The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-12 00:00:00

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CONFESSIONS or an ELDERLY LADY.
lly the COUNTESS of BLESSINGTON.
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London : Longman, Orme, ttnd Co,

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
We have no room for tlr. Harney's letters, and decline, therefore,
to reprint. them.

The publication of Tin SUN NSWSPAI•fiR commenced this day
at 10 minutes past Three o' Clock.

Art.
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WITH
"THE TRUE SUN" IS NOW
INCORPORATED.

LONDON :
MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1838.

It is on Thursday next that Mr. GROTE'S motion
for leave to bring in a " Bill for taking votes of Par-
liamentary electors by way of Ballot" is to be brought
forward, and we are not aware that any domestic
question causes an equal interest in the country. It
has survived the temporary excitement growing out
of the insurrection in Canada, which, amongst its
other lamentable consequences, tended to abstract the
public attention from the means of effecting political
improvement at home. In fact, while that has sus-
pended the consideration of almost all other sub-
jects, the Ballot, as the increasing number of public
meetings and of societies established to procure it
show, has only become more exclusively and more
intensely the chief object of public demand. That it
is making great progress in the opinion of 'the bulk of
the electors, and particularly of those electors from
whom the Ministers deserve their chief support, is,
we think, palpable. So many instances of intimida-
tion were brought to light during the last election, that
the evils of the system of open voting were brought
feelingly home to nearly every mm in the country.
Few even of those electors who then escaped intimi-
dation, and were allowed freely to exercise their own
judgment, can be quite secure that some abitrary land-
lord, some ambitious and tyrannical customer—some
busy, bustling Committee of some combined workmen
—may not attempt to influence or control their votes at
the next election; and the most independent electors
now ask the Ballot as a protection. Even where men
have no direct interest to serve, the love of meddling
and of domineering is so great and so universal, that
each individual, however much he may share this
disposition, desires to be saved from its operation in
others. Most politicians, indeed, are now thoroughly
convinced that the system of open voting is pregnant
with evils ; being also convinced that these evils must
be put an end to, or the whole representative sys-
tem will fall into discredit, and no other remedy
being even suggested than the Ballot, the wish
to try that has become almost universal. Many
of those who were its most distinguished opponents
have become, on these grounds, like Lord BROUGHAM,
the advocates for making the experiment. Not having
been here put to the proof, and the electors groaning
under the intimidation, it is plain those who plead
for it have a manifest advantage over those who op-
pose it ; and so powerful has been their influence, that
it may be doubted whether anything but actually put-
ting it to the proof, will convince the electors either
that the Ballot is, or is not, a complete protection.
Nor can we see any interest or motive which the
Ministers can have for opposing Mr. GrnoTE's mo-
tion. There may be amongst them individuals who
disapprove of the Ballot, as there are many ardent and
zealous Reformers, not in the Ministry, who think it
will not answer expectation, and therefore con-
scientiously resist the demand for it, as exciting the
people to waste their power on what they say is a
worthless object. But whatever individuals may think
and do, the Ministers ought not to be guided by any
personal opinions or considerations. They must look
only to the public welfare. Now, it is in the nature
of things that they must believe that their presence in
her MAJESTY'S councils is for the public welfare.
If they thought otherwise—if they thought that their
retention of office was injurious to the interests of their
SOVEREIGN and the empire at large, they would be
bound, as responsible and honest men, to resign. By
retaining office, and by exerting themselves to keep
their party together, so that they may remain in office,
they only do that which all Ministers have done, and
have always considered coincident with the public wel-
fare. No Ministers can brand themselves by tacitly ad-
mitting that they are unworthy of their situation. To
keep themselves in office, therefore, is a part of their
duty to themselves as well as to the public, and parti-
cularly to that portion of the public who constitute the
great body of the electors favourable to them. The
Ministers are for the whole empire, but they are kept
in place by the confidence of those electors who, nearly
one and all, now demand the Ballot. It is, in our
view of the matter, contrary both to the duty and the
interest of Ministers to oppose that which, not being
morally wrong, nor palpably injurious, the bulk of
their supporters demand. Whatever might have
been the case formerty, the theory of the Con-
stitution has become a reality since the Reform
Act was passed, and no Ministers can retain power
who have not the confidence of the electors.
Of the anti-ballot potion of the community Sir RO-
BERT PEEL and his friends are the representatives ;
and for the Ministers now to act on their opinions, in
opposition to the opinions of their own supporters,
and thus to forfeit their confidence, is in reality to side
with Sir ROBERT PEEL—to strengthen his interest
in the country—and to carry him, at no distant day,
triumphantly into aloe. We are too sincerely convinced
of the great benefits which the retention of office by
the Ministers will confer on the country, not earnestly
to deprecate on their part a course of policy which
would offend their own Parliamentary friends, and place
the Tories in power. They must not, either in defe-
rence to the public welfare, or to their own interest,
make the rejection of Mr. GROTE'S motion a Cabinet
measure.

It is deeply to be lamented that Lord BitoucaList
is no longer in the good graces of the " leading Jour-
nal of Europe." What avails it that he is foremost
in rank and intellect among the Reformers of the agc,
if the Thunderer refuse him its countenance and pa-
tronage ? We protest we look upon his Lordship as a
man worthy of the sincerest commiseration—as a man
over whose cruel lot the most callous heart might shed
tears, seeing that he is now formally proclaimed " a
nuisance" by that very Journal, which, but a few short
years since as formally proclaimed him one of the
shining lights of the age ! As it is the highest honour
that a British statesman can possibly obtain, to be
lauded by the .Times, so must it be the deepest afflic-
tion he can undergo, to be denounced by our omni-
potent and omniscient contemporary. Some calamities
may be braved with a bold front, but there is no en-
during this. Hence is it that we are so powerfully
affected with compassion for Lord B ROUG it Am, whose
bright political and intellectual lustre must, if the
Times persist in its present cruel course of conduct,