The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It was stated some time ago that Mr. Joseph
Hume intended to support, nay, to propose.
Mr. Manners Sutton as Speaker of the House
of Commons, on the fair and intelligible princi-
ple that the re-appointment of the Right Hon.
Gentleman would save the country the retiring
pension of 4,0001. a-year. When Mr. Ilume
expressed this (we will call it) reasonable inten-
tion, there was a rumour afloat of a disunion
among the Ministers, who were understood ti
be divided between the rival and almost equa'
claims of Messrs. Abercrombie and Littleton.
The Conservatives, who certainly do not sleep
at their posts, and who have numerous spies it
the Ministerial camp, were soon acquainted with
these discussions, and, with a sagacity extreme]'
unusual to them, hit upon the expedient of
beating a divided Cabinet by the proposal o'
re-appointing a gentleman against whom m
very strong opposition could reasonably be made,
even by the Ministers, and whose claims the
economists of the House could not fail to fa-
vour, based as they were on the principle 'of
reasonable saving in the public expenditure.
Joseph Hume began to be alarmed at this
" Conservative " invasion of his favourite terri-
tory of cheap government, and determined tt
take the lead in this arrangement. At last this no-
table project, which everybody was talking about.
reached by slow and " regular approach" the ears
of those most concerned—the Ministers them.
selves ; and we must do them the justice to say,
that though they obtained their information some-
what too tardily, they acted upon it with suffi-
cient tact and promptitude. They saw thei.
position correctly, and immediately, throwinv
aside all selfish considerations and false pride.
volunteered in a very handsome manner to
place Mr. Sutton in that chair, which, thougl,
he had himself given it up on the ground of
personal conviction that he could no longer
properly fill it, everybody else thought he would
still occupy with dignity and advantage. This
arrangement had the advantage of baffling th€
Conservatives, and had, besides, the substantial
merit of economy ; the Conservatives were mor-
tified, but had the sense to see that they muse
silently acquiesce. Not so Mr. Joseph Hume
his pride is piqued ; the ball is taken out of hi.
hands, and in the rage of di)appointed vanity,
he is said to be ready to give up his great, and
just, and favourite principle of economy, and to
propose some other person for the chair. We
will not affront the gentleman by naming him
who has been mentioned to us as degraded b)
Mr. Hume's patronage, but we will venture to
predict a signal defeat for one of the absurdest
attempts ever yet made by infatuated and fac-
tious conceit.—Times.

We unfeignedly and deeply deplore that the
first act of the Reformed Parliament—the choice
of a Speaker—should involve a division amonL,
the common friends of Reform and the natural
allies of a liberal Administration. The critical
and imminent questions of State policy, which
the new Legislature must immediately discuss
and determine, render union and a suspension
of minor party differences of opinion absolutely
essential. On the first rumour of the return of
Mr. Manners Sutton to the Chair, and before
that inauspicious probability was believed to be
sanctioned by the Cabinet, we protested against a
palpable impolicy and political inconsistency. The
reasons which induced us to denounce the re-
election of the Ex-Speaker were tenfold increased
when his intended nomination was reported to
have received the approbation of the Govern-
ment, if not to have originated with Ministers
themselves. We argued that the selection of a
Tory—and of Mr. Manners Sutton in par-
ticular, prejudiced in the old and defective
modes of conducting the business of British
legislation—would infallibly be received by the
Reformers as a bad political indication in a
Whig Cabinet, and could not fail to impede
those reforms and arrangements in the conduct
of the public business of the House of Com-
mons, which are indispensable if that branch
of the Legislature is to yield any fruit to the
people in real " Reform Acts." The responsible
power and nature of the office of Speaker, ren-
dered it also highly important that the Chair
should be filled by sonic enlightened Mem-
ber representing the altered spirit of the House
of Commons, and friendly to the Administra-
tion of Lord Grey. The minute saving of an
annual pension of 4,0001., was not the real
motive of the Ministry in sanctioning the return
of the Ex-Speaker to the Chair, and is no sort
of equivalent for the manifOld evils of his re-
appointment. Some of the thick and thin
friends of Ministers defend their intention of
proposing Mr. Manners Sutton on the untenable
ground of defeating a plot of the Tories who
meditated the same act. Such a defence is an
ill compliment to the Cabinet, and represents
Ministers as more intent on party manoeuvres.
than in the selection of a gentleman best quali-
fied for the Speaker's Chair. Admitting, fot
argument's sake, that the Tories, in alliance with
the personal friends of Mr. Manners Sutton,
could have outvoted the Ministerial candidate.
Mr. Littleton—a gross . improbability and
reflection on a House of Commons, nearly foul
fifths of which is composed of liberal Members
—would it not have been infinitely more politic
and creditable in Ministers to have fixed the
disgrace of such a vote on a base majority, who
so sacrificed principle to faction and personal
affection ? The worst result could but have
been the re-election of Mr. Manners Sutton ;
and could such a vote have weakened the Mi•
nistry in public opinion or in the House of
Commons ? We know that old Parliamentary
tactitions would answer, Yes; but times are
changed, and all these miserable party manoeu-
vres must be abandoned. We do not impugn
the integrity of Ministers ; we only question
their judgment and foresight. We warned them
of the effect on the public mind—assured that
an opposition would infallibly ensue. It was
currently reported on Saturday, and yesterday.
that Mr. Hume, in concurrence with a consider-
able body of independent Members, comprising
many most anxious to support Ministers, intends
to propose Mr. Littleton in opposition to Mr.
Manners Sutton, notwithstanding the quondam
friends of the former had transferred their sup-
port thus singularly to the Ex-Speaker, and al-
though Mr. Littleton desired to retire his
claims, and not to encourage an unfortunate
and portentous opposition to the Government.
Such a resolution may be highly creditable to
Mr. Littleton, but the same motives of disin-
terested feeling cannot prevail with those inde-
pendent Members who condemn the nomination
of Mr. Manners Sutton, and the discourtesy of
the prior dictation of that Right Honourable
Gentleman for their " choice." We again re-
peat our most ardent hope that this " collision"
between the different allies of the Ministry may
he arrested by a timely act of wisdom, and that
She first division in the House of Commons will

not discover the lamentable position of a Minis-
,erial majority made up of " Conservatives."
We should not envy the position of the imme •
diate friends of Ministers forced to defend an
original error—occupying indefensible ground—
md justifying on false pretences the nomination
of Mr. Manners Sutton ; and least of all should
we covet the curious situation of Mr. Manners
Sutton himself, thus raised from the dead, and
walking out of the mausoleum of schedule A.
The dexterity and oratorical experience of the
!ate " Speaker" will doubtless accomplish a
sery ingenuous and natural self-defence. He
will probably not allude to his disappointment
in failing to reach the altitude of the Upper
House of Parliament ; but he will ingeniously al-
lude to the unexpected circumstance of his
return for the University of Cambridge, and
the equally unsought honour desired to be
conferred upon him by the " revolutionized"
House of Commons! Ministers, who tolerably
complimented the Right Honourable Gentle-
man on his premature interment, will be at no
loss to express their gratification at his re-ap-
pearance on the political stage. Altogether, it
will be a very curious scene—something resem-
bling " High Life below Stairs," where all the
parties are conscious of their artificial relations.
More curious would be the after and suspicious
scene—if we may be permitted the anticipation
of his " real last appearance," when, in subdued
accents, solemn pauses, and studied appeals, the
Ex-Speaker shall enact his last farewell. The
late parting scene at the close of the last Session
will be now briefly interpreted, " I am now in
Hades ; but if I can slip out, I will be with you
on the 29th January !" We remember to have
heard a well-authenticated anecdote of a street-
:weeper, possessed of the " vested right" of the
crossing in Blackfriars, who, for a breach of the
laws, was hanged at the Old Bailey, but by the
sxertions of the " faculty" restored to life. A
little altered in visage, he returned to his calling,
and his old companions found it extremely diffi-
cult to offer him theircongratulations. The mourn-
ers were turned into rejoicers, but nevertheless
.he connection became mutually unpleasant, and
the case of suspended animation soon quitted
his old spot. A similar result may not irra-
tionally be predicted from this most unnatural
political union. But more seriously to consider
the position and expected qualifications of a
new Speaker. The experienced, independent, and
enlightened Members of the House of Com-
mons, must condemn the imperfections of our
existing legislative system, and must see the ab-
solute necessity of new arrangements for the dis-
posal of the infinity of matters which now choke up
the attention and crowd on the time of Parliament.
Sir Robert Peel, in 1826, declared that " Parlia-
ment was overwhelmed with business." The
Ex-Speaker himself, in May of the preceding
session, avowed that the " increase of business
in Parliament had come to be such, that it was
impossible to say what matter would be
in-ought on upon any appointed day, and
what would not ;" a state of things, he said,
" from which the greatest inconvenience resulted
both to Members and to the public." In a
Report of a Commons' Committee, in 1825,
appointed to provide additional accommodation,
it is officially stated, that " during the present
session, the Members' waiting-rooms, the long
gallery, the House of Commons itself, and even
the Court of Exchequer, have been occupied by
committees. Two hundred and seventy-six
sittings have been held of public committees.
Four of the public committees, and thirty
committees on private business, have met on
a single day, nineteen of the latter hav-
ing been fixed to meet in one room." Acts of
Parliament are annually piled in volcanic coati-
,ion one on another ; and it has been calculated
that the printed papers of the House of Com-
mons now average nearly fifty full sized and
closely printed folio volumes per session ! Our
representatives have been overlayed with legisla-
tion. The Crown Law Officers in Parliament
—the Attorney anti Solicitor-Generals—sup-
posed to be responsible legal advisers in this
motley legislation, have no leisure, and in fact do
not superintend the medley work ; and the Trea-
sury Barristers, who draw certain public Acts,
work by the piece, and are not likely to " stand in
their own light." The jobbery on private Bills,
and the evils of two separate jurisdictions exer-
cised on different principles in the Houses of
Lords and Commons—not improved by the
absolute despotism of Lord Shaftesbury—re-
quire no exposition, being sufficiently notorious.
The late hours—the foul air—the utter want of
subdivision of legislative labour, in the proce-
dure of the House of Commons, are nuisances
which must be abated. All these long-standing
evils have grown up—at least to their present
magnitude—under the Presidency of Mr. Man-
ners Sutton. We call upon any partisan of
the Ex-Speaker to name a single act of legisla-
tive economy, or improved procedure, which
emanated from the chair, so long enjoyed by Mr.
Sutton. The excellent letter of our correspon-
dent " Daleth," on Saturday, ably stated the
necessary qualifications and important duties of
a Speaker. Surely they are not diminished at the
present moment. It is for these many and weighty
reasons, that we ardently hope Ministers will
have the magnanimity to retrace their steps—to
avoid an unnecessary and injurious division
and discussion on the first assemblage of the
Commons—to suffer the Members to elect their
own Speaker. Much as we deprecate any fac-
tious hostility to the Government in their present
difficult situation, we never will uphold such in-
consistencies as their elevation of Mr. Manners
Sutton to the Speakership. Is the Right
Honourable Gentleman likely to continue in the
chair, if he attain it ? Will he not, in all human
probability, soon receive the honour of the
Peerage ? What possible motives, therefore,
can exist for his " resuscitation," when the evils
of it are so palpable, and when literally no benefit
to the country can accrue ? The Tories are, in
" a Parliamentary sense," defunct, unless re-
stored to life by the Whigs. But it appears
that the " Conservatives" are a species of crotalus
or rattlesnake. Like that venomous serpent,
the Tories possess the fascinating influence
attributed to the crotalus genus. Their charm-
ing or attractive powers draw to them the poli-
tical creatures they seek to devour. They open
their snake-like jaws—their innocent prey, re-
gardless of danger, fly into the reptile's mouth,
which takes them in, and instantly swallows them.
A Ministry overcome by power is respected if it fall
—overcome by fear, its fate is certain and unla-
mented. Surely Lord Grey, to propitiate a
handful of enemies, will not raise an insurrection
of his friends.—Morning Chronicle.
We find, from a report in the Caledonian
Mercury, that the Tories of Mid Lothian have
been regaling themselves and their ejected can-
didate, Sir George Clerk, with a dinner of con-
dolence. We find that Sir George Murray,
another of their ejected candidates, was present
also, and that he, as well as his brother in mis-

fortune, had recourse to speech-making on a
full stomach, as one of the palliatives by which
calamity may be tempered it not subdued.
There can be no objection to the principle of
good eating and drinking, as a source of com-
fort in affliction ; it has had its advocates in all
ages. But when gentlemen assume that they
have been exceedingly ill used by the world, and
put forth in angry speeches that ground of dis-
content, they challenge criticism directly ; and
the first and most obvious rule of criticism
against which they appear to offend is, the
simple rule which recommends modesty, or the
affectation of modesty, as one of the sources of
persuasion. If, therefore, it were only for the
reputation of their eloquence, Sir George
Clerk and Sir George Murray—nay, the whole
of the little, shrivelled, shrunken Tory party to
which they belong—should deal more sparingly
in the language of censure, when the object of that
censure is the mass of tile public, and the
' standard by reference to which they are con-
demned is the opinion of the isolated few who
are already in the last stage of political exist-
ence. Sir George Clerk said—,, I trust that
when the delusion dies away, and I hope that
ere long that period will arrive, the country will
do us justice and acknowledge, that, in our
opposition to the Reform Bill, we acted from
conscientious motives." In the same spirit,
Sir George Murray, in alluding to the triumph
of the people, observed—" It appeared to him
that it was the very same system that was em-
ployed some centuries ago by an artful and
grasping priesthood. They deluded the people
under the name of religion ; and in the same
manner were they now deluded under the sacred
name of liberty, and were induced to believe
that they were serving the cause of general
freedom, while they were cramping the opinions
and actions of men,in their individual freedom."
This is pretty. well, in the way of modesty. We
do not say it is peculiar to Sir George Clerk or
Sir George Murray, or even to their party, to
suppose all the wisdom on their own side,
and all the folly on the side of the public
or the world, when their sentiments happen
to clash. On the contrary, we believe it to
be a very common mode of deciding such
differences ; but then we must not be expected to
feel any strong sentiments of regret for the
disappointment of people who are so well satis-
fied with themselves. It would appear, from the
speech of Sir George Clerk, that the Tories
have not yet given over time hope of a reaction.
How desperately they have stuck to that hope
was sufficiently manifested before. Still they
live in the same expectation. Instead of think-
ing it likely that they may in time come round
to the opinion of the mass, they conclude, in
spite of every appearance and indication to the
contrary, that the mass will come round to
theirs. This is sufficiently absurd, but it be-
comes still more so when we reflect that the
doctrine to which they hope to convert the na-
tion is one of which it has already had dear
experience, in the extent to which it has been
plundered under it. No doubt there are con-
scientious men amongst the Tories, who think
it would be a great blessing to the people to be
restored to that happy state of things again,
when those whose hands are now dangling idly
at their sides, should be inserted once more into
their pockets ; but the people cannot be brought
to think so too. We have therefore more faith
in the efficacy of the good eating and drinking
which took place on the occasion to sustain the
party under their late defeat, than in what would
be considered the more intellectual effort of their
speeches. The one may raise their spirits and
support their strength; the other can scarcely
impose upon their own understandings.—Morn-
ing Herald.
We have received many communications on
the subject of the speculations we have hazarded
on the course which Ministers might be expected
to take in the proceedings of the new Parliament.
Of such communications we do not think it
necessary to notice more than one. Crito
remarks upon our observations on Mr. Stanley,
disputing some of our statements, recognising
the accuracy of others ; and he calls our attention
to another of the " new men,"whoin he thinks "it
would be desirable for Conservatives to conciliate,"
He alludes to Mr. Macaulay, and he supports
his opinion by a reference to the battle which
he says that gentleman has honestly fought
" against universal suffrage, against triennial
Parliaments, against ballot." Mr. Macaulay is
an accomplished scholar and a splendid rhetori-
cian. Many writers possess knowledge more
deep and varied ; no one so aptly concentrates
that which he possesses upon the point at
which it may be serviceable. Many Speak-
ers address the judgment with a more im-
pressive tone, and invoke the reason with a
sounder logic ; no man awakens a prejudice
with a more passionate appeal, or revives a pas-
sion with a more intense enthusiasm. We be-
lieve that his private character is estimable; and,
for his public character, while we hold his prin-
ciples in the most perfect abhorrence, we do not
accuse him of treachery or insincerity in his ad-
vocacy of them. We will tell our correspondent,
in a few words, why we had not proposed to
bestow upon so distinguished a man any notice
—why out notice of him, now that it is called
from us, is brief. Mr. Macaulay cannot become,
in any contingency, the supporter of an aristo-
cracy. His genius is essentially plebeian. Of
the ennobling influences of high birth he knows
nothing ; to the voice with which the memory of
the dead speaks to the ambition of the living he
is deaf. He sees nothing in a coat of arms
but its gules and its sables, nothing in a
coronet but its balls and its strawberry leaves.
The Church is to him but brick and mortar,
and the Bible but a printed book. As it
suits his taste, so it conduces to his interest, to
fight the fight of the many against the few,
of the apron against the mantle, of the tub
against the pulpit. Henceforth our illustrious
nobility, our opulent proprietors, cannot intro-
duce to public life the laborious energy and
fervid zeal of such politicians. They who neigh'
have found support from above must seek it
from below. Mr. Macaulay was once the nomi-
nee of a patron ; henceforth he must be the
nominee of a populace. He has argued against
universal suffrage. True. But what has been
the tenor of his argument ? He can conceive,
he says, a country in such a state that suffrage
may be safely intrusted in it to every male.
England is not yet in such a state. Let the
clamour of the Unions for universal suffrage be
half as loud as it was for the Bill, and it will be
easy for Mr. Macaulay to see in the state of the
country such a change as will enable him to
support it. He has argued against triennial
Parliaments. Granted. But what has been
the basis of his opposition ? Reluctance to
endanger the success of one measure by the
forced discussion of another ; willingness to
give time Act a fair trial ; anything but a
preference for the longer period over the

shorter ; anything but a professed desire to
leave to the Council of the Nation such a
freedom of judgment as shall make them wise
Senators rather than servile Delegates. Let the
clamour of the Unions be as loud for trien-
nial Parliaments as it was for the Bill, and it will
be easy for Mr. Macaulay to discover an impor-
tance in the question which makes its intru-
sion justifiable, and a result of the fair trial
of the Bill which proves its operation imper-
fect. He has argued against ballot. Un-
doubtedly. But what strength is there in the
position he takes up against it ? Let us try ;he
says, how we can go on without it ; if we fail to
satisfy the people, if they require the additional
protection, they are entitled to ask it at our
hands. Let the clamour of the Unions be as
loud for the ballot as it was for the Bill, and it
will be easy for Mr. Macaulay to give them, nay
it will be impossible for him to deny them, his
cordial co-operation. Upon every question on
which the Conservatives and the Levellers shall
join issue this part Mr. Macaulay will play.
He will assert with an if, and he will deny
with a but, until it shall be clearly as-
certained to which side the numbers will
attach themselves. He will act thus because
he is unprincipled ; unprincipled rather in mind
than in morals. He has read much and reflected
much. But one man reads to become a scholar,
and another to become a statesman ; one man
reflects till he has pointed a phrase, another
until he has established a principle. For these
reasons we do not speculate upon the course
which Mr. Macaulay individually may pursue.
It is not that we underrate his abilities, but that
we think them irretrievably enlisted on the side
of democracy. He has, indeed, declared him-
self more decidedly, more distinctly, than any
other Reformer for the finality of the Bill.
From those,•declarations we understand, not what
his own conduct will probably be, but rather
what were the inclinations of Ministers who ra-
tified and adopted the expositions of their most
popular interpreter. Considered in this latter
point of view, the opinions he has expressed
become at the present moment important ; and
to-morrow, when we purpose to inquire how far
the Cabinet is now, by its own pledges and pro-
mises, conservative, we shall look for those
pledges and promises not only in the speeches
of Lord Grey, of Lord John Russell, of Mr.
Stanley, but in those of the late Member for
Lord Lansdowne's borough of Calne.—Morn-
ing Post.

We see by one of the papers, that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer has stated his intention of redu-
cing the stamp duty on newspapers, but at the same
time expressed a doubt as to whether he will be able,
in the present state of the revenue, to repeal that
duty altogether. It does not appear that his Lord-
ship has made any promise on the subject of the
advertisement duty. Now, although we are warm
advocates for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge,
we would not accept that repeal unless accompanied
by the abolition, or extensive reduction, of the duty
on advertisements; for if there be one tax upon
industry more oppressive than another, it is the
heavy duty imposed by the Government upon the
ad% ertiser. Under the present law, a shopkeeper,
newly commencing business, must expend a large
sum in order to give the necessary degree of publi-
city to his undertaking, the greater part of which
goes in the shape of tax; and even a poor servant
out of place has to pay three shillings and sixpence
to Government on advertising for a situation, even
though the advertisement be only two lines in length.
Upon what principle this tax is imposed we know
not—it does not exist in any other country, and it
would almost seem that it originally formed part of
a gagging system, by which despotic Ministers
hoped to narrow the means of success in newspaper
speculation, knowing, as they did, that without ad-
vertisements—which are a material source of income
to a newspaper—no undertaking of that kind could
succeed; and, therefore, that the less advertisements
appeared the more limited would be the number of
newspapers.—Merle's Weekly Register.
A very numerous and influential meeting has been
held in the city of London, for the purpose of in-
structing its representatives as to the course which
they are to pursue in the new Parliament. On three
points—the repeal of the Septennial Act, the aboli-
tion of the assessed taxes, and vote by ballot—the
meeting were unanimous as to the propriety and
necessi•y of those measures ; and the three Members
who were present t Mr. Alderman Waithman being
absent from illness) declared their readiness to sup-
port those propositions in Parliament; Mr. Grote,
the respectable city banker, undertaking to bring
forward immediately a motion for the adoption of
vote by ballot. The Times, which has lately be-
come a Ministerial hack, calls this meeting a failure.
How that could be a failure, where at least 2,000
respectable citzens, headed by their representatives,
unanimously agreed on the objects of their meeting,
we are at a loss to imagine, unless, indeed, it be that
these 2,000 persons failed in bringing the Times to
a sense of public principle, or even public decency.
It is lamentable to find a paper, which was once the
organ of public opinion, degenerated into a slave of
the Treasury. What the inducement may have been
we know not ; but this we know—the Times can-
not hope to maintain its circulation if, without refe-
rence to pi inciple, it shall continue to be the organ
of the Administration of the d.,y.—illerle'siVeekly
Register.