When a man gets hold of an object which is
sensible in itself, and which he discusses directly and with honest singleness of pur- pose, he is tolerably sure to speak wisely. It is on that principle that certain members of the Legislature sometimes astonish the world by unexpected eloquence or judgment ; and it is on that principle that Lord LONDONDERRY has written a very sensible letter to Lord RODEN, on the mischief of party-demonstrations in Ireland. Lord RODEN'S friends contemplate an Anti-Repeal meet- ing in Belfast, on the 7th instant ; and Lord LONDONDERRY shows him that it can serve no good purpose, though it must exasperate existing dissensions, and might risk a disastrous collision. Much the same view appears in the Dublin Evening Mail, which regards the intended meeting as opposed to the recommendation in the Queen's Speech : and, no doubt, it would be an example to the Repealers in defying that Royal injunction. The Irish Protestant gentry may feel that they have not done their best to promote sen- timents opposite to those which now prevail with the majority of their countrymen ; they may be conscious that a better use of their opportunities must have enabled them to obtain a local influence that would have been exceedingly beneficial as antagonizing the Repeal spirit ; but to set up a violent hostile party feeling—which, too, as the will of the minority, only courts violent repression, or an invidious support from without—is not the way to supply the defect. The resident gentry can now only counteract the agitation by direct concessions to it : they may prevent future agitations of so dan- gerous a kind by more identifying themselves with the people, and obtaining an influence over their feelings and understandings,—an influence at present almost monopolized by O'CONNELL and his qdherents. One step towards such a process seems to have been made, in the mitigated fierceness of the opinions entertained by a large portion of the Tory party, represented by Lord LoNnort- DERRY and the Mail. If there is the change there appears to be, it is one of the good effects arising from Sir ROBERT PEEL'S advent to power. Nothing will so permanently mark his influence on the history of the country, as the contrast between " Tory" opinions before his time and " Conservative" opinions after it.
