The Sun.
London, England, 1833-11-30 00:00:00

present moment, when the Government have
deeply wounded the pride of the Orangemen, this
was craftily urged. '‘ The Lvening Mail," said
Mr. O'C., in the same spirit, " asks' what advan-
tage has Ireland gained from the Union ?' It
is a very proper question, and never yet has been
answered until this day. This prosecution is
the answer. The advantage is, that it prevents
Protestants and Catholics from uniting ; that it
puts down Mr. Lefroy ; and if there be a mem-
ber of the city of Dublin of the same name with
myself, from speaking his sentiments." All
these lures thrown out to the Orangemen have,
however, failed. The Orangeman may go far
to spite a Whig Ministry ; but it will always be
difficult to persuade him that the eagerness of
Mr. O'Connell for a union between Catholics
and Protestants is not something like the union
proposed by the wolves between themselves and
the sheep. The Orangemen may hate the Whigs,
for having diminished the number of Protestant
Bishops ; but they are, at the same time, pretty
well aware, that Mr. O'Connell would leave
them not one, except they paid them out of their
own pockets. Were the Protestant Church no
longer in existence, as an establishment, and
Catholics and Protestants on precisely the same
footing, there might be a cordial union between
Protestants and Catholics, but it is indeed
having great faith in the power of eloquence,
to suppose that the men who hate the Whig
Ministry because they have struck at their
ascendancy, should hold out the right hand of
fellowship to the man who proposes a union,
only with a view to be able to destroy the
ascendancy, root and branch. Mr. O'Connell
is clever, very clever—he can assume all cha-
racters--he can take up and abandon opi-
nions with a facility peculiar to himself—he
is perhaps the most perfect actor of this or any
age. But dramatic illusion is seldom so com-
plete, that a moment's reflection does not dispel
it ; and it is with Mr. O'Connell as with all
men ho have played many parts—the audience
can never, on seeing him play one, altogether
forget that they have seen him playing another.
His means may be skilfully adapted to the
end he has in view for the time ; but those
who hear him now, cannot divest themselves
of their recollections, and naturally conclude,
as it was, so it will be—that when he has other
ends he will have recourse to other means. With
respect to means, he has indeed little scruple at any
time. The liberty he takes with facts, is as great
as the liberty he takes with opinions. The illusion
produced by eloquence, however great, is still
only illusion ; and the earnestness of heartfelt
conviction is often more successful in producing
conviction, than all the acuteness and craft and
eloquence of a practised orator like Mr. O'Con-
nell. That Mr. O'Connell's letter, which was
the subject of prosecution, was an honest and
fair appeal to the public, is what few people
would think of maintaining. The question as
to the Repeal of the Union is one which is open
to discussion. Without inquiring how the
Union was brought about (we question whether
any union between nations was ever yet brought
about without force or bribery, and in the case
of Scotland some of the Nobles sold themselves
for no more than ten or eleven pounds), we may
inquire whether, now that it has been brought
about, Ireland would be benefitted by a Repeal.
The general opinion in England is at present
unfavourable to Repeal ; but several distin-
guished individuals, and among others the
late Mr. Ricardo, have been of opinion that
separate Leei-latures would be beneficial to both
countries. That there is a strong feeling in
Ireland in favour of repeal is evident, from its
having been put so prominently forward at the
last election. The general belief, however, is,
that Mr. O'Connell uses repeal as an agitating
topic merely, and with a view to other objects
than those professed. His past services to the
Catholics invest him with a pow er over them
which no man ever before possessed ; and ap-
peals to the passions of the Irish must therefore
till any Government with uneasiness. When we
say that Mr. O'Connell's address to the people
of Ireland is an appeal to their passions, we do
not mean to say that such an event as the repeal
of the Union can ever be brought about by any
other means than agitation. Discussion may
prepare the way ; but when masses of men are
to be incited to any great effort, their passions
must be appealed to. No Government, how
ever, will remain passive when means of this
stimulant nature are resorted to. The
very instinct of self preservation will induce
every Government to rid itself of an enemy by
which its existence is continually threatened. It
is quite clear that repeal agitation and the autho-
rity of the law cannot long coexist in Ireland.
This is quite a different consideration from that
of the goodness or badness of the ends which
Mr. O'Connell has in view. They who think
that Ireland can be cured of her deep-seated
diseases by a British Parliament, that a state of
things can be brought about which will be equally
satisfactory to Catholics and Protestants, to
landholders and peasantry, will naturally con-
demn the ends which Mr. O'Connell has in
view. They again who think that measures are
called for which a British Parliament never
would sanction, must naturally rejoice in their
hearts at whatever destroys the authority of law
and prepares means for revolution. We believe
that the great majority of the present House o
Commons think that the United Parliament

would be as effective for every purpose con-
nected with the improvement of the social
condition of Ireland as a separate Parliament
would be, and that the endeavours of Ministers
to silence Mr. O'Connell (tor the prosecution
►s, of course, levelled at him), will be generally
popular in Parliament. With respect to the
law of the case, that will be deemed settled by
the Jury. What the law ought to be, is a ques-
tion we are not called on now to discuss. The
verdict of the Jury will give satisfaction to one

party, and dissatisfaction to a large portion of
the community.—Morning Chronicle.
The Huddersfield Express communicates the
unexpected event of die death of Captain Fen •
ton, the liberal representative of the borough of
Huddersfield, and states that Mr.Blackburne, of
the
e Northern e Circuit,c orp oion Commission, will be
atand the Chief Commis-
s
Put in nomination, and will probably be the
successful candidate. Mr. Blackbuine—as an
old and consistent Reformer in the worst of
times—from his station at the Bar, and his re-
sponsible and important duty as the head of the
E„gii,h Corporation Commission, will be a most
valuable acct isition to the present Parltatnent.
He is, we believe, a native of Huddersfield ; and
the independent electors of that borough would
do honour to themselves, and much advance

the great question of municipal reform,
by intrusting their local. and national in-
Blackburne in his
• The ability and
dte
isrecsrtes
tioton ldiiissprieapyreedsebnytatAminr:
arrangement and conduct of the Corporation
Commission justify his selection by the present