The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT or THE rußLic JOURNALS

The organs of the Tories somewhat over-estireate
their powers of deception. In addressing, themselves
almost in the same breath to .Radicals and Tories; it
would be etranee indeed if they did not fall into gross
contradictions.- They tell the Radicals that they can
!tor: seething from a Reform Administration, because
the 'Tories, possessing the command of oee House
ana a large minority in another, will take eactual care
te. prevent Ministers from carrying any measures bene-
ficial to the country. Of course, say they, your Mem-
bers will not he elicit fools as to support a Ministry
from whom nothing can be gained for the country,
mercyto enable them to keep their places. Now, if
Tories were in office- they svcrell themselves con-
cede reforms which the Whig% will never be allowed to
carry. This language is held by the Times without
the least disguise. " The English Radicals," says
that journal, " are for no negative do-nothing Go- ,
vernmcnt ; they must have Reform for the country, or
bush-money for themselves. They are not to sit
night after backing the Administration, and
~.zetting nothing either in malt or in meal. They
will have movement ; or, failing that, they and
those who depute them will begin to reflect that,
if the Whigs can neither play nor pay, it may be
better to try their adversaries, who are milling to
concede and desirous to (feet certain reasonable modi-
jicrztions (.)1 Reform, and who enjoy the clear advan-
tage of being; able to accomplish what they propose, by
carrying the sanction of the other house of Parlia-
ment." This is a tolerably barefaced avowal ; but
after all it is only a repetition of what used to be
urged by the Times, when it asked for a trial for Sir
Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington. At that
time the apostate had the assurance to tell its readers
that the Duke of Wellington had informed certain
individuals in the city that he would go beyond the
Whigs in his reform of the abuses of the Church of
Ireland, and in the improvement of our institutions.
However, the people were not to be taken in by such
artifices. They said, we have the public declarations of
the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel to
guide us as to their intentions ; and if we'should be
so simple as to pin our faith to an article in the
Times, they may tell us to take their opinions
from themselves, and not from newspapers. The
guarantee of the Times was but a very slippery one at
best. The people were quite aware that Sir Ro-
bert Peel and the Tories had no objection to profit
by the deceptions practised by the Times ; but they
knew at the same time that they would disavow their
base instrument when an attempt should be made to
bold them to the pledges given by it in their name.
Some of the Tories are, no doubt, honest men in their
way, and do not hesitate to express their abhorrence
of all concessions to the people. These men would
not lend themselves to any factious opposition to Go-
vernment merely to obtain place, and least of all would
they dishonour themselves by holding out as a lure that
they would themselves give more extensive and impor-
tant reforms than they will suffer the Whigs to carry.
But the great body of the Tories arc, we believe, suffi-
ciently dishonest to chuckle at the knavery of the
Times. No matter how we obtain access to the pub-
lic purse, say these gentlemen to themselves, if we can
only get our hands into it. If the Radicals be such
fools as to be gulled by us, that is their concern, and
not ours. But while the Times would thus have the
Radicals believe, that for the sake of the emoluments
of office the Tories would far outrun the Whigs in
their concession to the people, it lets out another mo-
tive for displacing Ministers not exactly reconcilable
with this eagerness for reform.
" Duly-exercised patronage," says the Times, " is not an
illegitimate accessory of government, and it is affectation
to disclaim, as it is folly to undervalue, such an agent.
Still there are other reasons beyond the pay, and beyond
even the patronage, which must induce an upright Conser-
vative to desire the earliest possible removal of the Whigs.
Grant that the Whigs will be obliged to act just as a Con-
servative Opposition shall shape their ends ; yet that Oppo-
sition, governing thus at second hand, is far less able to
execute its objects with advantage to the country than if
directly invested with the power of action. This would be
undeniable, even if the Ministers were men to be trusted.
But how much more irksome is the task of a Conservative
Opposision when the parties they have to deal with are
known trimmers, never for a moment safe out of sight—
certain, like a blockaded fleet in harbour, to ,slip out to sea,
if the adverse squadron be blown (jc. but for a single after-
noon Really, therefore, it would not be a very comfortable
prospect to see the Whigs insured for another t'.velvemonth,
even if the Conservative party were as purely selfish as their
rivals. But if, in addition to the worldly wish for place and
power, the Conservatives have also nobler aims—if it be
something to the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel,
already possessing all that fortune and station can give
them, to achieve a higher enjoyment beyond the reach or
understanding of their rivals—that of serving and saving
their country—then it may be an object not only of politi-
cal, but, if we may so speak, of moral ambition, to hasten the
auspicious,. inevitable' day which is to deliver the country
from a Government false alike in its position, its promises,
and its pretenses."

When this tirade is translated into plain English, it
means that a Reform Ministry will avail themselves of
any favourable opportunity for giving effect to the
principle of the Reform Bill, and striking at the root
of that corrupt power which would govern in defiance
of the people ; while, on the other hand, the Tories
once in power would exert themselves to rid themselves
of porular control. No one can mistake what " say-
ing the country" means in a Tory mouth. The
country of the Tories is England under the rotten-
borough system, when victual representation flourished,
and the people had nothine to do with the laws hut
to obey them. In their confidential meetings they held
the language of the correspondent whose communica-
tion the Times lately honoured by incorporating it in
a leading article, in IN hich communication it was
roundly declared that the Reform Bill had rendered it
impossible to govern the country on Tore principles.
The Reformers are not sueli noodles as to be taken
in by the lure that the Tories opposed the Reform
Bill, and have endeavoured to prevent its pro-
ducing the anticipated results, merely to surprise
the people with a larger measure of reform than the
Whi2;s can possibly carry. But we question if
Reformers arc sufficiently aware of the real value of
the benefits derived from the mere possession of
power by a Reform Ministry.. Were the Tories to
cover themselves with the disgrace of using their majo-
rity in the House of Lords to impede all beneficial
measures (a supposition which we will not allow our-
selves to entertain), the mere exercise of the preroga-
tives of the Crown during a course of years would in-
vest with power and influence a- number of honest and
upright men in every quarter of the country. One of
the great evils we have now to contend with is the
garrisons planted by the Tories during their Seventy
years' tenure of office throughout the country. But
death shows no more respect to Tories than to Re.
formers. In a short time many Reformers, excluded
from influence by the Tories, will be in situations to
benefit the cause of Reform. And should circum-
stances again prove adverse, the people will find the
inestimable advantaeee of having everywhere friends
zealously devoted to 'Reform ready to throw themselves
in the breach between them and their Tory oppres-
sors. How often did it happen during the times of
Tory misrule that there -.gas not a single magistrate in
a whole county in -4 ;nom the people durst repose the
slightest conUence ?--Marntv; Chronicle.
When an individual once expressed his astonish-
ment, to a Judge that so much delay should take place
m deciding causes, as they must be either black or
white, he answered, " we have no difficulty respecting
c
the black or white causes, but what becomes of the
grey ?" In like tnanner it may be observed that the
difficulty of sating the balance between the Reformers
and the Tories is not caused by those of decided prin-
.
erpiet, out by the amphibious gentlemen. In another
Column will be found a letter of a correspondent, who
has taken some trouble to state the case fairly between
the Reformers and the Tories ; but he has fallen into
tome mistakes, which we have taken the liberty to
correct. He, gives the Reformers St. Andrew's, for
iwance. Now, though Mr. Andrew Johnston was
somewhat difficult to hold, he yet voted well latterly,
and the substitution of Mr. Ellice for him cannot be
termed a gain. But then, on the other hand, as Mr. Ord
( Newport) and Mr. Barharn (Kendal) were absent dur-
ing the whole of last Session, they may be deemed a set
off for St. Andrew's. From the Tory gains must be de-
ducted Hastings, Wells, Carnarvon, and West Suf-
folk. Christchurch, Preston, and Dungannon can

each only count as one to the Tories ; but Sutherland
must count as two on questions like the approi!ria-
tion. Mr. John Maxwell (Lanark) also voted against
Ministers on the appropriation when present. The ac-
count may be thus balanced :
Total gains of Reformers in towns 46
Kendal and Newport, one vote each, equal to one seat

.

Gains in counties ... IV

Loss in toVns."e3 34
ChristAtuleh, Preston, and Dungannon, one each
equal to one seat and a half, gained in throe
additional votes .
Loss in counties, drdueting Suffolk, but adding
Sufterland and GLlniorpts as one only ....... 25A-

GI

Positive loss of Reformers
Chr:miclr.
The Melbourne Cabinet, dissatisfied, no dcuht,
with the vindications of their motives and measures
which the newspapers in their employ have been able
to furnish, have now put forth a pamphlet which
bears the somewhat lengthy title of " Domsstie Pros-
pects of the Country under the New Parliament," and
which the public are told is to be regarded as a work
of authority, " speaking the sentiments of men in
office." We have no doubt of its official character, for
it breathes the very spirit and soul of the men who
arc now in place. The author's first move on behalf
of his principals is to pet rid of those two embarrassing
questions, the Irish Municipal Corporation Bill, and
the Irish Appropriation Clause. As to the matter of
the Corporations, that great and vital question on
which Ministers had announued in the last session
their fixed resolve to conquer or resign, their parnph-
!eteer proposes to remain contented with "some corpora-
tions now," but be prepared (with what sort of preps-
sration we are not informed) " to give more hereafter."
As to the rest, observes he, with incomparable indiffe-
rence, " it really does seem, looking calmly al the mat-
ter, a point of no very great importance whether muni-
cipal institutions should or should not be planted or
reorganized immediately in all the considerable towns
in Ireland." Looking calmly at the matter, we think
so too ; but how long has it suited the Melbourne
Cabinet to look thus calmly at the matter? Until the
recent elections calmness on such a subject was crimi-
nal and impolitic ; but since those elections it is con-
venient and indispensable. But their calmness on the
municipal question is nothing in comparison of their
coolness on the other great Irish topic, the appropria-
tion. " Leave the tithe question," says the spokes-
man of the Ministers, " unsettled for a few years
longer, and there will be no Protestant church worth
making any differences about." This easy mode of
closing the controversy, by annihilating the church,
may seem very desirable to the Whig Ministers, whose
only object is to get rid of the millstone they have
fastened to their own necks ; but the Protestant people
of this empire have the obstinacy to retain an opposite
opinion. Leave the tithe question unsettled I Who
is it that seeks to leave the tithe question unsettled ?
Not the Conservatives, for they are ready to pass a
tithe bill on your own principles ; what they refuse is
to saddle it with that spoliatory enactment which you
call by the name of the appropriation clause. It is
you who wish to leave the tithe question unsettled,
that you may avoid being hampered with it now ; and
that you may keep it in reserve to hamper your oppo-
nents hereafter. There is no further disguise upon the
subject : even hypocrisy, that homage which rice pays
to honesty, is not thought worth sustaining any longer.
If " those who wish to preserve even what remains of
that institution" (meaning, of course, the Conserva-
tives, who have a wish to preserve the Church), are
not prepared to vote that it would be " better, on the
whole, to set up the Church property there to auction,
and have the clergy paid out of the consolidated fund,
upon a scale graduated according to the amount of
duty which they have to perform—if something of this
kind be not done, it will be the 'duty of Lord Mel-
bourne not to embarrass his Cabinet any further with
this question, but permit it to take its own course !"
That is, having struggled into office solely by that
question, and now finding that it has become an em-
barrassing one to the Cabinet,- so constituted, they-re-
solve to throw the question at once overboard, and keep
their places, embarrassing " the Cabinet with it" no
longer. Why, in the name of common honesty, what
has happened since you took office on this condition to
make the condition less binding on you now ? You pre-
tend that the Sovereign is on your side ; if that pre-
tence were true, you would so far be the stronger for
your objects. You know from the beginning that the
Peers were opposed to you; so far your state is unaltered.
The only change is in the people and their Represen-
tatives ; these, no doubt, have become more opposed to
your designs : but what is the legitimate consequence
of this ?—that von should keep your offices, aban-
doning, the engagements by which:you got them ?—or
that, being unable to fulfil the engagements, you should
give up the offices ? Surely, to men of honour this
point is one of no difficult casuistry. The proposal
from this accredited organ of the Cabinet, for setting
up the Church property to auction, would deserve a
chapter to itself, if we had space in proportion to its
enormity. Surely the Destructives can never find their
interest in prematurely goading a Government which
has such a theory at heart, and waits only for a safe
season to put it into perpetration I Then, in his own
summary way, the author strikes oil' the questions of
Church-rates, Poor-law, and Education, telling us that
they require time ; that the prurient desire for hasty
legislation is a malady of the age, but that " there is no
real difficulty in any of these sohjects ssith which the
House of Commons may not effectually deal, 7,,ithont
coming-even to a divi iion." And thus, in the most satis-
factory manner possible, is every impediment to the com-
fortable conduct of public effsirs reinured or annihilated.
Was there, then, no 113 C or end ia any of the Bills
and resolunions, which for the last three, Sessions, from
the date of the compact alliance between the Ministers
and the Destructives, have been forced upon the table
and left to their fate ? Not the smallest. The con-
tinuance of Lord Melbourne's Government in that
steady course of do-nothingness, which they have so
consi,tent%y pursued, is ad that the nation requires in
order to ba happy and glorious. We Vat. not this of
our own heads ; in us it might, be thought insincere or
ironical ; we say it on the authority, and we will give
it in the very words, of the writer, who " speaks the
sentiments of men in office." " Let not a bill," says
he, " pass for tire next century concerning Ireland, •
Int maintain there such a Lord Lieutenant as Earl
Mn/grave, such a Chief Secretary as Lord Morpeth,
such an Under Secretary as Drummond, such an At-
torney •Generat as Woutfe, and her destiny is fixed ; she
cannot but be in pence ; she cannot but grow rich and
powerful." As in Irshod, nc inGreat Britain also (what-
ever the Conscssative majority may vainly *----gine), the
continuance of the do.nothing Government, its per-
fect enjoyment of office without so much as the Syba-
rite's cturnplad rose-leaf to disturb their repose, is the
thing which alone can give us real prosperity. Let all
parties listen to the official writer :—" All parties—
those for the Ballot, those for extended suffrage, those
for the abolition of Church-rates, those for grunt glans
of public education, those for yielding to Canada a
more democratic form of government than at present
exists there, should one and all enter upon the next
session with this conviction thoroughly impressed upon
their minds, that there is not one of these question:—
HO, not one—which is not secondary to the great ob.
g Lord Melbourne's Cabinet free
jest of maintainin
from every species of embarrassment." Whatever
convictions this writer may be able to impress in other
particulars, none who read these paragraphs will fail
to be convinced of this—" that he speaks the senti-
ments of men in office. —Times.
We have hitherto hesitated as to whether or not we
ought to notice the epistolary effusion of Mr. Sharman
Crawford, addressed to Mr. O'Connell, which we pub-
lished by express a few days ago. The expressing of
so worthless a production reminds us of the entrance
of Tom Thumb amidst a flourish of trumpets. Mr.
Crawford is, we believe, an honest-hearted, though
.very foolish-headed, man. We are willing togive him
all credit for integrity of purpose, but his good inten-
tions are completely defeated by his weak and self-
willed judgment. Phaeton was ambitious of driving
the chariot of the sun ; an opportunity presented itself
i for his gratifying that ambition : and what was the
result l 'Why, the unskilful jarvey upset his red-hot