The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-04-25 00:00:00

THE. J RITISI PRESS.

all removed the general foreboding, that it will fail in the
Upper House. Our opinion is, that it will be lost there by
a considerable majority. There are no doubt many in
tikat House,that neither cherishing their opinions with stub-
-lairnness, nor departing from them with levity, feel that in
watching over the welfare of their country, as connected
with the Protestant Establishment, they cannot concur in
giving any inlet to those whom they conscientiously con-
ceive to be hs enernieg. Inisuch an opposition there may
be much virtue ; certainly there is great courage ; but the
policy of producing any thing like a lasting alienation in
the majority of our fellow-subjects in the sister kingdom,
is, we think, a matter that deserves to be well weighed.
A great and overruling necessity may Indeed excuse it,
but we ought to be quite sure that such necessity ex-
ists ; for it is a policy so full of danger, that that which
makes it unavoidable can alone justify it. We believe
Mr. PEEL to be sincere in the strong stand he has always
made against the removal of the Catholic disabilities; he
delivered his opinions on the second reading of the Bill
with great temper mid moderation. In topics connected
with theology this is no light praise : he had recourse to
none of the ordinary resources of political sophistry ; he
left his arguments to make their own way, combined, as
they of course would be, with the nature, the circumstances,
and the situation of affairs. No gift an be so truly valuable
to a Statesman as faeeu ht, understanding by it that union
of strong judgment sound prudence, which, carrying
his mind thrones a train of causes snd consequences,
enables him to ward off distant evil by measures of effective
precaution ; but unless under the guidance of wisdom, and
that too of the very highest order, this prospective policy
may be productive of mischief and misery incalculable.
Mr. Pan., in our opinion, carried the principle to an es-
trcme. " The Ron. Member for Plympton" (Mr. Norris),
says he, " has said, that we should not use a teles-
cope to view the clouds, while we overlooked the danger at
our feet. I agree in that sentiment; but I maintain the
necessity of regarding prospective dangers; and, Sir,
should we even see the cloud ' no bigger than a man's hand,
we are bound, if we act upon the principles of sound
policy and necessary caution, to provide against the coming
storm, ere it has overshadowed the firmament, and burst
upon our beads." Now, although it may be prudent'
in the common concerns of life, to prepare for the
worst, yet, in matters of government, to inflict positive evi
in order to guard against possible danger, is alike contrary ,
to all the maxims of utility and to all the rules of justice.
According to this policy, a libellous pamphlet would justify
a Censorship on the Press—every symptom of public dis- 1
content with the measures of Government would warrant
I
an increase of the standing army. There is no end of
taking security against contingencies; such a policy would
break up the best Constitution that ever was organized,
if it came to be acted upon practically and with effect. It
is enough, in matters of legislation, to remedy existing
evils, and to contend with them as they arise. We must
ascertain the utility of laws before we enact them. A grave
Statesman must not rest his reasoning upon a metaphor :
there is no analogy between the cloud in the horizon and a
political storm. In the former case it may be well that the
pilot should reef his sails; he can again spread out all his
canvas when the weather clears: but when we have to
deal with the gnat principles of justice and freedom, and
their application to the realities of life, all this sort of
imagery and comparison is out of place; it only tends to
lead us astray. Looking to matter-of-fact, we would
ask, in the forcale and emphatic language of Mr.
CANNING, in his speech of the same evening, "Is
it, or is it not, a grievous circumstance that the State
• should be deprived of the full use of many millions of its
subjects? Is it, or is it not, to be lamented that the Crown
should be limited in the choice of its subjects? Is it, or is
it not to be deplored that so many of those subjects should
bear about them the badge of degradation, which, while it
. poisons the enjoyment of society, extinguishes all their
emulation and all their hopes, by forbidding them to aspire
after the reward of just and honourable distinction ?" We
can really find no answer to this in any thing that we
can gather, either from the truths of political science, or
from the philosophy of human life.
We consider the Protestant Monarchy of Great Britain
as rooted in the hearts and affections of the people. We
consider our Church Establishment as being powerful
from the same influence, and permanent from the same
cause. If we did conceive the fundamental principle of
1 attachment and obedience to both to be well fixed; if
we thought there was any thing to fear from admitting
the Catholics, as a body, to the substantial enjoyment of
all the blessings and benefit of the British Constitution, we
should certainly be among the foremost in resisting their
. claims. But we are now it no danger of an ecclesiastical
commission, or of a suspending power. Those :days are
gone by. We are arrived at another and a very different
period. Undoubtedly, at the period we are speaking of,
when the Catholics held principles so repugnant to the
public safety, it was the duty of those to whom the public
interests were entrusted, to provide, with the utmost pre-
caution, against even their possible introduction to power ;
it became their duty
.to exclude all those from authority
who were the open and avowed enemies of the Protestant
faith. The condition of the times, and the magnitude of
the danger to be guarded against, justified the severity of
such exclusion. Without it the nation could never have
accomplished the glorious work of its deliverance from the
sway of the Catholic priesthood, and the impious tyranny
of the Papal power. It is true that the progress of free
inquiry, and the principles of Christian truth, have at length
brought the enlightened and thinking few to the convic-
tion, that men can only he reclaimed from wrong opinions
of any kind by reason and sound argument—that persecu-
tion makes no man wiser—that there is nothing in the at-
mosphere of a prison that can either generate truth or ex-
tinguish error—and that it is only in the open air and on
the fair field of rational discussion that we can contend
successfully for the faith ;—but these convictions—accord-
ant as they are with all the sentiments of .nature and
humanity, and with all the teachings of Christian truth,—
these convictions—rapidly as they are making their way—
do not as yet make up the creed of the multitude. In the
mean time we must, in candour, allow much for the pre-
judices which still exist in the minds of many, and which
sets them in array against any measure which tends to in-
vest with public authority that great hotly of religionists
which they have been brought up from their childhood to
consider with terror and alarm—who have never turned
over any page of Catholic history, but they have found it
stained with the blood of I'rotestant martyrs—who, casting
back their minds to the period when the Catholic religion
of England was the reigning religion, shudder at the re
membrance of its ambition, its bigotry, its craft, its cruelty,
and its intolerance. It ought not, therefore, to surprise us
if there is yet wherewithal in the spiritual ascendancy of
the Pope to create distrust and jealousy, and if that
jealousy and distrust should cxtcnd itself to the officiating

priests of his temple. Such persons may point our atten-
tion to the conduct of the Catholic priesthood in France
since the return of the monarchy, where the basest selfish-
ness is seen acting under the guidance of the grossest
superstition ; their late law against sacrilege may well
strike us all with abhorrence; it is clear from all their
acts that they do not want the inclination to exterminate
heretics by all the tortures which fire and steel can inflict ;
they may point our attention to the conduct of Spain,
where the high priests of the Holy Father combine all the
rage of bigots with the ferocity of brute beasts. It is true
that liberal and reflective men will draw no inferences from
all this, unfavourable to the Catholics of Great Britain ;
but it serves to account for, end in some manner to justify,
the alarm which still prevails so strongly with many as to
induce them conscientiously to oppose the removal of those
barriers which shut out the Catholics from all direct au-
thority in the State. It should also serve to make the
Catholics themselves more indulgent towards that unfa-
vourable feeling, which, if we may so express it, is still
outstanding against them, and to induce them to bear with
it, though it should even be found to exclude them for
some time longer from those full benefits under the Con-
stitution to which they put in their just claims. Let them
feel assured that the day is fast approaching when we shall
all, with one accord, consent to do them justice ; and that
their opponents will do this, not from any capricious change
of sentiment, but from the thorough and mature con-
viction, that by conceding those claims, instead of risking
the safety of the Protestant Establishment, or the indepen-
dence of the Protestant Empire, they will give an addi-
tional security to the permanence of the one, and the pros-
perity of the other. We would impress this earnestly on
their minds, as leading to that spirit of forbearance which
must afford the best evidence of their loyalty, while it
cannot fail to inspire confidence in those who may have
been taught to look upon them hitherto with distrust. Mr.
O'Constr Lt. has already done much of late to earn the
good opinion of the English public; should the fulfilment
of the wishes of his Catholic brethren be yet further de-
layed, both he and they will, we hope, continue to culti-
vate that mutual harmony and good understanding which
at present prevails, and this from a well-grounded assu-
rance, that with whatever delays and discouragements they
may have had to struggle, all divisions will crc long be
healed, and that their claims may be considered at present
as the preamble to a Bill, the object of which is only ad-
journed until the parties shall have settled all the provi-
sional clauses, and come to an agreement on certain points
in debate. The disposition to promote the best interests
of the kingdom prevails equally both with the friends of
Catholic Emancipation and its opponents : the only ques-
tion between the disinterested of both parties is, which
course does the public interest require to be pursued ?
Each party holds himself responsible to his country for
the decision he adopts ; and when men act under an honest
impulse there is no fear, although their reason may travel
for a time in different directions. but that they will all ul-
timately arrive at the same conclusion.

CITY, SATURDAY,

This is a Holiday at the Stock Exchange. On 'the Royal Ex.
change there is rather a numerous attendance, but scarcely any
thing is doing either in British or Foreign Securities. The nearest
price of Consols for the May Account is 924 ; Brazil Scrip is l/ to
2 pm. ; Danish, 2 to l dis. Scarcely any thing doing in the
Shares ; 971. 10s. is offered for Anglo Mexican ; l'late Glass Shares
are at 10 pm.; the Salt Shares, 2 to 24 pm.

The Duke of York arrived at Audley House on Friday
night from Newmarket. On Saturday the Duke of York and the
Duchess of Gloucester visited the King.
. .

Yesterday the Duke of York and the Princess Augusta,
attended Divine Service at the Chapel Royal, and heard a most ex.
crllent sermon preached by the Rev. Stanier Clarke, from the 4th
chapter of St. Paul'i,e7 nistle to the Hebrews. and 14th verse. The
church service was performed by the Dean, the Sub-Dean, thece.
Mr. Beckwith, and the Rev. Mr. Webb. The Anthem, " I will
love thee," was sung by Messrs. Roberts and Clark. The other
Gentlemen of the choir, who sung the services, were Messrs. W.
Knyvett, Evans, Nield, Molyncux, &c. Sir George Smart per
aided at the organ.
The Princess Augusta honoured the Exhibition of
Painting in Water Colours, in Pall-mall East, with her presence
on Saturday.
Yesterday Prince Leopold attended Divine Service at St.
Phillip's Chapel, Waterloo-place.
. . . .

- - .
Prince Leopold honoured the Italian Opera House with
his presence on Setuplay night.
The Lord Chancellor had an audience of the King yes-
terday.
A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday afternoon, at
the Foreign Office, Downing-street, at two o'clocK at which the
Lord Chancellor, the Earls of Harmwhy, Westmorland, and Ba-
thurst, 'Viscount Melville, Mr. Secretary Peel, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and others of the Cabinet Alinisters„ attended, and
sat in deliberation till five o'clock. Mr. Secretary Canning was
prevented hem attending the Cabinet by confinement to his re-
sidence, Gloucester Lodge, with a severe attack of the gout.

Another Cabinet Counsel was held yesterday afternoon
at two o'clock, at the Foreign Office, at which moat of the Minis-
ters were present. Mr. Canning was again absent from indisposi-
tion. The Cabinet did not break up till near five o'clock.
On Saturday morning, at eleven o'clock, a meeting of
the Lords of his Majesty's Most lion. Privy Council was held at
the new Council-office, iVhitehall-place, at which the Earl of
Hsrrewby presided. The following Lords of the Council were
also present :—Earl Bathurst, Mr. Wynn, Lord Stowell. Lord
Colchester, Sir John Nicoll, Mr. Beckett, Mr. Sturges Bourne,
rod Mr. Huakissoa. Their Lordships were occupied in hearing the
case of Mr. Sergeant Rough v. Genital Murray till half.past two
o'clock, when their Lordships adjourned.
We are informal that a Member for one of the boroughs
in this county, the son of a Noble Earl, was so much impressed
with the cogency of the arguments urged in favour of Catholic
Emancipation, particularly by 31r. Plunkett's speech, on eh, late
protracted debate in the House of Commons, that he quitted the
House without fulfilling his original intention of voting against
those claims; and we arc not without hopes that the debate at pre-
sent pending will complete a conversion so auspiciously be,:un.—
Leeds let curt,.
The subscription for 3lr. Huskisson'a plate now amounts
to I.B:Ar.
The young Prince of Saxe Nfeiningen and his bride
made their entry, on the 4th instant, into the city of Meintngen.
They were received by thousands of their faithful and affectionate
subjects with the most heartfelt demonstrations of joy. 'When
arrived at the Palace the young Princess was welcomed in the most
affectionate manner by the I)ucbess Dowager, and by the Duke and
Duchess of Clarence.
Letters from Havannab, dated the 17th tilt. state, that
the Colombian privateers in a manner blockade the ports of Cuba ;
scarcely a vessel escaped capture that bore the Spanish flag. The
utmost tranquillity reigned throughout the island, without appre-
hension of its disturbance.—The crop of sugar will fall short
this year, in consequence of the heavy and unusual rains that
have prevailed for the last two months without intermission, and at
times accompanied with hail. The roads were utterly impassable.
The last Ilamhurgh I'apers state that the Committee for
the regulation of the commerce between Sweden and Norway, had
had several meetings, and it was conjectured that the guarding of the
frontiers towards Norway, which is so extremely expensive, would
be in a great measure done allay with, and that a considerable
change would be made in their prohibitory system, respecting the
inortation of foreign goods.
Loss OF THE FRENCH BOMDSITIF GABRIELLE.—TIIC
following are the details of the loss of the Gabrielle, which was
' bringing horses and other animals, sent by the Bey of Tunis to his
Majesty the King of France. After the first announcement hopes
were cherished that the vessel might be got up again ; but, after an
inspection by the most skilful persona, the thing was judged to be
impossible. The Captain of the bomb-ship found himself in a
painful f, itont ion. His perseverance in following the frigate Sybille,
notwithstanding the bad weather, which might have induced him to
desist, exposed him to the risk f adopting, too late, the determi-
nation to seek a port, and at last he adopted it, only with the view
of saving the animals, who were greatly distressed from tLe con-
tinual shaking, occasioned by the roughness of the sea. lint the
event, unfortunately, did not realbe his hope, and with the
exception of six camels and two ostriches, they have all perished or
been rendered useless. The Bey is now occupied in iroghting
another vessel, and furnishing the sante number of horses, and
other animals, as were lost. The value of the presents sent to
his Majesty has been estimated at 56,00011 But this amoun t will
be exceeded, if, as reported, the ornaments of the saddle are in
massy gold.
The publication of the series of Tales entitled " To-day
in Ireland," is espected with anxiety, as the knowledge and expe-
rience of the Author, and his descriptive powers, arc likely to throw
gs, a: light upon the real state of the Sister Kingdom, in a form
combining the reality of truth with the grace of fiction.