The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

If Prince. Metternich should come to England,
we do not; 4prehend that he will meet with the
most' cordial, reception from Prince Esterhazy. The
two Princes, now that spring is coming on, will not
like "to smell at the same nosegay ;" for Prince
Esterhazy, we are told, aspires to Prince Metter-
nich's place. Prime Ministers travelling in the
execution of their own counsels, have not always
made a very good figure. Poor Lord Castlereagh
went abroall! It would have been better both for
his credit and ours if we had kept him at home. We
recollect that the wife of Sir John Barnard was very
anxious that their eldest boy should travel. The
father was in the same degree averse. " What !"
said the lady, " would not you have your son see
Europe ?" " I have no objection to that," replied
the shrewd opponentrof Walpole; " but I'd rather
Europe did not see him." This merchant's pradent
rather" would apply to many a Prime Minister.
They had better remain where they have sneaking
subservient creatures to 'bustle for them. They
cannot carry the " Hear him, hear him, hear hims"
abroad. Besides, it is a reproach to a Prime Mini-
ster of ally country, to have so directed the public
counsels in his Cabinet, that he is obliged to quit
his post, and no abroad to rectify, or try to rectify,
his own errors. If Prince Metternich had well ma-
naged the affairs at Constantinople, he would have
had fl) need to come to England to seek aid in re-
straining the encroachments of Russia. He should
nave hone+tly counselled the Porte, :LS justice
and humanity prompted, to enter upon some
arrangement for the pacification of Greece; and
test Russia would have had no pretence to ad-
vance, Austria no cause of fear or umbrage. How-
ever, as much has been said, and is at intervals
said, about the increasing power of Russia, we shall
venture to give an opinion upon that subject. Eng-
land has nothing whatever to apprehend from the
power of Russia. We have seen enough of the
issue of the most vigorous attempts at universal
empire, ever to dread them from any quarter. The
more Russia adds to the superficial extent of her
territory, the more she increases her weakness, and
firings upon herself the certainty of fa ling asunder,
or breaking` in pieces. She has more of empire than
she can govern already. She may certainly annoy
her neighbours by an unmeasured aaabition; one of
whom deserves such annoyance well enough already.
But what is this to England ? Not a straw's value.
With respect to Russia, as a naval power capaLle
of competing with England, the idea is absurd : her
ports in the Baltic and the Black Sea, neither of
them of great importance, are half the globe's cir-
cumference asunder. How can she form a junction
with fleets coming from such remote distances ?
What has always given us our chief advantage
against France, and even against France and Spain
united as naval powers ? The little fortress and
harbour of Gibraltar intercepting most happily by
their position a junction of the fleets fitted out in
the Atlantic ports with those from the docks in the
Mediterranean. It -would be very formidable
news, to be sure, to hear' (if we were engaged
in a war with Russia) that the fleet from the
Black Sea was about to sail down the Grecian
Archipelago, along the Mediterranean, and through
the Straits of Gibraltar, and up the Atlantic,
in order to form a junction with the Cronstadt fleet,
after it had traversed the Baltic, passed the Sound,
end descended the Northern Ocean ! it being in-
tended, as soon as the junction had taken place, that
the united squadron should immediately sail up the
Thames and bombard Tilbury Fort. Alas ! for such
a junction : it would be as formidable as the con-
junction of the two planets, Saturn and Jupiter,
which might now be taking place in our system, and
yet no prayers would be put up in the churches to
avert the evil. England, therefore, we
,assert, has
nothing to dread from Russia; and if her neighbours
use Russia ill, let her correct them for it, if she
pleases; though if she does more than punish,—if
she attempts territorial aggrandizement,—she will
find that she is like the rapacious thief in the fable,
(we believe there is such a fable, but if not, there
ought to be), who so crammed his sack with plunder
that it burst in going home, and spilt the most
'valuable articles. The French Minister, M. de
Ferronays, is said to be greatly attached to Russian
policy, and strongly influenced by Pozzo di Borgo.
'We have no objection to this relation of amity,
personal or political. Neither Fiance nor Russia,
we presume, will pretend to invade the opening in-
dependence of Greece : we remain bound with
France to effect it; and in all measures short of a
war upon Turkey, in which neither France nor
England have a right at present to engage, we should
march pail passu with that power.—Tintes.
Lord King brought forward, last night, his motion
for the appointment of a Committee to inquire into
the Expenditure of the Public Money granted to
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in his
Majesty's Colonies of 'North America. Of the po-
pulation of our North American Colonies, according
to his Lordship, nine,toiths are Presbyterians or
Dissenters of one kind or another, and only about
one-tenth members of the Church of England. The
Parliament of Great Britain, with a strong partiality
for the Church of England, in the Statute which
may be deemed the Constitutional Charter of Ca-
nada, enacted that one-seventh part of the lands
should be set apart far a provision for an establish-
ment for Clergy belonging to that Church. The
Parliament might just as well set apart lands in the
muon for the Church, for land in a state of nature is
of no value, arid no man would cultivate land at a
went for the benefit of the Church, when he could
obtain abundant grants in full property for next to
nothing. The people of the Colonies being Preshy-
atrium and other Dissenters, it was in vain to think
of their making any provision for a Church, to which
they did not belong, and it was equally vain to
hittk of establishing Churches without hocks, on
the 1'4311-i:dation of land in an uncultivated state.—
The wisdom of our ancestors was of a better cast
than the Collectivi: Wisdom of this nation : at least

the wisdom of the OergY who founded Christianity
5n the different countries of E rope, was of a higher
yehar.acter, for they everywhere set ;p example of
successful cultivation to the people; and whilo they
rendered their estates valuable, they benefitted their

Socks both spiritually and temporally. The oil legend
tells us, for instance, that " St. Gall, in his progress
through Switzerland, learned from an assistant, who
was a hunter, that, by the stream of Steinach there
was a small pain` at the foot of some hills ; therein
the mountains rose higher and higher behind each
other, till they terminated in sa.:;wy Alps ; that bears
and wolves, and wild boars, frequented the stream
and the fountains. Thither the old man directed
his steps, and Mang and other friends deserted him
not. Not far from the falls of the gteinach, they
built cells, and planted a kitehen•garden; they
tended a small flock, made fish-nets for themselves,
destroyed the wild beasts, and brought the country
4into cultivation, which was bestowed on them by
Talto, Chamberlain of the King's Court (llietbert,
:Ring of Austrasia)," The founders of Christianity
tamed the wild natives, and improved the land ; but
the Collective Wisdom conceived the bright idea of
founding a church in the Colonies, by means of
which, while they yielded nothing to it, rendered
the property of the Colonists of little value, from
the interruption of communication caused by the
reverses, and retarded improvement and civilization.
The Canadians are, therefore, indebted for their
poverty and their backwardness to the Church.
The Apostles whom we send thither, instead of
Blearing wildernesses, prevent there from being
cleared-. But the mischief caused to the Colonies
is not the only result of this preposterous attempt.
The spiritual wants of a people require to be at-
tended to as well as the temporal. We leave the
Colonists to provide for their temporal wants, but
we will not leave them to provide for their Bpi,.
_ritual wants; because their ideas with respect, to
the mode of providing for these wants differ
from the ideas entertained by Parliament. Lord
King says—" He would allow ~,-,Government
to apply the resources of the,„ to sup-
port a Church there, if that were,_:,,*ary,; but he