The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-06 00:00:00

PIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Lord Londonderry is, it appears, appointed in reality
Ambassador: to the Emperor Nicholas. When the
rumour of this unfortunate nomination first reached us,
we spoke of it, and in sober earnest, as a hoax—in
other words, as a step so ill-judged and reprehensible
on the part of the hint's Ministers, that it could not
be seriously meditated by any man to whom the histor:r-
and political character of the Noble Marquis were
familiar. 'We staid by our first declarei.ion. It is an
appointment which the whole z!ountry will condemn.
Nothing can reconcile the people of England to the
employment of a furetionary whose unfitness to repre-
sent the dignity and the civilization of England has
been already demonstrated. If, moreover, the choice
of a Plenipotentiary were to be determined by the con-
geniality of his political principles to those of the
Court where he is to reside, instead of to those of the
Government which sends him, the favour designed
for the ex-Ambassador to Vienna might be more
easily understood. As the case is, we cannot
and will not defend or palliate this unbecoming mission.
In what is here urged for the consideration of the
King's Ministers, we say not a word as to the personal
character of Lord Londonderry, whom we have always
been taught to look upon as in his family and among
his intimates a most good-natured and kind-hearted
person. That he will convey to the Court of Russia,
with regard to politics, just what his old master the
Duke of Wellington puts down for him, and tinder
such a chief will not presume to utter an unauthorized
syllable, we are confident enough. But ought a Bri-
tish Minister at such a Court, and with so many deli-
cate questions pending, and such mighty interests at
stake—ought, we say, our Minister at St. Petersburgh
to be an automaton ? He ought, on the contrary, to be
all eye, all car: the noble Marquis, like other Ambas-
sadors, must have feelers out, not, we hope, in all di-
rections, but in tie right directions. Yet we should
like to be informed (and might then have every dispo-
sition to allow for it) under what extreme emergency
or embarrassment of party connexion it is, that such au
employer was forced to encumber himself by the ser-
vices of such an agent. Better save the salary, and
depute a Charge d'Ailt'res.—Thries.
The Whig and. Radical parts of the press appear to
be completely " taken aback by the unexpected ap-
pearance of the Church Reform Commission. The
cue given to them was, that they were strenuously to
contend that no species of Reform was to be expected
from the present Ministers, but what might be wrung
from them by the actual votes and compulsion of Par-
liament, and that even then they would be found as far
as possible to defeat its object. This part of their al-
lotted task, it must be admitted, has been diligently and
faithfully fulfilled Not a line has been left unwritten
which could tend to enforce this misrepresentation upon
their readers ; and all this from the organs of a party,
whose tergiversa ion, disunion, and incapacity, had
become so generally notorious, that there can be no
manner of doubt that the very first measure of re-
form which they themselves attempted to bring
forward must have fallen still-born, owing to the dis-
cordant spirits of those from whom it emanated.
In the midst of their vituperative dreams, how-
ever, forth conies this Commission—not a mere vaunt-
ing promise of reform. Not the mere " magna
lo-
quens"of professing pretenders, but an actual com-
mencement, and that by anticipation, of one of those
reforms on which the good sense and right feeling of
the country are most fervently bent. There are some
people, however, whom nothing will satisfy. Instead
of kissing the rod, and for once giving credit to an op-
ponent, this proceeding, which carries upon its front
the most marked appearance of earnestness and sin-
cerity, is deprecated as a mere tub thrown out to
amuse the whale, and as, in fact, professing to mean a
great deal, but intending nothing. And this inference
is drawn, forsooth, frmn no other source than a dislike
to the names of the persons to whom the initiative
proceeding is con detl. To be sure, it would have been
more in the Whig way of doing business had the Com-
mission been directed to half a score of briefless barris-
ters, who might have pased the ensuing summer in a va-
riety of agreeable journeys at the public expense, and
whose inquiries, seconding to established precedent,
would, in all probability, beyond expenses, have
ended in mere smoke. In spite of Whig precedent,
however, there probably are those who will be apt to
think that this important inquiry has been confided to
safer and more competent hands, and that the heads of
the Church, the law, and the State, with the honoura-
ble adjuncts placed with them, are not very likely to
lend themselves to a mere fallacy, but are of themselves
alone a pledge and assurance to the country that Mi-
nisters are in earnest, both in the promptitude and spirit
with which they are approaching this important head
of reform. To be sure, what is now doing might just
as well have been done by the late Ministers, at least
two years ago. Had the plan which is now in embryo
been then introduced, it would by this time have been
at least in partial, if not in full operation. But to
talk and to do are different things ; and so, at least,
they prove to be as between the two Administrations
upon this important subject. And ought not an overt
act like this to strengthen the confidence of the coun-
try in these alleged anti-reformers ? Ought it not,
must it not, have its weight in inducing the independent
reformers in the new Parliament in at least giving Mi-
nisters that " fair trial" which, for the present, is all
they ask ? Though the :spirit of faction may not be
silenced, it should at least be rendered inocuous, for
the present, by such a plod as this measure affords of
a determination on the part of Ministers, rather to run
before than disappoint the just expections of the
country. In short, let but other topics meet with the
same ready attention which this has, and the choice
between Conservatives and Destructives will no longer
be a question between any large portions of the
community.—Morning Herald.
Had the assurance of Sir Robert Peel to his con-
stituents required corroboration by the evidence of
facts, that corroboration would have been found in
the notification of the Royal Commission which ap-
peared in the Gazette of Tuesday evening. The
promptitude and decision with which the Prime Mini-
ster has acted on this most important occasion, are not
more creditable to his personal character, than the
Christian and cautious, the complete and comprehen-
sive, character of the document itself are auspicious
indications of his official policy. The measure is wor-
thy of the man—npcn, decided, and straight-forward—
advancing boldly on the object, no shuffling subter-
fuge, no paltry evasion, no moving of the previous
question—nothing which savours of Whigism, or be-
trays that he is either afraid or ashamed of his pur-
pose. This is as it should be. This will encourage
the timid, confirm the wavering, and furnish a practi-
cal answer to the hvyer-sceptical few who really doubted
the sincerity of ;S:r Robert Peel's attachment to a
system of cautious and progressive amelioration, so
far as that system could be usefully pursued without
a compromise of principle. In the various points
which are specifically designated as the objects of
the Commissioners' investigations, as well as in the
names of the individuals composing the Commis-
sion, the professional Churchman, those who are con-
scientiously attached to the Establishment as the purest
form of Christian faith, those who are politically at-
tached to it as inherent in the very essence of the Con-
stitution, and who would, therefore, repair the injuries
and correct the errors which the lapse of time may
have occasioned, will each and all find matter of con-
gratulation and of hope. If there have been any who
from the impending investigation, apprehended danger
to the Establishment in reference to its interests, its
privileges, or its usefulness, the consideration that it
has been commanded by that Monarch who made the
never-to-be-forgotten declaration to the Bishops, and
that it will be conducted by men among whom are to
be found some of the best and wisest that the land can
boast, must surely remove every reasonable ground of
apprehension. But to one class of those whom we
blush to call countrymen, we can offer but little conso-
lation. We mean to that un-English and un-Christian
faction which, to prolong the possession of power, would
have plundered and sacrificed one branch of the Esta-
blishment, and have thus formed a precedent for the
spoliation and ruin of the other. But the Power which
formed and founded will preserve the Church, and con-
found the malice of her enemies. We feel a proud and
a pious gratitude in reflecting that the mighty work will
be effected through the instrumentality of agents most

worthy of accomplishing so glorious a consummation ;
and from this auspicious commencement we augur a
triumphant career for the Conservative Administration.
—Horning Post.
ssed away since the
Though nearly an age has
Edinburgh Review was begotten, it is not forgotten,
nor will it noon be forgotten, that it vas both a sharp
7:;Yord and a strong shield to the cause of freedom in
perilous times, and, therefore, it is the more gratifying
to find this veteran journal so forward in maintaining.
that good cause when it is menaced anew. The ar-
ticle of the Review to which we are about to refer, is
as calm and temperate as it is powerful and conclu-
sive, and is especially worthy of the careful perusal of
those Members of the House of Commons who wish
to do well, but who at the same time are wavering a
little as to what may constitute well-doing on their
part, especiallyon questions which have been studiously
mystified by those who have an interest in deepening
and prolonging the mystery. The subject of this ar-
ticle is Church Reform, and especially that most ur-
gent branch of it, a Reform of the Protestant Church
of Ireland, together with the scarcely less urgent mea-
sure of a regular public or state provision for the
Ministers of the Irish Catholic Church—a body of
men who have great influence in that part of the
United Kingdom, many of whom would deservedly
have influence in any state of society, and all of whom
it is desirable to have as the friends of the State,
and not, as neglect, and not unfrequcntly contumely, if
not persecution, has made thena—its enemies. There
are three grand points taken up in the article, and
treated with great clearness and ability :—First, the
question of the appropriation of Church property to
any other purposes than those of the Church. Sir
Robert Peel himself, who is the champion of the in-
violability of Church property, admits that the time is
come when we must consider, " Whether we could
not facilitate the propogation of divine truth, and ex-
tend the means of divine worship, by a lliferent distri-
bution of thefitnds of the Established Church." Sit
Robert does not define what he means by ." the
Church," neither has he yet pointed out how he
would alter the distribution ; but the Reviewer helps
him out with the definition, and thence shows that the
Legislature has a right to deal with the distribution as,
may appear best for the interests of the whole people,
just as it has in the disposal of any other public reve-
nue. Sir Robert himself does not deny the " legal
right," but he doubts the moral and equitable right to ap-
propriate Church property to secular purposes ; and it is
on this doubt that the reviewer is at issue with him; and
he divides his argument into these two inquiries...
" What is the Church ? What is Church property ?
He shows, from the nineteenth article of the Church
of England, that the Church means the laity as well
as the clergy, in which sense it cannot be a corporation.
Then he shows that the clergy are not, in any sense
of the word, a corporation ; and that, though they
are a distinct, and in some senses, a privileged body,
they neither have nor can hold any property in com-
mon, or as a corporation, the only Nva v in which pro-
perty not belonging to individuals can be held. In
other words, that the Church, taken in its general
sense as an establishment, neither has, nor possibly
can have, sny property. But every dean and chapter
is " a corporation agesregate, and every bishop or par-
son a corporation sole." These corporations are as
distinct and independent of each other as the corpora-
tions of citizen towns ; and therefore it would be as
much an invasion of that right of property which
churchmen can be in any way supposed to possess, to
take away from the holder of a rich benefice, and give
to a poor one, as it would be to take away from the
corporate revenue of the city of London, and give to
the most starveling borough within the four seas. We
quote the summing-up of this clear and conclusive ar-
gument :
" If Church property is intangible, and is, at the same time,
not a single property, one and indivisible, but a collection of
distinct, independednt, integral properties comprised in that
general form, then each of those integral properties must like-
wise be intangible. The property of each seperate benefice
must, therefore, be intangible ; and if so, then to redestribute
is to spoliate."
If this is not the fact, then there is no meaning in
words ; and if it is, then the propoaal which Sir Ro-
bert Peel admits is an invasion of what he calls the
rights of the Church, in the only way in which the
Church can have rights to be invaded. Every holder
of a Church benefice for life has his life-rent in that
benefice inviolable, and however absurdly out of pro-
portion the emolument may be to the duties, he cannot
be deprived of that emolument, or of any part of it, with-
out manifest injustice, unless a fair compensation is
given him ; but, if such compensation is given—and if
it appears, to the sober judgment of the Legislature,
that the public good will be promoted by buying up the
life-rent, or any part of it, then the legislature have not
only a moral and equitable right to do so, but they are
morally and equitably wrong if they do not. Advorvsons
come within the same principles ; and de re is no right to
deprive the owners of them without compensation ; but on
compensation being given there is. Thus there can be
no spoliation of the property of the church as one cor-
porate body, for in this sense the church does not
exist, and consequently can have no property ; and the
living, or the right of the presentation to a living,
cannot, in justice, be taken away, or diminished, waca_
out fair compensation to the party, paido•itof the
public purse, the only source whence tile Legislature
any
give up a private
can obtain money to compensateindividual whom
they find it necessary to call, upon to
conceive to be a benefit to the
right for what they
public. In everysuch case the public are the pur-
chasers, b'cause the purchaser is made with their
money ; and therefore it follows that in any case of a
realuction or abolition of any clerical office, the House
of Commons, as conservators of the public moneys,
have a right, and not only a right, but a solemn duty
binding on them, to apply whatever thus results to the
best advantage of the people, without any regard as to
whether the application is to clerical or to secular pur-
poses. Sir Robert Peel, in admitting the propriety of
a redistribution, admits, of course, the purchase of
those benefices and other clerical revenues which are
either unjust or injurious ; but in the second part of
his scheme there is involved a
across violation of the
rights of the people. The purchased revenue is
public property, bought with public money, and to say
that it shall be applied to any purpose without a se-
cond deliberation on every application of it, would be
be an act of gross and palpable arbitrary power. In the
event of a reduction of the overgrown livings and profligate
sinecures of the Church of England by a fair purchase
of the existing interests, it may be found necessary to
augment many of the poorer livings ; but that is clearly
au after consideration, and one which ought in fairness
to be entertained even though the abuses in respect of
extravagant and unmerited livings were not corrected.
The other points, and especially those which relate to
Ireland and the Irish Catholics, are treated by the
Reviewer with great clearness and ability ; but as this
question is one which it is desirable to keep before the
public for some time, we shall reserve our analysis of
them to some future opportunity.—Morn. Advertiser.
We were gravely told by the Times on Tuesday last
that " they who would form an accurate estimate of
public opinion must go beyond their favourite print, be
it what it may, or they will fail of supplying their
minds with sufficient data to judge from. A man who
contents himself with the lucubrations of only one
periodical, will soon begin to think all the world of the
same mind with himself and that periodical on the
great subjects of State policy ; and so will continue
to think, till some grand decision, in or out of Par-
liament, awakens him from his dream, by showing
him that he is even in a small minority." A new
light would seem to have broken in upon our
Contemporary. When the Thunderer " guided the
political opinions of three-fourths of the people of
England," we have no recollection of its having ever
recommended the practice of going bellow/ a favourite
print. It is rather unusual in guides and leaders to
throw out recommendations which may seem to imply
their own fallibility. But the Times are changed.
When people will no longer be guided, the language
of intercession must be resorted to. The humbled
tone sufficiently indicates that " some ;rand decision
in or out of Parliament" has awakened the Times, for
one, from its dream of being able to transfer the people
of England to the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert,
with as much ease as if they were its lawful pro-
perty. But even without going beyond his favou-
rite print, a man may derive much, benefit from