The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-03 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 185

The great Irish, perhaps more appropriately, we
should say the great Dublin demonstration in oppo-
sition to the abolition of the Viceroyalty, came off a
few days since, under the auspices of the new Lord
Mayor, Mr. GUINNESS. The meeting, though un-
doubtedly respectable, was not of that important
character either in reference to its numbers, its en-
thusiasm, or its arguments, which the great prepara-
tions and long-trumpeted preliminaries would have
led us to anticipate. The aristocratic order was
duly represented on the occasion. But it should
be borne in mind that many of those noblemen reside
in the vicinity of the metropolis, within range of those
courtly hospitalities which they are so eminently
qualified to enjoy and reciprocate. The ancient
castles of Howth and Malahide are within a con-
venient and neighbourly distance of the Phoenix• park•
It is quite natural that their noble proprietors should
throw the shield of their protection over the old halls of
St. Patrick, endeared to them by many and agreeable
recollections ; but social and convivial feelings, however
generous or amiable do not, in our mind, constitute
reasons sufficiently cogent to sway a Minister from
his announced purpose of carrying into effect a great
imperial project.
The Noble Marquis who opened the debate said
that when the measure was last year brought before
Parliament he was favourable to it. His opposition
to the Viceroyalty dated from the period when a
certain Lord-Lieutenant, in the opinion of the
Noble Marquis, abused the prerogative of
mercy by extending pardon to several prisoners
then incarcerated in Ireland. With all due deference
to his Lordship, we think the abuse of any office may
be a sufficient reason for the removal of the official
who abused it ; but we are not disposed to think it
a sufficient reason for the total abolition of the office
itself, and we believe the Act referred to by the Noble
Marquis was received by the great majority of the
Irish people with expressions of joy and gratitude.
Indeed, if the Noble Marquis could find no better or
more substantial grounds than these on which to base
his objections to the Viceregal office, it does not
come upon us with much surprise to find his Lord-
ship following the fashionable tendency of the day,
and becoming an illustrious convert to viceregal pro-
tection.
The bar was ably represented by the talent of Mr.
NAPIER and the eloquence of Mr. WHITESIDE ; but
even the ingenuity of these eminent lawyers failed to
make out a case for the continuance of a separate Ex-
ecutive now-a- days in Ireland. Mr. NAPIER spoke with
trembling and alarm of the principle of centralization

He asks, " Is Dublin to continue a metropolis ?" "Ifso,
her metropolitan institutions should be preserved.
Property could not be kept up without laws, nor
learning without colleges ; and an aristocracy should
be kept up by institutions calculated to sustain it."

Scotland has no Viceroy, yet her legal and literary
institutions have not been absorbed or centraliwd, her
colleges and her laws remain untouched, and her
aristocracy require not to be propped up by the sha-
dow of royalty. She has rapidly advanced, and
is still advancing, in arts and science, in
agriculture and commerce; and all this with-
out the aid of a Viceregal Court. Mr. NAPIER'S
alarms about laws and colleges are, in our opinion,
groundless. We do not think he need be appre-
hensive that a riot between his clients at Belfast or
Ballybay will be tried at Westminster; and surely
1 the encouragement given by the present Government
to the spread of education, and their anxiety to
establish colleges in Ireland, affords a strong gua-
rantee that Irish literary institutions are safe.
Mr. WHITESIDE, who appears to have been more
facetious than logical on the occasion, proposed the
following resolution, which clearly shows that the
gentlemen of the long robe had other business at the
Rotunda than opposition to the abolition of the Vice-
royality, viz.—" That being convinced that the aboli.

tion of the office of Lord-Lieutenant would speedily
be followed by an open attempt to transfer our
courts of law and equity to Westminster, we hereby
declare, on behalf of the country, that all constitu-
tional means ought to be employed to avert so great
and general a wrong." N(.l ILLiE LACRYBUZ.
Not the loss of the Viceregal Court, but