The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-23 00:00:00

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The tr. Anufacture and preparation of Irish outrages,
Tor the Ilse of the Tory press, is a trade in itself.
Agents arid correspondents dispersed 'all over the land
are ever on the watch for any breach of the peace,
lnmvewer trivial, which, being embellished anti finished
off: with suitable accessories, they send forward to Ott:';-
favourite journals. Having once found way into
tl-.e press, the tale runs its coursa rapidly through all
the organs of kindred sentiment ; and it often happens
that gentlemen, it may be in Cork or Leitrim, who
arc placed in the very crater of a volcano, and who
ought to be half stifled—ma si bona norint—with its
ashes, are first made acquainted with their somewhat
pe(ntliar situation by a paragraph in the Times or the
Siandard. The business of catering for this " perpe-
tual feast" was for a length of time considered to belong
to the duty of the police ; and we lately copied a letter
from a constable to the Editor of a violent journal in
Tipperary, proving that the practice, though strictly pro-
hibited by the present Government, has not yet been
wholly abandoned. But, generally speaking, the
task has devolved upon a functionary new to Ire-
land, and who, we are inclined to think, will be found
a great nuisance in that country. We mean the
clerk of petty sessions, a person of humble rank,
whose proper business it is to fill summonses, and
draw up convictions and bail bonds ; but who is fre-
quently admitted into a sort of half confidence by the
magistrates, for whose information he can lay his fin-
ger upon the penal clauses of the Acts most in
vogue, and is otherwise qualified to give instructions
in the usual routine of magisterial duties. The op-
portunities possessed by such persons of receiving the
first intelligence of every misdemeanour that occurs,
render them peculiarly eligible correspondents of those
editors whose imaginations revel in tales of terror;
and as they are the mere creatures of the rustic jus-
tices, the great majority of whom are eager partisans,
it seldom happens that they are indisposed to under-
take such an addition to their official duties. The
incidents which they communicate lose nothing by
their mode of relating them ; but the merest trifles
are frequently swelled out into offences of serious
moment, and sometimes, lor lack of matter, those of
them who are under an obligation to furnish a regu-
lar periodical supply of outrages, do not hesitate to
draw upon the raculty of invention for the ground-
work as well as the superstructure of their re-
ports. A very flagrant instance of the mischievous
system of misrepresentation and calumny which is
carried, *bn through the agency of these minions of
justice was brought to light last week at a judicial
investigation in Wexford. Mr. Caesar Sutton, one
of the great unpaid of that county, thought proper to
prefer certain charges of a most paltry nature against
a chief constable of police, who, according to the evi-
dence of a respectable and impartial magistrate, Mr.
White, labours under the dangerous imputation of
discharging his duty with zeal and attention, but
" with a great suavity of manner towards the common
people." Mr. Caesar Sutton discovered, as he thought,
a blot in this disagreeable chief constable's character.
He had recommended an unfortunate policeman, who
was once in his life induced to drink more than he
ought, to the merciful consideration of his superior
officer ; and for this offence Mr. Caesar Sutton de-
nounced him to the Government. A solemn investi-
gation into that charge, and another of an equally trum-
pery description, took place before Major Millar, the
provincial Inspector-General ; and amongst the wit-
nesses produced to substantiate them was Mr. John
Cotton, or Cottom, the clerk of the petty sessions at
Taghmon. Mr. Cotton, on his cross-examination,
admitted that "he was a correspondent of the Wex-
ford Conservative, and had communicated to that
paper false reports of the state of the county. He
acknowledged that what he wrote in the anonymous
letter to the Conservative was false in many particulars,
and that he had the means of ascertaining the truth
of all the allegations in the letter at the time he wrote
it, but did not avail hiciiself of those means." What
a thrice valuable auxiliary would this friend of Mr.
Caesar Sutton prjve to the Times, if he were taken
regularly, along with Mr. Eneas M'Donnell, and some
other namekss worthies, into the corps of its corres-
pondents t It is evident that he would not stop at a
trifle to help the Leading Journal of Europe to a
topic of declamation ; but

If a lie of his would do it grace,
He'd gild it with the happiest terms he has."
The style and substance of his article seem to have
been exactly cut out for the meridian of Printing-
house-square or Bridge-street ; for it sets forth " that
there is an illegal, organised confederacy in that part
of the country, trampling on the law, and setting the
legal authorities at defiance. It relates (no doubt
with minute particularity) a collision between the
country-people and police—such a circumstance being
entirely false—and also states that the writer had his
information from a person on whose veracity he could
rely." And every word of this the fellow now on his
solemn oath declares to be false ! Really the Times
should lose not a moment in catching him up ; for by
this time we take it for granted that he has ceased to
officiate as clerk of the Taghmon petty sessions, and
there will be many competitors for the exclusive assist-
ance of so neat a hand. Henceforward we caution
the British public, when they shall see any very alarm-
ing picture of the state of Ireland, either in the form
of extracts from the local prints, or in the original
rattle of the Thunderer himself, that they should re-
collect the clerk of petty sessions at Taghmon, and
" chew upon" what tlicy read, with a grain of salt.—
Morning Chronicle.

The day before yesterday, in the course of our ac-
customed remarks on the spirit of the Parisian press,
we stated tat the Chronique de Paris contained an
insinuation, which we felt assured would prove as un-
foundA as the object of the writer was reprehensible
—namely, " that the admirable manner in which the
place was defended proved the presence of British en-
gineers." The report thus noticed subsevently gained
Fground amongst the French papers. The Gazette (lc
rance, for example, represented the fact of the em-
ployment of British officers as, 'neing well known, and
that journal connected thi.'s assumption with the posi-
tive and indisputable, occupation of St. Sebastian by
the British Legie,n, as constituting evidence of Eng-
land's grasping ambition. Not wishing to press too hard
on one so in-
anifestly falling as poor Lord Palmerston, we
simply q".oted the French papers—nay, we did not think
the insinuations called for any grave comment. But
after Lord Palinerston's exhibition of last night in his
own paper, we begin to think otherwise. The Album
de•aounces the report as being a malignant invention,
adding that the repetition of it is doubly disgraceful to
the only English print which echoed it. The imper-
tinence and absurdity of the Album are really wonder-
ful. What subject should that journal have so stu-
diously avoided as one which of necessity reminds all
readers, of what politics soever, of the plight to which
Lord Palmerston has reduced this country ? In
the firs,t, 'place, what more natural than that France
shot:a suspect our protocolling Secretary of em-
ploying the same siieaking and silly tricks at Con-
stantino which he has perseveringly persisted in
in Spain ? Indeed, it was only yesterday that we
had occasion to notice the zealous nonsense of the
Album, 'when endeavouring to account for Marshal
Clausel's defeat by divine interposition, in revenge of
Cupid's abandonment l On inquiry, there may prove
to be something in this of the nature of a foregone
con6usion. In the second place, the continued oc-
cupation of St. Sebastian by the British Legion, with
no other intelligible object than that of keeping fast
hold of a strong position, is of a nature to inspire in
French politicians, and in the people of France gene-
rally, great distrust as. to the ultimate designs of this
country. But the Album says not. It says, or Lord
Vidmerston, speaking through its columns, that the
French Government are in possession of information
which leaves them in no doubt of the intentions of
England. This is possible, and Lord Palmerston may
know it for certain. But the people of France, as
well as the people of England, rrmy naturally feel puz-
zled at the occupation spoken of—au occupation ho-
nourable to neither, and probably disagreeable to both.
We should not have felt it necessary so soon to have
mentioned this, but for the penny-trumpet flourishing
of Cupid's Touter, who really seems every way worthy
of his godship's energy and foresight.— Times.
To advance the principles of Reform in the next
Session of Parliament, it is before all things neees.