The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-19 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FR,.31 TIIE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—It is reported by those who profess
themselves better acquainted than we care to be with
the intentions of the Court of Rome that the promo-
tion of Cardinal Wiseman to the titular Archbishopric
of Westminster is only one portion of a complete
scheme for the revival of the Psomish hierarchy in
this country. Twelve bishops of the Romish Church
are said to be designated by the Pope to fill the sees
into which it has pleased his Holiness to divide the
Queen's dominions; and the Cardinal Archbishop is
ere long to return to England armed with full Papal
powers for the government of the affairs of the Roman
Catholic body in his province. We have no means of
ascertaining the accuracy of this statement, and we
sheuld be glad to learn that no such project has been
entertained ; or, if entertained, that it is not likely
that a scheme so calculated to revive amongst the
People of England the strongest feelings of suspicion
and aversion against the Popish authorities of the
Roman Church will be executed. But the spe-
cimen Pius IX. has recently given us of his po-
licy and intentions, and the imprudent exultation
with which we are told that a lost nation. has
fboelednofSt.
recovered and reclaimed by this very act to the
Peter, may justify an apprehension that a
more ostentatious and ambitious display of the preten-
sions Of the Papal Court is actually at hand. As-
ouilingi therefore, that these facts have not been
erculoured, we inay ask what they mean. For if
they have any signification at all beyond an idle dis-
tribution of spurious titles, they mean that the Pope
Conceives that he can in the 19th century resume
and
realm
ethe direct spiritual government within
this of a
hierarchly, considerable portion of the Queen's
.811bjects and that by means of a regularly established
mild t accountable to Rome only for its actions,
Crownenou et
the
B‘leg as they are not absolutely at variance with the
theour present laws, he can divide with
of f flow. countrymen.
Itisallegiance our e
i not, as we remarked on a former occasion, on theo-
Logical grounds that we repudiate these arrogant claims,
:r:d that (to use the term which the Reformation
religiousts
Waernpproe UP"
opinions,
protest
our branch of the Church of Christ)
against them. We respect the sanctity of
of cons • we recognise the inviolable rights
pref. cienee under every form of worship, and we
La- 787 the liberal principle of the age we live in, that
11l civil disabilities ought to be annexed to religious
thequictiom.
But with the utmost deference for
es.: Principles of religious freedom in the person of
tier!' ,Englishman, we are not the less, but rather the
, eoune to
, . . uphold to polity of this kingdom, to
4 , with indignation the attempt of a foreign power
to fastenregis
.t the reconstruction its authority upon our divisions, and to
the R .
glory of our
of those.. great engines of
foe s etrush hierarchy which it is the
ifr jrathers to have expelled and overthrown. For
Court Projects projects are ever fulfilled to the letter the
lin of
Rome will have recovered a greater power
authority
that
portion of the nation which admits its
Reformation
than it enjoyed for centuries before the
°rnlation, as far back as the reign of Richard 11.,
when the •
e introduction of unauthorised Papal bulls
'llurred With the penalties of a preernunire; and England
e
su a her Protestant establishment and her oath of
hier-eettey would concede to the Roman Catholic
rerit,, ,_eny and to the Pope a greater latitude of autho-
c4ol.all they have enjoyed for ages in the. most
be lc states of Europe. That is actually, it must
Syneo°,llifessed, the present state of Ireland, and the
Rod de
of Alleles with a host of evils which afflict
of its grade that country are the clearest indication
—elm 'affects These effects will probably only be
d '
b,
r,e when means shall have been found to define
eiic°nlpact the mutual obligations of the Romish
-.arch
allows and of the State ; meanwhile we make
Chu feh ces—eperhaps too great allowances—for the
an, which has maintained so dark a superstition
por'vered so constant a disaffection amongst a large
we live of the Irish people. But here in England
is
here ive n..... 1
gem move in the heart of this empire ; it
, the,.
laws' the that we preserve, in the sanctuary of our
ateve traditional polity of the nation ; and
frerne .1* humours may affect other parts of our
o ''tis by the consent of the free people who
in.. aster round these abodes and crowd this island :that
We are what we are. Is it then here, in Westmin-
ter,
sha,. "'long ourselves and by the English Throne,
If,
oiunion of
doro`eae Italian priest is to parcel out the spiritual
this country—to employ the renegades
t,t_
or national Church to restore a foreign usurpa-
io4ol(llurver
.the consciences of men, and to sow division
. Political scoiety by an undisguised and syste-
Mahe hostility to the institutions most nearly identi-
fied with our national freedom and our national faith ?
Buchanintention must either be ludicrous or intole-
rable—eithertreason to the delusion of some fanatical brain or
pated ou
last vestiges
ranee sake we h
r Romano civil
ttholic Countrymen from
othee
have do Proscription, and for tsilho-
ma ost zealously f
-ought in thatwell ; but of
tere was not
dire Would man
who would have cause
atrect encroachment endured the thought of a
fee %ii 1, On the spiritual independence
mons °n and by that faction from whom these restric-
part_W.ere to he removed. The destiny of the Whig
been Yoni relation to the Roman Catholic Church has
ceriturUrions and perplexing. They spent the first half-
in a g
_Y of their political existence, from 1650 to 1700,
whieuherce struggle against the Catholic element
The threatened lave to blast the liberties of the country.o
18,56 spent the last half- century, from 1800 t
• )
le rest .shoving every ,
rig to the Romish Church all the liberty
and
to dente it could claim at the hands of a Protes-
-,ate 9, •
ever e • This apparent
and
ere,h „"e readily explained. They combated
pope: " the Catholics in the 17th century because
to tiil,was another name for all that was most hostile
tioasei .ttleory of constitutional government and na-
esthr,ll.lidePendence; they laboured to emancipate the
Were les in the 19th century because their claims
resin Preferred in the name of a persecuted faith. They
Which the pretensions of Rome to a supremacy
for three the laws of this country have utterly condemned
r three
the e
,Senturies ; they admitted without reluctance
for qeu_ality of the rights of conscience under every
to
ever
religious opinions. Those rights are secured
by the Yr Mani no less by the spirit of this age than
thethe less !cent Acts of the Legislature ; but it is not
.. incumbent on us to oppose whatever bears
which
we
appearance of an assumption of authority
tlOO, thate epphatically reject by the solemn declara-
nt' potentate no foreign prince, person, prelate, state,
Pevver, su hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction,
siestical orrierity, pre-eminence or authority, eccle-
indeed,
0 t spriritnal, within this realm." It is not,
eof se „e,
se the English Catholics so much as to the
addressed; for our hatit these objections may fairly be
as a body probably n omen Catholic countrymen have
of the alien authorit° active
part in these proceedings
the contrary, the y which they acknowledge. On
y are more likely Y such rash innovation kely to lose than to gain
hligioue liberties was isi:eand the enjoyment of their
tl.lo.re silent. But since Rors• r.espectable when it was
rldiculous contrivances, me is itself the seat of these
l
nempts at spiritual aggress:" may fairly regard such
Pertinency to be met
with
as a mark of hostiler
tit, 11 Government, not in due vigour by the 13 i
In
fe",e,Present state of the Po England, but in Italy.
the
dcminios, l
~iVe remnant of his temporalexciteswtheecom-
'a„,:'.l°ll of the Catholic statesand
dowher
unt
t of his
reZetsi the direct Opposition aof tEnglandee and
erapa
bold
seietion to shake the rotten edifice to its foundations
pants prove more formidable dangers to the occu-
Irehb(i'f,the Vatican than the presence of a sham
Q pr Iluop to the Protestant citizens of Westminster.
do
as the vitality of the Romish Church
1)1 the 4at its centre, it revives at its extremities ; and
reigu
ee,str ange contradictions of its nature a Sove-
agaiost."° is too weak to defend himself in his palace
it sort of a mob who in • suit him with impunity acquires
to his parasitic existence in countries not subject
Vhiehallthoeity, and distributes dignities and duties
Presume not his own. But the Papal See may
4tabitioe tOO much on its weakness as the screen of its
Whioh
will
There is a spirit abroad even in Italy
ever rel 11 not be roused with impunity ; and, how-
oord , uctant we may be to add fresh elements of dis-
see not
_,the present agitated condition of Europe, we
indiffe utsPosed to submit with perfect tameness or
foreign rence to
lobeinterference of band of
wanton
priests Cale the affairs of this country.
to th -L'ONICLE.--In alluding, on a recent occasion,
kre a, contract just concluded g.,the Admiraltywith
'Lamb) fby
the c g, or the conveyance of a monthly mail to
Cap
of Good H •
Payment
of
30 cope, in screw-steamers, for a
teral terms, 'oo°l. Per annum, we described, in ge-
Sala
which i the nature of the three • • l ropo-
ten • have been. principal p
t sive and made for establishing more ex-
Perfect l'
thween this country
attar of steam communication be-
ose at present exisnr its eastern dependencies than
increasing urgency of importance The importance and the
t‘hat the questions connected Lat pic render it necessary
further discussed; and that with it should be still
7) bring under the influenceattempts should be made
of
vftto?artial public opinion, , an enlightened and
07.1 eh have now a mass of arrangements
the three become a matter of national concern.
establish routes by whi:h it has been proposed to
to A , a passenger and no t l service
Pur usiralia, it m . s A steam-packet
-Poses that •ma be considered, for all practical
at least ) at, in the present stage of the discussion
left 1 the Panama Pacific .
elatirel or project may be
establish Y out of view. The thorough
of
tr_os.taent of a cheap, easy, and expeditious mode
euiial a across the Isthmus of Panama forms so pe-
te and essential feature in
that um,.it the Pacific scheme,
presn.,, ll We are better acquainted than we are at
neet`:°' 'with the actual progress of the plans for con-
rets'"ng the two oceaes, we can do little than
thens°l between ssum tio'n Thean. more
lies,
is '-' the jape s.nd h question really
4_ la fortunate that the effortst the Eastern routes; and
°I. render
the proposed AustralianWIC b have been made
breach lino
from Singapore
}ave
excitedservice a mereia
p4tos discussion on another, andthea very sa. ‘l-
- of our great schemes perhaps most ni-
ce. it
will be
of contract packet ser-
U remembered that, in reply to the