The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-28 00:00:00

ISP1ItI•r p

f,THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

imclerstata that a certain junta in the f'd,tv
London has defermined that, from hencefe,rii,la~a'dforIa~a'dfor
citizen shall; chosenbeL
leTcy. no c e Lord s;:layor who is
not of their ow. alvs' of talkiui
thinking,ituts_p c cwe had almost said
cannot think) in politics, and
that the m' a ''andidate shall be preferred without
reference to other considerations whatever. It must
be admitted,, that if there be any one mode more calcu-
lated than another to disgrace the character of the city,
these foo'Aish conspirators have found it out. Let such ,a
system. 'work long enough, and we shall infallibly see
bere.4 thief-takers raised to the dignity of aldermen, see
Jack Ketch, if he can but bring himself to turn Radi-
cr:l, serving the office of sheriff. A receiver of stolen
goods, if he be careful to register his vote in favour of
the most destructive demagogue that presents himself
on the hustings, may reasonably look forward to the
chair at the Mansion-house, no matter how often he
may have figured in the dock at the Old Bailey, and
his friends will go through, at the city balls, the steps
they learned at the treadmill at Brixton. To this com-
plexion things must come, if the junta be allowed 'to
have their way ; but we cannot believe that any large
portion of the electors, whatever their poliiics or pur-
poses, will give the slightest countenance to so discre-
ditable a scheme, or that they w:.111 leave any means un-
tried to defeat the plot. We say not this for the sake
of promoting jhe election ei sonic one whom we believe
ought to be elected, 12,ut to prevent, if possible, the elec-
tion of men who -;ve know ought not to be elected. If
the citizens of. 'London should ever so far forget them-
selves as te, postpone all personal qualifications for the
mayorat'ty to political considerations, they will bring
themselves into a condition of deserved disrepute, far
below that alleged against any of the worst of the close
boroughs in the provinces recently reformed ; be-
cause it is much more probable that mere per-
sonal predilections may choose well, than that mere
political prejudices can make a just judgment—how-
ever distant in either case the prospect of an indispu-
tably judiciow, choice being made. It would, we
know, be vp.in, in the present condition of things, to
urge that., in the selection of so important a functionary
as the Chief Magistrate of London, all political con-
siderations should be thrown aside, and that citizen
elected who, from his reputation, hid abilities, and his
-wealth, would most worthily represent so renowned a
city. The vice and curse of these times is, that not
the fittest, not the worthiest, not the most skilful, not
the most honest, are oiled to office either in our ge-
neral or in our local governments ; but that the choice
of public functi•Jnaries is made from among those who
are, or who profess to be, of a certain political turn.
While this folly lasts, neither the public generally nor
individual communities can possibly be either faithfully
or efficiently served. There are few men so stupid as
to fail to sec the path to preferment when it is so
clearly laid down ; and the proportion of simulators to
the real Simon Pures who throng and ply along it will
be as the proportion of profession is to principle. The
folly, however, prevails for the present, and it will pre-
vail until its dupes are called upon to pay the price that
sooner or later they must inevitably pay for it. But
have the citizens of London already ceased to bear in
mind a proof they should not very readily have forgot-
ten—that congeniality of politics with the crowd is r,o
security even for common honesty in a Lord Mayor ?
We thought they had been taught a lesson c:n the oc-
casion we allude to, which would have reniained inde-
libly engraver on their memory—nay, we think so still.
Nor will we believe, until we have in-oof, and good
and sufficient proof, that the Ma.,:, oralty of London
is to be set up as a prize fo-i• mere political ad-
venturers to throw, for, and which chance or ca-
price may confer upon st:tme one whom successful
knavery alone may bay., qualified for the game, in-
stead of being, as it ever should have been, and ever
should be, a sort of civic crown for men whose charac-
ter and skill hail: made them eminent among their fel-
low merchants, and the lustre of whose virtues and the
example of whose thrift may be lights to guide, as
their reward may tempt to emulation, the younger
trademian, yet struggling, or but starting in his
career. Since these observations were written, we
have received a letter from a correspondent, in which
it, is stated that Mr. Alderman Harmer has been se-
lected as the first object of the patronage of this poli-
tical junta. Our correspondent must surely be joking,
or has himself been grievously imposed upon. Alder-
man Harmer Lord Mayor ! It cannot be, if Mr. Al-
derman Harmer is the owner and publisher of a Sun-
day print, which spits its slanderous slime upon the
highest and worthiest personages of the realm—wb:sich
wages open war against all that is commonly r',;spect-
able—which caters for the coarse tastes of the canaille
—inflames the bad passions and propensh:tes which gin
and ill company engender, and cultwates the obscene
slrtng of pickpockets and prize-figh,ers, to the outrage
tif all decency ! Is this a mod!,; in which the Mayor
of the first city in the world would get, or aid the get-
ting of, wealth ? Oh I our correspondent must cer-
tainly have been hoaxed.. Either Mr. Alderman Har-
mer is not the proprietor and publisher of that print, or
if he is, he is not the person to he proposed to fill the
office of Lord Mayor of London.—Times.
There are two grand points which the Popish and
Whig-Radical faction are resolved, if possible, to carry
—the separation of Church and State, and the aboli-
tion of the House of Lords. If they should succeed
in both, or only in the latter in the next Session, all
the other demands of the agitators must follow as a
matter of course, and another year or two will see the
Monarchy of England prostrate in the dust, and the
-fires of the pure and reformed faith extinguished upon
the altars of the Protestant Church I To a union of
Church and State, such as prevails in Roman Catho-
lic countries, where intolerance and persecution arc
exercised towards all who do not profess to be mem-
bers of the Established Church, we object, as beinr4
opposed to the very spirit of Christie:l-14y. Bo.;, the
connection of the Church of England with the State
is one of Christian liberality and.religious tolerance. It
is a connection whereby the ;state gives its temporal
protection to religion, while religion reflects hack its
spiritual graces upon the state. It also provides the
means of religious instsuction for the poor, who have
not themselves the rzieans to purchase it by contribu-
ting to the exp-enses of a voluntary system. The
party, then, w}:ic.,se efforts are directed to the separa-
tion of Church and State, would do all in their power
to render 0-I.t State godless, and to deprive the poor of
the mean, of spiritual consolation. At the South
Devon Conservative dinner to Mr. Parker, the other
day, it -was well observed by the Rev. Dr. Collins,
that " it had been lately too much the fashion of
that partly falsely called liberal, to decry the union of
Church and State. They said it made the Church
political, whereas it might more truly be asserted that
i.t made the State religious, and he verily helie-,:ed
that England would not have attained her present
high eminence among the natio-As of the earth, had
it not been for the happy connection between its reli-
gion and its Government. It was the high privilege
of the State in this count-fy, that it provided for th-,
spiritual wants of all its subjects, from the highest to
the meanest, fulfilling the prophetic injuncti'Jn of the
*Ags should become, the nursing
Scriptures, that Ki
fathers and Queen, the nursing inoth-•rs of the Church'.
• The religious institutions of the -country had produced
the greatest 10-ossings, and 'Cheir operation might be
traced in ever.y situation in life. They give honesty
to our mere hants, bravery to our soldiers and sailors,'
wisdom to our Senators, and spread abroad through
the land beautiful image of Christian charity and
benevol•toee." We do not think this description of
the ir.oral results of the connection between Church
and State too highly coloured. We trust it will be as
permanent as it has been beneficial.—Morn. Herald.
The Quarterly Review for September, just pub-
lished, is without an article on party politics ; a singu-
larity from which an inference may be drawn, that the
Tories have satisfied themselves that the state of the
registratlim affords them no hope. So important an
organ as the Quarterly Review would not have been
„suffered to lie fallow at this time, if the faction were
not at present in a state of despondency. Now that
the Municipal Reform Bill is about to come 'into ope-
ration, it will depend greatly on the good conduct of
Reformers themselves whether the Tories again try
to seize the Government. If we only lay aside minor
differences, and concentrate our energies to the further-
Once_Of essential reforms, much may be done in

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