The Sun.
London, England, 1831-10-21 00:00:00

GLASGOW, OCT. 17.

To the RIGHT HON. EARL GREY, &t. &e. FIRST
LORD of his AIAJESTY'S TREASURY.
31v LORD,—Nu event within the memory of the pre.
sent generation has afforded a more elitire satisfaction to tlx
great majority of your countrymen, than your Lordship's
elevation to the first place in hi. Majtety'•
beheld in it the commencement of an era full of hope and

p-omise—the pledge of a wise and liberal policy, sd spted
to the sprit of the age, and moving forward with the ad-
vanced footsteps of knowledge and civilization—the ren
vation of our politica) institufon. and the full developemen
of principles, calculated to nourish and maintain the true
interests of the nation at home and abroad. And we have
a right, my Lord, to look in due time for these fruits from
your Administration of public affairs, for are they not the
objects to which your whole life has been elevated—Nipi
is not the beauty of that, life its uutarnislissl consistency.
It is your glory, my Lord,Sehat in a sliding age, and amid
manifold temptations, you have kept the " whin-mss of
your soul"—and that the principles which a wise and ge-
nerous youth so warmly enforced and defended, were %UN..
taireed by the mature vigour and more enlarged wisdom of
manhood, while even the winter of life has not been able
to chill the warmth of these your early attachments, or im-
pair in the smallest degree your power of supporting thew.
But lest it should be considered that my object is merely to
pronounce an eulngiusn upon your Lordship's character and
actions, I hasten from the gra•eful theme to offer, with tl e
deepest and most sincere respect and admiration, a few
upon some points of the greatest present
por,arsu

When your Lordship accepted office, it WIN upon the ex
pre,s understanding with your Sovereign and the people,
that Parliamentary Reform wad to be btought tot ward ao
a Cabinet measure, and supported by all the power of Go—
vernment You bare amply redeemed your p!edge

Lord, to the satisfaction of the uountry and theiverlestitlK
honour of your character. You have,retleemed your pledge,
to the amazement of thosepraiticalstatomen, whose whole
li'e his been a series of vulgar expedi,nts, to deceive the
public and to explain sway those principles, which iu an
unguarded moment, or in the rack enthusiaans of unrkliect-
lug youth, the lip had proclaimed, but in which the t
hail never cordially acquiesced. Rush Darn naturally es.

c aimed against the monstrous eonsistency—they suak
under the conviction that here at least Was a Statiouao,
who havin►; promised to bring forward► a measure of Itt-
form of real efficiency,lisd with an unparalleled folly realized
his promise—their only hope was, Shat is this art they he
held your Lordship's political suicide. Yen might have
been generous, said they, without being profuse—oo mo.o
i, obliged to be on ragcously honest—why nut make the ex-
et intent., if less would ha✓e been taken--you could have
advanced in your biddinge if you found your customers
dif-
!icult—it was your business to have di iveu as hard a bar-
-4,i0 us possible with the publer—to higgle Mr the odd ho-
iough—and to have chaffered like a Dutch merchant for
he difference of the franchise.

'These were the views and sientiuteats of the enemies of
Reform, deceiving and deceived—but be did the people
,eceive this great measure ? Room r were they iu
session of its leading feature, the destination of the nou:i
nation boroughs, and the wholesalt extension of the fran-
chise to the middling classes, than they welcomed it with
a burst of honest and grate'nl enthusiasm from one end of
the land to the other. A eentre of union, and a rallying
pint were at last afforded to Reformers of all degrees of
opinion--a common ground on which they could honeAly
:veer, and a general fund in which to deposit their mutual
differences, to be re issued in a definite and practical shape,
for the common advantage. Here at last the restless foot
of Reform found a firm and secure resting place, and the
wild sea of speculative opinions, on which the friends of
political improvement had long been test, and which had les
often beheld the shipwreck of their hopes, suddenly be-
came tranquil, and from its untroubled depths reflected back
the harmonious gratitude of an applauding nation. To
h rye achieved such a consurnmatian, and to have fixed and
regulated the thermometer of public opioi..re on the most
delicate of questions, was in itself no mean proof of the
sound discretion of the penetrating sagacity cf your Lord-
ship's views,and those of your Right Ilen.Colleagues, as phi-
losophical as well as practical statesmen, and justifies the
sangue expectations of the people of Great Britaiu, as to
the important benefits y, t to be derived from your Mini.
nistratioa
You have been trite my Lord to the people, and they
have been true to you—you disdained to delude them with
a measure of mock Reform, and they have not deluded von
with a mock support—may this good understanding be-
twixt you and them he perpetual, and all difficultly; will
vanish before so holy an alliance. The people of this
country are an intelligent, and therefore x grateful people_
they know their own interest, and how to value the states-
man who considers these with a single eye to the good of
the whole—such a man they will repay with their beat
4ffeotions, and their enduring confidence—and in all his
trials they will stand lay to cheer and to support him.
Be then the confidence and good will of the, people
my Lord, the pular star of your political chart, and you
need fear neither rocks nor quicksands on your voyage.
In
been,vs t 1
butst
fursituattihoen,firmmyneLssoro.liewutt:hug:rdaciyooaus powerfulat andarbeloved
iddesperate
present
sale
vereign, and the cordial support of the people—the coop
t
edn'eetmuLdsoofaßrtefuff!rlymp,raepndareedx4 by
executed with so reckless a disre-
gard of consequences, could not hit to have overwhelmed
you. But the bolt which it was expected would have
struck you to the ground, may shivered to atoms the ;Nit
hopes of your opponents—and now that the thunder.,
clouds of faction are clearing away, your Lordship's
Administration stands out firmer than ever, on the strone,
bases of the people's affection, and the confidence of the
Sovereign. Honesty is indeed the true policy of public
life as well as private ; for what motive could the people
have had to come to your rescue as they have done, but
that they felt their own iuterest to hnt bound up in yours;
a fact deducted by them from the integrity of intention
visible in the great provisions of the Bill of Reform, and
which commended itself equally to their hearts and their
understandings. The people of this country huvc for many
years regarded with comparative Milacron* the contests
of their public men far plat* and power, aware that in
these they beheld, not the real conflict of opposite prin-
ciples, but the selfish struggle of friction, for its own sel-
fish and sinister purposes. From Pitt to Peel, a race of
political adventurers and apostates, have, with few ex-
ceptions, held the reins of government, and by their inexe-
crahle persecution of liberty at home and abroad, to up-
hold the fabric of their power, have degraded the mute of
English statesmen in the eyes of their country, and of all
Europe. Had your Lordship brought forward a muck, or
ss some would cal! it, a moderate Reform, your name and
tire names of your Right Honourable Colleagues would by
this time have been added to the dark catalogue to which
we have alluded—and your inevitable fall have been he-
' held without pity or emotion. But in you, ray Lord,
your countrymen recognised the man who had dared to be
honest in the worst of times—the man who would hold
fast iris integrity let who would be Minister ; or however
distant the vision of power might heconie—who would
maintain when /it office the principles which bad so long
been the cause of Iris exclusion ; and who, as first Minister
of the Crown, had not hesitated to say, that in his eyes,
liberty was no vain thing, and that a people could scarcely
pay too dear a price for the inestimable gift. Your Lord-
ship and the people are as one on this point.-.the value of
liberty, or which is the gams thing, of Refocus ; and there
is no practical illustration of their profound appreciation
of this Maxim, that, if necessary, they are sot prepared tq
afford in corroboration of your Lordship's statement.
Such sentiments, my Lard, separate you from the horde of
vulgar statesmen—the mere tenants of place, whose
history is the humbling detail o petty expediesiai for the
temporary objecti of the day and the hour—men who ran
never penetrate beyond the limited circle of their official
labours—still grey with. intrigue," and reverend in the
small circle of office, they descend to the unimpeachable
obliyion which awaits them. There is a wisdom which
%ewe wise, because it looks net beyond the accomplish-
meat of its immediate object ; but the true wisdont of a
statesman, which men of all ages recognise and admire, is
that which embraces the comprehensive sweep of conse-
quences present and remote, and which with a prescient saga-
city anticipates the wants of the future, from its profound
appreciation of the spirit and requirements of its own age
and generation.
I have occupied your time, my Lord, I am afraid, very
icily, as I have not t::s yet touched upon those topics; which
have been the thief motives of nay addressing you at pre-
sent ; tha consideration of these will probably induce we
to trouble your Lordship with another letter, in the mean-
time I remain, with the utmost respect,
Your Lordship's humble and mast devoted servant,