The Sun.
London, England, 1835-11-10 00:00:00

tha former. The following are the claims ei the
_ -

iests

.‘ Ile Conference, as the cantive pastoi•ate oF the con-
nexion, has the exclusive prerorative of framing regulations
for tl:c manag,ement of the whole body.
" Christ has given to the mUlisters of the Gospel the keys
of his Church--thus empowering them to receive members
within its pale, ~nna c-:,..!ntle from its commion those
offenders whom admenition and sitlutary discipline fail to
correct and amend."
This, by the bye, is more then Popery. The
Wesleyan priests claim higher'powers than the, priests
of.any other communion. The Presbyterian Church
associates- laymen with -ministers in all exercises of
authority ; but here are a set of priests, responsible to
no constituencv, claiming the moat unbounded power
over a million of men. John Wesley was the Pope
while he lived ; but the power may not always be in
such good hands: If we arc to interfere with the
Catholic Priests on account of their spiritual influence,
can we overlook these claims of the Wesleyan Pastors?
But the truth is, we must aban;ion all exaggerated
claims of rip_ht.to interfere with sects. They all teach
a pure morality—they all have an interest in the wel-
fare of their common country. It is for the interest of
all that order should be preserved—that property
shon!ri be respected—that the laws should be adminis-
tered with justice and impartiality. This is enough
for our living in pc3cT 4114 amity together, tic is the
enemy of his country who-atteropts to stir up strife, by
making that which is merely a question between man
and his Maker, a .pretext for obtaining temporal ad-
vantages at the e,;.perrie of his brethren.—Mcraing
chronicle.

It Was stated 0) us yesterday, that the great poli-
tical question arising cut of the insurrectionary violence
of the Irish Priests, .encouraged as they are by the
wfetehed subserviency of the Melbourne Government
to them and to their projects, differs when viewed in
its operations upon England and Ireland respectively.
The natural result in this country will be, an effort .on
the part of the English Radical revolutionists to raze
from its foundations our episcopal church, •and to es-
tablish, under the guise of equality, the same sort of
religious anarchy—mixed, in some cases, with intole-
rant fanaticism—in others, with detestable hypocrisy--
as prevailed during the latter periods of the Long Par-
liament. In Ireland the direct consequence.e the sub-
version of our Protestant church will be that reinstate-
ment of Popish tyranny, in a legalized. and lasting form,
which now oppresses and disturbs the kingdom, in con-
tempt of all lawful authority. The priests avow their
scheme. While O'Connell preaches to Englishmen
the voluntary principle, his speeches to the Irish may
be construed into one loud " hurrah for Popery," and
an assurance that all which the Priesthood ever lost
shall be restored to them. Thus the Protestant
portion of the King's subjects cannot fail to see
what is before them, should the priest-ridden Whigs
be able to realize their intentions,—in England no.
church—in Ireland worse than no church,—the bar-
barous and brutalizing despotism of Popery, and that
confiscation of every acre of property held for ages
by men of Saxon race, with which Father Kehoe,
in his hour of holy transport, menaced the Protestant
landlords, as now " rapidly approaching." "We
will take care," cried his reverence, " that these fel-
lows shall show their titles." Were those words, we
should like to ask, spoken, or were they not ? They
are attested by most respectable witnesses. If not
spoken, why is not the evidence contradicted ? If
spoken, why is not the seditious miscreant unfrocked
by his Bishop ? Some adventurous purloiners from
the Prayer-book have, we see, discovered that there
is such a thing as excommunication in the Church
of England as well as in that of Rome ; and we are
solemnly reprobated for denouncing the frequent re-
course had to excommunication, as a threat or punish-
ment, by-the Popish priesthood of Ireland. Yet cer-
tain it is that we have looked, not perhaps so . often
as we ought to ha've done, into the order, ceremonies,
privileges, and seryices of that church of which
we humbly confess ourselves to be among the
unworthiest members, and thence from our youth up-
wards we have seen and understood that there was
asserted by the ecclesiastical authority a right, and
under certain circumstances enjoined to it, a duty of
excommunication. T here is likewise, we apprehend,
such a. form recognized as that of general commination,
to be used on fit occasions by ministers of the Church
of England. But unquestionably we never did con-
ceive that either of these modes of ecclesiastical censure
or reproof was directed by the Church of England to
be employed against individuals not publicly convicted
of any sin against God's Commandments. We are not
so conversant with history as to have read 'that a Pro-
testant clergyman had, in any instance, clone that which
is proved m unnumbered cases against the Popish
priests—viz., held out the threat of excommunication
in this world, and of damnation in the world to come,
a;ainst men or women specified by name, because of
their having exercised, or in the contingency of their
exercising, a mere political right, not involving any reli-
gious character whatsoever, according to his or her own
independent will. We have never heard that under
any shadow of pretext, a • Protestant clergyman had
publicly cursed from the altar any me of his pa-
rishioners for having voted how he pleased at an elec-
tion, or from the altar, again, encouraged the rest of
the congregation to pelt such voters with mud and
gravel, carrying. their outrages to the utmost point of
inhumanity which could .be practised without risk of
legal retribution. Yet all this, and more than this
has been brought home to. those Popish ruffians who
disgrace the name of Christian Ministers in Ireland,
and who enforce upon time poor by undisguised ter-
ror the fulfilment of the most savage and unprinci-
pled of their own selfish machinations against the
fame, the comfort, the peace, and life of unofFend-
ing and unprotected citizens. As for these Ten
talking about their right to be on '' a level" with
Protestants, while their apologists seek to, wash over
their crimes by tic plea of their only wishing to rain
their flocks to an -equality with their Protesta.

neighbourhood, we defy one or all of their ten
thousand saints to work a--miracle so stupendous.
I3efore they can place themselves on the same floor
with the Protestant clergy, or their barbarian multitude
with the Protestant laity, they must remove a few mo-
ral mountains—they must learn some r;gard to truth
themselves, and teach their followers some better com-
prebensioa of the difference between right and wicked-
ness. - The Papists of Ireland, as a body, are
100 years behind their Protestant fellow-subjects in
the growth of their intelligence and in the capacity for
freedom. Educate them—ay, it were a glorious task
—but will the priests listen to any scheme of educa-
tion fOr their humbler parishioners, of which the ten-

dency is to lift than above the excommunication, the

.delusion, the superstition level ? They will not, for
it would be the overthrow of their priestly power. The
abuses, accordingly, which prevail in the application
of the new system of Government schooling ate re-
presented to' us to be altogether fearful, and to call

for the interposition of men :II authority—if, indeed,
-those who at present answer that description Were
qualified for so important a duo'. The plain fact is,
that the Irish priesthood wields unbridled power, ut-
terly incompatible with the working of any free in-
stitutions. \Viten men speak of the elective frau-
chise in Ireland being- a right of the people, and
of the people derivin► any conceivable good from such
a nominal privilege, it is all pure nonsense ; the right
is in the hands of the priest. The. Popish hier-
archy are the electors of Ireland. The more you
extend the franchise, the more you augment their
power. The people are but automata, of wheal these
spiritual tyrants are the unresisted movers ; therefore
let us unmask the humbug! The only alternative for
those who wish to have an independent, that is to say,
a free constituency, is either, as suggested, we think,
by Mr. Singleton, to raise the: qualification to such a
point as would exclude from the franchise all who had

not some means of liberal education
.and independent
livelihood, such as to exempt them from the tyranny of
priest or landlord—a real blessing if it were attainable ;
but one for which the tempest of the political season
has left the country at present unprepared,—or to do
that which we yesterday recommended, and which we
much regret to find is discountenanced by authorities
entitled to all deference and consideration—namely, en-
gage the priesthood itself:in The service of the consti-
tutional monarchy, by a decent maintenance on one
side, and stern watchfulness on the other. Now, it