The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-06 00:00:00

PRICE sd.

has irresistible claims upon his wile's father; but we
do denounce and reprobate the movement Niinisters,
for their baseness in consenting to hold the Govern-
ment on the compulsory condition of vesting its Irish
patronage in the hands of an incendiary whose whole
political existence is one undivided effort to with-
draw six millions of the Queen's subjects from
the dominion of the British Crown. In this
bad Papist's address to the electors of Kilkenny
he harps upon the two not very concordant strings
of blarney to the Queen, and Repeal of the Union.
Yes, the purblind blockhead affects to gain that grand
consummation for Popery, which, in his dialect, he
calls " Justice to Ireland," by threatening Queen
Victoria, not altogether indirectly, that his much-
vaunted zeal for her Majesty's Government and person
is contingent on the performance of that which he as-
sullies to be her duty, namely, the grant of each' and
all of those measures of destruction against the Pro-
testant state in Ireland which have been the topics of
his own insolent and disaffected speeches everywhere,
and have become the avowed watchwords of Popish
hostility towards Great Britain. It appears from our
Irish letter that Mr. Daniel O'Connell is about this
time making his appearance in Dublin, and issuing or-
ders for a general muster and drill of his rebel forces. But
there is one grand element of war upon the Monarchy defi-
cient. He can nolonger mould the elective franchise to his
will. Ireland still has Judges learned and incorruptible.
They have declared the late. No Committee of the
House of Commons, composed of whatever materials,
packed with whatever skill, fraught with whatever im-
patience of legitimate or constitutional authority, can
henceforth vamp up qualifications to meet the emer-
gency of a corrupt or desperate case. The qualifica-
tion of county voters must be a bona fide 101. qualifi-
cation. For years past Mr. Daniel O'Connell has
been crying out that Ireland ought to have, not a 101.,
but a 51.—yea, or a 40s. franchise. Why, he has had
a 51. franchise—he has had all this while, and to all
practical purposes, a 40s. franchise, both, it is true,
under the name of a 101. one, usurping the functions
of a legal 101. qualification, and returning, by such
fictitious means, a long list of fictitious Members of Par-
liament. But those golden days are at end. The Con-
stitution is to be henceforth, without the least change
in the law, by virtue merely of a clear promul-
gation of the law, a substantial and compa-
ratively independent constituency. O'Connell and
the priests may bully, or preach to, or excommuni-
cate such a constituency, but it will not do. It re-
mains for the gentlemen of Ireland to put this im-
proved constitutional instrument to its proper uses. It
remains for the gentlemen of Ireland, those who de-
serve the name, to appeal in every county, as we have
said before, co the 101. county electors, and summon
them to their work. The work is nzen!s work. It is
to save the Queen from sordid and evil counsellors—to
bring honest and loyal Protestants into her sacred pre-
sence—to quell the arrogance and crush the schemes
of O'Connell—to submit to the Queen of England
that page of history which records the transactions of
1688, and immortalizes the Whig Statesmen of that
glorious era, contrasting both deeds and actors with
the so-called " liberal" measures of the present day,
and with such Ministers as Mulgrave, Duncannon,
Rice, and Russell.— Times.
It is astonishing how much an approaching election
stimulates the sympathies of Members of the House
of Commons towards the industrial and operative
classes. Representatives, some of whom may for an
entire Session have either contented themselves with a
silent vote, and that too, perhaps, sometimes on the
wrong side, or have altogether neglected the duties of
the trust confided to them, often become on the eve of
a dissolution most clamorous for the removal of abuses
and the'eelief of all manner of distress. All the do-
quence and patriotism which may have been pent up
for several Sessions, without the slightest indication
of their existence, will often on the advent of an elec-
tion burst forth with a generally useless, and often
pernicious impetuosity. Mr. Maxwell's motion on
Tuesday night, for the appointment of a Commission
of Inquiry into the causes of the distress of the Hand-
loom Weavers, afforded favourable scope for the escape
of this gaseous and unsubstantial patriotism. To the
good faith and purity of motive of the Honourable
Mover himself, we bear most confident testimony ;
but in the speeches of some of his supporters, we think
may be recognised an excess of sympathy for the work-
ing classes, which unfortunately is not sustained by the
general conduct of the speakers. Now, we certainly
consider that the man who would arrogate any credit
for the manifestation of sympathy with the number of
human beings whom the depressed state of trade has
reduced to destitution and starvation, must be but little
accustomed to the kindlier impulses of humanity. The
man who feels not sympathy at beholding thousands of
his fellow-creatures expiring from famine, must be worse
than a savage ; but we de not think the manifestation
of a desire to relieve such suffering, and still less the
delivery of a whining objectless lamentation, to be a
proof of extraordinary sensibility. The relief of the
distress of the hand-loom weavers should be effected by
more prompt and effective agency than the appointmei t
of a Commission. It needs moCommission nor inquiryto
make manifest the chief and more operative causes of this
distress, and the removal of these, so far as they arc ca-
pable of removal, need not be expected from an expiring
Parliament. TO any person at all acquainted with
the subject, it must be evident that the present ex-
treme distress of this branch of trade is attributable in
part to the general pressure on the commercial inte-
rests—in part to the extensive employment of power
looms—and, most of all, to the restrictions on the
importatioirof corn. It is expected that any of these
causes will be removed by the Commission, the ap-
pointment of which we perceive with regret was car-
ried by a small majority ? The expense of thie Com-
mission would be far more judiciously applied to the
relief of the distress which is the object of its inquiry.
The very Members who supported its appointment,
admitted that they did not anticipate any good to ac-
crue from it, unless that of exhibiting sympathy with
the working classes. Now, to parade sympathy without
the intention of affon'iing succour is the worst species.
of mockery—it is a vile and heartless cheat, to which no
upright mind would become a party. Mr. Maxwell's
proposition with regard to the fixing a minimum of
wages, is unworthy of a moment's consideration. It would;
if adopted, be not only a most unjust hum fee ence between
employer and operative, but tentl,by casting more fetters
on the action of supply and demand, to increase existing
evils. The first and most effective step towards the relief
of the destitute operatives is the abolition of the corn
laws. This will open a mart for our manufactures,
and give our artisans cheap food in return. Without
this all other attempts at relief will prove mere patch-
,
work—they may stop the broken places, or keep the
garment together for a time, but ultimately will make
the rent worse. Mr. Maxwell expressed his desire
to repeal these laws, if it could be done without injur-
ing the market for domestic produce, and as time Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade expressed his conviction
that 'the price of ,grain would be reduced but little or
nothing by removing the duty off that of foreign
growth, there is a fair opportunity for a mutual ac-
commodation of opposing opinions and interests.
There is yet another remedy for the distressed artisans,
more extensive in operation than this. Let the elective
franchise be extended, end the Representatives of the
people will find a wey of arriving at the cause of evils
without the appointinent of Special Commissions. But
whenever there is a question of representation, a din is
raised about the rights of property ; and whenever
there is a question of taxation, which, by a funda-
mental principle of the British Government, should be
co-existent with representation, the poor are found to
possess a wonderful eligibility for being forced to con-
tribute to the administration of laws which, so far
from protecting, are often adverse to their interests.--
Mos eirn g Advertiser.
Lord Lyndhurst has taken frequent opportunities