The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-23 00:00:00

powers and emoluments of office, and preserved to
the last moment the merit of being faithful to that
course of policy, which—whether it was good or
bad—they had originally espoused. Onrthe other
hand, if the sacrifice of principle should be on the
part of the .Whigs, of what service can they be. to
him, when they shall have lost the support of what-
ever portion of public opinion they may have hitherto
enjoyed ? But the fact is, if no reconciliation can
be obtained between Mr. Canning and his • late co-
adjutors in the Government, he will not endeavour
to supply their loss by a coalition with the Whigs.
Why do the papers in his interest tell us that the
Marquis of Conyngham and the Marquis of Hert-
ford are to receive Dukedoms ? and why does the
name of Lord Mountcharles appear in the list of
" select statesmen" at his political dinners ? We
can remember when Mr. Canning endeavoured to
excite a laugh in the House of Commons by a jocu-
lar allusion to the most celebrated instance of female
government in our history, and sneeringly spoke of
" that gallant virgin Elizabeth."—Morning Herald.
It is now quite clear that if the affairs of
parishes are to be conducted on any, other prin-
ciple than that of the foulest jobbing and pecu-
lation, the Select Vestry system must be abolished.
The opportunity which this• system affords to
!busy and dishonest individuals to combine toge-
ther, and to dictate the resolutions of the Vestry
so as to promote their own ends, and defraud
the public, makes it a grievance which the Le-
gislature ought no longer to tolerate. The taxa-
tion of the Country—that which may be called
its necessary taxation to pay the interest of the
Debt, and to defray the expellees of Govern-
Iment—is already large enough, without the ad-
ditional burdens upon the people which arise
out of parish jobs that are contrived by the
despotic cabals of " Select Vestries" for their
own benefit. We understand it is now become
quite a favourite speculation with dishonest
tradesmen, and others,who have tried their hand,
and purged themselves of the sense of shame, if
,they ever had any, in joint-stock swindling con-
cerns, to get themselves appointed on Select
Vestries, and obtain a share of the profits result-
ing from the jobs which they promote for their
'trouble in doing the. dirty work of their
icrafty and consequential employers. Alter-
ing one word of the inscription on the tomb
of Sir Christopher Wren, we may say, " si exem-
plum paeris, circumTice." The reports of
the meetings of these Vestries, which we have
lately published, show that instances in support of
what we have alleged are to be found on every aide.
Now, it is a well-known fact that John Bull grudges
very much the taxes which he pays to Government,
although those taxes go to discharge the interest of
the debt, which grew out of wars that John took
great delight in while he was intoxicated by their
glory, and was not yet sobered down by the bill of
expences; and it is therefore very strange that John
should allow a set of schemers, in various places,
under the name of a Select Vestry, to tax him for
their own advantage, until he is in danger of losing
all that the debt leaves in his pockets--it is strange,
we say, that John should allow this to go on with-
out taking effective steps to relieve himself from so
galling and expensive an oppression. When acts of
corruption are proved against boroughs that return
Members to Parliament, the usual corrective is to
throw the franchise open to the adjoining hundreds,
on this principle, that the more numerous the elec-
tors are, the less chance is there of an election
being corruptly,carried. So in parishes, where all
the solvent inhabitants constitute the Vestry, there
is much less facility of jobbing, and much better
means of redress, than where the number of the
Vestry is limited to a particular set of men, who
.can be more easily governed by a cabal. We hope
this subject will be taken tip as soon as possible
After the, recess in Parliament._ and_these • • s
parochial manufactories of jobs and local imposts e
put down as the greatest nuisances that afflict the
community.—lbid.

Since the following article was written, we
earn that the negociation, the breaking off of
ftwhich we so. much regretted, was renewed on
!Saturday with the Marquis of Lansdown and
the Whigs. The Duke of Devonshire set off
for Bow-wood on Saturday evening, Lord Lans-
down having taken his departure for that seat on
'Saturday morning. His Grace was the bearer
jof the propositions to the Noble Marquis. His
!Grace had not returned at twelve o'clock last
!night ; but we rejoice to have it to state, ,that
,an arrangement was looked on as most probable.
—We are sure that no intelligence can be more
gratifying to the nation than such an arrange-
ment, which will annihilate the hopes of those
Iwho wish to govern in spite of the inclinations
of the Sovereign, and the consent of the people.
—Morning Chronicle.
The negociation between Mr. Canning and
the Marquis of Lansdown and friends, is, we
are sorry to say, broken off. It is to be hoped,
however, that it will again be renewed. At
present, however, the prospect of an arrange-
ment is much less favourable than it was. on
Friday. Very few of the reports in circulation
with respect to the negociations are entitled to
,any consideration. The truth is, that the only
authority for nearly all that has been stated is
'mere conjecture. The only difference between
Ithe parties is with respect to a point of principle.
iAs to arrangements of office, there is not, and
:never was, the slightest difference ; the greatest
liberality on the one side having been met by
Ithe utmost disinterestedness on the other. When
iwe say point of principle, our readers will na-
urally infer that. the Catholic Question forms
!the principle difficulty. We trust that the parties
Inlay yet come to an understanding on what we
!willingly allow is a vital question. We are far from
!thinking that principles ought to be trifled with ;
.and we admit that public men ought, above all
things, to be careful of theirreputation for honour
and consistency, and to beware of affording to the
people any grounds for , questioning the purity of
their motives. We admit also, that the diffi-
culty in this case is greatly increased by the
dreadful state in which' Ireland now is. It must
i‘ever be forgotten that there is another party
resides the negociators in London, namely—
the Irish people ; and it may so happen (which
God prevent), as nations are governed in their
,conduct more by the pressure of circumstances
than by speculative views, that the Irish may not
understand the policy by which their liberation
s to be effected indirectly, and allow themselves
to yield to rash counsels. Now, we can easily
conceive why a Statesman should dread to hazard
tne responsibility of such a contingency.
,But
'while we state this as a difficulty, which is not
without its weight, we confess we think, that if
an arrangement is impossible on other terms, the
responsibility ought to be incurred. It is as
,'dangerous to prescribe to ourselves immutable
.rules in general politics as it is dangerous in
.mcnals to be guided by any other than fixed rules.
The end we have in view, in the former case, is
the good of the people ; and we cannot leave out
of consideration the circumstances by which our
agency must be affected. Thus, fox, instance,
allowing that the Catholic Question must be
settled before we can hope to regenerate Ireland,
if circumstances do not allow us to effect that
object directly, and immediately, we ought to
embrace a course which will effect it ultimately,
though indirectly, in preference.to a course which
will not forward the object at all. Now if the