The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS AND SIR R. PEEL.

(From the Morning Chronicle.)
Our Contemporary, the Examiner, argues more, we fear,
in the character of a theoretic than of a practical politician,
when it denounces the Premier as an unclean thing, with
which no communication should be held, to whom no tole-
rance should be extended, and from whose hands nothing
short of the bold and straightforward policy of the Whigs
should be accepted. We should be well pleased to be of the
Examiner's opinion, and lo live in a world where such tren-
chant policy was appreciated, or was likely to be attended
with good result. We should be delighted to develop to their
completion the straightforward views of the Liberals, and as our
Contemporary expresses it, " to take the bull by the horns,"
and with the strength of a giant lay it prostrate on the
sand. But the world is not so formed, nor are bulls
so manageable, as to be dealt with in this fashion.
Bull-fighters have their science as well as statesmen, and
have their flags to deceive, and their ropes to trip
up, as well as their weapons to pierce, their head-
long and formidable prey. We do not say that
the profession of matador is that which we most
admire, nor the use which he makes of his flag the kind of
warfare that we most approve. But, if we are interested in
having the fierce animal disposed of, we really cannot quarrel
with the art employed, nor scout the matador who skilfully
and courageously performs his part. There are certainly
political tasks which may be performed at any time, and
which may be performed openly and straightforwardly ; and
the noblest instruments should be employed to effect
them. There are others so difficult, attended with so
much delicacy and hazard, that to get them done in
any way, and by any hand, is the great object. A
captain may be at sea with a mutinous crew, and he
may find himself in the alternative of conceding their
demands or giving up his ship to the enemy. lle makes a
compromise between the strict letter of his duty and its
a and
efl
egh t s
blyielroaslilingeshhii men
shipd p
ss
keeping
biSshporuinl
eihpeleh;mo•er
dgorenaet
sintuilbidiaegitrt inwteher;e,
ewoihnoproginaiinseby?v
it, be etle men to punish him for
i believe it to be universally
admitted that the Irish are more"
aggrieved in their honour
than in their interests. Even ifthey were equally aggrieved
in one as in the other, we can always put our finger upon the
wounds of honour—we know where they lie, and how to
applypp
oli
se a a
nt e ad
redilansoecrdudybe.irt.,But interests aggrieved form a more com-
How can we hope to raise the Irish
when we cannotetlevate the English
Pweoasunandtinantheinscidhe?of Rlreelilgainodas. lineealinotywiisse theand ranklindesirableg
to apply 4 remedy? Different doctors have different
nostrum& Ours is the best, certainly, for a radical cure,
}mat we cannot apply h. The patient may go mad or expire,
before our hand can reach him. Shall we not, then, allow
another practitioner to interfere? He tells us, indeed, on
coming in, that he will keep his prescription secret. Ile has
done so, and we regret that he has felt it necessary to keep it
secret so long. Let him apply it, however, and let us help
him. By quarrelling, the political doctors may lose their

patient altogether, and with it their aim and calling. But
the Examiner says, this is no cure at all; that Peel is
quack, a concoctor of stone broth, an impostor. We cannot
take the Examiner's view of the Maynooth Bill. Of itself,
indeed, it is little, but taken with the declarations of the
Tory chiefs, it is immense. It is a small salve, but
it is applied to the vital wound of Irish susceptibility—,
the sense of religious inequality. It satisfies not the
demagogues of Ireland, the men who would trade
in anarchy, and seek individual eminence at the ex-
pense of the greatness of both countries. But it satisfies the
Catholic prelacy and priesthood. It teaches them to look
to the Imperial Government as just, as freed from prejudice,
as promising to be paternal. It gives them hopes of honour
and endowments, and binds the Irishmen, in whose hands
are the hearts of the poor, to keep those hearts not in
slavish submission, but in wise patience. If such fairness be
held out to the Irish ecclesiastic, how much more to the
Irish layman, in every profession, in every class? We must
repeat, that we do not care who the man is that carries such
a Bill ; he deserves well of his country. We must own, that
when we think of this Bill and of its consequences, we have
but one anxiety—viz., that it should pass. Its rejection
something not to be contemplated, except by those who
could tranquilly see England without a Government, and Ire-
land far worse than having none. No considerations of
party, no attachment to abstract principles, and no straining
after an impracticable better, could tempt us to set this well
aside. We are sincerely attached to the principles developed
in Mr. Ward's motion ; principles which, if acquiesced in at
the right time by the Tories, would have spared us the diffi-
culty and humiliation of the present crisis ; for humiliation
it is to have confessed their fears with regard to war and to
foreign powers, as the Tory Ministers have done. But
the present is not a time fur creating difficulties, or f,r
retorting either with acrimony of speech or obstruction
in act. The conscientious assertion of a principle,
or a strong sense of its future practicability, will rally
the whole Liberal party in support of Mr. Ward's mo•
tion. We cannot, indeed, but admit with the Examine,-,
that the temptation to retort upon the Tories their own past
conduct is strong, nor do we in the least feel disposed to quarrel
with our Liberal Contemporary for its view of the case,
which is perhaps more natural though we think not more
wise than our own. But we frankly avow our repug-
nance to obstruct the Bill on grounds personal to the Premier.
Whatever may have been the past motives of Sir Robert Peel,
we feel that his present ones must be most cogent and most
serious. He has confessed a good deal, but he cannot have
confessed all the reasons which have made him fling up
a line of policy so long and so rigorously followed out, and
substitute for it one marked out and sanctioned by his foes.
No motive of private ease or public honour, of emolument or
party, or even of keeping out his rivals, could, we feel coils
vinced, have dictated such a change. This must have been
suggested by a sense of risk to the empire—of peril, not to
his party, but to all parties ; which, as it weighed on hint,
should also weigh upon us, and induce our adjourning to
another time and a fairer field that legitimate struggle for
principle and for power, and for consistency, which is net
abandoned or weakened by temporary and conscientious sus-
pension,

HER MAJESTY'S "VISIT TO THE
GREAT BRITAIN STEAM-SHIP.
Her Majesty having been graciously pleased to signify her
intention of visiting tne Great Britain steam-ship, moored ctf
Blackwall, the Dwarf steam-vessel, Lieutenant Commander
H. B. Proctor, was painted and fitted up at Woolwich, and
held in readiness to convey her Majesty from Greenwich to
Blackwall.

At one o'clock rm. yesterday, Captain Superintendent Sir
Francis A. Collier, Knt., C. 8., and K.C.H., of her Majesty's
Dockyard, Woolwich, Captain Sir John Franklin, Knt.,
K.C.H., of her Majesty's ship Erebus, Captaia Irashingtou
of the Blazer steam-vessel, Commander Smith of her Mc.
jesty's Dockyard, Woolwich, Lieutenant Commander Mac-
donald of the Lizard, and Lieutenant Commander Hoseasen
of the Alecto steamer, proceeded in the Dwarf, steam-vess4
to Greenwich, to attend upon her Majesty and her Boyd
Consort.

A guard of honour of the Royal Marines, with the bard
and colours of the regiment, marched from Woolwich 'o
Greenwich at the same hour, under the command of Cap t.
Mitford, with Lieutenants Joliffe, Forbes, and Knight; Ci,i.
Mercer, Lieutenant-Colonel Coryton, and Lieutenant and
Adjutant Varlo of the Royal Marines proceeded at the same
time to be present at her Majesty's embarkation.
At Greenwich, the whole of the pensioners were drawn up
in the quadrangle and leading to the entrance, and the b 0.% s
of the upper and lower schools, with their excellent miniature
band; and they played alternatively with the band of the
Royal Marines until the return of her Majesty from the Great
Britain steam-ship and departure for Buckingham Palace.
The arrangements were admirably made by the Governor of
Greenwich Hospital, Admiral Sir Robert Stopford,
and G.C., M.G., and efficiently carried into effect under
the immediate superintendence of the Lieutenant- Governor,
Rear-Admiral Sir James Alexander Gordon, K.C.8., and
other officers connected with the establishment.

At a quarter before three o'clocktheßoyal Marines were
drawn up under arms as a guard of honour, and the Right
Ilonourable the Earl of Haddington, First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, and Captain the Hon. William Gordon, were pre-
sent to receive her Majesty. At ten minutes past them
o'clock two outriders in scarlet liveries rode up the qua-
drangle., and announced by their presence the near approach
of her Majesty. In about one minute after, her Majesty aid
Prince Albert arrived in an open carriage, escorted by a
detachment of the 4th Light Dragoons, under the command
of Captain Faue. The Queen and her Royal Consort we-e
most enthusiastically cheered throughout the whole line,
hundreds of ladies seated in the windows of the west wing
of the College waving their handkerchiefs. Her Majesty
and Prince Albert bowed repeatedly, evidently pleased with
the scene.
Her Majesty was handed the Queen
the royal carriage by the
Earl of Haddington, and the Queen conversed with hia
Lordship and leaned on his arm when descending the steps,
covered with crimson cloth, leading to the Admiralty barge.
Several of the boys were stationed on the steps with thelr
flags, and the embarkation was effected in the most perfe
rt
manner. Her Majesty wore a tartan silk dress and Paisley
shawl, with a light blue bonnet, and appeared in the enSoy.
ment of excellent health. His Royal Highness Prince Alberti
was dressed in plain clothes. Amongst the members of her
Majesty's suite were Lord George Lennox and Colonel
Arbuthnot and Colonel Bouverie, Equerries in Waiting,.
Captain Sir Francis A. Collier steered the Admiralty barge,
with her Majesty on board, and the royal standard raised,
to the Dwarf steam-vessel moored in the river. Her Ilia.
jesty was received on board by the Earl of lladdington ai,d
Captain the Hon. William Gordon, who had gone on board
in the barge of the William and Mary yacht, steered ly
Commander Smith. Her Majesty remained on deck under
an awning, in conversation with the Earl of Haddington,
and appeared gratified with the arrangements made for her
reception.
The Dwarf steamer proceeded for Blackwell at precisely
half-past three o'clock, followed by the Lord Mayor's barge,
with his Lordship and several of the Aldermen and other
City authorities on board, towed by one of the Watermai.'a
steamers. Father Thames, the Ariel, and several other
steam-boats, proceeded at the same time crowded with pai.
sengers.
toAfter remaining on board the Great Britain about three.
quarters of an hour, the signal was given at Greenwich that
the royal party were about to return, and preparations were
immediately made for her Majesty's landing; the whole of
the old sailors, many of whom were decorated with the
Nelson and other medals, were drawn up on the east side of
the quadrangle, and the Royal Marines on the lawn. The
royal carriages and escort were also in readiness, and at
twenty minutes before five o'clock her Majesty and Prince
Albert, with the members of her Majesty's suite, landed in
the Admiralty barge, and were conducted by the Earl of
Haddington, Admiral Stopford, and the officers in attendance,
to the royal carriage. Her Majesty, at a quarter to five
o'clock, proceeded on pier return to Buckingham Palace,
and the carriage drove at a very slow pace round the
eastern side of the quadrangle, the band of the Royal
Marines playing the national anthem, and the band of the
boys of Greenwich schools struck up "God ;save the
Queen" as her Majesty passed them, the brave old tarn
joining, and enthusiastically cheering her Majesty. The
Queen and Prince Albert again repeatedly bowed on each
side to the assembled thousands; and all her subjects pre-
sent on the occasion appeared highly gratified, as every.-
thing was conducted with such regularity and perfect ease,
without the least hurry or confusion, that every one heol
an opportunity of witnessing her Majesty, whose pubic
visits of this nature confer not only pleasure but profit
to many.