The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-19 00:00:00

)
meat received nothing In return for It—( Hear, hear, and a
laugh)—and a boon which, //given, was more oljectionable
now, more inopportune, and less justified by prudence or sound
policy than at any time he remembered since the formation of
the present Government. —( A laugh.)" This handsome corn-
pliment to the Radicals was delivered on Tuesday, all the R
dicals, and the ultra-Radicals, excepting four—namely, • "f -
William Molesworth, Mr. Leader, Mr. Grote, and Mr.
den, having supported Lord Melbourne's Administrati .
the vote of the preceding Thursday on Lord Sandon's r "
tiers. And within six days of that decisive evidence ~Ota •
determination of the Radicals to uphold the Ministry, its ,ief
treats the very idea of a boon to them with contempt and Ticli7
cule, talks of " a boon without consideration"—" a been most
wantonly given because her Majesty's Government received
nothing in return for it"—" a boon which, if given, would be
more objectionable now, more inopportune, and less justified
by prudence or sound policy than at any time he remembered
since the formation of the Government." Lord Melbourne,
' of course remembering all that had passed since the formation
of the Government, remembered the salvation of it on the
preceding Thursday, though, perhaps, a week's memory is a
long term fur a great man, and given votes may, like eatsn
bread, be soon forgotten. The capercailie, or cock of the
woods, shuts its eves when it crows, and the German sports-
men seize that moment of exultation and of blindness to ap-
proach and shoot him. It seems that Ministers, like the ca-
percailie, shut their eyes in straining a crow, and lose sight of
facts it would be as well to keep in view, but we hope with-
out the same mortal danger, for the extinction of the race
of the cock of the woods in Britain may be referable to
their exposure to their enemies in ovcrcrowing them-
selves, and Heaven forbid that the same fate should befal the
cocks of the Cabinet, and leave us a nation as much without
a Government as a capercailie. But to be serious, there was
a time when we should have protested earnestly against such
language as we have quoted from the speech of Lord Mel-
bourne. There was a time when we should have apprehended
the worst consequences from it. We have no such tears now ;
for the Radical party have signally shown that they will look
to nothing but the interests of the popular cause, and that no
species of irritation can induce them to swerve from the line of
action they deem advisable in the present circumstances of the
country. Lord Melbourne may treat their support in any way
that his feelings or his taste may dictate ; but their support,
however it may be requited, he will have so long a; it may
conduce to the public benefit, or prevent a public calamity.
Men who are actuated by principle are not to be moved
from their course by slights or wanton affronts ; for,
were they so, as Bacon says, they would " make
another's folly the master of their own wisdom." In
supporting the present Ministry the Radicals have
acted a part new in our political history, interested only inas-
much as they believe the people to be interested, and as the
favours of the Minister have not entered into their views, they
may pursue the path of public duty unmoved by his frowns.
Nay, more, every affront offered to the Radicals may be re-
ceived by them as the best compliment to their inflexible at-
tachment to principle; for the affront would not be hazarded
were it not believed that the sense of what was due to the
public would prevail against feeling of pique or personal re-
sentment. We only notice the quoted speech of Lord Mel-.
bourne to show that the principled conduct of the Radicals
rises superior to it, and the best practical reply to it will be
another great demonstration of Radical support—a hearty
union of Whig and Radical in resistance to Lord Eliot's at-
tack on the foreign policy of the Ministry. Lord Melbourne
is the stag in the fable, that admired the honours of his head,
and bewailed and disparaged the legs that supported him and
carried him through his dangers ; for, after all, his Lordship
has to note that the Radicals (all who vote for the ballot
coming under that denomination) are the great majority of his
party, and upwards of 200 strong. It has been suggested that
in his mention of the Radicals, Lord Melbourne may have al-
luded to the Ultras who made the attack upon his Ministry on
the sth ; but this, we are sorry to say, does not appear to be
possible; for, besides the fact that the Prime Minister could
hardly have thought it worth while to allude to the hostility of
Sir William Molesworth and Mr. Leader, and the desertion
of Mr. Grote and Mr. Fielder!, it is to be observed that his
Lordship's reply was to the taunt, that the reduction of the
yeomanry was the return for the support he had received fromthe Radical party, and the Radical party of which he spoke art
his answer, must be concluded to be the same Radical party
as Lord Winchilsea referred to in his attack. But supposing
there was a looseness in Lord Melbourne's speech, and that
when he spoke contemptuously of Radicals, he meant the
Ultra or Tory-Radicals ; yet, we must ask, in that case,
whether a chief may not be considered bound, at least
in courtesy, to remember the denomination of his sup-
porters, and to avoid confounding his friends with
his foes, especially when his friends are most anxious
to mark the distinction between their views and those of the
intemperate little section at variance with them. In Mar-
ryat's Peter Simple we read of a lordly captain who could
not condescend to remember the name of any officer or of any
thing belonging to his ship, and who used to order Mr.
Thingumbob to what-ye-call-it the thingummy—an order-
which was sufficiently clearly understood to signify the per-
formance of any manoeuvre necessary at the moment. Now if
Lord Melbourne, like this captain, not deigning to remember
proper names, had talked of the What-ye-call-it party, or the
Thingumbobs, or Thingummy support, he might have been
understood to mean the three or four Ultras oho have de-
serted him, but he has adopted a less intelligible description
—because a specific misdescription—if he really intended tee
refer to those worthies.—Examiner.

TILE ACTUAL POSITION OF PaßTies.—The present position
of the Government is curious and critical, and every man is
hazarding a conjecture upon its fate. With a precarious ma-
jority in the Commons—indeed, apart from its officials, ac-
tually in a minority—with a House of Lords assuming an atti-
tude of the most uncompromising hostility, and a Court
without experience or settled opinions, it is palpable to the
most ordinary observer that the Melbourne Ministry must
quickly fall, unless a most decided change of policy is
adopted. It is not merely in numerical array that the Go-
vernment is feeble ; it is decidedly overweighted and
borne down by the mental power of its adversaries. In
neither House can couples be thrown off in which the
contrast is not oppressively adverse. At home or abroad—
in the Cabinet or the camp—in finance or in the co-
lonies, we find men of practised superiority, and reso-
lute to maintain systems of administration, which as
parts of a vast Conservative scheme of authority, they re-
gard as essential to an aristocratic form of Government. And
yet with all these appliances in their favour, the Tories would
be as dust in the balance, were the Whigs true to the people
and to themselves ; for notwithstanding the loud pretensions
wnich arc put forth by the Charlton Conservatives, and the.
acknowledged. skill and experience of their chiefs, •this party
is a conceited confederacy of titled vanity and ex-official dog-
matists, cheered on and inflated by the eloquent blusterings of
a few aspirants, who either have much to keep and hope, or
nothing to lose. Apart from these auxiliaries, who, it must
be admitted, act their part in Parliament and in the:press with
considerable dexterity, the main body of this frightful force is
made up of bloated merchants and country folks of every degree,
from the first-born of a Plantagenet to the last-born of a
purse-proud Plebeian. In the House of Commons the Op-
position musters night after night with the fidelity of warders ;
there is no disobedience of orders ; not a murmur nor a sound
is heard, save when it bursts forth in the fierce yell of disdain,
or the exultation of anticipated triumph. But the sacri-
fices which arc thus made by old men of their comforts,
and by young men of their pleasures, cannot and will not
long be encountered, and this their leaders know full well.
Hence the attack upon O'Connell, and the more recent, but
less successful rush at the Treasury Bench, upon Sir William
Molesworth's ill-advised motion, and which may serve for a
short time to sustain their spirits, and as a foretaste of better
things to come. It is currently circulated yin the Tory camp,
that success on the last-mentioned occasion was not desired ;
the object being to define deep and impassable lines between
themselves and the Radical Reformers on the one hand,
and to cherish a sentiment of the deadliest hostility towards
their more immediate rivals. And it must be admitted,
that the course pursued was well adapted to the attain-
ment of both these ends. It was as insulting to the princi-
ples of the Radical Reformers, as to the persons of the Whig
Government, and read a lesson to both of the greatest value.
We have not been tardy in the expression of our decided re-
probation of the timid, truckling, policy of the Government,
at the same time that we have deplored it; and being ever
more prone to trace the beams of hope which at whatever dis-
tance, may glimmer before us, than to veil our course in de-
spair, we have derived no slight comfort from the conduct of
the Conservatives, in the belief that the Queen's Cabinet
must be prepared either to resign, or to adopt a bolder,
clearer, safer, and more intelligible system of Government.
lf, indeed, as some insinuate, they are conscientiously averse
to any further advance in the career of national improve-
ment, let them so say, and we may respect though we
shall repudiate their scruples ; but they then must retire
that abler men may advance. It is impossible that the affairs
of this great country can be allowed to stand still, and that
from the imbecility of its rulers. With the world in motion,
even the stillness of stability is scarcely to be desired, hut
when every thing about us is pulled to pieces, with a view
to reconstruction, if we find the gang of wurkmen in-
competent, or unwilling to finish the work, other hands
must be called in, both able and willing to build up and per-
fect the original design. But we own that no just necessity
for this searching turn-out presents itself to our minds. Now
that the Conservatives have opened their policy, which is that
of the most unrestrained hostility to improvement, the two
great sections of Whigs and Liberals should approximate,
and by a course of well-matured concessions, establish an
union of persons and principles, which could not fail to realize
all the great ends of all good government,—the happiness and
well-being of the people. Unless something of this sort is
effected, the people will subside for a time into sullen indiffer-
ence ; the Radical party will be suspected, the Whigs de-
spised, and the Tories will tyrannize over all to their heart's
content. Then will follow a series of movements, desperate
in their objects, and the reaction kill be dreadful.— Weekly
True Sun.

DESTRUCTIVE FlRE.—About half-past nine
on Saturday morning the greatest alarm prevailed in Water-
lane, Fleet-street, in consequence of an extensive fire having
broke out in the hay-lofts of Mr. Gray, Bolt in. Ton. Not
withstanding; early and powerful assistance the great portion
of the stock and lofts are consumed. No account can be ob-
tained of the origin of the fire, and upun inquiry it has been
ascertained that none of the valuable and extensive stock de.
stroyed is insured. The adjoining house, occupicd by several
poor families, is greatly damaged.

kweek at flolnsbush mine, its
riot o
consequence toofk placeitle minersistnot being paid their wages as usual.
The London adventurers had sent the money for the purpose
of paying the men, on condition that Mr. Malachy gave up
possession.
This having caused a delay of a week, the men
broke into the mine, and afterwards attempted an assault on
Mr. Malachy. About forty of them arc held to bail.— West
Briton.