The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

If Mr. Canning is not the most ungrateful of
men, he will be sensible of the obligation he is
under to his quondam colleagues, for they have
done all they could to remove the most serious
difficulties by which he was beset. The length
of time which elapsed before the King's decision
was made, arose out of the natural and amiable
reluctance which his Majesty felt to part with
the men who had for so many years surrounded
his throne ; especially one individual whom he
honcelred with peculiar marks of confidence and
esteem. Their c onduct put an end to all the
scruples suggested by delicacy. or feeling on
their account. The pretensions they advanced,
if not to dictate to the King, to exercise a veto
upon his choice, were not only personally offen-
sive to his Majesty, but at once identified the
Royal dignity and independence with that ap•
pointment, which the public wish, as well a.; the
public exigencies, had already pointed out. What-
ever may be the ultimate result of these changes,
one immense good is already accomplished, in
getting rid of this batch of old Tories, who have
stuck like leeches to the state, and have sucked
away the blood without producing any salutary
effect on the system. Every body agrees that
they have been too long in office. They had ac-
customed themselves to consider their places as
a species of property, any interference with which
they deemed a personal affront, and no reform or
measure of public utility was to be thought of,
which might possibly militate against the preju-
dices, or curtail the emoluments, of any one of
the tribe. Of the Duke of Wellington it is pain-
ful to speak but in terms of admiration and re-
spect ; but it is fit be should be told that his past
exploits do not entitle him to dictate to the King
what Minister he shall choose, or what measures
he shall adopt. Great Generals are not always
able statesmen. Marlborough and Eugene,
indeed, were equally celebrated in the
cabinet and the field, but Turenne, Conde, and Vil-
lars, were never called to the eouncils of Louis XIV.
Mr. Canning has now a career open to him worthy
of the noblest ambition; his own firmness, and the
folly and presumption of his enemies, have made him
undisputed lord of the ascendant. Of one danger,
hot-,:ver, we think it necessary again and again to
warn him. He has been through life the idol of a
little circle of friends, whose attachment, however
cheering through the vicissitudes of his unequal course,
must not be requited by any sacrifice of the high
duties which are now imposed upon him. If he
hopes to make his Administration efficient and re-
spectable, no partiality must seduce him into an in-
judicious dispensation of his favours. The Tories
treated the Government as if it belonged to them-
selves. Mr. Canning will best prove how superior
he is to such selfish views, by preferring men who
have ability to serve the state, rather than those who
know no duty but that of pleasing their patron and
friend.—Times.

The actual posture of affairs with regard to the
Ministry we understand on good authority to be
this :—After a deliberation on Friday night, it
was resolved by a body of the Whig party, that
they would facilitate the formation of a Cabinet
with Mr. Canning for its chief, which should be
so composed as to secure to the country the
adoption of a liberal policy at home and abroad.
It was therefore the earnest desire of the meet-
ing that Lord Lansdown should accede to the
proposition made to him on the part of Mr.
Canning. The difficulty made by the Noble
Marquis was not distinctly with reference to the
Catholic Question, but was directed rather to
the constitution of the local Government of Ire-
land, which it appears a high personage now re-
quires to contain a preponderancy of the anti-
Catholic leaven. The continuance of Lord
.Manneri in Ireland we must assume to be one
reason for Mr. Plunkett's acceptance ,of the
English Mastership of the Rolls, an office which
it is not easy to imagine that the Right :lon.
Centleman would have chosen, had one of suffi-
ci'er.t dignity and of more immediate connection
with I. Aland been equally within his attainment.
Lord Lansdown left town early on Saturday, to settle
some urgent, private business. His Lordship's final
determination, therefore, could not well be made
known before this morning, or very late last night.
The Irish Members most strenuous on behalf of
emancipation, are, we learn, those who declare in the
most emphatic terms their indifference about the
persons of the Irish Government, but their anxiety
for its sound and liberal principles, as warranted by
the acceptance of office by Lord Lansdown here.
We may add to the preceding observations, that the
Dnke of Devonshire left town on Saturday night at
the King's desire, we believe, and certainly at the
express desire of Mr. Canning, to renew immediately
the negociation with Lord Lansdown. The general
impression seems to be, that an union of Mr. Can-
mint's friends, and some of the leading Whigs, will
take place. We cannot of course, give a decided
opinion.—Eid.

The unbounded adulation which the first news
of Mr. Canning's triumph in the Cabinet drew
forth from some part of the Press begins already
to be tamed down into the language of respectful
remonstrance. He who was worshipped but
yesterday as something more than mortal, is now
reasoned with as mere man, lialele to some of the
infirmities of our common nature. His flatterers
even begin to offer him advice, as if they doubted
the wisdom, and had some distrust of the omni-
Po•ence of their new political divinity. They go
so far ~t. 5 to tell him that the charm of his first
success wi_ll wear off, if he should continue to
give proofs of tardiness and vacillation in filling
up the places of ,hisretired colleagues. They
egotism" of character in
hint at something like
the idolized Premier, an warn him not to lead
himself and his confiding govereign into dia.
culties, by- endeavouring to form a7l administra-
tion solely from the ranks of his personA friends.
A coalition between Mr. Canning and the " MO-
aerate portion" of the Whigs is suggested a. the
best mmHg to, give a new Cabinet efficiency and
duration. the moderate portion of the Whigs
we presume is meant, that part of the Opposition
in Parliament which does not subscribe to the
doctrine of Radical Reform. Now; if there be
any thing like principle among politicians, such
a combination appears to- us impracticable. The
Whigs who are not " Radicals," are nevertheless
pleJged to what is called a moderate Reform in
Parliament, and Mr. Canning is as decidedly
pledged against it. As long as both parties are
true to their recorded confessions of political faith,
this question raises a barrier of adamant between
the Premier and the Whigs. It is because Mr.Can-
ming will not allow of Reform in any shape that he
opposed with all the energy, though not with the
usual success of his eloquence, the motion of
Lord Archibald Hamilton for a Committee to
inquire into the state of the Scotch burghs, on
which occasion we recollect he described any
attempt at reforming even, the most objectionable
part of the system of representation, as the be-
ginning of proceedings that would bring upon
the country all the horrors that characterised the
French Revolution. How then can the Whigs
and he coalesce, without a sacrifice of principle on
one side or the other ? If the sacrifice should
be on the part of Mr. Canning, how little will
he then look in comparison with the retired Mi-
nisters, whortys up for the sake of consistency, the