The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-22 00:00:00

mean an experiment as to the relative resistance of the two
bodies. Gentlemen, in plain terms, these are no safe guides
—these are not just judges—these are no fair critics of the
measures of any British minister. I will therefore go on ra-
tionally ; I will .take care to have my vessel in order ; I will
take care to have my carriage-road worthy, and my ship sea-
worthy. I will use the plummet, and I will use the square;
I will build according to rule ; and I will not begin to run up
'a:building which never can be better than a shell, even if it do
hot tumble about my head. I will go safely and surely to
,work, until I can build that house with credit to myself, and
with advantage to others."
Here indeed was a powerful philippic against those
-wlth, in their eagerness to uproot abuses, and to in-
troduce
improvements, would forget that there. was
such a thing as propelling the state machine with a
rapidity which would derange its movements, or per-
haps ,even'set it on fire ; but no reflection upon their
principles—no dissent from their opinions—no expres-
sion of unwillingness to reach the same goal ;—only a
simple craving of that time, first, for deliberation, and,
secondly, for action, which is necessary to enable the
Government to attain the end in view with certainty,
with safety, and with permanent benefit to the country.
And what does Lord Durham say?
" My Noble and Learned Friend, the Lord Chancellor,"
said he, " has been pleased to give some very sound advice
to certain classes of persons, of whom, however, I confess I
liow.nothing—persons whom he considers to evince too much
impatience.,and too great a desire for the progress of change.
I will fairly-own to you that I am one of those who see with
the utmost regret every hour that passes over the existence of
recognized but unreformed abuses. I am, however, gentle-
men—and I have no doubt you will agree with me—l am per-
fectly willing to accept their correction as deliberately as our
rulers may think fit, but then it must be on one condition ; it
is, that every measure, if it is intended to be one of correction,
shallibe proposed in conformity with those principles for which
we have ever contended ; for, gentlemen, I object to the com-
promise of opinions. Ido not object to the deliberation with
which they are to be formed, but I object to any compromise
of them. I object to the chipping, and the paring, and the
Mutilating, which must inevitably follow an attempt to conciliate
enemies who are not to be gained—who requite your advances
by pointing out your inconsistencies, your abandonment of
your friends and your principles, and then ascribe the discon-
tent 'created in our own ranks by these preceedings to liberal
feelings being no longer predominant in the country, and its re-
turn to Toryism. Against siich a course of policy, gentlemen,
I ever must protest, as pregnant with the worst consequences,
as exciting distrust and discontent where enthusiastic devotion
isnecessary; on the other hand, as creating vain and delusive
'hopes, which never can be realized ; and, above all, as placing
• "teapots in the hands of those who will only use them to their
own destruction, and that of the great and good interests com-
mitted to their charge. With this qualification, therefore, gen-
tlemen—with this frank and free exposition of my sentiments,
which I have never concealed in any position in which I may
' halve been, perhaps unworthily, placed—l never have cencealed
th-ein,.and I never will ; I say, with this qualification, I am
ready to grant the utmost extent of amelioration which my
Noble and Learned Friend and his Majesty's Ministers may
require, and am perfectly ready to repose confidence in their
declaration of this night, which I am sure will give an earnest
of future-tranquillity and happiness to the country."
- Between these sentiments and those professed by
Lord Brougham we can detect no difference. Lord
"Durham is an enemy to the compromise of opinions ;
but when did Lord Brougham give earnest that he
was friendly to such conduct ? He is for the imme-
diate" uprooting of all recognized abuses ; but when
did Lord Brougham profess himself a patron of
them ? There may be a difference in the pace at
which each' would proceed in his career of useful-
ness ; but no difference as to the end in view : and
we are the more persuaded of such being the fact, upon
comparing the speech of Lord Durham with those
which were subsequently made by two of the Lord
- Chancellor's colleagues, Mr. Ellice and Sir John Cam
Hobliouse.

" Now that we have accomplished," said the former, " that
great object of obtaining a full and fair representation of the
people, it will be our duty to impress on their representatives
the necessity of such efficient measures as they have a right to
expect as the result of that reform ; and either in my present
situation, or in any other in which I may be at any time placed,
;they shall be welcome to my best services in the cause so long
as my health will enable me to afford them ; and I hope I
shall not be one of those who will at any time proceed to claim
a worse measure of reform, in the vain hope of conciliating the
aititural and consistent enemies of all reform. lam sure I only
speak the sentiments of every colleague with whom I have the
honour to act, when I say that they are as anxious as the people
can desire, to proceed with what they know the people re-
. quire, and with justice, at their hands—they desire only that
they may be enabled to proceed with those measures with that
deliberation, with that caution, and with that prudence which
are necessary to adapt them to the great ends for which they
are intended."

Are not these few sentences an echo of those ex-
pressed by Lard Durham, and does any one conceive
for a moment that Mr. Ellice would have given vent
rto these expressions, had he not known them to be
the sentiments of the Government to which he be-
longs? Equally corroborative of the same fact is the
language of Sir John Cam Hobhouse—
" If there were anything wanting," said he, " to tell a Mi-
riister what is expected of him at the hands of the people of
the United Empire, we should learn it certainly from what
has been addressed to us by a Noble Friend of mine, Lord
Durham. I, for one, am most willing to accept what he has
been so kind as to address to the King's Government in per-
fect•good part. Ido believe that it is the intention of his
Majesty's Ministers to carry into full and efficient effect all
these benefits which the people of England and Great Britain
have a right to expect ; else why, Gentlemen, do I belong to
the- present Administration? On what other ground could I
have joined it ? I am one of the people ; I belong to the
people in every sense of the word ; it is in order to carry, into
effect'that which I believe from my conscience to be the real
popular effects of the Reform Bill, that I have consented to
join the Administration."
Nothing can be more explicit—nothing can be more
satisfactory—than the above declaration. It is con-
clusive as to the existence of harmony in the liberal
camp, and still more conclusive as to the future policy
of the Cabinet—a policy which will be guided by pru-
dence and caution, and foresight of danger, but
founded on a courageous and unflinching determina-
tion to extirpate abuses—to improve the institutions
of the country, and to diffuse among the people that
knowledge both of their own rights and of the rights
of others, without which no reforms, however exten-
sive or however wise, can be either efficient or per-
manent.—Morning Advertiser.