The Sun.
London, England, 1819-09-22 00:00:00

i'OL ~1 ,
t'. '1 s `UN.

Nra. EDITOR—I Bekmmled:e tht► enbtiesy
and still more the candour, iivith whivb e 9-
travene toy positions. That these o're High
Tory," i shall not entirely deny ; nevotheless.
when applied to the Whiggisla.F4stablishruent of
the Constitution, their " Toryisu?' may prove
among-its best safegnarda.
You will understand me to speak of the nut,
GI NAL IVIIIOS ; not of the dirty Reformers of the
present day.
Nether speak I of the Burdetilies, nor of the
modern Russells ; but of those ancient Patriots,
who in 1688, saved our Constitution by the ap-
plication of its own " Supreme Power." And
this they did, not by arrogating any paramount
authority to a part, but by exerting the supre-
macy of the whole.
Such was the case which I had put in pOssi-
hility, of the King endeavouring a preponderance
of the Monarchy. It would have puzzled Junto.
himself to strew, that the sovereign act of the
two kingless, or diskinged houses was unconsti-
tutional; or that its constitutionality—(rnaV I coin
the expression ?) just as it certainly was, depend-
ed on its justice.
There are few principles so positive that they.
cannot be resisted or modified ; in politics at
least, whatever there may be in natural or in.
moral philosophy. If a diversity, of opinkn
exists, a power of decision exists also : and that
is the Supreme Power:,
It cannot he reposited in any one Member of the
State, because 'such Member would then possess
two weights in the scale, and the'balance woidd
be destroyed.
But it must exist somewhere, or,the balance
and the balancing power would be destroyed
together.
It mast exist then in the whole, and the whole
must be " supreme ;" without any reference to
the supremacy of a part.
I can tolerably understand one Supreme Power
being " relative," where another Supreme Power
is " absolute," though my comprehension
would
be more perfect, if JUNIus had instructed me in
their several provinces and authorities. I am,
however, utterly impenetrable to his theory of a
Supreme Power being " relative," without the
existence of some other Supreme Power which is
absolute. Inatsoever and wheresoever be that
Power which makes it relati4e, there is the Su-
preme Power in a state of absoluteness.
" The general rules of natural justice who
is to enforce them ?—" The welfare of the Com-
munity !" Who is to ascertain it ? Surely, not
the " relative" Supremacy of a part, but the
" absolute" supremacy of the whole.
Deny this plain position—anti look at the mon-
strous inference of vour denial :

That an act -may he done by the joint power
of the King, the Lords, and the Commons, which,
by its illegality, justifies the resistance of that
very Commons, which had consented thereto,
and without whose consent it could not have been
done.

For yon will recollect, that the Commons in
Parliament is the only description by which the
Constiintion knows the People.—Out of Parlia-
tneni, the People have, collectively, neither voice
nor function.

An assemblage or persons, whether as indivi-
dnals or • as freeholders ; at Manchester, or at
London ; particularize them, or generalize them ;
—I care not how-,-is not the Peonle.—The
People are in Parliament by their Representatives,
and nowhere else. Out of Parliament, mobs
may be composed, or multitudes, or meetings :
some of them, 1 admit, legal, but the aggregated
individuals of Britain could not constitute the
People. _ _ _ _ .

Else—as I yesterday said—the People would
hays two estates ; the one in, and the other out
of Parliament.

Could the functions of these two he concurrent ?
or, could the Extra-Parliamentary Estate he in
abeyance, while the Parliamentary Estate was in
activity ?--Or, does this wait its revival, until that
is suspended or dissolved ?
(ei Dis,qlved," however, is an improper term
when applied Onto the Parliament, quoad the
Constitution. Because the Parliament must be
again summoned by the King within a limited
time.)
To the doctrines which I have stated, you have
opposed those of JUNIUS, a writer, whose con-
cealment has excited curiosity ; whose opinions
curiosity has kept alive ; whose reputation mys-
tery has prolonged.
But JUNIUS Wrote for a party, not from prin-
ciple. His resentments are now—almost all—
gone down into the tomb, where he and his ad-
versaries rest together. I admire his eloquence,
anti I should praise his ingenuity, had it not been
applied to the perversion of the Laws. His theo-
ries and his fancies are embalined in, his style.
They are a decayed corpse in a coffin of polished
marble. J uNtos has received the freedom of the_
Author's corporation,enclosed in a goltftox.

We needed not JuNtus to instruct us that
the Supreme Power 'is higher titan the subordinate.
I had rather that he had pointed out, Where is that
more Supreme Power which regulates the inferior
supremacy ?'—lf it be in the Constitution, then
the Constitution is supreme ; if it be out of the
Constitution, let us know its residence. It can-
not be in any one pert of the Constitution ;—it
is not in the King alone—nor in either House of
Parliament alone. Perhaps it is inPuNT's Mob.
Let us not question the perfectuesi'of our Con-
stitution by limiting its supremacy. if there be
one act which it cannot do, that one is prevented
by the Royal Oath, which forbids the King from
assenting unto it : 'and, without his Assent, the
Constitution can do no act whatever.

But I know of no Royal Oath which prevents
the suppression of extra-Parliamentary Meetings,
any more than it allows the election of extra-Par-
liamentary Representatives.
THR PEOPLE are not the Constitution ; they
are only one of its three parts, with an assenting
and dissenting power over all its acts. Nothing
can be constitutionally done without them; ap:
pearing by their Representatives:;—but, without
the other two parts, they can do nothing.
Therefore, the People are not exclusively the
Constitution ; neither doem
,the Constitution ex-
clusively belong to the People. That the Laws

are very soun:liug p!JrasZ,.
naorm them—that the Laws cannot be chang-
e't k•it bout !heir concurrence, given by their Re-
presentatives In Parliament.
Really, Sir; when we are calodating the power
King, Lords, and Commons," it is worse,
than absurd in talk—as JUNIUS " their
own will and pleas Ore." A part may endeavour
to tyrannize over the whole, an` stay effectuate
its endeavour—but in what philosophy, natural,
Moral, or political, have we heard of the whole
tyrannizing over the whole ?
I am very contented with the existing chance
of " the Constitution being dissolved by Act of
Parliament." At present it appears in more dan-
ger from the White Mats and Black Dwarfs, whose
organized violence may reform it, perhaps, into
a dissolution; somewhat more " radical" than
Martial-law, or the Suspension of the Habeas
Corpus.
The honest, the rational, and the constitu-
tional part .of the Conntry begin to fear that the
Demagogues will drive our Legislature upon some
such painful remedy.
-Von will excuse erasures, Mr. Editor,—T write
in too much haste to transcribe :—but my opinions
have been long and slowly formed. Poryish as
these are, the genuine W/siggism of the Constitu-
tion would not now be in existence, but for the
exercise and operation of such principles.
Sept. 21, 1819. TENAX.

*** We conceive that TeNAx has folly ex-
pkined and justified the positions in his.first Let-
•ter ; btit as we do not wish, by impolitic acquies-
ence, •to slop so able a Correspondent, we hope
that suet: of our Readers as may not agree with
hint will cxuress their dissent, in order still fur-
ther to draw forth his efforts in the discussion of
stlhject 3) peculiarly interesting and important
at this critical period.

THEATRICAL. REGISTER.
Performed Last Niett.
TH EATRE RovA COVENT-GAGDEN.—The Steward : Principal
Characters by Mr. Maeready, Mr. Jones, Mr. W. Farrell,
Mrs. Davison, and Mrs. Gibbs. After which, Aladdin.
TIIEATRERGYAL, ENGLISH OPERA House.—The3oviai Crew:
Spiinglove, Mr. Wrench; Rachel, Miss Kelly. After which,
The Rendezvous. To which was added, The Death of Cap-
tain Cook.

Ktrtu GEouoz COHONA'FlON.—lioliday at ail the Public

O9ices.

NIAILS.
ARRIVEID-1 Waterford, I Guernsey and Jersey.
Due-1 Gottenbnrgb, 1 Hanibtugh.
HIGEI IvATEIL AT LONDON BRIDGE
Nlorning, 5:1 initiates after 4. I Evening, IS minutes after 3.

THE SUN.

110 LEM QUIS (DICE!I E FAt,StTM AU DEA': ?

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1819.

NVe received this morning-the Paris Papers of
Sunday last. The following are extracts :
" PARIS, Sari. 19.—The King yesterday again
♦;ailed the Exhibition of the products of French
Industry. His Majesty was attended by a nume-
rous Suite.