The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-18 00:00:00

.04
eitrenblLl

5,40,
LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1852.

Happily for England there is, in the organization of
her social system, a self-adjusting principle which
more than anything else tends, under every emergent',
to consolidate the fabric of her Constitution. It is
this principle which has so frequently stood the coun-
try in good stead when the rest of the nations of the
earth have been convulsed by what Sir ARCHIBALD
ALIsoN has termed the " mindquake " of revolution.
It constitutes, indeed, the most secure guarantee of
the stability of our venerable and complicated institu-
tions. This, in reality—and not the Habeas Corpus,
or the Bill of Rights, or Magna Charta—is the Pal-
ladium of the liberties of Englishmen. To define
the nature of the principle here referred to would be
somewhere about as difficult as to explain that of the
inscrutable principle of electricity. Yet evidences of
the existence and power of both are incidents of daily,
it might almost he said of momentary, recurrence.
Although the intrinsic peculiarities of the former,
however, are altogether beyond the reach of
definition, it by no means follows that
it were idle to observe with the closest
scrutiny the tokens of its extrinsic operation. Ob-
zervations of this kind, on the contrary, cannot but
a a s advantageous to the science of politics as the
noting down of the magnetic phenomena of the uni-
ierse proves to be to the advancement of the science
of the electrician. It is among the especial duties,
moreover, of the journalist to record every circum-
stance, however minute, of this distinctive character,
just 39 it is that of the satirist to
" Shoot each passing
folly as it flies,"
or as it is that of the dramatist to
4, Catch the manners living as they rise."
Conspicuous among the lesser securities of the
Constitution are those afforded by the
reciprocation
of honours and of sympathies between the two estates
presided over by the SOVEREIGN. We do not think
that this is sufficiently appreciated by the generality.
only necessary,
We fancy even that it has not been more than par-
tially recognised. Neverthele2s' it is
we conceive, to glance at a very few particulars toun-
derstand the fact to which we are here making allusion,
while it is only requisite to contrast some of those
particulars with each other to arrive at a reasonable
estimate of their value and
significance. Scarcely
any one requires to be reminded, at any rate, of the
additions which have been made to the number of the
Lords of England, by the eloquence and the valour,
sometimes by the wisdom, and sometimes also by the I
wealth, of the Commons of the United Kingdom. t
is unnecessary, therefore, to d) more than cursorily
remind the observer that in this manner in various
ages the splendour of the corone'—whether adorned
with the fillet of a Baron or with the strawberry-
wreath of a Duke—has been conferred upon a
Philosopher like BACON, upon a sea-captain like
ie ELsoN, upon a financier like LOYD, upon a
country 'quire like CORE, upon an orator
like
3hocouam, and upon a military hero such as
C Rune nir.r.• T
f. he catalogue if complete would be
su &intently glorious in itself and would embrace,
dating more or less back into the remoteness of
f
anti:qui ,y, almost every house among the list of our
patrician legislators. This division of the subject
upon which we have
. commented as so singularly
characteristic or the community inhabiting Great
Britain, is too familiar to 1
the majority to necessitate
anything like a further or more detailed enumeration.
Everybody knows well enough bow
greatly the
people have contributed to the enhancement of the
glory and the dignity
of the peerage.
But it is not
equally well borne in recollection hew considerably
the. peerage has, in individual instances, Con-
tributed either to the moral or the intellec-
tual advancement cf the people. A retrospective
glance will recal to remembrance however, clearly
encvogh, the advantages accruing to the Common,
froin the genius displayed by BoYLE as a Popular
philosopher, by BYRON as a popular poet, by CLA,
RENDON as a popular historian, as well as from the
writings and researches of a NAPIER, a SURREY, and a
BOLINGBRoXE. Originally, cf course, these, no less
than the rest of the members of the great human
family, derived their Existence from the level ranks of
the population. In speaking
of their elevated labours
in science or in literature we have spoken of those
labours the benefits of which have descended upon the
people subsequently to the exaltation of their race
to the social pinnacles of the peerage. Fortunately,
however, we need not go beyond our own day for
,4 er,w.:54.,,. illustrations of the advantages resulting to the general
ire‘iorlH,, , :,
..4:a,lnasi of the community from this interchange of
(... 7 . :.--11k.'ulpitthies, of thoughts, and of aspirations between
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