The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Sir Robert Peel having ruined his Cabinet by the
selection of its Members, and the dubious appearance
of its policy, has published a manifesto in the form of
an address "to the electors of the Borough of Tam-
worth ;" the Right Hon. Baronet having vacated his
seat by the acceptance of the Premiership. This sin-
gular document, received by the Times at half-past
three o'clock yesterday morning, before break of day,
is the palpable production of a Diplomatist, " one
veiled in affairs of state." A more despicable or con-
temptible effusion of party-cunning never met the pub-
lic eye. The Election Squib is precisely like Peel. It
closely resembles his speeches and " Parliamentary
Logic. This gesticulation and oratorical deception of
his oral mode of imposition are well imitated in the
specious and crafty sentences and subject-matter of
his election address. In three words, it is a "Book
of Fallacies." The political manifesto bears upon
its face the character of political fraud. It is ad-
dressed to the electors of Tamworth ; it is intended
for, and to deceive, the Constituencies of England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Sir Robert Peel well
knows that the half of Tamworth is " a family bo-
rough," the representation of which was as substan-
tially bequeathed to him by his father as the houses of
his tenants in that town----that Tamworth, under an
equitable and perfect system of Elective Rights, is no
more entitled to send one member to Parliament than
Gatton or Old Sarum of old—that in a few short years
it will cease to enjoy such a gross monopoly of legisla-
tive power as the return and exclusive choice of two
representatives—that Tory, Whig, or Radical, his
chameleon changes of political colour would never
affect his re-election at any hour or day in the
year. Sir Robert Peel, therefore, has, in fact,
addressed the Nation, in the disguise of an Elec-
tion Epistle to his Constituents of Tamworth.
The great departed Jurist and detector of political
counterfeits defines a fallacy as a term " to de-
signate any argument employed, or topic suggested
for the purpose, or with a probability, of producing
the eject of deception—of causing sonic erroneous
opinion to be entertained by any person to whose
mind such argument may have been presented." We
will first call to the minds of our countrymen the cir-
cumstance under which this document, mean and dis-
graceful beyond all precedent, has been published.
Sir robert Peel, endowed by nature with respectable
powers of niLill, born in affluence, improved by aca-
demical education, and introduced by the purse of
his father into political a d aristocratic society, was
early advanced to office. His i'Cjislative infancy was
cradled in rotten boroughs ; his origlial Tory preju-
dices were confirmed in the office of Irisii
Secretary.
Steeped in all the party-spirit of the Orange
action
of that distracted and cruelly governed country, Sr
Robert Peel was, to the last moment, the ring-leader
of the bigoted and destructive opposition to the Catho-
lic Question. In 1822, he succeeded Lord Sidmouth
in the office of Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment, the duties of which he continued respect-
ably to discharge till 1827, when he quitted office on
the advent of Mr. Canning to the Premiership. On
the formation of the Duke of Wellington's Adminis-
tration he returned to the Home Department, and con-
tinued there till the accession of Earl Grey to power
in 1830. During his long period of official career,
he served under the worst Governments which ever
disgraced the history of England. Sir Robert Peel,
as a Minister, a Representative, and a Legislator,
voted through " thick and thin" with those Ministries
—lie naturally became an expert " Debater," uniting
with great address much rhetorical skill and command
of language. But. we defy his most devoted admirers
to point out to us a single display which betrays any
grasp of mind, any extensive acquaintance with any one
important subject of legislation, or, in short, any
powers beyond those of dexterous speech-making.
We need not advert to the memorable circum-
stances of his ultimate abandonment of op-
position to the Catholic Claims. The relief
of the Catholics from civil disabilities was forced
on the Duke of Wellington ; and we admit tiiP merit,
such as it is, to Sir Robert Peel, of yielding to the
same imperative necessity of " pressure from without"
—nay, we admired the spirit of his full surrender.
The Tory party accuse him of the ruin of their cause
by that remarkable defection from his principles ; but
it was his obstinate opposition to, not his concession
of, the Catholic claims, which destroyed his party.
Failing to discern the growing power of the people—
their invincible opposition to abuses in Church and
State—and the inevitable triumph of Parliamentary
Reform, the Duke of Wellington's Ministry, with
Sir Robert Peel in its train, were hurled from power ;
and it was reserved for the honour of the Whigs to ac-
complish the long-desired destruction of the borough
system, and to substitute for it a much more amended,
though still imperfect, Representation. We proved on
Monday, by the citation of Sir R. Peel's own speeches
on the English Reform Bill, that the Right Honourable
Baronet clearly discerned the downfall of Toryism as
consequent on Parliamentary Reform. If honest, he
was the ignorant and bigoted opponent of the rights
of the people ; if insincere in his opposition to the
great measures of national regeneration in 1831-2, we
cannot find words to characterize his culpability ; in
either case he was equally the bitter enemy of the in•
strument and objects of Parliamentary Reform. But
we concede the sincerity of his opposition—that his
objections to popular representation are still equally
unsatisfied ; and we contend that his political prin-
ciples are—to use the language of his own address—
" a sort of moral disqualification," which should and
must ultimately preclude him, and all who think with
him, " both now and for ever from entering into the
official service of the Crown." Now, what are the
circumstances under which the Right Honourable
Baronet accepts office at this moment ? A House of
Commons exists, elected under the new representa-
tive system, including more property, intelligence,
and popular principle than was possessed by any
legislative assembly in the history of this country. A
Whig Ministry had enjoyed the confidence of the
King—a Cabinet existed professing moderate, though
popular, principles of policy in Church and State—the
Commons had, by unprecedented majorities, approved
that policy, and the only unpopularity of the Execu-
tive and Legislative Government arose from the mo-
deration and slowness of their acts of reformation of
our social institutions. The Tory Peers, nevertheless,
opposed themselves to the Ministers and the Com-
mons; the King has chosen, in the exercise of his
Prerogative, to break up the Cabinet of Lord Mel-
bourne, and to nominate as Ministers the heads of the
old Tory party. Is the Prerogative a trust—a respon-
sible authority in the King for the good of his people ;
or is it a despotic and irresponsible power, to be exer-
cised in reference only to his personal opinions, or the
prejudices of an hereditary aristocracy? In brief, are we
to be ruled by the hereditary or representative principle
of Government ? Such are the extraordinary cir-
cumstances, and such the crisis, of our present
political situation. Sir Robert Peel, long reluctant to
adventure on office—admitting indeed by his Address
his almost utter exclusion from it—has been at last
prevailed upon to pass the " wide gulf" between him-
self and Downing-street. How to work the present
House of Commons, how to obtain a new one suitable
to the purposes of the moment, is the puzzle to Sir
Robert Peel and his clique of official Tories. He
would fain make the trial, for the sake of his own per-
sonal character and his relief, with the present Parlia-
ment. He would be called upon to do nothing incon-
sistent, and after satisfying his sovereign and his party
in the failure, he might then return to Italy. The
spectre of " inconsistency" haunts his mind. He
knows, if he is to govern by any Parliament, that he
must wear the garb of a reformer, however inconvenient
and profligate to adopt the principles and policy of the
Liberals. Urged by his co-adjutors in office, he has
at length put forth a declaration of opinions. If a
reformer, he will be deserted by the honest
Tories—if a half-and-half reformer, lie will be
rejected by all parties—if an anti-Reformer, he well
knows that he will fall a sacrifice to public opinion.
For the temporary purpose, therefore, of deceiving and
cajoling the electors of the United Kingdom, he as-
sumes the mask of a Conformer. Such is the specious
countenance of his Address : what is its reality ? We
denounce the imposition. To-day, we will only gene-
rally expose the fallacies of the Right Honourable,
ariooth-faced, silver-tongued Baronet. We will here-

after consider his Address in detail, and show by hi
former senatorial acts, why the Right Honourable Ba-
rone, and his Cabinet cannot and will not be the Re-
formers which they now speciously desire to be con-
„at...red throughout the country, previous to a general
dectio,;. First, Sir Robert Peel plumes himself
on his repv,±-,ation as a Reformer, during the long
political life of twenty years ; and he rests his claim
on three groundslst,the active part he took
in the question of the Currency ; 2dly, his labours
for the consolidation and amendment of the Crimi-
nal law ; 3dly, the revisal of Jury system, and
his " opinions professed and unifortKly acted on with
regard to other branches of the jurisprudence of the
country." Are these, indeed, all the proofs of his le-
gislative and ministerial merit ? Is Sir Robert Peel
forgetful of the distinguished men who so long demon-
strated the evils of an incontrovertible currency ? Has
he not been a mere surface Reformer of our jurispru-
dence ? 'We are ready to do full justice' to the merit of
adopting and carrying salutary reforms, when the pub-
lic mind has been long prepared for them, and even
has loudly demanded them ; and we could wish to in-
stitute no comparison between the great men, to whose
ingenuity and devotion to the cause of humanity the -
victory over prejudice and error is attributable, and the
Statesman who steps forward at the twelfth hour to
give effect to their views. It is not wise to deter
public men from proposing reforms, by unduly de-
preciating their labours. But then the Judicial Re-
forms of Sir Robert Peel were trifling, compared with
the extent of the admitted abuses. In his Crimi-
nal Law Reforms, the intention was more to be
praised than the execution. The most beneficial of
his Reforms—the improvement of the Jury system—
had been a regular common-place for generations with
all public writers ; and this Reform, like Catholic
Emancipation, was only conceded, when public indig-
nation could no longer be restrained. To these few
and miserable claims to eminence and confidence as a
Statesman, does Sir Robert Peel, in 1834, gravely and
ludicrously appeal as " a proof that he has not been
disposed to acquiesce in acknowledged evils, either
from the mere superstitious reverence to ancient usages,
or from the dread of labour or responsibility in the
application of a remedy." If such was his "dispo-
sition," what is the Hon. Baronet's condemnation for
20 years of bad votes on almost every important
question, save only then: three Reforms ; what
is the culpability of his °cations in specious de-
fence of every abuse of Church and State which
the Reformers sought to reroedy ? And yet Sir
Robert Peel impudently states that he never
will admit that he has been " either before or
after the Worm Bill, the defender of abuses, or the
enemy of judicious reforms." What an exquisite
idea of Reform. What a hopeful Reformer I We
pass over, for the present, all the remaining preamble
of his address, which is only so much " paper and
pnaz-thread," wherewith to wrap up his bad goods.
Gravely- the Right Hon. Baronet assures the people
that he wiii not attempt to repeal or injure the Reform
Bills ! \Thal: must be his own appreciation of per-
sonal character with the country to render necessary
such an extraordinary and ridiculous declaration ? Has
he then associates! himself with men who imagine
that they could reatijr effect such a revolutionary de-
sign ? We are then treated with some general hints,
for the satisfaction of the Tories, such as respect for
ancient rights, a• d dsfereiw! to prescriptiveauthority.
But as " such declarations of general principle are
necessarily vague," quoth the new .Premier, " I will en-
deavour to apply them practically to some of those
questions which have, of late, attracted the
greatest share of public interest and ,attention." Sir
Robert Peel then comes to close quarters with the
Reformers, and commences his most difficult but cun-
ningly-devised declarations of the pretended policy of
his Cabinet. First, he says, that it is not his inten-
tion to revoke the Corporation Commiss.on ; nor to
transfer the conduct of it from those to whom the late
Government committed the inquiry. The Right Hon.
Baronet would have the country suppose, for at time,
that he is a Corporation Reformer ; he speciously di-
rects public attention to the fact that he was a Mem-
ber of the Common's Municipal Committee, in 1833,
which originated the appointment of the Commission;
he, however, cautiously limits his merit to the proof,
implied, d belonging to this Committee, that "he
was not unfrie;:dly to inquiry," a negative sort of ap-
probation of fneuiry, but no proof of his zeal
. .
or anxiety for Muntoyal Reform. He then ex-
pressly states, that 'he • will make no " pledge '"
on this great subject ; btix simply undertakes
to give the future Report of the Commis-
sioners, and the evidence on which it is founded,
" a full and unprejudiced consideration." Does
the new Premier really fancy that the country will
suspect him of any sincere intention of reforming the
corrupt and notorious Corporate Institutions of Eng-
land and Ireland ? Does he flatter himself that our
generation has forgotten his many speeches in favour
of rotten and nomination boroughs, the political ma-
chinery of which was worked in these Corporations?
Has he himself forgotten his speeches on the subject
of the Leicester Corporation and Mr. Otway Cave ?
Is he not toasted and eulogized by the self-elected and
Tory Corporators throughout the kingdom, as their
last hope and political saviour ? If Sir Robert Peel
intends to reform the Corporations, how will he
satisfy the conscience of the Duke of 'Wellington ; by
what sort of reformation will he cajole his Grace,
who has so recently and gallantly declared its
Parliament, " One observation it was desirable to
utter. I doubt, much doubt, whether it would be
expedient to establish a new municipal constitu-
tion on the Ten Pound Franchise. I consider such
to be IMPRACTICABLE I" Thirdly, Sir Robert
Peel, in the grossest ignorance of the principles and
real grievances of the Dissenters, nevertheless attempts
to cast " a tub to the whale" by promising them relief.
He offers them the Church-rate Bill of Lord Grey's
Cabinet—a measure repudiated with scorn and indig-
nation by the Dissenters, and withdrawn by Lord
Althorp after the accession of Lord Melbourne to the
Premiership. The equally unfortunate " Marriage.
Bill" of Lord John Russell—which met with an un-
tirssely end—Sir Robert Peel calmly re-offers to the
consideration of the Dissenters I He denies, in toto,
the " efaim of right" of the Dissenters to admission
in the English Universities ; but with a saving clause,
as though it applied to the University question,
craftily intiissates that the regulations of oilier
institutions, sush, we presume, as Inns of Court
and Medical Corporations, so far as concerns de-
grees in Medicioe and Law, ought to undergo
"modification;" he generally denies his " tin
willingness to consic.7..7 fairly the redress of any
real grievances" of ties Dissenters. Was there
ever a more expert phras.l-monger than the Right
Honourable Baronet ? and 3oes he imagine that he
can catch with such a bait that active and influential
body ? The play of words will met succeed ; the Dis-
senting Deputies denounced the intended Ministry,
while Sir R. Peel was on his road from Rome ; as
men who understood not the principles of civil rights,
and who had invariably opposed the concession of
their demands. Jesuitism will not taLe them in.
Fourthly, On Church Reform he says he will make
"no new professions ;" and we arc sure that the
country despises his old ones. The Premier dis-
tinctly asserts, that he will consent to no " alienation
of Church Property in any part of the United King-
dom from strictly ecclesiastical purposes." He ad-
heres rigidly to his ancient opinions on the Church.
Establishment in Ireland, and will limit his reforms
simply to " an improved distribution of the reve-
nues' of that Church. On the subject of the
much-hated and much-feared revelations of the MAI
I Church Commission, the cautious Baronet is silent ;
he may, or he may not, suppress that Inquiry.
We ask Sir Robert Peel, " How is Ireland to
be governed ?" Fifthly, On the Pension Lists he
conveniently perches himself on the form of Lord Al-
thorp ; how long he can keep his footing on that sub-
ject, time will show. These constitute the sum total
of the professions of the new Prime Minister, made
after the peculiar manner of an experienced Diploma-
tist. It is mixed up with much conserve, to reconcile
the pill to the swallow of the Tories. The Address, in
short, means nothing ; or something ; or every thing ;
just as it may serve the various versions of Candidates
at the Hustings. It will be received with contempt
by the Reformers ; we know that it is ridiculed at the
Carlton Club. The Right Hon. Baronet craves " a