The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TIIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

No news ; but much gossip on the affairs of
Austria, Greece, and Turkey, is the description
which we should apply to the occurrences of
yesterday. But before we proceed further, we
shall state what is the duty of a young officer
who has been commissioned by his commander-
in-chief to bring home the official account of a
battle. He should, of course, convey the de-
spatches to their destination with all the speed
he is capable; and having done this, he should
answer frankly and readily the explanatory ques-
tions which it may be necessary to put to him on
the subject of the despatches of which he has
been the bearer. Being but a young man, as we
assume, it will be perfectly clear that all the at-
tention which he can summon will be employed
in listening to the interrogatories of Ministers
and high official persons, and affording intelligi-
ble replies and explanations ; through modesty,
the inseparable companion of youthful courage,
he will necessarily be overwhelmed with the no-
velty of his situation ; he will in that situation
have no excess or redundancy of mind, which
he can apply (like a Walsingham or a Burleigh),
to make observations on those before whom he
is placed, on the nature of their questions, as.
indicating different feelings, and a disposition
to elicit different answers ; and if any one
should say that he pretends to this sagacity, they
slander and injure him, because every one knows
that it is impossible he should possess it. He
ought, therefore, to be extremely cautious how
he conducts himself in mixed societies after-
wards, lest he afford a handle to others, and en-
able slyer men than himself to make him the.
author of rumours which suit their own politir,al
purposes. This is the duty of'a young off,cer in
sg
the situation which we have supposed ; and we
hope it will not be, or has not been tmnressed,
in the ardent desire of youth to fix 'Attention and
catch applause. The first news f;torn the Levant
will probably be telegraphed. through France.
We have no occasion to repeat what we said
yesterday on the falsehood of reports of a sinister
occurrence at Navarin, and of Sir John Gore's
going out to supersede Sir Edvrard-Codrington.
These absurdities are net repeated to-day. The
treaty by which the Allies meant to have inter-
posed their good office as peace-makers between
Turkey and Greece was that which the Duke of
Wellington settled in St. Petershurgh.—Thnes.

There can be no doubt but that, in a free
country, people should be allowed to pursue
their freaks and fancies, so long as they are harm-
less, to their hearts' content. Independently of
the principle of free agency, nonsense is in it-
elf often as amusing to the bystanders as to the,
actors in it. But even consummate nonsense is
sometimes mischievous, and, when it is likely to
become so, ought, instead of being encouraged,
to be checked. Upon this principle we have al-
,vays set our face against the consummate non-
sense which has been talked and acted 1w a set
of silly people, calling themselves Philhellenists,
-,vho, some of them in the shape ofloan-jobbers,
and others under the mask of « classical recol.7-
lections," have endeavoured but too successfully
to excite a feeling in this country, which, under
an imaginative, poetical Minister, has been fan-
ned into a flame, which, from the very embers of
nonsense, has at length involved the country- in
one of the most " false positions". she has ever_
been placed in. « What had•-nokao""do-With the
Greeks ?" " why are we to belliVolved in a war.
on their account ?" are questiOna now in every
man's mouth ; and the only answer we can give,
to such inquirers is—" Because .you . had, two
sets of people--one of them fools, and thaother.
knaves—who chose to set up. an outcry in their
favour ; and because you had a Minister weak
enough to set up his classical recollections'
against the obvious policy of the British Em-
lure.' This, though a 'very simple, is. a very
true state of the case. It may be ridiculed, as,
we dare say it will be, by. those, who find
it necessary to bolster up the errors of those ,
~whose acts, whether right or wrong, they find it
necessary to justify; but the calm observer will,
we are thoroughly persuaded, feel with us, that
on no occasion has the peace of the eountry ever
been broke in upon by any cause so groundless
And unjustifiable as the course which the Govern-
ment (or rather the late Minister) has thought.
proper to take upon what is called the Greek
Question, A nation of freebooters, 'which felt
that they had the power and the wealth to dic-
tate and domineer wherever they pleased, could
not have pursued a more reckless indiscriminat-
ing course than that which the dupes of the
Philliellenists have followed upon this occasion.
We do not deny that the dispute between the
Turks and their subjects, the Greeks, had be-
come a public nuisance, and one which this
country, and the other Powers of Europe, had a
right to call upon both parties to abate ; but to
take a side, and that the wrong and unjust side,
upon such a question, is an obvious breach of
common justice and discretion which none but
the most indiscreet Minister which this country
ever knew could have adopted. The'present Mi-
nisters, though late, in effect acknowledge this by
the step which they have now taken. rhe, Pro-
clamation which they have at length issued, to put
down piracy in the Mediterranean is precisely
the step which they and the other Powers should'
have adopted long ago, and in the fierritshinosutaldncien.
wthahole
same
seawhich,
mhwi
eeiohsb;:tdefhuaerthhctahoseemsapsmoar
ikougneshetohtfi
igtlaoehl
all who
see
eh
cause
ook fteorpiafi
tavt tehifroers
free
esi,t
Greeksratonhi
from
the dbyan(glee
declaring
aorifngm
war
rstiagtiaoiini
against
ltkhuetirthmatasNtse'
claim these very same Greeks the piratesand and
common disturbers. Of this very highway, is an -
anomaly in politics which those who have pariood:
volved us in it will find it difficult to 'justify. To
ootuhrisnegwahtiephretsehentGoofyietrsureobevnit u
has
- •
pursued iicy "
sayte lei
ous mpo , •
upon this occasion appears to us to be the most
unwise and unjustifiable which they could have
taken. We trust they will not add to it the
meanness of sacrificing the honour and reputa-
tion of a brave officer upon the occasion. How-
ever impolitic the situation in which Sir Edward .
well see how he could have acted otherwise. That
Codrington may have been placed,
he and those ' under him were not deficient in,
bravery or skill is sufficiently obvious—ai,d that
he does not appear to have wanted judgment in
the peculiariy trying situation in which he was
placed seems scarcely less apparent. No—if
there has, been any error (and that there has been
.grievosis one the country in general seems;
coming to a pretty general consent about),•thit
error has been in the indiscretion of those who
emveenn wihniasesocibliotvd,
w:rsepanas
involved the counait,rylomoiinnstteavrnaeisnutsn
and valour have been spent in obeying end
sary contest, not in the bras/
acting upon unwise instructions.---mo? nine
Herald.
ih a community in
To hope for absolute unanimity lisAwioeunsaidlyltoe:(ld))n°2i..it
v,veipointrlesirie,y wtitloheureel d,yberee
judgment;
but