The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-17 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1846.

WITHDRAWAL OF THE IRISH
ABMS BILL.

SUN-OFFICE, Three o'Clock.
Lord Jourt RUSSELL has just announced, in the
House of Commons, that it is the intention of the
Government to withdraw the Irish Arms Bill.

On Saturday the British Possessions Bill was read
a third time in the Commons, and passed. Previous,
however, to this consummation of the free-trade
colonial policy, Lord G. BENTINCK endeavoured to
retaild the measure by another of those vexatious
amendments for the employment of which the pro-
tectionist representatives have acquired such an un•
enviable notoriety. As a testimony of the utter
futility of these interruptions, we may instance the
division by which the proposition of the Noble
Member for Lynn—namely, that the Bill "should be
read a third time that day three months"—was nega-
tived. A majority of thirty-nine in a House of
merely fifty-five testified the impatience of Parlia-
ment under this most irksome, because most impotent
system of opposition. We have characterised Lord
G. BENrzscx's amendment as vexatious, and any one
p,►ssessing little better than a pudding for brains
would, on a dispassionate perusal of • the dis-
cussion which was evoked by that amend
Ineuti-zfeel • himself compelled to siciwowledge

it to bepeculiarly and intensely vexatious. Inso-
much are we impressed with this conviction, that we
cannot but think Mr. ESCOTT was justified in
charging the Noble Lord the Member for Lynn
with inconsistency in the course then pursued for
the purpose of embarrassing the Government.
Every one, we take it, has a correct notion of what
Parliamentary inconsistency really is. Amidst all the
bickerings of faction, and all the potterings of party
politicians, that single thing has never elicited a►ny
dissentience of opinion. It is not a vague idea which
may be distorted by an adroit quirk ; it admits of
no misapprehension from the utmost obtuseness of
intellect, Inconsistency to the Conservative is iden-
tical -with inconsistency to the Liberal ; it assumes no
novel or Protean aspect, whether viewed from the
Ministerial benches or the Opposition benches, or
from the pleasant locality below the gangway.
To proclaim for one principle and vote for another, is
inconsistency ; to avow such political doctrines one
evening and the very opposite the next, is inconsis-
tency. It is, we humbly conceive, inconsistent to
announce oneself an advocate for such commercial
justice to our colonial possessions as we believe
may most certainly ensure their mercantile pros-
perity, and immediately afterwards to thrust
upon the attention of the Legislature the advi-
sability of passing an Act of the most monstrous
and manifest injustice to those colonies. Such incon-
sistency is that with which we impeach Lord GEORGE
BENTINCK• To skin his proposition of its trans-
parent sophistry, and to produce it before the pub-
lic in its nakedness, it literally amounts to the
following :—".Because we have been unable to
administer our old quack panacea against the
disorders incident to colonial commerce, and
because you have placed the colonists under a
wholesome and natural rezime, let us administer to
them a dose of the most deadly poison. England is
to be allowed, so it appears, to purchase her corn
and her sugar and what not in the cheapest markets;
don't let her colonists purchase their manufactures
according to a similar discretion. England is no
longer compelled under a heavy penalty ofduties to buy
timber from the Canadas ; nevertheless Canada must
still be compelled to buy calicoes at Manchester, and
cutlery at Sheffield, and needles. at Whitechapel, and
gloves at Woodstock, no matter how much cheaper
or how much better the commodities which might be
purchased elsewhere. The exports of the colonies will
henceforth have to compete in cheapness and excellence
with the whole world ; their imports must, however,
be forced upon them at any extortionate price which
cupidity aided by monopoly may devise. We are,
upon my honour, very fond of our colonial posses-
sions, very fond indeed ; and as a testimony of our
regard to their prosperity, we here solemnly adjure
you to accede to our entreaty. They are now com-
pelled to send us good, cheap things, let us compen-
sate them fur that concession, and at the same time
evince our unselfish regard to their interests, by
enabling ourselves to send them bad, dear things in
return !" Silly and preposterous as these expressions
may appear, they are literally the gist of this re-
doubtable proposition from the Noble Lord the Mem-
ber for Lynn. What by an egregious misnomer has
been hitherto designated " Protection to our Colo-
nies " being now virtually abolished, the Noble
Lord sagaciously demands the retention of that so-
called "Protection" to the manufacturers by whom
those unfortunate colonies are supplied.
Lord GEORGE BENTINCK always has an accumula-
tion of the most astonishing and unheard-of statistics,
which he introduces for the purpose of bolstering up
his very eccentric schemes. Statistics, like the ar-
mour of a minor theatre, very showy, and apparently
trustworthy at the distance, but on examination,
all brown paper and tinfoil. On Saturday,
for example, on introducing his amendment, the Noble
Lord presented to the House an appalling narrative
of the condition of the manufacturing districts.
According to the Noble Lord, the ruler-turners had
received a heartless intimation of a decrease in
wages consequent. upon a decrease in the price
of provisions. According to him, farmers would
buy no more fire-irons or pickaxes, be-
cause wheat was falling to 403. a quarter :
divers millowners had proclaimed a reduction of five
per cent. upon the wages of their workmen : circulars
were being issued by influential firms bewailing the
miserable stagnation of trade. That was the lugu-
Wives ptuitnauta dloplayed o.' Llle Clouse Of (Ammons
by Lord GEORGE BENTINCK, and unquestion-
ably it was enough to make even the most
sanguine minds despondent. Fortunately, how-
ever, a Member was present infinitely more
cognisant of the condition of the manufactories than
the Noble Lord, the representative of Lynn. And not
only did the Hon. Member for Durham cast dis-
credit upon the assertions of Lord-Geottoa, but he
plainly and definitely contradicted each of his com-
prehensive statements. Wages had not been
reduced; the labouring classes were never in
the enjoyment of more comfort; provisions were
cheap, and employment was abundant. Those
were the revelations made by Mr. BRIGHT in regard
to the manufactories of Lancashire and Cheshire. We
suspect the manufactories described by Lord G.
BENTINCK were literally the manufactories of his
imagination.

Nevertheless, BIG HT and MIGHT appear now to be
co-operating in the legislation of this great em-
pire; and, as we have previously congratulated
the inhabitants of the mother-country upon the
realisation of an equitable freedom to trade, so do
we now congratulate the inhabitants of her colonial
possessions upon the adjustment of a benefit which
had previously been only half obtained. In the
frivolous amendment of Lord GEOMGE BENTINCII. we
almost fancy we can perceive something more than
mere obstinacy. Did not the Noble Lord intend to
take a sweet revenge upon the manufacturing dis-
tricts by cursing them with the perpetuation of the
protective system ?

The memorial just presented to the Irish Govern-
ment by the leading magistrates and clergymen of
the county Cavan, is deserving of immediate atten-
tion—of the promptest consideration. It is gratify..
ing to find men of the most opposite political feelings
at length uniting together, and joining zealously in
their exertions for the abolition of that which is now
admitted to be a most serious evil, leading to the
worst results, and keeping up those religious dissen-

sions and animosities that have ever been pro.
, ductive of the most injurious consequences.
Amongst our Irish brethren we find Lord FARNHAM,
formerly one of the grand officers and most influential
members of the Orange Institution, one of the chief
resident landed proprietors in the county of Cavan,
co-operating with Dr. BROWNE, the Roman Catholic
bishop of the diocese, end impressing, in the most
forcible manner, on the minds of the Execu-
tive, the absolute, the imperative necessity
of urging Parliament to pass an Act against
processions of all descriptions whatever, stating
that the excitement which unhappily exists in several
parts of the country has arisen from the most trivial
causes, but still that the most fatal consequences
may ensue; that there is still time, during the
present session, to pass the necessary enactment,
remedyna fores w
thee
h evil.have
v e already
andlnuardgdinitgioint
toa s tthheasoed
y whosenames
mentioned, this memorial has been most numerously
and influentially signed by magistrates, clergymen,
and gentry of all shades and varieties of politics,
and we sincerely hope that not a single day will
be lost in submitting to the Legislature a measure
calculated to effect this object. The county of Cavan
has long been the theatre of those unmeaning and
mischievous processions. In that district parties are
perhaps more evenly balanced, more near equality as
to physical force, than in any other in Ireland.
The Orange party lost no opportuuity of swelling
their own ranks ; neutrality was not allowed on either
side. You must select the banner under which to
fight, and strenuously combat on all occasions. It
was impossible to conciliate the good opinion of the
opposite party ; the terms Orange and Protestant be-
came synonimous, and the more violent the denun-
ciation, the more outrageous the insult, the more
bitter the hatred entertained and exhibited towards
his Roman Catholic brethren, the more popular did
the exhibitor become amongst his own party. The man
who was not with them was against them, but he who
could succeed in making himself peculiarly obnoxious
to the Roman Catholic party, thereby immediately
attained power and influence amorgst his own. On
the other side also parties were not idle. If Orange
lodges subsisted, so was there a Ribbon Association