The Sun.
London, England, 1828-08-23 00:00:00

has been comparatively very light. This is, per-
haps, one of the best proofs that the condition
of the lower classes has improved, and that the
great body of the people, instead of being forced
to steal and to cheat one another to procure a
precarious subsistence, have found other more
honourable means of employment. It cannot
he doubted that poverty and wretchedness are
the great sources of those numerous larcenies
with which the criminal calendar is so often
filled. We rarely see a man run the risk of
banishment or death for stealing the property of
his neighbour, when he can do without it. In-
stances to the contrary certainly do occur, but
these are only exceptions to the general rule, and
we may conclude that, in proportion to the de-
crease of thefts, particularly of petty larcenies,
the condition of the lower classes is im-
proved. This happy change, however, is not
confined to England. Perhaps on no other
Assizes within the recollection of any person
living have there been so few cases for trial on
the Irish Circuits as this rear. This has been
attributed by some to the influence of the Libe-
rator and the Catholic Priesthood ; but, on the
slightest reflection, it must appear that some
other cause must be found for that state of order
and peace which now so happily prevails in Ire-
land. The Priests may, for a few days, at an
election, repress rioting and excess, but it
would be difficult to continue that for any
length of time, unless the causes are removed,—
and still snore difficult to put down robbe-
ries and thefts, and assaults. We have no
doubt that the real cause of the change is
the improved condition of the working classes ;
and the increase of the Irish revenue for some
time past puts this almost beyond a doubt. If
affairs go on in this way for some tune, and the
local authorities, by acting impartially between
Protestants and Catholics, should endeavour to
put an end to the animosity that has prevailed
between the two parties, we should not wonder
soon to see Ireland the most thriving part of the
British dominions. The great bars to the im-
provement of that country have been its dis-
turbed state and the lawless conduct of the pea-
santry. Let a decided change in this respect
take place, and we shall soon see English and
Scotch capital flow into the country, to erect
cotton-mills, improve farms, and furnish em-
ployment for the people. If the Priests had only
the good of their flocks in view, they would, in-
stead of teazing them about the Catholic Ques-
tion and the Catholic Rent, and other similar
subjects, which so little interest them, impress
upon their minds the great advantages which
might accrue to them by remaining quiet, and
thereby encouraging the influx of British capi-
tal. The) know well enough. that this would
be advantageous to the country in general, but,
probably, are not so convinced of the benefit
which they should derive from it themselves.—
Proselytism has made rapid strides in the North
since the introduction of the linen manufactory
from Scotland, and it is not improbable that they
may be afraid of a similar change in the South
by the establishment of factories for cotton goods,
hardware, and the other kinds of manufactures
carried on in England. Even supposing, how-
ever, that, for the sake of their religion, they
would endeavour to put a stop to a change which
has evidently been going on for some time, we
doubt much whether they could, great as their
paver is, produce any considerable effect. Self-
interest is the most powerful agent ; and when
the people find that, by remaining quiet, they
excite the confidence of their neighbours, and
thereby procure employment, they will continue
to go on in the course which they have so hap-
pily begun.—Morning Herald.
The downright Whig and Tory prints are
rending and tearing one another without mercy,
respecting the conversion of Mr. Dawson, and the
implied conversion of the Duke of Wellington
and Mr. Peel, on the subject of the Catholic
Question. Such a contest, we think, is rather
silly, and betrays a regard for mere names which
is due to reason and sound argument only. The
three personages, whose names we have men-
tioned, have been uncompromising enemies of
Catholic Emancipation ; and their conversion to
A different mode of thinking, is, undoubtedly, a
step pined in the great cause : but beyond this
it is nothing ; for the People of England, how-
ever foolishly they may have acted at times, are not
so far gone in folly as to be led away by either
in a course which they do not approve.
The conversion of Mr. Dawson will, undoubt-
edly, have its effect in stirring up those to
think who never before had any idea that
thinking had any think to do with the question,
while not a arx of those who invariably follow
the multitude " to do evil or to do good," as
chance may happen, will, in all probability, fol-
low his example. But to suppose that because
Mr. Dawson has been converted, or Mr. Peel,
or the Duke of Wellington, the Catholic
Question must necessarily be carried, is not only
extremely foolish, but 'extremely insulting.—
Neither one nor all of them can carry this•point
—the people of England must ago be con-
verted, and convinced, both of the necessity and
safety of the measure, before it can ever pass
the Collective Wisdom pf Parliament ; and
hence it becomes the Catholics of Ireland, as we
have often told them, to endeavour to convince
the people of England that they have been un-
justly treated, and deserve the emancipation which
they crave ; for whatever abstract right they
may possess to the enjoyment of equal privileges
with Protestant 6kikigrts-however zealous their
friends in this country—all the influence of both
will he as cc water spilt upon the ground," un-
less the people of England re-echo the feeling.
We trust, therefore, that they will conduct them-
selves as good and loyal subjectc—as men bent
upon the attainment of their rights, tint who con-
sider their rights based on too solid a founda-
tion to have recourse to any other arm than that
of sound argument. Violence and threats, they
may rest assured, w4l only retard a favourable
issue to the cause in which they are engaged,
and furnish their blood-thirty opponants with
additional arguments for opposing their claims.
Obedience and perseverance are their true and
only motto—the rest they may safely confide to
their friends.—Meotirining irtgiti:tdhe vertisei-.
something There isaffected
be authoritytoo
of some of the Journals which cannot
soon explodej,
nor, for the sake even of the
parties who assume a,
too often exposed. Those
who think they can in • duce die public to believe
that they represent the opinions. of the Ptarc.eiof
Wellineton and ire privy to th
oiess which shows
Government, evince a veal,
e secrets of the
how little they know of the habiete of the Noble
Duke, and how unsparingly they calculate Upon
the credulity of the
•
public. Perhaps of , all the
Statesmen of Europe, at the present day, the
illustrious individual at the bead of his Ma-
jesty's Government is the most careful, the most
Erudent, the most abstemious, in making known
is intentions on any public question. The
eer
Noble Duke listens attentively to all Advisers?