SIR JOHN CAMPBELL AT EDINBURGH.
IF Lord MELBOURNE has any doubts respecting the new Tory policy, let him consult his Attorney-General, who knows well enough what the Tories are about. "Plain JOHN CAMPBELL " put off his constituents at Edinburgh, the other day, with sheer hum- bug, when questioned as to his opinions on the Ballot and Short Parliaments; but he explained with sufficient clearness the plan of the Tories for turning Lord MELBOURNE out of office. After talking about the RAPHAEL and NORTON plots, and their failure, very much in the way that we wrote about them at the time, he said- " The hopes of the Tories being thus disappointed, nothing remained for them, except to adopt a system whereby, as f.r as practicable, useful legislation might be put a stop to. It seems to me, that for this purpose the Tories changed their leader. They now threw aside the mask of Reformers—they no longer ap- peared as pseudo Liberals, but were determined to act on their own genuine principles. Some of them looked on Sir Robert Peel as little better than a Radi- cal, and the Duke of Wellington was considered deficient in energy and vigour. They therefore resorted to my Lord Lyndhurst."
True as the Gospel! and precisely what the Spectator has been saying every week nearly since last Easter. Admitting that the country has a right to be disappointed at the results of the last session, Sir JOHN CAMPBELL states distinctly what has caused "this sad reality."
"I have no doubt (he said) the Tories have laid down the resolution, that so far as depends on them, if the People submit to it, there shall be no further improvement in our laws and institutions."
Sir JOHN CAMPBELL, then, is fully aware that Lord LYNDHURST has hit upon a new plan of contending with the Reformers, and worked it successfully, by reducing the " brilliant anticipations in the King's Speech" to the "sad reality" of nothing. Is he such a dolt as not to perceive the necessity of adopting a new policy to counteract the new tactics of the Tories ? It is impos- sible—for he is not a fool. Then, why does he hesitate manfully to declare the conviction which we know he feels, instead of twaddling about petitions and public meetings—at the same time " _efraining from the steps that can alone produce an expression of public opinion the Tories will not laugh at?
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