The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-17 00:00:00

THE ENGLISH MINISTRY.

(From a French Paper—Le Globe.)
It is now about three months since the remnant
of Mr. Canning's party was driven from the Ca-
binet, and the Duke of Wellington now reigns alone.
We say alone ; for in filet, with the .exception of
Mr. Peel, *e cannot reckon as Miniiters the Hon.
Gentlemen whom he has collected around him.
They are
.old aides-de-camp or companions in arms
of the victorious hero and legislator, who have pro-
mised, during the vacation, to learn their duties,
and above all, to retain their veneration for the
sacred laws of military discipline. We would give
their names to our readers, if it had been possible
for. us, to fix them in our memory, but that we en-
deavoured in vain to do. We think, however, that
one is called Harding, and another Courtenay. As
to Lord Aberdeen, the blockades of Oporto and
Madeira have made him known. It was a lucky
chance of notoriety, which has been denied to his
Hon. Colleagues.
We remember the time when this strange Minis-
try came into the world. There was a general
laugh at it throughout Europe, and nobody thought
it would live a fortnight ; and yet it has lived three
months, and people begin now to regard it more
seriously. Look at the Journals : according to them,
the administration of the Duke of Wellington will
destroy every trace of that of the illustrious Can-
ning. In his foreign policy, by a pacific system
which -makes England shudder with alarm, he
wounds at once her honour and her power; in his
domestic policy he desires to arrest her march and
paralyse her progress. He has shamefully abandoned
Greece and Portugal, and driven from the Ministry
Huskisson, Palmerston, Grant, and Dudley. The
Duke of Wellington is the scourge of his country
and of the world; but the scourge is felt by that
country, and
.he cannot long retain his authority.
Such are the opinions expressed by the Journals in
opposition to the Duke of Wellington.
Certainly we do not pretend to defend the Duke
of Wellington—there are few men, we think, whose
ideas are more narrow, or whose views are more
insignificant. Devoted by sympathy to the medio-
crities of the aristocracy, and constantly influenced
by, them, he will never have a great thought or con-
ceive a great project. Let him do good or harm, it
will be . without his knowing it, and influenced only
by petty considerations. But; admitting all this, is it
true, that since he has been at the head of affairs, he
has overthrown the labours of his predecessor ? Is
it. true that. he .has changed-the policy of England,
and, that his course is in direct oppositicin to the
opinion of the country?' On this point we will
make a few observations.

Amongst the reproaches lavished upon the Duke
of Wellington, we may notice, first, his repudiation
of the laurels of Navarin, and the flatteries which
he has bestowed upon the Porte. This conduct as-
suredly would not have obtained success in France,
but France is not Ligland; and, we have already
said, in that country humanity is put out to inte-
rest, and glory is expected to produce profit. Thus
it is that in London the cause of the Greeks has al-
ways been unpopular : some individuals, indeed,
have appeared devoted to it, but for the greater
part personal interest only has been looked to. In
this beautiful movement of national emancipation,
England perceived only a distant danger for its com-
merce in the Indies : the fear of Russia prevailed
over every other feeling. When the Duke of Wel-
lington deplored the battle of Navarin, he did but ex-
press the regret of the public; and when he flat-
tered the Porte, he only spoke the opinion of the
whole of old England, and of a good portion of the
new. It is certainly a strange contradiction to find
so much sympathy for the Turks among men whose
religious inflexibility does not allow them to endure
Catholic idolatry or Socinian infidelity. There is
something wretched in seeing them hold out to
the followers of Mahomet that same hand with
which they oppress Christians and fellow-country-
men ; but such is England. In that country, where
it is a crime to play billiards ou Sunday, listen to the
preachers in the churches, the journals, or the draw-
ing-rooms, What fine sentiments! What pity
for people, or for nations, who, less religious, have
no infallible or certain guide in life ! What horror
at the bare name of that morality of self-interest
which was adopted by France in the 18th century'
After having thundered against it in theory, in prac-
tice every one ce.nforms to it—the Government
above all. In a word, there is no country where
national selfishness is more displayed, or a noble po-
licy more bitterly decried ; no country where justice
less dares to show itself in opposition to any true
or supposed utility; no country, however, where
the future destiny of man and the sacredness of duty
are more spoken of.
By his caresses of the Porte, Wellington is sups
posed by some persons to have -wounded the feel-
ings of the nation ; but would the interests of Eng-
land allow him him to pursue any other course ?
Was it not better to enfranchise the Greeks than to
allow them to be enfranchised by the Russians and
the French ? Should he, at any risk, put himself
into a position to repress the imperial ambition at a
time when the state of the finances and the debt
imperiously command repose ? These are grave
questions, which we will not decide quite so quickly
as some Pgsiarreteiastipa
etmi:ej
majority
riatnnya(lioi sftthsta;l
htea
English
e induce
nakittrilootnow agi rso:
(tile) anttl:'h ede
heartily to war, it is necessary to show, not the
power of acquiring glory, but a positive and clear
interest. We do not think that such an interest is
so evident as to make it a crime in the Duke of
Wellington not to have perceived it.
fexcus, But this conduct is not
But to return to Portugal: here the conduct of
England does not, in our opinion, admit of justifica-
ttli)ant'oofrlie7ellng
even
niOton (done. To convince ourselves
of this fact, we have only to look to the rebellion
of Don Miguel against John VI., in 182 c A ce-
lebrated Englishman, Lord Beresford, was very pro-
minent in that anti-legitimate and anti-constitutional
conspiracy. Who can believe that this was without
the concurrence of his Government . Every thing
proves the contrary; and yet, in the year 1824, Mr.
Canning was in the Ministry.
The English policy under Canning, as well as
under Wellington, was to prevent the existence at
Lisbon of any influence which should interfere with
that of England. To prevent this she would have
established or destroyed ten constitutions, and de-
throned or restored ten Sovereigs, Thus may we
account for mysteries, otherwise incomprehensible,
in the part taken in the first rebellion against John
the Sixth—the support given to the Anglo-Bra-
zilian Constitution—the whimsical and fruitless ex-1
pedition to Lisbon, and the brilliant reception of
Don Miguel in London. Thus may we aeceunt for

the great anger of the British Cabinet, and then
its prompt propitiation : the abuse lavished
upon the base usurper, and then the steps
which are taking to induce Don Pedro to re.
cognize the usurpation. Such is British policy :
that it is low, paltry, and degrading, we are far from
denying; but that it is in opposition to the national
wish we do not believe, for, indeed, we think the
direct contrary. What does it matter to the Eng-
lish aristocracy whether the industry or commerce
of: the Portuguese .are fortunate or Unsuccessful--
free or enslaved ? What does it matter to them, if,
by the support which they have alternately given to
both parties, they have caused au increase of crime
or disorder.? So long as Portugal continues only to
be a satellite of England, so long as she loses not her
monopoly, the Government will have acted correctly;
to all the rest her eyes are closed. * * to-
Thus, in Portugal, as in the East, it appears to
us that Wellington has changed nothing in the course
of public affairs; at any rate, we are sure that this
expectant and temporising policy is rather approved
of than blamed by his countrymen. Let us see,
now, what his Grace has done in his internal policy.
Among all the reforMs which the spirit of the 19th
century has produced in England, that relating to
the laws of religion is assuredly the most desirable:
Under the Administration of Wellington the Test
Act has disappeared, and the laws against the Ca-
tholics will, it is said, be speedily abrogated; yet
the Duke of Wellington came into power as the re-
presentative of the Tories, those Tories se bigotted,
so headstrong, so full of veneration for their Gothic
idol of Church and State. How then, has it hap-
pened that he hag done that which Canning could
not and would not do ?

So strange a phenomenon can only be accounted
for in two ways : first, by the force of things, which
under a weak Government act with more rapidity
and more certainty; secondly, by the increase-of
power which such a Government, when forced to
yield, gives to the opinion which it embraces. If,
in the House of Commons, Canning had spoken
against the abolition of the Test Act, his enormous
ascendancy would not only have retarded its fall;
and though a conqueror in the Commons, as on the
Catholic question, in the Lords he could not have
carried his object into execution. But the Wel-
lington Government felt its weakness, and thought
better to yield. May not the same thing happen for
Catholic Emancipation ? When the god of the
Tories proclaims the existence of danger, what Tory
will remain tranquil ? It will be under an Admini-
stration which was the hope of the priesthood that
religious liberty will make the most decisive progress.
There is one point, however, in which the Duke
of Wellington has retrograded—we mean the 'corn
laws. Without being actually good, the law of Mr.
Canning was much better than that of the Duke;
but let us not forget that even Mr. Canning had
failed, and that Mr. Huskisson aid given up the at-
tempt. The corn laws do not regard opinions
merely, they affect the prejudices of the public, the
exchange, and the aristocracy. The latter, on this
point, are peculiarly intractable. A day will arrive,
however, when they must yield, but it will be when
they cannot do otherwise—when some dreadful
scarcity will reduce the people to starvation, and
place the houses of the aristocracy in danger : then,
after duly weighing the pour et le contre, the aris-
tocracy will think it right to save one part by sacri-
ficing the other.
From what we have said, it may be supposed that
we are great admirers of the administration of
Wellington, and that we prognosticate far it a long
existence. By no means : the administration of
Wellington cannot last long in its present condition;.
it will perish, however, not because it weakens or
oppresses England, but from want of talent. Talent
is the first quality required in a ministry by our
neighbours the English—they cannot, therefore, be
completely satisfied with the administration of Wel-
lington. Perhaps Mr. Canning would not have pur-
sued another course ; but, whatever was the con-
duct of" Mr. Canning,' it left behind traces,of bril-
liancy which were almost as imposing as powerful.
Constituted as it now is, the English Ministry can
neither inspire sorrow, nor joy, nor confidence, nor
fear, nor admiration, nor anger. It has been created
by the aristocracy to maintain the equilibrium of
Europe, and thus it sees, without emotion, the
Russians march upon Constantinople, and the French
upon Athens. It was created for the maintenance
of Church and State, and yet the emancipation of
the Catholics will speedily follow that of the Dis-
senters. In a word, it was formed to crush new
ideas, and yet new ideas never proceeded with such
firmness and rapidity. Thus, while the Liberals
curse it, the Tories begin to complain with bitterness
of their chosen heroes—poor heroes l

THE GREAT TORR ROYAL ESTATE, IN
DEVON.—A considerable sensation has been produced in
coniequence of this extensive property coining into the
market, we are therefore desirous our readers should be
possessed of the full particulars, which we have extracted
from Mr. GEORG R ROBINS'S Particulars of Sale. We
understand Sir TiromAs TYRWIIITT, Bart. has expended
on this favourite project of his upwards of 50,0001.

DINNER TO GEN. STEWART, OF GARTH.
—On Friday the Highland Club of Scotland entertained
Major-Gen. DAVID STEWART, of Garth, at a most sump-
tons dinner in the Hopetoun rooms, British Hotel, previous
to that distinguished soldier leaving this country to assume
the government of the island of St. Lucia. The Earl of
GLAscow presided on the occasion, supported on his right
by General STEWART, Professor Wusoti, Sir P. WA ER,
&c. and on his left by the Right Hon. Sir J. SINCLAIR,
Bart., the Chevalier LAINR, Consul-General of France,
&c. CLA NAA NA LD and Captain Bos%vut.L, R.N. acted as
croupiers. •The entertainment was served up by Mr.
Cocxer ax, in the most splendid style ; and altogether we
have never seen a more princely feast, or one more distin-
guished by hilarity and good humour.—Caledonian Mer-
cury of Monday.

MR. KEAN.—This person arrived at his seat
in Bute, on Wednesday morning, from the Isle of Man. We
understand that he performed several nights for the first
time during his career, at the Theatre of Douglas, and
was received by the Manxnten with prodighana applause.
some of Mr. KEAN's friends, who have already paid their
respects to him at Woodend, are of opinion that he is at
present in excellent health.— Caledonian Mercury.

LANDED PROPERTY.—EarIy in the Session
of Parliament some diversity of opinion prevailed, even
amongst the more intelligent part of the community, as to
the probable effect of the " Corn Bill," as it regarded its
operation upon the value of Land. We believe this argu-
ment may be brought into a very limited compass. Very
moderate Laud, even in times of prosperity, was not
sought after with much avidity; and during the period of
agricultural distress it necessarily gave way to Land of a
superior character. Since the passing of the Corn 'Bill
the same feeling has been manifest, but with ads
distinc-
tion,—that poor Land has been sold with snore facility
than heretofore, and Estates where the soil is good have
been in great request. We could illustrate this position
by many concurring events: it will suffice for the present
to state, that a large Estate of the Earl of CLARENDON,
in Wilts, which Mr. •GIiORQE ROBINS ineffectually at-
tempted to sell last year, be disposed of very readily this
spring, and the land is notoriously of a very second.ratc
quality. The same observation will apply to the large
Estates of the late Earl of esiscoEsrEa, in Yorkshire,
which last year Mr. Romss was unsuccessful in boding a
purchaser for ; yet no sooner had the Corn Bill passed,
:ban he transferred it into other hands at 50,000/., which
is more than was expected for it last year. This property
also consisted mainly of very poor land. This season the
interchange of land has been very considerable, and both
good and bad have found a ready vent at adequate prices.
Last week afforded another striking instance of the sound-
ness of this argument. A portion of the landed property
of Colonel VAUGHAN, situate within two miles of Peter-
borough, and without any local advantages to assist it,
was sold by Mr. GEOUGE ROBIN. It consisted of 2SI
acres, and produced 19,250/, or near 701. an acre.—
Lord STRATHAvEN is understood to be the purchaser. A
property in Somersetshire, amounting to 80,000/., was
souli(!chbayseTeansadmmeogre tentilieanns a n 3,0
o,v oe row. in
very
recently,and at
h3a3s been
year
p
transferred through the channel we have already alluded to
this summer. This is a demonstrative proof (when op-
posed to the cheerless prospect of last year) that the Corn
Bill has gradually aided the march of improvement, which
is every ;lay becoming more manifest.