TIIE NEV, TORY MANIFESTO : SIR ROBERT PEEL AT THE

MERCHANT TAILORS HALL.

SIR ROBERT Peet is attempting to net a part which no public man can perform with credit to himself or benefit to his party. Ile is striving to make tliv country believe the monstrous absur- dity, that men who-a selfish intereits have been injured, whose personal itoportanee fete been wounded, and whose prejudices have been sorely vexed by the Reform Act, are the fittest persons to carry it; principles into suece-tsful operation. Ile feels, and shows it too, that want of confidence in his professions of at- tachment to Reform—a rooted distrust of himself and his asso- eiatee — were the real can ,es of his downfal. He is anxious to remove the public suspicion ; but in order to succeed in this attempt, he must persuade his supporters to play the by- peerite alone with him. If Sir ROBERT were to abandon his connexiee with the Tory party, it is not impossible that he might delude the mons crAtionsi of the Reformers with the notion that he had himself made up his mind at length to move with the spirit of the age: but everybody sces through the gross incon- sistency of his attempts to pass for a Reformer, while seeking at the smile time to strengthen his connexion with the haters of Reform in word and deed. Nay, the very phraseology he employs in ad- dressing his asseciates, betra vs his consciousness that he and they would both damage the Reform Act if they could.

" Allow me," he stys, " to recommend you all, in common with myself, to refrain from fluttering ourselves with any distant hope of altering the present system : let us not seem to threaten, even in thought, those who have acquired new rights with the forfeiture of that acquisition. Let us stand by the consti- tution as it exists at present. Let us never hint at alteration, or raise a secret doubt by our conduct, even in the minds of the most suspicious."

Yet it is in alliance with men who required this admonition— men who, if they spoke out, would declare their hatred of Reform —that Sir ROBERT PEEL fancies he may, in the guise of a Re- former, yet regain the chief place in the Government. The Tories need the advice of their trimming leader. Sir Ro- BERT's speech was delivered on Monday : it was only on the pre- vious Friday that Lord WODEHOUSE, the Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, presided at a dinner of the East Norfolk Conservative Association ; and how did this Tory Lord—who has been consis- tent and thoroughgoing in his politics for many years—deliver himself on the subject of the Reform Act? Hear him.

" flow far has it, I will a,!:, contributed to relieve the situation of the die- tressA, I fear I must almost say the ruined, agriculturist? Have those who em- ploy their capital and industry in farming found themselves better off? Ask the merchant ; is the manufacturer, or the shipowner, better off? Ask the poor but industrious artisan what he has derived from it. I believe the same answer would be returned by one and all—that they were duped and disappointed, and detested those who had hamlet and inhumanly deeeired them, and who hod nothiny in rim bat the prontion tf their wen selfish objects. The name of reform was male use of simply to remove power front Conservatives and con- sign it to Whig-Radicals. I fear the prediction of an illustrious person is likely to prove too trite—that no honest own will be ale to carry on the govern- ment under that onfintunate, that disastrous measure."

If Lord Wonsisousn is a sincere Tory,—and we give him credit for being one,—he must use all the means in his power to repeal an act which he believes to have been carried by fraud, and to be so disastrous in its consequences that no honest man can con- duct the government of the country under it. Lord Wonsnousz is no insignificant member of that party which Sir ROBERT PEEL is endeavouring to drill into the systematic deceit of pretending to re- gard the Refigin Act as a measure not to be tampered with. The attempt will not be very successful. Sir ROBERT will not himself

gain credit for the sincerity of his professions; and he will not be able so to manage the Tory Aristocracy as to prevent their blurting out, on frequent occasions, their natural and irrepres- sible dislike to a system of government which must eventually prostrate the Oligarchy, and already cripples its means. Doubt- less there are multitudes of sincere and honest as well as of mere place-hunting and ambitious Tories ; and it will be im- possible to keep the former from disconcerting the schemes and

contradicting the wily assertions of the latter. 'Within four days we have seen Lord WommousE and the Norfolk Tories anathe- matizing, and in effect threatening, the Reform Act; and Sir ROBERT Pszt declaring that they ought not to "seem to threaten it, even in thought." We are persuaded that the Tory Aristocracy will not admire Sir ROBERT'S cool manner of laying King and Peers on the shelf.

" I warn you," said he, " that you must not place a firm reliance upon the prerogative of the Crown—on the influence or authority of the House of Lords. The prerogative of the one, the authority of the other, are constitutionally potent m controlling the powers of the Lower House ; but you must not now-a-days depend upon themes bulwarks which are impassable, and which can be committed without apprehension to the storm and struggle of events. The government of the country, and the mode in which it is conducted, allow me to tell you, must mainly depend upon the constitution of the House of Commons."

This is much the same as calling the Constitution a mere fic- tion. To say that the King and the Peers are " constitutionally potent in controlling the powers of the Lower House," and yet that " the government of the country must mainly depend upon the constitution of the House of Commons," is greater nonsense than the old theory of the " balance," which young Mr. DISRAELI was taught at school. When the House of Peers was potent to control the Commons, the government of the country depended upon the Aristocracy. That has been changed by the Reform Act : and does Sir ROBERT PEEL imagine that he can wheedle the People of England into believing that the men, who have been deposed from their high estate by that measure, will honestly and cordially lend their assistance to work out its principles ? Sir ROBERT probably saw that it would be difficult to convince even a party of City Tories after dinner, that the Peers were so yielding and resigned to their degraded condition : he therefore slurred over this part of his subject, and declared that his chief reliance was on the middle classes. He ostentatiously (as is his Wont) paraded his own connexion by birth with those classes ; and, in order to inlist the feelings of the company on his side, pretended that it was made "the grand charge against himself, that the King had sent for the son of a cotton-spinner to Rome, in order to make him Prime Minister of England." Let us just ask, who made the charge ? Not the Reformers assuredly—they had other and far more important complaints to prefer against him : they objected to him as an enemy in his heart to political improvement, as a trickster, as a man whose public life betrayed want of enlarged judgment and of the faculty of profiting by the experience of the past. The Reformers did not care one jot who or what his father was. Were the Tories, then, averse to being led by a ple- beian Premier, (we believe they were, though they could not help themselves); and did the cotton-spinner's son—the self-sufficient gentleman who was brought from Rome to lead their forlorn hope —take this opportunity of letting them know his importance? The revenge was fair—the vanity not unpardonable : only don't let the truth of the matter be mystified by a tricky rhetoric. Sir ROBERT PEEL, who now conies forward as a Reformer—as one of the middle classes—a ho at now ledges the supremecy of the House of Commons over King and Peers—declares that the chief advantage he has derived from the possession of power has been, not the means of advancing the public weal, but the "good for- tune of being connected with the Duke of WELLINGTON," from whom he had "never been separated by any difference on political subjects." We all know what are the Duke of WELLINGTON'S un- recanted opinions on the subject of Parliamentary Reform; and until we hear the contrary from himself, we shall continue to be- lieve him to be one of the last men in England who would subscribe lo Sir ROBERT PEEL'S doctrine of the supremacy of' the House of Commons.

Sir ROBERT, however, is pledged to that doctrine. Let him be tied down to it, and when the Lower House has passed the amended Irish Tithe Bill and the Bill for Corporation Reform, let him be called on to demonstrate, for the benefit of the Tory Aristocracy, the absurdity of their Lordships offering any opposition to these or any other popular measures decreed by the Commons of England.

When it is remembered in how shameless a manner the public revenue was squandered by the Tories when in power,--how they multiplied sinecures and jobs, and then insolently refused all in- quiry into their malepractices,—is it not edifying to read the fol- lowing passage in the speech of the present Coryphsens of the party ?

" I apprehend that we are not interested in the maintenance 11 any abuse; that we are willing to correct every abuse, and to conmi in theapplication of the best remedy which can possibly be devised for that puil:,,sc. We hold, 1 apprehend, that no public offices ought to be maintained I,7r the i7urpo,12 of patronage; that they can only be vindicated on the ground of their being neces- sary to the public service. We want no sinecures. We want no more amount of salary for the reward of any public men than that which may th, sufficient for securing integtity and competence in the discharge of inirrtaut official uties."

What say Lords ELLENBOROUGH, ARDEN, MELVILLE, and time whole tribe of Tory sinecurists and pensioners, to this ? If the party "want no sinecures;' why do not they give them up, instead of fighting for their vested interests in such abuses? Oh! but these are ennobled sinecurists, and Sir ROBERT is addressing " the middle classes." Vell, are there no sinecures, lay end clerical, shared among the Tories of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S rank ? Let that pass; but in future, when a motion shall be brought for- ward for the abolition of sinecures in the Church, by whatsoever name they may be called, Sir ROBERT'S Merchant Tailor speech should be quoted to guide Conservatives in the line of duty. Although Sir ROBERT acknowledges that the power of control- ling the government of the country now substantially rests with the House of Commons, yet he declares his resolution and that of his friends to preserve the" United Church of England and Ire- land as a predominant Establishment;" and to prevent " such an infusion of democracy into the institutions of the country as shall essentially change their theory, and by slow degrees deprive us of the advantages we have so long enjoyed under our limited mos narchy and ancient institutions. What " advantages," and who "enjoyed" them ? Surely we have heard these fine words before? Yes indeed, they fall on our ear like the "cosmogony of the world" in GOLDSMITH'S tale. They belong to the vocabulary of vague terms from which Sir ROBERT garnished his denunciations against the Reform Bill, and which are the common cant of his party whenever any alteration beneficial to the community at large and distasteful to Tories is proposed. But this en pas- sant : attend to the manner in which this party of resistance is to be fortified- " Now that the feelings excited by a late political contest have subsided, I cannot help entertaining a sincere hope and belief,—discluinting any intention of interfering improperly with the political franchise,—that there is still that, fund of good sense in this community, that will enable you, if not to gain a predomi- nating influence in the Commons House of Parliament, still to acquire that degree of influence that shall control and prevent many bad project... My advice to you, then, is, not to permit past differences on political subjects now to prevent a cordial union with those who take a similar view with youiselves on matters of immediately pressing emergency."

In other words—try to gain over lukewarm Reformers ; bribe ratting Whigs; cajole the timid and the ignorant; and make friends with the STANLEY Tail.

It cannot be denied that this speech amounts to a confession that Toryism, such as it existed in England a dozen years ago, has sunk to rise no more. Sir ROBERT PEEL was the representative of a party that deemed CANNING little better than a Radical, and doubted even CASTLEREAGH'S political orthodoxy. He was the leader of the High Church, Oxford, section of the Tories—what is he now ? A trimmer, whose only chance of regaining office depends upon his success in palming himself off as an apostate from the principles of his whole political existence. He admits that power has changed hands, and that its present possessors will not tolerate hostility to those principles of government to which he has been diametrically opposed, and we doubt not is still i hostile in his heart. What then s the meaning of the shout of " reaction ?" There has been no reaction in the country—Sir Ro- BERT PEEL flatly contradicts it: lie is "a man of the People," and promotes the Movement, in a plausible way.