The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-30 00:00:00

THE SUN.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1861.

Can it really be possible ? The Times of this
morning certainly says it—and though the Times
says it with incredulity, it, nevertheless—says it !
Our-chief contemporary puts forward its statement
thus explicitly and emphatically after a pretty
long preamble, a preamble so lengthened, in fact,
that it really appears as though the writer shrank
from coming to the point—and no wonder !—the
Times of this morning puts its damaging state-
ment—at last—thus pointedly : " It is with deep
regret," observes our contemporary, " we hear it
rumoured that terms have been made by which the
support of the partisans of the Galway route has
been secured. Any such arrangement, whatever
its terms, and however its object may be veiled,
would be in our opinion a most lamentable conces-
sion. It is said that the subsidy is to be continued
for six months longer. If this be true, the meaning
is that £36,000 is to be paid to a Private Company
in order that a measure of Imperial policy may be
carried through Parliament. We trust this is not
so. We refuse to believe it. Better a thousand
times be defeated by a narrow majority than in-
augurate once more in this country the reign of
Parliamentary corruption. Let it once go forth
that it is only by bribes out of the public purse
that a Parliamentary majority can be held together,
and the foundation has been laid for a reaction
against our present Constitution far more serious
than anything that anything that has hitherto been
contemplated !" Now, if this should absolutely
turn out to be founded in truth ! If it
should actually prove upon investigation
to be a mere literal statement of facts! If it should
be found upon inquiry that a dirty little trick of
this kind has been slyly resorted to, that a
wretched sum of £36,000 is to be paid down upon
the nail by the Treasury to insure the result, that
the votes of the Irish members in to-night's division
shall (thanks to this pitiful dole) not be wanting
to her MAJESTY'S Government, shall at any rate
not swell to a sudden majority the formidable
minority of the Opposition—Why, in that case,
the Government might carry their point in to-
night's sitting, would without doubt gain their
immediate object upon this division, anent the
Paper Duties—but they would survive, as a
Government, with a branded and blackened
reputation !

It is wholly inconceivable, however,
that a rumour so monstrous can be
anything like an accurate shadowing forth
of what has really happened at the instigation or
with the complicity of Lord PALMERSTON. It is
improbable in the highest degree, not so much
because the notion of a compromise like the one
hinted at is wholly inconsistent with the manly
declaration given by the Premier in the House of
Commons only the night before last—the declara-
tion to which we drew attention yesterday as
having been given by Lord PALMERSTON, with
characteristic frankness, in answer to The
O'DoNoonuz -- it is not so much that
that reply and this rumour do not in any
way tally, as that the idea of a miserable job of
this description is not in the least like what any
man in the three kingdoms could look for at
the hands of Lord PALMERSTON. How often
do we not find reason when listening to Lord
PALMERSTON in the House, when reading his
answer to a deputation, when noting some
official act or some Mini6terial avowal emanat-
ing from himself directly as Prime Minister of
England—how often do we not all find reason to
exclaim with a feeling of exultant pride in
the man as the chivalrous type of an
English statesman—,, How like Lord PALMER-
STON that is!" Yet here, on the contrary, in
this whispered intimation about a dirty compro-
mise with the Galway Packet Company, to buy
over a few votes upon the eve of an important divi-
sion—surely, surely, nothing could well, by possi-
bility, be more unlike Lord PALMERSTON ! We
cannot believe if, any more than can our chief morn-
ing contemporary. We will not believe it. Rather
anything in regard to this night's division than
that ! Rather would we see the proceeds of those
vexatious Paper Dutie3 preserved to the revenue
for another year—rather would we see the at-
tenuated majority of eighteen dwindle away into