The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-19 00:00:00

has taken place among the freeholders of Inverness-
shire within two years and five months, to the detri-
ment of Whig-Radicalism, and in favour of the
Conservative policy. Let us recollect that the Whigs
were those with whom the Reform Bill hdd origi-
nated—that it was they in whose supposed favour that
bill was carried, that by virtue of it they hoped always
to-obtain a large majority in Parliament over the Con-
servatives who had opposed it, and a perennial pre-
dominancy throughout the whole kingdom over their
ancient rivals. It is very plain, that as authors of
the Reform Bill, a measure decidedly and extensively
popular with the nation, the Whigs stood on 'vantage
ground. It is manifest that, ceteris paribus, the
Whigs might reckon on being more acceptable to the
people of England than the Conservatives, by reason
of the vast boon which they ascribed to themselves
the merit of having bestowed upon the country, and
the odium which they boasted of having entailed upon
the Tories, by the opposition of the latter party to the
bill. What then has happened ? We find that
so ill-qualified have the Whig politicians proved
themselves to hold • the advantage which cir-
cumstances had given them, so completely had
the means and opportunities of recommending
themselves to the nation by their beneficial use of
ministerial power been neutralized by the obvious in-•
capacity and unfitness of the Whigs for the business
of Government, and for the direction of the State, that
at the very first moment, viz., in January, 1835, in
which an appeal was made to the sentiments of the
constituency created under this Whig Reform Bill, the
Whig returns were reduced one-half, and the Conser-
vatives more than doubled. The authors of the Re-
form Bill will scarcely say that the constituency which
they themselves called into action does not express
something like an approximation, at least, to the pub-
lic feeling of the country. They will not call the 300
Conservatives a horoughmongering body. They cannot
allege that the people have not been consulted with all
the fairness which the Whigs themselves could devise,
and the result in January was strong evidence of a
growing distaste throughout Great Britain, as a whole,
for the Whigs, with a proportional turning towards
the Conservatives as more worthy of public confidence.
The sentiment of dislike towards the existing Ministry
appears to us ro be a mixed one, made up in some
degree of contempt for the intrinsic weakness of the
party to which they personally belong, and for the rest,
of the dread and disgust inspired by the more vigorous
but more desperate men, upon whom the Whigs, in
their conscious feebleness, are forced to lean for sup-
port within the walls of the House of Commons. We
observe that the Ministerial journals boast that Colonel
Anson has not actually resigned the contest for Staf-
fordshire. It is a subject of rejoicing to us that he has
not. Nothing ought to be taken for granted on such
occasions. The feeling of a great county ought to be
demonstrated, not assumed. For such a purpose
there is no test so desirable as the poll-books. If the
men of Staffordshire will have a gentleman of Colonel
Anson's politics to represent them, it is right that they
should have the means of making manifest their desire,
and after a fair stand-up fight, whether it shall end as
in South Devon or the West Riding, no taunt
can be afterwards thrown out that "if the can-
didates had gone to a poll, so and so would
have been the result." There is one thing, how-
ever, which cannot be enough insisted on. It is,
that there shall be no overweening confidence in
Staffordshire on the part of Sir F. Goodricke's
friends, as there was unquestionably in the West
Riding—that there shall be no reckoning of
chickens before they are hatched, no hallooing be-
fore the Conservatives are out of the wood. Let
every man hasten to the poll as if the election depended
on his single vote. Let no elector listen to foolish,
and very . often treacherous tales of " sure majorities"
in favour of the candidate to whom be stands pledged.
The object is not more to return a particular candi-
date than to put on record the largest possible majority
in his favour, which may serve for an indisputable
standard'of the amount of re-action in the general mind.
We perceive that the Ministerial prints of last night
were busy in contradicting a positive statement made
by a morning scribe and associate of their's, which had
asserted the resignation of Lord Albemarle. Whether
the story be precisely true or premature, there is
something rotten in the state of things, or no such se-
cret would have been played with in such quarters.—
Times.

The commencement of the speech of Colonel Leith
Hay last night in the House of Commons, on bringing
forward the Ordnance- Estimates, is worthy of atten-
tion, as a testimony, proceeding from the most unex-
ceptionable quarter, of the sincerity, ability, and zeal
with which the late Administration laboured to econo-
mize the resources of the country. We have great
pleasure in transcribing the words of the Gallant
Colonel:—" These estimates .had, as they all knew,
been drawn out under peculiar circumstances ; they had
been prepared by the late Government, and it had been
his duty since his accession to office to investigate
them thoroughly. He had carefully gone through the
various items contained in them, and the conclusion to
which he had come was, that they had been drawn up
with equal regard to the safety of the country as to the
principles of economy. He was perfectly satisfied that
in the preparation of these estimates, both these im-
portant considerations had been duly attended to ; and
in his opinion, therefore, the estimates were such as
the House ought to agree to." We quote this passage
because we think it is proper and useful that the coun-
try should know what it has gained by the Russell and
O'Connell exploit of displacing the late -Administra-
tion. It is confessed that, upon the score of economy,
so far at least- as the Ordnance Estimates are con-
cerned, the gain is absolutely nothing ; and we venture
to say that the result will be the same with respect to
every other branch of the public expenditure. The
nation, it is plain, will save nothing by the change of
Ministers in any department of the public service. This
is a circumstance which would have implied no dis-
credit to the present Ministers of the Crown, had they
never pretended to be exclusively or peculiarly the ad- •
vocates and promoters of economy ; but it undoubt-
edly serves to show that as much may sometimes be
done by public men who do not make a great parade of
their merits as by those who do. But the nation has been
told by the Whigs, the Radicals, and the O'Connellites,
and by their organs of every class, that it would be an im-
mense gainer, not only on the score of economy, but of
Reform, by the substitution of the present for the late
Administration: The delusion, so far as economy is
concerned, is dissipated already. The estimates for
the present year were framed by Sir R. Peel and his
colleagues. And it is already apparent that, with all
their anxiety to surpass and discredit their political
rivals, and with more indifference than they dare to
show to the welfare and safety of the State, the Whig-
O'Connell Ministry cannot effect any reduction in the
Estimates which the Conservative Administration
thought it their duty to submit to Parliament. If we
are not greatly mistaken, the people of England will
find, before the close of the present session, that, upon
the score of Reform, the professions of Whig-Radical
Statesmen are still more fallacious than upon that of
economy. The least that can be expected of the pre-
sent Ministers is that they will introduce and complete
measures of amelioration in the various institutions
of the country in which amendment -is required,
as beneficial and satisfactory as those which Sir
R. Peel, during !iis brief period of office, presented
and explained to the House of Commons, and which,
had lie remained Minister, there is no doubt whatever
he would have carried into effect. Less than this the
Whig-O'Connell Ministry cannot do without incur-
ring the imputation of having defrauded the country
of having interposed their power to obstruct and de-
feat practical improvements in its laws and institu-
• tions—of having assumed the cloak of Reformers, in
order to promote sordid and selfish purposes of their
own, to the hazard and the detriment of the cause of
Reform. Yet less, and much less, than this we are
persuaded they will either do, or even attempt. It is
not concealed, indeed, that their chief object now is toget
through the session as speedily as they can, leaving
all the abuses they have so fiercely denounced, and
all the evils they have so plaintively lamented, just
as they found them. This may seem incredible, but
so we believe the fact to be, nevertheless. The re-
jected of South Devon, the elected-Of indeed he is to
be elected) of Stroud, will enter the House of Com-
mons a dispirited and downcast man. Mr. Spring