The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Standard of last night is perfectly frantic in
his abuse of the Popish priests of Ireland, stimulated
by Mr. O'Connell's fourth letter to Lord Duncannon,
and the account of the triumphal entry of the Catholic
Archbishop of Tuam into the town of Tuam. In
calling names, we think Mr. O'Connell has fairly
found his match in our contemporary_ The following
is peculiarly racy. We are told that in the individual
man, Daniel O'Connell, " are embodied all the mean
falsehood—all the indifference to shame—all the in-
vulnerability to conviction and exposure—all the
brutality—and all the anti-English and anti-Protestant
feeling of all Popish priests of Ireland ; and if we
want a name for the abstraction, we may borrow that
of the symbolical hag, which has long oppressed
and lacerated Ireland,, and call it Mother Popery.
Whether moulding himself to the humour of the,
priests, for the sake of gain, or chosen by the priests
because of his capacity for falsehood, his shameless-
ness, indifference to exposure, brutality, and anti-
English and anti-Protestant feeling, Mr. O'Connell is
the chosen of the priests, and must, therefore, be ,ac-
cepted in all these respects as their representative."
Let Mr. O'Connell outdo this in his next philippic
against the Saxons, if he can I The Irish Catholics
are now in an especial manner the objects of the fierce
hatred of all real or pretended admirers of the sinecure
Church of Ireland—called, drolly enough, a Protestant
Reformed Church. Our contemporary views with in-
dignation the honours paid to Dr. M'Hale, the Catho-
lic Archbishop of Tuam. But the perusal of Dr.
M'Hale's speech may not be without its use, throwing
as it does a light on the means by which the Catholic
clergy retain so powerful a hold over their flocks.
Dr. \l'Hale tells us—
" I have been deemed by some to have indulged too much
warmth in the exposure of the people's grievances.—
(Cheers.) If they had hearts to feel, they could not com-
plain of the ardour of my feelings, had they witnessed the
same sufferings that required such exposure. The wrongs
of other parts of Ireland had ready hearts to sympathize
with them, and ready and eloquent tongues and pens to ex-
pose them. Those who had bad hearts—those of the west,
and Tyrawley in particular, were too much occupied by the
labours of the Ministry that required their whole attention.
Mine, then, was the ungrateful task of laying before the
public scenes of oppression which were entirely unknown,
and of conveying to a quarter where they might excite
compassion, the cries of the poor, which had hitherto died
away in the wilderness."—(Tremendous cheering.)
The Catholic Archbishop protests against all at-
tempts to draw on the Catholic Priests any share of
the odium thrown, on the Establishment by its wealth,
which has paralyzed- the inefficiency of its ministers.
Alluding to the honours which had been paid him,
he exclaims—
" What is it, then, that has drawn around the ministers of
religion that array of the affections which those who rule
only by coercion cannot understand ? What is it that has
rendered the religious ceremony that took place on the con-
fines of both dioceses, surpassing even the solemnity of the
most sumptuous cathedral, assisted as it was by throngs
which the area of St. Peter's could not contain, and deriv-
ing from the majesty of the place, with only the canopy of
heaven for its covering, a certain grandeur which the roof
of St. Peter's church could not rival ?—(Enthusiastic
cheering.) What was it that made our procession a sort of
ovation, as anticipated by the clergy of Killala, resembling
. a flood, and swelling as it rolled by repeated tributary ac-
cessions ? What was it that drew out into such strong
relief the hidden affections of the people of Tuam and Cas-
tlebar, and united together into an assemblage unexampled
in its numbers, persons who, as is natural must have on va-
rious subjects a difference of opinion? It is because we
are what our office supposes us to be—mediators between
the Government and the people, unswayed by what might
be called the passions of either. To both we are attached
from principle, as equally necessary to each other as well as
to the interests of religion ; and, standing aloof, the Ca-
tholic clergy have earned the affections of the people.—
(Cheers.)"
We do not wonder that these manifestations afford
little satisfaction to the champions of the sinecure
Church.—Morning Chronicle.
In consequence of the not very
.wise determination
of our liberal rulers to carry on the investigation touch-
ing the cause of the destructive fire in Westminster,
with closed doors, garbled, and, of course, incorrect
statements of the evidence have gone forth to the
public, instead of those accurate and•authentic reports
which the London Newspapers would have given
through their accredited reporters, and on their own
responsibility. It is, indeed, a foolish practice to carry
on such investigations with closed doors—because, if
even complete secrecy were desirable, it is absurd to
suppose that complete secrecy can be attained. The
examiners may be all sworn to secrecy, as in this in-
stance, and all the 'members of the Court in attend-
ance, as well as the official note-taker, but there being
no legal means of compelling witnesses to take an
oath of secrecy, it is as impossible to retain within
the closed doors all which may have transpired within
them, as to carry water in a sieve without spilling.
But even if secrecy could be obtained, where would
be the advantage? The public curiosity, when strongly
excited, if not supplied with true accounts, will rather
take in the wildest fiction than have nothing to feed
upon. There are always those persons who are ready
to supply public curiosity disappointed of the truth
with their own inventions—so that secrecy thus be-
comes the fertile source of imposture. What propor-
tion truth bears to fiction in the published reports of
what is alleged to have transpired before the Privy
Council, respecting the destruction of the Houses of
Parliament by fire, we know not ; or, indeed, whether
there is any truth in those reports at all. As, how-
ever, no official contradiction has been given, we may,
perhaps, presume that something has taken place of
the nature stated, though it is evident that the manner
in which such accounts have been obtained, causes
them, of necessity, to be garbled, imperfect, and, of
course, very unsatisfactory. Let us, however, just
glance at what is alleged to have been the substance
of the evidence, anc. we think all reasoning minds
will come to the conclusion, that if the statements are
strictly true, instead of being exceedingly doubtful, yet
the evidence, as far as it is yet gone, ,is not such as to
dispel the mystery in which the origin of the fire is in-
volved. Now, let us see. The first extract which we
will make from the supposed evidence is as follows :
" The first witness called was Mr. Whibley, Clerk of the
Works, to whose superintendence the repairs of the House
were confined. This gentleman gave a full description of
the directions he had given to the different workmen, and
also stated that he authorised a man of the name of Cross
to burn the wooden tallies of the Court of Exchequer in
the stoves for heating the flues communicating with the
House of Lords. He could not have apprehended any
danger could result from such a procedure.
" Mrs. Wright, the housekeeper of the Lords, was next
called in. This lady underwent a very long examination,
We understand she stated that, during the day, becoming
somewhat alarmed at the unusual heat in the House and
the apartments adjoining, she sent no less than three diffe-
rent messages to Cross to ascertain if there was any dan-
ger, and advised him to be cautious. He answered that
there was no occasion to feel alarm, as he would take care
all should be right. At one' time the thermometer in the
House was more than five degrees higher than ever they
had before been able to raise it by consuming an unlimited
quantity of coals."
When, previously to the examination before the
Privy Council, it was_ stated by correspondents of
our's, as well as other papers, that the burning the
wooden tallies of the Court of Exchequer in the stoves
which heated the flues of the House of Lords was
the cause of the fire, we confess we could not believe
it. It did appear to us to be impossible that any mode
so stupid and dangerous of getting rid of those tallies
could have been hit upon by any person who had a
head upon his shoulders, and a ray of common sense
or reflection within it. Was there, we ask, no other
way of destroying wooden tallies than to make a
bonfire of them in the. stoves of the House of Lords ?
Stoves were never meant for such a purpose. A
burning of wood like that described would be enough
to put a baker's oven in danger. .The Mr. Whibley
here mentioned is, we presume, Clerk of the Works to
Sir Robert Smirke., Is, it possible that he could have
given the orders described in the unauthenticated report
of the evidence ? Why were not the tallies carried
out of doors into some open space, and there
burned ? why not chopped to pieces ? why not thrown
among the faggots, in these days, distinguished by the
saving of candle-ends and cheese-parings, and used in
lighting the fires of public offices ? Those who have
known the Houses of Parliament for any time past re-

collect when Mr. Lee was the intelligent and indefa-
tigable Clerk of the Works, who had the care and
charge of the premises before they were placed under
the superintendence of Sir Robert Smirke. Nobody
recollects any fire, or alarm of fire, during the period
of that gentleman's superintendence, which termi-
nated a few years ago. During that time, how were
the wooden tallies of the Exchequer destroyed ? They
were taken at low water-mark to the water's edge, and
there burned. From that mode of destroying them,
no danger could possibly arise to the Houses of Par-
liament, or to any other house. With regard to the
tallies which are alleged to have been burned in the
stoves (but which we cannot believe to have been so
destroyed until we see it stated in an authentic shape),
we ask whether a person did not make an application
for them, on hearing that they were to be destroyed,
knowing that persons curious in such matters would
like to purchase bundles of them for museums and
collections, and whether his application was not re-
fused ? If so, and the fire has been occasioned by
burning them in the stoves, the refusal to allow some
person to dispose of them to some advantage will cost
the nation a pretty round sum. Why the application
was refused, and mere destruction preferred, we can-
not surmise, because, as tallies were no longer to be
employed as account-books in the Court of Exchequer,
they could not be used to any improper purpose. If
we may be allowed to indulge in a bull on this occa-
sion, in all deference to Sir John Newport, who has
been placed at the head of the new Court of Exche-
quer, to prove that the " antiquated machinery" has
been got rid of, we will say that the wooden tallies
had all become so much waste paper, except to anti-
quarians, whose application of them, we presume,
would have been sufficiently innocent. We were
aware that a very small portion of understanding and
common sense was thought necessary for the manage-
ment of offices of public trust in these our days, albeit
we live in the age of intellect ; but we were not aware
that the destruction of wooden tallies could only be
accomplished in such a manner as to prove that wooden
heads in high places have survived the demolition of
the machinery of St. Dunstan's clock. The report
then goes on to say—
" Cross was next examined. The substance of his evi-
dence, as far as we are able to collect it, was, that he merely
obeyed the instructions he had received from the Clerk of
the Works, and he had no apprehension of danger until the
fire broke out.
" This witness underwent a most rigid examination by
the Lord Chancellor. He persisted in denying that he was
at any moment apprehensive of the fire produced by the
burning of the tallies doing mischief.
" John Reynolds, the man whose duty it is to light the
fires about the House, deposed that he went to the last wit-
ness three separate times, and told him that he was acting
incautiously, as the flues would not bear the heat ; adding,
You are going it too rapid ; they never will bear such a
heat as this.' Cross replied he knew what he was about.
He talked to him for some time on the subject, and recom-
mended him not to put so much in the stove at a time.
After that he left the House, and on his return, in the even-
ing, he found it in flames.
" The son of the preceding witness deposed that he was
present when his father cautioned Cross not to load the
fires so much ; and that he was sent by Mrs. Wright three
different times to request of him to be careful, as she began
to feel quite alarmed.
" The witness Cross was re-called, but it was found that
he had left the Council-office. Messengers were immediately
despatched in search of him, and after a delay of about half
an hour they succeeded in finding him. On his return he
was again examined.
" 'We understood that he, in the most positive manner,
denied having received snore than one message as to the fire
from Mrs. Wright, or that he was cautioned by Reynolds.
He again repeated that he thought it impossible for the fire
he kindled to be dangerous."
In the above evidence, if evidence it be, the contra-
diction between Cross, the person who is said to have
actually burnt the tallies, and Mrs. Wright, the house-
keeper, and John Reynolds, is striking enough ; but,
unless there is more than meets the eye, we should
consider the person who gave such an order more
blameable than the servant who executed it. But where
were the persons who were, or ought to be respon-
sible for the safety of the premises all the time while
these extraordinary proceedings were going on ? Such
is stated to have been the substance of the proceed-
ings the first day of the examination. On the second
being Tuesday, it is said that Cross underwent another
examination, in which he denied that he had been re-
peatedly cautioned to desist from burning the tallies in
such a manner. Then Reynolds being again ques-
tioned, persisted in saying that he had carried him
three admonitory messages from Mrs. Wright. Per-
sons about the House of Lords were examined as to
the unusual heat. A Mr. Cooper had been examined
on the first day, of the firm of Cooper, Hall, and Co.,
of Drury-lane, stove-manufacturers, who had the re-
pairing and superintendence of the flues in both
Houses. That gentleman's evidence went to prove
that the stoves were capable of bearing all reasonable
heats, and that if the fire occurred from the overheated
state of the flues, it must have been occasioned by
some gross neglect. On Tuesday, according to the
garbled report, came the evidence which we now quote,
and the announcement of which has excited no small
sensation :
" To-day, Mr. Hall, the partner of Mr. Cooper, was exa-
mined, and this gentleman's testimony was, it is stated, of
the first importance. We understand that he was in Bir-
mingham on Thursday night, when the fire occurred, and
he informed their Lordships that he heard it publicly stated
in several companies in that town which he named, that the
Houses of Lords and Commons were burnt to the ground.
This was as early as ten o'clock at night. This astounding
evidence appeared to astonish every one, as it will be re-
collected it was past six o'clock in the evening before the
fire was discovered by those on the spot, and it is quite
evident that even steam communication could not have
transmitted the intelligence 110 miles in such an in-
credibly short space of time. The Lords of the Council
put several questions to this witness, as to his being cer-
tain that Thursday was the day to which he alluded ; but
upon this point Mr. Hall was positive, as it was a circum-
stance which he could not mistake, for he returned to town
early on Saturday morning by the Shrewsbury Regulator
coach, which left Birmingham on Friday at noon. The
Lord Chancellor here suggested the absolute necessity of
having the guard of the Shrewsbury coach before them,
and messengers were immediately despatched to procure his
attendance ; but the result of their endeavours to carry
their Lordships' directions into effect, was the discovery
that there were several guards, and the one whose evidence
was required was then on his journey, and would not be in
town again till to-morrow."
This, if correctly stated, is indeed a most extraordi-
nary circumstance. The report goes on to say—
" Under these circumstances, and the Lord Chancellor's
attendance being required at another place, their Lordships,
at four o'clock, terminated the inquiry for the day. The
Lord Chancellor, however, shortly afterwards returned, and
we understand that both the Noble Lord and Lord Mel-
bourne gave particular instructions to the messengers, that
no exertions should be omitted to procure the attendance
of the guard who left Birmingham on the Friday. A vast
deal of importance is attached to this information ; because,
if Mr. Hall is not labouring under some mistake, it clearly
proves that the late disastrous catastrophe was not so much
the effect of accident, as, up to the present day's inquiry,
was so generally believed."
It has often been remarked, and some curious in-
stances in ancient and modern times are recorded, that
a bruit, or report from some unknown source, of a re-
markable event has often anticipated the conveyance of
the intelligence through the ordinary channels of com-
munication. The death of Domitian is one instance
out of several in Roman history, and the battle of the
Nile one of our own times. This, we mention, not
because we believe such things have really happened,
but to show that such impressions, however produced,
are no novelty. If we are to believe popular tradition,
events often travel faster by some unknown species of
conveyance than news can go even by rail-roads or the
flight of pigeons. Still we think that if Mr. Hall car-
rectly states that the burning of the Houses of Parlia-
ment, which did not break forth until about half-past
six o'clock, was known in Birmingham at ten the same
evening, the matter should not cease to be sifted until
it be accounted for by some more satisfactory reason
than that of supernatural agency. What took place
yesterday before the Privy Council is briefly stated as
follows :
" The Lords of the Privy Council assembled yesterday
at eleven o'clock, and proceeded to inspect the ruins of the
late Houses of Parliament. Their Lordships were attended
by Sir Robert Smirke and other official gentlemen ; it was
consequently near one o'clock before the examination of
witnesses in the Council Chamber was resumed.
" The guard of the Shrewsbury Regulator coach having
arrived in London, was in attendance to give evidence.
" A person of the name of Dukes was previously ex-

amined, but we are informed his evidence was not very ma-

terial.
"In consequence of his Majesty's arrival in town for the
purpose of receiving the Recorder's report, most of their
Lordships were obliged to leave."
Are we not, therefore, justified in saying that the
mystery which involved this strange event is not yet
dispelled, and that the secret proceedings of the King's
Council have not been dictated by the wisdom of So-
lomon.—Morning Herald.
-

As the investigation before the Privy Council into
the circumstances attending the late calamitous fire
proceeds, the mystery with regard to its origin in-
creases, and the most weighty; if not painful, reflec-
tions necessarily force themselves upon our minds re-
specting it. Without in any way assuming that the
facts already adduced in evidence warrant the presump-
tion of incendiarism, we may still, for the sake of in-
structive argument, and for the purpose of inducing
greater watchfulness on the part of our rulers, assume
the possibility of such a crime having been commited,
and with this feeling or prejudice in our minds what a
fearful train of inferences, and not altogether ground-
less alarms, immediately arise. Evidence has already
been laid before the Privy Council of a most unques-
tionable character, that the fire was the subject of
conversation at Bitiningham at ten o'clock of the
night on which it took place, although it had
not broken out much more than three hours be-
fore, and there was no possibility of, a communi-
cation being made from London to Birmingham
within so short a space of time. Birmingham, it
will be recollected, is the central seat of Unionism,
and if the plan of destruction was laid in London with
the. concurrence of the Delegates or Central Committee
of the Unionists in Birmingham or vice versa, there
would then be no difficulty in understanding why the
fire should be spoken of before the fact of its having
occurred could have been known. We had occasion a
short time ago to direct public attention to the rules of
the Union of operative builders, and we now recal the
recollection of our readers to the revolutionary charac-
ter and tendency of their proceedings. The rules,
amongst other things, declare that the Central Com-
mittee at the seat of government shall be the executive
government for all the Union, and that the Central
Committee of a district shall be empowered to cause
the members of the Union to turn out, if requisite, in
the proportion of two to every hundred members on the
books of the district. - Now if any members of
the Central Committee, either of a district or
at the seat of Government," were wicked enough
to intimate to some of their misguided and in-
fatuated dupes that the " good cause " would be
served by the destruction of any of our most va-
luable national works, what assurance have we that
these wretched men would not as readily obey their in-
famous commanders in fulfilling their fiendish purpose,
as submit for weeks together to starve their wives and
families upon a miserable pittance of twelve shillings a
week, while they could obtain thirty shillings in their
ordinary employment ? Their machinations, too, may
all be concocted in secret, for each Lodge has its pass-
word, and officers called Tylers are stationed at the
door to obtain the password previous to any person
being admitted. We lepeat that we have no sufficient
evidence to warrant the conclusion of improper con-
duct on the part of any of the Unionists in the recent
transaction ; but in such a state of things as is known
to exist, and while the Government has not the power
of informing itself respecting any Unionist proceedings
which may be in agitation, it behoves the Board of
Works, or those whose province it may be to superin-
tend any repairs or alterations at our public buildings,
to ascertain, in the first place, whether the workmen
are Unionists, and, if they are, and it is absolutely
necessary to continue them at work, to appoint some
trustworthy foreman who does not belong to any Union
to superintend their operations, and thus, at all events,
prevent the possibility of their committing mischief.—
Morning Post.
The Tories, to do them justice, die game. Having
long since, through the selfish abuse of unbridled
power, lost the affections of the people of England,
and having, through the purification of our repre-
sentative system, lost the power itself which they had
so abused, they still show fight, and hark and threaten
as a caged lion will growl and grin after teeth and
claws have been extracted. It is the present system
of the Tories to parody the proceedings of the Libe-
rals and Reformers throughout Great Britain. The
public dinners and other forms of association which
have been resorted to within the last five or six weeks,
as expressions of genuine and high-wrought feeling on
the part of the popular interest, and which have placed
on records never to be obliterated the genuine senti-
ments of independent Englishmen, have provoked the
Tory party, and those whose obedience it has
beenand
able to command, into measures of what they meant
for resistance—a pasteboard scenery—a lead
ochre mimicry of real and living action. Whether
the more long-headed of the Scotch Conser-
vatives were consulted or not as to the most
politic method of striving to counteract the moral
influence of the late demonstration of national
feeling in honour of Lord Grey, we have no means of
determining. But assuredly, if all the fools of the
party had laid their heads together, in the hope of illus-
trating the nothingness of themselves and their faction,
as compared with the extent and magnificence of the
reform power in Scotland, they could scarcely have hit
upon a more apt expedient than that of a certain Perth-
shire meeting, of which the elements are everywhere
well known and understood, and the composition and
proceedings of which are reported in several news-
papers. This Perthshire meeting comprised the Tory
constituency of Sir George Murray, M.P. for that
county, who represents, we believe, the views of the
Mansfield and one or two other overgrown aristocratic
houses. Lord Stormont accordingly, whose zeal as a
member of Parliament has at all times distinguished
him more than his discretion, took the chair at this (quasi)
family dinner, and began with a bumper to " the son of
Scotland, who was pledged to support the constitution in
Church and State, the just prerogatives of the monar-
chy, the independence of the House of Lords, and the
liberties of the people." Now, we really think that
even Lord Stormont might have bethought
,himself of
the risk of connecting the word " pledges with Sir
George Murray's health. Even if the Right Hon.
Baronet had pledged himself pottle deep to the many
obligations enumerated by Lord Stormont, did he
bind himself more solemnly to any one of them than
to the admission of Dissenters into the English Uni-
versities, against which measure he took the first occa-
sion to vote ? It matters little whether that measure
was in itself a wise one ; we were ourselves disposed in
favour of it, although we should at the same time have
preferred
our
geau reilsDet questionable
yisaebtanhe e
Ipteipnl
ge ndr
brethren,g co i endowment
ttohl
ufseparate
le
einua
t, refusal
wbeeto regardef University
wohapisecnh opening
for
: when
the English Universities good or evil, it was °pro-
nounced by Sir George Murray to be an improvement
of the law, and we must acknowledge that the concern
which has always affeqed us when, considering the
necessary influence of the conduct subsequently pur-
sued by the Right Hon. Baronet upon his own politi-
cal and hitherto unstained reputation, has been in no
degree alleviated by such an attempt to excuse himself
as he is reported to have made in returning thanks for
Lord Stormont's toast. It never could have been
understood or intended by any man promising to open
the English Universities to Dissenters that the inte-
rests of Perthshire Dissenters were the only ones
which he meant to consult. A dinner, though of some-
what an anomalous or undefined description, has also
been given at Ramsgate to the Duke of Wellington.
That politics had anything to do with it was disavowed
by the gentleman who took the chair ; and certainly the
speech of his Grace the Duke of Wellington was of as
negative a nature as could well fall from the lips of any
speaker. The convenience of the port of Ramsgate, and
the shelter thereby afforded to an officer commanding a
Dutch vessel bound to some distant country, seemed
to be regarded by the Noble Duke as Godsends, being,
in fact, the only topics of his speech. It is only from
respect to the name of Wellington, and to the example
set us by some of our contemporaries, that we have
been induced to notice an entertainment of which the
social complexion was by far the most prominent, if
indeed it had any political colour at all. It was a just
and honourable homage to the character of the greatest
, soldier of the age, but we really do not see that it has

the slightest importance in any general point of view.
We see the Gloucestershire Conservatives are at work.
If they be restless, so shall we be vigilant. But all
the moves of such fragments of the community are
vain. They are units against thousands. Mix them
up with the nation, and they vanish from pure insig-
nificance ; oppose them to the nation, and they are
swept away without an effort.— Times.