The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-31 00:00:00

- • , • 7`:,"147,77'
not called on to act. They have done their part,
and are now waiting till the two Houses do theirs.
It would have been more gratifying to them bad the
progress of the House of Commons been less tardy ;
but they are satisfied that their interference would
not mend the matter. Should theLvarious friendly
advices to the Lords fail of their effect, and the
people be disappointed in their hopes, it will then
be seen whether they are indifferent to the Reform
Bill, and enamoured of boroughmongering.Morti-
ing Chronicle.
Those who remember to have heard the fiat sug-
gestion for the adoption of the poor laws in Ireland,
which was made but a year or two ago by Mr.
James Grattan, and who remember the marked dis-
approbation with which that suggestion was received
by the House, will recognise in the discussion, and
still more in the division of Monday night, an in-
stance of one of those rapid changes of sentiment
which strike like miracles upon the imagination. I❑
fact, the division of Monday night—(for what is a
majority of twelve, considering that the motion was
resisted by Ministers, and considering that it NV,IS
proposed at a time when the public mind is absorbed
in another question?)—the division of Monday night
must convince every man who reflects, that some
legislative step must be taken—that some defensive
barrier must be interposed, and that speedily, be-
tween famine and the poor of Ireland. To argue,
from the abuses of the English system of poor laws,
against the adoption of any system whatever in the
sister country, is to acknowledge a sort of panic in
legislation which ill accords with the philosophical
pretensions of the present day. If our English
system be bad, the very knowledge that it is bad
is one step, and a very important step, towards the
discovery of a better.,-/- In this view of the
question, Ireland, may become, as we conceive,
the instrument of much good even to Eng-
land herself, by giving birth to a system con-
structed with the advantage of a more matured ex-
perience, and capable of being acted upon here as
well as there,,when its benefits shall be fully deve-
loped. The question abounds in difficulties, we
allow, but they are diffietilties which must be met;
starvation cannot be pertbitted to go on in the way
it has gone on in Ireland;-to the disgrace of a com-
munity calling itself civilized and Christian. What
use is it to talk of benevolence, and to affect a deli-
cacy about interfering with the fine feelings of the
Irish population, when the wealthy part of that po-
pulation stands convicted of the most heartless dis-
regard of human suffering that ever disgraced a na-
tion of savages ? It is evident from what has
passed in the last as well as in the former instances
of distress, that the cries of famine are not heart-
rending enough to awaken their sympathy. They
will not provide voluntarily for the relief of the des-
titute;—then they must be made to provide by com-
pulsion. The evil is one which cannot be tolerated
amongst Christians. We may not see our way out of
it as plainly as we could wish with reference to all the
consequences; but out of it we must get as well
as we can, and at all hazards, and as speedily as
possible. The objection of Colonel Torrens, that
the adoption of poor laws in Ireland would have
the effect of reducing the English peasantry to the
state of the Irish peasantry, is an objection which
appears to us to apply much more forcibly to the
present state of things. What is the process going
on at this very moment, by the constant influx of
Irish into this country, but the very process of
which he speaks ? It is true, he says, that Irish
poor laws will not prevent this influx from conti-
nuing; but if Irish poor laws should, as we think it
likely that they will, make it the interest of land-
lords to give employment and promote industry
amongst those who are able and willing to labour,
it is not a rash conjecture which leads us to think
that they will prefer the labour they find at home to
that which they must travel in search of. At all
events, we repeat it, an end must be put to the
frightful, the unchristian, and inhuman spectacle of
famine in the midst of plenty. But the division of
Monday night speaks a language upon this subject
which cannot be mistaken. Let the suspense in
which the people are now held subside, and see if
the feeling of the country will not be at once pro-
nounced in favour of an experiment, the greatest
obstacle to which will be found either in selfishness
or despair.—Morning Herald.

Last night afforded another specimen of the anx-
iety with which the Opposition seize upon every
pretext to create delay. Though the House sat till
half-past one, they could not contrive to get through
more than a single clause, and that a clause which
had been virtually determined by previous decisions
of the Committee. The great principle for which
the Opposition struggled last night was the heredi-
tary right of freemen, and it was quite ludicrous to
hear Sir Robert Peel and, after him, Sir Charles
Wetherell, allude to other hereditary rights, and
even to that of the Crown itself, as likely to be ef-
fected by its surrender. The late decision of the
French Ministry offered them a fine rhetorical topic
to flourish on the occasion. They did all that
could be done with the part, as the dramatic
critics •ften say of Liston, and we could believe
that they were serious if we did not think that
they were sane. There was one feature, however,
in the discussion of last night, in which we think
these clever tacticians have rather committed them-
selves. They dwelt too long, and with too much
complacency on the imputed indifference of the pub-
lic, which is well known to be a freak of their own
imaginations. It is possible that this may produce
a re-action ; that the public may get angry at being
so often misrepresented, and determine, by a few
meetings, to open the eyes and shut the mouths of
those who are so much in the dark as to their real
opinion. It is not to be denied that the public are
disgusted with the delay which has taken place ;
but it is easy to distinguish between a sentiment of
dislike against the Bill itself and against the im-
pediments which have been raised against it. Let
those who maintain that the public are with them
now appeal to that public in which they have such
confidence. The advocates of the measure have
done so before.—Morniag Herald.

The admirable speech of the Duke of Wellington
on Monday evening has roused a feeling on the sub-
ject of French interference with Belgium, which it
behoves Lord Grey to satisfy by some immediate
and satisfactory statement. As this matter now
stands before the public, gathered from Lord Grey's
speech and the Duke of Wellington's bold and intel-
ligible commentary, it is obvious that the Premier
cannot with honour to himself, or with that advan-
tage to the country which results from dignity and
determination on the part of its first Minister, con-
tinue to hold office. He must either show (and that
plainly and speedily) that his assurance with regard
to the intention of the French Government to with-
draw the whole of its force from Belgium was one
which he was authorised to give, and which he is
therefore called upon to insist on being performed,
or he must resign to others the task of vindicating
thehonour and supporting the interests of the country,
to which he is unequal. No man can read the
Duke of Wellington's statement—a statement in
which he fearlessly refers to documents in the
Foreign-office to establish the accuracy of what he
said—without being satisfied that such an occupation
of one European kingdom by the troops of another
immediately bordering upon it, has hitherto been
considered sufficient occasion for the prompt atten-
tion of the British Government to prevent the un-
due advantage and aggrandizement of the occupying
Power ; and if ever there was an occasion upon
which England should regard such a step with
watchful jealousy it is that of the present occupation
of Belgium. With the advanced guard of the
French army occupying the passage from the fron-
tier of France to the bank of the Rhine, the slightest
occasion of war gives to France the possession of
the North of Germany, and the whole of Northern
Europe is menaced by her arms. Upon this point
we cannot do better than avail ourselves of an ex-
tract frolt a singularly able paper in the new number
of Blackwood's Magazine on the foreign policy of