The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The infamous conduct of the Tories with respect
to the Irish Corporations Reform Bill will be under-
stood and properly appreciated by the country. It is
not so long since the memorable discussion took place
on the English Bill, that the public can have forgot-
ten the apparent earnestness with which this party tame
forward to protect existing rights—to stand up for the
inviolability of charters, and to brand, through the
mouths of their principal organs, any infringement
upon the privileges of freemen—anv alteration, even,
in the mode by which corporate property was ad-
ministered, as spoliation and robbery. The vices
and defects of the old system were then to be ten-
derly dealt with, and the policy was to make as
little alteration as possible in existing institutions.
How different is the plan pursued by this desperate
faction with respect to the present Bill ? Now no-
thing short of universal confiscation—nothing short of
entire abolition and destruction of the whole muni-
cipal system—will satisfy our " Conservative " re-
formers. The whole corporations of Ireland are pro-
posed by the Peels and Stanleys to be swept away—
their property taken possession of by Commissioners
appointed by the Crown ! Here is wholesale spolia-
tion—here is invasion of charters, and abrogation of
vested and time-honoured rights, with a vengeance !
And why is so different a system attempted to be pur-
sued with regard to the two islands ? Why is an
ultra-Conservative policy adhered to in England, and
an ultra-revolutionary one in Ireland ? The whole and
sole secret, imprudently divulged by Lord Stanley, is,
that the majority of the Irish people are Roman Catho-
lics. So that the towns are to be deprived of the bene-
fits of self-government, and the administration of their
property taken from them into the hands of the Crown,
because of their theological opinions. Was there ever
so great an insult, involving at the same time so
great an absurdity ? Sir Robert Peel introduced
the long-contested Bill which admitted Catholics to
Parliament, and Lord Stanley the great measure
which gave the franchise and the Parliamentary
power to the small householders, without distinction of
sect or party. The bulk of the population was Ca-
tholic then as it is now, and there is not an argument
which was adduced in favour of these measures which
does not apply, and that with greater force, to the con-
cession of Municipal privileges. Yet so desperate is
this " Conservative" party, and so determined to in-
dulge at all hazards their factious opposition to the Go-
vernment and to Reform, that, finding it utterly im-
possible to defend the present system, they have
chosen to insult the whole people of Ireland by a
proposition which stigmatises them as unworthy of
trust, and unfit to manage the local affairs of their
respective boroughs. And this is the way that they
pretend to preserve the Union, and to fulfil the condi-
tions implied in that sacred compact ! But the object
of the whole proceeding is too obvious, and the fac-
tious motives that prompted it too glaring, to make it
possible that the country should be deceived by so silly
a manoeuvre. The people of England are desirous
that the benefits of their institutions should be parti-
cipated in by Ireland, and they will never go along
with this miserable attempt to deprive their Irish bre-
thren of their municipal rights—an attempt which will
redound to the discredit of the party by whom the
abortive effort has been made. The question is, in
short, simply this :—As it is quite impossible that the
Irish Roman Catholics should be satisfied with a dis-
tinction which implies an inferiority to their Protes-
tant brethren of England and Scotland, and an utter
unfitness to conduct their own affairs, are we prepared
to continue the system of coercion which has produced
so much misery in Ireland, and entailed so heavy a
burden on this, kingdom ; or are we ready to unite cor-
dially with our Irish brethren, and renounce all those
invidious distinctions to which they cannot voluntarily
submit, and to maintain which must cause the misery
of Ireland, the impoverishment of the rest of the
United Kingdom, and the weakness and insecurity of
the whole empire ?—Morning Chronicle.
The attempt now making to substitute an elective
Magistracy for their appointment by the responsible
advisers of the Crown, while it holds out no rational
advantage whatever, is open to many serious, and, in-
deed, fatal objections. Some persons quote the Aldermen
of London as an instance in its favour ; but as well as
regards the administration of justice, and still more the
application of large revenues intrusted to their charge, it
may very reasonably be doubted whether the instance does
not operate rather the other way. But whatever may be
thought of civic functionaries thus elected, that the county
Magistracy should be revolutionised from the ranks, and
at the dictation of the Radical vestries, or by vestries, be
they Radical or not, is a step towards " the movement"
which even our present Ministers, prone as they
are to yield to any " pressure from without," will
be slow, we should think, to yield to. To look for
faultless institutions is generally either the dream or the
pretence of those who are most faulty themselves. Taken
as a whole, in all its bearings, the unpaid Magistracy of
England is one of the most valuable institutions which ever
distinguished a free State. Taken in every county from
the independent and intelligent classes of society, it brings
justice and protection home to every man's door ; and look-
ing at the number of persons of whom it is composed, and
the numerous and frequently intricate and perplexing duties
which they have to perform, there never, we are persuaded,
was any class of public functionaries of whose conduct so
little complaint has ever been made. It may have been
the case in some few instances, and, perhaps, in that of
the metropolitan county, that the best and most careful
selection of individuals for the county Magistracy has not
always been made. It may be true, too, that in the ex-
penditure of the county rate the greatest care and eco-
nomy have not always been observed. Still, as a whole,
we would repeat, that it has proved itself the most beneficial
and the least faulty of any institution that this or any other
country has ever possessed. But it would be improved,
forsooth, were it to exchange its present character of tern.
perance and justice to become a hot-bed of Radicalism.
Of all the evils which could be inflicted upon the country,
a red-hot political Magistracy would be one of the greatest.
The complaints among these would-be regenerators of the
county Magistracy is, that the Lords Lieutenant are all
Tories, and appoint none but persons of their own political
feeling to the Commission. Now both these statements are
literally untrue. The Lords Lieutenant are not all Tories,
nor, where they are so, have the Magistrates been invari-
ably singled out for their political opinions. In the very
county of which the Duke of Wellington is the Lord Lieu-
tenant the fact is decidedly otherwise. That the majority
of the Alagistrates of all the counties in England are of
Conservative principles, is, we have no doubt, perfectly
true ; and for this plain reason, because the great majority
of the gentlemen of property in England are Conservatives.
Of Whigs there are doubtless a considerable number ; but
of Radicals and Destructives there can be very few indeed,
unless we were to suspect the gentlemen of England of
courting their own destruction. Whatever defects then
there may be in the present constitution of the unpaid Ma-
gistracy, they are not likely to be corrected by the species
of nomination now recommended ; and unless Ministers are
prepared to surrender, " bit by bit," every prerogative of
the Crown, they must at least pause, we should think, be-
fore they surrender its character of the fountain of justice.—
Morning Herald.
It is announced by the Government journals that Dr.
Maltby, the Whig and latitudinarian Bishop of Chichester,
is to be the Bishop of Durham, and that Dr. Langley, the
Head Master of Harrow Scool, will be elevated to the See
of Chichester. We have never heard any doubt expressed
of the fitness of Dr. Langley for the important station from
which be is about to be removed. And, from this circum-
stance, we infer with great satisfaction that the latter ap-
pointment is a good one. As to Dr. Maltby, we shall con-
tent ourselves with repeating the words which we heard fall
from a good Conservative a few days ago, when the name of
Dr. Grey, the Bishop of Hereford, was mentioned in
his presence in connection with the vacant see of Durham :
--" I wish they may do no worse." We now say, we
wish that Ministers had not done worse than appoint Dr.
Grey. But this Right Rev. Prelate, since his elevation to
the Episcopal Bench, has shown that he is a sincere and
resolute friend to the Church—an excellent reason with
the men now in power against his further advancement.
It is to be hoped that Dr. Maltby, as he has now attained
to the top of his preferment, will become somewhat less lax
and accommodating in his principles and conduct than he
has thought expedient while in the position of a candidate.
The Bishppric of Durham is to be reformed, as we learn
from Mr. S. Rice, in conformity with the forthcoming re-
port of the Church Commission. The' change in the See
must be great, indeed, if it equals that which has unhap-
pily taken place in the character of the Diocesan.--ilforn-
ing Post.

HENRY V.—A French morning paper of Friday
states that the Duke of Bordeaux is seriously ill. The Ales-
sager adds, that from the intelligence received by that journal,
there is reason to believe this account to be correct, as the
young Prince is subject to spitting of blood in a very dan-
gerous degree.