The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-03 00:00:00

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LONDON,
SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 3, 1835.

In a few days, we confidently expect that we shall
be able to congratulate the country on the return of
four Reform Members for the Metropolis. By the
word Reform, we do not imply mere lukewarm sup-
porters of that great principle, but sterling, conscien-
tious advocates of it, who will go to the extreme
limits of the Constitution, but not an inch beyond.
This will be an auspicious commencement for the
people. But they must not relax their vigilance in con-
sequence. They must fight to the last (till the last
enemy has quitted the field,) with the same zeal as if
he were in full possession of it. The Duke of WEL-
LINGTON triumphed over the French at Waterloo, by
placing a proud and generous reliance on the energy
of British soldiers. We will conquer the Tories
at St. Stephen's, by placing the same reli-

ante on the energy of British Reformers. Elec-
tors of the United Kingdom, the Metropolis will
strike the first blow—be it your's to follow it up
Remember, your enemies have all the hazardous con:
rage that despair gives, to back them ; and despair
has won a battle, against overwhelming odds, before
now. Despair won the day at Agincourt, and is
never to be regarded otherwise than with deference.
The Tories are still powerful, and are only to be de-
feated by incessant, and, above all, by combined
national displays of energy. What do they
fight for ? Not for any prospective advan-
tages. Not for any hope of keeping up their
old monopoly of Church and State. No, no. They
fight for their very existence as a faction : happy, too
happy, if they be not utterly overwhelmed and annihi-
lated ! Be firm then, Countrymen. Be stern, but tem-
perate in your bearing, and unanimous in your
energies, and the day is yours. The influence you
will acquire by such conduct, will not be confined to
this kingdom alone. It will embrace, more or less, all
the nations of Europe. At this very moment, when
we are now addressing you, the destinies of Europe
hang trembling on your nod

The charge of wavering and vacillation was one of
those imputations most frequently brought against the
late Ministers by their opponents, both in and out of
Parliament ; and among the innumerable virtues
ascribed to their successors, by the zealous and disin-
terested worshippers at the shrine of Toryism, decision
and consistency stood first and foremost in the splen-
did catalogue. These demigods, the public were in-
formed, would hold on their steady course, guided by a
wisdom which they .exclusively possessed, and equally
regardless of the applause and the censure of the lower
world. All their acts were to undergo the most matur‘
deliberation, and then to be impressed with the stamp
of perpetuity I How lamentable it is to think that so
delightful an anticipation should have already va-
nished into thin all—that wavering and vacillation
should have already marked the councils of the celestial
conclave. Yet, alas !so it happens. The first, or
almost the first, act of the new Cabinet was to appoint
Lord RODEN Steward of the Household, in order to
show the Court's marked approbation of Irish Orange-
ism, of which his Lordship had shown himself the
most furious among furious partizans. This ap-
pointment has been cancelled I Lord LONDON-
DERRY, a man notorious for his mental incapacity,
and, if possible, more notorious for his devotion to the
cause of foreign despotism, was appointed Ambassador
to the Court of St. Petershurgh. This appointment
also has been revoked I To what are these sud-
den changes to be attributed ? Some say that a
great personage has taken al arm at the effect produced
on the feelings of the nation, by the employment of
such men, by a Cabinet of such a character, and has
suggested the propriety of a more moderate course
until the elections are over. From what quarter the
suggestion came we do not pretend to know; but there
can be little doubt that these scene-shiftings--these
pretended concessions to liberal feeling—are intended
to influence the elections. The Ministers are well
persuaded, that, do what they may, or promise what
they will, at present, they -can safely rely upon the
support of every Tory ; and, therefore, they do not
scruple to insinuate, by means of such manoeuvres,
and by circulating through the dependent portion
of the press, unfounded rumours of their intention to
reform the abominations of the Irish Church, that
they are inclined towards a liberal policy. They are
terrified at the appearance of the country, and
well they may—for it tells them, in no
equivocal language, that their days are num-
bered—that their little sand is nearly run out—and
they would do any thing for a respite ; but it is all in
vain—the irrevocable mandate which seals their doom
has gone forth.,

It is reported that IVIr. WILSON has already re-
signed for the City.

We regret to learn from several private communica-
tions, which we have received this morning, that a
considerable number of the Electors of Blackburn,
are resorting to the most disgraceful and degrading acts
of meanness and corruption for the purpose of ousting
Dr. BOWRING at the ensuing election. Appeals, we
are assured, are being made, not to the judgment, but
to the pecuniary wants, embarrassments, and avarice of
the electors ; and threats and promises are held out
according as it is expected they will operate most effec-
tually in defeating the liberal candidates. This has al-
ready been so notoriously apparent that the non-electors
have felt themselves called upon to assemble, and
publicly protest against such practices. Greatly to
their credit, this body held a public meeting at the
Union Tavern, Blackburn, on Wednesday, the 24th
of December, when the following resolutions were
agreed to :

" I. That this Meeting views with disgust and abhorrence
the proceedings that are carrying on by the Committees of two
of the Candidates, who are offering themselves to represent
the Borough of Blackburn in the Commons House of Parlia-
ment, and that such scenes of Drunkenness and Immorality
ought to be detested by every one who values the peace and
morality of the town.
" 2. That we the non-electors, cannot witness such attempts
t o demoralise that part of the community who possess the
franchize, without entering our most solemn and decided pro-
test against such base and degrading conduct, especially when
we know that men professing to have some regard for good
Government, and the Christian Religion, are the foremost in
such demoralization."

These resolutions, which reflect the highest honour
upon the working classes of Blackburn, and ought to
be inscribed on marble for an example, to their
brethren in every part of the United Kingdom, were
followed by others expressive of the determination of
the meeting, to do all in its power to secure the return
of Dr. BOWRING to Parliament. "We have a
MORAL POWER," resolve the brave, honest fellows who
composed this meeting, " which, if called into action,
and wisely directed, will be more potent than the de-
grading beer barrel, and the landlord's threat." This
is, indeed, the language of freemen, worthy to assist in
framing the laws to which they must yield obedience.
Talk of the Reform Bill being sufficiently extended ;
and then listen to these noble sentiments from the
mouths of the non-electors 'Why, these resolutions,
brief as they are, prove more fully the imperfection of
that great measure, than all the speeches over delivered
on the same subject, by the Whig and Radical Members
of both Houses of Parliament.

'We are however gratified to learn, that notwithstand
ing the intrigues of the Conservatives of Blackburn,
and the base acts above referred to, the return of Dr.
BOWRING may be regarded as quite certain. The
Doctor is a man of great abilities ; and his po-
litical opinions are so well known, as to render
it unnecessary to make the slightest reference to
them. He is one of the ablest, and most intelligent
advocates of free-trade known to us ; and his experi-
ence of the state of trade on the continent could not
fail to render him an invaluable advocate of the popular

cause in the House of Commons. We trust that on
this great occasion, the honest and independent electors
of Blackburn will do their duty fearlessly, and not
suffer themselves to be made the dupes of beer-swillers
and corruptionists. We cannot, and do not, believe that
any very considerable portion of the inhabitants of such
an intelligent town as Blackburn would allow them-
selves to be made the dupes and instruments of an
intriguing dishonest faction.

There can be but three motives which actuate those
of the electors, who are not part and parcel of the
Tory faction, in giving it a pusillanimous support :
we will show them the error of their intentions. If
it be the simple expression of disgust at the imbeci-
lity of the Whigs when in power, the old saw of out
of the Irying•pan into the fire will indeed be very truly
exemplified ; for little as the Whigs have done, infi-
nitely less will the Tories do, if they undo not all
that has been already done. If it be alarm at the rash
hopes of the extreme Radicals, nothing will more cer-
tainly facilitate their so much dreaded incursions upon
the Constitution, from the exasperation, that must in-
evitably follow, of both Whigs and Radicals, and in-
deed of every grade of Reformeis, at seeing their common
enemy in a triumphant ascendancy: agitation and com-
motion will be fomented, and the peace of this unhappy
land jeopardized to appease the unslakeable lust for power
of a Tory oligarchy. If it be a newly induced trust
in their fitness for executing the desires of the people
most discreetly and justly, then Chaos has indeed come
again ; for more kindly would fire mix with water, than
Reform principles with Tory hearts. All the talking,
or writing, or reasoning in the world will nev r prove
that the negro shall become white. Again and again
we have shown the moral impossibility of Tories be
coming Reformers ; the supposition can but be the
invention of a distempered or a wicked mind ; by no
process of reasoning, save that employed by madmen
or idiots, can such a deduction be formed. The sup-
port of the Tories, then, under any of these motives,
would be fraught with evil without securing any retri-
butive good.
There is now, however, not much time left for
thinking ; all the energies of all the Reformers must
be evidenced in deeds, and invoked to honesty and
reasonableness of action. The Tories are engaged in
a last and desperate effort to regain the treasure they
have lost—the plunder filched from the labour of the
people. It is for this that the abuses in Church and
State have been fostered into maturity, and are now
sought to be perpetuated; it is for this they struggle.
Think of our burthensome taxation,—of the misappli-
cation of the public purse,—of the restrictions upon
our trade,—of the infringements upon our religious
freedom,—of the poverty of the industrious classes
contrasted with the unrighteous affluence of those
aristocratic vampires who thrive upon their la-
bour,—of the intimidation practised upon the
dependent,—of the abridgment of the elective
franchise,—all monstrosities that owe their nativity
to Tory conception, and their • maturity to Tory
nursing ; is it likely that Tory hands will do the most
exterminating slaughter ? Were there but one soli-
tary ground of objection to the return of Tories to
executive power, and that objection DISTURBED IRE-
LAND, the state of that wretched country at this junc-
ture would be all-powerful. The Tories have ever
mis-controlled it, and ever mis-controlled it will con-
tinue to be, whilst the Protestant Church Establish-
ment remains as it is there ; and will not this condition
of things be maintained by the Tories, though they
Rathcormacize the whole Island ? What, then, would
be the consequence of their restoration to power ? im-
mediate and unrelenting coercion ; and, at the end of
six months, Ireland in open rebellion I
Is this, are these, not very sufficient reasons for op-
posing Tory domination ? Reformers of England !
we beseech, we implore you, to act with energy and
decision. The Tories must be thoroughly and em-
phatically defeated ; else, terrible upon you, and ruin-
ous to the Empire, will be the effects of their triumph.
Unanimity is all that will be required ; suppress all
minor differences of opinion, all asperities of jealousy,
all personal rivalries, and act hand and heart together.
Let one word animate you, and be that word CONCORD!

The Paris Papers of Wednesday and Thursday
have been received. The debate on the required grant
for the erection of the New Court of Justice for the
trial of the political State prisoners had not terminated,
and was adjourned over to Friday (yesterday), when it
was confidently asserted, that the motion would be
carried by a large majority. On Wednesday, M.
THIERS addressed the Chamber in reply to the oppo-
sition, and his speech is described in all the journals
as one of the best which has been delivered since the
commencement of the Session. The purport of his
speech was to show the opposition, that they could not
compromise their principles by voting for the grant
required ; protesting, at the same time, that he
himself differed from them only in name, with re-
spect to most of the measures under discussion. It
will be remembered, that at the opening of the Session,
M. THIERS described the Cabinet as a Government
of resistance : in the present address to the Chamber,
he laboured hard to do away with such an impression.
He lauded the Revolution of July, and pledged him-
self never to desert the principles on which it was
based, the subversion of which had rendered it impe-
rative on the nation. Several other members of the
Chamber addressed it at great length, both for and
against the measure. M. BERRYER, whose speech
had called up M. THIERS, opposed the grant,
and declared himself an advocate for a general
amnesty in order to prevent the Government being dis-
graced by recriminations and exposures, which it would
be wise in the Chamber to prevent ; and M. HENNE..
QUIN opened an able oration on the same side by re-
minding the Chamber that political crimes were in ge-
neral the fault of the judges, and not of the accused.
These speeches created a great sensation in Paris ; but
the majority of the best informed on these matters, are
persuaded that the grant will be carried, in consequence
of M. THIERS'S speech, which affords an admirable
pretext for such members of the opposition as wish
to join the government, voting against their party on
this occasion, without having it said of them that
they deserted their principles, or forgot their professions.
During the sitting on Tuesday, M. HUM ANN, Mi-
nister of Finance, laid before the Chamber his Bud-
get for the year 1836. The net revenue is estimated
at 39,800,000/. sterling, and the expenditure at
40,080,0001., leaving a deficit of 280,0001. This is
a very considerable sum, and arises from a determina-
tion on the part of the Government to suppre-ss the
lotteries, which, hitherto, produced a revenue of
400,0001. This deficit must be covered by a tax, but
we have not learned whether the Minister proposed
the adoption of any in the course of his address to the
Chamber. The state of th French finances, as dis-

closed in the Budget of M. HUM ANN, has given the
greatest satisfaction to the Government and the people.
Stange as it may appear, the rumour which we
gave currency to in The Sun of yesterday, respecting
the arrival of General ALAVA in Paris, with letters
from the QUEEN REGENT of Spain to Louis PHIL-
LIPPE, imploring the aid of French troops to quell the
rebellion in the Basque provinces, has been confirmed by
our arrivals this morning,: which are precisely the
same as what has been published by a Morning Con-
temporary. The Citizen KING is reported to express un-
willingness to take any step in the affair without the
concurrence of England ; and that in consequence of
this intimation General ALAVA addressed letters to
the Duke of WELLINGTON on the 25th ult., which
were not answered on the 31st. No reason was as-
signed , for this extraordinary delay, which looked
very like a disregard of the quadruple treaty.
The Duke's silence was considered the more extraordi-
nary, as he is known to be most punctual in all mat-
ters of this kind. General ALAVA will remain in
France till he has received the Duke's letter, after
which he will proceed to London.
The arrivals from Bayonne of the 27th of Decem-
ber, and the latest advices from Madrid, are equally
destitute of any intelligence wcrth communicating.
The Carlists are still in the vicinity of Elisondo,
which they hold in a state of siege. On the 26th the
besieged rushed out on the besiegers, and killed seven
of them, after which gallant achievement they re-
turned in triumph to the town. The Carlists • were
not dismayed by their loss, and during the night kept
up an incessant fire on the fort. Great exaggeration
prevails with respect to the reports of the victories
gained in these skirmishes. In Madrid the Queen Re-
gent daily appears in public, visiting the theatres,
hospitals, public schools, and doing all in her power to
acquire popularity. She takes great interest in what-
evei concerns the poor, and has already made them
donations almost beyond her means. Great prepara-
tions were being made for the Christmas festivities, and
the Government had signified that on that day none
of the public journals were to be published.
Thursday being Christmas day, the Paris Bourse
was not opened, and no monetary business transacted.

We have just received a copy of a pamphlet en-
titled " Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Address Reviewed," in
which the fallaey of this unique production is laid bare
in a
,cutting, but temperate • style of argument. The
writer well observes, 44 it is no less a WELLINGTON
dispatch than an electioneering address ; LONDON-
DERRY is packing it up in his trunks bound to St.
Petersburg, that by it he may explain the principles of
his intended, enlightened diplomacy, with the CZAR of
all the Russias. Ten to one that the Autocrat himself
will next come out as a Reformer."

A pamphlet has just appeared, well deserving of the
attention of electors, and of all who can exercise any
influence over the denouement of the present extraor-
dinary crisis; while, at the same time, it stands broadly
distinguished from any Mere party production, and
from works of temporary interest, by containing views
and principles applicable to all time, seated and en-
forced with unusual energy and precision. The title
of the pamphlet is, " On National Property, and on
the Prospects of the Present Administration, and of
their Successors."—" The subjects of our title-page,"
says the author, " may appear, at first sight, to be
totally distinct. It will be found, however, that they
are intimately, connected." In this he is not mistaken.
The present Administration, as he powerfully argues,
cannot stand, mainly because they will not, and cannot
with honour, take such measures as the public voice
imperhiusly demands, on the subject of the " National
Property," namely, the endowments of the Church,
the Municipal Corporations, and the Universities.
Nor can Si: Robert Peel's " successors," whoever
they may be, have the slightest chance of maintaining
themselves in power, unless they are prepared to deal
in the manlier this author inculcates, with that great
subject.

The pamphlet is evidently from the pen of a prac-
tised writer, and one well accustomed to the treatment
of political questions. It would be well if we could hope
to hear his topics discussed in the ensuing Session of
Parliament, in the same tone of thought and in the
same manly and popular style.
The writer begins by one of the very best statements
which we have seen, in a small number of pages, of
the philosophical argument for the right of the State
to control all endowments. This right, according to
him, extends so far, as to empower the Legislature,
when the lawful claims of existing incumbents shall
have become extinct, to dispose of the property at its
own absolute will ; guided of course by the same views
of public expediency to which the whole of its conduct
ought to be subservient, and under the further res-
triction of not divesting what was intended for all
generations, to the temporary purposes of one.
The cant of " spoliation" is disposed of in the fol-
lowing passage :

" Some deny the right of the State to deal with the income
of property held in mortmain, on the ground that, what they
call the church, as distinct from the existing clergymen, is the
owner of what they call church property; that the episcopal
lands belong to the bench of bishops, not for the lives of the
existing bishops, but for ever ; and that to declare that no
bishop shall in future be appointed, and that the revenues of
the Sees, as they become vacant shall be applied to the support
of hospitals, would be an act of spoliation, even although it
could be demonstrated that such an application would be more
useful, not only at present, but permanently, than the present
one. The answer to these reasoners is, that to every spoliation
there must be two parties, the spoiler and the person despoiled.
Now who, under these circumstances, would be the persons de-
spoiled? Our posterity? No ; for the argument assumes
that they would be benefited. The existing Bishops ? No ;
for they are untouched. The persons who now have the power
to appoint bishops ? Their consent must of course be obtained.
If the bishopric of Sodor and Mann had still belonged to the
Athol family, their right to appoint a bishop could not have
been suppressed without compensation. But, in the present
case, the persons who have the right to appoint bishops are
the government, and their consent is pre-supposed. The per-
sons who might hope to be made bishops ? They have no
vested interest susceptible of valuation ; and, therefore, on the
grounds already laid down, cannot be heard. They have no
more right to protest against the suppression of bishoprics than
subalterns have to oppose a reduction of the number of field
officers. Bishoprics no more belong to the church, as an ima-
ginary entity, distinct from the existing churchmen, than pay
and allowances belong to the army, as an equally imaginary
entity, distinct from the existing soldiers.
Others again contend that this property, having been origi-
nally given to ecclesiastical purposes, cannot be diverted from
them without improperly violating the wills of those deceased
persons who so dedicated it. In Scotland, where a right of
perpetual entail is admitted, this argument might have some
plausibility. In England and Ireland, where the law " abhors
perpetuities," it is almost too absurd for refutation. Our an-
cestors have had their full swing of posthumous power. Their
wills have been obeyed for centuries; in some cases, without
doubt, most beneficially ; in others, more or less mischievously.
And will any one, out of a sentimental regard to their memory,
maintain that we have not now the right, or that, having that
right, we are not now bound to inquire, how far this obedience
is now beneficial, how far it is mischievous? or that we have
not now the right, or that, having that right, it is not our duty
to make such changes as may augment the benefit and remove
the mischief? _ _ _ _ _ _

_
" If this argument were successful, the land would indeed
belong not to the living, but to the dead. Every successive
generation would find itself more and more confined by testa-
mentary enactments ; in many instances the result of vanity,
caprice, or ignorance ; in others, framed to meet the wants of
an obsolete state of society, but in all cases immutable as the
laws of the Medes and Persians. One testator might direct
his estates to lie fallow for 10,000 years ; another that they
should be cropped alternately in thistles one century, and in

nettles the next ; and a third might order, as indeed has been
done, that the successive life-owners should for ever be chosen
by lot."
The right of Legislative interference with endow-
ments,. which existed in all cases whatever, our author
considers it expedient, and therefore the bounden duty
of the Legislature to exercise, in three instances.
The first is, the reduction of the temporalities of the
Irish Church, to the amount adequate to the wants of
the Protestant population, devoting the surplus to the
education, not of Protestants, but of the whole people:
The second is the reform of Municipal Corporations,
and the employment of the property now under the
control of those bodies, for such purposes as after
inquiry and mature deliberation shall be deemed most
useful. The third is, the admission of Dissenters to
the Universities.

We do not think it requisite to extract any of the
passages in which our author advocates these mea-

sures. Of their propriety, as soon as the right is al-
bwed, every rational mind is already satisfied. We
pass to his observations on the present Ministry.
After stating the obvious grounds on which neither
the reforms for which he has been contending, nor any
other of these demanded by public opinion, can be ex-
pected from the Peel-acid-Wellington Cabinet, he
urges the following cogent reasons why, even were they
to become Reformers to the fullest extent which could
be required, they ought, nevertheless, to be driven from
office, and with disgrace :
" But let us admit, merely for purposes of argument, that all
this is mere trick,--that the address to the electors of Tam-
worth is a counterpart of the letter to Dr. Curtis,—and that
in the course of the next two months, Sir Robert Peel will
discover the justice, or at least the expediency, of carrying all
that he now declares he cannot consent to.

" It may seem that this is all which those who are not parti-
sans, those whose object is good government, without car.ipg
from whom they receive it, can require ; ;and, therecofc,
although such an attempt would deprive Sir Robert Peel of the
aid of the Tories and of Lord Stanley's friends, it ought to
give him that of ail the independent Members of the House.
The obvious objection to this view, and it appears to us a deci-
sive objection, is, that it would countenance a degree of politi-
cal immo ality, which in no state of society it would be safe,
and in our own it would be fatal, to sanction. It would sanc-
tion the opinion that, in political warfare, faith is not to be
kept with the country, ith enemies, or even with friends ;
that even among the leaders, on one side at least of the House,
the debates are a solemn show, in wtich the actores fabuire
wear the dresses and repeat the speeches which the nature of
the plot, and the rules of the stage require ; but as soon as ft
new piece begins, have nothing to do with the characters which
they supported in the former one. It would proclaim, that a
man making the strongest protestations of his sincerity, may
oppose, as a sacred duty, measures which he knows to be not
only expedient, but essential ; may drive, by his opposition, a
part of the country to the brink of civil war; and, the instant
he has succeeded in turning out, the proposers of those measures,
may introduce them himself, and then receive, from the very
persons whom he has forced out, support and power as his re-
ward. No nation could hope for public spirit, or even common
honesty, from its servants, if it were thus to remunerate false-
hood and faction."

Besides this, there is another reason, which hitherto
has not been sufficiently insisted upon, and to ivhich
we invite, in the strongest manner, the attention of al
friends of good government, or of the ancient doctrines
of the Constitution :

" But even supposing none of these insurmountable objec-
tions to exist, and the new Ministry to be personally unexcep-
tionable, there are circumstances connected with their appoint-
ment which must deprive them of the support of those who
wish to consult the permanent interests of the country.
" It has for many years been admitted, that a Minister,
though appointed by the Crown, and nominally subject to be
dismissed mero •motu regis, without warning or explanation,
really holds his office at the will, not of the Crown, but of the
two Houses of Parliament. He might be disliked by the
Court, he might be unpalatable to the King, it might be his
duty, indeed, to take step§ which would necessarily produce
one or both of these results ; but while he retained the confi-
dence of the Houses of Parliament, he was, 'according to the
doctrine which prevailed until the 15th of last November, se-
cure. And the necessity of this principle is obvious. If a
Minister held office at the caprice of the Court, the Courts
not Parliament, would be the field on which the battles for
power would be fought. The arts which succeed in Courts,
and the measures which please Courts, would be the arts and
the measures adopted. Despotic governments and constitu-
tional governments have each their peculiar merits and their
peculiar inconveniences ; but this would be s. mode of uniting
the faults of both : the slow and cumbersome machinery of the
one, and the ignorance, prejudices, corruption, and vacillation
of the other. Even in despotisms, where public opinion has
acquired any force, deference to that opinion prevents any ca-
pricious change. ' C'est moi,' said Louis X V., qui nentute
les ministres, mais c'est la nation qui les renvoie.'
" Those whom this reasoning does not convince, may, per-
haps, yield to the authority of Mr. Burke. That acute ob-
server, after dwelling on the necessity that a Minister should
be connected not only with the interests,but with the senti-
ments and opinions of the people, adds, in words which we
might now adopt, ' These are considerations which, in ray
opinion, enforce the necessity of having some better reason in
a free country and a free Parliament for supporting the Minis-
ters of the Crown, than that short one, That the King has
thought proper to appoint them.' There is something very
courtly in this ; but it is a principle pregnant with all sorts of
mischief, in a constitution like ours, to turn the views of active
men from the country to the CoUrt. Whatever be the road
to power, that is the road which will be trod. If the opinion
of the country be of no use as a means of power or considera-
tion, the qualities which usually procure that opinion will b©
no longer cultivated. And whether it be right in a State so
popular in its constitution as ours, to leave ambition without
popular motives, and to trust all to tic operation of pure virtue
in the minds of Kings, and Ministers, and public men, must
be submitted to the judgment and good sense of the people of
England. When a Ministry rests upon public opinion, it is
not indeed built upon a rock of adamant ;, it has, however,
some stability ; but when it stands upon private humour, its
structure is of stubble, and its foundation is on a quicksand.
I repeat it again—he that supports every administration sub-
verts all government. The reason is this : the whole business;
in which a Court usually takes an interest goes on at present
equally well in whatever hands, whether high or low, wise or
foolish, scandalous or reputable ; there is nothing, therefore,
to hold it firm to any one body of men, or to any one consistent
scheme of politics: Nothing interposes to prevent the full
operation of all the caprices, and all the passions of a Court
upon the servants of the public. The system of administra-
tion is open to continual shocks and changes upon the prin-
ciples of the meanest cabal, and the most contemptible in-
trigue. Nothing can be solid or permanent. All good men
at length fly with horror from such a service. Men of rank
and ability, with the spirit which ought to animate such men
in a free State, while they decline the jurisdiction of dark
cabal on their actions and their fortunes, will, for both, cheer-
fully put themselves upon their country. They will trust an
in9uisitive and distinguishing Parliament, because it does in-
quire and does distinguish. If they act well, they know that
in such a Parliament they will be supported against any in-
trigue ; if they act ill, they know that no intrigue car, protect
them. This situation, however awful, is honourable. But in
one hour, without any assigned or assignable cause, to be pre-
cipitated front the highest authority to the most marked neglect,
is a situation full of danger, and destitute of honour. It will
be shunned equally by every man of prudence, and every man
of spirit.'
" It is to be added, that if this principle is to be abandoned;
if the king is to be at liberty, merely because he thinks his
own opinion better than that of the nation speaking through
their representatives, to dismiss a government which enjoys
the full confidence of the House of Commons ; if he is at li-
berty to do this at his own personal pleasure ; this absurdity
follows, that his Majesty can act without a responsible advise':
in one point, and on one point only, that point being the roes'
important one which he ever can have to consider. The quer
tion, who is responsible ?—for some one must be responsible
for the sudden and total dismissal of a ministry,—has not bee°
decided since our Constitution assumed its present form, be-
cause in fact it has not been necessary to raise it. A parlia-
liamentary vote or a resignation has preceded every previous
change. It has now been raised, and painful as the discussielt
is, it must be decided. It must be decided with reference D';'
t
merely to the present emergency, not as a party or temporal
question, but as one of permanent constitutional law.
" The king of course is not responsible. Royal respon6l"
hility is inconsistent with monarchical government. Of course'
too, it would be absurd to fix the responsibility on those per:
sons who may be supposed to have had private access to 1,17
Majesty's ear. The country does not recognise such advisers'
either for good or for evil. The domestic comfort and privaq
of the sovereign require that those who, filling no politic%
office, are familiarly about his person, should be considered t
be, as in reality it is their duty tosT be, unconnected with poliriel'
The persons on whom this reonsibility falls most natural
and most usefully, are those who are to profit by the act
question, the immediate successors of the dismissed admihls,
tuition. If it be once understood that, whether really c(TO
milted or not, they are to be considered as having advised tita
measure which, by their aequiescence they have adopted, alby
that no administration, for whom a vacancy has been made
a court intrigue, or by mere personal predilections or disliise_t
or by caprice, or, in short, on any ground of which Parliarne
does not recognize the sufficiency, however ►
personally cligie_lo.
will receive parliamentary support, we shall return to "
established system, and the events of last November will be
warnn instead of a recedent.
" It g may be asked p
then, what was the Duke of Wellingtoill..
to do when he was summoned from the hunting-field at Stile
fieldsay, and the King threw himself on his loyalty ? Was
to refuse to aid the King in his difficulties?
Unquestionably it was his duty so to refuse.
,aeccf
"It was his duty to y, not in words, but in subst
_OO
Four months ago, your Majesty appointed Lord 3lelbev)

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