The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-21 00:00:00

the outset of an Administration, when its sta-
bility remains to be ascertained. We-have -said
nothing of the appointment of-Sir John Copley,
though it has excited considerable surprise;
and our readers will see from our extracts fronll
provincial Papers, that the report of it could harcil
be credited. We know, however, that that
appointment sunk deep into the hears of many
friends of Mr. Canning, who lamented that
he should have been under the necessity of con-
senting to it. The feeling of the individuals in
question was this--that though it might be
wrong, in the case of a fallible being, like man,
to say, that opinions once formed should not,
on conviction, be abandoned ; yet a certain de-
gree of suspicion naturally attached to a change
of opinion, entertained in mature years, when
the change is accompanied by gain, and that sus-
picion was increased a hundredfold, when the
same individual is in the habit of relinquishing
opinions under such suspicious circumstances.
The question, therefore, is not between Mr.
Canning and Sir John Copley, whether Mr.
Canning showed magnanimity in overlooking the
conduct of Sir John on the Catholic debate ;
but whether it is prudent in Mr. Canning to
exhibit, in his appointments, an indifference to
character, and thereby shock conscientious men,
and Whether honourable and upright men may
not, from regard to their own fair fame, hesitate
to countenance what might seem to bespeak a
want of principle in themselves. Independently
of this, the profession have not been slow in
remarking the defects of Sir John as an Equity
Judge. However unwilling to be thought cavil-
ling at a moment like this, we said nothing of
the appointment ; but when we see a second
equity appointment of a still more objectionable
character, we cannot help feeling alarm. The
people of England might overlook the appoint-
ment of dozens of mere Ministerial subalterns of
questionable capacity, but they will not so easily
be disposed to forget the immense importance of
having fit Judges on the great Tribunals, into
which all the property of the country is liable to
be brought. So much we have thought it our
duty to say. We wish success to Mr. Canning;
we hate and despise his opponents as they are
hated and despised by nineteen-twentieths of the
wealth and intelligence of the country ; but be-
cause we wish well to him, we dread his doing
what may endanger his success. With respect to
the Marquis of Lansdown and his friends, we can
venture to assure our readers that every thing is
hitherto in a favourable train. As to the Catho-
lic Question, there may, no doubt, be a difficulty abouta
formal adherence to a Cabinet which is debarred
from approaching it as a Cabinet measure. We,for
our parts, should be sorry that a delicacy of this na-
ture should expose the country to the danger of the
greatest of all possible calamities—the re-ascendancy
of the men who are out, who wield the resources of
Government for the purpose of checking and de-
stroying the growth of all that is valuable in the
country. They can only succeed by the divisions
of men of a better way of feeling and thinking. God
pity the country if these men, necessarily inflamed
with hostility to all that is good, which they have
had the mortification of seeing arrayed against them-
selves, should, by any fatality, come once more into
power. If the Whigs wish for Catholic Emancipa-
tion—if they believe that that measure is a necessary
preliminary step to the tranquillization of Ireland,
do not let them renounce the hope of effecting it,
because it cannot be effected in the way most agree-
able to their own wishes. The way we prove that

ere long • is, that though Church 'pati7onage, 'both
in England and Ireland, has been regularly bestowed
with a view to promote the cause of opposition to
Emancipation, still it has been all but carried. There
cannot be a stronger demonstration
.that the pro-
perty and natural influence of the country are de-
cidedly in favour of Emancipation than the fact that
the disposal of this enormous patronage could hardly
make the balance even. But' when the patronage is
bestowed fairly, and without a view to opposition to
Emancipation, the removal of a 'weight, or at least
the half of it, from one scale'
.into the-other, must
necessarily make the latter kick tike beam. We re-
peat it, then—those who, by their. scruples. en-
danger that which will certainly prod(iee' the effect
they wish, which they cannot count on attaining in
any other manner, -make themselves responsible for
the consequences. He who declines power when it
furnishes him with the means of augmenting the
mass of general good, and increasing the happiness
and prosperity of his countrymen, so far from thereby
entitling himself to respect, is, on the contrary, ac-
countable both for the good he does not do, and the
evil which he does not prevent.—Morning Chronicle.
We are glad when any opportunity occurs of
bringing before the public eye any instance of
those abominable nuisances, the turnpike-gates
in and about the metropolis ; -for, though the
evil is one of daily and 'hourly occurrence to
hundreds of persons, very few, indeed, have the
time, the inclination, or the courage, to contend
against the inconvenience itself, or the insolence
or extortion by which it is so generally accom-
panied. A lonat, and unintelligible Act of Par-
liament was passed last year, placing the roads
to. the north of the metropolis under a new set
of Parliamentary Commissioners ; but whether
the public 'at large have derived, or are likely to
obtain, any advantage from this, is a circum-
stance which, after great observation, experience,
and inquiry, we have yet to learn. Of course
the new Commissioners must have been ap-
pointed in consequence of some real or alleged
inconvenience, abuse, or mismanagement, among
the old ones ; and it was naturally expected that,
by resolving so many sets of machinery into
one--and by the abolition of clerks, treasurers,
and other supposed jobbers innumerable—a
great saving would have been brought about,
and with it a diminution of tolls, and the doing
away with some of the most inconvenient of the
turnpike-gates. Instead of this, the tolls, we
believe, remain the same, the number of gates
nearly the same, and the insolence and extortion
of the toll7takers not an iota diminished. We
do earnestly implore the Lords and Gentlemen
who have been kind enough to undertake this
arduous and troublesome service to inquire into
—=and, if possible, to remedy or diminish—this in-
tolerable grievance. We particularly wish them to
consider whether it is fit that turnpike-gates should
continueor, at any rate, need be so numerous as
they are—in the acme! streets of the town, as the
whole of the New-road must, in fact, now be con-
sidered; and whether it is necessary that one turn-
pike-road should run parallel with,and almost within
a stone's-throw of, another,- as is the case with the
Kentish-town and Camden-town roads. If Hol-
born and Cheapside are repaired by the parishes,
why should similar thoroughfares be repaired by a
toll ? and why should any thing so preposterous be
permitted as that a public barrack—as that in the
Regent's Park—should be shut in between two
gates, and the troops on duty be every day ob-
structed by the illegal demands of the gate-keepers ?
We have no doubt but the Noble and Honourable
persons in question are most anxious to do their
duty, and will probably be obliged to us for thus
calling their attention to it—at any rate, we are
sure that the public will.—Morning Herald.

When the news of the resignation of Lord
Eldon appeared, it was stated that his Lordship
would preside in the Court of Chancery for one
month longer, for the purpose of deciding upon
those cases which are ripe for judgment. There