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

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1834.

gard it on the whole as a judicious and appropriate
commentary upon the text of the concise and expres-
sive speech lately delivered from the Throne, in which
his Majesty declared that his Ministers would fulfil
the first wish of his heart, by adopting such a course
of policy as would correct the abuses of our institu-
tions, and improve the condition of the country.
Morning Herald.
We yesterday submitted to our readers the eloquent
and manly address of Sir Robert Peel to his consti-
tuents at Tainworth, which avowedly embodies the
development of the principles upon which the newly-
formed Government (" whose sentiments are in entire
accordance" with those of the Right Hon. Baronet)
are prepared to act. Satisfactory and cheering as this
declaration must be to the whole country, we cannot
but feel personally and particularly gratified by it ;
since, from beginning to end, it justifies all the state-
ments we have made, all the hopes we have ex-
pressed, and all the expectations we have enter-
tained. We foretold that Sir Robert Peel would
not hesitate to incur the vast responsibility which
was offered to him ; we foretold his acceptance of
office upon the very grounds which he himself
assigns as those upon which lie implicitly obeyed the
King's commands ; and before—long before—we heard
that Sir Robert had accepted office we felt assured,
and stated more than once or twice, that the spirit in
which a Government formed by hind would act would
be one in just accordance with the patriotic and mag-
nanimous declarations of the Sovereign—that of
anxiety " to correct abuses where they really
existed," coupled with a firm determination " to
support the Constitution in Church and State."
Most justly, most consistently, most triumphantly
may Sir Robert Peel refer to his past exertions in
the large and extensive reform which he himself
has effected in our Criminal Law by his wise and
judicious consolidation of the statutes, and by his
elaborate revisal of the whole system of trial by jury,
as well as by the course he adopted with regard to
other branches of our jurisprudence, as proofs of the
total absence on his part of any prejudice in favour of
ancient usages, merely on account of their antiquity,
and of fear or apprehension of either labour or respon-
sibility in the application of amendments, or the adop-
tion of remedies. In the same spirit are couched Sir
Robert's observations on the Reform Bill and its
operation. Sir Robert considers the Reform Bill as a
final and irrevocable settlement of a great Constitu-
tional question, a settlement which " no friend to the
peace or welfare of the country would attempt to dis-
turb either by direct or indirect measures."
" If," says Sir Robert, "by adopting the spirit of the
Reform Bill it be meant that we are to live in a perpetual
vortex of agitation—that public men can only, support
themselves in public estimation by adopting every popular
impression of the day, by promising the instant redress
of any thing which any body may call an abuse, by
abandoning altogether that great aid of Government, more
powerfu than either law or reason, the respect for
ancient rights, and the deference to prescriptive authority ;
if this be the spirit of the Reform Bill, I will not un-
dertake to adopt it ; but if the spirit of the Reform Bill
implies merely a careful review of institutions, civil and
ecclesiastical, undertaken in a friendly temper, combining
with the firm maintenance of established rights the correc•
tion of proved abuses and the redress of real grievances, in
that case I can for myself and colleagues undertake to act
in such a spirit, and with such intentions."
What, we ask, can be more satisfactory, more conci.
liatory, than this ? The question, as relates to the
King and his people, the Ministers and the country, is
here brought at once to issue. As far as men anxious
for the correction of acknowledged abuses can apply
themselves to the revision of the civil and ecclesiastical
institutions of the country (always keeping in mind her
rights and interests) they pledge themselves to our ser-
vice. Those who deny the wisdom, justice, and con-
stitutionality of this avowal, or question the justice and
propriety of the reservation which 'accompanies it, de-
clare by that denial, and avow in that doubt, a reckless
determination not to reform, but to revolutionize. It
will be seen that the inquiry into municipal Corpora-
tions is to proceed, nor is its prosecution to be re-
moved from the hands in which it was placed by the
late Government. The fact that Sir Robert Peel con-
sented to be put upon the Committee with which the
measure originated is a sufficient proof of his opinion
upon that question. Upon the subject of the Dissen-
ters and Si: Robert Peel's conduct in Parliament re-
garding them, we cannot refrain from repeating the
Right Hon. Baronet's own words :
" I will, in the next place, address myself to the questions
in which those of our fellow-countrymen, who dissent from
the doctrines of the Established Church, take an especial
interest. Instead of making new professions I will refer to
the course which I took upon those subjects when out of
power. In the first place, I supported the measure brought
forward by Lord Althorp, the object of which was to
exempt all classes from the payment of church rates, apply-
ing in lieu thereof, out of a branch of the revenue, a cer-
tain sum for the building and repair of churches. I
never expressed, nor did I entertain, the slightest ob-
jection to the principle of a Bill of which Lord John Rus-
sell was the author, intended to relieve the conscientious
scruples of Dissenters, in respect to the ceremony of mar-
riage. I give no opinion now on the particular measures
themselves. They were proposed by Ministers in whom
the Dissenters had confidence. They were intended to
give relief, and it is sufficient for my present purpose to
state that I supported the principle of them. I op-
posed, and I am bound to state that my opinions in
that respect have undergone no change, the admission of
Dissenters, as a claim of right, into the Universities ; but
I expressly declared, if regulations, enforced by public
authorities superintending the professions of law and medi-
cine, and the studies connected with them, had the effect
of conferring advantages of the nature of civil privileges en
one class of the King's subjects from which another class
was excluded, those regulations ought to undergo modifica-
tion, with the view of placing all the King's subjects, what-
ever their religious creed, upon a footing of perfect equality
in respect to any civil privilege. I appeal to the course
which I pursued on those several questions, when office
must have been out of contemplation ; and I ask with
confidence, does that course imply that I was actuated by
any illiberal or intolerant spirit towards the Dissenting
of realan s grievances
e r
body, or by an unwillingness to consider fairly the redress
"
anyWe w
confidently
N
we believe we ure supported°b
tion of the Dissenting y ‘ery large propor-
and. in so answering
retrospective review of "
must be claso-
,iie Pension List is one which
the
body itself, The question of a
amongst those calculated to strike at
the Mc:erogative and insult the dignity and attributes of
onarch--to break faith, and to entail distress,
and in many instances misery, upon the subject. Upon
that point Sir Robert's declaration is clear and decided;
but the constitution and modification of the Pension
List for the future will be his special care. In sum-
ming up Sir Robert Peel uses the following language,
which we again repeat, completely and distinctly ful-
fils all our predictions as to the proposed course which
his Government would pursue, the principles upon
which they would act, and the objects to which they
would devote themselves. After expressing his opi-
nions upon the unalienable character of Church pro-
perty, at the same time admitting the probable advan-
tage of some change in apportioning its revenues in
Ireland, and after declaring his anxiety, if possible, to
get rid of tithes by commutation, " founded upon just
principles and after mature deliberation," Sir Robert

" It is unnecessary for my purpose to enter into further
details. I have said enough, with respect to general prin-
ciples and their practical application to public measures, to
indicate the spirit in which the King's Government is pre-
pared to act. Our object will be the maintenance of peace,
the scrupulous and honourable fulfilment, without reference
to their original policy, of all existing engagements with Fo-
reign Powers, the support of public credit, the enforcement
of strict economy, and the just and impartial consideration
of what is due to all interests, agricultural, manufacturing,
and commercial,"

With a clear conscience and a full confidence in the
justice of our cause we can firmly, independently, and
conscientiously support the Ministry of Sir Robert
Peel after this declaration. Our hopes have been
fulfilled, our predictions verified, and our expectations
realised. And we have little doubt but that the Con-
servatives of every class will rally round a Govern-
ment which so fairly and explicitly declares its objects
and intentions—intentions and objects beyond which
one step involves Destruction.—Morning Post.

Upon the whole it appears to us that Sir Robert
Peel's prospectus of the policy to be pursued by his
Administration is creditable to himself and satisfactory
to the public. It possesses one characteristic which
entitles the author to general esteem—namely, that of
uncompromising frankness. If the Right Hon. Ba-

ronet has in one or two passages fallen short of the
avowals which might be wished, or which some honest
but sanguine Reformers expected, it cannot be said
that lie anywhere attempts by vague professions to en-
courage indefinite hopes, or on tho other hand, by a
pusillanimous reserve regarding points whereon he
ought to have been communicative, to evade the cen-
sures of his political opponents. It is a grand advan-
tage for a people like the English, confident against
known dangers, bur uneasy and embarrassed by
the apprehension of hidden ones, to be assured
of what they have to encounter, and to know with
whom they have to deal. In these respects Sir
Robert Peel has shown his acquaintance with the
national character, and has consulted his own reputa-
tion. We shall state briefly and fairly what we think
of his letter, as we go along. The Right Hon.
Baronet's disclaimer of any intention to disturb that
great constitutional measure, the Reform Bill, either
" by direct or by insidious means," ought to have been
unnecessary for any class of persons, but the silliest as
well as the most malignant zealots of faction. But
such a design was disgracefully imputed to him or his
Ministry, not only by the regular breeders of chimeras,
hut by men whose knowledge and station ought to have
made them blush to utter such calumnious absurdities.
In so far, again, as the enforcement of the spirit of
the Reform Bill, by " a correction of proved abuses,
and a redress of real grievances," combining both
with the firm maintenance of established " rights,"
will satisfy the Reformers of Great Britain, to that
extent Sir Robert Peel has pledged himself to make
the spirit of the Reform Bill the rule of his future
Government, and further no man of sense or principle
would ask an English Minister to proceed. We sup-
pose that none but refuse Radicals would require the
King's Government to plunge the country into a per-
petual "vortex of agitation," to promise the instant
redress of anything "which anybody might call an
abuse," or to abandon altogether that great aid of Go-
vernment, " more powerful than either law or reason
—the respect for ancient rights, and the deference for
prescriptive authority"--unless in cases where
clear proof should be brought forward that the con-
tinued enjoyment of such rights, and the exercise
of such authority, would be positively injurious to the
nation. With regard to the commission of inquiry into
Municipal Corporations, Sir Robert Peel will not in-
terrupt the progress of that inquiry, to the principle of
which from the first he proved his friendliness by con-
senting to be a Member of the Committee of the House
of Commons on which it devolved. Waiting for the
Report of the Commissioners on that subject, Sir R.
will do all that his noble predecessor in office would
have done—give it, and the evidence on which it is
founded, " a full and unprejudiced consideration ;"
of the result of which, in the extinction of several glar-
ing abuses, we suppose there can be no doubt. He
will exempt the Dissenters from Church-rates (having
voted for Lord Althorp's measure upon that question)
He will relieve their conscientious scruples by a modi-
fication of the Marriage Act, having supported the
principle of Lord J. Russell's Bill, and been certainly
not chargeable with its childish, frivolous, tormenting,
and inefficient details. He will oppose, and we at
least have never been anxious to support, the forcible
intrusion of Dissenters into the government of our
English Universities, which in truth are portions of
the Church establishment, and endowed by grants of
property for the especial benefit of its members, and
for the diffusion of its principles and doctrines. Our
wish would be to see the Dissenters in possession of
whatever advantages could be derived from a Univer-
sity of their own—that is to say, if any persons among
the several Dissenting demoninations would follow the
example set informer ages by members of the then
established religion of the country, in their grants
or bequests of certain perpetual revenues for the support
of our English colleges. But we have always stated that a
mere speculating company of joint-stock-subscribers,
whose funds have already taken wing and flown away,
come with no good grace to demand a charter from the
Crown, or from Parliament exclusive privileges. We
observe, however, that the Right Hon. Baronet ex-
presses a decided wish to arrange with the competent
authorities (and such an arrangement cannot be diffi
cult) some plan which may place " all the King's sub-
jects, whatever their religious creeds, upon a footing of
perfect equality with respect to any civil privilege."
Sir Robert Peel will not consent to revise the Pension
List, with a view to the recall of corrupt or unmerited
pensions, and he claims on this point a partnership of
opinion with Lord Althorp. fo our minds it is a
partnership in prejudice and error. We blamed Lord
Althorp and the Whig Ministers for their decision on
he same subject ; and equity requires of us to deal
Ie same measure to Sir Robert Peel. We shot')

be equally wanting in common candour if we did no,
state that Sir Robert Peel here also emphatically
declares his intention to go quite as far as Lord
Althorp promised to go, and act in scrupulous
conformity with the spirit and intention of Lord
Althorp's resolution, for which he voted, and grant no
pensions except " to such persons only as have just
claims to the Royal beneficence, or are entitled to con-
sideration on account either of their personal services
to the Crown, or of their performance of duties to the
public, or of their scientific or literary eminence." On
Irish Church Reform we differ from Sir Robert Peel,
and maintain our former opinion, which was likewise
upheld by the votes of a large majority of the House
of Commons in the last Session. But we must add,
that the difference may turn out to be one much more
of theory than fact. Sir Robert Peel assents to the
better distribution of Church property, both in Ireland
and here, and declares himself, in the most emphatic
terms, favourable to a commutation 9ftithe in both coun-
tries ; but he resists any alienation of Church property
from strict ecclesiastical uses,—taking on that question
the same ground as Mr. Stanley. In this country most
Protestants are agreed that the sum-total of Church
revenues is not more than adequate to the subsistence
of the ministers of the Protestant religion. In Ireland
a commission of inquiry was appointed by the late
Ministers, which is still, we believe, in full activity ;
arid on its report will probably depend the solution of
the question, whether there exists in that section of
the kingdom a surplus Church revenue, and how
much. Unless the term " ecclesiastical purposes"
excludes the education of Protestant children in the
tenets and practice of the established faith, we appre-
hend that there can be no considerable surplus ; but
it is absurd to suppose that Sir Robert Peel, at least,
did not include in that term so important an object as
the moral and religious education of the Protestant
Poor. Sir Robert Peel pledges his Government to
enter into a consideration of the laws which govern
the Church (otherwise into the question of Church disci-
pline) with " the sincerest desire to remove every
" abuse which can impair the efficiency of the establish-
ment, extend the sphere of its usefulness, and confirm
its just claims to the affections of the people." On
the subject of reduction of taxation, though Sir Robert
Peel omits at this early stage of the Cabinet (which,
indeed, is hardly yet completely formed) to give any
svpcfihe promises, in the moat emphatic
~oerdi s: pledge,th
e enforcement of strict economy, and the
just and impartial consideration of what is due to
all interests—agricultural, manufacturing, and com-
mercial." Many of those violent and unprincipled
opponents of the Ministers who " strike before they
hear," because they are afraid to hear, have raised,
both in England and abroad, a cry against the new
Government, that it would upset all our foreign
relations and engagements, and that England would
be involved in war in order to gratify the sup-
posed ambition or prejudices of some members of the
Cabinet. We, from the first, unhesitatingly rejected
so gross an absurdity—the offspring either of igno-
rance or malice. These factious declaimers, we sup-
pose, will be silenced at least, if not convinced, by the
peremptory declaration made in the name of the Go-
vernment—" Our object will be—the maintenance of
peace—the scrupulous and honourable fulfilment,
without reference to their original policy, of all exist-
ing engagements with foreign powers.' It seems to
us as if it would be very difficult for any Minister to
go more minutely into detail than he has done in a
preliminary development of his views and sentiments ;
nor do we think that on the address which we have
now been
,alluding to, he need be afraid to meet a
freely chosen English House of Commons. We be-
lieve with him that " the people of this country will
so far maintain the prerogative of the King, as to give
rs of hi i
to the Miulste s choice, not animplicit confi-