The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF VTR PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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By the majority gained by Ministers in the
House of Commons they may flatter themselves
that they are disembarrassed effectually of the
Russian-Dutch Loan, and that in regard to that
transaction they now rise above the machinations
of their enemies and the suspicions of the na-
tion. If they do so we are satisfied that they
indulge in an error which may have a very evil
influence on their foreign policy, and must even-
tually recoil upon them ; for, as surely as they
have not cleared themselves from the imputations
thrown upon them, so surely is the subject one
which should not, and shall not, be suffered to
fall into oblivion. A majority in the present
Commons could not exonerate them, much less
one acquired under the ad misericordiain ap-
peal of Lord Althorp. The case was one in a
thousand ; not because the public purse was
defrauded, but because the national honour was
sadly compromised—compromised by proceed-
ings too palpable to be mystified away either by
the candour of the Noble Lord, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, which we should not wish to sus-
pect, or the bold special pleading of Dr.Lushing-
ton, which we should be as unwilling to trust. The
excessive delicacy with which the Learned Civilian
affected to shun an inconvenient scrutiny into
the conduct of a former Ministry could only be
equalled in moral dignity and sound statesman-
ship by the reckless integrity with which he
would see all their bonds discharged, even at the
expense of the nation's flesh and blood. How
becoming is the timidity with which lie averts
his eve from the egg of the cockatrice, and the
courage with which he gazes on the living rep-
tile to which it gives birth. But we can tell him
that if England ever could forget the acts of that
man by whom she was degraded into a tool of
a most unholy alliance, England's Governors
never should—first, that they might not with the
recollection lose also the salutary warning which
such degrading, if not traitorous, proceedings
carry with them on their record ; and secondly,
excellent Sir, that they might avail themselves
of all and the earliest opportunities to rescue the
country from their baneful consequences. In
such a category this very Russian Dutch Loan
might fairly take an infamous priority of place.
In it may be seen a select memorial of the Cas-
tlereagh school of policy. The arrangement bN
which England was made a party in it was, not
last Thursday or last November, but on the verN
instant that it was consummated, of the most
palpable disadvantage to her ; so much so that
every principle of justice and sound practical
policy urges her to avoid it, as the lawyers say.
upon the arrival of any contingency which ten-
ders the strict propriety of adherence to it, in the
slightest degree, a matter of doubt. What Eng-
lishman can look back upon that period of Con-
gresses and Conventions without mortification
and disgust ? England then appeared before
Europe not in the character of Minerva Vic-
trix, hut as Minerva naked, and attitudinizin
for the prize of grace, with Paris for her judge.
and winning nothing but contempt. She had
come out of her arduous contest with France
the benefactress of all Europe. Her persever-
ance and her subsidies had proved the salvation
of King and Kaiser. All were her debtors, and
yet was she declared a debtor by a piece of
jugglery which our delicate Doctor will not be
profane enough to scrutinize or defeat, but tells
us to console ourselves with the maxim, that " to
hear is to conquer our fate." During that con-
test Holland had been arrayed against us, and
we fairly acquired possession of her colonies.
Nevertheless were we called on, and with what
we should be glad to denominate by the epithet
hyper-Quixotism alone did we consent to pay
for these honest and honourable conquests.
We were adjudged, and submitted, to disburse.
Now, mark : at this very time had England, by
her pertinacity in refusing all pacific negotiation
with Napoleon, except on the basis of his giving
up Antwerp, been the immediate, as she had
been the remote, cause of his downfall. At this
time had Holland been restored to her inde-
pendence, to her actual existence as a nation ;
and at this time had that very Antwerp, and the
fertile, well-peopled Belgium, worth all her
natural territories, and her colonies to boot,
been bestowed upon her. So great was this
latter gift deemed, and justly, that in conse-
quence of it she was made subject to a
debt to Russia to the amount of five mil-
lions, in order that she might bear part of
the expenses of the late armaments of that Power.
Had we no claim ? Was there no gratitude due
to us? There was abundant gratitude and
boundless claim, and both were satisfied, credite
posteri, by confirming our liability to reimburse
the Dutchman for our acquisitions. So absurd
an arrangement, in which the chief negotiators
on the part of England were one individual who
died mad, and another who has lived to declare
and prove himself mad, would, as the Learned
Doctor well knows, be at once set aside if it
could be submitted to the decision of one of our
Equity Courts. Let us now consider our con-
nection in this affair with Russia. We owed her
nothing ; on the contrary, she owed us more than
she will ever pay. But Holland was her debtor
in consideration of the addition of Belgium,
and the claim was to continue while the consi-
deration was enjoyed. We were Holland's
debtor, and we agreed to pay Russia according
to the condition mentiored. In this case we
were clearly trustees ; and the moment we as-
certained that the quid pro quo to Holland had
failed, that moment (unless the failure had
arisen from a French invasion of Belgium) were
we bound to interrupt the payment to Russia.
Such was the letter and spirit of the compact.
By pursuing an opposite line of conduct we have
acted the part of an unfaithful trustee to Hol-
land, and have also betrayed our own interests,
inasmuch as we have allowed a fair opportunity
to escape us of reviewing our engagement to that
Power. Under all these circumstances the
new Convention with Russia was at best a gross
error, while its concealment from Parliament
was a treason. But Ministers, Whig Ministers,
could not have been blind to the true state of
their relations with Russia in this transaction,
and the but too palpable policy which regulate
their conduct presents, in consequence, its most
odious aspect. They dare not avow the motives
by which they were actuated, and which were
alone worthy of a Venetian Senate in the day
of its impotence and imbecility. They were
guilty of a wretched expedient, dictated by the
apprehensions of tyros in the Cabinet. The set-
tlement of Holland and Belgium was in the
midst of all its difficulties. There was, and is,
but too much reason to suspect that the Auto-
crat fomented them. The sword that streamed
with the blood of Poland was in his grasp—the
delicious flavour of blood was on his palate. He
stood eager and excited on the boundaties of
European civilisation, yearning to cleave down
:anotkier-natical's liberty in some " disastrous
batt)if' They feared to irritate him by a hit
ila, 11914Etlis-rittlits £r England's purse ; better
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