The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The impudent attempt to delude the country with ,
the hope of substantial reforms from " His Highness
the Dictator," has every where been treated with the
contempt it merits. From every part of the United
Kingdom we have reports of the movements e.". tht
people, who evince a spirit and good sense whkh
dan-
not be too highly eulogized. In Leeds, Manchester,
Liverpool, and other greets towns, the strongest
sensation has been Pr-educed by the dismissal, and
requisitions for meetings have been numerously
and respectably signed. In Scotland, the people
are united as one man. On Friday, the in-
habitants of Edinburgh were to meet, as in 1832,
in the King's Park. Notwithstanding the Dic-
tator's assiduity at the Horse Guards, he will find
that the people of this country are not to be in-
timidated, any more than they are to be cajoled. The
Times of Saturday rails at Lord Durham, because his
Lordship is infected with the prevailing distrust of its
favourite for the time, the great Dictator. " We are
sorry to say," observes our contemporary, " that the
latter part of his speech exhibits striking proofs that
passion had blinded his judgment. Else why does he
denounce the possible change from bad to good as dis-
gusting and disgraceful ? Does he suppose the na-
tion is so enslaved by the spirit of faction, as to refuse
to accept a beneficial measure from a Minister, because
he is not a Whig ? Such stuff is unworthy of Lord
Durham's clear sense—it is the mere raving of a bi-
gottecl partisan. What I are
we to be told that the people of England can-
not understand, and demand, and secure what they
feel to be their just claims, unless a Whig
Lord holds the helm of government. 'We re-
pudiate, in the name cf the people, such miserable
patty jargon. The people may have, they must have,
personal partialities for the public good—they look to
the acts of their Governors, and not to their mere
names. A Grey or a Wellington, if his acts are just
and wise, is in their eyes an enlightened and patriotic
Minister, whellier his sobriquet be Whig or Tory."
It is quite natural that the want of principle—the
utter disregard- of consistency, should be a recom-
mendation in the eyes of our contemporary, who
hag no stazidard but expediency, and who will one
day term a statesman as blind as a bat, and the
next hold him up as a miracle of wisdom. There
are, it appears, .however, many in this country,
besides Lord Durham; who have a prejudice in fa-
vour of honour and honesty, and who imagine also
that a great nation like this is not driven to the neces-
sity of receiving the reforms to which it is entitled
from the hands of a man who cannot give them with-
out violating every principle he has ever professed.
However, • the object of the Times is to gull the
people—to throw them off their guard—that " his
Highness" the Dictator, may have thesis at an advan-
tage. Lord Durham knew very well that the Duke
avould grant no large measure of Reform ; and he
knew, also, that the bare supposition of the possibi-
lity of any good emanating from a Minister who took
office to prevent the effecting of reforms, could not be
entertained without producing much mischief. The
following excellent observations on the perfidious cry
of " Measures not men," in the second volume of
11,1 r. Bulwer's " France," p. 44, have been transmit-
ted to us by a correspondent, to whom we return our
best thanks. They are exceedingly seasonable :
" Change in the form of a Government ceases very fre-
quently to be demanded when we feel sure that the spirit ani-
mating a Government is good. The nomination of the po-
pular man lulls suspicion, as the nomination of the unpopular
one awrkens it. A change of men from unpopular to popu-
lar cries, is, in fact, the only, the ordinary, and the reason-
able resource, which a representative Government affords for
its duration ; and the cant, and nearly always hollow and per-
fidious cry of " Measures, not men," merely shows, where it is
sincere, a double ignorance of human nature and affairs. Many
acts of Government it is almost impossible for any person out
of the Government to know ; (tr. Administration with popular
appearances may be taking a subterraneous road to arbitrary
power: if the general principles which a man has hitherto pro-
fessed, are hostile to y(rter notions of right, and on his be-
comiag a Minister, he' seems to act in a manner favourable
to your opinions, yov are bound to mistrust him, for it is more
likely that he is frslsy to you than that he is false to himself. The
Statesman who, after a long political course, tells you
suddenly that 1-.. e means to sail on a new tack, is to be looked
upon as a Coster' in politics—a swindler, the more dangerous
fcr the sletiring candour of his address. This is the sober way
of viev,ing things, and this is the way which the public, with
its broad and plain common sense, usually views them. Mark
the example I M. Polignac comes into office—the first act of
tile Minister dreaded for his Jesuitism, is the abolition of the
unpopular office of the Minister of Religion'—the King
speaks of prosperous finances—the Minister announces admi-
nistrative amendments and economical concessions.
" But afar from these favours and promises of ameliorations,
severe and stern, with folded arms and knit brow, the great
body of the nation stood aloof, full in front of the throne and
its proud yrerogatives ; stood—l say—the people—firm against
compromise; embodying all their feelings in one opinion ; ex-
pressing them all in one remonstrance; replying to every ar-
gument of the Government by one sentence, 'Remove the Mi-
nister,' "—).Vlorning Chronicle.
The new Treasury Cominission was issued this
morning. The names are as follow :—The Duke of
Wellington, Lords Rosslyn, Ellenborough, Mary-
borough,' Sir John Beckett, Mr. Planta. Lord Rosslyn
holds a sinecure of 1,8521. per annum, as Director of
Chancery in Scotland, in addition to the emoluments
of his regiment, amounting to 1,4151. His son, Lord
Loughborough, another learned and gallant officer, is
a sinecurist to the tune of 1;1351., as Clerk of the
Chancery in Scotland, with his pay, as Lieutenant-
Colonel, of 415/. Lord Ellenborough holds the sine-
cure of Clerk ,of the King's Bench, the emoluments
of which he returned in 1830, at the trifling sum of
9,6251. We congratulate the country upon the selec-
tion of the two largest sinecurists of England and
Scotland, to preside at the Treasury Board and check
all abuses. The late Treasury, by one of their last
acts, adopted, without exception, the recommenda-
tions of the valuable report of the Sinecure Commit-
tee, drawn up, as is supposed, by Mr. Grote. Will
this be acted upon now ? We shall watch. In the
mean time these appointments are of happy augury.
We shall be particularly curious to learn how Lord
Ellenborough will deal with the observations of the
Committee respecting a sum of 5,0001. which the late

once from an enterprise which it is impossible that tbs--
should bring to a successful issue, and ff.._
rthev.ng
tie
country from the pressure °t. naraesing tlisttlig, or
from the shock of 5u.i.1..51 en'and irtecm-etabie disappoint-
ment. To 's,- awe 'Confesl that the continuance of what
'n".;; ne ralleti the " provisional" Government, after
understanding. not -only conveyed to it
through nearly all sections and departments of the
press, but circulated throughout society, that Reform,
under every circumstance, must be progressive, or that
the Ministry which impedes it will itself be brought to
an expeditious end, is an indirect, if not conclusive
evidence, that the design of those who aspire to be de-
clared its, members, is to fulfil the obligation which it
thus seems tacitly to undertake, and the condition on
which alone it is now practicable for any Government
to conduct the domestic policy of England. But
much abuse has been -levelled at those who deem it
possible, and at ourselves among them, for the
Duke of Wellington or Sir Robert Peel to proceed
with measures of reform. Catholic emancipation
is then adduced as an example. Of what ?—of the
Duke's incapacity to carry a popular and most im-
portant measure through Parliament ?—no, but of the
discredit which he himself incurred by adopting a
measure which he had always previously opposed!
This is rather perverse. It is shifting the ground of
objection from one in which the country had a deep
and powerful interest to another which was chiefly (we
by no means say exclusively) the concern of the Duke
himself. Now, in our judgment, the matter which re-
flected the most serious blame upon the Duke of Wel-
lington was not his finally proposing a bill of emanci-
pation, but his having so long condemned the princi-
ple and resisted the introduction of that great measure.
He yielded, it is true, to a political necessity—a ne-
cessity created by the prevalence and the force of public
opinion—a legitimate motive, if ever there existed such
whereon to justify a political concession. Was the
measure the worse for such an origin ? or was the evi-
dence in its favour weakened for doubting minds
by the fact of its being extorted by mere consti-
tut;onal power from a resolute and reluctant Minister?
No, let us ask, is public opinion throughout the
empire less strong or less unanimous with regard to]
the necessity of a perseverencc in reform measures—
reform of church, and reform of corporate abuses—
than it was in favour of removing the Catholic dis-
I abilities ? And is it so very unreasonable to ima-
gine that the Duke of 'Wellington will be henceforth
as open to conviction, or, if you will, as sensible to
the pressure of general opinion, as he wasin the for-
roer instance, more particularly when that opinion,
speaking through a flee Parliament, will suffice, by a
single vote, to expel him and his colleagues from the
Government ? As for the outcry made by some rant-
ing boobies against us, for what they are instructed to
term our " tergiversation”—that is to say, for our ex-
pressing a hope, that since the last Ministry expe-
rienced invincible obstacles, both in the way of its car-
rying reform measures, and even of its remaining in
office—a hope that the Ministry which succeeds
them may prove, at least in the former respect, more
fortunate, we leave them to find their just value with
the country. They are almost avowed to be under the
] control and dictation of individuals who suffered, by
] the fall of the late Ministry, the joint loss of office and
of income. Their disinterestedness, therefore, is as
conspicuous as their modesty, in endeavouring to force
back their own employers into power, before the Duke
of Wellington and his friends have fair play to show
what are to be the principles of their Administration.
We estimate not the sordid malice of such exasperated
understrappers at a single straw. Their judgment upon
the comparative merits of the Government which has
paid, and of that which has discarded them, is not
worth the paper which it blackens. When it can be
brought against this journal, or any of those who ma-
nage it, that they have ever been one farthing the
better or worse, in point of worldly relations, for their
support of any Ministry, or for their opposition to it,
then, and not till then, let us be accused of mercencry
views in our declared sentiments towards public men
or measures. We defy our enemies to prove that any
person connected with this journal has ever received
any personal advantage beyond that of an honourable
reputation for any thing which he has written or done
for any man or any party.—Times.
A considerable portion of our columns will he found
, to be taken up with a report of the proceedings in Li-
, verpool on Friday last, upon the occasion of the re-
ception of a deputation from the Protestants of Ireland
to the South Lancashire Conservative Association.
] When it is mentioned that upwards of 4,000 persons
were present on this interesting occasion, including the
] rank, station, wealth, and influence, not only of that
city, but also of the county, and when it is stated that
] Lord Kenyon was in the chair, and that in addition to
the local talent, the Meeting was addressed with sur-
passing eloquence by the Rev. Mr. Boyton (although
labouring under indisposition), and the Rev. Mr.
7 O'Sullivan, we shall have already urged sufficient rea-
. sons to entitle the report to the fullest .consideration
and the earnest attention of our readers.—Mornins-
Post.

The electoral statistics, which would be curious in
any circumstances, being now of immediate interest and
importance, we hasten to throw together some informa-
tion. as to the extent of the suffrage under the Reform
Act. Before we go into the statement it is necessary
to observe that the number of electors must be less than
the number in the returns, as many are counted twice
over, or oftener, in respect of different qualifications—
but nevertheless the calculations will give an outline of
the form and body of the enfranchised sections of the
country sufficiently to be depended on. In England
40 counties return 144 members, and previous to the
election of 1832 had 344,564 registered electors.
The cities and boroughs are 185 ; they return 327
members, and their registered electors up to the same
date were 274,649. The total for England was thus
619,213 electors, and 471 representatives of counties and
boroughs. In Wales, 12 counties return 15 members,.
and their registered electors in 1832 were 25,815. Ile
14 districts of boroughs return 14 members; and their
registered electors were 11,309. In Scqtland, 30 coun-
ties have 30 Members, and their
,registered electors in
1832 were 33,114. Seventy-six cities and boroughs
return 23 Members, e.iid their registered electors of
the above date were 81,332. Total for Scotland, 53
RepresentativeB, and 64,447 electors. In Ireland 32
counties have 64 Members, and their registered elec-
tors in 1832 were 60,607. The cities and boroughs
are 34 ; they return 41 Members, and their registered
electors are 31,545. Total for Ireland 105 Members,
and 92,152 electors, according to the registration of
1832. The first remark that occurs is upon the pro-
portion of the town to the county suffrage. In
round numbers, the gross population of clues and
boroughs of England and Scotland is Laif the popula-
tion of counties ; and the represqlitation of cities and
boroughs is about double the representation of coun-
ties. Wales gives an advantage to the counties ; and the
returns for Great Britain stand thus :—County popu-
lation 10,446,241 ; Borough population 5,816,060.
Members for counties, 189 ; members for boroughs,
364. So that the county population is two to one
against the town, and the town representation two to
one against the county. In Ireland the case . is diffe-
rent. The county representation exceeds the borough
representation, but the county population is rated at
7,000,000, and the borough at little more than 700,000.
In Ireland the registered electors for counties in 1832
about doubled those for towns. Taking Great Britain and
Ireland together, the population of cities and boroughs is
•about one-third of the population of counties ; the electors
for counties are to the electors of towns about as four is
veryandcal-
culation
proportionsBl2.936.must
falseed
Inferences may, and doubtless
will, be drawn. thatt will be contended the landedt
interest is inadequately represented, and that
the
towns have an unfair share of representation. In
such arguments the material fact will be over-
looked—that population has not been made the basis
of representation ; and that if population be once let
in as the governing rule, it will be hard to
keep
out universal suffrage as a consequence. Property
is the basis of the Reform Act, and according to the

Lord EllenborOugh transferred from the general fund
to his own private account, and of which the present
Lord has for years enjoyed the interest. Lord Mary-
borough is the Duke's brother—was Secretary for Ire-
land in the worst period of Orange misrule, and held
office under the old Tory governments. Sir J. Beckett
is a family connection and follower of the Lowthers.
This fact alone is a sufficient guarantee to the country
for his love of reform, and hatred of rotten borough
practices. Mr. Planta was, under the Tory Govern-
ment, patronage Secretary, or as Mr. Baring in the
House expressed it, " did the dirty work," of the
Treasury ; he holds a pension of 1,500/. ; there is
another pension of 2001. to Barbara Planta in the
Civil List.—Morning Chronicle.
Nothing more can be done, and therefore nothing,
known, as to the state of the Ministry, or the pros-
pects of the county, before Sir Robert Peel's arrival.
Nor until then would it be safe to speculate on the
chance of the Right Hon. Baronet accepting or re-
fusing the arduous task proposed to him—viz., that
of satisfying the British nation, that the course of
reform which its interest and opinions demand, and
which has been prepared by the reforms already in
full operation, will be followed out to their natural
result's by the class of statesmen who are or will be
the successors of Lord Melbourne's cabinet. This
satisfaction can be no otherwise afforded than by the
acts of the forthcoming Ministry, or by pledges de-
claring antecedently to what extent they are willing
to bind themselves in yet unaccomplished reforms
ecclesiastical and civil. It is unquestionably no small
inconvenience, and no trifling aggravation of the
public suspense and uneasiness, that such securities,
in the nature of pledges, cannot be offered durinF, the
absence of the person who is expected to place himself
at the head of the King's new Councils. We shall,
therefore, just repeat, what it is no fault of ours if
we have not already more than once impressed upon
the attention both of individuals and parties, viz., that
a deliberate and reasonable, but resolute and unvaried
system of reform is the paramount and sole condition
on which Sir Robert Peel (or the Duke of Welling-
ton) can hope to obtain the shadow of support from
public opinion, or from the public press ; and that if
the Statesmen who are on the eve of forming the
King's Government should have any doubt as to their
own determination upon that point, wisdom and virtue
would alike point out to them the duty of retiring at

THE SUN, T VNDOILIN VILOIN"tatiVS IN'OVEMBER, 24 1834.

adopted testfeof property arE `those numerical relations
lkaVe Noticed. There is, however, really no dis-
proportion in the case, or if there be ally, the dispro-
portion is not where at first glance it may seem. All
that is to be said is, that property does hot put forth
its powers according to the rule of numbers. Were
the test of property still further improved in the Re-
form Bill, as we trust it will, by the removal of the fiscal
conditions, the electoral privileges of the borough po-
pulation would be yet further extended. When the
borough representation and the county-representation
are talked of as measuring the comparative influence
of the landed and commercial interests in Parlia-
ment, a gross fallacy is involved, for the commercial
interest, which has its political power in bo-
roughs, has often a direct connexion with the agri-
cultural interest, the like of which the agricultural in-
terest having its political power in the county suffrage
has not with the commercial interest. Thus the
capitalist, or prosperous tradesman, or professional
man in a town, has his landed property, and by it an
interest in common with the country gentleman ; but
the country gentleman, who lives on the rents of his
farms, has no direct interest in common with the mer-
, antile, and he too often believes in an opposition of
interests. To put the proposition in large terms, towns
are more affected with the agricultural interests than,
the agricultural districts are affected with the town in-
terests ; and this is not a speculative question-e--we have
something more solid than theory. In the corn laws
we see the rural prejudices put forth against the com-
mercial interests, and the powerful hold of the agri-
cultural interest in the borough representation.—
Times.
The Standard seems to think that an announcement
in an Evening Paper (The Sun) and the delivery of
the Great Seal to Lord Lyndhurst, have misled the
Morning Herald into the erroneous opinion that some,
at least, of the new appointments have been determined
upon. It then goes on to say, " Now, no opinion can
be more erroneous than this. Lord Lyndhurst holds
the great seal just as the Duke of Wellingtoo holds
the seal of the Home Office from the same necessity—
that these instruments of authority must be held by
some one, until a Cabinet is formed, and during pre-
cisely the same tenure—namely, the existence of that
necessity." In the above observations the Standard
sets about correcting its own mistake, not our's. We
have never spoken of any new appointments to succeed
the Whig Ministry as being other than temporary and
centingent. On Tuesday last—which certainls'. pre-
ceded the announcement in The Sun, and the delivery
of the great seal to Lord Lyndhurst—we stated what
we had heard of probable appointments ; among the
rest, that which was officially announced in the Supple-
ment to Friday night's Gazette, but we stated at the
same time that the permanent arrangements would not be
made before the return of Sir R. Peel from Italy. We added
that even the appointment to the office of Premier
must abide that event. A Morning Contemporary
having denied in the most positive manner that, with
the exception of the acceptance of office by the Duke
of Wellingion, any appointment whatever had been
mode or even discussed, we took notice of that denial
on Wednesday, and observed that as we must have a
provisional Government until Sir R. Peel arrives, there
must be at least temporary appointments ; nor could
we suppose the Duke of Wellington means to per-
form the Duties of Lord Chancellor as well as those of
Secretary of State. The supplement to the Gazette,
on Friday night, proved that our designation of Lord
Lyndhurst, three days before, as provisional Lord
Chancellor, was perfectly correct. The Standard
goes on to say—" Had it been intended that the
Learned Baron's custody of the seal should for
the present be more than provisional, he would have
bsen at once gazetted Chancellor, or the seal placed in
commission." How the fact of the seal being placed in
commission could prove the other fact of a permanent
Lord Chancellor having been appointed we cannot pos-
sibly imagine, for as long as the seal is in commission
there can be no Lord Chancellor. It is necessary that
the moment the great seal is returned to the King by
the ex-functionary, it should be placed in the hands of
one or more persons, otherwise no fiat of bankruptcy
(not Commission of Bankruptcy, as the Central Cri-
minal Courts Bill has it) could be issued, nor other
important official acts done, which we need not specify.
When the seal is placed in the custody of more than
one person, the Commissioners, whether two or three,
do not constitute one Lord Chancellor. When the
seal is placed in the custody of one person, even in that
case it does not necessarily follow that he should be
Lord Chancellor, though only provisionally, because
he may be no more than Lord Keeper of the Great
Seal by the terms of his appointment. In the present
instance the seal has been intrusted to one person, that
person the Noble and Learned Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer. It has been intrusted to him as Lord
Keeper, for the supplement to the Gazette states, that
upon the delivery of the great seal to him the oath of
Lord High Chancellor was administered. Being sworn
in Lord High Chancellor we should think pretty strong
evidence of being appointed to that office, and, if he
resigned it to-morrow, would entitle him to the retiring
pension, which it was one of Lord Brougham's first
" disinterested and economical Acts" to have aug-
mented from 4,0001. to 5,0001. per annum, notwith-
standing that " retrenchment" was one of the words
which caused the Whig banner to be floated into the
high places of power upon the tide of popularity. The
same day in which Lord Lyndhurst took -his seat in
the Court of Chancery he presided in the Court of
Exchequer, an arrangement which cannot, of course,
be other than of a temporary nature. We doubt that
Lord Lyndhurst, even if confident of Sir Robert
Peel's accession to office and approval of the appoint-
ment, would, at present, accent it on the terms of va-
cating his seat for life he
ire Exchequer. But upon
the formation of a Ministry, if he prefer to continue
Lord Cho
Licellor, we have little doubt that the vacancy
iii tiLe- Exchequer will be filled, as we stated a week
ago, by the appointment of the ablest lawyer in West-
minster Hall, Sir James Scarlett, with a peerage.
Now, as to the Duke of Wellington, we have
declared that we will await • the announcement of
the measures of his Government before we express
any opinion as to its stability one way or the other.
Our opinion of the late Administration did not await
its downfall. Day after day, short as its term of existence
was, we were under the painful necessity of censuring
the weakness, incapacity, or want of principle which
its acts betrayed,. whether in home or foreign policy.
elxnelrocviseing of place
arz t
laceeined to consist all its patriotism-4n
o keep it, all their statesmanship.
How often. nave we alluded, in terms of reprobation, to
61 disgraceful and treacherous intrigue by which some
members of the late Cabinet compelled Lord Grey to
resign in disgust, while they supplicated the assistance
of Ir. O'Connell in governing Ireland, and dictating
the terms upon which the Protestant Church is to be
allowed to exist, if at all, though he does not conceal
his wish for the total subversion of that Church, though
he had the reckless audacity to declaim in Parliament
against the " cant of preserving the national faith," and
though he avows that he only agitated the question of
" Catholic emancipation" as a step to the repeal of the
union, or, in other words, to the dismemberment of the
empire. The continuance for any length of time in power
of a Government so destitute of talent, energy, and prin-
ciple—so vacillating and feeble, would be the strongest
practical proof that could be afforded of the empire
having reached that stage of decline when even the hope
of successfully struggling against ruin deserts a people.
Confident as we are that the late Ministry could not
have gone .zin much longer, even if his Majesty had not
dismlsse
4 ii—and that it must have broken to pieces in
tl's." next Session of Parliament, and most probably
have plunged the country into dreadful, if not inextri-
cable confusion, we now await the formation of a new
Ministry, and the measures which are to be proposed,
that we may know whether we ought to give it our sup-
port or opposition. There is no more undoubtedpreroga-
two of the Crown than the unrestrained right of his Ma-
jesty to choose his own Ministers. In all reforms we look
to the restoration of the true principles of the British
Constitution, not to the subversion of them, northe adope
tionof
instigators the new
st-faangrles pfd or outlandish doctrines of the
democratic
117/11ePopit:lar excitement for the
most selfish purposes.
Duke of Wellington once declared ~.-4ainst all reform,
we are told that the
we are reminded that Mr. Canning
dirt same
yet Lord Brougham, and the whole of the WThig lead-
ers, with the exception of Lord Grey, joined Mr.
„n"
theae ; and

ning's Administration, or gave it their zealous support.
Lord John Russell, only two or three years before he
became the instrument of bringincr in Lord Grey's
Reform Bill, ptibli'Add parriphiet, in which he depte-
cated, and even ridiculed, the general disfranchisement
of any of those mockeries of representation. What
right, then, have such men and their flatterers to boast
of consistency ? Let us see who are they that propose
the best measures for the country---thon will we stip,
port.—Morning Herald.