The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-24 00:00:00

ning has formed an opinion upon it perfectly in
unison with that of the Sovereign and of the great
majority of the United Kingdom, but that he has
completely carried his point. The neutrality of the
Cabinet upon the main question, will therefore, we
doubt not, be an honest neutrality; for it must be
evident to the 'Marquis of Lansdown, as it is to
every body else, that a different course would be
calculated to excite life in the minds of the claim-
ants, and to raise expectations which the agitators
would not fail promptly to turn to their own mis-
chievous purposes. This question unfortunately
occasions enough of ferment in Ireland already : and
the Noble Marquis, therefore, fully aware of this un-
pleasant fact, no longer persists in wishing for an
organization of the Irish Government so likely to
iNerease the evil. To tantalize a numerous body of
the people by tne excitement of hopes which with
safety to the State can never be gratified, in order
to assuage animosities produced only by a mischiev-
on% faction, which we ought rather to subdue than
encourage, would be certainly a novel, but we appre-
hend, not a very happy political experiment. The
probable result of the negotiations to which we have
iliutled will be the following new appointments:—
The Marquis of Lansdown, Secretary of State for
the Home Department. —The'Earl of Carlisle, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland.—The Duke of Devonshire,
Lord Chamberlain.—The Marquis Alesley, Go-
vernor-General of India.—Morning Post.
It is not a mere flight of the imagination, or
a mere physical abstraction, to sty Great Bri-
tain is, from natural and inevitable causes, placed
midway between the opinions of the old and of
the new world—between despotism and demo-
cracy—between an obstinate adherence to an-
cient prejudices, and an intemperate desire for
mischievous innovations, It is the perfect re-
presentation of every interest, and the practical
admixture of every power, in our constitution,
which have placed us in this most enviable, yet
complicated, position. During the fearful years
of the French Revolution, we alone, of the

European nations, were preserved from the ex-
cesses of any popular fury, or the re-action of
any despotic strength, by this admirable balance
of the most opposite principles. Through that
alarming period it was the first duty of aStates-
man, "when the equipoise of the vessel in which
he sailed was endangered by overloading it on
one side," to carry the weight of his talents and
his influence " to that which might preserve its
equipoise." In this principle of the great mas-
ter of political philosophy, Mr. Canning neces-
sarily united ; and by his eloquence, and by his
pen, he effected as much as any man, Mr. Pitt
and Mr. Burke only excepted, in carrying the
vessel through those stormy seas. Those who
accuse Mr. Canning of inconsistency, when they
behold him opposing the moral power of Great
Britain to the headstrong career of the blindest
tyranny, unquestionably forget, that the science
of politics is essentially progressive. Our coun-
try, as we have said, stands midway between the
two extreme principles which diviue the world ;
and it is, we conceive, the highest merit of him
whe directs the energies of the nation, that the
complexion of his mind, and the character of his
policy, should be of this mixed and balanced
nature. To run before the popular intelligence
—to drag it forward in its natural desire for
change and experiment—to stimulate its unavoid-
able jealousies of rank and property—to goad on
its hatred of arhitr?ry governments—
this would, indeed, be a most unwise and unstates-
manlike course: but, on the other hand, to per-
mit the intellect of the people to- be greatly in
advance of that of their rulers—to deny all im-
provement because improvement necessarily in-
volves some change—to attempt "to confine
power, authority, and eiistinction, to blood, and
names, and titles"—to avow a sympathy with all
tyranny and intolerance, in opposition to the in-
evitable tendencies of the human if it
could he called a system of policy, would preci-
pitate the very evils which it blindly pretended
to resist. Let any man who objects to the pre-
sent head of his Majesty's Government, candidly
examine the political events of the last five
years, and the actual position of the country,
and say, if they demonstrate any of those mis-
chievous preferences for a democratical ascend.
ancy, which we have described. " Time," says
Lord Bacon, "is the great innovator." It is
the part of a wise Government, to follow the
march of this sound instructor. Improvements
are only dangerous, when they are very far in
advance of tire natural, reasonable, and univer-
sal demand for them. It is impossible fcr any
person to contemplate the immense strides which
the mind, and the resources of this country have
made, since the peace, and say, that the Govern-
ment alone sh,,uld be stationary. But it is the
character of all improvements, to create jealousies
amongst classes and individuals. The great
landed proprietor, who believes that high rents and
high prices are essential to the prosperity of the
State, dreads the repeal of a Corn Law which
amounts to a prohibition of foreign produce. The
shipowner, who believes that the Navigation Laws
are the foundation of ou-t- commercial prosperity, con-
siders that the reciprocrl trade of the world ought to
remain upon the same footing as in the time of
Charles 11. The lawyer, who his spent many a
dreary year in mastering the intricacies and evasions
of hundreds of obsolete or contradictory statutes af-
firms that Mr. Peel's simplification of the Penal Code
is a most desperate and mischievous innovation. All
these objections are natural enough; but it has been
long since established, " that when men are too
much confined to professional and faculty habits, they
are rather disabled than qualified for whatever de-
pends on a comprehensiv, connected, view of the
various, complicated, external, and internal interests
which go to the formation of that multifarious thing
called a State." We would advise those who are
alarmed, or who affect to be alarmed, at the inno-
vating propensities, of the new Ministry, to bear in
mind this axiom, that the morals and the intelligence
of a people must be reflected in its government.
The Ministry of the King of England must be ad-
vancing, because the people are advancing; the
Ministry of such countries as the Papal States must
be retrograding., because the people are retrograd-
ing. " The Cardinal Della Somaglia," (the Se-
cretary of State to the Pope) says R recent traveller,
" is reported to have had the intention of diminish-
ing the public expenditure, by abolishing the charge
of lamp-lighting; because, he is related to have
said, in his youth, no streets were ever lighted at
night, and that, nevertheless, all went on just as
well." Our traveller proceeds to say, that " the
Committee for Vaccination has been lately sup-
pressed as an innovation." The Cardinal Della
Somaglia is only one of a species, who flourish,
though not quite so luxuriantly, under less genial
skies than those of Rome.—New Times.

It is not uninstructivc to observe, with
what different sentiments the triumph of Mr.
Canning has been regarded by different clas-
ses of persons on the Continent. Every
where it has excited the keenest mortifica-
tion and disappointment in that bigotted faction,
who hate the free institutions of England, and
would gladly, in order to diminish her influence,
plunge the world into war. They look upon
Mr. Canning as their bitterest enemy, and they
are in the right to do so. Their hatred is eu-
logy ; and it is a eulogy which Mr. Canning has
merited throughout his life. On the other hand,
the partisans of innovation—the men who arc
anxious to abolish what exists, for the chance of
liittiq upon sorneththz better—exult in the ascend'