The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

An article in the recently published Number of the
_Edinburgh Review contains, together with comments
upon the events of the last Session, and the feeere
prospects of the Government, some remarks sepon the
important subject of reform in the Hol'ese of Lords.
The author, as is easily seen, is at all disposed to
conceal the difficulties of the position in which the
obstinacy of the Peers an ::r the state of parties in the
Commons may be suP,posed to place a liberal and re-
forming Atlininis:assioe—far from it; he appears de-
sirous, on the, contrary, to place these difficulties in as
conspicuosss a light as possible ; and, doubtless, with
the laudable desire to rouse the country in support
of a Government which depends upon the people,
anti the people alone, he is led, perhaps, some-
what to exaggerate existing difficulties, and occa-
siernally even slightly to trench upon the province
of imagination. He supposes that the reason of
the violent opposition offered by the Peers to the
measures of the present Government is to be found
in the divided state of the House of Commons.
He asks, how comes it that the Lords of 1832,
1833, and 1834, held a conduct so exceedinetj,
different from that of the Lords of 1835 ? " hat
reforms," says he, " did they contrive to threw out in
those years ? "'hat reform have they sySiered to pass
this year ?" His answer is soon given. It is this—
" The Lords are the same, but the Commons are dif-
ferent. Herein lies the grere's secret of the diversity of
conduct pursued by tlieir Lordships in these two
eras." In 1833 th.c majorities of the Commons were
four or five to osie in favour of the Government. In
1835 the Government has only " the measuring cast in
its favour." But surely, making all due allowance for
such motives as these, is it not notorious that former
Governments lost ground with the country, because
they unfortunately endeavoured to prevent a. collision
with the Peers, and to stave off, or plan their mea-
sures so as to make them, if possible, .palateable to
their Lordships ? And when the Tory Administra-
tion appealed to the country last year, what was it
that strengthened their ranks, but the apathy or the
alienation occasioned by this attempt at conciliating
those whom no sacrifice but one would ever propitiate?
Lord Melbourne's Government has met with more op-
position, because it has not gone out of its way to
avoid it. The numerical strength of the Tories in the
Commons, has undoubtedly emboldened their friends'
in the Peers ; and the Government is undoubtedly
weaker, in so far as mere party divisions are concerned;
but if the present Ministry has a smaller party in the
two Chambers than the Whigs possessed in the preced-
ing Parliament, it has undoubtedly a larger party in
the country, connected by the bond of attachment and
of principle, than would ever have rallied round
the Government, in the latter days of the Grey
Administration—a fact which—should another
election be ventured upon—will appear sufficiently
evident. With respect to Reform in the Lords,
the author sees nothing but difficulties, anti con-
siders its proposal as involving an immediate
retirement of the Melbourne Cabinet and a certain
triumph to its Tory successors, the Commons sup-
porting them, in order to avoid another dissolution.
Now this may or may not be true, as far as parties in
Parliament are concerned ; but are there no parties out
of Parliament to be taken into account ? The Tory
Ministry, we are told, would be sure to exist for five
years, the Commons being compelled in a manner to
support a Ministry with which its own existence would
be identified. " Whoever voted to turn them out would
know that he voted to send himself back to his constitu-
ents." The Tories would, therefore, have a steady ma-
jority. Now, if this really be the case, why should not
the Tories profit by the hints thus given them ? We
imagine that one reason is, that the more prudent and
sagacious of their body know well that there are
parties out of Parliament as well as parties in Parlia-
ment to be considered in these cases ; and although
we believe the supposed apostacy of any consi-
derable number of the Liberals in the Lower House is
a gross libel upon them, we are quite sure, that what-
ever might be lost to the Reform party, wous.' d be more
than compensated in the strong disgust with which the
public would view an attempt to play another game of
the same kind as was witnessed, last autumn, and the
active exertions of the nu:nerous Associations which
would be immediately set on foot to counteract these
plots against their h'oerties, and to secure the triumph
of Reform. The ideas of the author appear to be
strangely warped upon political questions, for he says,
" If there is not a very decided preponderance (in
the Commons) in favour of reforming policy, he can
see no ground for requiring the Lords to adopt that
course." So that .it would seem that there is no
such thing as right and wrong in these matters. The
Peers are not to be expected to pass laws because
they are just and equitable, but because there is a
large majority in the Commons, and it is impolitic to
withhold their assent. This may be the actual lan-
guage of selfish party .tacticians, but it surely ought
not to be mentioned, except with reprobation ; but a
perverted ingenuity and narrow reasoning pervade all
the Reviewer's arguments on this subject. Whether
the majorities he small or large has nothing to do with
the actual merits of the question submitted to them ;
and if the reforms which are anxiously looked for be
tight and just, the people ought not to he trifled with
by a slavish subserviency to forms which are only
valuable as conducive to their benefit. How is it that
the Reviewer sees only one side of the question ? The
difficulties of reforming or managing the Lords he puts
forward prominently enough ; but are there no diffi-
culties in keeping things as they are ? Would he have
a coalition or mock-reform government formed ? If
not, how is reform to proceed without a change in
that body which has hitherto so strenuously
resisted its progess ? We pray that the Peers may
have a large addition to their stock of " grace, wisdom,
and understanding " before another session ; but if
not, it is no use to start difficulties in the way of an
alteration in their House. The Lords arc but a small
fragment of the body politic, and the nation could do
better without them altogether than to keep all the
public business suspended, and to have the most equi-
table measures irryeded and rejected by their selfish oh-
stinacy. Pol',iicians may make the Gordian knot as
tight or as intricate as they like, but a great people
will find means to carry its will into effect, in spite of
their web-like and artificial contrivances. If it be
impracticable to reform the Lords, either internally or
externally, must the nation therefore submit to be go-
verned according to the will of a small irresponsible
body ?—or to see the business of practical legisla-
tion entirely suspended ? This part of the subieet
will probably be found to have its difficulties—diffie
culties quite as great as any connected with reform in
the Lords.—Morning Chronicle.
How is it that we hear every day of convents and
nunneries, and other monastic institutions, being esta-
blished in Ireland,
.though they are prohibited by law,
and similar institutions are even now undergoing the
process of demolition in Portugal and Spain ? What
is " national education" doing for the Irish portion of
the British empire that it should more closely clasp
and more fondly cherish those superstitious inventions
of which foreign Popery is becoming ashamed ? Is
this the practical evidence of the
progress that in-
tellect is making in a land wiaich an O'Connell politi-
cally enlightens, and a
.I\lefiale religiously instructs ?
Far be it from us to approve of the barbarous out-
rages committed by the " Liberals" of Spain upon
monastic inestitutions and their defenceless inmates_
over and over again have we expressed our abhorrence
of the inhuman and dastardly conduct of the " brave"
Urbanos of Madrid and other places, who, riot having
manhood enough to face their Carlist enemies in the
field, took base revenge for Carlist victories by storm-
ing monasteries,and cleaving the skulls and cutting the
throats of monks and friars. Holding, as we do, such
proceedings in detestation, nevertheless we do not
wish to see the cast-off superstitions of Popery trans-
ferred to lreland—that country has too long had
enough of her own. Is it not sufficient that the atro-
cious and abominable doctrines of Dens have been re-
vived and republished in the " age of intellect," under
the auspices of the Roman hierarchy of Ireland, with-
out covering that country with those laystalls of super-
stition which Popery is unable to protect from popular
violence and subversion in countries where the domi-
nion of priestcraft had for centuries been all powerful ?
When the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel

threw open the doors of Parliament to the Roman
Catholic agitators, for which they are now rewarded
by the peculiar venom of their tita'ligitatit abi*; thy
promised certain securities to the Pi:Ot`gak thiirch,
independently of that fanions " Which has been
so vastly efFeeti\te iti pite'Veitting Roman Catholic legis-
lators from doin4 kny thing to prejudice or impair the
Protestant establishment. If we mistake not, one of
those boasted securities was that. no Roman Catholic
priest should be allowed to usurp the title of a Protes-
tant Bishop ; and another, that no order of inonkery
should be allowed to exist in Ireland. MU few years
have passed since then, and we have lived to see ten
Protestant Bishoprics extlnguished, to every one of
which a Roman Catholic priest openly asserts a title ;
and though it is now only a spiritual ttstitpAt6l, yet
no doubt, when the " Repeal" shall have been accom-
plished, or, perhain) before that time (for we know not
to what lemrtlt Whig 'concessions may extend), the
temporalities slit be clutched, and the ten bishoprics
restored) but not to the Protestant Church. Instead
of monastic institutions being suppressed in Ireland,
this " security" against the encroachments of Popery
has been so completely set at nought that we see them
constantly on the increase—Jesuits—Trappists, and
other monks, '' white, black, and grey, with all their
trumpery," banished from other countries, descend like
flights of unclean birds upon Ireland. In an angry
correspondence, which lately took place between a Ro-
man Catholic priest and his superior, the latter boasts
of having been instrumental in founding three nunne-
ries, and it was ostentatiously set forth in the Irish
Papers that the Viceroy of Ireland paid a visit to one
of those institutions, and was most graciously received
by the Mother Abbess ! Would it not be better, even
for humanity's sake, to prevent those superstitious en-
dowments taking place in the first instance, than to
have them pulled.to pieces hereafter, perhaps like those
pf Spain and Portugal, amid popular excitement and
commotion ? What sort of " education" can prosper
in Ireland while superstition extends continually its
darkening influence over the mind.—Morning Herald.

It will be in the recollection of our readers that we
have had occasion of late to notice the melancholy lu-
cubrations of the Morning Chronicle relative to the
change of French policy in respect to the affairs of
Spain. From the soreness and violence of our con-
temporary we drew the conclusion that Lord Palmers-
ton had consummated his career in Downing-street by
leaving the country without an ally in Europe. The
French papers of Saturday fully confirm this satisfac-
tory state of things. The Journal des Debats, which
has latterly supplied us with some graphical descrip-
tions of the real position of the belligerents in the
northern provinces, complains of divers attacks made
upon it with regard to the opinions expressed in that
journal upon England and Spain. The following we
believe to be a faithful outline of this remarkable ar-
ticle It confesses that it was strongly in favour of
the intervention of France in Spain, and that it cannot
conceal its fears occasioned by the violence of the
Radical party in England. It then declares its opinions
upon revolutions in general, that it does not approve
of them indifferently, merely because they are revolu-
tions, and that it has great respect for a Con-
stitution under which a nation has advanced in pros-
perity for a considerable space of time. It wishes for
Spain that she should have reforms not destruction,
and liberty instead of anarchy. For England, it attri-
butes her prosperity entirely to her Constitution ; and
if her Peers fall under the attacks of their enemies, their
institution will still hold an honourable place in the
history of civilization. Many nations are rur-,-,;n in
c . it
search of liberty, it observes, but En;l-eind holds in
her hand, and has done so for 'more than a century.
It counsels the English
people to trust to the ex-
perience they have gained, rather than to the sug-
gestions of in
::.ovations ; and ends by saying that, in
its own o:pinion, the true friends of liberty are those
who, when they have once found a liberal Constitu-
4:ion, well established and proved by time and facts, are
not in a hurry to see it overthrown." The Temps en-
lightens us a little more as to the friendly intercourse
between the English and French Cabinets. It ob-
serves :—" As we have already announced, Lord Gran-
ville has received positive instructions from his Govern-
ment to make energetic remonstrances, not upon an
armed intervention, but respecting the manner in which
the French Government understands the execution of
the Quadruple Treaty of Alliance. It is now -a cer-
tain fact that we are no longer on the same terms
of intimacy and good will with England." The
above statements, therefore, corroborate the angry
articles which the Chronicle has put forth on
the subject, and the boasted Quadripartite Treaty
may be considered as mere waste paper, if it were de-
signed, as we have been told by the Ministerial organs,
to consolidate the miion between France and England
against the Northern Powers. We congratulate Lord
Palmerston on his triumphs. The Foreign Secretary
and the stockjobbers managed to dethrone Don Miguel,
and our reward has been the cancelling of treaties
deeply affecting the commercial and agricultural inte-
rests of Great Britain. Belgium has been rendered a
province of France through the indefatigable exertions
of Lord Palmerston, and our recornpence has. been
the loss of the friendship of our most ancient ally.
Spain has been hurled into all the horrors of a con-
tinued civil war, which would have endured but a
brief period without our assistance ; and the advantage
which we have derived is the prospect of being ig-
nobly beaten, and of a bitter feeling being engendered
against us on the part of the lawful Sovereign. We
do not find that the power and influence of the North-
ern Sovereigns have been abated one jot, and the secret
articles of the treaty of Unkiar Skelessi still exist.
Once more do we felicitate the Foreign Secretary on
his brilliant career.—Morning Post.

VICE-CHANCERY COURT.

RECTOR AND VICARS OF TRINITY COLLEGE V. FISHER

AND TODD.

Mr. KNIGHT, for the defendants in this case, movod
that a subpoena, issued under an order of the late Lord
Chancellor Brougham, against the defendants, for payment
of 43;31. 18s., as the taxed amount of costs, should be dis•
charged, and that the Court should prevent any subpcentt
or other process of the amount from being issued, A bill
was filed some years ago in the Court of Ch .t by the
Rector and Vicars of Trinity College, Cambridge, against
the defendants and others, landholderl in the parish of
Kendal, in Westmoreland, for th:z; recovery of the tithes of
corn, hay, and certain o;,'„er smell tithes, alleged to be due
to the College. "sTne Vice'•Chancellor gave a decision in
favour of ,no plaintiffs, on the more material parts of the
cast, and found against them on other points. The de-
fendants appealed to the Lord Chancellor, and while the
ease was before him, a piece of documentary evidence was
discovered, which led to the trial of certain issues before a
Jury. The defendants being dissatisfied with the result,
applied for and obtained leave to try the cause a second time.
An order was made on the Master to tax the costs incurred
by the plaintiffs. The new trial was to take place at the
ensuing Spring Assizes of Lancashire, and all proceedings in
the Court of Chancery were in the meantime staid, till the re-
sult of the new trial should be known. The defendants, how-
ever, allowed the time which had been granted for trying the
case anew to pass over, without availing themselves of their
right, and a compromise was entered into between the par-
ties. A principal head of the arrangement alluded to was,
that all parties should be entitled to such costs as had been
awarded to them by decrees ; that all proceedings should be
staid ; and that each party should pay his own expenses.
The plaintiffs, upon the order which the Lord Chancellor
had made to the Master to tax the costs, had issued a sub-
pcena for the amount against the defendants, a proceeding
the most extravagant and extraordinary he had ever heard
of. To set aside this subpoena, and prevent any other from
being issued, was the object of his present motion.
Mr. Kindersley, for the plaintiffs, after giving a short ac-
count of the origin and progress of the case, hoped the
Court would refuse the motion.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR said, the question was, were
the plaintiffs right in taking on the subpcena ? He was of
opinion that they were not ; and, therefore, ordered the
subpcena to be discharged with costs. The second part of
the motion he would leave untouched, and allow the plain-
tiffs to take such other proceedings under the order of which
they were in possession as they might be advised.