The Sun.
London, England, 1836-04-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

Jecorous holiday, on the plea that he is performing a
" religions duty ?" There is far too much fanaticism
in the world, and he is the most truly devout who
does his best to put an end to it. Because Sir AN-
DREW AGNEW is a Saint, " shall there be no more
cakes mid ale ?" Because Sir OswALD MOSELEY
is another, shall a grim face be the rule, and a gay one
the exception, on the Sabbath ? In the name of jus-
tice--of common sense—of humanity—we protest
against such doctrine. As you leave the rich, so, we
say, leave the poor, to spend the Sunday after their
own fashion. You cannot make them religious by
Actof Parliament. The utmost you can do by such
unwise legislation, is to turn the frank, contented, well-
natured peasant or mechanic, into the sly, sour, jaun-
diced hypocrite--an experiment .than which we can
!alaryine uorie morc., detrimental to society ; for from
discontent to rebellion is but a step, thoughit
riii-qt he !I lonP one : and when by your vexatious Mills
of Pains audTenalties against them, you have alienated
the affections and lost the confidence of the poorer
cloy es, whprt fAer result can von eNpect than goneral
distrust, restjessness, and aiipreheiltsion Put the
House of Commons, we trust; will nem allow. Saint
Ap.;.irw';i topaSS! It IS a inortstms k•eimitien
of fOirgll4l fanatic t 5.111, i;loiitiatiug a world of ii.boous
can
cliargeS agaiust the poor ; apd utterly obnoxious. to
I.4plgltleglazeAosity ,
everydrat
nfoet.e)ellg 1n Mr. 1,7 440nElug csTatlisyt
render it palatable. Qur reader 4 may rely !4;
%q! Pqt 1149 F. OS4 ttli Vc-k hig*y
deserve pp Iparter, 494 04 they Etna kt omr
.W4F to thelSßif" 11 m I.ntt.q

Mr. HARDY appeared again last night as the guar-
cjjgn guy' of the British Constitution—the im-
maculate defender of purity of election, The .tragic
air'of the Hon, Gentleman begins to assume an ap-
pearance of broad Faroe. Even Mr, (.--/cONNM,
who might be supposed to feel as lively an interest in
the peffpti-once as any spectator could do, was so
disgusted that he left Ow House before it was half
over, W wArKIPF what does Mr. 1141-my really pre,.
pose to himself by the course which he has atlopted,
and which he pursues with spelt 410
pitate eagerness? Is it indeed possihlp that he is
labouring to pave the way for a motion, declaring Mr.
O'CoNNELL diSqUaIWP4 fA represent the Commons
of these kingdoms in the British Parliament If so,
we can have but one objection to such a display of
Conserva.tlye sagacity ; and that is ,-,1.1te time which 'Par-
liament will he obliged to waste miposing the
ec-
treme folly of the leachers of that desperate and doonied
faction. _ _ _

nut the Conservative Orptifi, are shifling their
ground of attaek, Mr, (YUCINN.E4-114, as it is sagely
discovered by the Times of this morning, is but an
accident in this important transaction, This is rather
a navel discovery ; for it is not more than three weeks
since OW ITY4Pit4l§ And most consistent Contemporary
published the last of seventy-four ilitteles, each more
than a column in length, the burden of which went to
charge Mr. O'Cozoinie,:rrin his capacity of a Mem,
ber of the House of Conninous—...with pecz4niar cor-
ruption / This obar‘,e was proved. to the satisfnetion
of a Committee of the House of Commons to be
wholly false, as well as every other imputing erhnilla,
lity in act or intention to Mr, O'CONNUI,I4, Tho
Conservatives thus beaten on the personal question,
take refuge under the gourd of Constitutional principle.
Thus concludes the Times of this morning ;

" Let us once two impress upon the country the real
nature of the question before the House, The conduct of Mr,
O'cennell in the affair is a matter of comparative insignifi-
cance, The nature of the transaction is the main thing, and
that consists in a contract for the sale of a seat for an Irish
county to a stranger, a vagabond," as Mr. O'Connell says,
for the sum of 2,0001., whereas the legal expenses of the
election did not cost 8001., and might have been defrayed for
soot., and in the illegal appropriation of the surplus in bribing
electors, and paying the expenses of a by-gone election.
This, and nothing ohe, Is the transaction winch the House is
called upon to sanction or to censure."
Mark the nice distinctions which ConservatiVes make
in all questions of principle—the exquisite tact with
which the learned folks of Printing-house,square place
every point where it may best harmonize with the
whole. Remember, too, that the question at issue
is one of pure principle. Mr. O'CONNELL, in the
course of the debate, had happened to make an awk-
ward allusion to Pomfret—a borough with which
Mr. HARDY has had more to do than redounds much
to his credit. The Time; saw this at a glance, and at
once affixed. the crime of Parliamentary jobbing in
seats, to the sale of Irish Counties. "Mark that, good
Master Shallow"—lrish counties ; not English bo-
roughs. Next, the alleged purchaser was a" stranger."
This is rather a serious part of the question, when we
come to discuss it constitutionally. By an Oct passed
in
the ninth year of the reign of HENRY IV., $1 strangers"
are declared ineligible to represent the Commons of Eng-
land in Parliament. 'Tis true the statute does not
extend to Ireland but being en English §tatnte it. ;s
quite clear that the Times thinks it ought to tie so,
Then, again, the " vagabond" is brought forwartl as 4
part of -Ole principle. This is the true Conservative
mods of dealing with principles. The acts are of far
less importance, aftef than the actors. Finally,
there comes the grand ingredient of the Tripp of an
"Irish county"---nainely, the paltry sum of x,OOOl.
This is really the part of tlw trqnsaetion at which the
Times, as a staunch Conservative organ, is most an-
noyed. Had the County brought 20,000/., or four
times that sum, there would have been something re-
deemable its the wrk
hemcntly about. lint the miserable pittance of
2,0001.i—50 miserable that even Mr. O'CON-
NELL disdained to touch a penny of it--why,
really we are omelyes out of temper about a,
Mr. HARDY did the thing respectably ; but not on
so extensive a scale as to violator any article in the
moral code of our Contemporary, He gave 5,000/.
for an English borough ; RAnet4i4f, all but obtained
a seat for an Irish county for half that sum, and yet
there was no bribery
The question, however, is likely to take up the time
of the House of Commons during its sitting of this
evening ; so that we may reserve our comments on
the debate till to-morrow. The Post is in raptures
because Lord JOHN RUSSELL admitted that Mr.
O'CONNELL acted imprudently. This proves that
the Post has occasionally doubts of its own veracity,
nit= it is not quite a month since the said Post, as-
serted that Mr. O'CONNELL was known to ever)
man in England, to be personally implicated in
the peculative part of a pecuniary transletion, mo-
rally dishonest, and constitutionally dangerous.
Now we admit at once, that Mr. O'CONNELL
acted very imprudently throughout this affair; and
a r noa,iic provedoNNVlNE himself
unworthy isleal a
has
what is more, he has admitted it himself both within
and without the walls of the House of Commons..
He confided too implicitly in
sttnger
of to him,
, actonnlficl‘e• eventuallynce. mr.
often been deceived, and is constantly liable to decep-
tion,vnitlie.srttaolo,:lotspiu,eestir)c-i
elarierelatoirs‘tveed, affair, his
toopersons
generous
by
ss
becauselownature,sitl
to
e
o hee
k
he tOOO f whomnre
at
confidence was his only fault—if such a term may be
applied to the indulgence of the noblest impulse of the
human heart. Mr. O'CoNNELL, is too old to cheek
this generous ardour. Besides it ought to .be remem-
bered, that if it has occasionally led -him to place too
much dependence upon the good faith of a few
poli-
tical adventurers, it has also procured for him hosts of
friends, who will never desert him while he "stands
forth the eloquent advocate of the just claims of Ireland.

pleasure to state that the inhabi-
It gives us great
tants of Hull have sent up a petition to the House of
Lords, praying
their Lordships to pass the Irish Cor-
poration Bill, " uni:npaired in its principles and salu-
tary provisions." This is a prayer in which every-
one who is anxious to preserve the union between the
two countries nn xlle only principle on which it can
be preserved—an t3qual PaTtiNinitlAn ill the rights
and privileges of that Constitution which iu common to
both—must cordially join. To render it in any way
effectual, bowever, it is necessary that the truly patrio-
tic example thus set by the people of Hull, should be
generally followed. The proceedings which have al-
ready taken place in the Upper House, with respect
to the Bill, indicate pretty plainly what course our