The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We observe in the Standard of last night a list of
subscriptions received in aid of Irish election petitions.
On summing it np we find the total 4521. 7s. 81. Of
this the metropolitan subscriptions amount to 289/.,
and the county of Northampton has contributed the
remainder, 1631. 7s. Bd. Judging from the difficulty
experienced in obtaining money for Mr. Perceval's
election expenses, we should suppose the London
sources will not be very abundant. It is difficult
to say anything decided. It is a sort of orn-
niurn gatherum affair. The parsons and the ladies,
for instance, by no means bear the same proportion to
each other in London and in the country. Here there
are only three parsons and a dozen of ladies. But in
the county of Northampton the parsons muster strong.
There are no fewer than fifty-seven of them, while the
ladies are but thirty in number. The Northampton
Tableswere long the guide of the offices who insured on
lives, though they have been for a considerable time
displaced. It was supposed by Dr. Price that North-
ampton was a pretty fair average sample of Eng-
land. We suppose we may take Northamptonshire
as affording rather more than an average sample of
Toryism. Fifty-seven parsons and thirty ladies,
out of a list of 176 subscribers, that is, within
one of one-half, speak volumes for the parsons and
t he ladies, but not so much for the flaming Toryism
of the rest of the eounty. As there are considerably
more than 300 parishes in Northamptonshire, we sup-
pose the resident parsons may be about 200. About
one-fourth of the parsons then are subscribers in aid
of Irish election petitions ; and we are almost war-
ranted in assuming that one-fourth of the parsons of
all England will be subscribers. The parsons may be
safely speculated on. We reeret to say that they are
almost universally in the ranks of the enemies of the
people. The old ladies are a more ticklish affair.
Their " No Popery" horror must depend very much
ou the parson whom they habitually hear. In some
churches there are discourses delivered Sunday after
Sunday, of so wild and rabid a character, that ladies
of advanced years, whose attention is less likely to be
diverted from them, must suffer in their intellects in
the long run, from being so incessantly plied with
horrors. We have no doubt that many of the good
ladies of Northamptonshire gave their guineas in the
hope of thereby averting a repetition of the fires of
Smithfield. The subscribers in the metropolis may
generally be described as old stagers. Here their
names are no talisman ; but it would not surprise us if
.5,0001. or 6,0001. were obtained from the whole of
England and Scotland. This, however, will go but a
short way in defraying the expenses of Irish election
petitions. But be the amount received large or small
the principle is equally reprehensible. The attempt
to deprive the Irish constituencies of their right of
suffrage, by collecting throughout the country the
means for conducting a warfare against the purses of
the representatives of the people's choice, is so mon-
strous an outrage of constitutional rights, that the
House of Commons must deal seriously with the of-
fenders. We have again and again said there are' no
disinterested Tories. No person, for instance, supposes
that the Norwich electors who supported Lord Douro
for the sake of the Duke of Wellington's sovereigns,
are disinterested. How, by the Lire, his Grace, who
has many redeeming points in his character, could
- allow himself to perpetrate this shameful outrage
on decency is what many persons are puzzled to un-
derstand. The freemen generally, and the 501. tenantry
are either the slaves of their poverty and vice, or
Vie slaves of their apprehensions. Analyse any poll
list, and it will he found that there is not a Tory
in it to whom some sinister interest or fear cannot be
traced. Where there appears on the face of a man's
conduct at the first blush, something like indepen-
dence, a little inquiry will dispel the illusion. Thus,
for instance, it appears very magnanimous in Mr. An-
drew Spottiswoode, the Queen's printer, to be making
on all occasions, a dead set against the Government,
and tobe Chairman of a Committee seeking to convert
a Ministerial majority of the House of Commons into
a minority. But a correspondent has invited the at-
tention of our readers to the fact that the present Go-
vernment have not been by any means so liberal as their
predecessors in allowing Mr. Andrew Spottiswoode
free access to the public purse, but have pared down
his charges to a rate incompatible with any manifes-
tation of loyalty on his part. Mr. A. Spottiswoode
bears in remembrance, no doubt, the good old proverb
of his country, " claw me, claw you," and therefore,
dwells with affection on the good old times when
King's printers were not stinted in their charges, and
when no Mr. Hume pried into the details of the ex-
penditure of the country.—Morning Chronicle.
The Ministerial papers are at length beginning to
make some faint mention of that which for a whole
week they have been very anxiously striving to sup-
press—the murder of the Sligo yeomen. We have
forced them to break their silence, and they speak quite
after their own manner. They try to make a diversion
from the subject by referring to the sins of the English
elections—the bribery, above all, which is said to have
taken place at Norwich ; and then the Conservatives
are taxed with hypocrisy for being lenient to corrup-
tion, and yet indignant against murder. If our con-
temporaries will furnish us with the particulars of the
mode in which the money remitted to Norwich by a
Whig nobleman of new creation was expended in that
town, we shall have great pleasure in devoting a hand-
some space to the exposure. Nor shall we be back-
ward in promolgating such passages as the Whig agents
can furnish to us, of their own knowledge, from the
financial history of the elections for Cambridge and
Nottingham. But we confess, when all is said, we
shall still incline to think, that of the two offences
bribery is somewhat less heinous than homicide, and
that it is quite possible for an honest man to trouble
himself very little about the English malpractice of
canvassing by money, in comparison with the Irish
system of electioneering by murder. All this, how-
ever, is quite beside the real question, and for that rea-
son it is that our adversaries urge it. Our argument
is, not that there is a greater amount of evil at the
Ir:sh than at the English elections—though we could
very well maintain this too—but that the Irish returns
do not represent the sentiments even of the Irish elec-
tors. There are undue influences, no doubt, among
all constituencies ; temptations to do wrong beset the
English as well as the Irish voters , but in England,
even the voter whose interest is in conflict with his
honour is able to act honestly, if he choose to make
the sacrifice of his emolument. Now the bload dis-
tinction and crying evil of the Sligo system of elec-
tioneering is, that let a man be never so honestly deter-
mined, his determination is overwhelmed by brute
force. He may resolve to poll according to his
conscience ; but every man's hand and the voice
of the priest are against him, and thousands of
his neighbours, lying in wait for him on his road,
forbid the consummation of his vote. The free-
holders who have managed to reach the place of
election before the appointed day of polling may exer-
cise their franchise ; but when that appointed day
draws near, an overpowering force is marched into the
mountain passes, and the Protestants, unless they are
already safe within the country town, or unless they
combine, as the Tipperary freeholders did, in a body
of 250 armed and mounted men, and make their way
by the imposing aspect of their force, are as effectu-
ally excluded from the privilege of voting as if their
names had never entered into the register. Our object,
therefore, in pointing the attention of the public to the
frightful circumstances of these Irish elections, is not
to thaw an invidious comparison between Popish and
Protestant society, or between English and Irish hu-
manity, but to show to the British people, who are
twitted with the importance of the Irish majority in
the House of Commons, what are the characteristics
of the Irish elections, and what are the circumstances
of intimidation, religious, moral, and physical, under
which this false indication of public opinion has been
procured.— Times.
It has been fully settled by those who are said to
".speak. the sentiments of men in office" that the ma-
jority of 'Ministers, although considerably less than
that which they possessed in what they called Sir
Robert Peel's Parliament, is, nevertheless, sufficient
NEWSPAPE able them to carry on the Government. It is well
%w.c --,r----7-1 ose who are in place, or who expect a substan-
,,-1_ L. - .iials- and for their services from the present Ministry,
'
.s,
iles that th y can so readily make up their minds to this
'-s : - ',
1\
; I .1‘ :- . ' ''.. : . Yrea;, s_ f! political possibilities. And this easy settle-
. - - -..4
h.....'-'-;---:,- _!..- _',,.l.:_>.

!Dent of the affair is the more to be admired since it
must be founded upon completely different data from
that which was made the groundwork of the Govern-
ment arguments at the commencement of the elec-
tions. Lord Palmerston says that the lessened majo-
rity is quite enough wherewith to carry on the Go-
vernment, and of course the Globe, like Moses in
Sheridan's comedy, is quite ready to " take its oath of
that." But it is not quite six weeks since the Globe
said that " the Tory organs were perfectly right in
deprecating the restoration, in the new Parliament,
of that tremulous and dancing balance of politi-
cal parties which rendered Opposition presumptuous
and Government feeble." And the same very high
authority stated at the same time that the way to re-
medy this evil was—what do our readers think ?—to
lessen the Ministerial majority ? No ; but to pro-
vide the Government with " an accession of supporters
in the House of Commons Really the contentment
of the Government and the Globe with a majority con-
siderably less than that which, six weeks ago, they so
earnestly described as too little, is an evidence of their-
philosophy which cannot be too often mentioned to
their praise. Whether an ardent devotion to abstract
truth, or a fond, and, therefore, facile, adaptation of
themselves to unforeseen circumstances, have led to the
present discovery, so different from that made in the
First week of the elections, we must leave the public to
determine. Perhaps the Ministers think that, as they
could not set right the tremulous and dancing balance
by making the Radical scale preponderate, it is quite
as well to steady it, by a nearer approach to perfect
equality in the opposing scales. This bright view of
the matter is not, however, that which was taken
by the wise and witty organ of the Government and
oracle of the green-grocers, which we have quoted.
The change in the views of the Government as
to the sufficiency of the majority arises from a change
in their viers of the policy which is best for this em-
pire at the present period. It is a curious fact that
so important a change should take place within a few
weeks, when no Parliament was sitting, and when it
does not appear that any Cabinet Councils were held.
Equally curious it is that the change (which doubt-
less must have been made with reference to the state
of the nation, internal and external, and not at all
with reference to the mere official convenience of Mi-
nisters) should have all the appearance of arising
merely from the latter, and not in any degree from the
former. Six weeks ago certain measures were sup-
posed to be needful for the nation's weal, and so need-
ful that the organs of the Government called out most
lustily and vehemently to the people that they must
give the Government additional strength in order to
carry them. The people did not attend to the cry, but,
on the contrary, left the Government feebler than it was
before. The ignorant crowd stood aghast, wondering
what the Government was to do, but the Government
had, in the meantime (clever fellows !), made the dis-
covery that the measures which they were so earnest
about but a few weeks before were of no immediate
consequence—that if legislation went to sleep for three
years it would be no harm—that an " ignorant impa-
tience" for legislation was the vice of the age, and
therefore to be left feebler in Parliament than before
was not the least matter. This discovery was indeed
made just in the nick of time. Never was a beaten
Ministry so fortunate. It is wonderful what they can
find out when they set their wits to work ; but then.
their wits are not apt to act, except upon the provoca-
tion of a good sound thrashing. If another election
were to take place, and they should be still further
beaten, so as to leave them in a minority notwithstand-
ing the Irish votes., we doubt not they would discover
it to be for the good of the nation that the Ministers
should be regularly in a minority. We doubt that
Mr. Hume could hire them some one for thirteen
shillings and sevenpence halfpenny, together with a
proper supply of beer and stationery, to write them
a pamphlet, very fit to be published at Ridgway's,
which should prove, as clearly as Whit-, pamphlets
generally prove anything, the great efficacy of a
minority-supported Administration. He might show
that to have a majority with the Ministers was a
constant practice of the Tories when they were in
office, and that the propriety of the Minister having
a majority with him was a Tory theory. Now as
enlightened Whiggery is, and ought to be, in all
things, just the opposite of dark and direful Tory-
ism, it would follow as clearly " as any demonstra-
tion in Euclid" (this is the favourite illustration in
all Whig arguments) that to avoid this Tory prac-
tice, and to repudiate this Tory theory, is the duty
of philosophical Whigs. All the flourishes of Whig-
Radical eloquence might easily be brought in to sup-
port the new system. Ministerial majorities, it might
be said, were the work of a " boroughmongering oli-
garchy," and therefore unfit for enlightened Ministers
in this enlightened period. Lord Palmerston and
Lord Gleneig, it might be contended, were almost dead
at the thought of an enlightened Government suppos-
ing that it was under any obligation to resign, because
unsupported in the way which vile Tory Governments
considered necessary. And why should nut a Radi-
cal Government go on, whether supported by a majo-
rity or not ? The Opposition, being Conservative,
would not stop the supplies, and as to Radical mea-
sures, they might wait. Much better they should wait
than that the Radical Government should be embar-
rassed. And then by keeping in what vast good might
he done for the nation ?, Peers might gradually be
made—especially spiritual Peers ; the magistrates
would gradually be changed ; and every office of trust
or emolument be in time possessed by Radica!s. It
being quite a clear thing that Radicalism is the best
policy for the kingdom, whether the majority of its
representatives think so or not, it follows, as a conse-
quence, that patriotic Ministers, being Radical. ought
to hold their places, whether they are supported by a
majority or not. It is just possible that such argu-
ments as these might not appear quite satisfactory to
the English public ; but if so, they cannot be quite
satisfied with the arguments now put forth by Minis-
ters and Ministerial writers to reconcile them to the
present condition of affairs. We have but repeated the
arguments now used on behalf of the Government, and
we contend that they would just as well apply to the
defence of a Ministry which had no majority at all as
to the defence of a Government whose majority is of
that kind that it dares attempt nothing but that which is
framed iti older to meet the known views of the Oppo-
sition. We really believe it to be very possible that,
before next Easter, the Government will be palpably
in a minority in the House of Commons, and will yct
be contending that it ought not to resign.—Morning
,Post.

One of the many artifices resorted to by Ministers.,
and their adherents of the Press, to sustain them in
office, is, that in the event of the country being dt.
prived of their services there will be an end of all hope
of Reform. This can only take with the shallowest
and most bigoted of their party. The Radicals,
through their organ, the Spectator, hare already given
it up ; and it requires but very slight observation of
what has been going on for the last three years to con-
vince any one whose mind is open to conviction, that
the very converse of this is the truth, and that the
country has much more to expect in the way of prac-
tical Reform, both in Church and State, from a Con-
servative Administration, than can ever be brought
about by the mere servile nominees of a Popish leader.
Every one who has any regard for truth must know
that when Sir Robert Peel was driven from office by
the unnatural confederacy of Lichfield House, he had
opened and announced measures of Reform to Parlia-
ment, which were at once of the most safe and salutary
description, and which, had he been allowed to carry
them through the Commons, would have passed the
second branch of the Legislature, and been by this
time in full and beneficial operation. While, on the
other hand, in the hands of Mr. O'Connell's puppets,
though the master-hand has been pulling at the wires,
nothing upon earth has been accomplished ; and the
country has witnessed two sessions of Parliament
which, but for the private bills which have been passed,
and the mere performance of some routine business of
the country, might as well not have been brought to-
gether. Yet, for the sake of enabling these do-nothm;s
to become entitled to permanent pensions for their dis-
services, thv country is threatened with- another session
of the same inertness ; which, we are unblushingly
told, will be one of activity attd vigour. Lear's cele-
brated words, 5' Nothing comes-of -.nothing," were never
more strikingly illustrated than in the snecessiye Stages
of Whig rule which the country has now witnessed;