The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-23 00:00:00

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LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 23, 1837 i

The proceedings in both Houses of Parliament last
night were more than usually interesting. In the
Lords, Viscount MELBOURNE, after presenting a
.Nlessage from the QUEEN—the purport of which will
`.)e seen by reference to our Parliamentary Report—
Apatiated at some length and with remarkable felicity,
in the public character of his late MAJESTY. •" Your
Lordships," he observed, " will deeply lament with
ne, that the nation has been deprived of the gra-
.cious SOVEREIGN who was ever anxious for the wel-
'are of his subjects ; while I have to deplore that I
trill my colleagues have been deprived of a most gra-,
ious Master ; and that the world has been de-
?rived of a man, I will say it, of the best in-
tentions---of a being of the firmest and most un-
!ompromising honour, and of the mcst strict inte-
4rity that ever it pleased Divine Providence to
,rlace upon a throne." To the propriety of this eulo7
;ium we cordially subscribe. His late MAJESTY was
•ndeed a man of " the strictest integrity" and of the
best intentions ;" but we cannot conceal from our-
;elves the fact that the two or three closing years of his
'reign were a falling-off from the commencement. He
.et out on his Royal career as a staunch Re-
former. He ended it as a reluctant and...distrust-
All one. " Seared by the sounds himself had made,"
uid beset on all sides by a host of interested
alarmists, he appears to have shrunk from the
'ask of giving its proper impulse to Reform. He
:loubtedovhen he should have been decided; and would
Cain have stood still, when it was most incumbent on
urn to advance. However, he is gone ; and far be it from
-us to dwell only on the weaker points of his character.
Let us remember rather that he was the first of his
race who ever dared to place a manly and generous
confidence in his people ; to " bruise the head" of
.hat serpent faction which had enthralled them for so
nany ages ; and above all, to concede to them that im•
rortant measure which is destined ere long to put them
n the full possession of all their undoubted rights.
Quitting the subject of his late MAJESTY'S public

and private deserts, the Noble Viscount next alluded i
:o our present Queen VICTORIA. "It is usual," he
. Gated, " on occasions like this to advert to the cha- i
racter of the reigning Sovereign. Her Majesty's deck-
ration is before the public ; she has declared that she
relies on the affections of her people, and on the loyalty
and attachment of Parliament. Can anything be added
with respect to her MAJESTY herself than what she:
has already declared ? I appeal to your Lordships
whether yOu could have a fairer promise of all that is,
flignified, and becoming—aye, and firm too—than that
which has already been given by her MAJESTY."
This allusion to the firmness of our present QUEEN iS
one of the best import to the country. The people will
not readily lose sight of it ; neither will that unprin
. cipled faction to whose hopes it rings a death-knell.
Her MAJESTY is " firm." And in what sense, pray ?
'-' Why, as a Reformer, to be sure ; for were she firm on
the side of Toryism, Lord MELBOURNE—himself
.. one of the
etifirmoleigstarßdv ;
Reformers in btol tileige;sChtatbeinient—thewotruulde
• not have been selected to convey her declaration to the
. Lords. Adieu, then, to the hopes of the Tories I
Her MAJESTY is firm against them ; firm to oppose.
all their anti-national projects ; firm to advance
the interests of the country in preference to those
of a despotic
- spirit of the age ; firm to prove herself her subjects'
best friend ; firm to enable them to reap the full har-
. vest of that reform of whieft her illustrious predecessor
'1
i lhas sown the seeds. All that WILLIAM the FOURTH
'Quid. and. ought to have accomplished, VICTORIA c
the FIRST will take care to see brought to maturity.
She will be as " firm" in the right, as ever was the
Third GEORGE in the wrong. What hope, then—nay,
what shadow of a hope—remains to the Tories ? None
whatever ! They may slander, and insinuate, and intrigue
sv• and bully ; raise the cry of " No Popery," and la-
ient for the wrongs of poor old Mother Church : but
until they can persuade her MAJESTY to vacillate or 1
uss...—