The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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We have heard historical novels objected to on ac-
count of their so blending fancy with fact, that many
readers are never afterwards able to separate the one
from the other. We sometimes wish that our Con-
temporary, the Standard, would confine himself to
fiction, in which he has few competitors, and leave his-
tory to those who at least intend to confine themselves
to facts; for though it cannot be said that he excludes
the truth altogether from what he is pleased to call his-
tory, yet the facts bear so small a proportion to the in-
ventions, that his readers are only perplexed by the
admixture. There is a long article in that paper of
yesterday, of which the object is to prove by a new
reading of history that the Scotch had little to do with
the Revolution, and that "to Scotland British liberty
owes nothing.' We have seldom seen effrontery
pushed so far. To borrow the language of the
Standard applied to an Evening Contemporary, " it
were not easy to condense more gross misrepresenta-
tions into an equal number of lines than our respected
Contemporary has here presented." Alluding to a
comment of the Globe on the reported speech of Mr.
Oswald at the Glasgow Reform dinner, the Standard
says:—
" Let us, however, before coming to particulars with the
Globe, dispel a vulgar error that seems to have pervaded
all the late Radical proceedings in Scotland, and to have
extended to Ireland and this country. That error lies in
the notion that the Scottish people had a principal share
in achieving the liberty of the empire at the Rexolution ;
and that they, by their unaided gallantry, effected the ex-
pulsion of episcopacy from the ancient kingdom of the
Stuarts. It is, notoriously, a characteristic of our northern
fellow-subjects, that they are too modest ever to decline
any unappropriated merit which chance, or the present pur-
pose of others, may seem to assign to them ; and there-
fore it becomes a duty to spare the blushes of the Scotch
Radicals, by mentioning that to Scotland British liberty
owes nothing ; and that the boasted exclusion of episcopacy
if it be a just übj ec t of boast, is a matter upon which
Scotchmen have no reason to pride themselves, inasmuch
as it was not their work."

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The compliment to Scotch modesty will be appre-
ciated by our northern fellow-subjects, who, being
" men of the world," are duly impressed with the good'
sense conveyed in the adage, " Never cry stinking
fish," and not only never attempt to undeceive the
world in their good opinion of them, but generally take
care to place what excellencies they may possess in as
advantageous a light as they can. Our business is
not to bepraise the Scotch, who are quite equal to the
task of doing justice to themselves ; but-to show that
that ancient people really had something to do with
the Revolution of 1688, and that British liberty really
does owe something to them. In the first place, it is
now, we believe, admitted that to the promptitude
and spirit with which the Scotch took the field, and
repelled. the attempt of Charles the First, misled
by Laud and the other High-Church Divines, to
cram the Common Prayer-book down their throats, the
English are chiefly indebted for the successful stand
they afterwards made against that tyrannical church-
ridden Monarch. English liberty would have been
crushed hut for the presence in the beginning of the
civil wars of the Scotch army, which gave courage to
the patriots, and enabled them to make the necessary
preparations for 'the arduous struggle, in which the
Crown, the Church, and the nobility were often nearly
successful against a portion of the aristocracy, and
almost the whole of the smaller gentry and middle
classes. If, as the Tory Hume remarks,.vEngland
owes her liberty to the Presbyterians, British liberty
owes much both to the swords and the pens of Scotch-
men. Of the books condemned in the famous Oxford
Decree, a decree worthy of the Spanish Inquisition,
the greater number were written by Scotch Presby-
terians. The Lex Rex of Samuel Rutherford, a book
of great merit, printed at the expense of the Parliament
of England ; the works of Knox and Buchanan ; and
Naphtali, by Sir James Stewart, were the prin-
cipal books proscribed. During the period which
intervened between the Restoration and 1688, the
Scotch Presbyterians frequently took the field, and
though unsuccessful, they never submitted to Episco-
pacy. In this persecution, including those transported
to the English plantations, above eighteen thousand
persons suffered. The combined attempts at invasions
of Argyle in Scotland, and Monmouth in the west of
England, in 1685, failed from various causes, but not
from any want of zeal on the part of the Scotch.
When King William invaded England with a Dutch
army, he was accompanied by many Scotchrnen of dis-
tinction as well as Englishmen, and the Scotch took
their full share in the exertions made on that occasion.
Holland had been filled with Scotch exles, some 'of
whom were King William's chief advisers, and the
Presbyterians, apprised of all that was going on, were
prepared to second the enterprise. When the Epis-
copalians addressed King James as the darling of
heaven, and prayed that God might give him the
hearts of his subjects and the necks of his enemies, the
Presbyterians refused, in the most explicit terms, to
support the Government.
" Their clergy," says Laing, " who had returned from
Holland, and the exiles who accompanied the Prince of
Orange, had already prepared them to expect his arrival ;
and although it is uncertain bow far the confederacy ex-
tended through Scotland, some of the chief nobility parti-
cipated in his designs. Argyle was invited and escaped to
Holland ; Cardrosc returned from America to join the
Prince ; Drumlanrig, the Duke of Queensberry's son, in-
troduced his countrymen into the confederacy in England ;
and the Earls of Annandale, Glencairn, Crawford, Dun-

donald, Tarras, Lords Ross and Bargenny, and many gen-
tlemen of the first rank, were engaged in Scotland. No
sooner had the army passed the borders than they resorted
from all parts of the country to Edinburgh ; and the Privy
Council, whose authority sunk in proportion to its former
violence, was forced to connive at their secret cabals. The
Cameronians were dispersed in small parties along the bor-
ders ; and as few dispatches escaped their vigilance, the
Privy Council was deprived of all intelligence or instruc-
tions from Court. When the arrival of the Prince of
Orange was discovered, their perplexity was increased by
the most contradictory reports. This declaration for Scot-
land was received with avidity, and proclaimed at Irvine,
Ayr, and Glasgow, while the authority of the Privy Coun-
cil was almost dissolved. As their confidential messenger
had carried their dispatches to the Prince's camp, a com-
mittee was appointed to repair to Court ; but before its ar-
t val there the Revolution was effected in both kingdoms."
It is impossible to say whether skilful combination
or bravery most contributed to the success of the Revo-
lution in Scotland. The Chancellor Perth was out-
manceuvred in the Privy Council, and the militia were
disbanded. The populace of Edinburgh rose, and
though numbers were killed and wounded by the sol-
diery, with the assistance of the train-bands they broke
in and overpowered the military. On a sudden rumour
that the Irish had landed, six thousand Presbyterians
appeared in arms, and, disappointed of a foreign enemy,
dragged on Christmas-day the Episcopal clergy from
their pulpits or altars. The Duke of Gordon, with
a mutinous garrison, retained Edinburgh Castle for
James ; but the declaration of the Prince of Orange was
universally received, and a confluence of all ranks re-
sorted to London. When Dundee departed for Stir-
ling to hold a separate Convention for King James,
the militia was ordained to be levied, and placed in
secure hands ; a regiment of eight hundred Came-
ronians was raised within two hours ; three hundred
Highlanders were armed by Argyle, who had assumed
his seat before the attainder of his family was repealed ;
and, though the Castle of Edinburgh was in the hands
of the Jacobites, the Scotch Canvention was at length
secured by the arrival of three regiments of Scotch in
the Dutch service, who had attended William to Eng-
land under the command of Mackay. Had the Pres-
byterians not acted with consummate ability at the Re-
volution, Dundee, who offered " to drive the Dutch
forces with their Prince before him," might, at all events,
have succeeded in preventing the Revolution from being
accomplished without immense bloodshed. We arc at
a loss to understand what the object of the Standard
can possibly be in thus palming upon its readers a
parcel of stupid inventions. The part which the
Scotch acted duriug the whole of the seventeenth cen-
tury is too well known to admit of any successful at-
tempt at mystification. How stupid, for instance, to
utter such twaddle as the following :
" The Revolution found the Church of Scotland Epis-
copal ; so that it is clear the Scotch had not abolished
episcopacy by their' broad-swords,' as Mr. O'Connell is ac-
customed to say. Subsequently to 1688 the broad-sword
was thrice drawn in Scotland ; first, by Dundee, who, in-
stead of seekinc, to abolish episcopacy, declared himself its
champion, and fell fighting in its cause against Englishmen,
Dutchmen, and Irish Protestants. The rebellions of 1715

and 174:-., undertaken in behalf of a Popish succession, will
scarcely be treated as movements against episcopacy."
The Revolution found the Church of Scotland
episcopal it is true, but the Scotch contributed much to
the success of the Revolution. The effort of Dundee was

in behalf of the Episcopalian party who opposed the
Revolution, which was not completed in Scotland till the
death of Dundee at Killycranky. The rebellions of 1715
and 1745 were insurrections of Episcopalians (for
Jacobite and Episcopalian were synonymous) all
Highlanders ; and the clergy of the Church of Scot-
land, to a man, were on the side of the Government.
Though the Revolution in Scotland was effected by
Presbyterians, King William, at the instigation of the
English clergy, would have established Prelacy, but
the Presbyterians were armed, and, like a sensible
Monarch, he yielded to necessity. So much for the
history of the Standard. It is remarked by Sir
William Molesworth that when any statement is made
_ .

in the House of Commons by one Irishman, it is al-
ways contradicted by another Irishman, and•upon in-
quiry it is generally found that both are in the wrong.
The Standard has been evidently too much beholden
to the school in which the argument alluded to by
Sir William is obtained, to be able to touch upon
English or Scotch history with any hope of success.
—Morning Chronicle.
We are sure that those few well-meaning, hut inju-
dicious Radicals of the ultra school, who for some
time past have been labouring with the zeal of apostles
to bring about a split among the Reformers, must now
be aware that their objects and efforts meet with no
sympathy in the public mind. To their calls for a
separation from the Whigs and an independent course
of action for themselves, these misguided men have
not yet met with a single response on the part of the
people, and we can confidently assure them they never
will. Possibly we may be referred to the meeting at
Bath. That is not a case in point. Who were the
principal performers on that occasion ? Why, the
very persons who have been elsewhere straining every
nerve to sow dissension among the Reform party, and
by consequence, though doubtless unintentionally, to
consign over the destinies of this country once more to
the hands of the Tories. The meeting at Bath, there-
fore, furnishes us with no index to the state of popular

feeling on the subject of that severance of the ultra-Ra-
dicals from the Liberals generally, and that indepen-
dent course of legislative action so urgently recom-
mended by the parties referred to. Our conviction is
consequently strong that if the impolicy of the sug-
gested secession from the Whig-Radical party does
not make itself apparent to the minds of the hot-headed
gentlemen in question, the manifest impracticability of
carrying out their views will induce them to abandon
the foolish game they have of late been playing. Have
they ever bestowed a thought on their own ineffi-
ciency—we will not say insignificance—in point of
numbers ? Must we tell them that they are but a
mere handful? That they are considerably: under a
score ? What a sorry exhibition would such a party
make, acting in the House of Commons without any
organized or recognized body of friends out of doors !
Of the political weight or senatorial talents of the ex-
treme Radicals in the House of Commons, we are un-
willing to say anything—we trust they have not the va-
nity to think of themselves more highly in this respect
than others do. The estimate which the country forms
on these points is, we can assure them, by no means flat-
tering. We feel it due to the interests of the great cause in
which we are embarked, and which their injudicious
conduct has done so much to peril, to say thus much.
We do it also in the spirit of true friendship to them-
selves. And of this Sir William Molesworth, and

the fifteen or sixteeen who are leagued with him in the
separation crotchet, will be convinced before many
months elapse. Those journals which cheer them on
in their present course are, they may depend on it,
their worst enemies. This truth, also, they will find
out sooner or later. We only wish they may do so in
time to prevent the irretrievable ruin of their Gwn cha-
racters as public men. But act as the ultra-Radical
party may, it is consolatory to know, that the mass of
the people are sufficiently enlightened, and possessed
of too much honesty, to sanction, or in any way abet,
any project which is fraught with manifest injury to
the Reform cause. They may occasionally'ibe misled
by designing men ; but their delusion is never more
than temporary, they soon right themselves again, and
are at all times ready to act with a decision and energy
in the right course, which amply make up for any ac-
cidental deviation from the path of duty and their own
interest, into, which they may have fallen.—lllorning
Advertiser.

A dinner, it seems, has been given at Belfast to Mr.
Sharman Crawford. We have neither the time nor
the inclination—and we are sure our readers would not
have the patience, to go in detail through all the non-
sense that was spoken, or the mischief to which that
nonsense was intended to excite. But there is one
point to which it is absolutely necessary that we should
allude. A person named Tennent, who was in the
chair, and who must in no way be confounded with the
gentleman of the same name by whom Belfast is re-
presented gave, among the toasts of course, the
health of the Princess Victoria. It is strange that the
respect due to the station and the virtues of Royal
Highness should have been converted, by the madness of
faction, into an atrocious libel upon the conduct of the
distinguished Lady who is her nearest relative. " The
Chairman," we are told, " congratulated himself that
the Princess was taught by her illustrious mother to
entertain proper feelings towards Toryism, of which
her accession to the throne would be as the knell."
Now, for any man to venture upon the assertion that
the Duchess of Kent has used the influence of her re-
lationship to make the heiress-presumptive to the
Throne a political partisan—that she has, by antici-
pation, pledged the future Sovereign to annihilate, as
public men, any portion of those who may become
her subjects—is to say that which calls for imme-
diate contradiction. We treat the question on broad
grounds, without availing ourselves of the admission
of the Whig-Radical Prime Minister, that the party
thus to be extinguished includes the great majority of
the nobility, the clergy, and the gentry of Great Bri-
tain. We say nothing of this. In our view of the case,
all parties are alike. That the Personage destined, in
all human probability, to reign over these realms,
should have been, by her own mother, sworn at the
altar of faction, to maintain an inviolable enmity against
a large proportion of her future lieges, is so monstrous
an assertion—so gross a libel—that it behoves the con-
fidential friends of the exalted individuals concerned to
meet it with the immediate expression of a prompt and
decided reprobation. It is perfectly true that the as-
sertion which we denounce was uttered by an obscure
individual, at an unimportant meeting, and in a provin-
cial town. But the slander is not confined to the place
where it was uttered. It has been promulgated by
means of the press, and thousands, who know person-
ally no more of Belfast than they do of Bagdad, have
become acquainted with the fact that such a false-
hood has been put forth. We grant that the well-
informed will not for a moment be seduced into the
belief that the Duchess of Kent has permitted her
daughter's affections to be alienated from the " best
blood" in Britain ; but that is not sufficient. The ill-
irilbrmed must also be convinced that her Royal
Highness has not given occasion for the slander that
faction has endeavoured to fix upon her name. The
sooner this is done the better. Justice to the Illus-
trious Personage herself requires a refutation of the
calumny ; and the majority of the nobles, the clergy,
the gentry, and, we may now add, the people, of these
kingdoms, have a right to know that they are not,
as has been alleged, included among the victims of a
prospective decree of political prescription.—Morning
Post.

THE UNITED SERVICE JOURNAL.—TheJanun.ry
❑umber of this highly original periodical is rich in articles
of much importance to naval and military men, and of
great general interest. In an " Address to the Commons
of Great Britain," a strong case is made out in favour of
additional pay and retiring allowances to officers of the
army. The articles on " The Slave Trade," " Captain
James Ross's Voyage," " The Retreat from Burgos and
Madrid," and " Steam Communication with India," are
unexceptionably good. " Retribution, an Incident at Sea,"
affords a really frightful idea of the infernal atrocities of
piracy. The General Correspondence will be read with
much interest. The very important article " Traits of
the Transport Services," may be taken as a fair specimen
of the great utility of this work in the exposure and con-
sequent reform of gross abuses in the, naval and military
services.