The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

- --- -
FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The Times has written two articles, and
threatens more, the purport of which is to prove
.that
which was already pretty generally known—that Sir R.
Peel does not mean to be tied down to any particular course
on assuming the functions of Minister. His primary
object having been to get in, his secondary purpose
will be to keep in ; and professions which were very useful
to attain the` first of these views, would, if reduced into
practice be very fatal to the second. To wreck the
Ministerial vessel when in the hands of the Liberals, it
was all very well that the Tory party should assume the
fixedness of the rock ; but the rock of opposition is now
to be dissolved into the quicksand of expediency, which
will be assuredly fatal to the Conservative crew, whert
the tide of electioneering triumph shall have receded,
and left nothing but Tory principles for the Tory
craft to rest upon That the expectant Premier has
commenced his soundings with the view of following in
the course of the Whigs, is obvioas fro-n the altered tone
of the journals in his interest. Vacillation, which was
the alleged crime of the present holders of office, is to
be the great virtue of their successors, who are to have
the unfettered option of going in ary direction that the
circumstances of the moment, or, in other words, the
preservation of their places;may seem to require. The
Times has not even the moderation to claim for its
protege the right of making one deviation, however
flagrant, from the course he has declared to be the orly
proper one, but reserves for him the right of going any
way at any time, according as the political mind may
act on the political weathercock. A statesman who is
to be " all things by turns," will assuredly be " nothing
long," and his career must inevitably be brief as a Nti-
nister. By trying to make himself " everything to every-
body," he will soon find himself, in the vulgar and some-
what self-contradictory phrase, "nothing to nobody."
STANDARD.—The last number of the Edinburgh
Review reminds us of a person at the Court of the un-
fortunate Louis XVI., who obtained from the populace
the surname of Deficit. Now, as her Majesty's Minis-
ters are as well entitled to a distinctive title as their
predecessors of the Cabal, or the Coalition, or the
Taleuts administrations—none of them weaker or
more wicked than the present—we respectfully
propose that henceforward they bear the name of
the deficit Ministry. They have the most indis-
putable right to the name. Their deficiency in all
the qualifications of statesmen has been abundantly
proved; but this is not what we mean ; we allude to the
deficit which they have created in the public resources,
which they make the apology for their most outrageous
propositions, which, strange as it may seem, consti-
tutes their lba of merit, and their claim to public con-
fidence, and the anchor of their hope of a restoration to
office. They surely who have, during six years laboured
so industriously to create a deficit and now exult in the suc-
cess of their labours, must be rather proud than ashamed
of the title we give them, the " Deficit Ministry."
We are told, indeed, that the existing deficit is owing to
the unforeseen casualty of the wars in China, Syria, and
Affghanistan; but this is not doing justice to the "deficit
administration;" their exertions to earn the title we claim
for them preceded those wars. We have before us a return
of income and expenditure for three years, ordered by the
House of Commons on the 22d of June, upon the motion of
the late Member for Falkirk who must not drop a tear
over the political tomb of Mr. Gillon? He will be missed
almost as much as his brother in modesty, gracefulness,
and genius, Mr. Joseph Hume—but this by the way. We
have before us, as we said, a return of income and ex-
penditure for three years-1838, 1839, 1840. Now,
upon the first of these years we find a deficit of 441,819/.,
but there was no China war ; no Syrian war ; no Affghan
war in 1838. Upon the second of these years we find a
deficit of 1,381,9381., and still in 1839 there was no
China war—no Affghan war—no Syrian war. In the
third year Ministers found that they were going a little
too fast in the deficit department, and they added five per
cent. to the taxes, but still the desired deficit
flourished in abundant " fructification," to borrow
Lord Sydenham's figure, for at the end of 1840 we have
a deficit of 1,750,543/., making in the three years a total
of 3,574,3001.—a pretty deficit realised upon which to
retire from business, were this the whole ; but this is
only the `•fructification" of three years, and the pursuit
of a deficit began much earlier, as most of our readers
will recollect from our reference to Lord Sydenham's
notable doctrine of " fructification ;" awl the seven
months of 1841 already consumed cannot fail (consider-
ing especially the election expenses) to enlarge the minus
quantity—the deficit is actually no doubt from seven to
ten millions sterling.'
COURIER—The Revue des deux Mondes or rather

the writer of the eloquent article from which we so
freely extracted yesterday, may be assured that without
" transactions" of any kind with any party, or the frac-
tion of any party, Sir Robert Peel, with the " same ad-
mirable sagacity, ability, dignified, calm, and foreseeing
patience," for the extraordinary and conjunctive posses-
sion of which he is so justly credited by the reviewer,
will conciliate for his administration the support, in the
main, and sooner or later, of all wise, patriotic, and
disinterested men who, however hitherto classed, and
sometimes viciously, under certain party ensigns, such as
Whigs, Liberals, or Reformers, have yet certain great
landmarks of constitutional principles in common with
each other, and with the Conservatives, and which, as
such, must ever constitute a broad and unpassable line of
demarcation between them and the Radicals, Revolu-
tionists, and Repealers. The amalgamation of parties
conscientiously according in the same fundamental points
of political faith will be consummated by no compromise of
principles on either side, nor ratified in the shape of any
compact or coalition formally expressed or implied.
There are, doubtless, precedents for such combinations
and fusions of parties, but they are not generally such as
have commanded public respect, even when governed by
unimpeachable motives, and arranged between the most
honourable men. The Government of Sir Robert will
be, in the proper acceptation of the term, essentially a
Reforming Government. Reforming, in the sense in which
the illustrious Bacon defined it, when he bade us take
heed that it be the necessity of " the reformation
which precedeth the change, and not the desire of change
that pretendeth the reformation."

A GENUINE PATRIOT AND PO.

LITICIAN.

With candour in his heart, truth on his lips, and ho-
neur in his eye, no opponent could dispute his words, no
supporter distrust his designs. The great mission of his
calling, the advancement of justice, morality, and civili
zation, would demand none but the most simple as well
as the most honourable measures, for purity of motives
presupposes purity of means. His ambition would be to
found an empire of superior intelligence and happiness ;
to dispel error would be his particular talent, and at his
approach, cunning,. duplicity, ignorance, suspicion, and
fear would depart in dismay • honesty and knowledge
would be the attributes by which he would cause his age
and his country to shine brightest above former days,
and he would bequeath to future times the difficult task
of rivalling tweilencies which had hitherto been deemed
unattainable.
Such a one might, perhaps, tell us, that legislation was
not intended to be applied to the minutia) of man's daily
pursuits, went, and enjoyments; that legislators renderowd
themselves liable to Suspicion when they meddled with
matters evidently most pFANbIe to themselves. That those
governments were most perfeet whose interference was but
rarely needed in ordinary affairs; and that in bumble imi-
tation of the allwise Ruler of the universe, human rulers
should aim at sitnplipity—not at complication; at liberty—
not at restraint; that too little legislation was the prefer-
able extreme; that unnecessary legislation generated dis-
resi eet. to the makers and administratore of laws, and
challenging Infringement became a fertile source of new
crimes.
Of monopolies like the Corn•iaw he might, perhaps,
say that they would generate, if effective, a preponde-
rance of political interest, frequently unmanageable, and
threatening to disturb the equilibrium, which the vast
variety of mental and bodily powers, the constant
development of fresh intelligence and skill, new wants
and new gratifications, seemed best calculated to main-
tain, as in the universe so in the state. That laws, re-
gulating the supply of food—that the Corn-laws might
not inaptly be ranged with the melancholy musings of
the learned friend of Imlac and llasselas !—that the
attempt, justly to apportion the supply of food to the
wants of a constantly fluctuating mass of people, would.
presume the regulation of the weather and the distri-
bution of .the seasons, and the insane fancy, that the
sun would listen to our dictates, and pass frorn tropic
to tropic by our directions—that the- clouds, at our cull,
would pour their waters, and the Nile overflow at our
command—and that we could restrain the rage of the
dog star, and mitigate the fervour of the crab. Alas !
in mere fond &legion might we not find (as has been
8: 34 4vBe
of
rfotthrhee
earth,i n 1
found in the administration of all such laws) that some
by tempests
of the elemental powers would refuse our authority, and
that (bow true is the application) riimititittles had perished
which we found ourselves unable to prohibit
or to restrain. .4.laa ! do not let us lay
.the flattering
unction to our souls, that WO could administer this great
office with exact justice, and make to the different nations
of the earth an impartial dividend of rain and sunshine !
What mint be the misery of half the globe, should
we limit the clouds to particular regions, and confine
the sun to either side of the equator ? What must
be the Offering of half the
veignoircoewuhsad:le
week, as was the
people, should we confine
plenty to the other half ? What the pining§ and miseries
of the sucking babe, the sickly mother, the famishing
poor, the aged, tottering, gad hungry, the feeble in mind
and body, when we let the itttprftsts of the strong, the
juthstemepuotwoerflu;,
haanlfd.
plboVeenladnilyhtliYin°Ptr:Peisvil:eilen:obtyph:.t4 of 735., prevent the enjoy:
What our repentant pangs,
hi
andll Y
sometimes ofmakingv4nt ave Etaaf-
cmaesnetionfswelpiotelemsohmere:libsicr
should we finally
disposition by
though we turn tkr Axis ,
which. the world can bo ad
ried the ecliptic of the zen, h
pewter on the inces-
Quitting the mighty lessons of Le great moralist, he
might tell us, human," before sVe
sant change of every thing
~
grainofwheatP"eVPrit'a
" Look ar.ound, and
in rules and laws AT
f bread that is eaten. Be-
grown, and every mouthful A
events, the quick succession
every ,
hold the rapid whirlpool of ... .
~
of unforeseen circumstances, the cloy birth of hidden
causes and effects thought impossible, Printing, an art
once unknown, now furnishes ,in a few hoursl and for a
few pence an unmeasured supply of menta food, such
as the power of Aiew4er or Caesar
could not have.
procured— nay,
tine. of ancient days had Act o*tePP ti° ePTlCeive !
Law has not protected—nay, it has Pplvse4, Rilfil
Which wg,ft thr !flightiest imagine-
all its delays and oppression—the progrgo f 4 ?
rowls yet we roll in a few hours front 0110
id
end of the
kingdoua to the other 1 Ten thousand gle now
in splendid barges daily. along our rivers and
seas, where formerly # few individuals could scarcely
be collected, to maintain a sl,oF, a perilous, and an i
steam
ncon-
venient weekly tralfie. Tar Mightfer ppfypTs than
are as yet giAPA pr less cloamant-Lcirhour gas I,s I,ppt
a giant sleeping,' 44414 PP 4:i safety, until more' Ina'
nageable, but galvanic &orlon eery,es. swith this siked
of -thought as a means of transmitting news, as omits