The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-03-07 00:00:00

offence. The restrictions upon slaves are, of course, more
severe still. We very much doubt the expediency of these
regulations, which, in our opinion, are more calculated to
disgust the people of Brasil with the Imperial Government
than in any proportionate degree to insure the public tran-
quillity. Rather than be subject to an authority so vexa-
tious and intolerable, we would even prefer the risk of
being sometimes robbed ; but we know, from the example
of our own country, that it is quite practicable to establish
an efficient system of police for the repression of crime,
without giving up to the discretion of every petty officer of
justice the absolute dominion over the personal liberty of
every member of the community, after sunset. Don PIDRO,
we apprehend, too often forgets that he is ruling in Ame-
rica, surrounded by republican governments anxious to see
the institutions of Brazil assimilated to their own, He is
pursuing a course directly calculated to provoke his sub-
jects to fall in with the wishes of the neighbouring
States.
.—........—_
One of those arbitrary and indecent violations of private
rights, in which the continental governments do not hesitate
to indulge when their pleasure or their interests are con-
cerned, was committed last week at Boulogne and Calais
by order of the French Government. On Wednesday, the
commercial letters travelling by private expresses from this
country to their respective destinations, were stopped,
opened, and read. Some of them were detained for nearly
four hours, in order that all the despatches might be care-
fully examined. In one bag there were forty letters, all of
which underwent perusal. It was then made known, that
in futare the same practice would be continued regularly.
As an excuse for this scandalous breach of confidence, it is
pretended that the French Government is suspicious that
dangerous communications of a political nature were trans-
mitted by these conveyances. Power will never be at a
loss for apologies to cover its abuses; but surely, con-

. _
sidering all the circumstances of Europe at this moment,
Mitre never was one so utterly groundless as this.
What should we think of an English Minister, who,
because he might fancy that the whole of the private
correspondence in the kingdom did not abound with praises
of his administration, should give directions suddenly to
have all the letters in the Post-office broken open and
read? Yet a measure of this violent and tyrannical cha-
racter is carried into execution in France almost like one of
the laws of paramount importance to the State.

The reduction of the duty on foreign iron, and the
establishment of a British Iron Company, which is already
in operation, has given a considerable impetus to the rail•
ways, and to other public undertakings, which had been
suspended owing to the high price of that article. The
high duty on Russian and Swedish bar-iron amounted
almost to a prohibition ; but its high price had the effect
of turning an increased portion of capital to the working of
our mines, and the consequence has been that the use of
foreign iron, burthened, as it has been since 1793, with
accumulated duties, is nearly superseded by British iron in
the home market, and now that all the powers of improved
machinery will be applied to it in this country, it will soon
become, owing to the great demands from Spanish America,
a leading article of exportation.

We have before noticed the disgraceful combination
that has been formed on the Foreign Stock Exchange
against the new Greek Loan. On Saturday, it appears,
there was a general depression in the market, though no-
body could assign any satisfactory reason for it. Of the so-
lidity of the general peace, or of the success of the Patriots
in South America, there can be no doubt whatever. Some
reports were circulated as to the apprehended hostility of
the Holy Alliance ; but they were all evidently fabri-
cated to assist the operations of the speculators for the far.
It was to have been expected, that in this state of the mar-
ket the parties who have confederated to depress the Greek
Scrip would not omit so favourable an opportunity for their
purpose ; and by a succession of rumours, too absurd, one
would have thought, to have influenced any reasonable be-
ing, a sort of panic was at last produced, which led to a
sudden fall to a discount of 1f at the close of the day.
Greater activity was never used for the attainment of any
mischievous object. The first of the ridiculous tales put
into circulation was, that the stoppage of the expresses at
Boulogne Lad originated in a feeling on the part of the
French Government inimical to the Greeks. Whatever
there may be dubious in the foreign policy of France, the
sincerity of her friendship for Greece is unquestionable ; it
is the most clearly defined of all her external dispositions
But the great bugbear, whispered by the alarmists with
grave faces, as if they wished to conceal it, and artfully
brought forward at a late hour, when the preceding ru-
mours had begun to shake the confidence of the scrip-
holders, was, that the inhabitants of one of the Greek
islands, sighing, we suppose, for the restoration of the se-
' curity and happiness they enjoyed under the dominion of
the SULT•N, and stung with remorse, we presume, at the
guilt of having thrown off his legitimate Mahometan au-
' thority, had renounced the cause of independence, and
called back their gentle masters to exterminate them and
deallate their country like Scio and Ipsars. Nobody could
tell exactly which island it was that had manifested this
conscientious sense of duty towards the Grand Turk, nor
how the intelligence had reached London. We diligently
endeavoured to arrive at the source of this pretended in-
formation, and the result of our inquiry was, that it had
proceeded from the hostility of the disappointed persons to
whom we alluded the other day. They have thus succeeded
in frightening a few weak and timid persons front sup-
porting the Greeks in their noble struggle for life and
liberty, but their success will be transitory. The Greek
cause is equally safe from the efforts of open enemies and
false friends. The independence of Greece is more cer-
tain now than the independence of South America was
two years ago. The Turks are falling rapidly to decay,
and becoming the prey of internal dissensions, while the
Greeks are every day improving in their resources and con-
solidating their strength. We hope, therefore, that the
subscriber, to the new Loan will not allow themselves to
be cheated out of either their money or their senses, and, in-
stead of listening to the false stories that may be circulated,
consider for a moment what was the relative situation of
the belligerents at the close of the late campaign—a situation
which certainly cannot be changed to the disadvantage of
the Greek, until the next campaign shall have com-
menced, if, indeed, it should be in the power of the
Turks to make another attempt against them.

The good effect of the Bill which has for its object to put
down the Catholic Association is already manifest. While
those Associations existed, the domestic quiet of Ireland re-
mained in a state of perpetual jeopardy and suspense—the
public mind was kept in a constant state of irritation—it
was impossible to calculate from one day to another what
might be the result of the speeches which were every day
circulated in every Irish newspaper, and which were feeding
the spirit of bigotry with fresh fuel, till no one was able to

THE

foresee where it
end. It is clear,

mitted to continue, the power of the LOAD LIECTENaNT
must soon have become inadequate to its purpose. He
could not go halves with this new Catholic authority ;
there was no alternative but to suppress it, or submit to
it. From that moment the course to be adopted by
Ministers became imperative—they did adopt it ; they in-
terposed for the preservation of Ireland, and in so doing,
delivered her from the sad condition to which she was
hasten;pg; and from all the miseries which would have fol-
lowed.
The Catholic Leaders in Ireland were too violent:
they manifested too much determination to carry every
thing before them; by acting thus, they rolled back the
tide of public sympathy that was flowing towards them
from this side the Channel ; they did more—they em-
banned the councils of Government, and made even their
best friends in the Cabinet doubt the policy of conceding
their claims; it made them resolve—as matter of prudence
—to postpone that concession which it would have been
unwise to grant under all this menace and manifestation of
hostility. They certainly, by the factious language which
they held, alienated numbers, who, up to that period, had
favoured their cause ; who thought its success was devoutly
to be wished, but thought also that it ought discreetly to be
won. It was one of the repentant confessions of Davin,
that he had " spoken unadvisedly with his lips." The
list is very long of those, who, since his time, have the

same imprudence to lament.
The Catholics, by courting foreign influence, brought
themselves under the suspicion of acting in concert with
the avowed enemies of Protestantism in Catholic Europe.
It looked too much like a preparative to hostilities. It was
natural for their enemies to ask—Why, unless you meant
to turn this foreign support to account, were you so active'
in obtaining it? Why did your public orators proclaim so
exultingly the progress they were making in distant king-
doms? The proceeding justified alarm; it was every way
pernicious, and the more so, because its object had no de-
tined nor definable extent.

We willingly acquit Mr. O'CONNELL of any deliberate
intention to produce disturbance. lie has too great a
stake in the tranquillity of Ireland to have any leaning that
way—all his best interests lie in a quite opposite direction
—but on a subject so full of excitement as Religion, to
bring the hot-headed zeal of the whole Catholic population
into activity, was to work with very dangerous tools. When
the frantic and ignorant passions of the multitude are once let
loose, they are not to be again chained down at pleasure. Mr.
O'Coxlezzz, popular as be is, would soon find this a task
much beyond his management. As the Leader of a cause,
this distinguished Advocate has no superior ; he is always
rage and circumspect ; he never puts the interest of his
client incautiously to the hazard ; but out of his profession,
and as the Leader of a party at a provincial meeting, he
is another and a different man ; his eloquence is always
out of bounds ; he is intemperate, unreflective, indiscreet;
he never measures his purposes with his mans; his elo-
quence, it is true, fuser deserts him, but his prudence
almost always ; and, therefore, it is that with the best in-
tentions he brings discredit upon his cause and upon
himself. In the present instance he ought to be grateful
to Mr. CANNING and the Ministry, for having taken the
materials of disorder out of his creative hands. He
will not, we know, subscribe to this; it is quite true never-
theless.

But now that the Associations are put down, the next
question is, how are we effectively to tranquillize Ireland ?
To this the answer is simple—Search into and remove the
causes which disturb it. Without upbraiding those who
set themselves to oppose the admission of the Catholics to
offices of professional rank or political trust, we would ask
them—Do you mean to remain always inexorable ? If you
do, can you safely reckon on the forbearance of seven
million of Catholics for the same indefinite period ? If
the mass of the Irish population have the means of corn-
fort put within the reach of their labour, they will be con-
tent. We grant, that from that quarter you have little to
apprehend on the score of exclusion from rank and office.
Even of the middling classes, the majority in general only
wish to live in peace ; and if trade prospers, and taxes are
moderate, their minds remain at rest. But wealth, and
knowledge, and acquirement, have gradually diffused
themselves amongst the Catholic gentry, and you have in
that class a body of rank and talent which you cannot
much longer persist in excluding from those honours—
whether political or professional—to which they naturally
aspire, and to which they have an honest and indefeasible
claim. You ought long since—if you meant to act as you
are now acting—to have removed every inducement which
could tempt the Catholic into public and professional sta-
tion, or have fairly opened to him all the prospects of pre-
ferment which are the reward of ability and public service.
If a Catholic sees those rewards impartially bestowed, he
has no ground of complaint if lie should fail in obtaining
them. If his title is postponed to those of higher de-
serving, he feels that the ground of his failure is rational
and just. But to have his claims not merely treated with
utter disrespect, but to have them totally and for ever
excluded, when—but for the disqualifying statutes which
bear them out—they would give him a decisive preference,
this no Catholic—nor any man made up of the ordi-
nary materials of which human nature is compounded—
can contentedly brook. As to any affected alarm for
die safety of the Protestant Church, it is a miserable
pretext for depriving the Catholics of those civil rights
which have their foundation in justice, not in doc-
trinal opinions, and which, as such, are the common
rights of every British subject. You cannot safely con-
tinue to withhold these rights, because you cannot
preserve to the Protestant Ascendancy the monopoly of
power, and place, and patronage. Those who would per-
sist in doing so, only hope to effect it by a military /area;
it were superfluous to advert to this, for it cannot be ; it
would leave the Orange party without an advocate—and
their cause would be lost.

The progress of knowledge is going on to change the
face and the fate of nations. The old routine of things is
giving way—we cannot go on, as formerly, disdaining the
trammels of truth and reason. The principles of justice
will force their way, and we have no security but in an up-
right and prompt attention to them. Our domestic and
foreign politics bear the impress of those liberal opinions
and principles which are fast gaining ground. Mr. CAN-
NING has avowed them boldly and manfully ; his public
acts have put them on record, and have proclaimed them
in kingdoms where their patronage is most needed, and
their influence will be most felt. Mr. Roarrisorc, Mr.
11 use issora, and others of most lead and influence, are
daily consigning to oblivion those mistaken principles of
trade and commerce which guided the councils and go-
verned the measures of former Ministers, and their enlight-
ened example will make its way to neighbouring nations.
Why, in the midst of all this, do we suffer our conduct
towards Ireland to dishonour the British Constitution, and
bring disgrace on the British name ? We trust a short
time will take away this reproach from our national cha-
racter. At present it is a mournful theme; and it is always
with pain we recur to it.

PRESS.
it would lead, or in what its excesses would I
ar, that had this state of things been per-