The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-16 00:00:00

PRIVY COUNCIL.

On Monday next her MAJESTY will hold a Privy
Council, for the purpose of settling the Royal Speech
on opening the session of Parliament on the following
clay. The summonses for this Council were issued
to-day.

The great meeting of the nobility, gentry, and
landed proprietors of Ireland, which took place on
Thursday last, must awaken the most lively feelings
of pleasure and gratification in the mind of every one
desirous of the well-being and prosperity of the
sister kingdom. The monster grievance of
Ireland the mutual distrust and jealousy
that has so long unhappily prevailed amongst
her children—was for once completely vanquished.
No trace of its existence could be discovered;
persons of all shades and varieties of political feeling,
of all creeds and parties, were to be seen cooperating
together, and carrying on their proceedings in the
most harmonious manner, goodwill and fellow-
ship prevailed on every side, former animosities
were forgotten, feuds were reconciled, and
the only Contest appeared to be which could
labour most zealously in behalf of Irc -
land. As the Noble Chairman truly said, " they were
assembled together as Irishmen, on Irish grounds,
for Irish objects; their sole object was the good cf
their common country, and the hatchet of political
animosity was buried for that day at least." Let us
hope that it may never again be raised from the tomb
to which it has been so consigned, but that henceforth
the calmut of peace may occupy its place, and that
there may be an end of
"Civil dissension, with its viperous tooth,
That gnaws the bowels of the common wealth."
The most gratifying part of the proceedings was
the perfect unanimity that prevailed. No word was
uttered, no sentiment expressed that could have
given offence to the most fastidious ; the mere sugges-
tion that the pressing any point might, by a possi-
bility, occasion a difference of opinion, was sufficient
to ensure its immediate withdrawal. Every one of
the resolutions submitted to the meeting were
unanimously carried, and the assembly separated,
having passed all the resolutions prepared for adop-
tion by the committee.
The exclusion of the 'press, on which we have
already commented, was most properly abandoned,
and the sanction of the meeting was given to the
full publication of the proceedings. This is as it
ought to be—a good cause should never seek conceal-
ment, should never shun the light. If the resolutions
are good in themselves they will bear the freest dis-
cussion, the most rigid investigation. Any restric-
tion on the press carries with it prima facie evidence
of something wrong or defective in that which is sought
to be suppressed. We are happy to find that the
committee discovered their error in good time, and
that they candidly acknowledged it, and acted in
obedience to their better judgment. It is a good
thing when public men are thus ready to retrace their
footsteps, when convinced of the propriety of doing
so; it affords a propitious augury that they will be
open to reason and argument, and will not adhere
with blind obstinacy to any hastily conceived opinions.
The first resolution proposed was that last
adopted by the committee. It was in support
of the formation of an Irish party, and contained
a strong appeal to the representatives of the coun-
try to co-operate together cordially in Parlia-
ment, and to unite in advocating such measures as
may appear calculated to raise the social, material, '
and moral condition of the people, to save
society from the ruin by which all classes
in the land are now threatened, and to pre-
serve the property of the country from confis-
cation : this was proposed by Mr. GEORGE ALEX.
HAMILTON and seconded by Mr. O'CoNNELL, in short
and pithy speeches, indeed there were no long-winded
orations indulged in during the day. The speakers
seemed to have adopted for their motto,

" Acta non verbs,"

and thus exhibited a stronger proof of the sin-
cerity of their determination. It was on this
resolution that the only cloud that appeared
to threaten the harmony of the day appeared. Mr.
OSBORNE, we think very injudiciously, asked whether
the Irish party would pledge itself to oppose the
Government if it refused to adopt some practical
measure for the relief of the people. He, however,
immediately withdrew the question on its impropriety
being pointed out by Mr. MOUNSELL. Mr. OSBORNE
is an Englishman, representing an English con-
stituency, so that the indiscretion did not pro-
ceed from any Irishman. It is, however, but
justice to Mr. OSBORNE to say that he has fully and
entrely identified himself with the country of his
adoption, and in which he is now the proprietor of
extensive estates, and that none of her children can
be more devoted to her interests, more anxious for
her welfare, or desirous of her prosperity,
than he has shown himself to be. He has
laboured indefatigably for the formation of
an Irish party, and he has seen the call re-
sponded to in amannermotshtat
sacnougludinsec.arceAlylrehaadvye
been hoped for by the
nearly 80 Peers, and representatives of the people
have enrolled themselves, have acknowledged their
former errors, and pledged themselves to mutual
o concessions and to unity of action, so far as the
affairs of Ireland are concerned. It is im-
possible to overrate the advantages of such
a combination, if judiciously pursued, and

if there is B 9 attempt to carry it to extraordinary

lengths, and to meddle with that which does not con-
cern it. Mr. OSBORNE'S suggestion, if adopted,
would at once have taken away the efficiency of such
a body, have marred their exertions, and have given
origin to counter-associations. They should elevate
Ireland to a full and perfect equality with England in
every respect ; but they should seek no further, nor
should they attempt to carry by their union any
questions not relating to their country exclusively.
The resolutions relating to temporary measures for
the immediate wants and exigencies of the country
were then proposed and carried unanimously in four
separate resolutions. A suggestion was made by Mr.
OSBORNE, in which we heartily concur, that it would
not be right to ask the Government for seed, but
that every landed proprietor should provide seeds for
his own tenantry. This is certainly the most manly
and straightforward way of meeting the difficulty. The
permanent measures were then put and also carried,
and we think the committee appear to have exercised
good discretion, as well in the points selected as in
those left untouched. We think they are better
chosen than the temporary measures, and less objec-
tionable. Some of the questions are certainly of a
doubtful character, but to the majority we give our
adhesion.

We are unable to advert to them snore fully this
day, but shall probably examine ere long the
several propositions in detail, and see how far they
are calculated to attain the desired objects—to pro-
mote the prosperity of their country, to direct its
surplus labour into beneficial channels, to develop its
capabilities, and lay open its bidden stores. We trust
they may do so. We can, however, have no fear for a
country whose inhabitants appear to be animated
with such a spirit as that which was universal on
Thursday ; and we must again congratulate our
sister kingdom on the result of that day's pro-
ceedings.

With a few amongst the representatives of the
people in the House of Commons it is the habit to
correspond periodically with their individual consti-
tuencies—the correspondence not being, however,
through the formality of epistle, but verbal, and even
conversational. By these annual understandings be-
tween the Members and their electors the agitation
for triennial Parliaments is so far rendered super-
fluous : the law with those constituencies does not ne-
cessitate the septennial nomination of a representative,
the duration of Parliament with them is virtually
restricted to twelvemonths. We honour this volun-
tary compact; it breathes the very spirit of independ-
ence, it is tantamount to rendering boroughmongering
an impossibility. Whenever any political change,
whether trivial or extraordinary, takes place in the
opinion of a Member accustomed to these timely tri-
bunals, he can make a clean breast of it to the men
who nominated him to his seat in the Legislative
Chamber at Westminster. A common understand-
ing is preserved between the electors and their repre-
sentatives at St. Stephen's; amidst all the vicissi-
tudes and fluctuations of political belief their views
are perpetually balanced; between them there can be
no appreciable discrepancy.
One of these Members is the Hon. Representative
of Sheffield, the Secretary of the Admiralty. Vacation
after vacation finds Mr. WARD in the Cutlers Hall
at Sheffield, " balancing accounts" with its citizens.
Hitherto the Hon. Gentleman has been enabled to
enter fully and minutely into a consideration of
every topic to which the popular attention was in
any manner directed. Hitherto he has found himself
at liberty to discuss the merits of the various
questions submitted to the consideration of the
Legislature, and even solicitous to explain
his views upon those questions in the plainest
language possible. On Thursday evening Mr.
Wean again appeared before his constituency, but
for the first time, since his election by that borough,
the Hon. Member touched, with a delicacy that
savoured almost of timidity, upon the different points
of social reform requiring the aid and supervision
of the Ministry. The reason for that deli-
cacy was obvious—it was more than obvious, it was
natural and honourable. Since the period of his last
public interview with his constituency, Mr. WARD
had accepted office, and hence, from his position, was
incapacitated from entering, as heretofore, into the
very pith and core of those matters, the examination
of whi,b, In a positive light, by one so situated,
would render him liable to compromise the
character and disposition of the Cabinet.
Nevertheless, while morally shackled by his
official engagements, Mr. WARD was enabled with
some adroitness to satisfy the curiosity of his au-
ditors upon many themes of the highest importance
and of the most immediate interest. His adroitness
in this respect almost amounts to diplomatic subtlety.
Without in any degree anticipating the disclosures of
the approaching session, the Hon. Member still sur-
veyed what is expressively termed the political horizon;
he indicated the broad course of liberalism, which the
present Administration was prepared to follow, and
enforced by his individual assurances the engage-
ments already made by the Prime Minister in the
Guildhall of London. On this account, therefore,
the observations delivered by Mr. WARD, on
Thursday evening, are peculiarly entitled to
attention and consideration. His address, which
is printed in another column, while it is the least
explicit ever addressed by himself to the electors of
Sheffield, is unquestionably the most satisfactory.
While it evinces a disinclination on the part of Mr.
WARD to avow his anxiety for particular measures
upon particular subjects, it is at the same moment most
propitious, from its being composed of generous and
propitious generalities. It is unnecessary to remark
that the Hon. Member for Sheffield was welcomed
by his constituency with that cordiality which his
independent and inflexible conduct as a reformer has
so fully merited for him since his entrance into the
Imperial Parliament.

Seeing that a merely garbled statement of the
correspondence (touching the Montpensier marriage)
between the several Ministers, Ambassadors, and
Charges d'Affaires of England and France, has yet
been officially published, we protest emphatically
against the premature deduction of inferences there-
from prejudicial to the character of the Noble Lord
at the head of the Foreign-office. It is neither con-
sistent with the generosity of honest journalism nor
with the love of candour inherent in the popular
mind, that the special pleading of a Cabinet so

notorious for its duplicity as is the Cabinet of the

Tuileries should be received as conclusive, and satis-
factory evidence against the rectitude of an ex-
perienced and honourable statesman like Lord PAL-
MERSTON. What, indeed, can be more derogatory to
the judgment of any individual or of any newspaper
than that pliability of opinion which can adapt itself
with readiness to the assertions uttered by any conti-

nental Government, however notorious. its dissimula.

Lon, or however flagrant its chicaneries ? Since the
nuptials of her Catholic MAJESTY and the INFANTA
were celebrated by the Archiepiscopal dignitary o
Madrid, the documents preliminary to that ceremony
have remained under corer of the Ministerial
portfolios, and the decision of the public, as
to the precaution or want of precaution
evinced by Lord PALMERSTON in this complicated
transaction, has been hitherto necessarily suspended.
Upon the assembling of the Peers and Deputies in
Paris, M. GuizoT, without any unnecessary procras-
tination, submitted that correspondence, or as much
of it as suited his purpose, to the inspection and deci-
sion of the latter. From the circumstance, of the
Parliamentary session in France preceding the Par-
liamentary session in England by several days, a very
appreciable advantage has been afforded to the Cabinet
of the Tuileries over the Cabinet of St. James's. M.
GUIZOT and his colleagues have thereby obtained a
priority of explanation. Without the risk of any im-
mediate contradiction, they have been enabled to pre-
judice the more credulous members of the communi-
ties in both countries by wilful mis-statements and
plausible prevarications. If it were merely for this
particular reason, it behoves every lover of justice and
plain dealing to delay the utterance of his opinion
until the opposite sides had delivered in its counter-
statements. There is an old English proverb—a
golden proverb—familiar in the nurseries of Young
England—but which appears to be altogether for-
gotten
at this moment—" Fair play's a jewel." Let
us, in the name of Common Decency, modulate our
judgment in accordance with the principle contained
in that fragment of the wisdom and probity of our
ancestors; let us still further suspend our decision in
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