TOPICS OF THE DAY.
A CHANGE IN THE ROYAL MIND.
WHEN the King dismissed the MELBOURNE Ministry in Novem- ber last, we have no doubt that he fancied he had done what would prove satisfactory to the mass of the nation. His Majesty was aware that his Ministers had little popularity to boast of. There was abundant evidence of very general discontent among those to whom a Liberal Government must look for support. Lord MELBOURNE was untried as Premier : he might prove a better or a worse Minister than Earl GREY; but he had had no opportunity of displaying those statesmanlike qualities and that sound policy for which he has since been distinguished. The mere breaking up, therefore, of the first MELBourrNs Administration would not have been displeasing generally to the Country, had his Majesty proceeded to from a Cabinet upon a more Liberal and popular basis. But he was deluded into the belief, that indifference to Whiggism was a sure symptom of returning affection forToryism. This falsehood was dinned into his ears by Tory courtiers which- ever way he turned ; and it is no wonder that under the then ex- isting circumstances, the King should have been duped by those selfish and factious men. Having chosen his new Ministers, WILLI an the Fourth, with characteristic resolution, determined on giving them hearty support ; and we can make allowances for the feeling which induced him to withhold that support from the pre- sent Ministers, who were certainly forced upon him by the Na- tional Representatives. It is, however, to be regretted that the Royal mortification should have been manifested, on more than one occasion, in so undignified a manner.
Although dsfeated mid driven out of office, the Tories still
affected confidence in their own popularity, and pretended that the " spoliating" measures of Lord MELnounss would raise such a storm against him in the country, that he would be compelled to give way. Surrounded as he is and has been by Tory courtiers, it is credible that the King was influenced by these assertions and predictions. But the measures of " spoliation" aforesaid were introduced and carried triumphantly through the House of Commons with the full approbation, not amidst the execration of the People. Indeed, with a dissolution before them should they take one false step, and thus give the Tories the advantage so eagerly desired, the Liberal majority in the Commons were cer- tain not to pass any unpopular measure of importance. Here again the Kin" must have discovered that he had been deceived. lie found, that so far from public opinion being opposed to the Liberal Cabinet, Lord MELnounNE (as his Lordship tohl the Peers more than once) was enabled to eenduct the Government in defiance of the overwhelming majority of the Peers, and (as the King knew well enough) in defiance of the Court also, solely by the aid of that public opinion which the votes of the House of Commons embodied.
With these facts before him, which no sophistry could disprove,
and Tory impudence itself could not deny, we are not surprised that the King has recently discovered an inclination to treat his Ministers with more cordiality. The Morning Chronicle asserts this to be the fact positively and authoritatively. Our contempo- rary says- " 'The signs of the times' have not been unnoticed in high quarters; and it is creditable to the good sense and constitutional feeling of the Illustrious Per- sonage to whom we thus respectfully allude, that he has calmly weighed and frankly admitted the influence which the declared wishes of his People ought to exercise upon his mind in this respect. The strenuous, the incessant, the almost overwhelming efforts made to urge the Illustrious Personage in question into a very different course of thought and action, have completely failed in their object ; and the intercourse between the Sovereign and his 31inisters may now be considered as established upon a footing not only constitutional in every point of view, but as gracious and as kindly as ever it was during the time when Lord Grey was at the bead of tbe Gover lllll ent."
We hope that this may prove true to the extent asserted by the Chronicle. We know that some of the more sagacious Tories consider that the game is up with their party. The conduct of their majority in the House of Peers, the wanton insolence with which the falsehood of their Liberal professions at the commence- ment of the session has been manifested,—though the appearance of Liberalism was thought necessary to give them a chance of holding place,—all this has so thoroughly disgusted the Nation that the better informed and less bigoted Tories are satisfied that their recent defeats are all but irretrievable. They have now, in addition, lost their " tower of strength," the King's name. The struggle will be King and Commoas—the Sovereign and Ids People—versus a majority of the House of Peers. Can any human being doubt the issue of such a contest?
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