The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF i HE PUBLIC JOURNALS..

The Duke of Wellington, in his unfortunate
protest, has asserted that the Monarchy, inclu-
ding the Constitution of Parliament, as at pre=
sent acting, is best adapted to the wants and
wishes of the nation. It is to be observed that
his Grace just leaves this proposition as he finds
it. He does not deem it worth his while to de-
termine whether the people are themselves very
generally conscious of the excellent adaptation of
the existing system, which some call a corrupt and
defective system, to their wants, or whether their
wishes be favourable to its continuance ; but cer-
tain it is, that if the people of England be really
attached to the working ofthe present system, his
Grace's fears of a Reform in Parliament lead-
ing to revolutionary consequences, must appear
not a little absurd. Matter enough, however,
supplementary to the Duke of Wellington's
protest, may be found in the discourse delivered
by Lord Lyndhurst in the debate on the second
reading. That Noble and Learned Lord must
have felt himself unusually at a loss for solid pre-
miises whereon to reason, when he had recourse
to asseverations so desperate as those with which
he interlarded one striking passage of his speech.
His Grace of Wellington having stated the fit-
ness of the unreformed monarchy to the wants
of Englishmen, omitted to follow up that dan-
gerous subject, feeling perhaps that Lord Lynd-
hurst had already settled it by a declaration that
the wishes of the country coincided with the
Noble Duke's theory about its wants, and that
the "great majority of the thinking and opu-
lent classes of the community were decidedly
hostile to reform." Whither Lord Lyndhurst's
judgment had betaken itself when he ran thus
a-muck at truth and notoriety, we shall not in-
quire, but just enumerate the description ofpersons
to whom the Learned Lord confines his imputation
offriendliness to the Bill. There is, Ist, the "whole
Whig party :" this is pretty well for a begin-
ning. 2. The whole "revolutionary party," who,
by the Learned Lord's own showing, must be
very nearly innoxious, since there is so immense
a preponderancy of intellect and opulence in the
adverse scale. 3. The great body of Dissenters,
--in themselves one-third of the whole popula-
tion of England,—a class assuredly not among
the least enlightened, or least independently
circumstanced, of the nation, and one, we pre-
sume, as much entitled as any other to have
their wishes consulted with regard to the laws
which they are to obey. 4. All those (a ma-
ority, we fear, not of Englishmen only, but of
all mankind) who are " dissatisfied with their
actual condition :" men in desperate circum.
stances often look for change, but it seems that.
all men of desperate fortunes do not. 3. " A
formidable and active body, to wit, the periodical
press, the greater portion of which support
this measure for reasons that are sufficiently appa-
rent. They prosper in agitation, and they think
that the carrying the Bill will perpetuate agitation.
Besides, looking towhat has occurred inFrance and
Belgium, these conductors of the press see a
new road opened to their personal ambition.
They believe that they will be enabled to take
a station in society, and to assume a power
which, five or six years ago, never entered
their minds." We have quoted these sen-
tences at length, that our readers may understand
our full meaning, when we proceed to comment
on them. " Assume a station in society, and a
power, which a few years ago they never
dreamed of !" What station in society can
any class of men hope to arrive at in this country,
but such as they are entitled to by their know-
ledge, talents, and other personal qualifications ?
If the learned Lord means mere rank in the
state, why should he, of all men, the origin of
whose rise through the various stages of society
under an established Government, was laid not
more in his own talents and acquirements, con-
siderable as they are, than in the successful exer-
cise of a liberal art by his immediate and respect-
able ancestor,—why,vve repeat, should the learned
Lord, of all men, take for granted that educated
individuals, employing their industry in the acqui-
sition and preparation of materials for the guid-
ance of public opinion among their coun-
trymen, should see no prospect of bettered for-
tunes but in the subversion of the State ? Does
his Lordship imagine that the conductors of the
press would be peculiarly exempt from suffering
by the overthrow of authority or property, the
general decline of confidence, and the stagnation
of trade ? The press utters opinions which it
seeks to recommend by their reasonableness and
usefulness to the judgments of those who sup-
port it. The conductors of the press are soon
made aware that a reflecting and instructed na-
tion is not to be entertained with absurd or
noxious lessons. It is more as a concentrator,
than an originator of political feeling, that a
journal acts in the service of society. It is un-
questionable, as Lord Lyndhurst says, that the
greater portion of the periodical press supports
the Bill of Reform ; and what then ? If the
reading portion of the community were not
equally favourable to Reform, the press might
stand idle, and its conductors starve. We
are astonished that so shrewd and observing
a person as Lord Lyndhurst should not take
for his measure of the relative numbers of
Anti-Reformers and favourers of the Bill,
the respective amounts of circulation attained
to by the Reform and Anti-Reform journals.
There can be no surer test ; and what then ?
Either there must be an ascendancy of mental
power on the side of the liberal journalists,
which, where competition is open, it would be
foolish to suppose, by way of accounting for the
vast excess in the number of their disciples
above those of the adverse party; or (which is
*the truth) the predisposition of society towards
reform principles must far exceed its bias to-
wards those which are ridiculously called " con-
servative," and so must furnish a more extensive
and successful circulation to the doctrines of the
liberal writers. But we are told by Lord Lynd-
hurst, that the reform journalists look to in-
creased power, after the passing of this Bill, as
their recompense for the services they render to
the cause of Reform. His Lordship has ill
considered the case on which he pronounces so
very erroneous a judgment. What is the
power of the press ? Its being the organ of
public opinion. And why is that office now of
such supreme importance? Manifestly because
there exists for public opinion no other adequate
organ but the press. The House of Commons
has hitherto failed to represent the feelings of
the people of England. The press therefore has
stepped in, and has become supplemental to"the
defects of the borough Parliament. It has be-
come puissant, as being the real expression of
the people's voice, which found no vent through
the lips of a nominated House of Commons.
Let a free Parliament be once elected, it will
freely speak the sentiments of an independent
constituency ; and what in that case becomes of
the press ? • Why, the whole of the vicarious
power it now wields will be transferred to the
proper instrument, the representative body. In-