The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-30 00:00:00

[I4IOIINING ItER U.D.]

It augurs well, we think, for the general peace
and tranquility of Ireland, that on the present
Circuit some of the principal Barristers have so
little to do, that they can find time to attend
political meetings and dinners, and there harangue
as usual upon the hackneyed subject of their
silk gowns in expectancy—for that, after all, is
the real prompter of their zeal, proving, as the
Poet has said, " self-love and social are the
same." The account given in some of the Irish
Papers of Mr. O'Connell's reception at Wexford is
highly dramatir. In an English Assize town we
often see the country people run at the sound of a
couple of cracked trumpets to witness the solemn
entry of the Sheriff' and the Judges. But here
the case was reversed, and at the approach of the
great Katerfelto, the good-humoured Judge is
said to have dismissed the Jury, that they might
witness the entrance of the towering Eagle—
clipped, however, of his " wings." To be sure
the sight was nearly spoiled by a wicked son of
a Mayor, who endeavoured to obstruct the pas-
sage of the river; but the tide was too strong for
him, and the Catholic Barristers entered Wex-
ford amidst loud applause—but, as it would
seem, with very few retainers. Then comes a
description of alternate professional and unpro-
fessional speechifying. First, the Learned
Leader begins a speech in a chapel, then sets
off to the Court to attend to Hobbs v. Johnson,
leaving the chapel to his flowery companion, who,
with equal truth, good taste, and judgment, em-
bellishes hip harangue with an assurance that
Lord Liverpool is a " monster," and Mr. Peel,
if possible, something worse. Knowing how
sensitive these gentlemen are become, and their
wish that the privilege of calling names, and of
denouncing the views and motives of their oppo-
nents, should be confined exclusively to them-
selves, we hardly know how to venture upon
the task of noticing such assertions as these.
Fortunately, the thing itself is so gross, and
the object and disappointment so palpable,l
that it carries with it its own answer and an-
tidote. That two of the most amiable and
upright melt, both in public pri.:oo life,
(which we run no chance of contradiction when
we assert Lord Liverpool and Mr. Peel to be),
should be held forth as monsters by a trading
orator—that such a man should so speak of such
men, and find hearers, and expect to find be-
lievers, is a tax to be sure both upon our patience
and credulity. That censure is the tax men pay
for being eminent we well know ; but that a
generous adversary should attempt to enlist the
bad passions of his audience by means of gross
misrepresentation, is more than we can tamely
submit to. If there he a Roman Catholic in
England or Ireland who think that their cause
can be served by calumny, let them listen to and
applaud such misrepresentations as these ; but
if there are among them, as we trust there are,
persons who have courage and good sense enough
to think for themselves, they will soon discover
that their pretended friends are their bitterest
enemies, and that if the amelioration of their
country can be opposed and thwarted, these are
the persons whose mistaken views and heated
inriginations are incessantly employed in the un-
hallowed task of postponing, if not of for ever
defeating, that which they profess to promote.