himself to pro mote its triumph ! Thus briefly stands the case. The King now, it is said, insists on modifying—that is, in fact, mutilating—the Bill, which he supported his Minis ters against Lord Harrowby in preserving, and at the alleged (if not authenticated) instigation of the Duke of Wellington, who had condemned them both ! Is this, or is it not, dragging Royalty through the kennel ? Is this proceeding " couservative" of monarchy ? We do believe that the King has demanded of his ostensible Ministers, and at the evil -suggestion of his secret ones, modifications of the Reform Bill, contrary to their pledges to avert the necessity of creating Peers; for if not, there was nothing more simple than that his Majesty's re-opening of a corre spondence with his Ministers should have been followed by their instantaneous resumption of office. But the delay is returning to office proves, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the Cabinet, as patriots and men of honour, have ac cepted—and will accept—no such conditions. They know too well what they owe to their country, any to the deluded Court itself,—they feel what is due to their own inward consciences and their unstained reputations, too well to send any other than a firm negative to this mandate of the Duke of Wellington, though sanc tioned by a more illustrious hand. We are satisfied, as of any the most obvious truths, that Lord Grey and his colleagues, if they return at all to office, will have first obtained a distinct assurance from the King that he will create Peers, if necessary, " to carry the Bill umnutilated." That sonic declaration equivalent to this has been made by the Cabinet, we are thoroughly persuaded, because on no other supposition can we account for the delay. That has been `•submitted'' to the great champion of all public grievances, is not improbable ; but that an answer to it, and one free from all ambiguity or evasion, must he communicated to Lord Grey and his col leagues before the sitting of Parliament at five o'clock this day, we believe the public may safely take for granted. If the answer be unfavourable, the struggle against our liberties will have already commenced, and Arthur Duke of Wellingtion had better look to consequences. His Grace is as well acquainted with the feelings of this country as he is with that of the Japanese or Chinese. He prepares to meet it by coercive laws and polio) ; but what is that law worth which is universally odious to a mighty nation ? And what sort of legislature will pass ►uch laws ? A minority in the House of Commons ! A minority of the people's representatives pass laws in the teeth of the majo rity to put down the whole people ! Heavens what mad ness ! But oppressive and revolting laws must be enfurced by violence—there is no other method. It is not then the people's Bill, but the people's butchery ! That is to be our prospect is it ? If so, may the hand of every free Englishman perish from his body if he do not himself, and his children, and country, right upon the Lead of the murderer ! We know full well, that intrigues are going forward. Why should the Wellington and Lyndhurst fiction be suffered to interfere between the King and his present (Lords Grey and Brougham are his present) Ministers? Is this common delicacy? Is it good faith? In the mean time, there are noble and ge nerous acts to be recorded, but the intriguers and place hunters have not been parties to them. Lord Mansfield, like Sir Robert Inglis, carries his hatred of Reform to the extent of fanaticism : but, like the Hon. Baronet also, he is a thoroughly honest man. What was his Lordship's language when pressed by an illustrious person to support the Duke of Wellington's /Ministry ? " Sir, I hare had enough of the Duke of Wellington and his conduct." The crisis is not one for suppressions or perversions of fact. The people have a right to know all. There is a lady of very high rank who must be taught a salutary, though it may be a painful, lesson. She may be bold as an ama zon ; she may be troublesome, importunate, or overbear ine ; but her present course is one from which can follow naught but final wretchedness. Why has she so eagerly, within these few hours, bid her gossips "not despair? Why such haste to tell them " all will be well; the King will do without the Whigs." Yes, Madam, but England will not ; still less will England do without the unmuti lated Bill.— Times. At a very late hour, and after writing the preceding ob servations, some intelligence has reached us which throws a somewhat mote favourable aspect on the state of affairs. It is understood that the Duke of Wellington and his party have, in order, as they profess, to save the King the pain of exercising his prerogative, undertaken to with draw their opposition to the Bill, and retire from the House. The Ministers, of course, must have the po sitive assurance of the most complete and unequivocal per formance of this undertaking; for they ma y be persuaded, that should there be a point to hang a doubt upon,—an opening for a mite to creep through,—there are those who would unscrupulously use the advantaee, and trip up the too-confiding Government, even at the eleventh hour. Some sophism of distinguishing the promise to support the leading principles of the Bill from the consent to some pat ticular provision,--some hypocritical pretence of i pro tecting the King from being " bullied" (for such s the slang of these worst enemies of the King and people), may be put forward by an unexpected movement, and the Bill be defeated by a surprise. There is, therefore, but one plain course : the Ministers must not resume office while a shadow of a doubt remains of the possibility of the Bill suffering any, even the slightest, mutilation. There should be no negotiation,—there has been enough and too much of that already : no discussion of any but the only means of bringing the Bill to a speedy and triumphant issue. The Ministers must, for the sake, no less of supporting the respect and dignity of the Crown than of maintaining the tranquillity of the empire, respectfully but firmly refuse to resume the Government, unless they have full security of succe,s, either by being armed with powers to create a majority, or by the most explicit declaration, on the part of the Duke of Wellington and his friends, that their op position is totally withdrawn. This declaration must, we suppose, be made this evening, and on its fullness and clearne•s will depend the issue whether the Ministers may honourably resume their functions.— Times. Our attention has been called to the fact, that in a Gazette, a week or two ago, among the military promo tions, a certain Major P. Dundas, of the 7th Hussars, was appointed to an unattached Lieutenant-Coloneley, and without purchase. Now, every body knows that there is nothing at present more difficult, or, in other words, no difficulty which it requires greater interest with the gran dees to surmount, than the obtaining of unattched pro motion, even by purchase,—except, indeed, the getting it without purchase. It seems, therefore, desirable to ascertain who this favoured officer—this " Major P. Dundas"—may be, who has vaulted into a Lieutenant- Colone!y, from being junior Major of a Hussar regiment, without paying any thing for the step. Is it credible, — is it possible,—that he can have been the same Major Dundas, the relative of Lord Melville, who was, only last year, obliged to pay damages for one of the most unfeeling acts of seduction on record,—the seduction of an Irish clergyman's child, attended with circumstances of the most shameful depravity. is it, we say, that same relative of Lord Melville whom Lord Hill has hoisted over the heads of so many officers of older standing and of unstained reputation, distinguishing him by so signal a mark of favour, and by such very enviable patronage ? This inquiry ought to be answered, and it it can he no otherwise answered than in the affirmati ve , th en o ught Lord Hill, or possibly Lord Hi l l' s o ld chief, who is com monly supposed to have still a finger in the Horse Guards, to be called upon, by some more rigorous interrogatory, and compelled to satisfy the country, w hi c h pays the troops and has a deep interest as well in the morals of the service as that ot ti h t e r r y w , ise on qu whatali in the justice and integrity with w hi c h promotion i s grounda‘s- awarded—t canto satisfy,have we repeat, aea person the no country, been tied than this Major P. Dundas, the party cast in the above action for damages, w as p i c k e d out from the entire army and indulged by such gratuitous preference over hun dreds of candidates to whose name there was affixed no moral stigma? Why have pri va t e v i rtue and public de cency been insulted by the prominence now given to his professional advancement? Had he be en d es i re d to se ll out of the servici., instead of b e i ng promoted in it at no e xpense to himself, every refl ec ti ng person would at the time of the transaction alluded to have been sincerely gra tified.— Times. No definitive arrangement has yet taken place in re gard to the new Ministry. Both Lord Grey and the Duke of Wellington had severally interviews with the King yesterday; but the final determination of his Ma jesty remains for this day. In the meantime it is highly gratifying to find that the Monarch's late nolA and con stitutional conduct has so much endeared him to all the respectable classes of his subjects, that his Levee yesterday was the most numerously attended of any of the season. The cowardly and calumnious assaults which have been made in the House of Commons on the honour of the Duke of Wellington are doing more to arouse ai,d invigorate the real friends of the Monarchy than even the peril and extremity of the commonwealth itself. The' gallantry of the Duke in stepping forward at this pe rilous juncture, to prevent, by a personal sacrifice, the over throw of the Monarchy, and to rescue the King from the tyranny and dictation of an ungrateful and hollow •hearted Minister, is awakening in all those to whose breasts honour is not a stranger the almost bygone recollection of the ser vices of this great man. The mean and polluted quarter from which these imputations have chiefly proceeded, and the falsehood and assumption on which they are based, have excited a further disgust, and have elicited the highest of all tribute to the character of the Noble Duke, in the pride which all high-minded men take in appropria ting a share of the aspersions, by identifying themselves, without reservation, with his conduct and honour in the trying negotiations of the past week If the Mo narchy is to be destroyed, if our kind and frank hearted Monarch is to be delivered up hound into the hands of those who have rewarded his goodness by betray ing him, at the least the stigma is removed that no one public man could be found willing to approach his Royal Master in the hour of his peril and distress. When the frenzy of faction shall have subsided, and this unhappy country shall have expiated its folly by years of sorrow and misery, to the eternal honour of the Duke of Wel lington will it be recorded that, regardless of his own feel ings, and of the ease and tranquillity of the remainder of a life spent in the service of the State, he made a last in trepid effort, by the sacrifice of himself, to avert the cala mities of his ungrateful country.—Morning Post. The assiduous efforts of the late Ministers and their friends to produce a sanguinary democratic revolution in Great Britain, and to destroy the Throne, the Aristocracy, and the Church, bsse and wicked as those efforts unques tionably are, certain as they are not only to fail but to plung e the desperate party which mikes them into still deeper and into more irretrievable disgrace and ruin, will yet appear not wholly unnatural when we consider that they must be conscious their conduct during the last eighteen months has been such as must utterly deprive them of a chance of regaining political power as a party for the next hundred years, it the House of Brunswick ' shall continue to fill the British throne. They have been perfidious servants of the King. They are detected, ex posed, disgraced. The incendiary and rebellious language we now hear from their partisans, the traitorous projects they meditate, and indeed avow, furnish but another in stance to swell the familiar catalogue of proofs with which history already abounds, that no atrocity it too great for bad men when reduced to despair. It is highly gratifying to its to reflect upon the contrast which is resented, and which is indeed so striking that it is scarcely necessary to point it out, between the present conduct of the Whigs towards their Sovereign, and that which we, and those en tertaining opinions similar to ours, pursued during the me lancholy and disastrous pet iod in which the Councillors surrounding the Throne were cur political opponents. Where is the Tory who then breathed a syllable of disre spect towards his Majesty, or those immediately connected with him ? Where is the Whig who dove not now revel unrestrained in all the license of ribaldry and libel against the King, against the amiable and unoffending partner of his heart and throne, against every person in short in whose feelings, character, and welfare the Sovereign can be supposed on any account to take a peculiar interest? But it is now for the first time that the Royal Family of England have learned the single condition upon which they can hope to escape insult and contumely frsin the Whig party. It has long been notorious that this party are alternately the most fulsome of flatterers and the most daring of calumniators, accordingly as they happen to be in or out of office. This is comparatively, however, of little importance. Those unseemly changes of language and deportment have been so often practised by the Whigs, and so often pardoned, that this party were not perhaps unreasonable in expect ins that to them they might be practised and pardoned once more. The crime of which they have recently been guilty, if not baser than their former offences, is unques tionably more mischievous, since it has produced for a mo ment, and was undoubtedly intended to produce for a much longer period, an alienation of the affections of a misguided portion of the people of England from the person and an abatement of their respect towards the office of the Sovereign, to effect which, the mere sarcasms or invectives of die ippointed and dis placed Whigs would have been poured forth in vain. The Whig Ministers of William the Fourth have propa gated for seven months, by means of their agents and un derlings, the falsehood that his Majesty bad promised them that be would create Peers in sufficient numbers to enable them to carry their measure. The first and necessary effect of this falsehood was to discourage. and in some degree to alienate, the real friends of the Monarchy, who must of course be sensible that all hope of preserving the British Constitution, or any part of it, was at an end, if it were true that the Monarch on the throne had become so reckless and uncompromising a revolutionist as this promise on his part would have shown him to be. When the time then at length arrived at which it became necessary to the purposes of these Whig revolutionists that this fatal step should be taken, they, as Ministers, advised it, and the King, in pursuance of his duty, and knowing himself to be unfettered by any pledge whatever upon the subject, firmly refused compliance. Upon this refusal, as it was fatal to their whole project, they deserted the King's service, which the lie they had promulgated had rendered now a service of extraordinary difficulty, without offering to the public a single word in direct acknowledgment of the false hood by which a large proportion of the lower and more ex citable classes of the people had long been misled, and upon which alone they bad founded a confident expectation that a measure which, however destructive in its nature and effects, was nevertheless still popular among them, would be eventually adopted. They did more than this. They instructed their agents and underlings to maintain in so ciety, and by means of the Revolutionary Press, that such a pi anise had been really given, in order the better to pre pare the minds of the ignorant and vulgar for the other calumnies by which they intended to assail the Monarch and his friends, and to force him, by dint of rabble excitement, to submit to their unmitigated and perpetual dominion. No man, however expert, could have succeeded in a scheme like this. But fortunately they have blundered so dreadfully in its execution (in what, indeed, have they not blundered ?) as to make its instant defeat easy and certain. We undertake to demonstrate, from the lan guage and conduct of Ministers themselves, that the state• merit of their having a promise from the King to create Peers cannot possibly be true. Had they been in posses sion of such a pledge, the division of last Monday in the House of Lords could not have excited in them any dismay. But it did excite the greatest, as was visible to every man who saw Earl Grey upon that occasion. There fore their statement is false. Had they been in pos session of such a pledge there could have been no occa sion for the anxious deliberation of the Cabinet on Tues day morning to determine what they were to do upon their recent defeat, inasmuch as they must already, as a Cabinet, have determined to use the power upon such an emergency before they obtained or even applied for it.--. But it is notorious that there was occasion for this anxious deliberation, and that it really took place. Therefore their statement is false. Had they been in possession of suck a pledge the sending off a Treasury Messenger to Windsor, to apprise his Majesty that the occasion had arisen to which the Royal promise applied, would have been all that they could have thought necessary. Instead of this we find, however, that the two leading persons in the Ministry, Earl Grey and Lord Brougham, go off in great expedition to Windsor to submit the advice of the Cabinet to the King ; and that their less considerable col leagues, who remain in town, remain in deep and painful anxiety, so deep and painful that they could not conceal it even from the most common observer, for the fate of the Administration, which they knew to depend upon the yet uncertain issue of this visit to Windsor. Therefore their statement that they had any pledge from the King upon the subject is manifestly false. If further proof be required of the utter falsehood of the assertion so confidently made sbaynettned by those Ministers, the friends of the late Ministers,we refer to thesotreacherously speeches by which Earl Grey in one House of Parliament, and Lord Althorp in the other, an nounced their resignation. They both expressly referred to the vote of the House of Lords as an occurrence which reduced Ministers to the alternative of at once resigning, or of advising a creation of Peers, and they described this alternative as one which required deliberation on the part of the Cabinet, subsequently to the event which produced it. Upon the supposition of a pledg e th ere cou ld h ave been no such alternative emergent up on t h e occas i on . Upon this supposition, the Cabinet had not only determined before-hand what they would do, had not only made the Sovereign acquainted with their deter m i na ti on , b ut h a d gone the length of requiring, and h a d i n f act o b ta i ne d , a promise from the Sovereign that he would acquiesce in it. Do men so situated talk of alternatives and deliberations, and advise? It is morally impossibl e . T he Mi n i ster i al i allegation of a pledge s then a falsehood as palpable as it is traitorous and wicked, nor can it have been batched fur any other purposes than the treasonable ones we have assigned. And now we ask if it be possible that any King of England should for at least a hundred years to came place the affairs of the nation and his own reputation and tranquillity in the hands of a Whig Administration ?-- fiforn ing Post. We have scarcely space enough left to furnish our readers with anything like an abridgement of the ex pression of feeling, which has taken place in every part of the country from which we have as yet received infor- mation, and it is, therefore, fortunate that it is not Dr:. cessary. The public feeling is unanimous on all points if which the public ought to think alike ; and there are none of our readers, we are confident, who will not prefer th. perusal of the reports of the various great meetings which have been held in favour of Reform in different parts o' the kingdom, to any abstract which it would be in our power to furnish of them. Still it is necessary to taly something of the spirit of these meetings ; but in them times, when a Tory and an anti-national Attorney- General would find a pleasure in pouncing upon us, it is necessary to say it with caution. But still what is their spirit ? Our first answer to the question ought to regard the King, as the first man in the State, as well as the first in another concern, which we care not much to mention. How sadly has he fallen in public estima tion! How deeply must he deplore the step which fatal counsel has induced him to take ! We have spoken of him so often in terms of the most loyal affection, that it is truly a pain to us to say that " he has now fallen from his high estate ;" but, verily, our gracious Sovereign, " who can do no wrong," hut who has refused to create the number of Peers necessary to carry the Reform Bill succesfully through the House of Lords, has indeed " fallen from his high estate," and rendered himself as obnoxious to the public as he was once its idol! The fault cannot be his, for "he can do no wrong ;" but the fault is some where, and now that he has had sufficient notice that he " has done wrong," the public, we suspect, will not be very apt to forgive him, unless he drive far away from him his evil counsellors, and do again that which is right. Secondly, with regard to the public feeling, it is anani• mous on every point on which it is important that Eng lishmen, at the present crisis, ought to be of one mind— it is unanimous in condemning the trea chery by which Lord Grey and his colleagues were turned out of office—it is unanimous in con demning an illustrious personage for having yielded to the blandishments of an un-English faction—it is una nimous in declaring for the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill—and, finally, it is unanimous in say ing that it has no confidence in the Administration now forming, and that it will not receive, as a measure to be acted upon, any Bill which may proceed from their hands. These matters are facts ; and these facts, if they come fairly before the King, ought to determine him to recall immediately those whom he has dismissed from his Coun cils; but we fear that, according to public report, the die is cast, and that the King having interposed between the public and himself a new Administration, has already placed the public in array against him—in other words, that lie and the House of Lords are against all England, as well as Scotland and Ireland, are now against them. The issue of the contest remains to he seen. We are loyal subjects, and regret that the King should,even nominally, be a party to the contest ; but at a moment like the present there can be no distinction of persons, and if his Majesty set his face against the people, the people cannot well he accuse., of setting their face against him, Extremities will be the result.—Morning Advertiser. We now come to the prospects of his successors, a list of whom—a precious set fur private character in public estimation, and for political consistency—will I e found in v n e u t n o i I :e h r e . r ni T a h s e first c , is t o h n e s it s s a t e m n advice e r t h p e a s r e t o m f e our nsh t o ) u re ld sen g t the Duke of Wellington, prior to his resignation in No vember, 1830, was understood to have given to King Wil liam, the quondam reformer, "Not to dine in the city"— in other words, not to show himself too much in public, lest he should meet with something unpleasant to his feel ings. Such is the state to which the King is now re duced. It will, perhaps, be proper to give the same coun sel to her Majesty, for the English people, though kind in the extreme to the wives of their Monarchs, are jealous in the extreme as to any undue interference of theirs in the affairs of the country. Thus much for the popularity of the new Ministry. From the Duke of Wellington being at its head, we may denominate it, a Polignac Ministry— and such, if persisted in, we firmly believe will be its end. The plan proposed by these men is an immediate disso lution of Parliament—for in truth they cannot go on with the present House of Gimmons. And what, we will ask, will they gain by another, in the present state of fervid excitement into which the King's conduct has plunged the country? Can they gain a better? In any county or town, in which the people have a voice, will an Anti-Reformer dare to show himself on the hustings? If he does, it must be at the risk of life or limb. But in the interim, will the people be doing nothing ? Ve ill not " agitation" proceed like a rolling snowball, gathering and enlarging as it goes? Where will be the revenue, if the people refuse to pay the taxes? and diet they will re fuse, and generally refuse, there is now no doubt. We are convinced, that in the ensuing quarter, unless the Re form Bill is passed, not one-third of the assessed taxes will be collected—and public subscriptions will be opened to furnish the sufferers with legal means of resistance, and with indemnification in case of loss. But where, we would ask, will be found the tax-gatherers, who, flying in the face of their fellow-countrymen, will venture on the invidious parts of their office?—where the appraisers to sell the confiscated goods ?—where the Jury to find the non-payers guilty, in case of replevin ? All these fearful contingencies the English Polignac will have to encounter; and if the people prove true to them selves, of which we have no doubt, for the flame is ex tending from one part of the empire to another with added fierceness, he will, with the whole English army at his back, be disgracefully beaten, as was the fate of his French predecessor. There is another matter which might not be above the consideration of these advocates of corruption. In the olden time there was such things as impeachments by the Commons—bills if impeachment, by which mitred priests and statesmen lost their livings, and some their heads. This is a point that, if history is not a fable, some public men of the present day seem fast verging towards. We would say to them, beware.—News. NATIONAL POLITICAL UNION. Last night another general meeting of the members of this Union took place. The hour of commencing busi ness was fixed for eight, but long before that time vast numbers were pouring in, amongst whom were about 1,000 who had not Moro joined, and who enrolled their names as new members. At eight o'clock, not only the great room itself and the spacious passages leading to it were crowded to suffocation, but there were several thousand members in the square itself who could not ob tain a dmission. Their numbers kept continually in creasing. At a late period it was deemed advisable that four gentlemen of the Council should address the mem bers from the steps outside; and we should ray that at the very lowest estimate, taking into account the members within and without, the resolutions passed last night re ceived the unanimous sanction of from 12,000 to 14,000 membe' a. The SECRETARY informed the Meeting that the Council had long deliberated on the expediency of calling a general meeting of all the Political Unions, as required by a late resolution, and that the result of the inquiry was, that under existing circumstances such a meeting is deemed inexpedient. This announcement was received amid loud cries of " Shame! no ! no !" which were with diffi culty repressed.—The Secretary then remarked, that many Members of Parliament had promised to attend the meeting (but none except Mr. Gillon of Scotland did at tend, and that among the rest he had written to Mr. Duncotnbe, who had returned the following answer : " Queen street, May 16, Wednesday afternoon, six o'clock. " St a,—l have only this moment received your letter, in viting me to the General Meeting of the National Political Union to be held this evening. " I regret extremely that iwas not aware of the intended meeting sooner—having made a previous engagement which it is now too late to postpone. But if you will have the kindness to inform me when your next General Meeting shall take place, I will do myself the honour of attending it. " I have the honour to be, &c. " To R. Detrosier, Esq., " Sec. Nat. Pol. Un." " T. R. DUNCOMBE. r Minis as d : ar a sg K ab z i en F i b E r emt Ministers i e pi n nries r nt e e l f ir e es r: of e h d teh t e o h oppe t eo h dp e i et h .h l e e y m Aw b l t e ihi r lo s ungo o ht f Parliament becoming advocat e s of the people'a ri g ht s , an d e (he G to said) it was currently reported and believed th a t Lord y therefore desert their posts, but be wide awake in the field ; for the bade is not won, and we should not halloo till quite out of the wood.—(Cheers.) Mr. Muaru expected that Lord Grey will enter office unfettered, and with full powers, independent of intrigue— so as to allay the excitement of the jpeople at the present period, by carrying the Bill. The stand made in the House of Commons, and by the Unions, have effected this moral victory. He then moved—" That the meeting hail with pleasure the prospect of the re-appointment of Earl Grey's Administration, in the confident expectation that he will make no compromise with the enemies of the people." Mr. RAINFORD briefly seconded the resolution. again)—as he is called. — (Cheers.) I Mr. POTTER, of Manche st e r, said—l saw the illustri ous Duke of Wellington—(Tremendous groans)—illus trious—(Groanssaw him in October last , in com p an y with another gen tleman from Manchester, when we brought up the peti tion to the House of Lords. We were directed by oui countrymen to obtain an interview with him. We did so, and we told him that the people of the North of Eng land were one and all Reformers, and bent on obtaining this Bill. I told him if the Reform Bill did not pass, what heavy calamities would befall the country. Wt told him that tke great and influential merchants and ma nufacturers of Manchester were irt a stete of alarts—that they were discharging their workmen—and that we would not answer for the consequences.—(Hear, hear.) The Duke's reply was this —(Hear.)—" The people of Eng land are very quiet if they are let alone, and if they won't there is a way to make then."—(Oh, oh, and groans.) Gentlemen, I am not mentioning to you a tale of fiction, lam telling you what actually took place. We told him that he did not know the people ; that he did not under stand the state of the country. " What!" said the Duke, " I am connected with five counties, in which there are several towns. I know everything which is going forward, and yet you tell me that I do not know the state of the country." I asked his Grace whether he knew the feeling of the people of the North, and his Grace could not reply—(Loud cheers)—but he took great fig4tas to convince us that he had not the slightest personal inte rest in opposing Referm.—(oh, oh.) I thank you for the privilege of addressing you. Maintain the position in which you stand, and the great object of your wishes is obtained.—(Continued cheering ) Mr. CURRAN, from Dublin, addressed the meeting. Something had been said about meeting in the open air; he took this opportunity of stating that a meeting had been held in the open air in Dublin, one of the largest ever known in that city; upwards of 50,000 persons hay ing been present, in which they resolved to wave the con sideration of all peculiar and national grievances, and join heart and hand with the Reformers of England and Ire land, till their rights were fully established.—(Lottd cheers.) The Bi'l was not yet safe,—the battle was not yet ought.—(Lotol cheers.) As an Irishman, he would assure them that all Ireland was heart and soul with them in the glorious struggle in which they were engaged.— (Great applause, followed by three cheers for Old Ireland.) Time CHAIRMAN then put the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr. CHURCHILL rose to propose the next resolution, and said—Gentlemen, the King, by recalling Earl Grey, has withdrawn his declaration against the people—let us, therefore, not receive him into favour—(No, no)—but let us treat him with politeness—(Hear)—let us deal with him as the turnpike men deal with us, let us write up " no trust,"—(Laughter, and great applause)—let us admit him on the national omnibus as an outside passenger, but let us choose our own coachman and our own cad. Let us give them our instructions, and, if he attempt to seize the reins, let the coachman give him a rap over the knuckles. —(Great cheering.) We have acted on the military sys tem of the Noble Doke—we made ready, we presented, but, fortunately for him, we had no occasion to fire.-. (Cheers.) Let us still be on the alert—let us now ground our arms, but on no account give up our cartridges.—(Ap plause.) I now beg to move the following resolution:— " That it is absolutely necessary, for the peace and tranquillity of the nation, that Earl Grey should be empowered to carry the English Reform Bill unmutilated, and to secure to our Scotch and Irish brethren their full and fair share in the national re presentation."—(Great applause.) Mr. DETROSIER seconded the resolution nearly as fol lows :—The return of Lord Grey will not merely insure the peace of England—it will insure the peace, the pro sperity, and the liberty of Europe.—(Cheers.) Certain Noble Persons had formed a deep laid plot—they had be gun to prepare for a crusade against the liberties of Europe.—(Groans.) They had long been preparing, in conjunction with the miscalled Holy, but, as I will call it, Unholy Alliance!—(Hear.) It is by the Unions that he has been defeated.—(Loud cheers.) We have found the way to " stop the Duke,"—(Cheers ; We have !) without spilling one drop of blood. We hare put a few paper bullets thin u 4 l: the body of the Old Lady in Thread needle-street—(Cheers.) This was far more effectual than all the bullets which the Duke coubt have given us— (Applause). Some persons have exclaimed against the morality of going to the Old Lady to stop the Duke, but I ask what morality is there in contemplating butchery (Cheers. ) Every thing i. vindicable in an emergency ' like the present. Above all remain firmly united. Let us form a union, not of England merely, but of England, Scotl mod, Ireland and Wales.—(Cheers.) Let the rose, the shamrock, the thistle, and the leek, flourish together. —(Great cheering.) Mr. Fox SMITif read an extract from an Evening Paper that L.rd Grey had kissed his Majesty's hands and had his wishes gratified to their full extent.—(The cheers at this announcement were long, loud, and repeated.) Mr. Gru.orr, M. P., congratuluted the meeting on this intelligence. Referring to the disgraceful occurrence at Peterloo, in 1819, which (Mr. Gahm said) disgraces the pages of English Hiotory, be sail he was proud in being one of those in the. House of Commons to support an in. quiry into the conduct of the persons engaged in that dis astrous affair. But all inquiries of that kind will be stopped while the boroughmongsring tricks prevail ; and while those are dominant whom we call " My Lords," and who breed a spawn of hereditary despots. The Resolution passed unanimously. At this period, the numbers pressing in'o the room be came so great and impatient, that Messrs. Powell, Mors phy, Detrosier, arid Savage, were induced to go outside, and address those who could not get access to the room. These gentlemen explained to the members outside in the square. Mr. HICKSON proposed the next resolution...." That this Union pledges itself to support Earl Grey against every effort which may be directed against him, either by open attack from a desperate and degraded faction, or by private intrigues disgraceful to the King, and insulting to the people." In animadverting on the conduct of the Duke of Wellington, he said that he bad endeavoured to try net only what part of the army would support his arbitrary attempts, but what part of the new police ; and fur this purpose Colonel Rowan had sent round to inquire how the dispositions of the differerent divisions were towards such attempts ; but from two of those divisions, the Commis— sioner of Police was answered, that if they were required to be opposed to the people, the men could not be trusted. —(This was received amid loud cheers, and cries of " Name the divisions !") So, too, he hoped that many in the army will be found to act in unison with the people, and riot prove so devoted to military despotism as is sup posed. Mr. CARPENTER, in seconding the resolution, said, that within the last few days Monarchy had done more for Re publicanism than years—(Cheers),--and enlarged greatly on this topic. The nation has no need of, nor has sanc tioned the German ladies, who ought to retire to their privacy, if they do not wish the execration and scorn, if not worse, of the people. He (Mr. Carpenter) was proud, if it prove true, of what he had heard of Lord Grey in his lately addressing his Majesty, when he said in effect (as was reported at five o'clock that evening), " I can't trust yonr Majesty's words "—(Great cheers ;)—" I have found to my cost that the word of a King may be forfeited"—not by his own intention, of course (said Mr. Carpenter) " and I must therefore have something more than a mere verbal promise ; I must have the pledge in writing, that the Bill shaa become the law of the land."—(Cheers.) Thus Kings will be dishonoured who dishonour their own bill and pledges, and distrust be shown where deceit has heels displ tyed. Mr. Fox SMITH said, that the people will now have the Bill is beyond doubt; and that they will have more thaw the Bill is within hopes. Mr. Luca said this Bill may secure the rights of the middle class—he hoped the next Bill will secure the rights of the working classes of the community. The CHAIRMAN, on .putting the resolution, said that the Union only pledged itself to the approvable acts of Lord Grey's Administration.—The resolution passed tint.. nimously. Thanks being then voted to the Chairman, the meeting was about to separate, when one of the Council advancing forward, informed the meeting that Sir William Brabaaon bad th it moment made a donation to the Union of 51., and that he wished to address the meeting. Sir WILLIAM BRABAZON had been passing after dining with a friend, and having seen the imtnerm crowd about the square, he had inquired the reason, and was informed of the meeting. He was, therefore, proud to seize the opportunity of enrolling himself a member of the Union; and although he was a native of Ireland, he and all his countrymen were anxious to accord with their brethren Reformers in England in all their meditated improve ments.—(He was warmly applauded, and when he ended there were three times three cheers for " Old Irelaid," and Erin go-bragh.) Three cheers were then given for Lord Grey and the people, and many groans for the Dukes of Cumberland and Wellington, and others. The meeting subsequently sepa rated in the most orderly wanner. During the meeting the number of members of the Union collected outside was so great, that the Council deemed it necessary to send out tour of its members to address them from the step•. At least 8,090 were thee congregated, and the utmost order and regularity prevailed. The various resolutions were carried unanimously. The meeting separated, with three groans for the Duke of Wel lington, and thrice three cheers for Earl Grey and Reform• MARRIED. On the 14th inst. Sir Frederick Hervey Bathurst, of Clarendon Park, Wilts, to Louisa Mary, eldest daughter of the late Wat• Smythe, Esq., of Brambridge, Hants, and niece to Mrs. Fitz• herbert. On the Lith inst. at Mulbarton, Frederick 13alders Beevor , Esq., of Chancery-lane, London, to Mary, the youngest daughter of Dr. Beevor, and grandaughter of Sir Thomas Beevor, late of Ilethel, in the cou n t y of Norfolk. Bart., DIED. On the 10thi inst. at Dover, Robert Winthrop, Esq., V l"' Admiral of the Blue. • PRINTED AND ''uaLisiigo BY .NURD.CkYOUI:I q, SUN OFFICE, 112, S TR A ND , L ONDON , TOS