The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It appears from the report of the proceedings at the
Reform dinner in Belfast, given to Mr. Sharman
Crawford, that, by the confession of the Tories them-
selves, they have been beaten in the registry of Bel-
fast. The Chair was taken on this occasion by Mr.
Robert James Tennent, the Liberal candidate for that
town, who, in case of a dissolution, would relieve
Mr. Emerson Tennent from his Parliamentary duties.
Mr. Sharman Crawford dwelt on the evils which
would result to Ireland from the return of the Tories
to power; but he observed they must take care, while
endeavouring to avoid embarrassing the Government,
not to sacrifice any portion of that character which
it was essential to uphold. Mr. Sharman Craw-
ford's distinction is of great importance. It is ab-
surd in the Reformers to blame Ministers for back-
wardness, if they themselves are still more back-
ward in urging their claims. Let Reformers, gene-
rally, take a lesson from the Dissenters. They
did not wish to embarrass Ministers by an un-
seasonable impatience ; but when they found that
an inference, from their moderation, was drawn against
their earnestness and determination, they immediately
let it be seen that they would no longer be trifled
with. They have made one grand simultaneous move-
ment, and the results have left Ministers no option.
Church-rates are clefacto abolished. When Reformers
wish to carry other questions, let them show in like
manner that a deep interest is taken in them by the
great body of electors. Great fault is found by Sir
William Molesworth and others, that 'Ministers will
not take the means to overcome the obstacles to good
government presented by the House of Lords. But
we humbly apprehend that however deep the convic-
tion among the people that some reform of the Lords
is necesnry, the nature of the reform which is desir-
able has seldom been clearly pointed out. Reformers
are to blame for not applying themselves more ear-
nestly to this great question. When the public have
been sufficiently enlightened on it, then a plan may be
urged with some prospect of success. But, to bring
the force of public opinion to bear on the question,
much remains to be done by Reformers.—Morning
Chronicle.

There is curious matter, and some of it distressing,
in our Irish correspondence of this day. Among the
particulars of the former kind are two letters, one from
the itinerant Member for Northumberland, Mr. Beau-
mont, who seems to have A hankering after " more
last words" with Mr. Daniel O'Connell—albeit the
-precise meaning of the said last word it puzzles us to
find out. The second epistle is from the Rev. Father
O'Malley to Richard Shell, Esq., and a sweet specimen
it is—a sample of the objurgatory so rich and loaded,
that we fear it will put the stomach of the Learned
Member for Tipperary to an awful test. Father
O'Malley, it will be recollected, had proposed resolu-
tions in favour of poor laws in the Irish rebel Associa-
tion (we say nothing at present of the scheme he tacked
to them for turning the tithe of the Protestant Church
into a poor rate). So it went on smooth enough, until
Mr. Sheil, in the ecstacy of zeal for the King's Ministers,
and of some less cordial feeling for his own poor coun-
trymen, moved the postponement of all discussion
about the " starving millions," and told the rebel asso-
ciators that they were no better than madmen for pre-
ferring the relief of hunger to the registration of voters,
to which latter business, being a party business, Mr.
Sheil, for reasons best known to himself, urged the
associators to give their immediate attention—not in-
deed their undivided attention, inasmuch as he touk
care to remind them of a contingent claim upon their
funds on behalf of the expenses which he himself was
likely-to incur for his Tipperary election. Well, we
said at the time that this postponement of the poor law
question was secretly intended by the Learned Gentle-
man to be a postponement sine ilk ; that it was indeed
a shuffling manosuvre, to accommodate the official Whigs
in a twofold manner-Ist, by removing for a time the
pressure of the poor law question ; 2d, by pushing
with convulsive eagerness the means of bolstering up a
factious majority, on the side of those with whom rests
the nomination of, honourable and learned gentlemen
to office : and the event proves that we were right.
Father O'Malley turns the Learned Member for Tip-
perary inside out on this occasion. He charges him
with having, amidst the most solemn disavowals of any
purpose unfavourable. to poor laws, thrown a " wet
blanket" upon that vital measure. He charges
Mr. Shell with having spouted forth " the foam of
a histrionic" (a sham and hypocritical) " passion,"
when lie denounced as " infatuated" Lord Mil-
town and those other merciful Quixottes who deemsd
the succour of above two millions of perishing
fellow-creatures an object entitled to some pre-
cedence over mere dirty, factious, topics. " How
long," asks this wholesale dealer in wormwood
" "how long are we to witness the sickening spectacle
—sickening to the heart of every pure and generous
patriot—the spectacle of men of strong ambition and
loose principles stepping into Parliament upon the
shoulders of those poor brave fellows, and kicking
them of uhen they get in!" We hardly think that
the Learned Gentleman has taken much by his mu-
tioo. Mr. Shea is roughly handled by this reverend
monitor, for the very foolish attempt to blind Irishmen
'to the importance of the poor laws, by telling them
that " it is the game the Tories arc now playing."
And what if it be ? What higher panegyric could be
pronounced upon the Tories than that they wish to
recommend themselves to the poor of Ireland by a
humane regard to their destitution and their miseries ?
But Mr. O'Malley hits the nail upon the head, when
he flatly informs Mr. Sheil that he (at present)
!appears unable to expand himself "to anything
rational ;" that " the personal and the party theme
seems_ to be as much as his mind can grasp." Mr.
Sheil has fulfilled to the letter our prediction of what
his postponement of the poor law question would end
in. If Father O'Malley be not mistaken, he (Mr.
Sheil) has actually given notice of a second motion to
supersede the subject altogether ! That Mr. Daniel
O'Connell has not been at the bottom of this demolish-
ment of the man he most hates on eel th, there is but a
single reason for believing—namely, that Father
O'Malley works out his exposure of the Learned
Member for Tipperary by no statements or accusations
inconsistent with a strict regard to veracity, an engine
of annoyance which O'Connell rarely uses, his in-
stinctive love of falsehood paralyzing even his oc-
casional appetite for revenge. With Father O'Malley
we heartily concur in one point which he maintains,
and which is of the highest moment—to wit, that
the " foundation of good government" in Ireland
must be laid in an efficient poor law. The reciprocal
condition of the rich, or at least of the landed proprie-
tors in that country, and of their poorer tenants
rnd neighbours, no Englishman of any feeling either
for the sufferings or the dignity of his kind can think
of without torture. It is an evil, the root of all other
evils. The relations of Church and State—Protes-
tantism and Popery—priest and layman—
Orangeman
and Ribandman—are but names in comparison with
this. This is a thing—the relation of the poor Irish-
man to the Irishman of property—is the one thing to
be grappled with—the devouring cancer to be extir-
pated—or the doom of the miserable country is sealed,
and the hour of mortal agony comes fast upon her. It
is physically impossible for the rich man of any region
on the globe's surface to dine or sleep in safety while
the bulk of his fellow-creatureslEound him have no
bed to lie upon, and no bread to eat.—Times.

The political thunder rolls from pole to pole. Tory-
ism and Conservatism have been spreading their sheet
lightning over the land during the last two months ;
but now again reaction is taking place—the Liberals
being threatened, are mustering for the fight, and their
thunder is displacing the empty vapouring of their op-
ponents. From Derrynane Abbey to Dublin—from
Dublin to Belfast—from Belfast to Glasgow—from
Glasgow to Yorkshire—and from Yorkshire to the
metropolis (omitting all minor places), the thunder of
Reform—of Peerage Reform—of advocacy of the Bal-
lot—of triennial Parliaments—of extended suffrage--
of Corporation Reform in Ireland—of reform of cede-
siastical abuses—in a word, of justice to all classes of
the people throughout the United Kingdom—rolls
with increasing vigour and most electrical effect.
Those who calculated upon re-action, or, in other
words, upon apathy in the Reform camp, will now see
that they are greatly mistaken, and that their opposi-
tion has, as we had often previously predicted, been
only productive of changes more distasteful and dis-