Star.
London, England, 1829-11-28 00:00:00

FACTS AND FANCIES.

MINISTERIAL WARNING.—It would seem as if the
very elements conspired " to read a great moral lesson"
to his Majesty's Ministers, and, by marring the recrea-
tion in which these faithful servants designed to while
away that time which some of their predecessors in
official station and Royal confidence were wont to devote
to the affairs of the nation, remind them of the serious
and much more becoming employment by which their
" mighty minds" should condescend to be occupied in the
present calamitous state of the Empire. Considering,
however, the deplorable, and—in their hands—irretriev-
able condition to which their vain-glorious-self-sufficiency
has reduced the " OCEAN QUEEN," it must be owned
that it is scarcely matter of surprise that they should en-
deavour to protract the evil day by every expedient :—but
" come it will that day decreed by fate"—though the
snow should no longer interrupt their field sports, and
they " cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war"—amongist
the peaceable pheasants and partridges. They must, ere
long, give " an account of their stewardship," and if the
representatives of the people do their duty, an awful
reckoning it will be. But what can they think of them-
selves—what can the people of England think, of a Mi-
nistry so regardless of its grave responsibilities, and of its
public duties, as to need the reiterated remonstrances of
the Press—of that honest portion of the Press at least,
which is not to be pensioned into silence—or bribed into
the betrayal of its constitutional integrity? What must the
people of England think of Ministers who, in times of dif-
ficulty and distress like the present, require such remon-
strances to " call them back to reason and the shop"--and
have cause to be grateful for the lenity with which they are
reproached—as the Morning Herald has good-naturedly
reproached them, by a gentle hint that the " Ministerial
party assembled•at Mr. Peel's mansion in Norfolk, must,
it is apprehended, betake themselves to the affairs of the
State, for want of something else to employ themselves
about ?"

THE PRINCE or GRELea.—As the French politicians
assure us —andwith some show of probability- -that Greece
is speedily to be rendered an independent state, and to be
governed by a Prince, who is not to have the title of King,
it were well if " TnE limn Pow rits"—(monstrous
profanation !)—between whom this arrangement is said
to have been decided upon, would but avail themselves
of such an opportunity for displaying their eternal grati-
tude to England, and their just value for " Europe's
deliverer," by conferring the government of the classic
Principality upon His Highness Tun PRINCE ot• WA-
TERLOO: thus bestowing the last reward of earthly
greatness upon " THE GREAT CAPTAIN OF THE AGE;"
relieving him from the ungracious necessity of a gracious
dismissal from his " high office," and the country from
the calamitous consequences of his continued misrule.
With His HIGHNESS in Greece, and " ()Vox NELL,"
Number One, in Ireland, the balance of Power would be
effectually adjusted and preserved.

TILE LIBERTY Or TILE SUBJECT.—II is now stated,—
and, of course, upon authority—that MECK FORD, the
collector of taxes of Eastbourne, who was accused of
absconding from that place, and instantly pursued to
London and thence to Dover, where he was apprehended
on a charge of felony, has been " released from custody,
on satisfactory grounds." This reads well, and sounds
well too; but there seems, in the denouement of the affair,
something more than meets the eye or ear. It is evident
that MEcKPOILD, who has been so ignominiously treated,
has a right to know upon what " satisfactory grounds,"
be, a freeman, a subject of the King of a free people,
was pursued as a felon—his name advertised as a
felon—he himself deprived of his liberty as a felon
—held up to the opprobrium of the world as a
felon—and his character subjected for ever after
to suspicion. And the people have a right to
know upon what " satisfactory grounds" an individual
taken into custody, under such circumstances of strong
suspicion, has been released from that custody. It is a
dangerous precedent to suffer the conduct of the accused,
or the conduct of those who are entrusted with the ad-
ministration of the laws, even in a magisterial capacity,
to be glossed over with such indefinite phraseology. The
" grounds" of MECKVORD'S apprehension have been
made public enough ; and the circumstances which war-
_ _

ranted- his discharge should obtain equal publicity. No-
thing short of positive criminality on his part could justify
the extreme measures resorted to : nothing short of his
complete vindication could justify his release from cus-
tody. Where the liberty and chanicter of the subject,
or the interests of the people, are concerned—" Fiat
Justitia!"