The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-07 00:00:00

TAIT'S.

The article on " The Tariff and the Oregon," by an
Englishman in America, contains a well digested account
of the present condition of the United States, and the
parties that unfortunately have been allowed to usurp
the Government of the country. We fear there is but
too much truth in the view which the writer takes of
the populace, and the ruinous influence they have upon
all statesmen not endued with virtuous principles, and,
above all,moral courage. The mob, in fact, guide the

destiny of the young Republic. The names of Wash-
ington, Jefferson, and others of the same class, are, to all
appearance, revered, but they are revered as were the
names of Brutus and Cassius, and others of the same
school, when Rome was sunk in slavery, and the people
only thought of indulging their grovelling appetites.
" The plague of demagogues is upon the land—the com•
promises of the Constitution are trampled under foot—
the tyranny of the numerical majority is complete?'
And in another place he says—" The tyranny of public
opinion in this country paralyses the boldest hearts, and
moral courage as a virtue is nearly extinct, in all the
relations, public or private, of American life." This is
a sad picture, but we believe it is true to the letter, and
that America, of all places in the w&ld, is the very
last which a man of refined habits and independent
mind would select for his residence. Mobs are the
cruel, the most unrelenting, and the most unjust of all
tyrants. Some hopes are held out that the Senate will
have the courage to resist both the mob and
Polk, rand the very long time they have taken
in coming to a decision is favourable to the
opinion. "I am tolerably confident," says the writer,
in summing up his remarks " that in a very short time a
resolution would pass the Senate, recommending the
Executive to adjust the matter peacefully and by com-
promise." We are surprised to see Tait devoting six or
seven of his valuable pages to the miserable, trifling. and
silly common-places of such a man as Dr. Carus. We
have looked over the diary and can find not one original
remark, except in the shape of an absurdity ; and as for
correct information, it is totally out of the question.
What are we to think of a German philosopher 'who,
anxious to describe the mode of Presbyterian worship in
Scotland, entered, not one of the kirks, but an episcopalian
chapel, and with much gravity passes censure on the
dell monotony of the Calvanistic service ? He is fond
of giving the sobriquet," Sombre Ecossais" to the Scotch-
man ; and, as his philosophy must find a reason for this
sadness in the national countenance, he comes to the
conclusion that the beheading of Mary Stuart did it all.
The following are his words :—" That peculiar melancholy
expression so often to be perceived in the Scotch, and
which justifies the expression, SombreEco!sat , has al-
ways seemed to be connected,
as well as
misty atmosphere, with the impression
othneitrhommoiinstdsaund
f
the Scotch, that with the head of the unfortunate Mar)
fell too the crown of Scotland, and was broken to pieces."
The following are the concluding remarks on the "Posi-
tion and Prospects of Sir Robert Peel

" The crisis an inviting one to a man of so much ambition
as the Premier is known to be. The breaking up of old par-
ties has devolved more influence on the great floating balance
of shrewd quiet citizens, with no strong party predispositions,
than has been witnessed at any earlier period of our history
The more general diffusion of wealth and intelligence has
made this element in society more extensive and stronger,
itniodneztubdanentitaletvoegretwhaser
before. Sections
partyet too, have
risen into political importance, with wants and viii:hews'whlcvlz:
the old-hereditary distinctive measures of Whig or Tory can
neither gratify nor discomfit. Common sense embodied in
practical measures—legislative and' administrative, for the
real wants of the age, and with respectful, not slavish
deference to its opinions—are what will establish a Ministry
in office. Peel, certainly, has no claims to implicit confi-
dence ; his juvenile antecedents are against him ; but if he
has not yet unreservedly devoted himself to the promotion of
such a policy as Liberals could support, how stand the Whigs ?
While in power, they played fast and loose with the princi-
ples, by professing which they had acquired it. Of Peel it
may be said, that his actions have been better than his bad
professions ; of the Whigs, that their actions have been worse
than their good professions. Neither have claims to our en-
tire confidence for the past ; it is the future of both that must
decide. Peel, we have shown, stands on a vantage ground
for this renewal of the contest : it remains to be seen. whether
he will have th‘ clear-sightedness and intrepidity to avail
himself of it. Mr. Cobden told him, not long ago, that in
consequence of his free trade measures, he would find himself
most popular in the manufacturing districts, were he to visit
them. The substitution of measures really capable of reliev-
ing Ireland, for coercion—the appointment of a Lord Lieu-
tenant, who, with the genial sympathies, and perhaps some-
, thing of the theatrical dash of Lord Normanby, combined
with higher intellect and sounder common sense—would
render him equally popular in Ireland. The change impend-
• ing in the leading political agents, and in the views and tem-
per of the popular party in that country, invites to the ex-
periment. The introduction of measures calculated to impose
a check on the petulance of privileged sectarianism—to pl;iac,
the adherents of all religious sects more on a footing of soteical..
as well as political equality—to unsectarianize public ed
ptioopnulianr thepre
prejudices, would
wtoucaldlcuoloauteiedliare
And there is
supporters throughout England and Scotia_
if arid augmentation
not adopt, with as much honour to himself, eanxasPinmecirpoa:ertacTitgTiaotdey oonf
. not one of these courses of policy which Sir ituobbeliret Popeienlinoinig, might
of his influence over the sounder part of p _
coercive,
one believes him fond o
prejudices; no' and .natural disposition,
' free trade. Nobody believes him to be imbufeddawriintgh sectarian
al modes of government.
toafolirkciebilneclmineeashuimres.
be may take new ones that really do him
He has emancipated himself from oldmpuarsttsytacomnpnheixsio7s:
historicalone
step farther, and rHatiison°aPliannidnliber
honour. The hour has come which
character. The next few months will determine whether he
is to be handed down to posterity as a greater Minister than
England ever had before him, or as QUO who alms; kincoome a
great Minister."