The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUIILIC

Every hour increases the difficulty of knowing
what to say respecting the Administration now
forming, and, we believe we may add; not even yet
formed. However, we are greatly relieved, in speak-
ing of th© most eminent person, the Duke of Wel-
lington, by being able to allege his own words; tt-
specting himself as a servant of the Crown in a civil
capacity; and it will, undoubtedly; be the most sin-
gular thing that ever occurred in the life of a public
man, of any age or country, if his Grace shall really
become First Lord 4 the Treasury and Prime Mi-
nister of Englend, after the declaration made in his
place in the house of Lords, which we here insert
for the te-perusal of the country :---" Would any
man, therefore, believe, that when he was in a situa
ion which enabled him to recommend to the notice
f his Majesty all his former friends and companions
in arms, and to reward them according to their Me•
rits, for the exertions which they had formerly
made under his command in the field,—would any
man believe that he would eeltniarily resign a situa-
tion so consonant to his feelings and his habits,
for the mere empty ambition qf being placed
at the head of the Government? He knew that lie
was disqualified for any such office,—he knew that
,he was unable to address the House as a person who
aspired to such an office ought to address it—(hear,
errxi a laugh)—and he therefore said; that feeling a,
rse did with respect to the situation which he had
recently tilled at the head 'of the army,—liking it,
as he did, from the opportunities which it gave him
to improve the condition of his old comrades in
,arms,—knowing his own capacity for tilling that of-
fice, and his incapacity for filling the post (f First
Minister, he should have been mad, and worse than
mad, had he ever entertained Me insane project
which certain individuals, for their own base pur-
poses, had imputed to him.—(Hear, hear.)"—lle
bate in the House of Lords, May 2, 1827. We
.confess we are lost in astonishment when we read
this declaration, and hear it eeid, in the face of
it, that his Grace the Duke of Wellington has ac-
cepted, or would, or could now accept, the situation
of Prime Minister of England. We ! do we say,
" lost in astonishment ?" Why what are wt: ? All
England—all cotemporaries—all pos trity—must be
equally astonished, and, as the Fren:h call it, inter-
' ail, if they should have to hear or read that the
person who said this did still became Prime Minister
of England ! We do beseech his Grace, for his
own sake, for the sake of his country,—to which his
character is, as it were, a property, having so libe-
rally purchased and rewarded all that he has of good
or great in him,—if the die be not already cast, to
take this our Journal of to-day down to Windsor
(it will be less cumbrous than any other authentic
register), and having read the preceding passage to
the King, in which he has said, " that he should be
MAD, and WORSE THAN MAD, to entertain. the insane
project of being First Lord of the Treasury,"—
tiaving, we say, calmly read the passage, then let
'Min ask the Sovereign," Sir,is it possible, after this, I
that I can accept the situation which it is attempted to
impose upon me ? What will the world think of me ?
How can I stand in the House of Lords as your
Minister ?—in that very house in which I have de-
clared that it would be something ' worse than mad-
',less' in me to stand there in the situ:scion which I
am pressed to accept ? How I know that some
Noble Lord might not resscit this very declaration in
my teeth : and if be, did, what could I do,but fly, fly
instantly, with. ;name and confusion, and leave your
Majesty *. affairs to take care of themselves ?" Of
the 'ether official persons or aspirants to office, less
is necessary to be said. Lord Aberdeen, Lord El-
lenboriszegil, Mr. Herries, and Mr. Goulburn, are
amongst those who are to be new members of the
Cabinet. Lord Aberdeen, it will be recollected,
failed grievously in a diplomatic adventure at Vienna.
But then, it should be recollected, he had Talleyrand
to deal with as an opponent; and his Lordship
has been to Athens since I With respect to Lord
Ellenborough's appointment to be Lord Privy
Seal, with a singular stipulation, as it is "mow-
ed, of the Solicitor-Generalship for his brother !
it may have been that, perhaps, the double ser-
vices of such an amiable pair were required in or-
der to console the King and the nation for the
loss of that injured arid venerable Statesman, Lord
Westmorland, now ungratefully deserted, after a
service unequalled in merit and duration. Of MI.
Berries and the Mint, we have before spoken. Mr.
Berries to the Mint ! and Mr. Arbuthnot to the
'Woods and Forests. This should seem a wrong
casting of parts. The vaunted financier has but
iittle to de at the Mint; whilst the mazes and in-
tricacies of the Woods and Forests may be sufficient
to entangle the most practised accountant. Some
think that the claims of the subordinate members
of Mr. Peel's family have not been sufficiently con-
sidered ; and it has been said and written, (for we
have so seen it), that " Lord Wellesley's 'remark
" recently made extended farther than his Lordship
meant, namely, that brotherly affection was not the
order of the day.' " However, we confess we think
it a merit in Mr. Peel ; and, looking at the unblush-
ing practice of the old families, perhaps it may be
the peculiar and honourable distinction of a person
just arrived at deserving distinction not to force his
relations upon the country for a maintainance. We
were surprised to observe in the city yesterday how
coolly all the Ministerial arrangements were received
there. We have heard of a very singular stipula-
tion imputed to Mr. Huskisson, and which we can
hardly credit, unless it be explained by some circum-
tances, or combination of circumstances, which have
not come to our knowledge.—Times.

The praising or blaming in the lump, is very pro-
perly scouted in the present day. However much, then,
we may regret the circumstances which led to the
breaking up of the late Ministry, we should only
expose ourselves to the contempt of the public, were
we to indulge in overcharged pictures of the loss
which the nation will sustain from the change. If
•••,, the present day claims for blind confidence in par-
ticular men are received with distrust, there is at
the same time a disposition not to condemn measures
merely because they emanate from particular men,
but to judge of theinraccording to their merits.—
There is at the same time a pretty general convic-
tion that the merits of the men from whom Minis-
ters must be taken, are below what the country is
entitled to expect for its service. The men who
now figure as politicians, are not pet haps inferior to
the men who occupied the same stations,' forty or
fifty years ago, but they have to do with a
more intelligent public. While that public
have been advancing, they have been nearly
stationary. It is not difficult to account for this.—
Politicians in cEngland, with very few exceptions,
belong to a class elevated, from their infancy, above
the necessity of exertion ; and consequently, in a
great measure, without the habits by which alone
the power of mastering difficult subjects can be ac-
quired. There is no Royal road to knowledge ;
there is no secret for combining indulgence in plea-
sure with the love of labour. However, the im-
provement of the public cannot be long without
producing its effect on Parliament. Already the
continuance of the old mode of speaking of the public
—those " out of doors"—begins to sound as ridi-
culous as the lofty language of the Turks, when
speaking of the infidels of the West. When public
men find that their admiration of themselves is not,
shared by the people, they will see the necessity of
either doing somethiag to merit the public approba-
tion or making way for others. The homage paid
to Mr. Huskisson is, on this account, peculiarly
gratifying, because that gentleman stands entirely
on his merits and the opinion which the country en-
tertains of his honesty and ability. We believe
the country in general will echo the language
of the Scotsman on this subject :—" The cha-
racter of any new Administration—not for
its name of Whig or Tory, about which we
care little, but for utility—will depend much,
we might say . altogether, on the fact, whether
Mr. Huskisson is or is not to be its leading spirit."
We cannot for a moment doubt, and we expressed
this opinion on Saturday, that Mr. Huskisson made
it the condition of his continuance in office, that

effect should be given to those opinions with which
his name has long been associated. Mr. Huskisson
does not derive his recommendation to office from
wealth or powerful family connections. He is sot
one of those men who are thrust into a Cabinet
hesause of the interest which they can command.
Without hit opinions, and the reputation which
these opinions give him, he would be nothing.
There is, therefore, a presumption, amounting
almost to positive evidence, that Mr. Huskisson
made it the condition of his remaining in oflice, that
his opinions with respect to the commercial policy of
the country should guide the Administration.—
Indeed, any other supposition involves in it great
inconsistency. If Mr. Huskisson derive only
consequence from the knowledge which he is
believed to possess of the means best calculated
to promote the prosperity of the country, and if
his views with respect to these means have been
again and again stated, his abandonment of thew
views would imply such a want of honesty
and firmness on his part as would deprive hint
of his reputation, and render his services of little
value to an Administration. It is therefore by a
continuance in his system that he can alone either
serve an Administration, or preserve that reputation
which can render him an object of desire to one.—
We have no wish to be censorious with respect to
the composition of the new Administration. Yet,
with every disposition to be indulgent at this time,
we confess there is something in the elevation of
the Duke of Wellington to the Premiership, and
the enjoying with it the office of Commander in
Chief, that we cannot well digest. The Duke of
Wellington is a soldier, and only a soldier. We
say nothing as to his oratory, because, though the
power of speaking fluently must be always of great
utility to a Minister in a country like this, a man
may possess an intellect of the highest order with-
out being a fluent speaker. But the Duke of 'Wel-
lington's habits and pursuits have not been of a na-
ture to enable him to possess that knowledge which_
we should think indispensible to a Minister, and
especially a Premier. The various subjects which
ought to engage the attention of a Cabinet cannot he
judged of separately, nor per saltum, when a question
is first agitated. Take any one question, for instance,
that may occupy Parliament, as the Poor Laws,
or the State of Crime, and then consider how much
knowledge a man ought to possess before he pre-
sumes to pronounce on it. The Poor Laws, for in-
stance, involve nearly the whole field of Political
Economy. The doctrine of population, the different
rates at which population and the means of employ-
ment increase, the manner in which the equilibrium
can be restored if lost, the light derivable from the
domestic history of this country as to the resources
which tray be found in Laws of Settlement for sup-
plying, by the care of the rich, the want of prudence
in the poor ; these, and a hundred other points, are
involved in the question of the Poor Laws. The
increase of crime, the other subject to which we al-
luded, to be estimated correctly, supposes a know-
ledge of legislation and political economy. The phe-
nomena which fill society with so much alarm, are
the result of a combination of causes, among which
are defective penal laws, and extreme poverty. As
in all states of society there will be some poorer
than others, and more vicious than others, defective
penal laws must always afford encouragement to
crime; but, on the other hand, no laws, however
perfect, can be proof against the desperation created
by extreme misery. We instance these two cases
among the numbers that must occupy Parliament,
to show how impossible it is for a man educated
like the Duke, who has never had the leisure for in-
quiry, even if he had the inclination, to be a com-
petent judge of the subjects that must be discussed
in a Cabinet. We presume that no one will say
that a Minister ought to decide without knowledge,
or that he is not called on to do more than merely
enjoy his salary. No man will say that any man
ought to be appointed to the Beach, without regard
to previous pursuits anti studies. We say nothing
of the retaining of the office of Premier and Com-
mander-in-Chief at the same time, because we can-
not bring ourselves to believe that he contemplates
this union as permanent. The best justification of
the Duke's appointment to the Premiership is to be
found in circumstances. We can hardly believe,
that he considers himself qualified, from acquaintance
with the duties of a minister, to be at the head of
an Administration. But amidst rival pretensions and
jealousies, he found it, no doubt, necessary to step
forward himself to put an end to them. Intellec-
tually he is, as we have said, notoriously deficient in
the qualities which a Minister ought to possess; for
on questions of commercial policy, he has furnished
the public with evidence of his incapacity to judge
correctly. But he possesses what the French call
caractere in opposition to esprit—he has presence of
mind, firmness, and knowledge of mankind—he is
a stranger to every thing like diffidence or timidity,
and is said to be never withheld by a fastidious de-
licacy (the source of many evils in the world, for
your good-natured man who cannot say no on pro-
per occasions, does more mischief to society than
the ili-natured man) from speaking his mind on all oc-
casions. It is possible;therefore, that without knowing
much of the questions that come before a Cabinet,
he may possess the knowledge of character neces-
sary to keep his colleagues in order. We are not
justifying the appointment of a mere soldier to the
arduous situation of Premier of this great Empire,
for our opinion is, that to give unity and effect to an
Administration, it should be guided by one master
mind. We are merely stating what we conceive
may render the appointment less injurious to the
country than at first sight it might be supposed likely
to be. There are names in the new Cabinet, to
which we have certainly feel no great attachment,
and others we have always thought of with respect.
Mr. Peel has his defects, but he displayed both zeal
and honesty in his endeavours to improve the laws
of his country. We hailed his labours with satis-
, faction when lie first entered on his career; and
we shall be glad to see him prosecute them.—Morn-
ing Chronicle.
Several of the new Ministerial Appointments, as
mentioned in our paper of yesterday, will appear in
the Gazette of this evening ; hut the whole, we be-
lieve, are not yet settled. For the present, how-
ever, it is sufficiently satisfactory to know, that the
new Government will comprise so great and de-
cided a majority of opponents to the dangerous
claims of the Irish agitators, that we may safely
venture to congratulate the public upon the perfect
security of the Constitution in Church and State.
Beyond this no event could in possibility be more
desirable at the present moment, when we see the
mischievous faction more industriously engaged than
ever in their fearfully menacing pursuits. To this,
every other consideration is comparatively insig-
nificant. Though in regard to our exterior rela-
tions, the prospect may in certain points of view
be rather gloomy, still we have the all-suffi-
cient consolation to know that we have at the head
of our affairs the illustrious Wellington, than whom
no man in the Empire, perhaps, is so well acquain-
ted with the present state of Foreign politics, or so
accurately informed of the real views and dispositions
of the different Sovereigns of Europe. Whatever
• may be requred by justice at our hands, will, we are
i persuaded, be conceded with good and becoming
grace :---whatever may, in reality, be due to our na-
tional character and honour, will be firmly main-
• tamed, and if necessary, vigorously enforced. Thus
with a Peel to ensure our peace and security at
home and a Wellington to superintend and controul
our Foreign Relations upon the genuine principles
of Justice and of Honour, Britain, so far from having
any thing to apprehend, will have great and abun-
dant cause to rejoice.—morning Post.
The letter of a Correspondent inserted in our
• Paper relative to the existing state of the law, and
• the necessity of its reformation, contains some semi-
; Bible remarks. Among other thinFs the writer says,
, " One of the unbearable evils which tended to pro-
duce the violences of the French Revolution, and
made that event necessary, was the state of the law."
This is perfectly true. The law in France, before
the Revolution, instead of serving to the interests of
justice, ministered to the cupidity of lawyers, and

the vindictiveness of power. It was a source of
oppression to the poor, and exaction upon all classes.
In the different provinces of the kingdom i was
different in its forms and customary observances;
but all its varieties agreed in one thing—that of pre-
serving the character and spirit of the barbirous
feudalism from which it was derived. There is no
doubt, therefore, that, whatever were the immediate
causes of the Revolution, the existitur state of the
law made any change in the mode of Government
desirable to the great body of the people. Our cor-
respondent goes on to say, that " Lawyers, as a
body, are the last people to expect a reform of the
laws from; for the technical cobwebs—which catch
the poor, but the great break through—so blind their
views of the ultimate object of all law, speedy and
equal justice between man and man, that you scarcely
ever hear them argue a case on these broad
' principles, but it is a constant reference to various
books of dicta under one Judge, which the other
party neutralise by referring to as many opposite
ones under another. The practice of each of our
many Courts is the study of the life of a learned
man, who devotes himself to it : what chance, there-
fore, has an Englishman of good strong sense to un-
derstand the law, or, rather, the practice, in all these
Courts ?—None ; and the result is, that we are de-
livered over, bound hand and foot, to the mercy of
the legal profession." Now, that lawyers should be
the last of all people to expect a reform of the laws
from is only human nature. The love of money and
the love of power are the two strongest stimulants
to action in mankind. Laws that are intricate, tedi-
ous, and expensive, bring more gain and give more
ascendancy to lawyers than if they were simple,
clear, and of speedy operation ; and such laws are
preferred by lawyers,„ in general, just in the same
proportion that they are odious to the rest of the
community. Who but a fool, or an enthusiast
(which is much the same thing), could suppose that
the silversmiths of Ephesus would themselves cry
down the idolatry which produced them such
_ _

" great gains ?" It would be as reasonable to ima-
gine that the lawyers, as a body, would be
desirous to reform the law, as that the West
India planters would deprecate the buying and
selling of slaves, or the cultivators of any
article of human consumption should com-
plain of its dearness. It is true a lawyer
now and then arises of more enlarged mind and
more exalted principles than his fellows, and
who, regarding the laws in relation to justice, and
not on the selfish principle of trade, denounces-their
defects, and is anxious for their reform. Such was
Bacon in a former time, and Romilly in our own
day ; but men of this sort are only the exceptions to
the general rule of professional bigotry. This coun-
try may be said to be law-ridden, as Spain and
some other Popish countries are priest-ridden. Our
law-makers are partly answerable for this. The
verbose, perplexed, and slovenly way in which most
of the statutes of modern date are drawn up, gives
ample room to the ingenuity of Counsel to twist and
turn their meaning in different ways, and produces
what is worse, the conflicting decisions of Judges.
The attempt which Mr. Peel has made to revise and
amend the Criminal Law is valuable, chiefly because
it sets an example of innovation on that which used
to be thought too sacred to be changed, and which,
we trust, will yet be carried to a much greater
.ex-
tent. The Code Napoleon was the result of a revo-
lution ; but we expect the laws of England will un-
dergo the salutary process of reform without so
costly an experiment.—Morning Herald.

Should the new Ministerial arrangements undergo
no farther modifications, it is expected that they will
appear in this evening's Gazelle. It is possible,
however, that the official publication will not take
place till all the minor departments shall have been
filled up, so that the Administration may stand out

at once before the public complete in all its parts.—
So far as its composition is known, it will be found,
we have reason to believe, generally correct. It is
doubtful, however, whether it will long remain in

its present state, for it is rumoured that the Noble

Duke at its head strongly objected to the permanent
junction of Premier and Commander-in-Chief in the
same hands. It is believed, therefore, that he only con-
sented to hold them both in order to prevent further
delay. The opening of the Session was approaching ;
it had been once postponed (and, it is said, is again
to be put off for a few days, to the Ist of Feb.); but
the anxiety of the country was too great, and the topics
to be discussed of too important a nature to admit
of a prorogation for any lengthened period. By ac-
cepting the Premiership, without vacating his mili-
tary office, the Noble Duke would enable the Minis-
try to meet Parliament and to commence its opera-
tions with as little delay as possible ; meanwhile,
further steps might be taken to find and appoint a
new head to the Cabinet, whilst the character affixed
to the whole Administration, by the well known
and well defined policy of its Chief, would be a se-
curity for the confirmation and perpetuation of that
policy, in the choice of his successor. The other
appointment, in which some alteration may occur, is
that of Mr. Goulburn, who never having displayed
any financial abilities, or having even been in the
way of exhibiting them, has suddenly been entrusted
at a most momentous period, with the finances of
the country. It is true, that no man's talents can
be accurately known till they are tried ; but why
those of Mr. Herries, which have been trial, should
have been paralysed and nullified by his re-
moval to the Mint, in order to make room for an
individual new to the Exchequer and the discharge
of its important duties, is a question which the na-
tion will repeatedly put to itself, without being able
to assign any satisfactory reason for the change.
The present, or rather, we should say, the late At-
tornay-General, is said to hay e resigned. This was
to be expected, after the Marquis of Lansdowne
. ,
quitted the Cabinet. It is not equally certain, how-
ever, that Sir Charles Wetherell will return to his
former post ; habits of great activity being deemed
as necessary to the discharge of the duties of that
office, as a long Court practice and a profound know-
ledge of the law. We were mistaken yesterday in
not including Lord Palmerston, as Secretary at War,
in the new Cabinet. His Lordship, though not a
Cabinet Minister under the Earl of Liverpool, be-
came one under Mr. Canning and Lord Goderich,
and retains that post under the present Administration.
Among other prospective arrangements, it is stated
that Mr. Wynn is to be made Speaker of the House
of Commons ; an office for which he is well quali-
fied, by his experience of parliamentary forms, and
which has been for nearly twenty years the dearest
object of his ambition. His appointment would be
highly politic, as it would secure to the new Mini-
stry the suppart of the Grenville interest, which
might otherwise be withholder), though it is not
likely that it would again be thrown into the oppo-
site scale. Should this arrangement be carried into
effect, the present Speaker would of course be pro-
moted to the peerage, and removed to the Upper
House, which would then show the extraordinary
spectacle of five, if not six, contemporary Peers, all
having attained their titles through the Speakership
of the Commons. We have thus collected all the
reports and probabilities of the period, as they circu-
late in the best informed circles. A few hours, or,
at the most, a few days, will bring their reality to
the test.—New Tinter,

FATAL COACII ACCIDENT.--on the 11th
instant, at hall-past one o'clock in the morning, as the
Liverpool and Leeds mail coach was turning the cotter et
the bottom of King Cross-lane, and just entering Halifax,
such was the slippery state of the road, that the coach slid
until it came in contact with the causeway, and was nearly
upset, but by striking against the house of Mr. THwatTEs,
Bull Green, it righted. The guard had quitted the coach
with the mail bags a minute before, but the driver, Grox6E
AloauaN, was thrown off the box by the violence of the
concussion, 'and so much injured that lie died on Thurs-
day last. A soldier, who was also on the bex, was thrown
off, but his foot catching the lamp iron, he
Was suspended
in a most perilous situation, with his head between the
body of the coach and the' fore-wheel, until it arrived at
the White Swan, the horses having proceeded thither
without a driver. Moacatc, who was a steady, sober,
and good tempered man, has left a wife and one child,—
Leeds Mercury.,