The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1835.

only a few minutes before the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer concluded his speech) briefly observed that
all must admit that the course of the Right Hon.
Baronet had been marked with perfect honour and pro-
priety. Nearly all the Members then quitted the
House.—Morning Herald.
Yesterday the whole of the Ministers came to the
determination of resigning, and had actually proceeded
to resign their offices, in consequence of the decision of
the House of Commons the night before, upon Lord
John Russell's motion. The fact was communicated
afterwards to both Houses of Parliament, the Duke of
Wellington having, with characteristic brevity and
straightforwardness, announced it to their Lordships,
and Sir Robert Peel, with more circumlocution and
eloquence, but certainly with an equal degree of can-
dour and manliness, to the Commons. It was in the
latter House, of course, where the battle had been
fought, and the fortune of the day decided, that the
deepest interest was felt. From the view which the
Right Hon. Baronet had taken of the resolution in
his speech on Tuesday night, it was evident
that he regarded that resolution as the most direct
blow which had been levelled against the Minis-
try, and that, especially when coupled with the pre-
ceding defeats, he considered it as indicating a want
of confidence which must be fatal to his Government.
Indeed it was evident, for some weeks past, even to
those who did not regard it as a necessaey consequence
of his position from the commencement, that the ground
was giving way from under him, and that increasing
difficulties rendered his power not only more precarious
every moment, but more certain to break down at last.
There was, therefore, no mixture of surprise in the
regret with which many attached friends of the
Constitution looked upon the surrender of the Minis-
try. That the resignation of Sir R. Peel was inevita-
ble, under all the circumstanees, either as regarded his
own personal dignity, or the dignity of his Majesty's
Government, or the praetical working of its machinery,
which had been for some time standing still in his
hands, the perusal of his own eloquent exposition will
be sufficient to establish. It is true that a great and
influential party in the country look up to him with
more confidence than ever, having witnessed his
desire to promote useful and moderate reforms ; it is
true that Addresses pouring in from all quarters prove
him to possess the affections of a large portion of the
people, still the experiment of carrying on the Go-
vernment in the face of repeated majorities of the
House of Commons would be an experiment not only
new in itself, but in its very nature absurd and im-
practicable. There was, in fact, no other course for
Sir Robert Peel and his colleagues but the course
which they have adopted. We may truly say that
they leave office with the respect even of their adver-
saries. Let us hope that their successors will not
supply us with additional reasons to regret them, by
furnishing a contrast to the moderation of their plans
and the consistency of their conduct. A variety of
conjectures are afloat, and rumours, which always fol-
low in the rear of conjectures, as to the probable con-
struction of the new Cabinet ; but instead of collecting
the hints which have been scattered abroad, and draw-
ing upon our own imagination to make up. the defi-
ciency, we prefer the exercise of a little patience, not
only because it is a virtue in itself, but because it is
more likely to guide us to the truth.—Morn. Herald.
It will be seen by the proceedings in the two Houses
of Parliament last night that the Ministry of Sir Ro-
bert Peel have unanimously adopted the resolution of
retiring from office—that they yesterday tendered their
resignations to his Majesty—and that they now retain
the seals of their respective departments for the dis-
charge of the routine of official business until the King
shall have been enabled to make the necessary arrange-
ments for carrying on the Government of the country.
However we may lament the circumstance which ren-
dered this step necessary--and for the sake of the in-
terests and safety of the country we do lament them most
sincerely—it seems to us that in resigning office the Ad-
ministration has fairly, honourably, and fully followed up
the principles which presided over its formation, and
which have governed the whole of its conduct during
its brief possession of power. Sir R. Peel and
his virtuous and high-minded colleagues accept-
ed office not with a view to the emoluments, the
patronage, or the power by which ogee is attended ;
not with the view of achieving a party triumph over
their political opponents ; not with a view of acqui-
ring for themselves distinction in the eyes of their
country or of Europe, for the leading members of the
Cabinet already enjoyed an European reputation
which could scarcely be enhanced; they entered upon
the arduous duties of administration in the hope that
they might be enabled to render to their country, not
merely the ordinary duties of a wise and vigilant ad-
ministration of its affairs, but the special services of
which, in their judgment, the country stood pecu-
liarly in need in the actual crisis into which its affairs
had been brought. An Administration in whose hands
the powerful Conservative party of Great Britain could
feel that the fundamental principles of the Constitu-
tion and the solid groundwork of our national in-
stitutions were safe—an Administration whose cha-
racter might afford a satisfactory guarantee that in
proposing just and necessary reforms they did not
intend them as the means and instruments of ef-
fecting ulterior changes of questionable utility or jus-
tice—an Administration which would carry on with
alacrity, talent, and zeal such practical improvements
in the laws and institutions of the State as promised
to promote the real welfare of the people, without en-
deavouring to excite among them a headstrong passion
for indefinite and ceaseless change, or stimulating the
frenzy of democratic ambition—an Administration, in
a word, which should be at once Reforming and Con-
servative in the best sense of the expressions, and
which, by the undisputed possession of these qualities,
should possess the necessary influence to reform with
effect where reform was required, and preserve with
steadfast vigilance where preservation is a duty—such
an Administration it was the high and noble ambi-
tion of Sir Robert Peel to form and to direct, and it
cannot be denied that in the pursuit of this elevated
and patriotic enterprise he was completely success-
ful. The Administration was eminently fitted to ac-
complish all the national purposes which constitute
the end and object of Government, and if it has been
denied the privilege of fulfilling them, this is to be
ascribed, not to anything defective in its consti-
tution or anything erroneous in its conduct, but
to the fact that it was opposed by a reckless and
desperate faction in the House of Commons to whom
the welfare and the peace of the country were matters
of mere indifference when compared with the gratifica-
tion of their ambition or of their resentment. It must be
a high gratification to the friends of Sir R. Peel's
Administration, as it is undoubtedly an auspicious
omen of the eventual triumph of the cause of
order, religion, and good Government in Great
Britain, that the present Ministers of the Crown
carry
popularityrrywiththemthinanto
ever
rir
before,retirem perhaps,entagreateinr share
of popularity than ever before, perhaps, in Eng-
Eng-
land attended the retreat of any body of Ministers.
Since the meeting of Parliament scarcely a day has
gone by in which the head of this Administration
has not exhibited qualifications for the public ser-
vice of a higher order than, eminent as his former re-
putation was, his most partial friends had supposed
him to possess ; scarcely a day in which some new de-
velopment of his policy did not show to the nation
that he fully understood its real wants, and was
fully prepared with the means of supplying them ;
scarcely a day in which his envious competitors were
not compelled to acknowledge his measureless supe-
riority; scarcely a day in which the country had not
some new ground for the conviction that upon Sir Ro-
bert Peel and his colleagues it must place its last re-
maining hope of prudent, vigorous, and successful Go-
vernment. In the present state of the country, and of
the political parties who are now competitors for
power, it is impossible to overrate the heavy, the
awful, responsibility which attaches to Lord John
Russell and his confederates, whose factious and un-
principled opposition has at length succeeded in
breaking up an Administration to which, whether
we regard the qualifications of its members or the
degree of public confidence that it possessed, there
seems so little chance of obtaining, we do not say any
equal, for that is completely out of the question, but
any tolerable successors. What materials do the vic-
torious Opposition present to the choice of the Sove-
reign for the construction of a new Government ? Is

there any one of its leaders who dare undertake the
task of forming an Administration, in which place and
power shall be given to its various sections in propor-
tion to the degree in which they have severally contri-
buted to the common achievement ? Or is there the
least hope that its component parts can be kept in har-
monious co-operation, in the face of a compact and
united body of three hundred antagonists, after a divi-
sion of the spoil essentially repugnant to so equitable
a law of partition ? What is Lord John Russell,
or any other Whig statesman, for whose attempt at
the construction of a Government his efforts have
prepared the way, to do with Mr. O'Connell and
the tail ? What with the English Radicals ? Is
the nation prepared for the open and visible acces-
sion of either of these important sections of Lord
John Russell's majority to political power ? Is either
section prepared to support an Administration in the
constitution of which they are to have no part ? Or
will the Whigs, if they skould be recalled to power,
now resort to the measure of a dissolution, in the vain
hope of getting rid of the English, Irish, and Scotch
Radicals, their recent allies, or in the still more ab-
surd expectation of reducing the number of their
Conservative opponents ? The subject is surrounded
with difficulties on every side—difficulties which we
believe it will be impossible to surmount, but which
Lord John Russell, and the Whigs who have acted
with him in the House of Commons, are bound to
encounter and subdue, or submit to the fatal imputa-
tion of having advisedly brought their Sovereign
and their country into a situation of inextricable em-
barrassment. The party of Sir R. Peel, with which
Lord Stanley and his political friends are by their
character, their position, and their recent conduct com-
pletely identified, enjoy the entire and unreserved con-
fidence of the Sovereign. They have a decided and
unalterable majority in the House of Lords, and they
constitute an united and inseparable phalanx of 300
Members of the House of Commons. What we beg
to ask has Lord John Russell or any other Whig-Ra-
dical Lord to oppose to these great constitutional
powers ? A numerical majority of thirty in the present
House of Commons, which majority is sure to be anni-
hilated on the next appeal to the people, by whom-
soever made ; and in addition to this, a resolution car-
ried by the above insignificant and insecure majority,
and placed by them upon the journals of the House,
that nothing shall be done to tranquillise Ireland,

or give prosperity and safety to the empire, unless it
be accompanied by a measure for despoiling the
Protestant Church in Ireland, and surrendering its

entire revenues to the hands of the Papist
Agitator of country, to be by him ap-
plied to the maintenance and propagation of the
religion of Rome. Was ever a triumphant party in
so deplorable a position ? The Whig-Radical fac-
tion must already, we should imagine, begin to tremble
for the consequences of their victory. It is a victory
which can by no possibility produce to them anything
but disgrace. They have boasted of their power to
form a Government. We do not hesitate to say, that
for them to form a Government is impossible, if we
are to understand by the term Government anything
capabl.e of passing laws applicable to the actual circum-
stances, and responding to the urgent demands of the
country. Ireland requires, for example, a measure for
the settlement of the tithe question. And they have
had the discretion to qualify themselves for the consi-
deration of this subject, surrounded as it is by in-
herent difficulties of its own, by a solemn pledge
never to look at it, unless in connection with
another question of still greater difficulty, and with
which it has in reality nothing whatever to do.
The welfare of the country, the regular and effec-
tive progress of Government and legislation, demand
that the Executive shall possess the confidence of both
Houses of Parliament ; and, as a preparation for
entering upon the duties of an Executive Government,
the Whig-Radical party in the House of Commons
have taken care unnecessarily to identify themselves
with a principle of legislation to which the Upper
House of Parliament is known to be strongly and un-
alterably opposed. They have condemned themselves
to incurable impotency as an Administration, for sake
of being formidable as an Opposition ; and if they
should obtain an opportunity of showing that nothing
can really be more dangerous to the country than an
Administration without power, they will complete their
dishonourable evolutions by becoming an impotent
Opposition. The present situation of the Govern-
ment is undoubtedly an inconvenient one. But, so
far from giving way to any feeling of despair, we be-
lieve very sincerely that the prospects of the Conser-
vative party in this country have not for several years
been so bright as they are at the present moment.—
No ming Post.
The Peel-Wellington Ministry ceases to exist. The
announcement was made in both Houses last night,
that Ministers had tendered their resignation, and held
office only for the public convenience, till their suc-
cessors should be appointed. In the House of Lords
the announcement was drily made by the Duke of
Wellington ; but Sir Robert Peel entered at conside-
rable length into the motives which induced him to con-
tinue the attempt to conduct public affairs to the latest
moment, and the circumstances which reluctantly com-
pelled him to resign. His speech, of which a very
frill and faithful report will be found in our columns, will
amply-repay a perusal. We are willing to make great al-
lowance for the difficulty of Sir Robert Peel's position. A
Tory Ministry could not have been formed without him ;
and if he had refused to respond to the call made on
him by his party in November last, he would have been
accused as the betrayer of the Tory cause. His own
better judgment must, at the same time, have satisfied
him of the utter hopelessness of the attempt to conduct
the Government on Tory principles, and that the at-
tempt could not be made without exposing the best
interests of the country to hazard, and creating abun-
dant sources of embarrassment to all public men. In No-
vember last the country was in a most prosperous state;
the Melbourne Ministry were in possession of ge-
neral confidence, and the dismissal of that Ministry,
followed by a dissolution of Parliament of which the
second Session had only terminated, was not only un-
called for, but, under the circumstances, the most in-
sane course which could possibly be devised. The
result was foreseen and predicted by all men of the
least reflection. The Reform Bill had rendered it im-
possible to obtain a Tory majority; and the idea of
conducting the Government with a minority in the
House of Commons is the height of absurdity. A.
duration of two months after the meeting of Parlia-
ment was the utmost that could be hoped for the Peel
Ministry. It must be admitted that Sir Robert Peel,
in the attempt to conduct the Government under such
circumstances, has displayed no ordinary powers ;
but his very talents and skill have only served to ren-
der more evident the political annihilation of the Tory
party ; for if with his resources, his dexterity, his
mastery of all the plausibilities, his skill in parading
his strong points, and in concealing his weak, he was,
notwithstanding, soon placed in an impossibility of
moving, it is quite certain, that under any other
guidance, the result would have been less favourable.
Sir Robert has no cause personally to regret
the termination of his Ministry. It relieves him
from a task which must have become almost in-
supportable, and he retires with the satisfaction
of knowing that justice is generally done to the
mode in which he fought the hopeless fight of the
Tories. He boasts, we see, of being " in the entire
confidence of the King." This boast ought not to be
disregarded by the men who may be invited by the
King to accept office. The Right Hon. Baronet en-
joys the confidence of the King, but he does not enjoy
the confidence of the House of Commons ; are we to
infer that men who enjoy the confidence of the House
of Commons cannot also enjoy the King's confidence ?
_We are glad to perceive, from what fell from Sir
Robert, towards the close of his speech, that he does.
not countenance the attempt of ieome of his party to
create the delusion, that the House of Commons does
not speak the sense of the country
The whole of my political life (said the Right Hon.
Baronet) has been spent in the House of Commons : the
remainder of it will be spent here ; and whatever may be the
conflicts of parties, I for one shall always be anxious to stand
well with the House. whether I be in a majority or in a mino-
Loud cheers.) I do not hesitate to declare that,
under no circumstances—under the pressure of no difficulties,
would I ever have advised the Crown to resign that great
source of moral strength, which consists in a strict adherence
to the practice, to the principles, to the letter, and to the spirit
of the Constitution of this country. I am cnntlent, then,

that adherence will be the surest method of warding off
eventful dangers. It is because I believe, in ' conformity with
that Constitution, a Government ought not to persist in carry-
ing on public affairs, after a fair trial, against the decided opi-
nion of a majority of the House of Commons—it is because I
have that conviction deeply-rooted in my mind, that I have re-
linquished my post ; although I do sincerely regret the neces-
sity which has compelled me to abandon the King's service at
the present moment."—( Much cheering.)
There is evidently more here than meets the eye. In
the anxiety to manifest his determination to adhere to
the practice, to the principles, to the letter, and to the
spirit of the Constitution of this country, and to pro-
test against a Government carrying on public affairs,
Oer a fair trial, against the decided opinion of a ma-
jority of the House of Commons, we think we can
perceive something like a vindication of his conduct
addressed to those who would have wished him to dis-
regard both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution,
and to wage a hopeless battle with the people of Eng-
land. Sir Robert indicates that he is not the dupe of
the pretended Addresses—that he knows this House
of Commons contains more Tories than any future
House will contain—and that he is fully aware of the
difference between his situation and that of Mr. Pitt,
in 1784. The majority against him continued, as he
observes, to increase, which could only arise from a
firm conviction on the part of the representatives that
their conduct was approved of by their constituents.
Another dissolution, under such circumstances, could
have had no other result than in rousing a strong feel-
ing of discontent from one end of the country to the
other.—Morning Chronicle.

DISCOVERY OF AN EXTENSIVE
ROBBERY, AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

On Sunday night last, at a late hour, as police constable
Crawford, of G division, was going his rounds through
Bleeding Hart-yard, Holborn, he observed three men
drunk, and he took them to the station-house, where they
gave their names John Willis, George Wright, and Thomas
Edgeall. On the two former were found Bank post-bills,
and other property, to upwards of the amount of 7001.
The prisoners Wright and Wiiiis, said they were shoe-
makers, and had come from Southampton, to look after
work, and had been in London hut a few days. Wright
and Willis were remanded, but Edgeall was discharged.
The account of their apprehension having appeared in the
newspapers inquiries were made, and it was discovered
that the house of E. Hartley, Esq., a wealthy gentleman
of Southampton, had been broken into by thieves during
his absence on the Continent, and Bank post-bills and
property to a considerable amount had been stolen from
an iron chest, which had been forcibly opened by the
thieves. Tony, the officer of the Southampton police,
yesterday came to London, by direction of Mr. Leferne the
Mayor, and the Magistrates, to state that the robbery had
been committed, and that the prisoner Wallis was a noto-
rious character, who had been once transported for felony,
and he had a short time ago attempted to destroy himself
by taking poison. He was a violent and desperate man.
It appears, that shortly after he entered the House of Cor-
rection, be took some poison, which he had concealed about
his person, which nearly affected his life. He was imme-
diately admitted into the gaol infirmary, and the medical at-
tendant of the prison rendered him every assistance, and
extracted the poi son from his stomach, and he is now in a
weakly condition. Yesterday Tony visited the prison, and
identified Willis as a " Southamptoner," but he did not
know Wright.
The Magistrates of Hatton-Garden ordered that infor-
mation should be sent to Mr. Hartley, and that after a
written communication from the Magistrates of Southamp-
ton, the prisoners would be forwarded down there, with the
officers of police who apprehended them, for examination.
Tony expressed his fullest conviction that Willis (if he was
not strictly watched) would perpetrate suicide. He is a
sullen downcast-looking fellow, about thirty yearS of age.