The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-05 00:00:00

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

“M ICH AEL ARMSTRONG,”
COMPLETE.

Mr. COLBURN will publisl, on the 9th instant, the com-
plete edition, in 3 vols., post Svo., price 2.35. bound, of " The
LIFE and ADVENTURES of MICHAEL ARM-
STRONG,. the FACTORY BOY."
By Mrs. TROLLOPE,
_ . _ _ _ _

With all the Illustrations, by Hervieu, Buss. and Onwhyn.
Orders received by all Booksellers, and at all the Libraries.

THEATRE ROYAL COVENT GARDEN.

UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MADAME
VESTRIS.
THIS EVENING, D/c. 5, 1t!39,
Will lie performed Sheridan's Comedy •f
THE RIVALS.

Sir Anthony Absolute, Mr. W. Farren ; Captain Absolute,
kir. Anderson; Sir Lucius O'Trigger, Mr. Brougham; Faulk-
;and, Mr. Cooper ; Acres, Mr. Harley; Mrs. Malaprop, Mrs.
C. R4IQI ; Lydia Languish, Madame Vestris ; Julia, Mrs.
Nisbett ; Lucy, Mrs. Humby.

After whieh,
ARTAXERXES.
Artaxerxes, Madame Vestris; Artabanes, Mr. Berrani ; Ar-
hates, Mr. W. Harrison ; Mandane, Miss Rainforth ; Semira,
Mrs. E. Knight.
To-morrow, Love, with The Beggar's Opera.
Dress Boxes, 7s; Second Price, 3s. 6(1- ; First and Second
Circles, 9s. ; Second Price, :IL 6d. ; Pit, 3s. ; Second Priee,
; Gallery, IL
Doers to be opened at half-pa-St Six—the performancei to
eorn-nence at Seven o'Clock.
Tickets and places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr. totter,
at the Box-office, from Ten till Four, where Season Tickets
:::av be had upon application.
Private Boxes to be had solely of Mr. Andrews, bookseller,
167, New Bond-street.
ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.

he production of Ainsworth's "Jack Sheppard," has attracted
complete overflows, and seen pronounced to be the greatest
achievement ever yet attempted, it will eonssquently be
acted every Evening.
THIS EVENING, DEC. 5,
Will be acted, Ainsworth's celebrated Drama of
JACK SHEPPARD.

Illustratin; all Crnikshanks' inimitable Tableaus Vivant.
(haraeters by Messrs. Saville, Dale, Heslop, Laws, Smith,
Ross, Neville ; Mrs. Vining, Mrs. Daly, Miss Martin, Miss
Grant Mts. Laws, &c.

To conclude with,
THE STRANGER.
The Stranger, Mr. Dale ; Mrs. Haller, Mrs. H. Vining.

HIGH-WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO.SIORROW.
K ruing 6 minutes after 2 I Rvening 30 minutes atter

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Two or more substantives joined by a copulative must
always require the verb to be placed in the plural num-
ber."—Blair. " The wages of sin is death."—Trans-
lators of the Bible. Thus the gentlemen of " The Sun
and Horshoe" see that doctors differ like themselves.
Such phrases as the one • refereed to, are to be met
with in the works of good authors of bygone days,
but they are rejected by modern grammarians. Hiley
lays down this rule—" When a verb comes between two
nominatives it must agree with that which is properly its
subject, and the subject must be placed before the verb,
as—" the wages of sin are death."

LONDON :
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 11139.

A change seems to have come over the Tory
journals. They find it necessary to forsake person-
alities and refer to principles. On Tuesday the
Times quoted BLACKSTONE and the Bill of Rights,
and the Herald was learned on the Prerogative
and HALLAM. We congratulate our Contempora-
ries on their conversion, and shall do what we can
to prevent them from apostatising by supplying
tfhe►m with some temptation to keep in the right
path. Leaving the learning of our Prerogative
friend the Herald for another opportunity, we shall
say something on the doctrines quoted by the
Times, with more of the sagacity of the parrot than
the man. Not that we attach much importance to
our Contemporary's remarks, for its power is pro-
digiously overrated, but the observations it has
borrowed for a mere party purpose, without reflect-
ing on their bearings and consequences are worthy
of notice.

IThe Times, in an article inserted in the
Evening Sun on Tuesday, quoted the Act of
Settlement and the Bill of Rights, to prove that
the QUERN, by allying herself with a Catholic,
would, ipso facto, cut off the allegiance of the people
and forfeit all claim on the Throne. We admit
that such is the language of the two documents ;
but the object and intention of both was to main-
tain the ascendancy of Protestantism as a political
power in the realm, and that ascendancy, in almost
every point except this mere nominal one of the
Sovereign not being a Papist, has been since gra-
dual y lessened, till it was almost totally abro-
gated in 1829.
The Act of Settlement and the Bill of
Rights were useful in their time, hut the more
such matters are discussed, the more insufE-
Lient appears the wisdom of our ancestors. If
Protestant ascendancy had not been abolished in
1829, the Government would have fallen to pieces,
and a pestilent civil commotion would have en-
sued. Now that the ascendanCy is abolished in
spirit and in fact, it seems first to be found out
that the purpose of the Act of Settlement, and
of one clause of the Bill of Rights, has
' been substantially set aside, though nominally
it is preserved, by the Sovereign being a
conformer to the Church of England. When
that condition was imposed on the occupant
of the Throne, the Sovereign possessed considerable
power to which he now lays no claim. To that
[ period the Monarchs of England, as remarked by
Mr. HA LLA m, in his " Constitutional History,"
" had been a good deal above the average in those
gualities which enable, or at least induce Kings to
td ke on themselves a large share of the public ad-
ministration." The TUDORS and the STUARTS,
he observes, " were the master movers of their own
policy." This was eminently the case also with
WILLIAM III" "who was truly his own Minister."
Subsequently to the date of the Act of Settlement,
even ANNE, as well as WILLIAst, had a will of
her own which did not ask the advice of her Cabi-
net. " ANNE herself," says Mr. HALLAss, "like
rIl her predecessors, kept in her own hands the reins
of power. She took a share in all business, fre-
quently presided in meetings of the Cabinet, and
sometimes gave directions without their advice.
The first instance where 1 find the responsibility of
some one for every act of the Crown strongly laid down,
is in a speech of the Duke of ARGYLL in 1739."
The two first GEORGES being foreigners, so igno-
rant of the English language that the first GEORGE
and Sir R. WALPOLE communicated together by
means of the Latin language, and having never ac-
quired either power or popularity, the third GEoRGs
having been for half his reign out of his wits, and
the last GEORGE having been obliged, as the
Standard has remarked, to make a compromise of
his principles on account of his doubtful character,
upwards of a century has now elapsed since the
power of the Crown has been reduced almost to a
nullity, without any chance, should the Sove-
reign even be at once a man of talent and ambi-
tion, of ever again becoming of importance. Now
this great alteration in the Government and Constitu.
tion since the Act of Settlement and the Bill of
Rights were passed, by which the prerogatives have
all come to be exercised by responsible Ministers in
the name of the Crown, those 'Ministers being
much less under its control than under that of the
Commons, renders, in fact, the restriction of the
Act. of Settlement and of the Bill of Rights a mere
matter of form. Though the Tories, for their pur-
poses, now insist on adhering to what they opposed
when it passed, the provisions are of no importance
whatever. To maintain Protestant ascendancy, it
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