The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-01 00:00:00

EV-ENING EDITION.

welfare than their own plans ; not to adhere too
ten ,c•ously opin ons perhaps hastily taken up,
kr. Lord STA NI. Ev's as to Leland, when, to th e
great misfortune of that country, and almost to the•
ruiii of the Administration of which he was a
member, he drove Lord GREY'S Ministry to adopt
the Coercion Law ; to lend its ear to the repre-
sentations of those whose interests it is their duty
to provide for, so far from being a vice or demerit,
must he considered, in this age of transition, as one
of the most useful virtues and the greatest merits
which a Government can possess.
Mr. WA RD said, speaking of the deference the
Ministers had shown to the wishes of their sup-
porters, the facts which Sir JAMES GRAHAM
had brought forward against the Ministers were
the facts which he should quote in their favour.
The two parties, therefore, take directly opposite
views of the functions and duties of Government,
and what one considers a reproach the other re-
gards as an honour. Whether it be right in the
Government to yield to external pressure, or to re-
sist it, and pursue, regardless of the multitude and
their interests, a path of its own, is really the ques-
tion at issue between these two parties, and as it
may be decided, so should the public approve of
Lord STANLEY'S iron self-will, or of Lord MEL-
BOURNE bending to circumstances, and guiding his
actions rather by the knowledge of to-day than the
ignorance of yesterday.
In Turkey, in Russia, and perhaps in France,
this question would be decided in Lord STANLEY'S
favour. Here the decision must be against him.
The Ministers of England have no right to -consult
their own will, but the public welfare, as made
known to them by public opinion, including the
opinions of the two Houses of Parliament. leTe-
minally the two Houses are the Council of the
Crown, in reality they are the Council of Ministers;
and it savours of most unbridled arrogance in Lord
STANLEY to propound a doctrine to an assembly
which will virtually have the effect of transferring
its functions to the Ministers. He would govern
in spite of other men, so would Mr. JULIAN
HARNEY; and the despotism of the Tories is
the parent of the counter despotism of the
Chartists. We will honestly confess that if
we must have a tyrant, we should prefer
Lord STANLEY to Mr. HARNEY, but we prefer
to either, that stigmatized thing, a Government
made of squeezable materials. It is obedient and
tractable to public opinion, and at the same time
more in accordance with the Constitution of Eng-
land than the despotism even of Lord STANLEY.
It surprised us to hear Lord STANLEY lay down
such a theory of Government while he was
fighting on the side of Sir ROBERT PEEL,
who has, through his whole political life,
exhibited his obedience to the squeezable principle.
So far from his having taken up, at any one time,
and followed out consistently, a line of policy, he has
continually submitted to he driven by the Whigs,
or by a Tory tail. Wiien he was Home Secre-
tary he carried into effect, reluctantly and incom-
pletely, because he could no longer help himself,
the reforms of the law which the Whigs had made
popular. He, under the commanding influence
of Mr. HUSKISSON'S genius, gave in his adhesion
to the doctrines of free trade. Now, under the in-
fluence of his own tail, made up of Tory landlords,
he is the staunch friend of the Corn-laws. In
1828 the abolition of the Test Act was squeezed
out of him, and in 1829 the Clare election extorted
from him Catholic Emancipation. The Reform
Act was not squeezed out of, but passed in
spite of him ; but with his usual dependent, sub-
servient policy, he has taken up the Whig position
of Reform, there to remain till he is driven from it.
Thus the practices of Sir ROBERT PEEL, and the
whole stream of modern history, testify to the pro-
priety of having a Government made of squeezable
materials.