The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-01 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Well, the Opposition are determined .to go
on wasting the time and energies of this exhausted
and dying Parliament. Not one particle of wit or
wisdom will they learn or be taught. But now
another most important question forces itself upon
our notice, and that is, cui Mono, what is the use of
their Irish Church motion during the present ses-
sion and by this existing Parliament? Can it be
possible that Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone are
se ignorant of the history of their country as not to
know that there are, and always have been, such
periods as exceptional sessions, i.e., sessions when it
was utterly impossible to bring forward any really
great and important measures of reform and pro-
gress. What progress did Catholic Emancipation
or Parliamentary Reform make during that old,
long French war, from 1793 to the ever-memorable
and decisive battle of Waterloo in 1815, a period of
well nigh a quarter of a century? But it was not
on this account that those two great and important
measures were not deemed necessary and essential.
It was simply because the nation was by far too
much engaged in the great war then raging to give
proper attention to them. As I remarked in my last
letter to you a month ago there is a time for all
things, and the present is about the very worst time
that could by any possibility have been selected for
the discussion of the Irish Protestant Church. The
great Lord Chesterfield lays it down that a favour
may be conferred in such a manner that it will
amount to the grossest insult that can possibly bo
offered. And all Roman Catholics who possess any
m
the Whigs towards
their
roerNyv of the
nbedy duringofviother
last 20, 30, or 40 years,
cannot possibly arrive at any other conclusion than
that the present conduct of the Whigs in bringing
forward the question of the endowment or diien-
dowment of the Irish Protestant Church is at once
a direct insult ts their entire body. Why, iu the
name of common sense, di I they never bring for-
ward the question during the J 0 years thty wure in
power for they have been at least ie office, during
fully those above-named number of years during thu
present century since their first acce4sion to educe in
November,
1830, after their long resilence on the
Opposition benches. I :full well remember, 17
years ago, in 1851, the year of our ever-memorable
Great Exhibition, when the whole Roman Catholic
body, both in England and Ireland, were foaming,
and justly foaming, with indignation at Lord Rus-
sell's insolent Durham Letter of the previous
(November, 1850). I say I perfectly well remem-
ber hearing a Roman
Catholic priest, a personal
acquaintance of mine, call Lord John Russell, as he
then was, a political tinker, because, this aforesaid
priest said, he simply
made use of Catholicism to
suit his own political ends. Now, I beg leave to ask,
would Lord Russell, or any of his political friends,
have dared to bring forward such a question as is
now exciting such a discussion in 1850 or 1851 ?
No ; he would no more have thought of doing such
a thing than of driving a coach and six over the
moon. The country would have been up in arms
in a moment, so great and strong was the Protestant
feeling at that time, brought on in a great measure
by Lord Russell's violent Durham letter. It suited
the 'Whigs at that time to toady to the ultra-Pro-
testants. Now, however, as the fashion of this
world passeth away, and all the angry ultra-Pro-
testant feelings of 1850, 1851, and 1852 have passed
away, and are consigned to the tomb of all the
Capulets, Lord Russell finis it very convenient to
return to all his old Catholic sympathies of the days
of his youth. It is a good thing there arc people in
the world with good memories in order to remind
their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects what has been
the conduct of Lord Russell towards them during
the last 30 years—how he betrayed them at the first
profitable opportunity, and as on the principle that
what man has done once there is a fair probability
he will do again, as our doings come round like the
solar and lunar cycles, the rising and setting of the
sun, the new and full moons, the full and low tides,
figures in circulating decimals, or any of those cer-
tain and immutable laws which an all-wise Creator
has laid down for the everlasting benefit of his
creature man, I entreat Roman Catholics of Great
Britain to put not their trust in Whigs or. Whiggery,
for there is no health, strength, or confidence to be
placed in auy of them.
They are, as the old song
says, merely fooling theni. Now, in 1868, as in
1828, they want to get all they can out of the Ca-
tholics, and doubtless they will rally to the side of
ultra-Protestantiszn again at the first profitable op-
p en-
treat t
u nihte Catholics
. Again,therefore, let me earnestly
them twice.
I remain, Sir, yours, 84e.,
to A LOVER AND OBSERVER OF HISTORICAL
DATES AND FACTS."
April 30, 1868.
not to let the serpent sting

COURSE OF EXCHANGE—This Evening.

Amsterdam .............•• Short ... 11 171 ... 11 181
Ditto ................ 3 Ms. ... 11 19i ... 11 19. J
Rotterdam... .......••••• ••• 11 ita 11 Di
-1
•

•
Antwerp 2.5 37 ... 25 40
iirnssels — 25 37 ..• 25 40
Ilamburgh .......... • ••• 13 13 10}
Paris Short 25 12i 25 20
Ditto
Marseill,
Pfti 1201 ... 1201-
Vienna — 11 b 5 11 00

Trieste ..................... 11

fietersburg, ............... ••• 32i
Berlin ...... 6 zip . 6 271.
22
88 33 00 Milan 2B 20 ...
Madrid —4 S
Cadiz
Leghorn
8 2 • •

28 20 28 30 Genna ....
•••

• --------- Naples- 28 20 ;:: 28
30
l'alerrno — 28 2J 28 30

Mt,ssina .................. 28 20 28 3.- (1

r _
rASAiThe ordinary revenue of 1867
amounted to
an increase of £5,382 over the
AIA
amount in 1866, and. of £3,721 over the estimate, owing
chiefly to a change in the mode or time of collecting flee
Publicans' licence tax. The customs produced £126,399,
after deducting drawbacks. The land revenue in 1867 de-
clined to £57,783 ; the market had been previously glutted,
bat in 1867 the price of laud wa,s raised, and it was not
-£185,133,
forced into the market,—Bogard-town :Iferqury.