The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-30 00:00:00

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IT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

re discussion which took place in the House of Co.' -
.-
its last night was a very singular, if not a very instruc-
tive one. We can make every allowance for the ieelings
of a long dominant but now defeated party ; but the bit-.
terness and malignant virulenCe ,displayed on this occasion,
surpass anything we could possibly ,Itave anticipated. Cer-
tain magisterial appointments made by- Lord John "Russell,
in compliance with the powers which the hereditary ainen-
ders of the Municipal Reform Act would irrsist on forcing,-
upon • the Government; furnished the grounds on which
the extensive edifice of misrepresentation and declamation
and unmeasured abuse was built up by the united efforts of
the thrice-defeated faction. Sir Robert, as usual, was all
candour and fair-spokenness : he charged the Minister with
departure from just principle and impartiality in the most.
measured and temperate language. Smarting under recent
defeat, he sought to wound a successful adversary—but
he also sought to do it with tact, and an appearance
of the greatest moderation. Not ,so with the more
turbulent and less wary spfrits of his party; From the pre-
mises laid down by Sir Robert Peel, Sir ichard Vyvyan
jumped at once to the conclusion that the Ministers had
been guilty of direct corruption, and concluded a speech,
fraught with the most unmeasured abuse of the Govern-
ment, by charging the Home Secretary with corrupt con-
duct in the strongest and plainest terms our language con-
tains. Called upon by Lord John Russell to follow up his
charge in the way in which it was his duty to do, and so
bring the question to a direct issue, the poor Baronet made
a most ridiculous attempt at a'sort of half explanation—re-
peating, in fact, the calumnious charge, whilst striving to
explain it away by wresting its language to a sense which no
individual in or out of Parliament could possibly attach to
it. This miserable subterfuge failed ; and the Tory calum-
niator subsequently received such a dressing as, we imagine,
he will not soon forget. Mr. P. Thomson, and afterwards
Dr. Lushington, called upon him either to retract, or to
impeach the Noble Lord whom he had so foully stigma-
tised. Sir Richard Vyvyan was silent, and well was the
dereliction from equitable sentiment and good feeling in-
volved in that silence pointed out by Dr. Lushington. As
for the grounds on which the charges were brought, they
were perfectly ridiculous. No attempt was made. by Sir
Robert Peel to find fault with the merits of the parties
appointed ; on the contrary, he entirely repudiated the
notion. The whole gravamen of the case was, that the
great majority were of Liberal politics. Lord John Rus-
sell, in his first reply, showed how erroneous were many of
the statements viz which his opponents had relied ; whilst
Mr. Bernal and Mr. Hume took at once a bolder and more
decided course. The latter declared that if Government
were at all to blame, it was in having yielded too much in
these cases to the opinions and feelings of their opponents,
instead of too little ; and that it was from that side of the
House, and not from the other, that the censure ought to come
—a sentiment in which we doubt not the voice of the country
will entirely concur. The serious nature of the altercation was
mitigated by the extraordinary display of the unlucky Member
for Knaresborough—a display which, in spite of themselves,
it was impossible to witness without frequent and con-
vulsive laughter. Sir Richard Vyvyan had gone far into
the regions of imagination for his ridiculous crimination, but
the Tory-Radical Member for Kmaresborough far " out-
heroded Herod" in the extravagance of his ravings and the
wildness of his abuse. Poor Mr. Riel:ards !—it was not
sufficient to have made himself the laughing-stock of the
House ; the political tergiversations of this once stanch
Radical were unmercifully exposed by Mr. T. Duncombe,
and the fact beinc, denied, Mr. Lawson, the other Member
for Knaresborough, was called upon to bear his testimony
in support of his colleague, when Mr. Duncombe declared
himself willing and ready to apologise for what he said.
But no ! the colleague was silent, and the ex-Radical stood
exposed to all the ridicule which awaits on political apostacy,
unredeemed by an atom of intellect. The whole proceed-
ings of last night will be read with interest ; they show the
rage of the defeated party, and the bitterness of feeling
with which they see the machinery so long used for Tory
purposes passing entirely and for ever from their hands.—
Morning Chronicle.

It is not to be apprehended that a House of Commons
will ever again be called together under circumstances more
adverse to popular interests than those under which the
present Representativos were elected. The triumphant
majority, in consequence, which carried the third reading of
the Irish Municipal Bill through that assembly, may be
considered as fixing immovably on the principle of the mea-
sure the seal of public approbation and support. The mo-
tion of Lord P. Egerton, to rob Ireland of municipal insti-
tuti'ns, was scouted by a majority of 64 in a House 'of
550 Afcmbers. The attempt against the third reading of
the Bill wag defeated by a majority of 61, in a House of
459 Members, showing an increase in the majority, consi-
dered in respect to the relative numbers who voted on
each occasion. Thos, in a full House, it may be fairly
calculated that the pl:nciple of justice to Ireland would
command a majority of at least 100. So that, should the
Lords prove refractory, the question to be now deter-
mined is not alone whether keland shall or shall not be
admitted to equality of rights, i';ut whether Great Bri-
tain is to be governed by laws emanating from the Re-
presentatives o the people, or to be enslaved by oligar-
chical dictation ? This is the question---its features are so
• distinctly impressed upon it, that it is needless to dilate on
its merits. We put it in its simplest form. The point to
be determined is, whether the people of Great Britain will
enjoy the protection of laws approved by their representa-
tives, or resign the right of self-government„ and yield
0,,0;.--lihnrties_ to somp
legislators by the chance of birth—aliens to the wants and.
sympathies of the people—with a few honourable excep-
tions mere excresences of the state. Let those who wish
representative government say Aye—the contrary, No—we
shall announce the result when the question comes before the
Lords. It ever depends on the Government of a country
whether the people be virtuous or vicious. It is the insti-
tutions which form the national character. It is not to be
supposed that Ireland is peculiarly cursed by Providence
with an exorbitant proportion of the principle of evil—to
what then is the degradation and crime of the population to be
attributed ?—to the unequal, intolerant, and iniquitous sys-
tem by which she haS been for centuries oppressed and dis-
tracted. So that in reproaching the people of Ireland
with their crimes, the Tories pronounce judgment on
themielves. The Government is responsible for the crimes
of the people ; and what a fearful account have the pre-
vious rulers of Ireland to answer for! To whom are the
murders perpetrated in collecting tithes really chargeable ?
The blind instruments who inflict the death blow, or the in-
stigators who .prompt the act? What an awful responsi-
bility falls on the Protestant Clergy of Ireland ! What de
they deserve who would perpetuate the sanguinary system,
keep alive dissension, and even arm her people against each
ether in civil war? Let the opponents of justice to Ire-
land pronounce their own sentence. Were the Tory advo-
cates the dupes of their own sophistries, we might pity while
we despised them ; but the diabolical ingenuity with which
they endeavour to substitute wrong for right—to pervert
Lets, to disseminate falsehood, and suppress truth, evinces
an intelligence for evil which excites but one feel-
in,g•—unmiti.at ed abhorrence and loathing—in every
impartial and honest mind. However blinded by bi-
gotry, it is impossible that the veriest fanatic can reflect
on the motives which influence the advocates of abuses
in Ireland without lwing shocked at their depravity. The
special pleaders themselves, if they would glance at the
mirror of self-examination, could not avoid shrinking- at the
enormity of the pictum Never was calumny more oalig-
nant, argument more unnmnded, nor depravity more shin:at:-
less, enlisted to support iniquitous system of Govern-
ment than has been put forward in support of Irish perse-
cution. But the intelligence of the British people is ade-
quate to overcome the opposing powers of faction, and
trample it in its own villanies. The opposition given to
the Catholic Relief Bill, and the organized action by' which
it was ultimately carried, taught the people, not of Ire-
land only, but of Europe, a sublime lesson. It instructed
them in a knowledge of their own power, and exposed the
futility of opposing the claims of justice when supported
by popular will. The manner in which that Bill was
carried shows the mode of argument by which con-
viction must be enforced on the Tories. Was it to justice
that the Catholic Relief Bill was yielded? No ; but to
an imperative necessity, which the Great Captain himself
was forced to acknowledge, and which he could not, dare
I,of, resist. The same means carried the Reform the
Ei;0511 C:: ?ration Bill—they were allowed to pass into
law by the same party who now oppose the pending mea-
sures of Reform, when the force of public opinion becaTe
irresistible. Why.oould argument be wasted on the prin-
ciple of these Bills, the: justice of which is self-evident, when
their opponents yield not to reason nor right, but merely to
coercion? The Tories acw b
wledge no right but that of
superior power—good a:id evil are equallyindifferent to
them in a moral point of vi
a 's the necessity alone
ri glit
which governs their policy—flit:Y genley
—Morma Advertiser.
have cot the power to enforce wror, •

e shoulder-knot
per.mission
,si,t,vuearti(tmouocfhevtaileat, a.skc:!
while he was
wit icl,Toen abpapll'eyinigi-e:O(tihe°fir:scikl..lleig(lolon.fel IL
-,
Cllrazh:iimostnd make(°li'l
al n r nc
ay ste r ) have committed
at his lsitiastdeebsker,orfeoiritiihdetiNaaCtallilet
~ That I boot, and :uquired
who was to do the black work ?
boot touch you"—with
factd o
;mi myself,"
df,
," a
3:-.yr ioe,,da.
the Colonel, throwing the inkstandstianirslis
The Tin Trumpet.
ch
two crimes in the
which
hu
rtwoottirw
ecb
kickedooo Corporation
p,
eyes of the Conservatives of this borough,
tope. to be forgiven. In the first
place, they have pledged themselves to support a liberal and
reformingt, Mihistry ; and
secondly, they have shown an earnest
of their determination to carry into effect, within their own
sphere of action, those principles of reform and retrenchment
which characterise thconfidence._Ken Kendal e men in whomwhomthey have avowed their
Mercury.