The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP T PUSLIQ JOURNALi.

The protracted war carried on by England
against Napoleon—vigorous in its effort, and
triumphant in its military results—seems to hay
engendered a political evil, which crept upon the
nation insensibly, and was not severely f.lt or
dearly developed until the foreign enemy had
for some time ceased to disturb us. We - can
by this, the excitement of a military passion
amongst the people, and the gradual introduction
of a military spirit and of arbitrary tastes and
notions among the Ministers of the Crown, who
consisted, with rare exceptions, or short inter-
ruptions, of the same individuals, or rather of
the same school, from the beginning of the con-
test to the end of it. Nor for this were the men
themselves so much to blame as the aircumetan-
ces in -which they had been placed, and the na-
ture of the duties imposed upon them. At ali
times, and in all civilized nations, a state of war
has tended to give power to the Government :
the cominuatice of peace has proved favourable
to the growth of inquiry, jealousy, politics' acti-
vity, and a spirit of resistance among the people.
That peremptory command and prompt obedienve
which are essential to public energy and success
in war, will naturally operate upon the mind as .
well of subjects as of rulers, beyond the sphere.
of military action, and create a relative character
of despotism on one aide and resignation on the
other, which, however conducive to national in-
dependence against a foreign enemy, is in min-.
ciple a deadly foe to the maintenance of civil:
freedom. This decline of public spirit in Eng-
land, so far as concerned a salutary watchfuleeee
with regard to our laws and internal constitution,
was aggravated by the extraordinary duration of
the war, and no less so by the consequences
which-followed the general pacifisetion. An in-
timate union between the several Co.irts of
Europe, backed by • the sympathies of their sub-
jects, whom France had for so many years har-
rassed and disgusted, led them to a victory over
the universal oppressor, not merely so denisives is.
to release the Governments from all fear, but so.
glorious as to fill the people every-where with
enthusiasm towards the Princes who had fought
at their head, and had brought them trium-
phantly out of a common danger. The same
combination of Governments which had wrought
out the independence of their respective caun-
tries - was continued—was consolidated; but was
likewise perverted to another object, vir. to a
monopoly by these Governments of all the•friiite
of the final victory for themselves, and an utter
exclusion of the body of their subjects, who had.
paid and bled in the cause, from any part of
them. The drift of this Holy Alliance wai
early seen by intelligent men throughout the
continent of Europe, and sooner and more corn-
, pletely,perhaps, in'England than any where else ;
but it was a considerable time before those asso-
ciations of public feeling which had, since 1813,
run so powerfully in favour of Kings and Minis-
ters, could be checked and turned into a more-
reasonable channel. The eclat derived from
arms and victory was transferred for a season to
domestic policy, and the Holy Alliance not only
gave a sort of " ton" to its maxims of Govern-
ment among its own subjects, hat actually helped
its dupe and instrument, Lord Castlereagh, t 6
carry himself and his habitual system of smooth
and
of
doing,
had contempthe not
beenlbr so the
encouraged,
people
more boldly than he otherwise would have
dreamt
This endured for years. The mind of people
of -"
the
of England, however, began to display its ancient
elasticity. A partial stir among the people
abroad once more aroused their sympathies. The.
condemnation of the Castlereagh politics,' its
agents, and associates, all over the world, had
begun to prevail extensively, and to make itself
loudly heard---the approaching departure of Mr.
Canning for another hemisphere was dreaded
and deprecated, as the expiration, or at least the
suspension of a hope by which millions had suf-
fered themselves to be animated, that he would
have become a popular champion of human,
rights, wherever they should be trampled on by
his less worthy rival—when the sudden---we
cannot say untimely—disappearance of that rival,
opened the way for Mr. Canning to efficient
power, and afforded the first bright ray of confi-
dence to the friends of knoiledge, freedom, and
good government. From that hour, the good.
spirit has been advancing in all directions,
Wherever a step consistent with discretion, and 'per-
mitted by those huge fragments of Toryism which
still partially blocked up Mr. Canning'a course,
could be taken by the lateSecretaryfer Foreign Af-
fairs, in favour of the laws and rights "ofeivilization,
whether in the new world or the old, he did
not shrink from his duty. He assisted power-
filly the establishment of colonial independence
in South America ; and in Europe, if he could.
not wholly defeat, he paralyiect the bad politics
of more than one despotic Court. Mr. Can-
ning's accession to the head of the 'GOvernment
was the second great stage on the road of hie
present Majesty, towards the fulfilnierit of hie
people's anxious desires respecting the composi-
tion of his Ministry. The introduction of Lori.
Lansdo.vne and his Lordship's friends to a for-
mal station in that Goverment, with 'whose
Chief they had long, by principles and opinions.
been identified, and from an official and avowed
co-operation with whom they had, by the inert,
though immovable interposition of a heap of
old Tory carcasses, been for years excluded, was
a third great source .of national rejoicing for
this country. A fourth has been the continua-
tion as a Ministry, by our Sovereign, of all that
remained of Mr. Canning's colleagues, and their
close and cordial union of feeling '
with the King,
upon the necessity of maintaining that system of
Government which was the bond of their alliance
with Mr. Canning. But in every succensive
stage of the career of that able Minister, the
tactics of the Tory enemy were the same. Even
during Lord Liverpool's life-time, whenever a
sneer or wipe could be given, derogatory to Mr-
Canning's influence and fame, it was not spare':,
even by his brethren of the Cabinet. In sq,cietY
it was their daily pastime • in those journals
which disgraced both Church and King. by pee-
tending to be their joint defenders,. it was a re-
galar office indefatigably persevered
in as the end
of each week came round. When Lord Lans-
downe's entrance into the Ministry was an-
nounced, the game of open abuse began ; and
because the persons and names of the Nlinisters
had been found, in years mid sessions past,
on opposite sides of questions which were
no longer debateable, the harmony of their
principles, on all those points on . which
hinge the great interests of the nelion at
this moment, was to be no ground of justifica-
tion fo 0r their alliance as e it ea,:,..,'.i - .
: they were
to be reproached by ex-Under Secretaries of
State, and such animals, with acting together for
no reason but that they thought and felt alike I
Why, who did not see that the meaning of all
this fury was the loss of Mr. Dawson' pl
ace,
and p ace,
and the difficulty of his recovering 2,0001. per
annum, so long as Mr. C -
anstaug A 144 his friend;