The Sun.
London, England, 1828-11-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

A correspondent has sent us a small publication,
containingthe speeches delivered at the late Meeting
on Penenden Heath, with prefatory remarks Foss this
publication the public, we learn, are indebted to Mr.
Prentis, of Rochester, a gentleman well known in
Kent as a zealous advocate of civil and religious
liberty, who has been very active to rescue the
county from the stain of intolerance which the late
attempt of the Brunswickers is calculated to fasten
on it. In a note to the first page of the prefatory
'remarks it is stated--" To, the assertion publicly
made, that Mr. Shell was brought over to the meet-
ing by the leading members of the liberal party, we
take this opportunity of giving a most unqualified
contradiction. They did not even know that he was
coming until about an hour before the meeting;
and Lord Darnley in particular, who was supposed
to have given him a freehold to enable him to ap-
pear upon the occasion, was most anxious that the
success of the cause should not be risked by his pre-
sence, however his printed speech may tend to pro-
mote it." The compiler of the publication, a neigh-
bour of Lord Darnley, was, no doubt, either in-
debted for the note to his Lordship, or drew it up
with his authority. The Marquis Camden, in the
version or his speech in this authorised publication,
is made to say, " I should be glad if any body con-
nected with that Association (the Catholic) were
present here. If there be any person here con-
nected with that body, let him listen to one 'who
has been uniformly their friend; let him hear
what I think of their most mischievous, most
seditious, and almost treasonable conduct. I wish
they may hear that, whilst I still think that there
might be a settlement of this great question, I
also think the means they are taking to forward that
settlement only tend to distress the friends of Me
measure, and often do mischief to themselves. I
state this most strongly, that it may not be said that
I am a friend to the dreadful disorder which that
Association has been the means of creating in Ire-
land." All this is exceedingly characteristic. The
appeissance of Mr. Sheil at the Meeting distresses
Lord Darnley—the existence of the Catholic Asso-
ciation distresses Lord Camden ! The first ques-
tion a true politician would ask himself is, what are
the means best calculated to ensure the suceess of a
certain cause ? The question the two Noble Lords
ash is, what are the means ealeulated.to distress the
least the advocates of the cause ? It is quite
enough that they should condescend to advocate the
cause—the Catholics ought, in their gratitude for
such condescension,' to leave the matter in their
hands, remaining quite rtdifferent-as to the result.—
_ What childishness ! Ministers would listen year
after year to the harangues of the Noble Lords, for
thirty years to come, with the same polite attention
with which they have listened to their harangues
for the thirty years preceding, and the cause would
just be as far advanced at- the end:Of-the former as
it was at the beginning': of 'the latter. What' is the
great argument foe concession
.the Catholics ?
Is it not that such eoincessiOn is `necessary to the
tranquillization of Irelande--thailt wetild strengthen
the empire, greatly reduce the expenditure, by re-
lieving us from the millions now np,cessary to
keep down the Irish, and rescue the lower ortler
of Englishmen from the overwhelming poverty
to which they are subjected liy Irish immigration ?
What is it that _the Catholic Association has
done ? It haO united • the Catholics of all
ranks and callings so closely and intimately,
that they are enabled, through the instrumentality
of the existing laws, to command the elections of
Ireland, and thereby return to Parliament men
pledged not merely to vote for Emancipation, but to
oppose the Administration whiCh shall resist, their
claims. The Catholic Association has not
certainly weakened any one of the old -argu-
ments for Emancipation, while it has furnished Mi-
nisters with several additional arguments of a very
intelligible description. Does this distress the No.
ble Lords ? . Are they grieved to see the Ministers
placed in a predicament which torus them to at-
tempt conciliation ? Can' they derive no instruction
from the conduct of the Brunswickers ? Is it be.
cause the 'Catholic Association has" inured the
cause of the Catholics, and diminished the chances
of concession, that the Brunswiekers have taken
the field ? Are the Duke of Newcastle, and Lord
Kenyon, and Lord Winchelsea, delighted with the
Catholic Association ? Does Lord Eldon give one
cheer more to O'Connell for the services done by
him to the cause of intolerance 2 01 no.
.They
know better. Self-interest is quick-sighted. They
found that Hannibal was at the gates. They
found that the Duke of Wellington was no longer
indifferent that the Association were gaining
ground ; and that it was necessary for them to make
a desperate effort. The Brunswickers fought as men
always fight in their own cause when danger is im-
minent. They did not look jealous on this man and cold
ou that; they did not, when forming the plan of
the engagement on Pehenden Heath, ask them-
selves what will Lords Camden or Darnley think of
this or that movement, but how it will tell. Their
hearts were in the work. They despised no aid, but
received gaily all who offered to fight tinder their
banners. In an election contest we never see a
- candidate displaying fastidiousness az to the voters
—we never see him deliberating how such or such a
vote will injure him in the Opinion of his oppan.ent;
because the contest here is his ore n. We dwell the
more on this subject, because it is a besetting sin of
the liberal aristocracy of this country to consult their
own
.feelings in the indulgence of an excessive fasti-
diouaness, when the union of all is required, which,
whenver it is discovered, produces the most la-
niehtable effects on the public. The Aristocracy
• eunAlo nothing' without the body of the people; and
where the end is wished, the means ought never to
Le neglected. "In, on an occasion like that of
Penende» Heath, that felt an interest in the promo- I
Religious Liberty,
tion of the eali,a•• of and Religious
of the most gifted
could object to the presence
natives of the nation whose wrongsformed the
ground for the advocacy of the Liberals, with a view"
to urge, in powerful and impassioned Tcp,,guag__the
title of his countrymen to the enjoymeht'oi Consti-
tutional rights ! The very presence of such a eke
tinguished victim of injustice was of itself calculated
to strike the imagination of the most torpid. 'we.
cannot close these, observation, without adverting to
tl excellent letter appended to the prefatory re-
marks from Mr. Law Hodges,' the Mover of the
Amendment at the Meeting. "It is well known,"
he says, " that soon after the suppression of the
Abbeys and Monasteries in England, to which the
poor formerly looked for support when in distress,
the present Poor Law was passed in the reign of
Elizabe:h ' but when the religious houses and other
charitable foundations were done away in Ireland, no
provision by law for the poor of that country was ever
made • the direct consequence of this Cruel neglect is,
that the burthen which ought to have been placed
on thelay and clerical property of Ireland, now falls
exclusively and most heavily on England; Indeed
little doubt exists that an addition to the poor.rates
of England is thus annually caused to the extent or
a million. I should gladly have availed myself of
the occasion of the county meeting to have thus
called the attention of men of all parties to this 14.a-
-tional grievance, and to have proposed some resoitt.
would bevy laid the time on the subject which
foun-
dation of a petition to Parliament during the next
Session, having . for its object a statement of this
affects both countries, and praying
grievance, as it
- '
that no time may be lost in Passing a poor-law ode
quate to the pressing wants., and adapted to the
is
cir-
cumstances of Ireland. This measure absolutely
indispensable, and of urgent necessity; fork is not
to be believed that England can or will any longer
endure to bear the double burthen of maintaining
the poor of both countries; and ko man can ration-
ally entertain a doubt that this mean-'.'"would di-
rectly and powerfully contribute to the peace a Ire-
land, and would therefore essentially aid the object
proposed in the requisition. To have expected the
smallest attention, that day, to this or any other
eubject, directly or indirectly arising out ,of
terms of the requisition, would only have ended in