NEWS OF THE WEEK.

WILLIAM the Fourth expired, at Windsor Castle, on Tuesday morning. For this termination of the Royal sickness, the public has been for some time prepared; as the bulletins published by his late Majesty's physicians, though framed with a view to de- ception, deceived nobody ; and it was universally believed that he was irrecoverably ill. To the last day, however, as if it were a eligiouS duty `0-- keep up the reputation of courtly insincerity even in matters of life and death, there was no official intimation that the King was danger.

• Our late Sovereign was nearly seventy-two years of age when he died ; but, except during the seven years of his existence after he ascended the throne, his career possesses few historical materials. Like most of the sons of GEORGE the Third, he was poorly edu- cated and ill trained for high statesmanship. Some particu- lars of his personal history will be found in a subsequent page : in this place we shall confine ourselves to his character and conduct as a King of England, and the proihinent politics of his reign. Tho remarks we have to offes will not harmonize with the prevailing tone which writers in newspapers and public speake have assumed for the week : but they are the dispassionate con- victions of a calm retrospect, having no regard to aught but the plain truth; on some points we have the advantage of informa- tion which we cannot mistrust; and though our verdict on the whole must be less flattering than that of the present courtly eulogists, it will not be so bitter as the whispered reproaches very familiar to Whig lips and ears when the poor man was dying.

On the throne, as in private life, WILLIAM the Fourth seems to have been a goodhearted man, with frank impulses and kindly feelings ; willing to do right, but not unfrequently oing wrong, from want of knowledge and strength of mind. He had little information, and strong prejudices. Though sufficiently conceited and self-willed, he was easily imposed upon and led by the designing. Anxious for popularity, he still betrayed a dread of the means to obtain it. He seems to have thrown himself into the arms of Earl GREY, in the first year of his reign, not from any enlightened views on the state of public feeling, but because he was vexed that on account of his Minister's unpopularity be could not act the King at a City feast. Subsequently, he was terrified by the opposition of the Peers, and withdrew from Earl GREY the support which he was pledged to give. He took back Earl GREY, and passed the Reform Bill, because he had no other resource. He used his in- fluence with the Peers, to avoid a convulsion which might have cost him his throne. When these facts are considered, his merit in having passed the Reform Bill seems small, though that act will render the epoch of his reign immortal. Again, in 1934, he abandoned the Liberals and had recourse to the Tories ; and when obliged to recall the former, he treated them with hauteur and ill- concealed dislike, withholding from them that countenance which he was bound as a King to give : and all this he did under "back. stairs" i r irresponsible influence. In fact, his late Majesty, though at times a jovial, and, for a King, an honest man, was a weak, igno- rant, commonplace sort of person. He was vain of his attention to what he called business, and meddled with matters which he had much better have let alone. He attached immense importance to all Court ceremonials, and was officious in his instructions to the officers of his household, and particular about the persons who were presented to hirn on levee-days. He stickled for the in- violability of the Civil List pensions, and was resolved to keep up a large army and navy. He conceived the essence of royalty to reside in its externals; and when he had held a numerous levee, given audience to Ministers, signed some state papers, disposed of the patronage that fell in, distributed a few charities, and had a dinner-party in St. George's Hall, he imagined that be had been laboriously employt d in the performance of the great Kingly dunes. Notwithstanding his feebleness of purpose and little- ness of mind, his ignorance and his prejudices, WILLIAM the Fourth was to the last a popular sovereign; but his very popula- rity was acquired at the price of something like public contempt. It was taken for granted that his natural bent was to Liberalism ; and it was believed that he was swayed by his Queen and his courtiers, and thus became a tool of the Tories. There might be a kind of fondness, but no real respect for such a person. In pri-1 vate life, he would have ranked no higher than a well-disposed

country gentleman. One mischievous crotchet of the late King, was his idea that naval, military, and diplomatic uniforms, covered

all the merit in his dominions. For science or literature he ha no respect ; and be showed the contempt in which he held those who professed either, by the kind of honours which he gave them. In his opinion, the most insignificant Major-General, or the most obscure and useless Admiral in his service, was of far greater importance than a HERSCHEL, a DAVY, R Scorr, a SOUTHEY, or a BABBAGE. This pernicious error must be rooted out in the new reign. England is a civil, not a military

country : the Sovereign should be taught, and ever bear in mind, that the protection and encouragement of well-directed talent in every department of intellectual labour, is one of the first of royal duties, and its intelligent performance a finer ornament to the crown than the barren laurels which grow on fields of battle.

WILLIAM the Fourth lived in eventful time*: His name is connected with a most important period in the history of the British Islands. When he ascended the Weise, The public

mind was in a ferment. The French Revolutice of '140 applied an irresistible stimulus to the desire of polikival improvement. The Court, the Nobles, the Clergy, and tb Squirearcby, all gave way before the excited Democracy. The'Reform Bill was carried, ultimately, by the masses, under a pleasing delusion that

their cause had prevailed, and that practical reforms wou41 follow.

If Earl GREY had been equal to the place he occupied,—if he had not sunk into the more chieftaio of the Whig Aristocracy, when he might have been the all-powerful head of the Nation,—the fruits

ei the Reform Bill would have been gathered. But Earl Gan, was not equal to the exigencies of the time; he lost the golden

opportunity, and unworthily dissipated the greatest power ever

wielded by a Minister of this country : instead of making the victory of 1832 the "means to an end"—the first step to great practical improvements—he commenced a course of resistance to the People, clung to tthe blemishes of the Reform Act as if they were its essentials, crouched to the Peers, crouched to the Court,

threw Ireland into a fury of opposition, and England into sullen

discontent. The result was the overthrow of his Administration. The Whigs bad a majority of at least three to one in the House

of Commons when Earl GREY was compelled to resign. His exit from official life was pitiable, but such as he deserved, who was the main agent in disappointing the just expectations of a people who had struggled for something better than the Irish Coercion Act and the establishment of a few 'Whig Peers and their friends in office. No doubt, in the heat and joy of victory, the Reformers had indulged in some not very sober anticipations of benefit to be

derived from the Reform Act; but their reasonable and just hopes were disappointed, and hence the distrust and dissatisfaction which

at length were manifested, even by those who continued during the first session of the Reformed Parliament to vote regularly with the Whig Ministers.

The MELBOURNE Ministry followed. We need not again go over the ground of their dismissal by the Court, the short reign of

the Tories, and the restoration of Lord MELBOURNE by another vigorous exercise of the popular will. That battle too was fought by the People, with assistance from the Whigs, against the Court and the Tory Aristocracy. The Reformers were resolved that Lord

MELBOURNE and his colleagues should have a fair trial. Lord MELBOURNE was supposed to be in advance of' Earl Gamy. The

hostility of the Court party was taken as a proof that he deserved

popular support. Give PEEL a fair trial! No, said the electors, the Tories have had a term of probation sufficiently long; they

have been weighed and found wanting ; now let us try Lord

MELBOURNE. It was this resolution that justice should be done, which carried the Reformers triumphantly through the struggle of 1835. It was the determination that Ministers should have a fair trial, which kept dissatisfied multitudes quiet and insured their support during the session of 1835. when the English Muni- cipal Act was taken as an earnest of future good—" the evidence of things not seen." Ministers, it was said, came into office when the session was half over, and had not had time to frame a plan

of proceedings. But the session of 1836 followed, and the result was pregnant with disappointment. The Peers were allowed to trample on the Representatives of the People. Mi

insults from the Court meekly, and kept their places. 5airil Li BOURNE talked it bravely, but kissed the Tory rdd: was

that be had taken office without guarantees. Disgust and anger but left thorn to follow out their 'own policy, and act upon their pew apace ; and many who had hoped excellent service from the own responsibility. If this is true now, it follows that his late MELBOURNE Ministry, feared that they were fit only to hobble Majesty was most foully slandered before. There could have been through the routine of business and pocket their portions of no obstruction at Court. His Majesty never stood in the way of quarterly cash. " Wait till next session;' was then the cry of the political improvements. On the questions which excited a Whigs and their friends : " support the Ministers, and they will difference of opinion between WILLIAM the Fourth and his Minis- render the Lords odious by bombarding them with good measures, ters, the King yielded; for, says Lord JOHN RUSSELL, he either which they will refuse to pass." But, said many Reformers, we gave way or changed his responsible advisers. if there has been do not care to render the Lords odious after this fashion : we dissatisfaction with the Court, it was ill-founded. Ministers are desiderate the good measures ; and they can only be had, as the the sole delinquents, by their own confession. Moreover, it follows

Reform Bill was bad, by fighting for them in earnest. The from this view of the late King's character and conduct, that the session of 1837 commenced; but it soon became evident that the accession of VICTORIA has brought no addition of strength to the Ministers were again prepared for " rubbing on" and nothing Ministry ; for it is quite impossible that any Sovereign an be more. The consequence was, increased weakness on the part of more favourable and gracious to them than their late royal the Government, and utter apathy in regard to their measures. master. Nobody can deny that the Reform spirit of the country is at a But everybody knows that the Ministers were not sincere in lower ebb now than at any period since 1829; and we know that these eulogies. The King did thwart them continually : he regarded Ministers were so sensible of their own desperate plight, as to them with an evil eye, as men forced upon him sorely against be in the almost immediate expectation of dissolution. Had his inclination. He would not in their behalf exercise his pre- it not pleased Heaven to afflict his late Majesty with mortal sick- rogative. He used the Army as an anti-Ministerial instrument, mess, Lord MELBOURNE and his colleagues must have gone out. and ostentatiously preferred the Tories for his friends and confi- The men who were placed in power by a most strenuous exertion dents at Court. On these points Lord MELBOURNE and Lord of the popular energies, actually depended for their official exist- JOHN RUSSELL cannot deceive the country ; and the attempt, we ence on the precarious life of a septuagenarian King! They who must needs think, was as impolitic and foolish as unsuccessful. were carried into power on the shoulders of the People, held office There was a natural desire exhibited to stand well with the at the mercy of the Court ! Such was the state of the Govern- young Queen. Lord MELBOURNE, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and Sir ment at the close of the reign of WILLI/of the Reformer. ROBERT PEEL, were highly courteous and complimentary when But there is a future before us. Freed from the hostility of the speaking of the Dutchess of KENT, as well as of her Majesty. Sir Court, and deprived of the excuse of Royal opposition for a back- RoesnT alone, of the three, had the tact to dwell upon the highly sliding policy, will not Ministers attempt to regain, by deserving favourable impression made by the Queen's demeanour at the it, the confidence and support of all Reformers ? In that case, Privy Council, when she met that august assembly for the first they must bid quickly ; for the general election, which party time. Never yet was an opportunity lost by the wily baronet of politicians willed not, but Heaven sends, is nigh at hand. playing his own game to advantage. His party was rather sulky. Three courses lie open to statesmen making an " appeal to the \Vali the present week, we suppose the season for compliments, country." They may proclaim themselves the advocates of cer- congratulation, and condolence terminates. A busy time ap- tain institutional improvements, and rouse the spirit of the People preaches. Plain speaking will be the order of the day ; and in in their behalf, as Earl GREY did in 1831. For " the Intention of the turmoil of a general election, with its concomitants of bribery, the Reform Act,"* the electors and non-electors would probably intimidation, and slander, as well as of independent and manly exert themselves with a vigour sufficient to insure a triumphant exertion in the good cause, (for there are bright spots too in the majority iti the House of Commons. prospect,) will the memory of the late King of England, his They may appeal to the constituencies on the Conservative prin- virtues and his foibles, be soon forgotten. ciple of resistance to what are called organic reforms. But it is scarcely credible that they can adopt a policy which, while it would The Foreign intelligence of the week possesses little interest. not gain a single Tory and few Trimmers, would disgust the ear- There are rumours in Paris, not generally credited, however, that nest Reformers from Orkney to the Land's End, and expose the a change in the French Ministry is at hand : it is most probable isolated Whigs in all the nakedness of a feeble minority. that the existing Cabinet of twaddlers will be allowed to complete They may take a neutral course, and, setting party questions the routine business of the session. aside, put forth their claims to support as men willing to effect Four medical and law students on Monday night attempted to administrative reforms. Should the Tories meet them on this get up an imeute in Paris, and to seduce some soldiers : the ground, the question for each elector to ask himself would be— soldiers immediately gave information of the plot, and its silly which candidate is, individually, the fittest man ? The contest authors were arrested. It is said that this plot included the asses-

would not be one of party, or of principles, but of persons. The discreet voter would also consider whether the Whig or Tory

would have the best chance of effecting the improvements which A battle was fought on the 13th, between the Christino forces both promised. In such a contest, keeping an eye on the corn- under Baron MEER and a detached body of Carlists, near Gui- position and tendencies of the Peers, can Lord MELBOURNE sone; in which the latter were routed, with the loss of 2,000 men,