The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-02 00:00:00

THE gITN,

was announced that the resolutions " would be- laid
on the table in the course of the evening ;" but hour
after hour waned away, vote after vote was taken,
until the H.eLe resumed, and the chairman repor►ed
erogres-. Then at length the Noble Lord the
Member for Marylebone gave expression to the
general feeling. On the motion that the
House should resolve itself into Committee on the
Duke of CAMBRIDGE'S Annuity Bill, Lord DUDLEY 1
STUART reminded the Premier of his promise and
asked for its performance. But the Whigs are
masters of " doddery." The lamented " Mr. Dew•
kips" himself was not a greater adept in the various
shifts and evasions that so justly entitled him to the
title of "Artful." It would not quite do to offend
the Liberal party before that question was decided.
His Royal Highness might otherwise have to deplore
the indiscretion of his allies. While the matter
remained in suspense, no person would
be willing to throw down the gauntlet•
Each hoped that the course " most conducive to
the dignity and usages of the House" would be in
accordance with his own particular views, and might,
consequently, be more manageable, while a studied re-
serve was maintained. The forms of the House were
favourable to the concealment. The Speaker in-
formed the Noble Lord that "it was not competent
t o put a question before all the orders of the day had
been disposed of." The Attorney-General maintained
a strict and unbroken silence, although, according to
Lord Jour( RUSSELL, " quite ready to state the nature
of the resolutions, when the Speaker informed him
that he would be out of order in doing so at that time,"
It appeared, however, that the difficulty was not of
an insuperable character, for no sooner was the ques-
tion relating to the Duke of CAMBRIDGE decided than
the resolutions were brought forward without re-
monstrance or interruption, the Speaker remaining
perfectly quiescent, although other " orders of the
day were still to be disposed of." We leave the
public to judge for itself as to the object of this not
very creditable manoeuvre.
As to the resolutions themselves, they are framed
in the true spirit of " Whiggery." The Government is
well acquainted with the value of the Machiavellian
principle, " divide et impera." Lord JOHN and his
colleagues have continued in power by arraying the
extremes on either side against each other ; at one
time receiving the support of one section, at -another
time of another, and thus propping up their own
minority, which would speedily be defeated if left to
their own unassisted exertions. The first resolution
is, consequently, framed in order to catch the votes of
the " Tories," of those bigoted and intolerant parties
who are the unflinching opponents of civil and reli-
gious liberty, and who sigh for the good
old times of penal statutes and restriction,
and who look upon " dissent" from their own
exclusive and narrow doctrines as little better than
treason. On that resolution they will be opposed by
every true Liberal, by every man duly qualified to
give a proper interpretation of the statutes, and to
decide a "j udicial question" according to the spirit
and intention, and not to the mere letter of the law.
And we have yet sufficient confidence in the repre-
sentatives of the people to say that, notwithstanding
the efforts of their prejudiced and bigoted auxiliaries,
notwithstanding the absence from town of many ho-
nourable gentlemen who have prematurely abandoned
their Parliamentary duties, to entertain sanguine anti-
cipations as to the result, to hope that Baron ROTHS-
CHILD, having taken the substance of the prescribed oaths
in the manner which he declared to be most binding on
his conscience—having merely refused a portion of
the adjuration of that which was to be sworn by and
not sworn to—will be admitted to all the rights and
privileges to which his repeated selection by the
constituency of the city of London so justly entitle
him.

The second resolution is intended to allay the in-
dignation of those who will be justly exasperated at
the former, and who may in consequence be inclined
to avenge the injury offered to the great principles of
civil and religious liberty. It is a sort of
pledge that the House will endeavour to repair the
consequence of its own injustice ; that it will, " at the
earliest opportunity in the next session of Parliament,
take into its serious consideration the form of the
oath of abjuration, with a view to relieve her MA.•
JESTY'S subjects professing the Jewish religion ;"
that the matter will not be postponed to the close of
the Parliamentary sitting, under the specious pre-
text that it will be more likely to be satisfactorily
settled than if introduced at an earlier period, and
then quietly thrown over to another yaar. The
Liberals will, of course, vote for tbis proposition, al-
though of little intrinsic value, for it is difficult to
understand how the House itself, or the Ministers,
could be more firmly bound than they bad
been at the close of the session of 1849, when the
Lords a second time rejected the just and salutary
measure of relief which had been twice carried in
the Commons, and sent up, on each occasion, with
all the prestige attached to a measure carried by a
large and overwhelming majority of the popular re-
presentatives. It is equally certain that the Tory
bigots, through whose aid it is hoped that the first
resolution will be affirmed, will vote against the
second. But, the parties being thus arrayed against
each other, it is anticipated that the Ministerial
" hangers-on " and the :" waiters on PROVIDENCE"
will be sufficient to turn the scale in each case, and
that both may be carried, although by very different
auxiliaries.

Another object may also be obtained. Another
demonstration by the city of London is especially
deprecated by Ministers. The re-election of Baron
ROTHSCHILD would call forth an expression of public
feeling very distasteful to those through whose negli-
gence and apathy the question was permitted to re-
main in suspense for an entire year. A greater
triumph could not be afforded to the lordly 4' Oh-
structives" than the absence of any Bill during the
present session of the nature of those that had been
twice rejected in 1848 and 1849. It would be a vir-
tual confession of defeat, an unequivocal and undig-
nified retreat from the position which the popular
branch of the Legislature had assumed, but from
which they had been driven, disgracefully driven, by
the hereditary lawgivers. What an encouragement
would it afford for future resistance ? How would it
justify the taunts and sarcasms of the leaders of the
Opposition in the House of Peers ? The alternative
is one to be most sedulously avoided; and if the first
resolution should, unfortunately, be affirmed, we
earnestly hope that some Liberal Member will bring
forward the Bill which, fur this year at least, bas been
abandoned by Ministers.

Thanks to the undaunted pertinacity of Mr. licAtE
as an economist, the House of Commons is not likely
to lose a recollection of that extravagance which has
so egregiously overstocked the Royal Navy with
admirals. Nor is the detriment resulting to the ma-
ritime service from the present lamentable system of
promotion likely to be overlooked from its insignifi-
cance. It has been our painful duty again and again
to comment upon the evils arising from this scheme
of wholesale advancement, and to demonstrate its
pernicious influence upon the character of our great
national profession. In consequence of certain mis-
apprehensions, we have thereby not unfrequently fallen
under the displeasure of those who have mistaken
our arguments against thus squandering the public
moneys., for arguments in favour of a niggardly
and
parsimonious t
o witness
is
retrenchment.,
not
the Whatdiminution
wearet really
extent of the Parliamentary munificence to theßmoya
l
Navy, but iti more judicious distribution and itse any
rational apportionment. At present that service hay
sag-officers enough to furnish three to every one of
her MAJESTY'S ships of war—so that the republican
tricolour of France might not inappropriately be
hoisted, as a triple pennant, in honour of the Admiral
of the Blue, the Admiral of the White, and
the Admiral of the Red, with which each
vessel might be provided. Unhappily, no in-
clination whatever is evinced by the Adminis-
tration to diminish the amount of this maritime in-
cubus. The recommendation of the Committee cf
1849, that the number of admirals should, at the very
lowest computation, be reduced from 150 to 100, re-
mains virtually unnoticed by the Administration.
With a persistence that seems almost contumelious,
the long list is preserved in a state of interminable
amplitude. Immediately one flag-officer drops off
another is created to make up the deficiency. Not a
pause cccurs in the system of progression.
The elevation is inevitable. It takes place no longer
as the reward of merit, as the compensation