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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Duke of Rutland had on Saturday an
interview with the King at Windsor, and it is
said, that he was authorized by certain Peers,
richer in boroughs than in brains, to lay before
his Majesty, their very respectful determination,
not to support Mr. Canning, should his Ma-
jesty, in the exercise of his prerogative, make
that gentleman his Prime Minister. This is a
strange encroachment on the functions of the
Crown, by those who would declaim most vehe-
mently against a declaration of the unfitness of
Lord Bathurst to be Prime Minister by the
Great Council of the nation. It is a step yet
more hostile to the people than to the Crown.
Although Mr. Canning only is named, it is
certain that measures as well as men are contem-
plated by these high Tories : they would in no
long time, if successful at first, demand a high
price of corn to fill their pockets, and the use
of the sword in Ireland, to gratify their bigotry.
Famine and civil war would come in the train of
their triumph. Mr. Canning, in the course of
his political life, has committed many faults, but
at the present moment his cause is identified with
that of his country—with that of civilization—with
all that is high and ennobling among men. Let but
Mr. Canning keep his character up to the mark of
his genius, and he cannot fail in being either one of
the greatest Ministers, or the most popular ex-
Minister, ever known in England. Really, too, these
are not times when such a man as Lord Bathurst
can carry on the Government to the satisfaction of
any one. He will be subject to continual minorities
in the House of Commons, and the King will be em-
barrassed by perpetual defections. In short, if
George IV. should yield to the most bigotted, most
ignorant, most selfish, most factious, and most short-
sighted of all English parties, it may not impro-
bably happen that the end of his reign may be as
disastrous as the commencement of his Regency was
glorious and successful.-71mes.

Sir Thomas Lethbridge gave notice last night
of a motion for Friday next, with the object of
which, to say the truth, we are not disposed to
quarrel, though, from the fear of a collision, it
may probably be objected to, and indeed has
been already treated with affected ridicule, by
both parties. It is briefly to request his Ma-
jesty to form an Administration of one opinion
on the present important question or questions
which agitate the empire. Can any thing be
more rational or just than such a request ? In-
deed, if an Administration composed of mem-
bers supporting an opposite system of policy
upon the most vital question, had not existed in
this country, such an absurdity would have been
thought impossible in practice ; and in that
case, indeed, it might have been deemed ridicu-
lous in Sir T. Lethbridge or any other member
to address the Crown to do that, which it could
not, in the exercise of the most ordinary discre-
tion, fail of doing. But we have seen the mis-
chiefs resulting from a divided Government. We
have seen an Administration, the leading mem-
bers of which have, from its very first composi-
tion„ been undermining and back-biting each
other worse than a gang of Gipsies. And what
has been the consequence ? We do not say that
an important political question has miscarried,
because some may think that an advantage,
though we are of a different opinion ; but every
inconvenience and suffering borne by the people,
though the foundation of- them was deeply laid
iu the necessary exertions and needless extra-
vagainies of the last war, has been attribut-
ed by one part of the Administration, their
hirelings, and agents, to the novel policy
which the other - has adopted to extricate
us from our difficulties ; so that, in fact, the

political machine has been unable to move. Unlike
Hudibras's horse, though spurred on one side, the
other has remained restive and sulky. We, there-
fore, maintain Sir Thomas Lethbridge's motion to
be a rational and proper one. We would beg leave
also to point out the difference between Sir Thos.
Lethbridge's proceeding and that attributed to the
Duke of Rutland, in the paragraph before this.—
The Hon. Baronet would approach the King in a
legitimate and constitutional manner, in an address
from the House. But in what way is he approach-
ed by the Duke ? In a manner as dark and insi-
dious as is that borough interest upon which his
Grace relies for controuling the irresponsible free-
will of his Sovereign, on the only occasion on
which it can be exercised—ia the formation of a
Ministry. Whom does the Duke represent ? the
Peers, of whom he is one ? They have not de-
puted him. No : he represents the owners of
boroughs ; the hucksters of the rights of English-
men; and in that character he informs the King,
that his Majesty must not attempt to marshal a Mi-
nistry in a manner of which his Grace, and those
for whom he acts, disapprove. The Duke of Rut-
land is, therefore, really "Mayor of the Palace ;"
and the British monarchy is arrived at the same state
of decrepitude, which that of France had reached
under the second race, when the Capets, who had
previously enjoyed regal power, openly assumed
the regal dignity. We have long known and felt
how fatally this borough interest touched the nation,
but hitherto, with aristocratic courtesy, it has af-
fected to truckle to the King; we are not sorry-that
it assumes a bolder deportment : its real power will
he the sooner put to the test.—lbid.

Lord Lorton has been labouring in his voca-
tion Dot as a composer of party or religious dif-
ferences, but as an instigator of the Irish Go-
vernment the hunting down of Catholic indis-
we dare say a turbulent and
cretions. A priest)
pugnacious member of the Catholic Church, had,
it appears, employed some inflammatory, or at
least incautious and quotionable language, in a
speech representing the grievous consequences
entailed upon men of his own communion, by
the late vote of the House of Commons, and
the dark prospects deducible from it, as affect-
ing the public welfare and security. This eccle-
siastic, we can imagine, like many others now
in Ireland, possesses, and abuses, an influ-
ence much greater than that which is exercised
by the priesthood in ordinary times, from taking
advantage of the popular susceptibility at this mo-
ment, and flattering instead of restraining it. He
talked at some public meeting, of England and
other countries having appealed to arms where
their rights were concerned, and drew the pa-
rallel, it is very probable, a little closer to the
case of Ireland than prudence or temper would
allow. We have no doubt that, from what the
Irish Government has attempted against Mr.
Spiel, there is quite sufficient alacrity at the Castle
to set on foot a prosecution against any orator
-who may furnish grounds fora bill of indictment
or an ex-officio writ. But it does not become
an Irish Nobleman, who is in no wise called
upon by the Ministers for his counsels, nor re-
sponsible for any of their acts, to push the torch
or tomahawk into the gripe of the Lord Lieute-
iiant, and goad him into an active partnership in
the mutual animosities, and fierce retaliations, of
factious men on either side of the question. Lord
Lorton has thought proper to declare (accord-
ing to a letter in the newspapers, which, of
course, may be forged for aught we can tell)
that' it “ Government shall choose to bring this per-
son (t Priest) to trial for treasonable language,
sufficient
"14 erice will be brought forward to proye
the cnarge.''
We are ready to believe, that rOt
merely Lord i-ortou int' the Orangeparty—but any
Lord, Qr Lyrd's J1410,11b *Qt any party, ma be ,At

no loss for " sufficient evidence," if necessary, to
hang every member of an adverse league or faction.
But that is not the point. These are questions of
policy, not of legal possibility ; and we, who have
certainly no predilection for the Catholic religion or
its members, do conceive, as we are sure must the
King's law-officers in Ireland, that the crown of
martydom is the only emblem of supreme power over
the Irish people which does not, owing to the continu-
ance of the penal code, adorn the brows of the Catholic
priesthood at this instant. To prosecute a priest
for a verbal transgression, committed under the ex-
asperation of disappointed hopes, and amidst the
excitement of public discussion, would, indeed, be a
master-stroke of policy, well worthy the Common
Council of Dublin! Lord Lorton is, we verily be-
lieve, an honest man, an unaffected bigot, a true-
hearted incendiary, who would humbly return thanks
to God for having enabled him to hang 1,000 of his
fellow-creatures to-morrow--provided only that they
were " bloody Papists." We should like better to
deal with knaves, who are less destructive animals
than honest fanatics.—Mid.

We agree with Mr. Peel that we have out-
lived the time when a Police could be dispensed
with, and that peace and order can only be pre-
served by the establishment of a well-paid and
efficient Police. A great deal of the prejudice
against a Police in this country has arisen from
that name having been given on the Continent
to bodies of men not ancillary to the law, but
who trample on all law ; and instead of protect-
ing peaceably-disposed citizens from violence,
are themselves their great oppressors. The great
evil in most countries on the Continent is, that
the functions of the Police are not circum-
scribed within due limits, and that individuals
are unnecessarily impeded in their business and
pleasures by men who ought to act only when
the protection of person and property demands
their interference. We say most countries on
the Continent, because in the Prussian domi-
nions all the vexations respecting passports, &c.
which are so harrassing in France, are unknown.
The native or stranger has only to show a passport
on entering the Prussian territories, and he may
then go wherever he pleases without further hin-
drance. But, in order to avoid encroachments on
liberty by a Police, it is not necessary to expose
persons and property to a state of insecurity. That
state of things is not surely liberty, in which a man
cannot lay his head on his pillow in security from
the burglar, or leave his house without apprehension
of robbers. However, opinion has undergone a
great change in this country, of late years, on this
subject. But as our Police as yet is (from defects
inherent in the system, such as the want of unity
and co-operation, and the mode in which the officers
are paid), it has still contributed greatly to our secu-
rity, and there are few men whose avocations call
them to repair by night to the neighbourhood of
the metropolis, who will not acknowledge that the
sight of a patrole is exceedingly gratifying.—Morn-
ing Chronicle.

Sir Thomas Lethbridge has given notice of a
motion for Friday next, that the House do ad-
dress his Majesty, praying, that in appointing a
new Administration, he would be graciously
pleased to take into consideration the evils which
arise to the Empire from the want of an uni-
formity of opinion in the Cabinet upon a ques-
tion of the most vital importance. Well done,
Sir Thomas ! But how happms it that the want
of this uniformity has first begun to be perceived
now in the Anti-Catholic ranks ? Under Lord
Liverpool's Administration there was an equal
want of uniformity of opinion in the Cabinet.—
: But, then, in reality, the Cabinet, as to all but
voting on the Catholic question, was really Anti-
Catholic ; for isas not the Church patronage,
both that at the disposal of the Chancellor and
and that at the disposal of the Premier, bestowed
only on 140 Popery - -Would. the Bishop of
Chester have ever received the Mitre had he re-
tained his early opinions? We do not mean this of-
fensively to his Lordship, nor will he take it offen-
sively; for it would be imposing a very hard condi-
tion on Churchmen, to say that their opinions ought
not, as a matter of course, to regulate themselves by
the patronage. But of this by the bye. Is Sir
Thomas thus early in the field from a suspicion that,
under the same name of want of uniformity of opi-
nion, the real character of the Cabinet is about to
undergo a material change ?—lbid.
The poor Catholics of Ireland have certainly
every temporal motive to take the benefit of the
Second Reformation. The Protestants allow
their own churches to fall into ruin, and do
their neighbours, the Catholics, the favour to
make them rebuild them. Not content with
this, they set fire to the Catholic chapels, in
order that the Catholics may have more work on
their hands. Such are the blessings of a Pro-
testant Government, and a Protestant Consti-
tution ! We cannot now enter on the discussion
opened by Sir J. Newport, further than to call at-
tention to the unblushing declaration made by
Mr. Goulburn (who, by the bye, is a sort of
Saint), that the demands on the Parochial
Clergy of Ireland were already too heavy, and of
Sir William Plunkett, that "in truth the Pa-
rochial Clergy were but ill-endowed, and could not
afford to pay the first fruits at their full value." 0
religion, how much filthiness dost thou serve as a
cloak for ! But we wish now to point attention par-
ticularly to the declaration made last night by Mr.
Brownlow with respect to the case in the County
of Armagh, to which allusion was made in an ex-
tract from the Dublin Evening Post, in the Chro-
nicle of yesterday, that the twenty-four, or twenty-
five persons tried at the Armagh Assizes, for setting
fire to an altar, in the midst of whom was Colonel
Verner, were acquitted, contrary to evidence.—lbid.

After the numerous buildings which have
been raised, and are still erecting, in and about
the more salubrious parts of the Metropolis, we
much doubt whether persons of opulence will be
found to live in first-rate houses on the south
side of St. James's Park. It is true that the
contiguity to the new Palaces, as well as to both
Houses of Parliament, and the Government
Offices, will be great recommendations. But
most people have wives and children, the former
of whom exercise, as they have an undoubted
right to do, some voice in the choice of the resi-
dence which they and the latter, principally,
make valuable ; and the Malaria of the lower
parts of Westminster being proverbial, and the
neighbourhood of Tothill Fields, &c., being, in
spiteMutter's attempts to r eform it al-
most loathMsome, we much doubt whether, any
improved drainage will be sufficient to draw
people of rank and good taste from the better
air of Mary-le-bone and Hyde Park. The die,
however, we hear, is cast, and the Committee of
Taste—who, by the bye, appear to derive their
title from the classical fountains of " lucus a non
lucendo"—are at work, we understand, in lay.,
ing out the plan of a terrace on the south side
of the Park, to correspond with that which is
intended to occupy the rear of Pall-mall. Part
of the plan, we hear, is to continue Great George-
street through the centre of Bird Cage Walk to
Pimlico ; while, as a set-off against the en-
croachment which this appropriation of so much
of the Park will occasion, the canal is to be
contracted into a beautiful, serpentine, meandering
stream, and the part inclosed,and now fed by cows,
is to be thrown open, and laid into parterres,walks,
and beds of roses, for the King and his Nobles to
vier.v,andhis subjects to enjoy. The scheme,we have
11Q doubt, WAS extremely pretty upon paper,imiid

may be seen, we understand, by those who have the
entree of the 'Woods and Forests. But to us it ap-
pears that those gentlemen are undertaking too much
at once; and it does seem extraordinary that they
who either have not the time or the money to finish
Westminster Hall, and thereby rescue the finest
building in the kingdom from its present state of
deformity and inconvenience, can, nevertheless, find
both the one and the other to set about a variety of
new plans, such as the one to which we have been
alluding. There is something exceedingly puerile,
not to say tasteless, in beginning every thing, and
completing nothing. But we are no enemies to im-
provement, or to the embellishment of the metro-
polis. Our principal reason for adverting to the
subject is to renew our protest, so often made,
against further encroachments upon the Parks, and
the other few open spaces which exist in this over-
grown metropolis. Real taste, or at least good sense,
would, we should imagine, point out this as too
obvious to require the continual efforts of the press
to maintain. We can imagine a mere builder wish-
ing to see every spot of ground covered with stones
or bricks; but, even to the eye, the real beauties of
architecture are lost, when huddled together in un-
distinguishable heaps ; while to the general health of
the inhabitants of a vast city like this, air and exer-
eise, and ventilation, may be said to combine, next
to their habitations, the one thing needful.-11forn-
ing, Herald.