The Sun.
London, England, 1834-12-06 00:00:00

THE T-T
,
LONDON', SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1834

inconvenient politics, however it may shudder at
" apostßcy," condescends to allow that it may be
denominated an " inconvenience." But we will not quar-
rel about terms. Call it what yolfwill, " crisis," " emer-
gency," or" inconvenience"—all agree that it is an evil,
and as such, it is the province of wisdom to turn it to the
best account. All evils, we are bound to believe, are
ultimately productive of good, and from this some
good has already resulted—more, much more, we trust,
may be expected. Had the " Duke" dissolved the Par-
liament, as he intended to do, when he assumed the
Dictatorship, he might have taken the country by
surprise. Simple-minded persons might have been
deceived to their undoing, by the specious pretences
of reform, industriously and knavishly put for ward by
his retainers and adherents. The " prophetic pause"
has- given the people time for reflection and for pre-
paration. The actions of the Tories have sufficiently
disclosed their intentions. Their proceedings are
" trumpet-tongued," and have dispelled the delusion
about reform by which it was attempted to disarm the
opposition of the reformers. The most moderate re-
former must now be convinced that he has nothing to
hope, but everything to fear, from a WELLINGTON
administration. The Duke has a well-traingd pack,
which he and his whippers-in can manage as they like.
From this pack not a whimper is heard, but at the
word of command. Others, however, are more refrac-
tory ; they will break out in spite of him ; they either
cannot or will not be muzzled. The Tories of East
Kent, speaking through their appropriate organ, Lord
STRA NGFORD, that noble scion of a nobler stock,
let us into the secret of their plan of Church
reform. They tell us that all the reform the
Church requires, and all it shall get, is an additional
number of Bishops, to be supported by an additional tax
upon the people ! Lord ROD EN, a leader of what is called
the Protestant Conservative Society of Ireland, congra-
tulates his brethren that the KING "has been led to per-
ceive the awful gulf which awaited the destruction of the
empire," and adds that, if " those who have under-
taken the responsibility of governing, depart from the
straightforward course,' from the principles of sound
policy,' "—that is, if they are not prepared to carry into
effect the views of that Association of fire-brands—
" 'twere better far they had kept back entirely, and al-
lowed the constitution and the country to be destroyed
by others." Nor must we pass over the " Address'
lately issued by Lord KENYON. This "evangelical"
termagant, whose bigotry is surpassed only by his folly,
calls upon the Protestant Dissenters to aid him in de-
fending the abuses of the Church, and putting down the
righteous claims of the Irish Catholics ! The Dissen-
ters are not to be thus deluded. They once stept for-
ward to save the Church of England from apprehended
destruction. They voluntarily submitted to the bon-
dage of the Test and Corporation Acts, on the assur-
ance that they should be relieved from these obnoxious
statutes when the immediate danger was over. How
were they rewarded for their noble sacrifice ? The
galling yoke was kept upon their necks for upwards of
a hundred and fifty years, and, had the C hurch of
England had its way, would never have been re-
moved. No ! Lord KENYON need not trouble him-
self with the Dissenters ; they know well that the
cause of the Irish Catholics is their's, and they will
act accordingly.

The circumstances which we have mentioned (and
we might mention many others to the same effect),
have opened the eyes of all who are not wilfully blind
to the designs of the Tories. The consequence is,
that the Reformers have everywhere agreed to sink the
consideration of their minor differences, and to com-
bine their exertions against the common enemy.. The
disunion between the Whigs and the Radicals, upon
which the Duke so confidently relied, and which was
one of the chief inducements to try the desperate ex-
periment now in progress, is nowhere to be seen. Let
the Duke then dissolve the Parliament. That will
certainly show the world what he really means. The
question will then be " liberty " or " slavery." He
has been defeated before—he may be again. Should
this " untoward " event happen, is he prepared for the
consequences ? To whom is he to hand the reins ?

The speech of Lord JOHN RUSSELL at Totnes,
taken in connection with Lord MELBOURNE'S obser-
vations in reply to the address presented to him by the
Derby Reformers, clearly proves that divisions in the
Cabinet had nothing to do with the late dismissal.
On minor matters there might possibly have been dif-
ferences of opinion—on the more important questions
of policy, there was not the slightest. To what, then,
are we to refer the sudden break-up of the Reformed
Government at a period, as Lord MELBOURNE ob-
served, when " the public mind was in a state of per-
fect contentment, and repose ?" to what, but the
spirit of intrigue, ingrained into the very heart of a
certain faction, which seems blindly resolved to preci-
pitate its own downfall? In alluding more specifi-
cally to the causes of the late events, his Lordship
goes on to say—we take his words as we find them
given verbatim in the Derby Reporter—" You will
not consider me as employing the language of com-
plaint and discontent, if I enumerate among theth the
want of confidence which has often been expressed in
quarters from which we expected support." Lord
.JOAN RUSSELL speaks in the same spirit, and from
the joint remarks of these two Statesmen, we deduce
.the inference that the Reform Ministry has been offered
up as a sacrifice to its own consistency and strait-for-
wardness. Its resolution to remedy all Church abuses
has tolled its death-knell. It gives us sincere pleasure
to find that the country views this matter in its proper
light, and is fully awake to the conviction that a party
which has succeeded to office, only through the in-
fluence of back-stairs manoeuvring, is not the party to
carry on the affairs of the people, in the manly and
open and liberal spirit that is requisite.

Without intending disrespect by the allusion, we
cannot help thinking that if any animal, lower in the
creation than man, could come within the range of
political nick-name, the principles of the Donkey
would most probably turn out to be purely Conserva-

tive ; for he possesses two attributes of character com-
mon to conservatism—he is firm in his purpose, (ill
naturedly called obstinacy), and takes a deal of punish-
ment ere he consents to alter his mind. He very
often gets a good beating for this adherence to his
principles of action—but what then ? it is his nature to
be thus-wise convinced.

But to leave this lively animal, and turn to the
Tories—how pitiable seems their plight, and how
lamentable must be their present trepidation ?—the
watch in their hand without the key to wind it up !

Who does not remember when in childhood, the

thrill of delight in gazing at the opening scene of a
Christmas pantomine, just preparatory to the changes ;
the humble personages now moping about the stage,
about to become by one wave of the magic wand,