The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We heartily congratulate the Duke of Wellington and
Co. on the signal success of his Grace's Portuguese mo-
tion. Suppose the Gallant Duke had sent instructions to
an officer to take measures for attacking the enemy on a
given point ; be would, no doubt, expect for answer
s enething like what follows :—" My Lord, I have re-
ceived your Grace's order to take measures for attacking
the enemy, which I will, of course, comply with." But
should the Noble Duke be answered—" My Lord, I had
already taken all the necessary measures for, &c. &c.," his
Gi ace would indisputably be pleased (though mayhap sur-
prised) to find that his orders had been anticipated, and
t. at what he only hoped to see accomplished afterwards
had been already done. Such was the disappointment, the
h tppy disappointment, which betided the illustrious Duke
and his friends when Lord Wellesley, as Lord Steward,
te yesterday to the House this "most gracious," as
the Noble Marquis emphatically called it, this " most
gracious" answer from the King to the loyal address of
List Monday :—" I had already taken all such measures
as appeared to tne to be necessary for maintaining the
neutrality which I have determined to observe in the
contest now carrying on in Portugal." What more could
the Noble Duke require? His object had been " already"
gained. Then, what meant so many chop-fallen visages
—so many lugubrious looks—among the triumphant ma-
jerity of the Peers, when the Marquis Wellesley, with
brotherly tenderness and affection, directing his voice and
eye to his gallant brother, read aloud the royal response,
as if congratulating the Duke of Wellington on the ac-
tual fulfilment of those instructions with which his
Grace, and the seventy-nine friends of Don Miguel in
his train, had been pleased to honour their Sovereign?
It was, in truth, we have been told, a lively and even
comic scene, nor can their Lordships be otherwise than
delighted at the marked concurrence of the House of
Commons with themselves, is what relates to the affairs
of Portugal. His Majesty, in the early part of the even-
ing, told the Peers that he had already done that very
thing which it ATI9 the avowed object of their address
to prevail upon his Majesty to perform--iviz. he hod
taken the necessary measures for maintaining neutrality
throughout the Portuguese contest. Can it be wondered
at, then, that the House of Commons, with this loyal
assurance just promulgated, should take pleasure in ex-
pressing their confidence in the policy pursued, and attest -
ing it by 361 votes on Colonel Davies's motion ; while,
somehow or other, the perverse Tories, mustering, never-
theless, but 98, thought fit to register their dissatisfaction
and annoyance? Thus, then, to lay aside all levity, we
s..e how parties are diteributed within the two Houses.
Miguel and the Holy Alliance count on partisans among
the Peerage and Episcopacy which hear to their op-
ponents the ratio of about 8 to 7, while the rep.esentatives
of the people assert the Queen's cause by 361 against 98.
or almost four to one ! Now, to bring this question of
" practical supremacy" to issue, suppose the House of
Lords were to say to the King—" Support and acknow-
ledge Miguel," as, indeed, to the shame of him who con-
fessed it, the I Ater step was on the point of being taken
when the Wellingtons retired from office, and as, in effect,
the vote of Monday evening was designed to facilitate the po-
sitive as well as negative support of Miguel's cause. Suppose,
again, that the resolution brought forward by Col. Davies
had gone directly to the recognition of Donna Maria; let the
champion fanatics of names and forms tell us which of these
two opposite courses would be adopted by any British Mo-
narch of sound mind, or recommended by any Ministers who
wished to keep their beads on their shoulders. Everybody
must bs aware, from the state of public feeling, that had
Colonel Davies pressed for an acknowledgment of Donna
Maria's title to the crown, he would have carried his point
by acclamation. How, then, would such a collision end?
Do any Peers flatter themselves that it would terminate in
their favour? The Bishop of Exeter, we see, takes once
more an old bull by the horns, and threatens the
Sovereign about a breach of the coronation oath, if the
Irish Church Reform Bill should be passed. This indis-
creet ecclesiastic seems disposed to carry a lighted torch
into a magazine of gunpowder. But we leave hie Lord-
ship, who, we grieve to see, has more power to injure the
church as a Bishop than even as a pamphleteering arch-
deacon, in the hands of Lords Grey and Brougham :
scattering about misconstructions of the meaning of oaths,
and with all the vehemence of political partisanship, is at
all times, but especially at present, a judicious as well as
Christian exercise of an English Prelate. Looking to
last night's proceedings as a whole, we shall now content
ourselves with one observation—namely, that the evidence
afforded by the division in the Commons, of the predo-
minant disposition of the people out of doors towards
Miguel, will secure us probably from any more such mili-
tary movements as that executed by the great Duke on
Monday. Times.

The eighty Spiritual and Temporal Peers have received
an answer from his Majesty which, in plain English,
means, your opinion is not worth a straw—" I have
already taken all such measures as appeared to me neces-
sary for maintaining the neutrality which I had deter-
mined to observe in the contest now carrying on in Por-
tugal." It was impossible to treat them more cavalierly ;
but they have deserved this rebuff. Colonel Davies tried
the temper of the House of Commons, which, by a greater
majority even than that which we anticipated, voted its
approbation of the conduct of Ministers. The resolution
moved by the Gallant Colonel was, " That an humble
address be presented to his Majesty, regretting the con
tinuance of hostilities in Portugal, and expressive of the
grateful acknowledgments of that House for the conduct
pursued by his Majesty's Ministers with respect to the
affairs of that country." We had anticipated that the
majority would be 3 to 1, but it is nearly 4 to 1. The
numbers were 361 to 98. Colonel Davies did not hesi-
tate to state the motive by which he was actuated in
bringing forward his motion. " He brought forward
(he said) the motion with which he intended to con-
clude, in the view and hope of doing away the prejudi-
cial effects of the decision come to by the other House
of Parliament." A majority of the House of Peers
seeking an occasion of exhibiting themselves in opposi-
tion to the nation, to its representatives, and to the Minis•
tern of the King, may, as far as this country is concerned,
be considered as conspiring to lessen the authority of the
body to which they belong. Ministers, when they find
the two branches of the Legislature differing with each
other with regard to the course of policy which ought to
be pursued, as they cannot please both, must, according
to the best of their judgment, make their election between
the two. The criterion is in accordance with the sense of
the country. If the Peers are in accordance with that
sense, they can bring the Commons round by compelling a
fresh election. But when it is notorious that the repre-
sentatives think with their constituents, an election would
produce no change, and in order to give unity of purpose
to the Government, the Peers must knock under. If they
were to hold out, they would only force a fresh creation
of Peers. There cannot be two powers, counteracting
each other, in a State, Parliamentary reform has made
the tepresentatives of the people, de facto, what hefore
they were in theory ; and it is little short of insanity in
the Peers to force on a collision with the Commons, in
order to afford to the world a demonstration of their own
insignificance whenever they run counter to the people--
the source of all power. The Peers must bear con:tantly
in mind, that they can only possess power and influence
by sharing the feelings and inclinations of the nation, of
which they are a privileged class. But although it
was not necessary for this country, where the opi-
nions of the Eighty Peers produced so little decision,
that no one ever thought for a moment that it could have
any practical result, that any formal decision of the House
of Commons should fix the value of the vote of the Upper
House. Yet, for the sake of foreign countries, seine de-
claration of the sense of the Commons was called for, to
prevent any dangerous misconception. " Hence (it was
observed by Colonel Davies), that if the vote which had
passed in another place should go abroad, uncounteracted
by a vote of that House, four-and-twenty hours after such
uncontradicted vote should reach Spaio, the Spanish armies
would cross the Portuguese frontier." And the Gallant
Colonel added, that " he would ask the House whether,
at a moment when the Russian Eagle soared over Con-
stantinople—at a moment (this, by the bye, is every mo-
ment) when Austria was oppressing Italy—at a time when
Prussia was only waiting for a fit opportunity to join in
the game of tyranny—he would ask whether such a mo-
ment was one at which we should suffer the germs of liberty
to be crushed in one littlecorner of the continent ?" We may,
without hazarding much, admit, that where a Government
professes neutrality in a contest between two claimants
for a throne, the character of either of the claimants ought
not to influence the decision of the question, whether the
neutrality has been observed. We may also admit, that
limits must be set to the doctrine, that provided the
governing Power observes neutrality, individuals may take
part in the contest. We can easily conceive that, under
the mask of such a neutrality, a force far greater than any
State could furnish, might be directed against one of the
parties. But it is difficult to fix the precise limits be-
tween such an extensive interference on the part of the
individuals of a nation as ought to compromise the Go-
ernment itself, and acts which ought to be placed to the
account of the liberty of action, which no Government
can without great tyranny prevent. As an instance of a
large demand on this last account, we remember that
when it was charged against Spain, that for months
large assemblages of men had been collecting on the
Portuguese frontier, with a view to act against the

P .rtuguese Co'nstitutionalists, i• o contended ,
the Duke of Wellington, that it was not in the power of
the King of Spain to prevent these assemblages. But the
is much more complicated in the present contest..
En4land does not adjoin Portugal as Spain does. It does
ti,,r follow that every vessel receiving passengeri has Por-
tii! .1 for its destination. Arms can be sent to one country,
:.n I teen to another, and both may afterwards reach Pot..
total. The most that can be said on this point is, that
i vie opinions of certain conservative lawyers had been
t ken, a different opinion would have been obtained. But,
atl Mr. O'Connell forcibly observed, the fault of Ministers
with the Cons, rvatives was, that they bad not befriended
Miguel, their favourite. He was just the sort o
p-rson for the Conservatives. They bad begun the battle
by throwing their shield over Don Miguel and his policy.
There was not (observed the Hon. and Learned Gentle"
man) an English, Scotch, or Irish fighting man who would
serve under such a man.—(Cheers.) He might get as.
si.tance from another quarter. There he might get
churchmen as supporters. He thought be saw these
marching forth with their lawn sleeves, the true churib
militant, going to aid Don Miguel."—(Hear.) In fact,
thlugh the people of this country have not, strictly speak-
ing, a right to put down Don Miguel, because, as Lord
A lerdeen said, be was "false, cruel, and cowardly,"because
he is an usurper, because, according to an extract from a
publication of Lord Porchester, who was in Portugal du.
ring the usurpation, though the French Revolution might
he more sanguinary than that of Portugal, yet, in propor.
ti .11 to the population of the two countries, it did not in-
flict a greater amount of misery, half the great families of
Portugal having been involved in distress, and the whole
f laic of society having been shaken—though we say the
c•-aracter of Don Miguel, however bad, ought not to in-
dace our Government to make war against him—yet the
people cannot avoid having their sympathies, and they
c smut avoid also seeing that the great reason of the par.
tiality of the Conservatives for Don Miguel is hie tyranny,
Iris hatred of constitutional liberty, his determination to
tove 101 l scope to a bigotted priesthood. They see the
Bishops of England holding out the right hand of fellow,
ship to the monks of Portugal. The people, therefore,
see that all this pretended love of neutrality shown by
'lie Conservatives, is neither more nor less than a love of
tyranny wherever it manifests itself, and a hatred of Mi.
iiisters because they are an obstacle to the success of the
raise of despotism. All this was well put by Mr.
0:Conn,I1, iu his own striking. manner :

" The resolution (said Mr. O'Connell) of that House ought to
go abroad to neutralize the vote of the other House, and he he,
Bayed it would have quite as much moral effect as the vote of
the other House.—(Hear, hear.) The country, it was plain, was
divided into two parties—the party which wished to reap the be.;
refits of reform, and the party which wished to withhold them.
The Ministers said, that they were willing to give the people
those benefits, but they could not go so far as they wished, be.
cause they were stopped by the party opposed to all reform, an
there must at one tune or the other be a collision between these'
parties. If there was not good sense and good temper enough in
the party opposed to the Government and to reform, to give
way—if they could not read the signs of the times—if they
would expose themselves and the country to great risks, by not
giving up their old prejudices, why a collision must come. They
(said Mr. O'Connell) have begun it, and we will not shrink from
it. The country requires from us that we should take a deter.
mined part. The Members who wished to defend the country
from disaster, and avert anarchy, should support the resolution.
That was due to the principle ofimprovement in our institutions,
to which the majority were bound.—(Hear.)"
Thin the Conservatives have brought on themselves.
To use a homely proverb--" As they have made their
bed, so they must lie on it." All we hope is, that Minis,
ters may profit from tha lesson they have had ; that they
may conclude the Conservatives to be incurable—to have a
rooted hatred to free institutions, and all who have had a
hand in obtaining them—that the Conservatives are not
to be coaxed over, but will always lie in wait to destroy
them, if possible—and that their only means of keeping
them in order is to lean towards the people, by whose
c .rdial support alone they can hope to make head
effectually against those enemies of all that is valuable in
tie institutions of this country, and of liberty in every
co un t ry.—Morning Chronicle.
The answer which Ministers have advised his Majesty
t.i make to the House of Lords is a simple averment that
all such measures have been already taken as appeared to
be necessary fur maintaining that neutrality which his
Majesty had determined to observe in the contest now
proceeding in Portugal. In the House of Commons Col.
Davies moved an address to his Majesty expressive of the
grateful acknowledgments of that House of the judicious
policy which his Majesty had pursued in reference to the
affairs of Portugal. This motion was carried by a majo-
rity of 361 to 98. We do not now propose to analyse the
extraordinary debate which preceded this extraordinary
division. Those who read it will discover in the language of
the Lion. Mover of the address, and of those who supported
him, the expression of sentiments entirely hostile to the policy
announced in the King'smessage to the Peers, if the terms of
that message are to be understood in their ordinary mean-
inz. The effect of the whole proceeding in the Commons
in, that the King's Ministers, and their humble and obe-
dient instruments, intending only to place that House in
opposition to the Peers, have so far overshot their mark
as to place it in direct opposition to the express language
of the King. We shall return to-morrow to the consi-
deration of a transaction in which the Ministers of the
Crown and their parasitical chamber, have equally added
to their pre-existing claims upon public confidence ant
esteem ; and we shall at the same time have some obser-
vations to offer en the premature and useless efforts made
I.y the ministerial press to prepare the country for the in-
tended creation of Peers.—Morning Post.

The Duke and Duchess of CUMBERLAND entertained
the Princess AUGUSTA, the Duke of GLOUCESTER, Prince
ALEXANDER Of S4.IMS, Prince CHARLES of Solme, the
Duke and Duchess of Goenox, the Russian Ambassador
and Princess LIEvEN, the Prussian Minister and Baroness
Butow, the D .chess Dowager of RICHMOND, Earl and
Countess of MANSFIELD, the Rev. Dr. BLOIKBERG,Baron
LINSINGEN, Lady MARY TAYLOR, &c., at dinner, on
Wednesday evening, at their residence at Kew.
The Duchess of KENT and the Princess VICTORIA
drove in the Parks yeste►day afternoon.
The Earl of Gnwsvitte and the Turkish Charge
d'Affaires visited Viscount PALMERSTON yesterday at the
Foreign-office.

Lord SANDON bad an interview with Mr. Secretary
STANLIY yesterday at the Colonial-office.
Despatches from the Earl of bluLoaAvx, the Governor
of Jamaica, were yesterday received at the Colonial-office.