The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-11 00:00:00

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LONDON,
SATURDAY•EVEN[NG, JUNE 11, 1836.

The " collision" has come at last. The actual conflict
between the Houses has commenced. The Commons
of Great Britain have this morning decided, by the im-
mense majority of EIGHTY-SIX votes, that the Lords'
amendments on the Irish Corporations' Bill shall be re-
jected, and the Bill re-constructed on its original prin-
ciples, every vestige of which had been swept away by the
Hereditary Chamber. This decision, whether we regard
the circumstances under which it has been given, or the
consequences that must result from it, is perhaps the
most momentous that ever was pronounced by a legis-
lative Assembly. Nobly ba,.t the representatives of
the people discharged their duty in. this perilous con-
juncture. _ They have indeed " 'quitted the._ Selves like
men." They have acted as those ought to act, who
are conscious—and proud of the consciousness—that
they stand before the world entrusted with the protec-
tion of British justice, and the defence of British liberty.
The " proud Peerage" has ere now quailed before-the
Commons of England, and it will do so again. Led on by
a false estimate of its own importance, and by an equally
false estimate of the public sentiment, it has proceeded to
en extremity which must prove fatal to its power, if not to
its existence in its present form. Should the Lords still
prove refractory, and set themselves in avowed and deter-
mined hostility to the national will thus unequivocally ex-
pressed, there can be but one result—an organic change in
the constitution of the Upper House. No earthly power
can avert that event. If, on the other hand, they give
way, and submit to the decision of the Commons—if they
condescend to eat not only their own words, but their own
principles—they will be so humbled, both in their own
eyes, and in those of the nation, that for some time to
come, at least, they will be—if not as innocent as doves—
as harmless as adders when their fangs are drawn.
Of the specchls delivered last night, those of Mr. GROTE
and Mr. SHELL were decidedly the best. The manly and
uncompromising tone of the former Gentleman, when he
alluded to the necessity of a reform in the House of Lords,
produced a great sensation in the House and was felt by
all rartips—whatever souse. might say—to be a faithful
echo of the sentiments now generally prevailing throughout
the country on that all-engrossing subject. The speech of
Sir ROBERT PEEL was every way untvorthy of his repu-
tation. The Right Hon. Baronet wti..!'dull and spiritless. He
seemed to feel that he had a bad cause to support—an un-
tenable position to maintain—and to be oppressed with a
secret Consciousness that in offering a great and deliberate
•affront to Ireland, he was committing a sin that never
would be forgiven, and that would in all probability put
an irremoveable stumbling-block in the way of his ambition.
The division took place at 3 o'clock this morning, and it
is worthy of remark, as showing the feeling of the House
on this great question, that the majority is greater by 14
than that by which the Bill was originally carried.

That the House of' Lords, if not absolutely panic-struck,
arc at least in a very pretty state of trepidation, at the
idea of the collision which at this moment hangs over them
like a thunder-cloud, is evident from the very pains they take
that they are otherwise. In presenting a petition
last jight; }raying for a continuance of the union between
Church and Stn,`". the Duke of NEWCASTLE assumed his
-boldest demeanour, aii,a said that he most devoutly hoped
that their Lordships "would not yield to intimidation."
Now wherefore this hope, if he v;-ere not more than half
convinced in his own mind that they would surrender at
discretion? No man knows the Tory character better
than his Grace ; no man has been more familiar with it s
no man is More lednedly skilled in its strength and weak-
ness :—when he, therefore, abandoning certainty, conde-
scends to the expression of a "hope" that It will be firm,
the people may rely on it that faction is in g,
mortal a state of apprehension, 44 avcr was "fight-
ing Bob Acres" in the presence of Op pistol-laden
()Trigger. We look upon the Duke of NEAvg.oTLE's
devout "hope" as all but tantamount to an aeknowle4-
ment that the Lords will give way. It is like the .‘ Who's
afrhid ?" of Scrub, which betrayed the terrors of the would-
be hero. His Grace never ".hoped" when the Institution to
which he belongs had the boroughmongers at its back.
He was all calm, still confidence then. He " hopes', only_.
when it is time for his Order to despair.
open. We ,
We, too, have
our ‘‘hopes," but they are not ducal