The Sun. — London, England, 1819-01-06 00:00:00

CATHOLIC QUESTION. MR. Enrroa,—From the noble stand xvhich nE Sutsi has made against the CATHOLIC DL'- i:ANVS, for I cannot call them Claims, I am in duced to hope tor yotir insertion of a most finish ed piece of J esuistical Sophistry upon that subiect in reply- to a plain and simple question, similar to a late communiCation in your col+♦tuna from your frequent Correspondent IGNoTus*. The Question xv , %4 inserted in a Belfast Paper in the following termS:-- " A CARE.—An Inhabitant of Belfast requests to be informed, whether a person, by subscribing to the new Catholic Petition, avofl s it to be his wish, that THE THRONE should henceforth he opened to Catholic Sovereigns in conunon with Protestant ?--.lt is held as at► iticoutrovertiWe 1.10, that the prayer of the petition for an entire repeal of the Penal Statutes necessarily includes eligibility to the Tlitinie, the Chaucellorship, and all the highest Ofl'ir•es of State. 1f that be the case, it ought to be avowed when the sig nature of a name is asked to so important a de cl3ratimi. " December 25, 1818." Now, Sir, a plain luau would expect to so plain a question, a plain answer of Yes or Nn--but Coillolic Mystification, or the Ingenuity of Catholic Fiendship, has must generously contrived All an swer, which weans Yes and No ! and, in the Irmgliage of boAs for good boys and girls at the ucsent season, " Here it is A,NSIVER TO A CARD INSERTED IN LAST BELFAST NEWS.LETTER. " A Subscriber to the Protestant Petition for the total aod unqualified repeal of the penal sta tutes, has signed that Petition in the hope that the Catholics will be made eligible to every sittia lion of profit and honour which the British. Con stitution can cottler. The British Constitution is lOdil r Prot est ant, nor Catholic, nor Presbyterian —hilt ;he subscriber has no fears of any innova tiOn, ciangerous to that Constitution, from the admitision oft e Irish Carholics, tinnigh the lat ter should compose the entire of tile liiilt Repre sentation in the Imperial Parliament ; but the Gelholies cannot flatter themselves that even a fifth of the Irish Rivieseiwition wilt be of their tiers asion for centuries. The inhabitants of Last should 1101 forge. that !he noose of Lurk is riOtc•Stii:ll—limit the Kitig is Protehtitilt—atid that it is riot very - liltely that the influence of ri %;., Cath,lies in the House of Commons will effect any change injui ions to the Protestant Establish ment. Archdeacon Paley cannot see air; objec tion to a Catholic Chancellor, nor a Catholic A t toritey - Genet al tinder a Protestant Kigg.— But the wor , is total a nd unqualified alit) mean iltdc the Cathodic should he eligiitle to ail situa tions under 1/;e Con,ciitatian, unci.,ggea by any ions :iffecting the tninisf,rial putt y and I l i.. depeudel!( Char.ettr the Catholic Clergy.—This is the species of clonuciparion for which that great acid respectable 111-eting of Protestants, /Oiety C6tivenvd, petitioned ; and to such a Peti tion every etii;ittened and liberal wan will cheer fully.se, his hand and seal. 28111 December." Now, Sir, to answer such an answer is impos sible—it slips through one's fingers like a wet snow-ball. If you take up the respondent as affir mative, he instantly turns round upon you with hips" equivocal " under the Constitution ; "—if you tae hint up as negative, hey presto ! he refers you to the first sentence of his answer, and even that so equivocal as to mean Yes, No, or Neither ! Though not tangible as a whole, yet there are some points in it which must not be slightly passed over. In the second sentence, the British Constitution is asserted to be neither Protestant, Catholic!, nor Presbyterian ! Can this ignorance, this doubledrcble ignorance, Mr. Editor, be real, or affected to ensnare the really ignorant That Christianity in the United Empire is Lutheran, Catholic, and Calvinistic, is certainly true ; but that the British Constitution is any thing but Pro testant, is one of the figs of the red cloaked Llcly of Babylon !—to say nothing of the absurd 'Hs t'netion that would deny the Protestantism of the Scottish Church. It is nothing to us, Mr. Editor, that " the Subscriber has no feats. of innovation"—" front the admission of Irish Catholics,"—but, Sir, the questioit is the admission of all Catholics to place and po,rer, political and religious, for the repeal of all dilualifleations is demanded ; and it is theretnre of very little consequence what the Sub scriber thinks " likely," or what objections can not he seen by Archdeacon PALE Y, as toa Catholic ehancei!or hlving the nomination to numerous Protesto , a .Benefices, as well as the care of the consciei,ce of a Protestant King. If the last sentence but one has any meaning at all, why then, Sir, it means that the Catholics, when using the terms " total and unqualified," are Pot indisposed to represent these terms at, meaning much' or tittle, or more or less,, provided by sn doing they can , procure a signature to their petition from any body—a mode vet y usual in the Golden Bulls of Papacy, but which, I trust, will not be allowed to pass muster in the Irish !lulls of the present day ; and I trust that the Irish Protestants will not be gulled by the flattery ~f the final, paragraph into a voluntary surrender of Constitutional Protestantism, which has ren dered the North of Ireland flourishing and happy, whilst the South is labouring tinder a system of idleness and superstition as dense as that fog which now, Mr.Bditor, envelopes our atmosphere. Saturday, 4 o'clock. DILEMMA. • A Corre.nondent, to whom we have long and often been indebted, and whose favours we deem highly valuable in whatever shape they may appear. FOR THE SUN. INSOLVENT TiEBTORS' ACT AND AGENTS. EDlToa,—When an outcry is raised against • any body of men as a Profession, it is an act of pe.blie justice to rescue that body .as much as pos sible from the opprobrium due to individual con duct, and, bY attaching the censure to individu a k, o render the more deserving members of the Profession of - the Law estimable in the public IlVnti. Au honourable emulation, or Esprit de Corps, or in other words, a laudable competition for the good opinion of the Public, is as becom ing in the Profession ot the Law, as in that of the Amy an d Navy ; it produces honourable conduct in the Attorney, and beneficial results to his clients. An exposure of anal-practices of those out (f the Profession, but assuming the Character of Law ./Igents. cannot be charged as an attack upon the general body ot Practitioners ; but it is rather to be deemed as the application ot a stimu lus to the exertion of laudable pursuits and au thorized emulation, and to check the mischiefs of illegitimate Agency. In pourtraying the miscon duct of individuals, the writer claims, therefore, to be understood as contending for the enconrage went of that rectitude in practice which affords a contrast to the misconduct complained of; and at the sante time to evince s that the Public are chiefly the sufferers by that spirit of competition in law, which, whether encouraged by the designing and dishonest, or resisted by the honourable Attorney, too oh en involves in certain ruin such as cannot endure the expence of the contest, or may be de feated by irregular conduct and artifice, on the p ,r«,f persons assuming what does not belong to them. Notwithstanding the truth of these remarks, there is a very g r ea t an d unmer i te d p re j u di ce existing against the Profession of the Law ; and the abberrations of those irregularly practicing, have diminished those sentiments of respect which are due to the Profession. The excellence of all Kunsan Laws, lies as notch in the administration as in theory ; and this country is in possession of two most inestimable blessings ; for its Laws are the admiration of the world, and the impartia lity with which they are administered is the best protection of the [lights of Free Men, and to guard those blessings is a conmiendable observ ance of public duty. The subject of Imprisonment for Debt has long engaged the tongues and the pens of the clearest heads, and the best hearts ; and it af fords most consolatory reflection to every liberal a general view, we instantly discover that this que s tion involves a very great portion of Mercantile Credit, is connected with the suc cess o r dowatall of trade, and in its operation extends to the major past of this country's inha bitants. A knowledge therefore of the respon sibility to which all are subject, is a most desir able attainment ; it will oiler caution to the man of business, and prevent his rushing into the maze of teclin;cal ambiguity, at the risk of being in jured by the effects of interested Advisers, who obtrude themselves ionic; the appellation of Legal Age Ats. In many instances of deception and fraud daily practised on industrious tradesmen, an er roneous dependance on the Law aids the delusion of the Impostor; the Creditor 'confides in the power of the Law, and the Debtor, with his Agent, devises a thousand expedients for evading it. The fertile 'ingenuity of knavish minds out-strips the tedious pace of Legal Provisions, and intim ttions proficient , . in villainyaccomplish the basest views,ip defiance of detection and punishment:rims the depredators of public property are favoured by the assistance of Insolvent Agents, and it they fall into their hands they willingly shelter them selves in a gaol, and exhaust in sensuality thespoil which they have gained by fraud. The part of our legal system which applies to the recovery of debts is assuredly founded in justice, and was originally adapted to the maintenance of common honesty and mutual confidence. Integrity, which is the proper basis of extended trade and commerce, can only be kept alive by continued proofs of sincerity, and the punctual performance of engage ments"; hereby alone industry and useful enter prise c.an be animated ; and every act of treachery or improbity which threatens the extinction of such a principle ought to experience the terrors of legal chastisement or prevention. The adoption of legal means to enforce such a prin ciple is at all times meritorious, bat. by a perver sion of those regulations which the Law has institut ed, subtilty, chichane, and other means of evasions, are frequently rtsorted to by the Debtor and Agents, whilst unexperienced and insuspicions men become sacrifices to credulity and zinpru- I deuce. The turpitude of ?uilt falls more frequently on the Dupe than the And the practised sharper, who has iepeatedly violated the laws of his country, continues his iniquities in defiance of its operation. The best intentioned are pu nished, whilst the actual offenders escape the se verity due to their vicious pursuits, by collusive and disguised conduct with improper Advisers. The wholesome principles and just provisions of the law are constarrly liable to abuse by those obliquities in practice, which the avidity of an Agent, and the virulence of a debtor, are inclined to puttsue by recourse to shamful subterfuge, to artificial rules of practice, in conjunction with the exercise of a vindiclire (him!: there the fraudulent debt or dissipates in low debauchery the substance of his plundered creditors. The tenors of penal severity of imprisonment are highly necessary to the security of properly, and fraud should be punished with promptitude. As a correction of multifarious evils which have resulted from the practice of the law, and con tinue to flow from an abuse of it, imperatively calls for Legislative consideration, I trust that prejudice no longer will blind the perceptions Of right and justice, and that liberal enquiries %% ill ultimately produce reform. In the humble hope that the efforts I have used may tend, in some degree, to excite public attention, and that the motives by which' I am influenced will be appre ciated as arising from a regard for Poist.tc GOOD, I yield with confidence the consideration of this important theme to the deliberate wi s dom of Par lia►uent, not doubting that remedies will be applied fully adequate to cure the evils complained ot, by divesting those persons who hate created them of future opportunities of repetition. should THE SUN. BOLESI QUIS Mt:ERE FALSUM AM-MCAT LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1819. We received this morning the Paris Papers of Sunday last. The Moniteur contains a Royal Or donnance, establishing a new Tariff for the Droirs D'Octroi, collected for the benefit of the City of Paris. It also announces officially, that the Am bassadors and Foreign Ministers were presented to the KING and the Royal Family on the Ist Ja nuary, on the occasion of the new year. The following are extracts : " PARIS, JAN. 3.--Friday evening the King transacted business with the Count Decazes, the Minister of the Intetior. " There was a very brilliant circle at Court yesterday evening. " Yesterday the Metropnlitan Chapter and Clergy of Paris, the Consistories of the Reformed Church and of the Confession of Augsburg, and the Central Consistory of the Israelites, paid their respects to the King on the occasion of the new year. " The health of the Duke de Richelieu is en tirely re-established. " A celebrated Accoucheur in this capital, a few days since, received a note, desiring his at tendance upon a Lady. He promptly proceeded to the appointed place, where, instead of a Lady, he found a man, who locked the door, and presenting a donble-barrelled pistol, required the Doctor, tinder penalty of instant death, to sign two Bills to the amount of six thousand francs. The Doctor, seeing no means of escape, complied, and was liberated. He in stantly went to the Prefecture of Police, and im mediate measures being taken, the two Bills were found in the possession of the man who had ex torted the signature of them. He was taken into custody, and will be tried before the Court of Assizes. _ _ The price rt e o n t is g , ra a i nd thencontinues to fall in most of Government has been called " Dupont de l'Eure has ceased to 'be th e( u le p p o a nt m o allow it to be exported. a Member of the Chamber of Deputies. " The Emperor of Austria has conferred the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary on the Duke de Richelieu. " The English Journals continue to publish the most contradictory intelligence respecting the si tuation of Spain and her Colouies. The Morning Chronicle will have it that Spain is' absolutely in a state of revolution. The Sun announces that Ferdinand VII. has been compelled to abdicate, and that he has taken refuge at Bayonne, from whence be will proceed to St. Germain. Me Courier ridicules these accounts, which ac cording to him, will excite laughter both amongst the inhabitants of Madrid and of St. Germain. " A Jewish Merchant of Hamburg!), affected by melancholy, ►ately cut his throat at an Inn, at Frankfort. It was wished, according to the cus tom of that city, to give his body to the Amphi theatre of Anatomy ; but the Jewish community ransomed it for 3000 florins, in order to bury it in their Cemetery. FIVE PER CF.NT9. Saturday 65 1. 75 c. DEFERRED STOCK. Of the 22d March, 1817, 713 f. 50 c. 22d Sept., 1817, 76 f. 50 c. t.qd March, 1818, f. 50 c. Std Sept. 1818, 73 t. c. PETERSEURGH, Mov. B.—ln the village of Katschanowka, in the disttict of Liskinsh, a pea sant woman %vas lately delivered of a child, hay - ing four hand.; and four feet. Its body, from the breast, was divided into two parts joined to each other. The child was baptized, and lived two days. The mother was in no danger whatever. In pursuance of a law of Peter L relative to these kind of phenomence, the body i 5 to be sent to Petersburgh, to be deposited in the Cabinet of the Imperial Academy of Sciences." (From the Quebec Gazette of the 23d Nov.) Our Readers will observe, by the proclamatio n in this day's Gazette, that the Provincial Parlia" ment meets on Tuesday, the 12th January nex t ' THE SEASON.—On Thursday morning last ther e was a slight snow, which has continued 0 0 the ground ever since, receiving small additions (rot° occasional showers. The first carioles made the it appearance on Saturday. This morning, shoat day-light, a regular north-east snow storm coin' menced, having all the appearance of the s etting in of winter. Up to the present time there 1) 0 been no appearance of frost to interrupt plough' ing. The grass buried under the snow is as green as in the summer time, and as it receives no ilv; jury while c overe d w i t h snow , if th e s pring 010' 11( prove favourable, it will be fit for pasturage much earlier than usual. MINISTEETALCHANGES.—As the rumours of 6EO CHANGES become so rife and so positive, we have been induced to make particul'r inquiry into their foundation, and the result, which we can venture to state upon,no mean authority, has fully per• suede(' us that all these rumours and current pre' dictions, however confidently as serteil, are mere Phantoms, originating in the visionary hopes o f the artful fabrications of PARTY, and in realitY have no other foundation. This opinion we pc' sitively state upon conviction, and with no slight degree of pleasure, as we are sure that the People in general will sympathize with us in that pleasure when they hear that there is no danger of losing an Administration which 145 1 maintained our national character, and accom complished the deliverance of Europe. We are extremely happy in being enabled to announce the continued improvement of the Revenue. The Exchequer Accounts of the quarter entl• ing yesterday, are of course not yet completely made up, but the following rough sketch, which will be found accurate so far as it goes, is highly satisfactory. The total payments of Revenue. exclusive of all incidental receipts in the Quarter ended sth of January, 1818, wer— L.11,448,85:5 -sth of - January, 1819 1,7?4,87 I But the January Quarter 1818, included an an payment of the duties on Sugar of at tc least iii" (l l ,o ool . ; so that there has been a real im— provement of near 900,0001. ; and that, compared with a Quarter in which the Revenue, as o ur Readers cannot but recollect, had exhibited * marked and striking melioration. We refer our'Readers to the Letter in this day's SUN, signed DILEMMA, as an admirable mixture of humour and argument on the subject of R'r MAN CATHOLIC DEMANDS. The Writer has fairly developed the Jesuitism of PAPI S T S in 'their pre." sent conduct, and exemplified w h at m i g h t b e ex -. peeled from them if once our Rulers could possibly he so forgetful of THE CORONATION OATH, and red , gardless of the security of our happy Establishment in Church and State, as to concede any thing further to the Roman Catholics. We shall say nu more at present, as we mean, upon all occa• Sion, to meet the advances of POPERY repel its pretensions with the most resolute zeal ; to support the PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY as long as we can use a pen ; and to render our Paper the CHIEF DEPOSITARY of whatever we can ours(lves suggest, and what our Correspondents may furnish, in ourOamobox FAITH. Our Correspondent gro i we trust, will pr o ve as iois:y up D h i ol:l s in m g m persevering, as we know him to be able, as a Cham pion of the Cause, and we earnestly entreat the Members of the Church, by whom, we have reason to believe, that we are peculiarly patronized, to aid ns in guarding from danger the purest system of Religion, which has ever existed, and which, while it tends to make us happy in this world, will, duly observed, enure to us everlasting fe licity in a better. The more Mr. HomousE opens his character to the world, the more it is apparent that his in tellectual facolties are not competent to render him a fit Representative of the City of Westmin ster. That he should avow himself a radical Re former, id est a Rerolutionist, that he should de clare himself an advocate of short ,Parliaments 4 and " the shorter the better," to use his own words, that he should also recommend Universal Suffrage, that is, that all the Ruffians, an d a ll t h e Beggars in the community should be invested with the electioe franchise, is a, proof of a lamentable weakness of understanding if be is sincere, and if he is not, he thews a total disregard of character. But to suppose that the wiser and independent Electors of Westminster, after what they 11 I° Ctri the m 1 that ii ILa t II coin tr. brib en '"Ppo tii„e, given 4, the b illed titiet , UPol gro3 s 11 0 , 1 'L ey Tien Prev t iir g a Pacit tot 1 ca ll , i Li s Vor h en that m►r ( CiGu kllo IRr i i I VII hitt po l i ll tl4)i it hereafter occur to me, that additional obtterva tions of my individual pen may promote the fur therance of the public we fare, with reference t( this subject, I shall rely on your accustomed can dour, and impartiality, and remain, Very respectfully, Mr. editor, Your's as heretofore, SC:ROTATOR. THEATRICAL REGISTER. Per Armed Last Aright. THEATRE ItaYAt., nuttßY-LANE.—(SII) time), Flodden Field: Principal Characters by Mr. H. Kemble and Mrs. W. West. After which, Amoroso. To which was added, The Prisoner at Large. THEATRE ROYAL, CoYENT-GARDEN.—She Stoops to Con quer : Young Marlow, Mr. C. Kemble ; Miss Hardcastle, Miss Brunton. After which (9th time), Harlequin Nlunc hausen. IV FOP LITERARY :REVIEW, see the Last Page. EPIPHANY.—HoIiday at the Bank, Exchequer, East India, and South Sea Houses, this day. MAILS. AttatvtD-1 Waterford, I Lisbon, 1 New York, DuE—l Waterford, 3 Sweden, S Hamburgh. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO•MORROW. Morning, C minutes after 11. I Evening, 31 niinutes after 11.