The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, SEP TEMBER 27, 1852.

Her MAJESTY'S present Government should not,
and probably do not, conceal from themselves, that the
death of the Duke of WELLINGTON is a very severe
1053 to them. Protection being utterly gone, all
the objects which they profess 115 a party will be op-
posed with a very different spirit to that in which
they
have lately encountered. The hero of Torres
Vedras was, to a considerable extent, himself the
Torres Vedras of the Conservative party. He had
retreated before the people, and renounced succes-
sively- every untenable position of Tory:sna. To the
Dissenters he gave up the Teat and Corporation Acts,
to the Roman Catholics he conceded emancipation:
and to the nation cheap food ; only one political battle
he may be fairly said to have lost, and that was one
which Lord DERBY intends to fight once more against
the people—the battle of Electoral Reform.
For many years, however, the Duke himself has
been a barrier which all the better part of the earnest
Liberals did not like to force ; in his person was con
centrated almost ell the respect they felt for the House
of Lords. He wee known to be a Conservative at
heart, but his rnenly way of conceding, and of r nr.
dimly accepting when he had done so, all the great
liberal measures but one, hal conciliated a large
amount of esteem for him with all fair-minded
Liberals. They saw that he was no factious, no
grudging politician ; and hence, although differing
widely from him, he was the ONE among the aris-
tocracy whom they would least willingly grieve.
Then, again, there wee considerable reliance on his
practical judgment. " What will the Duke say ?" was
a frequent expression from the lips of those who cared
not a straw what any other duke might say. And it
was not merely an inquiry into which scale his in-
fluence would be thrown—there was a feeling also
that what a mind so practical and honest would ap-
prove demanded unusual
consideration. The opinion
of one who bad so often told the haughty peers of
y
Engleod, and told them with almost militar autho-
rity, that they were now to yield to the people
could not but be an opinion worthy of the people's
friendly regard. And it had their regard. The
po-
pulace of late cheered him on everypublic occasion,
although his indifference to their plaudits,contrasting
with
his
year,r eie
so strikingly with the "gracious tows"
of. his
SOVEREIGN, might well have checked
, while
amongst the more educated classes
sped
appears to have grown
was seen to stand in a kind of paternal relation, not
only to a rather unpopular Upper House, but eh° to
ourbeloved SOVEREIGN herself; end the man on Whom
such a female, in the solitary position of QUEEN, had
so often to rely as a friendly rather than an official
adviser, conciliated, perhaps, more kindly feeling to-
wards him by that circumstance than by any other.
If we owe, as we certainly do, to Lord MELBOURNE?
national gratitude for imbuing the mind of our young
QUEEN so thoroughly with the spirit and principles
of our constitution, we equally owe a like debt to the
Duke of WELLINGTON for enabling her, in critical
junctures, to apply those Principles auccesafully. It

was not below the dignity of a comparatively youth-
' ful SOVEREIGN to lean on the counsels of such pro-
longed experience, fidelity, end practical wisdom.
Such a man was the very bulwark of Conservatism.
He gave coherency by his authority in the Senate,
and weight by his favour with SOVEREIGN and
I people, to the opposition which the House of Lords
could offer to the political elevation of the people.
All that is now gone for ever. It is difficult to think
of any one now in the House of Lords (with the excep-
tion, perhaps, of one benevolent northern Peer, and
one or two pretty liberal ones) whom the more ad-
vanced Liberals would not gladly compel to bow to
the popular will. The Upper House will once more
be looked upon merely as something to be got over
as an obstacle to be surmounted or removed, quietly'
if possible, but to be got rid of somehow. The Lords
will, more than ever, depend for their efficiency in
the councils of the State, perhaps for their very
existence as a house, not on their jealously obstruct-
ing every onward movement, and conserving to their
own class every vested abuse and every source of
emolument, but on their sincere, hearty, and obvious
devotion to the interests of the people.
Lord DERBY'S Cabinet may rest assured that the
nation will now demend much which he considered
himself installed in office to oppose. A great exten-
sion of :aw reform, notwithstanding his late unfortu-
nate Chancery appointment, be could grant with
consistency. The County Courts' jurisdiction need
not remain at 501., nor other courts retain the bar-
barisms and technicalities, which have been so success.
fully expelled from the former. The Ecclesiastical
Courts are a condemned mils's of infamy already—he
need not linger in destroying them. Doctors' Commons
is not immaculate. All would support him in
transferring the jurisdiction of testementeey affairs to
a civil ccurt. On the education question a sufficiently
large ready national party has yet to be formed, but
the vast majority of the nation are quite unanimous
on another educational question--the trees on know-
ledge—and all,
whose opinions are worth enything,
agree that to increrse the allt”.ements to reading, by
cheapening it to the messes, is one unquestionable
and unobjectionable mode of promoting education.
With one of the prominent literery men of the day,
too, as the very genius of his Cabinet, the repeal of
the trees on knowledge would be its most consistent,
and we think, with posterity, would be its most
creditable achievement. Then there are India and
our colonies. Our colonies ! What a field for economy
and;for:statesmanthip. The Whigs have left it to the
Tories, if they will but seize the golden moment, to
unite every now disaffected colony in the bonds of
national, federal, and loyal attachment to the British
Crown, perhaps for ages to come. Taxation reform,
and real reform of it, too, would harmonize well with
the past professions of BENJAMIN DISRAELI. Thus far
might Lord DERBY go; and while devoting himself to
these objects, no House of Commons dare to remove
him from power. With the little difference which
people generally perceive between Whig and Tory,
the old cry of " Measures not men," would assuredly
be heard louder than ever. Lord DERBY is safe, so
long as he continues a reformer of practical abuses;
still he must be aware that reform will not stop there.
The country will not, indeed, endanger the
existence of a Ministry, while it is seriously and
diligently labouring to forward valuable measures ;
but the country is determined on having a more
direct voice in the House of Commons. It will no
longer be content with the boroughs which Lord
Joliet spared, with less than household suffrage, or
at least some bona fide and large extension of the
suffrage ; and, especially, it will never be content
again without the ballot. Lord DERBY may call such
things democracy, others may raise the bugbear of
republicanism, and some weaker heads even talk of
socialism. It is no such thing. Never was the demand
for an extension of popular power more intelligent,
and, less passionate ; mote loyal and conservative of
all worth keeping, end less republican. With the
exception of the nominees of Irish priests, the fa-
vourites of the people at the late election, whether
successful or unsuccessful, may challenge with ad-
vantage a comparison in legislative qualifications with
the nominees of pocket boroughs. There is a cool,
deliberate conviction throughout the country
that the present electors are intellectually and
morally worthy of independent, i. e., protected votes,
and that vest numbers of the unenfrenchised
worthy to have them tco. Against this conviction,
to use the words of Mr. LOWE at Kidderminster, " it
is not my Lord DERBY, nor my Lord MALMESRURY,
nor Sir FITZROY Km- ay, nor a thousend such men
(long !ended together against our commercial free-
dom), that would stop the onward movement of public
opinion a single inch." Let his Lordship, then, look
coolly on feets. He will be cheerfully tolerated
awhile if, as soon as the truce agreed upon over the
Duke's ;aneral is pest, he commences some valuable
reforms and perfects others, Otherwise his tenure of
office will be but short indeed. But while those re-
forms ere in progress the growing demrnd for poli-
tical reform will not become less urgent. He must
face it. No Iron Duke, no venerated end popular
Duke will take him beneath the shelter of his wing.
The relics of the Whigs, cured, we ta int, of their
family diseeqe, will be united in healthier feeling with
the men of the people, and ready for office ; and then
it will be for the aristocratic Leader to say whether
he will victimize himself, his party, and to some ex-
tent his order too, in a useless and hopeless opposition
to an intelligent and determined people, or whether
he will increase the real strength of the aristocracy,
by leading it to cooperation, rather than to battle
with the people. If he could but take the great Duke
for his model, not indeed on this particular question
of reform (on which be sustained his greatest public
defeat), but in his general conduct; if, like him, he
could know when to surrender, and surrender heartily
when he did so, then might Lord DERBY, too, share
in some measure the goodwill of the country at large,
end might become the true saviour of his order.

What are the principles and doctrines of the Church
of England, and in what respect do they differ from
the Roman Catholic Church ? If the practices re-
cently introduced by some beneficed clergymen, and
Expressly sanctioned, or tacitly connived at by some
bishops, be continued, the Reformation has been a
nullity—the line of demarcation by which we are
separated from the Papal authority has become
imperceptible, and we may ha " reconciled" to Rome
with all convenient speed. It has recently been
pointedly remarked, and there is unfortunately but
too much tt nth in the observation, that " each prelate
claims to be a little Pope within his own diocese,
demanding the greatest latitude for himself, but en-
deavouring to compel a slavish obedience on some
points from the
subordinate cler-
gy, while on otbura
he allows them al
most unbounded license." There
certainly, at present,
uppers no mode by which any-
thing approaching to uniformity of opinion—we had
?lmost written soundness of d oc 'lnc—can be secured
on the episcopal bench.
The extra-judicial Inquiry recently held at Ply-
mouth into the conduct of the Rev.
v. Mr. rRYNNE,
that, 13. ,
:appears to s.show
so far vs the
113.40 P of II,XETER
is concerned, the practice of aar• iculer confession"
is not only sanctioned, buthighly approved. Let
there be no misconception on the point.
It is not
of a sinful and
merely the outpourings peni-
tent heart, seeking counsel rnd comfort from a
pious minister, that ;s thug recognised, but rather the
.ieerching cross-examination into the most secret
thoughts—the sugges"on to women and female chil-
dren of iders of which they might have had noprevious
conception, and the knowledge whereof must neces-
sarily injure that purity and innocence which consti-
tutes the chief feminine chums. What husband,
father, or brother, would consent to such interroga-
tories being administered to his relatives as those
ascribed to Mr. PRYNNE, in the statements 'on which
the investigation was instituted ? What really pure-
minded female would subject herself to such deg ra.dar-
tion ? If such proceedings should become general
in the Established Church, we can easily conceive
that there would be a very numerous addition to the
ranks of dissent, and that it would sped.l y cerse to be
the " Church of England."
Tow, in order to prevent the serious evils that
must
necessarily arise from any misunderstanding or
doubt an the •
siraole sabe ject, it is exceedingly de-
that the really Protestant Bishops of this
Protestant country should explain, and that without
any unnecessary delay, their opinions on the pro-
ceedings which the Bishop of EXETER apparently
regards with
such unfeigned admiration,
respecting Which
emphatically declared that

he acquitted Mr. PRYNNE "of anything
like presumption or of holding doctrine not
in accordance with the Church of England, even of
indiscretion i❑ receiving tonfession ;" adding, " no
one knows bow many young sinners may have been
recovered from their wickedness by that means. Be
that as it may, I most certainly think that Mr.
PRYNNE stands forth—to me most undoubtedly, and
I ehould hope to all present here this day—free from
all blame."

Such has been the conclusion of this
anxiously looked for inquiry—a result which
might well excite the astonishment of the
auditory. The matter cannot, however, rest
there. An extra-judicial inquiry is not suitable
to the magnitude of the occasion. An investigation
must take place before an unprejudiced tribunal, and
with every accessory that may give weight and au-
thority to the final judgment. Conscientious mem-
bers of the Church of England must now perceive
that the Establishment is not so much endangered
from hostile attacks from without, as from
the insidious attacks of its own children.
There is always greater danger from treason in a
camp than f,:om the most energetic efforts of
open and acknowledged enemies. That principle
should be clearly understood, and if there
is no adequate mode, under the existing Ecclesias-
tical code, of freeing the Church from in-
ternal enemies, who, though nominally holding its
doctrines, are practically little better than
emissaries from Rome, the sooner the omission
be supplied, and a suitable remedy provided for the
flagrant grievance, the better. Tractarianism has
already received too much countenance from
persons holding high offices in the Church. The
time has arrived when they must speak out
openly and unequivocally, and array themselves
boldly under the banners of Rome or England. We
can respect an honest and undisguised opponent, no
matter how greatly he may be mistaken, but can have
no feeling, save that of contempt and indignation, for
a treacherous adherent, who is only prevented from
deserting to the opposing ranks by pecuniary mo-
tives—a base and sordid hankering after the loaves
end fishes, PTI i•iordinate love for £ 8. d.

As no personage could, by his demise, have lefi;
more remarkable void in the long catalogue of the
illustrious subjects of the British SOVEREIGN than
his Greee the Dyke of WELLINGTON—so there
was assuredly no one whose death could necessitate a
more extended series of alterations in the distribu-
tion of honours, dignities, emoluments, and preroga-
tives. The changes here referred to es inevitable on
the decease of the great warrior are of a nature,
moreover, such as will require their instent considera-
tion so soon as the grave has closed over the remains
of the extraordinary man recently departed. Several
of the offices held by him up to the moment of his
disappearance are of a character likewise so pecu-
liarly important, as involving the welfare of con-
siderable classes in the community, that it
becomes a matter of immediate interest to ob-
serve the selection made among those who
are regarded as not altogether unworthy of
being nominated his successors. Foremost among all
the vacant appointments of course is that of Cora-
mandeiein-Cbief of the Forces of the United King-
dom—a post which bad been occupied by the Hero
of the Peninsula uninterruptedly through very many
changes in the national Administration. In the
appointment of Viscount HARDINGE to the direction
of affairs at the Horse Guards we have already ex-
pressed our cordial concurrence. Pending the vacancy
of that elevated and onerous post numerous candidates
for its duties were the objects of public conjec-
ture. Conspicuous among them were veterans whose
services would appear to evidence high claims to be
chosen to this responsible and elevated office. People
acquainted with the secret wishes of the profession were
not long, for example, dumb as to the distin-
guished merits of the Earl of STAIR, any more than
they were blind to the eminent services of the Earl of
COMBERMERE, or deaf to the honourable reputation of
the gallant and chivalrous Marquis of LONDONDERRY.
A different band of speculators as to the future
Commander-in-Chief of the army of Great
Britain had turned their attention with no trivial
degree of solicitude to that renowned Captain whose
fame as a conqueror was assuredly among living men
only second to that of the late Duke of WELLINGTON
—but whose splendid achievements have hitherto
gained him little more than the glory resulting to his
arms from the great victories of Meanee and Hyde-
rabad! Whatever the ingratitude of the country
towards that renowned chieftain whose valour ren-
dered him the victor of Scinde as his genius after we rds
constituted blea Pei administrator—it can never be
forgotten in the military annels of England that,
at a period of extraordinary emergency, when suc-
cess seemed for a while to have forsaken our banners
beyond the southern frontiers of the Punjaub, the Duke
of WELLINGTON offered that ever-memorable tribute
of confidence and r imiration to his illustrious brother-
in-arms when, on being asked to suggest three names
to the Board of Directors in Leadenhell-street, as
those of men fitted to repair the broken fortunes of
the campaign, he wrotc--" Sir CHARLES NAPIER,
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, Sir CHARLES NAPIER."
Upon Lord FITZROY SOMERSET, as the military secre-
tary during so many years of his Grace the late Com-
mander-in-Chief, it was conceived by many that the
professionel mantle had directly fallen from the
shoulders of the Duke of WELLINGTON. A different
class of observers, on the other hand, awaited with confi-
dent anticipation the nomination to the chief command
at the Horse Guards of no less important an aspirant
than a Prince of the Blood Royal, in the person of his
Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE. How-
evermuch the latter suggestion might be depreciated,
moreover, by the sticklers for precedence to veteran
candidates—it must, at any rat?, be admitted upon all
sides that the claims of his Royal Highness, as an in-
telligent soldier, devoted heart and soul to the pro-
fession upon which his name has been now for many
years enrolled, his services (for a time of peace) were in
no way inconsiderable, and his claims were consequently
in no respect insignificant. As to the supposition at
one period prevalent to the effect that his Royal
Highness the Prince ALBERT might, in the event of
a change such as that consequent upon the death
of the Duke of WELLINGTON, be considered eligible
to the position of Commander-in. Chief—we felt rs-
sured that one moment's reflection must be sufficient
to show that the conjecture was one altogether prepos-
terous. Elevated as the post of Commander-in-Chief
undoubtedly is in itself, it could not by possibility
lend any additional lustre to the rank of one so
elevated in position as his Royal Highness the
rneetcE CUNbORT but would, on the con-
trary, tend rather to derogate from the
dignity of the Second Personage in the United King-
dom.

Simultaneously with that necessity of selecting a
new Commander-in-Chief, which has been so hap-
pily met by the DERBY Government—the mem-
bers of Convocation at Oxford find themselves sud-
denly called upon to nominate a new Chancellor
of the University to the chair rendered vacant by the
unexpected death of the Duke of WELLINGTON.
Three claimants of that high honour have already
the members
had their names brought seriously under the notice
of he
as
a
of Convocelon. The Earl of
Dzaur by his ministerial position as First Lord
of the Treasury, the Duke of NEWCASTLE by
big elevated rank as a patrician, and the Earl of
SUAETESBURY by his universally recognised
benevolence
distipgdphilanthropist—eachhbedmedreimtsaansdcsafnroo7
those ent.a
the regard due to tlie
sted with the responsibility of the selection
dates to the Chancellorship of the University of
Oxford. Added to the
of
themt o
two important posts already
spaccfiayd, inferior there
rior are
io
numerous others some of them
e
value or significance, requiring rn
equally
i y speedy
attention
scarcely
the
vqueshtieoenn
rendered
dtehreeidr
fu
vacant in a similar manner, namely, by the great
historical event of his Grace the First, or, as he must
future occupancy—ell
henceforth be called by way of distinction, the Great
Duke of WELLINGTON. It will be necessary in this
manner that there should be gazetted as quickly as
arden of the Cinque Ports, as well as
possible a new ,y w
a new Constable of the Tower of London.. It will be
requisite, moreover, that divers other dignities—save-
ral of them in no trifling degree lucrative—shall be
re-distributed by those officially empowered to con-
duct the labour of their redistribution—such, for in-
stance, as the rangership of a park, or the coloneloy
of a regiment, Meanwhile the more coveted among