The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-20 00:00:00

lb., when it might as well pay td--.; Wool in a simi-
lar proportion; silk only 3d., when it ought to-beat
Least 6d. or Is.; and some of the Newspapers are
goading on the Ministry to a free trade in corn—
that is, to levy no tax on the importation of corn,
When the tax ought to be at least 30 per cent., or
even, perhaps, 50 per cent., considering the diffe-
rent state of this country, with respect to interest
of debt and Government expenditure, to other
countries. These are the vulnerable points of
attack on the part of the present Opposi-
tion. That there `has been anything of
..a
particular nature in the Duke of 'Wellington's
late visit to the King at Windsor, we can hardly
believe. The late Gazetted promotions in the army,
we should think, called him to Windsor in order to
the King's sanction of these promotions. That the
visit of the Duke of Clarence to Windior had any
thing to 'do with business beyond his Royal High-
ness's department as Lord High Admiral we do not
believe ; for let our readers peruse the last Gazette,
and they will, see all sorts of new cuts and con-
trivances for Naval Officers' uniforins;at whose ex-
pence the Gazette does not mention. Not that we
like such continual attention to the dress of the
Army and 'the Navy, unless we had a Queen for a
Sovereign ; and then such much-ado's about things
of comparatively little consequence . might be netts
ral enough. No doubt the Duke of Clarence went
down to' the King at Windsor upon this business,
namely, the change of dress of the Navy from blue
and buff to blue a.nd gold. ' Whether blue and gold
will do better for the time to come than blue and
buff did in the days of Howe, Duncan, Nelson,
St. Vincent, Sir Richard Strachan, and a long
string of etceteras, remains to.be proveds-a/bid.
It is onderstood that the Earl of Harrowby has de-
clined the task of forming a new Administration;
in consequence of which, it is said, the friends of
Lord Goderich are endeavouring to prqvail upon his
Lordship to remain for some time longer at the
head of affairs. The probability however is that
the Premiership of the Noble Viscount will not ex-
tend to the period of the meeting of Parliament.
Morning Post.
.. :
Next to a Weak or incapable Administration, no-
thing can be a greater. calamity to any nation 'than
to be divided in its Councils. This is a truth so
perfectly obvious and founded on experience, that it
would become a work of supererogation to attempt
to prove it. That the present Cabinet is divided:—
that it is. composed of discordant materials, cannot
admit of doubt ; and unfortunately every interest in
the country has proportionably suffered. The depres-
sion may be said.to be general, and as it has not arisen
from merely temporary causes, its calamitous -effects
have been felt the more - severely. The tendered
resignation. of Lord Goderich speaks volumes on
this awful stibjectS'and whatever guesses ingenious
speculators may indulge in as to its causes, the fact
still remains unaltered. His Lordship, it is well
known, was influenced by the late Mr. Canning to
continue in the Cabinet, together with Lord Har-
rowby, for the purpose of inspiring a confidence in
the public, and as 'offering to the King a guarantee
that the, salutary bulwarks of Church and State
would Plot be as precipitately demolished as the fleet
at Navarin. But still a considerable number of the
Most inflUential Peers and 'Commoners in the realm
objected to the supremacy -of Mr. Canning, when
the Hen. -Mr. Robinson was elevated-to the Peerage
with a view to the leadership of the House of Lords.
There, however; the Noble Lord neither displayed
comprehensiveness nor tact ; and whether it is, that
he honestly disapproves of a course to which he has-
tily lent himself, in the unsuspecting integrity of his
nature—or, that he feels -himself so inaderate.to
rescue England from the perils into which a mis-
taken policy has plunged her—whether, we rv, his
retirement has arisen from one or other of :hese
causes, it must be quite evident that the present
Cabinet cannot long hold together with' any
benefit to the public. Such a mongrel Adminis-
tration . cannot have been put together upon
any sound and intelligent principles ; and it only
'requires one moment's reflectichi to perceive, that
up to the very hour of Lord Goderich's desired re-
tirement, the principal places in • the Government
were only provisionally occupied. Then it will be
asked, how can this be rationally accounted for ?
The most reasonable answer can only be, the re-
cs,ssass.e.suss.spass__.... fewm a_ r_rory Cabinet_ r....,(1 0,
utter impossibility of the Whigs being able to con-
stitute themselves into au effective and respectable
Administration. Mr. Canning then formed the un-
natural coalition of, which the country has now so
much reason to complain, and from which the more
honourable abettors are so eagerly seeking to
escape. All is now confusion and disorder in theil,
ranks; but still the 'Whigs pertinaciously cling t"
office. We believe Lord Dudley is'now more alai:
ous to resign the provisional honour conferred
upon him than he has been from' the commence-
ment, and that other secessions will be speedily
announced. The anxiety of Lord Gederia to
retire shews some good feeling and some honesty;
but it certainly ' exhibits no - strength in himself or
his Colleagues, and still less in the state of our
foreign and doniestic relations. We therefore lope
shortly to see the tried and faithful Servaats.of the
Crown—the invaluable upholders of ma Church
and State—at the head of our affairs; and that ave
should not longer be Subjected to the wild and vi-
sionary speculations of philosophising theorists, how-
ever well they. may have intended. Nations are
often affliCted by disease and want ; hnt : they never
can suffer half so much calamity as from a weak and
divided Government. In the Government as it has
recently existed, there has not been ..--411 maid Not
of necessity be„ any responsibility; tt:ey have ex-
ercised, the authority conferred. by office, and if they
, are to come like shadows and so depart, who are
we to question as to the mistakes or misdeeds
of the King's Advisers ? •If no other
,consideration
operated with us, this would induce our withholding
the meed of our support from the motley group who
now mis-direct the energies of the country. It is
far from being a grateful duty to us, to display the
defects or the demerits of the Administration; but
we cannot be blind to what passes every day under
our eyes; nor can we be insensible to the wishes
and interests of our fellow countrymen. We have
long and often warned the public of the danger into
which they have been precipitated—we adverted to
`the fatal consequences likely to ensue from indulging
`1•1 a•, Quixotic policy : and in doing so, we were
*solely :actuated by that sense of duty to which,
'under every circumstance, we ever have been, and
ever shall be found faithful. But we are not to say
of a State labouring under dangerous disease—that
'there is neither 'need of change of regimen nor pro-
fessional advisers.s—/bid.
A Morning Paper of yesterday states. as a report,
that a recommendation haS recently been addressed
to his Majesty, in the joint names of Lord Gode-
rich, Lord Dudley, and Mr. Huskisson, urging him
to reinforce his Ministry by calling Lord Holland to
his. Council. This report, although not absolutely
unfounded, is, we understand, far from being cir-
cumstantially correct. That the Marquis of Lans-
downe and his party in the Cabinet have strongly
desired and insisted upon the admission of Lord
Holland, arc facts which have been long notorious,
and we believe this party have recently urged their
defeat and aubmiSsion in the memorable case of the
appointment of Mr. Herries to the office of Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, as a, reason why the next
"vacancy should be filled mita manner agreeable to
their wishes. This is all. The domineering tone
which they found to be so ineffectual and so dan-
gerous upon that occasion, has not, we are happy to
learn, been again resorted to. The suggestions and
arguments of Lord Lansdowne and his more im-
'mediate friends have failed, however, as we un-
iderstand, to make any considerable impression
lupon their Colleagues in the Cabinet, or
'n that high ' quarter where it was still more
*ndispensible that they should convince. It was
,perceived by every body that the Whig Party
an the Cabinet would be reinforced by the accession
of Lord Holland; buts except by the Whigs them-
selfei, it was not so clearly seen that the cabinet as