The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-26 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1844

A Morning Contemporary observes that a notion is
rapidly gaining ground among some of the Irish
Repeal agitators, to the effect that Government are at
the bottom of the present movement in favour of a
Federal Parliament; and that it is got up by way of
a feeler to test the sincerity of the O'Connellites, by
trying how far they might be prevailed on to yield in
their demands for a domestic Legislature. " Although
nothing," adds our Contemporary, " can be more
preposterous than the bare supposition of such a ruse,
its truth is so firmly impressed on the minds of several
members of the town council, that it will possibly
have the effect of decreasing the list of Dr. Manx-
SELL'S supporters." Nothing, certainly, can well be
more preposterous than a Ministerial ruse of this
nature, for we cannot see one earthly object that is to
be gained by it. It is impossible that a man so wary
and even timid as Sir ROBERT PEEL, and one, too,
who, from the tendencies of his mind, shrinks with
fear and distrust from all violent constitutional
changes ; it is impossible, we say, that such a man
can ever, even for an instant, meditate conceding a
Federal Parliament to Ireland, in the hope of inducing
her to forego her demand for an absolute, uncondi-
tional Repeal of the Union. He must know—no
one better—that the minor concession is but a step
to the major one—a point gained by the Repealers,
and a point lost by the Government. Grant Federal-
ism, and from that moment the power to resist un-
qualified Repeal is nearly, if not quite, lost for ever.
Mr. O'CoNNELL must be well aware of this, other-
wise we are convinced that so acute and experienced
a politician would never advocate so lame, halting,
and imperfect a measure as a Federal Parliament.
We call it a halting and imperfect measure, for what
can be more so than the institution of a House of
Commons which will be deprived of all power to
legislate on a comprehensive scale, and will be com-
pelled to confine itself exclusively to matters of petty
local details ? So far will the concession of a mea-
sure of this half-and-half character be from satisfying
Ireland, that it will make her more clamorous and
determined than ever in her demands for a Repeal of
the Union. At first, no doubt she will be highly
delighted at the idea of having wrested from the
English Cabinet something like a Parliament of her
own—a Parliament that she may pet and fondle and
take liberties with, just as a child does with a new
doll ; she will expect too, most probably, that it will
do everything for her that she requires to be done; that
it will pare down, if not altogether abolish, the re-
venues of the Protestant Establishment; shift the
burden of taxation from the shoulders of the rich to
those of the poor; put an effectual stop to absentee-
ism ; draw the teeth and pare the claws of tyrannical
landlords; put money in the wallet of every wander-
ing beggar, and enable him to live just as he pleases;
give every peasant a pig and a potato-field ; and
finally restore much of its lost rank and influence to

the Catholic Church. All these requirements "Young
Ireland," in the first ebullition of her joy and in the
hour of her triumph, will expect to obtain at the hands

of a Federal Parliament ; but when, on its being set

actively to work, she finds that its power is crippled,
and that it can furnish her with few remedies but such

as are of minor importance ;—when, in fact, she finds,
notwithstanding all her agitation, that she has got
rather the shadow than the substance of a Parliament,
she will begin, first, to regard the legislative abortion
with indifference, next with contempt, thirdly, with
downright abhorrence ; and ultimately will insist on
cashiering
it, and renewing with an energy ren-
dered fiercer from
disappointment, her old demand
for an unqualified Repeal of the Union ! The
Chronicle, we see, speaking of Federalism, calls
it
independence of Ireland !" " Semi-
independence ! This
One word expresses, as
fully as language can, the utterly unsatisfactory cha-
racter of such a measure. What nation, when once
it bad seriously embarked in the struggle for what it
conceived to be its legislative freedom, was ever yet
content with stopping short of the goal, and putting
up with "semi-independence —that is to say, with
an independence that has nothing but the mere name to

recommend it ? We can understand the demand for

Repeal, much as we disapprove of it ; but we cannot
understand the demand for half-Repeal—alias Fede-

" We feel it incumbent on us," says the Post of
this morning, " to offer a brief and respectful allusion
to one very 'painful subject connected with her
MAJESTY'S present excursion. On the occasion of
her former visit to the North, she sojourned for some
days at the palace of Dalkeith. There was no Epis-
copal Church within a convenient distance. But her
MAJESTY declined attending the Presbyterian places
of worship, and Divine service was performed within
the palace by Dean RAMSAY, of Edinburgh, accord-
ing to the rites of the Church. The QUEEN is now
at Blair Athol. There is an Episcopal chapel on the
spot, but through some inauspicious influence, the
nature of which we care not to particularise, though
nothing would be more easy than to do so,
her MAJESTY has been actually prevailed on
to appear at public worship, not in the chapel
where the Episcopal worship is celebrated according
to the rites of the Episcopal Church, but at the meet-
ing-place of the Calvinists or Presbyterians, to whom
Prelacy—the Prelacy her MAJESTY has sworn to
maintain—is the object of implacable hate and ab-
horrence, and the symbol of damnable abomination."
The spirit that pervades the above passage is the most
bigoted it is possible to conceive, and is far more
suitable to the days of LAUD—that most intolerant
and ceremonious of Churchmen—than to the more
enlightened nineteenth century. -Why should not
her MAJESTY, if it so pleases her, attend Divine ser-
vice at a Presbyterian place of worship ? Is there
anything in the doctrines there inculcated at variance
with real Christianity ? On the contrary, does not
the Presbyterian maintain the true principles of the
Christian faith with quite as much earnestness and
sincerity as the most orthodox Churchman that ever
upheld the infallibility of the thirty-nine articles ?
We have no patience with such gross intolerance as
that exhibited by our Contemporary, who evidently
confounds religion with sectarianism, and deems
it a subject of legitimate regret that her
MAJESTY has " been prevailed on" to sanc-
tion with her presence any other form of
worship than that adopted in our State Church.
Surely, to pay a decent respect to Presbyterianism,
in the country of that persuasion, is not to show in-
difference to orthodoxy ; but rather to rise superior
to mere schismatic prejudices, in the innate conscious-
ness of a real religious feeling, and to set an ex-
ample of toleration which is worthy of all praise !
Illiberality in these matters has too long been the
bane of England ; the Churchman has been
too long in the habit of distrusting, despising,
and holding aloof from the Dissenter; and her MA-
JESTY deserves the respect and gratitude of every
sincere and enlightened Christian for endeavouring,
by her influential example, to encourage habits of
toleration and good-will among her subjects of dif-
ferent persuasions. It is not a synagogue, nor a
Unitarian nor a Swedenborgian Chapel, that our
youthful SOVEREIGN has attended, but a place where
" Christ Crucified" is preached with quite
as much impressiveness and strength and holi-
ness of feeling as in any of our national
cathedrals. What, then, is there to regret in her con-
duct ? Are the prayers she offers up herself, or hears
the Presbyterian Minister offer up, less acceptable to
the ALMIGHTY than those which are offered up in the
Chapel Royal of St. James's ? We cannot under-
,tand these nice distinctions in religious matters,
which, in our view of the case, savour not of a sound
devotional feeling, but of the essence of bigotry and
uncharitableness.