The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-18 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sra,—Tho circumstance of the sanction of the Prime
Minister to the proposal of opening the Crystal Palace for
the reception and amusement of the public on Sundays,
has naturally called forth the surprise and indignation of
every denomination of Christians who profess to have any
regard for the sanctity of that sacred day, the general
desecration of which is calculated to be more destructive
of our individual and national prosperity than any measures
which the most pernicious Government could be capable of
originating. By weakening the bonds of religious and
moral obligation, we are sapping the very foundation of
law and order ; and if we believe that all human ordi-
nances must bend to Divine decrees, that proud pre-
eminence which we have achieved amidst the nations of the
world, and the internal prosperity which this nation has
enjoyed, according to the increase or decrease of the reli-
gious feeling of the people, are liable to be lost and
destroyed. Whence the infatuation which induced the
Earl of Derby to give his consent to such a proposition,
after having declared his intention of carrying on his
Government on religious principles, it is not difficult to
determine. It arose either from a weak and thoughtless
compliance with the wis:ies of 'a Joint Stock Company to
increase their profits by the violation of the religious
feelings of the people, or from a motive of expediency to
gain a fleeting popularity with the lower classes of the
community. In either case it is equally fatal to the repu-
tation of the Minister, and will teach him, that the man
who would govern this country honourably to himself, and
acceptably to the nation, must not only profess to base the
principles of his Government upon a solid foundation, but
must have wisdom and moral courage sufficient to rise
above the weaknesses of others, and firmly and consistently
to carry them out. Fortunately for this nation there lies
an appeal from the temporary Minister to the permanent
Monarch ; and we are quite satisfied that when such
an appeal is based upon religious and constitutional prin-
ciples, when it speaks the voice and feeling of the nation,
it will ever find a responsive echo in the bosom of
our beloved Queen, whose own strict observance of
the Sabbath, and the other duties and rites of our
holy religion, as well as that of her Royal Consort,
and of the domestic household, gives us a high idea
of the religious feeling which encircles the Throne,
and is a noble exemplar to us all. We as a nation are
proud to live under the government of a lady, who, though
possessing all the graces of her sex, inherits the noble and
manly spirit of her ancestors ; and who would feel no more
repugnance in the dismissal of a Minister whose policy
was destructive of the welfare of her people, than her great
predecessor, that bright occidental star, Queen Elizabeth,
in unfrocking a bishop. It is a subject of great satisfaction
to us that our excellent Metropolitan Archbishop should
have been the first to raise his voice against the opening of
the Crystal Palace on Sundays, as it is one among the
many instances of that vigilance which he has ever exer-
cised for the spiritual welfare of the people ; and there is
not a Bishop in the country who may not, whatever be his
views upon other points, join the venerable Primate in ap-
pealing against this sacrilegious attempt to desecrate the
Sabbath. With regard to the evasive political opinions of
the Earl of Derby, if he has one particle of honour or
honesty about him ; if he has the slightest regard for his
future reputation as a consistent statesman ; if he has any
respect for the sentiments and feelings of those who have
assisted in placing him in power ; if his formerly strongly-
expressed opinions were not a sham and a pretence to de-
lude the credulous and the unwary ; if his strenuous oppo-
sition to the Liberal policy which has given food to the
hungry, clothing to the naked, and quiet to the internal
discords of the people, and which is the glory of this, and
will be the glory of succeeding ages, arose from the genuine
dictates of his understanding and his judgment, he would
at once unhesitatingly send in his resignation to the Queen,
stating that with his views he could not satisfactorily carry
on the Government of the country ; and that to adopt those
which he had ever denounced as ruinous to the people,
would affix eternal disgrace to his name, and shake the
confidence of the British nation in the faith of her public men.
This would be the path of true honour; this would be the
path in which the Earl of Derby would tread, if he took an
enlarged view of the future, and was true to himself ; this
would be tlfe path in which he would avoid an ignominious
defeat which will ere long attend the renunciation of his
principles and the abandonment of his friends. There
may be individuals about the Minister who would persuade
him to forswear his convictions, to desert the poor deluded
farmer, and the no less unhappy landed proprietor, in the
vain endeavour to retain office ; but these are not the Earl
of Derby's true friends ; they are men devoid of principle,
and would induce him to sacrifice decency, consistency,
propriety, integrity, and every principle which makes an
individual estimable and great in the eyes of the right-
thinking portion of mankind for some temporary personal
apparent advantage. No one with any pretensions to com-
mon sense will ever give the slightest credence to the sin-
cerity of a Minister who will to-day adopt that line of
policy which yesterday he pronounced subversive of the
wellbeing of the State. The tergiversation of the Minister
will prove but the weakness and the folly of the man.
The consequence will be that his quondam friends, now
betrayed, will withdraw from him their support, justly
and irreproachably too, or afford it in a very scanty mea-
sure ; and his opponents will withhold their assistance from
the natural conclusion that such a Minister will never carry
those great reforms, the necessity for the adoption of which
is the result of their honest and deliberate convictions.
The Cabinet of such a Minister will be distracted, and
carry with it the seeds of a speedy dissolution. Even he
whose vigilance and sagacity in office were only equalled by
his disinterestedness ; he who enjoyed the public confidence
in a manner never before witnessed by statesman ; he
whose eloquence shook the Senate, and echoed through the
kingdom ; whose last convulsive throes were witnessed in
that house which had beenthe scene of his former triumphs,
the great William Pitt, upon his reassumption of office
with a weak Ministry, was allowed to resign without ob-
servation, sympathy, or regret. In respect to the reported
not improbable coalition of the Earl of Derby with Lord
Palmerston, it appears to me a most improbable event ;
and that if it happened it would be productive only of a
monstrous abortion ; for I conceive that Lord Palmerston
is too wise to risk the good opinion of the British nation,
by attempting to strengthen the hands of a Minister who
for so many years has destructively opposed his own prin-
ciples, and who, notwithstanding any vacillating inten-
tions, would, I doubt, not, virtually be the counterpoise
and drawback of such onward measures, as, in the present
highly progressive state of the times, are the only se-
curity against those scenes of confusion, robbery, and
bloodshed which have recently been enacted by the French
nation, in which the Monarch and his family were expelled
from the throne and from the country. That the Earl of
Derby, under any circumstances, cannot long carry on the
business of the nation, I feel quite assured ; but my desire
is to see him vacate his office with that dignity and respect
which will ever accompany the upright and honest, though
mistaken, statesman, and which will prove a source of
satisfaction underthe disappointments of aspiring ambition,
and in the seclusion of a private station. It will require
an amount of sophistry, of which the Earl of Derby is not
master, to convince me that if he resigns there is such a
dearth of statesmen and talent amongst us that an indivi-
dual cannot be found capable of administering the affairs
of the country : that England shall never again rear her
head proudly among the nations of the earth ; that her
days are numbered, My conviction is, that the exigencies
of the time will produce the man ; and that if, having
wisely selected his colleagues, he start rightly and carry on
consistently, he will obtain the unbounded confidence and
support of an open-hearted and generous people.
I remain, Sir,

December, 1852.

W. G. EATON.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The adverse Parliamentary decision yesterday morn-
ing has necessarily had its usual effect on the Admiralty
departments, and preparations for change of quarters
are evident. Already we hear of numerous speculations
as to the successors of the present Board of Admiralty,
should the Queen accept the resignation of Lord Derby.
The Hon. Sidney Herbert, who was secretary to Lord
Haddington's Board, is named for the First Lord's seat ;
and it is put down as a matter of course that Rear-
Admiral the Hon. M. F. F. Berkeley, C. 8., will come
in again as Senior Naval Lord, and carry out his pro-
jects of manning and arming the navy—subjects so
familiar to him from from many years' consideration. Of
the other ex-members of the Admiralty only one is in
Parliament—the Hon. W. Cowper.

PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 17.

The remains of the late Commander-in-Chief of this
port will not be remo'red until next week. Rear-
Admiral Fanshawe hoisted his flag this morning at day-
light as acting commander-in-chief until the vacancy of
Port Admiral is filled up.
It was reported yesterday that it was the intention to
appoint a vice-admiral to the command in chief at Ports-
mouth, to succeed to the death vacancy ; and that Vice-
Admiral of the White Sir Thomas Cochrane, K.C.8.,
will be the new . port admiral.

We believe that the official announcement of Rear-
Admiral Deans Dundas's promotion, together with his
commission, have already been transmitted to the gallant
Commander-in-Chief. It will meet him at Gibraltar, most
likely, where he will hoist his Vice-Admiral's flag within
a week.

Captain Sir Baldwin Walker, K.C.8., Surveyor of the
Navy, arrived at this port yesterday on a visit to the
dockyard, and to-day inspected the ships, accompanied
by Captain W. H. Henderson, C.B.
The Leander, 50, Captain King, and the Arrogant, 46
(screw), Captain Fremantle, are ordered to Spiihead
forthwith, and will go out to-morrow.

The Archer, screw-sloop, 14, Commander Strange,
went out of harbour to Spithead this morning, and
awaits orders.

PLYMOUTH, DEO. 17.
The steamer Avon sailed yesterday with seamen for
ships fitting at Portsmouth.
Letters from her Majesty's frigate Spartan, which left
Plymouth on the 29th of July, and arrived at the Cape
of Good Hope on the 13th of October, state that, in con-
sequence of boisterous weather, she was 11 weeks going
from Madeira to the Cape, and for one month the crew
was placed on the short allowance of half a pint of
water per man per day.
The Australian Royal Mail Steam Navigation Com-
pany's mail-packet Adelaide, Captain Jackson, with
mails from Australia, and the General Screw Steam
Shipping Company's mail-packet Bosphorus, Captain
Benson, with mails from the Cape of Good Hope and
the Mauritius, are both ready for sea ; but, in conse-
quence of a very strong gale of wind from the south-
west, which commenced yesterday morning, and still
continues, there is not much probability of their depar-
ture to-day.

SHEERNESS, DEC. 16.

The Porcupine, 3, paddle-wheel steam-vessel, of 140
horse-power, Lieut.-Commander George M. Jackson,
has left the harbour, and has brought up at the Little
Nore, waiting sailing orders for Jersey. She is to re-
main there as a steam-tender to the squadron of reserve
for the Channel Islands.
The Wildfire, steam-tender to the Waterloo, 120 guns,
Captain the Hon. Montagu Stopford, got up her steam
at 9 a.m., and at 9.30 a.m. received on board Vice-
Admiral the Hon. Joceline Percy, C. 8., Commander-in-
Chief at the Nore, and his secretary, who proceeded to
Woolwich in her on an official visit to the dockyard.
The Rattlesnake, 8, has this day been inspected by
Mr. Isaac Watt, Assistant-Surveyor of the Navy, who
arrived here yesterday on an official visit for the purpose
of carrying out the Admiralty orders as to her fitment