The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We are not Orangemen, nor ever have been. That
is a bad state of political society wherein bodies of men
confederate even for purposes of mutual defence ; and
still more for purposes offensive as well as defensive ;
because it makes manifest the incapacity of the law to
fulfil its proper functions, and discloses a state in which
brute force domineers over constituted authority. The
war carried on by the Irish Papists against the Pro-
testant troops in the time of Charles 1., and subse-
quently of Cromwell, had for its two-fold object the
re-establishment of Popery, and the overthrow of Bri-
tish power. The war of the Irish Papists against
King William, which was waged under the guise of
loyalty to a distressed and rightful Sovereign, aimed
essentially at no other ends than the subversion of
British sway, and the substitution of the mass, with
all its evil accessories, for the Reformed Church.
The triumph of King William, whatever may be
said to the contrary by trimming Statesmen, was a
repetition of the conquest effected by Cromwell forty
years before ; and the legislation for Ireland during
the reigns of Anne and George I. was in the same
spirit as the wars of William—it had in view the
double security of the British Crown and of the Pro-
testant religion, then regarded as its most solid bul-
wark, crushing all resistance from rebels instigated by
priests. The relaxation of the Popery laws was an
attempt to conciliate those whose armed resistance had
been defeated. But the relaxation was too gradual to
satisfy the impatience of the Roman Catholics. The
Catholics accepted the invitation of. the Republicans
who were conspiring against England under the auspices
of the French revolution. The confederates took the
name of United Irishmen. The secret passion of the
Papists was the downfall of the Protestant Church.
The avowed object of both was the breaking-up of
British supremacy. The united Irish league engen-
dered that of the Orangemen, which revived the spirit
of the old penal laws, when their letter had been parti-
ally effaced. Thus the Orange Association was at its
outset an institution absolutely for self-defence--that is,
in defence of the Imperial Crown of England, of the
Protestant worship, and of property, as settled at the
Revolution, against an enemy who would have de-
stroyed them all. The overthrow of the rebellion of

1798 was intrinsically the triumph of the same cause,
which, prospering under Cromwell, and under William
in the field, had been upheld by the stern and unskilful
legislation of the -next half century. But the conquest
of 1798 was followed neither by confiscations,
butcheries, wholesale banishments, nor penal laws.
The attempt, however, to conciliate by further relaxa-
tions of that code, was replaced by an attempt to in-
corporate through an Act of Union. But powers and
principles remained in full activity which were not
recognized on the face of the statute-book, and against
which Parliament vainly strove to contend. The
ancient antageMists which had met upon the Boyne
above a century before, have still, from 1798 to
this hour, been struggling with reciprocal and
deadly animosity. The Orange or British principle,
however discountenanced and condemned by the Legis-
lature, has maintained its front against the principle
which first appeared under the colour of indefinite agi-
tation, but has latterly thrown off the mask, and
declared itself for open separation from the British mo-
narchy. it is but another Battle of the Boyne, and
O'Connell is the caricature likeness of the last of the
Stuarts. Dreadful, indeed, would be the responsibility
of that English statesman who permitted such a con-
flict to be settled, like its predecessors, by thesword.
England is now strong ..enough to enforce and perpe-
tuate her often-rehearsed conquest by other means than
violence. She may, by the same instrument of just
acid humane law, succeed in tempering the zeal of her
impetuous adherents, and in subduing the ferocious
hatred of her own traditional hatred and theirs. With-

out yielding one particle of real dominion, without
enfeebling in the very slightest degree the moral and
intellectual (that is, the only real) ascendency of the
Protestant Church, we do believe, that by blending
resolution and wisdom, a system of measures may he
completed, whereby the Popish population of Ireland
may have its attention withdrawn from those features in
the Protestant establishment which it now regards with
dislike, through which the relations of the Popish
priesthood towards the State. may be pervaded by a
sense of -gratitude on one side, and on the other by a
well-founded confidence---Ahrough which, lastly, the
destitute and suffering poor may have employment
found for their industry, or relief administered to their
wants, both resting on the authority and security of
acts of Parliament ; thus improving the relative pos-
ture of landlord and occupant of the soil, by making
it the interest of each to stand by the other, and raising
by a gradual but irresistible process their standard of
civilization among a brutalized and degraded people.
We will confess that it was no part of our intention to
have dipped as we have done into the general state of
Ireland, either with reference to her history or her social
condition at thiS moment ; our notice was drawn by
the conversations of Wednesday evening-in the-House
of Commons to the character of the Orange Socie-
ties, .and to the treatment which they have a right to

look for from the advisers of the Crowo. Without so

much as insinuating that the King ought to encou-
rage by any formal or implied acknowledgment,
the creation of societies of an illegal nature, we think
that too much consideration cannot be given to the
rational and constitutional language of Sir Robert
Peel, who declared that the mere reception of a peti-
tion from persons designating themselves by a collec-
iite name unknown to the law, was not a recognition
by the Sovereign authority of the lawfulness of such
all association, and at the same time that it would be
an extreme hardship-if his Majesty or his Ministers
were to reject a petition on the spot, through any un-
proved assumption that it came from, an unlawful
body ; whereas the doors to petitioning ought to be
widened, instead of narrowed, on behalf of his Ma;
jesty§ subjects, and petitions received as from the
parties•siffning them, although not from the bodies on
whose behalf they were ostensibly presented. Mr.
Shaw, the Recorder of Dublin, showed satisfactorily
that the Orange societies had never been delared ille-
gal by the Judges, which fact was admitted by Coun-
sellor O'Connell, who in continuing the subject floun-
dered on with one misrepresentation upon another re-
specting the Orangemen of Ireland, as was well de-
monstrated in the -Standard of last night.—Times.
The Whig-Radical Opposition discovered a mare's
nest on Wednesday evening, and bitter was the grief
Of its Members when they were made acquainted with
the worthlessness of their prize. They imagined, for-
sooth, that his Majesty was not at liberty to receive
dutiful and loyal addresses, breathing the very spirit of
devotion to the Crown, and attachment to the best in,
stitutions of the country, because they were signed by
a body of men whose fidelity and honesty have been
tried and approved in the worst and most perilous times.
What a miserable failure it was on the part of the
medley. Even Lord John Russell was ashamed of
his crew, and left the whole battle, as far as the English
squadron of the fleet was concerned, to be fought by a
Mr. Stanley, who filled (?) the office of Under-Se-
cretary of State in the late Ministry, and Mr.
Joseph Hume, whose melancholy fate, it is never
to rise and address the House without being
contradicted, nay, unanswerably contradicted, in
some fact on which the whole connection of

his argument (if argument we may venture to
call it) depends. True it is that the eloquent Finn
was not silent. Undoubtedly the highly-gifted Ro-
nayne struggled for a hearing ; nay, Darnel O'Con-
nell himself, in the teeth of the petition presented
against his return, encouraged his followers (we crave
pardon, his tail) with the sound of his sweet voice,
but all would not do—the babbling was all in vain.
Sir Robert Peel, Sir Henry Hardinge, and Mr. Se-
cretary Goulburn placed the question on its right and
satisfactory footing, demonstrating beyond the possi-
bility of a doubt to the minds all reasonable beings,
that the conduct adopted by his Majesty's Govern-
ment on the occasion in question was strictly in ac-
cordance with the principles and practice recognized by
-Tall:parties under similar circumstances. We rejoiced,
.narOoVei, to observe the careful and marked manner in
Which Lord Howick, a young Nobleman, from whom,
however We-,may differ on political- topics, we cannot
withhold the praise of public consistency and private
worth—studiously separated himself from the faction
which would gladly receive and enthral him. His

Tipeeth, however we may differ from portions of it, was
honourable to his head and heart. It did not, how-
ever, end here. The Opposition was not let down so
easily Sir Robert Bateson and Mr. Shaw, neither
of whom is or was connected with Orange societies,
shrunk not from boldly Avowing their opinions of those
Institutions, while the speech of Colonel Conolly (we
take the report from an Opposition contemporary)
commanded attention from a House weary of the topic,
by the vigour, manliness, and truth, which were its
chief characteristics. Daniel O'Connell made, by
the way, two very unfortunate hits, namely, the re-
lationship borne by Mr. Robinson to Lord Farn-
ham, and the appointment of Mr. Plunkett (not one
of the Hannibals, or it would not have been men-
tioned during the temporary alliance, but a scholar
and a Gentleman), the former not existing, and the
latter having never taken place. But so it is, both
with Daniel and his friend Joseph. They ought to re-
member that they have men of business and talent
now to deal with—Peels and Harding's, not Althorps
and Littletons. Blunderers againSt blunderers were
more evenly matched. It was a toss up which won.
The case is now materially altered. What will be the
next topic ? What new, unimportant, and trivial ques-
tion will the Opposition frame or invent to amuse the
public mind or waste the public time ? We think it
must be a game of which Messrs. RusSell, O'Connell,
and Co. cannot but be nearly tired. We have indeed
no objection to iheir persevering in the amusement, for
it tends to weaken them (if that, indeed, is now neces-
sary) and to strengthen the Conservatives in every ro;-
sible and imaginable way. One thing is to us perfectly
clear ; the dominion of faction, always followed if suc-
cessful by the reign of terror, is drawing to a rapid and
disgraceful end, overthrown by the good sense of the
people of England, rallying round one of the best and
most patriotic. Sovereigns who has at any time swayed
the British sceptre.—Morning Post.
The. Globe. says, Rumours of the
.Duke of Wel-
lington's resignation have reached us 'from credible
sources. It is also reported that the Duke of Rich-
mond and Lord Stanley have joined the Ministry.
The rumour adds, that the Earl of Aberdeen goes to
the Foreign-office, and Lord Stanley to his old post,
the Colonial Department." For our part, we can
neither confirm nor contradict these rumours. We are
inclined, however, to believe that the rumours would
not have been so pertinaciously repeated, were all right
at head quarters. Perhaps the hitch with respect to
the appointment- ~ the Marquis of Londonderry
may be - connected with the retirement of the Duke
of Wellington... Though the appointment might
appear " too bad " to the Premier, yet there may
be reasons why his 'Grace should be inclined to
insist on its taking place. It will be remembered
that several years ago the Duke, who, as a poli-
tician, was then rather at a discount, set out on a
sort of tour in quest of popularity to the North of
England, and the Marquis of Londonderry drew to-
gether a great assemblage of Tories to pay du." honour
to the Great Captain of the Age. We have never
heard his Grace accused of the weakness of sacrificing
himself for his friends, but it is possible that he may
have felt somewhat mortified that. Sir Robert should
have shrunk from the unpopularity of this appoint-
ment. The Duke of Wellington has been so mixed
up with the factious opposition to the Ministry of
Earl Grey, that we think it quite impossible Lord
Stanley and the Duke of Richmond could sit in
the same Cabinet with him. Sir Robert Peel
certainly acted with more caution during the pe-
riod of the Whig-Ministries. This, no doubt, may
have proceeded from a consideration of the inuti-
lity of encountering odium by opposing, to no
purpose in the House of Commons, what could be
opposed -with effect in the House of Lords. After
all, whether the Duke retire, or remain in the Minis-
try, matters must soon come to a crisis. The moment
the plans of Ministers are brought forward, either the
Reformers or the Tories will be refractory. We hold
it to be quite impossible that the Tories and Refor-
mers can be satisfied by the same measures, and we
_believe that this opinion is almost universally enter-
tained. Whatever may be the specious pretexts of
Sir Robert Peel, nothinc, is more certain than that
the Tories seek power, with the.sole,yiew of preserving
the abuses Which'are profitable to them. We do not
mean to say that they may not consent to certain im-
provements which benefit the people without dimi-
nishing the profits of the privileged orders ; but to all
demands for reform 'in Church and State deserving of
the name, they will assuredly turn a deaf ear.—
Morning Chronicle.

SHERIFF'S COURT.