The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1837.

that the cases of usurpation which have happened un-
der the Grenville Act, should be remedied by that
Act, and by no other. All criminal Acts should be
tried by the laws in existence at the time they are com-
mitted. To try them by laws subsequently made, is
to violate one of the first principles of justice. The
object of the Ministerial Journals, in raising an out-
cry against the Grenville Act, at this particular junc-
ture, is obvious. They know well that extraordinary
difficulties exist as to the substituting of any satisfac-
tory jurisdiction over election petitions, in place of
that appointed by the Act in question. They think
that if they can stave off, by a simulated zeal for a
better system of Parliamentary judicature, the trial of
the Irish election petitions in their regular course, the
Ministry will have all the benefit of the unmutilated
tail upon whatever divisions may take place, until the
establishment of a new system, which may, possibly,
not take place during the whole of the ensuing session,
or even during the existence of the present Parlia-
ment. O'Connell's empty and absurd threats touching
the alleged illegality of the Irish petition fund, and'
the consequent prosecution of the parties subscribing
by the Queen's Attorney-General, on the part of the
House of Commons, we have already placed in their
proper light. We have shown them to be tlie,
and
frantic
outpouring of the agony of conscious delinquency
desperate alarm. But these truculent threats did good
service to the subscription. lii the furious attempt to
fetter the expression of public feeling in this country,
Englishmen recognised the domineering insolence of
. a
tyrannical disposition, and a dread 9f inquiry WAWA
1 I
usually accompanies a consciousness of acts that cannot
bear the light. The ferocious menaces launched by the
subscription-promoting agitator at the authors of the
Irish election And, gave a new stimulus to that sub-
scription, as it might naturally be expected to do in a
country the great majority of whose people have not
lost their hereditary love of real liberty and respect for
justice. 'What, then, was to be done by the Ministerial
and O'Connellite faction to prevent the dispensation of
reit justice to Ireland by such a docking of the Agi-
tator's " tail" as would reduce him to a situation not
less ridiculous than that which, in Athenian story, has
given a burlesque celebrity to the dog of _Alcibiades ?
The thunder and smoke of furious intimidation not
only failed to 'produce the anticipated effect, but ex-
cited the very opposite feeling to that which was ex
pectcd. It became necessary to change the O'Con-
nellite tactics, and a ruse has been attempted, which,
we trust, will not be more successful than the awful
denunciations with which it had been preceded. To
tie up the Grenville Act, to stop the whole course of
justice in Parliamentary *Committees for an indefinite
time, and to let loose the immutilated " tar upon the
country, is the great object of the Ministerial journalr,
in proposing that the jurisdiction under which election
petitions are now cognizable shall be altered previously
to the Irish election .cases being tried. But we trust
the stratagem will not be more successful than the in-
timidation which so signally failed.—Morn.
Among the on-English and ungentlemanlike atroci-
ties committed by the managers of tire civic enterta:n-
ment to the Queen, that of the exclusion of ladies is
unquestionably the most revolting of all. When we
say the exclusion cf ladies, we beg the portly dames
and gentle daughters of the Common Council not to
take orreocc. That they are ladies, is a thing not to
be doubted for a moment. But their presence at the
civic banquet to the Queen, is merely cfficial and
formal. Perfectly qualified, as no doubt they are,
without a single exception, to take a share in the fes-
tival given in honour of the Queen's accession, it is
clear that they would not be there were they not wives
and daughters of tocir6ers of that Common Council
which has the prii ilege of disposing of the City
funds. It would be an intolerable outrage to sug-
gest the idea of excluding them. The visit of the
Qieen of England should, as no doubt it will,
have the effect of gathering them together in more
than ordinary force ; not a single one of them will
be, or ought to be, absent upon so attractive an occa-
sion. It is by tilt m that the whole city contribution
to the grace and splendour of the festivity will unques-
tionably be supplied. We could not have found in
our hearts to say that a single one of the city ladies
who will he present at the festival on Lord Mayor's
Day, could have been absent without dimming the
lustre of the entertainment. But they might havepeen
present, and ladies of birth and rank, in addition to the
State attendants of the Queen, have been present too.
The general character of the assembly would have been
improved by the combination: The occasion is one in
which it would have been right on all sides to overlook
the distinctions of rank. The presence of the Queen of
England might have been sufficient to obliterate for a
day those distinctions, and to reduce all the female sub-
jects of her Majesty on this one occasion to the same
level ; and it is in this point of view that anybody, but a
Select Committee of the Common Council of the
City of London, would have regarded the subject.
It is not in this point of view, however, that they have
regarded it. They have determined that the seats
which are usually allotted to them, and to their wives
and daughters, on Lord Mayors' feasts, should be re-
served to them on the present occasion. The effect
of this determination Is, as we have already intimated,
to exclude from the festival all ladies of rank, whether
British or foreign, hut that comparatively small num-
ber who are to accompany officially the Queen and
the other female branches of the Royal Family. It
is certainly a singular illustration of the judgment
and taste of the wise men of the East, that all
the invitations issued by them, on the occasion of a
first visit to the City of London by a youthful
Queen, should have been addressed to gentlemen.
The occasion was one upon which it might have been
thought reasonable and courteous, and probably would
have been thought so by any person not. being a
Member of the Common Council of the City of
London, to collect around the board at which the
youthful Queen was to be entertained the most dis-
tinguished women of England.. The propriety and
good sense of this course could not have failed to take
possession of every mind but such as are peculiarly
qualified to shine in the Common Council. But the scats
of the Members of the Common Council,. as well as
those of their wives and daughters, must be secured; and
hence it is that the Queen of England is to take her place
at a board from which the female nobility of England are
excluded. It would have been in excellent taste that
at this city banquet to the Queen there should have
been present, in addition to the wives and daughters of
the Common Council, a tolerable sprinkling of the
female nobility of England, together with the more
distinguished foreign ladies now resident in this
country. There might, and, upon this particular oc-
casion, there ought to have been, exhibited a scene
of Fairy Land—a living picture of the creations of
Commonromance.
()Bont: thho eann IV.
Fii
sr Deputy
os
,ios instead
Wiggins,a
dof and Mr.
reposing
upon
their chains, and enjoying the good things of the
world, must have been content to walk about the ave-
nues formed by the tables, with a wand in his hand,
to see that every thing went right, and that the guests
were well attended to. This would not do for
the gentlemen of the Common Council. 'they
f
understand too well the substantial realities of
life to give up their seats at a dinner. Very loyal no
doubt they are, for have they not invited her Majesty
to a banquet ? But when it is suggested that they
should have given up their scats, in order that her Ma-
jesty should be surrounded by at least a few ladies of
suitable birth and breeding, in addition to thaogsoeoidn
im-
mediate attendance upon her person, their loyalty takes
fiight ; it cannot sustain competition with
din-
ner, and every Common Councilman exclaeniniservet,hfaotr,
however good a thing loyalty may be, a good dinner is
a better. It would have been impossible, we believe,
any other public body than the Common Council of
the
on
oCuirtyo' or f London tcot
otrlieat,esr min
accession,
e h tat, at
the a
femalebanquet ino-
bilityn of Great Britain must be excluded, to make room
for themselves, their wives, and their daughters. We
• are happy to avail ourselves of the excellent observa-
tions made by a Morning Contemporary upon this sub-
ject. It contains a clear and candid exposition of its
Morning Herald says-_.-
preparing for
true!
believeNmveerits The
La t the entertainment n
hz,
the Queen will, in splendour, riebnesF, and artful
worthy of the occasion. We allude to the male,' let of the
entertainment, the supply and disposition of which is in the
best possible hands, but the pei•sonne/ is quite another
thing, and requires to be mere particularly noticed. The
public have already been made aware that the ladies of
various distinguished persons, noblemen and statesmen, l