The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times has endeavoured to enlighten the public
,on the subject of .Apostacy—a subject with which it is
exceedingly conversant, but which we are rather sur-
prised it should venture, under present circumstances,
to grapple with. This word, like renegade, on which
the Times could also throw some light, and many
others, is sometimes, we admit, used in a very vague
manner. In general, however, it may be observed,
that Apostacy is seldom applied to the mere abandon-
ment of opinions ; for, as it is the duty of every man
to be constantly open to conviction, and to abandon
opinions the moment he becomes sensible that
they are erroneous, apostacy would cease to be
deserving of reproach, were it applied to all
changes of opinion. It is eloquently observed by
the Times, that the converted infidel—thf re-
claimed offender against the laws of man--the
philosopher, who gives up a favourite theory when
satisfactory experiments have proved it wrong—the
physician, who abandons the use of drugs when ex-
perience has taught him that they possose hot the
virtues he had attributed to them—eine statesman,
who, finding that laws he had thought wise and good,
were unpopular, inefficient, and unsatisfactory, repeals
them, and models new measures, after the fashion of
the wants and wishes of the nation—all these, and all
else, who, using the lights which God has given them,
carry themselves, not as brute beasts, but as rational
creatures, must be apostates, if all changes of opinion
be apostacy. It is not the change, but the pre-
tended change of opinion, operated by sinister mo-
tives, that is termed apostacy. The renegade does
not abandon a creed, and those who profess it,
but insincerely adopts another, in the hope of gain.
We never can know with absolute certainty
whether a change of principles is real or affected.
Strange conversions are sometimes wrought. Cir-
cumstances may wear a very unfavourable appear-
ance, and yet the conversion may be very sincere.
Dryden became a Catholic when James the Second
mounted the Throne ; but it is thought he was sincere.
Suspicion, however, always attaches more or less to
conversions when the change seems to conduce to
worldly advantage. Dr. M'Crie, in his " Life of
Andrew Melville," tells us, that when Cooper deserted
the Kirk for Episcopacy, an old woman who had been
much edified by his preaching, unwilling to credit his
apostacy, proceeded to Edinburgh, where she found
him living in splendour as King's chaplain. On her
expressing her astonishment, Cooper said he had re-
ceived a new light. Aye, aye, said the shrewd old
Scotchwoman, you have two candles before you now,
and you had only one when you were in the Kirk—
that is the new light you have received. It is possi-
ble, for instance, that the Duke of Wellington may
have been thoroughly imbued with Conservative prin-
ciples down to 1832,' that he may have become a honest
convert to reform on the resignation of the Grey Minis-
try, an equally honest convert to all anti-reform princi-
ples when he found he could not make a Ministry, and
an equally honest convert to reform principles on the
dismissal of the Melbourne Ministry. All this is pos-
sible ; but it is so very improbable that these changes
are sincere—that common pi udence requires that we
should distrust them. It is possible that the Times,
which throughout its whole career has been constant
only in inconsistency, abusing and praising the same
principles and the same persons, may have been uni-
formly honest ; but it must be owned that its conduct
has very much the appearance of roguery. When the
great captain of the age, in his 66th year, becomes for
the first time alive to the truth of Reform principles,
a suspicion comes across one that his motives are
something like those of reynard the fox for setting out
on a pilgrimage to Rome. For fifteen years Lord
Brougham was idolized by the Times: at once it
made the discovery that he was an arrant quack.
There is not a public man who has not been praised
one day in the Times, and abused afterwards for the
very same thing. Thus Mr. Carmine's claims to the
Premiership were considered insulting and injurious,
and we were lectured on the subject of persons of low
extraction endeavouring " to force themselves above
hereditary nobility and gentry by descent ;" and it was
afterwards ascribed to him as a merit that he had
opened " a more generous system of intercourse with
strangers," and disallowed " the hereditary pretensions
of family pride at home." The Duke of Wellington,
in June last, after he was turned 65, was described as
a man utterly ignorant of public opinion, and afflicted
evith an incurable mental blindness ; and in the course
of a month or two he is pronounced an enlightened
Statesman. Yet the Times may in all this be
perfectly honest. But there is such an appearance
of knavery in all these evolutions, that no one
can be blamed for attributing them to knavery.
We arc, therefore, at a loss to sec in what way
either the Duke of Wellington or the Times can be-
nefit by the essay on Apostacy in that journal of Sa-
turday last. The question is not whether a man Is not
justified, nay, bound to change his opinion;, when he
receives a new light ; but whether any human being
can believe the Duke sincerely desirous of reforming
abuses in Church and State, and that the Times, in
persuading the people to repose confidence in his
Grace, has any other purpose than to delude them.
Up to the 15th of last month the Duke was an anti-
R eformer. "Up to the dissolution of the Melbourne
Ministry (as is justly observed by!the Examiner), there
was no hypocrisy in the Tory party. They very frankly
opposed themselves to all measures of a popular
character. In opposition they were thoroughly true
to vicious principles of Government—they never
professed a popular object or a popular sym-
pathy." We are required then to believe, first,
that the Duke is a sincere convert to Reform ; and
next, that the Tories have all been converted in
the same miraculous manner. But what is the evi-
dence for the conversion of the Duke ? The Times
newspaper. " Not a morsel of evidence, observes the
Spectator, can the leading article scrape together in
proof of its declaration that the Duke is a reformer.
His Grace utters not a word himself, and his satel-
lites and admirers promulgate high Tory doctrines. If,
the Whigs have not joined the Tories it is equally
plain that no proof is extant of the Tories having
abandoned their principles to conciliate the Whigs."
The Times, it may be said, has gained nothing by its
apostacy. But this is merely saying that it commits
blunders. It never committed a greater blunder than
when it supposed it could deliver over the people of
this country, bound neck and heel to the Duke of
Wellington. The plain common sense of the country
spurned at the idea of supporting the men who,,
up to the prekent moment, have been uncom-
promising enemies of reform in every shape. So far
from three-fourths of the people of England taking
their political opinions from the Times, there is
not a single Reformer whom that paper has succeeded
in persuading to repose confidence in the Duke. The
Times has not diminished the distrust of the Duke.
but it has caused itself to be miserably distrusted. It
has unquestionably mistaken its true interest, in thus
endeavouring to betray the people, who resented the in-
sult offered to their understanding as well as treachery.
It has long since discovered its error, which has been
brought home to it in a very forcible manner. But
the blunder does not diminish the knavery. The Times
has discovered that it is not all powerful ; and even at
this moment, when it is calling out against the injustice
of not giving the Duke a fair trial, it is meditating op-
position to his Grace. The Times well knows that
the Duke cannot be a reformer ; and having failed to
bamboozle the people, and lost by the experiment, it
will seize the first opening afforded by his Grace to re-
cover the good graces of the people, by making war on
Much money might be gained by betting that
the Times, in less than a month, will exhaust it voca-
bulary of abuse on the Duke of Wellington, and term
him the most stupid and besotted of men. It will take
vengeance on the Duke for the blunder it has com-
mitted, trusting to the universality of the dislike of
his Grace as a politician, and conceiving that the
pleasure derived from witnessing his castigation will
lead the people to forgive its backslidings. It is at
present without a shadow of pretext for turning ; and,
therefore, much to its grief, must continue to carry on
its losing trade of supporting the Duke. The argu-
ment= ad crumenam is the only one the Times can
feel. It is always boasting of its purse, and inveighs
most eloquently against poverty. If it continue to
blunder as it has done for the last month, it may have I
some difficulty in replenishing its "exhausted coffers."

In the meantime, it is impossible not to be amused
with its invective against the " persons who purchased
a mosi+aper with the view of using it for the acquire-
ment of gain, by any means, however dishonest, and
whor,e base designs have been exposed and foiled."
The persons thus assailed have the consolation of
knowing that at present very little•philosophy is needed
to make them laugh at the impotent spleen of the
Times.—Morning Chronicle.

However flatterinat, to his ambition the present pos-
ture of Sir Robert Peel may be, it .cannot be denied
that the task which he has to perform is one of no
small difficulty and embarrassment, and one which will
require much tact and generalship, aided by plain
straightforward honesty of purpose, to rescue from fai-
lure. The main difficulty which Sir Robert Peel will
have to contend with is that of forming an Adminis-
tration composed, on the one hand, of persons suffici-
ently and sincerely devoted to reform, to satisfy the
just wishes and expectations of the country ; and, on
the other, to avoid those extreme ultras among his
former friends, who, if they did not thwart those expec-
tations, would at least be looked upon with suspicion
by the country. In passing by the latter with the view
of making overtures to the former, probably consider-
able umbrage will be taken, which, should those
overtures fail, will place the latter in a state of dernier
resort which to no one, but especially to the self-suffi-
cient, the nervous, and the sensitive, is held to be
very complimentary, On these grounds, and espe-
cially with a view to avoid the embarrassment here
pointed out, we should not be at all surprised at either
of two events—the one, at Sir Robert Peel declining
the task altogether, or the other, at his collecting the
materials of his Administration exclusively from the
Conservative ranks. In the former case the King
would probably be induced to confide the formation of
the new Ministry to such men as the Duke of Rich-
mond or Lord Stanley, who belong to that party who
are sufficiently pledged to Reform on the one hand,
and to Conservatism on the other, to satisfy the rea-
sonable wishes of the greater part of the public
of all classes. To a Ministry exclusively Conserva
tive there is this obvious objection—that, however sin-
cere its members may be in carrying out the Re-
form Act in all its legitimate objects, it would be a
long while before the entire confidence of the country
could be gained by such Administration ; nor could it
therefore, appeal to the people in the shape of a gene-
ral election with any such prospect of success as would
be likely to respond to the call of a Ministry in which
there was at least a sufficient infusion of the known
and tried friends of reform, to insure its continuance
as the beacon which is to guide its path. In estimat-
ing public opinion we pass by, as totally valueless,
the insane howlings of a few factious dema,gogues and
their followers. These notoriety-mongers arc a class,
on whichever side they enlist themselves, totally unde-
serving of notice. Mr. Burke's standard—viz., the
simultaneous opinion of 100,000 persons upon any
one subject—is not very easily obtainable. The safer
guide to public opinion is the calm good sense of those
classes of the community who will allow themselves
to observe dispassionately upon the current of events.
This most men mixing in society may acquire a know-
ledge of, if they will allow their own prejudices and
party zeal to subside. Thus estimating public opi-
nion at the present moment, we believe to be strongly
in favour of an• administration founded upon principles
of reform, but not less Conservative of the forms and
excellences of our institutions in Church and State.
That the country is sick of the Whigs admits of little
doubt. Of this the palpable failure of every attempt.
either to break their fall, or to create a sympathy
towards their fate, is proof more than sufficient. But
they are not on that account prepared to hail the return
of Toryism as such. In truth, the country in general,
we are persuaded, would readily exclaim, " A plague
on both your Houses I" and would rejoice to see their
very names swamped for ever. It would be a great
happiness if Sir Robert Peel, in the formation of a
Ministry, is able to steer clear of these distinctions. An
administration culled from the best materials of all par-
ties, without reference to the extremes of either, would
be most likely, at this moment, to obtain and conciliate
the support and confidence of the largest portion of
the right-judging part of the community.—Morning
Herald.

Our desk is piled mountains high with letters and
communications of the most gratifying character, re
specting the glorious spirit which animates the people
of England upon the present crisis—our table is
terally covered with papers containing the rThst
satis.
factory statements of meetings wiiiich
have been
held either in honour of the 1-..ce Ministers, or for the
purpose of preventing would-be successors from
occupying the ees which they were compelled so
suddenly a"
-At unexpectedly to vacate—with the most
Patri!--;clc and spirit-stirring addresses, calling upon
the people to do their duty manfully, to " stan:l
by the King" as Englishmen were wont to stand
by him, and to unite for the purpose of overthrow-
ing the common enemy—reach us, not from hour to
hour, but from minute to minute, as if a minute ought
not to he lost in rousing and combining the energies of
the liberal interest, for the grand and final struggle
between the principle of good and the principle of evil
which has now come upon us and will not be stayed :
and that we cannot give that publicity to these com-
munications, in consequence of want of space, which
we are desirous to give, is, we can assure our readers,
infinitely more painful to us, than the omission can
possibly be to them. Nothing, however, can furnish
more satisfactory evidence of the prosperous condition
of the CauSe of the People than the continued—we
might say, hitherto endless—influx of such communi-
cations ; for if they prove anything, they most un-
questionably prove what we know to be fact—namely,
that the people feel strongly upon the present crisis—
that they are not to be trifled with by any hostile
power, of whatever materials it may consist—and that,
if necessity require it, they will act strongly also !
The Tory press, of which we do not complain, because
it is consistent in pursuing the vocation to which it has
been doomed by a fatal inheritance, and the renegade
press, of which we, in conjunction with all honest men,
as well as honest journalists, are ashamed—are endea-
vouring to persuade the public—first, that, they ought
to have no feeling but that of passive obedience to the
exercise of the Royal prerogative on the present occa-
sion—secondly, t'ilat they have none I—thirdly, that if
there be some few who are astounded by the late changes,
they are very foolish persons—fourthly, that the people
of England ought, in justice to themselves, to disgrace
their country and their cause, and make both a bye word
and a reproach to all Europe, and to all succeeding
generations, by bailing Reform as a God-send from
those who have waged the most deadly warfare, and still
cherish the most deadly determination, against all re-
form—and, finally, that the embryo Government is
daily (we owe this. piece of information to the Post)
receiving innumerable proofs of the adhesion of Whigs
and Radicals to its ranks ;—but where is the proof of
all these things ? Is it in the apathy of the people
—is it in their withholding themselves from pub-
lic meetings, the express object of which is to
unseat the Wellington and Peel Cabinet—is it
in the comparatively numerous and most public
meetings of the anti-reformers---and, finally, in the ad-
hesion of Hunt and Cobbett, who never formed any
portion of the Whig or Radical camp, though they tried
to fasten their claws upon the skirts of its tents ? If
the Post glories in such adhesions, we beg to assure it
that we most unfeignedly sympathise in its joy. We
wish, in fact, for its sake, that there were more han-
gers-on of the same kidney to enable its party to muster
an army with which to attempt a march through Co-
ventry ! It is an ill-conditioned force which, in the
day of battle, cannot spare the sutlers. However,
' notwithstanding the pressure on our columns of the I
most interesting and satisfactory matter, we have founj
room for the speech of Lord John Russell at Totiv-;s,
which gives the lie, in more than one respect, to the
assertions of the Tory Press,—for that of Lord Pal-
merston, to his constituents in South Hants, in -which
he vindicates most ably the conduct of the late Ca-
binet, as well as his own—and for that of Mr.
Hutt, one of the Members for Hull, in an abridged
form. Mr. Hill's we gave on a former occasion,
though in the official form in which we have no w re-
ceived his address we perceive points which will de-
mand our early attention ; and•we now close these
hurried observations by quoting a p)rtion ce Mr.
Poulett Thomson's address to his const,ioe.pts, in Nan-

chester, which we may safely characterize as firm and
uncompromising. Comment is out of the question ;
but who can be so blind as not to perceive that the
union of Whigs and Radicals is now complete, and,
being complete, that iif3 Ministry can stand against it,
encept by means of the bayonet ?
The principles," says Mr. Poulett Thomson, " which
guide my conduct are well known to you. It was from your
approval of them that you conferred upon me, unsolicited- the
honour of representing you. They remain unaltered.' lam
not conscious of having failed to give to them the fullest effect
of which the circumstances in which I was placed—and placed
with your knowledge and full concurrence—admitted. I told
you candidly, upon accepting the trust which you reposed in
me, that as a Member of the Government, I might sometimes
be compelled to compromise opinions, which I entertained in
common with yourselves, for the sake of that union without
which any combination for common objects is impossible.
Such occasions may have occurred ; but if one amongst you
thinks that more might have been done by his representative,
I will freely tell him that I think he underrates the difficulties
under which reforms are brought about; and I can fearlessly
appeal to my own conscience for always having acted that part
which I thought most likely to advance these our common
principles. _ _

" The acts of the Administration, to which I had the honour
to belong when you selected me, are recorded in some of the
most beneficial measures which ever emanated from the Legis-
lature. That Administration received at the end of last Ses-
sion a reinforcement from the liberal party ; and the work of
reform would, I can confidently assert, under the guidance of
Lord Melbourne, have proceeded steadily and fearlessly. It
has pleased his Majesty, in the exercise of his undoubted pre-
rogative, suddenly to dismiss that Administration, and to call
to his councils the leader of the Tory party—of those who have
uniformly opposed all the reforms upon which they, with whom
I have had the honour of bcing connected, have founded a
claim to the good will and confidence of their fellow-country-
men—those whose unsuccessful struggle against the Reform
Act—against the abolition of slavery--against the opening of
our trade with China—against the partial reform of the Irish
Churth—we have to rejoice at ; whose too successful and dis-
astrous opposition to the further reform of that monstrous
abuse—to the better and cheaper administration of justice—
and to the removal of the grievances of those who dissent from
the Church of England, we have to lament.
" Should you be called upon to exercise your elective fran-
chise, it will be for you, and for the other electors of the
united kingdom, constitutionally to decide, by the choice of
those in whom you will confide, whether the power of govern-
ment shall be placed in hands like these—whether the task of
ameliorating the institutions of the country, and correcting
abuses which have sprung from a long course of corrupt and
vicious legislation, shall be entrusted to the friends or to the
enemies of Reform—whether the work of reformation is to be
stopped at its commencement, or whether the Reform Act
shall bear its full fruits.

" The struggle must come. If in the exercise of your right
of choice you are disposed again to confide your power to my
hands, though others might wield it more ably, none will do
so more zealously. To give to the Reform Act its full con-
sequences—to extend to the utmost to all classes the blessings
of civil and religious freedom—to correct the abuses of
the church establishment—to purify the representative
system, and secure the independent exercise of their franchise
to those who possess it—to remove the shackles from our in-
dustry—to economise the expenses of the state, and alleviate
the burthens of the people, will be hereafter, as it has hitherto
been, my most anxious endeavour.

" Several practical measures press for the immediate deci-
sion of Parliament ; the great works of Corporation and
Church Reform--remedies for the just complaints of the Dis-
senters by the the abolition of Church-rates—by the removal
of civil disabilities on account of religious opinions—by the
introduction of a perfect system of civil registration, are ex-
pected without delay by the great body of our countrymen. To
these, and to any other practical measures calculated to ad--
vance the great principles which I have avowed, I shall lead a
ready and willing assistance."—Morning Advertiser.

Lord J. Russell has been entertaining a select party
of the Devonshire electors, with whom his
Lordship
dined at Totness, with a speech historical and expla-
natory, a speech to which we do full justice when we
say that it was worthy of the author of Don Carlos.
His Lordship talked in the strain in which the Whigs
have always talked of the part taken by the Admins-
tration of the Duke of Wellington upon the questions
of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and
of the Roman Catholic Disabilities, that is to say this
amazingly small-minded and envious person endea-
voured to persuade his hearers that for these measures
of relief the Dissenters and Roman Catholics owe no-
thing to the Noble Duke and his colleagues, and
everything to Lord John Russell and the vigorous
and efficient school of statesmen of which he is so
prominent a member. The merit of the Duke of
Wellington and his colleagues, in reference to
the two questions above mentioned, is precisely
such indeed (and we now offer the best apology
that can be devised for Lord John Russell)
rts he
could not be expected to understand. (1...1 one of these
questions the Administratio.:. of
submitted with franl-- the Noble Duke
and sincerity to the opinion
of the Hon
ot.
sys*--• Commons ; on the other it altered its
__ein of policy in deference to the strong necessity
it believed time and circumstances to have pro-
duced. This was the part of wise and prudent states-
men, and it can excite no surprise that Lord John
Russell does not understand it. But the Adminis-
tration of the Duke of Wellington in respect of these
two important questions is entitled to another kind of
praise, which is also unfortunately quite above the
comprehension of poor Lord John. It not only
yielded to the expressed opinion of the House of Com-
mons in respect to one of them ; it not only bent to
the force of circumstances in respect to the other ; but
it proved itself sincere and efficient in carrying the
convictions thus impressed upon it into effect. It con-
trived no vexatious delays. It manufactured no odious
jobs. It committed no senseless blunders. It dealt
honestly and fairly with the country, and at once
with hearty good will, and by the shortest and most
direct course, set about the accomplishment of all
that it had undertaken to perform. These are merits
which the country can understand, although it is
quite evident that to Lord John Russell and to
Statesman of similar mould, they arc entirely unintel-
ligible. Whatever imperfection may have crept into
any of our national institutions, ecclesiastical or civil ;
whatever abuse may have sprung up ; whatever the
nation generally may be disposed to regard as abuse or
imperfection ; the new Administration, acting upon the
principles which guided the Duke of Wellington's
Ministry in the instances to which Lord John Russell
so unskilfully and incautiously referred,
will, it is
pretty generally understood, endeavour to eradicate.
And if, in entering the office, the new Ministers pledge
themselves to undertake this task, the country has past
experience as a guarantee that they will not be want-
' ing either in the inclination or the ability to redeem
their pledge. It is surely something to the country to see
a probability of the reforms which it has at heart being
substantially accomplished, without the tormenting
delays, the incessant and interminable blunders, the
costly and rapacious commissions, which every reform
attempted and every reform promised by the defunct
Ministry were sure to produce. The country, we re-
peat, can distinguish, although
.Lord John Russell
thinks it inconvenient to do so, between the statesmen
who will prosecute needful reforms, with the honest
purpose of affording benefit and satisfaction to the
people, and those who care for reform only as an in-
strument whereby to amuse and delude the nation ;
b.:tween the men who, whatever they profess to under-
take, will undertake it in earnest, and the men who,
after making large promises to the public, proceed
forthwith to convert, for their own peculiar advantage,
every promise they have made into a hot-bed of pro-
fligate jobs. Lord John Russell attempts to deny
that differences of opinion in the late Cabinet were
the cause of its dismissal. But what he means for
denial sounds very much like confession. He says,
" It is quite untrue that there was any practical
difference of opinion among the members of the
late Administration upon the measures to be proposed
in relation to the Irish Church." But he also says
that no measures had been matured, that none had yet
been discussed in the Cabinet, or even laid before it
for discussion. If the latter assertion be true, of which
there is not much doubt, Lord John might have spared
himself the trouble of informing the Devonshire
farmers that no practical difference had arisen. But
can anybody deny after the Edinburgh speeches, that
there was so much difference of principle among the
members of the deceased Administration as warranted
the anticipation of his Majesty that practical differences
would arise whenever they set seriously about the
preparation of their Irish Church measures ? Lord
John acknowledges the probability that some differ-
ence might have arisen. In the view of all others that
probability is so strong as to amount to certainty ;
for if men do not agree as to the principles of a
measure, it is rather difficult to comprehend how it
is possible that they should agree in its details. This
whole matter is, indeed, plain enough. The late Mi-
nisters of the Crown would have postponed the Cabi•
net discussion till the latest possible moment—probably
till the next Session of Parliament had been conside-

rably advanced—in the perfect consciousness that the
only way to avoid disagreement was to avoid discus-
sion. This they would haiie done for sake of a few
months' longer enjoyment of place, patronage, and
posVer. -A few jobs in the abused name of reform
would have been perpetrated in the meanwhile, and
about Whitsuntide, when the Irish Church discussion
could be no longer deferred, the Administration would
have fallen to pieces. This is the treatment which
Lord John Russell and his colleagues nad prepared
for their Sovereign—this the advantage they meant to
confer upon the country► But the King, fortunately
for himself and his people, had more penetration and
greater vigour of mind than they had permitted to
enter into their very loyal and patriotic calculations.—
Morning Post.

The delusion which has been so industriously pro-
pagated within the last three weeks is already pretty
nearly defunct ; clamour has had its full swing—the
mob orators of the movement have bellowed themselves
hoarse, and on more than one occasion to empty
benches ; and, in spite of all, the truth begins to make
itself manifest, that if the Reform Bill does its duty
or be worth a millionth part of the pains which it has
cost, and the praises which have been lavished an its
no right or privilege, or interest, or enjoyment of the
people of England can henceforth be essentially
wounded by any Administration which the King of
England may summon to his Council-chamber, and no
one portion of the system of progressive reform can be
frustrated or arrested, which the majority of the nation
shall through its representatives dentandk It is curious
to observe what unfortunate devices have sometimes
been resorted to in the vehemence of political feeling,
how blind the persons employing them seem to be, how
unconscious of the purposes to which they really tend,
and of the conclusions to which they lie open. Lord
John Russell, in a clever speech addressed In a body
of his constituents at Totnes, and desirous (fairly, no
doubt, according to the ethics of party) to crush the
Duke of Wellington at once, by an overwhelming at-
tack upon his Grace's Ministerial history, referred,
with much apparent triumph, to those two impor,
taut features in the Duke's Admihisteation—the re-
peal of the Test Act, and the repeal of the Catholic
Disabilities. It is true, quite true, that the Duke
and his colleagues had for years resisted both these
concessions, and it was a point dwelt upon by
Lord John Russell with more, we think, of " em-
phasis" than of sound " discretion," for the sake
of proving—what ? That the Duke, &se,' had WlStly
given way upon two greet questions—that rather than
disturb or dissatisfy the country, he had deferred to the
public sentiment, even when Parliament was so con-
stituted as to afford him the prospect of still coma
manding majorities in support of hit Mb ; and there-
fore that he might thenceforth be expected to act upon
the same safe and prudent policy, and yield in due
season to a pressure so much more direct and irresisti-
ble than that which before subdued himsss-stiarnsly, the
prodigious weight of opiilion created by the Reform
Bill itself ? Was such the inference to which the noble
Member for Devonshire desired to lead his hearers,
and which, indeed, was the only one warranted by
the premises he adduced ? No, unhappily for the
logic of the Noble Member, for he accompanies the
'recurrence to the past concessions of the Duke of
Wellington by a distinct, though parenthetical as-
sump ion, that the noble Duke's promises for the
future " would be found vain and unsubstantial !"
We do not understand this : no downright intellect
can follow such reasoning, and assent to it. Be-
cause a Minister formerly yielded more than he had
promised, nay, yielded what he had been anxious
to retain, his pledges for the future as to be disre-
garded ; and when he broadly declares " I will com-
ply with the wishes of the people," it is to be construed
into " I will not." Why, let us ask, should the
Duke and his friends now put forth promises of eccle-
siastical and constitutional reform ? Why, but because
they are conscious that such measures must be carried?
They promise (let us suppose for the sake of argu-
' nient) under duress—under a consciousness of the
power of a free representative system ; but is there any
thing in the natural working of the Reform Bill to
flatter the Conservatives with the shadow of a hope, that
when the time comes for fulfilling their promises, the
duress will be lightened, or the popular power of en-
forcing such engagements against those who have
contracted them impaired? What means do the
Conservatives possess of skulking from any of their
acknowledged obligations ? Is it as it used to be
when Parliaments were packed ? We trust not, or
cui bono the reform ? There was, indeed a motive
plainly actuating Lord John Russell in his attack
on the Duke of Wellington's principles. It was to
make him odious. It was not to make the people
distrust his promise, for it is not on record that the
Duke ever broke his word ; but it was to excite
among the constituency a spirit of personal dislike to
his Grace and his friends, as should re- oporate upon
the House of Commons, and prevail upon members
to vote them out of office upon no other ground than
dislike. This is an object for a Statesman. It is, we
say, unworthy of a Statesman to raise an outcry
against his antagonist, as one who entertains opinions
adverse to those of the nation, without rendering its
full consideration to the fact that the accused party is
one who has systematically yielded his own judgment,
when he found that the nation opposed it. How do
we know that Lord Grey would, at this late period
of his life, have proposed a reform in Parliament,
strenuously as in his youth he had espoused it,
but for the almost unanimity of the people of
England in demanding it a demand which we
are sure was necessary to the consent of some of
his colleagues ? How do we know that if the
national voice had peremptorily called for it six
months before the Duke of Wellington left office,
he, the Conservative, would not have surrendered
an extensive Reform of Parliament, as he had given
up to the same force the great Irish reform of eman-
cipation ? It is foolish to distrust the solemn assu-
rances of a man of unblemished honour. It is childish
to be swayed in momentous affairs by vague individual
dislike ; but it would be madness in the nation gene-
rally to take up the personal resentments of one set of
Ministers, though containing among them, every one
will freely admit, most estimable and amiable men, as
a pretext for refusing common justice to another body
whom the King has chosen, and judging by facts whe-
ther they merit support or opposition from the country.
At the outset of this Cabinet • revolution we said,
" Watch narrowly" the Duke and his associates. If
they fail in their duty, condemn and spare them not,
but be just and try tham. That part of Lord John
Russell's speech which professed to elucidate the cause
of the dismissal, we forbear to notice, because it pre-
sents nothing new, certainly nothing clear, and because
we have already announced our determination to wait
for statements from authority : till then we abide by
our statement.—Times.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DEC. 6.