The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF T.

There seems to be but one opinion with regard to
the great display at Edinburgh. The feeling in which
the meeting originateclpervaded all classes. The de-
monstration was truly national. As a spectacle, no-
thing could be more magnificent than the procession of
the trades, and the English visitors were peculiarly
struck with it and the appearance of the crowds on the
Calton-hill. It was peculiarly appropriate that the
capital of that part of the empire which has more than
any other gained by the Reform Bill, should be fore-
most in the expression of gratitude to the upright and
consistent Statesman through whom the measure was
achieved, at the close of a long and unsullied poli,
tical life. The speech of Earl Grey was worthy o:
his reputation. We agree with a morning contem-
porary (the Times), " that his fame lives, and will
long live, in the hearts of Englishmen. His
monument is based on the rights of his country-
men. No Statesman ever withdrew from power,
leaving such a general sentiment of reverence be-
hind him ; for even those who found fault with
his policy do honour to the loftiness of his mind, and
his very enemies feel too late it will be long before they
meet so fair a foe." It was not always thus, however,
that Earl Grey was spoken of by our contemporary.
Yesterday the language of eulogy was fairly exhausted
by it, in the attempt to do justice to his Lordship.
We are told that—
" The chivalry of the political world seems, indeed, to end
with Lord Grey. He could be stern, but he was never un-
sparing ; and he appeared to strike for his cause, and not in
resentment to the antagonist who stood between him and his
great object. His prowess was always crested with dignity.
He took no unworthy advantages ; and however great was the
force which he put forth in debate, he left an impression that
he had exercised as much forbearance as power. To humble
and mortify, to pique and abash, were none of his objects.
His mind ranged far above the petty vanities and the petty
personalities. If he overthrew an adversary, it was for some
better purpose than to exult in his own superiority."
Again—
" In the acknowledgment of the honours paid him at Edin-
burgh we see the lofty character which made those honours
due. In Earl Grey's speech there is none of the pride which
apes humility.' He returned the compliment to himself with
no such bad compliment to his entertainers as referring the
tribute of respect to any but the real cause. He did not tell
them that it was because he had been the chief Minister of
their excellent King that they gave him so excellent a recep-
tion, but because he was identified with the cause which sheds
glory on crowns—the cause of the people—the interests of
those for whom kings reign and have their homage."
This is an attempt to hit two birds with one stone.
The Lord Chancellor is carefully aimed at in the
praise of the ex-Premier, who has had but too recent
experience of the Times to mistake the object with
which he was yesterday singled out for eulogy. On
the 10th of June last, the Times, commenting on a
debate in the House of Lords on the 6th of June,
observed, that
" A confession of political weakness, like that of Lord
Grey (on the night in question), was never before heard in
this country since the revolution. Former Ministers, as is
well known, l'.ave considered the support of the Legislature to
be a necessa..7 condition of their continuance in office. They
were men lam held that a certain course of political or financial
measures was indispensable to the public welfare—and when
they found by experience, or had sufficient reason to antici-
pate a r.tajority in either House of Parliament against them,
they behaved like men of honour, and resigned a post of which
they were unable to perform what they themselves acknow-
ledgea to be the essential duties. They behaved like men of
prudence also, and spurned at a situation which rendered them
responsible for the acts of other men, which they themselves
had not the power of in any manner averting or controlling.
'But what is the condition of Lord Grey, as described by him-
self and that of his unfortunate colleagues ? The Noble Lord
declared, indeed, that it was not very agreeable to him to see
a majority of the Peers of the United Kingdom arrayed
against bim, and ready to crush him whenever they might so
please. If the part, then, be so unpleasant to him—if it be
too hot for the Noble Earl, what in the name of wonder in-
duces his Lordship to remain there? There is no honour
surely in laying one's neck upon the ground for other men to
trample on it at their leisure."
As if this were not insulting enough, the same Earl
Grey who is eulogised for his lofty bearing at Edin-
burgh, for displaying none of the pride which apes
humility, for speaking of King William as an honest
subject might be proud to speak of him, for not at-
' tempting to connect his reception with his having been
Minister of an excellent King—was, on the 10th of
June, accused of having disgraced himself by affecting
to show his gratitude to a King who despised him :
" In answer to this question (said the Times), Why Lord
Grey clings fast to his office when he has nothing to lay hold
of but the ;ery pitch that defiles him ? his Lordship states,
and he does so with all his accustomed dignity—that it is out
of duty to a Sovereign who has immeasurable claims upon his
gratitude. Now, we have never yet understood that any noble-
man or gentleman in England was bound to inflict disgrace
upon himself as a proof of sensibility to past obligations from
others. The reply has often enough been made to an English
sovereign when importuning certain statesmen to remain in
office, that his Majesty had a right to every sacrifice but that
of conscience and honour.' Lord Grey is the first on record
who has offered his Sovereign more than twenty shillings
in the pound, and out of a fund which no honest- man
ought to consider at his own disposal. Besides, let us
speak freely, though we trust without offence, on a matter of
deep national concern. Can Lord Grey bone fide believe that a
certain high personage does in his heart desire the continuance
of the present Ministry (we were going to say in power, but
that is absurd) in office ? Does Lord Grey think so ?—be-
cause we can inform him that other people do not. On the
contrary, they are of opinion that there is no mark of the
Noble Earl's gratitude for all the favours conferred upon him
and his relations which the exalted personage would not pre-
fer to that particular, and to his Lordship most painful, proof
of attachment, which he has himself selected as evidence of
his loyal devotion,—viz., his persevering retention of the Go-
vernment in spite of all those advantages by which he laments
that he is, and has long been, surrounded ; and of all those
numberless humiliations which the public are not slow to per-
ceive, even though the Noble Earl should happily himself be
blind to them."
We have here Lord Grey exhibited in the very
dignified character of one who will press his services
on one who insults him in ei ery way, and puts every
affront on him, but in vain—he is insensible to the
disgrace. "He talks" (says the Times) " the jargon
of senile--of anile Conservatism. What was his
answer to Lord Ebrington's well-meant, but most ill-
judged and unfortunate letter ? Lord Eldon might
have written it." And the cause of his putting up
with the affronts ? Dr. Johnson has expressed it in
his well-known couplet,--
" All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows--
And bid him' go to hell, to hell he goes."
" Men know" (says the Times) " what Lord Grey
has told them—that it is the high Court faction who
rule Lord Grey with a scourge suspended over him ;
and they ask themselves what can induce him to be the
tool and scape-goat of his Tory task-masters ? What,
but the miserable patronage of qffice which he shares
among his hungry connections ?" On the 9th of June
his Lordship was asked " what good he could do as
Minister ?" and told that the Conservatives dragged
" him nightly through the dirt."
" The Noble Earl (said our contemporary) deprecates a
collision between the two Houses. Alas, his supplications are
• of small avail. Whenever Lord Grey dares to execute any one
of his own pledges, by which he bound himself to follow up the
principles of his avowed system of reform of Church and State,
by the introduction of any one really bold and effective mea-
sure after the House of Commons shall have passed it, that
moment the collision does come—there is no averting it.
Away, then, with this childishness of deprecating' and shrink-
ing from collision.' If he were a wise and resolute Minister,
the Nbble Earl would invoke it as the best of consummations.
No more patching up—no more shuffling—no more subser-
viency. It is utter folly : the people say it is mere vulgar
love of place which can alone induce a Minister to be rode over
rough shod, as Lord Grey and his colleagues have been."
So then the Earl Grey who held a lofty character
at Edinburgh on Monday last, was on the 9th of June
last a shuffler, a shirker, and a subservient tool of the
Duke of Wellington. These are a few only of the
flowers of the Times presented to Earl Grey in June
last. The Lord Chancellor, we are to understand,
from the praise bestowed on Earl Grey--for the Times
does nothing with singleness of mind—is disposed to
humble and mortify, to pique and abash, and petty va-
nities and petty personalities are uppermost in his mind.
He exults in his superiority. We are told that his
" speech in acknowledgment of a toast, in which he
was prudently lumped with the other Ministers, began
with that formula which, mouthed as it is upon every
occasion, looks, like loyalty burlesqued. He would
almost seem to he aiming at the ludicrous effect of that
eternal story 6of his most gracious Majesty,' told by
the Lady Margaret Bellenden of Tillitudlem, in
Scott's romance. Like bad farce writers, the
Chancellor raises a laugh by the mere repeti-
tion of the same phrase." However, we sup-
pose we must prepare for " reporting better
behaviour" of our contemporary. "It is clear that the
Learned Lord was under check, and felt that the an-
tics which could be played before the burgesses of
Inverness and the goods folks of Aberdeen and Dun-
dee, would have another reception in the company as-

" I trust I have now convinced your simpleton of the
middle classes of his folly, in attempting to rate the Times
for a line of conduct which he was incapable of appreciating;
and that I, on behalf of the lowest orders, have established
an increased claim on that distinguished journal, for a more
frequent repetition of opportunities by which they may better
themselves at the expense of their betters.
" ONE OF THE LOWEST CLASS."
—Morning Chronicle.
Lord Brougham seems proud, and justly so, of hav-
ing been mainly instrumental in passing the new Cen-
tral Criminal Courts' Act, which is speedily coming
into operation. Lord Brougham, however, ought not
zo run away with the whole merit of this important
measure, but should be content to concede a little of it
to the authors of those celebrated " mistakes," the oc-
currence of which led to the necessity of placing the
higher branches of the criminal jurisprudence of the
metropolis in safer and more competent hands. But
while the Act provides a remedy against one species of
" mistake," it is calculated, we fear, to perpetuate
another. While the Clerkenwell system was manifestly
so defective, that of the Old Bailey has been not less
imperfect in handing over criminals of the highest
grade to be tried by Judges of whose competency
the Crown, and its responsible advisers, have no know-
ledge, but whose fitness or unfitness for the awful duties
thus imposed upon them depends, we believe, upon the
judicial discrimination of the worthy dry-salters, fell-
mongers, et id genus omne, ofwhich the Common Coun-
cil of London may happen to be composed. It would
be an easy, though an irksome task, to illustrate the
injurious effect which such a mode of appointing
Judges has upon public interest and feeling. We war
with the system, not with individuals.. We arc point-
ing out what seems to us a great constitutional evil, of
the extent of which we are in the habit of furnishing
proofs in the abstracts which are published in this pa-
per of the amount of business done at each Old Bailey
Sessions by each of the Judges. Now these abstracts
invariably show that the proportions of criminal trials
which take place before the three Learned Judges of
the land on each rota amounts to little or nothing, in
comparison at least with the total number of prisoners.
This is one of the evils which the new Criminal Court
Bill. ought to have remedied, but which we fear it has
not. At least we shall look, and so will a great part
of the public, to its first operation, to see whether the
criminals of the four counties of Middlesex, Surrey,
Essex, and Kent, are to be tried by Judges appointed
by the Crown, or whether by those emanating from the Corporation of London. Of corporation abuses,
of the correction of which we have heard a great
deal, and have as yet seen nothing, none probably is
more practically mischievous than this virtual usur-
pation of the duties and powers of the Crown
ut this respect. In some boroughs, as in that of
Poole, for instance, the Mayor and his brother Jus-
tices are Judges in cases of -civil injury to any extent,
while in all, or nearly all, persons accused of criminal
offences are tried by Judges, who, though they may be
excellent cheesemongers and tailors, can have no know-
ledge of the law, sometimes, indeed, though not always,
assisted by a Learned Recorder, whose politics or pa-
ternity have often had more to do with his appoint..