The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-23 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY

able clauses and omissions in the bulls, absolutely
prohibits all judicial or extrajudicial reference 'what-

soever thereto, as sanctioned or tolerated by the Go-
vernment, and imposes a peremptory obligation on
the new Bishop of CARTHAGENA of taking, previous
to entering upon the exercise of his functions, and in
the presence of the Governor of the province, the oath
of fidelity to the civil laws prescribed by the articles
of the constitution. If these things be resented by
Catholic Grenade, are they not to be routed and
scouted by Protestant England ? Priestly tyranny
should ba sternly checked, whether the would-
be despot be a Pope in reality, or a

Pope in heart, whether he be MASTAI of Rome, or
HARRY of Exeter ! It is not to the man, but to the

system, that we are sworn foes, and our Rlman

Catholic fellow-lieges should not be purblind to their
real interests. A sleepless lust of sway has reigned

on the banks of the Tiber for nearly three thousand
years, and we are now in the grapple of one of its

most desperate developments. It is not by parading
GUT FAWIESES, or by reviling the religion of our

Romish brethren, that we are to assert our abhorrenee

of " the arrogant and insidious" burglary upon the

Ark of the Constitution. The question is one not o:

mere theology, but of politics. The sentiments and

determination of the free people of England have
been pronounced in unmistakeable accents through-

out the length and breadth of the land,
and they confidently expect that they shall find
no hesitating or inefficient spirit in the breasts

of their leaders at the fitting season. Lord ionzi
RUSSELL, of his own free accord, took a bold and
honourable position at the outset. Let him strive to

save the Protestant Church from foes without and
foes within ; from oppugnators and from traitors ;
from beasts of prey and from domestic vermin. He

stands in the gap, not inadequate, we willingly be-
lieve, to such a crisis. But woe to the Minister who
would dare to have recourse to dissimulation or

delay, to tamper with the civil and religious liberties

of the empire, or to deal with this momentous matter

otherwise than in a fearless and straightforward
manner. Loss of place and power would be a trivial
calamity compared to the undying infamy which
would thicken round his head.

Mr. Arthur Russell has been appointed to succeed
Mr. Charles J. Grey as one of the private secretaries to Lord
John Russell.

_ ACCIDENT AT THE LYCEUM THEATRE.—As Mr.
Morris, one of the corps dramatiqus of the Lyceum, was pro-
ceeding towards the stage to act his part on Saturday night,
his foot slipped, and he fell with such violence that he severely
injured his leg, and had instantly to be removed to the King's
College Hospital, where, strange to say, he was, it is stated,
refused admission because he had not " a letter," as it is
termed. He was, therefore, conveyed to his lodgings in the
greatest agony.

- -
IMPROVEMENT AT THE GENERAL POST OFFICE.-
Workmen are busily engaged in a very extensive improve-
ment at the General Post-office, in St. Martin's•le-Grand,
the yard from the grand portico to the north entrance having
been excavated for the purpose of forming a range of work-
shops (carpenters, plumbers, &c.), underground. The roof
will be of glass, and externally there will be no alteration in
the appearance of the edifice. The improvement has been
deemed necessary in consequence of the vast accumulation
a papers in the vaults. in some of which were the work-
shops. The new foundation will be carried out as far as the
outer railings in St. Martin's-le-Grand, and it is contemp-
lated to continue the works on the south side towards
Cheapside.

AYLESBURY ELECTION.—Mr. Sergeant Byles has
retired from the contest, the cause of which will be seen from
the following extract copied from his parting address :- " I
have seen with regret some defections from the ranks of the
old Conservative party in Aylesbury and the hundreds. For
those defections lam not responsible. I find they existed
before I came forward. Illiberal attacks have also been
made on me for private religious opinions, which I neither
obtrude nor conceal, which never have been a disqualification
for Parliament, nor any reason at all wby a gentleman
should not be a friend and supporter of that Church which is,
and I trust ever will be, by law established. Under these
circumstances I can no longer, with advantage to you or sa-
tisfaction to myself, continue to be a candidate for the repre-
sentation of your borough."

SOUTH NOTTINGHAMSHIRE ELECTION.—There is a
strong probability that both the candidates in the field will
proceed to a poll. Lord Newark is relying upon the all but
omnipotent influence of the Dukes of Portland and New-
castle, Earl Manvers, and lord Middleton. His opponent,
Mr. Barrow, finds an arm of strength in the numerous small
freeholders and independent voters. He has, moreover, the
secret sympathy and good wishes of the great mass of the
tenant farmers, who, if they dare, would support him openly.
Indeed it is highly probable that numbers of them will for
once ri,k the landlords' displeasure, and exercise their own
judgment in the use of their suffrage.—Notts Review.

THE GREAT BRITAIN.—This steam-ship has at
length been sold by the directors of the Great Western
Steam-ship Company, to Mr. Paterson, the eminent ship-
builder of Bristol, for the sum of 18,0001., being about the
seventh part of her original cost. Mr. Patterson is now
building in the dock in which the Great Britain was built a
steam-ship for the Royal West India Mail-packet Company,
and she will ba six feet longer than the Great Britain.

THE BISHOP OF LONDON AND THE PUSETITES.—
The Bishop of London en Saturday issued peremptory in-
qructions to Archdeacon Sinclair (Middlesex), and Arch.
deacon Hale (London), to institute inquiries into the manner
of conducting divine service in certain churches and chapels
in his diocese. Rumours of his Lordship's intention have
been extensively circulated during the last few days, but the
commission was only on Saturday definitively ordered....
Advertiser.

teenth century, in the plenitude of her power—reposing
in the reasonably entertained security of her unstinted
toleration to all classes of her denizens—the very
'existence of her National Church contemptuously
ignored, and her territory parcelled out among the
.nominees of an Italian priest. There are, thank Gon,
men—and we trust and believe many men—among
our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, who, like the
Premier Peer of England, loyal, religious, attached
,to their ancestral faith, neither the slaves of super-
stitious dread or the tools of sacerdotal arrogance—
discountenance and deplore this rash escapade of
Papal extravagance. Whilst participating in our
regret, at finding the dying embers of religious feud
temporarily rekindled by the application of a noxious
,and untimely firebrand, they disdain to tarnish
`the purity of their allegiance, to be either bul-
lied or cajoled into sanctioning what they know
within their hearts and consciences to be an unwar-
rantable invasion and encroachment on the principles
of the British Constitution, and the veered rights of
our constitutional QUEEN.
There was a straw thrown up a little time since in
Ireland, but the popular prescience was not suffi-
ciently sharpened to- draw any conclusion therefrom
as to the way the wind was blowing. It has been
the immemorial custom to have the vacancies in the
Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy filled up as they
occur by means of diocesan election. The priests of
the diocese elect three names, which are submitted
to the Supreme PONTIIr of their Church, that he may
select one out of the three, no matter whether he fix
his choice on the Dignissimus, the Dignior, or the
Dignus in the list (so classified according to the pre-
ponderance of suffrages), and nominate him to the
vacant see. In the instance referred to,the Primacy
had to be filled up. The three names were forwarded
in due course to Rome. But his HOLINESS thought fit
to travel out of the beaten track, and, scouting the
established privilege of the Irish priesthood, nomi-
nated to the high office the Reverend PAUL
CULLEN, an Irishman by the accident of birth, but
for a third of a century a resident within the walls of
Rome. This was a nomination ex mero motu, pre-
cursory to that sweeping specimen of autocratism
which has since inundated England with a batch of
soi disant bishops, but in which nomination, however,
the Irish Roman Catholics seem meekly to have ac-
quiesced, and which has proved to be the first note of
the overture. Unless the junior be grievously belied,
a charge similar to that advanced against the apostle
of old cannot be alleged against his modern namesake.
Too much learning bath not made Primate PAUL
mad. It was pronounced by ANAXAGORAS that the
solar orb was of the same dimensions as the Pelopon-
nesns, but our,modern astronomer gravely and autho-
ritatively assigns to the sun a diameter of six feet !
IF we err as to the exact quantity we are, of course,
open to correction. It has likewise been noted by
the curious that since his advent to the Irish shores
the tbking the oath of allegiance has formed no part of
the proceedings of the imported Hierarch. This is,
we trust, an inaccurate observation. There can, how-
ever, be no offence in asking whether the Right Rev.
PAUL CULLEN has sworn allegiance to the SOVEREIGN
of these realms, and if riot, why not ?
The course of paternal love, emanating in this pre-
sent fashion from the Seven Hills has not run alto-
gether smoothly in another quarter of the globe. The
PRESIDENT of the Republic of New Granada has, in
a prompt and dignified manner, encountered the in-
troduction of certain Papal bulls- recently addressed
to the clergy and people of that state, and certain
clauses of which the Government has conceived to be
an aggression on its prerogatives. Among other
grounds of complaint, are " the omission of all men-
tion of the Government of the Republic," and " the
omission of the oath of fidelity to the laws and
civil authorities (equivalent to the oath of
allegiance amongst us) in the formulary for the oath
of fidelity and obedience to the Apostolic See." The
decree accordingly, protesting against the objection