The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-08 00:00:00

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SECOND EDITION,

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brjenrfreqr evyint

LOVDON, MONDAY, J

NUMIY 3, IS a

At a great public knqui k.tely 'given to Mr.
O'CoNNELL in Clonmel, theft ;.7;e10.1..man, tindis•
rayed by the thought of the aNnortelin.g State
prosecutions;spoke out on 11;lek !le:, NI and tire-
some question of Repeal ii•ith ja-:1 as much fresh-
ness and enthusiasm as if ?.c tveTr delivering lii
first speech on the subject, oly3( " Let evert
man be a Repealer; let Limn v.e.:r IL Bolton of
some token by which our enemies i::av know
and try to count us. Du thrs:. Ciings, and I
promise you the Parliamcnt in C,,ilege.-green,
the abolition of the tithe-rent elt.iriv, or its ap-
propriation to purposes of 4-(11.nil:ion, the abo-
lition of the poor-rates, and the grztod jtivv cess.
I will also have fixity of tenure ter t he te-
nantS, and prevent the landlords ;rout turninl.,
them out to starve . in the tii:clies. Wt
will also have t searching cuTor.):e refi-in, and
every man will have a vote." It was well saki
by Mars. GLASSE, in that immortal cookery .book,
which is an oracle at Guildhali, and the wander
and admiration of all gastronomists, " fiat catch
your hare, before you consider how it shall be
dressed? Parodying the language if this cele-
brated authoress, we may say to M. O'CONNELL,
" first get your repeal, before you consider the
measures that shall flow from it." is all very
well to .talk about i( abolition of
:)or-rates'
cc searching corporate reform," &,c.,, but
these are things necessarily
dependent ot,
"Repeal, and every way impracticable until
the first great step is r;licreteSinliy
plished. But this step Mr,' O'CoxINELL 1:110WS,
or should know, can never be accomplished; and
we can only, therefore, repeat time expression 01
our regret that he should have placed himself in
such a false position with his countrymen, as to
find it absolutely necessary to his popularity to
keep up the delusion. As respects ids assertio.•
that the time has at length arrived when there
xnust be same alteration in the mode of govern-
ing Ireland, "whether it he towards federal
institutions or unconditional repeal," we cordially
twee with him that Ministers must, without
loss of time, devise some more effective plan for
tranquillising the sister country than they have
-Vet discovered, or else make way for those who
can. The limitsofendurance are passed, andshoul d
the next session be allowed to slip away without
some enlightened remedial measures being
brought forward, we shall begin to think that
there is more sense and justice in the fierce cla-
mour fur Repeal, than 1,11 can at resat amt to

case. Ireland has never been slow to fight
cu: constitutional battles with firmness and
alacrity ; she was of infinite assistance to
tu, :a our great struggle for Reform, and
iu lie minor Parliamentary conflicts that en-
sued; and it is base ingratitude, as well
as injurious policy, to exhibiti indifference
to her welfare, the instant we imagine that we
have no further urgent need oilier services. But
though we concur with Mr. O'CONNELL that
some important changes must be made in the
present mode of administering the affairs of Ire-
land, we are by no means prepared to contend
that a " federal institution " must be one of these
changes. To our thinking, such an institution
would be nothing more than a Parliament de-
prived of its virility—a wretched, peddling,
chandler's-shop concern, which would be
constantly at loggerheads with the Im-
perial Senate, teazing and wasting its
lime with all sorts of petty applications and
annoyances—a Parliament without power, with-
out dignity, without moral or political influence
—a sort of Court of Common Council affair,
which would make a prodigious fuss about small
matters, and achieve nothing of moment;—and
when this apology for a Legislature had been in
existence for some months, if it should endure
so long, so inefficient would it be found, that the

Irish themselves, with their quick appreciation
of the ridiculous, would be the first to laugh it to
scorn, and clamour for a Repeal of the Union
with more fierceness and determination of pur-
pose than ever. It is not, then, to " a federal
institution " that we look as one of the changes
necessary for the future welfare of Ireland, but
to a vigorous reform in the Protestant Church
system, and to such wholesome measures as may
rescue the poor helpless tenant from the state
of thraldom in which he is too often kept by his
powerful and exacting landlord. We should not
omit to notice that at the Banquet to which we
have been alluding, the Chairman, in a sudden

transport of enthusiasm, excited by Mr. O'Cox-
NELVB energetic references to Repeal, warmly ex-
pretietd his conviction that the " Liberator's mission
was from Heaven, and that he was an angel ex-
pressly sent down to regenerate his native land."
The Tories, we believe, together with not a few
of the Whigs, are of opinion that the "Liberator's
mission" is from another quarter; without, how-
ever, offering any opinion on this head, we may
perhaps be permitted to observe that, to our
thinking, Mr. O'CONNELL has as little of an angelic
look about him, as any fat, middle-aged gentle-
man, in a wig, that ever lived. Even with the
utmost stretch of imagination, we cannot fancy
him doing duty as a Cherub with a pair of wings
at his shoulder-blades.

If the contest now going on between the
friends of free trade on the one side, and the
friends of monopoly on the other, were really, as
has been stated, a contest between the parti-
sans of agriculture and those of commerce,
then, we must say, we think, the fa-
vourers of the plough would stand at an
immeasurable disadvantage in comparison
with those who uphold the loom and shuttle. By
their absurd tactics the friends of native agricul-
ture, as they call themselves, are doing their very
best to ruin the cause they espouse. For in-
stances of what we affirm we have not to look
flir. Every day furnishes fresh proof of the truth
of what we assert, and the more we see the more
are we inclined to be of SOLOMON'S mind, when
he incredulously inquired " how shall they get
understanding whose talk is of bullocks ?"
At the Boston Agricultural Protection Society's
meeting, on 'Wednesday last, not a little of this
absurd bucolic humour was evinced. Among
other notable instances of the folly which man-
kind have displayed, may be reckoned the sage
manifesto put forth by this conclave of Lincoln-
shire wiseacres on the occasion referred to. But,
ridiculous as the petition is, there was one feature
of the proceedings even more laughable still, and
that was a repudiation on the part of a Mr.
GEE and a Mr. MILLINGTON, of the Royal Agri-
cultural Society's proceedings, by reason of
Lord SPENCER'S avowal of free trade sentiments.
Probably Messrs. GEE and MILLINGTON con-
sider that the Royal Agricultural Society will
be exceedingly afflicted at the withdrawal of
their distinguished patronage. Perhaps it has
occurred to these gentlemen that the pursuit of
agricultural science will . have sustained an ir-
reparable blow by being deprived of their most
valuable support. A totally different inference
may—we do not say will—be derived by others
from this their proceeding.

The attention which Earl SPENCER has uni-
formly devoted to the interests of British agri-
culture is too well known to need any lengthened
comment. His success in the science to which
he has applied his powers, has also been
sufficiently attested ; and the position which he
occupies—that of President of the Agricultural
Society—is less a mark of deserved homage to
a distinguished farmer, than it is advantageous
to the Society over which his Lordship presides.
If the farmers of England are going to re-
pudiate such friends as Lord SPENCER, then we
say, much good may they derive from their new
acquaintances. Unfortunately there are not
sufficient of the class of intelligent and enter-
prising landowners to which Lord SPENCER be-
longs. If there were the country would be the
better off. But the farmers of England are
called upon by some of their injudicious coun-
sellors to abandon Lord SPENCER, because his
Lordship; advocates principles which would raise
them from their present depths of serfdom and
insolvency, to the, independence and comfort
which they ought to enjoy.
There may' be Manly noisy speakers at these
new Protection to Agriculture meetings, whose
pretended devotion to the cause may attract the
attention which is due to other kind of efforts,
but the interests of British farming will, it may
be relied on, be best promoted when energetic
and practical efforts supersede theoretic and
declamatory oratory.
We hope that the farmers of England will
ae too wise to imitate generally the example of
Messrs. GEE and MILLINGTON, but if they
prefer to do as these gentlemen have done, they
-nay rely upon it they thetnselves will be the
chief sufferers.

n the police reports it will be seen that a stout
young man, " whose whim it is to be nameless for the
present," was brought up before Mr. Alderman Gums,
)n a charge of having exhibited himself in the pub-
lic streets in masquerade ;—that it is to say, in another
person's dress, and, perhaps, property ;—to wit, in a
woman's habiliments, of which he had disrobed him-
self on the stairs of Blackfriars-bridge, on being hard
pressed by the inquisitive pursuit and curiosity of a
police-constable. When thus dismantled of his lady-
hood, he came out a sturdy ploughboy, and (a pheno-
menon which appeared to make a powerful impression
on the worthy Alderman) affected to be deaf and
dumb. This niumchance exhibition he sustained
with creditable fortitude and consistency, till weary of
the quarters which he had been invited to take up in tie
Walbrook station-house, and pressed by the uneasy_L,
iuggestions of hunger, he articulately demanded of
the turnkey, after a few hours' duresse, " when the
!evil they meant to bring him his breakfast ?" The
ooliceinan, struck by this near approach to a miracle,
concluded that no man could be so well calculated to
unravel the mystery as the sitting Alderman at
Guildhall. Ile took his prisoner, therefore, to the
Justice-room; and lo ! the Magistrate on duty proved
to be no other than Alderman Ginss. The Alderman,
having a quasi dumb delinquent before him, very
naturally asked him, in the first place, "what he had
to say for himself ?" The lady-ploughboy main-
tained his taciturnity, whilst she looked reproachfully,
as if astonished by such a question from Alderman
GIBBS ; and Alderman GIBBS incontinently remitted
him " to solitary confinement in the Compter until he
should be in the humour once more to resume his
speech."
Now really this seems to us to have been all in bad
taste and bad measure. It was in bad taste for Mr.
Alderman GIBBS to be so severe upon the offence of
the ploughboy's double character, and passing him-
self off for a lady. Why, the reporter himself treats
the affair only as one of " masquerading," and the

worthy Alderman ought to know that this sort of
infrous identity his own wardmote charge upon HIM!
The rate-payers of Walbrook cannot, for their lives,
discover whether he is a trustee (they have absolutely
negatived the question whether he is trusty), or a
perpetual churchwarden; and, if he be one, or the other,
or both, then—for whom ? Not for them assuredly,
whether as contributors to the parochial funds, or
disbursers of them ; for as to the one, " he makes no
sign ;" and as to the other, he gives no accounts.
That he is an unaccountable agent, he himself seems
to insist ; that he is an unaccountable alderman,
churchwarden, and trustee, no man disputes. Now, a
churchwardeti who will give no satisfaction to his own
parishioners in the material questions of the receipts
of money, and the application of rates ; a trustee who
is obstinately recusant, and means to be so till the
advent of some undefined condition of things, as to the
mode in which he has administered his trusts; an
alderman who sets at defiance the applications and re-
monstrances of a large body of his own constituency,
must be, throughout all these unbecoming relations,
himself in very indecorous masquerade. Surely, he
does not mean to say that he is maintaining all
this time his " proper character ?" Why, then, s•
hard upon this " lady-ploughboy" for so absurdly
disguising himself ?
But then the sturdy ploughboy, having doffed his
feminine character, and with it all predisposition to
loquacity, is dumb ! Here is the immedicabile vulnus
which the Alderman has received, and which he so
roughly resents. What ! a sturdy ploughboy affect
to be dumb ? Not answer plain questions from the
Bench ? The insult was too palpable and personal.
It was playing Alderman Gians off upon GIBBS,
Alderman ; and bringing into odium and suspicion
an art which must become contemptible if practised
by obscure pretenders to character. No. Well
enough if general open meetings of inhabitants will
put such irrelevant and trifling interrogatories,
to gowned trustees and treasurers and churchwardens,
as respects the disposal of moneys and the manage-
ment of parochial property and affairs, for the gees
togata to turn round, with more than aldermanic
dignity, and dumb found all complainants by a lofty
reserve, a !ilence all but unbroken. Well enough
to meetings of select vestrymen, so accurately con-
vened and scrupulously admitted, that parish con-
stables stand by to see that none but the veritable imper-
sonifications of the select, who are thoroughly known
to them, pass into the vestry-room, where the per-
petual churchwarden must meet, and may pacify
them ; but for an unknown vagrant masquerader—
with half his character (the lady's) visibly deposited
in the basket of clothes found upon his arm, and the
other half yet to be accounted for—to dare to be dumb
in the presence of the most frank, open, and ingenuous
of Civic magistrates ! no wonder Alderman GIBBS
resented the indignity, and sent hint to the Compter
till he should be in the humour once more to resume
his speech.
It is very strange that the ratepayers of Walbrook
are anxious to know—desiring precisely this sort of
consummation of the Alderman's taciturnity—whither
it is he proposes to go himself ?

The idle clergy of St. Paul's Cathedral, who are
well paid for writing sermons and performing reli-
gious duties, have lately fallen upon a new plan to
catch the public on Sundays. The whole of the body
of the church is railed off, so that no one can walk in
the magnificent area below the dome or along the
nave and aisles. All must move on like sheep to the
choir. If they attempt to pass they are stopped by
one of the menials, who says, "no thoroughfare." At
another place one of these money-takers, for they
seem to be the individuals appointed by the clergy
to take the twopences for admission on other days, is
seen holding an iron gate half open, ready to allow
the exit of a chorister, or a parson from the interior,
and to close it against any profane layman who may
venture to intrude. This Christian temple is penned
all round like Smithfield, and has more the appearance
of a cattle market than a place for the performance
of Divine worship. Thus, by a conclave
of indolent monks, the public, at whose expense
this splendid building was erected, are prevented
from seeing the monuments for which they have also
paid, and must either be imprisoned to witness the
monotonous ceremonies, or be forced out into the
street. If the clergy did their duty, as in Catholic
countries, the people would he anxious to listen to
their ministrations, and would show reverence to
them and the Church, but they will not be religious
by compulsion. It is a disgrace to the country, that
one of the finest temples in Christendom should be
used, not for religious purposes, or for cherishing pa-
triotism, but for putting money into the coffers of
the Dean and Chapter.

The Madrid Gazette of the 31st ult. publishes the
new municipal law, not passed by the Cortes or any
constitutional authority, but ordered by NARVAEZ and
the Camarilla. Against this law nearly the whole of
Spain protested in 1840. Vast numbers of petitions
were: addressed to Queen CHRISTINA, entreating her
not to sanction such a measure. She treated them
with contempt, and then finding such a general out-
cry against her she resigned the Regency and fled
into France. For this despotic measure BRAVO
and his party calculate on obtaining a bill of
indemnity. Time will show whether such
a change has taken place in the political views of the
people since 1840 as to make them accept in 1844 what
they declared three years before to be inadmissable.
The Government in fact have adopted a system of
legislature never before heard of. They pass a num-
ber of acts in a secret conclave, promulgate them to
the country, enforce them by the sword, and in order
to prevent endless talk they propose to call
upon the Cortes to sanction them in a
lump. The Phare des Pyrenees says the suspen-
sion of the Chambers was agreed to by
the Cabinet without any communication with
the heads of their party, and it was only on the night
previous to the prorogation that the resolution of the
Cabinet was communicated to the President of the
Chambers.

The Gazette contains the following decree :
" Considering the distinguished merit of M. MAR-
TINEZ DE LA ROSA, and the services which he has
rendered the country, I appoint him my Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of
his Majesty the King of the FRENCH." The Duke de
RlvAs had been named Ambassador to Naples, and
was to bring with him, as Secretary M. AGusTo DE
CUETO.

The Three per Cents. were done at 254 at 60 days ;
the Five per Cents., at 201 for cash ; and the Float-
ing Debt, at 41+ for the 17th inst.

We learn from the Paris papers that the Committee
of the Chamber of Deputies appointed to draw up the
address, continue to sit daily, and had put numerous
questions to Ministers relative to the main points in
the KING'S speech. The answers, in general, were
satisfactory. On Saturday the Ministers of Religion
and Public Instruction were to be heard, and from
the steps taken by the Government lately, we may
infer that their explanations will be in accordance
with the majority of the Chamber. 34, GUIZOT is not
at all inclined to support the Jesuits, or allow the
Church to ride over the University, and M. MARTIN
seems to be of his opinion. Having lately ascertained
that flip Jesuits have been educating children in some
of the convents of the order, he took immediate steps
to vat an end to this breach of the charter. The
Minister of Trade will find some more difficulty in
performing his task, for, if certain accounts were to
be believed, commerce and domestic manufac-
tures are not at all flourishing. On this sub-
ject the Presse makes the following re-
marks :—" If there be some branches of manufac-
turing industry which produce a profit, there are,
much too many which are not as prosperous as
they were during former years. Had the Ministers
been well informed by their agents, they would have
known that in the eastern departments several manu-
facturers have been obliged to reduce their hands.
The machine makers are likewise complaining. The
iron masters labour under great difficulties in conse-
quence of the high price of fuel, of which the Finance
Minister is perfectly aware. It cannot be said that the
wine-growers are in a prosperous condition, although
the late rise on wines may have for a moment re-
lieved their distress. The home-made sugar ma-
nufacturers have diminished their production, and
the foreign growers have not benefited. As to
our maritime commerce, it has suffered more than
almost any other species of industry. Our shipments
have been at the same time less important and less
productive. By a deplorable coincidence our ship-