The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-28 00:00:00

THE SUN,

alteration in the arrangements of the General Post.
office. Meetings havAllpeen agitated, petitions have
been drawn up for signature, abusive letters have
been written and printed, elaborate diatribes have
been concocted and put into circulation. SATAN
had got hold of the authorities at Saint Mar-
tin's-le-Grand Ungodliness had, descended like
a pall upon the Government ! There was to be joy
and exultation in the ranks of infidelity, for the
abomination of desolation had already entered
into the heart of London, within the very
shadow of Saint Paul's Cathedral—there was
to be a metropolitan delivery and transmission
of letters on Sundays, the sorters, the clerks, the
postmen were to be given over en masse to the
Wicked One, seeing that henceforth they would be
prevented from attending Divine service on the
" Sabbath." Well ! and after all this fuss—the whole
affair turns out to be a mere flarn ! No little shrimp
of a schoolboy was ever more egregiously cheated
by a tallow-candle, a sheet, and a turnip. Here have
these pious gentlemen been roaring about another
desecration of the Sabbath enough to split the drums
of our ears—and lo! the cause of all this unearthly
hubbub proves on examination to be-- nothing more than
a false report! In another column of this very evening's
impression of our journal will be found an authenti-
cated statement that the measure in question has
been " altogether misunderstood." The new ar-
rangements, it will be seen from that announcement,
" instead of adding to the Sunday duties in the
Post-office department, will, on the whole, very
greatly reduce them ; and will not bring in or take
out a single London letter." So ! Messieurs the
Sabbatarians, having made yourselves supremely
ridiculous, we have the honour to wish you good day
for the present—and no more nightmares !

When in former leading articles we adverted to the
distressing massacre at Dolly's-brae, and the subsequent
investigation, we did so with a gentle hand—we were
unwilling to wound the feelings of those who gave
countenance and support to a demonstration termi-
nating in so fearful a catastrophe. We were un-
willing to believe that men of high station, and amiable
in private life, could knowingly and wilfully sanction
and encourage proceedings if they could have
anticipated that such proceedings
Wewoudlidi
nevoetngtiuveattheeimn
scenes of spoliation and bloodshed.
credit for wisdom, but we were unwilling to believe
them wicked ; we had hoped that when they saw
the fearful results of their folly that, impressed with
feelings of the bitterest remorse, they would
submit to the laws they had so disgracefully violated,
and which many of them had sworn to vindicate and
maintain. With feelings of pain are we obliged
to confess our error. We now see that we gave those
men credit for feelings which they did not possess.
We are now constrained to believe that their wicked-
ness is paramount to their folly, and that there can be
no peace in Ireland—and we would a'most say there
ought not to be—while such men are allowed to
exercise the slightest power or authority over any
portion of their fellow-subjects.
To these conclusions we hare been led by the
appearance of one of the most rampant and atrocious
manifestoes that ever disgraced the pen or lips of even
an Irish Orangeman, emanating from a Mr. WILLIAM
BEERS, one of the Orange magistrates, who took a
most active and disgusting part in the law-breaking
and blood-shedding at Dolly's-brae. This gentleman,
holding her MAJESTY'S commission of the peace, ap-
pears to glory in the valorous achievements of his
blood-thirsty brothers. He says, " The defeat and
capture of the dastardly and contemptible ruffians are
things to be gloried in and to be thankful for." Yet
this is a magistrate, sworn to dispense equal and
impartial justice between those same "dastardly and
contemptible ruffians," in the shedding of whose blood
he glories, and the deluded and ignorant Orangemen
of the North, whom he holds in a blind and servile
obedience, stirring up their worst passions by keeping
alive the remembrance of bygone feuds, and holding
them ever ready to be hallooed against their fellow-
man, to gratify a base, unmeaning, and malignant
spirit ! This minister of peace reminds his inof-
fensive brother Orangemen of the memory of
Scullabogue, tells them of the musket, the pike, and
all the deadly armoury of " Popish miscreants," uses
every ferocious epithet tending to stir up rancour,
hatred, and ill-will amongst her MAJESTY'S subjects.
He omits no scene of strife or blood calculated to
make the sanguinary scenes of Dolly's brae per-
petual. This justice of the peace goes farther. He
dares—defies the British Government to interfere
with his loyal and harmless brothers in the gallant
sport of shooting their fellow-subjects. He says—
" But, brethren, be convinced that the impudent and
artful dodge will not do; and that if the Government
of the country, through any pretence whatsoever, to please
either priests or rebels, lend any, the slightest counte-
nance or sanction to any foul play against the Orange
body or Orangemen, they will be only cutting their own
throats, weakening their own power, showing forth their
own inconsistency, and earning for themselves both the
distrust and scorn of those on whose strong right arms
their chief reliance was placed in 1848."
We cannot follow this gentleman farther in his fa-
tuous strain of brutish bombast—the cool audacity
with which he puts forward the preposterous notion
that the Government of this country mainly relied on
the strong arms of a handful of paltry bigots, in a
narrow corner of Ireland, to put down an anticipated
insurrection. Our forty thousand troops were as
nothing compared with the loyal heroes of Dolly's-
brae, with two or three parsons and the valorous
BEERS at their head. This man's braggadocio under
other circumstances would only excite ridicule or con-
tempt, and we should be disposed so to treat it, if the
due administration of justice were not concerned. We
believe the British Government is well aware where
to seek the support of unconditional loyalty. We
believe the British Government would place more re-
liance upon the moral influence of that slandered and
loyal priesthood which Mr. BEERS, in his rampant
bigotry, places in the category of rebels than in the
arms of Mr. BEER'S "ragged regiment." These
Ulster Loyalists would find themselves more at home,
regaling themselves on the good things of
their Grand Master at Tollmore Park,
than in facing the deadly pike the
weapon they appear to hold in such horror—on the
mountains of Tipperary, one-half of the stalwart na-
tives of which county would, we believe, charge every
Orangeman in Ireland into the sea. We trust the
Government of this country will know how to deal
with Mr. BEERS and his brother justices. It is im-
possible to suppose that that this gentleman can any
longer be allowed to bring discredit on the justice.
seat, the law into contempt, and the country to ruin.
Can this man, who could scarcely prevail on himself
to call the shedding of the blood of, his fellow-man
" a blot on the triumph of the day," be longer con-
tinued a justice of the peace? If so, we can only
say we can neither expect peace nor justice in Ireland.

POST-OFFICE SUNDAY DUTIES.
We are authorised to contradict the statements
which have appeared in several of this morning's
papers as to the intentions of the Postmaster-General
with reference to Sunday mails. The object of the
measure in question has been altogether misunder-
stood; instead of adding to the Sunday duties in the
Post-office department, it will, on the whole, very
greatly reduce them, and it will not bring in or take
out a single London letter. It is unnecessary, there
fore, to say that there will be neither delivery nor
collection of letters in London on the Sunday. Out
of London the Sunday deliveries will be reduced.

COURT.MARTIAL ON LIEUT.
GRAHAM AND MASTER ELLIOTT.
TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Owing to a fatal mistake in pronouncing
sentence on the above persons, I think that a court of
law would liberate them on a writ of Habeas Corpus.
The mistake consists in first dismissing them the ser-
vice, and then sentencing them to imprisonment. By
the sentence of dismissal they became civilians, and
no longer amcnable to martial law, consequently they
are illegally imprisoned had the Conrt first sen-
tenced them to twelve months' imprisonment, and after
that period to be dismissed the service, no person
could cavil at the sentence.

I am, Sir, your constant reader,
SPECTATOR.

THE BISHOP or LLANDAFF.—We are gratified to
learn that accounts were received in town yesterday
morning from liardwiclie Hall, near Chepstow, which
convey more favourable news of the Right Rev. Prelate's
health. Most sanguine hopes ars entertained of his ulti-
mate restoration to health.