The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-22 00:00:00

the fundamental point of his creed. No man is more
competent to discharge the duties of Grand Vizier to
the Brother of the Sun and Moon ; to the Autocrat of
all the RUSS' A.S he would prove an invaluable Prime
Minister ; or place him at the head of a well appointed
army, and there is no man whom we should so much
delight to honour, for there he would be in his proper
element ; but the very qualities which so eminently
fit him for these employments, and which give such
effect to his unrivalled military talents—his arbitrary
principles and overbearing temper—the cold, un-
scrupulous, unsympathizing sternness of his mental
constitution, render him totally unfit to sway the des-
tinies of a free people.
Our readers will see, from what we have said, that
we leave no desire to undervalue the real merits of the
Duke of WELLINGTON. In truth, we have no wish
to detract one iota from these merits. We are there-
fore bound to express our conscientious opinion that
consistency is one of his distinguishing characteristics.
He has been uniformly uncompromising in his oppo-
sition to every measure, that had for its object the
establishment or the enlargement of the rights of the
people. We know of no instance of voluntary
aberration from this course. We shall no doubt
be reminded of the repeal of the Test Act, and the
emancipation of the Catholics. Softly. Against the
former of those measures he brought the whole power
of the Government to bear, and was defeated by an
irresistible majority in the House of Commons. What
gratitude do the Dissenters owe him for this ? He
would, had he been able, have kept the degrading
yoke of bondage on their necks ; but they were too
strong for him. And did he emancipate the Catholics
from choice ? No ;he denied, to the last, the justice
of their claims, and rested his defence of the measure
entirely on its necessity. The Duke is a soldier, and
he wisely thought it was time to yield, when seven mil-
lions of men had their hands on the hilts of their swords.

And now as to his conduct on the question of Par-
liamentary Reform. When that question was first
mooted, he declared, (and no action of his life,
either before or since, has ever led his country
to doubt the sincerity of that declaration), that
the borougmongering system was the quintessence of
perfection—that if he had to form a new Constitution
he would take that system as his model. In the spirit
of that declaration, and true to his principles, he stre-
nuously opposed the Reform Bill in every clause and
in every stage ; and since it passed into a law he has
laboured incessantly, and not always unsuccessfully,
to mar its working, and to deprive the people of its
benefits. Unless, therefore, we reverse the principles
by which human nature has been actuated, and human
conduct judged, since the. creation of man, we must
believe that the Duke of WELLINGTON will endea-
vour to stop the progress of Reform.
And this is the man in whom the truckling and
time-serving satellite 3 of power advise the friends of
freedom—the Reformers of Great Britain—to confide I
Yes, when the lamb shall confide in the wolf, and the
kid shall put his trust in the tender mercies of the
leopard, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, then
may an honest Reformer have confidence in the Duke
of WELLINGTON.

Confidence strikes its roots slowly in the breast of a
Reformer. It is now too late in the day to deceive
him with promises. His hopes of the future must be
founded on his experience of the past, and when he is
told to repose confidence in a public man, he asks, not
unnaturally, what has he done to deserve it ?
That attempts are making to lull suspicion, and
to decoy the unwary into acquiescence, is obvious
enough ; and that they will continue to be made,
we entertain no manner of doubt. The Duke is
too able a tactician not to make some specious
demonstrations. When the whale begins to flounce,
an old tub or two will never be wanting to throw over-
board, to amuse and keep him in play, until a favour-
able opportunity occur to fix the deadly harpoon in his
heart. That object will be kept steadily in view. A
late statesman, the ablest and the most eloquent cham-
pion of the rotten boroughs, once remarked that if he
sacrificed Gatton it would be to save Old Sarum. Such
will be the policy of the Duke. If he unscrew one
peg, it will only be for the purpose of screwing another
harder up—if he loosen one bolt, it will be
but to clench another more firmly. His opera-
tions hitherto have been conducted with his
usual skill, and he has already accomplished an
achievement from which his friends augur a suc-
cessful issue to his labours—he has put a hook into
the nose, and a bridle into the lips, of the great
Leviathan of Reform, and has turned him back by the
way by which he came. But let him not plume him-
self too much on the assistance of this new ally, who,
though his heart is as hard as a piece of the nether-
mill-stone, and though he make the deep to boil like a
pot, yet is formidable only in his own element. Out
of that element he has been dragged,.his hideous and
disgusting deformity has been exposed to public view,
and all his snortings and bellowings, and clumsy ca-
perings, serve only to excite derision, scorn, and loathing.

We understand that Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE was
waited on the other day by a deputation of Westmin-
ster electors, with a request that he would permit
himself to be put in nomination for that city, in the
event of a dissolution, to which flattering request he
made answer—" Westminster has already two re-
formers for her representatives ; and if I were to inter-
fere, I should be creating differences and jealousies of
which the Tories would instantly avail themselves. I
cannot therefore consent to be put in nomination, for I
have the interests of reform too strongly at heart, to di-
minish its chances of efficiency, in order to promote
my own personal gratification." Conduct like this is
as sensible as it is magnanimous ; and if the rest of
the Reformers will only act on Sir JOHN'S principle,
of doing his utmost to promote union, the cause of
truth and justice may bid defiance to all the
assaults of the Duke of WELLINGTON and
his hungry subalterns. It is union—and
union only— which will now enable the Re-
formers to carry the day. This is the first—this
the second—this the third requisite for ensuring them
a full and perfect triumph. We cannot too often im-
press on their minds the trite, but still valuable, com-
mon-place, that fraternization is their first and most
imperative duty.

We direct attention to some spirited resolutions of
the electors and people of Newport, in the Isle of
Wight. Every where our liberal countrymen are now
fore-warned and fore-armed. Our accounts, from all
parts of the kingdom, show that the Reformers have
every where mounted guard against the " OLD SOL-
DIER"-that the constituencies in the Liberal interest
that Union against the common
are alive to their. duty—
enemy is their watchword, and determination the in-
scription on the electoral banner. The Duke of WEL-