The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

There was a are; .t Protestant meeting in Dublin on
Thursday last, a re port of which our readers will find
in another part of this paper. We expected that the
rejection of the Tithe Bill would be followed by some
such exhibition ; and we may consider the speeches as
so many Conser catia.,e manifestoes. They. were unani-
mous in abusing - the Government ; but the speakers,
with one excefion, did not point to any intelligible
conclusion. ihe exception to which we allude was
Mr. G. A. T.-lamilton, of Hampton, who told the Peers
distinctly, '.hat- if they have a mind for a counter-re-
volution, they may count en the Protestants of Ire-
land as a. band of bravoes fit for the most desperate
-work. " They were now (said Mr. G. Hamilton)
.upon the eve of a mighty conflict. Hitherto it had
been a war of words—but the time for action was ap-
proaching, and Ireland would be the scene of the con-
itest.—(eeers.) The Peers of England had nobly
done their duty ; the Protestants of Ireland should be
ready to support them with their voices, and, if necessary,
with the bayonet.—( Enthusiastic cheering.) The King
had told the Protestants to speak out—they would do so ;
they should now proclaim that they were neither
afraid nor unwilling to enter upon the conflict, not-
withstanding all the boasting about the seven millions,
and the perfect state of their organization."—(Cheers.)
Mr. G. A. Hamilton is a perfect Captain Bobadil.
He and his brother Protestants are ready not only to
make minced meat of the seven millions of Catholics,
but to do the work of the Peers in England. We
should suppose, however, the Peers, bearing in mind
that there arc such things as laws against treason, and
scaffolds, will, notwithstanding the enthusiastic cheer-
ing received by Mr. G. A. Hamilton, think twice
before. they close with that gentleman. Ministers
Lave troops in Ireland ; and the moment Mr. G: A.
Hamilton, or any of his Orange brethren, evince a
disposition to disturb the peace, they will find that
other people have bayonets as well as themselves.
This is sad trifling. Another speaker, the Rey.
John Martin, said, it was the • duty of the Pro-
testants of Ireland to refuse any information whatever
to the Church Commissioners appointed by the King,
and the auditory cheered this sentiment. The plan
which he recommended was, a society and a subscrip-
tion. They should have Penny Magazines to enlighten
the people of England, and they should also adopt of-
fensive as well as defensive measures. With a slight
alteration in the Liturgy, they might conciliate the
'Wesleyan Methodists to make conramn cause with
them—(Cries of hear, and " No, no.") We suppose
after the Liturgy had been altered to. the taste of
the Wesleyan Methodists, they will be regimented
and furnished with bayonets to assist the Protestant
boys of Ireland in effecting the counter-revolution in
favour of the Peers. Lord Roden, an the other
band, told the audience, that the Protestants were so
weak in many parts of Ireland, that as soon as it
was seen how few they were, they would be mur-
dered. Numbering the Protestants, according to his
Lordship, was numbering their days. " Let us now
look (said his Lordship) to the Commission lately is-
sued. Issued for what purpose ? Why, for the purpose
of numbering the people—of showing to our ene-
mies where the Protestants are weak ; and from the
bottom of my heart, I believe that in numbering their

heads, the heads of the Protestants of Ireland, they
were at the same time numbering their lives." Lord
Roden gives but a sorry account of Protestantism,
when he declares that it cannot exist without the aid
'of the State, One moment the Protestants of Ire-
land are bullying the Government, and threatening to
bayonet his Majesty's Ministers; and the next they
declare that they are so few in number, that in most
places the churches will be shut up as soon as the re-
sult of the investigation is known. " The object of
the Commission (said his Lordship) will be to shut
up every church in a district where there will not
he the required number of Protestant inhabitants ;
so that where there may be anything like a paucity
of Protestants, those who are in it are—them-
selves, their children, their servants, and all be-
longing to them—shut out from all spiritual com-
fort arid advice—from everything that is sacredly
near and clear to them, and will be thus left, en-
tirely left, to the mercy .of the wolves ; and every
means no doubt will be used to enlist them in the
ranks of Popery.—(Hear, hear, hear.") But Lord
Roden ought to bear in mind that where the Catholics
are few in number they are equally shut out from all
spiritual comfort and advice. Catholics and Protest-
ants are equally the subjects of the State. But who
ever thinks of bewailing the lot of Catholics when in

the midst of a Protestant population, because they are
shut out from all spiritual comforts and advice ? Why
are we to set such store on Irish Protestants, that we
must be at the expense of keeping a Church, and
paying a clergyman, for the sake of, perhaps, a single
family ? The idea is monstrous. But Lord Roden
tells us that it will be the duty of every gentleman who
possesses an estate, to rear up, to rally round him, and
to get into his neighbourhood as many Protestants as
he possibly can by every kind of encouragement, in
order that they shall have a parish Church and a Pastor
who will disseminate sound Protestant principles. This
sentiment was loudly cheered. But though Irish
landlords are fond of Protestantism, they are still
fonder of rent, and there are, besides, a few other
reasons why Protestants themselves should be shy of
taking farms from which Catholics have been removed,
ran the force of which reasons it is unnecessary to
descant. The Catholics are encroaching much more
on the Protestants than the Protestants on the Ca-
tholics. Even in Belfast, the head-quarters of Pro-
testantism (Presbyterian-Protestantism), there are now
upwards of 20,000 Catholics. Even Lord Roden
himself has numbers of Roman Catholics as tenants,
and he will think twice before he attempts to remove
them. Lord Winchilsea having gone over to Ireland to
support the Protestant cause, talked much in his
usual strain. He "told the Irish Protestants that he

would call upon their fellow-countrymen in England
to make one common cause with them. But will they
attend to his call ? In the Chronicle of Saturday we
anticipated, with tolerable accuracy, the course which
the factious abettors
_of the Peers would follow.

• " The Dukes of Cumberland and Wellington
we' obServedy would not hasten the downfall of
" t -clish Cburelb.arid' doom the clergy to beggary for
.....nothing. irpll ley must have counted on something
..'' ' -
-Fiore than this ;- they must have had more extensive
Yealairiify in view,- by way of consolation for the de-
* itruction of their "friends. '. We added, that "the
pe.ople.of Ireland do well to beware of their -enemies,
.alid hi avoid, above all things, playing into their hands."
'The sentiments broached at the meeting indicate, with
sufficient plainness, that the object of the rejectors of
the Tithe Bill was murder and bloodshed, . They wish
tojAlilge the:Vrotestant clergy in beggary, .that, in
their desperation, they may go all lengths in the war of
tithes with the. Catholics, and then their fond hopes
are, that Ministers will be embarrassed by being obliged
to enforce the law. 'What the Duke of Cumberland
wishes it is unnecessary for us to say. With res-
pect to the Duke of Wellington, if we are to be-
lieve what our contemporary, The Standard, ob-
served of him, when he attributed so many cold-blooded
designs to his Grace, we should say, notwithstand-
ing his famous declaration of dread of civil strife,
that he looks with satisfaction to the results on wnich
the Duke of Cumberland evidently &oats. 'But the
people of Ireland will, we trust, diappoint them. They
must be on their guard against the designs to provoke
them to bloodshed. Every possible insult was heaped
on the paw Catholics by the speakers at this meet-
ing. The Noble Lords, Winchclsea and Roden, are
bothr for instance, very emphatic in proclaiming their
opinions of Protestantism being essential to civil li-
berty. We are sincere Protestants, and devoutly at
tacked to the great principles of the Reformation ; but
irhilst we feel this unqualified attachment, we repu-
diate the calumny thus cast upon Catholics, which
equally betrays ignorance of history, and a reckless dis-
regard of consequences. It is pretty obvious that these
wild enthusiasts have no wish so near their hearts as to
second the views of the cold-blooded plotters who go-
ye. rn, the majority of the Peers, namely, to produce
conflict and bloody contention. From this conflict they
reckon as we have said on the country beitig embroiled,
and the. Government embarrassed. Fervently do we hope
that they will be disappointed in both. The Irish people
will discover their object, and guard against falling
into the snare. The Government are too well aware

of their wicked and silly invention to be in danger of
falling into such a trap. This opinion, so wantonly
and wickedly promulgated, in the very heart of a Ca-
tholic population, where it could produce no better
effect than irritation and quarrel, is worthy of the men
who could act as they have done in reference to the
Tithe Bill. These sentiments furnish the key to their
intentions in reference to that measure, every other
plan failing them to promote discord. They destroy
the possibility of the Irish Clergy obtaining subsistence
by any other means than by such as would lead to
murder. The English are too sensible a people to
allow these Peers to derive any advantage from the
ruthless policy they are pursuing. ,The Peers are
only hastening their own downfall by the desperate
measures which they countenance,with a view to reinstate
themselves in power. Amidst all the bluster and violence
of this meeting, one rational suggestion came from
Lord Winchilsea. He expressed an anxious hope
that whatever trials the Protestant Clergy might have
to undergo, not only the Protestants of Ireland but of
England would come forward and support them with
all their might. This is a kind and Christian sugges-
tion, and we hope it will not have been made in vain.
The rhodomontade and seditious effusions of the
speakers ought not to injure the cause of the Clergy,
who, by the fault of the Peers, and not their own,have
been consigned to poverty. We trust that every one
of the majority who threw out the Irish Tithe Bill
will subscribe liberally, according to his means, for the
support of the suffering Clergy. Others will also sub-
scribe, no doubt, but it is a sacred debt in the case of
the majority of Peers. If they are liberal in their con-
tributions, we shall think less unfavourably of them.
If, for instance, we see the Dukes of Cumberland and
Wellington came down with 10,0001. each, we shall
then be disposed to think that they did not wish to
starve the Clergy, in order to goad them to acts of
desperation against the Irish peasantry.—Morning
Chronicle.
It is difficult to understand the conduct of that class
of Tories who call themselves friends of the Protestant
church of Ireland. By a vote of Monday last, by
which they boasted of protecting the church establis-
ment from " spoliation," they consigned the whole
parochial clergy of Ireland to irredeemable famine ;
and by a meeting got up on Thursday last in
and denominated the " great Protestant meeting of
Ireland," they did everything conceivable to provoke and
exasperate the enemies of the church, but for the sup-
port, or maintenance, or comfort of the clergy, so far
as we can see by the reports of the newspapers, they
contributed nothing beyond speeches. That there were
speeches, and nothing else—that there was " vox et
preuterea nihil"—m.7 be imagined by those conver-
sant with the characters of the day, when we state that
the Earls of Roden and Winchilsea were the chief
performers at this " great Protestant meeting." The
Dublin Evening, Post of Thursday last heads an arti-
cle on the rejection of the Irish Tithe Bill with these
words—" Sentence of starvation by the Protestant bi-
shops upon the Protestant clergy ; and it is precisely
true, if we add to " Protestant Bishops" the " Pro-
testant aristocracy" of the United Kingdom. They
have, by their vote for rejecting the commutation pro-
posed for the Irish clergy, thrown them upon public
charity, or, in other words, condemned them to starva-
tion. The big talk of these mouthing Protestant agi
tators is, indeed, most contemptible in the eyes ofinen
of sense and honour. Lord Roden apOstrophizes Irish
Protestants and the Church as being " forsaken" by
those who " ought to support them." How sarcastic
is this simple Lord ! To be sure, the Church has
been forsaken, basely betrayed, and wickedly forsaken,
but by whom ? By him, Lord Roden, and by all
those who concurred with him in pronouncing that
801. of well-secured rent-charge, in lieu of a nominal
1001. which had not been collected for years by the
clergy, and which the King and Parliament had re-
peatedly declared ought not to be again exacted in the
shape of tithe—that such a rent-charge, we say, paid
to the parochial clergy, without delay, without vexa-
tion, without a possibility of evil consequence result-
ing from it, as between the clergy and the multitude of
existing tithe payers—that-such a comfortable subsist-
ence should be withheld from the incumbents of Ire-
land, when actually within their reach, and that the sub-
stitute for it should be a state of irrevocable beggary.
Such are the true betrayers and deserters of the church
But is there are any falsehood in this representation ?
Have we exaggerated anything ? Is there the shadow
of an alternative proposed or meditated by the most
vociferous Orangeman in favour of the miserable
clergy ? Parliament has over and over pledged itself,
the Crown has done so, in solemn addresses to the
Legislature, that tithe should absolutely cease. A
" temporary" assistance to the clergy was voted last
year, on the full and avowed understanding that tithe
was no longer to be looked to as a source of their sub-
sistence. Then let us ask, who will henceforth meet
the risk of attempting to levy it ? Will the clergy run
the personal risk ? Will the Government incur the
moral responsibility of granting them military succour?
Then, is there to be a voluntary contribution of the
so-called " friends of the church," for the' support of
these destitute ministers of the Protestant religion ?
It would have been honest, between man and man,
for the Tory Lords to explain to the church of Ire-
land the precise condition into which their vote
would plunge it. They ought to have first stated
the case, and then asked the clergy " Ay or no ?" If
the Tory oligarchy had said distinctly " Here is a
commutation for tithe held out to you, amounting to a
well secured 80 per cent. ; if you reject it, you have
nothing more to expect from us ; and from the tithe
system you are yourselves aware that henceforth you
can have nothing,"—does any man in his senses con-
ceive, that the clergy as a body would have been in-
sane enough to spurn at such a commutation as that
which in their names (whether with their sanction is
another matter) has been so cavalierly rejected ? If, on
the other hand, hopes were proclaimed, that although
neither tithe, nor commutation for tithe, should any
longer exist, till the clergy should have a sure resource
against want in the spontaneous contributions of the
Protestants, we should like to learn from any " friend
of the church," from Lord Roden for instance, or
Lord Winchilsea, or the Duke of Wellington, what
steps have been taken—what steps are even medi-
tated—towards realizing that generous project. Let
it be remembered that the parochial incomes of Ireland,
now payable to the clergy, amount to upwards of
600,0001. per annum, of which three-fourths :at least
are paid by Catholics. If, therefore, the Protestants
exclusively are to maintain the ministers of their
church in the enjoyments of their present yearly sti-
pends, that particular sect must take upon itself a gra-
tuitous charge of four times as much as the sum to
which it now is liable—the sacrifice in honour of the
" voluntary principle," which if steadily and effectu-
ally made would no doubt settle the question as to
church establishments in a way not very consonant to
English praCtice, or that of other European States ;
but does any person who' knows ever so little of Ire-
land believe in the practicability of such a scheme ?
Why, the Shannon would as soon roll milk and honey
into the Atlantic as the pockets of Irish Protestant
landlords volunteer a self-taxation of 600,0001. No,
the truth may be painful, but we may as well be pre-
pared for it.. There exists at this moment no
subsistence except the legal one for the Ministers of
the Church of Ireland, and that which is legal is
merely nominal ; it will not yield a shilling ! If such
be really the prospect of the Church (and we
pray to be c orrected if we have erred in de-
scribing it), none are to blame but the blind and
factious, though' strangely miscalled Conservatives.
That the real friends of the Church, and of the
Protestant community in Ireland, must regard that
prospect as a dismal one, it is not for us to question.
Ministers cannot demand another grant from Parlia-
ment. Let those, therefore, who have raised the diffi-
culty solve it. We would that they only were to taste
its bitter fruits ; at the same time, until the clergy,
under thepressure of famine and despair, shall attempt,
if they do attempt, to enforce the payment of the tithe
compositions, we do not see (apart from wanton aeita- -
tion) any immediate cause of disturbance in Ireland.
The clergy are already in debt to the Consolidated
Fund a million of money, of which 160,0001. is by Act
of Parliament to be paid next winter, and " whence,"
asks the Evening Post, " is that large sum to come
from ?" Moreover, the Government is bound by lazy
to exact the' discharge of that instalment from the

clergy. Is the Crown, then, to employ•the troops, as
Mr. Stanley did, for the non-collection of tithe ? If
EO, it is plain there will be more bloody heads than
halfpence, and that sanguinary-issue is not likely to be
averted by meetings where such loyal incendiaries as
certain noble Lords who shall be nameless undertake
the principal parts.—Times.
Convinced as we are that no political reforms will
ever restore a healthful tone to society in these realms,
or regain its lost prosperity for England, without being
accompanied by large measures of social reform, we
deem it a duty to rescue the public mind, as far as we
can, from the delusion which mere political excitement
produces, and to turn its reflecting attention to the
best means of improving the habits, the morals, and
comforts of the people. It is our opinion that there
can be no sound reformation of a State which reaches
not those classes which are the very foundation of
society. Let political rights be defined and established
according to the best possible system, they cannot fail
to be abused, unless the people are properly instructed
in their moral and social duties. Let the elective fran-
chise, for instance, be as extensively conferred as the
most liberal of political reformers require ; let it be
even placed upon that principle of universality of which
Sir Francis Burdett and Sir John Hobhousc were the
ardent advocates, before the charms of Radicalism
yielded in their eyes to the superior attractions of
Whig patronage—let Universal Suffrage, we say,
become the law of the land, and what ad-
vantage will it produce to a people of drunken
habits, and involved in the poverty and dependance
which intemperance creates ? Such a people are
under the chains of a worse than political bond-
age, such a people require to be emancipated from
a worse than a political tyranny. The sword of war
is a great destroyer of the human species, but intern-
,. perance wields a more destructive instrumencof.death.
War kills his victims openly, and with much noise
and great celebration of his homicidal triumphs, but
intemperance goes more silently to work—lie slaughters-
with his insidious poisons an infinitely greater num-
ber than are slain in the day when nations battle, by
war's dread artillery. Even when the terrible work of
war is over, when peace smiles upon mankind, and
turns the sword into a ploughshare, and the spear into
a reaping-hook, intemperance still slays his thousands-
' with unrelenting hand, and the very celebration of a
victory kills many of the survivors. Nor is it prema-
ture death. only that overtakes the children of intempe-
• ranee—the votaries at the reeking altars of the gin-
, demon—the mind, the noble faculty of reason of which
drunkenness is always the temporary death, is often
killed outright before the body dies. When insanity is
. a visitation from Providence, the misfortune is sacred ;
but what a frightful thing it is to see the prostration of
the human intellect beneath the degrading fascinations
of intemperance. This baneful power is daily and
nightly employed since the passion for ardent spirits
became so general in England, in filling the work-
, house, the prison, and the lunatic asylum, 'with the
miserable beings who have surrendered their under-
, standings to its fatal ascendancy. Are they not the pa-
triots and benefactors of the human race who would
exercise this demon from the land. The Temperance
Advocate for the present month has the following pas-
, sage :—" In Apostolic times, when the Ephesians
came under the influence of Gospel truth, they were
not content with discontinuing themselves the use of
their curious arts, but, lest they might be learned and
practised by others, they collected th cir books and
publicly burnt them, and the price thereof amounted
to 50,000 pieces of silver, " so mightily grew the
word of God and prevailed." We are happy to add
that this noble example has been followed by thou-
sands in America and some few in England, who, from.
convictions of duty, have ceased to manufacture or to
sell spirituous liquors. We confidently trust that mul-
titudes of similar instances of devotedness may be
found among us." C..rdially do we unite in the ex-
pression of tn..: same hope. Without sobriety there is
no soil on which the virtues of a people can flourish.—
Morning Herald.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

Saturday, a gentleman named Augustus Frederick Hem-
ming, of Yorkshire, made a complaint against an inhabitant
of Holywell-street, in the Strand, of rather an extraor-
dinary kind.
The complainant stated that he received a check a few
days ago from Mr. Teague, an attorney in Cateaton-street,
at the office of that gentleman, for the sum of 1431. He
deposited the check in his trowsers' pocket, and went to
Paternoster-row and Newgate-market, where he had deal-
ings with a green-grocer ; at the corner of the Old Bailey
he took a cab and drove to Gray's-inn, and Portugal-street,
and he finally drove to Fleet-street, where he discharged
the cabman, while he was paying whom he missed his check.
He did not suppose it had been stolen from him, as he had
not been to his recollection in any crowd. He at once
gave notice at the Bank, and stopped payment.
Mr. Smith, a clerk in the tellers' office of the Bank,
stated that a person who called himself Morris, and pro-
duced his card, on which was written Morris, No. 11, Holy-
well-street, Strand, called at the Bank, and said that he
could give witness information about a check for 1431.,
which had been lost.
It was also stated Mr. Morris said that the sum of
221. must be handed over, or the check could not be re-
stored to the right owner. The check was not presented,
and, of course, was of no value ; but Mr. Morris, who is
a Jew, persevered in stating that it should not be restored
without the advance of that premium to the virtue of the
finder. The consequence was that a summons was sent to
the gentleman in Holywell-street.
Mr. Hemming was very particularly asked by the Lord
Mayor whether he supposed the check had been stolen
from him.

Mr. Hemmings said that he could not see how such a
thing as a robbery could have been effected upon him ; but
of course the ingenuity of thieves was so great, he might
have been robbed of the property, as a man's eyes could
scarcely be said to be safe in his head.
The Loan MAYOR--No doubt Mr. Morris will satis-
factorily explain this matter and return the check.
Mr. Morris shook his head. He went, he said, to the
Bank of England, with the party who found the check ; he
could not tell who that person was ; as for himself, he was
not in possession of the check, but he left his address at the
back, that the party might call upon him about it.
Mr. Hemming requested to be informed who had the
check.

Mr. Morris admitted that he knew who had the check
in possession, but he certainly would not tell.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, Mr. Morris, or rather Mr.
Moses, which I think is your name, you think, I dare say,
this is fair dealing between man and man. _ _ _

Mr. Morris—f am an honest man as ever lived, and I
always act as such. I have nothing to do with the check ;
it was found by a poor person.
The LORD MAYOR—I have observed what integrity is
to be found amongst the poorer classes ; but sometimes
they meet with kind advisers, who totally alter the case in
regard to certain transactions. I have no doubt that if this
draft was found by some honest person, his first impulse
would be to return it to the owner. But he must have met
with some very kind friend, who advised him to demand
such a swashing sum for his trouble and honesty.
Mr. Morris—l can tell you that if I hadn't stopped it,
it would have got into some other place. I have always
been an honest man, and get my living in a most honest,
and respectable way.
The LORD MAYOR-0 dear ! I don't doubt it, Mr.
Moses. You say if you had not stopped it, somebody else
would have had it ? Mr. Morris—Yes, Ido say so. No
doubt it would have gone elsewhere.
The Loan MAYOR—Perhaps to some of your own con-
nexions? Mr. Morris—Perhaps so.—(Laughter.) No ;
I don't know my own connexions ; but there is plenty of
people ready to make money of such a tiling.
The LORD 'MAyon—No. doubt you know where such
people are to be found, Mr. Morris ? Mr. Morris—l have
been a long time losing my time here, and I don't see why.
The LORD MAYOR—If Mr. Hemming chooses to pro-
ceed in this case, he may proceed against you, as you have
made yourself sufficiently a party in detaining his property.
I would advise him not to do such injustice to himself and
to society, as to make the least sacrifice to obtain the check,
If any poor person found it, and will restore it, then I will
take into consideration the subject of giving a trifle to the
finder ; but not a farthing should ever go through the hands
of Mr. Moses.—(A laugh.)