The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Mr. O'Connell, it appears, has been returned for
Clare, his Right Hon. opponent having declined the
contest, after one day's unsuccessful trial. This
event may be considered as one of the most extra-
ordinary that ever occurred under a system of pst-
pular representation. The Catholics of an Irish
county have turned out from Parliament a gentle-
man who had always voted for them, and who, be-
ing a Member of the Administration, must have a
certain degree of influence among his colleagues on
every question bearing upon the Catholic cause.
But, beyond this, they have, in pure wantonness,
as it would seem, and from having a redundancy of
efficient friends in the Legislature, returned as their
representative a gentleman who cannot by possibility
render them the slightest Parliamentary service. In
other words, they elect a man who is incompetent
to act until the law shall have been clanged, while
they throw away one of the most useful instruments
for accomplishing the desired alteration. This, how-
ever, is but what appears on the surface of Mr.
O'Connell's enterprise.. The Catholic question has
been left so long unsettled by the power which might,
through constitutional means, have disposed of it,—
the passions engendered by the frequent disappoint-
ment of the Catholics have been permitted to ac-
quire such deadly and frightful intensity,—the orga-
nization of their multitudinous power has, from
exercise and experience, become so ripe, that the
Catholic leaders have begun to cast off from their
policy all regard to such public objects as the state
and existing constitution of this empire hold out to
the ambition of its people., At length, despairing of
admission to their dne share of power, according to
law, they have encouraged each other to despise
what they despaired of. They have, we doubt not,
long ere now, begun to daily with revolution—with
projects, we mean, of revolution,—and one grand
purpose of their exertions has been to bring about
an early breaking up of the old associations in
common life, by which the mind of the lower orders
of their countrymen had been long and insensibly
directed. One of the freaks of the French revolu-
tionists, after dissolving the relations between noble
and plebeian—master and servant—rich and poor,—
was to recast the days and months of the calendar,
that no change, even the most extravagant and un-
heard of, should thenceforth have power to shock
the prepossessions of the multitude. This was the
true way of setting about a total revolution.
We are deceived if some end like this has not
entered into the imagination of the demagogues
of Ireland, failing the hope of a decisive influence
over the Government obtained through an exhibition
of the malcontent power. The people are to be
trained on to a novel system, having no alliance
with, or analogy to, the old. The famished electors
of the several counties must be incited by every ex-
pedient of religious and political fanaticism, to beard
the landlords, who are absolute disposers of their
destiny, and thus to dissolve for ever the -oldest and
most binding connexion, that, apart from blood re-
lationship, exists in an agricultural country,—viz.,
that between him who owns the soil and him who

tills it. Such a change was inconceivable seven
years ago : now it has become an institution. Again,
the people were to be accustomed to look up to a
different order of representatives from those who
made laws for the British Empire, and the Catholic
Association was set on foot. It is in effect a Ca•
tholic Parliament,—a loeul Parliament,—a partial
indemn'fication to the people for that of which the
union deprived them. But it is still deficient
in form—and forms are of value to the mass
of mankind. It becomes necessary therefore, to
turn the forme of election, which are provided
by law, to a service which the law does not
acknowledge, and se Catholics, who cannot sit in the
King's Parliament, are chosen under the King's au-
thority, that they may thus escape molestation.—
When rejected from the Imperial House of Com-
mons, they will betake themselves to the Irish
House of Commons, and sitting in the Catholic
Association, will hold themselves forth to the Irish
people as their true and only representatives,
" freely-chosen according to law," but prevented by
the "English foreigners" from entering that distant
assembly to which the right of legislation, inherent
in the people of Ireland, was basely and traitorously
transferred by the bayonets or bribes of the Minister
of Great Britain. There rests no shadow of doubt
upon our minds that at the very next general elec-
tion, should emancipation not yet be carried, the
policy of the Catholic, thus driven to extreme
courses will be, to obtain a return of members of.
their own communion throughout the whole of Ire-
land,—that being refused admittance to the Imperial
Parliament, they will constitute a native Parliament
in Dublin, sitting►, voting, practically legislating for
their country, and leaving the connexion between
the two islands dependent on a thread, which the
slightest movement ill the politics of Europe will
suffiee to snap asunder. Of this revolution,—tre-
mendous, and if the policy of England do not reform
itself, inevitable,--sthe lines are oared out, and the
foundations laid already. That the Catholics are
able to effect it, who, after the examples of Clare
and Waterford, can doubt ? That the Catholics are
to blame for it, we do not, in our consciences, be-
lieve, borne down, as they have been, by unrelent-
ing hostility, and stripped of all the appanages of
freedom. This, then, is the prospect which some
people sneer at as ridiculous! This is the power
which babblers talk of despising. The Government
of England ought now to feel that their empire is
now in the hands of the Irish Catholics, and they
have been already told that "it is the spawn of their

own wrang,"--Tnnes.
The Election of Clare terminated on the first day.
Mr, Vesey Fitzgerald, finding that he had only
polled, in the comae of the day, 27 votes, very pru-
dently resigned, Subsequently to his resignation,
Mr. Pierce Butler offered • himself as a candidate,
and obtained as many votes as placed him above
Mr. Fitzgerald, in order to cut off all hope of pro-
citritig the return of the President of the Board of
Trade. This is unquestionably a great triumph, in
whatever poiut pf view we consider it. It esta-
blishes, in the most unauswerable manner, the power
over the electors possessed by the Roman Catholics;
and shows them that they have but to remain united,
and they will compel' the Government to do them
justice. A whole people cannot be punished ; the
whAe tenantry of a country cannot be detruded;
and wllaat frotestpt proprietor would dare to think
of rmithing exartiples, where the defection
is general ? .Thu grand secret Inc; been taught the
Irish people; and 138 well might they attempt to
roll back the tides of the oceau, as ko- think nf re-
placing them in the prostrate condition is which
they were before they made the trial of their strength
t Waterford. May stupid bigotry and hypocrisy
be alX'ays thus humbled ! May those who shut
their ears against the resßectful claims of the ag-
distractions of an injured nation, lie always tints
grieved for justice, an d please t
laughed to scorn! Out of the depths of • injustice,
hen,elves with the
as if to teach rn,eti that thrir only safety
retribution often springs up in a wonderful manner,
is in justice
and moderation, arid that the' strength which is
derive;] [rpm tyre violation of rights, and wounding
the feelings of our fellow-creattires,' always dis-
appoint those who confide ip it; The. Elections
are now, then, in the hands of the OathOficst and
they know the use they ought to make of their
power. It' they remain faithful to the principle
which has gained them . victory in Clare, their
question is decided. That principle is, that as long
• as the Catholics are excluded by the Government
from the enjoyment of their _,onstitutional rights, as
long as their religion is made a pretext fur subjecting
them to an odious ascendancy, so long shoUld they
' refuse to content themselves with candidates who
merely epeage to vote for Catholic Emancipation,
' another respects they are the mere tools of
' the Ministry. This would soon bring Ministers to
their senses—this would soon' enable the Great
Untaught to see a way out of the difficulties with
which the question now appears to him to be beset;
this would compel the needy and unprincipled aris-
tocracy of Ireland, to whom Parliamentary interest

is almost. a condition of existence, to bestir them-
selves in a very different manner in settling the
question from that which they have hitherto used.
Let the Catholics always have present to their minds
the fable of the bundle of sticks—let them reinaiu im-
pressed with this truth, that if the Government is
against them, they cannot be their friends who
strengthen the hands of the Government, and enable
it to oppress them. Let them, therefore, be all as
one man against all who, directly or indirectly, op-
prie them, and stand in the way of their success.—
Mr. O'Connell has been declared duly elected, and
the point which now will occupy general attention
is, whether he can sit or not. It is stated by a 1
contemporary " that Mr. Charles Butler is still
convinced, after the most mature consideration, that
Mr. O'Connell may sit in Parliament without being
subjected to any penalty." We have been told that
at the time when Mr. Butler's opinion was first al-
luded to at the meeting, he hail not considered the
question with the care and deliberation which a pro-
fessional man would deem neeessary, before deliver-
ing a serious judgment in so important a matter; and
that his opinion had merely reference to a partial
statement of the authorities. Since that time, how-
ever, be has deliberately and carefully looked into
the question, and the result of his examination, we
are assured, is, that Mr. O'Connell cannot be
prevented from 3ittine; and voting. The real points
on which the question hinges, we are told remain yet
to be stated. We have heard that it hinges on the
construction of the Act of the Irish Parliament
called Yelverton't, Act, taking the preamble and the
body of the Act in conjunction, and in the meaning
attached to the word disqualed in the Act of the
41st of the King. It is contended that the being a
Papist or Catholic is not a disqualification, that there
is no law excluding a Catholic from Parliament as
such, and that it is only incidentally that he is ex-
cluded by refusing to take the oath. The penalty
being directed against disqualification does not, it is
said, affect a Catholic, and he cannot be compelled
to take the oath. However this be, we have no
doubt that a professional gentleman of Mr. Butler's
character would not lightly commit himself to a po-
sitive opinion in a question of this kind. If the
house of Commons should decide in favour of Mr.
O'Connell, which, if the law be in his favour, may
be anticipated, Emancipation is achieved without
the necessity of the concurrence of the Lords. In
that case, they will not persist long in excluding the
members of their own body from Parliament.—
Morning Chronicle.

Our " Great Untaught," who told us that expe-
rience had disproved the theory, that a paper cur-
rency was perfectly safe so long as it was convertible
into gold, and, moreover, that " if the Bankers of
Scotland were not able to have a sufficient gold
coinage from the Bank of England, as much mis-
chief would arise from the one pound note circula,
Lion in Scotland a§ there had in England," forgot to
tell us how the Scotch obtain their gold coinage front
England. According to the " Great Untaught,"
the Bank has only to say to the Scotch Bankers,
we give you no more gold, and they are all shut up.
This comes of old gentlemen of sixty mastering a
science in twenty-four hours ! Why it is no more
in the povver of the Bank of England, or any Eng-
lish houses, to prevent the Scotch Bankers from
having gold, than it is in their power to prevent the
Thames from flowing into the sea. The Scotch
Bankers, by keeping their eye on the Exchanges
with England, can force gold into Scotland, if they
wish to do so, just as the Bank of England, by look-
ing at the Exchanges, can always obtain gold. Gold,
like every other commodity, betakes itself to the
best market ; and all who have wherewithal to buy
it, whether Scotch, Irish, or Laplanders, will always
be seen to obtain it. But there is such a thing as
buying gold too dear !—the Scotch Bankers, by
drawing in their issues, could always force sales to
any amount ; but were they to do so without a mo-
tive, they would deserve to be put in Bedlam. The
Scotch Bankers, we lave no doubt, laughed very
heartily at the " Great Untaught," deeming his
proposition a pregnant proof of the wisdom of the
saying of Count Olenstiern, " with how little wis-
dom is the world governed."—Bid.

Mr. O'Connell has been returned Member of Par•

'lament for the county of Clare, and according to u
report, which was pretty generally circulated last
night, has arrived in town. The nomination of the
candidates took place on Monday last. Mr. V.
Fitzgerald was put on the list of candidates by Sir
E. O'Brien, and Mr. O'Connell by Mr. O'Gorman.
The polling began on Tuesday, and at three o'clock
on the same day Mr. Fitzgerald, who had only 27
votes polled, gave in his resignation. Mr. Pierce
Butler then offered himself as a candidate and polled
a few votes, for the purpose, it is understood, of
preventing the possibility, in case of O'Connell's
election being declared void, of Mr. V. Fitzgerald
establishing his return. Before the commencement
of the polling there was a good deal of
speechifying on both sides. Mr. Fitzgerald
commenced,° in a speech replete with argument
and gentlemanly feeling, and endeavoured to
rebut the various charges which had been
preferred against him, and to establish his
title as a fit and proper person to represent his late
constituents in Parliament. He appears to have
been received and listened to with great attention;
but his eloquence and his arguments were thrown
away—seven-eighths of the voters had made up
their minds before they had heard his statement—

the Irish idol was the man on whose return they had
set their affections ; and Mr. V. Fitzgerald, per-
ceiving that he had not the slightest chance with
his more popular opponent, most judiciously and
commendably declined a contest, which, had it been
pushed to extremities, must have terminated in
bloodshed and murder. The speech of Mr. O'Con-
nell is not entitled to equal praise. It abotoads with
bombast, ill humour, and threats, which, for the sake
of the cause of which he professes himself the ad-
vocate, had better have been spared. The mere
circumstance of his putting himself forward as a con-
didate for the honour, which he must be consci-
ous he cannot substantially enjoy, has greatly
prejudiced the Catholic cause with all rational
and moderate-minded persons in this coun-
try as well as in Ireland ; and the tone_ of
triumph and daring in which he thought fit to in-
dulge, will not, assuredly, 'mend the matter. The
great Agitator, it is said, intends to take his seat in
the House of Commons on Monday—or rather to

present his face at the Bar ; for if either he, or those
who support him, imagine for a moment that he will
ever give a vote in it, they are egregiously deceived.
The law which excludes Catholics from being Mem-
bers of the Legislature is most clear and explicit ;
and even if it 'were net se? its real meaning and in-
tent are so thoroughly proven, not only by the prac-
tice and general understanding of the country, but
by the prayers, petitions, and remonstrances of the
Candidate himself during a series of years, that we
can scarcely conceive a greater insult to the good
sense of the country, than to assert that the Catho-
lics are not legally, however unjustly, excluded from
Parliament. The' delusion, hOwOver, is on the
point of vanishing; and we will venture to predict
that a dog-cart would convey to his native country
in perfect afet.y, without any difficulty in stowing,
all the glory which he 110 114PP4
enterprise. to
T• •
to derive from the

• -
We have given elsewhere a very fOl nec"nt of
the proceedings at the Clara Election, We still ad-
here to our opinion, that the Catholics have been
wasting a great deal of energy to no useful purpose;
that their favotnite candidate has succeeded no
further than in obtaining the privilege of franking a
letter, and that he will retain that privilege for a vei:
few We heard teat he was expected 14st
night at the- "'Bull and Mouth, " a very appropriate
sign for the lodgings of such an 'orator. ;He 'certainly
intandS to 't'alk into the HouSe of Commons on
Monday- night.' Mr. Charles Butler, it is said, still
adheres to his opinion, that an Catholic may
sit in the House (,f Corranons without taking
the oaths, and wthout a penalty. As we have
not heard the reasons of the Learned Gentle-
man, whose legal knowledge we are very far

from wishing to under-rate, we must suspend
our criticism. To us the question seems, con-
sidered in any point, of view, the plainest that
ever was propounded, whether we seek for a
solution in the Irish Acts, the English Act?,
or in the Act of Union. In one of the debates
on the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts
(April 24), Lord Eldon did indeed say, that, if the
Bill passed as it then stood,
.which it actually did,
there would be no means left of excluding Catholics
from Corporations unless by the peculiarities of their
Charters. To the great and surpassing knowledge
of the Noble Earl we feel compelled to bow with
almost implicit reverence ; but even granting what
he said to be indisputable—it was disputed, and
keenly—still that has nothing to do with seats in
Parliament. There is this peculiarity in the present
state of the law, that we have no Corporation and
Test Acts, and we have, at the same time, an
Indemnity Act, but neither the Repeal Act, nor the
Indemnity Act, have the slightest bearing on the
case. The only ground, so far as we can guess, on
which Mr. O'Connell relies, is, that the Act of
Union contains no penal clause, and the Act of 41
Geo. 111., cap 52, which revives the penal clauses of
the English and Irish Acts, is a violation of the
Union. There is indeed something Irish in the
penal clause of that Act, for it first declared the
votes given for a " disabled" person null and
void, and the election null and void, and then in-
fliets penalties on him, who is thus declared to '
be no Member, for sitting and voting. It is evident
that this supposes the House not to be in possession
of any test whereby to discover whether a Member
be disabled from being elected or not—or in other
words that a Member may sit and vote without
taking the oaths. Our doctrine is that the simple
refusal is, ipso facto, a nullifying of the return, by
declaring the soi-disant Member to be disabled. It
is obvious that O'Connell, if he can be allowed to
sit and speak, will take the of the penalties of
prcemunire, none of which, save the fine, and per-
haps not even that, he calculates on being made to
suffer. Nous verrons. It is gratifying to see by
the accounts that every thing passed so quietly ut
the election. The real cause of so much tranquillity
seems to have been that the forty-shilling men had
nobody to tight with, as they were all on one side.
The reports of a riot, and of an attack on Mr. Fitz-
gerald, seems to have been totally unfounded. It
does not appear that he was in any way insulted,
and his speech, which was a very excellent and con-
vincing one, was heard, not only attentively, but
with much applause.—New Times.

I-OMITTED YESTRRDAY FOR WANT OF ROOM.]

The prodigious absurdity of Mr. O'Connell's at-
tempt to get himself elected by the 40s. freeholders
for Clare, is apparent enough, without much argu-
ment about the matter. But it his blustering, and
other men's drivelling, should have shaken the
common sense of any man, woman, or ohild, in
England, as to the impossibility of a Catholic sit-
ting and voting in the House of Commons without
swearing the oaths prescribed by Act of Parliament
for all Protestant members, we take for granted that
the articles of Union, will set the matter right.
The fact is, that the turning out a representative
who may have displeased his constituents, is mixed
up in a very stupid and blundering way by most
people, with the turning in another who may
please them ever so well, but cannot by possibility re-
present them. Because it is good policy to expel
Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, it must therefore be as good
to supersede him by a nominal member, who in one
fortnight wil; cease to be a member, and will, for the
gratification of his own coarse vanity, have robbed
the " rent " of three-fourths of its capital, to the
utter extinction of the only fund out of which poor
voters taking part against their landlords can be pro-
tected or -indemnified. We never thought so ill of
O'Connell before. The following is a copy of the
4th article of the Act of Union, which says—" And
that every one of the Lords of Parliament of the
United Kingdom, and every member of the House of
Commons of the United Kingdom, in the first and all
succeeding Parliaments, shall, until the Parliament of
the United Kingdom, otherwise provide, take the
oaths, and make and subscribe the oath now by law
enjoined to be taken, made, and subscribed by the
Lords and Commons of the Parliament of Great
Britain."—Times.

Our " Great Untaught," last night, knocked
about theories as he did Frenchmen at Waterloo.
" The measure of 1526 (he said) was not founded
on any theory, but on experience, which the few
last years had confirmed ; while that experience had
proved the fallacy of another theory—a theory
which stated that a paper currency was perfectly
safe as long as it was convertible into gold. Expe-
rience during the last few years had proved th►s
theory not to ke true. It had likewise proved
another theory not true—that theory, that one-
pound notes and sovereigns could circulate together."
What a rot among the theories ! His Grace has a
compendious way of disposing of theories. He re-
minds us of another great warrior, who late in life
chose to distinguish himself in another science—the
late Mr. Astley, of the Amphitheatre. Having tra-
velled much, he took into his head to improve geo-
graphy—and when those who were executing his
maps under his instructions, ventured to observe
that Vienna or Munich had generally been placed a
hundred miles in another direction, he would an-
swer—" Put down Vienna here—l know it is here,
by G—d ; for I have seen it myself." The " Great
Untaught" seems equally contident of his own ex-
perience.—Morning Chronicle.

We are sorry to find (but it is difficult to credit
the fact), that se eminent a Special Pleader as Mr.
Charles Butler should have so far committed him.
self on the occasion of Mr. O'Connell's present out-
rageous conduct, as to pronounce that Catholic Agi-
tator legally qualified to sit and vote in Parliament.
Such at least was the representation made at the
English Catholic Meeting on Thursday last; but
we must still continue to hope that Mr. Butler was
strangely misrepresented on the occasion. Mr.
O'Connell's .shallow professed opinion (it cannot
surely be his real conviction), which is asserted, er-
roneously we trust, to have received the sanction of
Mr. Butler's judgment, is, that as the Act of Parlia-
ment preventing Catholics from sitting in the . Par-
liament of Great Britain was passed in Charles the
Second's reign—and that restricting them from the
Parliament of Ireland, in the reign of William the
Third—the effect of them is separate and distinct;
and that neither of them apply to the Parliament
of the United Kingdom, which derived its name
and origin from the Unitin.—Nothing can possibly
be more fallacious than this species of logic; nor is
it reasonable to suppose that Mr. O'Connell himself
could have been ignorant of the untenable nature of
the ground he assumed, unless it be contended in his
behalf that in the greatmess of his legal knowledge he
could not stoop to read the Articles of that very
Union upon which he pretended to found his claim
o
oAu fileligibilityupon
oi
subject;
it s;fi
at
feotar,n
itde effectually
el isl ny
pParliament.removesro iprovides,
asl,l ,d, Theoruhba tt
every one of the I,ords of Parliament of the United
Kingdom, and every Memb7r of the House of Com-
mons of the United Kingdom, in the first and all
succeeding Parliaments, shall, until the Parliament of
the United Kingdom shall otherwise provide, take
the oaths, and make and subscribe the declaration,
and sAs!.:rihe tlo oath now by (aw enjoined to be
talon, made and suliscribei by the Lords and Com-
mons of the Parliament of Great Britain." So
much for the legal knowledge, or the candour, or
the Constitutional research, of Mr. O'Connell !
Morning Post.
Mr. Peel's abseaee from the House of Commons,
on the long and stormy debate en the Church Rates'
Rill, has excited very general surprise ; and there
are those who look upon it as a somewhat ominous
indication, either of the High Church party having
somewhat cooled towards the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, or of his having cooled towards them. Cer-
tainly the occasion was one where the whole weight
of Toryism was required to support a measure ex-
ceedingly questionable, if not obnoxious in its prin-
ciple and details; and we really pity the Chancellor

of the Exchequer, who appears to have been left to
fight, single-handed, a battle which required mote
than ordinary force and Generalship. We do not
deny, however, that the Right Hon. Gentleman
bore the brunt of the engagement with great skilled
good humour, betraying none of that irritability and
waspishness of which this Session has furnished too
many instances. The Bill in question seems to be but
little understood on either side of the House, which
is alone a sufficient reason why it should stand over
for the present. It emanates, we believe, from the
Commissioners for building new Churches ; but
who, probably without being aware of it, have al'
lowed themselves to be swayed into the introdue'
tion of several of the most objectionable clauses hi
those patterns of purity and wisdom, the Se/ect
Vestries, in and about the metropolis. /law to gift
such bodies as these any new powers to tax the in'
habitants, when it is notorious that they have 9°
grossly abused those with which they have beer
already intrusted, is a proposition which the public
in general were net at all prepared for, and which
Parliament, we trust, will effectually resist, if it hag
not already done so. Indeed, from the feeling s°
strongly expressed on Monday, and the liberal die
position which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
showed to meet an opposition, the weight of which
he had not anticipated, we may consider the measnct
as virtually abandoned, at least for a season.-'
Morning Herald.