The Sun.
London, England, 1836-05-23 00:00:00

SPI IT OF PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It is impossible to exaggerate the mischief with
which the destructive measure of the Lords is preg=
nant ; and it is the duty of those who have obtained
for themselves the invaluable security of municipal pri-
vilegvs, to aid their Irish brethren in the task of ex-
torting the same blessing from the Lords. That branch
of the Legislature has all along shown that beneficial
measures are never voluntarily conceded by it, and we
have the precedents of the measures for Emancipation
and Reform to instruct us as to the means by which
the Lords can be made pliable. It must be admitted
that the system of a legislative body, always opposed,
in the first instance, to measures of efficient reform, and
only brought round by demonstrations operating on their
prudence, is nor without its inconveniences. The peo-
ple of this country will some day ask themselves
whether that is the best state of things, in which" what-
ever measure of importance is approved of by the
House of Commons is resisted by the Lords, and only
yielded when resistance is no longer safe. We are
much mistaken if the answer will prove satisfactory to
the Lords. Surely that political system must be
capable of amendment, in which nothing beneficial is
effected without demonstrations on the part of the
people, which may not always prove so little injurious
as they have hitherto been ! In the meantime, how-
ever, we have nothing for it but to try once more whe-
ther the Lords can be imbued with the spirit which
made them Reformers in 1829 and 1832, and kept
them from being Destructives in 1835.—Morning
Chronicle.
The "Lion" of agitation, having " aggravated his
roar," if not to the tone, still, as we hase shown, to
the importance of a " sucking dove," it is .natural
enough that his jackall should give some demonstra-
tions of activity. Accordingly, while Mr. Daniel O'Con-
nell was inditing- that dullest of all his many dull epis-
tles, of which we disposed last Saturday, Mr. Shell, at
a meeting at the Royal Hotel, in Dublin, delivered
himself of some of that Irish eloquence by which he
gailed distinctio:i in the days of the Catholic Asso-
ciation. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman, like his
equally honourable and no less learned leader, directed
his energies against the House of Lords generally, and
in a particular manner against Lord Lyndhurst. After
a plentiful measure of abuse against both, after " vaunt-
ing" about Irish million's, and " boasting" of Irish
power, Mr. Shiel thus introduces the practical propo-
sition by which he wishes to meet the present

emergency :
" However, Ist us refrain from idle vaunt, and, instead
of premature boasting, let us considsr what wisdom and
deteimination require—what by the Ministers and by our-
selves should be dons. First, then, with respect to the
Administration.; it seems to be clear that a dissolution of
Parliament ought to be immediately required from the
King—my reason for thinking so is this—if Lord Mel-
bourne were to resign at this moment, Sir Robert Peel
raie;lit, perhaps, venture to take office, and try what a dis-
solution would effect fir him ; but if Lord 'Melbourne dis-.
solve:a Parliament, calls a new House of Commons, re-
quir.s the King to create Peel., and on a rclusnl resigns,
Sir Robert Peet wiil not vesture to seize the reins of Ge-
-1 ernmeot, because he would certainly-feel that his govern-
ment could not for a week he carried on. If, in his new
Parliament, he was in a few days overthrown, in a Parlia-
ment called by Lord Melbourre what hopes of success
co:11 be reasonably entertained?"

, then, this constitutional lawyer lays it (lowa as I
iciplc, that when the Lords reuse to be dictated
the Commons, the lone' ought to he dietatled to
Ministers. According to Mr. Shed, a disso-
lution of Parliament ought to be immediately required
Irom the King. This is the true rough-shod rid-
ing of which we have already heard. But we ima-
gure Mr. Shed much miscalculates, when suppos-
io, our present Gracious Monarch weak enough to
su!il:r his proudest prerogative to be wrenched from
his Royal grasp. Setting aside this point,-however,
wz are of.opinion that the Whig-Radical faction dare
not appeal to the country, eyen' if his Majesty were
disposed to alibid them the chances of a general elec-
tion. The more -respectable or the Ministry and their
supporters would undoubtedly fall away from the fac-
tion,- irdestim:tion of the Peers were -made the mar-cry
in a general election. The short-sighted folly of
O'Connell in his so-called mission sonic months ago,
in iia last and ridiculous letter, and in his still more
ridiculous motion against the House of Peers, would
render it necessary that this should be the great test of
every candidate in the event of an eleetion any
man in his senses believe that this monstrous
pihiciple would be sanctioned by the elective body
throughout these kingdoms ? This, then, of itself
would be sufficient to warn the Whigs from the danger
of a dissolution. But, even supposing the arch-rebel
had not proclaimed his treasonable designs against the
Constitution—that he had not, maddened by the toils
in which he and the slavish Government under him
are inextrizablv involved, denounced the Lords ; still
the spread of Conservative principles during the last
few months, and the continually deepening strength of
the Constitutional party, must have convinced' the
Whigs that the present House of Commons is better
suited to their purposes than any they could obtain
from a fresh appeal to the country. So confident,
however, does Mr. Shell feel of the wisdom of his pro-
posed dissolution, that he says, " If Lord Melbourne
dissolves Parliament, and requires the King (requires
again !) to make Peers, and, on refusal, resigns, Sir
Robert Peel will not venture to seize the reins of go-
vernment." And .he goes on to account for this sup-
posed reluctance on the part of the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet by bearing testimony to the singleness of pur-
pose and honoutable patriotism of tha: distinguished
senator. He says—
" Sir Robert Peel is not a political adventurer ; he is
not a needy, bold, bad man, without fortune or character,
destitute of all public respect, and • of. honourable self-
esteem. He has at heart the interest of his country, as
well as his own personal elavation, and with his talents and
his wealth he has but to bide his, time in order ultimately
to attain that position which, but for Ireland, would at
this moment be in his reach. Ireland and her millions
must be aroused ; of the might that slumbers in her arm a
development must be made. From every district petitions
to Parliament demanding justice must be poured ; thousands
must assemble ; and, above all, the active system of or-
ganization devised by O'Connell, and which O'Connll is
as ready as he ever was to work, must be strenuously. im-
mediately, and simultaneously applied. Call it by what
name you please—association, board, committee, anything
—let's have the weekly meetings, the appeals to the people,
the exciting eloquence, the enthusiasm, the devotedness—
again and again we shall beat down every obstacle before
us ; and that the millions are, after all, invincible, afford
another equally glorious proof."
Here Mr. Sheil unconsciously draws two characters,
though only intending to draw tone. " Sir R. Peel,"
says the Hon. and 'Learned Gentleman, "is not a
political adventurer, he is not a needy, bold, bad
man, without fortune or character, destitute of all
public respect, and of honourable self-esteem." 'We
surely need not name the person whose picture
would be drawn in this one sentence, by substi-
tuting an affirmation for the negation therein ex-
pressed. We need not tell the people of England
who is a political adventurer, who iy* a needy,
bold, bad man, without fortune or character, desti-
tute of all public respect, and of honourable self-
esteem. That disreputable person is the declared
enemy of the British Constitution, the destructive de-
magogue whose avowed hostility to. the Protestant
Church and the British Peerage would, if unresisted,
but prove the precursor of what we believe to be his
ultimate design—the overthrow of the Monarchy it-
self. In furtherance of this man's schemes, Mr. Shell
suggests that " the system of organization devised
by O'Connell, and which O'Connell is as ready as
• he ever was to work, should be strenuously, immedi-
ately, and simuligneously applied ;" and thus the mil-
lions, &c., arc terbe invincible. Now we, on ordinary
occasions, should be slow to appeal to force, least of
all could we feel disposed to do so for the decision of a
question between two nations bound together by the
sacred ties of a legislative union. But, if these Irish
spouters think to bully the English people out of the
institution of the English peerage, by blustering of
the millions at the disposal of their " exciting do!
quence"—we say, if this is to be the nature of the
struggle, in God's name let it come at once ! Not in
the spirit of conscious superiority, so much as in that
of a continually-outraged forbearance which can en-
dure no longer, we take this ultimate view of the
question. IF Ireland will not be governed by law,
she must be governed by force. In other words, if'
the law in that country cannot be asserted by reason

1;1 11

of the resistance of these boasted millions, means must
be taken to make that law respected and obeyed. Most
of all, are we Englishmen justified, when a rebel-
lious proposition for the overthrow of one of the es-
tates of the realm is made to Parliament and the
country, under a threat that, if rejected, the Irish " mil-
lions" are to 'assume an invincible attitude—most of
all, we repeat, are we Englishmen justified in. re-
minding these invincible millions that what has been
may be again ; that they have been vanquished once,
and that rather than see those institutions in Church
1-and State which we have inherited from our fore-
fathers destroyed by the machinations of their insolent
and heartless leaders, we must be compelled, however
reluctantly, to vanquish them once more. It is painful,
very painful, to us to employ this language with re-
ference to any portion of our fellow-subjects. But the
duty is forced upon us. We, who have baffled all ho-
nourable foes by land and sea, are not to be "fright-
ened from our propriety" by demagogues brawling
of their unreasoning millions. Within the walls of
Parliament there is a fair field for the discussion of
every great political principle. This Parliament is
abundantly competent and admirably adapted to legis-
lating for all the real wants and reasonable wishes of a
free people. Any man who has a political design, for
the attainment of which such an institution is inade-
quate, has a design necessarily fatal to the existence
of our Constitutional Monarchy. If such a man,
seeking out of doors for that support to his views
which he despairs of obtaining in the two branches of
the Legislature as by law established, should excite
popular commotion and vainly hope to extort from
the fears of Englishmen that which their deliberate
judgment has refused him, that man must be taught
that fear is as little an element of our political as
of our martial character. And when, with self-
deluding misrepresentation, he points to the conces-
sion of the Catholic claims as having been yielded by
the fears of the Government of that day, we tell him
that the Duke of Wellington did not yield to any-
thing short of that to which every statesman must
bow—namely, the force of public opinion. If
the Irish agitators, or any of their millions, could
establish within the walls of Parliament, and in the
country generally, a conviction that the destruction of
the House of Peers is a question identical in justice,
in expediency, and in generous ationality, with that of
the relief of the Roman Gatlitlics from civil disabilities,
their appeal to numbers might possess some claim to
attention. But even then this question, now so purely
ridiculous, would •havc to be decided in conformity
with the recognized institutions of the country, and not
by a senseless rabble, lashed into fury by the " ex-
citing eloquence" of unprincipled politicians and hire-
ling patriots. We hope we shall hear no more of
these murderous threats, for such, in all their bare de-
formity, they are. But should the leading agitators,
or any other persons, have again recourse to them, we
are only uttering the determination of the English
people when deela;ing at once calmly, yet explicitly
and boldly, that a Constitution which has survived all
ccnvulsions from within and tempests from without, is
not destined to CT umble beneath the hand of a cowardly
mendicant and his priest-goaded priest-ridden millions.