The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-29 00:00:00

selves. To the police officer the object is not the
public advantage, but his own ; and it would be
about as abitird- to exPeet :hint voluntarily to re-
nounce his. advantage -for the sake of the public,
as 'it would be to expect 'that. the Hierarchy of
Ireland 'should, for the sake of religion, recom-
mend a return to the system of the Primitive
Church.----Morning Chronicle.
The Royal Society will be called on to elect
their President to-morrow. How the votes may
incline we have no means of ascertaining. Two
persons of the highest respectability in point of
character have been named—Mr. Davies Gilbert,
the pro tenipore President, and Mr. Peel. The
latter gentleman was stated in one of our con-
temporaries, a day or two ago, to have expressed
a wish that he should not be nominated, his
name, however, still continues, if we may use the
expression, on the list, and therefore it is fair to
presume that the statement was unauthorized. It
is evident that •in choosing between Mr. Gilbert
and Mr. Peel, if the choice must lie between
them, it will be of some importance for the
Fellows to consider the purpose for which the
eleCtion is made, and' the qualifications which a
President is required to possess. Both the gen-
tlemen mentioned may be perfectly fitted for the
office,. according to the particular light in which
it is viewed. If of a President it be required
that in his own person he-shall be a regular con-
tributor to the Society's transactions, a
collaborator with the Fellows in pushing for-
ward the machine of general science, we
should very much doubt whether Mr. Peel's
education had been precisely such as to fit
him for the Presidentship. Mr. Peel is a
perfect gentleman : his talents rank de-
servedly high, and he is a liberal patron of
merit, with which his appointment to the Presi-
dentship would naturally bring him more in con-
tact ; but we have never heard him mentioned
except as a Statesman and a general scholar ;
nor are we aware that it has been asserted that
his acquaintance with the exact sciences, or ,with
those departments of knowledge which are, by a
somewhat lax interpretation of the words, called
sciences, is remarkably extensive. - Of the scien-
tific knowledge of Mr. D. Gilbert there is nei-
ther doubt nor question. If, therefore, in a Pre-
sident„the Royal Society ask for one who is not
merely to sae that the regulations of the Society
are duly observed—who is not merely skilled to
distribute its learned patronage with impartiality,
but who shall be capable of stimulating its mem-
bers to exertion by his example as well as ex-
hortation—then, of course, Mr. Gilbert will be
chosen. If, on the contrary, the principal ob-
ject of the Society be to select a President who
shall also be the patron of their labours—whose
ample fortune shall be employed not only in
their direct promotion, but in bringing the Fel-
lows into more familiar contact with the commu-
nity which it is their object to ,enlighten—
Mr. Gilbert, from his • studious and re-
tired habits, will not, we are afraid, an-
swer their purpose. Neither of the candidates,
whom, perhaps, with very little attention to their
Own desires, the public have set up, appears to
possess both requisites, nor do we see any very
great chance of finding one who shall. It is
evident, then, that the determination of the So-
ciety will, in a great measure, depend on the
question—whether he who limit's his endeavours
to elicit and to 'nourish the talents of others, or
he who contents himself with the cultivation of
his own, contributes most to the general stock.
In the latter case, knowledge both extensive and
multifarious iiesseOtial ; iii the former, less ex-
tent and less variety :may quilice. -Something
has bee -said about the supposed triumph that
Mr. Peel's elevation to the Chair will give to
the politics-of a party with which, be it observed,
he has most sedulously 'abstained from identify 7
ing We entertain no fears of, that
•We Shall never entertain so low an .opinion of
that Right Hon:Gentleman, as to suppose that
the friends of science could find in his character
nothing more worthy their approbation than the
peculiarities
.political, we
insult the members of 018' SOciety so far as to
suppose them capable of being for a moment
biassed by so petty a consideration.---,Netv
Times.