The Sun.
London, England, 1828-06-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC

. .
Our contemporary ( The Globe) seems inclined to Con-,
sider the conduct of the Duke of Wellington towards Mr.:
Huskisson a strange blunder, which had its origin in a,
habit of -mind which leads him to a harsh and overbearing
mode df transacting business. 44 To -stipPose (says our
contemporary) that the Duke of Wellington induced Mr.
linakissen and his friends, by the most friendly explana-,
dons, to, join him in a moment of difficulty, and then
(without seeing reason to repent their policy,: for that is
studiously denied) sacrificed him to the hatred of a few
mere. traffickers in votes, Would be to attribute to the
'Premier a degree of mearuiess not conceivable in a great
man, er even in an honest one." 'We confess we ra-
ther incline to the ;opinion expressed by. 'Mr. Hnikisson
himself, and the rest of the seceding Ministers, that the
misconception of the Puke was assumed, with a view
to, get rid• of them. We put the greatness and the
honesty of his Grace altogether: ont..of. the question ;
because, if • there it a strong presumption, amounting '
almost to
,evidence, that his Grace was actuated by parti-
ettlar motives, we are not so well assured of his greatnesa
.or honeitg (whatever otir• contemporary may be) as to
considernurselves hound 'to assume his possession of these
qualities,- because the motives are irreconcileable with
them. All that' our Contemporary says of the habit of
mind ofhit Grace may be very true, and 'yet he may have
been actuated -by the motiVee. we have attributed to him.
" On the lait of these cumpoiitions (the strangely blunder-
ing), it has betrayed on the part of the Militney Premier
atone of , feeling towards hie colleagues which would ren-
der it impossible that men of independent minds should
,continue to form part of his Administration. He is wise
to choes'e military men; hecause under such eircumstandes
he would hive to, elioose'betiveen men rendered submis-
sive by long habits of obedience and those paisive through -
* a feeling of entire insignificance. The habit of mind which
leads him to the harsh and overbearing mode of transacting
kueinese must kaVe him to-choose betweetimilitary tools,
more or, lessignorant aecording-to circumstances, and civil
tools, very civil and mrtainlyvery poor ones." The principle
0/sacrificing others to one's own convenience is, we fear, but
too much sett on by men of all sorts of habits of mind.
The habit of mind will influence rather the mode by
'which. the object- is. eotigiit to he effected than the determi-
nation to effect the object. Thu,, a harsh, unfeeling man;
. .
witk nerves of iron. will be indifferent to on but the at.
tainment of his end—will add insult to injury ; while the
man of greater delicacy and susceptibility will,endeavour,
as much as possible, to disarm enmity and censure, by re-
- curving to those means for effecting his purpose, which are
`least likely to shock his opponent or the feelings of the
world. We are ready to admit that his Grace has never
At wn. much deference to the convenience or feelings of
others, when they .stopd in competition with his own ;
but his Grace couLl not have been so successful in his nai-
. litary operations„ had he been in the habit of repelling or
insulting those whose agency or co-operation might be
neeessgy to hint when be wished to retain them. He
knows avhen to be rude and overbearing, and with whom.
If he had wished to • retain' Mr. Buskisson, Le would
not hare persisteein a 'eotirso which could not fail to
drive him from the Cabinet. He might be rude whin),
be had no motive to be courteous ; but he would hardly
eeek"to give offence, with a view to injure his own' inte-
rests. He would not have ,persisted in attaching a meaning
to Mr. Huskisson's letter which the writer disclaimed, bed
he, not deemed it for his interest to interpret Mr. This-
kisson'e letter as be did. When he arrogantly observed to
Lord Dudley; who suggested that he had entirely mistaken
Mr. Huskisson's meaning, " It is no teistake—it can Ire
no mistake, and it shall be no mistake," he bad; we may
be sure, pretty well satisfied himself (however much he
may find hiniself out in the 'end) that lus would not be ;a
loser by this mistake. It wati, we allow, an unwise pro-
• seeding in Mr.
.110eitisson to write under.tbe influence
pf
excited feelings to the' Duke or Wellington ; and even the
circumstance 'of his illshealth• hardly:instify such ;a
step in an experienced Statesman. But traiving.the pru-
rience of the proceeding; it is obvions, from the manner in
.
which Mr. Httskiwon.speaks of the appease of disunion
ire his 3lajesty's Coperils being unfounded in. reality, and
due question whirh has given rise to that appearantai being
unimportant in itself, '.that in affording the Duke
an opportunity of placing .his office in other hand!,
as the only. means in his power of preventing the
injury to the King's service whieh might ensue froin
what had taken place, he expected that if 'hie Orw eons
Nidered the question as • equally unimportant,' he wmdd
not consider the vote as amounting to such an' injury 4o
the King's serviee as required' him to avail himself of the
npportunity which Mr. Ilnakisson had atTorded him. If
his Greet), had been anviona to retain Mr. Huskisson, he
would naturally have informed him that lie did not con-
ceive the appearance of disunion in the vote on the East
Retford question such an injury to the King's service as
rendered it necessary for him to avail himself of his other.
fiat the Duke, when Invssetl by Alr. Huskisson, di i in
Lift put such-
.a construction on the vote as was impliel in
the condition on which She offer was made. "In this
Viecv'of the Cage (he says), I have pat out of it altogether
every consideration of the discredit resulting from the scene
r,f last night; of the e‘rtent of which you could not but
• have been sensible 'Allen you thought proper, as a remedy,
for it, to send ^tie dte tuTer of placing 'um office in other
hands:" - We have. here :tie opinion of his Grace, that
fito.:ecl that the office should he
dueextent of the discredit re
placed in other hands; that is, that the discredit was evert-
rising, and the value of Mr. Huskisson-;sservices to the A.
ministration next to nothing. Was it the Wish of those who
support the Cabinetas at present constituted that She Liberals
should be dismissed,? They are muchbelied if theists; not re-
joice at scut has taken. place. The Dublin Evening Pori Pt
Saturday last observes, " The defeat of the'Canningites
is
e good thing certainly; and the Tories are, as they ought
to be, very much delighted with the same. Two great
' victoisies have certainly been obtained by the Duke—first,
the turning ;is!' the Whigs at the beginning of the present
Session ; anti Wei:, the turning out the Liberals towards
the conclusion." Rear also Lord..Palnaerston-e-" A cer=
tain dArription of pernoos were running about in ecstasies
at, what had taken place. .- The language of-the friends
and supporters of the remainiai Members of his Najes'..
ty's Gnrernment tvas unequivocal 07.',4 exulting. In went-
tioniog the retirement of my Right Oon. Friend, they
talked with delight of the cleansing the Apgeart, stable;'
'of ter-fling out of his Majesty's Government te,:e who had
been unfortunately admitted in a moment of .liberiti;ty, and
who might have remained in it if he had manifeeteas Any
" It is all very well in his Grace to tell us there
will he no change, and. for Mr. Peel to repeat this after
Mtn ; but the exultation of the friends ansi supporters of
Ministers is a better criterion of the disposition of the Gas
vernment than any general declaration. It will receive
more and more of Lord Eldon's coufidenee; and 'that
speaks volumes.—Mortsinp Chronicle.

Mr. floskisaon'a explanation• is now before the country.
We think it will'oot be disputed by any one, that there WAS
a previous disposition—perhaps even matured into an in-
tenting—to get rid of this gentleman, befoc,e his vote upon
the East Refford questinn was given. His aiat letter to
the puke, tve will acknowledge, ,though not an absolote re..
aignation, has enough of the bane. and manner of one, to
allow tboe who were previously so 41.i5,pa.1,4 to take ad-
vantage of it antl:conatrue it according to their ,rimi„. Thd
qualifying clause is at the end—Mr., Huskisson ;Mows
,his Grace an opportunity of plitAfiDg his office in ether hands,
as the means: lit Isis power of peeventing the injury to
his Majesty's service, s bich may ensue from the up-
PPgra,iCe of disunion in his Majesty's Counclk, however
'afoul:do-2 in reality, or however uninportant in itself the
question which him given rise to that appearance." Th:4
fast rlatrse, we think, is -Ant a sufficient 4. :whack on the
oezeral terms of the. note. Rut then the iminediate and
positive dee/aration by Mr. Hudi99oll, that he did not by
this letter mean at once to surrender 09, his office, aod the
pertinacious readorion on the part of the D.ukf 4a fasted
that meaning upon kliot, whether he, who. best I.neur
his
own meaning, meant it 4r pot ;_how the cireurnstances
ore to he explained, witbi.4 a previous wish and in-
caution to eject the Colonial Seaa...etary, we -confess we
cannot conceive; and we .really_ thh4, notwithstand-
ing all that has. been urge by others, tikat it would
be the most candid way on the part of the Poke
himself, should he enter' into nny 'explanation, to •
acknowledge franklY*teh wish and intennoo, and to con-
fess his joy that Mr. Huskiest:nets indiscretion afforded so
happy, an opportunity. it has Leen said, that. Mr. 1-145-
kisson should have otromi to withdraw his letter. why,
lints ,o;ikt thigi be done ? The very first note of the Doke
says, " f have considered it my duty to lay it (the fetter)
!" and that, in spite oft:he words o private
before, the king
•
and confidential," ouperscribed on the envelope. All at-
tempts at recall, therrfore, were cut off,—the die was .cast.
if, after the letter had been shown to the King, a propo-
sition had been made to recall it (which would. have }Rea
-very lunch like recalling o flash of lightning after the
mine washlown: up), then the excuse, if We may 3,11,t thaj
rig*lth
word, would have been, that the Noble and GallantFi Diakixaa
,evade a mere shlittlecock of, in being sent to the
.resignation one moment, which the next moment' was Ip-
called: - However, theresult of this misconception is a great
secession from the Ministry,—a secession of most of those
cambers Whose principles and practice are of liberal, con-
ciliatory, pipiilar character. How unhappily the Catholic
Queatien divide% men pc otl}erwitte ...,e,ongenial, minds ! Had
'O. not hero for this :question., we have little donbt'hut 'that
:dr, Peel would have " gbzer t " With the other-Seceders i

—Mr. r„i, who knows that the Dpke and his aristocratic
asseciates do not Tike bins Peel, Whii'said of the
Duke alsO •in the late discUskion, " that he might
not lave Conveyed his " sentiments with the Nicely-
balanced precision of expression of those more accustomed
to civil life: 7 Indeed, what we chiefly fear with • respect
to tlu;'new Administration is, that it is composed of persons
far too griod and too noble for Englishmen': it would be
disgracefnl to-people of their-eminent rank and high senti-
ments to symtiathise with us, or any" of us, in our feelings.
Mr:Peel says that he does not contemplate any deviation
from the principles of the late Administration but who are
they that remain to give efFect to those principles, or to
carry them forth into operation? Men who have always
been opposed to them, and hated their authors. The Con-
clusion of Mr. Huskisson's speech was particularly striking.
We cannot contemplate the future without apprehension :
perhaps the nation may have, ere long, to look to that
greatest and best bulwark of British liberties—the trial by
jury.— Times.

Though the letters read by Mr. Huskisson, and the long
additional explanation affiirded by him to the House on
Monday night, will have been read with the meat lively,
we might 'say greedy, interest by the country, .they, in
fact, throw very little 'more real light upon the subject
than had been previously given by the Tress. If any
material variance exists between the original version of the
matter, and that now offered front authority, it isi in Mr.
Huskisson's first letter to the Duke' of Wellington being
much more unequivocal than it had been represented to be.
In our view. of the matter, its interpretation was plain and
decisive, and placed the Duke either in the situation of
ac-
cepting it in the plain common-sense way in which he took
it, or in the humiliating one of hemming the suitor of Mr.
Huskissen to remain in the Government—an alternative
which the latter, no doubt-with much .sincerity; says, he
should most readily hare acceded to. But in what situation
would the Duke have been placed, had he condescended to
adopt this course? Why, the very first moment that any
new source of disunion had arisen, Mi. Huskisson would
have turned round upon the Duke, and told him, as saucy
servants sometimes do their masters--" You know I offer=
ed to leave you long ago—telling you your place did not
suit me. But you could not do without me ;so we hushed
up the matter, .and I agreed to stay on." But Mr. Hum-
kissou, if ,he were sincere, had a very easy way of extri-
catinwboth the Duke and himselfjfrom the dilemma
.which his baste and indiscretion had involved them both:
He writes( to the Duke a letter at two o'clock in the morn-
ing, as.he now-alleges, " in a state which. any one must
feel was net the fittest for deliberation—With health become
exceedingly delicate—at the close of an anxious attention
to a debate, which lasted many hours—and previously ex-.
hausted by an unremitting attention to the duties of his
office in Downing-street throughout the day." Now
what is this but a candid admission of -error, and who so
fit to repair an error as the person who commits it? What,
then, had Mr. Huskisson to do, when, upon reflection, he
law (as he now admits he did) the error which he com-
mitted ?.--Instantly to go or write to the Duke, and with-
draw, if not apologise also, for his hasty morbid letter.
And because be did not do so, is he now to turn round
and complain of that of which he himself was the sole, and
admitted blameable, cause? .It is true there was, as we
have already hinted, another course which might have
been taken. The Duke of Wellington, instead of laying
Mr. Huskisson's letter before the King, might have
written to him in some such terms as these My
dear Huskisson--Pray do not, for God's sake, re--.
sign. How can the Government go on without you?
You are the life and soul of it. You shill have your own
way in every thing. You shall be leader of the House of
Commons instead of Mr. Peel. Only do not talk of re-
signing; for if you do it will break my heart, and break
up the Government. Your's, &o."—lf there is any one
man in the kingdom whit thinks the Duke ought to have
done this, or something like it, then in that man's eyes
air. thiskisson must stand acquitted, and the Duke of
Wellington condemned as the cause of what has now hap-
pened. But, to, say nothing of the known character and
firmness of his Grace, we cannot hut unhesitatingly say
that he, or any other public man, would have been irre-
trievably disgraced, who would thus have truckled to a
span even of much more consequence than Mr. Huskisson.
It is r..a amusing feature in the debate of Monday night,
that Mr. Bushissson gets not one word of approbation,
support, or condolence, from the Whigs. They, unlike
him, prefer sleeping upon matters before they commit
themselves. Air. Huskisson may, if he is wise, tike two
'aalttable lessons—one from their caution, the other from
Asir coldness.—Morning Herald.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

LIVERPOOL.

MONDAY, JuNa. 2.—High water 4 coin. past 2.
Wind W. to W.N.W.--Arrived the Sarah Morrell, Che,
from New Orleansj Kingston, Wood, from Savannah;
NasSide, Leonard, from Memel; Three Sisters, from the
Isle 'of Man; Comet, Phillips, (steamer), froth Dublin.
One brig off at eight o'clock.
CLEARED OUTIARDS.—The Britannia, Marshall, for
New York ' • Sir Frauds Burton, Reid, for Rio Janeiro:;
Jane, Crawford," for Naroa ; Active,' Gross, for Dantaic;
*aforth, M!Donald, for Demerara;
.and Jonge
Drent. for Antwerp.

Telegraph Office, Monday, June 2.
Wind at fiolyheall West, blowing fresh, nothing to re-
port off.
Passed Ifolyhead, inward bound, the Gipsey British
ship, from Bombay, at 2 g 0 p. m.
Co ItiZ, MAY 30.-Arrived the Funchal, Main, from
Trinidad ; .and Magdal4l; Hume, frbm Teneriffe.