The Sun.
London, England, 1836-07-07 00:00:00

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his Majesty, praying( him to consent that Peers sl-pa, b
henceforth elected by a 5/. or 10/. rabble. HiSMajt !St,
says "No." Even the bland church despoiler, Lan I.T
Russell, has pledged himself to resist O'Connell's mot; me
and, therefore, not merely to vote against it hi mself, 'to
advise his Majesty to reject the prayee of a petiiits
tl
founded on it. What next ? A message to tilts
Hawse of Lords, reresting that their Lordships v iii
be pleti§esi to abstain henceforth from the dise!iarge
trf
any legislatitos er judicial :functions, save only such of
them as shall hats been elected by the above-men-
tioned Si. rabble, or any other rabble made into con-
stituency for that especial purnose, but without the
sanction of an Act of Parliament, and solely by virtue
of a House of Commons' vote ! The Lords, if the.;
condescend to answer, will be apt to do so, like lraa
Majesty, by the monosyllable " No. They wits
be apt to go on as they have done hereteore, in the
regular and lawful discharge of their senatOlial duties.
Will the Commons deny their right ? Will the Com-
mons, existing under the monarchical constitu,lion, re-
sist the exercise of that right by the Peers as created
or summoned for 800 years by virtue of the h'oyal
prerogative? We apprehend not. Then the King refu3es
—the Peers refuse—three hundred Conservatives in the
House of Commons refuse to annihilate the House of
Lords, as a legislative body, deriving its existence from
the Crown, and its functions from the law of Par-
liarbent- and the unwritten as well as written law of
England. What next ? The revolutionary section
of the House of Commons, gaining, by some accident,
a temporary majority in that body, proceed to vote-
their own resolutions into laws. But who will obey
such laws ? The people of England ? There is not
a town even of the newly manufactured Corporations
which would not order such treasonable and rebel-
lious documents to be burnt by the common :eangman.
There is not a borough, however contemptible, that
would not send to the treadmill any servant or com-
missioner of the usurping faction who should dare to
promulgate their decrees, as laws of the realm. Let
our friends of the Radical side of the House be
assured, that in its last and worst days the Long Par-
liament was not more detested, nor the Barebones
Parliament more despised, than would be any division or
proportion, however large, of the existing or any other
House of Commons, for an attempt to deprive the laws
:Yid liberties of England of the guardianship exerciser
over :
Iteni both by the hereditary peera, o I.thc
em-
pire.
L"w and mean tyrantS, when they have the ad-
ditional grace'o-
of being usurpers, are , intolerable in the
eyes of Englishren• But we did not mean to talk
etched device of one who wants-
gravely about this wli.-
only courage to be a retie 1.- The House of Lords will
flourish "great and free " lo." a after the crimes of this
mischievous brawler shall hat;e el'een obliterated from
public recollection. Should 'he mi. venture to realize
this mountebank demonstration against:' the legislative
authority of the Peerage, he will bring the valour and
wisdom of official Whiggery to one other test- Lord
John has pledged himself . to an ostensible re-
sistance. We recommend all capable obser\'ers to
watch the words of the manoeuvring leader o! the
House of Commons on this occasion, and his sub Se-
quent proceedings connected with it. We shall be at-
tentive to the phrases, full of puling dissatisfaction
with the House of Lords, with which the Whig leader
attempts to mollify O'Connell's rage at the Ministerial.
opposition to his attack upon their Lordships, and shall
keep a shrewd watch upon that abuse of patronage by •
which the Home Secretary's journeyman, Lord'
Mul-
arave will be afterwards directed to bribe the Agitator
into a forgiveness of the insult. Let the matter end as'
it may, the Ministerial clique, with its inexorable mas-
ter, have plenty of work cut out for them.—Times.
When we made such remarks, on Tuesday last,
upon General Evans's order of the day, as that atroci-
ous production called for, we spoke with doubt as to
the genuineness of the document of which our Corres-
pondent had sent us that copy translated from the
Spanish, which was published in the Morning Herald
of the preceding day. The notice which Sir Robert
Peel took of this subject in the House of Commons
on the evening of the day when our remarks appeared,
has had the effect of clearing away the doubt, and we
think it may now be taken, upon the admission of
Lord Palmerston, that the order of the day of which
we published the copy is authentic. We herd; hoped,
for the honour of the English character, that it was an
impudent 'fabrication of some Spanish impostor, who
wished to make it be believed that the cold-blooeled
cruelties and murders of Christino and Carlist war!are
were sanctioned by British example. Sir R. Peel,
noticing the document, expressed, as we did, a doubt
of its being authentic ; butswhat did Lord Palmerston
say ? "He had seen the document alluded to ; 'and
if the Right Hon. Baronet questioned him as a Minister
of the Crown, he had no information to give respecting
it ; for as such he could not possess any ; but if he was
asked, as an individual, whether that order had been is-
sued, he was bound to say he believed such order had been
issued." This, then, removes the doubt, and fixes
disgrace where it ought to be. We cannot avoid
particepating in the belief expressed by Lord Palmer-
ston, iteat a British subject, acting the pare of a mer-
cenary 5,,,,b1ier in Spain, has dared to publish a decree
of death again St tidier British subjects who may choose
:
to enlist in the
~,anks of the party to whom he is op-
posed. It requires all the audacity of modern libe-
ralism to issue such .
an edict. It :will require still
greater intrepidity to p:lt it into execution. It is
true Lord Palmerston the' tight proper to add that
" no order emanating from' a General in foreign
service could be looked upon a: an interpretation of
the laws of Great Britain." Real)); if General Evans
as an intcpretation of the
meant his order of the day
laws of Great Britain, be must be a most learnedpundit ,
;—his knowledge of those laws must have
been acquired from some recondite source. of .know-
ledge not easily accessible to mere lassyers: He
has shewn his knowledge of the science of war' to so
much purpose since he went to Spain, that we do not
wonder at his endeavouring to obtain distinction its a
new line. Should he only carry into effect his °wilt
law of high treason, he is likely in time to become an
exalted professor, whose fame as an executioner will
long outlive the memory of his martial achievements.
When we published exclusively on a former occasion
that Carlist decree which announced death against fo-
reiau mercenaries taken with arms in their hands,
Lord Melbourne was questioned in the House of Peers
as to whether the document was a genuine one; he ex-
pressed his belief that it was a forgery, and appeared to
feel great horror at the notion of putting prisoners to
death, although they
were foreigners, who hired their-
selves out at so much a day to shoot and bayonet
p,eele with whose quarrels they had no sort of concern -
whatme, We condemned that decree, although we
could not but adwit that Don Carlos only imitated the
example of cruelty which was taught him ;:y his enemies.
Dal Lord Palmerston, when he disavowed his pac,;i-
cipation, as a Minister, in the guilt and responsibility
of Evans's act, express any horror at the barbarity of
the order.? If he did, no report of it has reached the
public. Leta,,:place before the public eyes once more
the important part oi that order---here it is :
The Commander-in-Oil:et' deems it expedient to re-
mind the troops, that Ili the leg,ioo is ns'w acting in concert
with the English Royal Marines, all British subjects who
shall he found with arms in hand, aiding er assisting the
insurgents, will be considered as rebels to his Majes y
t the
King of England, and liable to the penalty of dezth, which
tliey shall undergo, agreeably to the English laws, in the
event of their being. made pri'soners." . •
When our Foreign Secretary told the Linuse of Coo-
-1 mons that no proclamation of a General in foreign ser-
vice could be considered as an interpretation of British
law, did lie condscend to tell his auditory what the lam
really -is? Being a Minister, if ignorant of the law him•
self, he could command the opinion of the law officers.,
I of the Crown. Now, without Consulting such high an-
thorities, we have no hesitation in repeating, what we
aisseited in the first instance, that if General Evaus
should have the folly anal wickedness to act upon hia
own proclamation, and put a single British subject to
death, under the circumstances to which that pocla-
!nation refers, be will render himself liable to be in.
dieted for murder on his return to this country ; and
should the charge be brought home to him in evidenee,
nothinu hut the passing of Mr. A • Will
gion )s I can
obtain `for him the necessary time for reflection and re-
pentance. We said, when we first noticed this sub-
ject, that if General Evans acted in pursuance of
instructions from Lord Palmerston, and, in conformity
with the sanguinary procianiation, put any British
subject to death, his Lordship would thereby become

-"Mr' 77