The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-14 00:00:00

MR. O'CONNELL.

The reception given to Mr. O'Connell at Birmingham
is a sign of the times. It indicates the wonderful
change which has been wrought within the last few
weeks in the public mind of England. Six months
ago Mr. O'Connell was not popular in this country,
however much idolised in his own. We enter intu
no speculations as to the causes of this. The causes
of the change which has since taken place can be
mistaken by no one. They are clear as the sum-
mer sun. They lie on the surface. The State trials
" have done it all." Persecution has made the " Con-
spirator" what he is in England. The triumph which
attends his appearance in the metropolis, and his pro-
gress through the provinces, is the result of a general
conviction that he is the victim of a tyrannical Govern-
ment ; for it is one of the most marked attributes of the
English character, to feel and express sympathy with
those who are treated with harshness 9r injustice.
From mere personal considerations, therefore, had
there been no other, Mr. O'Connell could have con-
fidently relied on a cordial reception in England,
after the efforts which a Tory Government has made
to crush him. But there are other and higher con-
siderations than any of a pure personal nature,
mixed up with the extraordinary enthusiasm with
which the "Conspirator" is-everywhere received in
this country. In his person, and in the persons of
his co-" conspirators," a deadly blow has been
aimed at some of the most cherished principles of the
Constitution. The right of free discussion, and of
holding public meetings, was violently assailed by the
recent proceedings in Ireland. The integrity of
trial- by jury too, was grossly attacked by the mode
in which Ministers conducted the State prosecutions.
O'Connell has not had a fair trial. Legal forms
were trampled upon by the Attorney-General. And
he who filled the principal seat on the Bench, sacri-
ficed the sacred impartiality and dignified gravity of
the judge to the one-sided views and vehement partisan
ship of the advocate. A more objectionable charge
never proceeded from judicial lips. In every line the
leanings of the judge were so visible as to render it im-
possible for any one to mistake them. Mr. Justice Pen-
nefather was with the Government and against the
traversers. With such a jury and such a judge, need
we wonder at the result? No feeling of amazement was
expressed when the verdict was returned; no such feel-
ing was, or could be. entertained.

'Now, in all this the people of England not only see
the gross injustice to Mr. O'Connell, and a flagrant
contravention of the law of the land as regards the
manner in which State prosecutions ought to
be conducted, but they discover the most ample
ground for apprehension in reference to themselves.
If the Constitution is to be set at defiance in Ireland,
why not in England ? If the rights and liberties of
the subject are to be outraged in the person of Mr.
O'Connell, what more more natural than that they should
be equally set at nought in the person of Mr. Cobden ?
If it were right to put down the Repeal agitation in
Ireland before any breach of the public peace could be
laid to its charge, it is equally right that the Corn-
law agitation should be crushed in England. If it was
constitutional to issue a proclamation against the meet-
ing of Clontarf, it must be equally in accordance
with our rights and liberties that a proclamation should
be issued against the League meetings in Covent-garden.
If it was right to proceed against the eight individuals
lately arraigned in the Queen's Bench of Dub-
lin, it must be equally proper to proceed against
the Council of the League in the Queen's Bench
in London. If Mr. O'Connell and his co-tra-
♦ersere were " conspirators," so are Messrs. Cobden,
Bright, Wilson, &c. If the former were guilty of " con-
structive conspiracy," so are the latter ; and the voice
of even-handed injustice demands that the corn-law
repealers, as well as the union repealers, should be sub-
jected to the same process as that which Mr. O'Connell
and his fellow-sufferers have lately had to go through.
Viewing the matter in this light, it is no marvel
if the people of England should accord to Mr.
O'Connell the enthusiastic reception with which he
everywhere meets. We are glad that he not only
appreciates the cordiality with which he is every-
where received, but that he at length sees, and can-
didly acknowledges, the great injustice he has so
long done to Englishmen, by identifying them with the
acts of the Government. Mr. O'Connell is at length con-
vinced—he ought to have been so years ago—that
the people of England have all along as decidedly
disapproved of, and denounced, the injustice
done to Ireland, as he himself, or any one
else, could have done. Late as is the period at
which this conviction has been forced upon him, we
rejoice that he now feels it in all its force, and that
for the time to come, he will not confound the
people of England with their Tory rulers. Know-
ing that English sympathy is with himself and his
country, he will never again soil his lips by apply-
, ing to us the epithet of Saxons, but that the dis-
tinctions of Saxons and Celts shall hereafter be
buried in the dust, and " England, Scotland, and
Ireland " be the motto of all. Let Mr. O'Con-
nell abstain from the use of offensive epithets when
speaking of England, and he will prove himself
a 'patriot indeed. With the three countries cordially
united and cordially co-operating together in a common
cause, a Tory Government will be powerless for evil.
With England and Scotland enlisted in her favour,
justice must and shall be done to Ireland.—Advertiser.

Colonel Gore Langton was prevented dividing in
favour of Mr. Cobden's motion, on Tuesday night, in conse-
quence of an attack of influenza.
. .

It is said that a plan is in agitation to give a series
of Italian performances at one of the large theatres in the metre.
polls during the ensuing summer, and that Rubini, Tamburinl, aria
Madame ♦iardot Garcia have been applied to en the subject.

PunLic PETITIONS.—The following is a list of the
total number of petitions on various important subjects now before
the Lower House of Parliament, viz. :—Against the proposed
union of the dioceses of Bangor and St. Asaph, petitions,
signed by 2,309 persons ; against a repeal of the corn-laws, 216
petitions, signed by 18,277,—the number of petitioners having in-
creased during the last week by about 5,000 ; for a reduction of
the tobacco duties, 65 petitions, signed by 8,300 persons ; against
the Factories Bill now before Parliament, 4 petitions, signed by
389 persons ; for an alteration of the Poor.law Amendment Act,
35 petitions, signed by 1,746 persons,—the number having in.
creased by 645 during the last week; for a free competition in the
carriage of goods, &c., 6 petitions, signed by 3,112 persons ; and
for withholding the supplies until the grievances of the people are
redressed, 41 petitions, signed by 34,373 persons.

THE NEW METROPOLITAN BRIDGE.—The Bill that
was introduced into the House of Commons on Friday night,
by several of the metropolitan Members, and which is to au-
thorise the formation of another bridge, to stride the West-
minster portion of old Father Thames, bears the title of the
" Westminster and Lambeth Suspension Bridge Bill, for
making a Suspension bridge across the river Thames from
Church-street, Lambeth, to Market-street, Westminster."
This Bill was, on Friday evening, read a first time, and or-
dered to be read a second time ; but no day has y-et been fixed
for that next stage being taken. It will pro'bably be re-
membered that, some time since, a steam ferry-boat was
proposed to be established about the same part of the river
that it is now contemplated to cross by this new bridge.
COURT OF ALDERMEN.—On Tuesday a Court Was
held,but no business of public interest was transacted. The Lord
Mayor nominated the Bishop of Hereford and the Rev. Mr. Jame*
to preach the Spital Sermons at Christ Church. Mr. Hogan, of
the parish of St. Sepulchre, and Mr. Kerr, of St. Paul's church.
yard, were severally complained against far having tensed to act
as inquestznen atter their appointment to the offices had been eon.
firmed by the Court of Aldermen. The two gentlemen were or-
dered to be summoned before the Court on the next Court.day.
Leave was given to the Spectacle Makers' Company to add IPO
more persons to the livery of that Company.

PROVINCIAL. LECTURES IN IRELAND.—BV the fol-
lowing letter from the Chief Secretary for Ireland, it ap-
pears the Government is disposed to increase the grant for
lectures in the Irish provincial towns : " Irish Office,
March 2, 1844.—Sir,—In reference to your letter of the 14th
ult., I beg to apprise you that her Majesty's Government will
be prepared to propose that the grant made to the Royal
Dublin Society, for the purpose of providing lectures in the
provincial towns of Ireland, may be increased from 300/. to
500/. I am, &c. ELlOT.—Williatn Keleher, Esq., Cork."
PUBLIC BATHS.—We learn with great pleasure
that the Marquis of Bute has subscribed the sum of 10/. 10s.,
Lord Ashley 31. 35., Lord Blantyre 51., and Lord Stewart
2/. 25., to the fund for the erection of the public baths. The
subscriptions are the more liberal and philanthropic, when it
is taken into consideration that noneofthesenoblwe.niitehn
tabries,
directly connected with the city, and that the three last,
city.—Edinburgh Lord Ashley, are wholly unconnected
THE PROPERTY-TAX TERMINATING IN 18 l s.—Ths
Right Hon. N. Vansittart, in the Committees of Ways and
Means, in the House of Commons, February, 1815, stated
that there had been actually paid by the property-tax
126 millions of money, by which an additional charge
of above 180 millions of stock, and almost nine
millions of permanent taxes, had been avoided. With
what would the country have been burthened if it
had not been for the operation of this tax, which has
been :so much reprobated ? He proceeded to justify
its enactment by a reference to the Act of Queen Anne
(Ist Anne, sec. 2, chap. 15), passed on the renewal of the
French war, for the purpose of defraying the subsidies of that
time ; by which a duty of 50s. per cent. was imposed on the
capital of stock in trade ; 255. per cent. on debts of interest ; 4s.
in the pound on pensions and annuities ; and 4s. in the pound
on professional profits.
UHEESEMONGERS BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.—
Tuesday the eighth annual meeting of the friends and supporters
of this charity was held at the London Tavern, Mr. Davies, Tree.
surer, in the chair. Mr. Simpson read the Report, and it appeared
that the subscriptions for the past year exceeded those of the pre.
vious year by 32/., and the donations also exceeded those of the
previous year by 182!. The receipts for the past year were
1,034!. 10s. 3d., and the funded property
WAS 6,300!. The pen.
,ions to aged and decayed members of the trade amounted to 560!.,
and 300!. stock was purchased during the year. Two pensioners
were elected, making in all 28 recipients of the charity's bounty.
A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK.—AII Old stager, in
the practice of robbing wrecks on the Cheshire coast, had con.
trived to get a puncheon of ruts on shore, and with great caution
had it conveyed to his own dwelling, and placed it in his yard
under some stale dung and other manure. He had flattered him.
self that it was perfectly safe, as not an individual but his own son
had assisted him, or had the slightest knowledge of the theft or
the place of concealment. After a few days, finding everything
quiet, he resorted to his booty for the purpose of drawing off some
for sale. The cask was safe in the position in which he had left
but, diamond cut diamond, the son had tobbed his father of
the tum In the night, and disposed of it to his own advantage.