The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-14 00:00:00

proposition. The terms of adjustment to which we
refer are those contained in a letter of Mr. O'Con-

nell to the clergymen of the Established Church of
Ireland,. published in yesterday's Advertiser. Our
readers may start at our designating Mr. O'Connell as
a champion of the Church ; but let his letter he drs-
passionately perused, and as the Learned Gentle-
man himself solicits, let it be judged by its, merits,
i
without reference to the party from whom t ema-
nates, and it will at once be manifest that the
terms on which he proposes a settlement of the
tithe question are far more favourable to the Churcir
than, in the existing position of affairs in Ire-
land, and the state of public feeling in England, the
most zealous friend of the Church could have possibly
anticipated. The plan proposed is briefly as follows :
—Under the commutation system the tithes of Ireland
average about 600,0001. per annum. The expense of
the Irish constabulary force, for the most part rendered
necessary by the disturbance and excitement conse-
quent upon Church exactions, amounts to a similar
sum-600,000/. ; of this, however, one-half is paid
from the Consolidated Fund, and the other b) the Irish
people. Mr. O'Connell proposes to deduct from the
whole amount of tithes as commuted 30 per cent.,
and to pay the remainder 420,0001. per annum from
the Consolidated Fund—,iving up the 300,0001., at
present paid to the police establishment, as an equiva-
lent in part, and supplying the balance 120,0001.
from the Irish 'Woods and Forests, and if necessary
from the temporalities of the Church. In this mode the
Church would receive 420,000/. per annum, paid with as
much regularity and as little trouble as the salaries in any
of the Government offices. And the Irish people would
be relieved from an exaction most abhorrent to their
consciences, from all the inflictions entailed in attempt-
ing to continue its assessment, and have only to pay
for the preservation of the peace and order of their
country—an expense which the removal of the great
cause of discontent and discord would speedily and
considerable reduce. Calculated, as this proposition
is, to give a more ample and secure provision to the
Clergy of the Established Church than the most san-
guine of its supporters could reasonably have dared to
hope, yet we should not be surprised to find them, in
accordance with their usual tactics, denouncing the plan
as destructive of the Protestant religion. But we are
averse to disturb the temperate consideration of the ques-
tion by anticipations of a fanatic or hypocritical oppo-
sition. The proposal of Mr. O'Connell is more than
just, it is generous ; nay, more generous, perhaps, than
would be consistent with the stern dictates of public
principle, did not the desire of setting at rest a question
which has caused so much dissension, strife, and
bloodshed, induce concessions indefensible in the
strict ethics of Government. Mr. O'Connell, in this
proposition, may fairly be regarded as coming to the
rescue of the Church. Tithes in Ireland, for the
most part, are, and have been, for some time, virtually
extinct ; a little while, and the statute of limitation
and custom would operate against their collection,
and they would become, like the obsolete enactments
of the, penal code, effete from desuetude. If the
clergy, therefore, clamour against the present pro-
position, on their own heads be the consequence. If
they reject the substance in pursuit of a shadow,
themselves only will be responsible for the catastrophe.
They may boast of " standing by the Church" while
clinging only to its money chests. They may make
Pharasaical professions, while their thirst of wealth
and ascendancy draws down destruction on the whole
fabric ; but let them not deceive themselves, nor be-
lieve that the public are deceived by these pretences.
While such men as INl‘Ghee and O'Sullivan are per-
mitted to outrage public sense and decency, there is
no danger of the animus of the clerical agitators being
misunderstood. The rejection of Mr. O'Connell's
proposition would be one of the greatest favours which
the Clergymen of the Established Church could confer
on the opponents of State religions. If the present
time passes, the proposition can never again be enter-
tained--like the case of the Roman sybil, if the bar-
gain be rejected the books will be burned, and in vain
will be sought a vestige of their existence.—Morning
Advertiser.

LETTER FROM THE MARQUIS OF
TAVISTOCK TO THE EDITOR OF THE
QUARTERLY REVIEW.

The Marquis of Tavistock has addressed the following
letter to the Editor of the Quarterly Review :
" a political article in the last Number of the
Quarterly Review I find these words, relating to what is
there represented as the preservation of Tavistock, "amidst
the general destruction of nomination boroughs, for the spe-
cial uses of a patriotic family :"—" We remember that
when seine surprise of this kind was expressed in the dis-
cussion of the Reform Bill, the Marquis of Tavistock in.
dignantly repelled the insinuation, that his family would
ever again exert any influence in that borough. It hap-
pened, however, that in the first Reform Parliament the
members for this little town were Lord Russell, the son
of the self-:denying Marquis, and Colonel Fox, the son
of Lord Holland, a close ally qf the house of Rus-
sell." Why this attempt is now made to injure my
public character, by perverting a faw words I spoke
in the House of Commons more than six years
ago, I know not, unless it is imagined that, by throw-
ing dirt at me, some part of it may possibly fall upon my
brother, or upon the family he belongs to. Be this as it
may, however, it can be of very little interest to the public,
or to the readers of the Quarterly Review, what opinions I
expressed at that time ; but it is of some importance to
my own character to remove the stain which the Reviewer
has endeavoured to cast upon it. I beg, therefore, that
you will be so good as to inform him that I made no such
declaration. as that which he has attributed to me. What
Hid say, in answer to a remark of the preceding speaker,
Mr. Alexander Baring, was, that I did not believe that
if such a measure of Reform should pass, and the borough
of Tavistock should be enlarged, and opened to 101. house-
holders, the Duke of Bedford would continue to return
both its Members, or even to attempt it. Upon this
opinion of mine, given hastily in the heat of debate, and
without concert with him, the Duke of Bedford was in
no way bound to act ; but so entirely did he participate
in the feeling I then expressed, that he has never, since
the Bill passed, exercised any influence, direct or indirect,
in favour of a second candidate. The electors now made
their own free choieo ;:and I feel persuaded that no influence
the Duke of Bedford possesses would induce them to elect
any man whose political -principles are at variance with
their own. _ _ _

" Having been a Radical Reformer all my life, I should
have been better pleased with the Reform Bill if the dis-
franchisement clauses had been extended to Tavistock, and
to all other boroughs of the same size. I stated this in the
House of Commons at the period in question : but
the total abandonment of all fair political influence,
arising from private property and identified with public
character, was never declared or contemplated by me.
Those who have been at all acquainted with my political
opinions know that I have always considered it as one of
the advantages of Reform that the just influence of property
would be more equally diffused.

" Suppose, however, that, in order to indulge the avowed
principles of Radical Reformers, and to gratify the perso-
nal feelings of anti-Reformers, schedule B. had been ex-
tended to Tavistock, what must have been the consequence
of that extension? First, that the Reform Bill, already
considered far too sweeping by one of these parties, must
necessarily have been rendered still more sweeping ; and,
secondly, that while several scats now standing between
that borough and the line of disfranchisement adopted by
the Reform Bill would have been lost to the Tories, the
one seat at Tavistock would, probably, have been still pre-
served (through the natural and legitimate influence of pro-
perty and character, with the elective franchise freely
exercised) to a member of the Russell family.
" I never observe this important circumstance noticed
by any of those whose political jealousy appears to be so
often excited by the preservation of that borough. There
are other assertions in the same article relative to Colonel
Fox's elections for Tavistock and Stroud, which must bo
known to many persons acquainted with the politics of
either of these places to be equally and utterly unfounded.
" But the object of this letter is merely to defend my own
character against the attack that has been made upon it by
this attempt of the reviewer to fix upon me, after so long an
interval, a declaration which I never made, and a senti-
ment which I never entertained.
" I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
" Oakley, Nov. 7. " TAVISTOCK.
The Editor of The Quarterly Review."

Between eight and nine o'clock on Friday morning
a very determined act of self-destruction took place on
Waterloo-bridge, a gentleman having deliberately precipi-
tated himself off one of the centre arches on the west side
in!o the river. Tyrrell immediately gave an alarm, and
several boats put off to the spot, but the object of their
search did not rise to the surface the whole of the day.
The name of the deceased gentleman is Hopkinson, the son
of an opulent coach-builder in High Holborn.