The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-04 00:00:00

state of affairs; and certainly, judging of them im-
partially, it is not too much to say that England has
not been in such a critical situation since Bonaparte
was in the zenith of his power; and if Ministers
can get us out of the difficulty with consistency and
honour; they will merit the sincere thanks of every
friend of his country.—Morning Herald.
The crisis has at length arrived—Of its probable
consequences we shall speedily have much to say.
For the present we cannot help expressing our deep
regret, that 'owing to the gross misconduct of our
Ministers, England has to enter upon a war alto
gether indefensible, in whatever point of view it is
considered; whilst the results may prove such as to
disturb the general peace of Europe and of the world.
Russia, actuated by the most unprincipled and un-
justifiable motives, will lose no time in putting her
armies
_in motion against the Turkish, Empire; and
it would be worse than folly to suppose that Austria
will stand tamely by, and see the balance of Euro-
pean Power thus outrageously destroyed, without
any effort on her part to avert so , dreadful and so
extensive an evil.' The war thus about to com-
mence, we repeat, is founded not more Upon injus-
tice towards the Porte, on the part of all the Allies,
than upon fraud and hatred on the part of each of
them towards every other. Acting upon the good
old principles of the English Government, we should
be decidedly oppizsed to the dangerous views of
Russia, rather than be aiding her in the accomplish-
ment of her iniquitous purposes. In a war against
Russian aggrandizement, we should have been
united in a zealous and sincere alliance with Turkey,
for purposes at once definite, honourable, and
beneficial ; and not, as in the present case, be
engaged in a contest pregnant with the seeds
of future and more terrible conflicts. It is cer-

taro, moreover, and this is perhaps a more important
distinction than any of the others, that the British
people would have understood and sympathised
with their Governmeti, during a war carried on
against Russia for the protection or Turkey, while
they are destitute of that degree of refinement
which is necessary to perceive the merits of a policy
which involves England in a war with Turkey, the
highest object of England being all the while the
preservation of the Turkish p6Wer. For England
to be powerful in war, it ►s necessary that the
object of the war should be national, and should be
understood by the nation ; and it is further neces-
sary that the war should tend to the accomplishment
of that object, not through the intricacies of
Machiavelian manoeuvres, but directly, and in a way
which a high spirited and honourable nation may
not disdain to understand. Failing in these essential
conditions of her power, England will not be found
so formidable as she has hitherto proved. Our
hopeful Ministers appear studiously to have culti-
vated national weakness, or that which in Eng-
land means the same thing, national indifference, for
the moment when we shall have to contend. honestly
and without a mask for British interests in the East
of Europe; and it is in this that they have yielded
to Russian policy the greatest and most valuable of
its recent triumphs.—lllorning Port.
The Whigs and Radicals connected with the Ad-
ministration are endeavouring to keep up the spirits
of their party in the country, by asserting the pro-
bability of Lord Holland being speedily called to
the Councils of the King, and of the retirement or
dismissal of Mr. Herries. These rumours, spread
abroad by the adherents of Ministers, intimate no-
thing but the feverish restlessness of those from whom
they proceed, and convey really no information to
the country; for of the consciousness of Ministers
that they cannot go on as they are, the country was
fully aware before. The reason alleged for the ele-
vation of Lord Holland is, that his accession to
office will secure the Parliamentary support of a few
powerful Whig families now wavering between Mi-

;.1.1.e.:01.-ancl.:bppositiont•palities; and •the- reason'
would be a good one, if this accession of influence
could be calculated upon as so much clear gain; for
the Ministers feel sensibly enough, no doubt, that as
respects Parlianientary support .they are in great need
of reinfprcement. But it would not be clear gain;
for as the addition of Lord Holland to the Ministry
without other and more important changes would
not materially alter its character, but .would leave its
predominant Rrinciples as vague and mysterious as
ever, that event could only be viewed in the light of
an example of the corrupt barter of official rank in
exchange for Parliamentary suffrages, and would
therefore excite more enmity towards the Admini-
stration in some quarters, than it would appease in
others. When the adherents of the Whigs pro-
ceed to. speak of the retirement or dismissal of
Mr. Herries; they are guilty certainly' of a very
singular piece of indiscretion. Do they imagine
the country or the Sovereign can so soon have for-
gotten the conduct of their party on the yet recent
appointment of that Gentleman—their insolent
bouncings and threats—their atrocious slanders—
the
mock tender of his resignation by their silly and
pompous leader—that they thus strive to recall the
incidents of that disgraceful transaction to the na-
tion's memory ? They may disgust Mr. Herries to
a degree which will render office intolerable to him,
and make him repent that he yielded to the wishes
of his Sovereign by accepting it; but they cannot
deprive him of the claim to the gratitude and protec-
tion Of: that Sovereign which he acquired at the
same moment, and by the same circumstances in
which he acquired a right to hate and despise them,
and in which they began without any right to hate him.
It is considered a breach of decorum we believe in
society even to mention the name of Mr. Herries in
the presence of a Whig, so humiliating and painful
are the recollections that name excites; and yet
that portion of the Press which the Whig Leaders
animate and controul cannot resist the temptation
of setting forth, from time to time, rumours the
most unfounded, of his retirement from an office
which he holds in defiance of them, and which we
hope he will never relinquish for their gratification.
They at least might wait more patiently ; for Mr.
Herries is not likely to find the post be occupies a
very easy or agreeable one, when it imposes. upon
him the duty of providing for the decrease of na-
tional income, and the augmentation of expendi-
ture, which Whig policy will in all probability
have produced. As to any distinct and imme-
diate accessions or removals in the Ministry, no-
body can affirm, few persons are qualified rationally
or even plausibly to conjecture any thing. Thus
much only is certain, for it is admitted on all hands,
that the Ministry cannot remain as it is. What
will be the first change, what the second, and what
the third, nobody, not the Ministers, not even the
King himself, can confidently pronounce. But
there is no doubt whatever that a constant succes-
sion of changes, a perpetuity of confusion and uncer.
taints, must vex and harass, and perplex the country,
till its patience is utterly exhausted, and its most im-
portant interests seriously and irreparably injured, un-
less these calamitous but inevitable consequences of in-
terminable change and everlasting doubt should be
averted by the formation of an intelligible, unequi-
vocal; cordial, and consistent Administration. In
the meanwhile, the public, Nrhich the present un-
settled state of things keeps intently upon the watch
for every the slightest indication from which an in-
ference may be -lurawn as to the nature of the poll-
ticul atmosphere—remarks perhaps with some sur-
prise, but certainly with no dissatisfaction, that the
Ai hig Members of the Administration have been
excluded from the Royal festivities in honour of the
Portuguese Prince, not only at Windsor, but at the
Admiralty, with
.the single. exception of Lord Car-
lisle, who by his alliance with the Devonshire
family, has acquired some claim to be reckoned
among the personal friends of the King.—lbid.
The Gazette de France of 'Wednesday, which
reached us at a late hour yesterday morning, and
from which we gave a few extracts, stated, on the
authority of the Augsburgh Gazette of date Dec. 24,
that the Russian Ambassador, M. de Ribeaupierre,
had left Constantinople on the 4th, and that Mr.
Stratford Canning and Count Guilleminot followed
on the Bth. This news, which was to be antici-
pated from all that had occurred for several weeks
before, is fully confirmed by the Government de-
spatches received at a late beim on Wednesday