The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-27 00:00:00

GEORGE CROPPER.

6. That this meet nth deeply sympathizes with Mr.
Hetherington in his confinement, and beg to assure him
that tley highly appieciam the upright and manly conduct
which has brought upon him the persecution of bigotry
and intolerance.

Moved by Mr. CHARLES WARD—Seconded by Mr. JOHN
NELSON—Supported by Mr. Louts MARovvsKr.

The petit on is- in course of signature, and is expect-d
to be numerously signed in the course of a few dap.

REPRESENTATIVE GOVERN-

MENT.

SIR VALENTINE BLAKE'S SEVENTH LETTER.
TU THE EDITOR OF THE SUA.
Stn,—On the 17th of October last I had the honour
to address a letter to the Marquis of Normanby, in
reply to which Colonel York did me the favour to men-
tion his Lordship's inability to attend to official duties,
ia consequence of his Lordship's lamented indisposition.
On the 6th of November 1 repeated the substance of
my communication, in an amended form, in a letter
which I had the honour to address to Lord Morpeth,
and in both letters I suggested the application of a
" Russell-Roland" to counteract the expected " Stanley-
Oiiver," and I reque,ted that if his Lordship deemed
my communication of sufficient importance he would at
once submit it to the serious attention of his Excel-
lency the Lord Lieutenant and also the British Govern-
ment.

I reminded the Government respectfully that the
existing exc tewent in Ireland was occasioned by
the avowed intention of a majority of the Eng-
lish Members of Parliament to restrict the Irish
franchise, and thus to repeal the Irish Reform
Bili, under the pretence of amending it, in open cppo-
sition t. the great trajor:ty of the re-preterit tti‘es for
Ireland, to the expressed opinioti of her Majesty's Go-
-lerraneLt, and entirely contrary to the loudly expressed
abhorrence of such au ett 'rapt by the people of !re-
late', with the except:on of its numerically insignificant,
and self-consfteted moral, mental, and political slave
traders, who were anxious to reduce their nume-
rous tenantry t a state of civil and religious
servitude, and thus to dictate " who shall elect,"
and consequently " who shall be elected " as
Members for Irelend in the Imperial Paglialthent.
I further stated that to my own knowledge there were
many iriflueutial persons, as well in, as not connected
with, Ireland, who are persuaded that a sub-division
of the duties of the Legislative beefy would conduce
much to the prosperity of the United Empire ;
that it was in the absolute power of the Government
to propitiate and convert the future proceedings of the
associated advocates for an unconditional Repeal of the
Union, so as to make them, and all the other friends of
rational liberty, accord in pursuing one specified object ;
that under such circumstances the populer voice would
be irresistible—that the House of Lords itself
would succumb, and that many of the men who are
now ranged in open hostility to the Government, even
in Ireland, would co-operate and duly appreciate the
vast and paramount advantages of peace and security
for life and property to be produced by a proper system
of separate local legislation for England, Scotland, and
Ireland, the local . legislature to be elected and re-
turned on Reform principles by the same localities,
and the reconstruction of the constituencies, as
before the two Unions—the local Parliaments to be
independent on all local subjects—but otherwise to be
in connexion with the Imperial Parliament on-all ques-
lions of colonial or imperial policy.
I further respectfully reminded the Government that
the proposed reform of the representation (which merely
consists of the federal rule of self-government) was
attempted to be carried by the Tory Commissioners of
Scotland, in preference to the entire Union of the two
Legislatures ; that it was a middle course between
unqualified Repeal and a mere subordinate Parlia-
ment ; that it was a simple law of regulation,
and did not comprehend the repeal of any fundamental
law—that it was a view of the subject which had never
before been alluded to, except by the talented editor
of lyre Sun—that even by him it was mentioned
with reference to Ireland only—that the principle of
Members of Delegation to the Imperial Legislature
was already in operation, and was analogous to the
mode of selection of the Scotch and Irish Representa-
tive Peerage, Sze. ; moreover, that it worked benefi-
cially in the Cantons of Switzerland, and in the
United States of America, where each State reserved
to itself the exclusive right and power of regulating its
internal affairs, on all matters not included in the Ar-
ticles of Confederation ; so that the Imperial
Parliament, in the event of the proposed change
of the character of' the Union, would be analogous
to the American Congress ; while at the same
time the federal reform would have the astonish-
ing effect of liberalizing the to/sole body of
the Irish and Scotch Imperial Representation, be-
cause the Imperial Members would be the nomi-
nees of the elected Members of each local Parlia-
ment—and not, as at present, the nominees of any
particular borough or county constituency.
Then, again, I urged my scheme as in affect an ex-
tension of the elective franchise, which would be more
in unison than the present system with the numerical
amount of the population—that the proposed distribu-
tion of the immense labours of the Legislature would
disencumber the Imperial Parliament, and prevent
laborious, protracted, and often undignified midnight
discussions on matters purely local, and not of general
importance.
I further took the liberty to remind the Government
that the Duke of Portland, as Lord Lieutenant of Ire-
land, in concert with Lords Rockingham and Shelburne
and Mr. Fox, as British Ministers, contemplated, 800
after the enactment of the repeal of Poynine:s law
eI
in 1782, to bring forward an Act to be adopted the
Legislatures of both kingdoms, by which the
nsuoporiednmaeyd
of the British Parliament should be k
a:
in all matters of imperial policy. That_
was found to be impracticable, for tae
measure
tile obvious..
reason, that it would be
insult and an injus-
tice to grant a power to attll] British.
to legislate for Ireland. That this
objection—
however
insuperable as to a mere
could not apply to the case of Imperial Parliam Parliament
ent,
where Irish interests woul pr
d be reeie skentaiemen, acting
in concert with the Scotch and English Liberals..
That the Act of Union with Ireland contains inter-
nal evidence that some such change as I bad the honour
to suggest might be adopted by a future Legislature.
That the authors of the Union must have contem-
plated the possible resuscitation of an Irish Parliament
in.oonnexion with the Imperial Parliament, inasmuch
as they provided for such possibility in their lease to
the Bank of Ireland of the Parliament Houses.
In reply to which I was told, in the most kind and
courteous language, that my Noble correspondent had
no hesitation in stating that my communication was en-
titled to respectful attention ; that he would not pre-
tend to enter into any consideration of its merits, fur-
ther than to observe that he apprehended its immediate