The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

If the preparations for former Coronations have
been more splendid and costly, that of yesterday die-
played what wealth cannot purchase—a whole people
eager to testify their joy and gratitude to a king.
and Queen, who may truly be said to reign in the.
hearts of their subjects. 'We refer our readers to,
the ample details of this day of rejoicing in another
part of the Paper. The weather was,, upon the
whole, favourable; so that the myriads uI this snit
inense metropolis and populous environs were al-
lowed the gratification of witnessing the i.mposing-
wectacle. Every thing went off well ; and from the
lawn of morning to a late hour, no untowarAl cir—
cumstance occurred to cloud the general satisfaction
The illuminating were universal, and of the immense-
crowd which filled our streets and lanes hstt
there was not perhaps one individual, belonging kr
he people, properly so called, who was an indiffe-
rent spectator of the proceedings. The Env, in
honour of whom these demonsttrions were. made,.
s the King of the people. He has, from his acces-
sion to this day, shown that he has the happiness
of his people at heart. In his principles and feelings
the people repose the fullest confidence. They know
'hat he will never desert them—that he wishes the,
happinessof all—that he will never consent to offer
!he many a sacrifice to the Interested ambitionof s taw.
His reign is the commencement of a new or, it, our
!iistory, and with his precious lift
It't hound up
their expectations of seeing their r;',c.hts established
on a foundation which nothing w'..11 be able to shake.
theyisaltnyotofthebate popl4 towards William the
Fourth
prostration of the mind to
Thelo
power, without rebreence to the manlier in which
that power may be exercised. It is an homage to
power licnourably and virtuously directed—it is such
as an enlightened people may pay without any dimi-
nution of self-respect—any deduction from the dig-
nity of rational beings. We regret to find that,
owing to some misunderstanding, the Princess
Victoria, the presumptive Heiress of 'he Crown,
was not present at the ceremony. We yesterday
copied from a contemporary (the 7lnses) a para-
graph, in which an unfavourable construction was
put on the conduct of the Duchess of Kent, the
mother and guardian of the Princess. In another
column we have given a paragraph from a Morning
Paper of yesterday, accounting for the circumstance ;,
and we copy from the Standard of last night a state-
ment, which carries with it an air of authority
1 " When we read tha atrocious article yesterday, we
were unable either to comprehend its motive, or to supply
an unmet-. Bound as we are to use all means to acquire
information for our readers, we are wholly at a loss in what
quarter to look for it, So absolutely halt the Duchess of
Kent abstraoted herself from all political connexions, that
we knew not, more than, we suppose, herself did before
yesterday morning, that she bad a political enemy in the
world. Recollecting, iadeed, what her lost bu.band's
politics had been, and aware of her perfect devotion to his
memory, we assumed that her politics were in accordance
With those of the present Ministers ; nor do we vet know
that this opinion was wrong. But, whatever her politics
might be, we knew that she was an amiable and virtuous
woman, sp,i g.s such we could not contemplate the kind of
atta.4 made upon her without horror and disgust, and an
earnest desire to defend her against her traducerr.
" We accordingly prosecuted a diligent inquiry, and
have been revidaded, not only by discovering all the cir-
cunietcoices upon which the Tines has raised its accusa-
tion, but by having opened to us a picture of the most
brilliant and engaging virtues—we cannot say displayed—
for she who exercises them conceals them as carefully as
others would display them, but exercised in a rank where
such virtues are unfortunately lees common than in the
humbler walks of life—we have seen in the mother
of the future Queen of England the most vigilant
and anxious parent, the kindest mistress, the most affec-
tionate relative and friend, the most feeling and bounteous
benefactress to her poor neighbours, sad a woman of the
strictest and most delicate morals; with—above all—the
most exalted piety. Such is the Duchess of Kent. Such
is th; excellent person from whom the writer in the
times would take her child—whom Queen Caroline's
apologist describes as unfit to form the mind of a Queen.
" We pass: by the causes that have made the Duchess
of Kent an object of resentment; and we own that we
paw; them by reluctantly ; for, having so relation what-
ever to politics., they would exalt her in the eyes of the
virtuous of all parties—in the eyes of all who feel how
anxious is the charge of a daughter's education, when
that daughter is fatherless, and likely to be placed in cir-
cumstances of boundless temptation. But we must hasten
from this part of the subject. Much as we should like to
reoclar full justice to the Duchess of Kent, we shall never
be found employed in any work that can inflame and rankle
the wounds of a family dissension. Let us come at once
to the circumstances which have led to the absence of the
Duch,eas.

'• Having toceived a notification to attend, her Royal
flighness (after some hesitation, on account of the fatigue
to which the Princess Victoria would be exposed) ex-
pressed her acquiescence; concluding that a particular
place would, of nurse, be allotted to the presumptive
Heiress to the Crown, in the procession or at the Abbey.
After waiting for some time fur information, on this point
her Royal Highness applied to Earl Grey, requesting of
his Lordship to Pay what was to be the place of the pre-
sumptive Heiress ? Ilia Lordship's answer was that' The
Princess Victoria was to have no place in the procession.'
Nut being accompanied by any qualifying explanation, this
answer was an insult, and as such it was received. Is
there mother or father in England who could receive it
otherwise ? Is there, we had almost said, mother or
father in England, who does not receive the coarse rebuff
of the Royal Parent of our future Queen as almost an
insult offered to her or himself. The Duchess and her
Princess daughter are not enjoying or assisting in the
pageant ; but if they pursue this day their usual daily
employment, they are not worse engaged—they are reading
the Bible, parchasing blessings for themselves, and pre-
paripy for the British people."
Earl Grey could not possibly have any motive for
not wishing to pay all due honour and respect to the
P'ince•s 'Victoria; and his judgment is too sound
to allow him, on an occasion of this importance, to
act in any other manner than according to precedent
and authority, We know nothing farther of the-
muttnr than what is to be found in the statements
above alluded to, and we are unwilling to puss sen-
tence of.coademnatior► on the Duchess of Kent on
such slender information as we possess. The sub-
ject, too, will soon be cleared up in Parliament,
when the statements pro and con will be no doubt
given, We must say, however, that we have our
impgorftraoirint
suspicions that the Duchess of Kent has beet'
hands of advisers ill qualified to guide her Irtii:dng
bringment.
Before
presenttaking
asto
notdecidedion,_,liaac,:srtieebrnfe'oemt;,i'y abstaining
certain of thd
a nature, she oughth
pht to have distrusted her own
call such cases the presumption
to have
Herself a stranger
judgments and, . „
in office will not act unadvisedly, she
a that men
should have had very powerful. authorities indeed
gin"ltuhlisdscoounnt'r:y.lisiuesshhiesnoug

ittfore she ventured to differ from them. One false
step at a time like this, when the eyes of the nation
are directed towards the Royal Family, is no slight
`matter. With every disposition to respect the
virtues of her Royal Highness, the nation may, not-
withstanding, see, in a conspicuous want of judg-
ment, ground -for Apprehension for the "mental im-
provement of their. future Sovereign.—Morning
Chronicle.
A full narrative and ,description of yesterday's
proceedings, embracing every branch of the great
national ceremony of the Coronation, will be found
in other portions of this. day's Tinics. The pro-
gramme (as it is called) of the formality was pre-!
viously known to the public, and we do not reeol-
lect that it was afterwards deviated from in any sen-
sible degree. A circumstance, which could not be
alluded to in any programme, but which constituted, j
sit will be allowed by every body, one r f the mo,t
aratifying appendages of the whole solemnity, was
the loud, hearty, and unanimous, acclamation j
which burst from all classes of his Majesty's
affectionate subjects throughout the whole line
-of the Royal progress from St. Jamey's to 'West-
minster, and afterwards on every occasion at
which a due reverence for the
.sacred rites within
She Abbey admitted of any demonstrations of public
feeling,—still more when certain periods of the-
service—as the recognition, the crowning,
seemed more especially to call for them. Never
was an hereditary King so hailed and weleomed by
a free and reflecting people. They are mistaken—
but there are vast numbers thus mistaken—who
deem of a Coronation as if it were an " unsubstantial
pageant," a game- of crowns and coronets, and ermine,
to he played at gracefully by personages connected
with the Court. It is the evidence of an austtee
and solemn compact, by which the gravest of all
human engagements are reciprocated between nations
and their riders,—between parties on whose dis-
charge or abandonment of their respective obliga-
tions, depends the existence of society or its ruin.
It is plain, therefore, that the more impressive and
memorable such a formality between King and
people can be rendered, the more conducive wiq be'
its attributes to its acknowledged end. When pro-
tection and allegiance are mutually premised at the
commencement of a new reign, every reasonable
man will agree that the compact ought to ,be
gratified by religion,—that is to say, by a sanction
which the bulk of mankind hold. sacred, It must
be added, however, that the sanction imPos' ed
ought to be drawn from the fountains of that pecu-
liar faith which is received as true by the parties
binding themselves to observe it. Nothing could be
more foolish than to perform a Tc Delon, read tht
Litany, or appoint the Bishop of London to preach
before a Mahometan congregation, on the acces-
sion of a descendant of the prophet. So the bald Uni-
tarian worship would little suit the prejudices of a
Peloponnesian audience; or the grotesque mixture
of old Popish mummery with old feudal barbarism,
admonish, to any very salutaiy purpose, tie King et
England and his reople, being Prceestants, of ever
their most sacred duties. Yet, with the exception
of the litany, and communion service, and the sermon
(provided the latter be an exception,—that is to say.
net a divine right and King's chaplain sermon),
what can be more thoroughly and revoltingly corn_
pounded of the worst dregs of Popery and feudalism,
than a prodigious number of the quackeries played
off in the course of King William's Coronation
What a fuss with palls, and ingots, and spurs, and
awords, and oil for anointing (greasing ) their sacred
_Ma} sties ! and whipping off and on of mantles ! and
the rest of it. Why, what has all such frippery
to do with an oath ?—what with the spirit of a
great political contract ?—what with the splendour
of a 'Ake festival ? A recognition if you will,
—there is a fine animating shout of acceptance
when the sovereign is presented to his peopl?.
A crown by all means, it is the received and imme-
morial badge of the Kingly office. A procession,
too, (and yet we had at this time no procession),—
there is is no harm in it, but much to put the people
in good humour, were it for nothing but is train of
graceful and lovely women sweeping past in the
robes and ornaments which denote their staiion by
certain known and intelligible symbols. But the
!natters which nobody understands or cares about—
the rigmaroles above alluded to, which we do not
condemn because they are old, but because, with
reference to our religious, and civil, and social his-
tcry, they are now utterly untrue, and therefore
have no longer any treaniege—what is their effect,
but to give an air of " unreal mockery" to
the whole affair,—to transform it into a masque-
rade, or puppet-show, and to weaken every
solemn and deep impression which the
mind might otherwise be disposed to receive
from those parts of the performance which do ac-
cord with our religious sentiments and our modern
habits ? God forbid there should be any cause in
the health or prospects of his present Majesty to
think for many years to come about another Coro-
nation. But when a leisure hour shall arrive, it
will, we know, be an acceptable service to all re-
flecting people to recast the entire character of the
solemnity, rejecting those parts which had been
tilted only to a period when the outward senses
were made panders to the all-absorbing superstition
within, and retaining those in which an educated,
inquiring, and reasoning people, may see some relit-
lion between the form and the substance—betweee
the nature of the kingly contract and its accompa-
nying incidents.—Times.
'We have the satisfaction of laying before our
readers this day an account of the imposing cere-
mony which took place yesterday at the Coronaticn
of King William the Fourth and Adelaide his
Queen. Much has been said in Parliament, and
much has been printed and published elsewhere, re-
specting this ameist ceremonial, the nature of its in-
stitution, and the scale of expenditure upon which
it became the public functionaries, cognisant of
such matters, to provide that it should be conducted.
The senseless vehemence with which some persons
clamoured for profuseness drove others into the
opposite extreme of condemning the whole as an
exhibition of mere childish pageantry, which ought
to be dispensed with. We felt it our duty to inter-
pose between these extremes, and, vindicating the
political importance of the transaction upon one
hand, while we advocteed a judicious economy upon
the other, our voice was raised in favour of the coin se
which Ministers had taken, and which, be it re-
membered, the King himself was the first to recom-
mend. Economy at a Coronation ! There was an
originality in the suggestion that would have entitled it
to praise, even if its patriotism were leis con.picuons,
But experience may now be appealed to in justifica-
tion of the opinion we had formed. The Corona-
tion is now over, and no one regrets that it has
taken place, and no one complains that it was defi•
cient in any of the essentials or acce4sories which
are necessary to the :lue splendour of formalities
conected with the Kingly office. On the contrary,
as the detailed account which accompanies these
observations will testify, the general effect was in
the highest degree magnificent ; the personal deport-
ment of the Monarch and his Royal Consort contri-
buting much to the delight which all ranks and
classes seemed to take in the proceedings of the day.
The absence of the Princess Victoria and the
Duchess of Kent has given rise to much comment,
and many of our contemporaries affect to know a
great deal more titan they are willing to let out
upon the subject. For our own parts we incline
strongly to suspect that, when our contemporaries
state the simple fact, they have stated all they know,
and are indebted to their imaginations for whatever
embellishmeets, in the way of explanation, they
surround it with. Is it not possible, at least, that
the delicate health of the young Princess deter-
mined an affectionate mother not to expose her to
the fatigue of attendance ? The Duchess of Kent
has been, we believe, for some time at a watering-
Everybody knows what a
place with the Princess,
fatiguing ceremony a
Coronation is, and how much
those who take part in it are exposed to cold from
he weather, as well as from the atmosphere of a
damp Cathedral. Is it not possible that such a con-
ideration might have influenced the conduct of the