The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-31 00:00:00

A NEW ORDER OF THINGS.

Dr. M'Hale has addressed to Sir Robert Peel a
second letter, on the subject of the Charitable Dona-
tions Bill now before Parliament. The production
is lengthy and elaborate—too diffuse for insertion at
large in our columns—but still too important, as a
sign of the times, to be altogether passed over in
silence. We have, therefore, taken a middle course
—and sifting off the bran have preserved the flour.
The first thing that will strike the attentive reader
is the sudden, the extraordinary change of tone which
this letter exhibits, compared with the former. There
is in this a beautiful shading off of the rough corners
and asperities of thought and language in which this
Malleus Hereticorum was wont to delight ; and an
agreeable amenity of manners and diction indi-
cates that something has occurred to change
the spirit of the hierarch's dream. Can it
be that his recent speech has had anything to
do with bringing the Minister into better odour ?
Can the prospect of good things to come—of schools
and colleges, with new, or with enlarged endowments
—and the consequent increase of power and patronage
in Holy Mother Church—have had this soothing
effect on the Doctor's temper ? We cannot say—the
cause may be sufficient—and yet not the efficient of so
great and pleasing a change. But come how it may, the
change is visible. The Doctor is not only civil, but
placable : not only placable, but in some measure ap-
peased ; and, if things go on in the same prosperous
course till the close of the next session, the Doctor
will probably be one of the most attentive and suc-
cessful courtiers at the Castle of Dublin. Indeed, as
Sir Robert rises, Lord Normanby seems to go down ;
and nobody need be surprised to hear that, as the
new diplomacy developes itself, the old " officious
and unauthorised sponsorship" will become more and
more odious and insufferable to " a nation's feelings
and convictions."
It is true the Doctor is not quite reconciled to the
Charitable Donations Bill ; but propter utilitatem
ecclesi ice, the feeling is not unnatural. Too little
power is given to the Church—too much to the
State. The interests of the priests are sacrificed to
the interests of the laity; in fact, the Bill is too
careful of lay property and too heedless of
the " benefit of clergy" to be quite acceptable to a
churchman so thorough-going as the successor of
St. Jarlath. But all in good time. The amorous
lion, that suffered his fangs to be drawn and his claws
to be pared for the sake of the forester's pretty
daughter, may be considered only as the forerunner
of our Lion of the Fold of Judah, the terror of whose
mane is relaxing at the sight of a fair endowment,
and who begins to sheath his claws at the prospect of
an additional grant. We write this amid the thun-
ders of popular applause that rend the skies, while
the brilliant cortege that conducts Lord Heytesbury
to the Castle is passing almost under our windows;
and we, too, begin to think that his Lordship will
work a miracle.
Before closing these remarks, we must notice with
approbation the very useful hint which the Doctor
has thrown out respecting the supposed inability of
this country to bear its fair share in the burdens of
taxation ; and we hope Sir Robert will profit by it.
" An average of two thousand pounds a week," quoth
Doctor M' Hale, " shows the mighty resources of a
people resolved to be free."
That is a Catholic truth, which, in whatever sense
it may be taken, deserves the attentive consideration
of her Majesty's Government. —.D üblin Evening Mail.