The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The ministerial arrangements were, we believe,
all settled yesterday morning, according to our
prediction ; btrt, this important event having
taken place, it was determined not to move for
the new writs in the evening, in order that Mr.
Beaumont's motion, which was for to-night,
might be disposed of, whilst all the Ministers
were in the House. The Hon. Member, how-
ever, postponed his motion till Tuesday next, on
the ground of the expected accession to the Ca-
binet. Mr. Brougham reprehended this delay ;
and on the part of Government put it to Mr.
Beaumont, whether he pursued a fair and manly
course towards either those who had already en-
tered, or those who were entering into office, to
suspend such a motion over the heads of both,
when they were ready and anxious to meet it ?
The Hon. Member, however, less prompt to
attack than the objects of his attack to defend,
adherekto the postponement of his motion. It is,
however, now questioned whether it will ulti-
mately he made, the opposition beginning to
doubt their own 'strength, and even a seconder
being " to seek :4 the new writs will therefore
be moved for immediately. We seize this mo-
ment of the completion of the Ministry to say a
few words upon its incipient course. We ob-
serve that the Dissenters are moving for a repeal
of the Test and Corporation Acts; and it pro-
bably may not be long before some step be taken
either in or out of the House towards Parlia-
mentary Reform ; whilst it is notorious that the
ex-Tories—one might almost say in consequence
of an understanding with the friends of the mea-
sures just mentioned, are pressing forward
the instantaneous consideration of the Ca-
tholic question. The Ministry will, there-
fore, under these circumstances, find that
its birth takes place, like that of the young
phoenix, in a flame. Were it at once to
make itself the advocate of these three theoretic
schemes,—Reform in Parliament, repeal of the hia-
bilities of Dissenters, and Catholic Emancipation,
(none of which we impugn singly, and the last of
which we strongly recommend),—we ' are certain
that an alarm would be created in the country, of
which it is not easy to calcUlate the result. Were
we in the place of Ministers, then, we should leave
the new mooters of these questions to their own
efforts, simply supporting or opposing them by indi-
vidual votes or speeches, and not bringing the accu-
mulated influence of Government to bear upon them
in any way. The sense of Parliament, and the un-
fettered feeling of the public, may thus probably be
known upon each of them ; and no Ministry, how-
ever Tory or ultra-Royalist, can prevent the too
ardent friends of any measure from obtruding it upon
the public attention at any time they prease. Upon
another subject, however, we think the Whig part
of the Administration deeply pledged. We mast
hope its Members have not come into office without
a clear understanding of the future course with
respect to the public expenditure,—that it is to be
greatly reduced,—and that all our establishments are
to be put upon a footing better suited to the present
condition of the country. If the Administration
have talents, let them be shown in the most useful
way—in the alleviation of the public burdens.— •
Times.

Another opportunity was afforded to Mr.
Huskisson, by Mr. Whitmore's motion on Tues-
day night, to satisfy the,country that it may re-
pose with confidence on the soundness of those
free maxims with regard to commerce, which
have within these few years begun to supersede
the old system of restraint and prohibition. The
object of the motion being to institute a Com-
mittee of Inquiry into the state of the trade be-
tween Great Britain and India, and the course
of argument leading to an illustration of the ad-
vantages to be derived from a removal of the em-
barrassments under which that trade now labours,
Mr. Huskisson took occasion to bear testimony,
as in former instances, to the truth and value of
the principles asserted by the mover ; and ob-
jected to an immediate compliance with his mo-
tion, only, first, because the time must come
when the inquiry called for would execute itself,
namely, before the expiration of the Charter,
now enjoyed, and, according to some people,
abused by the East India Company ; and, 2dly,
because many and most important interests re-
qttired that 4‘ great changes should not be hur-
ried on," lest the very objects in view might be
defeated by eager and unwise precipitation. It
was quite agreed upon by Mr. Whitmore and
Mr. Huskisson, that from the excess in the Lao-
duction of West India sugar over the home de-
mand, the price of the article has not been raised
by the artificial monopoly which the inferior duties
as compared with those on the sugars of the East,
might be presumed to have created on behalf of the
former against the British market. A subject
pushed forward somewhat industriously by the Mem-
ber for Norwich, and tacked on to that of Indian
commerce, was made the vehicle for some sharp
strictures, in the form of insinuations, against Sir
Robert Farquhar, late Governor of the island of
Mauritius. It was alleged b 7 Mr. Wm. Smith, that
the quantity of sugar now manufactured in , that
island was four or five times what it had been at
the period of its capture by Great Britain; and that
the increase could be accounted for no otherwise
than by a toleration since given to the slave-trade.
Sir Robert Farquhar indignantly, and with great
though not unnatural warmth, repelled this gratui-
tous attack on his character, and referred to evi-
dence given before Parliament,—to the Secretary
for the Colonies,--and to the despatches of Sir
Lowry Cole, for proof that no instance of slave-
trading had occurred af_lviauritius since the year
1821 and that with respect to those of previous
date, Sir Robert had done all that the law permit-
ted, to punish or redress them. Mr. Wilmot Hor-
ton took up the defence of the late Governor, who
had been, in his opinion, attacked irregularly, and
for a purpose not altogether fair. Mr. Brougham
advised the Hon. Baronet " to meet the accusations
" as often as they should be brought forward against
" him." Mr. Whitmore's motion was withdrawn ;
but the principles on which it had been made seem
to have acquired additional strength and weight
from the discussion.—lbid.

Our readers will see from.our Parliamentary
Report, that Mr. Beaumont's Motion on the
subject of the New Ministry, which stood for
this day, was postponed by him to Tuesday next,
"in consequence of the belief that some impor-
tant changes had been, or were about to be,
niadF in the Administration." Mr. Brougham
put it to the candour of his Honourable Friend
(Mr. Beaumont) " whether he treated either
those who were already in the Government, or
those who by possibility might intend shortly to
acceed to it, with fairness in putting off his mo-
tion from time to time, and thus hanging over
their heads a notice of this sort." Mr. Beau-
mont, however, expressed his determination to
wait the result of the changes which had been
alluded to, before bringing forward his Motion.
It appears to us- hardly possible for M. Beau-
mont and the Ministry to come to any tangible
issue. His object is not to ascertain the power
of the Crown, either in making choice of 'Minis-
ters, or dismissing them at pleasure ; for he can-
not bring the subject of Provisional Government
as it is called, 'before the House, without en-
tering on the whole of the extensive question
Above alluded to. Mr. Beaumont will not take
the composition of the Ministry as it now exists,

and submit a motion to the House, on the subject
of the fitness or unfitness of those holding office for
their respective situations. A motion whiCh has
for object neither to ascertain the King's preroga-
tive in choosing and dismissing Ministers, nor to in-
terpose an opinion on a Ministry actually in exis-
tence, may well be said to be in nubibus, for it is
impossible to discuss the qualities of Ministers not
yet named. Mr. Beaumont's object, however, is
not to be mistaken. As it is rumoured that changes
in the composition of the Ministry are about to take
place, if he like the changes he will submit a mo-
tion expressing his approbation of the composition
of the Ministry, or he will withdraw his notice al-
together. If he do not like the changes, why then
he will impeach the composition of the Ministry.—
In the meantime, Ministers may remain provisional
as long as they please, and Mr. Beaumont may hang
his Motion over their heads as long as' he pleasses.
.---11lorning Chronicle.

It is a curious question of political morality,
which of the two parties, the Canning or the
Whig, have most deeply degraded themselves,
and most entirely forfeited the respect and
confidence of the country by their unnatural and
unprincipled coalition ; nor can a final adjudica-
tion be made to each, of its proper portion of
the common infamy, till we learn from the
measures of the new Administration (for from
such men'professions ofcourse can go for nothing),
how much of principle has been surrendered on
the one hand to the restless desire of supremacy,
and how much bartered on the other for the
emoluments of office. When we behold the

men who have ever been the most strenu-
ous assertors of popular rights, the prompt
apologists of popular excesses, the fierce de-
nouncers of whatever new restraints have be-
come necessary during occasional periods of
popular delusion and effervescence—range them-
selves under the political banners of one who
of all modern Statesman has shewn himself the

least indulgent to the errors of the populace,
the most vehement supporter of all measures of
severity, the foremost upon every occasion to re-
quire that the hands of authority should be
strengthened—when we see the advocates and
the abettors of Democratic Revolution in every
country unite themselves with him who has been
distinguished as one of the most eloquent ,nod
Haughty asserters of kingly prerogative, as one
Of the most bold and energetic defenders of
whatever is most Aristocratic in our own vene-
rable institutions—when we see elements natu-
rally so hostile thus forced into combination by
the undisguised agency of sordid self-interest and
insatiable ambition, we are compelled, in what-
ever proportions we may divide it between the
two parties, to conclude that the aggregate of
ignominy is enormous, that it must in the end
prove fatal to both, or that it must shed everlast-
ing disgrace upon the nation by which its revolt-
ing exhibition is endured. Judging, however,
as we are compelled to judge, only by what
-is past, we cannot but allot the larger share
of the delinquency to him who fills the
Most elevated station. It is not on account of that
station, neither is it because he might on many
aecounts have been expected to be peculiarly
careful of his Political reputation—a reputation
which, although not without many flaws, was
still worth preserving : nor yet is it because of the
disappointment which his conduct has inflicted
upon us in common with all the respectable portion
of his former admirers, that we are disposed to lay the
heaviest censure upon him. It is, because in
looking back upon recent transactions we per-
ceive that the blandishments and caresses which
are now sufficiently intelligible, which preceded
and smoothed the way for the disgraceful junc-
tion, proceeded invariably from him who ought
to have been the most incapable of such arts.
We have space to notice but one instance of
these blandishments and caresses—but it is a
finished and complete specimen :—We mean the
celebrated speech on the affairs of Portugal.
This speech, in its tone, temper, and spirit—an
accurate, that is to say, a servile imitation of one
delivered by Mr. Brougham at the period of
the French invasion of Spain—was, it is now ob-
vious, intended to propitiate the admirers, noble and
ignoble, of that respectable politician. It produced
upon them its designed effect ; but it produced also
other effects, riot at the moment so desirable. It
alarmed the consistent and honourable Statesmen
who were the colleagues of the eloquent Speaker,
and whose confidence he thought it convenient for
some time longer to retain : and it produced unequi-
vocal symptoms of displeasure from the representa-
tives of those foreign Courts which it threatened
and insulted. In this dilemma, it became necessary
for the representative of the Majesty of Englai:d to
print a speeeh, differing essentially from that which
he had tittered, or, to express the same idea in more
homely phrase, to eat his words. It was by this
new, ingenious, and dignified device, that he -con-
trived at once to calm the suspicions of his actual
colleagues, to allay the just displeasure of Foreign
Monarchs, the Allies of England, and to allure his
former antagonists by the semblance of having be-
come a convert to their disorganizing and revolu-
tionary creed. The watchful and eager Whigs were
not likely to forget the maxim, that " out of the full-
ness of the heart the mouth speaketh"—nor, on the
'other hand, were his charitable Colleagues, or the
Foreign Powers, whose respect and confidence they
commanded, likely to refuse him the benefit of what
seemed to be a prompt and spontaneous disavowal.
He now, accordingly, enjoys the short-lived triumph
•of short-sighted cunning.—Morning Post.
.We were highly gratified with the late Mr.
Robinson's reply to Lord Redesdale. It ap-
pears to us singular that there should be so
much ignorance respecting agriculture, manufac-
tures, and commerce ; as if, so long as people
eat, drink, clothe, lodge, will have entertain-
ments, and that we cannot do every thing for
ourselves, there must not necessarily be agricul-
ture, trade, and commerce. Agriculture, we
admit, is the root of all things, for all things
spring from the land. Lord Redesdale and
others deprecate the reception of corn, because,
say they, if corn be imported land will go un-
cultivated. This, we have often asserted, is a
false conclusion to come to, for if we produced
no corn at all, we must produce some other thing
from the land to pay for the corn received from
other countries. And it matters not to the land-
lord, the farmer, or the labourers, whether the
land they own, rent, or cultivate, produces corn
or sheep's wool, or any other the produce of the
soil, to pay for the corn received' from a foreign
country. Lord Redesdale and others say,—we
can pay for corn in gold or silver if we import
it—there is no necessity to pay for it by means
of the production. of British land ; but we deny
this. We cannot pay for the whole of our con-
sumption of corn, supposing that we imported
all, except with the production of the British
ground, for we have not gold and silver to the
required amount. We have not more altogether
than twenty millions' worth of gold and silver,
and our consumption of corn is equal, we be-
lieve, to one hundred millions a-year. If, there-
fore, we imported in any one year our consump-
tion of one hundred millions, and in payment
we first of all gave the gold and silver we pos-
sessed, which is only to the amount of twenty
- millions, still we should have to pay a sum of
eighty millions to make good the difference ; and
that could not be accomplished but by means of

remitting eighty millions' worth of the pro-
ductions of Great Britain. This simple arith-
metical statement, therefore, we think, iiiocks
down all the arguments of Lord Redesdale
and others. We will endeavour further to
simplify the matter. We will suppose Lord Redes-
dale to be owner and cultivator of 1,000 acres of
land, arid that as he cannot grow corn so cheap as
he can receive it from Hamburgh, of course Lord
Redesdale would grow no corn. We will further
suppose Lord Redesdale to be possessed of a capi-
tal, in gold and silver, of only 1001., and we will
suppose that the consumption of corn in any one
year of Lord Redesdale and his labourers to be
I,oool.—well, Lord Redesdale imports his year's
consumption to the amount of 1,0001., and lie re-
mits to Hamburgh, in part payment, his capital in
gold and silver to the amount only of 100/. But
Lord Redesdale would owe to the Hamburgh mer-
chant 9001. Now how is the Hamburgh merchant
to be paid by Lord Redesdale ? Why, the latter
must raise from his land, by means of his labourers,
produce of one description or other to the amount
of 9001., in order to meet the Hamburgh merchant's
demands. True, Lord Redesdale might say, in
answer to this, but I can send in payment cotton
or silk manufactured goods. But then we would
ask his Lordship, how he could procure those goods,
except he were to give in exchange the produce
arising from his land to the amount of nine hundred
pounds ? Lord Redesdale is an excellent lawyer,
but, like most lawyers, he is a bad arithmetician, or
he could not have put forth such nonsense as much
of that which we published, about a month since,
Under the name of resolutions. It would be much
better for lawyers and statesmen, if, when they
were at school or college, they were instructed
more than they usually are in the science of figures.
—Morning Herald.
Our readers will be surprised to learn, that
the Hon. Member for Stafford, after having
given a formal notice of his motion respecting
the new Ministry, for this evening, and after all
the public business which stood in the Order-
book of the House, appointed for discussion to-
night, had been postponed, that no other ques-
tion might pre-occupy or divide the attention of
Members—has thought proper to defer the mat-
ter till next Tuesday .1 If this be not the very
last degree of trifling, not only with the House
itself, but with the Government and the 'coun-
try, we know not what can be so considered.—
Mr. Brougham, very naturally, complained of
the proceeding, and put it to the candour and
sense of justice of the Hon. Member, whether
he was dealing fairly with those whom his mo-
tion was to affect ; but Mr. Beaumont turned
mysterious all at once ; talked of " very good
reasons for the course he was pursuing ;" and
that " he understood changes were about to take
place, which would render his motion unneces-
sary altogether." 'Where the Hon. Member
picked up his his secrets, we know not. Per.:
haps, it was from the Times of yesterday, which
very authoratively informed its readers, that
Lords Lansdown and Carlisle, with Mr. Tier-
ney," were to " take their places in the Cabinet"
that day ; and that " writs were to be moved yes-
terday evening, for Messrs. Tierney, Abercromby,
and Sir J. Macdonald." No writs, however,
were moved for ; nor were any fresh places oc-
cupied in the Cabinet. The truth, we suspect,
is, that every day, and every hour, diminishes
the confidence of the party who have arrayed
themselves in pre-determined hostility to the
Government, and they are sorely puzzled what
to do. They have prematurely committed them-
selves
too much ; and, while they perceive that
to go on would only be committing themselves
still further, they have not nerve enough to re-
main. where they are, and thus tacitly acknow-
ledge their indiscretion. Mr. Beaumont, we
confess, does not seem likely to help them out
of their dilemma. They feel the ground sliding
from under them—their courage is oozing fast
away, like the valour of " Acres"—but surely
the House, from a proper regard to its own cha-
racter, and from a sense of justice towards his
Majesty's Ministers, will not permit these fri-
volous impedimenis to public business, and these
vague menaces of hostility, to continue much longer.
We repeat, if there be in either House of Parlia-
ment a body of individuals, respectable, from their
numbers, and their influence, who conscientiously
believe that his Majesty's Government, as now con-
stituted, is not entitled to the confidence of Parlia-
ment, and of the country, it is their duty to place
that question fairly at issue. If they shrink from
this manly, honest, and constitutional course, let
them, as they have an undoubted.right to do, each
in his separate capacity, carp, and cavil, and
declaim, against the measures of Ministers ; but,
in that case, the value of their hostility must
be in the ratio of the value which the country may
put upon their opinions, and not derive fictitious im-
portance from the assumed concurrence of a nu-
merous and influential class. We are sincerely de-
sirous of seeing this matter put upon a right basis;
and it can only be done by one general and compre-
hensive discussion, which may relieve it from the
mass of contradiction, misrepresentation, and of
studied perversion, which a system of desultory and
acrimonious attack has heaped upon it.—New Times.

It will be recollected, that'abOut January last,
two youths, named George Houghton and James
Bishop, who had been convicted at the Old
Bailey Sessions of robbing Mr. Fuller, a surgeon,
on the highway at Bethnal-green, were ordered
for execution. A doubt was raised as to their
identity, and extraordinary exertions were made
on their behalf, which ultimately led to their
lives being spared, and they were ordered to be
transported for life. Very soon after their arrival
at the convict ship at Gosport, Bishop found
means to effect his escape, and bad not been
-heard of until Tuesday last, when he presented
himself at the gate of Newgate, and, to the
astonishment of the turnkeys, requested admis-
sion, for the purpose of surrendering himself;
stating, with tears in his eyes, that he was inno-
cent of the charge of which he had been con-
victed, but that he could no longer continue to
live in the wretched state of concealment in
which he had been for months past, and that he
preferred at once delivering himself up to the
bands of justice.

POETS.-,—" Moore, who is a poet by inspira-
tion, could write in any circumstances." "'There
is no man of the age labours harder than Moore.
He is often a month working at the fag end of
an epigram. 'Pon my honour, I would not be
such a victim to literature for the reputation of
Pope, the greatest man of them all. " Don't
you think that every man has his own peculiarity
in writing, and can only write under particular
excitements, and in particular ways 1 " Cer-
tainly. Pope, who ridiculed such a caprice,
practised it himself; for he never wrote well but
at midnight. Gibbon dictated to his amanuensis,
while he walked up and down the room in a ter-
rible passion ; Stephens wrote on horseback in
a full gallop ; Montaigne and Chateaubriand in
the fields ; Sheridan over a bottle of wine ;
Mo-
Here with his knees in the fire ; and Lord Bacon
in a small room, which, he said, helped him to
condense his thoughts. But Moore, whose pe-
culiarity is retirement, would never come here to
write a song he could write bitter elsewhere,
merely because it related to the place."—Con-
versations Matunn.