The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-06 00:00:00

appointment of Lord Heytesbury ; although there
has been more hesitation in his case, from his
being understood to entertain more liberal notions than
the other, inasmuch as he was a Lord of the Bed-
chamber—an employment much more suited to his
talents and capacity—under Lord Grey's and Lord
Melbourne's former Governments. These manifesta-
tions of Lord Melbourne's determination to intrust the
power of Government only to parties in whose prin-
ciples and character he can safely confide, will give
great satisfaction to the country. The Government of
this country must not be like a house divided against
itself. Every man intrusted with any portion of the
Executive power, ought to be made to feel that he
cannot, without violating his trust, avail himself of
it against Ministers. We regret to be obliged to
say that nearly all the Lords Lieutenants and
their Deputies, and Justices of Peace, have
hitherto been constantly seen in hostility to the Whig
Government. Were Ministers to connive at this, they
would justly expose themselves to the charge of be-
traying their trust. It is their duty to see that the
Executive is not improperly weakened by factious men
being suffered to turn the powers of the Crown against
itself. We have already alluded to the conduct of the
Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire in the course of
the present election for that county. In the Scotsman,
received yesterday, we find the following sensible re-
marks on that subject, which we gladly transfer to our
columns. We have no doubt that Lord Melbourne
will know what the occasion demauds :
" The impolicy of allowing Lord Lieutenants of counties,
who make themselves conspicuous by their determined opposi-
tion to Government, to retain the power of doing so is now
generally admitted ; and in the removal of Lord Fitz william
from the Lieutenantcy of Yorkshire, we perceive on the part
of the Tories an entire coincidence in this opinion. Never,
however, has its correctness been more signally illustrated,
than in the conduct of Colonel Grant, of Grant, the Lord
Lieutenant of the county of Inverness.
" In both of the two recent elections, the exertions of Col.
Grant in favour of the Tory candidate were conspicuous—and
in 1832 he used every influence with his tenantry against the
Government candidate, and headed them in a procession to
the poll, to vote in his presence, and under the fear of his dis-
pleasure, against the Government, whose chief military post in
the county he, as Lord Lieutenant, possessed. Such of the
tenants as had the honesty and courage to resist his domi-
neering interference, know how their independence has been
rewarded.
" In the present election the Lord Lieutenant is the first
Requisitionist to The Chisholm, inviting into the field, and
pledging himself to aid in promoting the return of a man reso-
lutely and diametrically opposed to the policy and the measures
if his Majesty's Government. But this is not all, besides being
himself at the head of the Requisition, the Lord Lieutenant
of the county brings forward, as Requisitionists, two Factors
on the estates of Grant, both of whom are pledged to promote,
by their exertions with the tenantry, the return of the candi-
date opposed to Government ; and availing himself of his mili-
tary as well as his civil authority, he also brings forward as a
Requisitionist--and employs as an active partisan against the
Government—Captain Walker, the Adjutant of the Inver-
ness Militia, of which the Lord Lieutenant is ex officio Com-
mandant.
" Now, we ask, is it right that this gentleman, who has
made himself so notoriously and openly a partisan, who has so
unscrupulously and unblushingly employed his influence and
the advantages of his official situation against his Majesty's
Government, should continue to hold, under the Government
which he thus opposes and embarrasses, the important office of
Lord Lieutenant, the confidential correspondent of Govern.
ment in all matters connected with the affairs of the county ?
" The privilege he possesses of appointinc, Deputy-Lieute-
nants, and of filling up the lists of Justices of the Peace, gives
him the power, as we well know he has the inclination, of
instituting and organizing a most formidable opposition to any
Liberal Government ; and we trust that his Majesty's Minis-
ters will see the propriety of ordering the removal, or at least
compelling the neutrality, of a person, who individually, as a
Landlord, as Commandant of the Militia, and as Lord-Lieu-
tenant of the County, has evinced his determined hostility to
their pu:i.7y, cnd his unremitting opposition to the rights and
liberties of the pe0p1e."—.:Jui.,...3
Colonel Dawson Darner has transmitted to us fur
insertion, a correspondence which has taken place be-
tween Mr. O'Connell and him on the Alvanley busi-
ness, that tends to throw still more light on the motives
of the actors in that business. It turns out that Col.
Dawson Damer's letter to Mr. O'Connell, dated the
22d April, was not put into the London post-office till
the 27th, and did not reach him till the 29th, one day
after the date of the second letter. Mr. O'Connell
says he means to bring the subject before the House of
Commons as a breach of privilege ; and having learned,
after finishing his letter, that the matter had already got
into the London newspapers, he i* a postscript, with
his usual shrewdness, infers that it was only calcu-
lated for that meridian. He observes that a letter
sent by one person in Chidden to another person in
London, to be transmieted thence to a third person
in Dublin, to fight a duel at a truly long suit, " bangs
Banagher," as they say in Ireland. We presume there
can be but one opinion as to the good sense displayed
by the Committee of Brookes's. The Times, indeed,
as was to have been expected, contends that the Club
ought to have taken up Lord Alvanley's quarrel, be-
cause " a man may so conduct himself in a dispute
with another, as to betray principles and dispositions
which render a social intercourse with him dangerous
or disgraceful to the bulk of gentlemen." This princi-
ple certainly opens a wide door of inquiry. We should
have had the Club inquiring into Mr. O'Connell's
life, to ascertain whether it had been unexceptionable,
and into a counter inquiry into that of Lord Alvan-
ley. We should like to see Lord Alvanley exposed
for a couple of hours to Mr. O'Connell's interro-
gatories. His Lordship may, we think, congratu-
late himself that the Managing Committee rescued
him from the situation in which he wished to place
himself. " What is disgraceful to the bulk of gentle-
men," opens a wide field of inquiry, and of course the
Committee would not have stopt short with the inqui-
sition into Mr. O'Connell's life. Notwithstanding the
affected scepticism of the Times, the affair has very
properly been characterised as a plot to sow dissensions
among the Reformers. With respect to the Whigs
who signed the requisition, they did so at the entreaty
of Lord Alvanley, who urged it as a personal request,
and most, if not all of them, were sorry for it, and ap-
proved afterwards of the decision of the Managers.
The Duke of Norfolk even wished to withdraw his
name from the requisition. We, however, by no means
justify them for weakly and unwittingly lending them-
selves, at the solicitation of a merry boon compa-
nion, to a Tory trick. Were this a case standing
by itself, we might judge more charitably of the
actors. But it is completely in accordance with
the Tory tactics of the whole session. In proof
of this, we may notice the opposition of the Con-
servative purse to the O'Connell family at the elec-
tions, and the oppressive petition against all their re-
turns, merely to overwhelm them with expense to say
nothing of the constant endeavours to hold up the
support of the O'Connell party in Parliament, as pe-
culiarly disgraceful to the Opposition. This last in-
trigue is, therefore, quite in character. The cry that
the Tories are now endeavouring to raise, is, that the
country is governed by 33 Papists, the number of the
majority and of the Catholics in the House. But
now that Lord Alvanley has been walked off the field,
another champion of the Tories has made his appear-
ance,--a champion every way worthy of the cause—.
the
timtntohted Mr. Ben
ey
have
ejamin D
made
choice
eoeli I
of
proper
opmeursit be
nstruomwennetd.
Mr. Morgan O'Connell, feeling that in the pro-
ceeding adopted against his father during his ab-
sence an insult was offered to him, with be-
coming spirit demanded satisfaction from the of-
fending party. Mr. D'lsraeli, with a logic that
would have excited astonishment even in Ireland, con-
ceives that because a son feels the wrongs done to a
father, he ought to be responsible for the acts of that
father. "He (iVIr. O'Connell) leaves me (says Mr.
B. D.) no alternative but to request that you, his son,
will resume your vicarious duties, of yielding satisfac-
tion for the insults which your father has too long la-
vished with impunity upon his political opponents."
We know not how far the Tories sanction the freaks
of this gentleman who seems determined to play a part
of some kind, to obtain notoriety. Having imposed him-
self on Mr. O'Connell as a Radical, in order to cajole the
electors at High Wycombe, through a recommendatory
letter from that gentleman, his thrusting himself forward
as an injured man at this time is whimsical anough.
Mr. D'lsraeli tells Mr. Morgan O'Connell that he
feels it his duty to publish the correspondence, and the
the publicity, we presume, was the only object he had
in view. He could not more prudently have gone to
work to acquire a reputation for bravery. The friends
of this gentleman would do well to advise him to with-
draw a little from public notice. He is not without
talent, but he is making himself too cheap even for