The Sun.
London, England, 1828-10-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

Every mail from Ireland brings evidence in-
controvertible that the Catholic leaders are most
anxious to inculcate upon the multitude a re-
spect for the peace of society and an entire obe-
dience to the laws. It may be added, -with, ' if
possible 2 greater satisfaction, that the peasantry
have been unanimous in their prompt submis:,
sion to these wise and honest counsels. It is
perfectly obvious that the Catholics are going
the right way to work, by exerting every right
which the Constitution gives them, for the
ac-
quisition of those rights from which, according
to its present modification, it excludes theta,
They- have lawful power enough to serve. as a
lever for obtaining more. It • is true vvisAorn,
therefore, to
abjure a recourse to other powers,
of which the exercise would be no less unavaii-
ing than unwarrantable. We have said already
that there will be no great trouble in managing
the passions of the Catholics, if the fury of the
bounds
Cumberland ruffians be restrained from bursting
-into acts of positive outrage, Theifs, indeed, is
a violnce vich knows
imposes n
on no
tl
nnlisteuina maniac..
They have arms, and purchase more every day
they refer to no right but that of the strongest, and
strait-waistcoat e'he
respect no authority but that of the torch or
bullet, If these desperadoes be not quieted by
some means more potent than good sense, they
will, force a crisis in spite of all that diseretion
and patriotism can accomplish to prevent it. The
misery is, that justice and liberty will be the
only sufferers from such a cause. It the two
confederacies come into strife, the battle will
inevitably assume a religious colour. The Go-
vermnent—some members of it eagerly, others
with reluctance—will take up the Protestant,. or
(what must, under. the circumstances, degene-
rate into) the Orange side. The MOderation ,f
even:the most moderate, in both parties, be
infected by the fanatic, or unheeded by him ; the
whole ground • that has (Heaven knows with
what an agony of exertion) been gained for Mu-
tual charity, will he. once more seized and forti-
fied by unchristian hatred, and all mast he corn-
menced anew. With such a prospect thus preg-
nant and inevitable before him, is it: not Mon-
strous that any Minister of a country to Which
peace and confidence are so essential
,as to Great
Britain, should make a merit of concealing
his designs, as if there. was no greatness but
in mystery ? Why dues not the Duke of
Wellington speak out, and tell the empire
frankly what it has to Expect from him? Dogged-
ness is a useful qualification before an enemy
but in matters of policy—that is, of opinion—.
doggedness shews a Want of reason and under-
standing. If hiS Grace fears the imputation. of
being bullied by the stern warmth with which
the friends of religious liberty press the Catholic
claims, we should think it rather late to be nice
about such matters, since he who has the three
blockades to answer for, the ruin of Portugal,
and the invasion of Turkey, need not stand on
much etiquette as to the article of being bullied ;
unless he be of the same: kidney as the old gen-
tleman in the novel, who committed all sorts Of
absurdities lest people should accuse him of be-
ing governed by his wife, Mr. Peel is said to
have sadly disappointed the good folks of Liver-
pool, by an exhibitibn of rhetorical talent far in-
ferior to that which had so. long served hi
hearers, for a model of political and colloquial.
eloquence. Mr. Peel has some useful qualities,
-but none that are splendid or distinguished. He
is, indeed, a sample of neat and well-finished
mediocrity. He came out in life with the .smooth
exterior of a piece of cotton velvet ; hut like that
description of imitative goods, the wear and tear
of politics at last exposed his real texture. IVir.
Peel has • prudence enough to know when he
ought to hold hiS tongue ; brit does he see some
of the indirect consequences of his Prudence ?
On no occasion in the course of present tour
through Lancashire, has the Right Honourable
Gentleman let out one word, from which it could
be inferred that the. Governrrient persisted in
those views upon the Catholic question, orwhich
Mr. Peel has heretofore shdwn himself the most
'unchanging organ in' Parliament. But the
silence of the Right Hon. Gentleman is thouvht
to have let out something— namely, that the
anti, Catholic leaders are aware of the mischief
which might arise from their now professing their
intolerant opinions ; and that, let us oh:irve, is
something gained since even this day twelve-
month.j
But it does more. In our judgment,
when coupled with Mr. Dawson's speech, it
leads to conjecture that a plan of emancipation
has been formed, or else why should Mr. Peel be
afraid of tossing off his old favourite bonne
&niche of ascendancy, and in a company where
it is plain that no opposition was present • to
alarm him ? Mr. Peel's silence is of a different
kind from the Duke's : it is a confession of some
change—his Grace's is a refusal to confess it,
our Irish extracts will be found the most exquisite
slap in the face that ever was administered to the
heroes of :the "glorious memory." At a She:
riff's 'dinner, in 'Dublin, after the toast was
drank, Mr. Latouche got up, and, craving pardon
for the liberty, begged leave, • as a descendant of
one of King William's followers, to illustrate
one merit of that great Sovereign—for sufficient
praise had not been bestowed upon his memory.
Mr. Latouche hereupon read the following pas-
sage from Bishop Burnet : it was on the Tole-
ration Act :—" The historian Mentions that this
Bill gave great contentment to the Icing; it
enacted that conscience in all should be wholly
free and unshackled. And it was his (the
King's) own opinion, that the conscience was
God's province alone, and ought not to be imp
posed upon any one. His experience in Ho(-
land .made him look upon toleration as one .4.
bestowed by Providence. he greatest blessings
much troubled that the Clergy
He was, however, d
should be So ill-tempered and ungovernable.
Let any man,
with one spark of imagination,
picture to himself pic the feelings of the Oraitge
toastmaster and his party,
- on hearing thisb just
the- upright and liberal Kin S'
eulogy ofg.
o it
is with.a great man s memory, like his EvOur.—
_While -be lives it is corruptly abused. Pretty
AitiCh the same measure of justice has been-
served out to King William
and to William
:Pitt; The enemies of the Catholics, with
equal
'effrontery, invoke the tolerant Monarch's
name,
and that of the emancipating Minister.—Times.
While rite Orangemen are endeavouring- to
overawe the Government, and indulging at
their orgies suited - to Pande-
monium than this' earth, it is gratifying to per
ceive that the liberal Protestants of Ireland, on
their parts, are not idle. There appears in the
Irish Papers a Declaration, tovvhich a long list
of names of Protestant Noblemen. and Gentle-
men is already appended, and which is now in a
course of; signature, solemnly stating as their
conviction, that the' disqualifying laws which
affect his ,Majesty's. Roman Catholic subjects-are,
productive of consequences prejudicial in the
highest degree to the interest 3 of Ireland, and.
the empire to which she is united :" and that

" with respect to Ireland in particular, they are
a primary cause of her poverty and wretched-
ness, and the source of those political dis-
contents and religious animosities that dis-
tract the country, endanger the safety of all
its institutions, and are destructive alike of social
happiness and national prosperity." In this nu-
merous list we find 1 Duke, 4 Marquises, 13
Earls, 5 Viscounts, 3 Barons, 34 Members of
Parliament, and many Magistrates. Mr. Ensor,
the chairman- of a late meeting of the Louth Inde •
pendent Club, viewed, we think, the Brunswick
Clubs in the proper light. "I cannot praise them
(he said) for their intentions, and I can not dispraise
them for flockingaogether ; they are merely Orange-
men with a new name, and I declare I do not
think the Irish could or. would proceed if they
had not these goads perpetually stinging them.
The Irish are susceptible, sudden, but not very
persevering ; the Brunswickers will keep them
steadily to their work." We are satisfied the
Brunswick Clubs have benefitted the good cause,
not merely in strengthening a vulnerable point
in the Irish character, but in filling the respect-
able part of the people of England with disgust
at the conduct of the Orangemen. Lord Nugent,
at the dinner to Mr. O'Connell, was justified
"in vindicating the nglish people from the foul
charge of bigotry and illiberality.- Wherever
the people are assembled in such numbers as to
be able to display independent feeling, there are
at least six to one in favour of the removal of
disqualifying laws. What better test of this, we
ask, can be obtained than the Newspapers? No
man takes a newspaper which advocates opinions
of which he disapproves. Now, let any man go
through the towns of England capable, from the
population, of supporting a newspaper without
the resource of county advertisements, and he
will find them favourable to the Catholics in the
ratio which we have described. Go to Liverpool,
Manchester, Leeds, Norwich, everywhere, you
will find the same result. In the agricultural
districts, the population must necessarily express
the opinion of the landlords, because the land of
England is mostly held at will, and, in England
whatever opinions a man may entertain, in 99
cases out of 100 interest will determine the cpi-
nions he avows. Pride, were there no other
cause, would lead the man who must express
the power of his landlord to conceal his real
opinion, if he had another, to prevent his re-
spectability from suffering in the general estima-
tion ; for if a man is anxious to conceal his want
of principle by sophistry from himself, how much
more anxious must he be to conceal it !from a
less indulgent tribunal ? We take it then for
granted that the Brunswickers of England may
obtain their tenantry to a man ; and that the
clergy, if they stir, may, with the aid of machi-
nery at their command, also influence many. But
these opinions are really worth nothing. We set
down the opinions of the tenantry of the coun-
try, pro and con, as merely the opinions of the
landlords, when the landlords choose to exert
their influence. In times of great excitement,
ordinary ties and ordinary motives are disregard-
ed ; but the present is not such a time, in
England at least. When society is convulsed,
a generous ardour, superior to all calculation,
hurries men down the stream of national feeling.
At the breaking out of the
,French Revolution,
and years afterwards, the lessons of calculating
prudence; and the remonstrances of wives alarmed
for the support of their children, were disre-
garded by men in all situations throughout civi-
lized Europe. Similar conjunctures produce
similar results. But we are not entitled to calcu-
late on these resulta wheie the causes ire. not
adequate to produce the feeling in which they
have their origin. We therefore say that the
lessons- of cold selfishness are the only lessons
which, in England, will be attended to at pre-
sent. The prosperity of the empire affects an
ordinary man little, in comparison with the
wants of the wife of his bosom and the children
who are twined round his heart. The Irish,
however, are in the state of excitement, which is
capable of the most generous devotion. And
as Mr. Montesquieu Bellew observed at the
Louth Independent Club, the " agitation has
now reached that point at which it, requires re-
gulation rather than excitement." His sugges-
tions, with respect to another mode of action
than that which may gratify the wishes of an
enemy longing for blood are not undeserving of
attention, especially when coupled with the
complaints uttered by the Rev. Mr. Seymour a
to the destitution of the body of the Protestants
of the North .of Ireland. "Jf there la any
bloodshed, it is sure to• be used by
.our ene-
mies as a pretext for the introduction of an
additional military force, whilst on our side no
counterbalancing advantage can accrue ; bttt
there are more unobtrusive means of effect-
ing the same objects, and of shewing the Pro.
testant community, that when they choose to en-
joy the luxury of displaying thebsparty predilec-
tions, they must, as a preliminary, take care to
be independent men. It is really monstrous to
think how nietOvho' have fattened on our pas-
have grow„ rich by Catholic money
titres, who
and Catholic custom, turn upon us in the day
of trial, as in the case of a. Rev. Gentleman who
attended the Brunswick Club in Wicklow. The
extent-to which seven millions of people may in
this manner work al against one, ;-s yet hardly
known. We have for years addressed ourselves
to the generous feelings of onr Protestant fellows
countrymen, to their love of justice and of free-
dom ; we have besought them, as an act of ,
ness and conciliation, to put in practice in their
own country those principles for the maintenance ,
of which they have subSidized . the half of
Europe. We have sought our rights from the
benevolence of the Minister, we have been dis-.
appointed ; henceforth we appeal to his interests
and his fears : we will keep strictly within the
law, but we will give every possible annoyance :
we will be ingenious in the variety of our oppo-
sition, but all within the law." It is only by
making it more convenient for us to concede
their claims than to reject them, that the Catho-
lics can succeed. John Bull is very liberal ; and
the Minister may be liberal, but the watchword
is, let us rub on as long as we can. The first
feeling is that of ill-will at beimg disturbed in
our enjoyments. Will these Irish never he at
ease ? But when the discomfort attains a certain
point, we must rouse ourselves in good earliest.
Morning Chronicle.

lish The Engare a show-loving people, but,
_
above all other shows, do exhibitions of:Royalty
delight them. Nor are they veri,
ised or savage particular as
to what climate or country—"-oivi
—a Royal Visitor comes from,. or whether he
or she belongs to the class of Absolute or Con-
stitutional Sovereigns. Give the people of Lon-
don a crowned head to gaze at, or a head ex-
pected to wear a crown, and it matters not whe-
ther the Royal Stranger has been transplanted
from the polite air of Versailles, the stormy re-
gions_ of the North, the luxurious chines of the
East, or , the rude latitudes of the Sandwich
idalids—the magic of the name King, Queen,