The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-11 00:00:00

THE SUN,

LONDON, MONDAY

long leases will, as in the better districts of England
and Scotland, be quite sufficient. . . .

The larger portion of Mr. BRIGHT'S long speech
was occupied with the ecclesiastical evils of the
country. Here, of course, he found a fertile field ;
yet no one will deny that the member of the Society
of Friends spoke
,in a tone of friendship of all the de-
nominations, especially the largest one, which all save
Exeter-hall bigots must admire. " I have attended,"
says he, " several congregations, some of the Estab-
lished Church, some of the Catholic Church, and I must
say that the Catholic chapels, as far as I have seen
them, are well filled, that the people are re-
markably attentive, that a devout and serious
expression of countenance is to be seen among
them, and judging from the conduct of the Irish—
putting aside for a moment the question of the agra-
rian outrages—l say that in all points of obedience to
moral law, as far as I can observe, and as regards the
absence of crime or immorality, they will bear com-
parison, at least, with any portion of the population
of the United Kingdom." Intemperate bigots of
sects which certainly approximate much more
closely to Rome than that of the honest
Quaker will do well to ponder whose spirit
and language are most likely to conciliate the
regard of the Catholics, indeed most likely to convert
them to Protestantism. From his independent stand-
point, Mr. BRIGHT tells his audierce plainly that he
finds more religious bitterness in Ireland than he has
been accustomed to meet elsewhere, and that the ec-
clesiastical endowments present every objectionable
feature. First, that one church is a church vainly
endeavoured to be imposed upon the people by con-
quest, and most disproportionately endowed. The
established minority enjoys an endowment of at least
500,0001. a-year, worth, if capitalised, 10,000,0001.
sterling; the Presbyterians an annual grant of
40,0001., worth about 1,000,0001. sterling ; the Catho-
lics 26,0001. a-year, worth about 600,0001. in round
number.! Yet the latter are an overwhelming
majority compared even with both the other
denominations. Then the absurdity of the
arrangement ! 500,000/. a-year is given to
uphold the Irish Church as " the bulwark of Pro-
testantism," and the agency " for converting Ireland
to the Protestant faith ;" and 26,0001. a year to send

forth 100 priests annually to reclaim them back again
to Catholicism ! What with the conquering origin,
and the disproportionate emoluments of the English
Church in Ireland, it is not to be wondered at thtt
Ireland should be the head-quarters of religious bit-
terness and strife. Mr. BRIGHT'S real opinion as to
what ought to be done in this case is not the less
weighty for his silence. Aware that on this point
uncandid hearers might attribute his views as a legis-
lator to denominational bias, he leaves the facts to
speak for themselves. . .

Mr. BRIGHT's testimony to the general consistency
of the Irish Members ought to be very consolatory
to Mr. HumE. Mr. BRIGHT had not found them quite
so shifty a set as the Hon. Member for Montrose
deems them. On Catholic questions, no doubt, the
position of their Church has made zeal for its inte-
rests a patriotism as well as a religious duty. But
on all questions affecting the people, whether of Great
Britain or Ireland, Mr. BRIGHT "had never found the
Catholic and Liberal Members,,of Ireland adverse to
liberty and to progress. Upon the Reform Bill,
Slave Emancipation, the Municipal Corporations
Bill, and Free Trade, we always had a majority of the
Irish representatives of Ireland upon our side ; and
he, in my opinion, is an enemy to both countries who
endeavours to make it appear that there are no ob-
jects which we and Irish Liberals can work in com-
mon." He is assured of their co-operation on Free-
trade questions; assured that they will join th e
English Liberals on the Ballot ; he regards it,
we are glad to see, as impossible that any Liberal Go-
vernment can come into office, or remain in office,
unless prepared to bring forward a Bill for the esta-
blishment of the Ballot. The signs of the times
assure us that Mr. BRIGHT is not far from the truth
here. The sneers of those who have no better argu-
ment, and the selfishness of those who would retain
tyrannical influence over their dependents, must

yield to the stern necessity of official banishment or of
_ _ ...

concession. Mr. BRIGHT'S visit to Ireland will, we
are persuaded, have one happy effect—an effect
most appropriate to the respected sect to
which he belongs. It will enable him to
be a peacemaker speaking with authority. He
will silence, by the testimony of personal knowledge,
many a false witness against misrepresented Ireland.
He will conciliate her Members, and dissuade the
more excitable of them from crotchetty isolations by
his sincere good will, even to their reprobated Church.
The oratorical declaimers will look very small under
the practical rebukes of Mr. BRIGHT'S straightfor•
ward, but often pungent, eloquence. On Irish ques-
tions, in future sessions of Parliament, the Hon.
Member for Manchester will be not only one of the
most instructive, but one of the most useful men of
the House. He will aid towards rendering such sub-
jects manageable at all.

Is it not true that Poverty crawls the streets in its
most
thea firstbject violetsforms,
of s
offeringprog ? Is i
i for salet
not
eeasa thatnowd therops
and
most mournful should face you with sunken face and
shrivelled hands, with the most beautiful emblems of
innocence ? In passing through the country, the
hard lot and trials of the poorer classes may be seen
to perfection. In the town it is with us ; we have
grown so familiar to its face that we are quite inured,
and elect guardians, and have commissions, to
manage this sorrowful, sad goddess—Poverty.
Still we ought to be right thankful that pauperism
is most materially diminished under a happier state
of things, and that meat and drink for bodily exist-
ence is placed more within the reach of the care-
worn, toiling thousands. But the population of Lon-
don alone is weekly increasing on an average four
hundred over the number of deaths, and although
trade and commerce is being more and more deve-
loped, yet our labour market, in consequence of this
weekly increase, will become more than sufficiently
supplied. An outlet must be found, and to us it
seems that emigration of the poorer classes, on a
noble, human-hearted foundation, is what is abso-
lutely necessary ; not a system, as at present, of red•
tapery and highly-paid aristocratic officials, but one
of sympathy and manly assistance. It is matter for
rejoicing and hope that a few noble, sincere men are
labouring hard in this cause, on behalf of the hard-
working, struggling classes, and we trust ere long to
see many more of our public men join in a move-
ment which will tend to the ultimate happiness of
thousands, and the prosperity of Old England and
her colonial possessions.

If our Poor-law Board, that sits in statistical state
at Somerset House, endeavouring to manage and re-
gulate this Hydra, were at all alive to the deep inte-
rests of the nation, pauperism would almost entirely
disappear.

Let the several parishes in this metropolis pay
down the cost of six months' or even a year's support
of a pauper, and the human being whose energies are
being wasted, whose character and manly indepen-
dence is being annihilated under a system injurious
both to the poor themselves and the ratepayers, would
gladly go to our colonies, where the labourer is at a
premium, and where men may make even a compe-
tency. Our Government, instead of keeping up a
vast pauper-hatching machine, under expensive ma-
nagement, should be made to turn its attention to the
annihilation, not the regulation, of this social disease.
We believe that more money is spent on aristocratic
secretaries, commissions, &c., and more money is
squandered on parochial dinners and squabbles, than
would relieve the country of one of its greatest bur-
dens, and that burden be made to be a blessing for
future ages.

011
inst. Lord Derby arrives in town to attend the meeting, T
sueaEsonChAasinbNeEenT.—apTpohinetedfirsfotr
Friday neat,
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sfothr
this i
Wednesday or Thursday next, from his seat, Knowsley Hall,
Lancashire. Lord Malmesbury is expected from his seat in
Scotland (Fort William), to be present at the assembling of
his colleagues. Mr. Secretary Walpole will return to town
from attending her Majesty. The Lord Chancellor, Lord
Salisbury, Lord Hardwicke, and Mr. Herries, are expected
to arrive in London in the early part of the week. The Duke
of Northumberland, Lord Lonsdale, Sir John Pakington
Lord John Manners, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
Mr. Henley, have already arrived in town.
DEPARTURE OF THE EIIROPA.—On Saturday after-
noon, at four o'clock, the British and North American Royal
Mail steam-ship Europa, Captain Eyrie, left Liverpool for
New York direct, with upwards of eighty passengers, a fair
cargo, and the usual mails for the United States and British
America.

Meyerbeer, the musical composer, is at Spa (Ger-
many), in such bad health that he cannot even make use
of the baths.