The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-02 00:00:00

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SUN OFFICE, Seven o'clock.

THE DUBLIN CORPORATION.
THE QUEEN'S ANSWER TO THE ADDRESS.
The Deputation, with the Address of the Dublin Corpora-
tion, waited on her Majesty, at two o'clock to-day, which
consisted of tho Lord Mayor, Aldermen Gardener and Mac-
kennar, Town Councillori• J. Dunne, J. Bury, J. Fallon, J.
Burke, F. Tuite, Jahn Rielly, W. Reynolds, the High Con-
stable, City Marshal. Mace-bearer, Sword-bearer, and the
Rev. Dr. O'Connell, Chaplain to the Lord Mayor.
The following is the answer:—
"I receive with satisfaction the assurance that sentiments
of loyalty and attachment to my person and Crown continue
to be cherished by you.
" The legal proceedings to which you refer are now in pro-
gress before a competent tribunal, and I am unwilling to
interrupt the administration of justice according to law.
" It is at all times my anxious desire that any grievance,
of which my people can justly complain, should be speedily
redressed, and I confide in the wisdom of the Parliament of
the United Kingdom for the adoption of such legislative
measures as may be necessary for that purpose."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

GLOBE.—The Cabinet cooks, who have set before us the
various made-dishes of the Queen's speech, deserve credit for
diversifying the dainties out of such limited raw materials.
The real, subjects of congratulation amount, in reality,
mainly, to two—and these two may be briefly designated
as the results of a conquest, and a confiscation. That
we have conquered peace and " indemnity " for our-
selves, and free trade for every body, by our Chinese
expeditions, is undoubtedly matter for congratulation. Only
these proceedings were inchoate under another administra-
tion ; and most enormously was that administration black-
ened for them by some members of the present. Most
piously—most pusillanimously—did the Gladstone and Gra-
ham thereon perorate. They have thought better of it, and
are content to have conquered trade from China, maugre
their deprecations ; and even, after straining at the gnat of
China, to swallow the camel—of Sinde. We confess a pa-
triotic satisfaction in showing the world that no English
party are quite such fools and cowards as these men then
affected themselves—

As if hypocrisy and nonsense
Had got the advowson of their conscience—
and we feel a further satisfaction moreover, superior to
party-jealousies, in the proud position Great Britain
has been the first amongst nations to take in this
Treaty with China. We mean the position of true mag-
nanimity, and true policy, so strongly contrasted with
all the miserable annals of Portuguese, Dutch, French,
and English mercantile reciprocal injuries and pro-
scriptions in those remote markets—exposing all Europe
to the hatred and contempt which the traders of each nation
poured on each other. It is a great, and hitherto unrivalled
glory, that the Sovereign of this country can say—
" Throughout the whole course of my negotiations with the
Government of China, I have unitbrmly disclaimed the
wish for any exclusive advantages. It has been
lily desire that equal favour should be shown to
the industry and commercial enterprise of all na-
tions." Passing from conquest, we come to confiscations—
the income-tax. These two operations (together with some-
what more favourable seasons) have chiefly, or wholly,
made up the real matter for public congratulation. If
"several important branches of trade and manufactures" are
in an " improved condition," it is owing (coincidently with
better seasons) to the conquest of a new market, of important
extent, and indefinite profit. We say of indefinite profit, be-
cause it is not clear (and the royal speech has made it no clearer)
what equivalent returns we shall be able to obtain, directly
or indirectly, for our newly-extended exports to China.
The Chinese, no more than any other nation, can defray
any vastly increased extent of purchases in the precious
_metals; the question, therefore, is, can we obtain
and consume a vast increase of Chinese products ; or carry
a vast increase of them to others, -in payment for other
things which we want ourselves? Unless the Chinese
can supply our wants, it will hardly pay long to supply
theirs. We regret that the speech and debate throw
no light on anything concerning tea and sugar. Conquest
and confiscation then have made up the revenue, as the
former has helped commerce. 'Without the nureckoned-on
windfall from the former, and the professedly unexpected
amount derived from the income inquisition, the commercial
policy of the present Ministry would have increased the
deficiency of the revenue. Let us thank God, then, and
make.no boast. But the Prime Minister, it seems, will boast.
Sir Robert Peel says—" I hope that, looking at the general
state of affairs the Government may be considered justified
in stating that a considerable improvement has taken place ;
and that, upon all the matters referred to in the speech, in
regard to our foreign relations, in regard to our trade,
and the state of our revenue, the Government may
fairly present itself before this House, and before the
country, confident of having fulfilled the expectations
it had held out, and of not having failed in any of its duties."
The Government held out no expectations that any measures
it could take would revive commerce ; and, with regard to
revenue, the expectations it did hold out would have been
disappointed, had not one blunder balanced another, and had
not large contributions been received from uncalculated
sources. We shall examine Sir R. Peel's corn-law declaration
at more leisure.

STANDARD.—In justice to the Attorney-General for
Ireland, it is right to quote the authority of the Dublin
Evening lMuil, a journal hitherto the reverse of friendly to
the Right Hon. Gentleman, for the fact that the coarse in-
sults offered to him by Mr. Fitzgibbon were the result of a
premeditated plan to run him down—in short to bully him,
if he were accessible to fear. The Mail tells the story, after
describing Mr. Fitzgibbon as a " person of vast powers of
[foul] language—possessing great facilities for rendering his
observations peculiarly biting, and is reputed, and we under-
stand deservedly, as one ever ready to incur any personal re-
sponsibility that his observations may involve him in." This,
with the word we have supplied, and certainly it is only in
foul language that we have seen any proof of Mr. Fitzgibbon's
power, exactly describes a bully, and this, according to our
Dublin Contemporary, was the person set upon the Attorney-
General :—" At an early hour on Monday it was boasted by
the friends of the traversers—and was matter of such public
notoriety that nothing but a sense of delicacy, and a desire
not to anticipate the line intended to be taken by any ad-
vocate,
prevented our noticing it in the publication of that
evening—that Mr. Fitzgibbon's instructions were to kill
and slay'—and that no doubt he would do his work
efficiently. This was the impression made upon the
minds of the gentlemen attached to the London press—
many of whom talked of it in this office ; it was the
im-
pression made upon the public mind ; and is it not
reasonable to suppose that " some d—d good-natured friend "
did not give the Attorney-General a hint of what was in pre-
paration for him? It was further boasted that the Right
Hon. Gentleman was hasty in coming to conclusions, easy of
excitement, sensitive in disposition, and quick of temper—
that a trap was set for him, and that he was sure to be
caught." The Attorney-General, however, was not caught.
It is no doubt a legal fiction that a library removed
some score of yards from the Court, is the Court,
just as it is a legal fiction that St. James's Park is St.
James's Palace, but this is mere fiction; a private note,
whatever its tenor, delivered in a distant library during the
recess of the Court certainly could not disturb the Court, and
if Mr. Fitzgibbon had acquiesced in either alternative
of the Attorney-General's application, neither the pub-
lic nor the court would know one word of the
matter. The note, let it be remembered, was not a
challenge, it was a demand of an explanation of what was,
and was deliberately intended to be, a gross insult. As to
what afterwards occurred, no human being—no; one at least
with the feeling of a gentleman could anticipate that Mr.
Fitzgibbon would take the course he did take. If
he felt that he had been wrong, he could either apo-
log:se directly, without the least loss of honour, or
apologise through the friend whom he was invited
to name. If he felt that he was not wrong, he might, we
hope, without disgrace, say so, and decline, the alternative;
but having given what was taken as an offence, the Lord
Chief Justice was exactly the last man in the world to whom
he ought to have appealed ; and, at all events, Mr. Fitz-
gibbon it was who disturbed the Court by the obtrusion of a
personal quarrel. Of this the Attorney-General is wholly
guiltless.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
(THIS EVENING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Their Lordships met this morning at half-past twelve
o'clock, and proceeded in procession to to the Palace to present
the address. Before leaving the House their Lordships ad-
journed until Monday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The SrEmma took the Chair at Four o'Clock.
Several petitions on private Bills were presented.
STATE TRIALS.

Mr. THORNELY presented a petition agreed to at a public
meeting in Liverpool, at which several thousand persons were
present, and signed by Mr. Rathbone, the Chairman, on the
subject of the State trials in Dublin. The petitioners complained
of the selection of the jury, from which sixty-five names
had been withdrawn, as a dangerous invasion of the right
of trial by jury—( Hear, hear)—and of the challenge
on behalf of the Crown of every Roman Catholic,
as a practical repeal of the Catholic Emancipation
Bill.—(Hear: hear.) They moreover complained of it as an
affront to the whole Roman Catholic body, and they prayed the
House to institute an inquiry on the subject, and to adopt such
measures as would remedy the evil already inflicted, and pre-
vent the recurrence of such a serious evil in future.—( Hear. )
Mr. PATTISON presented a petition from Thomas Clark,
of London, stating that he had been confined in the Queen's
Bench Prison for seventeen years, and praying for an alteration
in the law with regard to imprisonment for debt.
ANIMALS' FRIEND SOCIETY.

Mr. STUART WORTLEY presented a petition from the
Animals' Protection Society, praying the House to adopt some
measures for the better regulation of the slaughter•heuses of
the metropolis.
NOTICES OF MOTION.

Mr. WARD gave notice that on the motion of the Hon.
Member for Pontefract being made, he should move an amend-
ment, that no provision for the secular Roman Catholic clergy
in Ireland could be just, or tend to re-establish the tranquillity
of that country, unless based on a revision of the whole eccle-
siastical system, so as to place all religious denominations on a
footing of perfect equality.
POST-OFFICE.

Mr. ELPHINS TONE gave notice of his intention to move
for leave to bring in a Hill to amend the present Post-office
system.
DUCHY OF CORNWALL.

Mr. TRELAWNEY gave notice that on the 15th of
February he should move for a Committee to take into con-
sideration the whole state and position of the Duchy of Corn-
wall.