The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-12 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

(From the Birthingham and Lichfield
Chronicle,

lllarc/ B.}

The case of the Roman Catholics has once
more been brought under the notice of the Le-
gislature ; and the previous question for going
into a Coininittee on the subject, having been
carried in the goose of Commons by a majority
Of six, Mr. Plunkett. has had an opPgrtunity
afforded him of bringing before that House
and the country the_ resolutions, on which he
intends to ground- his Bill for the admission of
Papists once more to power and office, after
near an hondred and fifty years of exclusion.
The'debates on this momentous question have
hitherto been marked by a very commendable.
spirit of dispassionate forbearance ; which on_
every account we'shall rejoice to see preserving
its influence, until the point is once more 'decided.
That the Roman Catholics- should ardently wish
for the restoration of all which the safety of the
Constitution, as built. upon the principles of a
limited Monarch and a Protestant. Church, oblig,
ed our ancestors to deprive them of, is perfectly
natural. And it may, we trust, be allowed us to
say on the other hand, that before the guardians
of. that ConstitutiOn make the required co:ices-
skins, it will be incumbent on -the Roman Ca-
tholics to shew, either that the restrictions of
which they complain "were originally unjust, be-
cause unnecessary ; or that such an alteration has
taken placein the principles of their Church, as
to render it no longer unsafe to intrust them with
political power in a Protestant State. We re-
peat .it, that their object, their sole object,
is the possession of political power. They re-
quire to be admitted to become members of a
Protestant Parliament, and as such to make
laws for a Protestant Empire, to be allowed to
sit as Judges and as Magistrates, to administer
the laWs by which the property of Protestants is
secured, and to which their liberty and their
lives are amenable ; they demand free admission
as Privy Councillors to a share in the State se-
crets, and political administration of our Protes-
tant King ; and to be Made eligible to the high
office of Lord Chancellor, who is officially the
.keeper of the King's conscience, and has at
his disposal a Very large portion of the be-
nefices of our Protestant Church. This is
the extent of their demand ; and to this
the conntry shOuld, steadily look"; the more
steadily, becanse Mr. Plunkett's resolutions, while
they are, very skilfully drawn in such a manner
as to concede all tie -roman Catholics require,
are, at the 'Sarno time, so worded, as completely
to conceal the dangerous nature of their demands.
After stating in. his firSt resolution, that certain
declarations and -affirmations are required to be
Made, as quaitlication, for the enjoyment of cer-
tain offices, &c.=-in. his second, he affirms that
" such parts of said oaths as require a declara-
tion to be made against the belief of transub-
stantiation or that the invocation or adora-
tion
of the Virgin Mary, or any other saint, and
the sacrifice of the rnass,-as used in the Church of
borne,are superstitious and idolatrous, appear
to this Committee to relate to opinions merely
:speculative and dogmatical, .not• affecting the al-
legiance and civil duty of the subject, and that
the' •same triay therefore safely be repealed."—
Now here. we have the 'whole point in debate
surrendered at once ;'"at the same time that the
nature and effect of the surrender is most dange-
rously ic(4)t out of sight. The declarations.here
stated to nqate to opinions merely speculative
and dogrnatical," were not framed becatise those
oniniens j;er s'e affected " the allegiance and civil
duty of-.thy- subject," and this Mr. Plunkett very
well knows ;. but 'they were framed as tests,
by Which it-Might be known, whether the par-
ties to whOm they were applied were Roman
Catholics or not. And their complete efficacy
as tests
.is proved by the fact,- that they have
operated to exclude Roman CatholicS from all
those offices, as ...a. Oalification for which they
were required to be made. And why does Mr:
`Plubkett-wiSh them now to be repealed:?.l3 it
because they
.are merely " speculatiVe and dOg-
inatical ?" Is it because_ they do not- of them-
selves " affectithe allegiance and civil duty of
the subject No : it is because they shut tiro
door to political power against the Roman Ca-
tholic ; and because they, and they only, can so
operate as to exclude-him. Let the advocates of
the Roman Catholics be ingenuous. Let them do
their work openly. Letthem say, we seesio danger
in allowing a Roman Catholic to have the patro-
nage, of all the Pshcii;ticks, and a majority of the
Ilieneficesin.the Church of -England and Ireland.
We cannot divine any-hazard to which this es-;

sential Protestant Country canbe, exposed, by sur-
rounding the Council Board of the Sovereign with
papists; by seating them on the bench of jus-
tice, and giving them such a number of votes in
both Houses of Parliament, as would
enable them on all great national questions, to
make either scale preponderate; and thus to
hold the balance of the empire in their hands.—
Are they prepared, to say this ? are they prepar-
ed to shew, that thOse essential principles of the
Roman Catholic Church, which have ever ren-
dered it the irreconcilable enemy of Protestantism;
and which, when formerly brought into action,
proved almost fatal to Our own religion and liber-
ties', have been abjured ? They know they are not
so prepared. Did they dare to utter such a libel
against those, whose cause they have undertaken
'to advocate, (for a foul, nay the foulest of libels
!hey would esteem it) a thousand voices would be
rasied in Ireland to contradict the assh.tion ; and
tho" sengier cadent" of Mr. Plo wd en would be re,
peated from every quarter of that agitated'country.
And irthey are not so prepared, what shall we
Protestants do ? How shall We answer it to those
Martyrs who bled for our holy Church, that they
might establish the purity of her doctrines by the
sacrifice of their lives ;—how shall we answer it
to those- illustrious Statesmen, who erected the
glorious fabric of our Protestant Constitution at
the Revolution, by their wisdom and firmness, de-
vising those bulwarks for its security, which Mr.
Plunkett would sweep away as mere matters of
dogmatisth and speculation ?—How shall we an-
swer it to ourselves, who have entered into the
glorious harvest of their labours ; or to our poste-
rity, who have aright to demand from ois a safe and
entire transmission to them of the precious depo-
sit after so many years of unremitting con-
test, so many anxious hours of Legislative debate,
so many solemn decisions, that the boon which
Roman Catholic ambitiOn demanded, Protestant
prudence could not grant.---•-ive .now,in an hour of
carelessness and weariness, foolishly throw away
our birthright : and imitate the mad incendiary
who sought for fame by burning the glorious edi-
lice, which the piety and skill of others had ren-
dered the wortcier of the, world !!!

COMMITTEE OF AG RICE; LTURt. -On Friday
the Committee appointed by the House of Corn--
mons to inquire into the state of Agriculture,and
to examine the allegations of the several PetitionS
presented on that subject, met for the first time..
There were 12 Members present : Mr. Gooch,
Sir E.Anatclibull, Lord Althorp, Mr. H. Blair,
"Sze. Lord Althorp moved that Mr. GoOch be.
appointed Chairman. This proposition was agreed
to. Some conversation then took place as to the,
course of proceeding that should be adopted,
but nothing specific was proposed ; nor did the
Corrimitiee order the attendance of any wit-
nesses, or the presentation of any papers. It
was suggested, that, *as the first Meeting might
be deemed a Meeting for the purpose of :Only
nominating a Chairman, it would not be advisable
to proceed with any other business ; and the
Committee thereupon adjourned to one o'clock
this day. There were several Gentlemen in at-
tendance, who have been active in piocUring Pe-
titions, and in making representations of the state
of Agriculture.

AMERICAN 13..,K document'of some
impOrtance to the holders Of Ainerican Bank
Stock has reached this country, by the last arri-
val from the United States. This is the Report of
that Committee to whom was referred the inquiry
whether " on the Ist day of Jan.lB2l, the losses
of the Bank had been restored, and the capi-
tal made whole." The 'Committee therein state
the losses of the Bank, and its various de-
partments, lip to • the above date, to have been
3,52'2,476 dollars. They subjoin, however, va-
rious items to make good that loss, and which
may be relied on, to the amount of 3,7415,071 doll.;
leaving, therefore, an excess in favour of the
Bank, beyond the ascertained loss, of 20505
dollars. Those statements, in the opinion of the
Committeee, show that the losses of the Bank have
been repaired, and. that the capital was re-esta-
blished and made whole on the lat of January
last ; and they consider it due to the Public and
to the Stockholders to declare that opinion, in
order that the state of the Institution may not re-
main a subject Of painful doubt among those Who
are now interested, or ordeception and misrepre-
sentation as it regards those who may desire to
become interested. At the same time, in order not
to excite too sanguine expectations of the future
profits of the Institution, they think it right to
remark, that these will necessarily be lesetted
for some time by the stagnant state of 'commerce,
which prevents the Bank from employing its large
capital adVantageously, and. by the fact that the,
interest on considerable sums which are due to
the flank, though deemed secure, is not cur-
rently paid, and theri4my cannot be consid6red d
:profit on which dividends can lie' declared.—
(Morning Pver,)

FIRE.-Saturday Wight, at a late hour, an
alarming fire brolte,out at the house of Mr. Har-
mer, oil and coloarrnan, corner of Love-lane,
Ratcliffe. The inmates, who were buried in sleep,
were roused, but the Ilairies were then at_ such a
height that there was no possibility of their
escaping down stairs ; ladders being at length
procured, and placed against the 'second floor
windows, the family 'were taken into the street,
and obtained shelter at the hozise of a neighbour.
The premises were in a short time reduced to a
heap of ruins, together. with the whole of the fur,
niture and stock in trade.

A Monument to the memory of Scotia's fa-
vourite bard„RoftEßT BURNS, IS now building ;
the plan is that of a Grecian 'Temple, having nine
pillars sixteen feet in height. The situation se-
lected is the Poet's native
Saturday morning J. Ferry, the fireman of Co-
vent-garden Theatre, while Walking along James-
street, Covent-garden, was seized Witka fit,.and
fell backwards with much violence o Tithe 'pave-
ment. lie was immediately Carried to Mr.
ITewit's a chemist, in James-street, where he was
bled, and other means 'resorted to, and he was
with much difficulty restored to his smises. His
head was drqadfully cut„.andhied.proluseiy,.

P'rom the LONDON G:\ ZP,TTE March 10.

Master of the Horse Office,King'e Nesusi Moreh 9,
The King has bi-en pleased to appoint l,.•rd Frederick
faulett, rage of Hononr to Himself in Ordinary, rice Arthur
Richard Wellesley, Esq promoted.

'ar- Office, Nara, 9, isei.
MILITARY PItONIOTiONs, &e.

Regiment of Drotroons, Assistant Sur:4,A) Alt;x. Rtewart.
from half-pap 1811) Foot, to beAssiitant-Stirseon, vice Jdotes
Alexander, who exchanges.
'lBth Regiment of Light Dragmort, Lieut. John Thomai
Machell has he-en removed from the service.

2itt Regiment of Foot, Surgemi itobt. Henry Bolton,
from boll.itay, to be Hilbert mho ex-
cheing-!‘•

4lst Ditto, Lieut. Hem's. Dive TownAentl.frcm half-pay Of
the Regiiiirtn, to ',kilterUAW, vier Simon Pitrihin, who ex-
changes.
4tfth Ditto, Captain James Wallis to be Nlajor, by pur-
chase, rice Mackenzie, wttu retires; Laeinettant Chat's,
Dawe to he Captain, by purchase, vice Wallis; and Ensign
John Patton, ft in the 33d Foot, to be•Licutenant, by pur-
chase, vice Dime.

7! (Mtn, Aulgi,on Poer IVhite, from half-tray, to he Sur-
geon, vice Nlicnorl Reyoolds, exchanges.
92d DOI°, Am-inck, Gent. to he Ensign, without
purchase, vier AlexauLlei Aniiiiick, deceased.

MEMOPAN/011N1.-1-lis Majesty has !west pleased to approve
of the under slientioned Ite4inients Lunn.; petmitted to near
on their velours and appointments, in addition to any olhvr
hadges or devices which ntarhare heretofore been granted to
thit,e Regiments, the foll.;%Nim; distinctions (iii commemora-
tion of their several distinguished services) tiz.
430. Regiment of Foot, the surds--•• Vintiera, Bitsaco.
Fuentes d'llotior, Ciudad llodrigo, Salamanca, Vino' is, Ni-
cene, Nice, ToOlouse."
42,1 Regiment of Foot, the words—" Hindoostan, Vimiters,
Corunns, Busacto, Fuentes Ciudad Rmlrieo, nada-
joz, Salamanca, Voiotia, Nivelle, Nice, Ou tlits, Toulouse."
68th Regiment of Foot, the words—" Salamanca, Vittoria,
I') cellees, Nivt.llj6
Rifle Brigade, the word—" Cot unna."