The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-28 00:00:00

RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION.

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR—It will certainly be no fault of your's if the people
of England suffer themselves to be manacled by tyrants, or
humbugged by charlatans. Your pen, always well employed,
is never more serviceable than when clearing. away the ob-
structions which cant is continually throwing in the path of
our countrymen. The scenes now so frequently witnessed by
the House of Commons are a scandal upon religion, and an in-
sult to comnien sense. Laws have power only over actions,
and can no more touch the spring that moves them than the
hand which polishes the precious stone could of itself form
one. We may legislate eternity, but the sole of our enact-
ments, how wise soever they zre, will be nothing but outward
conduct, which after all, be it reoeiibered, may be assumed.
Suppose an edict in force compelini every body to go to
church; would any man in his senses ays:r this filling of the
places of worship a proof of piety in the driven: crowd ? Reli-
gion is implanted in the heart, and there it c;:ells, uncon-
trouled by man, colouring our actions. You may just as well
oblige persons to eat a certain quantity of food, am: then
argue their health from their presumed appetites, as send theC,
for instance, to hear divine service, and, on that account, call
them religious. The object—at least the professed one—of
our Sabbath Bill senators, is to lead the mind to devout con-
templation, but will this desideratum be effected by compul-
sion ? Can the Creator complacently view those that are
dragged before his shrines? Will the incense offered by un-
willing hands and rebel hearts ascend to Heaven, and be re-
ceived? The MOSELEYS, AGNEWS, POULTERS, et id genus
omne, (how BISHOP Norm, if alive, would blush for his weak
grandson !) may rest assured that Christianity will not be
benefited by these violent and unnatural proceedings. We
are inclined towards devotion according, to the manner in
which we have been brought up, and the way we spend that
time allotted us on earth. A good example is worth a
hundred sermons, and if our fathers have regularly taken us to
church, but as regularly the other six days placed before us
the allurements of vice, our thoughts will not often recur to
the sound sentiments we may have heard from the pulpit. Ex-
actly is it the case in a wider sense ; if the upper classes in-
dulge in excesses, they may make what restrictions they
please—they may fill the houses of the poor with tracts, or
forbid them to eat hot meat on Sunday, without, however, a
single precept of religion in consequence of all this mummery
being enforced. What satisfaction is it to behold churches
crammed if crime be not on the decrease, if hypocrisy be not
abandoned, and honesty sedulously cultivated ? When I turn
from the sacred volume, so full of love and tenderness and
forbearance, to the harsh judgments and illiberal views of
some men of the present day, I feel how much better it would
be for us all to forsake airy theories, and cling to solid, prac-
tical duties. Talk of the advance of POPERY Loox TO THAT
OF FANATICISM !—a speck, forty years ago, scarcely visible
with the telescope, now spread over an immense surface, and
blighting our fairest plants. Once admit this fatal visitor to
your firesides, and then, indeed, '° Farewell the tranquil mind I
farewell content !" Farewell the gay dance, and the light
song, and the harmless pastimes that while away the long
winter's evening ! Farewell all the innocent recreations and
countless charms of that society which is the delight of youth,
the consolation of declining years, and the refuge for all from
the shocks of a rude world. Eyes that sparkled with conscious
integrity, cheeks once blooming with health, spirits that never
flagged, temper—
" Whose unclouded ray
Could make to-morrow cheerful as to-day,"
all yield to the destroyer's unsparing sickle. Let it not be
said I am overcharging the picture—l have seen it I have
watched its baneful progress, and beheld the useful and the
accomplished sink into melancholy eremites, and wander about
phantoms of their former selves. How many a fair face is
shadowed o'er by gloom which, but for this foul fiend, would
be beaming with smiles. It is the Upas tree which withers
and blasts whatever breathes beneath its poisonous branches.
The energies of all parties ( Sir R.' Peel has set a good ex-
ample,) must be directed against Fanaticism, or dreadful will
be its ravages.
Englishmen are naturally too gloomy ; they are ever antici-
pating evils, as if these did not come of themselves speedily
enough ; but establish a system of melancholy, hoist the black
flag of bigotry, and restore the days of the Inquisition, and
November will not long enjoy the exclusive privilege of being
called the SUICIDAL MONTH.
How often, on a fine Sunday evening, I have watched the
contented peasants of Normandy dancing on the banks of the
beautiful Seine ; cheerful themselves they imparted happiness
to others ; and when, from the animating scene, I have sent
my thoughts homeward, and remembered our manner of keep-
ing the Sabbath, where smiles are banished and good-humour
is deemed a sin, I have fancied to discover the chief reason why
the lower orders of France can sleep without locks to their
doors, and pales to t heir gardens, undisturbed by the pilferer's
step. People accustomed occasionally to meet au son du violon,
seldom fall to robbing and killing one another; they find a
pleasure in being virtuous, and their open faces are the mirror
of their honest minds ; in them no pride is visible ; their man
ners are not snappish or snarlish ; they hang not down their
heads, as if in shame, because they know the purity of their
motives ; there is no whine in their voice ; in a word, they
have none of the low mountebank tricks, the crabbed, peevish,
and acid habits of our modern saints. They look upon earth
as a spot given us to be happy in, and not wretched ; they con-
sider man an intellectual being instead of a vile worm, as the
soulless ranter tells us. To walk out on a Sunday evening ;
to stroll into the verdant fields, and hear the melody of the
birds, and witness the holy calm in which Nature is arrayed,
and inhale the perfume of the May-flower hedges—is not this,
I ask, preferable to being squeezed in a meeting-house ? Do
we not, in the surrounding beauties, behold the links that
attach us and draw us nearer to the Father of All? Do we
not view his power displayed in his exceeding gentleness and
kindness? Does not the universal softness infuse itself into
our hearts, dropping oil upon our wounds, and whispering
reproaches for the petty prejudices and idle pursuits which
animate us when mingling in the crowd ? The seventh day is a
jubilee—a season for rest and joy; as such I trust it will al-
ways be observed, in spite of Sir Andrew and his crack-brained
crew.
To this momentous subject, Sir, I shall retuen at some future

time, for it behoves us all to raise a warning voice against
superstition, compared with which, if its dominion once ob-
tained in our country, the most arbitrary species of rule ever
coined in the mint of despotism would be both a blessing and
an envy. MILO.

ORANGE CONSERVATISM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sex—Understanding that a Committee is now sitting at
Westminster to receive evidence and make inquiries about the
nature and tendencies of the Orange Institutions in Ireland.. I
would suggest that a summons be issued requiring the attend-
ance of the lion. Henry Flower Walker, son and heir appa-
z-:nt of the Viscount Ashbrook, late High Sheriff of the
couni:; of Kilkenny, and a Deputy-Lieutenant and Justice of
the Peace. His address is Castle Durrow, and I would sug-
gest that the foii'‘..'wing questions be put to him :
Have you not vet.; recently established, or caused to be
established, an Orange Lodge iri your father's town of Durrow,
the first and only intitution of the kind which has ever been
established in the County of Kilkenny ?
Had you ever known, previous to that event, any outrages
arising from sectarian or religious animosities to be committed
in Durrow or its vicinity ?
Did not a club or knot of Orangemen get drunk in the
town of Durrow on Thursday last (May 21), and kick up a
row ; and did not some one of them stab with a cane-sword or
dagger an unfortunate unarmed Papist, named Whelan, who
now lies dangerously ill in the infirmary of IViciryborough ; and
did not the same knot, alter performing that achievement,
parade through your father's town, with arms in their hands,
shouting and exulting, to the great terror of many inha;;itants
and the seeming amusement of others?
What steps—over and above taking the information of one
of those loyal brothers (whom, if you be an Orangeman, you
are sworn to defend) against an unfortunate Papist named
Dowling—have you, as a Magistrate and Conservator of the
Peace, thought proper to take, in order to bring the perpetra-
tors of that cruel outrage to light, or to vindicate the majesty
of the law against so violent and alarming a display of ruffian
power in the open day, and in the presence of a strong force
of police ?
If to these questions answers shall not be elicited well worth
the trouble of sending for the Hon. Gentlemen, I am content
to bear the expenses of his journey to and from the House of
Commons ; as a pledge whereof I leave my name with, the
Editor, to be used pro re nata.
Kilkenny, May 25.

CON.

VICE-CHANCERY COURT.

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