The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1836.

THEATRES.

ENGLISH OPERA HOUSE.

The Gaberlunzie Man, a new Scottish operatic entertain-
ment, was last night produced et this theatre. It is founded
on a ballad attributed to James the Fifth of Scotland : the
piece closely follows the lyric. With regard to the music of
course not a sentence of criticism is required. Mr. Tully, by
whom, we believe, it was selected and arranged, has executed
his task with taste and judgment ; the airs, in their respective
places, were quite appropriate, which is all that is wanted :
they were splendidly given by Wilson, though evidently la-
bouring under a hoarseness, for which, by-the-by, he apolo-
gised. Miss Shirrefl; notwithstanding her exertions in the
earlier part of the evening, continued in excellent voice and
sung prettily. The manner in which this charming songstress
gave " When first we trod the dewy green," to the good old
tune of " Jock o' Hazledean," elicited warm applause. Mrs.
Serle also sang tastefully and sweetly. Mrs. F. Matthews is a
clever little body, and made a bustling house-wife. Oxberry
plued the part of a nondescript, a Londoner out to study agri-
culture in Scotland, with much humour. Wilson announced it
for representation amidst the applauses of a crowded house.

URREY.
Last evening a new nautical drama, intitled Mr. Midship-
man Easy, was represented for the first time at this theatre.
Incongruous and improbable as the novel is, it is, however, in-
teresting, because it is interspersed with some excellent writ-
ing and admirable portraits; the drama is unintelligible, and
its language, except where taken verbatim from the novel, is
most dull and stupid. The only attempt made to represent by
the performers any one of the characters in the novel, was by
Mr. Rice, who personates the black Mesty; and he was
obliged to descend to the disgusting trick of introducing a
curse in every second sentence. Between a peculiar whistle,
and the execration of " I'm
from the original, the character of Mesty was greatly ap-
plauded by the audience of the Surrey. The only attractive
portion of the entire performance was some good fighting be-
tween the players ; but such was the crowded state of the
house that in the course of the evening their acting was cast
into the shade by two or three real fights in the pit.

MR. BEAUMONT and MR. O'CONNELL.

Darrynane Abbey, Sept. 18.

MY DEAR FRENCH,—I send you under another cover

two letters, the one written by Mr. Almon, of Stonehouse,
near Plymouth, with two guineas subscribed to the Justice
Rent.

The other letter is from one of the most distinguished of
the gentry of England—J. Wentworth Beaumont, Esq. You
are aware that he is a Member of the House of Commons,
so well knoiin as to require no description. I also send you
his cheque for 1001. towards the Justice Rent.
This splendid donation, coming from such a man, at such
a moment, not only forbids us to despair, but actually di-
rects the most desponding among us to hope for more sym-
pathy from the English people. The causes of our defeat
at Newcastle are distinctly traced by this gentleman to pri-
vate and individual pique. He certainly has-better means
of knowing the facts than we can have, and it is impossible
not to yield the most implicit credit to anything he asserts.
He has, therefore, completely satisfied me that we do not
owe the defeat of Mr. Blacket to any hostility to Ireland.
But I attribute that defeat to hostility or indffference to the
rights of Irishmen. Now, although it was not hostility,
yet Mr. Beaumont establishes beyond any doubt my opinion
as to the mdifference ; for assuredly if there were a lively
sense of the importance to Ireland of a friendly Member
for Newcastle—and still more, if the electors felt strongly
the injury to Ireland which an unfriendly Member, however
untalented, would just at that moment inflict—they never
would suffer caprice or pettishness to controul the contest
and decide the election.

However, the accession of a gentleman of the high sta-

tion in society, and independence of character, which Mr.
Beaumont enjoys, to the cause of Ireland, is a matter of the
utmost importance. lam sure that the Association will
hail that accession with cordial gratitude, and will express
its respect in suitable terms. Had I been in Dublin, I
should feel truly proud to propose the expression of that
gratitude and respect to him. My place will, I know, be
well supplied ; and this occasion, will, I am sure, be
seized upon to increase the disposition of the Irish people
to continue longer their expectation of redress without
falling back upon our last resource—the agitation of the
question of repeal. Mr. Beaumont's conduct Certainly en-
courages us to hope that we may still obtain justice FROM
England.'
I see that my esteemed friend, the Rev. Mr. Groves,
has a motion for the next day, to publish weekly the ex
penditure as well as the receipt of the Justice Rent.' I
hope he will not persevere in that motion. The publica-
tion of the expenditure should only take place after au-
diting the accounts. No account should be published until
after the expenditure had undergone a careful audit of the
vouchers, so as to shew, in the first place, the regularity of
the order of the finance committee for the payment ; and
secondly, the fact of payment itself. It will. be quite
enough to publish the items of the expenditure, as the Ca-
tholic Association did, once in every twelve months. The
books should continue to be open for the inspection of all
tha members, but the publication should be deliberate, and
after a thorough vouching of every item of expenditure.
I wish I could positively promise the drafts of the two
addresses committed to my care, so as to have them read
at the next meeting of the Association. I will do the best

I can, and if I am-unable to have them finished, let not my
delay be imputed as a fault. He to whom no hope is
afforded for himself may, and I believe, ought to find his
only consolation in the continuous exertions of public duty.
For my part, I have convinced myself that all that is left
me in life is, to fill up every moment of my existence with
some effort to ameliorate the condition of my country.
Prosperity and justice from England or from herself—such
must be the " peace cry" of Ireland. Believe me to be
very faithfully yours,

DANIEL O'CONNEL.

‘' Scarbro,' Sept. 7, 1836.
" Dear Sir,—As I spoke very unceremoniously against
the expediency of your agitation in England, when I was
convinced that with whatever intentions, you were doing a
practical injury to the cause of liberty and the security of
liberal principles, so when f see you proceeding in a right
course, I do not hesitate with equal frankness to offer you
my humble assistance. Allow me to request your accept-
ance of 1001. towards the Justice Fund.

" I have just read in the Globe your letter to the editor
of the Spectator, and must be permitted to set you right
on the subject of the Newcastle election. You are really
not justified in answering Newcastle' (as you pithily ex_
press it) to those who assert that the people of England
are favourable to the Irish. I assert that opinion, and I
have no doubt that the Reformers of Newcastle will not be
offended by my saying in their name that they should be
much hurt by their town being your watchword, to desig-
nate English illiberality and prejudice. The reason of my
friend Blacket's defeat, and of Mr. Hodgson Hindes's suc-
cesslis (he has since changed his name by King's patent—
would that he bad also changed his politics) is simply this
—that the tw o most zealous Liberals (one of Whig the
other of Radical persuasion) ventured to think that they
had the power of installing a Member in the vacant seat
for the town. The mettle of John Bull was excited—the
caprices of a bull in a pet are unreasonable enough—they
forgot the public liberty in rage for asserting their own—
the Reformers of Newcastle were desirous to resent an at-
tempt at domination. This, I am sure, is not an incorrect
representation of the true cause which lay at the bottom of
the success of the Tory. The Irish was forgotten in the
individual question.
" Should the same question be tried at a general election,
when the public fermentation would absorb petty jealousies,
no town would, I am certain, be more ready to convince
you of its sympathy with your unjustly and insultingly
treated countrymen. But, Sir, I only speak as a Northum-
brian, knowing the feelings of my neighbours, and not au-
thorised by position to relate the opinions of the indepen-
dent men of Newcastle. But as a Northumbrian, I pro-
test against the injustice, proceeding from ignorance on your
part (natural and unavoidable ignorance, I admit) of the
meaning you have affixed to the name of our principal town,
and its very high-minded and high-spirited constituency.
" e me, dear Sir, yours truly,
" T. W. BEAUMONT."
" To Daniel O'Connell, Esq."

It may probably have escaped notice, that every'
shareholder in railway, canal, and other Companies, if his
share be of adequate value, has the right of voting For every
county which the line shall intersect or occupy, and every
Company, of whatever denomination—coal, metal, conveyance,
&c., possessing freeholds for the purposes of such Company,
will give a similar right to its proprietary.
The Farmers' Friends on Friday last at the Epping
Agricultural Meeting appear to have given better proofs of
their claim to the, title than many other claimants to the dis..
tinction. The soi-disant friends of the Agricultural interest—
your Che.ndoses, Sibthorpes, and onzne hoc genus—on hearing
of the proceedings of the meeting referred to, must, we
think, experience a sense of humiliating shame akin to that
felt by detected impostors. The Essex Herald contains the
following remarks upon the meeting ;—"ln the speeches," says
our Essex Contemporary, "throughout, both landlords and te-
nants, evince, by their bold and straightforward tone, a deter-
mination to place their own shoulders to the wheel instead of
sitting down to indulge in useless regret, that Parliament will
not or cannot remove the distress under which they labour.
Mr. Conyers, the President, broached the subject of a reduc-
tion of rent, and the matter was vigorously followed up by other
gentlemen. Mr. Marsh probed the question to the root, and
showed in few, but impressive sentences, that the tenants
themselves are the principal cause of maintaining high rents."
A TORY.--At the great Tory dinner at Newton,
the other day, a little fellow named Roby, of Rochdale, in the
course of his speech declared that he was a geologist, a philo-
logist, a theologist, and a mathematician ; that he could do
any thing, and every thing—that lie was a conjurer, a fortune-
teller, consulted the stars, was gifted with second sight, talked
with ghosts, hid himself under his bed when it was thunder,
&c,

STATE OF IRELAND.

Tp THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
DUBLIN, SEPT. 23.
" The ruin or prosperity of a State depends so much upon the
administration of its Government, that, to be acquainted
with the merits of a Ministry, we need only observe the
condition of the people."—JuNius.
SIR-If the preceding rule for ascertaining the "merits of a
Ministry" be as infallible as it would seem to be, not less
so is the following one, for finding out " The Views of the
present Government towards Ireland," which is the object
of my second letter.
The people of this country, from North to South, are in
a condition wholly unprecendented in their history : they
are peaceable and comparatively happy, and place unbounded
confidence in the principles and promises of their present
Governors : from which it may be inferred that the object
of these Governors is to increase that peace and happiness,
and thereby justify that confidence.
Now, by the people, I mean not only those six millions
of Catholic subjects, who, as shown in a former letter, for
centuries past, have been denied the blessings of the British
Constitution ; but I include all the independent and intel-
ligent portion of the Protestant nobility and gentry, whose
best feelings and understandings have not ben perverted
by the corrupt system under which most of . them had hi-
therto an opportunity of enjoying a very beneficial monopoly
of the "good things of Church and State." I could prove
this by reference to the various addresses that have been
presented to Earl Mulgrave since his arrival as Viceroy
amongst us—addresses which, and the answers to them,
notwithstanding the unavoidable repetition of many charac-
teristic topics of Irish feeling and policy, would be very de-
serving of attention, were it only for the purpose of collect-
ing the real principles of the old Reformers, as well as the
altered tone of those Tories lately converted by the straight-
forward and impartial administration of Earl Mulgrave.
But I shall not travel over ground now pretty well known
to the readers of your enlightened and widely circulating
Journal. The selection of a few names and facts as I pro-
ceed, will illustrate, if not establish, my position, and dis-
pense with references, likely to be deemed, by many, works
of supererogation. It may be asked, how comes it to pass
that there is at this period, more than at any other in the
history of Ireland, such implicit and universal confidence
placed in the Government ? Some Tories and their organs
will have it that it is because O'Connell has given them all
his influence, or, as they say, commands it. This is cer-
tainly one of the grounds, but it is not the only one, of
their strength. O'Connell's approbation of the course pur-
sued by the present Ministry does undoubtedly conciliate
towards that Ministry the affection and good will of the
largest numerical portion of the people of Ireland. But it
should be remembered that the " Reform Registry Asso-
ciation," founded on principles independent of his and his
party's influence and politics, embraced a number of men
perfectly free from the bias of all the old conflicting parties
and factions of Ireland. In fact, before it was fully ascer-
tained what measure of countenance and support O'Connell
himself would continue to afford to the Cabinet that suc-
ceeded the Wellington, Peel, and Haddington Administra-
tion, many of the most influential Protestants and Catholics,
who were never guided by O'Connell, or any other political
leader, had signified their adhesion to Earl •Mulgrave's Go-
vernment in this country. And they did so because he
landed upon our shores with a high personal character, in
addition to the ticommendation of being sent by a Cabinet
which, as Boyse of Bannow has happily expressed it, "is
honourably engaged in redeeming those pledges, and realis-
ing those promises, now when they are in office, which they
made us while they were in opposition." They found
the Ministry of which he is a humble member consistent
with themselves—not taking office for the purpose of enjoy-
ing its power and patronage in luxurious ease or indolent
repose, but with the view of carrying into immediate effect
many salutary principles of reform, as well as the principle
of " appropriation"on which the people of the United King-
dom had registered their wishes. There has been no fal-
tering or quibbling on their part—no evasion or turning
aside from that broad political course which public opinion
expects them to pursue. Were they inclined to prefer
their own quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of office, to the
public expectation and welfare, they had Tory precedents
enough to plead as their guide and direction. As regarded
the very principle of " tithe appropriation" itself, they might
have availed themselves of the good Tory suggestion of
" compromise," and adopting Sir Robert Peel's view, as be
and his party had often adopted theirs, pass a tithe Bill
without that clause, leaving time to reconcile all parties to
its future enactment at no distant period. This was the
way in which the people of England had been led gradually
to assent to the abolition of the slave trade ; or rather it
was the way in which the Tories postponed the question
while they held the reins of Government. But the present
Ministry disdain such temporising and vacillation—being
thoroughly acquainted with the British Constitution, and
knowing that the " appropriation" principle was not only
analagous to its spirit, and to several of its enactments, but
that it had been actually recognised by the Irish Parlia-
ment and the Irish aristocracy, they determined to let the
Irish people, now clamorous for tile abolition of tithes, have
the full benefit of the British Constitution and Tory prece-
dent in this instance. They accordingly make this founda-
tion of their holding office a sine qua non principle in the
settlement of the tithe question. Now, if the peace, hap-
piness, and permanent welfare of the community at large
be the end of all human legislation, one would suppose
that any measure calculated to promote so desirable an
object ought to be sanctioned by Parliament, even though
there were no municipal precedents for its adoption. But
even here there is no innovation. The history of Ireland
affords a precedent on this very subject—it is to be found in
one of the last Acts of the Irish Parliament, 40 Geo. 111.,
c. 23., by which no claim for agistment tithe was permitted
to be prosecuted in any Court, civil or ecclesiastical, unless
for such as had been usually received within the then pre-
ceding ten years. But no agistment tithe worth mentioning
had been paid for sixty or seventy years previously,—the
same having been suspended by the celebrated resolution of
the House of Commons in 1735. And it is remarkable—and
the attention of the parsons and their friends cannot be too
often directed to the fact—that the Church right to such
tithes of the first grazing country in the world was divested
out of the then rightful owners, and put into the pockets of
the landlords by the very faction or party who now deny,
that the State has a right to appropriate tithes to public
uses. No question was then raised against the right of the
legislature so to divest and appropriate tithes : nor was it
ever raised while the Tories had the Government of the
country in their own hands ; because the Wlzig opposition
would not abuse the spirit of the Constitution in order to get
into place. On the contrary, the following will show what
continued to be the feeling of the Irish Aristocracy on the
subject long before the spirit of Reform gained the ascendant,
and the Tories had not been pronounced unfit to govern a
Reformed people.
" We, the Grand Jury of the county of Armagh, assem-
bled at Lent Assizes, 1808, see with much concern the ex-
orbitant demands made by some of the clergy and their
pastors, in certain parishes in this county, in collecting of
tithe, to the very great oppression of their parishioners, and
tending at this time in particular to detach the minds of his
Majesty's subjects from their loyalty and attachment to the
happy Constitution of this country.
" Resolved, That our representatives be instructed to
further, with their decided support, any measure that may
be, brought forward in the Imperial Parliament for modi-
fying and placing in some more equitable mode the pay-
ment of the clergy in this country."
Tithes have always been held to be within the ju-
risdiction of municipal laws in every part of Europe,
and to be binding only by these laws, according to
the maxim " deeimaa non obligant nisi per consuetu-
dinem patrim." The Legislature can change the con-
suetudo or custom of the country, as often as it is
found expedient for the public good to do so, either by
commutation or abolition ; and if the use of any custom or
principle ought to be put an end to, " mains usus abolendus
est," when it becomes odious to and intolerable by the peo-
ple, the present mode of tithing is long since condemned
and abrogated by every principle of reason, justice, and ex-
pediency. And the State—nay, the House of Commons,
as the representative of the great body of the nation—have
a primary right to effect such changes. This principle, in-
dicatory of the Commons' power, was acted upon by the
Irish House of Commons in the reign of George 11., when
they appropriated 120,0001. surplus of the annual supplies
to the payment of the national debt, without asking the
consent of the Crown, and against the wish of the British
Cabinet. This was in the year 1749. (See Parliamentary
history.) Ireland can never enjoy the benefits of the
British Constitution or an Union with England, unless the
Ministry extend to her the entire spirit and practical
enjoyment of British laws, in as full and ample a manner as
they are enjoyed by our brethren on the other side of the
channel. It is because the Government of Lord Mel-
bourne seems intent on doing so—by settling the tithe
question, that fertile source of turbulence and rebellion—
reforming the Corporations, and in other respects assimila-
ting the political economy of both kingdoms—it is on these
grounds that the people of Ireland justly and rationally be-
stow on him and Earl Mulgrave their entire confidence.

Great preparations are in progress for the grand en-
tertainment to be given by the Reformers of Liverpool to
Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell. The attendance is
expected
ofttoichkeevtse.ry numerous
waiiiild
bheiglwilaynrtehslopectable, so much
so, that it will be found necessary to limit the time for the
to give
this popular meeting.
An Order in Council for augmentin.g
of the clergy of Guernsey arrived at the Governmnt House
oil Thursday. By the terms of the Order, es which
which were from 60/. to 701. a year have been increased 501.,
salarei)/ea tto ,
with 101. in lieu of tithe on fish, now abolished as hurtful to
fisheries, tliesteii sends