The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-21 00:00:00

SPI,RIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

• An npial from Sir Francis Burdett to any portion;
We had almost said any party, of English gentlemen,
cannot fail to command their attention, until the cha-
racter of English gentlemen shall be utterly degene-
rate, and that now honoured class shall be extinct.
In the Times of to-day will be found a letter from
the Hon. and distinguished Baronet, Member for
*Westminster, containing such an appeal as we have
alluded to, and the more entitled to respectful notice,
perhaps we might add to unanimous concurrence, be-
cause it -calls for assent and co-operation upon a mat-
ter which is peculiarly fitted to touch the pride and to
rouse the sympathies of well-bred and high-minded
men—susceptible and sensitive on points of honour—
by Showing-in what a predicament they are placed, and
in what peril of losing caste, from the voluntary and pro-
longed connexion of their names with that of an
individual sunk, so far as his personal and moral con-
duct can degrade any human being, below the contempt
of the poorest creature that walks the streets with a
manly spirit and an unblemished reputation. The
letter is addressed to the members of Brookes's
Club, and its object the immediate expulsion of
Daniel O'Connell. It has appeared to us, we acknow-
ledge, not a little singular that a select society of noble-
men and gentlemen, amongst whom are to be found a
large
,majority of persons, not merely of punctilious
and immaculate honour, but of the most refined senti-
ments of propriety, delicacy, and decorum, should so
long have overlooked, if they did not directly tolerate
or encourage, the insults offered to every rule of edu-
cated and polished life, by which their own actions are
invariably -governed, on the part of a coarse bully,
ruffian, and coward, whose whole career has been
divided between the infliction of private injury, the
denial of manly reparation, the indifference to foul
disgrace, the excitement to public disturbance, and
the oppression and robbery of the poor under the spe-
cious pretext of befriending them. However, in the
latter part of the preceding sentence we are conscious of
having deviated from the strict purpose of Sir F. Burdett's
letter, which impugns and reproaches Mr.D. O'Connell,
more by reason that his brutal language and manners
towards Mr. Raphael, the Duke of Cumberland, and
the Duke of Wellington, with his alternate servility
and insolence towards the " base and bloody Whigs,"
and his audacity in holding up the. British nation, un •
der the name of Sassenagh as the public enemy of
Ireland—more, we say, because such outrages upon
common decency unfit him for admission into any
respectable society, or for further intercourse with it,
than because of any considerations properly termed po.
litical. It is difficult to imagine upon what plea such
a proposition as that of Sir Francis Burdett can be re-
sisted. is there another club in London, but that
called Brookes's, which has for half a century or more
been looked up to, so far as rank, station, and gentle-
manly character were concerned, as in the foremost
class of such societies—is there another Club in
this metropolis that would receive among its mem-
bers a being so callous to all those observances
and obligations by which Englishmen, both in
public lifbe and private, are gnided, as Mr. Daniel
O'Connell has frequently proved himself to be ?
Sure we are that this Hon. Baronet, who so long
has stood at the head of the unennobled aristocracy of
England, has taken -from.his own spirited and lofty
sense of what is due to hiS own personal dignity, a
right measure of all those members of the Club which
he thus desires to purify, who are not bound by some
sinister, factious, and selfish interest to mer,:e the so-
cial offences of Mr. Daniel O'Connell as a gentleman
in his political qualifications to serve theirpurpose as a
prop. Flow the Ministers will act on this occasion is
more their business than ours. If they support
O'Connell by their interest, which of course is by no
means inconsiderable in a Club where the ancient prin-
ciples of constitutional Whip-,,gism may of late have
been a good deal 11,)crseded by those of ultra-Radical
expediency, they will scarcely henceforth look the peo-
ple of England strai2.ht in the face. If, on the other
hand, they feel with Sir F. Burdett tian.t,this is an affair
which touches their individual di,gnitv, and demean
then,selVes boldly and generously, as they would do in
the case of any other private quarrel, hey may forfeit
ilpossdnitty, some part cf the seal, or at least the di-
ligence, with which the tail has hitherto sunport::d
th;‘,nt;., hut thL‘w will make an iinrression, to them inva-
al,inte, upon the people of En2;lflud, that they are no
li;ngc.r4he spellHond 'slaves of that C 6
Daniel O'Connell.—Tiines.

L'."(;\Te‘ eall.ihe:attention, of our readero to a letter from
Burdett to the mentbers of Erookes's
Cit4,3o-yh!eh we 1:a':• irrerted in another column.
.14A,ving receiv,,fd communication fiom the Times,
‘lti;cut&ss that, We at' first had our doubts as to its
t,,ornfineness, 1-;c,ing unable to reconcile the former line
rAtpitfcssiors of :;:;:it 1.-7.-anc••,s Buriltt ws',th a cornice-
tien-001tti'a innrnal, which, for more than a year, has
cliMekt e`Yc!-,-'prmiple ()nee advocated by the Hon.
Variaiet. to the conductors (Yr' the Times
, ,• .
C9;ipp', .is US to !. our appocat.on to have, our
dis.as the. genuineness of the communication re-
mo'7.:ed, was at once frankly answered by the produc-
tion of the signature of the Hon. 'Baronet ; so that
we can vouch for its being a tor' fide communica-
tion to the Times. We confess that the ascertain-
ing- this letter to be genuine gave us considerable
pain. It is painful to look on the wreck of a great
nand. In common ~vith most Reformers, have
shrunk from the unpleasant duty of stating the naked
truth with respect to Sir Francis Burdett. It has been
long, known that Sir Francis has ceased to he anything
but a historical personage. Fie has long been a cypher
in the estimation of the existing generation of English-
From a feeling of gratitude towards a man to

lllell.

whose exertions Reformers owe so much, there has
been manifested, perhaps, an unpardonable reluctance
to declare, what has . been but too evident for some
years, that Sir Francis Burdett has outlived his judg-
ment. We ought, therefore, to speak of him with great
kindnu;s, but we ought not to allow our feelings to
compromise. the interests of the public. Let us then
consider Sir Francis Burdett as politically dead. The
Hon, Baronet calls on the members of Brookes's Club
to expel Mr. Daniel O'Connell, on account of his lan-
guage during his- journey through England and Scot-
land last autumn, which however he merely condemns
in general terms, and on account of the transactions
between him and Mr. Raphael, who is said, by Sir
Francis (though we can hardly believe the as.crtion) to
be, with Mr. O'Connell, a member of Brookes's. If
Sir Francis Burdett had not outlived his judgment, he
would.; even on the supposition that he thought the
conduct of Mr. O'Connell in the affair with Mr.
Raphael unjustifiable, have merely invited the mem-
bers. of Brookes's to call for explanations from Mr.
O'Connell. It is characteristic of Englishmen to con-
demn no man unheard ; and Sir Francis Burdett, in
his better days, would have been the last man to pro-
pose a measure injurious to another gentleman, with-
out 'allowing him an opportunity to be heard in his
own defence. Here, however, we find the Honour-
able .Baronet, on the mere assertion of a man
of questionablereputation, whose only title to consi-
deration is his connexion with Mr. O'Connell, that he
had paid a sum of money to the latter to cover the
expenses of the county election, proposing—not
that , the .man who had disclosed what was strictly
confidential should be expelled from Brookes's Club,
into which Ile ought never to have been admitted ; but
that Mr. O'Connell, whose conduct was, in a pecti- ,
niary sense, even on the showing of, Raphael, unim-
peachable, should be expelled. Would not Sir
Francis have gladly paid twenty times the sum asked
from Mr. Raphael to cover the expense of his Mid-
dlesex, election ? And does he not know that no
contested.election for a county can take place, without
involving a much greater expenditure than the expense
for rwhich the return of the ex-Sheriff was guaran-
teed ? Mr. O'Connell, no doubt, acted improperly
in not looking to the character as well as the political
and religious creed of the man he recommended to the
electors of Carlow. We do not seek to justify the
laxity with Ivhich Mr. O'Connell in this instance (and
wedre"4,)bundto say Irishmen in general) bestow their
reconimndations. But the question here is not the
urAir;thiriess of the person recommended, but the
char to of the transaction in itself ; and who but a
maniriWSir Francis Burdett, who is in his dotage,
woul4may that, in the transaction between Mr. O'Con-
neli,and Raphael, after the testimony from Mr. Vigors
.T‘tt•yx n''

And Mr. Baker, there can attach to the Hon. and
Learned Member for Dublin the slightest imputation
of unfairness as between man and man ? The whole
affair must oaiYe pain to the friends of Sir Francis
Burdett ; and the only doubt which the perusal of
his letter can suggest is, whether or not the Hon.
Baronet should at once be called on by Brookes's Club
to explain his conduct, or whether allowance should be
made for the infirmities of a man, whose best days
were devoted to the public service, and whose lab Ours
were the more beneficial, as he was the only person of
his rank in' Parliament who, for a long period, had the
courage to espouse the cause of effectual Reform ?
Morning Chronicle.

The agricultural classes of the community are sus-
taining, and have long sustained, very grievous in-
jury from a progressive reduction in the prices of the
various productions of the soil, unaccompanied by
that mitigation of the burdens whiCh arc imposed
on them by the State, which they believe might have
been afforded during a period in which the State has
been enabled to remit taxes to a considerable amount.
and has in fact remitted them, but in such a manner
as to confer by far the greater share of advantage
upon other classes already in a state of comparative
prosperity. In the general proposition, that, with a
surplus of revenue 'at its disposal sufficient to war-
rant a considerable and rapid reduction of taxes, the
Government might have done more than it has, in
fact, accomplished, for the relief and support of the
suffering owners and occupiers of land, the agricul-
tural interest unanimously concur. - Some differences
have, however, existed among them as to the mode
in which this support and relief might have been most
advantageously administered. They are, from their
position, and the nature of their avocations, deprived,
in a considerable degree, of those opportunities of
discussion and of concert which enable the manufac-
turing and commercial classes to agree in the pursuit
of a definite and common object, and of commanding
the attention of the Government and Legislature to
their united voice. Hence, as the agriculturists have
at length discovered, they have failed to obtain justice
from a Government and Legislature, solicitous chiefly
of eclat and popularity, and deeming all the purposes
of good. Government sufficiently attained if they can
so manage the affairs of the nation as to secure to
themselves the noisy applause of the multitudes
which occasionally assemble in our manufacturing and
commercial towns. It was incidental to the (situation
of the agricultural portion of the population that the
suggestions of individuals of their body should be too
easily taken for an expression of their unanimous or
general opinion, and that any error into which par- '
ticular persons were betrayed should be imputed to the
whole class, by politicians little anxious for their wel-
fare, and abundantly solicitous for the favour and ap-
plause of the condensed masses of people who igno-
rantly imagined that they had interests adverse to those
of the landlord and .the farmer. From misconcep-
tions, 'or misrepresentations of this class, it is plain
that the agricultural classes have sustained very ma-
terial injury. Against such injury we rejoice to find
that the landed interest have adopted the most effica-
cious means to protect themselves for the future, by
the establishment of a point of re-union; a centre
of communication, in London, under the name of
" The Royal Agricultural Society of Great Britain
ands Irelanil." The first steps towards the esta-
blishment of this most valuable and necessary ne-
gociation were' taken at the meeting held at Ayles-
bury no longer ago than the 12th instant, under
the Presidency of that zealous and enlightened friend
of the agriculture of Great - Britain, the Marquis of
Chandos, and a detailed plan of the nascent Society is
now before us. We have no doubt that it will greatly
contribute to the future protection and welfare of the
important classes for whose advantage it is instituted ;
for it will supply those desiderata the want of which
has hitherto kept the political _influence of the landed
interest of the country so far below the Pavel of its real
power and importance—the means of an easy int-es-
t change of thought, and an efficient concentration of
strength. It will, we apprehend, by the aid of this
useful institution, be very speedily discovered that the
landed interest as a body do not think it could conduce
Ito their advantage, to *disturb afresh all the contracts
end all the relations of society, by any kind of tamper-
ing with the currency. It will be very speedily disco-
vered that the landed interest, as a body, do not desire
that any tax should be abolished for their benefit which
the revenue cannot spare, consistently with the preser-
vation of public faith, and the effective maintenance of
every necessary or useful establishment, or for which
an adequate and preferable substitute cannot be found.
But it will also, we hope and helieVe, be speedily dis-
covered that the fair claims of- the, landed interest to
such relief as'thcir condition demands:and as the State
can afford may no longer be safely withheld by any
body of Min;ster,, however desirous the., may he to
! gratify and flatter the pothouse politicians of large
towns, and to attract to themselves the vociferous ac-
clamations of assembled multitudes. We congratulate
the landed interest most sincerely on the measure they
have adopted, and confidently anticipate that it will be
productive of the most important f‘nd beneficial effects.
It is impossible for us tc dismiss this subject without
adverting to the train of observations which the
present movement of the landed interest has eli-
cited from some of our contemporaries. One of
them, in particular, who has lately hoisted Consu-
lvotive colours, and (as if in mourning for his own
metamorphosis) has only hoisted them half mast high,
avails himself of the occasion to bring a railing accusa-
tion against both landlords and tenants, to tell them
that they have no claim to pity or relief, inasmuch as
they are themselves the authors of whatever losses or
sufferings they have endured, and to insult them by ad-
monishing the landlords to lower their rents, and the
farmers to become holders of the plough, and make
their wives and daughters betake themselves to the
poultry-yard and the dairy. It would, we feel, be do-
ing too much honour to this silly and malignant trash
to bestow upon it any lengthened notice. The writer
cannot but know that rent is not an arbitrary
impost, dependant upon the mere will of the land-
lord, but as much a matter of fair, equal, and
independent contract between two parties, as the bar-
gain made by a newspaper proprietor when he orders
a fount of type, or takes a new reporter into his em-
ploy. And why should farmers, more than any other
men, be admonished as to the manner in which they
ought to conduct their own business Why, especially,
shduld instruction upon this subject be obtruded upon
them by persons who evidently know nothing of the
subject of which they presume to treat ? The shal-
lowest person in the world must at once perceive that
the occupier of a farm of any considerable extent could
not more ruinously misemploy his time than by de-
voting it to the manual operations of agriculture. The
most prejudiced man in the universe must admit that
agriculture is reduced to a -deplorable state, from,which,
if possible, it ought to be redeemed, when the occupier
of an extensive farm—of necessity a considerable capi-
talist—a man daily engaged in large and important
transactions, and employing in a wide sphere of ac-
tion the qualities of skill, diligence, sagacity, and en-
terprise, cannot, without imprudence, exempt his wife
and daughter from the drudgery of milking his cows
and feeding his pigs. All grocers do not make their
wives and daughters weigh sugar and figs; nor do
linendrapers, haberdashers, and hosiers, generally re-
quire the females of their family to measure Irish, or
adjust for their customers the paraphernalia of stock-
ings, garters, and shoe-strings ; nor do attorneys teach
them to engross ; nor do the proprietors of newspapers
employ them in revising. slips or cutting down the
penny-a-liners.. Why, then, in the name of common
sense, should it be pretended, unless it be merely to
gratify and flatter the Cockney frequenters of the tap-
room,. that a ruined farmer is unworthy of commisera-
tion, if his wife and daughters have perchance been
indulged in any more elegant recreation or refined
employment than the poultry-yard and the dairy can
afford ?—Morning Post.

The Leeds Tories were to give Sir John Beckett a
dinner in the Music Hall on Wednesday evening.—Hall
fax Expre.7s.

The ancient and Conservative Corporators of Scar-
borough are, it appears, making great efforts to maintain
their influence under the new system.
On Saturday last, the third annual dinner of the
Yorkshire Central Agricultural Association took place in
the Inner Merchants' Hall, Fossgate, in this city (York).