The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-24 00:00:00

sion before his eyes, if he pleased to read or had the
intellect to understand them, the writer has the hardihood
or the dulness to remark that, " to have simply reported on
the feasibility of this or that scheme would have been a
barren employment, unworthy of the genius of Irish job-
bing," with more a great deal of the same curious jumble
of malice and absurdity. Why, the Commissioners did
report on the feasibility of the schemes alluded to : they
reported them not feasible, as they were entitled to do, if
such was their opinion, and as they were well warranted to
do, inasmuch as that opinion was arrived at, after the ma-
wrest deliberation, the fullest inquiry, and the strictest
reasoning from the entire state of facts before them. Let
the leaders of this paltry opposition impugn that opinion, if
they have wherewithal to do so ; let them shake thegrounds
of it if they can ; let them show that the reasonings of the
Commissioners are erroneous, or their premises hastily

with the cheap wheat must come what he called " equitable
adjustment ;" but what would be, in fact, a national bank-
ruptcy. We can pay to the public creditor twenty-eight
millions of pounds sterling per annum, while we can buy
three pounds sterling in Mark-lane, with a quarter of
wheat ; but if we had to give two quarters of wheat for that
amount of sterling money, it is by no means so clear, but
very much thoaptrary, that we could continue to pay the
public creditorWenty-eight millions a-year. Some of the
labourers are foolish enough to think that that is no affair
of theirs, but only concerns those who have money in the
Stocks. There, they are very much mistaken, and if some
of their leaders were not fonder of revolution than of truth,
they would tell them so. It is true that the country might
recover a nafional bankruptcy, and two or three generations
hence our posterity might forget the shame and hold up
their heads again—but its immediate results would be the
miserable humiliation of the middle classes as well as the
upper, and the starvation of thousands of the populace. It
would be little consolation to those dying of hunger that
corn was extremely cheap.—Morning Post.
In Saturday's Advertiser appeared the third letter of the
series which Mr. O'Connell is now addressing to the people
of Ireland. Fully impressed with the great experience,
practical knowledge, and intellectual acumen by which Mr.
O'Connell has already achieved so much good for Ireland,
we always feel extreme diffidence whenever our own con-
victions compel us to record our dissent from any plan
which he may propose for the redress of his country's
grievances. Such was the feeling under which we remon-
strated against the dissolution of the General Association
of Ireland, at a time when its exertions, far from embar-
rassing, as was alleged, the action of the Government,
might have been made most powerfully auxiliary to carry-
ing the intentions of a Liberal Administration into effect.
We foresaw and stated at the time, that, with a strong
and ever-vigilant minority against them in the Com-
mons, and an overwhelming majority against them
in the Lords, it would be utterly impossible for
Ministers to carry any measures of satisfactory Reform
for Ireland, unless enabled to overcome these hostile
powers by the support of the people—a support which
could in no way be so effectively tendered as through the
medium of the Association then about to be dissolved.
This was so abundantly palpable as to need no " experi-
ment" for its demonstration. The Association, however,
was dissolved, and the result has but too perfectly realised
our anticipations. No satisfactory measure of Reform has
been granted to Ireland ; and, to use Mr. O'Connell's own
words in commenting upon the failure of his " experiment,"
" the Ministry, instead of increasing in power to serve us,
have actually become less able to carry any nne measure
useful to Ireland." What other result could have been
anticipated ? From what source were Ministers to have
obtained an accession of strength sufficient to overcome
the force arrayed against them, but from the people ?
And this, under an erroneous apprehension of causing,
them embarrassment, was withheld from them—with-
held, too, in the very crisis of their Irish policy. H—
as Mr. O'Connell intimates—the General Association
was dissolved at the suggestion of the Irish Government,
that Government woefully mistook the elements of its
power and stability. Another Association is now in pro-
gress of organization, and though the objects proposed for
its aceomplishrnent are extensive, almost beyond the hope
of realisation, yet its name intimates that it is not to be re-
garded as an effective Society itself, but merely the har-
binger of something else. Its very name, " Precursor,"
implies a want of faith in itself, yet confidence is, in politi-
cal combinations especially, one of the greatest essentials of
success. Mr. O'Connell pledges himself to make the
" Precursor Society" " rival in zeal and utility the Catholic
thought intendedte for
objects effective,
proposed
but
merely
t
Association," yet in its name he holds forth the promise of
its dissolution,preliminaasry opifiterwaetiorennc)s
,in its formation are certainly quite enoug't to give occupa-
tion to the present generation of Irishmen. If these ob-
jects be not obtained, " I shall lift," says Mr. O'Connell,
" the flag of repeal." We confsss we cannot understand
this policy ; for, difficult as it would be to effect the objects
proposed by the " Precursor Society," it would be infinitely
more so to effect a repeal of the Union. Yet in failure of
accomplishing that which is the least, it is proposed to at-
tempt that which is the most difficult. When a nation is
called upon to put itseli in action, its objects should be
distinctly defined. The Catholic Association proved that
no legislative change was too difficult for the achievement
of a united people. But it was not by change of purpose,
nor by making unavailing experiments, that the Catholic
Association succeeded. On the contrary, though exposed
to frequent prosecutions, and suppressed in different forms,
it still persevered ; still, thanks to Mr. O'Connell's agency,
rose unscathed by Acts of Parliament. When beat down
in one shape, Proteus-like, it re-appeared in another, still
bearing aloft the flag of " Civil and religious liberty," and
only when its object was in the t ery act of consummation
did it gloriously terminate its career by a voluntary dissolu-
\
Von. Take it all in all, we fear we shall not look upon its like
again. It would at least be libellous to institute a comparison
between it and any of the societies which have succeeded
it. They have b yen nothing- hut a succession of experi-
mental failures. There were first, the " Repeaters," who
were half coerced and half cajoled into putting their de-
m inde in abeyance to those of general Reform. Next
came the " National Political Union," the cause of %hose
demise was not satisfactorily explained. Then came the
" General Association," which no sooner got into a condi-
tion to carry on active and efficient operations than it was
dissolved, in order to try how Ministers, whose policy at
the moment most needed its support, could get on without
its assistance. And now there is the " Precursor So-
ciety." These experiments, of which we do not understand
the purpose, we fear must exhaust the patience and im-
pair the confidence of the Irish people. The " Ca-
tholic Association" was the greatest experiment, which
should be satisfactory and conclusive to all times, of the
mode in which a people may most successfully resist in-
justice and oppression. With such evidence as its results
before them, we really cannot conceit a what need the
people of Ireland have of further experiments. It is
merely trifling with a people's rights and powers, and ex-
posing them to the charge of fickleness and caprice, to
call upon them one day, for mere sake of experim nt, to
" be up end stirring," and the next, without any change, or
semblance ef change in their condition, to rest " passive
and tranquil," and confide in their friends. While the
people's friends, as they are called, not being able to serve
them without the people's own exertion, it must have been
as evident yesterday as it is to-day, and will be to-morrow,
teat there is no hope of a redress of grievances but in their
own untiring and unremitting efforts. To be convinced of
this Mr, O'Connell can surely need no further experiment,
and therefore it is to be hoped that he will not suffer the
tremendous power which he is now about to put in action
to be dissipated on impracticable objects, or exhausted in
illusory experiments, but direct it at once, without disguise
or indirection, to purposes of certain and practical good.—
Morning Advertiser. .

-
The report of the Directors of the Leeds and Man-
chester Railway, read at their half-yearly meeting last week,
states that the road to Littleborough, through Rochdale, will
be opened in May next, and the whole line is expected to be
completed in the year 1840.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.—Mr. Colburn, of Great
Marlborough-street, has just published the following interest-
ing and important new works : —l. Lord Lindsay's Letters on
Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land, 2 vols. post Bvo., with
illustrations, 245. bound. 2. Dr. Granville's Guide to the
Spas of Germany, new and cheaper edition, in a single vo-
lume, with 38 illustrations, 18s. bound. 3. Mr. Urquhart's
Travels in the East, 2 vole. Bvo. 28s. 4. Sir J. E. Alexan-
der's Travels in the Interior of Africa in 1837, under the
auspices of the British Government, 2 vols. post Bvo., with
illustrations, 21s. bound. 5. The Life and Correspondence of
Dr. Jenner, by Dr. Baron, 2 vols. Bvo., with portraits, 245.
6. The American in Paris, 2 vols., Iss. 7. Captain Spencer's
Travels in tho Western Caucasus, being the completion of his
Travels in Circassia, 2 vols. Bvo., with plates, 28s. bound. 8.
Mr. Bennett's Pedestrian Tour through North Wales in
1837, 1 vol. Bvo., with 20 etchings by A. Clint, 18s. bound.
9. Mrs. Gere's Rose Fancier's Manual, 1 vol., bound, 10s.
6d. 10. Random Recollections of the Lords and Commons,
second series, by the author of " The Bench and the Bar,"
&c., 2 vols. post Bvo., 245. ; and 11. The new and cheaper
edition, with additions, of Mrs. Jameson's Memoirs of the
Beauties of the Court of Charles 11., comprising
a series of
21 splendid portraits, engraved by the most distinguished
artists, now complete in six parts, price 7s. 6d. each (either of
which may be had separately), or in two vols. bound.
DUTY AND INCLINATION.—It is very gratifying
to those who duly estimate and admire the character of English
females, to observe that almost every work which issues from
the press, having for its object to improve the mind and culti-
vate the best affections of the heart, is the production of a
woman's pen. The new novel of " Duty and Inclination" is
another delightful and interesting addition to the number of
these proofs, that in no other country of the world does the
female character obtain and deserve so marked an influence en
the condition and prospects of that society of which it forms at
once the most important feature and the most admired orna-
ment. This charming novel is edited by Miss Landon.
On Saturday morning Mr. Mumford, landlord of
the Golden Anchor, in Coppice-row, Clerkenwell, died under
very afflicting and extraordinary circumstances. Abut a fort-
night ago a gentleman called upon him, and, without any in-
troductory observation, told him—wrongfully too—that one of
his ( Mr. Mumford's) children, which was in the country, had
breathed its last. A few days 'previously Mr. Mumford had
seen his child, which was in the enjoyment of excellent health,
and the shock had such an effect upon his hitherto iron frame
that he fell senseless. He was removed in that state to bed,
and medical aid was speedily in attendance, and in the course
of a few hours reason was restored. He, however, never got
up again ; a disease unknown'to, and which baffled the skill of
two of the oldest physicians belonging to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, and other eminent men, ensued, and reduced him to
a skeleton before he ceased to breathe. The child alluded
to, which was at the time mentioned very unwell, hag since
recovered.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1838