The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

No preliminary step has yet been taken by the King
terminate the first Reformed House of Commons, '
hat the dissolution may be said to be still undeter-
4. Little doubt, however, is entertained as to
2*odominance of the 'Wellington spirit in the
er-tinet," and we believe a dissolution may
ine,Po nsidered certain. In fact, the first divi-
V ,
f*, %*. ,has given a victory to the bold Duke,
and reflecting Baronet. The Duke
*-- . itioiVirid military councillors have been
p
‘mgenf TM-4-itaroti aptament. Sir Robert Peel, sup.
porteUTUT4-,11, has deprecated this des-
perate :ma "Itiodies'ir*auT.. We believe the
fact to lAftilstalis_ ;ra*-„deemq it impossible to
drill the litesgnt :14 A43--xif, ',Commons into con-
formity wit 'Considers the time, gained
by a new efef*i4 an object, for the sake of
which much ongßt to be hazarded. Not so, how-
ever, the calculating Premier. Sir Robert Peel, not
deceived by the wild expectations of his party, well
knows that no human agency—no amount of bribery,
treating, or intimidation—can possibly procure a House
of Commonsf under the Reform Act, " manageable"
by a Tory Government. This has been discovered by
some others of the new Ministry; and they are now
partially awakening from their dreams. Moreover, Sir
Robert Peel knows that he cannot justify a dissolu-
tion. The existence of a prerogative of the King to
dissolve the Legislative Assemblies of the nation is
denied by no one ; but few will assert that this is an
irresponsible act of the Sovereign. The Constitution
has set boundaries to all the Royal Prerogatives. In
fact the capricious exercise of the privilege of Disso-
lution, vested in the British Monarch, was unknown
in the ancient theory and practice of the Constitu-
tion. Parliaments wore Sessional in ancient times,
and convened for specific purposes. As the
progress of knowledge, and popular principles, ren-
dered them " inconvenient" instruments of Govern-
ment for despotic Kings, and ' evil Councillors,
every act was resorted to for the purpose of
extracting money from the people without the interven-
tion of Representative Assemblies. The Stuarts first
made the experiment on a large scale of acting without
Parliaments, calling and dismissing them at their plea-
sure ; and fatal indeed was the consequence of their
surrender to bad advisers. In the celebrated speech of
Mr. Pym, in 1640 (a masterly summary of the oppres-
sions of the nation), the intermission and arbitrary dis-
solution of Parliament was represented as a main griev-
ance of the people. This eminent patriot not only
remonstrated against the eleven years interval of Parlia-
ments, but " lastly" denounced the greatest grievance
to be, " that the Parliament was punished without
being suffered to make its own defence. I call the Dis-
solution of the Parliament a punishment, end justly ;
the breaking of a Parliament is death to a good sub-
ject." In the well-known Commons' Report of the
Committee appointed to prepare the inducements for
the conference with the Lords at that eventful period,
the third point, on the invasion of the liberties and
privileges of Parliaments, was emphatically stated in
the accusation as a " sudden dissolving of Parlia-
ments, without redress of grievances." This confe-
rence was never held. Charles the First was unfor-
tunately influenced to dissolve his Parliament, to the
deep regret of the more moderate part of the na-
tion. We cannot resist the citation of the words of
Clarendon, notwithstanding the unsavoury nature of the
parallel with present times. " There could not a
greater damp have seized upon the spirits of the whole
nation than this dissolution caused ; and men had
much of the misery in view which shortly after fell out.
It could never be hoped that more sober and dispas-
sionate men would ever meet together in that place, or
fewer who brought ill purposes with them ; nor could
any Man imagine what offence they had given which
put the King upon that resolution." Clarendon ob-
serves that the countenances of the real Destructives
denoted the most marvellous serenity—that they knew
the agitation of a new election and a rank party Par-
liament would work their ends, and " that so many
unbiassed men would never be elected again." In-
deed Charles I. speedily discerned his rashness ; he
consulted the same day," says Clareudon, "or the
next, whether he might by his Proclamation recall
them to meet together again ;" the die, however, was
cast, the dissolution was irrevocable. The succeeding
Parliament passed the memorable Act for securing
their own existence by preventing a dissoltion without
their own consent. The civil war succeeded by the
retirement of the King to the North. Charles
the First lived to discover that the dissolved Parlia-
ment would have preserved his throne. In Philip's
life of Archbishop Williams it is recorded that Lord
Keeper Coventry had cautioned his Majesty, the year
before, with his dying breath, " That his Majestywould
take all distastes from the Parliament summoned against
April with patience, and suffer it to sit without an un-
kind dissolution I " Mr. Croker is fond of historical
analogies drawn from the sources of the Common-
wealth and the French Revolution. We ask, was
there ever a political situation of our times more re-
mai-kably similar to this passage of the past ? What
justifies ion can a Minister put forth for advising the
Crown to (.!;ssolve the existing Parliament, and for
abandoning the country to the risk of the triumph of one
of two extreme paries ? Doubtless the objections of Sir
Robert Penland Lord beeper Copley to this unwise and
unseasonable use of tho Royal prerogative, are well
founded. They must know that a more moderate' House
of Commons never can be obtained under the Reform
Acts, in the existing state of public opinion : they
cannot beguile themselves with the false hope of a
numerical majority of Tories ; they know that to be
impossible : they elearly foresee that the opposition to
their Administration will necessarily be of the most
determined character : they well know that the dreaded
collision between an elective and an hereditary assembly
must necessarily be precipitated and aggravated by a
dissolution of the present Parliament. Are the Tories
then prepared to assume the responsibility of urging
on the issue, whether the Peerg or the People shall
govern this great and advancing nal4.;on ! Under
such critical circumstances, therefore, Sir Robe'''. Peel
doubtless prises upon the awful responsibility of a
dissolution of i",:rhament wholly unjustifiable, and
fraught with consequences involving more than it
might be prudent to name. The new Premier, if lie
have a will of his own, is bound to place before the
eyes of his Sovereign those more eventful pages of our
history which would disclose to the King, that a
British monarch cannot always unadvisedly or safely
dissolve a Parliament.—Morning Chronicle.
We hear every day of fresh manifestations of sound,
loyal, constitutional feeling, and of new exertions to
secure to the sentiments of the moderate, rational, and
well-disposed part of the community an effective and
permanent ascendancy in the affairs of the State. An
instance of this kind has recently come to our know-
ledge, which we particularly mention because we be-
lieve it will afford great satisfaction to many of our
metropolitan readers. The treatment which the Radi-
cal faction in the city of London, when in the zenith
of their power, (that is, when Sir John Key, Bart.,
was at the height of his popularity), inflicted upon a
very respectable Magistrate, Sir Peter Laurie, is still
fresh in the recollection of the public, who remember
also that the Radical faction were soon afterwards sup-
plied with two strong reasons to be ashamed of their
conduct—tile proved worthlessness of their idol, and the
proved worth of the Magistrate towards whom, for sake
of this idol and of the Ministers whose creature he
was, they had acted with manifest unfairness and in-
justice. Sir Peter Laurie, as good and true men very
generally do, fairly lived down the clamour, and
put to shame, by his excellent conduct as a Magis-
trate, the factious arts which had achieved over him
an apparent and temporary triumph. He quitted the
civic chair, to which his accession had been violently
opposed and unjustly retarded, amidst the universal
plaudits of his fellow-citizens of every Glass and of
every party. He had, then, his honourable reward.
But another, and, perhaps, still more gratifying, re-
compense yet awaited him. The people of Scotland
have not been inattentive observers of the meritorious
and honourable career of their countryman, and a large
body of the electors of the Haddington district of bo-
roughs have sent to Sir Peter Laurie a requisition to
present himself as a candidate for the honour of repre-
sentin 9 a them in the House of Commons. With this
requisition Sir Peter has complied ; but as he is de-
tained its Lyndon Chia vizelit by the City elertiontb his