The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The importance of the great dinner given to the
Earl of Durham by the people of Glasgow must, by
this time, have been so fully appreciated, as well as
the matters in dispute between that Nobleman and the
Lord Chancellor, so fully weighed, that it seems al-
most a work of supererogation to attempt to inform
the public mind upon the subject. We are tempted,
nevertheless, to return to it, partly in consequence of
the handle which has been made of it, to add to the
abuse already so copiously poured out by a certain
portion of the press upon the Lord Chancellor, and
partly in order that we may state our sentiments more
at length upon many of the points-touched upon by
the noble subject of the Glasgow dinner. With.re-
gard to the abuse of the Lord_ Chancellor by
the press, and the cutting sarcasms expressed, or
rather the open defiance of him, by-Lord Durham; we
see no justifiable ground for either, except unmitigated
malignity on the one part, and heated, misconception, on
the other. We know of no public injury which the Lord
Chancellor ever did to the press, either in his public
or his private capacity—we know- of none private,
though we know of many public benefits which it has
derived from his able advocacy of:its interests—from
his becoming, if we may say soi a most. active mem-
ber of it—and, lastly, from the'. lustre which his
talents, and their fruits, have shed upon it. It is un-
generous, in our opinion, if not base, to treat one as
he has been treated by it, who, whatever may be his
faults in other respects, has been guilty of no faults
towards his brethren—whose constant aim has been to
extend the empire of intellect, and increase the rewards
and glories, by increasing the field of literary exertion
—and who has never brought, as yet, an action
against any newspaper, or other publication, for libels
on his character, though no one has been more se-

riouslv libelled than himself ; while with regard to the
• affair pending between him and Lord Durham, who,
lot us ask, was the assailant ? Was it the Lord
Chancellor ? Assuredly not. He had a right, at the
Edinburgh dinner, as well as every other guest, whose
health it, was deemed proper• or important to give,
not only to express the political opinions which be and
his colleagues entertained, but to state those which they
did not entertain—and he did so freely, fully, and,
be it also said, without the slightest personality. He
spoke of opinions only—not of men—of sects and
parties, not of individuals, and assuredly not of
Lord Durham, though the latter chose to ft the cap
to his own head as one of those who are so anxious
to travel forward in the path of reform, that they would,
forget in their eagerness "to put.the linch-pins in the
wheels," and afterwards to make a reply in which the
Lord Chancellor formed the prominent object of at-
tack. It is to Lord Durham, therefore, to whom the
origin of the present quarrel is fairly enough to be at-
tributed, if to any one or to anything but that portion
of the press which has lately, instead of lauding,
taken to abusing Lord Brougham, and implicating
him, among other high crimes and misdemeanors,
with having been art and part, if not principal, in
the inditing of the article in the Edinburgh Review,
which, without any apparent intention, has been most
wrongfully construed as reflecting upon the character
of the former. When that article is fairly weighed, it
will be seen that it not only does not cast any imputa-
tion upon the Noble Lord, but that his conduct, with
one solitary fact, which the Noble Lord has since dis-
avowed, has been simply brought forward as a proof of,
the wisdom by which he was guided, in accepting a
part, which he did get, instead of the whole, which he
could not get, and in making concessions, where tri-
umph was more than doubtful. With regard to the
alleged mutual breaches of Cabinet confidence, we
throw the charges on both sides to the winds,—to toss
them where and whithersoever they will. It is true,
as Lord Grey stated in his letter to Lord Durham,
that the communication of facts connected with the,
conduct of Cabinet Councils upon particular ques-
tions, may be inconsistent not only with mutual
confidence on such occasions, but even with public
duty ; but what is there now to be gained or lost by
a revelation of the mode in which the Reform Bill
was prepared and brought to a final conclusion ?
To whom is there any thing now unknown which
was formerly a secret ? Who cares about even hear-
ing the whole history of it from beginning to end ? And
is it not pure child's play for either party to plume
themselves upon the revelation having been made first
by the one instead of the other ? If the charge lie at
the door of any one—but we blame not Lord Durham
for it—it assuredly lies at his ; for at the Gateshead
dinner, last year, he said—though with much having
been said previously to justify him for so saying--" I
will not conceal from you that immediately after the
formation of the Government, Lord Grey did entrust
to me personally the preparation of the measure. I
was assisted by the advice of tree of my colleagues,
Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Lord
Duncannon ; and with their co-operation the first
Reform Bill was submitted to the Cabinet and to the
Sovereign." But to have done with these personal
matters, and to come to those which more nearly con-
cern the empire, we again most candidly own, that we
are wholly of opinion with Lord Durham, that no day
should be allowed to pass over which shall give a con-
tinuance of existence to " recognised abuses"—that
there ought to be no avoidable clipping, or compro-
mising of measures, or attempts at conciliation of those
who will not be conciliated—no surrender of im-
portant positions to those who are certain to avail
themselves of them for the destruction of their patrons
—no paltering with the people in a double sense,
or holding out of the cup of hope to the lip and blast-
ing it to the heart. The Reform Act ought be made to
work out its end and objects—its fruits ought to be
realized with all possible speed—its march to be not
only steady and progressive, but uniformly active, en-
terprising, and courageous. He who holds these
opinions is in the right tract, because his cause is
just—because he has the people on his side, and that
the people, guided by intelligence and wisdom, can
accomplish whatever right and reason are entitled to
demand ; but prudential bearing must accompany the
highest wisdom of design; and, if we add that the plain
enunciation of principles to be pursued, on the one
hand, and of the line of conduct to be adopted in car-
rying these principles into practice on the other, be
the sole tangible differences of opinion which we can
discover between Lord Durham and the Lord Chan-
cellor, we think that we not only prove an identity of
opinion between them which renders it highly to be
desired, that they should form a portion of the
same Cabinet, but that the sooner their friends al-
low them to come to a fair and honourable understand-
ing the better, both for themselves and for the country.
If the Lord Chancellor be a recreant to the prin-
ciples professed by Lord Durham—though we haVe
yet to learn that such is the fact, as well as that Loid
Durham ever performed one-half or one-fifth part of
the service to the State which Lord Brougham has
done,—why we give him up—and, on the other hand,
we counsel Lord Durham, as well as we counsel his
Majesty's government, to attend carefully to the fol-
lowing determined, calm, and prudent expression of
sentiments by the people of Glasgow. We know of
nothing more seriously deseilving of their attention=
nothing that was ever more eloquently or ably Written :
" Let not," say they, " your Loidship for a moment
suppose that we are so inconsiderate to expect all at
once all that we innately feel an• imperative right to
claim—a full, fair, and free representation in parlia-
ment, by the extension of the franchise to all who in
any degree contribute to support the State, and advance
the interests of the social compact. This we will
ever claim ; but in pity for the ignorance, the violent
prejudice, and the heartless illiberality of those of the
higher classes, who look upon us as a degraded caste,
we will be glad to acquire by peaceable and constitu-
tional means, and through the incessant droppings 'of
imperishable truth, a gradual extension of our legiti-
mate rights ; and shall be happy, should your Lordship
join with us, in deeming household suffrage, vote by
ballot, and the abridgment of the duration of parlia-
ment, as measures now requisite, and 'which would
satisfactorily lead to a better understanding among all
classes of the community."—Morning Advertiser.

• Louis Philip has not yet been able to supply the
-vacancy made in his councils by the resignation ,of
,Marshal Gerard. A royal ordinance, it is true, Ilas
declared that Admiral de Rigny is to discharge tile
functions of the late President of the Council for the
present; but it is understood that Count Mole, Mar-

shat Mortier, Marshal Soult, and Monsieur Molitor
have all declined the proffered office. These facts
have been announced as if of themselves of no very
great importance ; but when we consider the reasons
assigned for Marshal Gerard's resignation, when we
recollect that the late President of the Council retires
from the councils of his Sovereign, because. that Sove-
, reign has refused to accede to any amnesty of those
persons charged with treason and rebellion, arising
out of the riots during the last year, this resig-
nation becomes one, we consider, of no small im-
portance ; and when, in addition to the above, we
observe to what individuals Louis Philip has had
recourse, to say nothing of, their refusal, we have some
fears for the result. Whom, may we now ask, can
Louis Philip find either sufficiently determined or suf-
ficiently pliant to suit his royal purposes ? The Baron
Pasquier has been named, as also M. de Broglie ; the
latter, however, we trust, is a mane of far too high
honour and talent to be suited for the occasion. M.
Dupin, to say nothing of many personal qualities which
unfit him at present, at any rate, for such an office,
possesses far too great a dash of independence and of
constitutional principle in his composition to please the
Citizen-King. But, without speculating on what
another post may decide, we would ask, would any one
of the above, be prepared to be so subservient to what
appears to us the almost insane caprice of the present
King of the French, as to push those, matters to extre-
mities which Marshal Gerard has so honourably and
wisely informed his Majesty can be. productive of no
good effect, but which must inevitably cause no small
excitement, if no worse consequence, throughout the
country ? for can it be doubted but that the projected
trials will necessarily render more obnoxious to the
people the already sufficiently unpopular House of
Peers ? Will they not also, as our Paris correspon-
dent remarks, give rise to a question—how it is that
Louis Philip, who exerted himself so laudably, appa-
rently, to save the ex-Ministers of Charles Y. from
the scaffold, should thus, with an almost rnore 'than
Bourbon obstinacy, be persisting in.his determination
to prosecute and punish these men, who took part in
some most absurd and unproductive riots, and which
riots it might be urged were in no small, degree
owing to the treachery and frauds which have" been
practised upon the country by him:self, and a cliple of
persons who might as fairly, if not More so, lie charged
with treason, than those unfortunate persons who are
now in confinement at Beaulieu ? I,But we fear that
most justly may be applied to this, most worthy scion
of the bourbon Family, the „celebrated expres-
sion of Napoleon, with regard
_to' „the Bourbons
after their return to France in 'llBl4 'That
they had learnt nothing, and firgotten no-
thing." Not only does he appear to confound
firmness with obstinacy, but to consider that all con-
cession or yielding to circumstances 'must be the result
of weakness or pusillanimity. That the Citizen-king
can have no grounds for relying on public opinion we
admit ; for that the real force of the present Govern-
ment of France consists wholly in the personal firmness
of the Sovereign, supported by the physical force of
his 400,000 soldiers under arms,is not to be denied.
But can Louis Phillip forget that even this string may
be strained too much ? What old names can he refer
to either to_excite the ardour or animate the kyalty of
his soldiers ? Can he expect that they will escape
the infection of those feelings of disappointment, min-
gled with hatred of his Government, that are spread-
ing throughout France ? It is unnecessary, we are
sure, to inquire whether these feelings have been
justly excited, or to ask what France has gained
by " the three glorious days." We assert not too
much when we say that every thing is, in fact, at
total variance with the principles of that revolution—if it
may be so termed—which placed 'Louis Philip on the
throne. The prosecutions instituted against the Pa-
risian Press alone amount to 520 ! The representa-
tion, which was to be amended, is a farce. Out of a
population of thirty-two millions, 170,000 persons
only are electors ; and the Quarterly Review informs
us that the representatives are elected by a minority of
even that number. "Is it possible, then, we ask, for
things to remain in this state ?" as has been observed
by an able writer. That there is an active spirit awake
in France is not to be denied ; but a desire of institu-
tions is the leading principle which actuates it ; that
the wishes of France extend to nothing more than a
share of that freedom which we have so long enjoyed.
We have space only now to observe that this principle
must and should finally triumph is certain, and that
its complete triumph will be rendered only more certain
in exact proportion to the inveteracy and obstinacy of
its opponents.—Morning Herald.
The Protestant population of Ireland have, unfor-
tunatel) for themselves, motives to exertion more ur-
gent and direct than any which have yet began to
press upon the people of Great Britain. It is to this
cause rather than to any generic difference in the
principles and feelings of the two countries, that we
ought to ascribe the apparent superiority of the for
mer to the latter in zeal, energy, and determination, in
the Conservative cause. Ireland is the field which
liberalism has selected for the special arena of its most
daring and mischievous exploits ; and in Ireland, ac-
cordingly, there is less of peace and prosperity, less of
security to property and life, less of social happiness and
virtue, less of obedience and respect to the law, than in
any other portion of the King's dominions, New South
Wales not excepted. Liberalism, which in Great Britain
is still in its infancy, approaches in Ireland to its full
growth, and seems ,nearly to have attained to its full
maturity of mischief. The Irish feel the evils which
their British fellow-subjects as yet only apprehend,
and apprehend with a degree of alarm commensurate
neither with their magnitude nor their proximity. The
report which we this day lay before our readers of the
proceedings at the recent Meeting of the Protestants
of the county of Down will show how the progress of
Liberalism, and the tutelary care of a Liberal Govern-
ment, are appreciated among those of our Irish fellow-
subjects who desire to live under the protection of
the laws and in obedience to their precepts. To
the lesson and the example which this Meeting
places before our British readers, they cannot be
indifferent without renouncing every pretension to
prudence or to generosity. The evils by which
Ireland is afflicted must speedily extend to
Great Britain, if the British people permit them
to remain unredressed. This is a political truth
which we take to be wholly indisputable. And
the moral truth is not less clear that we shall well de-
serve to share all, and more than all, the sufferings
which that unfortunate country is now compelled to
endure if we fail to manifest an instant and active
sympathy for the condition and the fate of our Irish
fellow-subjects. It is as a stimulus to British exertion
in the cause of law, order, and religion—in the cause
of social happiness and public safety—that we earnestly
direct attention to the great Downshire Meeting. This
Meeting consisted of the oppressed Protestants of
Ireland drawn from one single county, and its numbers
have been variously estimated at from fifty to one
hundred and twenty thousand men, among whom were
the Marquisses of Donegal, Downshire, and London-
derry ; the Earls of Roden, Clanwilliam, and Hills-
borough ; Lord Dufferin, Lord Castlereagh, Sir
Robert Bateson, Colonel Forde, Colonel Blacker, and,
with few and inconsiderable exceptions, the whole
of the Magistrates and landed proprietors of the
county. Of the speeches it is only necessary to say
that they were in all respects, and witlqout any excep-
tion, worthy of the assembly, and well suited to the
circumstances which called it together. They spoke
the language natural to men who feel that they are
persecuted and oppressed for, possessing qualities which
entitle them in an especial manner to favour and pro-
tection ; that they are insulted and degraded because
they endeavour to walk steadily and firmly in the
paths of conscience and of honour ; that they and
their families are exposed to danger and ruin, because
their sense of duty compels them to do all that they
can to avert the danger and ruin which threaten their
country. These speeches we shall not attempt to
analyse or further to describe, as we hope and believe
that none of our readers would accept any analysis or
description which we could give, as a substitute for the
eloquent and spirit-stirring addresses of which ,We
submit elsewhere the best report we could procure.
We cannot, however, refrain from recommending, to
the special attention of the British people, the vivi4
and eloquent, but yet simple and unexaggerated, pic-
ture of the state of Ireland, as drawn by the masterly

kind of Lord Londonderry. His Lordship, it is evi-
dent, has looked closely and accurately into the affairs
and the condition of his country, and, in speaking of
them, speaks of what he thoroughly understands. We
rejoice to find from the letter from our Correspondent,
that many other counties in Ireland are preparing to
follow- the excellent; and prudent example of the county
of Doivn, and make known to the world the grievances
of which they have most reason to complain, and the
dangers which they have the greatest cause to appre-
hend. We must again express our hope that the
efforts of the Protestants of Ireland for their own pre-
servation and that of the empire will be seconded with
zeal and alacrity by the people of Great Britain.—
Morning Post.

. The " great" Protestant meeting in the county of
Down, which was described in our Irish correspond-
ence yesterday, affords another proof, if such were
wanting, of the inevitable consequence and incalcula-
ble evil of leaving acknowledged grievances unredressed.
Whatever tithe may be deemed by a dispassionate rea-
soner, or whatever .aggravation of the inherent mischief
of its collection may or may not be found in the partial
employment of it, for the service of a small portion of
the community, there is this excuse for the general
.outcry against its continuance—namely, that the. House
of Commons and the Sovereign himself have formally
declared tithe to be an inexpedient-'
institution, whether
it be considered in the light of property or of a burden
upon property. The existing Government, we all know,
is not answerable for the actual prolongation of the
tithe system in Ireland, or for the factious purposes to
which it has been converted. But see in one word
what effect it has produced. O'Connell seizes upon
the general discontent of the nation to propagate
amongst the lowest and most ignorant classes a per-
suasion that they have no remedy for this specific
grievance but in a measure which amounts to revolu-
tion. He burns the Act of Union with Great Britain
in the flame which tithes have raised, and by speeches,
'writings, or more secret modes of disturbance, con-
trives to keep up a virtual insurrection throughout
Ireland, of which this one main grievance is the pre-
text. But see what comes next—violence begets
violence. The Protestants, already quite enough es-
tranged from their Papist countrymen, as a body are,
we do not say unnaturally, alarmed and incensed at the
turbulent animosity and extravagant projects of those
who wield the mob. Hence the reaction of Protes-
t tant fury against Popish, and a rivalry of hatred, in
which it will go hard but the Orangemen outbid their
antagdnists. And here, again, may be observed the
reproductive powers of political evil. The Hills-
borough meeting is an example in point. As O'Cori-
'nell makes a traffic of the anti-tithe spirit to force
the measure of repeal, so certain Lords and gentle-
men in the Tory interest term the natural apprehen-
sion of honest men, lest the insurgent schemes
of the Irish agitators should be realized, to the
s double account of a revival of Orange ascendancy,
and of a restoration to the Tory faction to office. Thus
although the formal part of the proceedings at Hills-
- borough, judging by the language of the resolutions,
Seemed to bear only against a repeal of the Union, and
for the putting down of the ruffian and brutal spirit of
.its supporters, the latent character end tendency of the
speeches would justify the suspicion, that it was the al-
Aged weakness and want of wisdom of the King's
Government, and in short the return of a Wellington
Ministry to power which that illustrious orator the
Marquis of Londonderry, and his colleagues in cir-
. cumlocution, had at heart. - We lament this meeting,
respectable as it was for wealth, and formidable far
numbers—we lament it from the increased difficulty
which it throws in the way of domestic peace, because
it will be followed by demonstrations of Roman Ca-
tholic strength, from everyone of which may be fairly
dreaded some addition to the abundant stock
of religious bitterness already raging, and, what we
are happy to acknowledge was most studiously
and creditably avoided on the relent occasion,
some risk of breaches of the peace, and of out-
rage upon life or property. With regard to the martial
array and manly demeanour of this vast assembly, no
doubt the Protestants of Ulster do constitute a tre-
mendous military force—a yeomanry of the right stamp
—a stern, shrewd, and resolute race, true to their re-
ligion, clinging to their rights, and relying each upon
his own strong arm for protection. Of these brave
men, numbers were engaged in the rebellion of 1798,
because they were bitten by the democratic doctrines
of that era. Had they not then joined the Catholics
of the south, the rebellion would have given small
ground of anxiety to the Government. From the mo-
ment when it took the-colour of a Popish insurrection,
the Protestant Irish of the north abandoned it, and
the thing was speedily crushed. There is no question
that such men as these, of whom probably 40,000 or
50,000 were assembled with their landlords at the
Down meeting, would be well able to defend them-
selves if called upon ; but is it wise to hasten or sti-
mulate such emergencies ? Above all things, is it
humane to prolong those grievances which, if not the
moving causes, serve at least as successful pretexts for
the anarchy by which Ireland has during these late
years been tormented ? Times.
The intended retirement of Mr. E. Ellice from the
office of Secretary of War, has caused some little sen-
sation in the political world, and the quidnuncs are on
the qui rive to learn who is to be his successor. We
are not in the least surprised that such should be the--
case, seeing that the appointment is not only impor-
tant in itself, but that the politics of the person on
wham his Majesty may, acting under the advice of his
Ministers, confer the appointment, will be in some
measure, a test of the future policy of the government.
The John Bull, of Sunday last, gives a guess on the
subject, which it expresses with that regard to justice, and
delicacy to individual feeling, which have invariably-cha-
racterised the political articles of that purest of pure
journals. "We think," says it, "we could afford to bet
fivehundred to ten that nobody in their senses, or out of
the Cabinet, would guess who his successor is to be. It

is no bet, we suppose—we will therefore name the
winner, we know the start it will occasion—the Right
Hon. Charles Tennyson, of No. 4, Park-street, West-
minster, is to be the man : and if the army be not
,de-
lighted with the appointment we pity their taste.
"Thank thee, Jew, for that word I" Why, indeed,
should they not be delighted ? Mr. Tennyson is not
a man of yesterday—he is not unknown to the public
either in principles or practice—he is not destitute of
a stake in the country, though he may not be exactly
one of the aristocracy, or a decided worshipper of
persons who wear coronets and invariably ride in
coaches—he has never been a traitor to any cause
which he has cr3'.leavoured to make his own, though
he may not always have succeeded in attain-
ing his end—he has never been the tool of
any government, nor has he passed through the
hands of different Governments, and, as a just reward
for political subserviency, been cast aside as a rotten
and unsound plank in the vessel of the State—he re-
mains untarnished by political retractation or political
subserviency—and why, therefore, should not the
army be pleased with his intended appointment to the
office of Secretary at War ? There are few men who
have made more sacrifices in the cause of the people--
none who maintain more liberal or constitutional senti-
ments. He has always been on the side of the people,
and at the head of the army he will not forfeit the ex-
perience of his past life. To conclude—with him—if
he be appointed--will expire that greatest of all the
disgraces which still rests upon this most civilized and
most humane of all countries—military flogging—a
glory of which even a Wellington might be justly am-
bitious.—Morning Advertiser.

Lady D. was going to Scotland : a violent storm
arose. Her ladyship was calmly dressing her hair, when the
steward knocked at the cabin door. "My lady," said the
man, " I think it right to tell you there is every chance of
our being drowned." "Do not talk to me, you impertinent
fellow, about drowning," said her aristocratical ladyship, per-
fectly unmoved, "that's the captain's business, and not mine."
—H. L. Bulwer's France.
On Tuesday evening, about 11 o'clock, a dreadful
fire was discovered in the stables and farmyard of Mr. John
Pennock, at Boythorpe ; and we are very sorry to add, that
the whole, consisting of the produce of 800 acres of land, ;vas
entirely consumed. It was with great difficulty that same
valuable horses and beasts were extracted from their perilous
situation ; damage is estimated at upwards of 2,000/.4 no
part of which is insured. The fire originated by a candle Wing
left lighted in the stable, which, it is supposed, had fallen
from the socket of the candlestick.— York Herald.