The Sun.
London, England, 1820-12-01 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

• (From the Hutt Packet.)
• No man capable of reading a Newspapet can be ignorant
that the Queen has.heen declared, judicially declared, by the
highest Tribunal' of the. Country, Guilty of Adultery; and
that a very large niajorityof those who have been the-Means;
of arresting the jnchcial process of punishment, have, never-
theless unequivocally expressed ,their conviction • of her
guilt. When Government, therefore, proceeded against
her Majesty, there was ' no detraction from virtue, no
persecution of innocence, for it is: now upon record that
there was no virtue to he detracted
,from ; too innocence to be "
pet seouted. We re eat, that it is most desirable that 'all
ranks should lie
.fainiliar with this the true statement of the
case, iu other to. allay that triumphant and ,indiguant excite-
ment:of tumultagainst the Government of the: country, which
now prevails throughout the 'lower orders in all parts of the
kiogdom on het Majesty's'account,..and which holds their pas-
sions like greyhounds in the slip, ready to start. for the sub-
version of the 'Constitution, whenever a demagogue, bold
and wicked enough to lead theta to the atterript, may present
In direct opposition to this • desirable object has been the
conduct wall those who have sntftred their public demeanour
in the lA° transactions to be influenced by a fear of the po-
pular feeling. Instead of manfully avowing their abhorrence
of vier, and upholding the necessity of its punishment, they
have virtually assisted the misleaders of the mob; some (and
those among- our Nobles) by endeavouring to separate vice
from degradation, archmany :others by a pusillanimous parti-
.et patitm in outward indications of joy at an event, the nature
'of which (however' misrepresented to the lower orders) they
knew to be siMply • this—that guilt has been established only
'to deride justice. How can the populace believe that a con-
'victiott
of her Majesty's-guilt dwells in the ntiodsof men who
have rescued her front degradation, nod who unite syith them
in their rejoicings at her .escape, illuinitiate,their houses, pay
respect.to lies colours, and Wie off their and hurrah
when called upon to no-so in the name the 'Queen.—
The populace cannot know that such. men are deserters
from the .standards of religion altd morality to those of
triumphant guilt and popular clamour, front fear of irri-
tating the prejudices of the ignorant, and of 'eneountering
the of the disaffected. . These persons do not need
to he reminded that the'voice of the people of England never
calls ineffectually, that our glorious Constitution sprung from
it, and has been supported by it, not need they be reminded Of.
the wide difference between it and the. clamour of the po-
pulace; but they do need to be. reminded. that when the
respectable part of society, from fear,ofthe mob, or any other
motive,:aink their voices in this senselesi clamobr, and thus
virtually assent to it, then the moustrr.ininieduiteiy assumes.
Ithao!,and that shape is that of the voice of the people.
4 It is indeed that. that the attention of the higher orders

should be provoked to this, consideration, and their latent
courage elicited to need this danger, when, owing to popular
clamour, we find the first Tribunal of the couptry not bold
enongli to visit convicted guilt with its punishment, and the
first Nobles of the land submitting to the triumph of immo-
rality and popular prejudice on the score, forsooth, of -ex-
pediency ; heedless of the good old
,maxim " Quicquid ho-
nestuta est, idinn utile, nec utile quidquam, quod non ho-
ttest-um." ,
It may be said that the riotous proceedings of the popu-
lace in London, and in other places, are merely the ebullition
of momentary feeling which will last.no longer than the illu•
minations which it produced. But let us not hastily adopt
so flattering an opinion. That ebullition let loose the turbu-
lent and disaffected ; it took the seal of mystery from their
lips ; and while it left them. for a moment to the ourestrain-
ed influence of '-he passions which had been working within.
them, plainly proved what were the objects of their fierce ha-
tred, and against whoni their violence and vengeance would be
directed was their power ever equal to their Will-
Will it be believed that. Ihe populace of Aylesbury 'world_
bare met the Marquess of Buckingham with insults and indig--1
nities, upon his return from his parliamentary duties, had
they not been taught to ,regard the whore Aristocracy of the
nation with stispicionsand resentment? Will it be conceived.
that the unprovoked and base attack made by the retired
villagers at Ewelme upon the pious and benevolent Bishop
of Lapdog would have taken place. hail it not been for her
Majesty's insinuated repfoaches against the hierarchy; nd the
unceasing slanders pouted forth by the seditious and infidel
publications of the day against the whole body of the Clergy,
and the Bishops in particular ? No rational or reflecting per-
SOU can for a moment attribute such things as these to mere
temporary excitement. The interests of Radicalism, not of
the Queen, have been at stake from the first; her Majesty has
been made the unconscious instrument of the agents of Re-
volut ion ; the Royal standard has been unfurled, as the ensign
tinder which the enemies of the Throne were to march against
its illustrioui possessor ; and the abandonment of the Bill
of ,Pains of Penalties is celebrated by the literopints-of
anarchy and their deluded disciples, not because the Queen
is resettedirom degradation, but because they conceive their
cause to be strengthetted;anti the tide of public opinion to
be setting in their favour.
That such is the real cause of that exulting tone of dtfidnee
which is now openly assumed—such the true source of all
those disgraceftil outrages which have been directed against
the higher orders both in Church and State, we are justified
in asseining from the language of those who, weary, per-
haps, of liringing no the rear of *Opposition in Pat liament,
are nosy endeavouring to takrthreommand of the Radica
armies. - •