The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-25 00:00:00

of its members support Ministers) and say this is
England. There may be more sound political know-
ledge in England than in France ; but every English-
man may not be able to trace efrects to their causes so
well as M. de Tocqueville has done in his profound
work on the United States. So much for the absurd

attempt to discover a reason for distinguishing between
the Irish and. Btitish part of the representation. It
brings into stronger belief the fact that Ministers have
not only a majority quite sufficient to enable them to
conduct the Government, but that they are supported
by representatives returned by a vast majority of the
thinking, the best ii!formed, and the most independent
part of the people of England, of the people of Scot-
land, and of the people of Ireland. Under such
circumstances we should think the Tory must have
a wondrous aptitude for building castles in the air
who entertains even the faintest hope of the return

of his party to power. We do not mean to say
Sir Hobert Peel is less willing to take office now
than he was last Session, when he generously ad-

restised himself ready for his old place ; but the
readiness to accept cffice does not, as we have seen,
imply the possession of the power to obtain it. The
Thnes, however, tells the Tories not to despair, and
it boldly grapples with the difficulty which it owns
has been a stumbling-block to many of the party.
The difficulty is thus stated by the Times, and it is

put into the mouth of a Reformer : "If the Whig
Ministry shall prove unable to conduct the Govern-

inent by reason of possessing only a small majority,
how can the Conservatives, who actually form a
minority, expect to he more efficient than their rivals."
Ay, how indeed ! " There are two facts connected with
the new representatives nhich afford a strong presump-
tion that a Conservative administration will meet with
their support." Anti what are these two facts ?
" They are net, pledged to the contrary." But why
should they leave a Reform for a Tory Government ?
Not pledged not to run over to Sir Robert Peel is not
exactly synonimous with a motive for running over to
him. It used to be thought that rats instinctively
s'..lek the Ministerial side of the House. Should the Par-
liament last its full time, the chances are that many who
found their way into the House of Commons as Tories
will become supporters of Ministers. The second fact
of the Times proves, we think, satisfactorily that
the Times can make nothing of the first. But we
shall let the Times state its second fact in its own way.
" Their minds are comparatively free from unfounded
prejudices. When Lord Melbourne was abruptly dis-
missed by his late Majesty at Brighton, a suspicion
was extensively entertained that the Court was
treacherous to the cause of Reform, and that Sir Ro-
bert Peel's Ministry were to be the instruments for
giving that treachery effect. But now the matter is
wholly altered. The Whig gentry entertain no doubt
whatever as to the soundness of Court politics at pre-
sent." Court politics being sound, why should Re-
form Members desert Ministers for the Tories ? They
may not be pledged not to run over to Sir Robert
Peel ; but does it follow that they will therefore sup-
port the first motion made by the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet to turn out Ministers ? The logic cf the
Times is, that a pledge is the only security for a
man's adhering to his opinions, and that the probabi-
lity is, if not pledged to them he will desert them.
The Times here generalizes on its own case ;
but because the Times is so ready to abandon prin-
ciples, and finds the task so easy, it is rash to con-
clude that this Jim Crow faculty is general. The
contempt into which Sir James Graham has fallen,
treated with contumely even by those for whose sakes
he was anxious to degrade himself, affords a proof that
the abandonment of principle and party is attended
with hazard. Besides, the Times conveniently forgets
that though it, perhaps inconsiderately, deserted the
cause of the people, it did not desert them without a
consideration. But the consideration for the sake of
which the unpledged Reformers are to fly over to Sir
Robert, merely to enable him to turn out Ministers, is
not very distinctly shadowed forth. Master Barnar-
dine did not come up to be hanged, merely because he
was invited to come up. Notwithstanding the two
facts of the Times, we do not exactly see how Sir
Robert Peel will be able to convert the Ministerial
majority into a minority. We think we may safely
conclude, then, that the Reformers will not avail them-
selves of their privilege of notbeing pledged to run over,
on the first favourable opportunity, to Sir Robert
Peel, and that the Right Hon. Baronet may wait a
long time for office before he is elevated to it by the
Reformers. Morning Chronicle.
We were quite sure, that when the first pang of dis-
appointment was over—when all the elections were
finished, and there was no possibility of getting any-
thing by any effusion, however copious, of abuse, or
mystification, or fiction—the Whigs would have too
much spirit to hang whimpering over the irretrievable
past, and would manfully direct all their energies to the
future. We will come better prepared, say they, to
the next election ; we will put forth our resources then
in earnest. The first of these resources is announced
to be a more decided determination of Government
patronage to Whig recipients. The conception is a
noble one ; but has not the most been made of it
already ? Is there anything which patronage could
effect which patronage has not actually effected? They
do themselves injustice in allowing it to be imagined
that there has been any lukewarmness or carelessness
on their part in this particular. Their great merit,
an ill-natured observer would say their only redeeming
virtue, is the adhesiveness with which they cleave
to their partisans. When of late years any
Tory applicant addressed himself to Tory Minis-
ters upon the vacancy of an appointment, there
was always some troublesome inquiry about the
man's fitness for office, or about the practicability of
reducing the pay. But 'Whig bowels yearn at once to
a kinsman ; he gets the vacant office, if vacancy there
be ; and, if there be no vacancy of any existing office,
a new office is created to suit him. And this last ex-
pedient is excellent, not only for the private friend,
but for the public service, be's.,ause the offices beii,
more plastic than the candie.ates for them, it is a much
neater operation to fit the suit to the man than the
man to the suit. On, the whole, we think there is
nothing fresh to be made by the Whigs in the field of
patronage ; the crop is well harvested already. Near
akin to the resource of patronage is another, which
coarse peor::te call bribery. Of this no boast is made ;
though -eve are bound to admit that we have heard of
very poweiful effects produced by it in the masterly
bands of the Whigs. With great delicacy and pro-
priety, they abstain from taking credit fur what tl:Av
are likely to gain by their judicious and liberal,
appli-
cation of this popular stimulant; hut we are not the
less disposed to do them justice on thik head b„,u,e
they refrain from vainglorious Taunting. With
the same judicious reserve ',.ne7 omit intimidation
from the list of their we,-,,p(e„,: unlike the people
at the Tower, who, in, exhibiting the armoury, never
fail to show you, the thumb-screws. But the
great items of all will be—Ballot, annual Par-
liaments, and an extension of the Suffrage—first,
to houseliolflers in general, and after a little while to
all ad'alts, with the exception, perhaps, of a few oh-
no:dous classes, unfit to be trusted with popular rights,
:such as magistrates, clergymen, lawyers, landlords,
leaseholders, yeomen, and possibly the freemen of
towns. Should the constituencies once be purged of
these corrupt interlopers, it might fairly be hoped that
the Ballot and the annual recurrence of the appeal to
the sovereign people would bring the whole affair to
something as like perfection
see in any human institution. as we can ever expect to
of the What becomes, then,
People's favourite and final measure—..the th Bill,
°
the Whole Bill, and nothinebutthe. Bill ? Fro
that measure, the Ballot, the abridgment of the Par-
liamontary term, and the extension of the Suffrage
were not only omitted, but purposely excluded. That
Matters nothing, if they are now become necessary to
the due representation of the people. Very true ; but
the people, at least of Great Britain, have hinted
by their recent votes, that they like representation
better without any of these devices. No such thing ;
those voters are not " the people," and do not speak
the people's ' mind. Indeed ! why how came you
then to tell us, as the ground for supporting
the Reform Bill, which invested them with the fran-
chise, that they were the classes, and absolutely the
only classes, to whom the franchise ought properly to
be trusted? Are they worthy or unworthy of the
trust only as they select members to your mind ? Or
was the great national compact of Parliamentary Re.