The Sun.
London, England, 1817-08-30 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

The review of the proceedings of the last Ses-
sion of Parlilment ,which has appeared The
(Dublin) Correspondent, in detached, portions, dis-
play so niuch acumen, and form So cOmptete a
refutation of all the sophistry of opposition, that
though they have extended to a' considerable
length, we shall in due course insert the wlrule
series, fu:ly cotiOnced that they Krill afrord much
pleasure to Our Readets, and'excite conViction in
all.loyal and reflecting men.
(Continued fiotn 'Tie Sea of August 21.)

CURSORY REMARKS L'I'ON TI-IF TRANSACTIONS QF
THE SESSION OF PAItI.I.IMENT.

(Front The (Dublin) Correspondent of Aug. G.)
The first. debate ,which took place upon the
moving of the Address, slimed, that the opposers
of the Ministry had no common sentiment, no
common principle; .no common centre even for ,
the powers and dforts to rally on, save one—
their common hoStili,Vio tire measures of the
Government : the mos-t. the least pub-
lic spnited, the ttios,t selfish, and the least ho-
nourable of all others. In this single point only
were they agreed; and: had their co-operation
put them Into possession •of -their adversaries'
power, as virulent?,wcompention, its implacable
au opposition, woniti, have .hrolten out amongst
,
the con wnent elements of this shred-and'-patch
alliance of parties, as at anytime prevailed be-
tween the whole-corps d'armee,. ,their character
of the Opposition and the Ministry. It would
•
have been as active and as fierce, and as nunterei-
fill a political conflict; as was witnessed for many
years past, • when every thing ivas opposed which.
the Government designed or executed—even those
renowned and prosperous measures, by .means of
which the -idid of Revolution'waS at length cast
down from its height,. and humbled at the teet of.
Law and Liberty—by. which Europe was rescued
from oppression and the fear of general bondage,
and the United Kingdoni was exalted to a-supre-
macy in glory and in power.
The view taken of the, ical affairs of the Nation, by Earl
-Grey and the Marquis of Wellesliv, respectively, possessed,
in common, nu harmony hi principle, or in fact. It the lat-
ter were right, as to the necessity of a vigorous prosectition
of the, war, the former could nut have been,right-,in imputing
blame to the authors of the urgent and persevering manlier.
in which the contest was conducted' and concluded., if the.
.war were a question of:life—to live, and to live sensible
car
mural being and potency as a-nation, Was a grand and car ti
(lima etfeet to establish ; and when Lord Welle.ley confessed
that the war was of such a 'Moire; that we were lighting for
existence,to have closed such a war with a prosperous peace,
wi:h a peace which established us at the bead of • all fate
powers of Europe, was as desirable an issue as 'tin: nature
of things made possible. each a peace, in. any suet of con
test, would have been a noble result ; but in one, which itau
been waged with fluctuating late for many a year, in which
the enmity of the comhatants,was not weakened, turr the bit-
terness of national animosity assuaged, by the length of the
struggle, or the penalties which it enacted--to hate conclud-
ed it, in conquest and renown, and to•li!..ve been the arbitrat-
ing Power—the distributor of equity —the restorer of right
among aggrieved nations—was %%Ala the Opposition dated
not haet. hoped. for, nor lease promised their.euuntry; and
was what they never could have accomplished, had their
counsels beennseentiant. ,
It. was well that those Noble Lords, to whom allusion had
been jut made, had nothing to argue against„, but those mea-
sores, which delivered. the tuition out of warfare, and Europe
out of the grasp of a gorgeous, but a grinding tyranny. '7t
was happy tor the country, that they could not Stand up and
arraign the Minister, fur having patted with fhe ai.eient do-
tninions.of the Crawn;as.the price of 4 precarjons, or an in-
glorious peare—t hat they had no shorn tellitories to de-
piore—no rifled colonies to inveigh against—no contracted
frontiers to point out, as the degrathog memorial of the na-.
tion's ignominy and debasement. They may felicitate theta-
selves, t, hat tiny hail nu shameful or disastrous realities of this
nature, against which their splendid wrath may be emplOyed,
in the honesty u i vengeanCe : that.they bad .nothing mote
substantial than the sita,fotys and phantoms of disconsolate
imaginations to rail against.. It was well for them that they
were obliged to intent the misforiunes.against which they
reasoned—and that their reasonings were iintintig better then
the playful exercises of argumentative sextet ay7llle gam-
bols and pastimes of masculine intellect—the ref iXatioOS
arts
amusements of powerlill mind;;—nut the grave,aud serious•
cunflictS of necessity., convietion,and principle—not the Letiond
dmits of the understanding, when 1t labours to expose im-
becility, to detect perfidy, or to brand iii ; to convict
weakness and temerity of dilapidation of the public interest,
or cowardice of Compromising. the public bOnOttr— LI Llitit,
those kinds of fietitioni struggles against jnstice anti fact,
cannot be seen and understood, wit bout sonn.! com“nt.cfatiun:
it i, a severteduty to embrase, to be obliged to pervert trans-.
actions, and to debate against the etas% ietions of reason ;
aunt destitute pittst that spoil la compassion, who cpu
bateiii
seen, without scone pity, (luting-the last Se•isi,m, the
despel at e trespasses agsiust COnlttloll SeriSe, Coantli•tea by all.
the platoons and. subdiNksions in array against-the Nliniiteis
.—by those who were condemned to argue against sac,..e,s to,
the war,, and. glory in the field of bat 1.14,--to debate
the'acquisitions of 'talents and 'v.istltitn in nezoCiato),l —Y. 1,1
were -doomed to crack jukes against military renown, aed
sentence.,: ta,ephy or hyvothesi:,, cvmji,ii l t, anti fortune te;l-

against the new. dominions and' power secured to the
.1 Irittsh Crown, in the'Atst atidimthe West, as Weil as in the
editerrlitteau ;. who, in the sad necessity of this contentious•
political Mystery, were:'obliged- to Austen's, lhemsel>es with
every traitSient,and accidental noisfortnne—toStoisturtne each '
cesually is it imeurrsil, each :disaster as it eante;—to-calum-
Mate theni all,: by ewiSidering them as if they were- the'cl-•
spring of !minim osir,,,„ and then to play atiese off
the ;Mini.deee as the naturar fruits of his miscalculated policy.
Hence, the change from war to peace, and the consequences''
of the chaVge, is such, have heel) 'turned into alliigations, in
condemnation of the public measures of the State;. the pe-
nory of he season_ has been converted into delinquency; and..
the , diseases' and distresses that Wait upon scarcity, have
been enrolled upon the list of Ministerial faults anti trans.-
gressions. •
• In the debate ors the Address,, the opponents of the Mini-
sters felt how lunch their diiinal predictions had to appre•••
fiend, front the facts and circumstances which folloWeet the
conclusion- of the American war. They knew that, after the
Peaise iif tii3 t, the public debt was thought to exceed the pos-
sibility of being disc:hare-col; tluit the public revenue was in--;
adequate to the espeedituee; that. new taxes. were imposed.
on she peoele; nod-that, net withstanding the loss of the Co-
lank,. the acetimuletion of the debt, the 'decline of Cow
revenue,--staceisdhe increase of the taxes, the country sour
emerged frog- its. depression, and reached a piteels of !nosey,
ritisiand power; beyond the:most sanguineedneeptioo, soud
to L#ta utt-ve confusion of all the; dismal predictions thatstere
made. Conscious that this. grand fact must operate cot the
lospes.and ithe spiritssof the, people, the Opposition bad re-
course to a singular . Stratagem • gument:etion, to deprive
the country tit the conscilation which the evidence of 'events
was likely to bestow; They,assolue, first, -that tlie country
has a limited power of production,
,Leyood which it cannot
go--itext,•they assume that-it has touched the extreme of this
limited poise already what is most I:xtraordinarys
while,they are arguing,ewith might and, main, to conduce
the station that we are Without trade or manufactures, they
bare assumed this very singular condition of the first com-
mercial State in the %A orld, tut lie its Ordinary condition, in.
one sense, and an extraordinary and extreme condition, in
another_sense.
When they want to shetv that we have come to the extre-
'mity of our finance production, they argue upon the diminu-
that of revenue, directly occasioned by the derangement
throughout the entire trading :sod contract-chit syhetif ; and,
although this diminution is manifestly the 'effect of temporary
causes, they assume it to be eternal': and this at the eery thou .
when they are alluding to the occasional nature of the in-
convenience. When they wiSh its to believe that we. a e'
in a worse condition nows than tee were at the close if' the •
Americaa war, they take a very origioal method of argoing
to establish the proposition. Tu Shea' that we are poorer
now than then, they tell us that we pay ruore ; but they
forget that we pay more', only- because we pcissess maross.
They forget that the fountains. of soppy ere not •conlitiedlo.
what nose be raised from the soil within' tile slimes of' oar
islands—that they are spi cad over the world, and i•re'ser vest
by policy and by loans in different parts of it-41nit'they tette
been immensely :ingot:sided since the American war--s-that se-
veral new gradations bare grostn oute of .the level silaite of
society since ..that period, the incontestible evidence. of the
diffusion of wealth—of wealth drawp from enlarged sobreess
and collected in greater quantities ;—and It frunt this
creased and growing quantity—noon those salient
.fountains
of supply-741.°m sources which are infinite, iii all inorarcal-
culations—t hat the nation, collectively, draws' the ii:eadS of
:My:mei toe more to the necessities of the State, tletn in; times
when those resources were eintiparatively, itelignificant. At
the close of the American tsar, a metal he currency, to a et. -
taint amount, answered ail• the -tonsioses of business to the
vituole community. At present ~:ill the precious portals Which
Europe coot:this, would not be stifficient fur tine liesiiiess • 'if
Lonrho) alone—yet the Opposition tells us .1 Ott we are ,ant-
dotty--that. we have reached tine point of tNil,all,fio4.), and :tie
poorer.now ban we were thirty years ago! The comforts of
have immensely inert's:sec:, which is titre of the t•tfects'uf
wealth and improvement-0c spontaneous contributions Of
benevolences and the institutions !growing out of theisi,satici
nourished by virtue alone,' prodigiiosisly exceed any thing
known ituniediately after the American War—pi :zees for pbass
sure and amusement have immensely inereastd in number,
and greatly in expellee ; and, if we rim through all those pal- •
liable circumstances which are symptomatic.: of increased -
wealth, we shall find that they have all outgrown any thiog
which the era of 1783 could boast of. hVe pay mole to the
State now, than at the pet kid referred to ; but. we expend
more every every necess try, in the provision for late:
and comfort, as well as' tow the wants of imaginatiou anal
fancy,;- we lay out more than we ever have done : but tins
increased espendit ore is any thing hint the evidence of na-
.tional povert.y and exhaustion. 'The tilnaphysical pulitici :tat
may perplex thenisOlees in exploring the vital organization of
the nation—the depth and extent of its productive powers;
and the Measure of its. expend:thee—and in calculating the
probable term of its existence, if they will Whatever way
their vagaries may lead t bent, common sense will notstil!it;g-
ly
follow them ;—and though they way see nothing in their
course, but " attires vast and deserts idle," exhaustion and
bankruptcy, and ;ill those other things 'which furnish the Op-
position with its alai:tong vocabulary, it still Hot be the loss
clear, nor the less true, that the productive means of the
nation comiderably exceed :coy tiling like a parallel With any
former time; that by the late peace, fresh foundations have
In en laid, nut only of political 'grandelir am (I power; but of
eostimercial greatness—flint the tendency- of all these urw
nations, which- have grown out of remote colonization, and
. are the pie-sessors of immeasurable faculties for trade and
commerce, intimates a new race of advantages being likely
to barsts forth, for. the enrichment-of lieittso,„ industry, that
the anomalies of society are euccsuotered isv sagacity and abi-
lity; and that, out of all Horse aceessorite sonti cowi,hi-
tion of 'national prosperity, fresh amelioration is likely to
arise am' expand itself. .• • • ,
It is a clear and uScertained fact, That, since the permed of the
American. War, Iltlinait lin; has hero. es teneled one-A ph—
t hat tint, Bills of mort„ius. have des:roast,' in thaedegree--that
populatimi had increased, even during tlic yenirs of earoaee
of the bloodiest. tsar that ever •wits foughte—autie while life
thus Ic4thened--;-1 be testimonies of wean hanetnented within
and witliont—in the private house, and in tile
improved modes, and liberalizetl. the
soreading of edueation—the exteosion of itecionplishmeut— ,
the enlargement of letters iied science—in increasing
ties it( all the means of instraction, public and private--
while al; those ate bearing testimorty to a state of thingA, fat'
transcending any of which Iminer times could boast-and.,
while economy is lopping •expenditaue after expenditure,
to the stupeudous retrettehmeitt of seventeen millioos,'M
Great Britain, of animal 'faxes—while the public- burthens
are liberally and generously leaked aliese,apd •al,l . the pro- .
ductile powers- of t he country are scrupulously guarded, and.
faithfully husbanded--with a manly atideillighteeeil '
a pains-tahing, jealous Parliainent- -scrutinizing; exploriug.,
and invesligatirig the subtlest mitattlie of our political trans,
actions—while ail those things are testifying to us, ill the'
fullest, stroligest, and clearest otaitoer, the must importont
truth its hoontit affors, tint p,opte Gre tri.yely /...reeerinCdr-' •
what is there which ennui reasonably di-satisfy? or -w ho, but us.
blockhead, wouldflTh dcplcsscd at LhOse exaggerated. pro=
pliecies..and those distnat preetiethms, Which tone sought,
(hiring the Session of l'atiMineot, to scatter alive:diens-h,os
and despair mining the ominous: y Tell us what is the it i-
deuce :in good Governitient„and in is to litetosind ,
Cellditloll. We still not ei.leavour to appease those who
ate bellowing, day and night, against one Establishment,
inveighing organist ouriostit mimes, and endeavottaiog to rail
ilOllll/ 11.4:W mutations. .We horny that peleticons
Stroup are• not to be satisfied, unless the country and
vertinient he handed I,ver to their tutelage. While. there isi
st-rag to be fotiod, they wilt hoist it tapas an aceusation against
the Government—while they eon raise the growl et :loco:t-
-ient, tiles• still tali:eat, :grit c.tll open it iti supeesf tit th,ir
otsn ina!edictimis an,l inisut:prest•utaiwns—ai:it I!i:se cry al-
togethel itopriietieal.te to conviction, toot imiceessiele to per--
ssietsion ; but there: is not a onuic
ilie troth in' josiice reasonably well—rellec(ieg patiecely
rind soberly upon the public condition. and tal.iois the ags
gate ot our affairs into conteioplatiou,who must mit conclude
hie esiketiolis with the convietien, that lie is a member of
tunic of the beret, happiest, and best goverosd cominorities
upon earth; mid that he owes gratithue st manly reseect
to these, to whose cares, and taiiours, and atixietass, ins well
as talents, he is indebted.tar. so tinily bl.ssitigs. . I'. '

ct.1.111.11:::ct!.]