The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-09 00:00:00

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LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1837.

The Lords did not sit yesterday.
In the House of Commons, an extraordinary number of
petitions was presented, on various subjects, the specific&
Lion of which will be seen in our Report.

It was stated by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in reply to
Sir Wm. FOLLET, that the re-commitment of the Imprison-
ment for Debt Bill would, if possible, be moved on Mon-
day ; so that the Bill might pass, and be forwarded to the
Lords before Easser. He trusted that it would become
the law of the land this Session.

A. not unimportant catechetical conversation ensued on
the subject of Church-rates. It concluded thus :
Sir W. FOLLETT—Are we to have the information ne-
cessary to enable us properly to discuss the Bill before the
debate on it to-morrow ?
The CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER-4 hope so.
Sir J. GRAHAM wished to have a distinct understanding
on the subject. Was Friday to be the day on which the
subject was to be discussed ? And if not Friday, what day ?
_ .

The CHANCELLOB of the EXCHEQUER would acquiesce
in the wish which the Right Hon. Baronet had hinted.
The order for Friday should be discharged, and Monday
substituted.

The breathless eagerness of the Tory tacticians, in bawl-
ing for data before they are ready, rushing prematurely into
discussion, and attempting to badger Mr. SPRING RICE, is
scarcely less insignificant than amusing.
Mr. C. WOOD stated, in reply to Lord MAHON, that
the Navy Estimates would be brought forward on Friday
next. Lord MAIION then gave notice that he would, on
that occasion, call the attention of the House to the policy
of his Majesty's Government, with respect to the affairs of
Spain.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in reply to
Mr. SHAW, said that it was the wish of the Government to
bring forward the Irish Poor Law question• before Easter ;
but he could not name the day.
The debate on the affairs of Canada, which had been
adjourned on Monday evening, was then resumed, and oc-
cupied the House until nearly three o'clock this morning.
Several divisions took place, and many motions were sub-
sequently made, with a view to postponing the discussion.
The resolutions originally proposed by Lord JOHN RUS-
SELL were eventually affirmed by a large majority, thus
negativing the introduction into the Canadian Legislative
Council of the Elective principle, contended for by Mr.
LEADER, Mr. HUME, Mr. ROEBUCK, Colonel THOMPSON,
and a few other Hon. Members belonging to the more
earnest section of Reformers. We have referred to this
subject in a separate article.

We are surprised that Ministers do not perceive that the
effect of their policy towards Lower Canadas will, eventu-
ally, be the alienation of that colony from the mother coun-
try. We are still more surprised that the experiment of a
coercive system should be tried upon a people, the majority
of whom are described by Ministers themselves as extremely
tenacious of their rights, and by no means favour-
able—even in the abstract—to British influence. Lord
Jos RUSSELL'S arguments in support of the view
of this question taken by the Cabinet are really most
infelicitous ; and we are not without apprehensions that his
Lordship's declaration with respect to the actual govern.
ment of Lower Canada, may give rise to consequences of
which we are sure the Noble Lord would be one of the
first to deplore the existence. "It is a great advantage,"
said the Noble Lord in his speech of Monday night, " that
every thing that could be fairly granted to the demands of
the House of Assembly has been previously granted." This
declaratio% would deprive the Canadians of all hope of
redress on the part of the Crown, did not the very resolutions
proposed to the Noble Secretary, for the adoption of the
House of Commons, tell the Colonists that Government
could be terrified into concessions, even after it had granted
" all that could be fairly demanded." Compare the Noble
Lord's declaration, cited above, with the fourth, fifth,
seventh, ninth, and tenth resolutions submitted by him to
Parliament—and at what other conclusion can any one
arrive, but that Ministers have yielded to a clamour, which
they believe to be unjust, in proposing the expediency
of making the Legislative Council of Lower Canada
more popular—in assuming the necessity of improving
the composition of the Executive Council—in ad-
mitting the propriety, under certain conditions, of repealing
the Canadian Tenures' and the Canada Trades' Acts--in
recommending an exchange of his MAJESTY'S hereditary

revenues in Lower Canada for a Civil List—and in sane-

tioning a measure for facilitating commercial intercourse
between the Lower and Upper Provinces ? This long
array of grievances we find actually admitted in the Noble
Lord's string of resolutions ; and yet his Lordship tells us
in his introductory speech, that Parliament has already re-
dressed all the just grievances—conceded all the fair de-
mands—of the Canadian House of Assembly.

The real question at issue is—Whether in a colony,
governed by its own laws and customs, the will and the in-
terests of the majority should not be consulted rather than
those of a minority, composed for the most part of emigrants,
without the associating ties of country or kindred, and ignorant
of the language of the people among whom they are located ?
It is in this light the Canadians view it, and it is in this form
Ministers must present it to themselves, if they desire to
examine it impartially. Lord JOHN RUSSELL argued on
Monday night, that an Elective Legislative Council, and a
responsible Executive, though suited to the government of
free States, were incompatible with colonial dependence
upon the Crown. This entirely depends upon the way in
which the Crown seeks to exercise its influence over the
colonies. If the object of the Crown be .to govern its co-
lonies despotically, then a representative system is
objectionable ; but, on the contrary, if the Crown be
solely influenced by a desire to promote the social happiness
of its colonial subjects, then it can have nothing to fear
from the existence of an official and legislative responsibility
sanctioned by the majority. To suppose—as Ministers
have done in the debates upon the Canadas—instances in
which the Crown may be opposed to the wishes of a vast
majority of its colonial subjects, is inconsistent with the
very existence of a free Constitution. For why give the
Canadians a Constitution at all, if theKzwG must be vested
with a power of setting it aside whenever such is his royal
will ? Why call that a right which is a simple privilege
held during the pleasure of a Colonial Secretary.
And after all, what have Ministers gained by their
triumph of last night ? They have by their Resolutions
virtually set aside the most important article in the Con-
stitution of Lower Canada—they have rendered of none
effect the power of the House of Assembly over the ap-
propriation of the supplies ; but have they permanently
provided for the recurrence of the very evil which such a
stretch of the authority of Parliament was sought to
remedy ? They have not. The House of As-
sembly has been needlessly exasperated, without
being deprived of the power of resenting what it will not fail
to regard as an act of bitter oppression. Lord STANLEY,
with the experience of the United States before his eyes,
would recommend force. The short time his Lordship
presided over the affairs of the colonies ought to have con-
vinced him of the madness of sanctioning an appeal to the
sword. In the event of such an. appeal, Great Britain
would find the Upper Province as ready to take up arms
against her as the Lower. The first shot fired by us would
for ever put an end to our dominion in North America.

We are far from thinking that the separation of the Ca-
nadas from this country would be in any respect injuri-
ous to us. In fact, we have very few colonies which are
not a source rather of weakness than of strength to the
mother country ; and the Canadas are not of the excepted
number. But while they continue under our protection we
desire to see them treated with all possible indulgence, that
when they are no longer subject to us, they may acknow-
ledge with gratitude the protection afforded them when un-
able to protect themselves.

The Annual Meeting of the Propi:ietors of the Thames
Tunnel was held, on Monday last, at the City of London
Tavern. It is extremely gratifying to find that this stu-
pendous undertaking is now in a fair way of being brought
to a successful termination. It appears, from the Report
of the Directors read to the meeting, that the work has
proceeded 135 feet beyond the part where the stoppage
took place by the bursting in of the river. This, it must be
observed, is a very considerable proportion of the width of
the river ; and, though the progress may not appear to have
been very rapid, the difficulties encountered were of such
a formidable nature as to require the greatest possible caution
on the part of the engineer. Not only has the work
been proceeding under the deepest part of the river,
where, of course, the roof of the tunnel is thinnest ; but
great obstacles have arisen from the land springs, which the
extraordinary humidity of the" weather has greatly increased,
as it has also done the height of the tides. Under these
unfavourable circumstances the wonder is, not so much that
the progress has been slow, but that any progress has been
made at all. Every one must agree with the distinguished
engineer, the resources of whose powerful mind have hitherto
found the means of overcoming difficulties apparently insur-
mountable, that the trifling saving in point of expense that
would accrue from a more rapid progress is not once to be
put in comparison with the safety of the men employed, and
the security of the work.
The Tunnel has now been completed to the extent of 725
feet, and in a very short time will reach the point of low
water mark, on the Wapping side of the river, where the
same degree of precaution not being necessary, a quicker
advance may be confidently expected. In the meantime it
is quite clear that the public interest in this national work
has not abated, but on the contrary is greatly on the in-
crease. The number of persons who visited the Tunnel
last year was 37,270, being 8,000 more than visited it
the year preceding.

The claims of the Irish people to an equal participation
with their fellow-citizens in the rights and privileges of the
British Constitution are so inherently strong, so entrenched
in reason and justice, that nothing deserving the name of
argument has been, or can be, advanced against them.
They stand in need of no laboured process of in-
duction to set them forth—no rounded periods or
rhetorical flourishes to recommend them. The moment
they are mentioned they flash the conviction of self-evident
truth upon the most untutored as well as the most culti-
vated mind. The task therefore of those who pretend—
for it is but a pretence—to oppose them, is a truly arduous
one. These wretched tools of a faction so desperate, that
it would willingly plunge the country into all the horrors of
civil war to gratify an insatiate lust of place, having no
hold on the sympathy of the public, and being barred out
by the very nature of the case from all ground of fair argu-
ment, betake themselves in their distress to all man-
ner of shifts, subterfuges, and falsehoods, in which, could
daily practice make them expert, they ought to be adepts.
Among other reasons equally well founded for de-
nying justice to Ireland, the scribblers of the Tory
press have urged the backwardness of Ireland in her
own cause. They have asserted—these brazen instru-
ments of the Carlton Club—that the Irish are indifferent
to the question of Municipal Reform ; for if they had not
been so, they would have poured in multitudes of petitions
to the Legislature, praying for what they wanted. The
Irish people we think have abundantly showed how
they feel the treatment they have experienced from
one branch of the Legislature in this matter of
Corporation Reform. No one—no one at least who has
access to the " usual channels of information,"—can enter-
tain any doubt upon that point. But as there is ONE
PERSONAGE in the realm who may not be in the habit of
resorting to these channels, and who it is of importance
should be aware of the real state of feeling in Ireland at
the present juncture, means have been adopted to satisfy
the Royal mind as to the wishes of the Irish people. An
Address, such as, we will venture to say, was never
seen before, was presented yesterday to the KING at
the Levee—an Address from the people of Ireland
signed by two hundred and fifty thousand persons ! This
highly interesting document will be found in another part
of our Paper, and, while we admire its composition
as a whole for the manly spirit of liberty which it breathes,
we cannot help pointing the particular attention of our
readers to the following passage, as eminently
combining the respect due to the SOVEREIGN, with
a conscious feeling of the rights of freemen :—" We
humbly submit that we can lay before your Majesty no
stronger proof of our attachment to the laws or the Consti-
tution of this realm, than the expression of our firm resolu-
tion to persist in demanding, and never to fest satisfied till we
shall obtain, the same measure of justice which the Legis-
lature has declared essential to the freedom and welfare of
the rest of the United Kingdom."

Second Editions of the Paris Evening Journals of Tues-
day night have just been received by extraordinary express
in London, announcing the defeat of the French Ministers
on the Disjunction Bill. This is most important intelli-
gence ; although the Charte, the evening official organ of
the Cabinet, persists in affirming that Ministers will not
resign. When the debate on the Bill commenced on
Tuesday, there were no fewer than five amendments to be
disposed of, all of which were rejected by large majorities.
The Bill itself, which consists but of two articles, was then
voted article by article ; after which the Bill, as a whole,

was put to the vote. A ballot was demanded, when the
votes were— _

For the Bill 209
Against it 2ll
Majority against Ministers - 2

When the result was known the Chamber re-echoed with
the acclamations of the Opposition. The leading members
congregated in groups, and cordially congratulated each
other on so great a triumph.
We copy from the correspondence of the Times the fol-
lowing memorable anecdote connected with the defeat of
this infaMous measure :

" A curious, but not unprecedented, circumstance occurred
in this division. M. Golberry (one of the Deputies) had been,
during four days, confined to his bed by a fever, but had en-
treated a colleague to come for him when the Chamber should
be about to vote on the Bill. His friend (faithful to his word)
called upon him at the appointed time. The sick man caused
himself to be taken out of bed, wrapped in warm clothing, and
carried to the Chamber. On mounting the steps of the tri-
bune to deposit his ballot in the urn he nearly fainted. His
vote decided the question. There whre 421 Members present.
The absolute majority required by law (one more than a moiety)
was consequently 211, and his vote raised the majority to pre-
cisely that number."
This is a beautiful instance of public virtue, and reminds us
of some of the noblest acts of Grecian and Roman patriotism
in the best days of those republics. We shall not despair
of the regeneration of France while such citizens are to be
found assisting at her Councils.
We presume that, as a matter of form, the Cabinet will
resign, but we entertain no hope that the whole of the
Ministers will quit office. Two—possibly three—may be
forced to make room for as many members of the two last
Cabinets now in opposition ; but the rest will cling to'office
till the KING peremptorily command them to quit the
Council Board.

The defeat of Ministers, and the prospect of a dissolution,
produced no appearance of panic in the money market. On
the contrary, the funds were rather improving on Tuesday
night. A more unpopular Ministry cannot possibly replace
the present set of officials. GASPARIN, PERSIL, and MARTIN
(DU NonD) are' mere tools of the KING; GUIZOT is at heart
a despot, but his pride prevents him from making himself
agreeable at the Chateau ; and as for Admiral ROSAMEL, he
is in all respects a sort of official nonentity. Count MOLE is
too timid to take any step on his own responsibility ; so that
with the exception of DUCHATEL, who is a clever man of
business and a tolerably clear-headed financier, the KING
is himself the head and heart of the present Ministry. Who
then can be surprised to learn that it is universally un-
popular ?
There is no news of any moment from Spain in these
Journals. Advices from Madrid of the 26th ult. state that
CALATRAVA continues seriously indisposed. Cunt AL-
MODOVAR was again mentioned as about to be appointed
to the War department. There were rumours of other
changes in the Cabinet, but they appear to us to be without
any foundation.
Letters from San Sebastian and Bayonne speak of the
immediate commencement of operations against the Carlists.
Everything was in readiness for a grand attack. Should
ESPARTERO refuse to move, SAARSFIELD and EVANS will
take the field without him.