The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-08 00:00:00

PIRIT OV THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We learned, in the afternoon of yesterday, that Lord
Durham had arrived in town. Whether or not, there are
rumours abroad that he will have (in some quarters it was
said that he will be suffered to have) no communication with
her Majesty's Ministers before the meeting of Parliament,
when his Lordship is to make good his case against Minis-
ters, and the Ministers are to make good their case against
Lord Durham, and so they are to devour each other like
the pair of Irish cats. Impeachments are said to be talked
of, and cross-impeachments, in the course of which there
will, no doubt, be plenty of recrimination on both sides ;
bvit whether any really useful light is to be thrown upon
the subject by either party, is a point beyond our pre-
science. One thing, according to actual appearances,
is certain—viz., that Lord Durham professes to have
been a man perfidiously treated and deeply injured
by her Majesty's Ministers—a charge which derives no sort
of discountenance from the history or general reputation of
those against whom it has been brought. If such be Lord
Durham's inward sense of the conduct he has experienced
from the Government which employed him, and if with this
feeling of individual wrong the Noble Lord has bona fide a
superadded conviction that plans of improvement for the
future administration and condition of the Canadas, which
might have been matured and realized under his guidance,
have been frustrated or indefinitely postponed by his return,
we shall say nothing now of the offence he has committed by
the desertion of his duties and his post ; but on the other
branch of the subject, namely, the loss sustained, or the be-
nefit secured by or to the empire through such an occurrence,
the Conservatives owe it to themselves to grant Lord Dur-
ham that of which he has but a slender chance from his late
employers—to wit, a dispassionate hearing. If Lord Dur-
ham and his Radical friends had not tormented the
public with such incessant solicitation that all credit
should be given exclusively to him, and none at all to the
miserable Government for whom he acted, nine men out
of ten throughout the kingdom would, on the mere evi-
dence of former years, have assumed that, whatever
might be thought of the noble autocrat's discretion, be
would tell more truth and display more integrity (which
is not saying much) than the bulk of the still existing
Cabinet. He has heaped suspicion upon his own case by
he ravenous frequency of his premature appeals to the
nation. Even, however, as it is, we are bound to say,
that with all the factitious advantages of the more reserved
and prudent course which has been adopted by, or forced
upon, the Queen's advisers, the preponderant conjecture
throughout the community is, that when Lord Durham's
" disclosures" come to be made, the Ministers will
suffer from them some degrees more than he will.
Be this as it may, the indications of the last week
would lead a calm observer to imagine that a new and
curious modification of parties is about to show itself, in
Great Britain at least, though not so soon in Ireland.
The honest portion of the Radicals (most dangerous be-
cause they are most honest) have declared the deep disgust
they entertain for the grovelling selfishness of the official
Whigs ; their hollow indifference to all fixed principle ;
their incessant shuffle and restless anxiety as to all that
affects, however remotely, the tenure of their places and
their salaries ; the readiness with which they change their
measures, and not their measures alone, but their doctrines
and professions, to suit the profit of the passing hour ;
these Radicals lay claim to Lord Durham for their leader ;
and treated as he says he has been by Ministers, and little
prospect as there is of his finding in Lord Brougham a rival
to be at all dreaded where a solid hold of any popular
faction is to be scrambled for, who knows but that Lord
Durham may for a while put on the mask of
" Liberalism," and condescend to wield the truncheon
of democracy, until he shall become powerful enough to
entice recruits from the aristocratic army, when, like
O'Connell, he may " kick off" the friends who have raised
him, and boast of his power to requite them by insult and
persecution. It is characteristic enough of the Queen's
Ministers with what an uniformity of " shabbiness" they
have turned to acconnt the analogous elements of Irish and
Canadian disaffection. The Popish demagogues and con-
spirators of Ireland had long been levying war in disguise
against the integrity of the empire. But the convenience
of compounding with disloyalty and shutting the eyes of
Ministers to the malpractices of those traitors, was im-
pressed upon them by the knowledge that 60 or 70 votes
in Parliament were at the beck of him by whom the trea-
son was directed ; they durst not, therefore, make even
a show of censure upon the Irish conspiracy on
ain of being dismissed from office. With regard to
Canada, there was likewise in that quarter a " war in
disguise against the integrity of the British empire. The
Ministers knew it—all the world were conscious of it. But
as there was a veil of grievance, however flimsy, flung over
t, the Ministers, as in Ireland, took care to " shut their
eyes"—and why ? The 'Canadians had no seats in the Im-
perial Parliament, but they had in that Parliament quasi
ropresentatives—the most violent democrats, or so" ething
more than democrats (if such a race exist), in the House of
Commons, whose votes were not less necessary to the Mi-
nisterial majority than were those of the Irish Papists,
though far less numerous than the latter. When the
army in Canada ought to have been increased, and the
germs of rebellion crushed, and some brave and skil
ful officer made Governor-General of the Canadas
with martial law for his code, Lord Go-ford, as the
nominal head of a nondescript and ridiculous mission,
was sent to play fast and loose, and ask useless questions,
and write home long and uninstructive reports just to
keep up the game of " make believe" and " hoodwink"—
until the Canadians themselves naturally believing that the
people of England, who tolerated such long-visaged farces
must be a tribe of fools or cowards easy to impose upon,
sod not difficult to frighten, became impatient of such
irksome and despicable frivolities, and broke to pieces the
whole Ministerial magic lantern, by bursting one winter's
day into un-" disguised rebellion." The system of Mi-
nisterial cheatery could therefore no longer be carried
on. Rebellion was rebellion and "no mistake." Troops
were sent—not so soon, or half so many, as there ought
to have been—but troops, and a " dictator." The dicta-
tor has been beaten, and forced to run for it, which we trust
the troops will not. But see what the Radicals in the
British Parliament the quasi representatives of Canada,
will say to this. Sir William Molesworth seems to eive
notice, that they will say and do whatever shall be written
down for them by Lord Durham. However, the sum of
matters is this—that the Queen's Ministers looked on at
real but an avowed rebellion in Canada, for fear of I,sing
English Radical votes ; when the mask of grievance was
thrown aside in Canada, the mask of credulity was (per
force) discarded here. The Irish fraud is still in progress.
The Popish conspirators on the eastern side of the Atlantic
have not yet made open war upon Great Britain. When
they do, and Ministers find that if they keep their eyes
closed much longer, they may chance next to open them
after their heads are off—why then, and not till then, we
may see an Irish dictator appointed. But whence are his
troops to come from? It is not for the cause of Queen
Victoria, that the serpent's teeth her favourite advisers
have been so diligently sowing will spring up, when she
requires it, " armed men."—Times.
It is with unmixed satisfaction that we announce the
final ratification at Constantinople of the treaty of com-
merce concluded between Great Britain and Turkey. It
will be found at length in another column. The conclu-
sion of this treaty may be regarded as one of the most sig.
nal diplomatic triumphs achieved for a long series of years.
This even the opponents of Ministers must admit. In
Point of fact they have already admitted it. But a few
weeks have elapsed since, in reply to an allusion we made
to the treaties then negotiating with Turkey and Austria,
we were coarsely assured that " Lord Palmerston could
never realize the promises of his Newspaper sponsors."
The " promises," however, have been realised. In despite
of the formidable obstacles opposed to it, the ratification of
the treaty has been exchanged. The Pacha of Egypt
has submitted—France has acquiesced—Austria has co-
operated—Russia has been baffled, and England has not
been involved in a war. By the first clause of this impor-
tant treaty our trade with Turkey is for ever protected
from those invidious distinctions and exclusions of parti-
cular articles to which, under the plea of " protecting na-
tional manufacture," it is subjected in ether countries. The
establishment of a low and fixed duty to be paid by the
importer, in lieu of those formerly levied on the purchaser,
and the abolition of all those mischievous impositions of the
interior custom-houses and provincial governors, cannot fail
to give a considerable impulse to our trade. By the second
article foreign goods in the hands of our merchants are
entitled to the same privileges and freedom of circulation,
and we are thereby constituted agents for all such na-
tions as may not choose to become parties to this con-
vention. By the third article, our vessels are for ever
freed from any taxes or charges in passing the
Dardanelles or Bosphorus which the jealous influence of
Russia might at any time induce the Turks to impose upon
them, with a view to impede our navigation or injure our
commerce. A free transit is also granted to all foreign
goods passing through Turkey for exportation. By
.the
first article of the second part all privileges, rights, and im-
munities granted by the present and former treaties are for
ever confirmed ; and, by a guarantee that we shall be for
ever placed on the same footing as every other foreign
Power, a protection is afforded from the difficulties in
which the framing of secret and unrecognised articles of
treaties by other Powers might have a tendency to involve
us. The second article of this part permits a free trade and
export throughout the Ottoman dominions of every article
the country produces or manufactures. The twofold effect
of thus developing the resources of Turkey, by en-
riching her treasury, and rendering her independent
of Russia for those articles which she is now obliged
fl-giee'ket= her, canna be estimated too highly. The
/o"l"*elsirrt. : f the secosid part places our merchants on
ee e" e iieeecisslte . 4jeas footing as tke most favoured subjects of
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