The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1835.

cannot fail to express its settled and unalterable dis-
ipproval of Lord Londonderry's nomination. If we
can, by any exertion, prevent it from being carried
into effect, we shall strain all our strength rather
than submit to such a national disgrace. Lord
Londonderry is not an untried man. The cir
Fles of Vienna still ring with the narratives of the
acts by which his career in that capital—not a very
prudish one either—was distinguished. We hold it
no part of the duty of a journalist to inquire into the
private conduct of public men, if restrained within the
ordinary bounds of decorum. But a journalist pro
fessing to speak the public sentiment of his country,
is not bound to shut his eyes to the private conduct of
those who represent that country abroad, if its interest
or its reputation be a sufferer from it. If the personal
conduct of Lord Londonderry renders him unworthy
9f being the representative of England, need we add
that his temper and his inferiority of intellect ought to
have prevented even the possibility of his nomination
to a Court whose Ministers are, perhaps, without ex-
ception, the ablest diplomatists in Europe. Questions
the most momentous to the interests of Great Britain
must speedily be discussed and arranged at Peters-
burgh. We must persuade or compel Russia
to feel that she shall no longer act the master
over Turkey—that she must give up Silistria—
that she must not treat Wallachia and Moldavia
as provinces of her own Empire—that she must aban-
don her designs upon Constantinople, the Bosphorus,
and the Dardanelles—that she may as well at once
sink the fleet she is building at Sebastopol, or we will
sink it for her—that she must curtail her plans with
reference to Persia, and cease to intermeddle to the
detriment of liberty, at least in the south and the west
of Europe. These are all subjects of vast importance,
requiring the utmost delicacy of disposition in their
~management, and the most refined intellect in order to
bring them to a peaceable and fortunate issue. Are
they to be committed to the hands of Lord London-
derry ? For the mild and winning tone in which he
is accustomed to carry on even the most commonplace
debate, let his conduct during the last four years in
the House of Lords be appealed to. The slightest
incident, the very shadow of a contradiction, was
sufficient, at any time, to convert the Legisla-
tor, or even the Judge, into a Fury. Those
who are best acquainted with Lord Londonderry
in private life say that for these outbreaks in the
House of Lords—indecent as they are admitted to
have been—his heart is not responsible. We confess
that when we hear of a man being appointed to one
of the most important embassies in the gift of the King,
we are very indifferent to the character of his heart.
We look to his head, to his clear-sightedness, his
judgment, his good sense, and his industry, and if he
be deficient on all these points, if his head be weak,
if his vision be liable to be obscured by his infirmities,
if his judgment be capable of yielding to irritation, if
he be destitute of common sense, and be the very
slave of indolence and indulgence, we should assert
his incapacity for such an office if he were the " best-
natured man in existence. When Sir Robert Peel's
motley Government was first formed, there were some
milk-and-water politicians who augured favourably of
the experiment. But it is not possible that even these
simpletons can look upon the appointment of Lord
Londonderry in any other light than as an act done
with a view to try how far the patience of the people
of England could be pressed upon with impunity.
It is an act which may be considered as the very
epitome of all the worst principles which are com-
bined together in the present Cabinet—hatred of
Reform at home, civil or ecclesiastical—intolerance in

religion—resistance to the spirit of the age—oppres-
sion in Ireland—retrogression in England—anti-li-
beralism on the Continent—submission to Russia—
no alliance with France, unless France become Con-
servative and Monarchical, or Aristocratical—despotism
in every shape, wherever it can be established. These
are the political principles of Lord Londonderry--they
are, consequently, the qualifications, and the only qua-
lifications, he possesses for the arduous office to which
he has been nominated by the Duke of Wellington.
But we are confident in the hope that the good genius
of the country will yet relieve her from the insult
which that nomination has inflicted upon her charac-
ter. It is impossible that a Government can, under
any circumstances, long endure amongst us, the mem-
bers of which are so insensible to the suggestions of
common prudence, as to invest with the character of
our representative at St. Petersburgh, a person whose
very name has become a synonyme for the union of
utter incompetency with extreme presumption.—
Morning Chronicle.