The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-30 00:00:00

the national Councils by a creation of Pecrs, is

one of tl►e strongest proofs of the folly and ineffi-
ciency of receiving laws from a source which may
pour forth either a pure or polluted stream, as
the executive may will. In fact, if the elective

•
principle be much longer withheld as the basis of"
the House of Lords, public scrutiny may look still
deeper into the economy of legislation, and inquire
whether the alleged advantages of a second chamber
be sufficient to counterbalance the evils of the delay,

embarrassment, and opposition which it too frequently
gives to providing for the public necessities, and com-
plying with the national desires. The Lords for years,
we might say centuries, have stood in opposition to the
rights and interests of the people, and we defy any
man to look back to events—to compare the evil with
the good of which they have been the cause, and
deny that they have not themselves demonstrated by
experience the injurious consequences of such a system
of legislation. On one occasion they were justly voted
a nuisance. Such a vote has been proposed in the
present emergency ;. but we greatly question whether
the people are yet so thoroughly prepared for such
an important change as to afford it the support of
that overwhelming majority, without which any at-
tempt to carry it into effect could not fail to be mis-
chievous. This course is, therefore, of very ques-
tionable eligibility at the present moment. Though
there can be no doubt that in no great length
of time a perseverance in the obstinate and perverse
courses which the Lords have lately pursued, must
render the people unanimous upon the subject. What
course, then, remains to be pursued ? An address
has been proposed by Mr. W. S. O'Brien, to be pre-
sented by the House of Commons to his Majesty,
having for its object the assertion of the same prin-
ciples of government in Ireland as those which direct
that of this country. We conceive this to be a tem-
perate proceeding, and one which may advantageously
be adopted in the interim which must take place be-
tween the conception and consumMation of the great
event—The I?fornz f the House of Lords. The
following are the proposed resolutions :

" That this House has witnessed with deep regret and
anxious concern the rejection by the other House of
Parliament of a Bill for the reform of the Municipal Cor-
porations of Ireland, similar in principle to those which, in
former sessions, have received the sanction of the Legis-
lature for the reform of the municipal institutions of Eng-
land and Scotland.

" That to deny to the natives of Ireland the same civil
franchises which of right belong equally to the whole people
of these realms, is to violate the spirit of the treaty of
Union ; to annul the great charter of emancipation ; and
to take from the connection of Great Britain with Ireland
its best and surest guarantee—mutual confidence founded
upon equal rights and a common interest.
" That the first effect of the adoption of a distinctive
principle of legislation in regard to the two countries, has
been to withhold for a time from Ireland the blessings of
well-regulated municipal government, whilst its ulterior and
more dangerous tendencies are to excite among her people
those sentiments of resentment and discontent which are

the never-failing result of injustice and oppression.
" That this House deems it an act of duty towards the
people of Ireland, under their present disappointment, to
renew the solemn assurance which in a former session it
coupled with its resolution to maintain inviolate the Legis-
lative Union, and by continuing to assert their right to
good municipal institutions, to redeem the pledge then
given, that it would persevere in applying its best atten-
tion to the removal of every just cause ofcomplaint, and
the promotion of every well-considered measure of improve-
ment.'
" That an humble address be presented to his Majesty,
founded upon the foregoing resolutions.
" That they be also communicated to the Lords."—
[Tuesday, sth Jul y.]—Morning Advertiser,
The writers in the Ministerial Press, while they in-
dulge their blind fury against the House of Lords, ap-
pear to be strangely forgetful of the circumstances
going on around them. They assert, with great vio-
lence, that the majority of the Peers " have no inte-
rests—no feelings in common with those of the people."
The assertion is as easy as it is impudent, but where is
the proof ? If we want to know what the feelings of
the people are, it will scarcely be denied that the elec-
tions under the new franchises, created by the Reform
Act, are fair tests by which those feelings may be ascer-
tained. Now, there have been, within a few weeks,
three county elections, and in all of them, candidates
upholding the same political principles as the majority
of the House of Lords have been successful. In Es-
sex, in Merionethsire, and now in Warwickshire, the
people have shown that the assertion of the Ministerial
organ is not true ; but that, on the contrary, the
people approve of that political conduct which
the Ministers oppose and denounce. Nor has the deci-
sion of the people in these counties been at all of a
doubtful character, or attested by slender majorities.
In all of them the Conservative majorities have been
• overwhelining, not leaving the Ministerial candidates
the slightest shadow of a chance from the beginning to
the end of the contest. How, then, can it be pretended,
except with an impudent design to misrepresent the
facts, that the people have no feelings in common with
the Conservative majority in the Upper House of Par-
liament ? Will it be answered that these counties are
places in which the feelings and voices of the people have
not fair play? We should not be surprised if that misre-
presentation, too, were attempted; but facts prove the
contrary. It is a strange compliment to the Reform Act
to say that, under its provisions, a fair election cannot
take place where there are adverse influences on the
part of holders of property; but, waiving this, we mean
to say that the evidence of facts proves that it
is not from undue influence, but from a re-action
in favour of Protestant and Conservative principles, that
these counties have sent to Parliament Conservative Re-
presentatives. At the first election after the Reform
Act, the candidate for Warwickshire, who has just now
been rejected, was returned. The same influences of
property which exist now, existed then ; but the people
have had some painful experience of those whom they
then thought their friends. They believed that gentle-
men who had promoted reform, would make that reform
the foundation of political peace and security. They
had no idea that the popular influence which had
been introduced into the House of Commons, would
be immediately turned aga-•,nst the Protestant Church,
and the established Constitution. They never sup-
posed that an alliance would be entered into with
O'Connell and the Irish Roman Catholic priests, for
the promotion of anti-Protestant and revolutionary
principles. But time has been their instructor. They
have seen, as we have seen, with deep regret, this
great accession to the people's strength in the House
of Commons turned against the interests and feelings
which are most dear to the people, and therefore they
have resolved to return Conservative Members to the
House of Commons ; and yet the Ministerialists tell
us, that the O'Connell majority in the House of
Commons, " respond to the feelings of the country,
but the majority of the Lords do not !" The evidence
which facts supply proves the direct contrary of this.
It is said also that " the purposes of a second
branch of the Legislature cannot be answered by the
House of Lords, as at present constituted." It might
be enough to answer to this assertion that they can,
for one assertion is as good as another ; but if the pro-
position were put forward as the commencement of an
argument, we should answer that it all depends upon
what the purposes of a second branch of time Legisla-
ture are. If these purposes be merely to " take sug-
gestion" from majorities of the House of Commons—if
they be merely to publish second editions of the Bills
sent up by the Lower House—if they be to act upon prin-
ciples of fear and submission, and not upon principles
of independence and honest judgment—then we admit
that such purposes cannot be answered by the House
.of Peers as at present constituted. But such ought
not to be the purposes of any branch of the Legisla-
ture. We should as strongly object to the Commons
sacrificing their independence to the Lords as we do to
the Lords sacrificing their independence to the Com-
mons. If either House is to be guided, not by its own
independent judgment, but by the will or judgment of
the other House, there is evidently no use fora second
House of Parliament at all. And if there were no
second House, God help the liberties of the people of
England. The government of a despot is sufficiently
odious and tyrannical ; but an assembly calling itself
popular, but without any control upon its party ani-
mosities and hasty judgments, is the most cruel tyranny
of all. The common trick of faction is to use the people
for selfish ends, under the pretence of acting for the
people. Let no one suppose that such tyrannical trickery
.is obsolete. A Ministerial Paper of yesterday incau-