The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-11 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The following frothy passage isfrom the Morning
Herald :—" The genius of Sir Robert Peel's Adminis-
tration will consist in manfully adhering to the great
landmarks of the English constitution, and in repudiat-
ing whatever is contrary to its. spirit and adverse to its
safety and prosperity. We have tried the force of con-
cessions, and it is now time to try the steadiness of firm
and consistent principles. Those principles are engraved
on the hearts of Englishmen—they have outlived all the
trials and tamperings of the, Whigs and Radicals—
they have survived all the encouragements of Popery,'
and the diseonragements of Protestantism—whether
at home or abroad. It is time they should now
again be received into public favour, and Sir Robert
and the 'Duke are not the . then who Will discourage
them either at Court or in our colonies—at the heart
or at the extremities of our comprehensive dominions."—
The real meaning of all this verbiage is, that the new
Ministry will stick as closely as it possibly can, to its
favourite old creed of No Change. It will try " the
steadiness of firm and consistent principles "—to quote
our Contemporary's discreet phraseology—that is to say,
it will take a To 7 view of things, until it finds that
Toryisr will avail it no longer ; when, sooner than risk
the loss of place, it will turn round and make a show of
Liberalism, just as Doctor Phillpotts did, on the question
of Catholic Emancipation.
The chronicle, alluding to the rumour of Sir Robert
Peel declining to have anything to do with the Marquis
of Londonderry, says :—" It is no defence of this shab-
by treatment that Sir Robert Peel lifts his eyebrows and
asks, " what could-we do with him ?" There was cer-
tainly a difficulty in the way, but it was not insurmount-
able. There is an old proverb which says that certain
people may not be choosers ; and perhaps the Noble
Lord was too fastidious. But considering the school in
which he was brought up, and the purposes for which
he has been taught that diplomatic and other such ap-
pointments should be conferred, we can hardly wonder
that the Marquis of Londonderry should have limited
his acceptance to either Paris or St. Petersburg. We
can readily understand why Sir Robert Peel should
not wish to send the Marquis of Londonderry to
Paris. But St. Petersburg—why not send him there ?
Our relations with the Emperor are just now upon
such a footing that it would really require a man
of some capacity to do mischief there." —We
really think the Noble Marquis a very ill-used man.
He is quite as intelligent, and at least twice as honest, as
two-thirds of the Peel Ministry. His versatility of
talent, too, is surprising. He is a capital performer in
private theatricals ; is the most original speaker of the
day ; and has no superior in a certain impenetrable as-
surance of manner highly necessary to a party-man. If
he was thought good enough for Sir Robert Peel's last
Government, he is quite good enough ctn. the present ;
and as for the Right Hon. Baronet fearing that the
Ministerial vessel will be wrecked with such a Jonah on
board ; why, the ship is full of Jonahs already ! The
truth is, Lord Stanley—as in the former instance—has
objected to the Noble Marquis's appointment, and Sir
Robert Peel, notwithstanding his boast of independence,
has been compelled to give way. Poor Lord London-
derry ! Instead of playing his favourite
,part of
" Noodle"—vide Tont Thumb—in public, he must now be
content to play it in private.
The Times thus sneers at the popular excitement
which occasioned the passing of the Reform Bill :
" The three glorious days' of July had broken down
more important barriers than those 'of the Place des Vic-
toires or of the Rue Richelieu. The English mind ran
wild, and nothing was excessive enough to satisfy its
vague longings. The Whigs administered to the frenzy,
and assisted in the brewing 'of a storm which they were
vain enough to fancy they could guide. For a while
they were ablelo turn its fury upon the Tories. They
sustained the popular prejudice against their opponents,
by continuing to fasten on the Conservative Statesmen
of our own time every charge that was applicable to the
Tories of the preceding generation; and the leader of Op-
position was painted by the Ministerial underlings as a
hungry wolf, howling at the door, and eager to lift the
latch of office, for the destruction of the people."--
The barefaced effrontery—to say nothing of the gross
inconsistency—of this passage is absolutely without pa-
rallel! Who was the first to administer to the general
excitement of 1830, which is here denounced ,as

" frenzy ?" The Times! Who assisted the English
mind to run wild," by uplifting the oriflamme .of Reform,
and calling on the people to rally under it? The Times!
Who proposed swamping the House of Lords, and eject-
ing the Bishops, and day by day sneered at both as a
squad of Incorrigibles ? Still the Times! During the
whole stormy period that intervened between the 'intro-
duction of the Reform Bill and its final triumph, thiS
apostate journal made a boast of being in the van of the
battle. No abuse was too violent—no insinuations too
malignant—no menaces too ferocious—for the Times of
that day to hesitate to pour out upon the Tories. And
yet these same Tories are now the objects of its idolatry!
Further comment is superfluous.
The Morning Advertiser says—" We have already ad-
verted to the introduction of the Duke of Buckingham
into the new-Cabinet, as a circumstance which precludes
all hope of anything being done by that Cabinet in the
way of a substantial revision of the Corn-laws.
.We wish
that this were the only matter of evil augury involved in
the appointment of the Noblo Duke. He is one of the

most rabid of the ultra-Tory school ; a man who has
proved himself, ever since his entrance on the stage of
public life, one of the most bitter and unrelenting foes to
civil and religious liberty that ever sat in either House of
Parliament."—The appointment of this man at once
stamps the character of the new Ministry. o far as he
can influence it, it will be, not only a stand-still Cabinet,
but a retrograding one; for not a single really useful mea-,
sure of Reform has been projected for the last twelve
years, but has met with the Duke of Buckingham's most
decided opposition. He was the bitterest enemy of
Catholic Emancipation, and the Reform Bill found in
him an equally envenomed foe. Fortunately, however,
his Grace's capacity for mischief is in some degree neu-
tralized by his very limited understanding. Though a
great Duke, he is a very small statesman.
The Tory Journals are quite indignant with Mr.
Byng, for his late assertion at the Middlesex dinner, that
he now finds himself living under an aristocracy. The
Post, in particular, remarks :—" It is a common thing
at an advanced period in life to remember what has
happened many years before, but to forget completely
the events • of yesterday. This must, we suppose, ac-
count for Mr. I3yno.'s-forgetfulness that he lives under a
Government which the House of Commons substantially
determines, and that, within a few weeks, the people at
large—not the aristocracy--were called upon to elect a
House of Communs ; that they did elect a House ; and
that that House, by its vote, altered the Government to
what it is. Of all the idle twaddle that ever was uttered,
the assertion that, in the present state of the theory and
practice of the Constitution, the Government is an aris-
tocracy, is the most idle.' —Mr. Byng is quite
The present Government is an aristocratic one ; syin-
pathizing exclusively with aristocrats ; sworn to legis-
late in an aristocratic spirit ; and brought into office by
aristocratic influence. In fact, it is the last desperate
effort of the aristocracy to repel—what it calls—the
dangerous inroads of the democracy. • But it will fail,
for it is impossible—as Mrs. Partington found to her
cost—to, drive back the waves of the Atlantic with
a mop!
We quote the following remarks from the Plymouth
Journal :—" Misery is deaf to sophistry, and an intelli7
gent people cannot be trifled with. The Protective sys-
tem must be relaxed. It is false in principle, and inju-
rious in tendency. It is curious to see with what tenacity
and affection Conservatives adhere to this system. The
very word is a charm. It seems to awaken all the pa-
triotism of their nature, • and they talk of it as if every
element of our prosperity was to be protected and en•
joyed by it."
The Dublin Pilot says :—" The wise and far-seeing
Liberals need not be uneasy that the cautious system of
moderation and forbearance chalked out by the Prime
Minister, will be carried out—even long enough to de-
lude, to paralyze and enfeeble the union of the organized
mind of Ireland. Every act since his accession to
power has been a falsification of the moderate principles
upon which it was taken. Measure's are indicated by
the choice of men,—and the men Peel has chosen com-
pletely decide the character of the measures."
The Nonconformist, speaking of the present state of
the; country, says—" The system of • forbearance and
compromise is well nigh at an end. Toryism, or, in
other words, Government carried on for the advantage of
the few rather than the many, cannot now steal down
upon us under Liberal colours. We can be deluded no
longer by a specious pretence. As far as the nation is
concerned, the men composing the present Cabinet are
nothing—the principles they embody constitute the all in
all of their importance. These principles will henceforth
engage the sole attention of the public mind, and of neces-
sity those which stand in contrast with them will be more
seriously studied and more highly prized. Government
by party is fast coming to an end. It has had its day.
It has done its work. On the whole, it has greatly ad-
iranced the liberties of the people. But it is ill • adapted
to the wants of the present times. It has reached old
age, and is ready to expire. With no small difficulty the
nation is struggling to cast its old skin—to emerge from

the trammels of party to the freedom of principles. The
strength of the Conservative Government will greatly
facilitate the change ; and, whenever the conflict be-
comes one of undisguised principles, the end will not be
far off."

The Dublin Evening Mail, after objecting to the ap-
pointment of Lord Eliot, and stating in pretty broad
terms that he is an apostate, goes on to remark:—
We have every disposition to give Lord Eliot, and
the Administration of which he forms a part, our fullest
confidence—so far as we shall be justified by their actions.
With respect to him in particular, we shall make
every just allowance for his position, and credit him for
a desire to repair his fault—until the contrary shall have
been distinctly manifested. By-bones shall be by-gorses;
and we do assure his Lordship and all those friends to
whom our strictures may have given pain, that beyond
the few words in which we indicated our original distrust,
neither he nor they should have heard from us on the
subject, had it not been for the injudicious conduct of
those advocates, whose conversion is perhaps too violent
to be very rational or quite sincere."