The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-16 00:00:00

111114: SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 16, 183 S.

in his own estimation to the exalted and unappre-
ciable value of the living cargo the Hastings
byto convey,prieshenhsi si 0 n Lordshipthat,
if tboeriml e
lean t e
bd
y, na en sy•ei 5r
tphoaerillte:sousnt,
of the British public, and truly described, as in that
case they might probably be, to the community at large,
these decorations might perhaps be regarded as another
instance of that prodigal and reckless waste of the public
money, to which in so many instances his Lordship's mis-
sion has given rise ? These feelings are, we suspect, com-
bined in the morose mandate of the Canadian Dictator,
that the accommodation provided for him shall be impene-
trably shrouded from public view. His Lordship is pain-
fully and petulantly conscious that, in this particular at
least, there exists no sympathy between himself and the
people of England. The imaginative splendour of Orien-
tal romance would be inadequate to the Noble Lord's
estimate of his own personal dignity and importance ;
while, perhaps, with the exception of his Lordship,
there is not a man in the three kingdoms, who would
not pronounce that the ordinary every-day condition of
a British ship of the line does not present as much of
becoming magnificence, and of convenient accommoda-
tion, as his Lordship had any right to claim or to expect,
whether on account of his personal value, his social rank, or
his official station and employment? Whatever may have
been the predorriinant motive in the mind of the Noble
Lord it is at least certain that the order ascribed to him
by the Government journal at Portsmouth is an order
which could not by possibility have emanated from any man
having the least respect for, or the slightest sympathy with,
the British public. Tho great bulk of our countrymen
hate moroseness, and mystery, and aristocratic pride. They
have sense enough to know that the man who displays
those qualities, and who at the same time makes profession
of democratic principles, is of necessity a hypocrite—that
he affects a peculiar regard for the rights, interests, and
feelings of the masses of the people only because he has so
much vanity as to think himself qualified - to convert the
masses of the people into the blind tools of his ambition.
Lord Durham, it is evident, hai no idea of the manner in
which he might best secure to himself a favourable recep-
tion in Canada. His Lordship thinks,_ perhaps, that his
own all-sufficient merits and dignity render any considera-
tion of this nature altogether superfluous.—Morning Post.
Never perhaps since the world began was there such a
set of discontented people as the Tories. Nothing can sa-
tisfy them : they are like the man in the old story that went
into a wood to hang himself, and could not for the life of
him find a single tree that would answer his purpose. They
arc resolved not to be pleased : there are abundant reasons
for sefisfaction, but though " reasons are as plenty as black-
berries" they will have none of them. " They will not, for
they will not," and that is all they can say. " There is a
soul of goodness in things evil," observes a great authority,
but they cannot find out even this soul. They are not only
political immaterialists, but they deny the very existence
of the soul. Of evil, they tell us, they discover an amaz-
ing superfluity, but they are. unable to find one point of con-
solation. We mistake : there is one point of consola-
tion—one little circumstance that does afford them satis-
faction—the state of the revenue. They are delighted
to observe that the accounts, both of the whole
s ear and of the last quarter, are somewhat unfavourable,
and show a decrease in the income of the country. But
then, again, their joy is " dashed with an abatement of
grief," for instead of the prospect for the future being
melancholy and gloomy, it is exhilarating and cheerful.
There is good ground for, believing that the commercial
crisis is past, that the difficulty has been got over, and that
the returns for the next quarter may be gratifying. There-
fore the Tories cannot derive much comfort even froth the
temporary inconvenience that may have been occasioned by
the defalcation of the revenue, especially since the incon-
venience was by so much the less, as Ministers, antici-
pating such a state of things, had been prudent enough
to take precautions against it. However, the Tories per-
tinaciously insist that every thing is wrong,—that distress
and disaster hang over the kingdom ; and prosperous
and fortunate as the present condition of the nation may
seem to others, the fact is, that nothing can be
more alarming, nothing better calculated to produce dread
and despondency. They will not believe the evidence of
their own senses, if it do not suit their purpose ; just as the
foolish logician in the farce endeayoured to argue people
out of their consietion that the sun was shining, because
he had taken it into his head to dispute it. The Tories,
indeed, go one step farther, for they not only deny that the
sun is shining, but they contend that it has no right to
shine, unless they giVe it leave.
" The sun itself dare not to shine,
If we do say it nay."
Certainly, nobody will pretend that they would not have
the power, and would not carry their power let° effect, of
extinguishing the nAticnal sunshine, ii once they could but
contrive to get into office again. So fur, therefore, they
are right, but just at present we do not think that the
people are disposed to allow them to try the experiment of
eclipsing what the Whigs have accomplished. We own we
cannot wonder at the st ite of mind in which the Tory party
now find themselves. They have a right to be most tho-
roughly out of humour with everything, for everything has
turned cut to their utter discomfiture and disappointment.
Only leek back to the leading events of less than a
ye :r. First, William " the true and just," as the
Times truly and justly calls him, died, and Victoria
the young and hopeful succeeded to the throne. So much
had her Majesty and her royal parent kept themselves aloof
from politics and parties that the Tories in the outset had
hopes that she might take them into favour to the exclusion
of a Liberal Ministry. These hopes were at once destroyed
by the declaration by the Queen of entire confidence in
Lord Melbourne and his colleagues. Then followed vo-
lumes of abuse poured out through the Times against the
Duchess of Kent, because she had educated her illustrious
daughter in tie belief that the great object of Government
lavas the welfare of the whole nation, and not the aggran-
disement of an exclusive party hostile to that welfare. The
administration of the Whigs being thus founded on the
good op;nion of the Sovereign, and upon the good wishes
< f the people, what were the unhappy Tories to do to defeat
its measures? A dissolution of Parliament being inesi-
table, they brought all their arts of division, delusion, in-
timidation, corruption, and bribery to bear on the elections ;
but here again they failed, and a majority decidedly favour-
chic to the Liberal interest was returned. As it was soon
found that nothing could be done in Parliament by the
Opposition, as far as related to the domestic state of Great
Britain and Ireland, the rebellion in Canada seemed to
many of the most rabid of the Tories quite a godsend ;
and here they trusted that Ministers, if not disconcerted,
might be embarrassed. But the measures proposed in the
first instance to suppress the 'revolt, and then to prevent
the recurrence of any similar evil in future by a searching
inquiry into all real grievances, and an honest determination
to redress them, were such that the leaders of the Opposi-
tion could not refuse concurrence in them, and the Earl
of Durham will now soon be wafted across the Atlantic,
fully empowered by the Queen and the Legislature, as
the great pacificator of our North American Colonies, to
examine into the whole system of government, and to
recommend'and apply such remedies as may be effec-
tual and satisfactory. The pitiful efforts to lessen the
beneficial consequences of his Lordship's mission, and to
pass a vote of censure upon Ministers for pursuing a course
which, a month or six weeks before, nobody had ventured
to find fault with, merited and received the negative of the
House of Commons, and the contempt of the great body of
the nation. The attacks upon the administration of Lord
Mulgrave in Ireland, met with a similar result, and the No-
ble Viceroy can well endure'the hatred of all Orangemen
for reducing that fertile island to a happy state of obedience
and tranquillity. Every day, therefore, we perceive
fresh proofs of the dissatisfaction of the Tories, not
merely because Lord Mulgrave continues at the head of
affairs in Ireland, but because his beneficial administra-
tion has rendered it impossible that the sister kingdom
should ever hereafter be governed upon other princi-
ples than those of equality and justice to all parties.
The Tories, therefore, owe his Lordship a grudge not
only for the present but for the future. " For this and
all we hate the©" Lea the Tories, then, turn which way
they will they behold nothing that is not calculated to pro-
duce in their minds bitter vexation and regret. Abroad
they see peace preserved, and the national character and
superiority maintained without any ostentation of power
which might be offensive to foreign States. They see our
commerce thriving, our manufactures flourishing, our agri-
culture prosperous, and, our revenues, though temporarily
depressed, gradually improving. They see Great Britain
happy, Ireland peaceful,:and such of our colonies as were
disturbed returning to order and obedience. How, then,
can the Tories be satisfied ? What chance can they have
of again coming into office ? and hence, of course their
despondency, if not their despair. What else could satisfy
them ? While they held the reins of Government they
treated the people, in the language of old Burton, " as so
many asses only fit to bear burdens ;" but the asses have
freed themselves, have thrown off their load, and are deter-
mined not to be
" Re-caught, re-bound, re-burdened, and re-basted."
To deprive the Tories of their grief at their present disas-
trous state, and worse prospects, would be to deprivge
John,
of their last consolation. When Constance, in Kin
is desired not to mourn for the loss of Prince Arthur, she
remonstrates against this cruelty, exclaiming—.
~ Grief fills the room up of my absent child ;"
and so the Tories may very naturally tell us not to take
from them that which alone makes their present condition
endurable :.-..." Grief fills the room up of our absent"
places : " let us at least have the melancholy satisfaction
of finding fault." Neither the present Government, nor
any other Government, unless constituted of Tory mate-
rials, could prevent their finding fault ; and as in these
times (witness the Earl of Mulgrave) it is strong testimony
of desert, we should be sorry on our part to do anything
which could put the Tories in a situation to forego this