The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The public will he amused, if not instructed, by last
nightt discussion in the House of Peers, brought on
• through an escapade of the wise Lord Wicklow, touching
the affairs of Ireland. Certain grave charges were stirred
against Ministers ; one was that their laxity in forbearing
to renew the Proclamation Act some time ago, the expiry
of which, between the trial of O'Connell and the execu-
tion of the sentence passed upon him, had enabled that
learned agitator to escape unpunished, ought to be con-
sidered the single source of all the subsequent distur-
bances, and, in fact, of that necessity out of which
sprung the Coercion Bill. Another charge related also to
the same Mr. O'Connell---viz., that Ministers had " pro-
moted" the learned gentleman in his profession, thereby
signifying that they had improved his stuff gown into a
silk one. This is called a premium on agitation, &c.;
and we should not wonder, only that Sir C. Wetherell is
out of Parliament, if it were made the ground of a solemn
Conservative impeachment. Now, this fancy of holding
up an individual, however celebrated, or, some would say,
notorious, as if he constituted in his own person
only Irish grievance in respect of which Parliament
ought to legislate, is an out-heroding of Herod, in the way
of political absurdity, beyond what we have witnessed on
any other subject than this. If O'Connell be a grievance,
he is but a derivative grievance. The sufferings of his
country have made him what he is. Had Ireland been
governed by any other instrument than the sword, or had
any object been aimed at but that of enforcing, at all ha-
zards, an unreasoning obeilfence to arbitrary and unpity-
ing power, there would have been for political agitators
no such vocation as that to which O'Connell was ap-
pointed, no such food as that which be has been pampered
into his capability of troubling Lord Wicklow', or any
other great Nobleman's repose. But Lord Wicklow was
facetious. He talked, "so he did," of Lotd Brougham's
" self-complacency." To which, replied Lord Melbourne,
the self complacency of Narcissus, when he looked in the

fountain, was not equal to that of the Noble Esrl when
he charged Lott] Brougham with an excess of it. The
House hiughed—as well it might—at the expense of the
Irish Narcissus. The Duke of Wellington then made a
demonstration, which was ably repelled by Lord Grey.
Times.

Colonel Davies distinguished himself again last night,
by one of those capricious ebullitions which more than
once charac'erised the reforming Member for Worcester
during the proceedings on the Reform Bill. There was
no term of vituperation that he did not apply to the same
Ministers who were, about ten d tys ago, the theme of his
warmest panegyric ; and of all men, he was the last from
whom we expected to hear an expression of indifference as
to the consequences of a collision between t' e two H .uses
of Parliament. The champion of the House of Lords in
the crisis brought on by that Noble House, by their refusal
to concur in the Reform Bill !—the gentleman who could
not listen with patience to the bare suggestion of swamp-
ing the House of Lords by a new creation ! We do not
wish to misrepresent the Gallant Officer. We quote these
opinions from as weak impression as could be nude on
our recollection by anything which fell from him on that
occasion. We are quite clear that we do not misre-
present his sentiments as to the general policy and con-
duct of this Government, because they were broadly
stated by him not longer since than in his speech on
the Portuguese question. And, forsooth, the Gallant
Gentleman finds out suddenly, that the merits which be
a week ago ascribed to the present Ministers, might
be justly transferred to Sir Robert Peel ; for the reason,
we suppose, that the Right Hon. Baronet, in a speech
almost immediately preceding the Gallant Officer's, had
stated principles and sentiments diametrically opposite to
his own ! To what lengths tl,e inconsistencies of some
men carry them ! Sir Robert had more sense, character,
knowledge, and foresight than the whole Government put
together ; and he (Colonel Davies) would have no objec-
tion to enlist under his banner to-morrow ! ! We congra-
tulate the re'ortners of Worcester upon the consistency and
judgment of their distinguished representative. We say
nothing of the conduct of Government in the present
alteration in the Irish Church Bill. As far as we under-
stand it, it leaves the future application of any surplus
revenue to be provided for by Parliament, without any
declaration, as was the case in the original clause, that that
surplus should he generally applied to such purposes as
Parliament might direct. And if this conveyance satisfies
the House of Lords, will Colonel Davies explain in what
respect, save in avoiding the declaration of a principle
either way, it interferes with the disposal of the surplus
according to the discretion of Parliament, at the time it may
accrue ? Or would he swamp the House of Lords, to which
he had so great an objection under former circumstances,
to obtain the declaration of a principle, on which scarcely
any person out of the House of Lords, except hisnew leader,
Sir Robert Peel, entertains a doubt ; and which cannot
be applied, until a surplus revenue is actually in the hands
of the Commissioners? And of course sacrifice the Re-
forms of the Church, the abolition of the Church Cess,
and of the twelve Bishoprics, with the suspension of pre.
sentations to non-owes, provided for in the Bill. Minis-
ters have difficult cards to play, and are not assisted by
such shuffiers as the Gallant Colonel. We dislike as much
as he does giving the go-by to the declaration of the prin-
ciple, that a large portion of the revenues of the Irish
Establishment ought to be applied to some general pur-
poses of improvement and charity. But we will not incur
the risk of a collision with the House of Lords, and the
consequent one of a revolution, for that especial object.
The Colonel may have bad some plan in his pocket to
arrest these evils, and still maintain the affirmation of the
contested principle in the present session, and we think, in
that case, he was bound to help his friends out of the
scrape, by confiding his plan to them, rather than desert
to Sir R. Peel, in this emergency. We are for peace for this
year between the two Houses of Parliament, if it can be ob-
tained at no greater sacrifice ; and only wish we were well
through the session at so small a cost. In another, and when
the public mind is a little more settled on these points, the
Gallant Colonel will not find us backwatd in supporting
and enlacing still larger measures of reform and reduction
in this establishment, than are to be found in the present
Bill. We do not pretend that we have ever been satisfied
with it, but as the amendment of the clause interferes
with none of the substantial reforms provided for, we
prefer the alteration to the risk at which the original
words could be enforced.—Morning Chronicle.

If the Government cut a disreputable figure in the
House of Lords, what shall be said of the appearance they
presented in the other, their own House of Parliament?
We feel that any description we can give here would only
weaken the effect of the scene exhibited in the House of
Commons on the announcement by Mr. Stanley that they
had abandoned one of the most pernicious, and therefore,
in the opinion of their quondam friends, one of the most
important, clauses of their Irish Church Bill. It may now
he confidently said that Ministers have attained their true
and natural position, that of men whom no party in
the State can trust even for a •ingle day. The men
who introduced such an enactment as that from which
11Iini;fers have now shrunk are men unquestionably who
ntv,er can have either proposed or abandoned any propcsi-
rtfrom honourable motives; and, although we rejoice
.• he amendment they now wish to make in their mea-
sure ofc.bigch spoliation, this does not prevent us from
copetar% most cordially in all that is said of them by
tfitfabers of Parliament whom they have deceived.
Morning Post.