The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-25 00:00:00

i 6;; 1t 2

PRICE 5(1

crafty and less scrupulous competitors for power, and for the
confidence of that public ;—even this forbearance and modera-
tion are at last worn out. The pertinacious determination of
the present Government to carry through its unintentionally
suicidal measures, designed as they were to bear with
overwhelming pressure on the present energies of the
colonial, the shipping, and the landed interests, has accele-
rated that downfall which the daily-increasing powec and
popularity of the op;iosition was securing by every constitutional
andlegitimate means which the moral and intellectual inferiority
of Government, as a body, had already rendered inevitable. On
every side thick swarming tidings come in of defeat in one
quarter, defection in another, defiance in a third, ill-dissembled
disgust in a fourth, decaying influence and extinguished favour
in all. The intelligence of yesterday compressed into:l4 hours
a fearful aggregate of discomfiture and disgrace sufficient—(will
our readers excuse the apparent exaggeration of the figure?)
—to disturb even Lord Melbourne's equanimity ; to' ruffle the
marble surface, as polished as impracticable, even of the Pre-
mier's indifference. In Birmingham, as we understand, their
party, their resolutions, their promises, have been (at a large
meeting) treated with so much rideness and impertinence that
we should not wonder if Mr. Fox Maule and Mr. Edward Stan-
ley were to induce the Marquis of Normanby to forward, by the
railroad, a detachment of " rural police" to repress for the
fttture any exhibitions of public feeling so distasteful to noble
diners out ; —so difficult for that class, notwithstanding all
their transcendent powers of pleasing and conversation, to give
any handsome account of to their intelligent entertainers.
TlMES.—Nothing can exceed the desperation to which the
Whigs are reduced, for the one sole purpose of retaining their
offices till the latest possible moment. Having been defeated
upo their atrocious pro-slavery proposal by such an over-
whelming majority as ought instantly to have produced their
resignation, they have, ever since, by giving notices of motions,
and by otherwise indicating an intention to proceed with pub-
lic business, endeavoured to keep up a dogged air of noncha-
lance, as if their expulsion from power were still as distant as
ever. Not a week has elapsed since these degraded Ministers
were signally disgraced in their own Parliament under circum-
stances which, if not exactly tantamount to a stoppage of the
supplies, afforded conclusive proof that they are viewed by the,
Legislature as a set of reckless financial empirics—yet, at
this moment, were it not for their ascertained impo-
tence and confusion, one might almost imagine, from their
manifest anxiety to resume the routine of treasury leadership,
that not a single defeat had been sustained. In spite, hriwever,
of all their mean manoeuvres, their weakness and trepidation
are rendered every now and then quite as conspicuous as their
impudence and obstinacy. Our readers will bear in mind the
strong asseverations of Lord J. Russell as to the absolute ne-
cessity of prosecuting the Poor-law Continuance Bill without
the delay of another Session. When the Ministry, previous to
the Nottingham election, believed that they could tyrannize
over the poor with impunity, no consideration of reason, jus-
tice, or humanity, could induce them to pause in their per-
secuting career. The studied and refined cruelties of their
workhouse unionism, being elaborated to the last Anish
of cold-blooded Whiggery, were to be forced down
the throat of Parliament with the most arbitrary
and indecent impatience. But happily the Whigs have at
length been taught to know that this infamous style of legisla-
tion cannot be safely proceeded with. A salutary, check has
been put upon their headlong inhumanity. The ordeal of the
hustings is now threatening them ; and consequently, as
another evidence of their vile want of principle, their Poor-law
Continuance Bill, about the importance of which they have
expatiated so much for months past, i 3, for the present, thrown
overboard, for the sake, if possible, of saving the sinking ship.
Last night Lord John Russell announced that that damning
item of Whig unpopularity is postponedtill next Session. But
the country will be glad to see that the contemplated escape of
the Whigs, even from their immediate fate, is likely to be no
less difficult than dishonourable. From this day their tenure
of office is hardly worth a week's purchase.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.

CHRONICLE.—UnIess monopoly gives_ way to free trade,
it is plain, from a consideration of the state of the Foreign Ex-
changes, that the Bank of England cannot regain the large
amount of gold required to place her in a position of stability.
According to the evidence of Mr. Horsley Palmer, the Bank
was in a sound position in October 1833, and in April, 1838.
At the first of these dates the liabilities were 32,900,0001., and
the bullion 10,900,0001. At the last-mentioned date the
quarterly average en the 3d of April gives 30,249,0001. of lia-
bilities, and 10,126,C00/. of bullion. On the quarter ending
the 27th of April last, the liabilities were 23,812,0001., and
the bullion 4,538,000/.

The notes in circulation on the 3d of April, 1838,

were . - ,
... 1,18,937,000
...... .....
On the 27th of April, 1841, they were