The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 1851.

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The Lords sat for a short time last evening, but
transacted no business of importance.
In the House of Commons,
Lord MAHON withdrew his motion for an address on
the subject of passports, in consequence of receiving an
assurance from Lord PALMERSTON that he would make
arrangements to lessen the expense of obtaining pass-
ports, and to give greater facilities for procuring them.
The debate on the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bil
was resumed by 1

Mr. NEWDEGATE, who contended that it WWI con
trary to the Constitution for the Temporal' officer o
foreign sovereign, and such was Cardinal WISEMAN, to
be permitted to reside in this country. He considered
the Bill did not go far enough, but would, nevertheless,
give it his support.
Mr. STUART Krtox contradicted the assertion of Mr.
REYNOLDS, that the Protestants of Ulster were indif-

ferent to this matter.
Dr. POWER opposed the Bill, because it was a measure
of persecution.
Mr. H. DRUMMOND said the question was nothing less
than this—whether Roman Catholics should remain a
tolerated sect under the spiritual dominion of the QUEEN,
or whether the QUEEN should be a licensed heretic under

the spiritual dominion of the POPE. In the course of his
argument, Mr. DRUMMOND, apostrophising Roman Ca-
tholic;, observed, " Your nunneries are prisons or bro-
thels, and yon may take your choice." This called up
The Earl of ARUNDEL and SURREY, who appealed to
the SPEAKER whether Mr. DRUMMOND had not trans•
grossed the rules of order.
The SPEAKER decided in the negative, and
Mr. DnummonD resumed his argument. In the
course of an enumeration of certain importations from
Rome, Mr. DRUMMOND alluded to " the Virgin MARY'S
milk," which was the prelude to a scene of great excite-
ment.
Mr. OTLAHERTY rose to order, as well as Mr. J.
O'CONNELL, Mr. MOORE, and Mr. GRATTAN, who de-
sired that the words might be taken down.
The SPEAKER decided that Mr. DRUMMOND, having
used no expression personally cffensive to a Member or
disrespectful to the House, was not out of order ; but
he, at the same time, expressed a hope that Members. in
discussing a questien of so much delicacy, calculated to
produce so much excitement, would abstain from all ex-
pressions that might cause irritation.
A few conciliatory words from Mr. DRUMMOND re-
stored the House to some degree of calmness, and he con-
cluded his speech by declaring that the Bill was unjust
and uncalled for towards Ireland, and that a law must
be passed to prohibit the residence of Cardinals in Ire-
land, to avoid everything done under the canon law, and
to extend th• Morttnain Act for the protection of dying

Sir JAMES GRAHAM strongly condemned the language
which had been used by Mr. DRUMMOND. He admitted
that the conduct of the POPE and of Cardinal WISEMAN
had been arrogant and offensive, but he considered the
present measure uncalled for, more especially as it was
a penal enactment, and a reversal of our former policy.
The Bill, moreover, was a "botch," and he was not
surprised at it; such men as Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Sir
GEORGE GREY, and Sir Jowl ROMILLY could never be-
, come adepts at framing penal enactments.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL defended the Bill, as necessary
for the preservation of liberty from the encroachments
of the See of Rome, which, ever since 1815 had
been striving after aggrandisement, and which had
now made common cause with the obscurantists and
absolutists of Europe, against the liberties of mankind.
He defended his celebrated Durham letter, and said
that the milder the measure was which could be
adopted to repel the aggression the better; but that
if further aggression should take place, other measures
might become necessary. He did not repent of any
single vote ho had ever given in favour of the civil and
religious equality of our Roman Catholic fellow-
'subjects, and it was to secure their independence that
he was opposed to the encroachments of the See of
Rome.

The debate was then adjourned on the motion of
Mr. GRATTAN; And the Houk) rose at One o'clock.

The debate on the Papal aggression was resumed
last evening, and in the early portion of it a scene
took place, which at one time bid fair to bring the
discussion to an abrupt termination, a scene rather
_ .

resembling those disgraceful riots which the repre-
sentatives of the parti-pretre are wont to get
up in the French Legislative Assembly, than
the usually decent and orderly proceedings
of a British House of Commons. Mr,

HENRY DRummoNn, the eccentric Member for

Surrey, rose to address the House about nine
o'clock, and as might have been expected spoke his
mind somewhat plainly ; the IJI tramontane Members
thereupon commenced a regular and organized system
of interruption, uttering such discordant sounds and
shrieks and roars, as are the usual preludes to

brandishing a shillelagh; thereupon Mr. DRUMMOND,
naturally irritated, gave utterance to certain ex-
pressions regarding nunneries and modern miracles,
which were certainty in the worst possible taste, on
which the Ultrarnontanists rose, and shouted,
and akrieked, and some of them rushed at the lion.
Member for Surrey, and threatened him with per-
sonal violence. A more outrageous scene of tumult
or one more disgraceful to all concerned in it was
never exhibited within the walls of any public as-
sembly. We trust that the scene of last evening
will operate as a lesson to the U ltramontstne
Members not again, as some of them did
the other day at the Romish meeting, to
set the example of uttering foul abuse. Gentlemen
who are so particularly thin-skinned themselves
should be more warded in the language they
use with regard to others. The great
speeches of the night were those of Sir
JAMES GRAHAM and of Lord Joust RUSSELL.
The Right Hon. Baronet admits that the conduct of

the POPE and of the Cardinal has been arrogant
and needlessly offensive, that it was hard for this
great Protestant community to pass it by in
silence and contempt, and that the Government
were bound in duty to assert the great Pro-
testant principles fixed at the Reformation, confirmed
at the Revolution and by the Act of Settlement, and
ratified by the solemn compacts at the union of
Scotland to England, and of Ireland to Great Bri-

tam ; and yet the Right Hon. Baronet calls upon this
great country to submit to this offensive arrogance,
and upon the Government to neglect their plain duty
to the QUEEN and to the country, and to violate the
compact entered into with Scotland and with Ireland
at the unions, by abstaining from doing anything to
repel this aggression; and to excuse the adoption of
such a scandalous and cowardly course of proceeding
he contents himself with conjuring up the bug-
bear of a civil val. in Ireland. Now, Sir
JAMES GRAHAM may set his heart at rest
upon this subject
; there will be no civil war,
and our reason for giving him this assurance is,
just because the outbreak of a civil war is threatened.
Men who intend to rebel never give notice of their
intention beforehand, It was the quiet, mild-spoken
Feceer who attempted a Chartist outbreak, not the
mush-threatening orators of the Convention ; besides,
if we are to yield to threats of civil war, we shall be
bullied by the Ultramontanists out of all our de-
fences, and at last have to fight for our bare lives.
Principiis obsta ; if a stand is to be made it
must be made at once, at whatever cost, and therefore
are we rejoiced at the bold and manly speech
of Lord JOHN RUSSELL. He distinctly avowed
his continued adhesion to the principles laid
down in the Durham letter, and declared that
further aggressions should be met by further mea-
sures ; his allusion to the admirable speech of Sir
ROBERT PEEL, whose personal experience in Switzer-
land had taught him what Illtramontanisna really is,
was in excellent taste, and his vindication of himself
power, att
he se 0 0 f
from the charge of illiberality was a noble specimen
of manly eloquence.
" L
If I feel some doubt," said the Noble ord, "if I
feel some doubt—some suspicion—Souse apprehension—
of the future proceedings of the Court of Rome, I am not
without the authority of many friends of freedom who
expressed similar fears and similar apprehensions. I
do not know that I need be ashamed of being somewhat
more liberal than Milton and than Locke. I do
not know that I need be ashamed of having somewhat
of the temper which belonged to Hampden and to
Pym and to all those great men who asserted the
liberties of the country in this House against
the tyranny of Charles I. Ido not know that I need
be ashamed of feeling somewhat of those doubts and
apprehensions which influenced the calm and sober
judgment of Lord Somers. Those men were the friends
of liberty, many of them writers in favour of liberty
of conscience and of toleration far beyond the opinions of
their age; but they felt, however, that although the Roman
Ch
conscientiously and consistently with the enjoyment of
might be held as well as any other faith,
icstfialilththat there was something in the character
of
Rome which made every friend of liberty
jealous of its encroachments and fearful of the establish-
ment of its power. 3,
These are words worthy of a. RUSSELL, and will
find a response in the breast of every friend of liberty
in every part of the world. Let the Noble
Lord act up to them—let him at once dismiss
from his Cabinet those timid, or worse than
timid colleagues who fetter his free will ; let him bring
forward a bold and comprehensive measure for the de-
fence of our Protestant liberties against Papal tyranny,
and if upon
such a measure he appeals to the
country, he will have such a majority to back him
as Minister has never had of late years, and he will
be enabled to found one of the strongest Governments
that England has ever known.
a - - _

It hss been recorded by the se who have explored
the Transpontane regions that no adequate concep-
tion can be entertained of the uproariousness of a
Tictoria Theatre audience on a Boxing-night by any
person not actually present, 'however vivid may be
his imagination. Unable as we are to substantiate
the accuracy of this assertion -from personal observa-
tion, we would nevertheless we ger, with a feeling of
complete security, that neither that, nor any other
congregation of stentorian bell( 'viers, could by possi-
bility bear away the palm of to mult from the Eastern
Counties Railway shareholder: s, at their meeting on