The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-07 00:00:00

Fhi E SUN,

general zeal, by the proper guidance of which so much
real good might be effected. You perceived at a glance
the spiritual condition of the c untry, the position of the
Church, and her requirements. All these must have
been before you as upon a map. With a statemanship,
therefore, peculiarly your own, you pass a few Acts for
the improvement of glebe land, and would, if permitted,
deprive a remote district of its ancient, much-valued, ,
and much-wanted bishopric.
The only opinion to which you chose to commit your-
self, before you came into power, was one favourable
to the principle of protecting the home grower of corn,
and to the machinery of the sliding-scale as the means
of such protection. You expressed this opinion, Sir,
with a warmth very unusual to you ; so much so, in-
deed, that men believed it to be founded upon sincere
conviction. That you guarded your declaration is only
to say that you made it ; but how much did you not
leave for fair inference ? What must then have been
the feelings of landowners and farmers when they saw
one of your first Ministerial acts not only lower the
duties upon the importation of foreign corn, but so to
alter the sliding scale as nearly to neutralise its prin-
ciple ?
It has been wittily said, that while with one eye you
winked at the landed interest, the manufacturing and
commercial classes thought they perceived a hidden
meaning in the other. Not knowing their man, they
concluded that they understood, and could depend upon,
the sign. Some master-stroke of political policy, thought
they, was at hand. Some great financial or fiscal mea-
sures were forthcoming. Perhaps important mutual
treaties of commerce with foreign States were nego-
tiating secretly. These things were passing through.the
minds of simple men, when, with the most pompous
affectation of elaborate care, you tinkered every joint
of our monstrous and inconsistent tariff. Effecting some
improvements, you left the great features of the system
very much as you found them ; and then—you imposed
the income-tax.
These instances may suffice. They are striking, no
one will, I think, call them unfair, samples of your
mode of government ; for your warmest admirers are at
a loss, if asked to expain upon what your home admini-
stration is founded. It identifies itself with no great
principles—it enlists in its favour no general or generous
sympathies. It has erected no standard, however hum-
ble, round which your followers may rally. Calling it•
self eminently Conservative, it does not distinctly declare
what are its objects of conservation. Affecting to resist
reform, it has sanctioned measures of violent change.
Professing to maintain our existing institutions, it has
shifted its groued more than once, and has conducted its
defence upon no broad or intelligible plan.
I have said that the reserve which you maintained in
1841 forwarded your views ; that it perplexed your ene-
mies, and inspired with hope your:friends. It has sub-
sequently contributed to your discomfiture. You com-
menced by deceiving others, and have ended by deceiv-
ing yourself. You tried to play a double game, and are
in danger of losing both stakes. Your supporters
quickly discovered, and would have resented, the
cunning trick ; but circumstances forbad, and
still continue to forbid, it. Not that they love
you more, but that they love the Whigs less. If,
therefore, you still command their votes, you cannot
boast of possessing either their confidence or their
esteem. In the mean time, you appear resolved to take
every personal as well as political advantage of your
position. Formal without dignity, cold without refine-
ment, your manner towards your friends in the House of
Commons is at once distant and ungracious. They en-
joy neither generous confidence nor friendly intercourse.
Without either consultation or explanation, they find
their wishes disregarded, their most cherished opinions
overruled. In debates upon measures more unpalatable
to them than to the Opposition, they are frequently
compelled to listen to the language of admonition and
reproof, sometimes even to that of menace and command.
Now, Sir, I have done. It is clear that matters can-
not remain long as they are. You must yourself feel
upon what an edge you stand. Strong only because
your enemies are weak, you will be abandoned at the
very first favourable opportunity. If you have any true
and familiar friend, he ought to urge you, upon grounds
of common prudence, if upon none higher, to retire with
some degree of grace, while you may. C.