The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THA PUBLIC JOURNALS.

it will be seen from the Court Circular, that
lord Goderich, together with Mr. Huskisson,
Mr. Sturges Bourne, and Mr. "terries, attended
his Majesty yesterday at Windsor. We do not
hear that any nomination to the office 'of Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer was the itsult, though
it was generally expected that one or other of
the two former Right Honourable Gentlemen
would have been appoi►►ted. his ccnjtctured,
therefore, that both Mr. Huskisson and Mr.
Sturges Bourne are unwilling to leave their pre-
sent departments for the Exchequer. This, if
true, from the Harrowed circle to which the
choice of candidates must now be reduce ,will be
apt to occasion a further embarrassment to the
Administration. Mr. Tierney is, perhaps, the
only individual unquestionably 'competent to
supply the place left vacant still by the reported
refusal of Messrs. Huskisson and Bourne ; but,
however eminent the abilities of Mr. Tierney,
the advanced period of his public life has ren-
ifered him, it is well known, wholly averse to
undertake so laborious an office. There are
strong hopes that some effectual progress hitty
be made towards a settlement in the Course of
the next forty-eight hours, it being rumoured at
the west end of the toisti last night, that the
Marquis of Lansdownt has been specially sent for
by the King to uttend his Majesty. This we
sincerely trust may prove true, as a more tempe-
rate, enit.tened, constitutional, and upright
councillor the King could not resort to, on any
emergency, than the Noble Marquis. One fact
appears abundantly certain—viz. that the last
thing in his Majesty's contemplation is to have
recourse to any members of that party who, through
their myrmidons and dependents at least, seem
to have no other desire than that of rendering
whatever perplexity such a death as Mr. Can-
ding's must have occasioned, a source, if possible,
of discord in the Government, and of dismay
throughout the country.— Times.

When the communication with regard to the
interference of Spain with Portugal was first
made to Parliament, though we had no doubt as
to the necessity of our furnishing the aid to Por-
tugal stipulated for by treaty, we did not the less
regret that such a Treaty should ever have been
entered into, -foreseeing as we did that our inter-
ference, though nominally directed against the
forces entering from Spain, identified us in
reality with one of the parties struggling for as-
cendency ; and that should Spain persist in its
encouragement to the other party, we might ulti-
mately be brought into collision with France.
This country has already suffered so much from
the absurd notion which took possession of the
heads of our Statesmen, that we were called on
to controul the affairs of every continental nation,
that it is high time that we should abandon this
universal guardianship. 'Whatever our feelings
might be, with regard to the Portuguese or
Spanish Constitutionalists, and however much
we might reprobate the manner in which France
and Austria acted towards the Peninsula and
Italy, partialities and sympathies do not justify
the departure from those rules of prudence which
prescribe to Statesmen the husbanding the re-
sources of the people, whose interests are com-
mitted to their care, for emergencies which
threaten their existence or their honour. There
ve other reasons why one nation should be ex-
ceedingly cautious of interfering with the inter-
nal affairs of another. It does not follow that
the ideas of the Constitutionalists, for instance,
on matters of Government, because most in ac-
cordance with those of the people of this coun-
try, are therefore acceptable to their fellow-coun-
trymen, and no Government can be good which
is unpalatable to the
.people for whom it is in-
tended, If the Spaniards and Portuguese give
the prcfercuce to Constitutional Governments, they
may gratify their inclinations if they choose; but it
is not for us to set them right, or to take part with
those who wish to set them right, if they hold
Constitutions in aversion. The appointment of
Don Miguel as Regent will have the effect of
relieving us from the very unpleasant predica-
ment in which we were placed by the late call
for our aid. We have no responsibility with re-
Drd to the Constitution. It was the work of
on Pedro, and not that of our Government.
If Don Pedro choose to withdraw his Constitu-
tion, or to appoint as Regent the man of whom
the - partisans of the Constitution have always
been especially jealous, and in whose name its
opponents rallied, that is an affair for the Portu-
guese themselves, and not for us. We protest
against the idea that British interests call on us
to mix ourselves up in any way with the Portu-
guese Government. Except in so far as we are
bound by Treaty to assist Portugal, the less we
concern ourselves with it the better. Great Bri-
tain, as being the most commercial nation in the
world, has the greatest interest in the prosperity
of all other nations, and in this sense she is in-
terested in the welfare of Portugal ; but she can
have no interest to controul the Government of
that country, or to interfere with its internal af-
fairs. We are taking it for granted that Sir
William A'Court will be able to justify his con-
duct, which has been impugned by the Consti-
tutionalists. Though we by no means approve
of taking part with the Constitutionalists, we as
little approve of the taking part against them.—
Sir 'William has never, certainly, been a favou-
rite with the Liberals of any country ; and as far
as we can judge from the evidence published as
to his conduct at Naples, it would be very odd
if the Constitutionalists were not to suspect him.
—Morning Chronicle.
The generality of people—all indeed, we may
say, who having no personal objects of their
own to gratify, look only to an. Administration
for the welfare and. prosperity, the safety and
good government of the kingdom—feel naturally
anxious that an end should be put to that un-
settled state of things in which the country has
been placed for nearly the whole of the present
year. Ever since the political demise of Lord
Liverpool, a kind of interregnum in the Ministry
injurious,
but existed, which would be at any time
but is rendered more especially so by the inte-
resting state of our relations both at home and_
abroad, during the period at which it has unfor-
tunately happened. It has become, so far as the
country at large is concerned, not so much a
question whether this or that particular person
shall be at the head of affairs, or fill such and
.such an office, as that the different departments
of the State shall be permanently filled by some-
body, and its different high offices no longer
handled about as ready-made clothes, tried on by
e44s, body and fitting no one. We strongly sus-
Pea that if the secret history of the present year
ever tomes known—which is generally stoner
or later The case with public affairs, hiiwever at
first apparently
obscure—that much will be di-
vulge.d to astonish the world, reflecting, as we
fear it will do, no
mighty fame upon some of the
actors. Above all, we suspect will be seen
that the portion of the Whigs who so readily
rushed into office at the mere-beckoning of Mr.
Canning, will be found to have dune 30 updn

' teems toially at variance with every principle
'Which they ever professed ; and that, being caught
in their own net, they can now neither advance
nor recede without disgrace. Their supposed
objection to art with Mr. Herries, for instance,
is puerile and fanciful in the extreme, and seems
only put forth as a tub to the whale, to take off
attention from the tiaiie 'rsa..ise of the disastrous
retreat wins"; seems to await them. That cause
is to be found in dereliction of principle. In
private life we look upon an unprincipled man as
the most dangerous and least trustworthy of any
lwe can meet with. So, too, it is among public Men
—whenever principle is sacrificed tb avarice,
ambition, pique, Or zinS7 other motive, though it
may lead it% a temporary attainment of its object,
in the end it is sure to defeat that very object,
and load the unprincipled politician with dis-
grace. If there was any one in particular on
whose judgment the Whigs, were bound to rely, •
it was on that of Lord Grey ; but his was an in-
convenient judgment, and it was therefore de-
spised, and its possessor treated with scorn and
vituperation ; and never was contempt of timely
Warning so rapidly visited with its just and fatal
consequences, as the recreant 'Whigs • are now
experiencing as the certain result of their indif-
ference to that of Lord Grey. We do not quar-
rel with Whig principles ; on the whole, we
should prefer them to high Tory principles at
any time ; but the fault of the modern Whigs
has invariably been, to render their avowed prin-
ciples, popular as they are in the abstract, a
mere stepping stone to their love of place, ready
to throw them aside, and repudiate them, as soon
as the one thing needful is attained. Of this,
the last Session of Parliament has furnished
abundant proofs. The greater part of them,
snugly seated at the public table, have enjoyed
their long-wished-for repast in silence ; while
such of them as have deigned to open their
mouths for any other purpose than to eat, have,
as in the remarkable debate on the proposed re-
peal of the Six Acts, openly renounced the very
opinions on which alone their public character
was grounded. For the possessors of principles
thus convenient, towards tergiversation thus pal-
pable, who can wonder that people in general en-
tertain but little respect ? If it had been the
object of the bitterest foes of such men to load
them with disgrace, no more effectual steps could
have been taken than those which they have
themselves adopted. Whether their present dif-
ficulties can be patched up and remedied, a short
time must show. That they are, at present at
least, in abeyance, seems evident, from their
absence from Councils and Cabinet Meetings ;
and when discord so apparent discloses itself,
though a temporary reconciliation may take
place, nothing like permanent union can take
place : and so much for those who sacrifice prin-
ciples and their hold on public estimation, for
the temporary sweets of power and office, which
like ill-gotten gains of every kind, seldom be-
nefit the possessors.--Morning Herald.
We are always sorry when we see any attempt
made to excite the people at large against any
Particular class, whether forming a part of them-
selves or of their superiors, but chiefly in the
latter case. In every society yet planned there
have been rich and poor, and we rather suspect
the distinction will hold to the end. Since
these must live together, the wisdom of him who
would set them at variance may well be ques-
tioned, even where we may be disposed to admit
-his purity of motive. It is true, that the rich,
who are not less selfish than human nature in
general, will sometimes call for more submission
than they are entitled to ; and it is equally true,
that the poor, who are every whit as selfish as the
rich, will ' sometimes refuse that submission
1 which is due. The duty of the real friend, to
either is to soften the acerbity which has arisen
out of presumption on the one hand, and pride
on the other, and not by appeals to the passions
or prejudices of either, to whet it to greater
sharpness. It is the interest of both, that no
such acerbity should prevail ; but especially is it
the interest of the weaker side. We need not
say, in such struggles, which side that is. There
is a class of people who pretend to philosophise
in these matters, who would persuade us, that
the machine of society never works well, but
when all the springs are pressing different ways.
With such persons a good patriot is a good
hater, a master and his servant are natural enemies,
and above all the landholders are the hereditary
oppressors of the rest of the community. The
moral of all this would be, that the more inti-
mately the interests of two parties are connected,
the less should they be disposed to accommodate
each other. We would endeavour to impress
another doctrine on the public. We are per-
suaded that your good hater is not only 1)0t a
good patriot, but no patriot at all—that he is a
poor, miserable, discontented, disappointed thing
—who, having failed in all legitimate endeavours
to procure consequence, betakes himself to abuse
those who have succeeded, trusting to the envy
of human nature for an audience. We are also
fully persuaded that, so far from the master and
servant being natural enemies of each other, the
former is in all cases the best friend of the latter
—that he is never so well pleased as when he is
paying high wages ; well knowing that high
wages imply scarcity of workmen, and that work-
men are never scarce but when orders for goods
are abundant ; and that he is always grieved
when compelled to lower wages ; because he
knows that such a necessity springs not
less from the market being overstocked with
labour, than from its being overstocked with
goods. And lastly, so far from admitting that
the landholders, in respect of whom the preju-
dices of the manufacturing classes are so very
strong, are the oppressors of the community, we
believe them to be as necessary to its comfort as
any other class it contains. To the labourer, of
all others, they certainly are not oppressors.
Grant that the Corn Bill is extended, and that
it really produces high prices, and let us see how
that circumstance operates on the labourer. The
lowest species of manual labour, that in which
the least intellect is exerted, which is just
raised above the level of machinery, must yet
procure for him who exerts it, wherewithal to
eat and to drink, and to be clothed with. It
must also indirectly support him in the feeble-
ness of infancy and amid the decays of age.
It matters not whether the money for these two
purposes is saved by the individual, or whether
it goes to his employer, to be afterwards re-
funded in the shape of poor rate. Without all
these conditions, the lowest species of labour
cannot be purchased, for without them it can-
not be produced. - Now of what earthly im-
portance is it, under such circumstances, whe-
ther wheat be 20s. or 605.
a quarter ? If the
labourer cannot be comfortable but where provi-
sions are cheap, how happens it that the la-
bourers in this country are
so much more
comfortable than in countries where the bugbear
of high prices is unknown. We need not send
an Englishman abroad, in order to estimate
aright the superiority of his condition ;--let him

go to Scotland. Will he exchange his com-
fortable cottage, his beer, his bread, and his
haton, for a highland hilt, its oat cakes, and
skim-milk cheese, even with the rare accompa-
niment of a glass of whisky ?—Or let him go
to Ireland, and look to the raggedness and
wretchedness of her potatoe-fed generations.
Yet corn is much cheaper in the Highlands of
Scotland and in Ireland, than in the manufac-
turing districts of England. There is therefore
no necessary connection between cheap corn,
and superior comfort, among the labouring
classes, but the very reverse. Let us suppose
the corn trade thrown completely open—the
landholders swept away from the face of Eng-
land--and let us see what would be the conse-
quence. In the first place, the manufacturing
labourers must be content to receive a great ad-
dition to their number from the labourers who
at present subsist by husbandry. This addition
could not fail to lower wages prodigiously ; for,
without adding to the demand for goods, it
would add greatly to the means of producing
them. In the second place, a great demand for
corn from abroad would, by raising its price,
force into cultivation large tracts of land of a se-
cond and third fate quality, and thus. introduce,
in some places, and increase in others, the
rent of land. So that, should we cetise
to pay rent to English gentlemen, we must
pay it, whether we liked it or not, to Polish
Lords. Rent does not depend on Acts of Par-
liament, but on the nature of things. Where-
ever land is not all of the first quality, and inex-
haustible in quantity—that is, in every country
under heaven—as population increases, so must.
rent ; and if it must be paid, surely, we =pm
well pay it to men at home, as to men abroad—
to our countrymen as to strangers, even if on no
better principle, on that laid down in the pro-
verb, " better the devil we do know, than thi.
devil we do not how." We have been led to
these observations from the perusal of the
speeches 'made at a meeting at Manchester, on
Wednesday, where the contrary doctrines were
advocated, in a tone which cannot be too much
deprecated. We do not hope that our views
of these matters will immediately be agreeable to
the people of Manchester, but ultimately
we believe they will, because, being bot-
tomed in common sense and undisputable
fact, they cannot long be opposed by men
imbued with any portion of the one, or who
have the slightest regard for the other. With
an immense quantity of general abuse of all
above them, was mixed up, at the meeting in
question, a very particular attack upon churches
and tithes, gold snuff-boxes and paper-money;
and a remedy was proposed for all these enormi-
ties—religious, diplomatic, and financial, in a
full and free representation pf the people in Par-
liament—by universal suffrage, annual election,
and vote by ballot ! We really thought that
this panacea had been quietly laid to sleep
in the grave of the good old Major.—
One of the gentlemen, in answer to Lord
Grey's famous boast, triumphantly exclaims,
where would the Lords be, if the poor
were swept off the face of the earth ? This
is a question which we dare say it would puzzle
his Lordship to answer. But if it be true, that
the Peers and the poor must fall together, such a
consideration ought, of all others, to dispose the
one to avoid whatever is calculated to injure the
other.—New Times. ,