The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-01 00:00:00

STATE OF IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Arocsr 29.
" It is undoubtedly the business of the ministers very much to
consult the inclinations of the people. * * A minister of this
country is to be controlled by the House of Commons."—Buß K E.
So convinced of the truth of these maxims are the people of
Ireland, and so implicitly do they confide in the present Go-
vernment to carry them into effect, that they look upon the
events of the last week with great calmness and deliberation.
They arc not, however, insensible to the exigency of the times;
and when occasion requires it, will be prompt in manifesting
their feelings and sentiments. They had anticipated the im-
placable opposition of " the Lords" to those measures, with
less than which they never can be satisfied ; and though they
may not have been prepared for the extent of damage done by
their Lordships, on Wednesday last, to those Bills, which
-were calculated to redress some of their grievances, still they
look upon the struggle which must take place as one that will
certainly terminate in their favour. Indeed the fact ought
not to be concealed, that there tire, in this country, persons
wishing for a more sweeping Tithe Bill, who rejoice rather
than repine at the failure of the present Bill, in the well-
founded hope that next year will go nearer to consummate
their wishes. Still, they do not apprehend any of those vio-
lent concussions in the slate which their " Lordships'" obsti-
nacy seems to threaten. Our distinguished countryman
quoted above, has, in his" Observations on the conduct of
the minority," said, " The friends of the people are not so
ignorant as not to know, that the House of Lords is by itself
the feeblest part of the Constitution ; they know that the
House of Lords is supported only by its connexions with the
Crown and with the House of Commons; and that without
this double connexion, the Lords could not exist a single year."
The same statesman has said, " It is an experiment full of
peril to put the representative wisdom and justice of his Ma-
jesty.s people in the wrong; it is a crooked and desperate de-
sign, leading to mischief, the extent of which no human wis-
dom can foresee, to attempt to form a prerogative party in the
nation to be resorted to as occasion shall require, in derogation
from the authority of the Commons in Great Britain in Par-
liament assembled." But the House of Lords has not yet
gone to their extremes, though it has manifested a very strong
inclination to do so. In fact, some of their Lordships under-
stand the Constitution, and will not only keep themselves
within its pale, but when every struggle to restnre Toryism
has completely failed, will listen to the voice of reason and
the demands of the people. The course :hey are pursuing
proves to demonstration what will be the result of all their
threatenings. They have not done to the Corporation Bill,
or to the Irish Church Bill, that which should necessarily
bring them into immediate collision with the Commons,—that
is, they have not formally rejected—they have only substan-
tially destroyed, under the pretext of improving their most
essential provisions. Why this timidity of doing directly what
they have done indirectly ? Because, the latter mode of pro-
ceeding leaves; a locus penitentie ; and if the Ministry be
firm, and true to the principles which recalled them to his Ma-
jesty's and. the people's service, the magnates of England
must ere long adopt that popish method of obtaining grace
and favour, which is explained by the word, peccavi. It is
their present intention to do so; otherwise they would act to-
wards the Bills already mentioned, as they did towards the Irish
Constabulary Bill, which was however of less importance. Their
leader, or leaders, have but one object in view, to obtain which
they are not prepared for the alternative of the Trojan traitor—
" Sett versare doles, seu certm occumbere morti."
Should they fail in effecting the recall of a Tory ministry,
they may still console themselves with the reflection of having
committed but one overt act, one likely to be passed over,
tending to ent7.ll destruction on their hereditary titles as states-
men. The machinery of the British Constitution is as well
known as it is accurately formed for the sustentation of the liber-
ties of the great body of the people ; and from this knowledge,
and the good sense or good policy, still pervading every branch
of the legislature, it is pretty evident that the rights we claim
are only- delayed, not denied. " One circumstance more I
shall observe here," says an intelligent foreigner, (De Lolme).
" as peculiar to England, which is the constant attention of
tho legislature in providing for the interests and welfare of the
people, and the indulgences shown by them to their very pre.
judices,—advantages there, which are, no doubt, the conse-
quence of the general spirit which animates the whole English
Government,—but are also particularly owing to that circum-
stance peculiar to it,—of having lodged the active part of le-
gislation in the hands of the representatives of the nation; and
committed the care of alleviating the grievances of the people,
to persons who either feel them, or see them nearly, and
whose surest path to advancement and glory is to be active
in finding remedies for them." In the absence of such facts
as usually constitute the " daily news" of a public journal,
I give you the sentiments of the people of Ireland respecting
the present crisis. In doing so, I adopt the language &those
great men who were well acquainted with the British Consti-
tution,
in the hope that such language will receive from all i
panics the attention. 4 deserves.