The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-19 00:00:00

source of deep disquiet to the calumniators of the Bri-
tish Government.—Morning Chronicle.

Many of our readers will doubtless recollect that
Lord Palmerston's constant answer to questions that
were put to him in Parliament relative to the affairs
of Spain was, " His Majesty's Government is faith-
fully fulfilling its engagements under the treaty of the
quadruple alliance." We beg to direct the attention
of the public to the following paragraph, which has
been sent us from Woolwich :
" WoolAvlcn, Nov. 18.—Hie Majesty's steam frigate
Rhadamanthus arrived at Woolwich on Sunday last from
the north coast of Spain ; and during the week have been
taken on board from the Royal Arsenal powder, shot,
shells, guns, field-pieces, and other warlike stores. To-
morrow morning she embarks 30 bombadiers of the Royal
Artillery, with an officer of the Sappers and Miners, and
sails immediately on her return to the north coast of Spain."
Do the terms of the treaty justify the employment
of bombardiers of the Royal Artillery, with an officer
of the Sappers and Miners ? We apprehend not ;
and the House of Commons will most grievously fail
in the discharge of their duty to the country if they
sanction any vote of public money for tkese unwar-
rantable freaks of the silly Lord who wears the fool's-

cap for Foreign Affairs.—Times.
At the commencement of the Parliamentary Session
of 1835, it was considered by many, whose opinion
was deserving of respect, that the Conservative leaders
made a false step in undertaking the Government with
so doubtful a probability of being able to carry it on.
The course of events since has shown that that opi-
nion, however plausible, was unsound. Short as the
career of that Government was, it has been of incal-
culable benefit in guarding this .nation from the evils
which would certainly have fallen upon it but for that
unfortunate check in the 'Whig-Radical gallop to de-
struction. In the very brief period which elapsed be-
tween the opening of the Session of 1835 and the
fall of the Conservative Government, before the infa-
mous coalition of Litchfield House, it was demon-
strated to the nation that a Ministry which respected
and was determined to preserve the fundamental
institutions of the country was, at the same time,
able and willing to devote itself to measures of
practical improvement, suited to the wants and
agreeable to the intelligence of the age. This, we
say, was practically and experimentally demonstrated,
and from this we may date the important and salu-
tary change in favour of Conservatism which has taken
place all over the kingdom of England. So great
has been that change that, of all the honest and intelli-
gent men in the United Kingdom who think that a
British Monarchy and an Established Church ought to
be maintained at all, there are but an insignificant few
who do not think that the Conservatives are by far the
best fitted to maintain these institutions, and at the
same time to carry into effect the political improvements
which freedom, justice, and the intelligent sentiment of
the time demand. Sir Robert Peel's Government was
indeed defeated by means which have damned to per-
petual infamy the knot of exasperated intriguers by
whose mean machin aliens that defeat was accomplished;
but from that hour the popularity of Sir Robert Peel
has been increasing. From the hour in which he
yielded up the Government with triumphant scorn to
the incapables who have since clung to it with des
perate grasp, and screaming anxiety, Sir Robert Peel
has been growing more and more in the respect of the
considerate, and the admiration of the enthusiastic. He
showed what a manly, honest, nationally-minded, Con-
servative Minister could do ; and the result is, that he is
now, without any manner of doubt or question, the most
popular public 'nail in England. Go where we will in Eng-
land—east, west, north, or south—we venture to affirm
that the prevailing, voice, not only of the upper but of
the middling classes, is this—that the fittest man to
be Prime Minister of the King of England is Sir Ro-
bert Pecs. Vvre dwell upon this fact at present because
of the pertinacious audacity with which the Ministerial
prints seek to deny that which the Administration of
Sir Robert Peel made evident—namely, the determina-
tion of the Conservatives to improve the laws, while
they maintain the fundamental principles of the Con-
stitution. We shall not trouble ourselves for the pre-
sent with the abusive brutalities of Mr. O'Connell's
part of the Government press ; but we charge others,
who are probably ashamed of that grossness, with per-
severing misrepresentation of the truth as to the poli-
tical views and principles of the Conservative party.
It is pretended that " Reformers" must, because
they are Reformers, support the present Adminis-
tration against the Conservatives. They who make
this pretence must either be blind to past and
present events, or they must know that the best,
if not the only, chance which " Reformers" have
of seeing their views (provided they be honest
and constitutional), carried into practical effect is
through the possession of the guiding power in the
State by Conservatives. Whether the present Mi-
nisters have the will to promote such reforms or no we
shall not now discuss ; but we are as certain as we are
that the sun does not shine at midnight that they have
not the power. They have no power at all which is
not begged or borrowed, or—worse than either—cor-
ruptly bought, by abandonment of that which Minis-
ters know in their hearts they ought to defend. It is
said that " the real contest in which Reformers are en-
gaged is that between the principles of progress and
of resistance." If we were in a mood to discuss forms
of expression we should say that this is a sort of jargon
which well deserves reproof. It is a kind of second-
hand Benthamese, which, at best is but a wretchedly
affected substitute for plain intelligible English. But,
to waive that matter, and to come to what it may be
supposed is meant by the pedantry we have quoted,
we beg to ask towards what is the " progress," and
to what is the " resistance ? " If it be meant that
Reformers desire progress towards revolution, and
that Conservatives resist it, we think the Reformers are
paid a very bad compliment by their advocate, and that
Conservatives are fairly described. We appeal to the
nation which is the better way ? But if it be meant
that Reformers desire progress in the road of political
improvement, and that Conservatives desire to resist
that progress, we say that, as respects the Conser-
vatives, a more inexcusable or groundless misrepre-
sentation never was made. We challenge and defy its
authors to make it good by circumstantial evidence.
Do they who make such a charge know better
than Sir Robert Peel what are the principles and
sentiments of Conservatives ? Do they venture to
say that he would give the public any other account
than a true one of what these principles and sen-
timents are ? We cannot think that any gentle-
man of the Ministerial party would give an affirma-
tive answer to either of these queries. Well, then,
what says Sir Robert Peel ? He says this, and
Englishmen know that he has proclaimed it to them
not by words only but by deeds :—" If," says he, "the
spirit of the Reform Bill implies a careful review of
institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, undertaken in a
friendly temper, combining with the firm maintenance
of established rights the correction of proved abuses,
and the redress of real grievances, in that case I can,
for myself and colleagues, undertake to act in such a
spirit and with such intentions." Is this " resist-
ance",
toimprovement ? Let those who say so blush
for shame when they read the declaration, and remem-
ber the acts of Government which followed it. Sir
R. Peel shall tell us also what that sort of " progress"
is which he and his party have resisted and will resist.
" If," says he, " by adopting the spirit of the Re-
form Bill it be meant that we are to live in a
perpetual vortex of agitation—that public men can
adopting only snugp pe ov rut, v t hpeompsuel lavre s
of the day,estimation bby
y
impression of
promising the instant redress of anything which
anybody may call an abuse, by abandoning alto-
(Tether that
great aid of Government more power-
ful than either law or reason, the respect for ancient
rights, and the deference
for prescriptive authority—
if this be the spirit of the Reform Bill, I will not
undertake to adopt it." Is there, we ask, in such a
state of things as that above described, anything which
a rational lever of improvement ought not to " re-
sist ?" Thus have we shown, in the clear of
language
our chief, what arc really the principles of progress,
and what of resistance, which belong to the Conser-
vative party. And we presume to think that we have
also satisfactorily shown the gross injustice of those
who try to serve their patrons, and to deceive the
public, by representing the Conservative party as adept•
ing the principle of resistance to the progress of ime
provement.—Morning Post.