The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-14 00:00:00

THE ADMINISTRATION; STATE OF

PARTIES.

(From the Caledonian Mercury.)

What is the real political character of the pre=
sent Administration ? This is a question which
is is ta'sy to put, but exceedingly difficult to an-
kWin.. It is not Whig, although it has received,
or rather admitted, a small infusion of Whi,egery ;
it is not Tory, for, by the very fact of emanci-
pating the Catholics, it has denuded itself of all
that is great, glorious, and peculiar in Toryism ;
it is not liberal in any just sense of the term, for
were it to become so it would be equally hateful
to the King, and to those in whom his Majesty
is most inclined to repose his confidence ; nor
can it with propriety be accounted of an oppo-
aite character, considering the glorious achieve-
ment it has performed, and the support upon
Naltieh it has been, in a great measure, com-
pelled to rely. In short, it is a political non-
descript ; an entity sui ;crier is, a thing of
shreds and patches (wills et alter assuitur
pannus), a sofdiers jacket bedizened with rags
of the most contrarious hues, stitched on ap-
parently at random, without the least regerd
either to assimulation, comfort, or utility ; or, to
*urn up the whole in one word, it is the Duke
01 Wellington's Administration. Any thing
u perfectly anomalous, and so utterly dissimilar
to all that had been previously known, never,
perhaps, existed in this country ; and but for
the bold and vigorous stitches of the great re-
gimental tailor who patched—we cannot say
assorted—the different incongruous paint to-
gether, they must long ere this have been se-
perated from the garment to which they were so
incuriously and grotesquely attached.
The difficulties with which the present Mini-
stry have at present to contend all arise from
nine and the same cause : they have alienated
one great party in the State, without securing
the confidence of any other as a counterbalance
or compensation. By emancipating the Catho-
lics they outraged every prejudice, and trampled
Upon every principle which the high church and
high Tory party had most fondly and devotedly
cherished ; while, by immediately courting, coax-
ing,and attempting to conciliate this exasperated
Faction, they raised the suspicions of the old and
tried friends of toleration, by whose firm and
cordial co-operation the Relief Bill had been in
A. great measure carried. They made the Kin.-
their enemy, and forgot or neglected to make
the people their friends. To Catholic grali:ode
and support they had indeed established a solid
claim ; and, in the sanative effects of the great
measure by which upwards of eight millions of
our fellow-subjects had been restored to the
exercise of their just rights as citizens, they had
reason to calculate upon a large reversion of cre-
dit and popularity. But, as if possessed by the
demon of infatuation, and determined that the
work of their own hands should not prosper,
they had the folly or rather the madness
to concert a proscriptive exception against
the man who had been mainly instrumental in
bringing about the emancipation of his co-reli-
gionists, and to force him back to his old element
of agitation, at the very moment when political ran-
cour and animosity was beginning to give place
to mutual' forbearance and the oblivion of all
past offences. Hence their whole career has
been a course of shifts and expedients to meet
the exigencies of the hour, without any other
rule of action than that of constantly attempting
to trim between opposite parties and antagonist
principles. The consequence is, that, with the
single exception of the Relief Bill, they have
not dared to adventure upon any measure of the
least consequence, or to risk an exhibition of
their own weakness and of the strength of their
opponents. Self-preservation appears to have
been their only care, the sole object to which all
their efforts were directed. Navigating the ves-
sel of that state amidst shoals, reefs, breakers,
and quicksands, the condition of those on board
was wholly overlooked in the prevailing anxiety
to guard against the perils of shipwreck; and it
is exclusively owing to the skilful pilotage of the
sagacious and clear-sighted man at the helm that
they have not ere this been foundered or cast
away. But there are dangers against which
even his energy and force of mind, great as they
unquestionably are, may be insufficient to guard.
A crisis is, we fear, gradually approaching ; and,
unless some propitious accident of fortune, or
NOM bold stroke of genius, interpose to avert
the threatened evil, the days of the present
Ministry are numbered.
We have been led to make these remarks
chiefly in consequence of information of rather
an alarming nature which we have received from
a quarter entitled to the utmost credit in regard
to all that is passing in the political world. To
whatever cause it may be ascribed it is no longer
doubtful that a certain degree of coldness at
present exists between a Great Personage and
the illustrious man at the head of the Adminis-
tration ; and, were we to judge of the feelings of
the former from some little circumstances that
have transpired, our conclusion would be, that
he heartily repents giving his assent to the Ca-
tholic Relief Bill, and only waits for an oppor-
tunity to signalize his displeasure with all who
were any way accessary to the success of that
great measure. What other inference can be
drawn from his conduct to the Duke of Norfolk
and Lord Jerningham at the Levee, when he
passed by these noble persons without deigning
to vouchsafe a single word to either ; or from
the indecorous expression which escaped him
when the hated name of Daniel O'Connell was
announced by the Lord is waiting ; or, generally,
from the aversion he manifests to all those who
were in any degree instrumental in furthering and
promoting the cause of emancipation ? Besides,
there is a serpent at the Royal ear, which, taking
advantage of the predisposition alluded to, is con-
stantly occwpied in infusing into it new venom,
and, above all, in exciting, in the Royal mind,
suspicions of a kind not even to be breathed
respecting the motives and intentions of the cele-
brated man at the head of the Government. In
plain terms—for there is no use in mincing
matters—the Duke of Cumberland has declared
that he will not leave England until he has
effected the dismissal of the Duke of Welling-
ton ; and, were it possible to construct a Cabinet
which would endure for a single month out of
the rump of ultra-toryism, we have little doubt but
he would carry his point. By pandering to the
fears, the prejudices, and the infirmities of his
Royal brother, this illustrious Don Whiskerandos
has contrived to gain an ascendancy over his
superior mind, and to thwart, vex, obstruct, and
annoy the Government in a great variety of ways.
To the Duke of Wellington personally he carries
himself respectfully ; and he would be a bolder
man than ever stood in the Duke of Cumber-
land's shoes who would venture to act otherwise ;
but when his Grace's back is turned, to use an
expressive Scotticism, this Royal personage con-
stantly talks at him, andlabours covertly to show
distrust and suspicion of his character and mo-
tives. What may come of all this we know not.