The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-27 00:00:00

PIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS;

On Friday last there was a meeting of the Precursor
Society at the
,Cornm Exchatip;4Eid-Af."o'COniiell, 'as will
ri Wined lak Our reporifip4,4 it 'great length, and adverted
to a great varlity Of it3p6-. He told the meeting that in
the Precursor Society already, enrolled 100,000,
find that-on Moiaciay hat ‘(Ye'sieiday) they would nearly
have 'their first Among the
.first objects be pro-!,
'tie2,ges t 6 'effect is the eiptinging from the Statute Book the,
la* Which' makes the tnhabitants of Ireland contribute to
the 'clefigy of -a religion which is not the religion of the
irnajoritp the per cent. of rent charge must be abo--1
fished or apprOPriaied to public purposes.".. And he sug-
geited that It shohld. be applied in Part payment, of. the
new hurdee of 'poor-rates. This suggestion does not stir
' pris'e us : indeed, We 'have I)een long, prepared, for it.
NO reflecting person Fould ever suppose that the. Irish
would' willingly submit to the establishment of an
alien religion and as Protestants :and Catholics must
equally wish to pay as little as possible in the shape of
poor-rates, we foresee that the rent-charge for tithes will
' be 'applied towards the poor-rate. With respect to the
Ballot, it will now come before Parliament as the sine qua
non of the Irish Members. "We will now," he says,
join England and Scotland in demanding the Ballot, and
the people of three provinces of Ireland will, if they do not
otherwise grant it, tell the Ministry that their representa-
tives will no longer lend them their support if, in return,
they do not advocate the Ballot." We should, indeed,
suppose that the Ballot is more necessary in Ireland than
in England. It would seem that the Protestants, and more
especially the Presbyterians, have begun to suspect that
the Catholic clergy wish to get hold of the tithes. Mr.
O'Connell admits that equality with England would " de-
mand the transfer• of the revenues of the Church of the
minority to our own," and asserts that " in strictness
our Church has a right to the revenues which are now
possessed by the Established Church ;" but he adds,
" we may waive a right, no matter whether that right con-
fer an advantage or disadvantage. And in this instance we
do waive it, for we do not consider it any advantage.--
(Hear.) The people of Ireland will never consent to
have their beloved clergy paid, for they know that it would
make them idle, lazy, and proud ; that it would make them
disposed to quarrel with the people ; and that it would
create in them the same hatred to the people and their in-
terests that at present characterizes the Clergy of another
Church. On Monday next I will propose the adoption of
an address to the people of the north on this along with
other subjects.—(Cries of Hear.)" It would seem that
Mr. Sharman Crawford has been telling the people of Ulster,
on the faith of conversations with Mr. O'Connell, that the
Roman Catholic Clergy want to have the Tithes :
" He is possessed of great power to do mischief, besides
using such a powerful instrument ; for, will it not be said that
be is in possession of the secrets of our camp, and that, on ac-
count of having been one of us, his authority is good ? He
does know our sentiments—he does know our wishes and our
designs; but, with all his knowledge, I hull defiance at him.
He was most intimate with me--I defy him.—( Loud cheers.)
I here dispense with his obligation to secrecy—l free him from
all the consequences of the promulgation of any private con.
versations he may have bad with me, or of any designs which
he knew were entertained by the friends of the people ; and
I defy him to assert tits it in conversation with me or with any
other Catholic, or in any writing emanating from a Catholic,
he ever heard or read of the expression of such a wish
48 the transfer of the revenues of the Establishment to
their own Church.,—(Loud cheers.) He cannot ; let him,
if he can."
Mr. O'Connell enlarges at great length on the supposed
hatred borne in England towards Ireland. We foresee
that one effect of this will be to produce a hatred at least
equally strong in Ireland towards England. But we sup-
pose all this alienation of feeling is deemed a necessary
precursor to the Repeal. In the mean time Lord Nor-
manby is denounced for appointing too many Englishmen
and Scotchmen to offices in Ireland ; and a caveat is de-
livered against the supposed intention of making Sir John
Campbell Lord Plunket's successor. We believe there is
no foundation for this report ; but we regret to find Mr.
O'Connell countenancing hostility to the transfer of dis-
tinguished lawyers from the one island to the other. Sir
Edward Sugden gave great satisfaction in Ireland, and
why may not another appointment from England prove
equally beneficial ? It is true the Bar of England set the
first exdtrinle of this international strife by their opposition
to Lord Plunket, merely because it was unfit that an Irish Barrister should be made an English Judge. The speech
of Mr. O'Connell is of great importance, as containing the
whole plan of his next campaign, of which we have only
bad portions at his late dinners. What between agitation, in Ireland, the anarchical movements of the working classes
in England and Scotland, and the prospects in Canada, the
situation of Ministers is hardly to be envied.—Morning
Chronicle.

It is some time since we noticed the political affairs of
Ireland, or the progress of the Romish rebellion there.
Though silent, however, we have not been altogether un-
observant. Our wish was, and is, that the course of
things in that country should go on for the present un-
impeed. The result will not thereby be rendered less in-
evitable, nor the future policy to be founded on it less
manifest to the Imperial Legislature, to the British nation,
and to Europe. We would hint, however, to her Majesty's
Ministers, that it is almost time for them to have made up
their minds how far they are to give attendance on Mr.
Daniel O'Connell, Dr. Crotty, and the Precursor Combina-
tion, in the pursuit of those laudable objects for which
Ireland is now ostensibly agitated. The position of the
Queen's Government, at the feet of the Romish fac-
tion, is more prostrate and destitute of assistance or re-
lief than ever. Mr. O'Connell and his crew proclaim to
all the world that they themselves are more earnest and
inveterate in the persecution of Protestantism, to the utter
extinction of the Established Church, and in the defeas-
ance of the Reform Bill, by the swamping of the House of
Commons, under an influx of fifty or sixty more of Irish
caterer's, for whom a list of vacancies is to be created, by
disfranchising a proportionate number of British electorial
bodies, and depriving so many English gentlemen of their
seats. We say that, in this situation of things, it behoves
Lord Melbourne and his colleagues to let the country un-
derstand plainly what they mean to do. Will they, or
will they not, maintain their compact with the Romish
Revolutionists of Ireland, hold office by the single tenure
of their votes in Parliament, re-echo their speeches as those
of " honourable friends," encourage and fawn upon them
by accepting their recommendations to office, and dis-
pensing the Royal patronage in favour of those rebels and
their dependents, while every act they do, and every
word they utter, is overthrow to the Constitution, treason
to the Monarchy, and open war upon England as a na-
tion ? We repeat the question to the Queen's Mi-
nisters, what has this country to expect from them? Will
they not tell the people of England what system they are
at length to adopt ? for what events we are to prepare
ourselves ? It is downright wickedness, under such cir-
cumstances, when the Parliamentary friends of Ministers ,
who are saturated with the Queen's patronage out of doors
(ay, and within the Royal Palace), appear openly as de-
stroyers of the Protestant Church and State—it is down-
right fraud and wickedness in the Queen's responsible ad-
visers to withhold from the British nation generally, whe-
ther the conduct of the Government in its public acts is to
correspond_ with that of the men who enjoy the sweetaof
office; and Cvho eXerciSellie-liiiCtioni: Of the Magistracy by
iti delibeiate selection. When' Mr. 'O'Connell tells the
people of England'tbat 'is moving all -the engines of
both worlds to enlist " 500;000 fighting men" for the
accomplishment of- purpoves subversive of the Protes-
tant _ Chtireh, and of the -Constitution of Parliament
as-established by the Reform Bill—when be _announces
that if he cannot realize such projectS ,through the
"ii%anefutslinstrunient of; 500,000
_Precursors, - between
the ages-of fourteen and sixty; who, in their, petition to her
Majesty,- sign • themselves " Your Majesty's fighting
sal*its"-::'why,c4theni-Lthat if he cannot secure such ends
by Isamu of rebellitin under the half--mask of petition-
then,--lead•-!en, his, half-million of fighting
petitionere, to a-reballiow which- shall wear no mask at all,
and-carry' 6y, Ini4isgeisecl'force of arms a," Repeal of the.
Union"-.6..thatlisl-a•dismerabeilnent of the empire ! When
Dr: Crotty (the tiler, Archbishop" of Armagh) pro-
nounceslo the Roman Catbelies of Ireland, .as he did in a
speech the, other -.day, that•it•is not alone the privilege of
the Popish priesthoody bat. their boundenthity, to take part
in temporal politics, and to use their influence over the lay
men of their Church inlavourorsuch-political measures as
need-we rouse the Protestant
they (the priests) itaProv& of,
subject oC;this realm, or any other mind save those of
,*
Queen Victoria and her confidential counsellors, to a sense
of the frightful prospect which threatens us from such a
wholesale intrusion of the Romish clergy upon the tem-
poral affairs of the community ? What is the interference
of the priest ? It is that of a despot, against whom, amongst
a superstitious race, no hum
ian power can have the slight-
est hope of resistance. It s the
power excommunica-
tion. It is the power of confession. It is the power on
which turns the social existence of the lay Roman Catholic.
It is that on which turns his salvation. is
It an acknow-
ledged supremacy over body and soul. Earth and heaven
are within its dominions : the priestly dynasty cannot be
dethroned—it cannot perish—the succession is undisputed
and immortal—no human Government but that of the
sword can contend with the priesthood—to every other it
is an inexorable torrent, and where the majorty of citizensv
are Roman Catholic, it is death. A real RepreseLtatie
Government, founded on opinion, where there is an excess
of Papists over other sects, must end in representing the
opinion, that is the selfish or corporate interest, of the priest-
hood, which tolerates no opinion, and undermines every inte-
rest but its own. Such, therefore, is now the state of Ireland.
O'Connell has:raised an immense physical force for the service
of Drs. Crotty and M`Hale, and of the hierarchy which now
for the. first time placards the vevy crime of which fps