The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

( From the Morning Advertiser.)

Mr. Kcogh, Solicitor-General for Ireland ; Mr. Sad-
leir, one of the Lords of the Treasury ; and Mr. Mon-
sell, also holding a Government appointment, met
together on Thursday, to deliberate as to the course
which they ought to adopt with reference to Lord John
Russell's attack on the Popish priesthood of Ireland on
Tuesday evening. Having previously consulted several
of their political friends, in whose judgment they have
confidence, they came to the resolution, that they could
no longer, consistently with their political or religious
principles, continue members of a Government whose
acknowledged leader in the House of Commons had
thus so grossly and gratuitously, in their opinion,
calumniated the priesthood of Ireland. They accord-
ingly simultaneously sent in their resignUtions at a late
hour on Thursday evening, assigning as the reason, the
manner in which Lord John Russell had expressed him-
self in the part of his speech which we subjoin :
"It has been evident of late years, that the Roman
Catholic clergy—looking to its proceedings in foreign
countries—looking to its proceedings in this country—
looking to that Church, acting under the direction of its
head, himself a foreign sovereign, has aimed at political
power—(hear, hear)— which appears to me to be at vari-
ance with a due attachment to the Crown of this country
-(hear, hear)—with a due attachment to the general cause
of liberty—with a due attachment to the duties a subject
of the State should perform towards it. (Hear, hear.)
Now, as I wish to speak with as much frankness as the
hon. gentleman who spoke last, let me not be misunder-
stood in this house. lam far from denying that there are
many members of this house, and many members of the
Roman Catholic persuasion, both in this country and in
Ireland, who are attached to the Throne, and to the liber-
ties of this country; but what I am saying, and that of
which I am convinced, is, that if the Roman Catholic
clergy had increased power given to them, and if they, as
ecclesiastics, were to exercise greater control and greater
political influence than they do now, that power would
not be exercised in accordance with the general freedom
that prevails in this country—(loud cheers)—and that
neither in respect to political power, nor upon other sub-
jects, would they favour that general freedom of discus-
sion, and that activity and energy of the human mind,
that belongs to the spirit of the constitution of this
country. (Loud and general cheering.) Ido not think
that in that respect they are upon a par with the Presby-
terians of Scotland.—(Cheers.) The Presbyterians of
Scotland, the Wesleyans of this country—(cheers)—and
the Established Church of this country and Scotland, all,
no doubt, exercise a certain influence over their congre-
gations ; but that influence which they thus exercise over
their congregations must be compatible with a certain
freedom of the mind—must be compatible with a certain
spirit of inquiry which the ministers of these churches do
not dare to overstep ; and if they did oyerstep it, that in-
fluence would be destroyed.—(Hear, hear.) lam obliged,
then, to conclude—most unwillingly to conclude, but most
decidedly—that the endowment of the Roman Catholic
religion in Ireland in the place of the endowment of the
Protestant Church in that country, in connexion with the
State, is not an object which the Parliament of this
country ought to adopt or sanction. (Cheers.)"
It is right to add, that, up till a late hour last night,
the resignation of the three gentlemen had not been
accepted. We may further state, that the part of the
speech of the noble lord which we have quoted, has
caused a great commotion in the Cabinet, and that all
its Peelite members, including the Premier himself, are
very much dissatisfied with his lordship's conduct. He
has, as they think, inexcusably gone out of his way to
assail the Roman Catholic priesthood of Ireland. It is
but justice to the members of the Cabinet to whom we
allude to say, that they make no secret of the disappro-
bation with which they regard the speech of the noble
lord. We may go further still. There is reason to be-
lieve that the matter will be brought before both houses,
and the question will be asked, whether Lord John
spoke in his individual capacity, or as the representative
of the opinions of the Cabinet.

(Prom the Morning Herald.)

In addition to the resignation of Messrs. Keogh,
Monsell, and Sadleir, we have now to announce the
retirement of Sir T. Redington, one of the Joint Secre-
taries of the Board of Control. What, does all this
mean ?

ELECTION COMMITTEES.-(THIS DAY.)

PETERBOROUGH.

John Rawson Edwards was called this morning, and
stated that at the time of the last election he was ill in
bed. Mr. Whalley came to his house several times to
get him to vote, and on the polling day he pressed wit-
ness so hard that he got up and went in a fly with him
to the poll. Before going, however, witness's wife
showed him 5/. in the parlour, and told him that he
must go.
Mr. Sergeant Allen, on behalf of the sitting member,
objected to the statements of the wife to her husband
being received in evidence.

Along argument ensued, which was not concluded
when our report left.

LIVERPOOL.

Evidence was adduced this morning relative to the
hiring of the district committee rooms, but there was
nothing of public interest elicited.

DURHAM.

This morning the committee decided, the arguments
of counsel having been heard yesterday on the point,
that it was not competent for counsel to go into acts of
bribery committed by the sitting member and his agents
at the general election, but that the evidence must be
confined to the election of December last.