The Sun.
London, England, 1828-11-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

• With great gratification we refer to an advertise-
ment in this day's Times, which calls a meeting of
" the friends of humanity in the Corporation of Lon-
don," for six o'clock on Monday evening, at the
London Tavern, to consider of means for relieving
the poor exiles, vbose cause we have on mere than
one occasion endeavoured, however feebly, to re-
commend to the charity of Englishmen. " The
friends of humanity" in the Corporation of London,
embraces, we will be bold to say, ninety-nine -mt of
every hundred members of that eminently kind-
hearted, compassionate, moral, and national body.—
The industry, the integrity, the domestic habits of
the citizens of London, have carried with them,
front youth upwards, the inseparable accompaniment
of virtuous and benevolent sympathies. he ob-
jects for whom we now appeal to those humane
affections are such as have the most conspicuous
claims upon them : fathers, mothers, children, inhu •
manly hunted by their own Government, their na•
tural protector,—fathers and mothers, destitute no.
merely of the means of decent education for their
offspring, but of decent clothing—of medicine for
their maladies in an alien climate, and of bread to

appease the hunger of those whom disease has not
yet afflicted, or death, in mercy to their sufferings,
removed. We do not believe that the respectable

gentleman who has just ;entered on the illustrious
and, paternal office of Lord Mayor of London, could
open that beneficent career which so naturally awaits
him, and would so well become him, by any act
more gracious or auspicious than by a marked coun-
tenance of whatever measures may be taken for the re-

lief of these noble but fallen strangers. Every
Englishman must feel deeply the sufferings of
Spaniards—of Spaniards only too faithful to prin-
ciples in vindication of which they shed their blood;
Spaniards, only too devoted to that Goz:ernment,
which England recognized, not in form merely, but
with her whole heart and spirit ; Spaniards, who are
at this moment the only representatives of the Eng-
lish interest from the Pyrenees to Cadiz, in con-

trast with another and an hostile interest, repre-
sented by Ferdinand at Madrid, end by Miguel on
the throne of our ancient ally at Lisbon. If these
our unhappy guests had been rebels—if any crime
had stained, or even any doubtful colour-
ing shadowed them,—however mere humanity
might have induced us to come forward, we
never could have, appealed to oar countrymen
with the same confidence in their patriotic as
well as 'grateful sympathies which now animate our
hopes of saving these persecuted men from the
frightful death of famine. But they are just and
noble, as well as plunged in misery,—their conduct,
as body, has been upright, modest, unoffending,
beyond example in: the histsry, of men driven to de-.
-spair. They have uo claims here upon personal
friendships or relationships : in that respect the most
wretched of our own, fellow-subjects are more fortu-
nate. These strangers have no tie upon the poor
laws : in that sairit, also, he meanest or even most
criminal of Englishmen :are above them. The
most distinguished of these poor Spaniards in rank
have prayed for employment as porters,—as la-
bourers,—to fill the -rudest, and -most mortifying
offices,—so as.to gain an honest pittance for their
families; but what can they expect when every
sturdy native labourer is their competitor ? They
have none to help them but those humane feelings
which God has implanted in the breasts of Chi
flans, and which He summons to activity in cases
like this. To the people of England we fearlessly
commit these melancholy and virtuous outcasts.—
Times.

There is nothing which may not be overdone.
Dr. Doyle, in one of his Letters on Education, la-
mented that the distracted state of his country
should have drawn. all the talent of its youth to po-
' litics, leaving them no leisure or relish for the pur-
, suits of science,. whence they were liecessarily a na-
tion of .sciolista. We may be sensible of the 'alit_
-able services rendered to Ireland by some of the
members of the. Catholic Association, and admit
that the occasion demands the.; description of talent
which now mast aboutuas in that country, without
being insensible to the; evil consequences which tt)w
from the rash and superficial way of dealing with all
questions inseparable from incessant speaking in
public. While, therefore, we are ready to do jus-
tice to the merits of the orators, we cannot help
wishing that the state of their country were such as
to leave a little leisure. for calmer pursuits than those
of the forum. It is a triteobservation, that the best
advocates generally make the worst judges, the ob-
i ject of eloquence being not to place a subject before
the hearer in its true proportions, but to bring pro-
minently forward those parts which are deemed fa-
vourable to the end of the speaker, that the atten-
tion of the hearer may be withdrawn from or faintly
bestowed on the rest. The objet;; is not to in-
struct, but to inspire one party and to overcome
another. In ancient times t.'ee orator was all-power-
ful with his audience, 'out his range was limited;
but in our times effect of oratory is less power-
with the 'audience, for the speaker cannot divest
powerself•; the -
ful
idea that, by the' means of the press,
his sentiments will be conveyed to those who may
canvass them with more rigour than these whom he
is addressing; while, on the other hand, enough of
the vice inherent in eloquence is, by means of the
press, diffused through society, to mislead the inex-
perienced, and accustom them to rash habits of
judging. What between the Catholic Association
and local Meetings of Catholics on the one hand,
and Brunswick Clubs and Orange Meetings on the
other, history is perverted and falsified in a hundred
ways, and the most erroneous and distorted views
are uttered and repeated so often that the opinions
of many are in consequence very much warped.—
' To illustrate what we have been stating, by the pro-
eeedings of the Catholic Association on Tuesday
last, of which a report will be found in another co-
lumn, Mr. O'Connell, in repelling a charge adtiticed
against the Catholic Religion, that it was hostile to
liberty, says--
" Was not 'William Tell a Catholic ?—...was not the re-
public of Venice Catholic, which inaintained its indepeu-
dance fur 500 years, and for 17Q5 years struggled against
an engrossing Oligarchy?-..-were not the republics of
Genoa, Florence, and Laces, Catholic; and Mariano a re-
public, under the •;ery nose of the Pope ?—Let him look
to South Aro^itca, and will he Mt find republics there
dloilrtbyti;ndi
and
ed
and
establisll.A by Catholics ? (Cheers.) I love the man who
m;i,oses us, because he fairly imagines that our religion is
inconsistent with liberty—if it were so, he would be right
I would show hint that of the Reformed
consideration.
tant,
,5 thaldoscluisets
governments,
religion, of the States that had representative
immediately degenerated into a
Holland was one which
in opposing us, and I think it is a subject well worthy of
Statholdership, merely governed by one person. 1,1,1 m.
ferocious Calvin there put to death men for differing in
• • with him, and encouraged the establishment of
opinion
fifty murders within fifty years. Geneva was free till thk
protestant Bernese conquered it ; and Geneva, therefore,
should be rather considered a reproach to the Protestants.
Sweden was free until the Reformation was intre,auced
Pwrraoftte
into it. Prussia wasfree until the Reformation was eKablished
in it, and Denmark was free until the Reforme.iion struck
down its liberties. What a contrast then d',es history pre-
sent to us of the effects of the two religions ; and is it not
barbarous thus to calumniate a religion which makes us
tremblingly alive to the maintenance of political rights and
avoidance of private wrong ?—(Hear, and cheers.)
lGawenseavgaailniescat witchcraft,
It may be very cheering to a Catholic, irritated
at the partial and distorted views taken by the fa-
natics among the Protestants, to be told that liberty
can alone dwell with his religion. But, while his
feelings may be gratified, his judgment will be a suf-
ferer. The statement would lead to the most erro-
Aeons conclusions. 'Whether the Reformation has,
on the whole, produced good or evil to mankind, is
a question as to which much may be said on both
sides. The opinion has latterly been taken up by
several Protestants, that it retarded improvement
upon the whole. It has been said, that the abuses,
the reform of which served as a pretext for the Re-
formation, while the real cause everywhere was the
cupidity of the great eager to share the spoils
of the church, were gradually disappearing, in con-
sequence of the diffusion of knowledge; and that the
dread of the confusion caused by the'Refozmatioz

had the inischievona effect in all Catholic eountries, •
for a leag period, of strengthening the hands of
those who were opposed to improvement, and of
intimidating those who were favourable, by enabling
the former to represent all attempts at improvement
as a defection to Protestantism. It is also said, that
the Reformation has in most countries favoured ar-
bitrary power, the Sovereigns generally having
civil
invested with the ecclesiastical as well as su-
premacy ; and that the standing armies, which had
their origin in the struggle to which it led, ren-
dered all the previous checks of power illusory.
—A great deal may be said on this subject, and
it is one on which a hasty judgment ought not
to be passed. It is a subject, however, which is
seldom fairly discussed in this country either by
Protestants or Catholics. To the shelter afforded
by religious houses, in the turbulence of the middle
ages, we are indebted for the transmission of the
knowledge of antiquity to our times. Again, to
the temporal as well as spiritual supremacy, asserted
by the Pope in the middle ages over the Sovereigns
of the West, we are indebted for the preservation
of this part of the world from the evils which af-
flicted the East. When the Sovereigns had ob-
tained a mastery over their feudal Barons, and towns
and civilisation gave them strength and security,
they soon resisted the Pope, and limited his supre-
macy to spiritual matters. When- Protestants, how-
ever, talk in a vague and indiscriminate manner of
the abuses and corruptions introduced into religion
by the Roman Church, they forget that what may
now be unnecessary, was suitable to the wants of
another age. But while we dislike the sectarian
and narrow spirit in which Protestants speak of the
Catholics, we dislike equally the mode in which
Mr. O'Connell meets them. Genoa, Florence, and
Lucca were Republics, and SOuth America is Repub.
lieu', while Holland has degenerated into a Stadthol-
dership ! What heaping there is here! Is there a
man who would for a moment think of comparing
the orderly Government of the Dutch, under the
Stadtholder, with the turbulent towns of Italy,
sometimes held by a Democracy, sometimes by an
Aristocracy, sometimes by Tyrants ; or the anarchy
of South America, where neither law nor order is
known ? Holland obtained its independence under
the House of Orange, and the. United Provinces
were a federation of Republics, differing in govern-
ment from each other; and it mattered hardly any
thing, as far as the privileges of the people were
concerned, whether there was a Stadtholder or not.
Sweden, and Prussia, and Denmark, were free till
the Reformation ! What is freedom ? Sweden had
the misfortune of possessing a vile and corrupt Aris-
tocracy. always in the pay of Foreign Governments,
and its history has been a constant struggle between
the King and the Nobles with various success. Den-
mark was cursed in like manner by an Aristocracy,
which drove the people to seek for security by union
with the Sovereign against the•Noblei. Prussia is
an agglomeration of States, and-from its position it
has become a great militarrpowers. 'The people are
better governed than ever they were; indeed, the
Prussian Government has always . been one of the
most anxious in Europe to avail itself of the aid of
knowledge : an Electorate was erected into a King-
dom ; and if this change of title be a loss of liberty,
so far so good. Mr. O'Connell confounds, under the
vague name of free, all sorts of Governments, with-
out specifying the nature and extent of the freedom,
and the adequacy of the institutions to protect the
peeple. Poland called itself a free Republic because
the nobles were free to do ill ; the King was not
free to do good, and the people were slaves. So
much for this slashing way of treating Governments
and Nations. Mr. Shell had stated on renenden
Heath, that " all the forms of religion have perse-
cuted in their turn ; why then should the Church of
Rome be singled out as a persecuting body ?" This
is very true ; but a Correspondent of the Scotsman
is quite indignant that the Scotch Presbyterians
should be singled out, because, forseoth, they had a
Smithfield or a St. Bartholomew. We are glad to
find the Scotch ashamed of persecution, but we
would remind them that shedding of blood and
burning are not the only persecutions. The Scotch ,
Presbyterians, as well as all other Protestants, con-
secrated the principle of intolerance, both with
regard to Episcopalians and Catholics, mud the
laws lhargainst Papists were of dreadful severity.
To the Scotch, too, attaches the disgrace, that
when it was proposed to repeal some of the
most revolting of the laws against the Catho-
lics, at a :time when fanaticism had in almost
every other eaudtrY given way to milder feelings,
they rallied generally under the banners of intole-
rance. We know that the Scotch of the present
day are more liberal, and we are willing to make
allowances for those of the last generation ; but they
ought at the same time fo make allowance for the
Catholics of former n(ZP,'. The correspondent of
the Scotsman says, " The Magistrates of Geneva
(for Calvin exerted himself :ssainst the
.sm execution)as
did not punish Servetus for oppof.a4Z Calvinism
Presbyterianism : they only joined the Romanists
in putting down a common enemy." A line ex-
cuse, if it were true ; but the writer knows nothing
of the transaction. Calvin, in a let:er in French,
to the Marquis du Pret, Grand Chamberlain of Na-
varre, dated Geneva, 14th September, 1561, incites
him to proceed with great severity against Catholic
Priests Above all," lie says, " rid the country
of those zealous knaves, who exhort the people by
their discourses to oppose us, blacken our conduct,
and wish to make ocr creed pass for a reverie.--
Such monsters ought to be stifled (etorffes), as I
did here in the execution qf Miiliacl Servetus, the
Spaniard.". Calvin would not have thanked any
one for apologising for him in the modern way.—
..A/mai:lig Chronicle.

The reason, we understand, fur detaining the
Z.isboU packet is for the purpose of conveying a
more etCient agent to protect the interests of Bri-
tish trade hi Fortugal than is found in the person of
the present resident Consul. The. fact which we
the Tagus,
French fleet being in
communicated of a
merely to encourage tl.l- siziuggi,in,g of French „mum_
gcleraDie uneasiness here.
factures, has caused cons.
Lord Aberdeen is aware that aleon bin) is. cast the
responsibility of protecting our itifilt6t* in foreign,
markets, and especially in those v.-here the prefer-
ence we have over other nations is thus ougbt
to be invaded by the interference of a Fren:b
naval force. It is plain that their fleet can have
no business in the Tagus but to forward private
speculations and injure British commerce. It is also
said that the Noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs has
reason to be dissati:died with the nature of the official
information with which be has recently been fur-
nished. The grossest misrepresentations relative to
the affairs of Portugal have been forwarded to this
country. Arsny of the political agents resident in
Lisbon have been so much identified with the con-
stitutional system, that they really cannot divest
themselves of their prejudices, or write impartially
on passing events. Better information is necessary, and
hence the appointment to which we allude. We have
also heard that a correspondence of a very animated
nature has, within the last few days, been carried on
between the Count Itabayana and his Grace the
Duke of Wellington, the result of which has settled
the destiny of the young Princess Donna da Gloria,
and calmed the lofty ambition of the Marquis Pal.
Melia. The refusal, on the part of his Grace, to re-
ceive the remonstrances of the 4)i-Ambassador, is
decisive on thin point.-3lnrning J9urned.
The intense interest which has been excited by
the Russian invasion of Turkey, has prevented us
for some tinge past from pying that attention to
what may properly be termed the internal affairs of
other States which their importati2e would :have
warranted. In particular, we have bad but little
opportunity of reporting, except incidentally and
disjointedly, the progress of our Gallic neighbours
in the improvements which the present Ministry
eeems so zealous in effecting. They have been far,
however, from being idle; and other Governments,
though not more dependent on the influence of
public opinion for their stability, might safely
enough take a lesson (torn that of. Charles X.
in zeal and activity. The journey of M. Hyde
de Neuville to inspect the dock-yards of France

we noticed some time rzo.; and along with the im-
provements which he is carrying into effect in the
marine department, others of a much more exten-
sive character are in progress in the military. A
Commission has also teen appointed by M. St.
Cricq, the Minister of Trade, to take into conside-
ration the diffetent branches of Freneh industry, with
the view-of effecting a general reform in the imposts
which apply to them ; and deputations have been
appointed from all the great manufactui ing and com-
mercial towns in France to lay such information be-
fore the Commission as may enable it to come to a
proper decision. A reform of the system of Educa-
tion, which has hitherto prevailed in France, is also
in progress, and a Commission appointed to report
upon the subject. Among those who compose it
are to be found the most celebrated names
in France ; and the object to which they
are particularly called on to direct their at-
tention, is the means of simplifying and
abridging the method of studying the Greek and
Latin languages; with the view of facilitating their
acquisition. The commission appears to have been
chosen with rather more deference to the spirit of
party, and a wish to conciliate, than is quite agree-
able to the Ultra Liberals; but sanguine hopes are,
nevertheless, entertained that many valuable improve-
ments in the present system of education will take
place. A new spirit, in fact, is abroad in France--
popular opinion exercises in it almost as great an in-
fluence as in this country; and we question not
that, if the present upright and liberal Ministers, to
whom the Government of France is intrusted, con-
tinue in power for a few years longer, she will make
more rapid strides in all the useful arts and sciences
than any other country has done in the same space
of time.— Morning Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

A man named Arthur Murphy was brought be-
fore the LORD MAYOR, charged with having at-
tempted to commit a fraud upon the house of Messrs.
Calvert and Co. under somewhat odd circumstances:
It is usual at brewhouses, when an order is brought
down from any customer, to give the bearer of the
message a lunch at the neighbouring tap. The
prisoner was aware of this hospitable regulation, and
feeling disposed to avail himself of it, walked down
to the brewhouse, and ordered that several barrels of
beer should be sent off forthwith to the King's
Head public-house, in Duke's-court, Bow-street. He
was received with great kindness, and presented
with a ticket for the customary refreshment. It
happened, however, that the collecting clerk who
includes the public-house in question in his rounds,
heard of the order, and, knowing that the beer could
not be required, ran over to the tap just in time to
prevent the prisoner from di-posing of the plentiful
stock of bread and cheese and ale set before kim.
It was soon ascertained beyond question that the
falsehood was told for the purpose of obtaining the
meal.

Upon the prisoner's porsen was found a paper, of
which the following is a copy In aid of the
funeral expences for the burial of that worthy indi-
vidual, Arthur Murphy, who was so much beloved
by his friends and the public, we, the above gentle:
men, hereunto subscribe :—Meux's Horseshoe brew-
house, Mr. Richard Latham, 2/. ; Mr. James Keane,
11.; Mr. T. Anna, 11.; and Mr. Edward 11., a
promise."
Itappeared from this document and some further
inquiry, that. Mr. Murphy had persuaded the gentle-
men of Meux's brewhouse and some other persons
to believe that he had died of a broken heart, and
that he contrived to live pretty comfortably by spread.
ing the report of his death. Indeed, his appearance
rendered him a very fit messenger from the regions
of the grim tyrant. Some correspondence was also
found upon him, which intimated that he had been
levying contributions for sometime upon the humane
and credelous by different versions of distress.

As the prisoner had not succeeded in obtaining
what is called at brewhouses " the grub and bub,
he was discharged.
The LORD MAYOR advised him to desist from
such courses, and assured him that, if he had sue.
ceeded, he certainly should have been punished.
It appears that the practice of careying about false
orders to breweries is a very frequent one. Upon
one occasion a great house sent 20 barrels of beer
to a distance of four miles, at the command of a
person of Murphy's character, who " grubbed and.
tubbed" at the brewer's expellee. It is needless to
say that the whole quantity was returned.