The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-25 00:00:00

THE SUN„ LONDON, THURSDA_Y, FEBRUARY 25, 1841.

Members in the nomination ofthe gentry. The people of
Ireland were uneducated. The Noble Lord should recol-
lect this when he attempted to take the franchise away.
Did the Noble Lord when he issued the Education Com-
mission for Ireland, despite the howl which had been raised
against it from Caithness to Exeter, forget the identity
between knowledge and pow- r ? Did he thiok be could
confine the education of the Irish people to the mere ele-
ments of letters ?—( Cheers.) The people of Ireland knew
their rights—the people of Leland knew the history of
their country's sufferings—the people of Ireland
knew by what means Catholic Emancipation lied been ob.
tained—( Loud cheers):—and they knew that those means
could be again resorted to if the necessity should arise.
The people of Ireland knew that after Catholic Emancipa-
tion the Tories had relapsed into their former courses.--
(Cheers.) They knew that after the granting Municipal
Reform to England and Semi ind they had r_ifused it to
Ireland.—( Cheers. ) They knew the history of the
Spottiswoode gang—(Loud cheers)—and t.f that hist-e-y
the Noble Lord's Bill was the postscript.--( Loud and
long continued cheering.) They knew the Noble Lord,
and they f It that it was. necessary to force him, not only
to raise the seine, but to prom); him again at-
tacking them. They knew the Noble Lord well
—it was a pity the knowledge was not re-
ciprocal, or the Noble Lord would feel that he
would net with impunity be allowed to pursue his course.
Let them look at the effect which the Noble Lord tied
already produced by bringing forward the question. A
year ago Ireland was tranquil, there was nu agitation;
the question of repeal was not mooted; suddenly the
Noble Lord's Bill is brought forward, and the whole
country i; thrown into confusion.—( Hear, hear.) He
well remembered the warning given by the Hon. Mem-
ber for Drogheda to the Hon. Baronet, that if he came into
office upon this Bill, he must govi rn Irelend by some other
weapon than public opini n; and he implored the Right
Hon. Baronet, if he had the power, to stop the Noble Lord
in his mad course. If he came in cm such a principle, those
normel schools of agitation would be thrown open—the
representatives of the people thrown out by the Bill of the
Noble Lord would find some piece of fearful gathering,
and a confederacy of four-fold the sower would be raised
to that before which his prudence quailed before._
(Cheers.) He was greatly struck by a question put at
the beginning of the session by the Noble Lord to the
Noble Sccretsry for Foreign Affairs. He then thought his
mind was engaged on something more important than the de-
struction of the Irish franchise—it was a must delicate
question. But was net the Noble Lord afraid that the
agitation would be carried farther than Irelend ; that it
might be carried across the Atlantic, amongst those
faithful Irish who had been so loyal in
times of great difficulty ? Was he not
afraid that they might sympathise with their insulted
countrymen, and their loyalty become lees chivalrous than
it had been ? Turning to events nearer home, he said at
once that any outbreak on the part of his countrymen
would be to him utter ruin—he did not speak in
menace, but was it not monstrowe that while
France was arming, they we•e disfranchising—while
France was raising ramparts, they were undermining the
great moral bulwarks which bound Ireland to this coun-
try.—(Cheers.) He feared no invasion—what he feared
was, that great majestic England would not be able to main-
tain that high station to which she had been raised by a
statesman—that, divided at home, and excited, and en.
gaged, and crippled by Irish agitation, she might be com-
pelled to recede from the majestic position she now occu-
pied. —( Oh, oh.) It would be a sorry compensation for
them to say, that although foreign Cabinets have not been
baffled, they bed managed to put down Irish agitation
—that they had succeeded in putting under coercion
Popish multitudes—that they obtained verdicts from
martial Juries, and that their ensenguined banners were
floating over the towers of Dublin Castle.--( Cheers. )
The debate was then adjourned.
-The other Orders of the Day were than disposed of,
and the House adjourned at One o'Clock.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS.

COMMITTEES ON PRIVATE BILLS
APPOINTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF SELECTION.

1. York and North Midland Railway Approaches Bill, referred to
to Mr. Bernal, Mr. John Dundas, and Mr. J. H. Lowther.
2. York and London Assurance Company Bill, referred to Mr.
Bernal, Lord E. Bruce, and Mr. John Parker.
3. Preston and Longrielge Railway Bill, referred to Mr. Bernal,
. Sir Hesketh Fleetwood, and Mr. Townley Parker.
The meeting of the Committees on the above Bills is fixed for
Thursday, March 4, at One o'clock.

NOTICES GIVEN AT THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE.
Tuesday, 23d February, 1841.
1. Metropolis Improvements—Committee rest ecting Standing Or.
ders, Monday, March 8.
2,4001111 amt Crosby Road—Committee on Petition, postponed
From r iday, Febreary 26, till Thursday, March 4.
3. Great Norwood InclZsure—Committee on Petition, March 8.
4. Shotts and Wilsontown Railway—Committee on Petition, poet.
poned from Monday, March 1. till Wednesday, March 3.
5. Middlesex Sessions—Committee on Petition, adjourned 1.1
Friday, February 25.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM TDB EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
(From the Standard.)
The adjourned debate on Lord Morpeth's Irish Re-
gistration Bill was resumed last evening by Mr. Young.
It is possible, but hardly probable, that it will terminate
to-night. An ordinary Ministerial majority in favour
of the Bill would, however, not secure the adoption of
that feature which constitutes, in fact, its real
principle, the .5/. clause; although, if the division be
its
parts Ministers, the extinction of the Bill in all
parts is certain. No one is more entirely aware than Lord
Morpeth himself that the .5/. franchise clause cannot
possibly be carried. It will, however, have served the turn
of the Government with Irish and English mobs, as a
manifesto of their liberality ; and having accomplished the
object of an electioneering clap-trap, will be as quietly
abandoned as was the appropriation tack to their Irish
Tithe Bill. But the Irish people are, we are told, fa-
vourable to the proposed measure, and as a proof that
they are, Lord Morpeth presented last night a petition
from Ireland, professing to be signed by 200,000 per-
sons in its f.vour. If universal suffrage be held out as
a probability (and there is no saying what measure
may next claim the support of Government, should
Lord Morpeth's Bill be entertained), we have no doubt
that petitions much more numerously signed will pour in
upon the House in favour of that measure. But
petitions from Ireland in behalf of a Bill in which the
lowest classes arc almost as directly intcrestsd,
are of such easy manufacture, that Mr. O'Con-
nell has only to issue the order and the thing
is immediately accomplished. We should like
to compare the respectability and intelligence of
the 90,000 inhabitants of Ulster, who signed the
petition presented last night by Sir Robert Bateson,
with the one professing to contain more than double
the number of names, which was laid upon the table of
the House with so much parade by Lord Morpeth ;
and having winnowed the chaff from the grain, to show
which is entitled to the gravest consideration.
(From the Globe.)
Whether Ireland shall possess an electoral franchise
worthy to be designated " popular," or, the voter be
fettered by restrictions, and driven from court to court
' by ingeniously devised objections, until he resigns in
despair what he cannot attain without difficulty or ex-
, ercise without danger—this question was again the
subject of discussion in the House of Commons last
night, when the debate on Lord Morpeth's Bill was
resumed. This is the real question in issue. It may
be tortured by ingenuity, and glossed over by sophistry ;
the " worse may be made to appear the better reason"
by the employment of arts which dishonesty cultivates
for the attainment of its ends ; but, divested of their
extraneous parts, and resolved into the simple ele-
ments on which their potency for good or evil
essentially depend, the two measures now before
Parliament, (the adoption of the one involving
the rejection of the other,) present the alterna-
tive we bare stated. The one secures to the
honest voter the exercise of electoral rights based on a
clearly-defined franchise, while it guards that franchise
from invasion by those who endeavour to acquire a pri-
vilege to which they have no valid claim ; the other
leaves the franchise undefined, and the voter to the
chances of whether the Judge to whom he appeals against
the ever-varying decision of Assistant Barristers, he
one of the majority or minority of the Bench ;
the Judges themselves being nearly equally divided in
opinion as to the construction of the franchise in a vast
number of instances. In addition to this disreputable state
of the law, which produces painful uncertsinty and inflicts
extensive injury on the voter who appeals to the Judge, the
Bill of Lord Stanley surrounds the voter with increased
difficulties in the earliest stages of his progress to the regis-
try ; and, under the pretence of placing obstructions
in the path of the corrupt claimant, perplexes the
man whose qualification is valid by the number
of preliminary proofs—larrasses him with personal
attendances to remove quibbling objections taken
by the agents of political opponents—and subjects
him to heavy costs if, by the omission of any one
of the numerous legal proofs which the Bill of
Lord Stanley requires him to adduce, be fails to
substantiate the claim he has honestly put in to be
admitted as to the registry. With a clearness of
perception and felicity of expression which render bis
speech one of the most valuable which has been deli-
vered during the discussion, Mr. Macaulay last night
defined the distinguishing feature of the rival measures ;
exbibitiog the deformity and insidious purpose of the
one, and placing in strong contrast to its odious and re-
pulsive character, the just principle and efficient ma.
cbinery of the other.

MONEY MA.RKEtand CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.
TIMES.—The premium on gold at Paris is 4i per mile,
which, at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. 100. per ounce
for standard gold, gives an exchange of 25. 26, and the ex-
change at Paris on London at short being 25. 32k, it follows
that gold is 0.26 per cent. dearer in London than in Paris.
By advices from Hamburgh the price of gold is 424 per mark,
which, at the English Mint price of 31. 17s. 10d per ounce
for standard gold, gives an exchange of 13.41, and the exchange
at Hamburgh on London at short being 13.5 k, it follows that
gold is 0.53 per cent, dearer in London than in Hamburgh._
The public -securities were agaiir inactive, but the Value of
those of the English market improved a shade prior to the close
of business. The jobbers are now in a measure occupied with
the arrangement of their accounts for the Consol settlement,
which takes place on the 25th inst. ; and although money is a
little more in demand, it is nevertheless easy at from 3 to 4
per cent.

- A number of resolutions relative to the report on import. du-
ties were passed at a late meeting of the Glasgow Chamber of
Commerce and Manufactures. These were to the effect that
although the present system of import duties might be simpli-
fied with great advantage, it was necessary to observe much
caution in modifying or repealing duties affecting such
branches of commerce or manufacture as have long enjoyed
special protection. The idea was, that evidence as yet afforded
on the subject was partial and incomplete ; indeed so much so,
as to render it expedient to resume the inquiry ; and while the
propriety of regulating the tariff, so as to produce the
highest revenue from the lowest duty, was admitted, it was con-
sidered expedient to maintain differential duties in favour of
British manufactures, domestic and colonial agriculture, and
fisheries. As for the tropical colonies, it is observed that the
peculiar circumstances in which they have been placed by re-
cent social changes render any alteration of duties, by which
their productions would be affected, inexpedient at the pre-
sent time, while it is also desirable that all restrictions upon
their trade and intercourse, both with foreign nations and
amongst themselves, be removed. The concluding resolution
was for embodying the whole in petitions to be presented to
both Houses of Parliament, praying for the appointment of
Committees to conduct an impartial inquiry into the import
duties.

CHRONICLE.—The business in the English funds to-day
was principally in connexion with the settlement of the Ac-
count, which takes place on Thursday.
A further slight improvement took place in the rates of the
Continental Exchanges to-day, and the supply of bills contin-
ues rather to improve. The expectations announced it, our
City article yesterday, regarding the probable influx of gold
into the country consequent upon the more healthy state of the
exchanges, and the increase in our exports, are likely to be
realized. Gold, although in small quantities, has, in fact, for
the last two or three weeks been finding its way back to the
Bank coffers, and if the Directors do not feel themselves at
liberty to support prices by any expansive action on the cur-
rency, we have little ground to apprehend that they will now
be operating as sellers on the Stock Exchange. During the
sitting of the Committee on Banks of Issue, they must be cau-
tious, being put upon their trial ; but we trust they will not
find themselves called upon to damp the rising appearances of
better times.

A letter has been received froi the agent of the bondholders
in Chili, intimating that the Government had remitted funds
to pay the next dividend on the capital of the bonds. It is
worthy of remark that the Chilian Government couple with
their rejected offers of compromise for the arrears a condi-
tion that they ehall be allowed to raise a new European loan.
It was stipulated, we believe, by the contract for the existing
loan that no new one should be entered upon until a fourth
part N‘ as paid off.

'he half-yearly meeting of the Proprietors of
the General Steam Navigation Company, was held on
Tuesday at the office of that Corporation, 69, Lombard-
street, and was numerously and respectably attended.
The chair was taken by Wolverley Attwood, Esq., M. P.,
at two o'clock precisely, when a Report from the Direc-
tors was read, from which it was collected that the opera-
tions of the past year had been attended n ith success, and
that the affairs generally were in a course of prosperous
advancement. Full explanations were entered into upon
various points interesting to the Proprietors, and appeared
to afford much satisfaction. It was resolved that a consi-
derable sum should be approptiated towards the cost of
two large steam-ships of 650 and 900 tons, now building.
by, Messrs. Green, Wigrams, and Greens, and the cus-
tomary dividend and bonus were declared. The cordial
thanks of the Proprietors were voted to the Chairman and
Directors, whose exertions were spoken of in very com-
plimentary terms, and the meeting then separated.
SALE OF BEER LICENSES.—It appears from
a return made by Mr. Cottrell, the General-Accountant,
that there has been a decrease of 3,214 in the number of
licenses issued last year as compared with the previous
year. From the 22d August to the sth January, 1840,
the number of country licenses issued for the sale of' beer
to be consumed on the premises, at 31. 3s. each, 'was
16,277; London licences 640 ; total 16,917. For the
same period in 1840-41, the number (including town and
country) was 14,137 ; decrease 2,780. The number of
licenses for the sale of beer not to be consumed on the
premises, at IL Is. each, for the first-mentioned period
(including town and country) was 2,459, and for the
second 2,025 ; decrease 434.

REPRESENTATION OF MANCHESTEB.--We
understand that the Manchester Tories are making the Most
active preparations for contesting the representation of this
borough, in case of an early dissolution of Par-
liament. Encouraged by what they consider a division
amongst the Liberal party, they talk of bringing for-
ward two candidates, namely, Sir George Murray and
Richard Entwisle, Esq. (the son-in-law of :Edward
Loyd, Esq.) We hope, however, that the Reformers will
neither allow themselves to be weakened by divisiOns, nor
their cause to be ruined by supineness and indifference.
With proper exertions they can certainly defeat their op-
ponent', whether with one candidate or two.—Mtehester
Guardian.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Ely, accom.
panic -I by the Lords Augustus and Adam Loftus aid Lady
Anna Loftus, left Ely Lodgo, Fermanagh, on Wednesday
last, for this country, 'intending to make several visits in
their route., The Noble Marquis and Marobion sit, who
have taken Sir John and Lady Shells 's mango in Bel,
Ili
grave-square, give a series of splendid parties immediately
after their arrival in town.
KING'S COUNTY ELECTION.--.The CORIeSI is
now proceeding, the Liberals are prepared, and thins will
-3090 f •
be a •clear majority. for Mr. 411311000?