The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-05 00:00:00

Protestantism and Popery together, the difference in
what concerns abstract faith is incomparably less than
that between the two systems of church government,
each being considered with regard to the operation of
its ecclesiastical members upon the laity, and the pre-
rogatives assumed and exercised by the ministers
over their respective • congregations. The Protestant
clergyman, beyond his right of property in tithe—se-
cured to him by law, and,, defined and :strictly re-
strained by law—has no particle of control or domi-
nion over the poorest of his flock. What the power
of the Romish clergy is—how vicious in its nature—
how frightful in its degree—how capricious—how
despotic—how immoral—how irrational—how peri-
lous to every rival influence—how contemptuous of
every lawful or magisterial function—at once how
subtle and how violent in its motions, we find written in
every page which develops the political history of Ire-
land, not merely during the short periods referred to
in the proceedings of the Committee to which we have
so repeatedly adverted, and which still supplies mate-
rials untouched, we might say inexhaustible, whereon
to employ the meditation of the most discerning states-
man ; but throughout the whole course of those fifty
or sixty years that have elapsed•since the relaxation-of
the penal laws respecting property, first revived the
sleeping ambition of the priesthood, and enabled the
torpid serpent once more to sting. It might have been
more discreet for the Papists to conceal from us that
their Church is ever least noxious when loaded with
the heaviest fetters. How Irish Popery, when ram-
pant, behaves herself, our immediate fathers could only
learn from books ; whereas we, unfortunately, have an
all-sufficient instructor—our daily observation. The
priesthood of Ireland sets at defiance every law which
has its • source in any constituted authority of the
realm, or aims at the accomplishment of any one pur-
pose, but the supremacy of the Popish Church. It
leagues itself at preseilt with,the fierce .passions. otan
idle,!p.oor,and untaught; soic-in,so far as they•arenn
ill-taught, multitude, pressed upon by mUltifarious
wantsystimulated ,by vague, wild, and' chimerical 'ex-
pectations, with consciences callcids' to' the 'ordinary
Sens'e of guilt, bObause ibtolved by'the• Priest Niniall
fear of moral retribution. When excuses are made for
the errors of the lower Irish, that they are at least a
grateful people, won by beneficence to serve and love
their protectors, let us admit the justift of the apology,
and then judge how the charge against the priest is
aggravated by the pitch to which he perverts the
grateful nature of this his kindly and good-natured
flock to acts the most heartless and revolting. At
Clonmel there was a Quaker who paid away in wages
of labour not less than, 3001. per week, and yet at the
last election, because he voted for Mr. Bagwell, a Con-
servative gentleman, who likewise spent a large fortune
in the neighbourhood, he was pelted and covered
with mud, hardly escaping from the street to his
own house in safety, being sacrificed to the denuncia-
tions of the brutal autocrat who bore the name of priest.
Another of these religious teachers encouraged his
parishioners from the altar, to hoot, and pursue, and
pelt with " mud and gravel," alt who should presume
to vote against hi; injunctions, inasmuch as " the
law could not lay bold of them" for such gentle
violeace. A third of these, worthy Ministers of the
Gospel hurled hiS curse against all• voters for the
" bloody tyrants" who had committed the massacre of
Gortroe, using such language in the presence •of the
King's troops, who went to hear mass, not to learn dis-
affection, that the officer, Lieutenant Brown of the 29th
Regiment, was forced to withdraw with his men from
the chapel, amidst the coarse jests and insults of
the reverend rebel. So we find, that instead of the
Bishops
_interposing, as might have been expected
from their station, a rightful or salutary influence, to
discourage such turbulent and daring practices, Dr.
Nolan, the Carlow Bishop, addressed to his priests a
letter, humorously termed pastoral ! wherein he scoffed
at the notion of their remaining tranquil or silent ob-
servers of what was going on, " identified as they were
with the people," while it is attested by a dozen wit-
nesses that the people were well enough disposed to
be at peace, if their ghostly counsellors would let
them. And yet these bishops—these pious and
honourable men—had, shortly after " emancipation"
was carried, written circular declarations to an-
nounce that they would never again authorize a cha-
pel to be opened or used for political purposes ; that
the Duke of Wellington, who gave them emancipation,
(the "stunted corporal" of these latter days), was the
" greatest of living men," and " entitled to the grati-
tude of all Roman Catholics for ever !" Wretched,
vulgar-minded, shallow, unprincipled quacks, ye may
•be priests, but ye are neither Christians nor men of
honour. There- yet remains another appurtenance to
the absolute power of these lowly apostles—viz., the
power of taxation. This power, as they exercise it, is
.more than Royal. They frame the scale of each im-
post at their leisure, and read out from the altar the
name of every fanner, specifying how much he is to
pay—such an one 2d.. per acre, such another 3d., a
third 4d., and so on ; and woe be to him who hesitates
about paying this arbitrary, unequal, often vindictive, and
forced contribution, -of -which all complain bitteily, but
eat the leek invariably, for it is an election fund, and
laid on, levied, exacted (whether honestly employed
or not is another question) by " his reverence"—the
most absolute, selfish, coarse, and hateful tyrant that
ever oppressed the earth. Yet, such is the confusion
which besets men's minds, that the • cause of these
atrocious hypocrites is styled by a crowd of fools the
. cause of liberty, and the supremacy, spiritual and
temporal, at which they drive, is nicknamed the
rights of the people I We repeat it—England must
interpose. Our Protestant Church,
,and our Protes-
tant brethren, must 'not be sacrificed for the despicable
object of accommodating some dozen or two of dn-
a Whigs with a twelvemonth's lodging in
Downing-street and Whitehall at the public expense.
We have not room to-day for the passages of the evi-
dence to which we have here referred. We shall con-
tinue the extracts to-morrow.-7'imes..

INSOLVEItT COURT-WEDNESDAY

James Sutherland Menzies, late of Magdalen College,
Cambridge, was opposed by Mr. Packwood, a solicitor of
Cheltenham, in person.
It appeared from the evidence of Mr. Packwood, that be
became acquainted with the insolvent some time back at
Cheltenham, at which place his sister resided as a governess.
She was now dead. In 1833 the insolvent again visited
Cheltenham, and stated that he was about to proceed up
the Rhine. Mr. Packwood recommended him to a boarding
house at Cheltenham, and became answerable for his bill
there to the amount of 40/. Mr. Packwood had to pay
this 401. The in4,olvent had made statements to him that
he bad certain expectancies contingent on a Mrs. Jess"
Stewart dying before sho came to the age of 25. Mrs.
Packwood had been much taken by his address and man-
ners, and became his bail in two actions, in both of which
he had been fixed with the debts and costs. He had un-
dirotood Mrs. Jesse Stewart to be dead, but be had since
heard she .was living. He now • claimed as a creditor for
1.501. Mr. Packwood stated that he was not actuated by
any vindictive feeling towards the insolvent, but he con-
sidered it right tha the public should be made acquainted
with his conduct.
Mr. Commissioner HARRIS, after stating that the kind
ness of Mr. Packwood had no doubt been ill-requited by
the insolvent, and regretting that it was lamentable to see a
person educated as he had been in his present situation, said
that no actual fraud had been proved against the insolvent
in the representations he had made, and that be was, antler
the circumstances, entitled to his discharge.
He was accordingly discharged.

MR. GLETG'S " CHRONICLES OF WALTHANI."
—" This new work, by the celebrated author of The
Subaltern,' is a striking and original book. It contains a
great deal which could only be written by a writer who
possesses the faculty, by the simple and manly vigour of
his narrative, to communicate to the minds of his readers
the same powerful impressions that were made upon hig awn,
Deservedly popular as the Country Curate' has been.
Mr. Gleig has, in this new work, taken higher and more
interesting ground."—Literary Gazette,

LEGIIORI4, OCT. 21.—For this week past then:
has been c.. 9 new case of cholera here or in any other part
of Tuscany. Wp may, therefore, hope that we are now
kieliv ered from this clreackfuj yiaitation.
LIVERPooL COTTON-NATqcp', ;1.00YEM73 0
Thei business to-day. has beep 2,000 bags, cbies3, Arnerican.,
sold at 7d. to 10i d.; 30 Egyptian at 11-id., and 59:Varan-
ham at ls. • Some sales •of low 'quality have been made,
and there is more inquiry for these sorts than of late. Thu
market has not yet regained the confidence. we are accus=
tomed to.