The Sun.
London, England, 1837-02-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONI

tee enquire into the operations of Joint Stock Banks ;"
and sixthly, (on the part of Mr. LABOUCHERE) that
he " would, on the 28th February, and the 22d March
move for leave to bring in Bills to improve the prac-
tices of the Royal Mint and the. Post Office ;"--his
MAJESTY'S Speech, we say, when taken in connec-
tion with these notices of motion:, given by Mr. STAN-
LEY, as also with some important ones given by the
ATTORNEY-GENERAL, may- be pronounced every
way satisfactory. But this it wi mid be, were it only for
its recommendation of a poor la w for Ireland, which is
a great point conceded ; a nt cessity acknowledged
which never struck the Tories ; .11 measure resolved on,
despite the known dislike of Mr. O'CONNELL, to
whom, say the Conservatives.—and this is just as true
as any thing else they say—Ministers are bound hand
and foot. The Duke of WELLINGTON would fain
have picked a quarrel with his Majesty's Speech, but
its adroitness was such as defied his utmost ingenuity.
He therefore contented himself with a sulky objection
to the Irish National Association, as an institution

pregnant with injury to the cause of good government
in that country. Lord MELBOURNE replied to this
objection in the only way a Minister, holding his high
position, could have replied. He did not defend it ;
but on the contrary, regretted rind disapproved of its
proceedings. He might have added, that it was the
natural, the inevitable, result of the conduct of the
House of Lords, as the Catholic Association was of

he bigotry of the LIVERPOOL Ministry. Where the

soil is neglected, there, the weeds will spring up ; and
the Association is a consequence resulting from the
long systematic neglect of Ire] and.
But if the voice of opposition was faint in the
Lords, it was not so in the Commons, where Mr.
ROEBUCK blew -his penny trumpet with the usual ef-
fect. This Gentleman, it appears to us, would fain
roar like a lion, and shake all England with his roar.
His speech last night was a fine sample of sonorous
common-place, evidently got up with a view to gain
the suffrages of the ultra-Radical portion of his con-
stituents, in the event of a, dissolution. A more elabo-
rate specimen of ambitious mediocrity we have not
met with this many a day. The Hon. and Learned
Gentleman commenced by saying that he should.sup-
port Ministers, and was "disposed to maintain them in
their present position ;" and then proceeded gravely and
deliberately to record his opinion that they had" deceived
the people," and were quite as bad as the Tories !
Then why support them, Mr. ROEBUCK ? Why
" maintain in their present position" men whom you
conceive to be unworthy of confidence ? Is this in
keeping with the creed of Radicalism ? We thought
'till now that a Radical was a stern, straight-forward
politician ; but here, in your person, we find him to
be the mere slave of whim ; a poor, splenetic, whin-
ing creature, who, consulting only the dictates of
temper, knows not his own mind for two hours to-
gether.

Mr. ROEBUCK, we see, asks what Ministers
have done for Ireland ; and then hastens to an-
swer his own question by saying, that they have
only appointed the best Lord Lieutenant that coun-
try ever had. Only done this for Ireland I Only
iodgcd the supreme power of Government in the hands
of a nobleman who daily shows his determination .to
have the laws properly administered throughout the
sister-country—who makes no party distinctions ; but
acts in such a manner as to call forth the unqualified
applause of Mr. O'CONNELL, and all who feel an:
iltercst in the welfare of Ireland ! Only done al! this !
Why, what would the Member for Bath have Minis-
ters do ? They have already given an efficient Lord
Lieutenant and Secretary to the Irish ; they are now
about to task their utmost energies- to give them Mu-
nicipal Reform, a Poor X.,00, such . other
measures as they. stand in need•ot; and yet in the face
of all this, Mr. ROEBUCK deliberately states that they
arc deceiving the peopk, and are unworthy, as henest
men, of that support,- which, neverthelcs,, he is pre-
pared to give them
This gentleman tells us that Lord MULGRAVE is
merely a lucky accident. He, too, is a" lucky accident;"
but it is to the Tories, whose best interests he last night
espoused with all the eloquence which his very limitedfa-
culties will allow him to exert. We have no dislike to
Mr. ROEBUCK : in mary of his opinions we coincide; but
we can, and will, hold no terms with his last night's
premature and uncalled-for display of spleen and pe-
tulance. Does he not know the meaning of the word
fair play ? Is he not aware that it is JOHN BULL'S
maxim to hear before he condemns ? Ministers have
done nothing as yet to forfeit the good opinion
of the people. The I-louse opened but yester-
day ; a few minutes afterwards a whole host of
valuable notices were given by Ministerial agents ;
and yet Mr. ROEBUCK can discern nothing in their in-
tentions worthy of aught but the most intemperate
abuse ! How anxious he must be for notoriety, when
he seeks such an oppoitunity of acquiring it ! But
the pert twittering of such a tom-tit did not alarm
Ministers. They will continue at the helm, even
though the Member for Bath may enter his Veto against
them. How different was the conduct of Mr. HUME
from that of Mr. ROEBUCK I The former did not
conceal one of his opinions; he did not deny that he
was a Radical ; yet with the manly straight-forwardness
of that class of Reformers, he professed his inclination
to give fair play to Government. Now this is all that
Ministers require, and this is what they are fully
entitled to expect at the hands of the- people. It is
with sincere ,gratification we state that Mr. Roy-
UCK'S premature abuse, of Government was received
with the utmost coolness. by all classes of 'Reformers in
- . .
the House.

Sir ROBERT PEEL'S speech was:discreet and cau-
tious. Having,nothing to say, the Right Honourable
Gentleman acquitted himself with marked success.
Both Houses adjourned at an early hour, no amend-
ment having been moved in either.

That portion of the KING'S most•gracious Speech
from the Throne, which has reference to the interfe-
rence of Great Britain in the affairs of Spain and
Portugal, will not fail to afford sincere gratification to
the friends of constitutional freedom in the Peninsula.
I-Its MAJESTY, it will be observed, claims no merit
for having in aught exceeded the engagement entered
into by virtue of the Quadruple Treaty. His
MAJESTY," says the Speech, " has continued to
afford to the Queen of SPAIN that aid which, by the
Treaty of Quadruple Alliance of 1834, his MAJESTY
engaged to give, if it should become necessary ;
and his MAJESTY rejoices, that his co-operating
force has rendered useful assistance to the troops
of her Catholic Majesty." With respect to Por-
tugal, the Royal Speech emphatically observes of
tiieo
thatrdersthe Naval given to Admiral GE
l the G
Taus had
stating
been augmented, with a view to afford protection to
British subjects and to the person of the QUEEN--
" Without, however, interfering in those Constitutional
questions which divided the conflicting parties."
Now, we repeat, that it must be gratifying to the
friends of freedom to be assured that while Great Bri-
tain strenuously supports the Constitutional cause in
Spain—that while, she so generously interprets
the stipulations of a treaty all but formally
set aside by one of the most potent of the
High Contracting Powers—she can thus purge
herself of every suspicion of having taken any part
against the Constitutionalists in Portugal. England,
in fact, has had no more to do with intrigues to over-
turn the Portuguese Constitutional Government, than
she has had in the intrigues of a high Personage in