Star.
London, England, 1831-09-15 00:00:00

TORY U)RD LIEUTF.NANCT.

Ire transfer the following able and spirited ar-
ticle from the columns of the Morning Chronicle
•£.yesterday. It is a subject on which we have
repeatedly descanted ; and we cannot dissemble
oar surprise that the evil has not, ere this, forced
itself on the attention of ministers.

" We /re moat unwilling, at so critical a period,
to embarrass the government by any recommen-
dations or reflections which could remotely involve •
its popularity, or indirectly endanger the success
of the great vital question of reform in the house
of lords. But so many public and private remon-
strances on the disposition of its patronage have
reached us, from all parts of the kingdom, and the
disgusting facts connected with the Dublin election
are so recent and notorious, that we reluctantly
enter our protest, and apprize Lord Grey of the
state of public feeling on this subject, so inti-
mately and necessarily connected with tha stabi-
lity of his Cabinet. The Tory party in possession
of political power, which, with one short interval,
they uninterruptedly monopolised for the lass fifty
years, mainly organised and perfected an intolerable
rule, by promoting all their ultra partisans through-
out the kingdom to offices of influence, profit,
honour, and political power. Prostration and sub-
serviency, bigotry and party violence, met their
sure reward in the humble and in the higher ranks
of society. From the Lord Lieutenant to the
parish sexton, who lowered his lordship's coffin into
t he family vanit,every municipal and civil office was
filled with thick and thin men.' The Lieutenancy
awl Magistracy of all the counties in England, '
Wales, and Scotland, were crammed exclusively
with Tories. Toryism was the only passport to 1
honours or emoluments. The church, the army,
the navy, the close corporations, the law, India,
the colonies, the civil and diplomatic services of the i
state, were crowded with political creatures of the ;
ministers of the day. Every man of liberal and
independent principles was proscribed, and the door
of advancement and preferment closed against him.
The law was the only exception, when the bait of
judicial appointments periodically trapped a few ;
rats to silence an occasional public man who tor-
mented the Minister in or out of Parliament, or,
may he, because a premier could discover no brains
among the sincere political bigots of the legal pro-
fession. Doubtless this exclusive system in the
disposal of patronage chiefly perpetuated the bane-
ful and ruinous faction of Toryism, and,strengthen-
ing the extraordinary usurpations of the borough-
mongers, formed an almost insurmountable barrier
round the citadel of corruption. Woe betide that
unhappy public backslider who incautiously or
in a frantic moment of conscientious feeling,
perpetrated one act of an Anti-Ministerial na-
ture. A Lord Lieutenant, a General Officer,
a Gauger, were summarily want to the right about
with as much sang froid as the Duke of Welling-
ton ordered the execution of a deserter. The
inundation of public opinion, and the extraordinary
political circumstances in Europe which called Lord
Grey to the councils of the nation, at length burst
through thcroutworks of the Tories. The present
Ministers, in consequence of the system, are sur-
rounded with spies, informers, and false friends.
The courtesy of ministerial power has generally
continued in office all subordinate incumbents of
the several official departments of the State. The
early difficulties of the present administration, its
mix i d character and partial dependence on a portion
of a divided aristocracy, have inclined Lord Grey
to adopt this courtesy to an extreme extent, in-
stead of limiting it with reference to his own pe-
culiar and critical situation. He now holds the
reins of Government, represented by his bitter
political opponents as Ambassadors and Charges
d'Affaires abroad—Tory diplomatists of Great Bri-
tain, deeply involved in all the schemes of the
Holy Alliance ! Lord Lieutenants, Magistrates,
Clergy, Lawyers, the whole host of sub-
ordinate official men, in every department
and throughout the country, are arrayed in
hitter and undisguised hostility against him !
To tamper with such a position is pregnant with
inevitable destruction to the Ministry. " Con-
ciliation," " politic" coquetry with antagonists, are
silly and despicable expedients, which always have,
and ever will, prostrate those who resort to petti-
fogging tactics. We fear that the old and staunch
political friends of Lord Grey and his chosen band
of followers throughout the kingdom have too
much reason to complain, as they loudly do, that
the patronage and countenance of the Administra- ,
Con are bestowed in the cultivation and propitiation
of enemies, instead of the advancement of friends
and principles. The Gazettes for months past
have teemed with municipal and other appointments
bestowed by the Lord Lieutenants on Tory Gentry
and their adherents, if possible, in greater abund-
ance than during the mcst fruitful period of their
power ; and a more than usual activity has prevail-
ed in filling up the Magistracy, and in forming
select bands of Yeomanry corps, officered by per-
sons disaffected to the popular cause. In the
meantime, Lord Lieutenants and men in every
office have not hesitated to place their names at the
head of county declarations against the reform bill;
and in the recent elections, with the Clergy at their
bead, almost to a man opposed the popular candi-
dates ! The continuance of such men in offices of
important political power and influence, their noto-
rious continued exclusion of their liberal neigh-
bours front participation in local offices, is unna-
tural and anomalous, and displays a suicidal infa-
tuation. Is it possible so to tickle the Peers into
toleration of the reform bill ? Can any men of
sense or observation believe that a single indivi-
dual will abate one jot of opposition to the hated
measure ? Will Lord Shaftesbury, for instance,
in his lucrative and influential office, oppose Mi-
nisters more vehemently or injuriously if displaced
than he now does openly and viciously ? Will the
Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Hertford,
Lord Verulam, the Dukes of Beaufort and Rut-
land, Newcastle, and Northumberland, Lord Powis
or Lord Clive, or the Scotch Lords, less oppose or
injure Ministers, because allowed to remain domi-
nant in their several counties, dispensing all the
attendant patronage incident to their offices as
Lord Lieutenants ? That the public may know
hat is really going on in the country, and the
just causes of loud and indignant complaint to
which we havelbove alluded, we subjeiu the fol.