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

data or postulata by the political union of Dundee
____„,- which appear to us much fitter to be left to the free
The late Irish appointments have in general given result of general and voluntary discussion throughout
satisfaction. Mr. O'Loughlin is eminent in his pro- society, than passionately forced forwards by the eager
Session, a Liberal —and a Catholic. Twenty years and impetuous- patronage of large bodies of men,
hence, the Catholics will probably be found to fill
.n dogmas as undoubted truths, and a common whose bond of union is a common assumption of cer-
their fair proportion of offices and emoluments ; but a tai
Catholic appointment is yet a novelty. Mr. Green, determination to carry them into effect as legislative
who, from Counsel to the Chief Secretary, has been
measures ; while, in the eyes of others beyond the
--romoted to the third Serjeant, is, we understand, a
pale of such confederacies, the truth is a silly fallacy,
Tory. In England, a Serjeant is merely a degree,
and the desired law a serious mischief. There can be
but in Ireland it is an office. There are only three no shadow of reasonable objection to the announcement
Serjeants, and they are retained in all Crown prose- by individuals of the most extravagant opinions or
cations. Mr. Green is, we believe, a very respectable wishes. We remonstrate merely against the undue mo-
gentleman ; but no Government is justified in ap- mentum given to them by the influence which they de-
rive from the patronage, as we have before said, of co-
pointing political opponents to office. We have a,- l
ways protested against the assumption of a right in operative multitudes, with whom in their assembled or
any set of Ministers to dispose of public offices with-
connected state, opinion too frequently takes the shape of
out regard to the principles of those who fill them. If passion, and moves forward with a force which mere rea-
principles be of such importance, that they determine
son could never have imparted. Lord Durham in that por-
the appointments of Ministers themselves, the latter tion of his speech which noticed certain demands of the
ought not to show that they think lightly of them by political union met them with frank firmness and deci-
their choice of persons to fill subordinate stations. sion. He " did not believe that everything was in
The Whigs have too often shown themselves, in their ,
such a state as represented by their address ; for if
appointments, more anxious to propitiate Tories than
he could so believe, he must despair of the prosperity
to 40 justice to their own principles.—Morning of his country." He admitted that much remained to
be done towards following out the principles of the
Chronicle.
Reform Bill, but his object was to ameliorate, not to
It was only the other day we felt it our duty to re- destroy and reconstruct. Lord Durham advised the
probate in strong terms the profane, indecent, and re- Dundee Union to confine themselves to the business
volting exhibition with which one of the Parisian of amendment, and to abstain from destroying ; but lie
theatres is attracting numerous and delighted audiences avowed himself an advocate " for the most determined
of the " most polished people of the world." Long and speedy correction of all abuses, wherever an abuse
may the metropolis of France have a monopoly of such could be pointed out." The line is therefore suffi-
dramatic literature ! We hope that none of our " free ciently marked between the Noble Earl and some of
traders" in histrionic manufacture will be audacious his late official colleagues, and the following passages
enough to attempt to introduce the disgusting impiety of his Lordship's speech deserve particular attention,
of the Wandering Jew to an English audience. It is as well for the sentiments they contain as for the
possible that the reports which have been circulated manner in which those sentiments are expressed and
through the Press of its wonderful efficacy in replenish- illustrated :
ing the theatrical exchequer may induce some specu- " I confess that, if I believed all that is stated in the ad-
lating manager, whose sole criterion of the merit of a dress of the Political Union, I should despair of the pros-
dramatic work is its success in bringing money to the perity of my country ; but I do not believe that every
treasury, to indulge the hope that an adaptation of it thing is in such a state as is there represented. Much, I
to the English boards may not be an unprofitable one. know, remains to be done, and, with your assistance, it shall
This is th more probable, or perhaps we should say b. e done ; but I do not believe that all is so bad and rotten
in our institutions as is set forth in this address. My object
the less improbable, on account of the prevalent prat-
ticeis not to destroy and reconstruct, but to ameliorate and
of late years, in the dearth of British dramatic amend. There is uch that is good d valuable in our
talent and invention, of " doing into English" what- institutions, if it were fairly drawn out ;an but much of what
ever French pieces, whether clever or silly, decent or is good in our institutions, has through Tory misrule, been
indecent, happen to hit the taste of a Parisian audi- perverted to other purposes. But I hold that, in our form
cute. Already far too much of the trash of the French of government by King, Lords, and Commons, there will
0 stacre has been served up to the public of London at b. e found a greater degree of liberty than ever existed
second-hand ; and more especially has the stage been in any other country of the world, and as much rational
loaded with the profane and disgusting diablerie which,
liberty as any people under the sun can or ought to enjoy.
though very much in vogue in Paris for some time
I ask you of the working classes, who are the sinews of the
past, is originally of German growth—the horrible, state, what would be the consequence of any system calcu-
lated to produce confusion ? lam not aware of any class
and, at the same tune, puerile offspring of a diseased that would suffer more from such a state than the operatives.
mind and depraved imagination, such as writers whose Anything which tends to derange the laws which regulate
" divine afflatus" is but the usurpation of brandy and the employment of capital and labour must necessarily tend to
opium, are wont to display. If, however, any attempt destroy the mercantile and agricultural prosperity of the
to familiarise the British public with the transcendent country ; and if you take my advice, you will take care that
impieties and indecency of the play which we have when you ameliorate you do not destroy. Gentlemen,
named should be made, and the licensing department having thus frankly stated that I will not go the length set
should be licentious enough to permit it, we trust that forth in the address read by my hon. friend Bailie Christie,
I may be allowed to state that I am an advocate for the
such an expression of the,public feeling will be elicited, most determined and speedy correction of all abuses, and
as will prove that such an outrage is not to he committed that wherever any abuse can be pointed out, it ought to be
with impunity upon the feelings of a nation which has immediately reformed. When I entered your town, the
still some character for manly intellect, taste, and mora- first thing that strurk my eye was the magnificent appear-
lity. But while the gross burlesquing of the most awful ance of your new docks ; but I would not content myself
mysteries of religion by our French neighbours disgusts with always admiring the beauty of the masonry, or the
skill of the architect. I would wish to see the waves flow-
and astonishes us, let us not pass without approbation
some of those exhibitions of native growth which,
ing into it —the navies of the world riding there, and thus
manifesting the increasing prosperity of the town. So it is
though not impious, are shocking and revolting to taste with the Reform Bill. It is not sufficient that the
and humanity, and must be exceedingly injurious to people have the power of electing their representa-
the morals of the people. Thurtell's murder was tives—they want to see the fruits of it. The repre-
brought upon the stage even while the accused crimi- sentation of the people is not yet perfect ; but it is
nals were awaiting their trial; but that was very properly better than it was, and the people must wait till they
suppressed by a prosecution
commenced on behalf of see if the edifice will effectually answer its purposes.
public justice. Now we see that the murders perpe-
Gentlemen, we have been told that there is danger of going
too fast, and of acting without due deliberation. Now,
trated by the frantic Steinberg on his family and him-
self are made the subject of a public exhibition b while I admit that every measure should be well considered,
Y since due consideration alone is effectual, I cannot see why
some of those speculators in the attractions of the hor- time should be lost in beginning to deliberate. I cannot,
rible, who are always on the watch to gorge the de- for the soul of me, see why, instead of immediately delibe-
prayed curiosity of a blood-enchanted populace with rating, we should stop in our progress. Should any person
mock murders as near reality as the law will allow from Perth be here, he would doubtless come by the
them to accomplish. It has been announced that the steamer ; and I would ask what he would have said if the
house of Steinberg has been taken on the specula-
m
tion of showing it to the public ; and, to render the middleanat the helm had called out, when they were in the
of the Tay " Stop her ?" (Laughter.)—He would
never have arrived at Dundee. He would have been in
sight as attractive as possible, to the lovers of the hor- the middle of a romantic and handsome river, no doubt ;
rific, this scene of butchery is intended to display a set but this would not have satisfied him for not getting to the
of wax composition figures, vividly representing the end of his journey. Therefore ho would say, that the
murderer and his victims, and wearing the identical man at the helm of the state should not stop his course, but
clothing they had on when the murders were commit- guide his vessel speedily and safely to port. (Great cheers.)
ted. It is stated that the sum of 25/. was given for —Times.
the clothes in question. Now we should like to know For the last two days three of the Corporation Com-
who is it that has sold the blood-saturated clothes for missioners, namely, Sir F. Palgrave and Messrs. Ellis
such a purpose. Steinberg himself being found afr/o and Jardine, have been putting money into their poc-
de se, all his chattel property became forfeited to the kets at the expense of the community, by riding from
Crown, and, of course, the clothes of his murdered the west end of the town or the Inns of Courts to
family, which ought to have been burnt instead of be- Guildhall, and riding back again. This has literally
ing sold to create a public nuisance. To familiarise been the whole amount of their labours, for which
the public mind with the disgusting details of murder they are, of course, to be paid as for a full day's work.
is to multiply the crime. Such caterers for public It may be said, indeed, that it is not the fault of these
amusement ought to have only cannibals for their au- Commissioners if, on going to Guildhall, they could
dience. Even the habit of attending executions has find nothing to do ; that they went there for the pur-
brought many a man to the gallows, by hardening his pose of doing business, and that the backwardness or
heart. Two policemen, we are told, attend to preserve contumacy of the City Companies, whose affairs they
order. Is it possible that the police are employed to intended to investigate, are the proper objects of re-
protect a n
si
*nuisance that ought to be suppressed as con- proach rather than the Commisoners, who did all
tra bonos snores, and a disgrace to civilisation ?—they could. But • • thatthis excuse will
we imagine
Morning Herald.
scarcely be sufficient to reconcile the public to an
A dinner has been (riven to Lord Durham by the expense which could not by possibility have any other
k--,
magistrates and inhabitants of Dundee, on occasion result than its effect upon the pockets of those who
of presenting the Noble Lord with the freedom of that have to pay and those who have to receive. In
commercial, prosperous, and improving borough. An these idle visits of his Majesty's Commissioners to
address was delivered by the Provost, on behalf of the the wooden giants at Guildhall, who alone were in
corporation, wherein the vast and peculiar benefits attendance, the people are permitted to see, much too
conferred upon. Scotland by the Reform Bill, in the plainly, the working of the Whig system of reform
substitution of a freely chosen Parliament for a system and economy. The proceeding, to say the least of it,
which had exhibited nothing but an aggravation of all is excessively indiscreet. It would have been much
the worst and most revolting frauds, mockeries, and better had the Treasury paid the Commissioners their
oppressions, by which the old representative state of two days' wages, without requiring the latter to under-
England and Ireland had been disfigured, were go the preliminary form of a public sitting in which
dwelt upon in terms of becoming cordiality, and gra- nothing was to be done. The expense, or the pecu-
titude to Lord Durham, for the active share which lation, whichever it may more properly be called, is,
he had taken in the framing of the great measure of however, the least important part of the matter. There
Reform. Undoubtedly, if England owes much to is something exceedingly revolting in the spectacle of
the Reform Bill, the deeper debt of Scotland must men calling themselves the Commissioners of the King
be measured by the excess of iniquity in her previ- exposing, as the Corporation Commissioners have done
ous constitution over the average of English grievance in this instance, for no other visible or imaginable pur-
and abuse. But there was another Address presented pose than that of pocketing a few guineas of the public
to Lord Durham, purporting to be from a body, the money, the utter worthlessness of the authority under
continued existence of which down to the present hour, which they pretend to act. It was already sufficiently
would seem to render questionable the sense entertained well known that the Corporation Commission is ille-
by Scotchinen of the solid value of the Reform Bill, gal ; that it conveys to the persons whom it nominates
and their confidence in its salutary operation. This no power or authority of any kind ; that every body
address was from a body styling itself the " Dundee may make choice for themselves whether they will
Political Union." With regard to such Unions, our submit to its inquiries or repel them. All this was
declared sentiments have never varied. From the first already known well enough ; but still this Commission,
we avowed our conviction, that although they might however vicious, arbitrary, and illegal, was a good
be useful to the country under a system of government thing enough for the Commissioners, and it was neither
which called for extensive modifications,—when public very seemly nor very grateful in the latter wilfully
opinion required to be concentrated, and indefatigably to expose it to the world as an object of ridicule
and irresistibly directed against prevalent and crying and contempt. Why should they have gone to Guild-
abuse,---they could operate no otherwise than to ends hall and opened what in burlesque is called their Court
inconvenient or mischievous, after more regular chan- one day, merely to be informed by Mr. Tower, the
nels had once been opened for the utterance and en- Clerk of the Fishmongers' Company, that certain emi-
forcement of the national feeling, and a substantial har- vent fishmongers composing the Court of Assistants of
mony established between the opinions of Englishmen 'she fraternity- being out of town, it has not yet
and the general institutions of the country. A people. hem' determined whether he shall give an
governing itself through laws enacted by its own
re- to their inuiries or not ? Why shoy answer
u the
cognized constitutional instruments realizes the :sound have made q
the same journey, and sat in their
theory of practical freedom—a people seeking to over- mock Court a second time, merely to listen to a similar
rule its own legislative authorities by extea-eonstitu- declaration from the clerk of the Company of Dra-
tional means, such as clubs, unions, &c.,--that is, to pers ? Might not the whole of this business have
enforce the opinion of certain congregated parties by been accomplished just as well by means of two two-
ways unknown to law or constitution—do Iso less than penny post letters, with this further advantage in the
attempt to work aettledgovernment by revolutionary a -revonary latter case, that the world would not have witnessed
mechanism ;ands i n the present case- -that is, after men assuming to be Commissioners of the King, and
Great Britain has obtained an efficient and powerful the authority under which they
reform of that vile system which ha
,it und •
ermined the and derided in op en Court ? could these Commis-
y
pretend to act, scorned
very foundations of all good government—the go even sinners, if they had taxed
principle As chief and most ex- have hit upon any coeitriew t'
their irmenuity for a month,
to deny to the reform
cellent characteristic, viz., its 'self-working power. The illustrate the utter fss ice so well calculated to
tility of their authority, as that of
Dundee Union entertains some views of the value and appointing a f
rsrmal meetine
their pro,
practicability of which it proves its own distrust, by not to attend it, and then,
without so
aftercs,
Opening *settles
summoning I'
leaving them to make their independent way through ceedings, Tsietly adjourning them, the ordinary channels of press or Parliament, but bol- an attempt to assert their own di
nity or that Illofuethheairs
stering them up by the artifice of a,c political union ' Commission, because, forsooth,g certain fishmongers
With some of its professed sentiments we heat tily agre and drapers have thought. fit to be out of town—at
—with its hostility to the unjust and heartless corn laws Graves rid or at Margate, at Camberwell
—with its demand of corporation and law reform, and or Bow ? erchance,
But it is conjectured,
drat really enough,
its complaint against the unequal pressure of taxation. that the absentee fishmongers and drapers will not fail
But we confess there are some things considered as to be in the city b
on Lord Mayor's day, and to thi •
s

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.