The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-22 00:00:00

CANTERBURY HALL. CONCERTS.-
EVERY ;EVENING. Sterndale Bennett's MAT

QUEEN.
And a Gland Se:ea-fon from Meyerbeer's new opera of
DINORAH.

Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the fish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. T. Critchfield, and E. W. Mackney. _

•
Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
sights of the metropolis.
ROSA BONHEUR'S celebrated PICTURE of the HORSE
FAIR is now added to the already magnificent Collection of
Paintings in the Canterbury Hall Fine Arts Gallery. The
gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

TILE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, DECEMBER 22.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
46—highest since noon yesterday.
36—lowest this morning and during the night.
39—this day at noon. _ _

_
BAROMETEIL-29.58.
WIND, Westerly ; light, with fine winter weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 12h. 3m.—Afternoon, 12h. 21m
To-moiatow.-Morning, 12h. 57m.—Afternoon, lh. 21m

_ )1,
sy A
cti-12
•

THE SUN.
LONDON, THURSDAY, DEC. 22, 1859.

The Catholic laity of Great Britain and the
laity of the nation at large are practically of one
mind. In September of this year the Foreign
Secretary of England announced at Aberdeen
amidst universal applause that—ltalians ought to
conduct their own affairs as they please, and that
Britain ought to take no part in any Congress unless
the non-employment of foreign forces to coerce the
Italian States was a fundamental condition. This

view the citizens of Glasgow have also adopted, and

actually forwarded to Lord JOHN RUSSELL an
address, urging him to abide by his Aberdeen de-
clarations. Now the " Catholic laity of Great
Britain" have also published their address ; and the
" Catholic laity protests against any infraction of
the Holy Father's rights as an Independent Sove-
reign." They go on to protest against Congress
disposing of the "Holy Father's territories, impos•
ing on him changes in his laws or administration,
or aiding his rebel subjects." Well, now, what
more do the citizens of Glasgow wish? All Eng-
lishmen untainted with allegiance to any foreign
Power have but one wish,—to leave princes and
subjects to settle their own affairs. We want to
impose no conditions on his Majesty the POPE any
more than on his Holiness the POPE. Let him be
as majestic as he is holy if the three millions who
are called his subjects wish ; but let him be holy
without being majestic if SO they will have it. We
think it the business of the three millions and of
no one else.

1S ow, we ask the "Catholic laity of Grew

Britain" if this be their 'meaning? If it be—
well ; they are worthy of the name of British
citizens—worthy of those whose ancestors decapi-
tated one despot and banished another, and who, to
this day, are resolved to be governed only by laws
which they have assisted in making, and to pay
only taxes to which they have by their representa-
tives assented. But if this be not the meaning of
many of these Catholic " laity," as we strongly
suspect to be the case, then we only tell them that
they are unworthy of the country which gave them
birth. When we look at their long document, at
their five reasons, and the formal protest with
which it concludes, we take it to mean that some
how or other the Estates of the Church, as they
are called, should be kept for the Church—that is,
for the POPE, as the head of the Church. The,
spirit of all their lengthy declamation and argument
is, that the PorE is to be Pope as long as time
shall endure ; that he needs to be temporarily in-
dependent of any earthly power ; that those who
have had the ill-luck to be born in the territory
his predecessors got by one device or another are
bound to remain his slaves; and that, by some
means, these unhappy citizens are to be compelled
to remain in this condition.

We know of nothing so parallel with this pre-
tentious " declaration" as the justly infamous Ame-
rican Declaration of Independence. That document,
full of grand sentiments about the rights of men,
and all that sort of stuff, has one clause which says
explicitly nothing about slavery, but which clause
was meant to legalise slavery ; and it has been the
foundation of that infernal system which covers the
south of the United States, and whose last wicked-
ness was the execution of Joint 811,016. Just so
this document no where denies, in words, the rights
of Romans to the same liberties as the " Catholic
Laity"enjoy here ; no where says " Romans always
shall be slaves;" but its principles will make them so.
Romans cannot worship GOD according to the
of their conscience, as every Catholic is free to do
here ; Romans cannot abrogate a law by which any
worthless wench or medical marl call enable the po-
lice to kidnap a Jew's child ; Romans cannot enact,
repeal, or modify a single law, or object to a single
tax, as every Catholic by his representative can do
in England. Romans, in fact, are at the mercy of the
one man whom a set of other men place over them,
without one spark of liberty in the whole of their
political arrangements. Yet this is the system
which the " Catholic Laity" of England would per.
petuate. They want to keep at Rome a prince
whose subjects are as truly political slaves as the

megroes are socially slaves ; and who, if they kick '
at this, shall have power to treat them in Perugian
style, as slaveholders hunt fugitive meE,Proes and
hang their friends.
Will any of our Catholic readers deny that this
is the real meaning of the document ? If we have
given a plain interpretation of old COBBETT'S sort,
is it not a true one ? If so, we call on Catholics to
consider what they are doing. We well know that
there are thousands of excellent men, excellent
citizens, and thorough Britons among them ; but
why do these men allow a noisy few to represent
them in this country and in Europe ? These
respectable gentlemen know well that ecclesiastical
government is an antiquated thing. When clergy-
men were the only men, almost, of learning and
general information, they might properly aspire to
positions near the head of the Government, they
might, even as abbots and bishops, be passable ad-
ministrators of small territories. But that day is
past never to return, and the PorE is but the liv-
ing representative of a class who are now political
fossils. He has no confreres. He is perfectly out
of harmony with his age. As a plain matter of fact,
his subjects are prepared to respect him as their
Bishop, if he did not aspire to be their temporal
autocrat. Catholics may be assured that that is a
position he cannot hold. Even should he retain the
royalty of Rome, which we hope he will not do
long, he must be controlled in that capacity by
his own subjects. If he is to be independent of
other Powers, he cannot longer be independent of
his people. They must be liberated, POPE or no
POPE. We dare a Catholic elector of Britain to
say they ought not to be liberated.
' What Englishmen then demand is—what those
who sign the declaration would like to say in ap-
pearance, but are afraid to say explicitly—let Rome
be kept to herself. Let non-intervention be pro-
claimed henceforth as the law of Europe. Let the
French soldiers be withdrawn, let Austrians and
Neapolitans be warned off. Let the POPE be pro-
hibited from enlisting foreign mercenaries against
his subjects if the, are not to hire foreign troops
against him. And then see what the result will
be. The silly cant about the Romagnese being
rebels and so forth is unworthy of notice. They
have never bowed to his legates except when forced
by Austrian bayonets. The POPE has been the
rebel and the traitor in the Romagna. He it is who
has used the detested foreigner against his own
subjects. He it is who would not bow to the per-
fectly lawful wish of his subjects to be governed as
they thought best. He it is who has insisted on a
divine right to enslave them to his legates and de-
crees, by the very un-divine process of filling their

towns with Austrian butchers. Our remedy for all
is very short. Leave the Romans to themselves ;
and if the Catholics of Europe want a splendid es-
tablishment for their bishop at Rome, let them
contribute the funds out of the exchequers of
Catholic Europe, but let Romans no longer be en-
slaved to a despot, that the Catholics of the world
may have a petty despot for their bishop.

Lord PALMERSTON, down at Romsey, is less of
the Premier than of the Paterfamilias. His
speeches there yesterday, and he delivered several,
are all overflowing with bonhomnzie. He is there
in his genial bearing as he stands before his bucolic
audience somewhat like ROUBILLAICS marble effigy
of SHAKSPERE in the vestibule of the British
Museum, with his outer raiment, as it were, neg-
ligently disarranged and carelessly unbuttoned.
His oratory, if it can be dignified with the
name, is in deshabille. He takes the kindest
possible view of everything and eyerybody—vie win g
all around him perhaps the more willingly as couleur
de rose, because talking at the moment quite collo-
quially and conversationally sub rosa with his
friends and neighbours, Reading him thus it is
impossible not to be infected with his good humour.
His smile must have been reflected in the faces .of
almost all those who listened to him—even the
more supercilious, even those constitutionally cur-
mudgeons.

The occasion was simple enough, namely, the re-
currence again of the annual ceremony of the dis-
tribution of prizes awarded for long servitude, for
ploughing, for thatching, and for almost every kind
of agricultural employMent by a local institution
established under the title of the Romsey Labourers'
Encouragement Association. First of all, in the
mere distribution of these little prizes, Lord PAL-
MERSTON had a word of kindness and encourage-
ment to proffer, not only to those who were the
actual recipients, but to those also who had merely
tried, and tried in vain, to be among their number.
In doing this the Premier was full of " wise saws
and modern instances." In handing the prizes
about, he says of them quite frankly to his unso-
phisticated auditors, " I need hardly say that they
are not rewards, because no man is so foolish as to
think that these tokens of good conduct which are
given are intended to be substantial rewards for
the conduct on account of which they are be-
stowed.
That," he adds, "is not the principle
upon which decorations, and memorials, and tokens
are given to mankind for their meritorious con-
duct." Then follows his illustration—" The soldier
who hazards his life upon the field of battle, and
who has attracted the attention of his superiors
and his comrades by distinguished and heroic
bravery, is rewarded by a cross, very insignificant
in intrinsic value, but which he wears on his breast
as a token and a record of that good conduct
which has obtained for him that which is a real
reward, namely, the esteem and respect of all
around him." And, again,—" In the same way in
other classes of life, men who performed distin-
guished services to the State are rewarded by a
little ribbon, which they wear in their button-hole,
or over their shoulder ; but nobody imagines that
half a yard or two yards of red or blue ribbon are in
themselves intrinsic reward. They are a token and
a record of that good conduct in the life of those on
whom they are bestowed, which testifies to man-
kind that they have deserved well of their country.
Therefore, my friends [Delightful words, surely,
these, for every hob-nailed Strephon who hearkened
to them—associating him, poor wight, for the mo-
ment, with soldier and statesman, with medals and
blue ribands, stars, and garters !] I am delighted
that so many of you have received these tokens of
your good conduct in your respective vocations,
and I am glad to say that these rewards have been
given for almost every kind of service which an
agricultural labourer is capable of performing."
After a great deal more to the like effect, "Again,"
says my lord Viscount to the wielders of the bill-
hook and sickle, listening around him, " Again, I
congratulate you upon the prizes you have
obtained, and I have no doubt that next year
iiianytoy whoa have not been successful competi-
torswill fut themselves upon the list of
prizemen." So much far the morning ceremonial
of distribution.
Afterwards, later in the day, came the more
convivial meeting of the members of the associa-
tion, presided over and addressed time and again
as genially as ever by Viscount PALMERSTON.

Loyal toasts, quaffed with all the honours, in due
succession, then follow, in right sequence, the
more personal proceedings at these kind of festi-
vities, crowned, according to custom, by the
toast of the Health of the Chairman. But

even then we have that climax capped by the Chair-
man (after the fashion of " one cheer more, and a
good one") by another toast yet—" The Press."
The toast of the Press—from the lips of the
MIER ! Mark, now, the manner of its giving by
Lord PALMERSTON :—" I rise," he says, " to do
homage to that which may properly be said to be
one of the wonders of modern civilisation. I mean
the Press." And he then goes on to remark, with
unstinted words of panegyric, " If any man com-
pares now a newspaper published in the last cen-
tury with one of those wonderful sheets we read
every day, the contrast is the most striking that
the mind of man can imagine. The quan-
tity of information, the talent of disserta-
tion, the amount of news of every kind which we
now find in almost every newspaper we meet with,
is really one cf tho most striking proofs of the pro-
gress which the human intellect has made in the
days in which we live. It may really be put in
competition with the steam-engine and the electric
telegraph. But," continues Lord PALMERSTON,
" there is one part of the functions of the Press
which, beyond all others, has improved of late
years." [Beyond the time, let us suggest to the
memory of Lord PALMERSTON, when a certain Irish
reporter in the Gallery of the House of Commons,
a reporter named FINNERTY, waking up suddenly
from a nap—himself much " bemused with
beer"—startled the echoes of that august assem-
bly by bawling out, " Your health, Mr. Speaker !'
and " Mr. Speaker, I wish to propose a
toast !" But I call on Mr. Speaker for a song
—having himself incontinently thereupon to be
taken into custody by that silk-stocking Argus the
the Scrgeantat-Arms !] Recalling those times to
popular rembrance, " I have heard," said Lord
PALMERSTON, " that towards the end of the last
century there was a man of the name of WOODFALL,
who used to publish debates ; and how did he do
it ? It is said that he used to go to the gallery of
the House of Commons, listen attentively with his
face in his hands to what passed, go home, drink
two pots of porter, go to bed, get up next morning,
and from his dreams and his recollection make
out what he called a report of a debate.
Now-a-days, so marvellous is the ability, and
so wonderful the rapidity with which re-
porters take down what men say, that if speakers
are not very careful the reporters take down what
they had much better not have said. I remember
a very worthy M.P., an Irish M.P., Mr. RICHARD
KEENE, who once complained that the reporters in
the gallery had not done full justice to a speech he
had made the night before. The reply he received
had perhaps more of sharpness than civility in it,
for it was—' Mr. KEENE, we made the best speech
we could for you, but if you are not satisfied with
our endeavours, the next time we will report
what you do say, and whatever you may
think of it, we suspect your friends will hardly
relish the infliction.'" " Now," observed Lord
PALMERSTON, in continuation with an admi-
rably viell-deserved encomium upon the Parliamen-
tary reporters, " it is quite marvellous to see the
accuracy with which debates in the House of Com-
mons are reported. When the speeches are such as
are calculated to attract attention, they are reported
word for word as they are uttered, and how it is
possible for the human hand to follow with
such rapidity and such exactness I am
at a loss to conceive." And then with
a personal reminiscence reminding one of an
incident in the life of " David Copperfield,"
the Premier observed, " I once, as many others have
done, began to learn shorthand, but I confess that I
found out two difficulties, which turned out to be
quite insurmountable. The one was to write it,
and the next and greatest to read it when written."
Remarking, in conclusion, "I beg now to pro-
pose that institution to which the progress
of civilisation and all the interests of the
country are so deeply indebted, ' The
Press." It is surely significant of the state of
things iri England to hear cordial words like these
fall from the lips of the chief Minister in our
constitutional Government.