The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

People have begun to talk strange things about
this meeting of the club-men on Penenden-heath.—
But novelty is the soul of gossip. It is so long
since we have had a revolutionary assembly in this
quiet kingdom, so very long since any but mobs
were parties-to insurrectionary proceedings, or since
the executive power had fallen into such contempt,
and the legislature into such distrust, that English
noblemen and gentlemen felt it to be consistent with
the public weal to summon whole counties in the
light of day, and with. the eyes of the whole nation
fixed upon them, for the avowed purpose of delibe-
rately framing a new form of government for the
realm,—that it is no wonder if sober and loyal
sdbstiaaeiciiienneetgasi
c.so;t7eiaad'in'odeuft
toihtneai
PoDPaeaukmres
minds be startled by an exhibition of temerity so
Pon that account more strictly conform-
able tono fn
euCrsuasmmnbriefer 1 alti tklit dee
l
able to the depth and astuteness of the quarter
ympitagoritiitennghsatilltr,tee-
whence they originated, had the Orange regency,
who in his absence represent that illustrious and
much-loved Prince, been satisfied to adopt a course
of proceeding more characteristic of subtle
nation than of open assault upon the constituted
authorities of England. The Cumberland regency
have examples which might have directed them how
to produce the utmost mischief, without eotiveying
such alarm to their victims as might enable them to
escape the chastisement intended for them, and
without giving such notice to the friends of liberty
and justice, as might put them upon setting up a
system of counteraction, destructive of the plot and
humiliating to' its authors. When Lord George
Gordon made war upon the Catholics in the
year 1780, he took his enemy, like a skilful
veteran, unawares. Before the obnoxious Ca-
tholics or the Government could !csk about them,
many of their houses were ransacked,—the prisons
were forced—the King, with his family, shut up in
a close garrison—all civil power was trampled undec
foot--and the British metropolis as much a pre.), to
anarchy as Paris was a few years later. When ano-
ther Church-of-England phreasy seized a multitude
of loyal brutes, and drove them to the ruin of the
unfortunate Dr. Priestly, and his property, so well
timed was their wickedness, that the offending phi-
losopher owed the preservation of his life to chance,
while his dwelling was sacked, his scientific trea-
sures demolished, and no refuge left to the perse-
cuted old man, bat in a country 3,000 miles from
England. Now, it seems, after such triumphant
precedents of persecution, accomplished by an over-
throw of the laws, and by a temporary extinction
of the peace of society, that the Cumberlanders
might have proCeeded with a more politic circuro..
spection, if they had got up their club of Protestant
bravoes in a way less exposed to previous censure,
and to final resistance by others of the King's lovnl
subjects, who will, it is declared, make rk Vowel fill
resistance. If the Lord of Winchilsea were as wise
as he has rendered himself conspicuous, he would
have bethought himself, ere it was too late, what
were the practical effects of Lord George Gordon's
insurrectionary movements upon the peaceful citi-
zens of London, and how it ended with Lord
George himself. But with Lord Winchilsea we

need not reason. He might feel, like the Duke of
Newcastle, that we insulted his nobility, and attack
us for a breach of privilege in forgetting what was
due to a Peer. There are others, nevertheless,
who may find themselves on Penenden Heath,
and who are not inaccessible to the appeal
of argument or to the sense of justice. Such
men we would beg leave to ask, why do they
fear that the Catholics would be snore formidable; if
put in possession of their constitutional rights, than
they are under a system of exclusion from them ?
The Catholics are noisy, and impetuous, and me-
nacing—why ?. Because they want those powers of
self-protection (for into that is all constitutional li-
berty resolved.) which are enjoyed by every man who
is not a Catholic. Is it not monstrous, then, to as-
sume, that if this grievance be redressed, the same
violence will continue on the part of the Catholic, as
now while he is afflicted by it? What would be the
inducement of the Irish Catholic gentleman to dis-
turb the State after -he had become -a' member of
that State ? To raise the Catbolic.priesthood into
power ! They know little of the relation betwee n
priest and layman who plume to themselves the
possibility of such a disposition in the latter. The
natural state of these two parties is one of extreme
indifference, arid often contemptuous anger in the
gentleman towards the priest,—one of humble
deference, or of querulous jealousy, from the priest
towards the Catholic gentleman. Every individual
who knows the history of Ireland, the composition
of the priesthood, and the habits of the laity, will
acknowledge the truth of this representation. The
state of close union in which they now exist .is an
unnatural condition. It was long, in the progress of
their snuggle for emancipation, before the Catholic
gentry condescended to approximate to the priests.
When the contest was prolonged, and the Orange op-
position became more stubborn, the Church was at
length resorted to as an instrument in the hands of
the aristocracy and the Association, the most con-
venient for communicating with the inhabitants of
the parishes, all of whom were known to the priests,
and for conveying the suggestions of the leaders,
This inference of the priesthood—this prominence
of the Church—is an incident to the struggle, and
the
etarhornlics laymanwouldd
at once
vanishee
throw
with
; and of the priest we should hear no more
hiitmhs it,
into The
than of the tractable Presbyterian minister, who.
pockets his regium donunt, and extols the Govern.
meat. We have dwelt the more upon this branch
of the subject from being satisfied, on close exami-
nation, that the Catholic Question can never be un-
derstood by those who do not consider.as completely
separated, the political interests and passions of the
laity from tho cause of the priesthood and of the
church. But with regard to the Kent meeting, we
would ask the conveners, for what purpose do you
meet ? If to petition against the Catholics, it is. a
lawful object, though an unjust and foolish one, for
which, it would be cruel to blame your liona.file
ignorance, however unavoidable may be the com-
passion or the lees respectful sentiment of all reit •
sonable men, But if, instead of petitioning the
Legislature, your scheme be to raise a factious army
with a view to overawe its decisions, let the Kings
Government beware of such county meetings. .
Grace will find them any thing but a farce.
Times, —

In the Register of this
day,if
tMher.c Catohhotrietst
be, as,
:She political(the Cahnud eirchv)ii aces
iights,
put upon a level with
Protestants of the Church, the Church of IrelanO,
at any rate, must soon give up her tithes and her
enormous rents of land ; that done, or indeed, only
begun, who is fool enough to believe tb-at tithes
will exist in England for a year ?
Not Mammy ;
she is not fool enough to believe this : she knows
that-thewhole
system WQl4la come tumbling down
is
that
like a house from which
the props are knocked
away. She is, 1, f Lereiore, in a state of great alarm;
and when I S4y ' she,' I mean to include the trhole
boob/ 91 Me Aristocracy, to whom in fart belongs-
the distrihution of the tithes and other property
called Chur 1 t " It •
e i proper ). is anions enough that
the opinion here expressed by Mr. Cobbett should
writer'
there almost universal on the Continent. The
there believe that the English Aristocracy are as a
body hostile to emancipation in their hearts, what-
ever some may pretend for the sake of appearances,
and that the cause of hostility is apprehension for
the Church Revenues. In the first number of the
31st volume of the " Hermes," a well-known Ger_
man political and literary journal, which has iii,t,
been received, we perceive in an article on English
affairs the following passage :—" Even the most li-
beral Members of Parliament feel that, were Eman-
cipation granted, the necessitous, and consequently
the great majority of the Irish people, would be
little thereby advanced. For what may peen
liarly be called the
plague spot consists in 4116,
that the Catholic Irish are compelled to pay
enormously large sums of annual revenues to a hi.h.
-...5,

Anglican Clergy, strangers to their worship, who
consume these res(enues in luxurious enjoyment as
mere sinecures, aid live in great luxury ; while
those from whom the revenues are exacted must live
in extreme necessity. This state of things can only
be remedied when the holders of these benefices
consent to give up a considerable part of their in-
comes, which they feel not the smallest inclination
to do voluntarily. We despair altogether of ever
seeing any change effected through Parliament ; for,
in the first place, whatever is established is sacred in
the eyes of the Englishman, though it be an abuse;
in the next place, an Englishman is a bigot, with a
dash of pedantry about him ; but lastly, the main
cause is, that-profitable places would thereby be lost
to the higher English familieS of every politicall com-
plexion, for their children and relatives ; and at the
same time the -influence of the Prime Minister, who
has chiefly the disposal of them;would be diminished.
Hence it happens, that-neither the Ministerial Party
nor the Opposition ever touch on this delicate point!'
This is also the view which, in the Anglo-Irish (said
to be by Mr. Banim, the author of" The Tales of the
O'Hara Family"), one of the characters, a sturdy
Englishman, is. made to express. He supposes that
the object of the Parliamentary discussions is to
amuse the people—that a fight is got up, as it were,
in which one man plays the liberal and the other the
illiberal, to amuse the people with the prospect of
Emancipation, which must yet never be granted;
not because Emancipation is of any consequence in
itself, but because it is a sort of outwork, which, if
it were carried, the battle would be for the citadel
itself. Emancipation serves in the mean time to
distract the attention of the people from weightier
matters. The Examiner of Sunday, October 5,
takes a view somewhat different :
"We are, in truth, (says our cotemporary), far from
satisfied with the common English sentiment, so far as we
have opportunities of observing it, with regard to Ireland.
—There is a barbarous defiance about it, which equally
shocks and alarms. The enlightened and high-minded,
doubtless, think justly upon this subject as on all others ;
but the general opinion is warped, and requires correction ;
instead of which, however, it is receiving corroborants.—
.11runswick Clubs ivill bind the sticks of society—the mere
aggots and laths, into fasces of formidable strength.—
'They are binding themselves about the axe of the execu-
tioner. We want a counterpoise to these combinations.—
The intellect and soul of the country is on the side of libera-
lity, and we want expression to be given to their senti-
ments. The weak, imbecile, and timid, are going wrong
in a herd, and a few directing voices and prominent ex-
ttaples are requisite to correct the error. For the last 15
Tears the friends of liberty have perpetually been commit-
ting the folly described under the trite metaphor
.of 'cut-
ting blocks with razors.' They have even been resting
content in inactivity, under the delusion that reason is con-
tending for them, whereas it is their part to contend for
Aston. The most apparently obvious truths of justice,
humanity, and policy, must not he left to the perception
of the vulgar. Everything is to be taught by voice, pen,
and example. Pens enough are employed in the good
service, but we lack voices and examples. Right opinions
should now be represented by men as actively, at least, as
are the wrong. Observe how the Duke of Newcastle's
clout has served as standard to comfort and rally the im-
becile.. We will not deny that great, with the little, has
been the effect of that manifesto of rabid imbecility.—
Every dunce and dotard in the land—every green goose and
=bent buzzard, was cheered by it; and it has been wel-
comed with a joyous and long-protracted cackle. Our
leaders despise to measure weapons with their enemies in
these lists, and suffer their antagonists to carry off the
rabble rout. They are in error. No advantages are to
he neglected. Our opponents exhibit their strength, and
we should exhibit ours. The good, as well as the bad,
*lipoid be comforted by association ; and the blame of any
misebief belonging to such combinations must fall on those -
who drat created them."

The Irish have, for the first time since Emanci-
pation was first agitated, brought the question, by
the eunfession of all parties, to this issue—that
something must be done. The Catholics having
made themselves masters of the Elections, either
they must be deprived of the Elective Franchise, or
they must be placed, in point of civil rights, with
the rest of their fellow-subjects. Well,„then, at this
eventful period, we see the enemies of Emancipa-
tion—the Orangemen and Churchmen—in motion
thrmighout the country, :spy...ailing to all the worst
passions of our nature, and all: the prejudices of the
rabble ; in short, stirring Heaven and earth to bring
to the geld a force capable of either intimidating the
Government, er furnishing the Government with a
pretext for affecting to. be intimidated, and for
throwing itself into their arms. We see the Bruns-
wickers in Motion; and we see only the Brunswickers
in motion. Is it true that the whole of the
Aristocracy are one at heart, and wish in their hearts
that the victory may be to their nominal opponents?
Is it, on the other hand, as the Examiner seems to
insinuate, that the liberal of the Aristocracy are
merely deficient in energy and practical wisdom ?
We used to laugh, in the days that we were proud
of our military prowess and energy, at the confidence
of the Spaniards, who -never doubted of vigtory,
and were always beaten by the French, because they
never made preparations to enable them to secure
victory. This faculty of the Spaniards must have
been long possessed by them, from the current expres•
eion of building castles in Spain, which is ap-
plied to all men who look to ends without
taking care of the means. But are we reduced to
the alternative of supposing the soi-disant liberal
Aristocracy of this country either hollow or
dreamers of dreams ? Iri every town where public
opinion can display itself, and where there is a read-
ing population, the partisans of emancipation are six
to one. Look to the newspapers—the newspapers
are. from necessity influenced by those who read
them. But a very great proportion of the aristo-
cracy, and the parsons to a man, are certainly hostile
to emancipation. In the country the only people
who can read, not influenced by the Clergy, are the
Dissenters. The body of the people in the country
parts of England are somewhat iniproved of late
years, but they are still prodigiously ignorant, and
consequently may easily be led by the nose. If,
therefore, the liberal aristocracy do not bestir them-
selves in the approaching conjuncture in the county
of Kent, the Brunswickers will carry the matter
hollow. We know- from the best authority, that '
while the Whigs are comparatively listless, the' par-
sons and the landlords, on the other side, are stir:
ring heaven and earth—carriages_ are freely otThred
to all those who will accept ot. them. These are
the very words of a gentleman in Kent who has the
best opportunities of knowing what is going on
there. We need not observe that much will de-
pend on the result of the meeting of so great and
populous a county as Kent; and that if the Bru.ns-
wickers be suffered to carry matters witha !ugh
hand, the inactivity and apathy of the Whig aristo-
cracy and liberal gentry in general, to which such
victory must be owing, will be attributed to a Ma-
chie,velian principle of wishing the loss of the
cause they advocate. We do not believe there to
be insincere; but will the public share our opinion ?
We uppea; to them; we call on them to bestir them-
selves on this trying occasion; we call on the Dis-
senters, and all tiose who have the means of iniite

encinithe Dissenter-3, to do their duty on this occa-
sion. Surely so enlightened a body as the Dissen-
ters cannot be the dupes of 'the interested cry raised
by the High Churchmen, that fifteen millions of
Protestants can be in danger from Popish persecu-
tion. The idea is ridiculous. No, the Dissenters
can never believe this—they know that the Eman-
cipation of the Catholics will lead to greater libe-
rality on the part of that body; that the removal of
irritating causes will open men's minds more and
more to conviction. The Reformation has no cause
to dread the light—it requires no penal fetters to
keep down its opponents. The Dissenters must see
that they are, in opposing the Catholics, weakening
Reformation principles, but strengthening Hie,
Church bigotry and rivetting the chains of all of us.
Catholic persecution The very idea is an insult to
a man of the smallest understanding ! On the Dis-
senters the result of the day will mainly depend.
Let them remember, too, that it was the vote against
the Dissenters that lost Mr. V. Fitzgerald the
County of Clare. We cannot close these observa-
tions without remarking that the great (lauger to be
apprehended, in - all struggles of this kind, is the
apathy of the good. Ali the interested knaves tit

heartily--they fight, as it were, pro axis et focis;
while thOse who only come forward on public
grounds make it a merit as it were that they are not
dishonest, but consider themselves not bound to go
farther than to show that they are not corrupt. The
Orangemen fight with all their force, while the
others wish merely to escape censure.—Morning
Chronicle.

We agree, to a certain extent, at least, with a
contemporary, who says, " that the disturbed state
of Ireland lays .the Empire prostrate to the Conti-
nent, and exposes us to injuries and insults from the
most contemptible States." The Catholic Agita-
tors not only acknowledge, but make their boast of
this. " Let England," say they, " but go to war,
and we will speedily wrest from her the full amount
of our demands ;" or, in other words, " while she
resists us, we will take especial care that she shall
be unable to resist any one else." Patriotism is de-
fined to be a pure love of country, divested of all
personal objects. Of what description their pa-
triotism must be, who care wholly for themselves,
and not one tittle for their country, we need not
stop to inquire. But on this, as on many other oc-
casions, it is not quite clear that good may not re-
sult from evil ; and if the only harm the Irish Ca-
tholic Leaders can do to England Is to prevent her
plunging, as she has too often done, in useless Con-
tinental wars, they may be taking, unconsciously, a
somewhat Irish way of inflicting au injury. Had
Mr. Canning lived, for instance, we should, in
all probability, have become, long ere this,
involved, on one side or the other, in the
Turkish question, besides having a snug little
war of our own in Portugal. And then, according
to the opinion we have quoted, the Catholic Asso-
ciation would have had nothing to do but to seize,
vi et armis, upon the objects they so much covet.
Fortunately, from all these dilemmas the country
has been saved, either by' the better judgment of
Mr. Canning's successor, or, if they please, by the
constant state of qui vivo in which the Catholic
Leaders keep the Government. We are as anxious
as its warmest advocates can be, to see the Catholic
Question settled upon a safe and permanent basis ;
and that, we are convinced, it long since would have
been, had its principal advocates been as sincere as
they are loud in their demands. We would wish to
see the question decided by reason, not by strength ;
and the bulk of the rational and dispassionate part
of the Catholics, we have no doubt, are fully per-
suaded that by this test, and this only, can the
question ever be decided.—Morning Herald.
The facts detailed by Mr. Pearson in his speech
before the Common Council, relative to the abuses
practised in the Secondaries' Office, if correctly given,
or if true to a more limited extent than that gentle-
man has openly come forward to prove, ought to make
the " patriotic Corporation" of London ashamed
of inveighing against corruption under any Ad-
ministration, until they have cleansed their own
dirty stable. The setting up the office of Se-
condary to sale, which office is one touching the
administration of justice, is in itself a violation
of the first elements of right Government, and
is as unconstitutional as it is venal and mis-
chievous. It requires no sagacity to discover that the
man who gives 10,000/. for the office of Secondary,
will take every opportunity he can to replenish his
pocketsat the expence of the people. The money paid
for judicial office may always be considered as a bribe
for injustice—the purchased immunity of extortion.
But the worst of the case in question is, that the
abuses of the Secondaries' Office fall heaviest on
that class of persons who are the least able to bear
them. The legal expenses to which persons wrested
are liable, are bad enough without the addition of
extortiionate imposts. The law of imprisonment for
debt is sufficiently cruel in practice, without the
further calamity of adding rapine and spoliation to
the loss of liberty. Among other things which Mr.
Pearson had the public spirit to tell the Corporation
to their face, he stated that, " when the late Mr. Col-

lingridge was appointed to the office (of Secondary),
he paid 10,2001. The price for a warrant at that time
was 4d., the sum
.prescribed by the Statute of Henry
VI., but immediately he entered upen it he raised the
price to 64. Having thus felt the pulse of the pub-
lic, he instantly raised it to one shilling—at which
amount it has ever since continued." Now, here
is an instance of the effect of selling such an ollice,
and that for an enormous sum. The person who
buys it thinks he has a right to make the most he can
by it, and determines to reimburse himself for the
scandalous sum which he has paid by oppressive
exactions. The instance given by Mr. Pearson,
whereby the Secondary taxed the public 300 per
cent., was clearly illegal, and punishable by law upon
defined principles. In the first place, it was a levy-
ing of a tax without consent qf Parliament--an act
of authority which the King himself is precluded
from exercising. The Statute of Henry the Sixth
allowed 4d. to be taken as a fee upon the war-
rent--and to the taking of that tax of 4d., and
no more, the consent of Parliament was obtained;
but for the taxing the additional Bd. there was
no authority whatever but that of Mr. Coning-
ridge himself, and the connivance of the most
" patriotic Corporation" in the world. Such a mode
of levying a tax without consent of Parliament, un-
der colour of the authority of an office, is the offence
which the law designates by the legal name of ex-
torticn, and which is punishable by fine and impri-
sonment, a:4 by the forfeiture of the ()lice. When

the party aggrieved Proceeds against die extortioner
at the King's suit, this punishment of the offence
is by the Common Law ; but the Statute of 3 Ed-
ward I. cap, 2ti, which was made in affirmance of
the Common Law, gives an, additional penalty to
what the Common Law gave to any Sheriff, or.
offiger under him, taking more or larger fees than
are allowed by authority of Parliament, andienables
the party to recover double damages. We trust
that, now this subject has been exposed, if those ex-
tortionate fees should be persevered in, persons ao.-
grieved will avail themselves of the laws which
punish the offence, and cause the extortioner to dis-
gorge the plunder.—lbid.
Petitions from all parts of Great Britain and Ire-
land will be presented to Parliament at the com-
mencement of the, next Session, praying not
,only
that no further political power may be granted to
the Roman Catholics, but also that such part of the
political power which they now possess as is evidently
unconstitutional in its character and mischievous in
its effects, under which description all sensible and
regecting men must be aware the exercise of the
forty-shilling franchise in Ireland is comprehended,
may be immediately wrested from them. Nor is it
possible to conceive that Parliament should turn a
deaf ear to prayers so just and reasonable in them-
selves, and backed as these will upouestionably bei
by the incalculable numbers, the intelligence, the
social and political
weight and importance of the pe-
titioners. It is surely monstrous that a franchise
should ever have been created in Ireland (and it
would be still more monstrous thatits existence should
be prolonged, now that its character and effects
are fully developed) comcritting the immediate
power of returning majority of the , Feßeentatives
or that country to Parliament t 9 tne bands ,of a portion
of it 9 population, necessarily. more destitute than
f the Irish people, of . ,
proper,y, m-
any other
1 slit}', anti independene This
part o
tel re4perlaJ
Clare Election, and the other similar elections
bsyure to follow it, are but
th; abolition.. o;e:his reis-
vwohl etiLiafryn not
traPnrcehviesrel aerde
the natural consequences of a measure which in.
vested poverty and'ignorance with a paramount po,
litical predominance over intelbgence and wealth.
The British Legislature committed a gii-oss and most
mischievous error in the creation of this franchise,---
We freely admit it. Anti we say the time is now •
come for th;s error to be repaired. Ic there any man
of common sense and ordinary information in the
three kingdoms who is bold enough to deny that
the existence of this franchise is a bitter evil to
its possessors, and a fertile source of injury and
danger to the community ? Among Protestants
or Catholics no such man is to be found. We say,
then, abolish it at once. If the same universal coil-

victicm existed against any frarichise in England, Ivo

should equally say, abolish it at once. The Legis-
lature of Great Britain fortunately does not resemble
the Church of Rome; it lays no claim'to
infallibi-
lity; and it must accordingly feel that it is not in-
consistent with the highest degree of mere human
wisdom to acknowledge error and to repair it. The
error into which the Legislature was betrayed in
this instance, was, however, neither unnatural nor
inexcusable. It consisted in the rash application to
a country immersed in the darkness and bigotry of
Popery, of principles which can only act efficaciously
where the natural relations of sbciety are not sus-
ceptible of any great and permanent disturbance.
Did the Legislature imagine - that such a class
of men as the forty-shilling freeholders of Ire-
land, as they then existed, or as they were likely to
be created in future, were capable of any inde-
pendent political action as individuals ? As-
suredly not. To have supposed this would have
implied a degree of ignorance and stupidity utterly
inconceivable. The idea beyond all doubt was, that
the admission of this description of franchise was
a convenient mode of giving to the landowners of
Ireland, in their several counties, a degree of politi-
cal power proportioned as accurately as possible to
the magnitude of their respective estates. That
this was the intention, no man can entertain a doubt;
and we confidently maintain that this intention was
wise, honest, and eminently constitutional. The
only fault was that the means were not well adapted
to the end. The means by which it was intended
to adjust the relative proportions of political power
among the individual landowners of Ireland have
in fact divested their whole body of all political
power, and have transferred that entire political
'power which it was intended to convey, and
which still ought to be, and must be, conveyed to
the Landowners of Ireland, to the Catholic Priests
—to men whom the British Constitution has wisely
refused to recognise as the fit depositaries of any po-,
litical power whatever—who are, and must ever re-
main, the natural enemies of every system of civil
polity of which the Romish Church does not form
an integral and predominant part. Exemption from
error is no essential characteristic of a free and po-
pular Legislature; but alacrity to repair its errors,
when circumstances and the universal voice of the
nation it represents proclaim that it has erred, is an
essential characteristic of a free and popular Repre-
rentation. The Legislature of Great Britain has
erred in admitting the votes of4os. Papist Freeholders
in Ireland in the election of Members of Parliament.

It has erred grievously—not in principle—not
with reference to the end it sought—but in the
adoption of means to attain that end, which have in

fact defeated it—which have created, and will, so
long as they remain in operation,maintain a new, and
dangerous, and unconstitutional power in the state.
Other means, then, must be found to attain the end

view—to exclude the Romish Church in Ireland

from political power, and to restore to the Landed
Proprietors of that country their due and consti-
tutional share of political weight and importance.
This the people of England, Ireland, and Scotland,
demand of the United Parliament. It will be the
confession and the reparation of a legislative error,
in time long past, equally honourable to Parliament
and satisfactory and beneficial to the Empire.—
Morning Post.

We know not whether those " men of Kent,"
who have called a county meeting on Pennenden
heath for the 24th instant, do or do not intend to
cast disgrace on the Protestant cause, and by the
folly of their conduct to give additional weight to
the Catholic claims; but certain it is that nothing
in the shape of opposition to the Catholics was
ever planned more truly contemptible in its
nature, or more likely to injure the very cause
which it is intended to promote. Since the days
of the Manchester assemblages, nothing similar
has been known; and taking into considera-
tion the rank and education of the parties who
have proposed the Meeting, the paradings in
Tipperary, and other parts of Ireland, are a
mere joke to it. There is no object to be gained
by it, except the disturbance of the public
peace; and none to be lost by not holding it, but
that of increasing -the irritation and animosity of
a large portion of our fellow-subjeetF. Were the
Government to do what we consider to be its duty,
it would order a regiment of cavalry to scour the
heath of the medding and intolerant babblers,
who are so anxious to manifest their zeal for the
Constitution in Church and State; and send a few
of the principals to the tread-mill, to learn the dif-
ference between the governed and the governing,
the sufferer and those who impose the suffering.—
For the Catholics who are deprived of their rights,
there is some excuse when they assemble tumul-
tuously to solicit for a redress of grievances ; but
for the men of Kent there is none; for they have
no religious or civil disabilities to complain of, and
any meeting which they may hold for the purpose
of expressing their antipathy to Catholics and Ca-
tholicism, can only -tend to a breach of the public
peace—to embarrass the King's Government, and
to render the eparation between Catholic -and Pro-
testant still more complete than it now is.— ilioniing
Advertiser.

The Brighton Gazette has also undertaken the
defence of Mr. Peel; but eve can excuse this on the
ground that our contemporary could not have seen
the notable defence by Mr. Francis Philips, and
which we have done something to immortalize.—
Our contemporary, we admit, has said all that can be
said for the Right lion. Gentleman.. We have not

censured Mr. P.Cel for conduct the opposite of that
which- was so generally condemned in Lord Gode-
rich and Mr. Huskisson. We, ,on the contrary,
accuse him of an overweening attachment to those
sickly and truckling measures which distinguished the
whole policy of these fallen and liberal Ministers. He
is akeady too much identified with them. During their
imbecile Administration he invariably. supported
them. At first he almost courted Mr. Canning ;
and he left the brunt of the fight in Parliament to his
brother and his now illustrious brother-in-law. But,
able as this defence by our Brighton friend is, it is de-
ficient in one essential quality. He says that Mr.
Peel's silence at Manchester was no proof of apos-
tacy ; but he does not affirm that he is not an apos-
tate. Silence, we admit, may not imply desertion of
principles; but we think it somewhat strange, when
so many advocates are so ready to construe this si-
lesce to the Right Hon. Gentleman's advantage,
that not one of them is bold enough to affirm -that
Mr. Peel has not changed his opinions. A. simple
affirmation, on g►ood authority, would settle the dis-
pute. Let Mr. Peel, in so many words, say "my
sentiments on the Catholic question are unaltered,"
and we will be the first to apologise to the Right
Hon. Gentleman for our ungrounded suspicion—we
will be the first to proclaim the fact to the world—
and we will do so with much more alacrity and
pleasure than we recorded what we have yet seen no
reason to retract, Aye or no would settle the ques-
tion.—Morning Journal alias New Times.

ST. BRIDE'S CLOCK.-A meeting of the
.parishioners of St. Bride's parish was held yesterday even-
ing, in the Vestry-room. The principal question before
the meeting was, the illuminated. clock, the expellee for
which amounted to oft. 12s. 6.1. Mr. BiNtow con-
sider.•d the clock was ritliculons in the extreme, and that
the money it had cost had been fooled away ; it might have
been applied to more important purposes. The cloak• of
St. Giles's Church cost only 801., and that was in every
respect superior to St. Bride's. After some discussion,
the varions tradesmen's bills were ordered to be paid.

BT. PAUL, COVENT-GAR D EN.--Yest erd ay
a Vestry-Meeting in the Pariah of St. Paul, Covent-Garden,
was held at the Church. Amongst the subjeets brought
under the consideration of the Meeting was a statement,
that a part of the roof of the Church had given way, and
that some pieces of timber falling iwnsequence, had very
nearly caused the death of Mr. LEE, the worthy Collector
of the parish Rates, who was passing at tilt time, and
escaped by about an inch. Mr. WALKER moved, " That
a Committee of nine parishioners be appointed to inspect
the Church, and state at the -next Vestry Meeting what re-
pairs they considered absolutely necessary." The motion
was carried unanimously,

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MARYLEBONE.

William Chandler, a Paddington coachman, wa,
charged by Sir James Cockburn with endangering
the limbs and lives of his Majesty's subjects by
furious driving.
When the name of the defendant .vas called, he
did not appear, and it was stated that, according to
his own account, he was gone to grass (absent) fora
fortnight, to avoid it. However, by going to grass
he did not impede the movements of the law, for the
case was proved against him, and there being no one
to speak in mitigation, the full penalty of 10/. was
inflicted.