The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT Or TIDE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We hare always contended that the Supreme
Courts of England act on an erroneous and most
dangerous principle in deciding on the conduct of
inferior Magistrates. That principle is, that unless
a corrupt motive in a Magistrate can be substan-
tiated, l►e is freed from all responsibility. Whatever
incapacity he may display, however unjustifiable his
conduct, and however irreconcileable with every
notion of judicial propriety and judicial aptitude,
yet, if corruption cannot be inferred from his acts,
or distinctly established, the Courts throw their pro-
tecting shield around him. It is obvious that this
is extending impunity to Magistrates, and giving
them absolute power over the people. Corruptipn
can never be proved against a Magistrate, if he be
not absolutely a dolt; and where he has such a
range for the display of rancour and malice as the
English Judges afford him, he may very easily put up
with the prohibition to add corruption to his other
misdeeds. The Supreme Courts of Scotland may,
in this respect, be advantageously contrasted with
the Courts of England. We have never seen in
the former any disposition to screen inferior Magi-
strates, or to establish principles with regard to
them which would give them a discretionary power

over the people. In another column, our readers
will find a report of a case decided by the Court
of Session, on the 13th December, which will
serve as an illustration of what we have been
stating. A shoemaker, at Baldcraigs, near
Stonehaven, was charged' under the Scotch
Game Laws, (which Lord Wharneliffe took
for the model of his Bill) with having shot
at a hare without being qualified; and hav-
ing pleaded guilty, he threw himself on the mercy
of his Judges—Justices of the Peace—and intreated
them to consider that he was the only support of his
aged parents. On this, Mr. Allardice, one Justice,
said, " I do not think he deserves any mercy, as I
•arn informed that besides being a poacher, he is a

thief; that he has been known to steal bee-hives and
leather, and Mr. Boson ell knows this to be true." Mr.
Boswell, the other Justice, replied—" I cannot say
as to the bee-hives ; but I was informed by a re-
spectable farmer (now dead), that be stole a quan-
tity of leather." R. Robertson was fined in the full
statutory penalty of 201., and 3/. 13s. 6d., the duty
for a game certificate. Having brought an action
against these Magistrates for 8001. damages, it was
contended by the Magistrates that the words in
question were spoken by them in the due exercise of
their judicial functions as Justices of the Peace,
when, by the prisoner pleading guilty, and throwing
himself upon the mercy of the Court for a mitigation
of punishment, his character became the subject of
consideration ; but to this it was answered, that the
offence with which he was charged, under the:Game
Laws, had no reference to or connection with the crime
of theft,vvith which t heeeJustices had charged him; and
calumnious words, though spoken judicially, if not
pertinent to the cause, are grounds of damages. The
Court decided against the Justices—that the words
spoken were actionable. Now it is well known to
all who have any experience at Sessions, that hardly
a case occurs where some one of the Justices pre-1
eent does not communicate something with regard
eo the parties, quite foreign to the matter properly
before the Court, but which serves to influence the
decision. If a man is charged with cutting a twig
value two pence, a Worshipful Magistrate will say,
without hesitation, that he is a known or a sus-
pected poacher (poaching being the crime of
crimes in the eye of Magistrates), and the poor fel-
low is at once sentenced to a twelvemonth's impri-
sonment. This is not an imaginary case—it actu-
ally occurred. Our readers cannot have forgotten
the conduct of the Beitch of Magistrates at Mac-
clesfield the other day, whe'ye Sir John Stanley (an
experienced Magistrate, being the Chairman of the
Cheshire Quarter Sessions, and said to. be a very
worthy gentleman) had the hardihood to reproach a
gentleman, against whom a villainously false charge
(as it was termed) of poaching had been brought
by a convicted felon, with having, in his character
of attorney, abetted poaching, by not lecturing the
poachers, for whom he acted as Counsel, on the
heinousness of their crime. If so experienced a Ma-
gistrate, being the Chairman of a rich and populous
county, durst wander so far from judicial propriety
as to hold this language, in a case which had ex-
cited universal interest, to an attorney, it may easily
be conceived that the Magistrates of rural districts,
where the population is necessarily more stupid and
dependent, will feel themselves utterly free from all
mtraint. The knowledge, that let them do what
they will, or say what they will, provided that it is
said or done in their magisterial,capacity, the Judges
will protect them, renders them perfectly fearless.
They give their tongues the most unbridled license ;
and the Bench, instead of being the sanctuary of
Justice, is converted into a theatre for the display
of malicious tittle-tattle and scandal.—Morning
Chronicle.

The business with Tutkey appears by uo means
to be brought to any point, Hogland wishes that the
Turks would relinquish Greece. The Russians, in
all probability, have long since said to us, " If yon
-will not proclaim Greece independent, we will.—
lire have a man, a Greek, who will do very well for
a President, and, if you like to have any thing to
do with us in setting him up in that capacity, you
may ; we and other Powers will assist you—but if
you will not join us in doing this, which we think
so expedient, and which the Greeks have asked us
to do in conjunction with you—why then, we will
do it ourselves." Now, on the supposition that
Russia has not said more to us than this, it appears
a matter of necessity for our Cabinet to have given
way to such supposed dictation. For it never
would have done for us to have looked on whilst
Greece was erecting herself into an independent
State under the sole auspices of Russia; Greece
would, in fact, have become a Russian province ; or
she would have been liable to have been seized by
Russia at any time the latter might have thought
proper. The pretence for such supposed dictation
was, no doubt, the Greek piracies interfering with
the trade of Russia. There could be none, as far as
it respected piracies on the part of the Turks or
Egyptians, because there has not been a single in-
stance of piracies of either Power, The Greeks
have been the sole pirates, and we understand that
those who have been engaged in that species of
warfare are the most scoundrel race on the „race
of the globe—worse than the wretches in Ireland
who murder people in so cold-blooded a manner. '
--We understand from many gentlemen who
have been of late years in Greece, that the lowest
order of people there are of the worst dekieription,
and the superior order full of trick and cunning, and
not to be trusted at all in matters of commerce. It
appears therefore likely enough that our Govern-
ment, at the head of which was Mr. Canning, were
Torred by circumstances to join Russia and France
in the severing of Greece from Turkey. That it
will weaken Turkey there cannot be any doubt; and
that Russia will seize Greece or the greater part of
it, in the long run, we think there cannot be much
doubt, for she will have a creature of her own at the
head of the affairs of Greece. It is very likely that
Austria was applied to in this business. But
Austria, seeing probably more clearly than we the
game Russia was playing, said, 0 No, we will have
nothing to do with the business—we will be mere
lookers-on." Besides, Aus-:ria, if she had any prin-
ciple, would say, " When I was in my greatest
danger, and the whole force Bonaparte could collect
in Europe was brought against me, though I believe
that he made every offer to the Sultan to attack me,
still he could never move the Sultan ; and in the day
'of my calamity the Sultan never fell upon me.
Therefore, in the day of the Sultan's calamity, when
some of his most valuable provinces are in a state of
rebellion, I will not interfere with him and those
provinces;'
'This
This,i we think, was the reasoning of
Austria. is also the reasoning England ought
to have adopted. because we in the day of our cala-
mity,
.when almost the whole Continent was against
ais, with a consummate
never General at the head of it, we
wereforsaken, much less assailed by the Turks,
we are now, in
whomconjunction with Russia

and France, treating in so scandalota a manner.—
Mr. Canning, if alive, might say, " We could
not help ourselves. It was not our interest to
interfere between the Sultan and the Greeks;
but if we do not go along with France and Russia in
severing Greece from Turkey,Russia will seize Greece,
and would then seize the whole of the European
part of Turkey. She would then have Constanti-
nople for her southern capital, Moscow for her
middle capital, and Petersburgh for her northern.
She would be then the strongest empire of which
there is any record. With such an empire she
might dictate to all Europe. Our Ministers, it is
preamble, saw the matter in this point of view, and
therefore thought it better to join Russia, and to
ward off the blow as long as they could, rather than
to experience the mortification of seeing Russia
carry into immediate effect what we have described.
Some people might say, if those were the views of
Russia, awhy not join the Turks, and prevent the
Russians from doing these things ? Our reply would
he, " The Debt prevents us ; for as long as we
have a Debt, the interest of which amounts to 30
millions a year, so long shall we not be able to make
war of any importance. We may be able to ma-
nage a trifling demonstration—as that, for instance,
of sending fire thousand men to Portugal ; or de-
stroying, at Navarin, ships whose destruction we
thought could he effected with impunity, and easily
accomplished—hut as to wage war against such a
Power as Russia, we have no chance, except we
should make up our minds to run the risk of destroy-
ing our system of paper money." All Etirope
knows the situation we are placed in by our Debt;
and all Europe is becoming more saucy to us every
day. The Ministers may gloss over things as much
as they please, and many may erect monuments to
the memory of Statesmen, and the papers in the
interest of Ministers may endeavour to palliate these
things, but the people of England have too much
sense to be altogether blinded.—Morning Herald.
We are sorry that Mr. Hunt did not succeed in
getting into the City Parliament. The Corporation
of London want such a man as Mr. Hunt among
them, to draw off their attention from jobs and
feasting, and to rouse them from the drowsiness
which, being too long accustomed to die jog-trot of
abuse, is but too apt to be engendered in brighter
models either of wisdom or purity than have of late
years found their way into the City Parliament.
When, however, we say that the Corporation
" want" such a man, the very context shows that
we make use of a wrong expression. The pains
they take to keep him out show that they want no
such intruder. But the public, which is more to the
purpose, want to see such a man as Mr. Hunt in a
situation where he may teaze and worry the old
Corporation hacks out of their feasting!, their re-
vellings, their oflice-sellings, their coal and corn
meterships, and the other snug concerns which are
paid for out of the citizens' money, while they are
heavily taxed for purposes to which such money
would, if their affairs were properly managed, be
applied. We trust, therefore, that Mr. Hunt, though
defeated, will not be dismayed; that lie will stick
to the skirts of the Corporation ; and that the inha-,
bitants of the Ward who have this year been so near
returning him will put him among the City sages
next year, who, when he gets there, will, no doubt,
revive the comedy of the very " Devil among the
Tailors."—/bid.

We ought to have mentioned yesterday, that there
is, we fear, no doubt of the embargo at Constanti-
nople having been re-imposed upon the merchant-
men of the Allied Powers before the last despatches
came away. The departure of the Ambassadors
was deferred no longer than until the result of the
Divan about to be held on the 29th should trans-
pire; but making all allowances for uncertainty in
Turkish affairs, it is only frank to state, that no hope
existed of a favourable issue to the deliberations of

the Council. We shall be surprised if the next ac-
counts from Mr. Canning are dated in the Turkish
capital. Still with a Cabinet like that of Turkey
no event can be called certain till it has actually
taken place.—Tinges.
It will be recollected, immediately after the forma-
tion of Mr. Canning's Administration, how very soon
the old Tories, who had then deserted the King in
a body, forgot their respectful language towards his
Majesty,—how soon, how very soon, their honey
was converted into gall. The general effect of this
abusive language upon the country, was to :lead to
the belief that they had no expectation of returning
to office; we were of a different opinion, and do
verily believe, that at that period they hoped to re-in-
state themselves by the dread which they thought that
they should create in the Royal mind through the
use of these scandalous imputations cast upon his
Majesty. Time, however, may have changed their
object; it is true, that what they begun early, they
continue late; but that which they (lid at first with
a view to inspire fear, they perpetuate in the indul-
gence
of vindictive spleen. At the beginning of
this career of virulence and invective against the
King, we observed, and with regret, that the Whigs
had sometimes, in the irritation of their long exclu-
sion from office, ventured to murmur against the dis-
pensations of the giverof office,bilt the language used
by those who had basked for years, we had almost said
for ages—in the Royal favour, was odious by its ex-
treme ingratitude : it is now become disgusting by
its incessant repetition. In the evening journal
which has been started by the excluded Tories, (and
to the support of which no inconsiderable portion of
talent has been brought) are daily tirades against
the King personally ; his domestic habits, his familiar
friends, his social parties are all made (so far as they
are capable of being so made) the subjects of ridi-
cule, derision, or invective. In the Standard of Dec.
10, and 17, we read as follows :

.(Extract from the Standard of Saturday, Dec. 8.)

" We have lately been addressed by several corres-
pondents upon a subject of peculiar delicacy, vie. the alarm-
ing change which, within a few years, seems to have taken
place in the system of government established by the late
King after he had arrived at the full maturity of his un-
derstanding, and released himself from the Bute faction.
" The two first monarchs of the house of Hanover
were, it is now ascertained, as absolutely governed by fa-
vourites, irresponsible favourites, as our own second Ed-
ward, or as Louis XIV., or as Louis XV. of France. The
Lune system of closet domination, acting, however, by a less
objectionable influence than that which ruled George I.
and George 11., was attempted at the accession of the late
King, and for a short time the attempt was successful.
But it was one of the earliest and noblest achievements
,of that unequalled Prince to shake off the dishonourable
contrnol, and to present himself to his people as the first
really ConstOginnal Prince that ever swayed the Eng-
lish sceptre: by thee& words we mean the first Sovereign
who made the spirit of Ile Constitution his guide ; the
first who rejected all advice save from his responsible
Ministers ; the first who accepted no Ministers who did
not seem to be recommended by the confidence of the
honest aruj thinking part of the community; and who
withheld from the Ministers so recommended, no part,
not even the most triiiing, of the proper patronage of their
offices,—the sole means which they could have of carrying
on the Government with honour to themselves and their
master, with advantage to the country, and with fidelity to
the Constitution.

" ft is not surprising that men should feel, even morbidly,
apprehensive of the effect of a departure ft urn a line of go-
vernment which has been crowned with such glorious re-
sults ; and to this excessive sensibility we must 4ttribute
it that we are daily importuned by correspondents to expose
the growth of a scheme of closet government, and over-
whelmed with tenders of proofs that a favourite family at
present constitutes the executive administration of the
country, and absorbs the whole patronage of the State.
Among these presumptive proofs it is suggested, as a thing
without example in the history of England, that a man
unknown as a theologian, ma saholar, and only distinguished
by having been a private tutor in the family alluded to,
eLould, at thirty-seven years of age, be promoted to the
richest bishopric in the British empire. Another among
these prima facie proofs not easily to lie rebutted is the ap-
pointment of a member of the same family—a man as little
;mown as a statesman or a military leader, as the fortunate
Bishop is in the walks of divinity and literature—to the
government of a province of immense importance to this
empire ; a province torn inwardly by discontent, and
menaced from without, by our most formidable rival—to
the government of Canada. These flagrant instances of
undeserved and injudicious promotion, reinforced by bun-

art& of less flagrant, but equally injudicious favours eon-
feired upon the :same family, make out a case of suspicion,
but they make nut no more, and we think that suspicion is,
in this case, an injustice to the King.
" His Majesty's love of retirement is universally known,
and as universally lamented. Its necessary effect is, that he
must depend upon others for his knowledge of public feel-
ing ; but upon whom can he rely, save upon those imme-
diately about his person ?
" And what can be more natural than that an incapable
and unpopular Administration, anxious only for their
places, should endeavour to bribe those persons to silence
or to praise, by any gift at their disposal—no matter how
extravagant?
" We do not say that in no case ought suspicion to be
entertained against the influence under which a king exer-
cises his office ; but we repeat it that there is full justifi-
cation for refusing, in the present case, to resign that con-
fidence which it is our pleasing duty to repose in the pupil
of Eldon—the patron of Liverpool—the friend of Welling-
ton—the liberator of Europe--aad the Sun of George the
Third. Let our correspondents but wait : a few months
must disclose the machinery at work. Before long they
will have to avow their approbation of our persevering con-
fidence in a Prince, who has been the pride and the object
of affection with English Tories; or they will learn that
Tories though we be, and, as such, zealous supporter. of
our prince, we acknowledge the claims of our country as
the highest claims that can be made upon us."
(From the Standard of Monday, Dec. 10.)

" The Whigs already anticipate, from the interview al-
luded to (the Duke of Wellington's visit to Windsor), an
arrangement of the Ministry by which they are to be ex-
cluded, and already raise an outcry against the private ad-
visers by whom, as they assert, this arrangement has been
suggested. This calculation is not unreasonable for Whigs,
and in their present condition. Their unpopularity is
great and growing, and they must feel that if the rapacity of
" the family" is not satiated, " the family" has received
as much as any ministry properly sensible of the inconve-
nience of an impeachment would venture to give. Bet, as
we are good-natured people, we will console the Whigs with
the assurance that they are in no danger of dismissal by an
arrangement which shall connect the Duke of Wellington
or Mr. Peel with any Administration, the head of which
shall be a Popish statesman like Lord Goderich. Upon this
point, the Duke and Mr. Peel are pledged, and they are
not men to abandon a pledge given in the face of the:
country."

(From the Standard, Dec. 17.)

" We copy the following from this morning's Times ;
we can add the authority of our own private information
to the assertion of the Times. Lord Goderich has certainly
tendered his resignation, and has soneented to withhold a
formal surrender of his office, only until a successor shall
he found

" There is, we have reason to believe, no doubt of the
fact, that Lord Goderich has tendered his resignation to his
Majesty, and that his Majesty has declined to accept it
without further comeideration on the part of his Lordship.
—ln the mean time, the Noble Viscount is stated to have
gone, o■ Saturday, to his brother's residence in Bedford-
shire, whence he will return on Wednesday. Some of:
Lord Goderich's friends are not without hopes that his
Lordship may yet be indeeed to remain in office.
." The fact of the tender of the resignation, which has
been so absurdly contradicted, partly from ignorance,
partly from interested motives, has been sent in a formal
and official communication to the Duke of Portland, who
is at Nice. We shall not speculate at present on the pro-
bable consequences of this event ; but we think we may
assure our readers, that the ultra faction have no chance of
return to power.'
"By the ultra faction ' the Times of course means the
Protestant statesmen who retired in April last, and these
who think with them : and we believe our contemporary
is quite right in his conjecture that they are not likely soon
to come into office. Many motives will concur to dissuade
them from engaging in the public service. The King and
the country have claims upon them, it is true, as they have
upon every man in the community ; but it would be doubly
unreasonable to press them into service so very soon after
the cavalier dismissal that they received last spring ; and
to set them to a penance at once so arduous and so little
merited by them as the task of unravelling the tangled
skein of Whig policy. This objection, however, the' Tory
faction,' might overcome ; but we apprehend there remain
others which are quite insurmountable. The Tories, we
doubt not. may have if they please a Protestant head to
the Ministry ; and if, having this, they should wish
to have an exclusively Protestant Cabinet (though
this in such case would not be necessary, according to
Mr. Peel's declared opinion), they may, we doubt
not, send to the care of their private affairs all the ge-
nerous Whigs, Lords, and Commons, who come to the
succour of the King, and to places and pensions. These
terms, we question not, the Tory faction may have to-
morrow; but to render these of value, there is one other
for which they must stipulate, because, as experience has
shown, without it no Ministers, however able or zealous, can
have a secure tenure of the power to serve their King and
country. This sins qua non is the King's undivided
confidence, of which the only acceptable proof is the re-
moval from the Royal Household of every one who has
presumed to abuse the opportunities afforded by irre-
sponsible offices to tamper with affairs, for which the offi-
cers of the government are to answer with their reputation,
perhaps with their lives and fortunes. The Tory Cabi-
net,' which shall take office while the present Lord Ste-
ward, for example, remains in his station, will deserve well
to be treated as the last Tory Cabinet was treated. A little
time, however—a little further experience of the Whigs,
and trucklers, and bargainers,—a few more proofs that a
Cabinet, to please the Sovereign at once, and to gain the
public confidence, cannot be put together at pleasurel—will

mature the occasion when the Tory faction must be called
into place, and when the King shall be once again sur-
rounded by a constitutional council.
" When that time alien arrive, we shall see the Duke of
Wellington, and Mr. Peel, and their friends, as earnestly
seeking office, as now we see them shun it ; because then
office can be honourably filled, and usefully for the country ;
whereas now office is a disgrace, and the Tory who holds
it does but incapacitate himself for the public service.
When they caa enjoy office honourably and usefully,—that
is, with a Protestant head, and free from closet controul,—
we may be sure that it is not the presence of one or two
feeble Whigs, like Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Tierney (men
who will make very amenable Tory underlings rather than
part with their pay), which will deter the 'Tory faction
from attending at the summons of their Sovereign."
Now, there certainly are in the country many to
whom such language and such remarks may be agree-
able : but that it should come from the Bathursts,
the Peels, the Westmorlands,—all this we say from
the Westmorlands, the Peels, the Bathursts, the
Eldons, the Lowthere, the Beckets,—in one word,
from the fag-end of the old Liverpool Administration,
and that, at'last, after not a twelvemonth's exclusion
from office, does argue a horrible malignity of nature
in such persons ! " Why, my Lords and Gentle-
men," we should say, " our very worthy and
approved good masters,"—(our Lords and Mas-
ters you have been long enough, Heaven knows),—
" though, no doubt, all the places and offices in the
kingdom are yours by prescription, yet his Majesty
has not invaded your rights for a long time ;—pray
suffer him for a little longer to indulge in the idea
that he is King and not you, without emptying
upon him the vessels of your wrath. Allow him
to enjoy—what but few Sovereigns can enjoy—the
solace of private friendship : or, if you will not
bear this, yet, upon a mere principle of economy,
husband your malice, that it may last the longer;
for, should his Majesty still continue to exclude
you, your terms and vocabularies of abuse will be
exhausted. We think we see you laugh at the word
' economy;' yes, we know you always despised it;
but that was in the national concerns, and the nation
is now reaping the blessings of that your con-
tempt for economy. But the present is a con-
cern of your own, and that, you know, is a different
thing I Be sparing in your provision of slander, for
you may have to wander long in the desolation of
the wilderness.". --Times .

The organs of the Whig division of the Admi-
nistration are labouring to attract public attention
to the social and domestic habits of the King, iu a
manner which too plainly shows that this wretched
party is now reduced to a situation so desperate,
that it will reject no means, however unworthy, to
accomplish its objects, or to gratify its resentments.
Under the thin disguise of imputing to the eminent
Statesmen who, in obedience to the dictates of ho-
nour and conscience, retired a few mouths ago from
the service of the country, insinuations the most
unfounded and the most disrespectful to the Sove-
reign, the Whig and Radical Press is now busily
engaged in disseminating throughout the country
the false and calumnious idea that the Ministerial
arrangements of Great Britain, under the reign of
George
and
thea
Fourth,pers are dependent upon closet
oal favouritism. We think we
influence
are warranted in describing this suggestion as false

and calumnious towards the king, the whole
tenor of • whose conduct since he assumed the
reins of Government has been such as evinces
great firmness of mind, great vigour and soli-
dity of understanding, an intimate knowledge
and a deep feeling of his constitutional duties. We
know with the utmost certainty that the suggestion
did not originate with, and has never received the
least sanction from any of the distinguished indivi-
duals to whom the Whig and Radical Journals affect
to ascribe it, or from any portion of the Press at-
tached to their principles. How the report in ques-
tion originated we profess not to know. It probably
had no higher source than the spirit of restless cu-
riosity and adventurous speculation ; whichiseeing so
many things that were strange, must needs infer the
existence of others more strange; which guesses at
the hidden causes of political as well as of natural
phenomena, for which it cannot otherwise account;
and which could not see an Administration, conspi-
cuous alike for the want of talent and of principle,
existing in England, without rushing to the rash
and unwarranted conclusion, that the King of Eng-
land had surrendered his noble nature and his regal
functions to the guidance of feelings merely per-
sonal, and had become accordingly the dupe and
victim of intrigue. George the Fourth will, we
have no •doubt, ere long, gloriously rectify a con-
clusion so prejudicial to his fame. But, however
the suggestion so injurious to the Majesty of Eng-
land may have arisen, the feelings which impel the
Organ of the Whig and Radical division of the Ca-
binet to assist its cunning at the present moment
cannot be mistaken. They are smarting in the an-
guish of a recent and severe disappointment, and
they have permitted resentment to triumph over
prudence. Had the post of pre-eminence, recently
abdicated in disgust by Lord Goderich, been offered
to the Marquis of Lansdowne, or had even room
been found in the Cabinet for their idol, Lord Hot-
land, the public may be assured that the Whig and
Radical Journals would still have maintained a dis-
creet silence upon all that relates to the High Of-
ficers of the Royal Household, or to the social en-
joyment of the King.—Morning Post.
The peculiar conduct pursued by the different
Members of the British Cabinet can scarcely be
said to have any parallel in our annals. No indi-
vidual amongst them appears to act as though he
were the real possessor of his particular office, and
when we look for unity of design and firmness of
execution in the several high offices of the State, we
find nothing but evasion—if not the utter denial of
all official responsibility. We are not so unreason-
able as to expect that even so small a number as a
dozen educated individuals must agree to the very
shade in all their opinions, upon our foreign and do-
mestic policy; but we do expect from them, to act
upon some general principles, which, though ad-
mitting of occasional modification when put into
operation, will nevertheless be essentially the same.
But this is wholly out of the question with the pre-
sent Administration, who literally seem astounded at
the situation into which ill-directed ambition or
mistaken views of legislative duty have plunged them.
They have not the nerve or the capacity to advance;
they have not the greater courage or magnanimity
to withdraw from the field, where danger and
disgrace alike await them. They dare not face the
Nation, as our rulers are always bound to do ;—in
short, hey so well know their utter weakness and
incapacity—and the Nation so strongly feels it—that
their continuance in office is contrary to the doctrine
of all reasonable probability. Were the Members
who compose the Cabinet just emerged from boy-
hood—had they just finished their Collegiate course,
and stated to the world that their knowledge was
confined to books, and that they had never ven-
tured upon the study of man, his modes of think-
ing, or the conflicting motives that direct all hu-
man actions—then indeed we could at ones ac-
count for the measures they have adopted. But
when, on the other hand, we know their ages;
their opportunities for acquiring information ; their
voracious appetite for place, and the pertinacity
with which they adhere to it—we cannot but la-
ment the destiny which is likely to await as, if
the full grown Whigs and the younger shoots of
Whig-lings are to remain at the head of our affairs.
But this we cannot bring ourselves to believe; and
if we were at all sceptical upon the subject, their
leading Journal has in a sensible admonitory article,
strongly recommended them to leave a " tumbling
earnest attention.tode deliberate,
in which they alone may be endangered.
This is timely as well as wholesome advice, and,
bWer:ete t, t
however unpalateable, it is worthy of their most
but
atth oeyumeeaymnaohtetuakp their
take too
long
a
minds, and leave the " House," before the neces=
sity shall arise for using an unceremonious method
of inducing them to do so. The Whig leading
Journal begs the motley Cabinet to take care of
" the swerving column," adding very significantly,
that neither cramps nor props can keep them long
together. This is a fair and candid acknowledg-
ment; but it is not more than we have ourselves
repeatedly asserted. We now again repeat, neither
cramps nor props, nor delusion, nor intrigue, can
keep the present Cabinet long together.—lbid.