The Sun.
London, England, 1823-02-04 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

SHAM PATRONAGE.
Maxstosr.lfot7sE.—Vesterday two young men, of gentle.
manly appearance, applied to Alderman TitouP, who sat for
the Lord Mayor, for a warrant against a prisoner in the Fleet,
who had just sent them 'notice that he was about to take the
benefit of the Insolvent Act.
From their statement it appeared that the insolvent had
been a clerk in the. Castom-lionse, and pretended to have
a great deal of influence with those who had authority in
the .London Docks, and other departments of a similar
kind.
.As the • applicants did • not wish to remain idle, and
had sonic acquaintance with him, they thoiight., proper to
accept a proposal of his toplace,them in a respectable employ-
ment in the London Docks and elsewhere, for which they con..
sented to remunerate him with a year's salary of both situations.
Each of the situations being estimated at 'lOO/. a year, the in.
solvent deiminded from each of his dupes the sum of ;10/. to
work a beginning, and security. forthe remainder. One of
them thinking that an appearance of liberality Would produce
a good effect, paid down -• at once the whole amount of the.
price of his place. The other was content to be the last served,
and save no more • than. dro,stipulated Sum as entrance-money
The Insolvent, finding be had two easy ones to deal with,
seemed to be very active in their • service, and atd length
told them that the • time of appointment was at hand, and that
• it. would he necessary for them to procure upwards •of
10111. for the purchase of the custoniery, atamns, pre-
paratory to their being called upon to • act in their new
• situations.. Taking it for granted the demand was es correct
as the former part of the transaction, the money was forthcom.
ing, and the two Unfortunate candidates for •the imaginary
employments paid down a total sum exceeding 2601. Toe day
was then settled on which they were to begin to calculate on
their profits, but " an unavoidable delay" took place, They
patiently enClured several postponements. At last they learned
at the establishments in which they expected to act, that there
was4to vacancy, and that the insolvent was unknown. Subse-
quently they succeeded in obtaining, a restitution of 1051., but
upon their application for the remainder, they were served with
notice to attend the Insolvent Court, if they considered that they
had a claim upon the Custom.house clerk.
Alderman THQRP ordered a warrant immediately to be
lodged at the Fleet Prison, to detain the insolvent for a misde..
meunour. " This, and some recent cases of mock patronage,"
said the Alderman, ".remind me of a fellow *lto came to the
and•ofrered to make me a baronet. Ile got nothing -from me,
• but I have 'ream to belietTh he received -•sonie hundreds I'min
some of my brethren, and they were just as lucky as 'than two
gentlemen."

BI LL SOA 51 ES.
Ottrumatr..--Eft/ .V4ante.t, who is 1109/' 54 years of 11g2,
whose re-appearance in public at his old trade we mitieed a
short time suttee, was yesterday again brought up upon a charge
at this- office, before the Situng 31agistrate, Mr. Alderman
Bnowre, fur picking a gentleman's pocket.
Bill was never at any tint? a very dexterous conveyance hint.
self, but he had awnritan cohabiting with him, who was more
than ordinarily skilful at the trade. In her operations Soames
was constantly at her elbow to receive the produce of her light
fingers ; his gentleirnanly dress and appearance' placing hint
generally beyond. suspicion. I ritiortnnately, however, for
oames, his lady was transported some tew messions ago,. since
which time he has been thrown atut of praetice,• and reduced to.
the state we described at his last appearaft "%Viten placed at
the bar yesterday; he seemed consitleraliy renovated, both as
to health and apparel. • • - •t•
John Woodward, a sort of porter or messenger at Messrs.
Lubbocks, the bankers, stated that On Saturday evening, be.
tween fl and 7 o'ckick, as he was walking along Newgate.strect,
his attention. was attracted by the prisoner, and a welhdressod
female, in a dark-coloured cloth pelisse, a t'ew yards before
him; hom he observed taking particular notice of .andocca-
sionally trying the pockets of the persiftts who-prised/ them. He
watched them for a 'short distance ; two gentlemen in company
together passed them, and the prisoner immediately •put his
hand into the coat-pracket of one of them, and drew out a silk
handkerchief: Be Vile witness) instantly seized his hand with
the handkerchief in it. The female as. instantly seized 'him by
the collar, saying, " What do you want with the man and
endeavoured to push him away. The prisoner at the same time
wrenched his hand from his grasp; but before he could escape
he (the witness) caught hint again. The fethale then snatched
the handkerchief out of the prisoner'alathdyigritnteylr,,,dtehe )ffie s'eoltElirle,
prisoner struggled hard to get away, )a
coming up ut the instant, be wart secured and taken' to the
Compter.
Mr. Edward Seack, a merehant,reslding at the Langbourn-
eharribtrs,whose:handkereider had been thutt stolen, saw nothing.
of the transaction, nor did he know t)f his loss till intinmed.by
some person who had followed hint. _

Soames's defence was, as ustud, a protestation of his entire
innocence; he knew nothing of the female who was said to be
with him, and declared soknully that he liad never taken a
handkerchief in all his days. Though this was dcliverea in
good set terms, it wanted much of that confidence which for.
wetly distinguished his addresses from the bar.
That so notorious a pickpocket should expect to be believed
when he asserted that he had never taken an handkerchief in all
•
his days, may at first appear somewhat strange. it i:, nut,
however, improbable, barring • the present instance, but that
Bill spoke the truth. \l' :) he found himself fairly secured,
he exclairtied, " it wits hard to be kord (transported) at last
fur a dirty clout;" and the officers Who know Inin best say, in
his former days he never descended to so trifling a theft, and
consider this act as the strongest proof a the distressed shim-
.
non to which he has been »4;104
Seams has once served out his time at Botany Bay ; he
was a second time sentenced for transportation, and was
fetched back and set at liberty by the interposition of Alder.
man Wood, on the investigation respecting the blood-money
conspiraeY ; after which he w 43 fitted out at the expetliAt
of Government, and returned to the Bay as a free settler.
lie soon tired of the place., atatepted the situation of steward
on board a vessel, and came back to country. - The oflbnee
Ire was yesterday charged with, and for which he was committed
to Netvgate for trial, will most prubzwy send him hack to finish
hie days as a felon, in the land where he Wright, by honest in.
tiustry, have acquired COIXIpcteIICC: and indrpendencc.

The question concerning the claims of the Ro-
man Catholics has.been so frequently and so fully discussed in
parliament, that there scarcely remains a topic on either ,side
which has not been long since exhausted. The subject, how-
ever, continues to be one of undiminished, Interest. It in one
shape or other engages the periodical consideration of the legis-
lature, and is Always entertained by every party, in both houses,
as one of paramount importance.

Nor has the public anxiety, with respect to its final determi-
nation, been lessened, since the advocates of the Romeo Catlto
lies prevailed to have an emancipation bill passed through the
Commons, which .was, however, rejected by the Lords. This
has occurretk on two occasions, and it is, to say, the least of it,
a very inconvenient and unseemly thing, that the two great
branches of the legislature Should be time at issue open, a ques-
tion which involves the constitutional rights of so large a class
of his Majesty'a subjects. I have, therefore, thought that it
would not be an inaceeptable service, to endeavour, in a clear
and impartial nuwner,'to divest the question of every thing ex-
traneous, and to present the leading views and argtunents
of both parties to the public. I hava also taken occasion to
introduce such considerations on the affirmative side of the ques-
tion as could not be directly adverted to in Parliament. My fixed
conviction is, I must premise, favourable to emancipation. I
hope, however, it will be found that I have not overlooked or
undervalued any of the reasonings which have been employed
to prove its impolicy Ind danger. The opponents of the
claims of the Roman Catholics have generally argued in this
manner : the penal, laws at present in force have been enacted
by the wisdom' of our ancestors, and were by them considered
necessary as safeguards to our civil and religious institutions.'
Their necessity, the transactions which led to the revolution
aufficiently evince; when a popish king, by the instrumenta-
lity of a popish clergy, and in wicked confederacy with a fo.
feign popish potentate, had so nearly accomplished the esta-
blishMent of despotism upon the ruins of the constitution.
What, they ask, would be the condition, of these countries at
the present day, if James the Second had succeeded in his at-
tempt to erect Popery into the established religion of the State,
and himself into an itutoerat at whose fiat the most important
of our constitutional privileges might be abridged, end the
moat wholesome laws for our personal security annulled
or suspended ? Such are the evils agniniit which we have
been protected by the obnoxious Popery laws : and It would
be well if those who are elequeht in declaiming againsi their
severity, would consider how vast .are the morel and political
calamities which the United
.Kingdoms have escaped, coin.
pared with the partial inconvenient-des whitit.the excluded sect
has incurred by their enactment. It, is in vain, they say, to
argue, that the Popery haws should now be tepealtal, because
precisely the same causes which gave rise to them are not now,
in operation. That the dangers against which they were in-
tended to provide have greatly dintinished, is, no doubt, true :
but that only proves that they have been hitherto efficient, not'
that they are at present useless. While there remains the
possibility of establishing a Popish influence in either House of
Parliament, the same dangers, to a certain degree, although
latent, are by no means extinct ; and it would be foolish anti
criminal to Max our vigilance while they are in the remotest
degree to be apprehended. With respect to the argument
founded upon the mitigated character which Popery has its.
Runlet!, and the fact so confidently ;wed by the advocates of
Emancipation, that it has itself undergone a kind of silent re.
formation, these they consider altogether as fidlaetous and un.
founded. Popery is, and ever will be, the game that it always
bas been in principle : anti if its Intolerant and persecuting po-
bey is less offensively conspieitoos at the present day than for-
merly, that it only an artful accortmuxiation to the spirit of the
times, antlty no means to be considered as proving any essential
alterationl4 its character, .or final relinquishinent of its preten-
sions. Only give the Paptata power; only give them an opportu.
nity of again asserting the eupremacy of their Cluirch with any
tolerable prospect ofsuccess, and you shell vichly see how they
will smile at the idea of being withheld 14' any- fmling of grati-
tude tbr former concessions from pushing da.ir advantage to the
utmost possible extent, and probably availing themselves of name
favourable conjuncture of circumstances for enthrooing Popery
in supreme and absolute dotninieo over the liberties anti the
destinies Of the empire. Indeed, to suppose otherwise, .they
add, is not only to be deaf to the adalooitione of history, but: to
betray a great ignorance of humnn nautre. Are. power and
grandeur now less desirable than when Christendom was tribu-
tary to the successors of St. Peter, acid the monarchs of Enrope
trembled at their nod? is bigotry now less baleful than when
then were kindled in Smithfield,: and human victims tied to the
stake to consummate the bloody orgiek of its votaries. What
sudden and miraculous transformation has the Roman Catholit
superstition of late years wrought in the minds and hearts of its
votaries, that they are to be no longer susceptible of the ordinary

Such are the arguments, and such the views which influence,
• many most respectable and conscientious men in their oppesi
tion to the claims of the Roman Catholics. Those on the other
hand who espouse these claims consider this line of reasoning
not by any means satisfactory or well founded. The gnention,
. .
they say, is not now, whether the penal laws were or were not
necessary at the time they were enacted : but whether a ease
can he made out at the present day, which will justify their
continuance, and evince-the propriety of Occluding five millions
of subjects from the full enjoyment of the blessings of the Con.
stitution. That this is the true state of the question is evi.
dent, they say, from the mitigation of the penal code which ha s
from time to time %icon place; by which the Legislature must
be considered as virtually declaring that circumstances both migh t
and did so alter the condition of the Roman Catholics, as to ren-
der it expadient to relax at one period laws, the severity of which
might have been necessary at another. The restrictions under •
which they labour were imposed upon then,, not :.s a sect, but
as a party ; not as a body of Christians professing erroneous
or anscriptural tenets, but as a dangerous and discontented
faction in the State. And Parliament has hitherto acted upon
the principle that it is cruel and impolitic to continue these re-
strictions any longer than the political circumstances which
called for them may be fully proved to justify their existence.
To contend for them upon any other
ground would he to ar-
raign the conduct of the .Legislature in all preceding concert.
SiooB to the Roman Catholic* and to call for the repeal of those
benignant acts by which they became entitled to the right at'
'acquiring property, and to the privilege of the elective fran-
chise. Indeed with those who tell us that there is an absolute
incompatibility between the profession of the Roman Catholic
religion and the allegiance due to a Protestant Sovereign, the
question-should be, whether we ought not to resume what has
beeri already granted, not, whether we may not concede what
is at present retained.
To discuss the question, then, upon the only principle which
a respect for former decisions of Parliament will suffer us to en-
certain, what one of the circumstances which formerly rendered
the Roman Catholics formidable as a political party, at pre-
sent remains to justify any 'constitutional jealousy of them ?
Mel his present Majesty to struggle with the difficulties of a
new dynasty and a disputed succession ? Are one of his domi-
Mims in rebellion against his authority ? rs there a Pretender
'in mins against his Throne ? llnvc any of the great,.Centinen.
Id Powers espoused the cause of this rival candidate for em.
.hire ? . And does the Pope second his views. with the full
weight both of his temporal power and his spiritual authority ?
The most hypochondriacal alarmist, it Is presumed,will Scarcely
pmend that there exists at the present clay, any such
causes of political apprehension or nheasiness. And but fur
such causes, it is aidted, would this penal code have ever exist..
eel? lf, then, this code .he suffered to remain still upon the
statute book, it must be upon grounds very different, surely,
from those which justified its Origintil enactment, and its,advo.
tag's are called upon to state what theta! grounds are.; it is
highly unreasonable to suffer-lawx inflicting severe privations
and disabilities to continue in operation,. ;after the necessity
which gave rise to them has Contessedly ceased, and before any
necedity for their further continuance is made .apparent.
( To bc,coothmed. )

FROM SATURDAY'S' GAZETTE.

DIVIDENDS, *

Feb. 25, J. Marchant, 3laidstone, carpenter—Feb. 22, S.:l,
ilentiett, Worship-street, coach-manufacturer—Feb. '22, S.
'tucker, Old South Seu-house, Ilroad-street, merchant--Feb.
25, G. .11ingley, Piccadilly, milliner—Feb. 15, C. W. Itodd,
Broadway, Worcestershire, inaltster—Feb. 22d, J. Whitchurch
‘Vorship-street, Finshury:lNuare, coach-master-.. Feb. 22, W. ,
Hyde, Larl-street,lllacktitars,inerchant—Feb.22, S. Thvialtes,
Staplehurst, Kent, tallow-chandler--March I, C. Croaker,
I Tpper Farm, Crayford, Kent, farno.r—Feb. 2:.!, T. IL Rud-
kin, Charlotte-street, Islington, nialtstrr —Feb. 2.4, IZ, Suther-
land and R. Sutherland, Ihrmingloon, gun.rnakers—February
25, Sir R. Graham, London, Itart., and J. Itailton, A-lunches-
ter, merehants--February 25, W. Bundler, Bury, and T.
4.4lchtran, Huyton, lilackrod
, Lancahhir,, calieo-printersFeb,
24, T. onsey, litt!gh, Norfolk, fanner—Feb. 24, .1.
Slater, & .1. Slitter, Jun. Ye.adon, Yorkshire, clothiers—Feb.2s,
W. Palfrey, Hinchwick, tilostershire, farmer—Feb. 22, ,44,T1‘y..
lor, Bursted, Wrotham, Kent:paper-maker—Feb. 111, W. Wood,
Holm Vann, Wetherby, Yorkshire, cattle-johbcr-,..Feb. 24,
I. Ilullman and T. Iluliman, 2,lilntharp, IVestraorlarid,
rttrr-
eera--.March 1, Mr. 'l'. Sherwin, Puternoger-row, book sviler---
Feb. 4, .1. Cl. 111‘14eod, Huntley Hotel, teicester-tiehis, incr.
chant—Feb. 92, J. entre, Regent-street 'St. Jamos, Wegtmio.
attar, jeweller--Feb. 20, .1. Thompson, Afappleton, Derbyshire,
farmer—Feb. 25, T. Goodman, Witherley, Leicestershire--
Feb. 24, H. Sheffield, tile-maker---Feb. 211, J.
hall and M. Hargraves, Liverpool, timber-merchants—Feb. 22
S. Porter, of London, stationer. ,

CERTIFICATES, Fun. 22.
T. Rose, Cafe Royale Regent-street, Pall-Mi4ll, wine-
merchant--E. Deavill, Manchester, WhOlesale grocer-11.
Dunnett, Norwich, veterinary-surgeon—F. C. Cookworthy,
Bristol, hookseller-0. Wingfield, Worthing, innkeeper—J.
141aNhall, Cleekheaton, l'orkshire, clothier—A. Denholute
Cheltenham, dealer in slatea—R. Steven,, Sotilbury, ,
inghamshire, dairyinan—J. Wood, IlOopgate,strect-without,
grocer—NV. S. Williams, Charles-3treet,. Brampton, coach-
Mager.

PA TIT NUIIBII IPB DISSOLVED.
C. Chown and W. IValker, Alanehester, uuctioneers—J.
Peacock and W. Turner, Manchester, porters—J. Fowler and
A. Piteher.(executors of T. `osier) anti J. J. Hadley Chel-
tenham, printers—J. (hitt-mood and J. Addison, of Sudbury,
Suffolk, grocers-0. Kirkpatrick and J. ticoweroft, Manches-
ter, cotton-manufacturers—W. Dolman anti Creswiele.
Ilishopsgateourect..a ithoui, tay-lacemanu Cie ture rs R. France,
W. Pass, and T. Monks, Horwich, Bolton, bleachors—P. H.
Mills, J. ,Rodway, jun. and J. Ashford, Alf Birmingham,
Merchants (so far as -,,gards Ashford)...J. \'. Broughton.
\V. Evvred, anti '',owlanti, of Oxtbrii.strcet,
drapers (as far as r +he Nial INIV1101(14-11. P. Touray
and J. 0. Moojen, insurative..tirokers— E. Slack
mid M. A. Stephen: . 'nwistock.street, Covent-garden, dress..
IllAcra —T. Sandi Rhodes, and It. %Volker, of Munches-
ter engravers to ealico.printers (so flu. teglifttb ItIlk:
.1. 'Dance anti T, Doan, liappstoml, mach proprietors—W.
D. Lane anti J. Bartlett, Stonehouse, Devonshire, pawn.
brokers—C. O'Connor Areal C. Percival!, Oannit..corner,
Middlesex, veterinary surgeons—AV, Brien:Wand K. Witham,
Wakeficld, woollen.,toP-rtouretfacturers-0, Drewry and, T.
lirumisy Staton.in..Holdernesal Yorkshire, ship-in-Awes—
Deykes and C. Kaye, Tbavies.inn, attormita.

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