The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The battle of Navarin took place on the 20th.
of last month, and the news, or, which is more
agreeable, the no-news from Constantinople,
which reached us by the way of Vienna, and'of
which we gave an account yesterday, was dated
on the sth of the present month. In the fifteen
or sixteen days, therefore, which intervened be-
tween the battle and the departure of the messen-
ger from Constantinople, there wP.:s more than
ample time for the Turks to have received the
account of their disester,:and tr..) have vented their
rage upon the Funks--that is, upon the British
and French residents within their reach—if such

an act of barbarian violence had been contem-

plated. But, as we before stated, our Euro-
pean friends were secure against a sudden attack
by their situation ; and we apprehend further, that
since the dissolution of thebody of Janissaries, the
Sultan is too much master of the proceedings in
his capital to suffer any sudden ebullition of fury,
and not, to feel himself responsible, by his
nisters, if any outrage on the rights of accredited
persons should take place. It is also a singular
proof of the greater activity of Christian agency,
that the account'of the battle reached the Envoys
of the Allied Powers at the Sublime Porte two
days .earlier than it reached the Ottoman Govern-

mcnt. We sincerely hope that what has taken
place may accelerate an amicable arrangement be-
tween the Turks and Greeks, in conformity to
the treaty of July. last.— Times.
The election for a President of the Royal
Society takes place on Friday-.--that is, the day
after to-Morrow : there is, therefore, no long
time to intervene. 'With respect to the candi-
dates also,—if we may , apply that term to men
who decline, or affect to decline, . the honour of
the station,—no one. thinks but of two, Mr.
Davies Gilbert. and Mr. Peel. According to
the song which was sung about the streets sorne
time ago, one has got learning, and the other
has got leather." Mr. Peel possesses no great
learning, but cP.'n feed the philosopherscan give
theni good, dinners. Mr. Gilbert is a man of
science, •but will not diverge from his usual
ha6ts, which are retired and unostentatious.
"Vet, if what we have heard of Mr. Gilbert be

true, he will do much more than feed and flitter
praters and dabblers : he will support and pro-
mote scientific knowledge and useful discoveries.
He is willing to • expend money to almost any
amount in the pursuit of knowledge, the aecon;-
plishrneut of experiments, or the investi&ation of
truth. What would the real friends of stienee
desire more ?---/bid.
,

It was not to be expected that a peat and en-
lightened people like, the French, who, whatever
may have. been its errors and excesses, cleared
themselves by their revolution from a load of po-
litical shackles, would quietly return to the
adoption of similar restraints, or, having once
adopted free institutions, would be so enamoured
of past recollections, as to bid adieu to rights
so dearly bought, and so recently • established.
An evident irrelinetion, however, to abridge pri-
pular rights, and to repress,'public, opinion, has
more or less marked the conduct of 01e Mini -
ters of the old dynasty wince its restoration ; an id
few things, we Wieve, have astonished t
people of this country more than the strikin
contrast whin has been exhibited between the

unnecessp:fy warmth and fervour of the Revo-
lution, and the apathy with which, one after
ariP:t,her, many of its advantages hate been
tiuietly surrendered. In France, as in Spain,
this has been more or less the work Of
the Catholic. Priesthood i SO true is it that
civil libcity, and a degraded and corrupt su-
perstition, can never exist- together. The
people of France, however, seem no longer in-
clined to succumb to the too successful efforts
of this influence ; and the period of the flee-
tious, when itwas expected by its advocates that
tine old regime would have acquired new strength,
has turned out. to be one in which public opi-
nion has evinced itself in a way that cannot be
misunderstood, and which, we trust, will not. be
Yost upon the rulers. We are far from looking
to the events which are now passing in France
as likely to lead to any serious consequences in
that country; and still less are we inclined to
attach to the blind fury of a mob either merit or
discrimination.. We know too well what mobs
and riots are among ourselves to wish to see
them respected or otherwise treated than by the
prompt and strong aria of the law. But, how-
ever one may despise the materials of which even
mobs are composed, they seldom act from im-
pulges,altogether wrong ; and, though it is the
duty of every Government to put down such
• headlong proceedings without parley or com-,
promise, they must be unwise indeed if they do
not adopt the maxim of our great Lord Bacon,
who says, " The surest way to prevent seditions
is to take away' the matter of them." As far as
we can judge at this distance, from the accounts
which we receive, we should say that the violence
of the Paris mob has been met by too much
violence on the part of the Government, which,
or rather its agents, seem to have mistaken the
vigour of the 'carbine and the sabre for that of
the law. But lesson which the Government
has to learn is not so much to be derived from
the.riotous excesses of a mob, as from the violent
tokens of public opinion which have produced'
this ebullition of popular feeling—the result of
the pending election's. This result has told the
Government everywhere, in a language which
Cannot be misunderstood, that the people of
France expect to.see that Government advance
with the spirit of the age, not recede under the
• shadow of past darkness. We cannot persuade
' ourselves that a warning so intelligible and so
reasonable can be lost upon any Government ;
and, while we deplore any excesses to which its
demonstration may.have led, such events are not
to be put in the scale for a moment with the
benefits which will be derived. to the whole na-,
tion, and to the cause of civil liberty throughout
Europe, should the French. rulers take, and
promptly act upon, the- seasonable warnings
which they haVe thus received.--MerniizL
Herald. , ,

We have already clearly shown that the un-
fortunate and lamentable affair at Navarin
(arising out of their own imbecility and mis-
conduct) has thrown our precious Ministry into
the most embarrassing situation. We were at
the same time enabled confidently to state, that:
the honours conferred upon Admiral Sir Edw.
Codrington immediately upon the receipt of the
intelligence of the battle, were not bestowed with
.the general concurrence of his' Majesty sCon-
stitutional advisers. 'We can now go further,
and say, that owing to erroneous conduct in cer-
tain subordinate dep
axtments of the Government,
the principal Ministers were not aware of what
had taken place until they
had seen the official
communications in the Gazelle. The circum-
stances were briefly. as follow
Lord High 1---The Illustrious
Admiral, animated by that ardent
ich so honourably distinguishes him,
zeal tvh for
hich he is so
.the glory of the profession of