The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-14 00:00:00

1 Turning from tile Character of—this change, to it,
prospects of finally succeeding, we look upon the
victory in the House of Commons to be certain as
it will be complete. If the Lords should prove re-
fractory, there is one easy expedient, of no possible
extravagance as to the distribution of the honours,
and of perfect facility in the execution. Let a few
of the eldest sons of Noblemen, who are well dis-
posed to a liberal Administration, be called up, with-
out delay, to the House of Peers; and hint to the
sixteen Scotchtnen that . there is such a thing as a
dissolution of Parliament : there is nothing like
energy in the cure of vitiated bile. We have said
from the first, that the Kiriglnd his Minister need
only be resolute to secure their country's triumph.—
Times.

It is curious to observe, that while one class
of Mr. Canning's opponents are anxious to iden-
tify themselves with him in opinion, on all sub-
jects save one,: another class are attacking him
vehemently for. the profligacy of his conduct, his
levelling designs and projects, both at home and
abroad and yet this last class perceive no incon-
sistency in selecting from the former, as models
for admiration, the very individuals, who have
so identified themselves with the new Premier.
Thus, for instanee,-Mr. Peel is all that is pure
in the eyes of the Marquis of Londonderry,
Lord Ellenborough, and the Duke of Newcas-
tle, while Mr. Canning, with whom Mr. Peel
wishes closely to identify himself, is, in the eyes
of all these worthies, a political profligate and
what not All these various classes of oppo-
nents hate Mr. Canning, and draw either openly
or concealedly towards each other (for even Mr.
Peel and the Duke of Newcastle have their in-
terviews); 'but there is no assignable reason for
the hatred, which ought not to lead them to hate
each other ten times more.—The growling of
the Newcastles, the Londonderrys, &c. has,
however, an intelligible,- though not a very dig-
nified cause. The soldier loves war, for peace
ruins him. The Orange-man and Borough-hol-
der loves to see the Government and people op-
posed to each other; for in proportion as the
Government is hard pressed, his aid rises in
value. The Duke of Newcastle would willingly
see his Sovereign hard _pressed, that he might
have the means of demonstrating his loyalty
(payment in one -way or another being of course
always understood.)—During the last three or
four years, Ministers, by acting in a fair and
liberal spirit, created the phenomenon of his
Majesty's Opposition. In fact, with the-excep-
tion of . financial extravagance, which is a. sin
deeply seated in our system, it was impossible
for the Opposition to: find more than trifling
faults with Ministers. But the same system
which converted the Opposition, by acting in
conformity with public opinion, rendered the
Government at the same time less,dependent on
the. Duke of Newcastle. As the change was tan-
gibly felt in high quarters -like this, the feeling
has broken out into selfish growling. In every
one of the cases in which violence of language has
been used, it will be found that the cause lies in the
grossest and most vulgar self-interest. The interests
of a King, and his Administration, and of the People
are, that the Government should be so strong, from
its hold on publicopinion,as to require as little as pos-
sible of that which gives importance to such men as
the Duke of Newcastle or Marquis of Londonderry.
This independent strength, in fact, enables the Go-
vernment to resist profligate demands, and to make
necessary reductions, which secure its hold on public
favour. We defy a knot of mere Borough-holders,
in an enlightened country like this, to dare, on no
other ground than that the prey is not supplied in
sufficient abundance to their maw, to league against
the Executive in the House of Lords. If the Go-
vernment steer clear,lor a time,of all points on which
John Bull has always been half mad—such as the
Papists—and leave the Opposition no lever for
raising part of a credulous public in their favour,
they have nothing to fear—these violent bawlers
will soon be found as cowardly as they are violent.—
Morning Chronicle.

It is perfectly natural that Mr. Peel should
be anxious to separate himself from the factious
crew in opposition, but it is obviously difficult
for him to open his mouth without identifying
himself with them in spirit, and, therefore, while
the present little personal irritation prevails, pru-
dence would impose silence. It is not uncom-
mon to hear the weaker sex affecting to talk of
the extreme delight which something particularly
vexatious gives them till they fairly burst into
tears, and this is much the way with Mr.'Peel.
He speaks of satisfaction in such a sort that one
plainly perceives him to be bursting with spleen.
Disavowing any disposition to factious opposi-
tion, he stated, on Friday night :

" When I heard from my Right Hon. Friend (Mr.
Canning) the principles on which he intended to conduct
the Government, I found that he had achieved a signal
triumph for my principles, which are the same as his, by
the obtaining of the whole Whig Party to their sup-
port. I heard that Parliamentary Reform was still to be
opposed on the same principles on which we had both
always resisted it. I was alarmed when I knew that some
of those who were about to accept office were prepared to
repeal• the Test and Corporation Acts ; but'l found' that
my,principles had gained a signal triumph by the accession
of the Gentlemen who lately constituted the Opposition—
when I heard my Right Hon. Friend declare his resolu-
tion still to oppose that innovation also. The Catholic
Question also remains in the same situation as when I
formed part of the Government; for I understand it is not
to be brought forward as a Cabinet question. What rancour
or personality, then, can I entertain towards my Right
Hon. Friend, when I saw those principles, which I main-
tained in common with him, triumphing by the dexterity
with which he has brought over to their support those who
have always hitherto been opposed to them."
—This is Sir Fretful Plagiary all . over. It
is clear that the Hon. Gentleman was never
better pleased in his life-than he is at this in-
stant ; and his friendly disposition to the Admi-
nistration he so candidly approves is manifested
by the particular themes on which he dwells, the
insinuated abandonment of the Catholic cause,
the hastily pledged opposition of the Premier to
the repeal of the Test Act—things, the mention
of which will, in Mr. Peel's opinion, serve Mr.
Canning with his supporters. Anon, his good
will to Mr. Canning breaks out in another shape,
but always in the spirit of candour—Mrs. Can-
dour, that is to say
- -

"He was never more surprised than to find himself
classed by the Noble Lord as one of a factious Opposition.
When he first came into Parliament, his Right Honour-
able Friend, Mr. Canning, did indeed form a part of what
he conceived, with great deference, to be a factious Oppo-
sition. His Right Honourable Friend must know well,
from his experience at that time, what a factious Opposi-
tion really was, of what value was its
.support, and the in-
convenience which resulted from its success."

It is very evident what kind of friend Mr.
Peel is ; he is possibly a better enemy. Being
far, very far, from entertaining any feelings of -ill
will to Mr. Peel ; being indeed, on the contrary,
interested in the preservation of.a character, to
the merits of which we have borne frequent tes-
timony, we are anxious that he should impose a
term of silence upon himself till the season of
exacerbation has passed away. And let us fur-
ther caution him against the folly of applying to
himself any mention that may be made of " offi-=
vial disappointment or mortified ambition," as he
did on Friday night. Joe Miller tells us, that a
worthy gentleman, on seeing the sign of a fool's cap
dangling over a • door, rang the bell in great heat,
and calling out the master of the tenement, pointed
to the sign, and sternly asked, " Sir, .do you mean
to insult me ?" Now the world of course set down this
sensitive person as none of the wisest of his generation;

and it will be apt, from a like train of reasoning, to
infer, that be. who takes fire and puts himself on,
his defence at every allusion to disappointed ambi-
tion, &c., is not the purest politician—an inference
which, we are sure, would be unjust in the case of
Mr. Peel, for his passions are more in fault than his
principles.— -Ibid.

Among the reports which have gained cur-
rency in political circles within the last few days,
is one which we can hardly, credit, and should be
slow even to repeat, were it not confidently as-
serted by those who profess to have access to
good authority, and had it not a precedent al-
ready in an Administration of which the Noble-
men to whom it alludes formed part. The report
in question is, that the Marquis of Lansdowne
is forthwith to become a Member of the Cabinet,
without taking office. This, should it occur, is
exactly one of those unwhiglike actions of the
-Whigs, which, by a singular kind of fatality and
want of discretion, this sage and consistent body
are for ever committing. For the Marquis of
Lansdowne's personal and political character, we
entertain, in common with the country in general,
no inconsiderable share of respect. As a states-
man, however, his Lordship may, be considered
almost as untried. His Lordship, it is true,
came into office very early in life, forming
a part of that 'mixty-maxty Administration,
composed, like the present, of Whigs, Tories.
and Radicals, and whose career was soon cut
short by a total want of Royal confidence or
popular esteem. With a view of balancing
conflicting interests in. that Cabinet, a Bill
was brought in by Mr. Fox, the great Whig
Leader, enabling Lord Grenville to hold the
offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Au-
ditor of his own accounts ; and to give Lord
,Sidmouth a second voice in the Cabinet, the
.then -Lord Chief Justice, Lord Ellenborough,
was made a Minister. To this proceeding at the
time the strongest objections were made. Inde-
pendently of the manifest inconsistency of mix-
ing the.judicial office up with objects from which
it ought, by its nature, to be kept distinct, it was_
urged with great force that to see an irresponsible:
adviser of the Crown, brought forward, too, by-
the Whigs, the great sticklers for all that was
constitutional, was an anomaly which it was
hoped the country would never again be called upon
to witness. If Mr. Canning's object be, as some.
persons suspect it is, first to divide the Whigs as
a body, and then to cover them with contempt, .he
could not take a more effectual step towards the
latter object than the one in question ; while, on
the other hand, if the Marquis of Lansdown pos-
sesses 'one grain of the good sense and judgment the
world gives him credit for, he will avoid, either the
trap which is thus laid for him, or the following a
precedent which he already knows produced, in 1806, '
such general condemnation and disgust. The Cabinet,
it is true, consists technically of a Committee of the
Privy Council, but has been composed in practice of
persons holding those offices in the State through which
the Government is administered; thus combining what
may be called a joint and separate responsibility.
But to call to the Cabinet Council a person, how-
ever eminent, who holds no office in the Govern-
ment, is, as far as that individual is concerned, to
sink individual responsibility entirely, while it im-
plies much more; for what stronger proof can there
be of the Government being divided among them-
selves, than the fact that one of its members de-
clines to hold office with those whom he, notwith-
standing, consents to join in consultations in the
Cabinet ? There may be no truth in this report.
We hope there is not. But should such a step be
even contemplated, it behoves the independent part
of the Press to make it known, as well as to rouse
the feelings and good sense of the country against
it; and should it, after all, take place, we have no
doubt but that it will receive, in both Houses of
Parliament, that censure which a measure so unwise
and' unconstitutional cannot fail to call forth, from
all those who regard either the prerogatives of the
Crown or the rights and liberties of the people.—
Morning Herald.
We have heard much, of late, from certain
Noble and Honourable Individuals, of the ve-
nality of the press. It is a cheap and vulgar
mode of attack, -to impute corrupt motives, when
we cannot beat down truth. The first observa-
tion which will naturally occur to those who hear
the charges to which we -allude is, how it has
happened that this evil, which is now so gross
and palpable, has so long escaped notice ? There
is an old age which says, " that no one' becomes
a rogue all at once." If this be true of indivi-
duals, it is equally true of systems. Either the
press has been utterly corrupted ; or, to use the
rather strong than elegant language applied to it,
" rotten to the core," for a very considerable
time ; or. it is not -at present so unsound as
the heated passions of its opponents represent
it. The second 'observation, which must strike
the most careless, is the sweeping nature of
the charge. General accusations are always
suspicious, and -almost always untrue. If the
Press be rotten to the core, that part of it which
opposes the present Ministry -must be as rotten
.as that which advocates their cause. The Gen-
tlemen who vituperate the Press, by their Uncom-
promising censures, have-'placed themselves, or,
at least, their party, in' the condition of a per-
sonage of old, who said, that 'all the people of
his country were liars. Of ' that Gentleman, it
was observed, that if, by accident, he spoke truth
for once, he must be a liar, by necessary conse-
quence. And, of those who notoriously sup-
port one portion of the Press, it may with equal
truth be said, that if all the Press be corrupt,
they are equally so. But, not to insist on this
very obvious argument that the two edged sword,
which issues from the mouth of the enemy,
smites alike his friends and his foes, we would re-
mark on the absurdity of these charges against
the Press. 'We think we are not at all ex-
aggerating, when we estimate, at a fair
market price, the value of the London
Newspapers alone, to be upwards of half a
million sterling. Where, in the name of
wonder, could Mr. Canning find the means,
were:: he' seized with the wish, of bribing the
London. Press ? And let it for a moment be
considered whence the profits on this large ca-
pital 'arise. We, who live to please, must please
to live. Granting even for the sake of argument,
that it were possible to, bribe •the • whole of the
London Press, to write what the public did not
like—what would that be but bribing it, to
write what the public would not read ? Such a
proceeding would be sowing the -wind, and
reaping the whirlwind with a vengeance. And,
then, how -easy could such a monstrous combi-
nation be exposed—a combination made up of
elements as conflicting, as those that contended
in chaos—". hot, and cold, and moist and dry !"
A two-pennypamphlet would break it up in a week.
We are here resting our case upon the plain, every
where understood, principle of self-interest. It will
hardly be-said that the managers and proprietors
of newspapers are blind to that motive, however
blind they may be in other respects. The press can-
not be bribed, because bribery will not pay. We
may, we are aware, take higher ground. We may
ask, who are the, parties most likely to be seduced
from the fair and honourable discharge of duty,
whether public or private, by the sordid reward of a
few paltry pounds, or the expectation of a paltry
place ?•We do not wish to recriminate—far from it:
but if we reposed any credit in the universal obser-
vation of mankind, those who look to pension or