The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.'

To those who would understand.the policy of
Portugal, with the state of parties there, we
would recommend the perusal of the article in
this day's journal from our Correspondent in
Lisbon. The affairs of that 'country are per-
plexing enough ; and what may he the event,
doubtful : but the elements of judging are now
before the country, and a rational mode proposed
of bringing matters to a proper termination.
Whether that may be adopted, we know not :
and even if adopted, how often in popular
turmoils, do the most rational plans fail of suc-
cess, from some sinister and unforeseen cause !
We observed, the other day, in the Quolidienne,
a positive assertion that the Marquis de Palmella
has refused the portfolio of Foreign Affairs.
What the fact may be, we of course cannot un-
dertake to say ; but we should apprehend that
his Excellency cannot be very eager to accept so
important and responsible an office, without re-
ceiving clear and explicit assurances of the system
which is to be adopted in the organization of the
new Cabinet. It appears to us, that in the pre-
sent critical state of affairs, the Marquis may
serve his distracted country with much more
effect in London than in Lisbon.:—Times.
The visit of the Duke of Clarence, the Lord
High Admiral of England, to Plymouth, occu-
pies all the public papers of the " West Colin-
tree." His Royal Highness appears to be
gaining the golden opinions of all men. We
are not much used to impart flatteries to Royal
ears,' and shall therefore add—what is the fact—
that a Lord High Admiral has many and power-
ful means of gaining " golden opinions" at a
vast -seaport. However, a man might have all
these, and yet throw them away, or misemploy
them. We are sure his Royal Highness has
powerful motives for employing them energeti-
cally and wisely ; for the independence of his
brother's throne is connected with the result.—
If a powerful cabal of Peers, discordant upon
every other question, shall be allowed to unite
upon one, and say to the Sovereign respecting
an untried Premier or Administration, " You
shall not admit this man or this body of men
into your service anti that of the country," the
principles of the British Constitution are altered,
and the Peers are no longer mediators between
the Crown and the people : on the contrary, the
King becomes the mediator between his people
and the Peers, and has to supplicate the latter to
grant to the former at least a trial of the Admi-
nistration which they would wish. It greatly be-
hoves those, therefore, who are connected
with the Sovereign by blood, so to strengthen
his interest and to diffuse affection for his pet son
throughout the country, as that his Majesty may
be able to uphold his rights against this rude
wressicm on them ; and may success attend the
Duke of Clarence in these his loyal endeavours!

A new number of the Edinburgh Review
has just appeared : we have not had time to read
it, but we have thrown a cursory glance over the
last article, entitled " The Present Administra-
tion.- It is evidently the composition of a very
young man, whose vehemence of tone and pe-
remptoriness of judgment are in immense dis-
proportion to his powers of reasoning, and to
his knowledge : still he is not without talent ;
and the two following passages are happily con-
ceived and expressed with sufficient point and

energy :
Bait were we to admit the truth of every charge which
personal enemies or professional slanderers have brought
against the present Ministers of the Crown—were we to
admit that they had abandoned their principles, that they
had betrayed the Catholics and the Reformers, it would
still remain to considered whether we might not change
for the worse. We trust in God that there is no danger.
We think that this country never will, never can be sub-
jected to the rule of a party so weak, so violent, so osten-
tatiously selfish, as that which is now in opposition. Has
the Cabinet been formed by a coalition? How, let us ask,
has the Opposition been folioed? Is it not composed of
men who have, all their lives, been thwarting and abusing
each other—Jacobins, Whigs, Tories, friends of Catholic
Emancipation, enemies of Catholic Emancipation—men
funited only by the common love of high rents, by their
common envy of superior abilities, by their common wish.
to depress the people and to dictate to the Throne ? Did
Lord Lansdown at any time differ so widely from Mr.
Calming as Lord Redesdale from Lord Lauderdale—sonie-
time needle-maker, avid candidate for the shrievalty of Lon-
don ? Are the Ministers charged with deserting their opi-
nions? And can we find no instances of miraculous conver-
sion on the left of the woolsack? What was the influence
which transformed the Friend of the People into an aris-
tocrat, resolved to stand or fall with his order?'"
To do justice to the second passage, we should
remise that the writer has been discussing,
though on a limited plan, the causes and effects
of the French revolution
Has the warning beep given in vain ? Have our Man-
nerve and Clintons so soon forgotten the fate of houses as
. wealthy rind as noble as their own ? Have they forgotten
how the tender and delicate .woman—the woman who
would not set her foot on the earth for tenderness and deli-
cate„,,,, the 44 of gilded drawing-rooms, the pole-star of
crowded theatres, the standard of beauty, the arhitress of
fashion, the patroness of genius—was compelled to exchange
her luxurious and dignified esAe for labour and dependence,
the sighs of Dukes and the flattery of bowing Abbes for the
insults of rude pupils and exacting mothers ;—perhaps,
even to draw an infamous and miserable subsistence from
those charms which had been the glory of royal circles—
to sell for a morsel of bread her reluctant caresses and her
haggard smiles—to be turned over from a garret to a hos-
pital, and from a hospital to a parish vault? Have they
forgotten how the gallant and luxurious nobleman, sprung
from illustrious ancestors, marked out, from his cradle for
the highest honours of the State and of the army, impa-
tient .of control, exquisitely sensible of the slightest affront,
with all hit high spirit, his polished manners, his volup -
coons habits, was reduced to request, with tears in his eyes,
credit for half-a-crown—to pass day after day in hearing
the auxiliary verbs ink-recited, or the first page of Tele-
',Lague miaconstrued, by pe4.olant boys, who infested him
with nicknames and caricatures, who mimicked his foreign
accent, and laughed at his thread-bare pat? Have they
forgotten all this ? God grizot that they may never rernem-
un it with anavailing self-accusaiion, when desolation shall
have visited wealthier cities and fairer gardens ;—when
ITanchester shall be as Lyons, and Stows as Chantilly ;
when he who now, in the pride of rank and opulence,
sneers at what we have written in the bitter sincerity of
our hearts, shall be thankful for a porringer of broth at the
door of some Spanish convent, or shall implore some Italian
money-lender to advance another pistole on his George ri
We think the author is somewhat hard on the
representatives of our great and ancient families.
They would scarcely, even under the worst of
circumstances, be so completely destitute as he
supposes. Those who have learned to write,
might earn a guinea a week as Court newsmen,
and the unlettered grandees might make stable-
boys or grooms ; while here and there one of a
hither genius might aspire to the rank and for-
tune i:rf bead-gamekeeper or principal huntsman.
—lbid.
We alluded yesterday to the labours of the
Society for the Diffusion of. Useful Knowledge.
If we may venture to form a judgment with re-
spect to our dear countrymen, we should say,
that the Society could not be more usefully em-
ployed than in giving them an idea of one branch
of very useful knowledge—the knowledge of
logic, in which they are generally extremely de-
ficient. John Bull has so often been told that
• he is a fellow of excellent feelings, that nothing
will serve him now but indulging his feelings
coute qui coute. He used at one time to be
proud of the solidity of his understanding ; but