The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-13 00:00:00

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It does not occur to us that in the history of Eng-
lish party, any attempt was ever made more palpable
than the present, or more heinous, to conceal a factious
object under the garb of one in which the whole na-
tion might be led to believe it had a substantial inte-
rest. The motives too by which an heterogenous and
piebald body of Members of Parliament have been in-
duced to co-operate towards the execution of this one
purpose are worth bringing before the public, even at
the risk of being charged with repetition. The Whigs,
the baffled, unsuccessful, though still restless and
aspiring Whigs, have no thought beyond the ex-
pulsion of a Conservative Ministry, and the im-
mediate seizure of their places. The Radicals have
a different hope. It is to turn- out a strong Ministry,
and to make the feeble one which succeeds, their own
humble slave and instrument for effecting a radical
revolution. With the overthrow, therefore, of the exist-
ing Government ends the real union of the Whigs and
Radicals ; they never will cordially combine for any
second purpose. The " movement' of the Whigs will
terminate where that of the Destructives is to com-
mence. A single step beyond the Council Chamber
the gentlemen of the old coterie will never budge.
They will exclaim to their no-longer allies, " You are
carrying the joke too far : what more du you want
than a Liberal Ministry in office ? and see you have
it ; here we are ; why are you so discontented ?" A
correspondent of ours, an " Honest Radical," pointed
out two days ago the impossibility of anything like con-
cord between the Whi,sand Ultra-Radicals a moment
longer than they should jointly remain upon the Oppo-
sition
benches. As a Government there are at least a
dozen measures which must be proposed by the Ultra-
Radicals, and must be resisted by the Whigs, unless one
or other were to become that thing so cursed of all ous-
ted placemen," renegadoes." This is an awful prospect
for the Whigs, weaker as they are in numbers and energy
than their new protectors, and beset on the other side
Sy a formidable band of Conservatives, and who have
mly to keep aloof, unmoved spectators of the contest,
until at the convenient time they once more descend
into the field, and sweep before them the wrecks of
both the exhausted combatants. But let us not again
be accused of admitting the truth of hypothetical cases.
We see no symptom tending towards the realization of
either of those which we have for the sake of argu-
ment supposed, of a Whig-Radical majority against
the Government, or of its consequent resignation. For
the hope, indeed, expressed by our correspondent,
" Memor," that Mr. Abercromby will act the pure and
lofty part of retiring from the struggle, because it may
involve him, whether successful or not, in obligations
to base and infamous supporters, our friend " Me-
!nor" must be a somewhat young hand if he seriously
entertain it. The mind of a man who drinks deep
of the foul stream of faction is in a state of incessant
and muddy drunkenness. He can see nothing under
its natural shape or colour. To carry the imme-
diate party object he would traffic with Satan himself,
and sell his immortality for the bauble of the hour—
a Riband, a Regiment, or a Speaker's chair. No ;
whatever the Right Hon. Gentleman might be inclined
to do, when once the fumes of the party debauch had
evaporated, he is now in the same fever with all the
rest of the company ; and whether it ends by his
sitting upright in the Chair, or tumbling under
the table, it matters Lot to him or his boon com-
panions—on they go. Yet the day of soberness will
come by and by ; if not before the nineteenth, not
long afterwards and then what will be the reflec-
tions, what the forebodings of Mr. Abercromby and
his bottleholder, the new leader of the motley opposi-
tion? We have already pointed to the desperate condition
of any English party, which first leans for support on
the Irish Repeal-rchel and his gang, and next has to pay
them the wages of their service, by taking them into
partnership. But the embarrassments of the Whigs
are thickening with every post. O'Connell's declara-
tion three or four days ago was, that the instant the
" Reform" Ministry should return to office, he would
begin again his machinations fora Repeal of the Union.
An auspicious opening of the next Whig reign ! By
this last post, however—as if he lived only to torment
the wretched reran; ut of the old Foxite Opposition—
he announces the very position which he means to
occupy—the very spot from which he will play his
batteries against the Union of Great Britain and Ire-
land. While in opposition he is to " stop the sup-
plies." After he has turned out the Conservative
Ministry, he is to be himself a candidate for office !
Yes, he declares " in the face of his constituents,
that he is ready to firm a Member of a new Ad-
ministration !" Who doubts him ? When was he
not ready to accept any office that any Minister of
the Crown would he mad enough to offer him ? But
in the present circumstances of the Whig party, the
fact is, that they durst not refuse this unprincipled
ruffian whatever office lie chose to lay his hand on.
They could not carry on the government without the
aid of O'Connell and his crew, without having for a
colleague that identical revolutionist who has devoted his
life to the Repeal of the Union, who waits only the
downfall of the present --Ministry to push more violently
than ever that insane and sanguinary project, and who
could do no otherwise, as Minister of the Crown, than
bring a Bill for the " repeal of the union" into the im-
perial House of Coa•mons 1 Are the eyes of Whig-
gery to be for ever closed ? Will no gulf—no preci-
pice—no earthquake rouse the doomed and irrecover-
able victim ? With regard to the Speakership, there
are some ugly warnings by this time in the hands of
Lord J. Russell. Two of them will be found in the
Times of to-day—one, a letter from Mr. Richards
---another from Mr. Hughes Hughes—both in reply
to Lord John's solicitation that they would vote for
Mr. Abercromby, and both replying to his Lordship
by a peremptory assurance that they would support Sir
C. Manners Sutton. How many more such answers
the Noble Lord may have received, which have not
yet been suffered to see the light, may perhaps be
known on the morning of next Thursday.—Tirizes.
Our readers will, we are sure, share with us the sa-
tisfaction with which we announce, that the Reform
Members of Parliament, have, in imitation of the noble
example set them by the people out of doors during the
late elections, determined to sink all their minor differ-
ences, and to bend all their energies to the expulsion
from office of their common enemies. When the tug
of war shall have fairly commenced in the House of
Commons, it will not, as it it often was in the course
of last session, be one class of Reformers pitted in
mortal strife against another; but it will be the Re-
formers, under the comprehensive name of the friends
of the people, against the Tories, their common enemy.
The contest in the approaching Parliament will not be
one relating to details,but one involving fundamental prin-
ciples, and, therefore, Reformers of every shade of opi-
"lion (not including, of course, those who are so only in
profession) have resolved to forego all discussion as to the
lesser points, on which a great diversity of conscientious
opinion exists, and to unite together in taking every con-
stitutional means for the assertion of those great prin-
ciples which they all hold to be not only abstractedly
just, but indispensably necessary to the well-being of
the people of this country. Arrangements are at this
moment making by which their opinions as to the
course it were best to pursue on all great questions,
may be ascertained with the greatest facility and cer-
tainty, and by which a more frequent and unreserved
intercourse with each other than formerly, may take
place. It is intended, in other words, that a society
or union among genuine Reformers—however differing
in matters of detail—shall be instituted, by which they
may at all times interchange their views with each
other, and by which they can on the shortest notice,
be made to bear all their energies and resources upon
the common foe. One of the means, we believe, is,
that they shall have stated meetings once a week, for
the purpose of learning each other s views on all im-
portant questions, and for concerting such measures
as may be deemed best for defeating the machinations
of the Tories against the people, and advancing the
cause of civil and religious liberty. It is unnecessary
to say that we anticipate the best effects from this cor-
dial co-operation among Reformers. The people of
England have often suffered from the union of their
enemies ; we shall soon, we trust, have a happy illus-
tration of the advantages of union among their friends.
Though the unidi in question has not yet been formed
--7 as indeed it cosil/d/lo be, owing to the absence from
town of so many..lvicui, rs—yet so much have the

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