The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-02 00:00:00

noise than anv argument, that the best mode in
which an intelligent people could testify theb
joy at a great public event was by sticking a
parcel of tallow candles in their windows, and
shouting about the streets the greater part of the
night. We are the less disposed to concur in this
dictum of the Westminster meeting, as the dis•
cusssion which the subject had already undergone
in the public prints was producing very different
effects in different parts of the country, where
the plan of feeding and relieving the poor was in
general preferred to the senseless, and in many re-
Teets, mischievous practice of illuminating. With-
out claitningthe character ofdownright sages,either
for ourselves or our coutrymen, it is surely al-
lowable that we should require a small mixture of
rationality to express the joy of full-grown poli-
ticians at the victory of reason over antiquated
abuse. The advocates of squibs and candlelight
►nay tell us that trade is benefited by such enjoy-
ments ; but it is benefited at the expense
of the poor as well as of the rich. All
must light up, or take the consequences ; and
amongst many bad effects of the stupid custom is
that of exposing poverty to ill-treatment for not
doing what it may not have the means of doing,
if it vt ere ever so desirous. A Mr. Showbridge,
who stated at the meeting that " a more rational
method might be adopted, and one more becom•
ing the reformers of 1832," was met with such a
shout of disapprobation as soon convinced him
that the rational mode was not the popular one
in that assembly. Still the dictum of one meet-
ing can hardly be considered binding on the whole
country, if the public mind have actually taken
up an impression the other way. In that case we
should expect to have a counter mutiny, which, if
it spoke out strongly in favour of any benevolent
project, could scarcely fail of success. A few days
will decide whether illumination, which is an
old custom, shall be adopted in preference to
all other modes of rejoicing, merely because it is
an old custom, when the corruption whose de-
feat it is intended to celebrate is at least as old,
arid, if that be the only argument, as much en-
titled to respect.—Morning Herald.
Our readers will have learned from recent
movements in the Ministerial circles that there
is that perplexity and tribulation in Downing-
street which is usually manifested by large meet-
ings of the friends of Government, convened
for the purpose of being lectured or consulted
on some pinching point. There was an assem-
blage of this kind on Saturday morning at the
Foreign-office, and a less pleasant one for those
who called it, and for those who obeyed the call,
has seldom, if ever, occurred in the history of
party politics. The object of the meetingwas to
prepare for the approaching renewal of the dis-
cussion on that luckless specimen of Whig policy,
the Russian Dutch Loan. We understand that
Lord Palmerston made a very pathetic address to
eighty-one Members (the whole number out of
three hundred that obeyed the summons), setting
forth the claims of himself and his colleagues to
the support of all their friends in this untoward
job on the score i 4 confidence ; and distinctly
informing them that this sacrifice of British
money had been the only means by which the
cooperation of Russia could be secured in the
foreign policy of the present Government. We
have heard that he added that this was a vital
question, and that the existence of Government
depended upon it. An informant states this
speech of the Noble Lord proved to be a moving
appeal, inasmuch as some of the persons ad-
dressed forthwith took their hats and departed.
From among those who remained a rejoinder
was made to his Lordship's address, by no
means satisfactory to his Majesty's Ministers in
its effects, however complimentary in the terms
employed by the speaker ; and finally, tt►at the
meeting dispersed, leaving the Secretary of State
and his colleagues in a position at least as
unpleasant as that in which it had found them.
And how could it be otherwise ? How could
any set of Gentlemen having the smallest con-
sideration for their own characters, or the least
regard for their success at the approaching
elections, undertake to support such a scanda-
lous transaction as the grant of this profligate
bribe to Russia ? We rejoice to perceive by
the observations which fell frotn Mr. Flerries
on Friday night that the whole subject is again
to be discussed, with a full sense on the part of
the Opposition of the deep importance belong-
ing to it. In the meantime we invite the parti-
cular a'tention of all our readers to the co►tven-

Lion which has been recently laid upon the table
of the Hou,e, and which we published last
week. We beg them to recollect the debate
which took place on the 26th of January, in
which the Ministers affirmed, and succeeded in

inducing a majority (a feeble one indeed) to
affirm with them, that they were empowered,
under the law as it then stood, to make

the payments due to Russia on the Ist of
January, and then to compare that assertion
with the terms of this Convention, dated the
16th of November preceding, in which it is ex-
pressly declared, under the hand and seal of
Lord Palmerston, that, owing to the circum-
stances attending the separation which had
then taken place between Belgiunz and Holland,
it was necessary for his Majesty to recommend
to " his Parliament to enable hint to undertake

to continue, on his part, the payment stipulated
in the convention of the 19th of May, 1815."
Notwithstanding this formal, this solemn decla-

ration, our wise and upright Ministers paid the
money which they therein declared they had no
right to pay without a fresh authority from Par-
liament ; and they defended that payment by a
reference to the opinion of the law officers of
the Crown, given four months before the date
of that Convention, and which opinion they
had thrown overboard by the Convention it-
self ! Throughout the whole of that dis-
cussion, they maintained that the Conven-

cion of 1815, and the law founded upon
it, gave them full power to continue the
payment, notwithstanding the separation of Bel-
gium from Holland; and this they did although
a fresh convention had already been signed ten
weeks, expressly framed on the ground that the
former convention and the existing law did not
give them that power! Whatever may have been
the influence by which they then obtained the
support of 249 Members, all of them ignorant of
the facts and documents now brought to light,
we will not carry our party feelings so far as to
suppose that any influence which they or any
Ministers could exert would suffice again to
overcome the honest judgment of these gentle-
men with the damning facts before them which
have now been revealed. how the Ministers
will answer to these their adherents for the
duplicity with which; they were treated on that
occassion it is not for us to anticipate. Toward.
them, and indeed towards the whole House of
Commons, the offence committed by this disin.

genuous conduct must be a subject of the
heavist responsibility.—Morning Post.

The thirty-four mile match between Driver
nd Rattler, 5001. a-side, will come off on the 1211 inst.
3 ith mitclas excite considerable interest.