The Sun. — London, England, 1827-03-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. extraordinary, that when he, as Secretary of State, had on a question affecting the discharge of his pubEc duty, required the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown, that any objection should be made to its production. In a hundred official cases, similar opinions were required ; respecting which, he was not aware that it was necessary to observe any delicacy. As to the opinion h he had just quoted, it would have lain in the obscurity from which he had drawn it, had it not been for the extraordinary lan guage which had been held elsewhere, and which had been repeat ed in that House, impeaching his honour and honesty. The Right Honourable and Learned Gentleman was rot even original in his . remarks. He (Mr. C.) had read them in print, so that he was prepared for the attack which had been made upon it, although lie vowed to God, that if he had been required to pr--diet the quarter in that House from which the attack would proceed, the quarter ':rom which it had proceeded would have been the last which would have entered into his conjecture .. It was impossible for him to find words to express the contempt which he felt for such imputations." The Master of the Rolls is, no doubt, perfectly sincere in his opinions, and did not make up hi mind till he had examined the grounds for and against the Emancipation of the Catholics. It is true, he had previously made the dis covery, that the Great Seal is attached to the one side,and the examinationrnay have been somewhat like the religious inquiry, so wittily described by Buie : " To expect that people, zealous for one religion, should exa mine the other maturely, equitably, and accurate, is like pretend ing that a person can be a fair judge between two women, with oneof whom he is in love, while he has an aversion for the other. Lycidas is desperataly in love with Urania, and mortally bates Corinna ; tell us, says some one, which of the two is the most charming; examine the matter; he will promise to do so, but to a certainty he will pronounce for Urania, and not content ed with preferring her to Corinna, he will prefer her also to all other women. His reason will be in unison in that with his heart." When we find that the Great Seal is doomed never to fall into the hands of any man, who is not prepared to swear eternal hostility to Popish claims, we may account for the views taken . by his Honour. He that wills the end, must will the means to that end. With all our ad miration to Sir W. Plunkett's speech (and no one can think more highly of the powers of that astonishing man than we do), we cannot help observing, that in starting with the position, that the first consideration in a ques tion like this, was the promotion of the interests of the Protestant Established Church, he in some degree strengthened his opponents. It is impossible to deny, that the Church which counts little more than one-fifteenth of the population of a country in its ranks, rests on rather a precarious foundation. But Sir W. Plunkett tells us, that the existence of the State itself would be put in imminent danger, by the overthrow of the Establishment. " I be lieve," lie says, "that if we had not a respectable hierar chy, holding valuable possessions in the State, in times like these, religion itself would sink into contempt. It is a most powerful instrument, which ought to be connected with the State; and, if not connected with it, may be wielded against the State. Religion derives safety and the State repose, from the dignity of the Establishment. I say, also, that the Protestant Establishment in Ireland is a great and firm link of connection with this country, and, if it were overturned, there would be infinite danger of shaking that connection. I say, besides, that the esta blishment in both countries has existed now for more than 300 years, and that it has become interwoven with our most valuable institutions. If it were overthrown, pro perty itself would receive a shock, and the existence of the State itself be put in imminent peril." We for our parts, do not believe any such thing. The notions of the present age, with regard to the necessity for respecting property, would always secure individuals from spoliation. And as to the connection between the two Islands, or the safety of the State being endangered by any change in the Church Establishment, the idea is ridiculous. The Irish, both Catholics and Protestants, have a manifest material interest in the preservation of the con nection with this country, and nothing but the strongest exciting cause, such as resentment on account of one sect trampling on another, could allow the idea of separation to be entertained for a moment. England possesses all the arsenals, all the ships of war, all the colonies ; there is hardly a family in Ireland which would not instantly feel, in the most sensible manner, the being cut off from the openings to wealth and ambition, which England alone affords. Ireland has no employment for Catholics, and only one for Protestants, if we may credit the clever author of- .‘ To-day in Ireland."--- .. Ireland (says he) is in fact not a Government, but a Hierarchy. In the minds of all, anywise interested in passing events, the Church is the predominant object of considera tion ; in society it is the prevailing topic, which, in such society, never yields pl,ce but to b-, . . . Of families, one half at least of the males are destined to a Clerical life, and this from the Noble to the shopkeeper ; the stream, in fact, of all Irish inte rests, private and public, flow and centre in this Black Sea, and thousands are carried along with the current, the natural and unbiassed tendency of whose dispositions would have led them rather to be buccaneers or demagogues, than Ministers of the Gospel. Commerce, the staple pursuit of English life, is never thought of by that class of men that always turn their thoughts thither in England. If ten youths are met in an Irish crowd, of all ranks of life, some of them to a certainty are going to be ordained." But this is an opening only for the Protestants (and being the only opening in the country, it accounts for the zeal for the Establishment), and the Catholics, the great body of the nation, can only look to England, or the possessions of England, as a market for their talents and their industry. The heaviest punishment that could be inflicted on the Irish Catholics would be to say to them, all connection with us is at an end. We therefore look to the connection between the two countries as founded much more surely than on the ex istence of any church, namely, the interest and comfort of the people. No Irishman is so wild as to imagine that Ireland would be a gainer by the cessation of all connection with England, the most powerful and the most industrious nation of Europe, from an intercourse with which all his hopes of national improvement must he drawn. The question of the Irish Church Establish ment ought to be argued on its own merits. Why narrow the other question to a consideration of its possible influence on a Church Establishment ? If the exclusion of six millions of the people of Ireland from the Constitution inflames the passions of these six millions, renders them deaf to the considerations of in terest which otherwise would attach them to the people of Eng- The Catholic Question, then, is once more lost ; it is lost in the House of Commons (in which assembly it has, heretofore, been so often carried); negatived, also, in a form and - to an extent which may be fearfully contrasted with every previous vote of Parliament for the last 14 years. The House of Commons has not merely said to the 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 of their degraded fe'low subjects in England and Ireland, who have been periodi cally, or rather incessantly, crying to them for help— " We will not now emancipate you, we will not promise when you shall be emancipated, or whether you shall at any future time obtain that blessing; but, distressed as you are, and distracted as is the whole community of which you constitute . so much the larger portion, we will not even take your prayers into our consideration." Such has, in effect, been the language of the House of Com mons on this most memorable occasion. The proposal of Sir Francis Burdett was no more than an acknowledgment that there existed a necessity for taking the penalties in flicted upon the Catholics of the empire into immediate consideration; and the representatives of the people of England have declared that it is needless to consider theml=--We shall not now undertake the nauseous •office of arguing, for the hundredth time, the merits of this long-exhausted question. To any one who witnessed or read the last debate and had the faculty of comparison in him, and employed that useful power in weighing and ap preciating the speeches in favour of Sir F. Burdett's reso lution, and against it, and who, finally, after being fur nished with the materials of a contrast so unparalleled in the history of political discussion, was told that the majo rity had voted against that principle, in support of which Burdett and Plunkett, and Brougham and Canning, had spoken—to such a man—to all such men—to the whole world, it must be obvious that the Catholic question has little chance of being decided on any ground of right or reasoning, of justice or wisdom, but on necessity alone—on imminent and sordid necessity.— When the loss of Ireland stares gentlemen in the fare, l and the Orangemen, whonever gave quarter, begin to cry for it ; when Ferdinand, exulting in this new proof on the part of English -heretics, of a stupidity which far eclipses his own, shall feel emboldened by the curses of a despe rate nation upon their stubborn oppressors, to insult more grossly, and provoke more daringly than ever, the known principles and feelings of the British Government, until he forces this country into a war; when the Bourbon King of France, in defence of his cousin beyond the Py renees, shall become, -as he will soon become, the ally of the Spanish House of Bourbon, and add French troops with a French navy to the dormant or doubtful resources of the Camarilla ; when Russia presses the Orange Cabi net of Mr. Peel upon the East, and the United States, with their neutral right and Goulburn boundary, upon the West ; when the Irish priesthood, following up their triumphant appeal to the 40s. voters, shall issue another mandate to the same class of parishioners, forbidding the Irish peasantry, who now constitute the bulk of the Bri tish army, to enlist—then will illustrious, and learned, and Right Honourable Tories be taught the full import of that fatal vote into which they have dragooned their depen dents. A " dragooned" majority is a strong expression— is it on that account less correct ? Is it not true that the Treasury summonses on this occasion ran in a strain more decided and peremptory than ever ? enjoining attendance on the night fixed for the debate " upon the most vital question of the Session !" And who has issued this overbearing authority ? Lord Liver pool was in abeyance. In whose name, then, were delivered these commands ? If 11Ir. Canning had any real power, why should not the summonses have desired a rote in favour of the Honourable Baronet's resolu lotion, instead of one " in the negative?" The battle, then, was for Mr. Peel, and the substantial power of the Cabinet rests else where than in the hands of Mr. Canning. In truth, we know of men of high official rank and station, who declare their sole soli citude to be, not for the rejection of the measure, half so much as for the retention of Mr. Peel in the Cabinet ; for had the majo city gone against him in both Houses, it is understood that we s h o :ddhave heard immediately of Mr. Peel's resignation. The vote of jesterday morning, therefore, is a vote essentially againgt the interest 0 131 r. Canning. What may be that Right Hon. Gentleman's line (if Conduct in consequence of a result so unsatis factory, it is AO for us to guess. Well assured we are, and is the nation, that the Right Hon. Secretary is that Minister whom his country could least bring herself to spare at such a moment.— Well assured we should wish to be that the Court were conscious how ill it could do without him—that is to say, if the Court am bition be to promote above all things the public honour and pros perity. It, however, might be a liazard,ous experiment for Mr. Canning - , and the Noble and Right Hon. persons who think with him upon the policy to be pursued towards Ireland, to resign at this instant, and leave the field to those of the opposite faction.-e- An exclusively Tory Cabinet, though certain of ultimate over throw, might hold the reins of office long enough to do incalcu lable mischief. Their intrinsic weakness would force them to administer a tenfold quantum of corruption. They would rule England profusely, and Ireland despotically. Distrustful of both nations, they would kiss the hem of the Royal garment here for favour; and, across the Channel,' they would equally prostrate themselves before the Autocrats of the Orange Lodge, as their fit protectors against an exasperated people. But while this horrid system was proceed ing, and possibly some time before it fell, who knows what the accidents of a precarious life and health might throw as obstruc tions in the way of Mr. Canning's return to power ? Who knows whether his return to power might then be capable of redeeming the national fortunes? The crisis is delicate, personally and for the public, and we would not add, by over-curious remarks, to the difficulties with which it must environ the Right Hon. Gen tleman, and the more immediate partners of his policy. The small majority of FOUR was one which the most ordinary acci dent might have annihilated, and, in truth, it was on the very point of being no majority at all. Two Hon. Members were detained in the country by the illness of a venerable relation, and more than as many others by various causes, from giving their votes to the Catholics. Mr. Huskisson also, could he have been present, would have added his own vote to the support of the cause - which he has so much. at heart, and might have turned a doubting mind by his reasoning, if he could have spoken. We find that the defeat, therefore, is not considered a final ore, by the friends of emancipation, even for the present Session. The- Knight of Kerry has given notice of a motion for the let of May, engaging the House to fulfil the pledges given at the Union.— This is as it should be, for no quibbling can be meaner or more base than that which would exonerate Mr. Pitt or Lord Corn wallis from having held out to the Catholics such hopes as indu ced that body to facilitate the_ Union. Is it not quite dreadful that the treaty of Limerick and the Union—the two most solemn compacts entered into between Great Britain and the people of Ireland, should both be referred to by the latter as instances of her violated faith ? But there is a Power which adjusts and re dresses all things, and to it we look for the means of future con ciliation between the wrong-doer and his victim ! Times. It is told of Henry Marfin, that, " making an invective speech one time against old-Sir Harry Vane, when he had done with him he said, But for young Sir Harry Vane,' and so sat him down. Several cried out, What have you to say to young Sir Harry ?' He rises up : ' Why if young Sir Harry lives to be old, he will he old Sir Harry !' and so sat down,and set the whole House a laugh ing." Had Mr. Brougham to speak over again his felicit ous philippic against the Chancellor, he might, without aspiring to any peculiar gift of prophecy, after the speech of the Master of the Rolls on Tuesday night, congratulate the country from the promise which that speech held out, on a likelihood of our having in due time an old Sir Harry. The Lord Chancellor must have absolutely soaked the paper with tears of joy, when he read the speech yes terday morning, if he ever sheds tears on any other occa sion than the defending himself, The Noble and Learned Lord may now depart in peace when he pleases, in full c onfidence that an alter ego will perpetuate his policy. It is only by supposing that Mr. Canning must have had a beatific vision of this kind, that we can account for the peculiar sensitiveness with which he assailed the Master of the Rolls. In various parts of his speech, his pleasantry on his Honour's historical research, and judicial accuracy, must have been rather more acceptable to the House than to his Honour; but his remarks after the interruption, when the Master of the Rolls complained of the allu sion to his official opinion, as a breach of official secrecy, were more than pungent—they were hostile.— The Right Honourable Gentleman said, he " thought it most land, and dispos:3 them to embrace some desperate alterna tive ; to take counsel from their hatred, encourages foreign powers to commit aggressions on us, trusting to such a domes tic enemy, and thereby leave the very existence of the Empire at the mercy of a powerful enemy—this is a more than suf ficient reason fur conceding to the Roman Catholics their claims, constitutional equality. The question of the Church is secondary ; the other question is of first-rate importance.— The Constitution can exist withiout the Church ; it cannot exist in safety without the affections of six millions of the Irish. Sir William Plunkett then, by granting to Mr. Peel his premises of the Church being the primary consideration, en ables the latter to turn round and say, it is impossible for any man truly religious not to wish to see his own religion triumphant ; and we have a proof in the East and West Indian interests in this House how easy it is for a very small number, by watching their opportunities and trimming skilfully between parties, to carry their objects.—The introduction then, of a number of Catholic Gentlemen into the House might endanger the Establishment.— The observation, that without " a Hierarchy holding valuable possessions in the Stase, in times like these, religion itself would sink into contempt," places religion on a very curious foundation —namely, that which the author of the religion has pronounced to be a ground of exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven. Re ligion is only then preserved from contempt by that against which religion teaches us to make constant war. Sir W. Plunkett seems to have taken his religion from that celebrated preacher, Dr. South, who maintained, in opposition to his Divine Master, " that poverty and meanness of condition expose the wisest to scorn, it being natural for men to place their esteem rather upon things great than good," and that " 'tis not the truth of an asser tion, but the disputant that keeps off a baffle. When a learned Paul was converted and undertook the Ministry, it stopped the mouths of those that said, none but poor weak fishermen preached Christianity."—Morning Chronicle. In former times the Gazelle, as the official organ of Go vernment, used to announce the progress of our arms both by sea and land. It is singular enough, however, that our Portuguese expedition has never yet been once named in that paper; and, if others did not supply the defect, the public at large would not know one syllable about Mr. Canning's new war ; or even whether the British troops have sailed, much less arrived. In Parliament, too, all parties seem, as if by common consent, to be equally silent; and, except a solitary fling by Mr. Hume at the bill of charges, we should scarcely know, through any accredited channel, that we actually have a force in the Peninsula. Fortunately for the public, however, other channels do exist, through which information is obtained ; ' that it was bottomed in absolute fraud, a meeting of the proprie and those as c•opiOus as - the usual c ; n es.'nf .official tidings toils ski we'll - as Of the sitattiit creditors Of the CoMpittiY took place , on the 26th of 'October, 1825, at the office of Messrs: - Wllks and are dry and sterile. From - these it. would seem that, What= Verbeke ; the debts of the Company were then calculated, and a it 1 name prepared, with each man's claim entered opposite to hie ever may be the result of the contest between the parti- 1 i the claim The debts altogether . amounted to 1,7261. I la. 9d., and sans of the new and old order of things in Portugal, becomes every day more and more problematical what right, meato th of i the plaintiff was admitted. To s. the infinite astonish or business, or occasion, we had to involve or embroil our , sel Yes in their concerns. We believe it has not been un- nany, it was then discovered that its subscribed capital of one mil usual for Parliament to call for the instructions given to lion had dwindled down to 6501. When it was announced that Commanders of special expeditions, provided their pro- this sum was all that remained to be appropriated to the payment duction would not be prejudicial to the public service; of the debts, he assured the Jury that a burst of indignation issued and, looking at the inert kind of life our troops appear from the poor tradesmen. hitherto to have led in Portugal, we trust the country The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, for the defendants, said that they will, ere long, be informed what are the precise orders under admitted that the money was due to Clay, but they complained which Sir William Clinton is acting. If such an aggression has that he did not select Mr. John Wilke, who, it appeared, was the actually taken place on the pare of Spain towards our ally as en- receiver of the subscription-money. titles the latter to demand our aid, under the faith of Treaties, it The Jury found for the plaintiff—Damages, 278/. 18s. 6d. seems quite preposterous to suppose that our troops; on their ar:. The Loan CAIEF JUSTICE.—I hope this will be a.warning to rival there, are quietly to witness the result of that aggression, others not to sue the whole persons named as Directors, for if without firing a gun, merely because the foreign foe has had the they sued only one of the persons concerned, and he pleaded in tact to keep within its own frontiers. Either Portugal is at peace abatement, sinless he proved every one named in his plea to have with Spain, and had therefore no right to call for British assist- acted, the plaintiff would be entitled to recover. ante, or she is at war with that country, and is entitled to avail CREW. CON. herself of the aid she has obtained. But though this view of the DAUNCEY V. BERKELEY. subject presents a dilemma not easily solved, and may account for the awkward state of ,uncertainty and inactivity in which our Mr. CHITTY opened the pleadings. This was an action by the troops and their Commander are placed, there is one use, at least, plaintiff, a cloth-factor, to recover from the defendant, William to which they might hive been applied with propriety, which Fitzhardinge Berkeley, a compensation in damages for a criminal appears to us to admit of no question—and that is, in the pro- conversation with the plaintiff's wife. tection of British property. This, we should think, is a point Mr. SCARLETT (with whom was also Mr. GURNEY) stated which requires neither delicacy nor demur; and when, there- the case. The plaintiff was married to his wife in 1815, in the fore, we hear of Oporto being exposed to a sack, and Bri- church nearly opposite to this Court ; he was then 30 years of tish residents on the eve of flying from it with their pro- age, and she only 21, the daughter of a gentleman of respectability perty, it seems to have been an alternative to which and fortune, residing in the County of Hertford. The fruits of they need not have been driven, while 7,000 of theirown country- their marriage were four children, and till the period of the trans men in arms were within reach to protect them. We shall, action which gave rise to the present proceedings, they had lived perhaps, be told, that there are some dicta in Vette! or Puffen- together with uninterrupted happiness. For some time after dorf to prevent this : but we hesitate not to say, that we would their marriage, the plaintiff continued to reside in London, but in not give a farthing for a British Statesman or a British Corn- 1825 he removed to Dursley, in Gloucestershire, where he con mander who should decline to afford protection to his fellow sub- tinned to carry on his trade of a cloth factor and wool merchant, jects and their property wherever, and under whatever circum- and from thence he removed to the village of Berkeley, a dj o i n i ng the noble domain of the defendant. Before, that period the stances, they are found, when nothing but the musty opinions of some antiquated jurist can be found to gainsay an act of common plaintiff and his wife had lived in the greatest harmony tog e th er , aeuse and of common justice. We do trust, therefore, that if neither having suspected or even doubted the affection of eac h our troops are still to remain in Portugal, and to be still the quiet other. Colonel Berkeley was the owner of a princely mansion in spectators of the intestine broils of the Portuguese, they will at the immediate neighbourhood of the village of Berkeley, known least, be authorised and instructed to secure to their fellow-subjects by the name of Berkeley Castle, celebrated for its magnificence in that country the same neutrality which they themselves are our and splendour, and not less so for the gay life which its owner serving. If this instruction has not yet .been sent out, it ought led there, amidst the fascinations of every luxury, which could render that mansion captivating to the human senses. Th e d e - to be so without delay. We know of no way in which Mr. Can ning would be so likely on the one band, to reconcile the dissen- scription he (Mr. Scarlett) had heard of it, reminded him of the tients to his Portuguese expedition, as by rendering it of the use palace of Comus ; he was not going to quote the words of th e im we allude to ; or, on the other, of increasing their dissatisfaction, mortal poet, but he would merely mention it as the palace of an than by withholding the protection which British subjects and their e nchanter, who, by its fascinations and the wiles he p r actised, property are entitled to expect from it. —Morning Herald. contrived to captivate all who came within reach of its influence, A question, which has undergone repeated discussions and when once they had the misfortune to taste from the fatal cup which be presented to their lips, such was the effect of the during a period of more than thirty years—which has con- cup draught, that that those who tasted it became brutified, de from upon its bearings, the lights which emanated a c n astle st or . ever. That a similar spell was attached to from such minds as those of Burke, and Pitt, and Fox, , and its environs he had reason to believe as he had and Sheridan, and Grattan, and a host of Statesmen Row learnt that nothing was snore impossible ' than for a female to no more, inferior only to the names we have recited— that place and return again untarnished to society. The plaintiff lit ra r d k ed ele which has, in later times, commanded the acute and corn- situation in life was too humble for him to affect society. with prehensive investigation o f a Canning, a Liverpool, a Peel, the defendant, nor was it probable that with his vast fortune the a Plunkett, a Londonderry, a Perceval, a Grenville, a Wel- defendant would he found visiting him ; but in the month of April, lesley, &c. &c.—such a question, whatever may be the 1825, it appeared,. that an intimacy of some kind had take n pl ace magnitude of the interests involved in its decision, either between the plaintiff's wife and the defendant, for in the latter one way or the other, can have no pretensions to novelty end o: that month, Mrs. Dauncey, while walking (with her in the reasonings it now elicits, or in the facts upon which sister, about 20 years of age, now married to a relation of the T. l .io a l i o n n ti e tf l ) n o e , aj e the w fr o oun ap ds oa c c t e l3e a r n k i lleT , penCeadstltei, e w gate m o e f t li t y those reasonings are built. The debate of Monday and Tuesday night, therefore, splendid as it was in its displays Castle garden, 11 requested r the ladies to enter. ' The per of oratory oratory and intellectual vigor, possessed, in reality, but son of the Colonel was at this time unknown to the sister, one circumstance of commanding and unquestioned inte- a nd the defendant affected to receive the plaintiff's w if e as rest—the result. The anxious attention of • the whole a stranger ; and if any previous acquaintance was proved to country was fixed upon the new Parliament, not so much have existed between the defendant and Mrs. Dauncey, it to know what would be said, as what would be done. mi g ht be concluded that this meetin g was the effect of There did not remain the fragment of an argument , the previous arrangement, and that the sister was merely made smallest shred of a fact, whether political, or religious, a party to it, with a view to cover the approaches of the which had not been many times, and by many statesmen, Colonel towards Mrs. Dauncey. The ladies were persuaded to go applied to this question. The common inqviry which hung into the gardens ; they were joined by a friend of the defendant's ; on every lip was, will the Catholic Claims be conceded ? they walked thr i o t s h igh wh t i l e i h e are g h r e ounds, o a ni nd s w e e n r t e ed take b n to see some not, how will they be treated by this or that speaker ? The a separation he templesw place I}l T by en means took between the parties, and the Colonel and inquiry has been answered—and answered, we do most ho- Mrs. Dauncey were absent a considerable time. The sister be nestly and conscientiously believe, in a way that will diffuse came alarmed at her absence, and again approached one of the general satisfaction and content throughout the British buildings which they had been previously viewing, when she heard Empire. It will be said, perhaps, that seven millions of Catho, the voice of Mrs Dauncey, and the sound of an apparent struggle ; Tics have been exasperated by this answer. We deny it. There and shortly after the Colonel appeared with Mrs. Dauncey's are not, probably, seven hundred individuals in his Majesty's do- bonnet is his hand, and her cloak was discovered on the ground. minions, whose interests, real or imagined, can be affected in any She seemed in agitation, and the Colonel appeared to be soothing way by the decision of Tuesday night, or, rather, Wednesday her : he proposed that the ladies should go to the Castle, to which morning. But were it otherwise—were it true that every Irish Mrs. Dauncey consented ; when they arrived there, the sister was peasant in his mud cabin ruminates in sullen discontent upon his invited to play on the pianoforte ; and while she was thus engaged e xclusion from high .l offices of State, as well as from the Senate— the Colonel and Mrs. Dauncey retired into an adjoining room. still we are prepared to contend, that so long as the majority of the people of the United Kingdom declare, by themselves, and through their representatives, that they are unwilling to grant political power to their Catholic fellow•subjecte, so long the Exe cutive and the Legislature are bound to give effect to this expres sion of the public will. Their choice lies between a futile attempt to silence the clamours of a faction, by concession ; and creating a party, powerful, and therefore formidable, who would in their turn demand to be conciliated. It is not attempted to be denied, that the Protestants of these realms, by a very large majority, are not yet convinced that what the Catholics require can with safety be conceded, In the exercise of what right, then, can those claims be granted ? The warmest advocates of the Catholics admit, while they deplore, that such is the actual state of the Protestant mind in this country. The admission is. and must be conclusive, till we can be, taught that the few ought to prevail over the many—a doctrine too absurd, even in theory, and practically too much at variance with all experience—to require serious refutation. Under such cir cumstances, it is a matter of sincere congratulation, to find the popular branch of the Constitution, a faithful organ of popular f ee li ng . It is no less gratifying in another point of view. We are relieved, by the vote of Tuesday night, from a conflict between the two branches of the Legislature, which could not have con tinued without manifest injury to both. If the House of Com mons had gone on year after year, passing a Catholic -Relief Bill, which the House of Lords as regularly rejected, the latter must have incurred a large portion of public odium, and, perhaps, de servedly so. We say deservedly so, upon the assumption that the Commons could not have pursued the course described, unsup ported by public opinion ; arid if public opinion were really with them, what friend to the Constitution of these realms, could wish to see the Aristocracy placed as an impassable barrier between the people and the Throne ? Yet, such must have been the effect, unless it were obviated by that kind of coarse and unreasoning exercise of prerogative, by which a patent majority can at any time be created for a special purpose, whether laudable or iniquitous. Upon these grounds, therefore, and believing that the time is not yet come when Catholic Emancipation can be conceded, in accordance with the wishes of the greater portion of the Protestants of the Empire, we rejoice in the decision of the new Parliament, as one calculated to avert a mischievous collision between co-ordinate Legislative Powers.—New Times. LAW INTELLIGENCE. VICE CHANCELLOR'S COURT, MARCH 6. When her sister discovered their absence, she endeavoured to join Mrs. Dauncey, and then found that the room to which they had re tired was without any light. Of course her sister's suspicions were roused by this occurrence; but it remained unknown to the plaintiff, although it had been noticed in the neighbourhood that meetings had taken place between the Colonel and the plaintiff's wife. In July, 1826, the plaintiff, in consequence of some embarrassments, removed to Cheltenham. The intercourse with the plaintiff's wife and the defendant was again renewed there; and in conse quence of reports then in circulation, and the change in the con duct of Mrs. Dauncey towards husband and children, another sister of Mrs. Dauncey's questioned her younger sister very closely as to their conduct during their residence at Berkeley. The facts WRIGHT V. BARDLE. that she disclosed were communicated to the unfortunate plaintiff; and that very day, having no other residence to which he could send his unfortunate wife, be left his home and ceased to hold any communication with her. This, continued the Learned Counsel, is the strict history of the case. The plaintiff is unable to show any laboured chain of seduction by which he has been deprived of the affections of his wife, but it is a case where a husband has lost the affection of the woman he loved, of the mother of his children, with whom he had lived for years in happiness and comfort, and at last sustained that heaviest of all losses at a time when the other misfortunes of life left him but the society of his wife and family as the best of consolations. The Learned Counsel then adverting to the line of defence which he anticipated his Learned Friend would adopt, observed, that he knew it would be said that this woman had fallen a ready p re y t o th e ar t s o f t h e d e f en d ant, an d that the plaintiff had consequently sustained no great loss. Some women, it was true, fell earlie r , an d some l ater . S ome men might have a peculiar facility in discovering at what period a woman, struggling for the preservation of her honour, was moat susceptible of the arts by which she was assailed. The defendant was a man of fashion and fortune, and probably knew as well as any man at what period he was likely to obtain possession of the woman who was the object of his passion. It was not necessary for him (Mr. Scarlett) to show at what time this acquaintance with the defendant commenced, or what were the arts which the defendant had used to seduce this unfortunate woman. It was sufficient for him to establish, that up to the period of their resi dence at Berkeley, Mrs. Dauncey had maintained an unspotted character, and had behaved towards her husband and his children with the most endearing affection. Mrs. Sarah Dauncey, sister to the plaintiff's wife, was present at the plaintiff's marriage with her sister, Miss Anne Dalton, on the sth May, 1815. It was a match of affection on both sides. In July last they removed to Ch e lt en h am , an d the witness went to visit them there. M rs . D auncey did no t e vince the same af fection and kind ness t o h er h us b an d an d f am ily. In consequence of some report s , I ques ti one d my younger sister Eliza, who had been living in the house with the plaintiff and his wife, and s h e made a communication to me respecting my sister and Colonel Berkeley, of which I apprised the plaintiff. I first heard it on the Friday, when he was absent from home. I informed him of it on the Saturday, and he quitted the house the same day, an d went to London. It made a very great impression on him. Mr. James Dauncey, husband of the last witness, and brother of the plaintiff, and Mr. George Dauncey, anoth er b rot h er , pro ved that the plaintiff and his wife, before thi s transact i on too k place, lived on the mos t affectionate terms. Mrs. Eliza Dauncey , another sister of Mrs. Thomas Dauncey, and married to a brother of the plaintiff's, stated—l remember meeting Colonel Berkeley on the last day of April, with the plain tiff's wife, Airs. Thomas Dauncey. I believe she looked at him ; she turned round as he passed. I was afterwards walking with my sister near Berkeley Castle, when the Colonel came to the gate, and asked if he should open it : she said she was much obliged to him, and he asked her if she had seen the Castle ? She said she had. He then asked her if she bad seen the gardens ? She said, " No." He asked her if she wished to see them ? and she replied, she should like to see them when the Colonel was not at home. She appointed to go and see the gardens the same even ing. I went with her about eight o'clock ; he had named that hour. We met him, and he accompanied us into the gardens. There was another gentleman present, who I have since learnt was Captain Hammond. They walked with us for an hour and a half. The Colonel walked with my sister, and Captain Ham mond with me. They left us, as Captain Hammond would not allow me to walk so fast. In a short time after, we re turned home, and the Colonel made an assignation with us that This was an application for an injunction to retrain the defendant from selling or disposing of certain property of the plaintiff seised under an execution issued at the suit of the defendant. The parties carry on partnership business at Manchester, and the plaintiff, in support of his application, stated, that he had been induced to confess judgment in perfect ignorance of the consequence that might result from it, and that there was no such debt as that set forth in the cognovit. The VICE-CualicEttolt granted the injunction, observing that without entering into the truth of the charges made in the plaintiff's bill, there appeared to him sufficient grounds for acce ding to the application. COURT OF KING'S BENCH , A/Alton 7. JEGIS INSURANCE COMPANY. CLAY v. LANGSLOW AND OTIIER9. Mr. ScaarArr stated that this was an action by Mr. Cl ay , a printer, against the defendant?, Messrs. R. Langslow, Peter M oore , and Frederick Verbeke, who formed part of a Company establi s h e d i by a gentleman now serving his country n Parliament. The Plaintiff sought to recover from them 2781. 19s. 6d. due for print ing done by him for the Company. T he Com pany had a very i m posing name, and a mong o th er things was called " The ./Egis Fire and Dilapidation Company, established. for th e re d uct i on o f premiums and increased security." "Dilapidation" was, no doubt, a most appropriate word, for alm ost e very one connected with the Company had suffered dilapi dation b y by it. The de fendants, in answer to the action, had put in a plea of a b a t emen t, w hich was in effect saying, that there were other contributors who ought also to be tined, and who were equally responsible with t h e mselves. It appeared, that when the delusion practised by the conc octors of this scheme h a d become manifest, and when all saw we should go there again on the. Thursday- evening—this was on the 'Monday. The Colonel ailed,: if Mr. - Dauncey, was at home. Mrs. Dauncey said he wag not at borne *hen we left ; but she expected to find him there when we - returned. We went again on Thursday, and met in the same place, at half-past eight in the evening : the Colonel and my sister walked together again, and went away from us again ; we had been walking :and sitting on the steps of a terrace in the garden ; when I lost sight of them, I became alarmed, and sought after my sister ; when I went to look for her, Captain Hammond did not accompanyme ; he did not wish me to, go ; I went towards the place where we had been sitting, and thought I heard the voice of my sister, as though she was in distress, a stifled voice, as if she required as sistance ; when I approached the steps, I heard the voice of the Colonel, and then saw him sitting on the parapet wall over the terrace ; he had my sister's Leghorn bonnet in his hand, and her cloak was on the ground ; Captain Hammond joined us there ; Colonel Berkeley then asked my sister to go to the Castle, and she consented ; 1 went with her to try his piano-forte ; when we went in, the Colonel began acting ; I don't know what character, as I never saw it before ; be was, going to die, and my sister de sired him not to die ; he was acting before we went into the music-room. The Colonel then played on the piano; after be had played he asked me to play, and while I was playing, my sister and the Colonel went into the next room to try the effect I of the music ; I got up to follow them, but the Colonel would not let me go, as he said it was no use for them to go if no one played; I played rather more than half an hour, and then wanted to go into the next room, but Captain Hammond would not let tale ; he said I was not wanted there. I made several efforts to get into, the room, but he prevented me. At last the Colonel and my sister came out ; her dress was much disordered, her gown and hair particularly. We went away immediately. Mr. Dauncey was not at home when we went out ; when we got home he was ; and something being said about our stay, my sister said she had been detained at the dressmaker's at Dursley. I did not tell what had passed at that time ; we never Went again to the gardens,' or to Berkeley Castle.. We remained at Berkeley till the following -February. I saw the Colonel once !peak to my sister in the fields afterwards; I did not hear what was said. My brother removed to Berkeley in the February following. I remember the 'Colonel coming to perform at Cheltenham. He met me, and asked where my sister was he said he wished to see her, if she would go to Cambray that evening. My sister and I went about nine o'clock. We "met • the Colonel, and he said he wanted one ,of us tog° to a house with him. My sister . went with him to Wellington-place, into which the back entrance* front the houses in Bath-street open. I saw them enter a house there; .he went in first, and.Oien came out and beckoned my sister, and she went to him. This•was on the 12th 'of July. I returned home. Mr. Dauncey was at Bewdley at this time; my sister. 'returned home about eleven o'clock ; her white dress was much tumbled, and she, had lea-cemb ottt.of her hair. My sister bought a ticket for the play, and .we went to see the Colonel' perform. When my sister Sarah came doWn, I told her what had occurred, and she told my brother. ,My brother and his wife, up to the time of the meeting with Colonel Berkeley, had always lived on the most affectionate terms.. Croas-examined—We were walking in the Castle-fields when we first saw-Colonel Berkeley; at the time we saw 'the Colonel we were walking on the common foot path; there was a gate separating the fields ;- my sister had climbed over this gate before the Colonel came up ; she was on the other side at the time I was going to get over the gate. That was the time when, so far as I know, the first conversation took place between the Colonel and my sister. I never called at Berkeley Castle, except in October that year, to carry a note for my sister. There was a bun in the parcel which contained the note, not a large doll, dressed in the Colonel's livery. .I carried the parcel in the disguise of a 'servant maid. I don't know what the, verses were that were with this bun ; I believe there was a copy of verses. My sister called also in a similar disguise. Re-examined--My sister desired me to disguise myself when I carried the bun to the Colonel's. I left it with Mrs. Reynolds, his housekeeper. I did not read the copy of verses. My sister wrote them, but I don't remember them now : she told me she sent the bun on account of a Mrs. Bunn, who was then staying in the Castle. John David Adamson--I live in Bath.street, Cheltenham, and know Cot Berkeley: he used to have apartments in nay house, a room on the first floor; he had them in July last ; be did not pay any thing, but made me a present when he went away. My house has a back entrance into Wellington-place. By the Loan CHIEF JUSTICE—The Colonel never slept there. The SOLICITOR-GENEB,AL inquired of his Lordship whether there was any case to go to the jury? The Loan Cum JUSTICE—Oh, yes; it is a question which must go to the jury._ . _ _ The SOLICITOIi-GINERAL (with whom were the Common Sergeant, Mr. Brougham, and Mr. Campbell), in addressing the Jury for the defendant, observed that his Lordship was unwilling to take upon himself the responsibility of deciding upon the evidence in this case without referring it to the jury. For his own part, he considered the case was extremely defective ; there was certainly evidence of the giddy and imprudent assignation of the plaintiff's wife with the defendant, of the meetings in consequence of those as signatiens, of her absenting herself for a short time from her sister in the gardens, and in an adjoining room, but there was no proof of that guilty intercourse which it was alleged had taken place._ This was not a case where a woman, after a long and difficult siege, had at last sunk into the arms of a seducer ; but of a woman who had surrendered herself a ready prey to the defendant at the first summons; and the plaintiff might as well require heavy da mages for a small piece of broken glass, as for the lose of a being so frail and worthless. His learned friend, in describing the beauties with which Berkeley Castle was surrounded, had com pared its fascinations to those of the Enchanted Palace in Comas, where the wily enchanter enslaved all who came within its reach; but be had, at the same time, forgotten, that the whole moral of that play was founded on the fact of their being one virtue, which could alone enable those who unfortunately fell into the toils of the enchanter, to escape, and that was Chastity,—. If the jury would look at the case as it really stood, was it possible for them to give the plaintiff damages for the loss of this woman as a wife of exemplary virtue? If the jury were to give any damages in this case, he (the Solicitor-General) would say that it would be setting a bad example to husbands to be less careful of their wives, and would operate as an inducement to wives to fall an easier prey into the arms of seducers. The Jury having retired from the box, after an absence of ten minutes, returned with a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages, 1,0001. THE ICING V. BOOTH ANT) ♦NOTHER. This was an indictment against the defendants (the former an auctioneer, the latter an attorney,) residing in Kent, for conspir ing to fabricate receipts, and thereby defraud the prosecutor, Mr. Wenham, of a certain sum of money. Mr. ADOLPHUS having stated the case for the prosecution, The CHIEF JUSTICE observed, that the evidence which was proposed to be offered would not support the charge in the indict ment. Mr. ADOLPHUS was not prepared to offer any other evidence than that he had stated ; whereupon the Chief Justice directed the Jury to acquit the defendants.—Verdict, Not Guilty. " CHALLENGE. " I, undermentioned, challenge herewith the Right Reverend Doctor Poynter, Titular Roman Catholic Bishop of London, all the Roman Catholic Priests, and all the Jesuits scattered through out England, to meet me on the 19th of March, in Freemasons' Hall, foe the purpose of discussing the doctrines of Popery ; during which discussion, I, undermentioned, hope to prove that the whole system of Popery is a downright lie ! In case that Doctor Poyn ter, and the rest of the Priests and Jesuits, are inclined to meet me, I beg them to let me know by Public Papers. " JOSEPH WOLFF, " Missionary for Palestine and Persia, " For promoting Christianity among " Jews, Muhamedans, and Papists. " 4, Portugal-street, Grosvenor-square." BIRTH. On the 3d of October last, at Sydney, the lady of Lieut.-Ge neral Darling, Governor of New South Wales, of a son. MARRIED. On the 6th inst., at Leighton Church, by the Rev. George Hughes, Benedict John, eldest son of B. J. Angell, Esq., of Ruinsey-House, Wilts, to Emma, second daughter of John Gore, Esq., of Etloe-House, Essex. DIED. On the 6th inst., in Gerrard -street, hi the 80th year of his age, after a long and severe illness, John Perkins, Esq., of Pen. dell-court, near Bletchingley, Surrey. On the 2d inst., at Torquay, Mrs. William, wife of Colonel Eustace. On the sth inst., at Clapham Common, Mrs. Horsman, aged 78. On the sth, in the Close of Salisbury, Miss Kerrich, daughter of the late Rev. Walter Kerrich, Canon Residentiary of Salisbury. On the Qd inst., at Bath, Emily Wilhelmina, eldest daughter of Major-General Baynes, in the 22d year of her age. On the 3d inst., Miss Warcup, alter a long and severe illness. Printed and Published by M. YOUNG, at th e s w ,_ orrici, No. 112, Strand.