The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The 'eagerness of the Whig Radicals to turn out Sir
R. Peel and his colleagues on the first day of the
approaching session, by a vote of the house, since they
have failed of bullying it out before the session by all
the varieties of abuse and intimidation—nay, some of
OM wise ones among them, by a threat to impeach the
Duke of Wellington ! must satisfy every one of the
:least shrewdness, that there is some pressing motive for
such haste in pushing on their object. Why should
the mere choice of a Speaker be puffed into a matter of
such pre-eminent magnitude ? What national inte-
rest is involved in, or connected with, it ? Why
should such prodigious emphasis be laid in the
Opposition journals on a matter so personal as this ?
Why should Members of Parliament, who vote against
Mr. Abercromby—nay, or who stay away, and do
not vote at all—be told that they are to lose
caste as Radicals, that they are un-Whigged
for ever and ever, and can neither henceforth
nor for the time past, let them have divided an hun-
dred times for the Reform Bill, for every clause of

it, and for every measure proposed as a consequence
of it, pretend that they are, or have ever been, Re-
formers ? We ask them what means this monstrous
extravagance ? What means all this fire and fury
about nothing, or worse than nothing—viz., the stick
a --
incr Mr. Abercromby, an untried Speaker, into the
chair of the House of Commons, in preference to a
gentleman on whose behalf all the men of highest cha-
racter and influence among the Whig party came for-
ward only two years ago, and declared that there was
no person in the then House of Commons, of which
Mr. Abercromby himself was at the moment a Mem-
ber, who could compare with Sir C. M. Sutton for his
manifold claims upon the chair ? On one part of this
subject we have already stated what was the rationale
of the Whig-Radical policy. From the hour at which
a general conviction began to prevail among the people
that Sir R. Peel's manifesto and the state of parties
held out a better prospect of sound and well-digested
measures of Reform than could have been realized
by the weakness and distractions of the Mel-
bourne Ministry, had it remained in office, the
partisans of the latter became persuaded that a
majority of the House of Commons would never op-
pose the address in answer to a King's spech framed
upon the principles of the Prime Minister's nzanifesto.
The grand hope, therefore, of carrying an amendment,
praying his Majesty to dismiss his Ministers, from that
moment failed. Were the division of that night to be
the first of the session, instead of a display of over-
whelming force, the result would be to the Whigs and
bobtails an exposure of lamentable discord and imbeci-
lity, and nothing but discouragement, languor, and de-
feat, could betide them for the rest of the season. What
then was to be the next expedient ? A display of
numbers must be made—it was indispensable. But the
question was as to a second cheval de battaille, the first
having unfortunately broken down. Failing an amend-
men to the Address, then comes an amendment to Sir
Charles Manners Sutton ; and a respectable gentle-
man, an ex• Whig Minister and ex-Scotch Judge, but
who never in his life sat even as chairman of com-
mittee, has been pitched upon as the opposition flash-
man. The measure is a manceuvre—it would be vulgar
to call it a trick ; but there is this advantage attending
it—in canvassing reluctant Members of Parliament, if
the objection of the party applied to, be that it is a
strictly personal affair—that the question is one of
mere individual fitness, and therefore that Sir C. M.
Sutton being the better qualified of the two candidates,
he ought to be elected by the House—the canvassee is
assaulted in a strain of high-flown Whiggery, with
assurances that it is no personal question at all ; that
there is a " great principle to be vindicated ;" and that
the vital interests of reform all hang upon the skirts of
Mr. Speaker Abercromby's robe. This is the gibbe-
rish employed with one set of members ; with another,
the note is changed. If they seem averse to choosing,
a Speaker on party views, under the mask of " vindi-
cating a great principle," they are assured that the
mere choice of a Speaker will not be considered by
the heads of the Opposition as trepanning them
into any given course of politics for the future ; that
Sir Charles Manners Sutton, in his own person, has
behaved quite shamefully since the Melbourne Cabinet
was dismissed ; and that the infliction of a lesson upon
him can pledge nobody to vote for a Radical amend-
ment, or to refuse the Ministers " a fair trial." Young
enough must be the birds which are caught by chaff
like this. But still, if only half a dozen are bagged by
it, the game is still worth catching. A splash must be
made, that's flat. The humbug must be spread abroad
that the Ministers are in a dead minority—a panic is
hoped for, and (by the mark) a resignation. Or else,
what happens ? Why, the game of the confederates is
up. The Ministers will have an opportunity of deve-
loping their policy—the country will see with its own
eyes, and not through the distorting medium of fac-
tious prints, or declamatory speeches, that Sir Robert
Peel means reform, and nothing less. The question
will then be tried upon its merits, the principles of the
Conservative Government will be judged from the
practice adopted by it under the working of the Reform
Bill, and both will be compared with those of the un-
steady, unskilful, awkward, self-distrustful, " mob-
led," Radical courting, procrastinating, shuffling, in-
efficient, and ostentatious personages, whom the Co-
nservatives could not help succeeding. All this is fore-
seen. The whole aim and spirit of the Whig-Ra-
dical tactitians is explained by it. They are not for
giving the Government fair play, because by foul play
alone can they now hope to destroy it.—Times.
The Times fairly abandons Sir Charles Manners
Sutton. The article in that Journal of yesterday, on
the contest for the Speakership, was evidently written
under a firm belief that there will be a majority in
favour of Mr. Abercromby. No one at all acquainted
with the ways of our Contemporary can mistake the
meaning of the appeal to the Whigs. "If (says the
Times) the Whigs attain their immediate purpose,
their ruin-is inevitable. Their sole chance of salvation
as a party not to be swallowed up by one or other of the
Conservatives or Destructives, would be to hold for a
season the balance between both. But, unhappily,
passion bewilders them. It is our firm persuasion that a
majority in favour of Mr. Abercromby would ensure a
large majority against the opposition on the Address."
The Whigs will, no doubt, appreciate at its proper
value the interest manifested for their salvation as a
party by our Contemporary, and take the majority in
favour of Mr. Abercromby at the risk of hawing a large
majority against the opposition on the Address. The
maxim, Fas est ab hoste doceri, must not be interpreted
that the advice of an adversary is to be literally followed.
The Times is pregnant with instruction to the Whigs ;
but they may take it for granted that if our contempo-
rary thought its advice could promote their salvation as
a party, it would be withheld. Our contemporary
would not have tried to persuade the Whigs, if it could
have safely bullied them. We believe the Whigs will
take the majority in favour of Mr. Abercromby, subject
to all the consequences of the victory of the Reformers.
Though it may not he for our interest to praise
the accuracy of our contemporary's intelligence, we
must in this case so far do justice to it as to add our
confirmation. We believe that Mr. Abercromby's
election is safe. The Tories generally believe this ;
for at the Clubs yesterday they were quite chop-fallen.
They have been boasting of deserters from the Whigs,
with the intention, no doubt, of causing desertion.
But we know, from certain intelligence received from
all quarters, that there is no desertion. They have
been offering to bet five to four on Sir Charles Sutton :
yesterday, however, they would not bet on these terms.
In fact they know that Sir Charles Sutton has no
chance whatever of being Speaker of the new Par-
liament. We were sure that the moment the
question came to be seriously discussed, Sir Charles
Sutton's claim to the Speakership would be
seen in its true light. The Tories ought to sup-
port him, because he has exerted himself to promote
the success of their cause. But for the very same
reason, he is the very last man whom the Reformers
ought to support. In fact, no man can be a sincere Re-
former, and vote in favour of a candidate for the
Speakership who has shown himself a strong Tory
partisan, and who will, if he have an opportunity, seek
once more to favour the Tories. But, were there no
other reason, the question has been chosen for a trial
of strength between the Tories and Reformers ; and
he who, under such circumstances, deserts the Re-