The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-03 00:00:00

to prepare our Tory Contemporaries for the pro- 1
bable discovery of the appalling fact that the said
1

Bull was the only equivalent the nation was

to receive for the marriage of the QUEEN with a

Papist, and the re-establishment of Popery as the
State Religion in these kingdoms. An Evening
Contemporary, noted for nothing but its recent de-
sertion of Liberal principles, has taken the alarm,
and in an article, more remarkable for length than

talent, suggests to Parliament the propriety of im-

peaching Ministers for holding any direct communi-
cation with the Holy See, even for the hallowed
purpose of procuring freedom and equal rights for
the enslaved sons and daughters of Africa I The

Journal in question unable, or not daring to grap-
ple with the great question here at issue, affects to
believe that the British Representative at Rome
was obliged to do homage to the POPE for the Im-
perial Crown of this realm, and then very coolly
prates about the existence of an Act of Parlia-
ment, passed in the reign of ELIZABETH, declaring
it treason in a British subject to hold any official
intercourse with the Court of Rome. Now, this
is from first to last sheer absurdity. The POPE
claims no civil or temporal jurisdiction over this
kingdom or any other in Europe, the provinces of
Italy, usually designated the patrimony of ST.
PETER, only excepted. This was repeatedly stated
by the immediate predecessors of the reigning
Pontiff in their Apostolical letters to the Irish Ca-
tholic Bishops, and the statement verified by those
Prelates when they declared, in their examinations
before Parliamentary Committees, previous to the
passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act, that
no Catholic in the United Kingdom, or in the
British Colonies owed, or believed himself to owe,
any temporal allegiance to the See of Rome in
any manner whatsoever. Nay more, that the Ca-
tholics, clergy and laity, would be ready to make
war upon the POPE were he to attack the Esta-
blished Protestant Government of this country.
Now, this declaration on the part of the See of
Rome amounts to a virtual repeal of the Act of
ELIZABETH, the whole basis of which is the as-
sumption that the POPE claims a temporal and im.
perial jurisdiction over the realm of England. But
were the fact otherwise the claims of the POPE to
the Sovereignty of these Islands would at the
utmost excite but a shout of derision. As to se-
riously proposing the recognition of such a prin-
ciple to an English Envoy as a necessary prelimi-
nary to any negociation, the POPE, poor old man,
would no more seriously contemplate it than he
would the making the Thames and the Tiber run in
one channel, or the closing up for ever the crater of
Mount Vesuvius.

If we must confess it, neither our hatred nor fear
of the POPE is at all commensurate with our love
of the freedom of the human race ; and if the
Court of Rome can be made instrumental in
breaking the bonds of slavery, we trust our Go-
vernment will neither be prevented by fanaticism,
nor the ghosts of forgotten sanguinary statutes,
from securing its co-operation, not only in u
esti horribleef
etur traffic de-
nouncing as impious, but in utterly extin-
on
guishing g
to t h
ethge
a humanit
e p
reflseesil:.
ffilicaviinna
tative at the Court of Home,
we are only sur-
prised that a measure t/ o necessary for the protection
of British subjects sojourning in Italy, and for the
encouragement of our commerce, has been so long-
overlooked by our Government. But the name of
the POPE alarms our rich prelates and pluralists;
who, like the Ephealan wOrAtippors of DIAN A,
confound religion with the interests of their craft ;
and the rallying cry of ignorant fanaticism--" No
Popery I No Idolatry I " is resounded from pulpit
to pulpit—from one extremity of the kingdom to
the other. Were these men assured that, in the
event of any change of national religion, their
livings, and their tithes, and their sundry emotel
mutts would be secured to them, they would not
care the value of a farthing whether Queen VIC-
TORIA or Pope GREGORY XVI. were to-morrow
head of the Church. The truly pious and. con-
scientious Protestants know right well that Eng-
land has nothing to fear from Popery, and that
we can afford to laugh at the proselytising
designs attributed to the Propaganda Fidei So-
ciety. If we want protection against Rome, we
must not look for it in the intemperate and sense-
less fanaticism of interested Churchmen, but in
the good sense and improved understanding of the
people. We cannot, in the nineteenth century,
the age of steam printing-presses, shut out false prin-
ciples by a sanatory cordon of exclusion, but by so
educating the people as to qualify them to repudi-
ate them the moment they come to be propounded.
Educate the people, and they will require no tithe-
fed priest to tell them that the enlightened princi-
ples of Protestantism are superior to the supersti-
ious dogmas of the Church of Rome.

Madrid Journals of the 25th ult. have been re
ceived, but they bring no news of the least interest
The capital was tranquil. The Funds had not de,

In another part of the Paper will be found the
first of a series of letters on national education
from the pen of the Rev. Mr. O'INIALLEY, who
has just returned from a tour of educational inspec-
tion on the Continent. The subject of national
education under Government controul, is of surpas-
sing interest at the present moment ; and as few
have had better opportunities of seeing the system
under its various aspects, and in its actual work-
ing, so few arc better qualified to set forth its me-
rits and demerits, than Mr. O'MA LLEY. We need
not say more to draw the attention of our readers to
the able communication to which we have alluded,
and for which we arc indebted to our respected
Contemporary the Dublin Evening Post.