The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-08 00:00:00

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E V ENIN;

TENTIVIENT OF THE TORIES.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

The Tories begin to lose all patience as they
id that the hostility of the Radicals to the Whigs
results in no friendship to them, and that—often
a world of trouble taiken to foment enmity between
the two parties—they (the Tories) have not made
sixpence by the speculation. They perceive with
asonishment that the national hatred of them is
immortal, while their party alliances are fleeting ;
that the proverb must be reversed in their regard,
and they must sav "amiciticv mortales, ininucitta
7empiternce." They observe with a surprise, bor-
dering on incredulity, that the popular feeling shifts
to every quarter of the political compass but that
tt which they are stationed ; that nothing which
tan happen tends in any degree to render them less
intolerable to the people ; that popularity may even
be lost to their adversaries without being gained to
them ; that no one abuses the Whigs so much, but
reprobates the Tories more. It is very natural
fnr such a party to look up to Sir Robert Peel as to
a father ; it i very natural for Sir Robert Peel
o look down with the feelings of a 7 father
on such a party. The arts by which alone such a
party can hope to live (those of cunning and hypo-
crisy) are the arts for which alone Sir Robert pos-
sesses any genius. But too much may be trusted
to the success of these arts, and too much even to
S►r Robert's genius ; for it is by no means clear
that the Tories have unqualified reason to rejoice
in their leader's skill. Sir Robert Peel, in the
debate on Sir Ilesketh Fleetwood's motion of
Tuesday last, taunted the Radicals with being
easily satisfied with the conduct of the Govern-
ment ; but we think the Tories, with better reason,'
may be taunted with being easily satisfied with Sir
Robert Peel. They have pronounced his speech
on this occasion " magnificent ;" and one of them
is " convinced that the Conservatives of Great
Britain will have felt more proud than ever of their
distinguished leader after reading it." Now, what
are the extraordinary grounds for pride, gratitude,
and admiration which they find in this speech ? We
Lave read it twice over, and "are in amazement lost,"
rt at the speech, but at the gratitude for the speech,
the pride, &c. We can find nothing whatever to
account for these emotions of the mind. We
thought we.wust have made some mistake—stum-
i.led on a Aong column—got into Sibthorp, or
something ; so we went to work again, still led on
,i)y the expressions in the leaders of the Tory Jour-
nals about the " magnificence " of the speech, and
so forth. All was of no use, and we still remain
In a profound puzzle respecting the furor of the
Tory critics. They will hardly say the speech was
eloquent ! Well, then, was it business-like—was
it to the purpose ? If we know any thing of the
Tory game we should say decidedly it was not to
the purpose. What skill was there, we ask, in
unnecessarily provoking the animosity of those
whose " sweet voices " give the Tories the only
chance they can at any time possess of obtaining a
triumph over their opponents ? Is this the way
to secure the Decemviri? "So far from making
good any claim to Radical aid," says the Spectator
of last Sunday, (a Radical paper, and one to
which the Tories are usually diligent in paying
Court), " the Tories asking it might receive a
1, fit answer in Shylock's retort—' Fair Sirs, you
spat on us last Wednesday, read (Tuesday) ; you
Ispurned us such a day ; another time you called us
Idogs ; and for these courtesies you now expect us

to vote,'" &c. Such is exactly the course pursued by
Sir Robert Peel. A candidate for office, at the
mercy of ten Radicals, he takes occasion, unneces-
sarily, so to insult them and the whole of their
party, that, how they can ever again support hini

with their votes we confess ourselves at a loss to

conceive. And his tail is grateful I Well, cer-
tainly, to adopt the words of the Hon. Baronet,
" Gentlemen more easily satisfied we cannot well
imagine." Why, the scribe in the Morning Post
diterves better of his party. The scribe is a real
diplomatist, and can dexterously manoeuvre the
Radicals to his ends ; not so the Parliamentary

leader. The former is ever ready with the well-
tiMed tribute and the alluring compliment—he is
all seduction ; the latter has no honey to spare,
r:en for catching flies. There is really no com-
parison betwen the two men ; the scribe is a
finished courtier, but the Pharisee is a blunderer.
We have, indeed, several times wondered of late
by what means Sir Robert Peel has obtained the
reputation, which be enjoys with his party, of
being an adroit and cunning leader. What evi-
d,:nce his grateful supporters recal of these states-
man-like attributes we do not know, but we cer-
t linly bear in mind ourselves some remarkable
examples of another sort—as we cannot call it

~;mplicity, we may call it a shallow duplicity—a
quality combining all the meanness of knavery
with none of its genius or success. Nothing, it is
ttrue, can be more deplorable than this. A trickster
ought unquestionably to be iiticcessful, for to fail in
this sort of trade makes a bad bankruptcy indeed ! '
Regarditig, Sir Robert Peel as a professed diplo-
ntist, we have a right to complain of his awk-
warliess. •We are admirers of nature in all her
works, and like to see every animal fulfil its
proper destiny, whatever that may be—to see
foxes sly, asses stupid, &c. Sir Robert Peel,
it is universally acknowledged, was cut out for
a J,-.suit, but he has quite disappointed the promise
ileld out by such a character ; and, lastly, whether
we have beheld him making his bow at Bucking-
' ham Palace, or occupying his place in the House,
we have equally found him mismanaging his mat-
ter—getting into scrapes here, and out of office
there, and making all sorts of false moves. And
the tail is grateful ! Certainly, " Gentlemen more
..asily satified we cannot well imagine." What
could be more blundering and stultifying, than the
s:leer against the Canada Bill, lugged into the
above debate on the franchise ? " It was the 1
fashion now," said the distinguished leader, " not
to legislate at present, but to make promises of le-
gislating
at a future time." Has the distinguished
leader already forgotten the debate on the first Ja-
maica Bill, and his own and his friends' arguments
against that Bill ? Has he forgotten that that Bill
proposed to " legislate at plesent,” but that he
and his tail preferred to " make promises of
legislating at a future time ;" and that the
:rinciple which they now repudiate seemed so in-
, controvertible to them a few weeks ago, as to en-
courage them to unite all their forces to turn out
the Ministry upon it ? Then, how ludicrous was
Sir Robert's tribute to the Reform Bill ! He is
for " accepting it in the same spirit in which it was
offered by Lords Grey and Althorp." What does
this mean ? The spirit in which the Reform Bill
was offered to the party of which Sir Robert Peel
is the distinguished leader, was the spirit of a sound
drubbing. In this spirit Sir Robert begs to say,
for himself and partners, that he will " accept it."
As for accepting a drubbing in one spirit or an-
ether, we don't know how a man is to refuse it, if
. Another is resolved to give it him ; but at least it
is edifying to us, and must be highl) satisfactory to
his party, to know that Sir Robert is prepared to
kiss the Reform rod as often as he can't help it;
and the more so because we trust from what fell
from Lord John Russell on Tuesday night, that
iseveral more such rods are in pickle for him.
1,.., The country is now informed, in a manner that
Icannot be considered vague or obscure," that how-
-1 cver little the Whigs may be inclined to concede to
the Radicals, the Tories are prepared to give less;
iaccewhile, on the other hand,
their representat
able Baronetif the people, through
ives, only resolve to give the Honour-
• h fir self and
. 'rig, e)(distinguished
par leerasd, ewr)illa good thrash-
, 4,amc—and " in the same spirit," too'
pt"
% Certainly, " Gentlemen more easily satisfied the
. • 11,
'Cannot well imagine !
i