The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our remarks upon the designed encroach-
ments on St. James's Park, under the name of
" Improvements" of that old and almost pre-
scriptive scene of general recreation, have attract-
ed considerable notice ; and we will venture to
say, as much applause as attention, amongst all
ranks of men, except those and their subordinates,
who felt th..iir own conduct implicated. Even
the Government _papers see so strongly the ne-
cessity of some restraint being imposed upon the
spirit of intermeddling, and overbearing, and de-
stroying, which has all along been at work in cer-
tain irresponsible quarters, that they have lent
their well-meant though feeble aid to the public
and the Ministers in this instance, and so far as
their limited power goes, have tried to circulate
our observations. With regard to St. James's
and both the other Parks, any stand to be made
by the Legislature ought to contemplate the one
great end of the guardianship of whatever apace
and- air are now afforded by the " lungs of
the metropolis," as Mr. Windham called these
pleasure parks, from every attempt at diminution.
Houses may be good things in themselves ; but
in the present overgrown state of London, good
air is a thousand times more valuable to the pub-
lic than fine houses. It is, therefore, with ex-
treme anxiety we wish to ascertain as a neces-
sary satisfaction to the inhabitants of the capi-
tal-Ist. That the demolition of Carlton-house
will not he followed by a sacrifice to the brick-and-
mortar demon of any surface more extensive than
that which forms the present site of the tumbling
palace. We are aware, that the exact piece of
ground now covered by that house of strange repute
will not be rebuilt upon in its actual form ; but
what we want to secure for our countrymen is,
that, no matter how disposed or metamorphosed,
the sum-total of space now actually (or lately) under
the mason work of the palace, will not, as mea-
sured in cubic feet, be much exceeded by that which
it is designed to cover by new habitations. The
public generally have an interest, it is plain, in the
maintenance of the old Carlton gardens, to the full
extent of theii present measurement, free from in-
cumbrance or obstruction, and especially from edi-
fices, which as being inhabited, must give rise to an
increase of smoke. It is true, that ever since those
gardens were formed, their gates afforded no in-
gress or admission to the public. But their free-
dom from inhabitants and from smoke, assisted pow-
erfully the wholesome circulation of the air which
was breathed by every family in the neighbourhood
of Pall-mall, by every individual on foot or horse-
back, whose way led him through the contiguous park
of St. James's. We therefore trust that the fine oblong
once covered by these gardens, of which the beautiful tim-
ber is now cut to pieces, will still be suffered to continue
a free and air-furnishing space. To decorations of walk
.—tree and herbage—so far as these delights of nature are
to constitute a portion of the new system, there can be no
objections offered hnt such as are tasteless and unreason- I
able. Let Mr. Nash, therefore, if he be capable of the
office, throw the whole park into pleasure-ground—and
exercise his ingenuity to its full extent ; but let him re-
spect the other side of the canal as well as that on the
north, and not venture, as the letter of our correspondent
this day intimates, to block up the Bird-cage-walk with
rows of houses, and multiplications of barracks, other-
wise we can tell him and his employers that they may burn
their thumbs.— Times.

A fourth report by the Commissioners of Irish
Education Inquiry has been published, and af-
fords an interesting as well as creditable' addition '
to the testimony which that board has already
furnished of the assiduity, good sense, and tem-
per, with which its investigations have been
hitherto prosecuted, and its judgments formed.
The subject matter of the present Report is the
Belfast Academical Institution. This establish-.
matte Erne tiesigeaseatelipsaaesimese..C...a.........,,._.....3,
more particularly for the valuable object of sup-
plying the Presbyterian Church of Ireland with
a succession of well-educated Ministers, was set
on foot by an original subscription of about
25,0001., aided by some acres of land.for a site
On which to erect the necessary buildings, grant-
ed in perpetuity by Lord Donegan. It enjoyed
for a few years a moderate pecuniary encourage-
ment from tile King's Government ; but on the
manifestation of certain principles by some of the
professors, or a current imputation that they en-
tertained such principles, the Government
bounty was withdrawn. A new charge has
since been got up Against the institution, that a
professor or two, amongst its officers, were guilty
of appro7ing Arian doctrines ; upon which the
Synod of Ulster—not improperly, in our opinion—
felt it desirable to require some security from the
heads of the institution against the inculcation upon
be minds of the collegiate youth, of those tenets
wffich were obnoxious to the Presbyterian Church.
The quired assurances were given—the Synod was
satisfied--and the majority of the Board of Com-
missioners, ''iZ. Messrs. Lewis, Grant, and Blake, in
consideration of the great extensive usefulness which
has long resulted to Ireland from the mode of con-
ductina this academjcal establishment, have recom-
mn ended to Government a revival of the public bounty.
But. Mr. Leslie Foster, who has no objection, as it
would appear, to fish now and then in troubled
waters, has, with Mr. Glassford for his bottleholder,
produced an opposition report, in which he states his ab-
horrence of Arianism, and his dissatisfaction with the gua-
rantees against it.--guarantees which quieted the alarms
of the Trinitarian Synod itself—to be such as justify him
in dissenting from the report of the majority of his bre-
thren, and to withhold from the institution the favour of
his recwimendation to Parliament. The Hon. and
Learned Gem 'tieruan is, indeed, not unworthy to figure as
DuiGenan reculeivus, in all respects where disputes about
orthodoxy can dragged in to affect the temporal mea-
sures of the State. big.
Our readers will see, from our Assize Intelli-
gence, that another conviction for shooting a
poacher has taken place at York. These con-
victions must produce a great sensation through-
out the country. It is certainty highly honourable
:to us as a nation' that we have at length to boast of
obtaining fur human beings a protection at least
equal to that afforded to (logs. Hitherto that
large class of. persons employed in a necessary
violation of the law (for none but fools would
Inaintain that alaw which would prohibit the in-
halyitants of cities from purchasing game ought
not to be violated) has been considered as in the
outlaws, and every condition of gamekeeper
de.emed himself at full liberty to practise himself in
shooing at their expence. The life of a gamekeeper
Henceforward -will lose much of its attractions. I:ow
will the Squirearchy be now able to endure the
"unity, when they camiot have the gratification of
bulletins in the morning of poachers killed or
-,vounded in the night, and of persons shot by spring
guns? a conspiracy
There really sa;us to make
their lives Flom ennui, and to drive
%burden to them
to other climes that class which is the peculiar glory
of this country vi°flu -n aro/tick.
_
Considering the good understanding which is
supposed to exist between Mr. Canning and the
Whigs, there are, we imagine, those who will
be inclined to suspect that there was something
like pre-arrangement theatrical and
- effect in-
- tended in what fell from the Leader of the -nig
Party in the House of Commons on Friday nig • 1. t
.
idea we are the more confirmed in, from the
tone which has been assumed by
ula"whichwould the party papers
believe, occasion,
1r1_14134 because some 80 Hon. Gentlemen
."e s.teTiteBealted to
-hear, so*have vociferated "Hear,
wish fotl,ft,..ct usual vehemence, when a
+anea continuance ui the Go-
eminent
was eyed by Mr. Tierney, that

the former's removal to the first Lordship of the I
Treasury must follow as a matter of course, as the
avowed sense .of Parliament and the country.
To us, who have no party to serve, and are alike
indifferent to all, this looks very like clamour ;
and if clamour is to govern the country, or to de-
cide who shall be its Prime Minister, then to be
sure the stoutest lungs become of more intellec-
tual value than we have hitherto been inclined
to assign them. On the occasion in question,
there were only about 230 Members in the
House ; and that upon a mere incidental ques-
tion ; and to dignify the accidental cheers of the
smallest half of that small number into an un-
doubted and undeniable expression of public
feeling on a great public question, is straining
the point a little too far. Besides, we are not
quite prepared to say that even a larger number
than this of the House of Commons has any right
to dictate to the King who shall be his Prime
Minister ; and we have a full confidence that his
Majesty will exercise his undoubted prerogative
upon this occasion, unawed by the cheers or the
censures of the Whigs. Had we the means or the
power of advising the Crown upon this important
occasion, our advice would be not uncomplimentary,
it is true, but far front being gratifying to any of "-he
aspirants to the Premiership among the preie.^.t
Ministers. The Duke of Wellington and Lord
Bathurst we should put out of the question ; and
of Mr. Canning, Mr. Peel, and Mr. Robinson, we
should say, that they are each so well adapted to
their present offices, that to remove either of them
would only be to increase the inconvenience occa-
sioned by Lord Liverpool's secession. In express-
ing ourselves thus frankly, we clear ourselves, it is
to be hoped, from the remotest suspicion of any sini-
ster design as to the views and principles we enter-
tain. Every man is best fitted to the situation or
office in which he excels; and, like translations in
the Church, removals in the Ministry, though they
may gratify individual cupidity and ambition, they
do not always add to the honour and fame of the in-
dividuals, or to the advantage of those over whom
the effects of the transfer reaches. If then the present
Ministry is to continue, we should hope that a head may
be found for it without in any way dismembering the pre-
sent body. Is the ancient aristocracy of the country really
so destitute of talent that no one can be found to take Lord
Liverpool's place? We trust it is not so ; though we do
not disguise the acknowledged doubt and difficulty which
besets the question. To say nothing of the obstacle which
the state of Mr. Canning's health presents to his taking a
more active part than his present situation requires from
him, we would warn him not to be led astray by the plau-
dits of his sew friends the Whigs, or to imagine that they
can support him effectually at the head of the Government.
In hie present office he is all powerful ; hut let him find
himself at the head of the Government, and the Catholic
question made, as it must then be, a Cabinet question, and
he will discover, if we mistake not, more thorns than roses,
in the bed which his mistaken ambition will have prepared
for him.—Morning Herold.

A paragraph is now going the round of the
newspapers, both in town and country (first put
forth probably as a feeler by some of the parties),
stating that Wakefield, who has, with his asso-
ciates, been recently convicted of the abduction
of Miss 'I urner, intends to apply, by means of a
Habeas Corpus; to have her delivered up to him
as his wife. One hardly knows in what state of
society we can be living wherein such a project
can be seriously stated, as that a person con-
victed of a foul and unheard-of outrage, claiming
the:fruits of his plunder—and actually attempting
to transform into a sacred religious engagement,
the result of a scheme concocted, carried on, and
perfected, by means of the most base and, bare-
faced fraud that has ever, we believe, stained the
annals of private life in this country. If there
really be any technical doubt upon the validity
of this supposed marriage—this fraudulent and
imvio • .
ceremonies and engagements, surely it is fit that
Parliament should be instantly resorted to to put an
end to any shadow of doubt upon the subject. That
the father of the victim of these people's vile
cupidity should have abstained from adopting such a
course while it was calculated to prejudice them on
their trials is highly to the credit of his humanity
and forbearance : but now that every shadow of
doubt upon that head is removed, we trust that this
course will be pursued, and that the forms of Parlia-
ment will allow of a short Act upon the subject
being passed during the present Session; and were
such a measure to extend to putting an end to
Gretna Green marriages altogether, all right-minded
persons would, we should imagine, rejoice in the
termination of a mockery which cannot be considered
otherwise than a national reproach and disgrace, and
one which, when resorted to, generally ends in the
ruin and misery of families.—lbid.

It was generally understood, last year, that
Mr. Peel had taken the important subject of the
Licencing system out of
.the hands of Mr. Est-
court ; and that the public would at length see
such a reform of that system as would be worthy
of the talents and official situation of the Home
Secretary. It now appears, however, that the
matter has again devolved into the hands of the
Gentleman who had, with equal readiness and
good taste, resigned it. It is with no feeling of
disrespect towards Mr. Peel's colleague in the
representation of the University of Oxford that
we express our regret at the circumstances. Mr.
Estcourt is probably quite as well qualified to
take up the subject as any country gentleman
can be ; but being one, in all respects, of the
greatest importance—especially as it regards the
morals of the people, the arbitrary disposal of
property, and the existence of a powerful and
mischievous monopoly—we feel convinced that
it requires the weight, the influence, the taL•;lts,
and the means of collecting information i:is-
sessed only by official persons, to see the
subject brought forward in a way at all likely
to be effectual, and beneficial to the public. We
are curious, however, to see what Mr. Estcourt's
proposed measure really is. There has been time
enough now, we should imagine, to digest a less
crude and impracticable one than that of which he
was last year the projector ; and we trust that this
Gentleman, who has acquired among some of his
constituents the appellation of the " Solon of Ale-
houses," will prove himself, like his Grecian proto-
type, a wise lawgiver upon this occasion. We
can tell him this, however, that unless he breaks
down both the brewers' monopoly, and the power
of that body—too many of whom have proved them-
selves the ready, if not corrupt tools of that mono-
poly, his measure will fall very short indeed of what
the country expects from Parliament upon the oc-
casion.—Thid.

Pending that official communication to Par-
liament, respecting the Ministerial arrangements,
which Mr. Canning is to make, whenever those
arrangements shall be completed, we may expect
that each day will produce some fresh specula-
tion on the subject. Every politician will have
his own list, prepared according to his own
views and wishes ' • and, although it is sufficiently
obvious that the name of Mr. Canning can-
not be excluded from any one of these lists, yet
the position assigned lo him may vary in nearly
all. It seems paradoxical, that where a Mini-
ster is so completely identified as Mr. Canning
is, with the general policy of this country, both
foreign and domestic, he should become an
object of controversy, when thequestion arises
:olis
.
as to who shall thenollnfintahlleyreexwerecriesetwo or three
ctmet
of the Premier.
Members of the Cabinet, or if there were two
Or three men on the iJ olitical stage, of equal,
or nearly equal pretensios, there might be.