The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC. JOURINTALS.

The first care of Gavernment being naturally the exist-
ence of the- nation, it is no disgrace to Ministers, and can
be no surprise to.the public, that a succession of Cabinet
Councils should he on the eve of assembling, to deliberate
on the most effectual and least objectionable measures for
averring famine from the land. It is fit that the people
should know their precise situation with regard to the
means of subsistence. There is nothing more foolish or
unwarrantable than the excitement of hopes of national
prosperity, which it is obvious to those who raise them
can never be fulfilled; were it only that the entertainment
of such fallacious visions lead to a general disregard of
economy, and a waste of resources, by which the coming
mischief is doubly aggravated, when. it can no longer be
frightened away by big words, and boastful misrepresen-
tations. The present moment, we have no scruple m
saying, is one which calls for the utmost energy of action
in the Executive GoVernMent, and of self-command and
Thrbestatnee in the people. The returns of the late harvest,
and theleports of the green crops yet ungathered, prove
that there now exist, throughout the United Kingdom, the
certain precursors of a scarcity of food; while the statute-
book. affords equally convincing evidence, that without
Some bold and generousoperation by the King's (sovern
inept, eve are not indebted to Parliament, or to its verbose
eulogist, Mr. Robinson, for the slightest prospect of an
escape from sufferings more severe than any that have as-
sailed the people of England and Ireland conjointly, within
the memory of the present generation. Well-informed men
of business, connected with the core trade, have visited,
as a matter of necessity, every part of this island and of
Ireland. If in some of the southern English counties the
wheat crop may be justly termed a fine one, it net,so
generally throughout Great Britain. In some of the midland
districts wheat is short, though harvested of come in fine con-
dition. But if that grain, the food exclusively of the weal-
thier classes, does not exceed the average of other season),
how areadful must be the expectations of those who work
for' their daily and scanty meal, when all the inferior
Crops, without exception, which fall in better times
Within their meant of rturehear, have failed almost uni-
versally, In the barley counties there is not a supply to
set the kilns at work. Few of the great barley growers
in the north and centre of the kingdom will have a grain
to:sell, or snore than gnough for next year's seed, and for
immediate home consumption. Tho sheep in Lincolnshire
are dying for want of proper; nourishment, Offers have
been made by one neighbour to another---" I will give you
130 of my sheep, if you will feed .50 more for use through
the winter." A whole beast the price of a winter's Iceep
for one ! On the best lands there, are hundreds of acres
without a single turnip. Oats, like barley, are about suf-
ficient for seed; and potatoes an entire failure. Ireland,
however, more moist in her average temperature than this
country, used.to furnish liberal assistance when our crops
were overpowered by drought. But what say: now the
statements from Ireland ?. We do not refer to the
newspapers only, which streat questions of the most
solemn and unoffending kind with so incorrigible a prone.
ness. to.party exaggeration. It is from private accounts
that we seek for true intelligence of the state of Ireland,
and these assure us that the inferior crops are there even
worse than in this country. Altogether lost to the on
-
dope and starving peasants, barley, oats, and potatoes,
their staff, or crutch, of life, have been extinguished by the
~want of rain. Under with circiunatances, therefore, it
cannot surely be ascribed as ft blame to Government, that
it meets to settle the question of foreign importations, but
rather, indeed, that suell vital questions had not long since
been anticipated and determined, and the largest foreign
supplies that could be laid .hold of lodged a month ago in
'British warehouses, as a competitor with the scanty and
high-prieed native growth. .We cannot conceive it Infs.
*4)10 that any mere matterof custom or expediency should
be suffered, we do not say to prevent, but to retard for
an hour, the admission of food, when human creatures
stand in need of it. One part of the Cabinet, it is re-
ported, are favourable to the introduction of every sort of
grain; but then comes the " inexpediency of acting with-
out consent of Parliament :" in other words, there are
men, pretended statesmen too, who can • look on calmly,
while thou ands of their fellowssubjeets perish, because
they might risk the loss of their offices by saving them !
Is. it so ? But they would lose , not it,eingle office' and
they would fill half a million of hungry mouths with food;
further, if. they wait, for more formal and technical ;nee,
sures, the very time required to set the tnachinerY of Par-
liament in motion might cost e myriad of lives. We'vvriuld
implore the 'Ministers to act like neat on this occasion—.
to stand upon their grave responsibility, and open the
ports to every description of human sustenance. If they
dread a glut, they are not well-informed as to the condi-
tion of tome of the foreign harvests. About Hamburgh
the crop wag unusually light, and little or no surplus for
exportation. But if a glut be really dreaded, though for
our parrs, in the present ease, we: regard such a fear as a
chimera, let a proposal whirls wits presented a few days
ago in a contemporary evening print, be turned at their
next Cabinet, in the minds of Ministers, ' and if approved
of, a howl.given by the eonaignees of each cargo of bar-
ley and oats ;Winkled under an Order in Council, for such
an amount of tax upon the import as Parliament may he
pleased to impose. Much uncertainty would, beyond all
rpiestiim, he attached to every transaction in corn by such
a provision as this, and to tia the suggestion would be
mischievous ; but to obtain even a qualified mitis•
gation of a prospect so deplorable as that which now over-
clouds this kingdom, there are few expedients so clumsy
that one's conscience might not safely swallOw them.
If Ministers hesitate, the tone for action will have gone
by; and if the hesitation springs from any qualm about
" Parliament," we tell them that they are State labourers,
utterly unworthy of their hire.—Tiones.

It would appear that affairs begin to wear a very alarm
ing aspect in Ireland. Men have assembled in large
bodies, it is said, in open day, demanding food, and si-
multaneous meetings have taken place in the counties of
Cork, of Limerick, and Tipperary. At Ratlikele large
supplies of bread and money were extorted, and -at Cashel
a large body openly declared that if they did not get re-
haft they would possess themselves of food by main force.
At Caber,
a hungry mob attacked the house of a gentle-
mitt, who appeased the famished multitude by Oroying
out a quantity of bread. Them proiTedings may well
inspire us with alarm. lu ul.
ig ant the unarm is more
general, and it
presses with peculint• sevcirity
nistress
only on a
comparatively small part of the pop„I ,
"
in Ireland means a whole people without ,hrotigh.
out the greatest part of the country, there isa dead 104
of poverty. Prom the rich landlord and his Middleman
you descend at once to the famished peasantry, without
the means of assisting each other, and without Wealthy
neighbours to assist them either from charitable motives,
or from fear for the security of their property. In another
column we have eXtracted an article from the; Patriot,
Government Paper, which states some particulars respect.
ing the conduct of landlords, that musebe attended to,
Would it be believed that in the county of Monaghan
the tenantry of a great landholder, a Mr. Shirley, have
been caNd,upon, as a means of averting seizure and sale,
to subscribe a declaration like
the following :--
We, the tenants of Mr. Shirley, and freeholders on Ids
estate, are sorry for the part we took at the late Election, and
were led astray by interested individuals so to doi and we now
pledge ourselves to support the interests of our landlords on future
occasions."
This is speaking in language not to be misunderstood;
that Election is a farce, in theacting of which even de-
cency in not to be observed. The however,,ab-
hers such plain dealing. Appearances must be kept up;
awl the spirit that lately`extinguished Cornish Borough

still exists among us. The quire of Monaghan will,
find, that, like other people, they must be hypocrites, if
they wish to possess power. Their conduct will, we have
no doubt, be very generally decried.—illontigg Chronicle.

Our readers must see by Mir extracts from the French
papers, that the bigotry and intolerance of the ;French
Clergy are becoming every day more end_more apparent.
The lower Clergy in particular, instigated no doubt by
their superiors, the Jesuits, seem to lase no opportunity
of exerting their authority, and of claiming that blind obe-
dience and subuilasion which they were accustomed to in
the darkest ages of superstition, We rejoice to see this,
for the same reason. that we rejoice at the increasing
grievances of our Court of Chancery. Nothing probably
but the magnitude of the evil can bring about-a thorough
reform.. The priesthood in France are evidently, though
unconsciously, paving the way to so desirable an object,
and are.daily verifying the adage, Quen; Dense:tit perdere
pries dementat. What else but madness can inspire the
young curates with such an antipathy to music and dan-
eing, or lead them to interdict amusements which have
been practised by- that gay people from time immemorial,
and which seem as -necessary to their existence as bread
and wine Nothing short of frenzy, indeed,- could make
these ministers throw aside the gravity of their character,
and resort to those extraordinary measures imputed .to
them in the French papers. We hear of them chasing
the dancers from the field, not by threats of excommuni-
cation-, or of their displeasure, but by assaulting the prin-
cipal ringleaders, and by pursuing the unfortunate min-
strels to the top of trees in order to wrest from them-their
obnoxious instruments—the cause of all this mirth and
gaiety. Such conduct can only excite ridicule, and bring
the actors into contempt.' There is another part of their
eonduet, however, which must excite very different feel-
ings—we mean their refusing to grant Christian burial, or
the last consolation of religion, to those who have incurred
their displeasure. Instances of this - kind- are even more
common than the former. Scarcely a week passes but we
hear of them refusing to men of good character, and meri-
torious conduct some of those rites which they willingly
grant to the vilest criminal. These accounts commonly
appear in what are called the liberal papers ; they are sel-
dom contradicted or even alluded to by. the Ministerial
Journals, and may be regarded therefore as too well-
founded When we read that a man of good moral cha-
racter is refused the last sacrament, because he had taken
an active part in the revolution; or had not, in every
respect, conducted himself according to the dogmas of the
Church of Ronne, it is impossible not to contrast this in-
-tolerant spirit with, that humane and generous disposition
which animated the Founder of our religion. He adnii-
glistered consolation to the thief on the cross, and in all his
intercourse, with the people evinced the utmost compas-
sion and forgiveness for the frailties of human nature.—
The French clergy cannot forgive. They refuse that lust
ceremony, which every Catholic regards as almost indis-
pensable to his future welfare, anti even persecute their
victim after death, by denying his body christian burial.
Trusting perhaps to the support of the King, or his Mi-
nisters, or the Jesuits, they may follow this course for
some time with impunity, but experience ought to con-
vince them that sooner or later it .will meet with due pu-
nishment. James 11., with the assistance of the Jesuits,
attempted in vain to establish his favourite religion in spite
of the great body of the people, and we can see noreason
why the French Clergy, even with the assistance of the
King, should be more successful.—Morning Herald.
The Times of yesterday has embodied in a leading ar-
ticle the reports of the French Opposition Papers, relative
to the part which France is expected to take with regard
to Portugal. The result at which: the writer of the article
in question has arrived is not very determinate, and we
might satisfy ourselves on this occasion by merely referring
to the arguments on this subject which. we recently stated,
and which, we are well assured, are those on which the
question has actually turned. We lurve uniformly newt.,
rated the feelings anti reasonings of the Slitutish Cabinet
from those of the French -Ministry ; and we do not by any
means identify the whole of the French Ministry with the
portion of it which really directs all its proceedings, and
stands in immediate connexion witn the predominating in-
fluence throughout Europe. We do not consider every
ostensible Member of Administration as acquainted with
the system by which Europe is at present governed, and

therefore the connexioa of some Journals (ITT this and the
other side of the Channel with particular portions of an
Administration (though that Administration may not be
divided in sentiment) must not be considered as giving a
truly official stump to every article of intelligence, or every
mode of argument, even in cases where these articles and
arguments have been approved by individuals in official
situations. We pretend not to any official knowledge of
facts which ought not and will not be divulged by autho-
rity in any Journal whatever; but we can venture, from
Means of intelligence open to all, to state some particulars
which render the assertions of the Times extremely doubt-
ful. A Cabinet Council of French Ministers was lately
held at St. Cloud, at which those. Ministers were not pre-
sent who are supposed, either in the French Cabinet or
among the Foreign Ambassador's at Paris, to represent the
the liberal pari of the diplomatic body in Europe. The
object of this Meeting was, by the intervention of Russia,,
to show to those who arc enemies to the semblance of a
Constitution, that the proceedings of Don Pedro are not so
irreconcilable to the views of the Continental Sovereigns
as these individuals have been led to imagine. If the in-
formation which we have received can be depended upon,
M, Poiso di Borg() turned the arguments of the Ultras
against themselves, insisting on the absolute right of Don
Pedro to, (home of mid make over his rights and titles to
the kingdom of Portugal in the manner,, and to the indi-
viduals, that he might think. proper ;.:but denying at the
same time the right of any foreign Power, either actually
or ostensibly, to influence the determinations of the Em-
peror of Brazil, and maintaining that the interference of Sir
Charles Stuart ought not to he exhibited in that light
either to the people or to the Sovereigns of Europe. It
is. necessary, therefore, that England and Portugal should
concur iii removing those false conclusions which a certain
party hes been led to draw respecting the consequences
gaunt
likely to arise from' the ant of thenew Constitution, as

indicating au intention oft the part of England to support
the advocates of revolution throughout Europe. For this
purpose several discussions will be necessary, but the re-
sult is not doubtful.—British Press.

The Tones of yesterday mentions ski a matter of
wonderment the arrival of
,two Cochin-Chinese war ships (the
2'oy Lana frigate, and 13tietuany brig), at Prince of Wales's
Island. It ie exactly a year and three months since the dream-
stance occurred. So much for the early intelligence of the Times.
The same leading piper iniglit have added, that though the com-
manders gave out that trade was not their object, and that they
had been sent out by their government to gain nautical and geo-
graphical experience, and a knowledge of naval tactics ; yet in the
end it appeared they had each a cergo of Tonquin lead and sugar,
" silk, an heard, and were glad to dispose of their
articles to the hest advantage.
ADVANTAGZ OF LYINGI.--,A notorious thief
being about. ,to he tried for hia r life,' confessed the robbery he, was
ebarged with. The Judge hereupon directed the Jury, to find
him guilty opine hix own confession. The Jury, having laid their
leads together, brought him in not guilty.... The Judge hadethein
cotter of it again; but still they brought in their verdict not
The Judge then asked them the reason. The foreman
P there is reason enough ; for we all know he is one of
t.,e ,
I greatest liars in the world."—Stuffordshire Advertiser.
port
.4,4veiroY
:111,14g antioafiTa tine
7xd
,tftryapiord‘i
sntapryin.
eihmbecrgki,anr
hots,
rehidem,
vr;Tramitc! where the ReY, J. Wayte, Lecturer of Boston,
YearwSaSpaldPiengr:
ceeded to the
~mto at the wailer), window; the robber pro.
where he appears to have minutely
examined the plate, And
particularly rnarlce4 . e"tt.e,cteil only such articles as were not
the dinior,,
room he e examined the lower rooms, and in
I.;ftifpenee': but the
.kof tii:uNtiti work-table and took out some
containing cosh, he left tin-
, :teat
taiez,ni,lvies
immediatelyind;
:ib aiyinil Wi
leasinglc
obr..evkB. ya.pce
bit:t
,atthr
f ti
leetel
that,it
the
drain,
Irnsi
no
oe,b,raevontal)d-s,

LAW INTEtLIGERCt.

COURT OF-CHANCERY, Atd, iS.
M'COY V.
.110BERT3ON.

His -LORDSiTIP decided that he should not refuse this
application for an injunction against the publishing of the
Mechanics' Magazine, with costs, but Without costs.
He thought the parties ought to be content with this.
Mr. RICHERSTETH again pressed for his Lordship's rea-
sons, as he thought the case involved many important part-
nership and copyright questions ; but
His LORDSHIP still shyed off, saying the parties would
be better to be kept in the dark as to their real situation !
Several other matters were mentioned, but little or no-
thing finally disposed of.

His LORDSHIP will come down to-morrow to deliver
out some orders, and to send intimations to attornies, of
the names of cases in which he will give judgment on
Thursday. and Friday. He had not intended., to sit on
Wednesday, but on being pressed for leave, by Mr. Duck-
worth, to give a notice of motion for that day, for• leave to
sell some partnership machinery, he said he would come
down then specially to hear the motion, at ten o'clock.