The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-17 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TIM PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It is said that an Illustrious Person has written to Lady
Liverpool, informing her, that out of respect and regard
to her husband, no Prime Minister will be named till
after Easter. This resolution, it is evident, arises less
from motives of decorum than from the embarrassment of
solving the difficulty which presents itself in reforming the
disjointed Government. The rickety machine was held
together by a single peg : that peg failing, the Cabinet-
makers are at a loss how to replace it. The ultra-Tory
members' of the Government, whose personal dislike to
Mr. Canning has long been notorious, feel themselves
emboldened, by their late majority of four, to declare that
they can never submit to his holding the Premiership. On
the other hand, Mr. Canning must feel it due to his own
character—due to his responsible situation, as leader of
the Commons—due to his country, which has cheered
him, and favoured him. in his liberal progress—to serve
under no other Chief than his friend and support, Lord
Liverpool—neither under Lord Bathurst, nor Lord Eldon,
nor Mr. Peel, nor Mr. Goulburn. A proposal to place
any of these Gentlemen at the head of the Administra-
tion must lead to Mr. Canning's resignation, and it may
be :added, to his speedy return, unshackled and un-
disgraced. Nor is this a mere personal question. If Mr.
Canning allows the ultra-Tory spirit to prevail in the
Cabinet, he will soon be called upon to abandon Portugal,
and coerce Ireland. He cannot but recollect his own de-
clarations on these two subjects—" Where the British
flag flies, foreign dominion shall not come." "If Ireland
is to be kept down by measures of coercion, I do not envy
the Minister who would have to carry such measures into
effect." In fact, Mr. Canning is too deeply-pledged, and
we may add, too fond of fame, ever to retrace the steps he
has made :—he must go on, or sink:—nor need he fear a
long exclusion from office. Suppose Mr. Peel put in the
place of Mr. Pitt, who will be his Foreign Secretary ?
Mr. Goulburn ?—Who his President of the Board of
Trade :—Sir Thomas Lethbridge ? Who his Home Se-
cretary ?—Mr. Dawson ? The country would not feel it-
self safe for a day in such hands, and the House of Com-
mons would be obliged to follow the country. In the
mean time events go on, and the British Ministry is in a
state of anarchy.---Times.
A Preliminary Treatise to the " Library of Useful Know-
ledge," on "the objects, advantages, and pleasures of
Science," has just been published. It is, we understand,
from the pen of Mr. Brougham, and is every way worthy
of him. It would be difficult to name a Treatise, in the
English language, better suited to its object; and we have
no difficulty in affirming that this publication alone (if he
bad never before laboured for the instruction of the people)
would establish his title to one of their most distinguished
benefactors. It cannot fail to produce the most
beneficial impression on those for whom it is more parti-
cularly intended. We shall, on some future day, enter
more fully into the consideration of this Treatise, which
conveys in simple and beautiful language, an idea of,—l.
Mathematical Science; 2. The difference between Mathe-
matical and Physical Truths; 3. Natural or Experimental
Science; 4. Application of Natural Science to the animal
and vegetable world ; advantages and pleasures of science.
We cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of presenting our
readers with the following beautiful passage in the outset :
—" It may easily be demonstrated, that there is an advan-
tage in learning, both for the usefulness and the pleasure
of it. . . . There is something positively agreeable
to all men, to all, at least, whose nature is not most gro-
yelling and base, in gaining knowledge for its own sake.-1
When you see any thing for the first time, you at once
derive some gratification from the sight being new; your
attention is awakened, and you desire to know more about
it. It it is a piece of workmanship, as an instrument, a
machine of any kind, you wish to know how it is made; how
it works, and what use it is of. If it is an animal, you desire
to knowwhere it came from, how it lives, what are its dispo-
sitions, and generally its nature and habits. This desire
is felt too, without at all considering that the machine
or the animal may ever be of the least use to yourself
practically ; for, in all probability, you may never see
them again. But you feel a curiosity to learn all about
them, because they are new and unknown to you. You
accordingly make inquiries; you feel a gratification in
getting answers to your questions, that is, in receiving
information, and in knowing more—in being better in-
formed than you were before. If you ever happen again
to see the same instrument, or animal, you find it agreeable
to recollect having seen it before, and to think that you
know something about it. If you see another instrument
or animal in same respect like, but differing in other •par-
ticurarit, you find it pleasing to compare them together,
and to note in what they agree and in what they differ. ,
Now, all this kind of gratification is of a pure and disin- I
terested nature, and has no reference to any of the com-
mon purposes of life; yet it is a pleasure—an enjoyment.
You are nothing the richer for it; you do not gratify your
palate or any other bodily appetite; and yet it is so pleas-
ing that you would give something out of
.your pocket to
obtain it, and would forego some bodily enjoyment for its
sake. The pleasure derived from science is exactly of the
like nature, or rather it is the very same. For what has
just been referred to is, in fact, science, which, in its most
comprehensive sense means only knowledge, and in its
ordinary sense means knowledge reduced to a system ;
that is, arranged in a regular order, so as to be conveniently
taught, easily remembered, and readily applied."—We
earnestly recommend this treatise to all who take an inte-
rest in the improvements of the people, and wish every
success to " the labours of the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge."---Morning Chronicle.

When Members of either House of Parliament com-
plain of their speeches being misreported in the news-
papers, would it not be as well were they to turn their at-
tention to the miserable want of accommodation which
exists in both Houses to those on whom the important
task of Parliamentary reporting devolves ? We are aware
that the doing this is still called, a breach of privilege ; but
on the other hand, it is one of those breaches so long and
so much more honoured in the observance, that we do
not suppose that there is any man living, either in or out
of Parliament, who would seriously advocate its prohibi-
tion. In fact, what passes in the British Parliament has
become for years the most important part of the history,
not only of our own country, but of Europe, and of the
world. Speeches delivered in both Houses are addressed
as much to those who will read, as to those who hear
them; and the very persons who describe their publication
technically as breaches of privilege, themselves refer to,
quote, and rely upon them, as the only authentic records
of their own words and actions. When to this is added
the extraordinary rapidity and accuracy with which they are
accomplished, instead of occasional and slight errors being
subjects of complaint, we wonder that the one are not
mast frequent, and that the other ever occur. Since, then,
both Mouses of Parliament not only connive at, but, in
fact, virtually authorise and sanction these reports, before
Members complain of their inaccuracy, would it not be
more just to do away with the inconvenience and infacility
with which Reporters are surrounded ? No instance of
wilful misrepresentation has ever been so much as imputed
to the press under this head; and even mere inaccuracies
are so rare, that we may be justified in applying to them
the well-known apology of Horace, and say—" Übi plum
sitent—non paucis offendar maculis,"—Morning Herald.
We observe that Mr. Peel in bringing up the first of the
Bills for amending the Criminal Law, after animadverting
upon the prolixity of the Statutes in general, made use of
this remarkable expression " Some statutes to be sure,
such as Magna Cholla, would, of course, be always re-
tained in their present form." We should be very much
surprised if any modern attempt were made to improve
the language of Magna aorta, for it is in brevity and clear-
ness of expression, a model of legislation that puts to shame
the .blest enactments of our more enlightened day. The
nearer 7.9 r, Peel can bring his new Criminal Laws, in con-
ciseness and energy of diction to this splendid monument
of the masculine understanding of earlier times, the better
for his own fame, and the public advantage. 'We arc not
idolatrous admirers of what is called " the wisdom of our