The Sun.
London, England, 1828-08-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC .10tiRNALS.

The line's from Ireland, of the last clay or
two, and our corrtzrondeuce,
quarter, will
part narrative,
jidalasr'artnn.e
produce The uproar
excited among the Orange faction, by sech
(I,eriei t litir,tye,refsrto a
it,
I.4llfaNyat of the Catholics from Mr. Dawson--;
partcOininn
an old. 'Wllie:di:tilt Member of the Ascendancy, and
the Duke of Wellinertoi
now a placeman in s
Administration—ceuld astoii sli nobody who
-L:'l'felerstands the intrinsic wealenelse of the. party
which the' hOnoniable gentleman has alizthdoried,
and the extreme danger to a declining cause Crain
a defection
of the most prornin'ent of its advocates,
1 We cannot read Mr. Dawson's spc'eth' without in-
ferring from it a determination of the Golern-
ment, whose 'servant he is, to " look at the
Catholic Question lAtii a view of settling it."
—The Duke of Wellirigtoie is not a man to
be trifled with by those who tad office under
leitni His Grace must be suffitiently ac-
oldineel With ,the action of circumstances
Upon the hail*/ tnitlO, to feel that such au
avowal as that made by Mr! Dawson, Secretary
to the Board of which he it himself the chief,
vvuld inevitably excite hopes diroteghout the
whol'ES' Cfatholic community, the disappolneneent
of which &OAT have no other than a most disas-
trous influence tipilif their irritated passions, and
on the peace of that eetintrys where law is in
effect a sort of tenant at will tO the multitude.
We do therefore in our inmost judgment believe,
Ist, tie Mte Dawson would not have thought
of promulgating melt sentiments without appriz-
ing the Duke of Wellkdon of his intention ;
and 2d, That the Duke would either have de-
clared his willingness to adopt the opinions of
his Secretary, or, adhering to his own former
prineiples, would have said to Mr. Dawson—
" I Will not consent that you, as Secretary to
the Treasury, should throw fresh fuel upon the
fermentation of Ireland, and enhance the per-
plexing and formidable difficulties whieh already
surround the King's Goternment in that island,
by raising hopes of emancipation which I cannot
conscientiously fulfil. If you, a member, though
an inferior one, of my Ministry, declare your-
self now for the first time in your life, a
decided convert to the relief of the Catholics,
all the world will of course conclude that the
rest of the Adniinistration have been converted
likewise J you will therefore much injure my re-
putation either for consistency or integrity, by
affixing upon me a belief which I must within a
few months disavow. You will inflame to mad-
ness—first, the confidence, and next the resent-
ment of the Catholics; and you will in so far
place the Government, with respect to Ireland,
on a footing more desperate than ever. As I
cannot, therefore, and oeglit not, to restrain you
from publishing your sincere opinions, I must
only submit to you the expediency of your tak-
ing the credit of them exclusively to yourself,
and of previously relinquishing your office."
Language of this nature, we presume to think,
would be no more than prudent on the part of a
Prime Minister, who had not yet made up his
mind to sanction powerfully (however indirectly)
the sentiments about to be delivered on a ques-
tion the most critical that • ever concerned the
British Empire, by a gentleman supposed
to enjoy some degree of favour with his
Grace, and known, from the nature of his
office, to be in daily communication with him.
The continuance of Mr. Dawson in the service of
His Majesty's Government, encourages in us,
therefore, a reasonable assurance, that the head of
that Government has actively approved the
amended politics of the Member for the county
of Derry. If it be so (which God grant it may),
we hail the symptom as the most grateful and
consolatory that has blessed the King's domi-
nions within our memory ; and that memory
now extends far back. The ,prospect, indeed,
may not be to all classes of Irishmen in the same
degree delightful. Bad spirits'have crossed their
country's path, with bitter curses, and devilish
incantations. An Orange incendiary at a party-
feast threatens at once the Sovereign and the
people of Ireland with 400,000 armed fanatics,
" brave," " disciplined," and " loyal." Loyal !
to whom ? Not to King or country, we pre-
sume, for these are to be the victims of their
loyalty. Loyal, then, to the enemies of their
Sovereign and his subjects,—to the cause
of outrage, of insult, of selfishness, iniquity,
and oppression ! These are the " rights"
for which Masters in Chancery and Dublin
Aldermen are ready to stake their lives and for-
tunes against the apprehended wisdom of the
Legislature, the peace of the empire, and the
recovered dignity of a long prostrate people.
The Orangemen, indeed, are furious, because
they are weak ; the Catholics, in whatever relates
to action, temperate and tranquil, from the con-
sciousness of ascending power. Our only tear
for Ireland is, that the Orange fury may burst
out in such explosions of violence, as to subdue
the patience of the Catholics on one side, and
on the other to outstrip the liberal preparations
of the Government : thus ensnaring the honest
partiality of Englishmen towards professors of
the same faith, by stamping on the conflict so
provoked by the ascendancy faction, the epithet, •
equally undeserved and odious, of a " Roman
Catholic rebellion." We conclude by saying
that Parliament has not a moment to lose in the
work of law, or Government in the duty of de-
claring itself.—Times.
We have received—a- considerable number of
letters on the subject of Lord Strangford's known
veracity and special mission, which, without any
disrespect to their writers, we must decline pub-
lishing. His Lordship's diplomatic character is
now so well understood, as to be 'generally ap-
preciated; and if he is inflicted on the Emperor
of Brazil, the insult must be gratuitous and in-
tended. In such a case, we hope his Brazilian
Majesty will evince the same spirit which was
shown by the Emperor of Russia, and that his
Lordship will retire from Rio with the same tes-
timonies of respect as those which signalized his
departure from St. Petersburgh. His Lord-
ship, smarting under our recent exposure of fiis
pretensions, and feeling the necessity, on ac-
count of his patrons, of doing something in self-
defence, without knowing well how to set about
it, has put forth what lie calls " Further obser-
vations on Colonel Napier's Ilistory of the
Peninsular War," and has thus challenge, a
fresh rebuke from those who in charity, wished
to spare him.. The subject of dispute with Col.
Napier is of course the history and contents
of his Lordship's famous despatch, purport-
ing to be dated " His M,) 3 but' Skip Hibernta,
29 ;' confessedly writ-
ten at Mr. Canning's house, Bruton-street,
London, Dec. 19- In his Lordship's observa-
tions respecting the concoction of this despatch,
he manifests an extreme anxiety to mix up Mr.
Canning's conduct with his own, to throw upon
the deceased Minister a share of the reproach of
a false date, and to treat him as the
Golden
Pilopin was treated by its baser companion in
Swift's fable of the two lawyers. But if Mr.

Coming requested a summary of the facts in
several despatches, for the convenience of being
laid before the public at one time, did the Right
Hon.- Gentleman likewise saggest to his Lord-
ship the necessity of making the followhig
apology for haste, in drawing up such a com-
pilation three wreks after the date of the letters.
vhich it embodied

.....-,. _
" i ItarM thought it expedient to lose no time in
communicator to his Majesty's Government tile
important intelligence contained rn.this despatch. I
have therefore to ap isologige for the hasty and in:-
Pc,:fect manner is which it iswritten."o
muds for the date of this
idandtthlias
fec.t document now for its fact. His Lora-
" hasty and imper-
ship, pretending that contents we're nearly a
transcript of -real despatche written off the
2.7 Tagus,thinforms of
November, us
pilation, that he proceeded to Lisbon " on the
diint ed Bruton-streetiateill co
mostm-
interesting, communications with the Court of
Lisbon,' the result of. which was, the deter-
mination of the Royal Family to emigrate.
That we may not appear to do his Lordship any
injustice, we shall quote the passage to which
we allude from the despatch itself:—
' I took upon myself the responsibility in renew-
ing negotiatiens after my public functions had actu-
ally ceased, convinced that, although it was the
fixedd determination of his Majesty not to sufferdin
fleet elf Portugal to fall into the possession of his
enernleilf still his Majesty's first object continued to
be the application of that fleet to the original pur-
pose of saving the Royal Family of Braganza from
the tyranny of FranCe, I accordingly requested an
audience of the Prince 2. ~•ent, together with due
assurances of protection and security; and upon re-
ceiving his Royal Highness's answer, I proceeded to
Lisbon on the 27th, in his Majesty's ship Con.flance.,
bearing a flag of trace. I had immediately most in-
teresting communications with the Court qj Lisbon,
the particulars of which shall be detailed in a futura
despatch. It suffices to mention in this place; that
the Prince Regent wisely directed all his apprehen-
sions to a French army, and all his hopes to an Eng-
lish fleet ; and that he received the most explicit as-
surances from me that his Majesty would generously
overlook those acts of unwilling and momentary hosti-
lity to which his Royal Highness's consent had been
extorted ;and that I promised to his Royal Highness,
on the faith of my Sovereign, that the British squad-
ron before the Tagus should be employed to protect
his retreat from Lisbon, and his voyage to the
Brazils."

-Non we would ask any man of common sense
and common honesty, whether, on reading the
above paragraph, he would not necessarily draw
from it the two following inferences
That Lord Strangford, after having left Lisbon‘
because the Government of Portugal refused to
comply with the recommendations of the British
Alinistry, had returned to his former post on as-
surances being given of protection and security,
had arrived before the Royal Family embarked,
and had an interview with the Prince Regent
previous to his embarkation ; and 2dly, that his
efforts at that interview, in directing the Regent',.,:
(‘ apprehension to a French army, and his hopes.
to a Briti3h fleet," had some influence in inducing
his Royal Highness to adopt the resolution
to emigrate ? 'flint this is the impression intend-
ed to be conveyed, scarcely a»y body but his:
' Lordship will now have the assurance to deny
and that his Lordship would have been sorry at
any other interpretation of his language before it
procured his red riband, we may be equally as-
sured. But what an opposition between this
plain meaning of his words and his present ad.-
missioms 1. He now allows-Ist, that he did not
see the Prince Regent till the 28th; 2dly, that
his Royal Highness, instead of requiring the in-
fluence of diplomatic rhetoric to emigrate, had
already embarked ; and 3dly, that his inter fey-
ence had no influence whatever on the Royal re-
solution. That we may not appear to take ad-
vantage of his Lordship by alluding to art amend-
ment of his erroneous statements after 20 years'
of recollection, we shall again quote his own
words from his first pamphlet.
" I arrived at Lisbon on the night of the 28th
instant, and almost immediately saw Mr. A'Aranio,
who was already on board ship. I then proceeded
to the vessel in which the Prince Regent was em-
barked, and notwithstanding the assertion to the
contrary in Colonel Napier's note, I had a long and
most confidential interview with his Royal High-
ness. I had then, as Colonel Napier truly states,
no power either to advance or retard the emigra-
ttaioktel;anbyu t
credit when t
od imd
31,seelvfefro
raisasauyrnteh tnhga t
that h,
take
at that interview with his Royal Highness ?"
It is needless, in a question like the present,
which concerns his Lordship's regard to matters
of fact, and in which Lord Strangford, the diplo-
matist, is so unceremoniously contradicted by
Lord Strangford the. pampLleteer, to bring into
the account the services or the merits of others.
His Lordship has now as formally denied those
of Sir Sidney Smith, as he had before unac-
countably omitted them, yet the.gallant Admiral
seems to have ne hesitation in asserting his own
claims; and, in weighing opposing testimonies
in this case, we need scarcely say on which side
the balance
The
ena
yoquestion inclines,
e s
tion of the departure of the
R;
says he, " er their remaining pri-
soners to Juno r," turned on my opening the door
again on My singlejudgment, after it had been shut
by the expulsion of Lord Strangford from Lisbon,
and the consequent beginning of a state of war, and
my exercising my single discretion in not alloving
that state to continue."
It would really be an insult to the understand-
ing of the reader to waste more words in proving
the perfect innocence of his Lordship in pro-
moting the flight of thei Re
shalloyal sp spare Family
e himof Pao y-
respecting them,
services,rttt
joelloa gnwdaslhb;i
yeaahntndhohderet
hw
belonged,
the
et
latel l
0,
sn meritsrgeigesr
enp.
general
r aat
oit
fol
ndhhgei
order"
othero t
Turkishhdiplomaticely:
onnegotia-
tions,
corps
rpa
further allusion.—lbid.

ic
11
10l Inv ; h
kingdoms will not tolerate this or that, with re-
gard The idle cant that the Protestant; of the two
word of command is issued to the
to Ireland, is not entitled to a moment.,;
consideration. Religion has nothing to do with
the matter
peoitrfaletiroknsin,g i
cahndtiiiiet En
anignlea n (of:.
is
religion was used as a convenient handle, to ab-
stain from any further manifestation of Protes-
tant zeal, as it •
no longer required, it will
experience an instantaneous dissolution. There
will be, however, somewhat
~ici,hfrecirieit ,it,c c ino r
more difficulty in
the case of
of d Ire]an. are more sincerely attached to their
L di ctio
b n than the Protestants of England. But
a large class of men in Ireland feel their impor-
tance to depend on their belonging to a different
religion from that of the body of the people.—
No matter whether the body of the people be-
long to the Catholic or Greek Church, or be
followers of the Dalai Lama, if they continue to
labour under disabilities from which the Protes-
tants arc freed. From this class opposition must
he expected, because the removal of disabili-
ties annihilates their privilege. And here is
the difference between the higher and the
lower orders, anti the secret of the greater
obstinacy of the latter. The nobility and gen-
try of Ireland not only cannot lobe any thing

the settlement of the Catholic Question, but
mustlie gainers by it, inasmuch as it will restore
them the political influence of which they have
been 4 deprived by the miraculous union which
has taken place among all classes of Catholics.
But the body of Orangemen will be losers, be-
cause their monopoly will be thrown open to all
their countrymen, and they will have the mortis
fication of seeing themselves no longer in greater
request than their Catholic neighbours. In this
quarter, therefore, we
may expect a very obsti-
nate opposition. It is all opposition, however
which a wise Government would disregatel, be •
cause it has for its object to keep suchovernment
weak, by preventing it from Itsting for support
eis the whole people, and rappelling it to take
refuge with a part to keep down the remainder,
The Irish Orangemen say boldly to the
_Go-
vernment, let us have a Rebellions If the Ca-
tholics are, at present, unmanageable, you have
vnlY to call for our aid, and we will adjust
the political balance by the sword. But this is
the desperate language of desperate men. In this
country the conduct of the Duke of Wellington,
in endeavouring to place Ireland out of danger,
by giving Catholics and Protestants one interest,
will receive very general approbation. No one
can say the attempt will have been made befere
it was necessary. Let us suppose the arrange-
ment delayed for a few years longee, and that
there were no cause to apprehend any interrup-
tion to the tranquillity of the country, %hat
would be gained by this delay ? The Catholics
will only be more powerful, compared with the
Protestants, than they are now. The Catholics
form the people everwls,,e...ie, except in one or
two districts 9( the orth. Now, as in every
country in which castes do not exist the rich are
celstatitly falling into the ranks of the poor,
while poor men are ascending to the rankS of
the rich, the ?number of rich Protestants will be
constantly diminishing, while the number of rich
Catholics will be as constantly increasing ; be-
cause the number who rise from the ranks of the
poor to wealth will be chiefly Catholics, they be-
mg the people. An ingenious Italian has taken
the Nobility of Europe, in the time of
Charlemain, at a given number, and shewn that,
according to the laws of probability, not one fa-
mily of that number could be in existence in the
present day. If we could suppose that rich Catholics
would never change their religion (a supposition
do not entertain, believing that the same
Vanity which makes old Catholic families cling
to their religion, as a source of diStinction,
would lead new families to- be of the religion
which has power on its side), no long time
would elapse before -the Protestant Nobility and
Gentry of Ireland must be extinct. However,
the middling classes—the great strength of every
country—would, at all events, become exclu-
sively Catholic ere long. In Swift's time, the
Catholics, or native Irish, were deemed unde-
serving of notice in any estimate of the power of
Ireland. Now the Catholics abound in trade,
law, and medicine. Our Inns of Court here
swarm with Catholic Students; and the Irish
Bar is becoming thst Catholic. The disposi-
tion of the natural force of the country, there-
fore, leaves in truth no option to the Govern-
ment as to settling the Catholic Question. Were
the Duke of Wellington to leave it unsettled, so
far from gaining in reputation by the delay, all
sensible men could only compare his conduct to
that of the prodigal, who consults his present
ease at the expence of his means of exist-
ence for the future, by allowing arrears of
interest to swell the amount of a heavy debt.
So long as a great proportion of the Nobility and
Gentry were not convinced of the impossibility
of rubbing on much longer, there might be some
excuse for a Government wishing to spare itself
the hazard and the trouble of the experiment of
a settlement. But a conviction has been fur-
nished by the union of the Catholics,
must have found its way to the most obdurate
understandings. The certainty of the loss of
political influence, and a well-founded apprehen-
sion of the loss of something still more essential,
when the alternative is settlement or subjugation
through a compulsory rebellion, are not likely to
leave the Aristocracy long in doubt as to the
most eligible course. The Duke of Wellington
has, therefore, the strongest motives now for
hastening a settlement, and. no intelligible mo-
tive for delaying it. To escape from a difficulty
continually increasing, he has no way open to
him but a comprehensive settlement. With re-
spect to Mr. Dawson, he must prepare himself
for much obloquy. The Orangemen will, as
a matter of policy, heap reproaches on him to
deter others from following his example. But
all their exertions will be unavailing. The
tide is set in towards settlement, and men of
mark will float with it. In matters of this
kind, the earlier the abandonment the greater the
merit. If Messrs. Brownlow and Dawson have
been exposed to much obloquy from those they
have quitted, they will be the more thought of,
on account of their foresight and determination,
by those whom. they have joined. Crammer and
Latimer arc apostates with the Catholics; but
they rank deservedly higher with the Protestants
than those who floated down the fyide stream of
conversion. Mr. Dawson is reproached for re-
peating the very reasons for a change of side
which had so often been addressed without effect
to himself. Waterford and Clare, no doubt,
supplied a motive which came powerfully in
•
aid of the understrnding. But what a havoc
would we make in the two Houses of Patna_.
anent, were we to excommunicate all who act,
not from a conviction of what would benefit the
public, but what would be advantageous to them-
selves personally.• Perhaps there might be ten
men at most in the House of Commons who
could stand the ordeal. Mr. Dawson's-connec-
tiops are Orange; .he could only oleain influence
through Orangemen. If he had not opposed
the Catholics, he might have been a more honest
man ; but he would never have been Under Se..
cretary of State.-Morning Chronicle.

The conversion of Mr. Dawson, the brother-
in-law of the present Home Secretary, and Pro-
testant Champion, to the cause of Catholic
Emancipation, is one of those events for which
the public was certainly by no means prepared
by any previous demonstrations on the part of
the Right Hon. Gentleman. Hitherto, indeed,
he has been an uncompromising enemy to any
further concessions to the Catholics ; the most
violent of the violent against the very cause of
which he now professes himself the ardent ad-
locate ; and so linked by birth, by alliance, and
by office, to continue in the same tract, that
the most sanguine friends of the `Catholics
could scarcely have ventured to anticipate the
change which has taken place. But time is a
mighty instructor, and when a whole people, such
as that of Ireland, which has long groaned un-
der a heavy load of oppression, awakes from its
torpor, and becomes aware of the important
truth, that it has only to rouse itself in
order to be free, the lesson which it teaches is
scarcely less influential. This has been the case;