The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-24 00:00:00

SPIRT ii-617 TIIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIIE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY,- J NNUARY 24, 1537

Ralical watchword, as it is intended to be, of
tic approaching Session of Parliament, failed to
elicit from the drowsy assembly any general ex-
pression of sympathy, or any decided symptom of
animation, although Mr. Clay, Mr. Duncombe,
Mr. Warburton, Mr. C. Buller, great orators and
mighty statesmen as they are, did their best, to
affect enthusiasm, and to excite it, on this party
topic. The characteristic of the meeting, visible
at every moment, whoever was the speaker, and
whatever was -the topic, but more cOnspicuously
visible when the merits of his Majesty's Ministers,
and the policy of supporting them, were insisted
on by any imprudent orator, was apathy and indif-
ference, amounting almost to the show of contempt.
We must not omit to mention that the boxes of the
theatre were occupied by ladies, whose presence im-
parted to the scene whatever it possessed of grace,
dignity, or animation. In this, the only brilliant part
the meeting, our experienced eye detected at once
a fair assemblage of decided Conservatives. The
commendation of his Majesty's Ministers, when any-
body had the courage to commend them—the doc-
trines of progressive and never-ending Reform—the
oration even of Mr. Thomas Duncombe, in praise of
everything that is called liberal and free, failed to ex-
tort from the boxes the slightest manifestation of sym-
pathy or approbation. No handkerchief was seen to
wave in the hand, no smile to mantle upon the coun-
tenance, of any of the fair spectators. Who, after
this, can be surprised that the meeting was a failure ?
Who, after this, can doubt that Conservative feelings,
and principles have the ascendancy in society ?
Morning Post.
A copious, if not very interesting, report, will be
fOund in other columns of the proceedings at the
" Middlesex Reform Dinner" last night in Drury-lane
Theatre. After all the noisy bluster of the Whig-
Radical organs the thing was far from formidable in
point of numbers, character, respectability, station, or
electoral independence. We very much doubt whe-
ther 200 electors of Middlesex could be mustered out
of the lot. Of the sixteen Dukes, Earls, and Vis-
counts, whose names figure so conspicuously at the
head of the list of stewards, not one was present, or
sent an apology for his absence ; and when the health
of his Majesty's Ministers was drunk, not even one
solitary understrapper could be found to acknowledge
the compliment.—'limes.
The haters and enemies of the British Monarchy
are the most arrant hypocrites in existence ; and, as
in all analogous cases of insincere pretension, their
hollowness is made apparent by their inconsistencies.
For many years it has been the unintermitted endea-
vour of the revolutionary press, in subserviency to their
anticipated profit, to debase the monarchical power in
favour of the democratic one. No doubt the amount
of talent and influence which they have brought to the
realization of this object has been contemptible enough,
but their deficiency in these respects has in some de-
gree been compensated by the intensity of their zeal.
Day and night have they laboured to discredit the
Royal authority. They have sneered at the King's
prerogative. Their objections to an hereditary Peer-
age have been covertly levelled at an hereditary Crown.
" The Court " has been the object of their ceaseless
hostility and contempt ; and now, finding that the
old Constitutional toast of " Church and King "
has become a standing favourite at Conservative
festivals, they affect to be scandalized beyond all
measure because the honour of our earthly Sove-
reign is not preferred to the supremacy of Al-
mighty God. The Conservatives desire to remem-
ber, that the order of dutiful allegiance, as commanded
in Scripture, is first to " fear God," and then
to " honour the King ;" but the infidel hypocrites
of the Whig-Radical press desire to reverse this order.
The loyal principle which they hate at heart they are
now zealous to place in advance of the religious prin-
ciple which they hate still more, and hence the obvious
propriety of the Coast given at the Kent dinner is the
object of their infuriated malice and misrepresentation.
The truth is, that viewed in the aggregate, the English
character in its best style is essentially a religious one ;
and in illustration of this, we may refer to the remark-
able fact, that the question of religion has, more or
less, occasioned and modified almost all the-great strug-
gles which have occurred in the history of this country.
Without claiming for the illiterate subjects of Henry
VIII. any intelligent or extraordinary interest in the
ecclesiastical disputes of that reign, it is certain that
the influence of the 900 priests who voluntarily repu-
diated the domination of the Roman Church awakened
a popular zeal in favour of the Reformation, without
which not even the despotic power of the Monarch
could have carried it into effect. The violent per-
secutions that disgraced the Popish days of the
" bloody Mary" were demonstrative both of the impor-
tance which Englishmen attached to pure religion, and
of their heroic willingness to suffer for it. Under
the house of Stuart, the troubles which disturbed
the country were occasioned not so much by their
civil administration, as by an impatience of their spi-
ritual intolerance. The wars of the Commonwealth
partook of the same character ; and although we are
by no means blind to the hypocrisies and ambition of
the Puritans, who gladly installed themselves, like
Dr. Owen, into Vice-Chancellorships of Universities
arid chaplaincies of the House of Commons, still we
honour that grand demonstration of religious charac-
ter, whereby the nation asserted and vindicated its in-
terest in the establishment fax pure a national church
as the materials of the times could afford. At that
period the paramount power of the Dissenters took
every thing into their own hands ; and the consequence
was, that instead of battling about the voluntary prin-
ciple, they took possession very quietly and snugly of
the vacant benefices of the church. After the resto-
ration, the passing of " the Act of Uniformity" was
a signal for new manifestations of the deep interest
felt by Englishmen in the preservation of their reli-
gious rights. For a series of years they submitted to
grievous encroachments on their liberty of conscience,
till at length awakened to retaliation by the enormities
of James 11. and Judge Jeffries, just as the existing
Pi otestants in Ireland are goaded by the insolent ty-
ranny of Mulgrave the first and barrister Dan, they
achieved that glorious revolution of 1688, which as a
valuable example will not, we fervently hope, be lost
upon their posterity. Viewed as the• futile attempts
of Romanism to regain its forfeited power, the rebel-
lions of 1713 and 1745 were scarcely more remark-
able for the absurd pertinacity of their Popish plot-
ters, than for the. noble consistency of their Pro-
testant opponents. " A Reformed Church and a
Protestant King" constituted the great question of
that agitated period ; and, happily, the cause of tem-
perate and enlightened liberty was again triumphant.
The Birmingham Riots, during which the house of
Priestley, the Socinian, was destroyed, were a local
ebullition, most culpable we admit, but yet demon-
strative of a predominant national sentiment in favour
of puce religion ; nor can any person doubt that the
Immense and menacing multitudes which, from all
parts of the country, assembled in London during,
Lord George Gordon's popularity, exhibited an over-
whelming proof that Protestantism is one of the deep-
est and most irradicable principles that adorn the
English character. The thorough establishment of
the Protestant succession in this realm diffused among
its friends a feeling of security on the one hand, and,
on the other, a proportional relenting towards its ene-
mies. Men of liberal feelings and transcendent abi-
lity were the leaders of the public mind. Among
these Dunning, Wyndham, Burke, Sheridan, Pitt,
and Fox exerted their stupendous powers in favour of
a mild and tolerant policy towards the Catho-
lics. Following the opinions of these eminent men,
the cuckoo-rig' e of liberality became. ultimately
the popular cant of the day. Lord Liverpool hesi-
tated—Mr. Canning thundered—the Irish clamoured
—the English Dissenters importuned, till at length
the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, yielding
to their honest convictions of State policy, passed
almost simultaneously the two great measures of Ca.
tholic Emancipation and the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Act. At that. period (1829) the tide of
liberalism set in with prodigious force. On the one
side, success created insolence ; on the other, reserve
was superseded by concession. Then came s,the grand
struggle for Parliamentary Reform, wherein, acting
conscientiously, as now, for the real good of the
country, we took a prominent part, which, in spite of
temporary disappointments, we shall never cease to
approve of. Meanwhile the popular sentiment, which