The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-14 00:00:00

RUMOURED EPISCOPAL CHANGES.

The subjoined rather improbable announcement ap-
pears in the Derry Sentinel :
" Rumours have been afloat in this neighbourhood for
some days respecting certain episcopal changes conse-
quent on the demise of his Grace the Archbishop of
York. It is said that in case this melancholy event
should take place the present Archbishop of Dublin is to
be translated to the Archiepiscopal see of York, the
Hon. and Right Rev. Dr. Ponsonby is to be promoted to
Dublin, and either the Bishop of Killaloe or of Ossory is
to be translated to the see of Derry. We cannot trace
these reports with any certainty to their source, but
Lord John Russell could scarcely make an appointment
more gratifying to the members of the Established
Church in this part of the country than promoting
either Dr. O'Brien or the Hon. and., Right Rev. Ludlow
Tonson to the united diocese of Derry and Raphoe."
MORAL v. PHYSICAL FORCE.

The Freeman of this morning publishes a hostile cor-
respondence which has passed between Mr. John Shea
Lawlor and Mr. John O'Connell, M.P., the originating
cause of which may be thus britfly stated :—ln conse-
quence of the recent resolutions adopted by the Repeal
Association in reference to the seceding members from
that body, Mr. Lawlor, as one of the parties put under
ban, and whose letter of resignation was declared by the
committee to be " couched in terms of most unbecom-
ing discourtesy," that gentleman wrote to Mr. John
O'Connell, as the proposer of the obnoxious resolution,
requiring a satisfactory explanation. In letter No. lof
the series Mr. Lawlor says—
" With the decision of the committee, so far as re-
gards its having retained or rejected my original commu-
nication,-I have nothing whatever at this moment to say,
neither could it have entered into my contemplation to
have sought to attach any personal responsibility to any
one connected with that proceeding. But the case alto-
gether differs when one gentleman undertakes to adju-
cate upon the propriety or impropriety of the deport-
ment of another, and to pronounce that deportment as
being indecorous or unbecoming.' Society would be•
come intolerable, and the intercourse between gentlemen,
even on public questions, unsafe and embarrassing, if
individuals were allowed to suppose that, when discharg-
ing what may appear to them public dutie,, they were
authorised in laying aside those just and proper restraints
imposed, by the ordinary rules of society, and to arro-
gate to themselves functions unsuited to their position
or powers."
Mr. John O'Connell, in reply to the foregoing, retorts
upon Mr. Lawlor the charge of addressing disrespectful
language in his letter to the committee of the Repeal
Association :

" In page 4," says Mr. O'Connell, "you accuse us of
being guilty of personal insult and unmitigated politi-
cal persecution
"In paffe 9 you ask is our conduct fair, honest,
or honourable'—and you express your own opinion to the
contrary.
" I have omitted to say that in page 4 also you say:—
" Had the offence (viz., that of the Young Ireland
party) been denounced, instead of the offenders, our
Association would have been more advantaged—although,
perhaps, individually some of its members may have
been less so.'

Page 10, you insinuate that those at present work-
ing in the cause are neither ' honest ' nor ' disin-
terested.'
"If I am to understand your letter as seeking to fix a
personal quarrel upon me for the discharge of a public
duty towards the Association, assailed as it was in a
letter intended to be public, and written in a public
capacity, T must altogether deny your right so to do,
and I would submit it to your good judgment whether
it may not wear the appearance to the public eye of
an attempt at personal intimidation to retrieve a political
defeat?

" At the same time I have no hesitation in saying to
you, that if you will withdraw the offensive expressions
I have alluded to in your letter of the 201 th of September,
I will at once, and most cheerfully, solicit the committee
to allow the terms you complain of to be cancelled in
their record of the resolution moved by me on receipt of
your letter of the 24th of the same month."
This explanation was not deemed satisfactory to Mr.
Lawlor, and he implores of Mr. O'Connell to reconsider
the matter, so as to preclude the probability of the
dernier ressort

"I would entreat of you to place this case before some
experienced and dispassionate adviser, whose judgment
may be unembarrassed by any personal or political feel-
ing. Should you feel disposed to adopt this suggestion,
and that you will inform me of your having determined
to do so, I shall most readily remain quiescent and inac-
tive to any period of time you may think it proper to ap-
point, as allowing a sufficient interval fur that purpose.
" Nothing necessarily tending to lead to any unto•
ward result has as yet taken place ; but, come what may,
I shall now, in any event or contingency which may
happen, have the satisfaction of feeling that, although
I could not induce myself to have allowed a personal
disrespect to pass unredressed, and your communication
of this day distinctly admits that even more than that
was designed and intended towards me—yet, that when
seeking that redress, I have omitted no means of having
secured it in a manner the least embarrassing or dis-
tressing to the principal and leading perpetrator of it.
" I am, dear Sir, your obedient servant,
"JOHN SHEA LAWLOR.

" Pray do not misunderstand my motive in suggesting
to you the propriety of taking every precaution—a thing
easily done—for preventing this matter reaching the
ears of our public authorities. Such an accident would
be injurious andfiliscreditable, and would place the party
who might be considered responsible for it in a very
disagreeable position. On my side two gentlemen only
are acquainted with the circumstance, and upon their
circumspection and caution I feel that I may implicitly
rely."

*llia very intelligible communication drew forth the
following response from the Honourable Member for
Kilkenny :
"Loyal National Repeal Association,
Corn Exchange Rooms, Dublin,
Oct. 11, 1846, 3 P.M.

" Sir,—As from the tenour of your second letter to
me, which I have just received, I am confirmed in the
impression that you are seeking to fix a personal quarrel
upon me for the discharge of a public duty, I proceed
at once to the nearest police 'office, to put the authorities
in possession of your intentions.
" The right of free comment upon the public acts of
persons assuming a public capacity I have, even when
exercised as it has been so frequently against myself,
always recognised in the fullest degree. I will not al-
low that freedom to be now violated; nor a precedent to
be set for the intimidation of men discharging a dis-
agreeable, but an imperative public duty.
"Your offensive, or, to use your own words, 'objec•
tionable' expressions, were applied to the Association
collectively, and to individuals in it, as is plain from the
extracts I quoted in my letter of yesterday. You offered
these insults in your public capacity, as a member of
the Association,' (I quote your own words again)—l, in
my similar public capacity, was the mouthpiece of the
committee in resenting your conduct.
"Your letter of last night's date I shall submit to that '
body itt their next meeting, as I did at their meeting of
yesterday, with that which you sent me in the morning.
"I do not delegate any one to call for the interposition
of the authorities between you and me—but, as I have
said, I proceed in person to make the application.—l am,
Sir, your faithful servant,
"JOHN O'CONNELL.

" John Shea Lawlor, Esq., &c.,
Irpperial
After this it is almost unnecessary to mention that all
idea of a h(otile ollibiQu was at IP end, 14r, Thomas