The Sun.
London, England, 1827-08-27 00:00:00

"as a Member of the Cabinet be would be
bound by his oath, as well as by his honour, not
to reveal its secrets, while in a subordinate situa-
tion he would be under no such obligations."
Before the appearance of the first of these pa-
ragraphs, the report of the objection to Mr.
Herries, founded on his particular intimacy,
with a well-known Capitalist, was in gene-
ral circulation, both in the City and the Clubs
in the West end of the town. We,,however,
carefully avoided all allusion to the subject.
After, however, the report so generally preva-
lent, had been taken up, and openly discussed
two days in succession, we ventured at last, on
Friday, to allude to it. "We should not our-
selves (we observed) have alluded to the report,
or to the inferences which were drawn feom the
intimacy in the City, had not our contemporary
of the Herald called attention to it ; but with-
out wishing to injure the good name of Mr.
Herries, we have no hesitation in saying, that the
high reputation which the Cabinet of this coun-
try (the only Cabinet in Europe that has never
been even touched by rumour) has alweys
maintained for the inviolable fidelity of the mem-
bers towards each other, in all matters requiring
strict secresy, ought not to be exposed to ha-
zard by a questionable nomination," and we of-
fered, as an argument for this opinion, that were
" Mr. Herries to be Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, though the secrets of the Cabinet might
be as secure with him as with the most upright
Statesman in the kingdom, the public would not
believe that the former friend of the Minister did
not still enjoy his unreserved confidence." In
the New Times of Saturday appeared the fol-
lowing copy of a letter from Lord Goderich to
Mr. Herries

Downing-street, Aug. 24, 1827.

My DEAR HEaarEs—ln consequence of what appears
in the Morning Chronicle of this day, I owe it to you to
state, explicitly, that the grounds assumed in that para-
graph for the delay in, the appointment of Chancellor of
the Exchequer, are totally destitute of foundation, and that
they involve an imputation upon you which I shall be pre-
pared at all times to deny in the most peremptory manner,
be they asserted by whom they may.—Ever, my dear
Herries, most sincerely yours,

GODERICIL

The vocabulary of abuse has been ransacked
for offensive epithets to characterize the offence
of alluding to the report respecting Mr. Herries.

" There are some subjects, says, the New Times, which
we approach reluctantly, even for the purposes of refuta-
tion. Such was our feeling when we recently repelled the
scandalous insinuation of an infamous Evening Paper,'
for that seems to be its name, with respect to Mr, Canning's
religious sentiments ; and such is now our feeling when
we are called upon to refute another calumny, hardly less
odious, though levelled at the living, not the dead."

The Courier, for two successive days, was
loud against the malignant attack. Other Papers
held the same language. If we had invented the
report, or had even been the first to give currency
to it in print, instead of having merely alluded
to it, after it had obtained such notoriety, as even
to have given rise to a controversy between the
Herald and the Globe, as to the extent of the
relative obligations to secrecy of a Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and a Secretary of the TreasUry,
harsher language could not have been applied to
us. The letter of Lord Goderich, though
very short, is not altogether free from am-
biguity. We are not exactly sure whether
he , means that the grounds assumed in the
paragraph in the Chronicle for the delay in the ap-
pointment of Chancellor of the Exchequer, con-
stitute what he shall be prepared at all times to
deny ; or, whether his denial extends to the cir-
cumstances stated in the reports, as the cause of
the delay. Our contemporary (The Globe) as-
sumes that Lord Goderich must have meant to
affirm, that there was no foundation for the in-
ferences drawn from the intimacy or connection
of Mr. Herries'with Mr. Rothschild, and, in this
view of the case, very fairly contends, that both
The Morning Herald and ourselves, instead of
injuring, have materially benefitted the former,
by calling forth Lord Goderich's guarantee, and
enabling Mr. Herries to grapple fairly with what,
while circulating merely in the shape of rumour,
he might have had no opportunity of meeting,
however injurious to him. Nothing so easy,
says our contemporary, as for a public. man to
disprove the inferences drawn from an alleged
in 'racy with the Capitalist, by accounting for
the prop rty of which he is in possession. A
public man may be rich, and fairly rich ; but
when he dies in debt like Mr. Pitt, or with a
pittance like Mr. Canning, suspicion even is
disarmed.
" We think (says- bur contemporary), both these papers
have done a real service to Mr. Tr,T.erries and the Govern-
ment in plainly noticing these reports, which did not, cer-
tainly, originate with either of them.
" A Paper of this morning puts the mention of a report
of this kind on a level with the insinuation aimed against
the memory of Mr. Canning, of a want of religion. It
is easily shewn that there is a very great difference between
the two cases. There is no human power which can search
the heat t of man ; the accusation of irreligion, therefore,
is incapable of refutation, and should never be made except
against a man who professes irreligion. It is much more
easy to search the pockets. Nothing is more easy than for
a public man to prove to hie colleagues the falsehood of any
imputation of corrupt gains. He cap say, ' When I en-
tered office Iliad- such and such property—my income has
been, as you know, so much--I have spent so much yearly,
I have gained so much by such and such bequests, and I
have now a fortune which will be accounted fvr by the pre-
vious items. This is a kind of statement which no honest
man can be afraid of making when lie is called upon to do
so; and it must be conclusive.
" On the other hand, rumours of the kind whispered in
private against a public man, may influence to his disad-
vantage those of his colleagues whO have not the courage to
investigate them, and, at any rate,, discredit the administra-
tion of public affairs, while the man accused is the only
person ignorant of them.
" Mr. Herries would have been more exposed to the in-

jury of secret insinuations, because be is hide known as a
public man. But Lord Goderich is known, and it is quite
sufficient guarantee to the public, that Lord Goderich as-
serts that the insinuations are unfounded. There is no-
thing, of course, at all extraordinary in the fact that an
official intercourse should take place between a Secretary of
the Treasury and a Loan Contractor, who is necessarily
consulted as well as einpked by the Government.
" The freedom with which report 3 pf this kind (which
do not affect a Minister's private life, but whinh are closely
connected with the public administration) are mentioned
by the public journals, is an important preservation of the
purity of the Government, as well as of its reputation tbr
purity. If the same freedom prevailed in France, it could
hardly happen that Atiuisters would be accused, as they are
there, in private conversation,. With Fpntidence (perhaps
with truth, perhaps with falsehood,
for it is of the nature of
such rumours so circulated, to gather strength, from the
impossibility of contradicting them) of having accumulated
vast fortunes by jobbing in the public funds. If no Eng-
lish Minister has ban accused in the same way, lt is be-
cause the press has been more free. • The freedom of the
press not only preserves the purity of Statesmen, but pre-
serves then, when pure, from unjust accusations."
We 'have only ,to add, that it will hardly, we
think, be denied that it is of the utmost conse-
quence that the men who fill our high places
should be above suspicion. From the immense
importance attached to wealth in England, the
desire to obtain it has acquired such force as to
create an almost universal disposition to gamble
and speculate, and to consider all means of gain-
ing money equally allowable. • If this general
disposition were not to be counteracted in some
degree by the example of men in conspicuous
situations remaining uninfected by avarice, and
even living and dying poor, the idea of honour
and honesty might come at last to be considered