The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-19 00:00:00

DUBLIN.

(FROM OUR ()MTN CORRESPONDENT.)
" In effect to follow, not to force the public inclination ;—to give
a directiOn, a form, a technical clrcEs, and a specific sanction, to the
general sense of the community, is the true cad of legislature."—
BURKE.

It is the prevailing feeling and opinion in this coun-
try, that the Legislature has not fulfilled its end,
during the last session, towards this portion of the
United Kingdom. Yet there never was a period,
since the union of the two countries, when public dis-
appointment was less the subject of murmur and dis-
content, than the present. Whence this calm and

patient resignation to a state of things, long com-
plained of as the source of national grievances ? It
arises from the conviction that our present rulers, as
well as the representatives of the people, have endea-
voured to ameliorate, and are still in a position to be
ultimately successfu', in promoting the peace and hap-
piness of Ireland. This feeling alone reconciles us
to the temporary loss of those measures, calculated to
impart great benefits to Ireland, which the misguided
policy and obstinacy of an important branch of the
Legislature have rejected.
In truth, delay, not defeat, marks the character of
the recent struggle ; while the cause of reform seems
to have acquired an additional impetus, from the very
means adopted to retard it. And as these means were
concerted, with a subtlety and combination of powers
irresistible, if in a good cause, and had nearly proved
successful for the party who designed them, our escape
from their consequences is more a subject for silent
admiration, than noisy repinings or despondency !
One great evil only has resulted from the line of tac-
tique pursued by the Tories, in order to recover their
lost influence, and the guidance of public affairs. The
House of Lords, which unfortunately lent itself to
the intrigues of a faction, is lowered in public estima-
tion. What the consequences may be, must depend
entirely on their own conduct in the next session of
Parliament. Should they persevere in opposing them-

selves to measures confessedly beneficial, no other
- -

ostensible reason, than those measures are unsatisfac-

tory to an individual feared or hated, by a fragment
of a downcast but once dominant party, they will in-

evitably entail on their country one or other of two
great calamities. They will stir up civil war, and all.
its contingencies and horrors, including an attempt at
Changing the succession—for which the ground-work
has been already manifestly laid, in the Orange affilia-
tions ;n or, failing this, they will render themselves
obnoxious to the " spirit of the age, and thus endan-
ger the frame and principles of our much admired
Constitution." Already has the alarum-bell of this
latter alternative been sounded on the other side of
the Channel, and responded to by the significant ques-
tion of the " utility of the hereditary ingredient of
our Constitution." Here is new ground for agitation,

not hitherto much thought of in those countries, and
least of all in Ireland. But as the Lords have raised
the phantom, by going too far in seconding the views
of a party, so may they lay it, by complying in time
with the exigency of an era too enlightened to trust
the destinies of a nation to the direction of those who,
however reformed by necessity, arc still mentally
tainted with the reminiscences of corruption.
The statesman whose name appears at the head of
this article, and whose political life shows, that he well
understood the maxim, " thus far, and no farther," has
thus written in support of the higher branch of the Le-
gislature :—" Some decent, regulated pre-eminence,
some preference (not exclusive appropriation) given
to birth, is neither unnatural, nor unjust, nor impo-
litic." This is consistent with that Constitution
which we all wish to uphold, by preserving the pre-
eminence and preference of its respective parts. But
as the same authority has it, we feel, that such pre-
eminence becomes unnatural and impolitic, when its
members, influenced by peculiar prejudices and pre-
dilections, forget their trust and the duties it imposes.
For " in legal construction, the sense of the people of
England is to be collected from the House of Com-
mons ; and though I do not deny the possibility of an
abuse of this trust as well as any other, yet .1 think,
without the most weighty reasons and in the most ur-
gent exigencies, it is highly dangerous to suppose that
the House speaks anything contrary to the sense of
the people." What is the exigency, what the weighty
reason for rejecting several Bills lately submitted by
the Commons of England, with the approbation of
the Ministers of the Crown ? The next Session, it is
hoped, will declare the exigency delusive, and the
reasons imaginary I Such, at least, is the expecta-
tion of my comittymen, including some hitherto sted-
fast Tories and Orangemen, who begin to see that
their prospect of regaining the ascendancy is hopelsss,
and that the fear of O'Connell will become ridiculous,
after these notorious grievances—the great source of
his influence—shall have been redressed by an enlight-
ened Administration. The whole country is at' this
moment perfectly tranquil : nor does the approach of
winter prognosticate any of those diabolical and dis-
graceful symptoms of remote, if not proximate mis-
management of the Government, which were wont to
accompany the advent of that dreary season. In fact,
there is but one class of men here immediately affected
by the indiscretion of their Tory friends—that is,
the parsons, whose gloomy firesides are not likely
to be cheered by any substantial Christmas' plc-
sent from Orange sympathy. Many of them de-
serve commiseration : they arc martyrs, not in their
own cause, but for the sake a wretched oligarchy,
who would sacrifice all that is venerable in their
institution, for the purpose of retaining their own
unhallowed share of the " flesh pots of Egypt." You
will find, however, by the next Session of Parliament,
many of the clergy following the example of the Rev.
Mr. Burgh, the enlightened Dean of Cloyne, who
petitioned for the Irish Ecclesiatical: Bill as it passed
the House of Commons. It is singular, that with a
few exceptions to prove the rule, those most distin-
guished in Church and State for their tialents, virtue,
and acquirements, arc advocates for timely Reform.
Our recollections of Mr. Burgh's college career, prompt
us to this observation.

THE EDGEWARE-ROAD TRAGEDY.

The unfortunate man Stanynought, whose case, since the
dreadful tragedy in the Edgware-road, has naturally ex-
cited universal and deep attention, has been, from the first
period of his incarceration in Newgate, gradually recovering
from the effects of the wound inflicted in his side, and may
now be considered perfectly convalescent. Although by no
means cheerful he does not give way to despondency and
despair, but employs himself nearly the whole of the day in
reading books from his own library, and writing letters to
his numerous relations and friends, one or other of whom is
constantly visiting him, and remains with him generally for
some time. He is perfectly rational in conversation, and
frequently alludes in terms of the deepest regret to the
death of his poor boy, for whom, as he expresses himself, be
had the most affectionate regard. On more than one occa-
sion he has been heard to exclaim that the day when his
trial would take place must be fast approaching, but has
not given utterance to any opinion with regard to the pro-
bable result thereof ; he is, as in the first instance, watched
by day as well as night—yet, although this be a very proper
precaution, it is not for a moment imagined by those who
are so employed, or by any of. his friends, that he would,
were he alone, make a second suicidal attempt. The un-
happy woman, Mrs. Stanynought, is still sojourning with
her friends at Richmond : she is not confined, and the full
particulars of the horrid affair have yet to be communicated
to her. Considerable excitement prevailed yesterday, as well as
the previous day, in consequence of several fellows hawking
about at the west end of the town papers purporting to be
a true and particular account of another attempt of the
unhappy man to commit suicide in his room at Newgate, in
which report, it need scarcely he said, there was not a single
word of truth. Three Counsel are secured for the prisoner
at the forthcoming trial.