The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-02 00:00:00

TEtt tut.

LONDON
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1842.

RESIGNATION OF THE DUKE OF
BUCKINGHAM. -

The late visits of Sir ROBERT PEEL, and other
Cabinet iVlinisters, to Stowe, gave warning that
1 commotion wasat hand. The straw has sincebeen
very visibly moving in many spots, and out at last
cornea a great rat, the Corn-law Duke of BUcic-
INGIIAM. The Prime Minister and he could not
renlain together in the same Cabinet, one or other
must decamp, and we rejoice to find that
this unbending advocate for dear bread
has been obliged to give up the ghost as a
Ilember of thk united, unanimous, and power-
ful Administration. This is an omen of good
for the people of the United Kingdom, and
we who have toiled
at the Christian work of
re..)rming the C urtt-laws, and laboured in season

aud out ofseason to destroy the most mischievous
and unjust law ever enacted, announce the fact
with no ordinary feelings of exultation, We know
nothing of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S plan, nor do we
touch care, because this break-up in the Cabinet
proves that they cannot go on with the
present law, and that sooner or liter a reform
greater than that proposed by Lord JOHN Rus-
ext.t. must take place in the whole of our com-
mercial system.

While we congratulate tho starving people
in the manufacturing districts on the result,
and bid them look out for happier days, ,we
call upon them, at the same time, not to
slacken their exertions, but to fight nobly till
the bulwark, which so long kept them in sub-
jection, is levelled with the dust. Their enemies
are still numerous and powerful, and can be
defeated only by a long pull, a strong pull, and
a pull altogether.

The Hominy Post is sensible that the with-
drawal of the Duke of BUCKINGHAM from the
Cabinet will not recommend the Ministry to the
agricultural interest. No longer ago than last
Wednesday, at an agricultural meeting at Bos-
ton, Mr. CHRISTOPHER, in order to assuage the
fears of the agriculturists, already considerably
excited, told them " that the farmers need be
under no apprehension so long as such men as
the Duke Of BUCKINGHAM and Sir EDWARD
KNATCHBULL are in the Cabinet." The farmers'
friend is no longer in the Cabinet, and the main
connecting rod which bound the agriculturists
to the first mover is snapped asunder before the
machine has conic into work. If Sir EDWARD
KNATCHBULL remain, he must ply with the new
movement, which has broken off his fellow, and
the confidence of the agriculturists will not fol-
low his eccentric motions.
The Duke of BUCKINGHAM was also peculiarly
the friend of the Short Time Committee, and of
Lord Asn LEY and his motley group ofSocialists and
Chartists. His Grace gave them a much warmer
reception than Sir J. GRAHAM and Lord STAN..
LEY ; and his retirement or expulsion from the
Cabinet severs the alliance, it may be pre-
sumed, between the Tories and the Owenite
Chartists.
The Post declares that there is no question of
principle involved in the change. Do the mem-
bers-of a Cabinet, then, formed to save the coun-
try, separate on questions of trifling detail ? Such
men can never form an Administration to last
six months, and the apology of the Post is a
severe censure on its friends. It says, too, that
the Duke of BUCKINGHAM continues the friend
of the Administration. For how long? The
Post expects that his Grace will be the
friend of the Administration five months
hence, ag five months ago lie expected to meet
the Parliament a Member of the Cabinet; and
as one expectation has been unfounded, who will
answer for the correctness of the other ? When
his Grace begins to oppose his late colleagues
and present dear friends on "specific points of
the specific measure," about which they have
already disagreed, who will answer for the effects
of recriminating and angry oratory ? Taunts,
reproaches, secrets will escape ; and if Sir R.
PEEL, having got rid of the farmers' friend, and
being driven by the circumstances of the coun-
try, and the remonstrances of an irritated and
starving people, should extend his proposed re-
lief, the friendship of the Duke of BUCKINGHAM
will evaporate for ever. His withdrawal from
the Cabinet we hail as the bursting asunder of
the factious league, which was formed six months
ago to maintain the starvation laws at all hazard.
Will the withdrawal of the Duke obtain for
the Cabinet the confidence of commercial men ?
It will give them great satisfaction, but the whole
proceeding will damage the character of the Ca-
binet, and diminish the confidence of all rational

men. From the time of the Tories entering
office, the Corn•law has been the one question
for consideration. The Premier's plan, if he
have one, ought to have been communicated to
his colleagues at least two months ago. In fact,
about that time the first scheme of an alteration
in the. Corn-laws announced as Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S was made public. Since then, the public
has been inundated with alternate reports of the
Duke's triumph and Sir ROBERT PEEL'S victory.
The Post admits that the discussion which ter-
minated only the day before yesterday, has
lated eight or ten days. What is the legiti-
mate inferenee'from all these facts? Why, that
the Cabinet has been. unable to agree, after six

months' deliberation, on any measure either of
tinancenr trade—for the Corn-laws is the key of
all—till within four days of the meeting of Par-
liament, and then only agrees to expel one of its
own members.

Now comes another consideration. The Duke
of BUCKINGHAM being got rid of, the support
of the agriculturists' interest being weakened or

lost, the probability is, that the Cabinet will
make its proposed measure still moue favourable
to commerce, in order to conciliate the other
classes. If such be the case, we shall have this
united Cabinet, after six months' deliberation
actually meeting Parliament with a measure
concerning one of the most important subjects
that ever required a statesman's attention,
framed within a few hours of its assembling.
Such solemn quackery would damage any Cabi-

net in the estimation of rational men; and the
blow which has severed the farmers' friend from

Sir ROBERT PEEL'S side, will not knit to him any
representathre of the manufacturing interest.
What, also, will be thought of the skill of the
great master, whose instrument of government
breaks to pieces on the very first trial? Hitherto
clie Cabinet has done nothing, however active the
heads of departments may have been ; its first act is
the Speech from the Throne, and, in preparing
that, the machine has ruptured an important
link. Who, after that, will not find his confi-
dence in the machine, and in the chief ma-
chinist, considerably abated'! What portion of it
may next get out of repair and break off we pre-
tend not to foresee; but as it has not been able

to hold together while running in the smooth
tracks of Downing-street, it is not likely to be-
come more compact and safe when exposed to
the rough friction of Parliament.

We heartily congratulate our readers upon the
first symptom of dissension amongst our ene-
mies. The voice of the people in a righteous
cause will' be found more powerful than an ini
quitous faction, however numerous. Terror wil
so,

,on penetrate into the hearts of the unjust
spoilers, and pervade their ranks. It is only ne-
cessary for the men, who are hearty in the good
cause, to press the yielding foe, and the only cry
'e shall soon hear from him will be " Sauve qui
• " To-morrow only let the people show
temselves worthy of liberty, and they shall for
e ver be free.

cent.

Proceeding on that rational philosophy which
had its birth-place in England, to which we al-
luded on Monday, we propose briefly to inquire
mi what facts, past, present, or future, Puseyism
rests, and is offered to mankind as a means of
making them better, wiser, and happier. To us
t appears to rest more on a negation of external
[has, and on the ambitious internal desires of a
Pew men, than on any positive and certain truths.

About ten or twelve years ago, the Puseyites
began to creep into notice, which places their
origin coeval with a great political movement.
In 1630, the throne of the elder BOURBONS was
overturned, and that of LOUIS PHILIPPE erected,
Belgium was separated from Holland, and Po-
land made an attempt to break her chains. In
England the Whigs were carried into office on
the shoulders of a reforming people, and, after a
Considerable struggle, made the Reform Bill the
law of the land• But the demands of the people
went much beyond the Ministerial plan, and re-
quired the expulsion of the Bishops from the
House of Lords, and the degradation of the
aristocracy. At that period, all the upper
classes, particularly the priesthood, were alarmed
lest England should be revolutionized. Autho-
rity- seemed to have lost its hold of the human
mind, and political power throughout Europe
was shaken to its foundation.

Coeval with that great social fact, some timid,