The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-10 00:00:00

an assertion, if King William were capable of
uttering one so foolish. " I . Why does not
your Majesty exert the power with which the
Constitution has plainly clothed you, and create
Peers who will act with your Majesty and with
your people, as a counterpoise to others who will
not ?" Your Majesty, in that case, cannot be a
sincere Reformer. 2. The next answer is, that
the people would not respect the King's
peace, nor his prerogatives, if he himself
were voluntarily to abdicate his prerogatives
and to risk the peace of his dominions.
What It is constitutional for Peers to no-
minate representatives of the people and not
constitutional for the Sovereign to nominate
Peers ! Is that the Tory doctrine ? But, again,
what can King William do ? Can he make the
House of Commons revoke their repeated deci-
sions ? If the King could effect this wonder,
would the nation submit to the treachery of their
own delegates within their own house ? On that
side we see nothing but uproar; violence, and a
total dissolution of the Government of King,
Lords, and Commons. The only real question
for a reasonable man is,—what ought to be the
composition of the new, or supplementary
Peerage ? It does not seem at all advis-
able to call up county Members to the
House of Lords indiscriminately. Fresh elec-
tions, before the reformed constituency shall
be put in motion, might still in some
counties expose us to the chance of desperate
combinations of family interests among the
dying Tories ; and the return of even half- a-
• dozen Anti-Reformers, instead of liberal Mem-
• bers raised to the Peerage, would be seized upon
by the faction as a handle for riotous misrepre-
sentation of public feeling, and as means of more
obstinate and vexatious, however hopeless, an-
, noyance, until the Bill had actually passed its
final reading. Nor does it appear to us that a
large draught of heirs apparent or presumptive,
now sitting in the House of Commons, would
be desirable, with a view to the ulterior effec-

tiveness and usefulness of the Upper House itself.
The House of Commons is the best school of
public business in which Lords who do not mean
to spend their future lives in legislative slumber
can be formed. Throw them at once into what
Lord Chesterfield long ago described as the
" Hospital of Incurables," and little can be
thenceforth expected from them as active mem-
bers of the State. Ministers therefore will, in
our judgment, act wisely by draining with mo-
deration from the heirs of Peers, and from others
of the NiVhig Members representing (more espe-
cially agricultural) counties, for the supply of
the requisite number of Reforming Lords.
The main source, and all things considered by
far the most valuable, from which an acces-
sion might now be procured to the House
of Lords, would be the Irish and Scotch non-
representative Peerage, but, in preference,
that of Ireland. The new and well-acted
phrenzy of O'Connell in favour of an enlarged
representation for Ireland, under the Reform
Bill, has not, perhaps, as yet gained many dupes;
but it is possible that Government may still be
incommoded, and the beneficial consequences of
the measure, as at present framed, be consider-
ably impaired, by the excitement of which a
certain portion of the Irish people may on that
subject be susceptible. There is undoubtedly
no small prospect that the greater the share of
representative Commoners may be allotted to
Ireland, the more will the sway of O'Connell
over the electors, in their actual state of mind,
be extended. What would be the obvious an-
tidote to such an evil ? Multiply representa-
tives from Ireland of a class over which the
O'Connell interest can have no mischievous
power ; choose from among the wealthiest, most
liberal, and respectable of the Peerage of that
country, not now entitled to seats in the House
of Lords, as many Noblemen attached to the
principles of Reform, and inclined to support a
liberal system of policy, as can be procured and
confided in. It is possible that '2O Peers of
such a description might be found ; and if so,
we cannot suggest a mode of more effectually
strengthening the ties of property between the
two countries, and aiding and consolidating the
resistance to the Anti-Union spirit, should it
spread beyond the O'Connell clan, than by thus
applying the Royal prerogative now about to be
resorted to. Among the ancient Peers of Scot-
land there may be some fit objects of the King's
choice, but there no such political necessity exists
as in the case of Ireland.—Times.
Our contemporaries have tried their hands at
prophesy again upon that most elusive of topics
the Reform Bill. The immediate point to
which they have been addressing themselves of
late, and to which they have each given a distinct
response, with more or less confidence, according
to the degree of illumination with which they
were favoured, was the result of Lord Grey's
visit to the Pavilion. We need not mention
names, but almost all the public Journals, whether
of daily or of weekly appearance, of conservative
or of reforming principles, have announced both
the consent and the refusal of his Majesty to ac 7
cede to the proposition of his Minister for a
new creation of Peers. It is to be observed,
however, that those who spoke most confidently
at first of the concurrence of his Majesty in the
proposed measure have softened their tone by
degrees, until it has melted down almost in
a whisper, or, what is still more modest, a sur-

noise. -Perhaps, belong long, a blushing silence
will leave it to be inferred that the Oracles
were all at fault upon the occasion—that they
were all wrong, not only in the contradictions
which they gave to each other, but in every
thing they stated on the subject. '1 here is one
preliminary question, which we hope will occur
to them, though it seems to have escaped them
at the proper moment, and that is, whether, in
point of fact, there was any political motive what-
ever connected with the visit of Lord Grey ?
Is
it a necessary inference that every visit of a Mi-
nister to one of the most frank and hospitable
Monarchs that ever reigned in this country, and
at this festive season, must be a visit of business ?
If it be not a necessary inference, would it not
have been a prudent inquiry on the part of those
who were about to speculate as to the result ?
Even the soothsayers of former times were aware
that the war was going on before they under-
took to decide what the issue of it would be.
Yet even they were someames foiled, when they
attempted to look too far beyond their own noses.
Without pretending to more accurate intelligence
than our contemporaries upon this much
con-
tested point, either from the Cabinet or from the
skies, we will hazard an opinion, on the ground
of probability alone, that the visit of Earl Grey
was a mere ordinary visit, of no political moment,
except as it shows the good understanding which
exists between the King and his Ministers
at a moment when it is of the utmost
importance that they should be cordially united.
There will be time enough to determine for or
against the creation of the new Peers. The Bill
itself, be it remembered, is not yet in Committee,