The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-28 00:00:00

VIE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1835.

say, of the Court party—not, of course, of our
Most Gracious King, and our still more gracious
Queen, but of those persons about the Court, Who are
said to have been sleepless during the whole time
that the reins of Government were in the hands of the
Grey and Melbourne Administrations. If he is in
any other sense a representative, he is the represen-
tative of Tory principles.; for it could not be because
he was a liberal that he was sent for, post haste,
from Rome, to be the head of a Government, the
whole members of which are illiberal. Sir Robert is
either the representative of the mere Court party, or he
is the Representative of Sir Edward Knatchhull, Mr.
Goulburn, and others of that class. The doctrine
upon which his professed credence is grounded is,
therefore, a misrepresentation, and the whole of the
speech can be nothing else. Let us, however, exa-
mine the points. First, Sir Robert would not " dis-
_ _ _ _

parage" the Melbourne Cabinet. He is too generous
for that, but he hesitates not to say that " the able
men had left that Cabinet," and that from loyalty to
the only able man who had it not in his power to re
sign and leave them, he came whip and spur from
beyond the Appenines to assume the Seals. This
is unmanly as well as unjust. The Melbourne Cabi-
net had the confidence of the House of Commons:
and even in the worst of " modern" times, the loss of
that confidence has been held to be the only " fair"
ground for the dismissal of an Administration. The
Melbourne Cabinet had the confidence of the country
to a greater extent than even that of Earl Grey, much
as the people were inclined to like him for his long
and steady services, and for no other reason than that

it was inclined to go farther. It does not appear,
indeed, that the Melbourne Administration had
shown the least ground upon which any one could
cease to have confidence in it, except Sir Robert
Peel, and those who, like him, had opposed every
liberal measure, originate in what quarter it might.
Secondly, Sir Robert would have the simplicity
to make us believe that he is a Reformer ; but he

takes care that it is according to his own notions of
the subject. In effect, he says, " Reformers are not
agreed ; some want one thing, some another. I have
voted against them all, and, therefore, how can I be
anything else than a Reformer ?" Certainly, Sir
Robert, you voted against all those proposals to
which any one of the differently-minded Reformers
were opposed; but, you also voted against all those
of which they were in favour. Your time function
has been, a Reformer constantly opposing Reform ;
and there are even now not the least signs of amend-
ment. Thirdly, Sir Robert feels very confident that
he will have the confidence and a majority of the new
Parliament, although there will certainly be a majo-
rity of 150 Members against him. But In this be
judges of others by himself ; and faneies that those
Reformers with whom he voted against those parti-
cular modifications of reform of which they did not
approve, but against whom he voted in all those which
they did approve, will now vote with him. He for-
gets that it is among slaves only—the slaves of des-
petism, that there can be perfect uniformity of opi-
nion ; and the lesson which Lord Stanley and Sir James

Graham gave him, might have taught him that there
is a wide difference between two persons both finding
fault with a third one on particular points, and the
two agreeing upon every point whatever; yet this is the
the foundation upon which Sir Robert builds his
hopes of continuance in office ! Fourthly, he talks on
the reforms and retrenchments to which he has been a
party. Among these he does not include his Cur-
rency Bill, and he is discreet in avoiding it ; for it is
the severest blow to the industry of the country which
it has suffered by any enactment for many years. Other
than that he originated nothing. The law reforms of
which he boasts were only consolidations, and repeals
of obsolete statutes, and even then he only introduced
them—he did not originate them. He was also
only " consenting" to Mr. Huskisson's mea-
sures ; and from his repeated speeches and votes
upon analogous subjects, there are pretty strong
grounds for believing that, if it had not been
through fear of being kicked out of office by his
more able and liberal colleagues, Sir Robert would
have been found in opposition to those measures.
That the Premier should, contrary to the usage, and,
we may add, to the prudence of all Premiers in times
past, feel it necessary to make these repeated small
sallies through the postern of Tamworth, shows that
there is weakness and fear in the garrison ; and we
understand that the Duke has argued with him on this
very subject, as he himself—feeling that he must soon
die politically—is determined, like an ancient fox, to
die silently ; and, therefore, is offended with the junior
for "giving tongue " at a time so desperate. The
Duke, notwithstanding his necessary ignorance of
the people of England, feels, as a man of the world,
that this boasting, which the Premier himself must
feel to be hollow, cannot fail to accelerate that final
ruin of the party, and of all who have the weakness to
cling to it, which is coming fast and sure enough, in
the natural course of events.—Morning Advertiser.
We call the attention of our tenders to a document
in another column, on the subject of the Middlesex
County-rates. The Committee of the Vestry of the
Parish of St. George, Hanover-square, have entered
on, the task of overhauling the expenditure, and they
Laye already made some important discoveries. Esti-
mates of ~;,?,/ks are proverbially delusive, in many
cases not amounting to half the result. But the
county of Middlesex contrive that their estimates
should always exceed the reality. Thus, for instance,
we find it stated in this Report, that the font estimates
for the year, 14th of October, 1833, to the 13th of
October, 1834, amount to 97,364/. 13s. 70., while
the actual expenditure for the year was only
66,2461. 4s. 81d. It appears, too, that on the first
day of each quarterly account, there was always
in the
hands of the treasurer, in cash and uncollected rates,
a larger sum than the amount of the expenditure to
the next quarter. The Committee justly complain of
this practice of making the estimate to exceed the ex-
penditure so very much, as it occasions a correspond-
ing unnecessary taxation. The treasurer probably
thinks that the money is better in his hands than in
the pockets of the people ; but we suspect the expo-
sure will lead to a change. We perceive that the
Committee have entered on the subject of Lunatic
Asylums ; and we are much mistaken if their industry
be not rewarded here by some notable discoveries.—
Morning Chronicle.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.