The Sun. — 1845-04-16 (London, England)

PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAT. GLOBE.—Sir Robert Peel is the male Catherine de Medicis of modern Conservatism. There is areal duplicity, as Ranke has said of his female prototype, not in his words, or in his actions only, but in his mind. He has two strings to his bow; he is always for sitting on two stools. This duplicity of view and ofconduct, as in the lady above-mentioned, so in the present gentleman, after attempting to play one party against the other, ends at last in a violent crisis. Catherine first leaned towards the Protestants—and ended by enacting the Saint Bartholomew. Peers Protestantistn seems drawing to its catastrophe in a similarly violent situation. lie has driven his own original party to bay—and it stands at bay. He has thrown himself on Whig supPort ; and he will have to take it, we surmise, on Whig terms. Consistency of principle demands that the party in Opposition should speak their whole mind on the Whole extent of the Irish Church question. It is forced upon them ; they have not factiously forced it upon the Government. On the contrary, they have, thus far, given the Government the most unreserved support. The public, however, has spoken out, and shown itself strongly persuaded that (as we stated) what is proposed is one thing— what is argued for is another. The Minister's act indicates intentions which are universally received with immense distrust. And his argumentative supporters make the matter worse. They demonstrate that much more remains behind. Mr. Gladstone on Friday, Mr. Milnes yesterday, let the cat terribly out of the bag. The country sees clearly enough that this is only a beginning of new church policy. And they will have Sir Robert Peel begin nothing of which they don't see the end. As an Irish dealer, they will buy no pig in the poke from him. Now, in this matter, the Opposition leaders have embarked in the same boat with Sir R. Peel. Unless, however, they mean to commit Party suicide for the sake of his beaux yeux (to say nothing of the sartorial " sacrifices to the graces" which Mr. Grant has attributed to him)—they must declare all they would do with the Irish Churches, and how they would do it. The widest possible unpopularity has been already incurred by both Parties. The patty in power may get out of it how they can -that is no concern of the party in Opposition. What the) have to think of is simply to eonnect their present conduct with their past professions; and set forth, in their full extent the principles on which they have followed the kinisterial move. Those principles may not be less unpopular than that move is—but, if true, they must make Way- The unpopularity is incurred—tout est perdu fors I* honro*--it is for Opposition to take good care that honour, at isa,st, shall be sate, and that the country shall know where to look for men—not to consult its momentary pleasure—but to Chalk out a clearfuture course. Sir R. Peel sits like Joe Miller's Jew at dinner, aghast at the sudden thunder-storm—" Here a piece of work about one little bit of bacon !" But Even the little bit of bacon leads the public to infer t he whole b. that little bit is more than the public will tolerate og, Without knowing what is to follow. Sir R. Peel has made by`ue great mistake that he could keep Protestant zeal quiet treating the thing as nothing new, while the Irish majority are to take it as something new. This is adding distrust and suspense to inevitable Protestant unpopularity' The duplicity is perceived ; and if it had not, his supporters have taken good care to disclose Two such speeches as Mr. Gladstone's and Mr. ililnes' involve all that Mr. Ward's motion menaced, and something more. They involve the positive patronage of Warnsh priesthood, as teachers of the people, while 'P.- motion only went to deal with surplus eccleastical funds (such as those Mr. Hume last night mentioned), for general educational purposes. Mr. Gladstone, therefore, and Mr. Milnes, go farther than "r. Ward went towards directly superseding Protestant outs,rY as regards Roman Catholic masses. They teal directly patronise another ministry, as effechint], where the former is ineffectual—and unless they upold the preposterous absurdity, that where that acknowledged inefficacy exists, and where, on that very ground, they would erect State machinery to supply other agencies Zthe non-working wheels are to go on being oiled "for e look of the thing," and the public to be taxed for • in oil for the working ones, as well as for putting them ~11 gear "at first starting—unless this preposterous nrdity is asserted, Sir Robert Peel's argumentative !adherents espouse the appropriation clause, and something ore. Is it for the Whigs to dissemble that a new principle involved here; and to shrink from declaring that prin. Itl2le, in the whole extent to whEch they would act upon This appears simply due to themselves on the part of the Opposition. Dlr. Milnes stated it to be " his littrtion that the country was not at the present time !niseeptilA of the arguments which had been adduced 1,!? favour of the Bill.' But he was just as great a sinner himself in the way as Mr. Gladstone. The country is susloneble of alarm, at all events; and such gemches have :lone all that could be done to alarm it. Nothi ore will lost by explicitness; there is nothing now to be saved by Rile We once hazarded a fabled illustration of the ostrich gait of Sir Robert Peel's policy. But now the ostrich would screen itself by sticking its head in the sand, and, because it Rill not see its way, thinks that nobody else sees its whereabouts.