The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-23 00:00:00

U

THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

delight in the word " Re-action," and
rre constantly boasting of it in their newspapers, and

i a private society. But with all their confidence of
assertion, they are not so fool-hardy as to submit it to
the test of a public meeting. Their dignity is the
shield behind which they ensconce their misgivings.
It is their wall—nzurus valde adheneus—and a mar-
vellous high and imposing fortress it is, frowning in
sullen gloom upon the heads of those whom they dare
Dot manfully confront. is a sort of defence, however,
as the Spartan said of a somewhat similar asylum, much
more suitable for women than for men. Pretending to
the exclusive possession of all the chivalry of Ireland,
they are over-chary of their nerves. They will not come
out of their fastnesses to defend or propagate their
owu opinions, and they' throw the most vexatious
and insolent obstructions in the way of those who
desire to meet and express sentiments adverse to
theirs. The High Sheriff of Meath, Mr. Robert
Fowler, a son of the Bishop of Ossory, has refused to
call a meeting of that county to address the Lord Lieu-
tenant. The requisition which was presented to him,
'contained one hundred and ten signatures, comprising
those of six Peers, two heirs-apparent Peers, four
Members of Parliament, four Baronets, three Deputy-
Lieutenants, a Catholic Bishop, a Judge, twenty Ma-
gistrates, a number of Clergymen of both persuasions,
and several of the most wealthy landholders in Meath.
Mr., Fos*ler has had the unparalled effrontery to refuse
such' a requisition, because it set forth as " the sole
purpose" of the meeting the unanimous desire of the
subscribers " tocongratulate the Earl of Mulgrave on
his appointmentio the Government of this country, as
well as on
.thi:•improved condition of Ireland since
the commenctisnent of his Excellency's Administration."
This must have been wormwood certainly to a
Tory stomach, especially to that of a grandee, belong-
ing to that Fungus Aristocracy so numerous in Ire-
land, whose magnitude is derived from the hotbeds of
the- Church, --The'estates by which Sheriff Fowler has
attained a station, from which he can treat the Nobility
and Gentlemen of Meath with scorn, are the product
of much griping parsimony exercised by his grand-
. father, long time Archbishop of Dublin, in amassing
the revenues of that See. To expect hint to concur
in a declaration that the present state of Ireland is
an improved state, would be to expect something
snore than natural. But this, though a palliation
of, is no excuse for, his presumption, in refuSing
to comply with an obvious and palpable obliga-
tion ; nor is it easy to conjecture the grounds on
which he may pretend to account for it, until his
answer is made public. The common pretexts, in such
cases, for refusing to comply with a requisition, are the
want of a sufficient number of respectable signatures,
or a disturbed state of society, which might make it
dangerous to being large numbers of the people toge-
ther. Neither of those methods of evasion lies dpen
to Mr. Fowler, and there is but. one answer besides
which suggests itself, namely, that inasmuch as he,
Robert Fowler, as aforesaid, cannot approve or concur
in the sentiments expressed in that requisition, he does
not conceive that he should allow a hundred and ten
gentlemen, comprising the, persons of high birth and
station already described, the,
opportunity of declaring
their opinions in the manner which custom has sanc-
tioned and the laws authorise as the best and most be-
cemin. But the meeting will take place, and it rimy
be doubted whether it will lose a particle of respect-
ability or weight by the withholding of Mr. High
Sheriff Fowler's high countenance and concurrence.--
Morning Chronich.
The Number of the Edinburgh Review which has
recently issued from the press contains a very 'email:-
able article on the state and prospects of parties in this
country. It is supposed by some persons to be the
production of Lord Brougham, which is a plausible con-
jecture enough, inasmuch as the article is written with
great energy of style, abounds in all the artifices of a
dexterous pamphleteer, and, while it professes to do
one thing, accomplishes another and a perfectly oppo-
site thing, with infinite cleverness and unbounded suc-
cess. The ostensible object of the article is to convince
the people of Great Britain that they ought to consi-
der it of vital importance to their welfare to maintain
the present Ministers in power, and this object the in-
genious writer pursues by means, not of one, but of
several elaborate and complete demonstrations that from
the.present Administration no good can be expected,
that its position is such as to menace the country con-
tinually with the most formidable evils, that it does not
Enjoy the confidence, but, on the contrary, labours un-
der the suspicion and dislike, of all but the lowest
classes of the community ; that one of the consequences
of its possession of office is to transfer the real powers
of Governmout to small knots and confederacies of
irresponsqile politicians, and not unfreqnently even to
a single individual ; and that it is\mean and base enough
to cleave to office, and to incur all the responsibility of the
management of public affairs, while other men, without
any public character or any recognised position, are the
efficient rulers of the country. -Judging from
.the cha-
racter of the article, which we think we have faithfully
described, we cannot but subcribe to the probability
that Lord Brougham is its author. It is just the kind
of production that might have been expected from an
ex-Chancellor, clever, reckless, and unprincipled ;
;galled into fury that so long after the return of his
party to power, he is still neglected, and still ex-Chan-
cellor—not desirous of breaking with his party openly,
but willing, nevertheless, to do them all the harm lie
can, or anxious, rather, to show them how much harm
he can do. From whatever quarter, however, the blow
has proceeded, it is one of the most effective back-
handed blows that was over inflicted upon any Minis-
try. The reviewer inculcates upon what he chooses
sometimes to term the country, and sometimes the
people, the duty and necessity of supporting the
present Ministers by the following exquisite rea-
sons :--Ist. That the Court is against them ; 2dly.
That the Church is against them, and regards them
as the source of all its perils ; 3dly. That the
Aristocracy is against them ; 4thly. That the
wealth of the country, or, as he himself ex-
plains his meaning, that a large majority of all
the men who are worth 5001. a-year or upwards,
ss against them. The abuse of terms here is
- surely too manifest to have been undesigned. The
re viewer must have meant to reprbach the present
Aa'ininistration with the quality alike of their
opponents and their supporters. The country—
the poople--are with them, deducting only all who
.are counectt'd with the Sovereign and his family: all
tthe Nobility of the land, and their hosts of relations,
connections a,ad dependants ; all the Clergy and the
powerful and zealous friends of the Church ; and all that
powerful and influential class of society who enjoy an
income of 500/. zend upwards. Having undergone
these grievous mutitietions, what would the British
people become ? The reviewer leaves it to the judg-
me or imagination of his readers to suggest the
antrwer to this obvious question. Be. contents himself
with the allegation that such as- the _nation would be
rendered by this process of successive attaputation, such
are now the only supporters of the, present Govern-
ment. Admirable friend I Successful advocate !
Zealous, faithful, valuable partizan I Happily,
however, such dismemberioent of a political ,leremu-
,
nity is a moral impossibility. There can, be no such
perfect and permanent separation' between the u.'oper
classes and the lower, as is here imagined, however
they may seem, in seasons of violent political ex-
citement, to be swayed by different feelings, and to
pursite opposite courses. After the momentary es-
trangement, they will never fail to reunite 137 to ap-
proximate. Otherwise we should • have 'a -proof not
'that this or th 4 t Reform in our civil and -political in-
stitutions would • be beneficial, but that this whole fa-
bric of society is uzisound, and that the machine ab-
solutely requires to be taken to pieces and recoi.l-
- After the alienation of the different classes
of society from each other which the Reform ex-1

_ citement j produced, their reunion has been rapid
even beyond the expectation of the xeost saii-
)u- -F, 4,he Whigs obtained a large majority in the
Ace je--fp,.. ommons in defiance d the oposition
,i -, A
zr, el, classes, at the election which fol-
S Oed-Alit, oduction of the first Reform Bill.
1.. ~.4, =, '`t
ili hir:4lo a majority still more overwhelming
..,•,:iig`, ').,) / ieral election after the Reform Bill
ii
...
It,Ai,
w. But at the general election of
, -13'7.1i ' did not succeed nearly so well. The
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