The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
(FROlt THE MORNING TAPERS OF THIS DAY.)
CHRONICLE.—Mr. Stuart Wortley knew what he
was about in moving the amendment to the Address. He
showed plainly, in the commencement of his speech, a
distinct consciousness of the insult which he was fling-
ing in the face of his Sovereign and his country. Hav-
ing stated that her Majesty had put a certain question to
the House, lie says that he will put another question ;
and his question shall be answered first ; and on the an-
swer to his question shall depend the reply to her Majes-
ty's question. We do not exaggerate the insolence of
the procedure. Our statement closely follows his own
words. "It was not long since her Majesty, by the
advice of her present Ministers, put a question to the
country as to the policy which should be pursued in the
public administration of affitirs ; " but "he would ask
the House to consider, in the first instance, whether
it was right that persons sitting in the position of
her Majesty's Ministers should be trusted with the future
conduct of public nffairs." And so, Queen Victoria,
with her inquiries, must stand by, until King Wortley
has made his demands and received his answer. To
such lengths may persons who should know something of
courtesy be carried by the drunkenness of success, the
consciousness of numerical strength, and the rabid eager-
ness for power and place. All the arguments for the
amendment resolve themselves substantially into this
one :—" We, Tories, are the majority ; and we will dis-
cu;s nothing, do nothing, promise nothing, until we are
admitted into office. Let the Sovereign wait, knock-
•ing at our doors, with her inquiries ; and let the
people wait, while their trade goes and their loaves
" dwindle ; not one inch shall the Great Council :of
the nation advance towards the treatment of the
most vital questions 'unless "theme-Treitstiry, be first, "and
forthwith, opened to our cravings." A more marked ex-
hibition of rapacity and insolence has never been pre-
sented. But at present both Queen and peoole are un-
der the landlord's Parliament, and must bear this bully-
ihg. quietly. Let any one put side by side the language
of the Royal Speech and that of the amended Address.
" Her Majesty is desirous that you should consider the
laws which regulate the trade in corn." What says the
Tory majority to this most reasonable and opportune re-
quest? "That it is essential to the satisfactory results of
our deliberations upon these and other matters of public
concern, that her Majesty's Government should possess
the confidence of this House and the country, and re-
spectfully to represent to her Majesty that that con-
fidence is not reposed in the present advisers of her
Majesty." What in the world has the reply to do
with the request ? Nothing whatever. It is totally
beside the mark. It is a most flimsily veiled refusal to
comply. It tells the Queen that a Tory majority has
other, and (to it) much more interesting business in
hand than attending to her wishes for the relief of
her subjects from the landlords' taxation on their bread.
They must have power first,. and then they will discuss.
If her Majesty will put the staff into their hands, then
they will reason about humanity, justice, and such mat-
ters. They will then be as courteous as now they are
insolent. But their insolence must previously be gra-
tified to the full extent of its demands. This is very
likely, indeed, to conciliate confidence in any quarter I
POST.—As we cannot agree in the opinion expressed
by that brilliant senator Mr. Brotherton that the people
of this country like the Parliamentary debates in pro-
portion to their length, we think the House of Lords
deserves much commendation for the speedy and decisive
conclusion to which it came on Tuesday night. We do
not admire, however, that, method of shortening discus-
sion which Lord Melbourne adopts. We think that so
long as a man is Prime Minister he ought to have some-
thing weighty and important to say upon all great ques-
tions which come before the House of Parliament in
which he happens to sit. We do not think that, even
for the sake of saving time, flippancy and levity on the
part of the first Minister of the Crown are proper sub-
stitutes for the information and the argument which the
public have a right to expect from a chief Minister
when matters of high importance are under discus-
sion. It is pretty well known that, not very long ago,
Lord Melbourne said he entertained views about the
Corn-laws extremely different from those which, for the
last three months, have been acted upon by his Govern-
ment. Of this the Duke of Wellington took notice on
Tuesday night, remarking, in his Grace's simple and
forcible manner, " that fourteen months ago the Noble
Viscount (Melbourne) made use of the very strongest
language which he (the Duke of Wellington) had ever
heard, in opposition to a motion merely for taking the
Corn-laws into consideration As to the abolition
of the Corn-laws, the Noble Viscount had de-
clared before God that he thought the man must be
mad who could think of such a thing !" And what says
the Noble Viscount now, in reply to the observations of
the illustrious Duke ? Why, that he has changed his
mind; a thing which, in his opinion, most-people do, and
that he thinks Noble Lords are a great deal too much in
the habit of taunting one another when they happen to
change their .mind ! This might do very well for a
drawing-room—it might be thought, perhaps, an agree-
able piece of candour if said to a pleasant party after
dinner, but this kind of language from a chief Minister
in the House of Lords is offensive.

HERALI).—It might have !been anticipated that the
amendment which was moved, on Tuesday night, on the
address to the Crown—in the House of Lords by the
Earl of Ripon ; in the House of Commons by the Hon.
Mr. Stuart Wortley—would have supplied a text plain
and intelligible enough for all those supporters of her
Majesty's Ministers who might havo determined upon
undertaking "the desperate emprise " of vindicating the
conduct of the h arilest- dying of recorded Administrations,
" while yet they lived " to power. There was nothing,
to be sure, very equivocal in the- noble Earl's proposi-
tion, affirmed as it subsequently was by a majority
of 72 Peers, (163 to 96) and now pending, in the same
terms, before the Commons :—" That it is essential to
the satisfactory results of our deliberations upon these
and other matters of public concern that her Majesty's
Government should possess the confidence of this House
and of the country, and respectfully to represent to her
Majesty that that confidence is not reposed in her pre-
sent advisers." We have been much amused, however,
to observe—on looking back to the debate—the very
elaborate care with which the Whig-Radical speakers
severally shunned the home straightforward ques-
tions raised by that amendment, on the fact of
the " no-confidence" reposed by the Parliament
and the people in the Government. Avowed
and notorious as was the determination to moot
it, Earl Spencer never seemed to imagine that such a vi-
sitaton as an amendment in such terms was possible. He
never, throughout his dreary argument, came nearer to
the main point than Westminster is to Althorp itself. As
for Lord Melbourne—who might hare heard, surely, some
little whisper of such a visitation being contemplated and
at hand, lie absolutely declared " that the amendment
came upon him like a thunder-clap." With great de-
ference, we can assure the Noble Viscount that the start-
ling nature of that declaration was much more calculated
to electrify all who heard it I
TIMES.—When incorrigible reprobates have once pro-
ceeded beyond certain limits, the mere consciousness that
their character is irreparably ruined often renders them
indifferent to appearances, and hurries them into every
excess. It is precisely thus with the Whigs. Having long
transgressed the ordinary bounds of decency in their in-
numerable jobbinos and malversations, they hare for
some years sunk into irretrievable disrepute ; and ever
since the termination of their official career appeared to
be near at hand, they seemed to have dedicated its con-
cluding days to a breathless gallop of corruption. Venal
as they have always been, mid chiefly engrossed with a
petty pedlarship on behalf of their family and party con-
nexions, they have managed, within the last week
or two, to rush into a greater number of flagitious trans-
actions than had yet disgraced any similar period of
their history. What with their waste of public money,
their nefarious bestowal of peerages, their open abettor-
ship of Repealers, their encouragement of illegal Whig
votes at the late elections, as well as their wholasale
promotion of hungry relatives and hack partisans—we
must really say that in the prospect of being expelled
from office they have wound up matters with a romantic
licence which reminds us of the preferments bestowed
by Sir Walter Scott upon the large family of Osbaldes-
tons, whom, with two or, three dashes of his pen, he in-
discriminately elevates to the rank of disembodied
spirits, and dispatches, them on sundry unknown mis-
sions, with the usual allOwances and outfit.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE HORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY-
CHRONICLE.—We stated reasons yesterday which
Against a rise in- prices,
operated forcibly.
the debates in both Houses of Parliament have certainly
not tended to give confidence to speculators, or to induce
and since then
men of capital or inerchrnts to make investments. If
Sir Robert Peel intends to conceal his poliwintil
the country will be in a state of most alarming privation
and discontent throughout the intervening period. During
the interval of suspilse however, there are some things
which he will find hin;self compelled to do. He must
raise money ; and the question is, how can the new
Government obtain it ? The deficiency bills are all
gone—the saving bank money is not to be touched.
The city monopolists, scone of whom are very wise. in
their own conceit, and" all of whom are constantly barn-
fill of nothings, pretend to know the wholearrange-
ments: They say, " wait until you see. Sir`Robert
Peel has got the whole money
There
arranged ; nil
cut and dry, and no mistake. l3 a great secret ;"
but what it is, of course, they are not at liberty to
communicate." We d. o believe that. there is a plan for
raising the wind in course of concoction. Let the
Bank Directors beware of being concerned in any under-
They. pawned a portion of their " dead
to the Bank of
.France. for a loan of 9.000,000 L
Illvaenigdhorrations.
They may soon
.re.quire similar assistance, and had better
keep their securities as a nest egg for a rainy day. If
they give them back to Peel on loan, to enable him to
carry on the Government, they may repent it when too
late. It is certainly rumoured that there is a negotiation
on foot between Peel and the Bank Parlour. Such a
thing is spoken of, and is not improbable. We shall
wait the development of the " secret" with composure.
Mr, Baring. stood high in public estimation, preciselyon account of his openness of character and clear prac-
tical style of dealing with the finances. His budgets
were always simple, and arranged with such lucidness
that the generality of the tax-payers could follow and
appreciate them. His plan of increasing the per tentage
on the customs and assessed taxes was well received in
the City, mainly on account of its plainness and
sim-
plicity. There was "no juggling" about it, and as