The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-19 00:00:00

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.CPC4l4iPia POn4i,tgril,lckdrostfie W 5.00,441:). 4,10. I
I conceive it to be the duty of. every man,,
who ventures to write about laws affe.cting
.society:
in his own or any other country, tq• lc conscien-,
tiously scrupulous not to commit to the pub-.
lic any sentiments for which he cannot produce}
unquestionable authority. This is more parti-,
cularly the duty of an anomymous writer, for
whose opinions the people are not botind.to en=
tertain much respect, unless they carry .with,theni
internal and manifest evidence of their 'truth
and correctness. Under these impressions,
have to request that you will publish herewith
the references hereunto appended, that your
readers may be enabled, from their own judg-
ment, to form opinions of the present causes of
distraction in this unfortunate country.
_ -

You are already aware that the 'influence of
parties and factions is so prevalent in Ireland,
that a Government, even well-disposed to pro-
mote the good of the community, must feel
considerably embarrassed as to the best mode of
doing so. And yet there never was a period in
our history, when the foundations of national
happiness and tranquillity might be so perina7
nently and securely laid, as the present, if our
Ministry could but disentangle themselves from
the petty considerations of exrdiency, which
seem to occupy them. But in proportion to
this facility, is the danger of a relapse into our
old habits of feud, anarchy, and misery.
The Irish newspapers will have already in-
formed you of the sanguinary results of Mr.
Stanley's plan for enforcing the payment of
tithes. These and the approaching election are
subjects which almost exclusively occupy our
attention ; and I regret to say, that the national
feeling is not likely to he properly developed on
the latter, as the registry is not proceeding with
half the expected energy. This is chiefly ascrib-
able to the factions, who, while struggling them-
selves violently to increase the number of their par-
tisans, deter the more sober and moderate of all per-
suasions from availing themselves of the registry
and their newly-acquired right of franchise. Mr.
O'Connell, I am afraid, has done some injury to
the liberal cause, by sounding the tocsin of Re-
peal, as many persons who would otherwi-e have
registered, and voted against the Orange faction,
now hold back and will not declare for either
party. This is so, not only in the metropolis,
but throughout the greater part of the country.
With respect to this question of Repeal, you may
rest assured it has made little or no progress among
the people, beyond this city, and a few individuals
who are beginning to adopt the ciy, connected
with the abolition of tithes, for electioneering
purposes. Those most capable of judging are
doubtful whether such a measure ought ever to
be regarded as one conducive to the welfare of
Ireland or the United Kingdom. To the
former it could not possibly bring any ad-
vantages, under our present distracted state,
whatever it might do hereafter, when the peo-
ple of Ireland become more national and united,
and the people and public press of England less
disposed and less capable of serving us than they
appear to be at this moment. O'Connell is,
therefore, wrong in agitating a topic for which
we are not prepared beyond the city of Dublin.
Here, no doubt, there will always be a great
number of shopkeepers and tradesmen—the per-
sons most likely to benefit by such a measure—
in favour of a Repeal, for they'alone, of the
whole kingdom, have not advanced 'in prosperity
within the last thirty years. The more intelli-
gent of the community, however, in every other
part of this country, are, if not indifferent on
this subject, at least fully satisfied with a united
Parliament, provided it affords them as much
protection as it may and ought to 'do in its re-
formed state. While many, whose leisure or
profession has led them to contemplate the con-
dition both of England and Ireland during the
last six centuries, as regards themselves and foreign
nations, seem to adopt the maxim of Burke,that—
"lt is with nations as with individuals. 11/41othing is
so strong a tie of amity between nation and na.
tion, as correspondence in laws,.customs, man-
ners, and habits of life. They haie more than
the force of treaties in themselves ; they are
obligations written in the heart ; they approxi-
mate man to man, without their knowledge, and
sometimes aaainst their intentions'. The secret,
unseen, but irrefragable bond of habitual in-
tercourse holds them together, even when their
perverse and litigious nature sets them to equi
vocate, scuffle, and fight about the terms of
their written obligations. (1) Would a dissolu-
tion of the union promote such relations between
these two countries?
As to the other part of the pledges intended
to be put to liberal candidates, " the abolition o
tithes," the case is quite different. - There ,Nil
be very few members sent to the next Parlia
ment dissentient on this subject, unless the
conservative rent shall accumulate so much, as
to Simulate persons of the ascendancy and high
phurch party to come forward, who
,would other-
wise have no claims on the popular suffrage.
In fact, this anomalous system is long since
doomed to destruction by Doctor Doyle's expo-
sure of' its inutility—not to say its illegality
and injustice. His opinions on this subject had
nearly effected a moral revolution, even before
the publication of his last letter to the Mar-
t of Anglesea. That letter, reiterating his
former sentiments, has completed the triumph
of tho worthy prelate's doctrines, in two
ways,_first, by the vigorous reasoning con-
tained in itself; and, secondly, by the silly
and impotent efforts made by some lawyerlings
scribes to deny the soundness of his argu-
menta as compatible with the laws. of these
countries. Both the letter and the comments
thereon have gone forth to the nation, and the con-
trast, I repeat it, has completed the triumph,
because it has shown demonstratively that the
upholding of an establishment. by compulsory
means is contrary to the law of nature and rea-
son, inconsistent with the spirit of laws in ge-
neral, which ought to be conformable " to the re-
ligion of the inhabitants and to their inclinations"
(2), and, consequently, against -the principles of
the laws of England, wriich,• the learned com-
mentator says, are only obligatory when founded
on nature and justice. " This law of nature being
coeval with mankind, and dictated by Goy him-
self, is of cour-e superior in obligation to any
other—it is binding over all 'the globe, in all
countries and at all times ; no human laws
are of any validity if contrary to this,
and such of them as are valid derive all
their force, and all their authority, mediately or
immediately, from this original" (3). It surely
requires neither artificial logic, nor quotations
from legal authorities, to prove. that laws exact-
ing tithes from seven millions of his Majesty's
subjects, who have a clergy of their own to sus-
tain, in support of the clergy of half a trillion of
people, is a violation of the laws of nature, and
I'age ISO, vol. S. I quote from the edition of 1803, in 8
volumes.
(2.) Montesquieu, Book I. chap...
(3.) Blackstone's Introduction to the Commentaries, sec. 2.