The Sun.
London, England, 1840-11-02 00:00:00

STANLEY v. PEEL.

The Conservatives are divided as to who shall
be their General. The most sincere and most
bigoted are for Stanley ; the trimming and compro-
mising, those who prostitute political and religious
principles merely to catch place, are for Peel. One
of the former, who styles himself " A Conser,x4-
iive Member," has published an address to -Con-
servatives, with mottos from the burial-service--
most appropriate to Conservatism, whether desig-
nating
corruption or death—and ornamented with
a Bible and Crown as the emblems of the party,
in which address he sets forth the reasons why Peel
is to be rejected and Stanley chosen. Some por-
tions of this notable epistle will be acceptable to
our readers, as specimens of what is thought of the
late Tory leader by his oven supporters and friends.
It begins with a declaration ,borrowed from a Radi
cal, that Peel is a dead-weight on the Conservative
party, and then goes to explain it thus :
" Peel was the son of a very wealthy and influential
man, and had taken an excellent degree at Oxford, and
consequently he was not long without an official ap-
pointment ; but for some time his only reputation was
that of being an efficient man of business and a collected
debater—as for being thought of as a Leader, no one
ever dream't of such a thing, nor did he himself ! But
when he advanced in public life, ambition grew within
him ; and his name having been brought before the
public by his Currency,Bill, perhaps he thought it a
suitable time, when Mr. Canning came in, to stand nut
in bolder relief: as by so dpi he could more effectually
damage the sway of Canning, who then carried all be-
fore him in the House of Commons, by his sweeping elo-
quence and popularity ; and at the same time could put
himself into a situation of so marked a character, as to
force himself upon the party then in opposition, as their
natural. Leader. But I return to historical facts. Peel
became the great antagonist champion against the Libe-
ralism of Canning ; and Oxford, the chief organ of the
High Church party, unanimously elected her distin-
guished son as a fit and proper person to maintain her
orthodoxy in the great Council of the nation. For the
time was come, when she wanted a true man to head
her in the struggle against Catholic Emapcipation ;
and where could she find a better than Peel—Peel the
Anti-Liberal—Protestant Peel, as he was called iu the
North of Ireland, or, as others of that isle were pleased
to denominate him, Orange Peel ? (which, as you know,
is of one colour on one side, and of another on the
other 1) And ably, most ably, did he fulfil the expecta-
tions of his constituents ; the House and the country
were astonished and delighted with his arguments against
the Catholic claims ; and he, who before was only
thought of as a good debater on dry matters of business,
became an orator, and received an orator's reward.
This new and unexpected opposition to Mr. Canning,
added to the pressure of business and the cares of
office, which left him no peace by day, or rest by night,
drove him out of health, and, shortly, out of the world ;
and ho went away leaving all things in a bleze. After
sundry feeble attempts at Administration had been made,
the Duke came in as Premier and Peel as the Govern-
ment Leader in the House of Commons. What joyful
news for Oxford! Surely the triumph of her orthodoxy
was at hand, when the man of her choice and her con-
fidence had become the Leader of the House of Com-
mons, and one of the chief members of the Government !
Surely an immediate stop would now be put to Emanci-
pation clamour, and the Canstitution of England be
preserved and governed on the old and long-tried
principles of Church and State ! What astonishment
then, whet confusion, what indignation, yea ! what
shame was there, when this new Government, composed
of those who had set their faces against the innovations
of Canning, and who had left him, as they said on
principle, suddenly turned round, at the word of com-
mand from their military leader ; and Mr. Peel, the
chosen of Oxford, the opponent of Canning, the cham-
pion of Protestantism, came forward in Parliament to
eat up his own words, and there, in the very place
whose walls so lately resounded with his invincible argu-
ments against, there to speak and argue for the abso-
lute, the immediate necessity of Catholic Emancipa-
tion ! We must dwell upon this strange conduct—we
cannot help it ; there it stands out in bold, deep, black
colouring ; and we are not able to take our eyes from it.
For it was the beginning of our present evils ; it was a
cruel blow to Protestant England ; above all, it under-
mined for some time all confidence in public men."
It afterwards consoles poor Sir Robert Peel by
this language :
" Oxford dreads you ; Cambridge never trusted you ;
and their innumerable sons, spread over every parish
in the land, are loud and unanimous in their declarations
against you. The Church party, lay and clerical, have
no confidence in you ; they know that you have be-
trayed them once, and think that you may again. Be-
sides, your doctrines are not suited to them ; you are for
qualifying, compromising, yielding, here a little and
there a little ; this is contrary to their notions of right
and to their practice of sticking to it. Again, that
great and powerful class—the old Gentry of the land—
they have no sympathy with you : by a forcible con-
straint they now follow you, for want of a better
Leader ; but their support is no cordial one ; amongst
them you have no personal friends, to whom your credit
and character are dear. Nay. have you a real friend
in the House of Commons?—such as the opposition
Leader ought to have,—such as Charles Fox, when he
led the opposition, or as Pitt, when he headed our
party, had? Friends who will stand by you ;—men
who know you and can repose in you. You have none
such ! your cold character freezes them down ; your
formal reserve forbids their approach ; your very coun-
tenance is a standing bar to anything like familiarity.
And yet, you can put on a smile, when it suits your
purpose,—but such a smile! far fetched, but not from
the depths of the heart, it plays over your sly features,
and then it goes back, whence it came,—to nothing!
I, for my part, do not wonder at your ricketty position
as the Leader of our party, when I sae you to be defi-
cient in all those qualities, which bind and keep a poli-
tical party together : cold and reserved, without that
great power of mind, which is usually found in such
men ; clear and eloquent, but without that warmth of
feeling and impulse, which generally characterizes the
orator ; staid and moral, yet without that brightness of
principle, which always accompanies a good and honest
heart. You form altogether a character of your own
—unique I am happy to think in our party—and your
position is your own also. A political Leader without
the confidence of your own party ! A man at fifty
without a friend ! You will not do for me, and take
my word for it, you never will successfully lead, as
Premier, the Conservative party of this country. Y-ou
may come in at the head of a Ministry, but yort will
never keep there. A Conservative Ministry, wit a you
as Premier, will tumble to pieces amidst the ruins Ville
Conservative party !"
What a hopeful prospect both for Pee) and his
party ! Consolation, however, is found in the com-
manding character of his rival ;

" I see many able and honest men in both Houses of
Parliament,—Conservatives too, thank God ! Amongst
them I think one stands now pre-eminent. He was a
Whig some years ago, but he gave up his party, when
they gave up their characters ; and he came over to us
because he thought it right so to do. We all know it is
not uncommon, in these latter times, for public men to
change sides and rat, as it is called ; but the bright pe-
culiarity in Lord Stanley's case is, that he changed not
for place, but for conscience sake ; not for pelf, but for
principle. When Mr. Canning left Fox, he got a place
by it ; when Fox joined Lord North, he got a place by
it ; and, to come to the lesser gods, when Melbourne
and Palmerston joined Lord Grey they both got very
good salaries for coming over ! Lord Stanley, on the
contrary, left the Whigs with pure hands, and at a great
sacrifice. He resisted a temptation, which to have done
with his ambition, was truly marvellous. For, if he had
chosen to have remained with his old party, he must un-
questionably have become their Leader. It is absurd to
suppose that they would have put up with a man like
Lord John Russell, when they could have got Stanley ;
he would, consequently, have been Premier of the Whig-
Radical Government at this moment. And this, only
by keeping quiet and remaining where he was ; for when
Lord Grey had retired, and Lord Althorp was removed
from the House of Commons, there was no one, on his
side, to compete with him for a moment. But what did
he do ? Seeing all this in his favour, he nevertheless
gave it up, because it was not consistent with what he
thought to be right ; and he left his party, and with
them all his own great prospects of immediate aggran-
dizement because he thought them to be in the wrong.
j He could not bring his honest heart to consent to a
' public robbery, under the name of Appropriation ; nor
to desert the Church of his fathers, because a majority
of the House of Commons happened to be against her.
Lord Stanley thus became a Conservative ; and though
I freely allow that is always prinzafiwie most suspicious
when a public man changes his party ; because history
tells us, and we know by experience, that such changes
generally take place from interested motives of an im-
mediate advantage ; yet when I seej,he sacrifices which
Lord Stanley made by his change, when I know that it
was to him an immediate loss, both of office and of
friends, I at once fling aside all my suspicions, and shall
continue to think him actuated by the best and highest
principles, until some dark feature shall appear in his
conduct to do away with the present high esteem and
admiration I have for him. He is honest, straightfor-
ward, manly, eloquent ; he is a man of a large mind,
and of warm, generous feelings. When he speaks, it is
as if from conviction—from his heart. He is thorough
in all he does. Again, who so fit to lead us to the
charge ? How the Ministers wince under his lash !
How the Great Blusterer quails and cowers before him!
A glance, a word, an allusion, and it is done! His is
not mere sarcasm and eloquence : his power of argu•
mentation is very great, and as a debater he is unrivalled
in the House. Again, he stands broadly upon the
Church : he makes no secret of it, in or out of the
House, there or at public meetings. For the Church
he left office and station, and on the Church he now
stands ; knowing well that through the Church alone
and Church principles will this country be saved.,
He appreciates the value of what is now doing at '
Ox-
ford in this great work, without going the lengths or sub-
scribing to the tenets ,f some of the weak.disciples of the
school. Consequently, Oxford admires him, and the
Church confides in him ; because she believes him to be
her true son. Nay, more : I will say that he is the
friend of our common humanity, and that his advocacy
for the abolition of slavery will fur ever, and every-
where, be had in remembrance ; for by his eloquence
and indefatigable energy that great measure was car-
ried. Who will forget him during the last Session ?
night after night, as he stood up to the fight—amidst
domestic sorrow and private cares—for the public weal ;
waging war with the falsehoods and perjuries of the
Irish Registration ! He alone had the genius to see,-
and the courage to strike at, what is the root of our
domination by Ireland. Hence the fury of O'Coanell !
Hence the invectives of the Government kindling
against him ! Conservatives of England ! he is your
man, because lie is honest, upright, and English ;
Conservatives of Ireland! he is the man for you, be-
cause he will die for your Protestant Church : English
Nobles and Gentry ! wh. so fit to lead you as one of
the ancient blood of Stanley, corning forward as he now
does on pure old English principles? Churchmen !
All-he who love our Church, of what &gree so ever,
high or low, rich or poor, Stanley is your sure, un-
flinching friend.'

" oil Stanley, on I" The bigots ask you
to place yourself at their head. They recog-
nise the congenial genius the unswerving, straight-
forward tyrant, the proper instrument for doing
the new work of persecution, without which
Oxford and Cambridge, with the whole Church
party, clerical and lay, must pine away, and
die in despair. They recognise in Stanley the
unrelenting priest, unencumbered with the hy-
pocrisy- of the surplice, and they call on the
yet youthful and vigorous new Saint Dominic, to
be their leader. What is to become, however, of
friendless Peel ? The Conservative Member tells
him,—
" In parting, I will just call his attention to what a
discarded statesman of old did under the same circum-
stances. We read in the 17th chapter of the second
book of Samuel, when Ahithophel's counsel was over-
thrown by Hushai the Archite, as follows, verse 23
' And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not
followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home
to his house, to his city, and put his household in order,
and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the se-
pulchre of his father.' Now, I do not wish Peel to
hang himself ; but, saving that, I bid him sincerely to
saddle his ass, and get him home to his great house at
Drayton—to his city of Tamworth—there to resign his
seat, and retire for ever into private life! It is my ho-
nest opinion, that this is the best thins he can do for
himself and his country." . .

Such is a specimen of the unanimity amongst
the Conservatives, and of the manner they are dis-
posed to treat the most eminent politician of their
party. Peel is too humane, too considerate for
them ; they insist on having at their head a Philip
the Second, or an Alva, who will spare neither
friends nor kindred, neither sex nor age, to finish
the good work of securing the supremacy of the
priesthood.

MASTERS OF COLLEGES.-The Non. and Rev.
George Neville Grenville, Magdalene, Rev. Joseph
Proctor, D.D., Catherine Hell, Rev. William Webb,
D.D., Clare Hall, Rev. William French, D.D., Jesus
College, Rev. Gilbert Ainslie, D.D., Pembroke Col-
lege, Rev. John Graham, D.D., Christ's. College,
Rev. George Archdall, RD., Emanuel College, Rev.
Thomas Worsiey, M.A., Downing College, Rev. Wm.
Hodgson, D.D., fit. Peter's College, the don. Mr.
Recorder Law,

CAPU.C.—TiIe Rev. Joseph Shaw, D.D., Christ's
College, Rev. John Flenry Howlett, M.A., St. John's
College.

PROCTOM—The Rev. Charles Henry Niatwin,
M.A., King's College, lied. James Edward Dalton,
M.A., Queen's College.

SCRUTATORS.—TiIe Rev. James Burt-lain, M.A.,
Clare Hail, Rev. H. Arlett, M.A., Pembroke College.
ORATOR.—The Rev. Tnonaas Crick, U.D., St, Julin'a
College.

REGISTRAILY.—The Rev. Joseph Romilly,
Trinity Collego.

ESQUILE BE DE LLS.—H. Gunning, M.A., Christ's
College, George Seapingwcll, ALA., Corpus "Christi
College, William ALA., St. Pete#'s College,
the Rev. Charles Met:, 8.D., Bur Ear of St. John's, !Ike
Venerable the Archdeacon e!. Northumberland.

On Saturday morning the Members of the Senate in
London, including the distinguished persons above
named, totgether with his Honour the Vicc-Chancellor.
of England, Mr. Baron Alderson, Lord Lytteiton, Lord
John Manners, Sir John Beckett, Sir Frederick Pol-
lock, the Hon. George Smyth, Messrs. Lonsdale, Rey,
Glossop, and about sixty other g omen, arrived about
twelve o'clock at Northumberluse, in prok ession,
preceded by the Esquire Bedells, with their Maces or
Office, and by servants of the University, bearing the
Book of Statutes and the Instrument of Admission.
The procession moved through the Marble-hall and
Tapestry-room to the Great Gallery, at the end o►
which a dais was erected, having a Chair of Estate;
in which the Vice-Chaucellor took his seat (covered),
till on its being notified to him that the Chancellue
Elect was approaching in his Robes of Office, with lee
titttndant train-bearer, he rose from his seat, and pro-
Ceed,:d along the Gallery to the door of entrance, where
he received the Chancellor Elect, and conducted hirq,,
to the dais. ..".The `'ice-Chancellor, standing at the
right baud of the chair, then made a short and intro-
ductory speech complimentary to the early industry And
propriety of his Grace's academic life, and alluding to
the ancient connections of his family with the Univer-
sity, some of whom had filled the office of Chancellor.
He also spoke in a flattering manner of his moral worth,
cheerful piety, and benevolent charity ; and alluded to
the magnificence which characterised his Grace's mission
to the Court of France, and to the justice and implr-
tiality with which he administered the goverawant of
Ireland.

This speech was followed by the reading the formal
instrument of Admission by the Proctor, by the ad-
ministration of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy,
and, finally, by a speech in elegant and classical Latin
by the Public Orator.

His Grace, who was dressed in a magnificently-em-
broidered State dress, and wearing the insignia of the
Most Noble Order of the Garter, and the badge of
the Order of St. Patrick, the❑ pronounced, in a clear
and impassioned manner, a short speech, to the follow-
ing effect :

He accepted, with unfeigned thanks, the highest
and most important office which an academia could
hold, and which had been rendered doubly valuable by
the unanimity vrith which it had been conferred upon biro.
" It was with pride that he saw around him in that as-
semblage of indulgent friends some of those who, in the
earlier periods of his collegiate course, had been the
guides and examples whom he sought to follow, :many
there were whom he delighted to hail as fellow-students,
and not a few of those who were juniors to himself were
known to him by the intercourse of private society, or
by the fame of their academic progress.
" He had never forgotten the kindness with which he
had been admitted to the second office of honour in the
University, but their selection of him to succeed that
most excellent and most noble Chancellor, whom they
had lately lost, that most amiable of men, and moat
disinterested of patriots, demanded not only a fresh ex-
pression of his personal gratitude, but a renewed and
solemn assurance that no official endeavours should he
wanting on his part to maintain entire and inviolate the
rights, the privileges, and immunities of the University.
essential as he deemed them to be to the efficiency of
that academic body, and to the well-being of the Church
of England."

With this the ceremony concluded, the party leaving
the gallery in nearly a similar order to that in which
they had entered, and adjourned to the great dining—
room where tables were spread for their refreshment.
In this room the Vice• Chancellor proposed the health
of the new Chancellor, a toast which was received by
the company with evident satisfaction, and to which his
Grace responded in a neat and feeling acknowledgement.
At two o'clock the company withdrew, and the Vice-
Cliancellor and the other University functiornaries re-
turned to Cambridge.