The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALn.

The last Lord Mayor gave a Conservative com-
plexion to the entertainment at his entering on office ;
and the present Lord Mayor would seem to wish to
improve on his predecessor ; for a toast, which has not
been given for many years, we believe, at public dinners-
in the city, was given yesterday—" Church and
King." His Lordship, probably, thinks with Dr.
Southey, that " a Dissenter is but half an English-
man." The Dissenters, however, in the City Parlia-
ment will not thank his Lordship for placing them in
the dilemma of being obliged to appear deficient in
their loyalty, or to pledge themselves to an in-
stitution to which they. cannot consistently be at-
tached. However, it is for the . citizens them-
selves to show how they feel on this subject.
It has always been usual for some of his Ma-
jesty's Ministers to honour the civic entertain-
ment with their presence ; and on this occa-
sion Lord Melbourne, the Lord Chancellor, and
Palmerston, &c., were present. The Lord Chancel-
lor's rank gives him precedence ; and his health was,
of course, first given. We suppose our contemporary
(The Times) will be astonished, after the numerous
thunderbolts lately discharged at his Lordship from
Printing-house-square, that he should dare to piesent
himself at a public entertainment ; and still more
astonished to find that, on the announcement of his
health, the applause was loud, continued,. and very
general. This ought to teach our contemporary that
the task of writing down a statesman, who remains
true to himself and his principles, is not so easy as in
:ts overweening conceit it may have conceived. The
public, to judge from the reception given yesterday to
his Lordship, do not seem to have lost any portion of
their regard for him ; and when he emphatically declared,
" And, believe me, that those principles which first re-
commended me to your notice, and which ultimately
gained me your confidence, are the same which now
regulate my conduct." This was received with loud
applause. He added, " What I formerly advocated
I now in no wise depart from ; believe me, I say, the
principles which were holden by me when out of power
have been holden by me since I have been in power,
and that they will be ever acted on by me now that I
am a member of his Majesty's Councils." The de-
claration was received with " great applause." It
could not have been otherwise. Were an assembly of
Englishmen ter turn suddenly round on a popular
statesman, because a newspaper, from private motives,
suddenly chose, from being his abject panegyrist, nay,
flatterer, to become his daily assailant, what reliance
could any public man have on the tenure by which
opular favour is held ? The Chancellor has too
well-grounded a confidence in the good disposi-
tions of the people to doubt for a moment the
justice of their award, should he act up to the
principles he professed before he took office. By
endeavouring to improve our laws and institutions
to the utmost, and never remaining satisfied while
any thing in the way of remedy of abuse remains to
be effected, he may safely trust himself to the justice
of his countrymen. To continue to do good is the
best answer to calumny. The Duke of Richmond
having been associated with the House of Peers, his
Grace, in acknowledging the toast, said, he had " al-
ways looked upon the existence of the House of Lords
in the light of an independent branch of our national
institutions, and as necessary for the upholding the
just privileges and prerogatives of the Crown, and for
the support and protection of the liberties of the
people. His Grace is naturally enough an admirer
of the independence of the Lords ; but independent
Lords can only exist with dependent Commons, and
he ought not, therefore, to have made the Commons
independent by means of the Reform Bill. However,
in such a case wishes must go for nothing. It will soon
be ascertained whether we can have an independent
House of Lords and an independent House of Coin-
mons at the same time.—Morning Chronicle.
The Marquis of .Downshire has been convicted by
the O'Connellite Press, of seditious opposition, if not
high treason, to the supreme authority of Daniel the
Dictator, by attending the Protestant meeting at Hills-
borough, to defend the Protestant Church and British
connection against-the avowed enemy of both. Judg-
ment of official extermination has passed upon him, and
the Anglo-Irish Government is called upon to execute
the sentence awarded by Dan's Star-Chamber tribunal.
Does Lord Melbourne hesitate to give the necessary
instructions to the Irish Viceroy ? Does he ask the
law-officers to furnish him with a precedent ? He need
not. It is supplied to him by a repeal-patriot habited in
the robes of a King's Counsel. Can he hesitate any
longer ? In the volume of the book it is written, which
Mr. Shell opens for the edification of the Whig Cabinet,
that the late Earl Fitzwilliam was dismissed from
the Lerd-Lieutenancy for attending a meeting of re-
formers in Yorkshire, to demand inquiry into the dis-
graceful and revolting circumseance of the Manchester
massacre. It is true that dismissal, as the Courier
observes, was the work of Lords Castlereagh and Sid-
mouth, and was vehemently protested against by all
the Whig leaders as a violent and vindictive exercise
of the regal prerogative. No matter. Mr. Sheil
gives the Whig Ministers credit for being fonder of
Tory precedents than Constitutional principles. In
the same volume, and about the same time,
.he may
find precedents for the employment of spies, who, for
the price of blood, hunted their victims into toils
which they had spread for their feet. Mr. Shell's
volume of precedents must, therefore, be of inesti-
mable value as a political vade MUM, and source of
instruction to a liberty-loving and purity-of-pr;nciple
Administration. If we supposed Mr. Sheil to be that
sort of humorist familiarly called " a wag," instead of a
melodramatic orator of the most sententious gravity, we
should be inclined to believe that his letter to the Marquis
of Wellesley was a sarcastic hit at the political incon-
sistencies of the Whigs, and an experiment to try how
far the names of Castlereagh and Sidmouth, so ab-
horred by them when out of office, can exercise a
charmed influence over their apostate tendencies in
power. But the buskined orator of repeal agitation
is no humorist. His advice is serious and solemn : an
active, though minor juggler in the drama of repeal
patriotism, he starts upon the stage at the stroke of
the great necromancer's wand. "Do the disciples of
Fox and the compatriots of Grey want a precedent,"
he asks, " for the dismissal of the Marquis of Down-
shire from his honorary office—let Castlereagh be
their instructor, and Sidmouth their guide,' they will
find the dismissal of Earl Fitzwilliarn to be a case
in point." We admit that it is
.pretty nearly so.
Like that Nobleman, the Marquis of Downshire
was the constant advocate and supporter of the
" Roman Catholic claims ;" like him, too -we
borrow the words of Lord Grey—" A man who had
been distinguished by his constant support of the
Crown, on every trying difficulty--a man of high
rank, extensive influence, and princely possessions—
beloved and esteemed"—a landlord of the most kind
and liberal disposition—a patriot, whose crime is the
avowal in a season of danger of his sincere attachment
to the principles which placed the House of Bruns-.
wick on the throne. But a Noble victim is required
to appease the wrath of the offended Daniel, at the
very moment when the outstretched toe of the said
Daniel spurns the Whig Ministers, Viceroy, Secre-
tary, and all, for having the meanness to solicit his
patronage of their Government in Ireland, by the go-
'twcen agency of Mr. Littleton, whom, having dan-
dled for his amusement, as the mischievous monkey
dandled Gulliver, now lets him down with the com-
plimentary declaration that he is " a driveller, with
too much cunning to possess any intellect, and too
variable to have any political principle. The
same Daniel, whose propensity to make Guys of his
Whig friends grew very strong upon him as the " rent-
day ' and the fifth of November approached, has re-
cently repeated his qrotesque description of Lord
Brougham, " sticking, to use his own elegant phrase,
" a fool's cap over his Chancellor's wig." He has
stripped Lord Duncannon of the piece of the Libera-
tor's mantle which lie had thrown over his official
dress, and placed upon his breast a broad label of
" Character—gone for ever." He has pictured, for the
amusement of the repealers and rent-payers, the "do-
tage of Wellesley dozing in Viceregal dignity;"—and
for all this, and various other merits equally prominent,
he is to be soothed, propitiated, caressed, and, while he
roars the angry lion with all his might, instead oldetect-
j ing his true nature by some unlionlike characteristics that
I peep from beneath his Nemean skin, it is thought neces-
.

represented by competent judges as likely, in a gene-
ration or two, to result from a good system of na-
tional education ; do
.you entertain such an expecta-
tion p" To crush crime in the egg, therefore, igno-
rance wherever detected should be• sent to school.
It is amazing that the Chancellor could command
his muscles and compose his speech in a grave answer
to the quoted question. It is the opinion, forsooth, of
" competent judges," that the millenium may be had
in a generation or two, by dint of schooling ! And
this, in effect, was said to a personage who was at
that very moment founding, as he fondly fancied, an
' immortal renown upon the establishment of a Central
Criminal Court ! The Chancellor had no notion of
parting with the pedestal of his fame on such easy
toms, but the moderation of his reply to such a mon-
strous piece of folly, heightens the effect of the ab-
surdity. " I hold exaggerations of this kind to be
extremely ill-judged. * * * * That the cha-
racter and habits of men will be improved (by a
(rood education), and the amount of crimes greatly
lessened, I confidently expect ; but it is a wild
imagination to fancy that crime ever can be extir-
pated, and betokens an unwise enthusiasm on one
subject, ;causina a species of blindness to other con-
siderations. This actually supposes the nature
of man to be changed by reading, and that,
though still inhabiting the body, his mind has ob-
tained a complete ascendancy and mastery over
his senses. My opinion of the benefits of education
is very high, but certainly much humbler than this."
It would be pleasant to know which of the committee
put the question, and what the' " competent judges"
think of the answer. In deriding such extravagant
folly, we are far from underrating the benefits of po-
pular education. The most formidable state to society
is that in which men are liable to strong temptations,
and unable to calculate the consequences of their ac-
tions. They are thus as dangerous, as ungovernable,
as excited animals, and rush headlong to their object,
though their own destruction lie in the way. Even
the little information which the poor pick up in their
reading, exercises their minds in the apprehension of
consequences, and teaches them to look for the ac-
companiments of violent actions, the penalties of
the passions. All this does not prevent crime,
but it diminishes the most atrocious exhibitions of it,
and we have petty felonies instead of massacre and
revolts. We hear it often complained that the
reading operatives are troublesome and litigious ; but,
however annoyingly such people may press their no-
tion of their rights, a point of great social importance
is gained when they have recourse to tbeir reasoning
instead of to their physical powers for the redress of
grievances, real or imaginary. The physical power, it
may be said, after all waits on the other, but there is a
great evaporation of the passions in discussions, and it
is seldom fat violence is to be feared after men have
begun chopping logic. A frightful exception occurs
here and there. But a century ago, had the same
masses of people been packed together in factories,
how tremendous would have been the explosions of a
dense ignorance, misguided and inflamed by firebrand
agitators. The extent to which society has benefited by
the spread of information is a very wide and debatable
question, but the fact that there has been a benefit is
hardly to be doubted. We now stand, however, between
two fanaticisms---the fanaticism of the advocates of
popular ignorance, and the fanaticism of the education
mongers. It is curious that the Chancellor, though so
sagacious in his views of compulsory education, enter-
tained a doubt upon the most monstrous proposition
for the same end that has ever been hazarded. He
observed—" How far an improvement which has been
suggested in the law, that of making no action of debt
maintainable except on a written instrument, might
operate very indirectly, and thus safely, in favour of
education, is a question which I have sometimes con-
sidered, but without forming a clear opinion in its fa-
vour." We hope not indeed. Such a law would be
a denial of justi,e to the ignorant, and it would be ne-
cessary to introduce a qualification in Magna Charta,
that to none should justice be denied unless they were
unable to read and write. This would be a curious
mode of reviving benefit of clergy in the 19th century.
The Chancellor has apparently not considered that the
evil of the denial of justice does not only consist in the
wrong to the individual, but also in the encouragement
to others to take advantage of the unprotected : the
vicious propensities are thus invited to indulgence.
But, independently of the latter consideration, was
there ever anything more monstrous conceived than the
project to deny the remedy of law in matters of debt
to the number of persons in the United Kingdom who
have not learned to read and write ? We intended to
offer some observations respecting " normal schools,"
but for the present must postpone this branch of the
subject.—Times.

a
ary every now and then, by our Whig statesmen or their
advisers, to throw him some illustrious victim like
Baron Smith or the Marquis of Downshire, whose
delinquency consists in opposing the reckless career of
his selfish and destructive ambition. We will help
Mr. Sheil to a precedent of a more comprehensive
description : ---4 Ames 11. attainted upwards of 3,000
Protestants in Dublin by one sweeping Act of his Irish
Parliament, or " domestic Legislature. On this
precedent let an Act be brought in by Mr. Sheil, next
Session, to attaint the whole of the Protestants who
attended the Downshire meeting. But who will go
into the North to put it into execution ? Not Dan, at
the head of his " seven millions." He will not be
the Archibald-bell-the-Cat of the expedition.—Morn-
ing Herald.
We give elsewhere a report of the proceedings at
the Lord Mayor's dinner. The ceremony was per-
formed in the usual way, but with much less of that
orderly arrangement which has hitherto characterized.
it. The great object of attraction was the Lord
Chancellor and his speech ; and nobly did he bear
himself in every respect. We never witnessed greater
dignity of countenance—or a more calm demeanour—
he appeared as he is, the beau ideal of the highest in-
tellect of the country, and not proud of his office, the
highest in the kingdom ; but proud of what he has
clone, and-what he intends to do. He appeared to be
in excellent health, and was loudly cheered, not only
on entering, but on leaving the banquet-room. His
speech, brief but energetic, was listened to with the
utmost attention ; and when he declared that it was
only necessary to point out an abuse in order to gain
his aid, in correcting it, and that the principles which
he had originally professed, were those by which he
had always been, and would be guided, the cheering
was not only loud, but vehement and continued.—
Morning Advertiser.
It is seldom that the annual festivities in the City of
London, on the inauguration of the Lord Mayor, call
for any observation. Those of the present year pre-
sent, however, a most grateful exception to the general
rule. At the dinner at Guildhall, as will be seen by
referring to our report of the proceedings at that
splendid banquet, several circumstances occurred which,
by those who take on interest in observing the temper
of the times, cannot but be regarded as of the greatest
importance. By a very appropriate and exceedingly
well-timed departure from the established custom at
this periodical festivity, the first toast given from
the Chair, instead of simply " The King," was
" Church and King." We do not hesitate to say
that this deviation from the usual practice was, con-
sidering the position in which the Church of England
is placed, and the sentiments which in reference
to that position the Sovereign has been graciously
pleased to express, one of the most striking manifesta-
tions.of good taste and right feeling that has been
made either eastward or westward of Temple Bar for
many a year. The thing is honourable in the very
highest degree to the New Lord Mayor, or to whomso-
ever had the management of this civic celebration.
But what is chiefly worthy of remark is the manner in
which the loyal and Constitutional toast, as thus
amended, was received by the numerous party assem-
bled to enjoy the hospitality of the Corporation of
London, a party drawn together from all parts of the
metropolis, from all the various classes of society above
the lowest, from every sphere of human action and
opinion. The reception of this toast was favour-
able—,unanimously—enthusiastically favourable. Ano-
ther circumstance,—well worthy of remark—
was the—equivocal shall we say ?—no, that is not the
word—the by-no-means flattering or agreeable recep-
tion afforded to the Lord Chancellor,. afforded by per-
sons whose previous and subsequent conduct sufficiently
attests that their coolness towards the Noble and
Learned Lord has nothing in common with the hos-
tility of the Durham faction, but proceeds from an
entirely opposite source. We imagine his learned
Lordship, learned at least " by courtesy," must have
wished himself itinerating for applause in the North,
or seeking this pabulum of his moral and intellec-
tual being, anywhere but in the city of London.
A third circumstance, more striking, perhaps, than
either of the former, was the fervent applause which
attended the mention of the Duke of Richmond ;
of the Duke of Richmond, not as late Postmaster-
General, not even in his more meritorious character
of a seceder from the Whig Ministry, although
this probably had something to do with the warm and
hearty welcome he received, but of the Duke of Rich-
mond as the representative, at the late Lord Mayor's
table, of the Peerage of Great Britain. The toast
was " The Duke of Richmond and the House of
Peers," and it was not mere modesty or self-depre-
ciation, but a very true and accurate perception of the
meaning of the assembly which led the Noble Duke
to reply to the toast as a compliment not to himself,
but to that branch of the Legislature of which he has
the honour of being a Member. There are persons no
doubt who still contend that there is no re-action.
Will such persons have the goodness to tell us whether
they believe that three years ago " Church and King,"
would ever have been the most popular toast that
could liave been given at a civic festival at Guild-
hall ; whether at that period of Sir John Key's
glory and of penny-cup excitement " The House of
Peers" would have been the toast next in popu-
larity to that of " Church and King ;" and whether
at the date to which we refer the name of Lord
Brougham, for sake manifestly of contrasting its re-
ception with that of the two loyal and constitutional
toasts above mentioned, would have been hissed ?
Upon the answer to these question, that of re-action
or no re-action evidently turns, and in this position
we are perfectly content to leave it. We cannot dis-
miss this gratifying comment upon the civic festivities
of Lord Mayor's Day, without referring to the addi-
tional proof of re-action furnished by our excellent
friends, the Merchant Tailors' Company, who, al-
though always firm and sound in their principles of
constitutional loyalty, so far as regards the great ma-
rity of their Corporation, have not always had the
hhappiness of being so perfectly unanimous as they
proved themselves yesterday.—Morning Post.
We are disposed to concur in the Chancellor's opi-
nions on the subject of education as stated before the
Select Committee of the House of Commons. The
project of compulsory education he condemns as un-
desirable and impracticable ; he thinks that the efforts
of individuals to establish schools should be assisted by
the State, but that the aid should be so given as not to
supersede the necessity for those private exertions
which it is intended to help ; and he advocates the es-
tablishment -of schools for the instruction of teachers
(normal schools) at the public expense. With respect
to compulsory education, the example of which in a
despotic country has strangely charmed some of the
professed lovers of liberty, it is enough to say that
it is impossible—the people of this country would
not hear of such an intrusive meddling innovation, and
therefore, sound as the Chancellor's arguments are
against the principle of the project, and the danger
of committing a system of instruction to Govern-
ment which might fall into the hands of men who
would turn it to slavish purposes, they are unneces-
sary. The counter part of the sage scheme should be,
that as, in the present day, fathers in certain classes
are often observed to be behind their children in know-
ledge and understanding, their sons should be com-
pelled to send them to a school for the adult and aged
—a fancy, by the way, in which the humour of the
facetious Thomas Hood has already revelled. Com-
misSions of ignorance should be applied for as commis-
sions of lunacy ; and upon evidence that the Duke of
- or the Bishop of was possessed of
some preposterous error, he should be declared inca-
pable of managing the affairs of-thestvation, and-com-
mitted to a public institution for the cure of ignorance.
The advocates of compulsory education say—" We
must compel the instruction of the children of the
labouring classes, to prevent them from injuring
society by the errors of ignorance ;" but where is the
application of this principle to stop ? Wherever it
happens that ignorance is found in connexion with
authority, and threatening injury to society, is autho-
rity to be put to school? Following out the principle
of our German crotchet-mongers, the schoolmaster's
warrants should be issued for errors of ignorance, and
dunces of all ages and stations should be committed
to school. One of the sages on the Select Com-
mittee gravely put the following question to the Chan-
cellor :—" The total extirpation f crime has been ,

MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY AND MR

LITTLETON.

( From the Dublin Evening Mail.)
At an advanced hour of the day we received the follow-
ing communications from Mr. Craig, the Private Secretary
of Mr. Littleton, accompanied by a request, most politely
couched, that we should give insertion to the correspondence
in our publication of this evening. We most cheerfully
comply, even though at some personal inconvenience, in
displacing other matter in progress of completion.

" TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUBLIN EVENING MAIL.

" Sir,—ln consequence of the report in your paper of
the speeches of the Marquis of Londonderry at the Down-
shire meeting, it became necessary that Mr. Littleton should
require an explanation from that nobleman, and with this
view he consulted me, placing himself entirely in my hands.
The accompanying correspondence was the result. You
will, I am certain, feel that it is due to Mr. Littleton to
give it a place in your paper.
" I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
"Royal Hospital, Nov. 7, 1834." " HUSSEY VIVIAN.

NO. I.

SIR HUSSEY VIVIAN TO THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY.
" My dear Lord Londonderry,—My friend, Mr. Littleton,
on reading your speech at the Down meeting, as given in
the Dublin Evening Mail, requested to see me, and pointed
out to me the very offensive language the reporter has made
you use towards him. I cannot, knowing you so well as I
do, believe it to be possible you could have applied terms
so wanton and unprovoked towards any gentleman ; and,
without hesitation, I undertook to become the medium of a
communication to you on the subject. I feel confident
that, in reply to this, you will rejoice in the opportunity I
afford you of contradicting it, and allow me to have the
pleasure of conveying to Mr. Littleton such an explanation
as you will, I am certain, feel he has a right to expect at
your hands.
" The following is aco of the paragraph in the Even-
ing Mail to which I refe r.—
" But I confess I cannot speak in terms of respect of
Mr. Littleton. Never was there an exhibition so disho-
nourable, so treacherous, and intriguing as that which was
carried on through that gentleman's agency last session.'
" Requesting the earliest possible answer, believe me
ever, my dear Lord Londonderry, very faithfully yours,
"Dublin, Nov. 1, 1834." " HUSSEY VIVIAN.

NO. 11.

THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY TO SIR H. VIVIAN.

My dear Sir Hussey,—Being absent from home, I did
not receive your letter of the Ist until this day.
" In reply, I have to state, that on referring to the Bel-
fast newspapers, the Guardian and the News Letter, and
the Mail, I find they all vary so much in the report of my
speech, that I think it establishes at once the inaccuracy of
your extract.

" With regard to my expressions as to Mr. Littleton's
political conduct, I avowed, unequivocally, I could not
treat it with respect. His own admission before Parlia-
ment and the country, of error and indiscretion in his ne-
gociations with O'Connell, are the grounds of my opinions,
if none others were at hand.
" I applied the words treacherous,' dishonourable,'
and intriguing,' to those transactions of government, by
which Lord Grey was forced to resign ; and to the writer
and author of the letter (who being in the cabinet or go-
vernment with his Lordship) made the communication (un-
known to him) which changed the Lord Lieutenant's views
as to the Coercion Bill, by which secret proceeding, Lord
Grey was overthrown and personally abandoned.
" I adhere still-to these sentiments. I hope lam inca-
pable of applying terms wanton and unprovoked towards
any gentleman, much less towards one with whom I have
been in the habits of intimacy.

`• My remarks immediately and generally related and re-
ferred to all the transactions and conduct of the Whig go-
vernment of the day.
" I was on the point of sailing for England, but shall re-
main at Mount-Stewart until I bear from you again. Be-
lieve me, my dear Hussey, your's ever most sincerely and
faithfully, " VANE LONDONDERRY."
" Saintfield, Nov. 3, 1834.

NO. 111.

SIR H. VIVIAN TO THE MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY.
"My dear Lord Londonderry—l am much gratified al

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1834.

the receipt of your letter, inasmuch as that it enables me
to hope that I have been the means of preventing an ap-
prehended misunderstanding between two old friends.
" With any expressions you may have used, touching the
conduct of the government, or that of any unknown writer
'of a letter to which you refer, I can have nothing to do.
My business is only as regards Mr. Littleton ; and I re-
joice to find that the opinion you have expressed in refe-
rence to his political conduct, which you say you could not
treat with respect, and explain your grounds for so saying,
is not such as to call for any personal discussion ; while I
give you full credit for the assurance that you are incapable
of applying terms wanton and unprovoked towards any
gentleman, and much less towards one with whom you have
been in the habits of intimacy.
" I trust the construction I have here put upon your
letter is that which you intended it to bear, and I shall be
glad to receive this assurance from you in reply.
" Ever, my dear Londonderry, very faithfully, yours,
" Dublin, November 4, 1834. " HUSSEY VIVIAN.
" P.S.—You will, I am certain, feel that the explanation
thus entered into should, in justice to Mr. Littleton, be
made as public as was the offensive paragraph which gave
rise to it."