The Sun.
London, England, 1836-07-19 00:00:00

of the Press to take the initiative upon all questions
of importance—to wrest measures based upon great
political principles out of the hands of the partizans
of every faction—and to teach the people that good
government is not necessarily the creature of any
system of religious belief. We hate religious per-
secution in every form ; and there is no company in
which bigotry appears to us to wear so disgusting an
aspect as in that of politics.
The third amendment was proposed by Mr. GROTE.
Its purport, as will be seen by the debate, is to oblige
each paper to use a separate die, with a view to prevent
the publication of false returns by the Stamp-office,
and thus imposing upon advertisers. The cost of such
an arrangement will be very trifling, and it will prevent
a system of imposition which has become so prevalent
that it is high time to put a stop to it. As far as re-
gards ourselves, we are indifferent about it, inasmuch as
we have nothing either to hope or to fear from any such
change ; but to the public generally it will offer a
guarantee against various frauds in the sale of News-
paper property.
The fourth amendment relates to the size of News-
papers : and here it will be observed that by a species
of cunning, for which one of our Contemporaries is re-
markable, the double sheets are still to be published at
an equal rate of duty with single ones. The Times
in announcing this morning that its size will not be
affected by " Mr. RICE'S superficial knowledge
scale" sneers at the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER for having conceded to it a privilege,
the dread of losing which kept it in an agony orsus-
pense for the last two months. Now, without caring,
or professing to care, one farthing whether the size of
Newspapers be restricted or enlarged—whether the,
maximum size be one thousand five hundred and thirty
inches, or as many furlongs—we cannot omit to notice
how very ill the sneers and affected indifference of the
Times become it, after the outcry it has made about
its exclusive exposure to the severity of the proposed
restriction. Taking its own previous statement as our
authority, it was the only paper doomed to fall a
victim to Whig injustice : consequently it is bound to
be doubly thankful for a concession for which—upon its
'wn showing—it only has a right to be grateful. But
we suspect that if the real facts of the case were
known, the Times considers the merit of its triumph
to be due rather to its own cunning than to the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER'S generosity.
The Right Hon. Gentleman was most likely imposed
upon ; and, by not having the actual measurement of
the types of the Times, allowed for the publication of
a double sheet without being aware of it. How-
ever, as we already observed, we are quite
indifferent as far as the question concerns
ourselves. Had our attention not been called to it
' by the bad taste and bad feeling displayed by our
Contemporary of Printing-house-square, we should
have passed it over without notice. How much more
commendable the conduct of the Morning Post, which
without any previous complaint on the subject, beyond
a passing remonstrance, cordially thanks the CHAN-
CELLOR of the ExcHEQuEß,for the liberal and ge-
nerous concession.

We have hitherto refrained from taking any notice
of the proceedings in Southwark, with reference to
the election of a successor to Mr. HARVEY, because
we had some misgivings as to the necessity of any
such proceedings. The Hon. Member had indeed
sent in his resignation to his constituents ; but that is
a very different thing from an actual acceptance of the
Chiltern Hundreds ; and there was something so un-
usual in a resignation following close upon the heels
of a unanimous vote of approbation, passed by a
public meeting of the electors, at which the Hon.
Member appeared and explained his conduct, that we
could not divest ourselves of the impression that means
might be found to alter his determination. We have
not been deceived. Mr. HARVEY has had time for
reflection, and has exemplified the truth of the pro-
, verb which says that second thoughts are best. Our
readers will perceive from the report of a Meeting of
the Borough Electors held yesterday, that Mr. HAR-
VEY not only is at present Member for Southwark,
hut that he means to continue so in all time to come.
Be it so. If the Electors of Southwark are satisfied
with their representative, and he with them, that is
every thing. Mr. HARVEY shows the high value he
sets upon the honor conferred on him, by sacrificing
3,0001. a year for it, and his constituents have one of
the cleverest men in Parliament for their representative.
Here we should have stopped, had not Mr. HARVEY
introduced into his speech some remarks which re-
quire a little notice from us. He complains that he
has been accused by the Press of mercenary motives, in
his opposition to the Government on the Irish Church
question. Of course he means the liberal portion of
the Press, which has been, we believe, as unanimous
in condemning his conduct as the Tory portion of it
has been unanimous in eulogizing it on the occasion
alluded to, some even going so far as to place him by
the side of the great Conservative leaders, as they call
PEEL, GOULBURN, and Co. Now if Mr. HAR-
VEY alludes to us, we can only say that we never
made any such accusation against him. The Hon.
and Learned Member for -Kilkenny, whom Mr.
HARVEY acknowledges to have been one of his

best friends, charged him with being actuated
by spite towards the Government, because he had been
disappointed of some favours which he had asked.
We perfectly agreed with Mr. O'CONNELL in think-
ing that the Hon. Gentleman's conduct savoured too
much of that feeling, and we showed the unreason-
ableness of indulging it, by revenging upon the Govern-
ment that for which it was not to blame. Had Mr.
HARVEY obtained the office which he solicited, the
dissolution of the Charity Commission would have been
the consequence. We have been told, too, that there
was something of a similar hitch about the Solicitor-
ship. So that there were obstacles in the way of Mr.
HARVEY'S views which could riot be removed.
Mr. HARVEY passes very quietly over the main
point which he was called upon to explain. The Irish
Tithe Bill, he says, is the greatest delusion ever prac-
tised upon the people. Nobody knows better than Mr.
HARVEY, that much greater delusions are every day
practised upon the people. But how happened
it that he did not discover the delusion sooner ?
Why did he support this greatest of all delu-
sions last year ? As Mr. HARVEY plumes
himself upon having been uniformly consistent all his
life, might he not have given us a little explanation on
this subject P We are very far from thinking that the
the Irish Tithe Bill is what it ought to be ; but that
is not the question. Though it is defective in
many respects, it establishes the great principle
that what is called Ecclesiastical property may
be diverted to national purposes ; and this is the
very thing that makes the Tories oppose it with so
much fury. We think the million about which Mr.
HARVEY talks so loudly not too great a sacrifice for
the recognition of this principle, and so we believe
think all the Liberal Members of the House of Com-
mons, Mr. HARVEY excepted.
Mr. HARVEY reckons up the sins of the Whigs
with great minuteness. We wish they were fewer
than they are ; but when he asks who opposed the
extension of the suffrages of the people, he might with
more truth and candour have asked who extended those
suffrages ?

A grand public dinner was given yesterday to Mr.
O'CONNELL by the Reformers of Rochester, which was
atttended by all the elite of the neighbourhood. The
Hon. and Learned Gentleman was met outside the
city by a procession of upwards of sixteen thousand
individuals, whom he addressed in his usual energetic
manner, and by whom every word that fell from his
lips was received with the deepest attention. We won-
der how long it will be before a PEEL, a STANLEY, a
GRAHAM, or a GOULBURN will be able to attract
sixteen thousand hearers I It was but the other day
that even with " ten haunches of venison" to bait
with, a squad of these pseudo-Conservatives were
unable to hook more than two hundred stray Guild-
ford folks ; and sure we are that their power to " draw"
has not increased since then. We question much whether,
even with the assistance of Colonel SIBTHORP'S
whiskers, and Mr. KEARSLEY'S mountebank vagaries,
they could now attract an audience one-tenth as large
as that which assembled from all parts of Kent, to tes-
tify their devotion to those sterling constitutional prin-
ciples which Mr. O'CONNELL so ably and so forcibly
explained to them. The truth is, Toryism is out of