The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

As a Chancellor of the Exchequer must, of ne-
cessity, be a Member of *at House of the Le-
gislature which holds the purse-strings of the
nation, and as the financier, who was Lord Ai-
torp by courtesy, is now Earl Spencer of right,
a new Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader
of the House of Commons must be sought for among
the Whig politicians, or must be supplied, like the
Chief Commissioner of the Malthusian pauper go-
vernment, from the ranks of their Tory adversaries.
Whoever may be chosen to fill the high and important
office, the public have the consolation to know that if
a better financier than the late Lord Althorp be not
selected, it will, at all events, be impossible to find a
worse. His first budget raised a universal uproar of
resistance. The subsequent ones were more absurd
than mischievous. The " tile and taxed-cart" budget,
and that which " retrieved the distresses of the agri-
cultural interests," by giving relief from taxation
to sheOerds' dogs, will not soon be forgotten.
They will be memorable, like the protocols of Lord
Palmerston, for, Jike those diplomatic productions
of the genius of the settler of the unsettled Belgic
question, they are sacred to the ridicule which attends
upon acts of high pretension that are laboriously abor-
tive. In his character of leader of the House of
Commons, however, his Lordship was more successful
than in that of a Minister of Finance. Indeed a more
successful leader has not appeared in our time within
the walls of Parliament. If the Ministry feel his loss
at all it will be in that capacity. So great was his in-
fluence that we doubt if Lord Lonsdalef in the high
and palmy days of Toryism, could be better obeyed by
his 10 or 11 nominees than Lord Althorp was by the
reformed House of Commons. When the representa-
tives of the people did for a moment become restive and
disobey him, their repentance was sudden—their repa-
ration full and effectual. Their conduct with regard
to the malt tax—the Factory Children Bill, and some
other important questions, exemplified their crime and
their contrition ; while their votes on the pension list
—the Septennial Act—military flogging—the as-
sessed taxes—impressment of seamen, and other " re-
cognised „grievances," which had been the objects of
Whig and Reform denunciation for many years, proved
that the bland and beseeching appeals of the purse-
bearer of the nation were stronger than the obligation
of electioneering promises, and more facinating than
the charm of principle. Nor did this implicit obedi-
ence arise solely from the servility of the present House
of Commons, though that has a good deal to do with
the matter. His intellect was level to that of the

House iu general—kindred spirits have congenial
tastes, and, as far as difference of station will allow,
a mutual admiration. The present House of Com-
mons is so deficient in commanding talent—in political
wise wn—in reach of mind and extent of knowledge,
that it is no wonder it venerated a leader in whose
capacity it saw its own intellectual image reflected ; for
him, whether insisting upon the right of splendid pau-
pers to national charity, or cutting off the relief of the
humbler poor, reformers were ready to vote " black
was white," and his departure to the Upper House
must render them perfectly inconsolable.—Morning
Herald.

Cardinal Mazarin has left to posterity an unrivalled
character for sagacity and finesse. Although a stran-
ger in the kingdom of France, without a friend beyond
those whom he fed, despised by its nobility, tolerated,
yet not loved, by its middle classes, lampooned by the
wits, and hooted by the populace, Mazarin still con-
tinued to hold fast by the throne. From this station,
with eye ever directed towards the political horizon,
he observed each forming cloud and rising storm.
Such was the singular address of the statesman, that
although parties were continually forming to force
power from his hands, he ever contrived by wiles to get
amongst them, to mar their plot by creating mutual dis-
sensions, and then, having gulled each, shook them
loose again, when they had become harmless from hav-
ing lost in the contact all character for consistency and
politicalworth. The French historian of the nineteenth
century will have a story to tell, and a character to il-
lustrate, which displayed even more than Mazarin's
address, without showing the weakness of Mazarin's
vices. Let us cast a short retrospect on the state of
things in France. A formidable party, gathering toge-
ther from all sides, threatened to unite in one formida-
ble band of opposition against the will of the Govern-
ment. There was Dupin, the great legist and orator,
the chosen President of the Chamber, and the soul of
its majority, insisting with emphasis for economy and
Legality,denouncing Soult, his expenditure, and his
409,000 soldiers, and menacing citizen-royalty in its
most vulnerable point—the purse. There was Gerard,
the conqueror of Antwerp, the soldier of Napoleon's
fields, who, contented with seeing the foes of Govern-
ment lie vanquished, insisted on pardoning instead of
continuing to trample on the conquered. He and Dupin
understood each other. Then there was a knot of high
personages in the Upper Chamber, who were as power-
ful there as M. Dupin in the Lower. There were others

whom we have not room nor need to enumerate.

They might have terrified, or forced from its un-
bending line a less determined will. They might
have triumphed over a less wily one. The first attack
was directed against the knot of personages so puis-
sant in the Chamber of Peers. There was an insur-

173 ction of artisans and vagabonds. It was swept from

the streets by grape-shot, and quenched in blood.
But it's dregs, the least guilty and most wretched, were
packed up, and dispatched to the address of the
Chamber of
.Peers, to examine and judge in their case.
It was amub-lug.to see how the real nobles pah'd and
put their kercefs to their noses at such dirty work
being given then. But they could not refuse. A
committee of prosecution was formed, a president ap-
pointed. Arrests, domiciliary visits, inquisitorial acts,
followed ; and, lo I the noble Chamber and its leaders
had drawn upon them, .ere a week had elapsed, all
the mingled odium of a star-chamber and a police-
office. As soon as they perceived the pit into
which the Chamber had I llen, the leaders strove

to extricate themselves by proposing an amnesty,
which would not only have relieved them from trouble,
but unpopularity. The mouth of one was instantly
stopped by an eminent place ; that of another by a
promise, and so on. The next desirable point was
that Gerard should shake off Dupin, mid that their
political friendship should be dissolved. Such an
union in the Cabinet would have given the law to
Royalty; or, in opposition, might have shaken any
Minister. By liberal hints and words, Gerard was
led to hope for the possibility of a large and liberal
Administration. He accordingly spoke with the great
parliamentary leaders—with Barrot and others far be-
yond the limits of the Tiers-Parti. The circum-
stance was instantly conveyed to the ears of M. Du.
pin, the most jealous, susceptible, and, at the same
time, least suspecting of men. The President forth-
with set his foot in the diligence, rolled up to the
capital, and did not rest until he obtained an in-
terview with Royalty, when he uttered what was
expected of him—a disapprobation and disavowal
of Gerard. Nothing could have occurred more
opportune. The obsequious portion of the Mi-
nistry was giving way before the moral force of
Gerard. Dupin 's protest came to give them
strength. Instead, however, of Gerard's yield-
ing, when he felt himself alone, and resuming
the docile part expected of him, he remained firm, and
resigned. The incipient and forming limbs of Oppo-
sition having thus been severed by an adroitly-given
blow, the remainder of the obsequious Cabinet pro-
to complete itself. They were allowed to do
this in perfect liberty, for who could they choose, or
who would consent to be their Chief, save one as
obsequious as they ? However, there were difficulties
—there were quarrels—not, indeed, statesman-like dif-
ferences, but the rivalry of convent-boarders. The
twin orators of the Ministry were jealous of each
other. One would not stoop to his neighbour, nor
suffer his elevation. It was, therefore, requisite to
look abroad into the high-ways of public life to find
somemock
wranglers.Presidenthonest
Tpi
es
y did s
ander a moderator between the two
-b y , who would consent to be a
look out ; but no one could be
found to accept the task. No one would associate
politically with the squad—none would lead them.
This was unexpected and mortifying. Had the
extreme difficulty of replacing Gerard been fore-
seen, he would have been allowed to reman :

even Persil would have.been ,sacrificed to. him: But.