The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-04 00:00:00

THE CRISIS.-

From the Liverpool Chronicle.)
The Administration, which appeared to be tot-
tering to its fall, has been again confirmed and
strengthened in power by a vote of the House of
Lords. The vote of censure passed on the Minis-
ters by the Hanoverian Faction in that House has
done more for them with the country than all their
own acts during the last three years. It is to be
hoped that they will take advantage of this new
opportunity of reconciling themselves with the
people ; such another may not occur. We may
well say of them—
_ 0 fortunnti nimium, sua si bona norint

So far, indeed, they seem to have been ,gifted with
a charmed life, or to be endued with a cat-like plu-
rality of lives, for they have survived shock after
shock which threatened their destruction, and still
fallen upon their feet after every error which they
have committed. But this luck cannot last for
ever. The false move of the Tory Peers has given
them another chance of retrieving Lord Melbourne's
" wild and mad" notions on the Corn-laws, and
atoning for Lord John Russell's " finality" folly.
Let us hope that they will take advantage of it.
( From the Manchester Times.)
We believe with the Manchester Guardian that
" the classes who possess political power in the
nation" are not prepared for Reform to the extent
recommended by the Morning Chronicle. Political
power is in the hands of those who can command
votes in semi-rotten boroughs and landlord-beridden
counties, and who, of course, desire to retain it so
long as it can be made to minister to their interests
as opposed to the interests of the nation. The Guar-
dian is afraid that another experiment in Reform
may not again be safely made, but the very safety of
the first experiment is great encouragement to the
carrying out of the principles which it recognised.
The Suffrage was extended by the Reform Bill, and
we ask only for a further extension. Precautions were
taken to prevent the bribery, corruption, and
inti-
midation of voters, by greatly shortening the periods
of election, and we ask only, as an additional pre-
ventive, for the adoption of the Ballot. To demand
the shortening of the duration of Parliaments is to
ask only the repeal of the Septennial Act, which
would throw us back on what had previously been
the law. By the Reform Bill there was a re-distri-
bution of seats, and we only ask now that there
should be another and more equitable distribution.
Nor is the repeal of the law requiring of Members
a property qualification a novelty unrecognised by
the existing constitution of the Commons' House,
because no qualification is required of the Scotch
Members. Here, then, arc " five points" of reform
on principles either adopted in the Reform Bill or
forming part and parcel of the old law.
NITe ask for an extension of the Suffrage, not only
that general instead of class interests may be repre-
sented, but to remove the mass of discontent which
will always prevail while five men out of six have

EVkNING EDITION

are great errors co be repaired—much skill to l
used—not a little enthusiasm to be excited. But
the subject that opens upon us is so considerable—
presents so many points for discussion, that we
cannot do them adequate justice in a single publi-
cation of our Journal. Again and again we shall
recur to the subject.
(From the Dvrhana Chronicle.)

If any one of Lord John Russell's argum,nts in
favour of " finalit% " be entitled to the least con-
sideration as a reason for not disturbing the Reform
Bill—albeit only to make it what it was when
Lord John Russell and the Cabinet of Earl Grey
originally introduced it—it was as much entitled to
be regarded at that period as an impediment to cm-
mencma°, as it is now to continuing, the work of re-
form. Common sense rejects the notion that there
can be such a thing as final legislation ; or that society
can be moulded to the provisions of Acts of Pia-Ea-
went, instead of laws being suited to the condition and
progress of society. With all our indignation at
the defections of the Whig Government from
their early principles, we cannot but grieve at the
poor fulfilment of their great promises that we have
been doomed to witness. " The Ministry of the
People," as they were emphatically called in 1534,
what arc they now ? They seem now to have
reached the lowest depth of degradation to which
the abandonment of the opinions that raised them
to office can sink them—assuming, as we presume
we are warranted in doing, that Lord John Russell
speaks the mind of his colleagues in the Govern-
ment. But we will not despond for the cause they
have so outrageously betrayed. When things come
to the worst they must mend ; and the hour of re-
covery may be nearer at hand than we think of.
(From the Dublin Freeman's Journal.)

The Globe does not hold with the Chronicle that
the nation is at present divided into Tories " ex-
ultant"—Reformers wailing and gnashing their
teeth. It has seen few signs of exultation a:Dongst
Tories of the old genuine breed, and few of de-
spondency in Reformers who expect no railroad to
reformation. To be sure, the Spectator and the
Morning Post agree brotherly in the doctrine that
all the varieties of public opinion resolve theniselver4
really into Tory and Radical—that there are no Tell
divisions but those two extreme ones. And then
the Globe wonders how these sages account for the
tolerably long-lived phenomenon of a GovernMent
which is certainly neither Tory nor Radical.
The long-lived phenomenon of the present Go-
vernment is, we think, easily accounted for. It
has " lived, moved, and had its being" in the
support of that party—the Radical party—whose
power the G/obe affects to despise, when compared
with the overwhelming influence of the sober, in-
structed, thinking men who are simply liberal. The
present Government, in point of fact, owes its
exlstance to the forbearance of the Ministerial organ
to make light of the party to whom its masters are
so deeply indebted.
Early next month the fate of Ministers will depend
entirely upon the movement party ; would. that the
fate of Ireland was not also in its hands l • The divi-
sion on Mr. Home's motion, for leave to amend the
Reform Bill, has shown that it is not the powerless un-
influential party the G/obe would represent it. On
that occasion the minority amounted to 50 ; and if

these, or even a tithe of them, should sacriflee
duty to resentment, and vote with the Tories on the
11th, the long-lived phenomenon would soon
cease to be a matter of astonishment.

(From the Carnarvon Herald.)

We regard the warfare between the principles of
constitutional government and oligarchical des-
potism as awakening at last from the long slumber
into which the apathy, consequent upon the passing
of the Reform Bill, had naturally lulled it : and
such being the case, we rejoice in the coining con-
flict. It is the sure herald of success, and the Duke
has our warmest thanks. The conduct of the Tories

will serve more than any argument t o convince the

- ,
Cabinet that their true strength is in tne approbation
of the people ; and if the people make use of the oc-
casion to pull hard, " a long pull, a strong pull, and
a pull altogether," for a reform of the Reform
.1:;i11,
the Ministry will be placed in a proper position to
wrest it from their opponents. It is only when the
Tories and Reformers caress and shake hands
thst the cause of reform is in danger. The
finality doctrine which the Ministers have been
lately abetting, is the offspring of that unnatural
union which the present conduct of the Tory chiefs
has annulled ; and if the reformers do their duty,
neither Lord Melbourne nor Lord J. II ussell will
nurse the ugly bantling any longer. Finality in organic
reform can only be the result of a radical change;
and to demand this the British Reformers are not
yet agreed. But they are agreed that the Reform
13i11 ought not to be a final measure ; and they are
also agreed as to the items in which it may be
safely extended and improved. Triennial Parlia-
ments, Household Suffrage, and the Ballot, must
form the compact of union between the Ministry
and the people, when this recent movement of the
Tories has met with its first answer in the Com-
mons' House. We shall revert to this subject
hereafter.