The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-27 00:00:00

.11:11,.

LONDON,
MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 27, 1836.

Mr. O'CONNELL has addressed another letter to
the " People of Great Britain," which will be found
in another part of. The Sun of this day. In this letter
the Hon. and Learned Gentleman states a fact respect-
ing his own parish, which exposes the unjust, iniqui-
tous ctiaracter of the Irish tithe system, in the most
triu:Anphant manner possible. He tells us that he has
a residence in Kilcrohane, in the county of Kerry, the
population of which parish consists of 9,990 Catholics,
and 164 Protestants ; that the Protestant Rector is
Mr. LONGFIELD ; that his composition for parochial
tithes amount to 5001. per annum " or thereabouts ;''
but that although he has been Rector for the last ten
or twelve years, he has scarcely been as many days in
the parish ! " I never saw him," says Mr. O'CON-
NELL, " and the only service he ever did me, was
leaving his usual residence at Bath or Cheltenham, and
coming to an election to Kerry, for the purpose of voting
against me." Here is a precious specimen of an Irish
Protestant parson ! The Rev. Incumbent cannot find
time to attend his clerical duties at Kilcrohane ; he can-
not think' of leaving his " usual residence at Bath or
Cheltenham" for such a paltry purpose as attending to
the spiritual welfare of his flock, though he contrives to
extract a snug five hundred a year from their reluctant
pockets ; but when the question regards, not his reli-
gious duties, but his political prejudices, then it as-
sumes quite a different form ; then it becomes as impe-
perativc, as before it was superfluous ; and accordingly
away goes the ghostly man " from his usual residence
at Bath or Cheltenham," thinking nothing of the in-
convenience of a trip across the Channel, or the still
greater inconvenience of traversing the wildest parts of
Ireland, provided he can only succeed in opposing Mr.
O'CONNELL's return for Kerry Here, we repeat, is
a glorious sample of an Irish Protestant Apostle !
Here is an unanswerable proof of the \vide distinc-
tion such a man draws between his religious, and
his political, duties ! The former, compared with
the latter, weigh as nothing in his scales. What,
though his flock be famishing for that spiritual
food which it is his express business to sup-
ply the, with ? He cares nothing for their bun-
"" rings, but leaves them to be fed, like EL IJ A 11,
bun-
o:
" by the ravens," while he eats, drinks, and makes
merry—for Irish, Parsons, with five hundred a-year,
and nothing to do for it, are by no means apt to live as
hermits, and feed on bread and water—at " his usual
residence at Bath or Cheltenham." But this is not
all ; for Mr. O'CONNELL tells us that this same Mr.
LO*GFIELD has, besides his Rectory, not less than
three or four Glebes, the profits of which go, of course,
to maintain the establishment "at Bath or Chelten-
ham I" Now, is not this monstrous ? Yet the Tories
swear it is all perfectly right and proper ; and that
nothing can be more in accordance with the " eternal
fitness of things," than that a Catholic parishioner
should be called on to pay for a Protestant Rector—
a shepherd whom he never by any chance sets
eyes on, except when mischief is to be s done
to the cause of justice and common sense !
Mr. O'CONNELL, however, very properly says, that so
far as his own personal example can effect the purpose,
this crying injustice shall at once be put an end to, for
that lie will never pay parson LONGFIELD one farthing.
" He and his attorney," adds the Learned Member,
" may seize my cattle, my corn, my furniture ; they
may distrain my tenants ; they may sell, carry away, or
destroy ; but I never will pay one penny. It is an
unjust demand, and come what come way, I never will
pay one single farthing." This is a just as well as bold
determination, though, possibly when it comes to Mr.
LONGFIELD'S ear, at his " usual residence at Bath or
Cheltenham," he may be tempted to think more highly
of its boldness than its justice.

A few hours will now determine whether the Lords
will persist in the " no surrender" course of policy, or
descend from their untenable and dangerous position
to the level of common sense. If we are to believe the
Tory journals, they will adhere infle4bly to the de-

THE SUN, 11,0NnoN5

htructive line which
}tram •Ittilked o'tit•
for 'them-
selves; ▪ ethisider"Atidi << ill reconci~~ diem
1• ,0c t_;orporano “„.7
Jprm than
‘atly.c. t .
. tht.tt winch they now appear. The
Institutions shall, they say, exist as exclu-
sive instruments of Protestant ascendancy and Pro-
testant corruption, or they shall not exist at all.
This is the high tone which the hereditary Chain-
her has assumed, and which it must by some means or
other, be compelled to relinquish. We say comp4cd
—there is no use in mincing matters—for compulsion,
and that alone, must do the httsitesBl. We *ish it id
he it moral compubiou. If any other should be re-
sotted to, it will be entirely the fault of the Tory
majority in the Llduse of Lords, who arc pushing
things to a crisis by theii' systematic opposition to the
wishes of the people and to the progress of national
improvement. The people have not now the same
stupid reverence for the Lords that they had fifty, or
even twenty years ago. The popular mind has lately
made advances, which may well alarm those who have
nothing but a prejudice on which to rest their claims
to the privilege of being born Legislators. Men
are now estimated by their character, not by their
adventitious station in society. Institutions are
judged of by their tendency to promote public hap-
piness, in other words, by their utility, not by the
length of time they may have subsisted. Indeed the
mere antiquity of an Institution is rather an argument
against, than for, its utility—for if very ancient, it must
have originated in circumstances as different from
those in which we are placed at the present day, as
a savage is from a civilized state. Let the Lords
then open their eyes to what is passing around them.
Let them modernize their -ideas. Let them look 'at
things as they really exist, not through the mists of
prejudice ; and ordinary prudence will show them the
safest, indeed the only safe course to steer, in the pre-
sent perilous state of their affairs.

The whole of the French papers of Friday and
Saturday have been received. At six o'clock on Satur-
day evening another attempt was made upon the life of
the KING, who fortunately escaped without injury.
The following account of this regicidal attack upon
the King of the FRENCH, is copied from a second
edition of the Journal de Paris, published at half-
past ten o'clock at night •
" This afternoon at six o'clock an assassin, armed
with an air-gun in the form of a walking-stick, and
who had taken his station under the gateway, of the
Tuileries, which faces the Pont -Royale, fired at the
KING, at so short a distance that the gun nearly touched
his MAJESTY, while his MAJESTY was going out in
his coach, with the QUEEN and Madame ADELAIDE,
on his return to Neuilly. Providence has once more
preserved the life of the KING. No one was hurt.
The KING immediately put his head out of the win-
dow of the coach, and informed the anxious crowd that
no harm had been done. The assassin was arrested
on the spot. He made an attempt to stab himself,
but was disarmed. In the first burst of indignation
the National Guards of the post appeared disposed to
deal with the criminal in a summary way ; but they
ultimately preferred transferring him to the hands of
justice. The Prefect of Police hastened to the spot,
and made the assassin undergo an interrogatory. The
KING reached Neuilly at half-past six. The ball was
• found in the lining of the coach."
As the villain who thus attempted to murder Louis
PHILLIPPE may be a madman, without accomplices,
and every way unconnected with party, we shall ab-
stain from any comment upon his conduct till the
particulars are made public. We trust, for the
honour of the French name and character, that
three villains could not again be found to conspire
against the life of an old man—to destroy a father in
the midst of his children, and murder a husband in the
arms of his wife. The world must have a poor opi-
nion of the courage of a people who, to rid themselves
of their Kings, have recourse to the treacherous and
cowardly expedient of assassination. It was not thus
France freed herself from the tyranny of Louis XVI.,
or delivered herself from the yoke of CHARLES X. We
know that there is a party in France—and a very
strong one too--opposed to the Government of Louis
PHILIPPE on principle. By this party the King of
the FRENCH is regarded as an usurper of a throne
which rightfully belongs to the elder branch of the
Bourbon dynasty. There is also another numerically
strong party, composed of the scattered fragments of
the Republic, in whose eyes every king is a tyrant, and
every successful dynasty an usurpation. Now it is
possible that many very desperate individuals belong
to these parties ; but "we are confident that nothing
could be farther from the wish of the great bidk of
both than the success of any villainous attack on the
KING'S life.

The news from the North of Spain,bcontained in the
Paris papers of Friday and Saturday, is very unim-
portant. The following extract is from the official co-
lumns of the Moniteur of Friday :

" A letter of the 15th inst. from Vittoria states, that a re-
inforcement of three battalions of the Guard, two squadrons
of horse, and several pieces of artillery, had just arrived
there. A reconnoisance was made on the 14th. The Car-
lists remained in the same positions. On the 20th twelve of
their battalions assembled in the Ulzama, approaching the
lines of General Bernellc. They appeared to be preparing
to make an attack, but every arrangement was made to re-
ceive them. A despatch by telegraph, received this day,
announces that the disturbances which had broken out at
Saragossa are at an end. The Government has approved of
the measures taken by the Captain-General, and has ordered
General Narvaez to rejoin General Roten at Alcaniz. Ge-
neral Cordova arrived at Vittoria on the 19th. The Carlists
seemed to be concentrating their forces to oppose his opera-
tions. On the 21st there were not more than six battalions
at Ernani."

Letters from St. Sebastian of the 19th state the
currency of a rumour of which the purport was, that
Cordova had ordered 2,000 troops to reinforce the
garrison of that place. This was considered essen-
tially necessary, as the Anglo-Spanish force in that
neighbourhood was not sufficient to keep up the
extensive line of positions now occupied by
them. On the 19th the Governor of St. Sebastian
issued a bulletin, announcing that Brigadier lurA RTE
bad, on the 12th, encountered a large body of
Carlists, whom he put to flight, after killing 200 of
them, and making 60 prisoners.
Tranquillity has been restored at Saragossa without
any intervention on the part of the military. Co rt-
DOVA had ordered several companies to proceed to
the city, and put down the insurrectionary movement
by force ; but the Civil Governor refused entrance to
the troops into the city, assuring the officers, at the
same time, that he only could pacify the people with-
out bloodshed, and the perpetration of crimes dis-
-oar ce:ul to humanity. With this assurance the
officers were satisfied, and after seeing order restored
in the city without their interference, they returned to
Vittoria.

The French Papers dwell with much earnestness on
the recent trick of the Tories to oust Lord MEL-
bourne, by means or the action " NORTON V. MEL-
BOURNE," the result of winch was communicated by
telegraph to the French Government on Saturday.
The Journal des Debats has some excellent observa-
tions on the desperation of a faction which, to regain
power, stoops to the infamy of suborning witnesses to
blast the character of an innocent woman. The
Journal dss Debals is right, though the tools of the
Tories, who did all in their power to prejudge the case
before trial, and who now seek to cast the disgrace of
the proceeding upon the unfortunate victim of it, would
persuade their readers that the trial was not got up with