The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-11 00:00:00

Obi taina

nwo,
LONDON, MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 1851.

Now that the session has terminated, that the
legislators, hereditary or elective, have departed in
all directions, we desire to express our anxious hope
that the politico-religious excitement that has for
some time prevailed may be suffered to subside.
Since the public attention was first directed to the
"Papal aggression," and the gross invasion of the
undoubted prerogative of the British SOVEREIGN
and the cherished independence of the British
nation, all other questions have been comparatively
disregarded. The wanton insult thus reck-
lessly inflicted, for the time being, swallowed up
all minor differences. All classes, from the Peer
to the peasant, were equally moved, all were animated
by a like feeling to repel the wilful outrage. The
Government necessarily took up the case, necessarily
we say, for any Ministry that endeavoured to evade
the subject would have been forthwith hurled from
place and power amid the hisses and denunciations of
the indignant people. They did so temperately but
efficiently. Contented with defending their own posi-
tion, they did not attempt to carry the war into the
enemies' camp, or to procure the restoration of reli-
gious tests or penal laws. This laudable moderation
should have excited the gratitude of the Roman
Catholic party ; but, unfortunately, a very different
view was taken of the subject. A course the most
unwise and impolitic was adopted by the party who
have been styled " the Brigade," " the Spartan
band," and a variety of other soubriquets. In place
of regarding the matter in its proper light, they en-
deavoured to impede all legislation, to produce the
greatest confusion in every quarter. Like the
Ishmaelites, their hands were against all men,
and they were quite prepared to vote black
white, or white black, if it could annoy or injure the
Minister. Nay, they carried this amiable doctrine to
such an extremity, that rather than support the
Government in any point, they withdrew from the
House pointedly and offensively, showing a pre-
arranged organization, when the division was about
to be taken on the proposition of Sir FREDERICK
TRESIGER. It was to this sagacious and well-de-
vised system of strategy that the increased stringency
of the measure should be attributed, and if a " com-
mon informer" should disturb the slumbers of one of
the prelates by dragging him into court, to account
for his communications with the Vatican, the Right
Rev. Gentleman may thank those faithful sons of the
Church—" the brass band"—for, the annoyance and
inconvenience to which he may be subjected.
Despite their exertions, however, the measure was
carried through both Houses by decisive and over-
whelming majorities. It has become the law of the
land, and nothing that they can do can possibly alter its
provisions or repair the mischief they have effected
Might not it be expedient to let the subject drop into
oblivion, and not to keep the public attention perpe-
tually on the strain.? The Catholic Defence,Associa-
tion may appear a very brilliant society to those
"one-eyed men "—as our respected friend and cor-
respondent, Mr. RIGBY Wasors used to designate the
short-sighted individuals who took erroneous and
distorted views on any political question—but it may
possibly give occasion for the creation of a Protestant
Defence Association, likewise, in which rather
unpalatable topics may be discussed. For instance,
the respective degrees of toleration, the full and free
permission to carry on all their religious rites and
ceremonies without let or hindrance, allowed to
Roman Catholics in this Protestant country, may
possibly be contrasted with the ungracious denial of
the Romish authorities of the privilege of establishing
a place for Protestant worship in Rome. St. George's
Cathedral may be compared with the " granary" out-
side the walls of " the Eternal City," or the com-
plaisance with which the erection of the contem-
plated churches of St. Patrick and St. Peter
are regarded in the British metropolis, with the
steadfast refusal of the PONTIFF to sanction the erec-
tion of even the most humble temple in Rome in
which the tenets of the Church of England may bE
advocated.

We do not desire to adopt measures of retaliation.
It is not because others are the slaves of prejudice
that we would also lend our assistance to bigots,
to enable them to carry their unsound opinions into
practical operation. If once the tide of religious dis
cord surmounts the banks within which it has been
restrained, it is impossible to calculate within
what limits it may subsequently be re-
strained, or what amount of mischief may be
occasioned. GOD forbid that the fiend should be un-
loosed on the British soil. We, at least, shall do all
to prevent this formidable evil ; but if the contest be
forced upon us ; if no exertions of ours can avoid the
painful alternative ; if we must be oppressors or op-
pressed—persecutors or persecuted, we must only
once more buckle on our armour, and raise our an-
cient war-cry, " GOD, defend the right." Although
we may deprecate, we do not dread the result.

The intelligence from Cuba, received by the Ame-
rican mail, which arrived yesterday, is of a nature
to create, if not alarm, at least anxiety. It
appears, according to an official proclamation, issued
by the Government of the Havannah on the 18th
ult., that in the neighbourhood of Peurto Principe, a
town containing a population of upwards of 35,000
souls, and situated in the central department of the
island, there had been two attempts at insurrection.
In both instances the insurgents were defeated and
dispersed, and so rapid was their flight that they left
behind them on the field their arms and ammunition.
None of the inhabitants, white or coloured, ap-
pear to have joined in this revolutionary movement,
and there would be no occasion even for anxiety,
were it not for the evident connexion of this move-
' ment with the designs of certain lawless ma-
rauders who have located themselves in Texte.
and the other recently annexed States of the
American Union, who are land-stealers because they
are slave-breeders, and who have determined by fraud
or force to gain possession of Cuba in order to secure
a market there for American-raised slaves. It appear,
that the recent attempt at insurrection in the neigh
bourhood of Puerto Principe was exclusively the
work of agents from the United States. Chief in
command of the insurgents were Don JOA/4,111/44
AGUERRO Y SANCHEZ and Don WALDO Y JUAN An-
TEAGA, both of whom had recently arrived from the
United States, and in the official proclamation of the
18th July the Governor-General of Cuba attributes
the outbreak to " the efforts of some mutinous young
men, pushed by the !erniasaries recently arrived
from the United States." Although we are
not inclined to attach overdue weight to the asser-
tions of Spanish ministers, generals, or governors,
yet we cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that in
the present instance the assertions of the Governor-
General of Cuba are well grounded. Those American
journals which are the organs of the Cuba annexers
all endeavour to exaggerate the importance of the
outbreak, and some of them go so far as to announce
that the Spanish troops have themselves joined the
insurgents, an assertion the falsehood of which is
self-evident to all those who understand any-
thing of Spain and her colonies, but
which is well calculated to induce ignorant
and profligate young men, to whom con-
tinuous and honest industry is hateful, and who are
fond of a life of adventure, to join the band of pirates
now organizing in Florida for the invasion of Cuba.
We entirely acquit the Government of the United
States, not only of all participation in, but of all con-
nivance at, this projected piracy. We believe that
the Federal Government is exerting itself to the
utmost of its power, and in all sincerity, to
prevent this invasion and to arrest these marau-
ders ; but
im-
potent the we also know ho
ExecutivesoftheNv wak •e and
United
States
and always must be, for the repression of such
attempts ;
and when we remember that the an-
nexation of Texas, repudiated as a dishonest act
by one PRESIDENT,
was made by his successor the step-
ping-stone to power, and that his successor, in order
not to be distanced in the race for popularity,
embarked in a war with Nalco as wicked and as un.