The Sun.
London, England, 1830-05-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The affair of Prince Leopold's resignation of the
Greek Sovereignty was again started last night in
the House of Lords. Lord Aberdeen had, it was
supposed, said that the resignation came upon him
unexpectedly at a late hour last Friday night; but
it was stated by Lord Durham, and maintained by
Earl Grey awl Lord Holland, that the Noble Secre-
tary had received an intimation that such would, or
might be the case on the 15th, nearly a week earlier
than last Friday. Lord Aberdeen, however, con-
ceived that the scruples had been overcome, and the
objections removed, by the explanation given to his
Royal Highness on the 15th; and hearing nothing
in the interval between the 15th and the 21st, he
was naturally confirmed in this opinion. It is some-
what curious, that whilst Prince Leopold speaks of
the pecuniary accommodation in the note published
by us yesterday, he frankly acquiesces in the smaller
boundary, himself defining the left bank of the
Aspropotamos as the frontier, and thus excluding
Acarnania from Greece. And yet it was in this
very note, and with this restriction, that he ac-
cepted the sovereignty. But then the communica-
tions from Cape d'lstria obliged him afterwards to
recede. We like not this Capo d'lstria, he is ob-
viously un homme ruse. Yet Capo d'lstria in his
letter, also published yesterday, whilst he craftily
throws out the suggestion that the surrender of
Acarnania will be attended with commotion, and may
not be consented to by the National Congress,
never seems to doubt but that the acceptance of the
Prince Leopold is fixed and irrevocable. The inti-
mation that the sense of the nation shall be taken,
and that that sense will be adverse to the surrender
of Acarnania, is contained in the following passages :
In proportiim, however, to the earnest desire of the
Government to be the faithful interpreter of these senti-
ments, is the sincere regret which it feels at its inability to
acquit itself of this honourable mission in the forms pre-
scribed to it by the acts of the last National Congress.
" The Residents of the three Courts were present at
Argos during the Session of the month of August, and the
first Decree of the Assembly must without doubt have
attracted their attention. Theycannot, then, be unaware
that the definitive arrangements which are now in ques-
tion ought to be previously submitted to the Deputies
Plenipotentiaries'of the nation, and to be ratified by them."

The proof that Capo d'lstria considered the
sovereignty of the nation as finally vested in Prince
Leopold, appears from the following passage of the
same note :

" Considerations of high political interest have doubtless
influenced them in placing ber destinies under the safe-
guard of a monarchical and hereditary Government, and
in fixing their choice upon a Prince who might become
the organ of their generous intentions with respect to
Greece, and thus give a pledge for the stability of the
work of peace, of which the Act of the 3d of February
has laid the foundation."

Still, however, does this designing Greek (or
rather Corfu-Russian), while he affects to consider
the Prince as his Sovereign, strive, as we gather
from the debate, to deter him, in private as well as
public communications, from accepting the reins of
government, by frightful representations of what
will be the state of the country if Acarnania be given
up.—After all, we suppose that the Prince's chief
objections to go to Greece have sprung from con-
siderations of a more domestic nature than the
cession of Acarnania.—Times.

Every man possessed of any political foresight
must for some time have anticipated the approach of
difficulties with regard to the arrangements which
will follow a certain event. Without descending to
all the particulars which now occupy the attention
of politicians; we may observe that the advanced
age of the Heir Apparent and the tender years of
the Heiress Presumptive point to a measure which
cannot fail to lead to no ordinary divisions and heart-
burnings. No one point is, perhaps, of more im-
portance, in a national point of view, than the edu-
cat'on of the Princess who is destined to fill the
Throne of these realms. Much must depend on
the persons to whose care she shall be confided. On
the death of Frederick Prince of Wales, father of
his late Majesty, a Regency was immediately ap-
pointed, and at that time the struggle for power was
of no ordinary violence. The Duke of Cumber-
land, son of the reigning King, covered with the
laurels of Culloden, the especial favourite of his
father, and at the head of a powerful party in Parlia-
ment, was eager to be at the head of the Regency.
Notwithstanding, however, all these claims, it was
deemed more advisable to confide the future Sove-
reign during his minority to the care of his mother,
who thus triumphed over the Duke of Cumberland,
and was placed at the bead of the Regency. We
have no doubt that the nation will be much disap-
pointed if this precedent be not followed in the case
of the Princess Victoria. Her mother is her na-
tural guardian—the guardian, whose care, and kind-
ness, and vigilance, may be counted on with cer-
tainty, while more or less distrust will always be
felt with regard to every other. Surmises, how-
ever, are confidently thrown out, which justify ap-
prehensions of attempts at variance with the course
which would, we are confident, prove most satis-
factory to the nation. The man who is now at the
bead of affairs will no doubt strive to bring about
such an arrangement as may secure to him the pos-
session of power for many years. He is bold—he
is able—he may be said to be at the head of the
army ; and he will not easily relinquish any design
which he may deem likely to promote his views.—
That his plans are already formed may well be be-
lieved; but for the present we shall not attempt to
allude further to them. The time, however, is ra-
pidly approaching, when silence must be broken on
this all-important subject.—Morning Chronicle.
Whatever change may have taken place in the
views of Prince Leopold respecting the value of the
Sovereignty of Greece, in consequence of events
not anticipated at the period of his acceptance of it
(and on this subject we have nothing but conjecture
to guide us), the question between his Royal High-
ness end the British Ministry must be judged of by
what appears on the face of the transactions alone.
Lord Aberdeen, on Monday night, attributed to his
Royal Highness a line of conduct in the course of
his negociations with the Allied Sovereigns, which,
if true, would not redound to his reputation for
sincerity and fair dealing. But there are two ways
of telling a story, and there is always some suspi-
cion when a party seems more than usually anxious
to forestall opinion by premature statements. The
friends of Prince Leopold (and he will now have
many friends) repel the insinuations directed against
him by Lord Aberdeen. It is said, and said confi-
dently, that the facts were not all told; that some
yery important ones, with a vie.v to his Royal High-
ness's justification, were withheld. In the House
of Lords, last night, Lord Durham alluded to the
partial nature of Lord Aberdeen's statement, and
observed, that " he was also desirous to correct
gjefie errors respecting dates into which the Noble
Earl had fallen in his explanation. The Noble Earl
bad said, that up to Friday last his Majesty's Go-
vernment were not in possession of any document,
nor had any information transpired which might af-
fect the ultimate result of the negociations then
pending. And in answer to a question from a Noble
Marquis, the Noble Earl had stated that the papers
would be produced, not in consequence of anything
that had fallen from the Noble Marquis, but because
the time was come when they might be brought
forward, since the negociations were concluded
upon all except a few minor points. Now this
communication 'was made on the 16th of May,
and the fact was, that on the 15th the Noble
arl had received a letter from Prince Leopold,
annnunFing to him, in plain terms, that lie might ex-
pect his Royal Highness's resignation, in conse-
quence of despatches he had received from the
Senate and people of Greece, declaring that they
never would consent to the arrangements attempted
to be forced upon them by the Allied Powers."
This is a very important difference. If Lord Aber-
deen, with the knowledge of the Prince's deter-
mination not to accept the Sovereignty on grounds
essentially connected with his power of preserving
tranquillity, chose notwithstanding to declare pub-
licly on the 16th that all was settled; he was not

entitled to throw the blame of the contradiction on
Prince Leopold on Monday, by another declaration
that, up to Friday last, Ministers were not aware of
the change of the Prince's determination.—Lord
Durham noticed also what had been said respecting
the pecuniary demand, which, according to Lord
Aberdeen, the Prince had urged with so much per-
tinacity. Personally, his Royal Highness was not
concerned with regard to this money. The loan
for which a guarantee was demanded, was the same
which had been required on the part of Count Capo
d'lstria, before the Prince had had any communica-
tion with the Allied Powers. Lord Aberdeen cer-
tainly meant to convey the impression, that when he
stated on the 16th, all was definitively settled, ex-
cept some points of minor importance, he was not
aware of any change of determination of the Prince
before that date; whereas, it now appears that what
on Monday night he termed fresh grounds of
hesitation, were actually communicated by his Royal
Highness on the 15th. But his Lordship endea-
voured last night to meet this imputation on his
candour, by declaring that he conceived the last of
the three communications of Count Capo d'lstria,
received by the Prince, and sent to his Lordship en
the 15th May, would dissipate the alarm the other
two communications had a tendency to create in
the mind of his Royal Highness. It seems Lord
Aberdeen would have it that he knew the mind of
Prince Leopold better than he did himself. He
concluded that he would be able to gain over Prince
Leopold, and not having succeeded, he makes his
own conclusion as evidence against his Royal High-
ness. Earl Grey complained also of the at tempt to
create a prejudice against Prince Leopold, by pre-
maturely forcing on a discussion on an ex-parte
statement. His Lordship also showed that Lord
Aberdeen had put an improper construction on the
last of the three communications from Count Capo
d'lstria, which, so far from representing the Greeks
to have acquiesced in the arrangement of the Allies,
expressed their dissatisfaction at the arrangement,
and directed measures to be taken with a view to
an alteration. Lord Aberdeen promised that all the
papers relative to Prince Leopold should be ready on
Thursday; and having been driven into a corner by
Earl Grey, he admitted that it would have been
better perhaps not to have produced a partial state-
ment. He also stated, what we cannot well recon-
cile with his account of the inference drawn by him
from the communications of Count Capo d'lstria to
Prince Leopold, namely, that Prince Leopold had
not thought proper to send him the letters until
after his resignation. Fierce hostility was announced
by Lord Holland to Ministers. " The Noble Lord
might depend upon it, that abundant opportunities
would offer, and would be taken, for discussing the
question more fully." The truce is at an end, and
parties are again in the field.—Morning Chronicle.
A Bill has just been smuggled into Parliament
under circumstances that require, and must from
time to time receive, a little exposition, " The Bir-
mingham Free Grammar School Bill." We shall
only for the present draw public attention to a few
facts. The school was founded by a Charter and
endowment of King Edward VI., in 1552, and the
management vested in twenty Governors, the va-
cancies in whose body, from death, resignation, and
non-residence, are directed by the Charter to be
filled up by the election of successors from the " more
discreet and trusty" of the resident inhabitants. The
present funds of this school exceed 3,0001. per
annum. By the expiration of building leases the
receipts will in a few years realise 10,0001. per
annum. The school has long been decayed, and
indifferently administered, and forms the subject of
strong exposure and animadversion in the Report of
the Charity Commissioners, No. 20, dated 12th
July, 1828. The Bishop of the Diocese (Lichfield),
whose advice is guaranteed ill the Charter, has been
" at Chancery" with the Governors (but unsuccess-
fully) to endeavour to establish an additional Dio-
cesan attribute of consent; anti the Governors,
unknown to the inhabitants, and without the
least communication or advice with them, have
been soliciting the sanction of the Court of
Chancery to a scheme, referred to Master Farrer,
and reported and confirmed by the Court. This
scheme, altother unknown to the inhabitants, con-
tains the following clause :—" No person shall be
elected a Governor who is not a member of the Esta-
blished Church of England." This ridiculous ghost of
intolerance was unknown, and confined to the Mas-
ter's Office, till it appeared in a Bill introduced into
the House of Lords as an Estate Bill. The time
limited by the usual order of the House of Lords
for the reception of petitions for private Bills was
the 25th of March. Leave, however, wag obtained
to bring in this Birmingham Bill a fortnight since.
It was read a first time, read a second time on Tues-
day, the 18th instant, and the Committee on the
Bill appointed for Friday next. Thus the first and
only notice to the inhabitants of Birmingham,
from their Trustees the Governors, of a measure
so interesting and important to the town, was the
receipt (from a private individual) of printed copies
of the Bill. The obnoxious clause of exclusion is
smuggled into the Schedule of the Bill ; and thus
in 1830 are the opulent, intelligent, and public-
spirited classes of that populous town, dissenting
from the Established Church, to be disfranchised
of rights vested in them by a Royal Charter,
and enjoyed for three centuries ! This disgust-
ing example of gratuitous and impolitic bigotry
has only to be exposed and held up to the
scorn of the public and the Legislature. We pledge
ourselves for the accuracy of the facts here stated,
however apparently incredible; and we shall call
public attention to other matters respecting the
Charity and this incomparable Bill at another stage
of its existence. Who are the wise men, " the more
discreet and trusty" Governors, who, in the pleni-
tude of their zeal for the Established Church,
can thus play the cards of its opponents ? Mean-
while, to the credit of the town, a universal
feeling of indignation prevails, and the Dissen-
ters are not passive in vindicating their violated
right. A Public. Meeting was held on Monday,
convened by advertisement, of the General Body
of Dissenters, and many resolutions`were passed,
supported by the Rev. Mr. Kentish, Rev. Mr. Mor-
gan, Rev. Mr. J. A. James, Rev.. Mr. M'Donnell,
Rev. Mr. Wreford, Rev. Mr. Swan, Rev. Mr.
Jones, Rev. Hugh Hutton, Rev. Mr. East, Rev.
Mr. Crowther, Paul Moon James, Esq., Messrs.
Lowe, James, Lawrence, Phipson, Berry, Beale,
Fidian, and Osier. The Meeting comprehended all
the principal Quaker, Catholic, and Protestant Dis-
senters; the Low Bailiff, Edward Corn, Esq., in
the Chair. Among the resolutions passed were the
following :
" That this meeting has heard with regret and indigna-
tion of the attempt made by the Governors of the Free
Grammar School in this town, to deprive those inhabi-
tants who are not members of the Establishment, of their
eligibility to the office of Governor of the said school.
" That the proscription thus attempted to be established
is altogether unauthorised by the Charter of the Royal
founder of the school of Edward VI., which merely di-
rects, 'that the Governors shall be of the more discreet,
and more trusty inhabitants of the town, parish, or manor
of Birmingham.'
" That believing the contemplated system of exclusion,
if accomplished, will attach a most unmerited stigma to
those who on principle are dissidents from the Church of
England, and that its obvious tendency will be to revive
divisions and to perpetuate jealousies which it has been the
wise and beneficent policy of the Legislature to heal and
extinguish, this Meeting feels greatly indebted to those
gentlemen who have been the means of bringing the sub-
ject before their fellow townsmen, and approves and con-
firms the measures which, as a Provisional Committee,

they have adopted to frustr.te the object proposed by the
Governors."

Petitions were agreed to both Houses of Parlia-
ment and numerously signed, a subscription com-
menced, a Committee appointed, and measures
adopted for immediately communicating with the
different Dissenting Bodies of the Metropolis. It
may be that these " more discreet and trusty"
Governors may now provoke a legislative investiga-
tion into their own eligibility.—Morning Chronicle.
Though we are willing to admit that the Bill
brought into the House of Lords by the Lord
Chancellor, to give effect to the recommendation

contained in the King's Message relative to the sign
manual, seems to guard with considerable care
against the abuse of the great power which it is in-
tended to delegate, vet we think Parliament cannot
be too scrupulous in examining a measure so pecu-
liar and delicate, and so dubiously sanctioned by any
thing like precedent. The affixing of the sign ma-
nual to public instruments is so far from being a
matter of form, as some writers erroneously suppose,
that it is one of the most important functions of
Royalty. It is important for this reason, that it is
what gives effect to a vast variety of public instru-
merits, otherwise invalid, and to all the King's
grants, whether they be of lands, honours, liberties,
franchises, or other things. Can the affixing a signa-
ture which carries with it such serious consequences
and such valuable rights be a matter of little impor-
tance ? Such a notion could only arise from a very
superficial view of the subject. But then we are
told, as a reason for considering the transfer of the
power of affixing the sign manual as a matter of little
moment, that the authority or assent to affix the
sign is every thing, and the instrumentality by
which it is affixed nothing. It so happens, how-
ever, that although the mere act of signing a docu-
ment is mechanical, yet the Royal signature is taken
as evidence of the Royal Assent. Those who have
to act upon the instrument can only know the latter
by means of the former; and therefore the affixing
the sign manual is, in other words, the placing the
evidence of the King's assent on record; and, con-
sequently, is an act of State, of the very first im-
portance. In order to judge more particularly of the
solemn and grave nature of this Royal function, let
us see what the process is by which the King's
grants, or letters patent, are passed. A document,
tailed a Bill, is prepared , by the Attorney and
solicitor-General, in consequence of a warrant from
the Crown, and is then superscribed with the
sign manual, it being written at the top, and
is sealed ►with the privy signet, which is always
in the custody of the principal Secretary of State.
It next, upon some occasions, obtains the con-
firmation of the great seal; in which case the
grant is subscribed per ipszon Regem: but the more
usual way is to carry an extract of the Bill to the
Keeper of the privy seal, instead of affixing the
privy signet. That officer makes out a writ, or
warrant, thereupon, to the Chancery; and thus it is
evident that the sign manual is the warrant to the
privy seal, and the privy seal is the warrant to the
great seal. The latter sort of grant, or patent, is
called per breve de privato sigillo, or, by writ of
privy seal. There are other grants which pass
through certain offices, as the Admiralty and Trea-
sury, in consequence of a sign manual, without the
confirmation of either the signet, the privy, or the
great seal. In the latter cases it is clear that there
is less chance of detecting fraud or forgery, if any
should be committed, than in the former; but in
every case the inspection of the Royal signature is
what affords evidence of the King's assent to the
grant to those who were not present when he
affixed it, because nobody but the King himself can
legally affix the sign manual, and to forge it incurs
the penalties of high treason. Let, however, a
stamp or any thing else be substituted for the sign
manual—let the power of affixing that stamp to pub-
lic instruments, to grants and letters patent, be
placed in the hands of any person but the King him-
self, or in the hands of any Commission—and let
it be at the same time enacted that the said sub-
stitute for the sign manual shall not be affixed
to any instrument without the King's permis-
sion ;—yet what guarantee have the public that
such a privilege will not be abused unless
there be such careful ai►d jealous restrictions
placed upon the exercise of that privilege
as will make it morally impossible that fraud
or imposition can be practised'? It is only by the
protecting checks and guards which are made to
accompany such an arrangement that the affixing of
the proposed stamp, or whatever else may be a sub-
stitute for the sign manual, can become evidence of
the King's assent so to affix it; because it is only in
this way that the public can have anything like a
moral certainty that the King has authorised the
application of the stamp to a document to which
this sign of validity has not been placed by his own
hand, but by those of others, who need not even be
in his presence at the time. There are those who
may be inclined to trust to the honour and high
feeling of great official persons even where the
public welfare is concerned; but constitutional law
looks to principles, and not to persons. Our whole
political system is composed of cheques and ba-
lances, counteracting and controulling the tendency
which power has to overstep the boundaries of the
law. The great preservative of public rights is a
jealous vigilance, which the Constitution itself in-
culcates, of the motives and actions of public men.
There have been bad Ministers in England, and
there may be such again. Parliament hap, there-
fore, to take special care that, whoever may here-
after be advisers of the Crown, they shall not be
able to avail themselves of the present proceeding
as a precedent, to serve the purposes of an ambitious
Minister, injurious to the interests or dangerous to
the repose of the country. Rightly then did the
Lord Chancellor describe the Bill as a serious and
delicate measure, and tell the House of Peers that it
would require all the counsel which they could give
upon so grave and important an occasion.—Morn-
ing Herald.

We think, and we do not stand alone in the
opinion, that Sir Robert Peel has not treated the
country fairly with regard to his Forgery Bill. He
admitted, on introducing that Bill, that the criminal
law of England was the " most sanguinary of any
in Europe." This was a pretty strong admission
for one to make who had the power of ameliorating
it in hia own hands. It was, in fact, a confession
of the utter insufficiency of the plan of " legal re-
form," known by the popular title of " Peel's Acts,"
for which he had taken much credit to himself, and
which his flatterers described as a work calculated
to hand down his name to posterity with all the
honours of an English Justinian !—Having made
the admission which we have stated, we gave him
credit for no small portion of candour, and expected
he would have availed himself of the great power
and influence attached to the situation which he
holds to purify the statute-book from the stain of
acknowledged barbarism, and make it more conform-
able with the progress of knowledge and the ad-
vanced state of our civilization. The Right Hon.
Secretary, however, seemed to be afraid that by
adopting measures for a real and thorough mitigation
of our penal system he might outrun public opinion.
He, therefore, on taking up the subject of forgery,
did not venture to propose the abolition of the ca-
pital punishment in any cases but those minor ones
in which the theoretic cruelty of the law is never
reduced to practice—so that all which humanity will
owe him in this respect, should his Bill, as it now
stands, pass into a law, will be the abolition not of
a living principle of cruelty, but of a dead letter.
Great as his timidity—sensitive as his circumspec-
tion is with regard to legal innovation, he must now
be convinced that, instead of outrunning public
opinion, as he anticipated, public opinion has left
him far behind. The number of petitions presented
from the most 'respectable and enlightened classes
of society—and from practical men of business—
especially bankers, leave no room for doubt upon
this subject. One would have supposed, if Sir
Robert Peel were sincere in what he said on intro-
clueing his Bill, that he would be gratified at finding
that he might now proceed to propose the abolis
tion of the sanguinary principle without any danger
of incurring the odious celebrity of a rash and in-
temperate innovator; but not so—Sir Robert Peel
has not only been afraid to lead, but he has declined
to follow public opinion. He has not only not pro-
posed to abolish the punishment for forgery, but he
has most strenuously resisted the proposition when
moved by Sir James Mackintosh. He has not only
given the force of his Parliamentary eloquence, such
as it is, to the preservation of the sanguinary prin-
ciple, but he has given the influence of his station
and office to the support and perpetuation of that
barbarism which he had so recently condemned.
We will not say that he directly induced the sup-

porters of Government to rally round the standard
of vindictive legislation in the debate of Tuesday
night, but certainly some Ministerial Members, who
were conscientiously opposed to Mr. Peel's Bill, had
got an impression on their mind that, by voting ac-
cording to their conviction, they would displease the
Minister, and accordingly they kept away from the
discussion of the Bill in Committee. We have
heard of three of those gentlemen having admitted
that, if present, they must, in conscience, have sup-
ported the amendment of Sir James Mackintosh to
abolish the capital punishment ; but they thought it
more prudent to stay away. They also admitted
that they knew several others who had acted in
the same manner. Yet each of these three Mini-
sterial Members gave it as their opinion that Mr.
Peel must abandon his views. We hope those per-
sons acted under an erroneous impression as to the
consequences which they apprehended would have
resulted from giving on such an occasion an inde-
pendent vote. We also hope that at the next gene-
ral election those Members who had given their con-
stituents reason to believe they would oppose the
Bill, and yet were not found at their posts on the
day of battle, will be called to render up an account
of their stewardship, arid that their constituents
will give a preference to men who courageously dis-
charged a public duty. Again we call upon Mr.
Peel to pause, and, by abandoning his Bill, to en-
deavour to redeem his character as a legislator, and
not continue to place himself in a position in which
the intelligence and virtue of the country must be
decidedly opposed to his measures.—Morn. Herald.

The refusal of Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg
to fulfil his engagements with the Allied Sovereigns,
and to enter upon the high and glorious career which
awaited him as the first Sovereign of a State, en-
nobled by ancient recollections, and not less so by
the efforts which in our own day have called it into
a new existence, would be wholly unaccountable, if
experience had not already taught us that every
Prince is not of necessity a hero. It is of small
importance perhaps that the first Sovereign of re-
generated Greece should be a hero, but it is of
infinite importance that he should be a man of
steady resolution and practical good sense ;
and so far as these qualities may be deemed indis-
pensable in the man whose difficult duty it will be
to educe order out of confusion in the fabric of sc-
ciety, and whose splendid destiny it may be to found
an empire, and be the father of a race of Kings, it
is, we think, abundantly clear that the timely vacil-
lation of Prince Leopold has afforded an escape alike
for him and for Greece. We do not hesitate to em-
ploy the term vacillation as most descriptive of the
conduct of his Reyal Highness, for why, unless it be
from uncertain workings of a mind naturally infirm,
should he now reject the elevation which once be ea-
geily courted ? Is Greece other than it was ? Did he
ever expect that a bed of roses was already pre-
pared for him as the Sovereign of that country ?
Was he not told from the beginning that the terri-
torial limits of Greece were fixed, that the boun-

dories of the new State could not be extended ?
Did he not know, with moral certainty, from the
beginning, that upon this question of boundary
he would have to encounter discontent and dissa-
tisfaction among his new subjects ? The plain
fact, however it may be disguised—and it is a
fact which no documents hereafter to be pre-
sented can alter—is that Prince Leopold has
changed his mind, and forfeited his engagement,
without any change in the posture of affairs to ac-
count for his vacillation or infidelity. He it is that
is altered. Greece and her prospects remain the
same. These are certain facts, although we admit
that they are facts which, if Prince Leopold or
Greece only had been concerned, we should scarcely
have thought it necessary to state. But we cannot
conceal from ourselves that the domestic politics of
England have had an important influence in de-
priving Greece of her appointed Sovereign, nor
will we conceal from our readers the visible symp-
toms, that one of our domestic parties looks forward
to the acquisition of political importance in Eng-
land—a fruitless expectation we hope and believe—
with Prince Leopold of :Saxe Coburg as their patron
and leader. The feverish anxiety to vindicate Prince
Leopold, before be is accused, manifested by some
of the leading Whigs, must be allowed to be a
most inauspicious omen as to the success of his
eventual vindication, while it affords evidence the
most conclusive that this party has not yet aban-
doned that base system of policy by which it has
heretofore been distinguished, but which it has
found eminently unsuccessful, of hanging upon the
expectants of courtly influence and power. Prince
Leopold may by possibility be a man of para-
mount influence in this country. This accounts in
some degree for his otherwise unaccountable abdi-
cation of the Greek throne, but it accounts in a
manner infinitely more clear for the morbid zeal ex-
hibited on his behalf by some of our Whig Aristo-
cracy. The latter are incorrigible by experience,
or they must already have been convinced that the
worship of the wising sun is likely to be an unpro-
fitable idolatry.—Morning Post.
We do not know precisely the degree of blame
which may attach itself to the resignation of the
-throne of Greece by Prince Leopold; but it would
appear, from the brief statement of the Earl of
Aberdeen, on Monday last, and also from the lame
excuses put forth by his defenders, that there has
been a change of mind on the part of his Royal
Highness, for which no sufficient reason has yet
been given. Previous to the commencement of ne-
gociations in February last, it was distinctly under-
stood that his Royal Highness would not only have
no objection to be invested with the new Sovereignty,
but that he was extremely desirous to be entrusted
with the future destinies of Greece; and, according
to the statement of the Earl of Aberdeen, not
only did the Prince accept the proffered dignity
with becoming earnestness, and due gratitude to the
Allied Powers who had done him the honour to
select him ; but even up to Friday last there never
existed a doubted in the mind of any that the nego-
tiation would terminate in the embarrassing manner
to his Majesty's Government that it has now done.
The only point, in the shape of an objection, that
was urged by Prince Leopold, related solely to
money. Money he would have previous to his em-
barkation; and money, notwithstanding the finan-
cial difficulties of the country, his Majesty's Mini-
sters agreed that he should have to the utmost
extent of his wish, in order that the laudable am-
bition of his Royal Highness, to regenerate the
people of Greece, might not be frustrated.
What then was the final objection ? On this
point the Noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs
threw no light ; but it was evidently not an
objection springing out of the conduct of the
Allied Powers, but of the Prince's own con-
coction. It has been alleged by some, that it re-
lated to the boundaries of the new State ; but
these boundaries had been fixed long ago, and had
there been any objection on this head, it ought to
have been stated at an earlier period. By others it
has been stated, that the Prince had received a des-
patch from Count Capo d'lstria, in which he was
informed, that his intended subjects had a decided
objection to give up Acarnania, and further, that
they were not particularly well pleased with the se-
lection which the Allies had made of their future
sovereign ; but, besides the improbability of such a
piece of impertinence, proceeding even from the
creature of Russia, every one must agree with us,
that the man could be nothing short of a downright
idiot, who would be simple enough to receive, and
act upon such statements, coming from a party di-
rectly interested in frustrating his prospects. We
do not, in fact, give the slightest credit to any of
these reasons, as originating the resignation of the
throne of Greece; and it is quite clear, from the
brief statement of the Earl of Aberdeen, that what-
ever the alleged motive was, it was not one in
which he was disposed to place much reliance. The
public indeed will, perhaps, more readily guess,
than we can safely allude to, the real cause ; but
this much we will venture to state, that if the
Prince has now disappointed the Allied Powers, he
is not himself a whit less likely to be disappointed

in his anticipations of future influence nearer hOme.
He never has been a favourite with the English
public, though it has lavished its bounty upon him
with its accustomed liberality; and his conduct in
the affair of the Greek Sovereignty will not, he may
be certain, tend to exalt him in their affections.—
Morning Advertiser.