The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-17 00:00:00

be mainly, if not wholly, opposed. On these,
among other grounds, we are inclined to diSbe-
lieve the rumoured changes in Administra-
tion, as given in Saturday's paper. We can
readily imagine) however, that more than one of
the pres'Ont Ministers wish themselves any where but
Where they are, and that, following the fortunes of
Mr. Canning, they find themselves involved in a
labyrinth of difficulties, and what may he called a
mob of principles, which the wisest of them had not
roreseen. Their situation, too, Mast be doubly mor-
tifying, from finding themselves wielding, as it were,
a barren sceptre; responsible for all the measures of
Government, but without its usual concomitants of
influence and patronage. This, we arc aware, is a
delicate point to feud' upon; but one founded in
obvious truth; and we have little doubt that ,it is a
situation to which no Ministry would submit but
one discordant among themselves, and one, in part
at least, composed of members of a party willing to
take or retain office upon any terms. Persons called
upon to extricate the country from the difficulties in
which Mr. Canning's foreign policy has involved it
may be compared to those who are sometimes called
upon to get a coach and horses out of a slough or a
ditch, into which the intoxication or unskilfulness of
the driver had placed them. Were we so situated,
we should be apt to say to the driver, " back the
carriage, or get it out of the slough or ditch yourself,
as well and as speedily as you can ; and, to prevent
similar accidents on the remainder of the journey, as
soon as you have got the vehicle into the road again,
get down from the box, and give us the reins."
Ministers, we think, are bound to do the best they
can to get the country out of the scrape in which
they have involved it; and the more so, as they have
so obstinately persisted in refusing to call to their aid
the judgment of that tribunal which the Constitu-
tion looks to as our safeguard under all errors, and in
all difficulties and emergencies.—Morning Herald.
There can be but little doubt that the Ministers
will feel no inconsiderable degree of embarrassment
at the approaching Meeting of Parliament. Their
internal weakness is no longer a matter of specula-
tion; and the state of the country, both in its do-
mestic and foreign relations, is perplexed beyond all
recent example. There are, however, three leading,
questions to be discussed as preliminary to the gene-
ral business of the Session, each of which is difficult
in the extreme. We need hardly say we allude to
the promised Finance Committee—the State of the
Revenue—and though last not least, the intermi-.
nable Corn Question. But beside all this, the Mi-
nisters will have to encounter a formidable opposition
from another quarter. The agricultural interest has
been rapidly augmenting in strength and numbers,
and they are likely to find a powerful auxiliary in
that strongly compacted mercantile body, which
seldom fails to make itself heard, whenever it is
touched in any of its tender points. Those two
interests, though opposed on many topics, will most
probably unite in opposing the conduct pursued by
the Government with respect to the affairs
of Turkey, as involving us In a shameful and un-
necessary war, for so remote an object as Greece
arid Piracy in the Levant and Archipelago. In ad-
dition to thee two powerful bodies, a third is likely
to take the field—the more respectable portion of
the Whigs, under the leadership of Lord Grey.
For the sake of the country's peace and honour, and
the general repose of Europe, it is to be regretted

that such men should now be at the helm of Govern-
ment; and only one consolation is left to us—that
their dismemberment and overthrow are near at
hand, when we trust the old and faithful Councillors
of his Majesty may resume the stations for which
they have proved themselves so eminently qualified.
With respect to the Finance Committee, it cannot
but have the approbation of every honest man in the
country; and if not intended to delude and deceive,
under the colour of inquiry—if not intended as a
screen for parrying the general cry for a repeal of
taxes—if not meant as a fence and pretext for the
profligate expendit ureand unnecessary es talilishm en ts
of the country—if, we say, it be not intended for any
of these fraudulent and wicked purposes, then we
should hail the appointment of a Finance Committee
with the highest satisfaction. With respect to the
state of the iteuenue, this must occasion very s'ious
embarrassment. It is said that the Assessed Taxes
and the Stamp Duty are on the enerease, but that

the Customs and Excise are failing in a very great
degree. Now if this be so, it must be a very un-
favourable circumstance for the commencement of a
new year and the career of a pie-bald Ministry—the
Customs being the channel through which our fo-
reign trade flows, arc a sure and indisputable mea-
sure of our exports and imports, and consequently
of the successful enterprize of our merchants in the
sale of our manufactures abroad, and the correspond-
ing demand of foreign fabrics and commodities at
home. The Excise also affords a gloomy prospect;
—this forms the great test of national consumption,
and is an almost unerring index of the state of com-
fort, the sufficiency of wages, and the ebb and flow
of employment amongst the industrious classes of
society. To what precise causes this decline may
be attributed we cannot pretend to say ; but there
are not a few who trace it to the hasty and ill-di-
gested system of Free Trade which has been lately
so much in fashion with Mr. Huskisson and others
of the same school. With respect to the third ques-
tion, that of the Corn Laws, the Ministers must be
prepared to meet it, in whatever shape it may
assume. The failure of this measure during the
last Parlinment formed the supreme mortification of
Mr. Canning and his colleagues, and gave consider-
able cause of alarm to the country, inasmuch as it
clearly exhibited the unfitness of the Cabinet for
their new situations. The effect of bringing the
warehoused corn into the market has been the cause
of very considerably reducing the prices of the home
grower, and what we gained in duty by our Cus-
toms we lost in our Excise—or, in other words, the
national consumption was so affected in its main
branches, as to give a bonus to the foreign cultivator.
Since the month of May last, Oats have fallen nearly
a third; Barley more than a fourth; and Wheat
has declined from 58s. to 60s. the Winchester mea-
sure. In the mean time poor rates have advanced,
and crime, the never-failing fruit of poverty and
idleness, has thrown new and excessive charges on
the county rates. The landlords, in many instances,
have made abatements in their rents ; but the far-
mer is still embarrassed, and the wages of agricul-
tural interest are so low, as but to bring within the
reach of the labourer the coarsest necessaries of life.
Such is our domestic condition; and it is one out of
which we fear the present Ministry have neither the
wisdom nor the ingenuity to extricate, or even to
relieve us.—Morning Post.
Since writing the above, we have been informed
that the reports alluded to by our City Correspon-
dent of an approaching change in the Administration,
are considered in well-informed circles to be entitled
to credit. Lord Goderich, than whom there cannot
be a more amiable private character or honourable
man, is understood to be desirous of retiring as well
from the fatigue as the responsibility of office, his
Lordship's state of health, as well as that of his
amiable Lady, rendering retirement, for the present
at least, absolutely necessary and indispensable.—
Lord Dudley too is also anxious to be relieved from
the cares of office. The rumours with respect tithe
new formation of the Cabinet are on the whole of

too vague a nature to be relied upon. It is however
considered certain that Sir Charles Stuart is des-

tined to fill the Foreign Department, in the room of
Lord Dudley. In the event of the retirement of the
Whigs (at which the nation will have just cause to
rejoice), the Marquis Wellesley will probably suc-
ceed the Marquis of Lansdowne as Home Secretary;
and hopes are entertained that Mr. Peel will hold a
high and distinguished Office in the State. Such
are the statements and rumours which have reached
us upon this important subject, and which for the
present we submit to our readers without a corn-

Among the rumours which may be ranked, to
use the language of the Gazette de France, among
the Mensongee du Jour, is one which was floating
in the region of the Stock Exchange on Saturday—
cd the Premiership.
that Lord Cioderieh had resign