The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-17 00:00:00

fC/1) e (---) I

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 17, 1835

We think there cannot be a better index of the
public feeling on political subjects than the estimation
in which public men are held by the people. Let any
sober-minded man contemplate the -" progress" which
Mr. O'CONNELL is making through the North—let
him look at the crowds of people that assemble in
every town through which he passes, eager to do him
honour, and at the splendid entertainments with which
he is welcomed by the wealthy and the intelligent—and
say whether he can resist the conclusion that the poli-
tical principles which Mr. O'CONNELL advocates are
eminently popular.
What, then, are the topics on which Mr. O'CON-
NELL dwells the most in his addresses to the people ?
What parts of his speeches call forth the most rap-
turous applause ? Those in which he denounces the
abuses which abound in 'our institutions ; and above
all, that master-abuse, that master-grievance, which
paralyzes all our efforts in the cause of national ame-
lioration. It is his condemnation of the House of
Lords which is everywhere hailed with the most enthu-
siastic cheers. This is a sign of the times, pregnant
with meaning, and we trust with benefit.
Our readers will perceive, by the report of the pro-
ceedings at Newcastle, on Monday, inserted in another
part of The Sun, that Mr. O'CONNELL met with the
same cordial reception, by all classes of people, at
Newcastle, as he had experienced at Manchester. He
was met on the road by an immense multitude, and
escorted into the town in triumph. Afterwards ad-
dresses from various places were presented to him, ex-
pressing approbation of his conduct, and urging him
on to further exertions in the cause of Reform. In
the afternoon he partook of a sumptuous entertainment,
at which from 300 to 400 gentlemen were present.

The speech delivered by 'Mr. O'CoLINNELL on
his health being proposed is full of eloquence.
He touches occasionally upon topics which he had
noticed in his address at Manchester ; but so far are
we from finding fault with this, that we hope he
will in future lose no opportunity of inculcating
them upon his hearers. The hypocrisy of PEEII and
the evils of hereditary legislation, can never Ice too
often held up to public reprobation by one so capable
of doing it well.

A few of the Lordly dignitaries of the Established
Church of England and Ireland have begun to admit,
in unequivocal language, the existence of gross eccle-
siastical abuses which call for the interference of the
Legislature. This may be classed among the greatest
moral victories obtained by the people. Never would
the clergy reform themselves—they never did, and hey
never would, caress the necessity of any reform, un-
less they apprehended danger to themselves from with-
holding such a confession. It is a strange but
undoubted fact, that we never have had a volun-
tary Church R.eformer, among Churchmen, who did
not become so fr om some motive, of a nature entirely
disconnected with the propagation of gospel truth.
Even LUTHER., the great Apostle of the Reforma-
tion is not an. exception. Had the Augustinian monks
been allowed to share with the Dominicans in the
wealth and poi pularity accruing from the- sale of In-
dulgences, the h Teat event brought about by his agency
might have suffi :red many years of delay. Fear is the
motive by whi, ch the Church Reformers among the
ecclesiastics of the present day are actuated. They
begin to feel. a conviction that the people of England
will not suffer die abuses of which they so justly com-
plain to continua ; and they know the consequences
that must a rise fi.om leaving the whole of these abuses
to be removed by a vote of the House of Commons.
Among the m:inority of Ecclesiastical P r mers to