The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-11 00:00:00

Lq'xCD,Yt3C fritit

T.ONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1852.

abandone (1 and
Whatever may be the
fete o f the present M
(end, if Protoction be unequivocally r:nistry,
wise and judicious measures brou,ht forward,
last longer than its opponents affect to belie I'',) One
1 t, m a Y
thing at least is certain. They have proved t'l,
siSility—which it Was trvson against tha `yhiwPs"-
to
ireagine—of the Government being carried .on by
others than the Members of certain noble ilgrnilies.
When nineteen persons connected with the nev r Ad.
c'ninistration were sworn in as Members. of the Privy
`'uncil, the fact was sneered at as if it was some-
thing
_Very disreputable. On th© contrary, it ap-
peared to us that there was independence an 3 con•
w...ious strength in the red
papery, and , new PREIVIER'S esche WI; 2g
selecting his or their i ibilits
tither than their birtb colleagues for
Dian of ' and
that Mr. DISRAELI: I as a
3n unquestionable... genius, was as likely to i prove,
t least, as
efficient a "AM 3LLoa, of the Excal 4U 1

as if he had been connected by blood or marriage
with the noble families of RUSIELL, GREY, or
ELLIOTT.

At the recent Manchester Meeting, Mr. COBDEN
and Mr. 13iticirr remarked on the chances cf their
being invited to take office, and disavowed nny ambi-
tion of the kind. If they should be so called on, it
will entirely be owing to the severity of the blow ad-
ministered to the Whig leaders. And the democratic
element will be admitted as reluctantly and sparingly
as possible. Had it not been for that salutary lesson,
a descent from, or relationship to, SARAH Duchess
of BEDFORD, might still be regarded as an indispens-
able qualification for a seat in the Cabinet, without
which the strongest claims should be disregarded.
Such, at least, would be the case if we are to judge
from former experience. Let us, for instance, con-
sider the case of Mr. Hums as a striking example.
From 1811, until the present time—a period of
forty- one years—Mr. HUME has been a faithful and
indefatigable, although unremunerated servant of the
public. He has exercised a vigilant watch over suc-
cessive Ministries, and been the means of checking
much extravagant expenditure. He has all through
been a consistent politician—the only blot on his
escutcheon being his memorable avowal—occasioned by
his devotion to the Liberal cause—that "he would
vote black white to keep the Whigs in office." He
did keep them in, more than once, by his influence,
his forbearance, and his kindness. If ever they owed
a debt of gratitude to any public man, it was to Mr.
HUME. But because he did not happen to belong to
any of the noble families who have hitherto claimed
an hereditary right to wield power in the governance
of the country, the Whigs have never once offered
him the smallest office in any of their Administrations
—they have not even thought him worthy of being
sworn in as a Privy Councillor.
Again, in 1846, when Sir ROBERT PEEL gracefully
took leave of office, he paid a happy and eloquent tri-
bute to Mr. COBDEN, to whom, he said, the public
was indebted for " the pressure from without,"which
compelled Parliament to repeal the Corn-laws. He
put Mr. COBDEN'S claims forward in such a manner,
that the RUSSELL-GREY•ELLIOT Ministry (created
actually by Free Trade, of which RICHARD COBDEN
was the child and champion) painfully felt that they
must make a show of offering some office to the re-
presentative of this great principle. They did so—
but how ? The Cabinet was formed of the old here-
ditary materials, and then, but not till then, they told
Mr. COBDEN that the comparatively trifling office of
Vice-President of the Board of Trade was at his ac-
ceptance. It was, of course, rejected, as far beneath
the claims of the Hon. Gentleman. It was then given
to Mr. MILNER GIBiON ; but when, after a couple of
years' trial, the chief office in the department became
vacant, which would have given a seat in the Cabinet,
they declined advancing the Right Hon. Gentleman,
because he had not the aristocratic blood which they
deemed essential; and he thereupon very properly
threw up the subordinate situation. Mr. COBDEN,
during the five years which preceded Free Trade, had
shown himself as clever, at the very least, as any Mem-
ber of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S Administration. But
although he had brains, he wanted blood. Had
be been the son, or grandson, or brother, or even
cousin of some noble sinecurist, or placeman, or pen-
sioner—he would, as such, have been qualified for
official companionship with the RUSSELLS, the GREYS,
and the ELLIOTTS, who are now grumhling Members
of her MAJESTY'S Opposition. The son of a farmer
in Sussex, and himself partner in a concern in Man
-
cheater, had no chance, with the aristocratic Whigs,
who affect to be the champions of Liberal principles
Joss MACGREGOR was another glaring instance
of their gross neglect of men of ability and experi-
ence. During the time that Hon. Gentleman was
Secretary to the Board of Trade, he had exhibited
his peculiar aptitude for the most important situations,
His services were exceedingly valuable, and his effli -
ciency was recognized in the most flattering manner
by Sir ROBERT PEEL, who candidly acknowledged
the great assistance received from Mr. MACGREGOR,
who prepared the Tariffs that constituted the founda-
tion and commencement of Free Trade. There is no
doubt that Sir ROBERT would gladly have availed
himself of Mr. MACGREGOR'S assistance in a higher
station ; but the Hon. Gentleman was faithful to the
Liberal cause, although he discharged his officialduties
in the most exemplary manner. Although, as &ere-
, tary of the Board of Trade, he made all the calcula-

tions and prepared the measures about to be brought
forward, he would not become a member of a Ministry
of whose principles he did not approve. When the
Whigs came into office he became a candidate for the
representation of Glasgow. There was nothing in
the duties of Secretary to the Board of Trade incom-
patible with a seat in Parliament. Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL, however, affected to think so; and Mr. MAC-
GREGOR resigned a permanent situation which many
persons would have considered a handsome reward for
Parliamentary services, rather than disappoint the im-
portant constituency whose suffrages he had solicited.
He was elected by a large majority. He exhibited
incontestible evidence of ability in the House, but he
still kept aloof. Had he been made Chancellor of the
Exchequer, as he ought to have been, on any of Sir
CHARLES WOOD'S notorious failures, and allowed the
influence due to the position, the Wbig Ministry
would probably still have retained office. The ne-
glect of Mr. MACGREGOR was, however, fully avenged
on the aristocrats, who would not suffer one of the
people, however great his talents, " to come between
the wind and their nobility."

We greatly fear that the present office-seekers (who
were late the office-holders) still cling to the fond de-
lusion that they, by prescription and practice, are
alone qualified to govern the country. Mere ability
goes a very short way with them. Family connexion
is everything—the very alpha and omega of the ne-
cessary qualifications. The Ministry was quite a
family party—cousins and uncles, and fathers-in-law
and brothers-in-law, and other near relatives. They
could not think of admitting any person who was not
"one of ourselves." And, in the disposal of patron-
age, from the famous GREY list of 1832 (by which it
appeared that the GREYS alone held places to the
annual amount of nearly 70,0001.) down to the very
day on which, in a pet with Lord PALMERSTON, Lord
JOHN threw up his cards, these men have invariably
had regard to what were denominated "the claims"
of their own felatives.
We have beard of " an ignorant impatience of taxa-

rion." The clique above alluded to have also an im-
patience, as impudent as it is ignorant. They are
impatient of Genius, impatient of Industry, impatient
~f Patriotism, impatient of Eloquence, impatient of
Tact—unless that genius, industry, patriotism, elo-
quence, and tact, belong to, or be exhibited by, one of

themselves. In CHARLES JAMES Fox and in WIL-
LIAM PITT they recognized these
the uue Npr sun or i.ora HOLLAND and the other of

the Earl of CHATHAM. In GEORGE CANNING they
would not recognize them, because be was only the
son of a private gentleman. Not only did his Tory
colleagues turn out in 1827, when GEORGE the
Fourth made him Premier, but the very men he had
a right to reckon on assailei him, because he was

No tenth tranomitter of a foolhl face."

Earl GREY turned fiercely on him, as must be well
remembered, at the very time when CANNING was in-.
-.roducing liberal measures for the country's good.
And this enmity resulted from CANN ING'S not being
"of noble blood." It was, however, amusing to hear
Lord GREY then talk of " standing by his order"—
his own peerage being of recent date, the first being
conferred on his father.

Mr. DISRAELI, and such of his colleagues as, un-
happily, do not boast of noble ancestry or aristocratic
connexions, may, of course, calculate on the enmity
of " the family party ;" for if worth alone made the
Minister, what would their own chances of office be ?
We venture to think, however, that the public will be
disposed to look rather at what a man does than at
who he is; and that, provided he serve them well and
efficiently, they will not carioualy or captiously in-
quire whether he has sixteen noble quartering on his
t all
ethveenetridenonuenoity
aduringctofnohios
rtdeinnu3rreyo i
shield...t Lord DERBY, it he conferred no other bene-
one
decessors.
we hope forever, " the family party."
fmopfno importance.
He He has
administered a wholesome rebuke to his pre-
He has broken up the elique-- he baa pdris-
solved,
The bu.-

busy boroug/-7;----------!-----"--01,iharn is now the scene of a
not electoral
.contest, and one in our judgment
of no ordinary interest--only second
perhaps, to the
one at Edinburgh, On the reinat of which Mr.

MACAULAY'S return to the British Senate depended.
Mr. Fox would, indeed, be the last man in the king-
dom to place himself on a literary level with Mr.
MACAULAY, but, as a working Member and eloquent
speeker in the House of Commons, his services would
not be inferior to those of the splendid historian. If,
however, Mr. Fox must take rank after Mr.
MACAULAY, where must his opponent Mr. HEALD be
placed ? To mention his name at all, in connexion
with that of MACAULAY, would certainly excite in
every reader's mind a suspicion that we were bereft of
our senses ; nay, to place it beside those of Mr.
MACAULAY'S fellow-candidates, successful or unsuc-
cessful, were, to say the least, a sore impeachment
of our common sense. Whatever the distance between
the brilliant essayist and historian, and the League's
most splendid orator, far far greater is the distance
between a HEALD, of Stockport notoriety, and such
admirable citizen candidates us Mr. COWAN and Mr.
DUNCAN MCLAREN. Indeed, two men of the bur-
gess-class could scarcely be selected more fit to re-
present its interests in the House of Commons than
the two gentlemen last named. 'We have certainly no
personal ground of quarrel with Mr. HEALD, and of
his private life we know nothing ; but we know that
his entrance into Parliament via Stockport was
attended with such Bacchanalian orgies and Seter-
nalia, that we Lave heard him designated as the" beer-
barrel Member," and heard also that a petition, if
presented, must have released him from the privilege of
voting against every liberal measure in the last Par-
liament. Of course all the excesses of that election,
like those which now disgust every decent inhabitant
of Oldham, " were entirely without the knowledge or
privity of the Hon. Member." We are quite con-
fident, indeed, that a distinguished follower of JoaN
WESLEY, the thorough-going teetotaller, a gentle-
man, who, though a layman, was actually invited to
the purely clerical Conference of the Methodists, and
congratulated too, on his election,—we are confident,
we repeat, that he knows nothing of all the " pot-
walloping" by which his agents gained him one elec-
tion, and are now trying to gain him another.
No, we sincerely believe that Mr. HEALD hates
drunkenness and all its brutal consequences
as much as we do; he is a worthy manufacturer
of the soberest class. Mr. HEALD is a!so
a Tory,—a Tory intellectually, being of just that
mental calibre which, with a certain amount of even
manufacturing wealth, is so frequently associated
with stand-where-we-are predilections,— Tory by
party, having, we believe, belonged for no inconsi-
derable time to the Church and King squadron,—
and a Tory ecclesiastically, being a specially favoured
supporter of the most thorough-gang ecclesiastical
despotism in the kingdom, Popery not excepted. With
the religious doctrines of the Wesleyans we hese,
noteing whatever to do ; they harmonize, we believe,
in all essential points with those of the great body of
Protestants. Till of late years, moreover, the zeal,
honest zeal, for the more part, with which they la-
boured to reclaim the most neglected classes, won
for them the commendations of candid men of all
creeds; but it is only too notorious that, of late years,
that great body has been thoroughly rent on the
question whether Methodist Government should be a
pure Aristocracy of Clergymen, with powers of ex-
pulsion, of suppression of all discussion, of compulsory
self-crimination against a suspected brother,—such
as, we believe, are hardly known in Popery, certainly
not possessed by any other religious body in England
—the question whether Methodist Government
should be of this kind, or should admit laymen to
some share of power, and to some freedom of debate.
Now we think it a very ominous symptom of the
quality of a man's Toryism when he is the special
favourite of such an ecclesiastical body as we have
described. The more liberal Irish Members, such
as denounced, the other day, the persecutions of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, these are not the favourites
of the more despotic portion of the Catholic Priest-
hood. Nor is Mr. HEALD the approved man of the
large number amongst the Wesleyans who are now
strenuously advocating a more liberal ecclesiastical
system. We must think, therefore, that such a pet
man of the closest clerical corporation in Protestant-
ism, perhaps in the world, is liable to be a
Tory of far less sympathy with British liber-
ties, than the manly Tories of the hearty old
school. Toryism of this sort is a kind of ho-
nourable inheritance—an heirloom, so to speak.
Methodist Toryism, with which nearly all the mem-
bers of Conference, and its wealthier supporters, are
so thoroughly imbued, is a very different thing. If
is the Toryism of men born of the people, for some
time subject themselves to the iron sway of Conferenco,
and at last elevated to become the irresponsible rule's
of the laity from whom they sprung. Hence tlear
have arranged a system as complete as that of Austsia
for suppressing all liberty of discussion, and all fne-
dom of the Press, so far as their own body is can-
corned. Hence they are not the mere inheritors of a
party name which they think it not honouralA to
renounce, but the watchful guardians of an absolute
power which they have centred in their own hinds.
They live in a kind of constant conspiracy agairet the
religious liberties of their own body, and are here•
tore just the class of Tories whom we least desire to
see entrusted with the civil and religious liberties of
their fellow-subjects. Most consistently did Mr.
HEALD vote against every measure of Reform in the
last Parliament. We were chiefly surprised to see
him vote against the repeal of the Malt-tax. We
should have supposed cheaper beer would twee been
an undeniable demand of his agents and constituents.
It is by such a Tory that Mr. Fox is opposed in the
manufacturing borough of Oldham. We must think
it almost a disgrace to the borough that an opposition
of such a kind was considered possible. The
merits of Mr. Fox are too well-known to hundreds of
thousands of auditors at public meetings, and to the
more fastidious ears of the British Senate, too well
known to every reader of Parliamentary debates, and
to every friend of cheap bread for the million, of cheap
education for the million, and of political rights for
the million, also, to need a line from us.

We trust the people of Oldham will do themselves
the honour which the electors of Edinburgh have
done, of repairing a most discreditable electoral mis-
hap, at the very first opportunity. Mr. Fox, they
may be assured, is a man whom, like Mr. MACAULAY,
the opposite party, as well as his own, do not like to
miss from the House of Commons. His speeches are
amongst the few which are listened to and read. In
him, Oldham would have not only a vote, but a voice,
in the Councils of the nation. The electors of Edin-
burgh were obliged, in returning Mr. MACAULAY,
to reject some other candidate who might have done
them credit in the Legislature; the electors of Oldham
are certainly not perplexed by any such difficulty.

Win. a LIMN b 1 ZLI NEW BRIDGE.—The Commissioners
of her Majesty works and public buildings have given no-
tice of their intention of introducing into parliament a bill
for the purpose of enabling them to pull down the present
bridge and to erect a new one in its place. The principal
clause in the present bill sets at rest all the doubts which
have been raised as to its being the intention of the commis-
sioners t' erect the bridge lower down the river, for they ask
for powers to "enable them to construct a bridge from or
near the stairs or landing place at the foot of the present
bridge, on the Middlesex shore of the river, to or near the
stairs or landing places of the said bridge, on the Surrey
shore of the river, in the parish of St. Mary, Lambeth." The
commissioners also intend asking for powers to enable them to
materially alter the approaches to the present bridge.
THE DIAMOND STEAMPACKET COMPANY. Yes.
terday the annual general meeting of the proprietors of this
company was held at the Town-hall, Gravesend, when, the
report having been read by the secretary, the chairman, Mr.
Fletcher, expressed his opinion that the policy of the pro-
prietors was to dissolve the company as soon as possible.
This opinion having met the general concurrence of the
proprietors, resolutions were forthwith passed for carrying
it into effect, and for calling together a general court of pro-
prietors to consider the best means of proceeding. Only one
dissentient hand was held up on the resolution for the disso-
lution being put.
INFANTICIDE.—YeSterdAy Mr. Bedford, coroner
for Westminster, held an inquiry at the St. George's Tavern,
Belgrave-road, into the circum,tances attending the death of
a newly-born male infant, the illegitimate offspring of Har-
riet Earwaker, a cook in the family of Captain Codrington,
No. 82, Eccleston-square, Pimlico. The child was of full
period, and had breathed; but the medical man could not say
the exact cause of death Verdict—Manslaughter, the child
having died from neglect.
FRATRICIDE.—Yesterday Mr. Wakley held an
aged ll y-ear a
s.
inquest at the Bank of England Tavern, Paddington, on the
death of Charles Baker, aged 13, which resulted from injuries
inflictedam
B a kueprn ge him with dessert knife
was o
by hisi a
b‘r,oetrl,i,era,glglrlial--
vating and provoking temper, but the jury, after a short
consultation, returned a verdict of manslaughter against Wil-
liam Baker.

NAMES FOR A Cutt.D.—A Seville journal states that
the infant daughter of the Duchess de Montpensier has
received the following names:—Maria Christinia, Fran-
cisco de Paula, Antonia, Luisa, Fernando, Amelia,
Lutgarda, Elena, Carolina, Bibiana,
Felipa, isabcl, Adelaida, Teresa, Joseta, Joaquma,
Jests, Rail",
I'olonia, Gowns, Mcichoss, Ana, Baltasara, Agueda,
Lucia, and Norma.