The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-04 00:00:00

the last Quarterly Review for instance—the
truth is, that the Opposition Members deli•
vered so many speeches, merely to kill time,
refuted themselves so often, that we believe,
notwithstanding the natural p.trtiality of speakers
fur their own effusions, they ;tt length partici-
pated in the disgust so genei.t.lly Mr by the public;
and that if there has been leis vexatious opposition
within these few dap, we are to attribute it to the
above cause rather than any more commendable mo-
tive. Alderman Waldman, with much spirit, ob-
served, that it ill became those who attributed
apathy to the public, to complain of the manner in
which the imputation was resented. "He was well
',ware," he said, " that there existed an indignant

feeling on the part of the people, that it should have
bean asserted that there had been any change in the
public mind. He advised those who made such
s•atements to beware how they provoked the proof.
Certain it was that the great body of the nation was
d;sgusted with the vexatious delay which had oc-
curred ; night after night they saw the same Mem-
b •rs speak, heard the same speeches delivered, and
s►w the same valuable time mis-spent.—(Hear,
hear.) Not less than one hundred and fifty speeches
had been uttered by six Members on the other side,
and it was natural that the public should be nauseated
and indignant.—(Continued cheers.)" It was very
well in Lord Valletort to object to the different.
Cotnmittees for the different districts of the metro-
polis sitting elsewhere to watch and controul the
proceedings of Parliament, and •to express a hope
hat " none with whom he coincided would be de-

terred from the manly discharge of their duty."
What is meant by the influence of public opi-
nion, but that the public watch Members, and suc-
ceed to a certain extent in deterring thein from doing
that which of themselves they would be in-
clined to do ? If the House were to close their doors
and to conceal from the public all but the result of their
votes, does any man suppose that the votes would
not often be very different from what they are when
Members know that the eye of the public is on
them ? The eye of the public deters men in many
cases from evil-doing. All evil-doers hate the light.
But again, those who discharge their duty in a.
manly manner rejoice in the light instead of
being deterred by it. But when Lord Vulletort talks
of not being deterred from the manly discharge of
duty, he means the fearlessness of effrontery—the
callousness which, in humble life, leads individuals
to brave, in odious pursuits, public opinion for the
gain they yield. The intrepidity of the borough-
monger is shared by many an individual in the pur-
lieus of Drury and St Giles's. The affectation of
independence expressed by many Members is truly
ludicrous. The idea of independence of constitu-
ency never could have occurred to an assembly re-
presenting a nation. A steward might, with as
much justice, claim independence of hia

the attorney of the clietit. The steward or the
attorney act according to the best of their judg-
ments, and their employers will, in most cases,
give them a large discretion ; but there may be

eases in which no discretion is allowed arid it
would be presumptions to say that tha positive will
of the employers should be disregarded. In like
manner it mu.t never be forgotten that the affairs
as to which Members are to deliberate are the
affairs of the public, arid it would be absurd to say
that ',timbers onglit to pay no regard to the opininns
of that public. Mr. Alexander ]'faring, last night,
entered on this question—
" When the Hon. Alderman (Thompson) had pledged
himself to support the Ministers and their Bill, it was
scarcely to be suppo,ed that lie was at liberty to oppose
particular parts of the measure. The Worthy Alderttl4ll
had, in giving that pledge; ilistinotiy mispittg4 the prin-
ciple, that representatives ought tu be pledged to take the
opinions of their constituents respecting each particular
vote which they should give.—(Cheers.) ije referred to
the reproof given to Sir Robert Wilson, by his constituents,
as another instance of the inconvenience of the principle,
and of the total abstraction of the independence of Aletn-
bars, to which the recognition of it wonldlea4.—(cheers.)
Within the list day. or two a threat of a meeting in the
City had been held as tt rod in terrore* over that House.
—(Cheers.) it was acl Qv indication of that sort of in-
fioence which would be attempted to be exercised over the
House by popular bodies our of doors, when they should
come into more immediate: and _sensitive ecunimmicatimt
with the Members.—(Hear, and question.",)
Now, admitting that there may be many questions
as to which it might be wrong in the constituents
to demand pledges, and for the candidate to give
them, because the information for arriving At a con:
rect decision may not be possessed by either (and
with respect to many questions this must always he
the ease) ; if there is one question on which more
than another it is proper to timsl-0 and to give a
pledge,-it is 011 f like 010 now before the House. A
great change in the constitution of the House of Co:n-

moiis having been proposed by the King's Ministers,
and opposed by the Parliament for the time beiag, an
appeal was made to the ntrian. The Ministry and
the Parliament were at issue on the question. The
representatives sent to the present Parliament are a
constituent a.sembly rather than an ordinary Vial-.
liament ; they have a commission tq give etreet to
that respecting which the people have already de-
vide(' by the elections. The people in a body can-
not deliberate; and all that they can do in such a
case is to meet in their several localities, .fed sup-
ply their deputies with instruqtictis. In such a
case, too, it is proper and necessary that the public
should watvit narrowly the proceedings of the Par.
iiament, and avail themselves of all allowable means
of influencing Members, The abject being NI de.
stroy that part of the existing. cunititaticn of Par-
liament which enables a small number of individuals
tq controul the rest of the nation, the public were
particulaily called on to see that the object fo;
which they exerted themselves should not be frus-
trated by the factious pertttacity of these men, or
the treachery of toe ill whom they reposed ceuti.
deuce. The whole of the outcry against pledges
is, therefore, contemptible drivelli,ng, The rt44l
bnsiness of the pfuliatiltp:lt is 19, destroy the borough-
mongersi (04 tbe must sea that the Members
Perfornir theil/2-. mission. Squeamishness is out of the
qnestion.-111-orning Chronicle.

In another column will be found I report of a trial
at the Kilkenny Assize., o two Itnnan Catholic
gentlemen, fur A ctoidapiracy to compel a cl..rgymari
tc, lower his tithes. The Jury were eNebisively
Protestants. They were convicted anl the Judge
(Johnson) sentenced thean to twelve months' ito-
prisonmet;t, 4titi a fine of .5,04,,tach. The severity
o the sentence wi'yl atrike m6st of our reader 4. The
&Piz 1141:ora4ing Regis/et says.:—" These gentle^.
men appear to be men of high and spotless character.
It is proved that the public tranquillity owes them
a great deal. They olctie.ed without knowing they
did." Batt the Judges of this country, the last
clonsideration is the guilt of prisoners,. They cast
about them to see what offences are. epidemical at
the time, and WOO to. the prisoner who happens to
have voii:initted an epidemical offene-o or crime,
Sheep-stealing, fur. instarce, happens to be on the
increase; " we most ma!,..e. examples" (say they),
and no mercy lob sheep-stealers that year. Tithes
as our readers well know, are at present a very
ticklish property in Ireland. If report is to be be-
lieved, the people have generally refused te, pay
them; and at the sues there are nc. bidders ; so
that it has been found rieceaf.iary, in some cases, to
convey thiA go4ds taken for tithes to England.
Tith;::'offences are, therefore, at present peculiarly
obnoxious; and hence,by way of example, andlro cure
country gentlemen of their disinclipOon to pay tithes,
this enormously severe sv.;;teace. At another time the
same offence might have escaped with a fine of five
pot. Inds If the power of Judges in snt.i; a case
extended to hanging, they wotdcl 'nave thought an
execution or two ben4cial to arrest the progress cif
the evil. We are much mistaken, however, if thc:
extraordinary severity of this-sentence do no; add to
the hostility to the tithe system. Where the de'.
termination to resist the exaction of tithes 4s almost
universal, punishment must he unavailing. One ef-
fee-, however, will be produced ; individuals in the
tank of gentlemen will be more cautious in their
proceedings. But they •may proceed with mere
caution, and yet with equal effect It is no easy j
matter for the Irish to please the people of this j