The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-16 00:00:00

Obitmng

LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH IG, 18P6.

Lord ,ImiN itussuLt. gave notice, on 'Friday last, of a me-
on the 26th instant (next Thursday week), on the state
of Ireland. The form of the motion is for the House to re-
solve itself into a Committee to consider of an address to
leer MAJESTY on the state of Ireland. The first idea which
occurs en hearing of this motion is, that it is likely to em-
barrass the Government, which embarrassment of the Go-
vernment may yet have an injurious effect on the pro-
gress of the pending commercial measures. Such, we
have reason to believe, is the view taken of Lord JOHN
RUSSELL'S unexpected: notice of motion by many in-
fluential Members of Parliament who are his supporters.
But it vmuld be unwarrantably ignoring all the many
proofs which Lord JOHN RUSSELL has given of a
determination not to impele the progress of Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S commercial measures—it would be not only refusing
him the confidence due to a statesman of his experience and
often-proved caution and forbearance, but supposing him
capable of the grossest inconsistency, to imagine that after
discouraging by every means in his power, and ultimately
voting against, Mr. VILLIERS'S amendment for imme-
diate repeal, he was going himself to make a hostile motion,
framed to catch the votes of the protectionists, and so place
the Government in a minority on a leading political ques-
tion, while the fate of the Corn Bill is yet undecided in the
Lords. What was Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S reason for voting
against Mr. VlLLiEus's amendment, after Sir R. PEEL had
declared that, should that amendment be carried against him
by a combination of the Protectionists with the Liberal party,
he would adopt it? Why, that, though Sir ROBERT PEEL
Would make it his own, there might be many Peers who had
coconsented to the compromise of three years' delay in the
original measure, but would not agree to immediate repeal,
and that so by grasping at more, we might lose all in the
'Upper House.
Now, though Lord JOHN RUSSELL were to
defer his intended motion on Ireland till after the Corn Bill
had gone up from the Commons, and though his defeating
the Government on that motion would not lead Sir ROBERT
PEEL to resign till the Corn Bill had either become the law
of the land, or had been rejected by the Lords (and Sir ROBERT
PEEL said as much in the discussion about foreign
books as that he had made up his mind to disregard all
defeats and brave all difficulties till he carried his new Corn
Bill and Tariff, or at least as long as he saw any chance of
carrying them),--still a defeat of the Government in the
Commons; by Lord J. RUSSELL, on Irish policy, could not
but have its effect on wavering Peers, and might make all
the difference between a majority and a minority for the
Corn Bill. We take for granted, therefore, that Lord J.
RUSSELL intends no embarrassment of the Government, and
will avoid embarrassing them. His motion stands a t present
for the 26tb, but that is probably a merely nominal day.
After all the Government may not oppose his mo-
tion ; the concord between Lord LINCOLN and Mr.
DENISON, on the Nottinghamshire hustings, may pre-
figure concord between the two leaders on the
great questions of Irish policy. Or if the Government
oppose, the protectionists may not support Lord Joins% Lord
Joux's views on the Irish Church will certainly not come
nearer to Sir ROBERT INGLIS'S and Mr. CoLQunotmes, than
will those of Sir ROBERT PEEL and Sir JAMES GRAHAM.
That we may say safely. Still the protectionists, as a party,
may side with Lord Joums for going into Committee, to i
enunciate, when there, their own views, in distinct opposi-
tion to those respectively of Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Sir
ROBERT PEEL; and the motion is so framed as to give
them an opportunity of helping to place the Government in a
minority, if they like. But we feel confident that if Lord
Joirs RUSSELL sees danger in his motion, he will steer
clear of it; and we would venture to say respect-
fully to the zealous free-traders - who have taken
lame at Lord Joifs's notice, "you peristed in anamendment
i forimmediate repeal against the remonstrances of very many
of your friends,—some of these who remonstrated with you
met with severs rebukes at your hands,—allow to others a