The Sun.
London, England, 1828-11-01 00:00:00

matter, I leave to the Freeholders of Kent to judge ;
but we already know that in the elections of Ireland
the Y.'riests have begun to exercise a most tremendous
power. They have already in two counties defied
the influence of property, and returned Members
avowedly their mere creatures, and we are threatened
that they will do to in ell the e ountets in Ireland,
That they have the power of doing so,
reeholders is ifevery their in-
fluency over the Forty-shilling i.
where equally great, appears from a documentprinted
by the House of Commons in 1815, and which I
believe to be the latest that has appeared. In this
paper the Freeholders who had been registered in •
Ireland for some years before were divided into '•
three classes--o f fiftypounds a year, twenty pounds,
and forty shillings. Of this lust class the number
returned was 177,000, while the aggregate of the
two remaining classes amounted to no mere than
23,000 (8). Those who have contended for
the admission of 1131111111 Catholics to Parliament,
have always represented the number likely to be re- -
turned as too inconsiderable to be of any import-
ance; but how grossly they have deceived them-
selres, this document, combined with recent events,
too plainly proves.
We are, however, told that the Roman Catholic
Laity, when once admitted to all political privile-
ws, would throw off their bondage to the Cletty,
and only consider themselves as members of the
State. I cannot, however, discover any instance in
which they hare shown a smutty resolution to do so;
nor can I conceive it possible, while they remain
members of a religion, the very substance and es..
sence of which consists in unlimited obedience to
the Church.

An able and indeel pathetic esltleess has been
largely circulated am,: you or: behalf of the British
Roman Catholics, signed by some of the most il-
lnstrious and ancient names among our Nobility,
liot I roust confess, that the effect of this address on
my mind was greatly weakened, when I observed
that the British Catholic Association afterwards re-
turned its thanks to the 40s. freeholders Di Water-
ford, for obeying the dictates of their Nests, in op-
position to the wishes of their landlords ; nod that,
more lately, ose of the mest. ancient of that body of
Nobility, °had just published a letter highly com-
mending the 4.05. freeholders of Clare, for driving
out a Protestant gentleman (though one of the ablest
advocate of the Roman Catholic cause), from the
representation of the county, for the purpose of re-
turning a Roman Catholic demagogue; though they
had every reason to believe that he could not legally
take his seat; an thus attempting, either by inti- •
midation or chicane (and I care not which it is), to
establish a claim which has been steadily njected
by the Legislature.

One of-the most common reproaches tirg-,jagnitt,t
the opponents of the Roman Cathol.'w claims" is, that
we are now the only intolerant and persecuting na-
tion remaining, and this sarcasm is repeated till some
at least of those who use it must be supposed to
believe it. They forget that in Spain and Portugal
no Protestant is allowed to live, except ,a very
limited toleration to foreigners—that in the new
States of Spanish America, though admitting the
thest revolutionary systems of Government, the prin-
ciple of religions toleration has been uniformly re-
jected ; arid, that even the right of sepulture was,
not long since, refused to British Officer,; that in
Piedmont the Protestants are confined to a four
narrow mountain valleys, beyond which they are not
allowed to possess property or exercise professions;
that in other parts of Italy, they are only tolerated
by connivance ; and that in these and ail 'other
Roman Catholic countries without ekteption, the
use of the Bible is denied to the Laity by the
Ecclesiastical, and in most by the Civil Authorities.
It is indeed extraordinary hour little even among
the Ecclesiastical Students at the College of May-
moth, and the Jesuit Seminary at Clongowes (re-
specting which there is some evidence :in the Report
so often referred to), the Bible appears to he known' ;
and it is notorious, that the Priests take away, under
pain of excomumnication, even the Roman 'Cathelic
Version of the New Testament, if given to the Laity.

There remain the instances, so much relied upon,
of Prussia, France, and Holland, where, it is said,
that all citizens enjoy equal rights; and toleration,
philanthropy, and concord, universally prevail. The
Government of Prussia is so different from our own,
as having no Legislative Assembly, that no analogy
can be drawn between them ; but the state of Reli-
gion in that country is understood to be any tiling
bat satisfactory, notwithstanding the very laudable
endeavours of the present King to introduce a better
state of things.

In France the Roman Catholic Church had re-
ceived such a shock, from the events of the Revolu-
tion, that its power could not -possibly be restored,
and a principle of toleration unavoidably took place,
notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the late
Pope, who, at great personal risk, opposed. Bon-
aparte's endeavours to introduce religious freedom.
But the state of France is so fur from being one
of religious peace and union, that it is easy to see the
symptoms of a great religious struggle in that country,
which tnay end in some tremendous convulsion.
It appears also from the Maynooth Report, that
ttic .cutiments of the Roman Catholic Church in
France, even before the Revolution, are considered
in Ireland as much too liberal.

In the kingdom of the Netherlanda, the analogy
with our Government completely fails. Ours is a
Protestant Government, formed by the union of two
Protestant Kingdoms, having an established Pro-
testant Church in Ireland as well as in Great
Britain, but Containing a great number of Roman
Catholics and other Dissenters.

The Kingdom of the Neaterlands, on the
parts, in one of which con-
trary,the is an union of two
Protestant, and in the other the'
dtan threfaenCatholic,
is the Established Religion•
i or terms
than that they should unite upon any he
than those of religious equality : and Concordat
was, wit% much difficulty, obtained from the Pope,
regulating the religious condition of the Roman
Catholics.
By this Concordat, the nomination of the Roman
Catholic Bishops %vas virtually placed in the hands
of the King, though they were to receive investi-
ture from the Pope.
The King accordingly proceeded to nominate
seven Bishops to the vacant Sees; but of the seven,
the Pope confirmed only the Bishop of Namur, and
the oilier Sees still remain vacant. We may judge
.i-rcon this example, of the probability of a Concordat
;or Ireland producing general union and tranqmilitY;
even if it could be obtained on satisfactory terms,
but we know that the Irish Prelates in 1525 de-
clared, before the Committees of both Houses of
Parliament, their resolution to submit to any per-
secution rather than admit the interference of the
Government in their Ecclesiastical appointments.
I cannot, therefore, augur favourably of the con-
tinuance of religious concord either in France or the
Netherlands, though I sincerely desire it may pre-
ail ; tint only. because, as a map and a Christian, it is
v
my duty to Irish for the peace of other nations, but
because any serious convulsion taking place in either
of those countries, could not fail to endanger our own.
At soy rate these examples are much ton recent, and
the .experience we can yet have of the settlement of
those Governments too short, tonfford-any safe pre-
cement fur ant alteration of one own. Another as-
sertion often made, and most assiduously insisted
upon of late, is, that the people of England are
become favourable, or at least not hostile to the
Roman Catholic Claims, and that it is now only a
contemptible remnant of bigots %rho oppose them.
These bigots, however, comprise a considerable
majority of the House of Peers, about an equality
in the House of Commons, and a vast majority of the
loyal, honest, intelligent, and independent com-
monalty and yeomanry of England. Of this, the
Meeting on Penenden Heath was a striking illustra-
tion—bur, as I wish to prove every thing from
Roman Catholic authorities, or those of their advo-
cates, I shall cite one of the ablest and most con-
stant of those advocates—the very mouth-piece and
(8) Journals of the House of Commons, Vol. 70, P. I OS.

manifesto of ithetaliqb—namely, the Edinburgh

" The friervis of the Catholics hare, indeed, too long
kept out ,f aisht the real difficulty which istipeatitlhe
gremt of all measure* for their relieT,

- - -
" There hut been Irieertitis iii•‘:tetanre —perhaPs a na-
tural tintrillinglyeetito S.O'roach this subject.
.Yet, .kise
of the uttrtteet i'mstot.tance that it should tut tlragS tie fully
taderetood. -The difficulty, We betieNte, iit,iter with the
Kin ttrit with the Caltinetz;:-.4feit'Ni• with the Commons
ror with the Lords. it is with the people of England ;
and not with the c`orrupt, not with the servile, not with the
rude and reeducated, not with the dissolute and turbulent,
hut with the great body of the middling orders;--of those
telva live in comfort and have reeeived some instructiom
Of the higher classes, the decided majoeity is, beyond all
dispute, with the Catholics. The lowerchstes care nothing
at shout the question. It is svanng those whose influence
is generally exerted for thy most salutary purposes—among
those from whom liberal Statesmen have, in general, re-
ceived the stenngest support—among those *ho feel the
deepest eetestation of oppression and tnrruption, that erre-
ueotet opinions on this subject tAe most frequent."
It then proceeds to instruct the friends of the Ca-
tholics how to 'convert the people of England, and
concludes with thus addressing them :
" Zut of this they may be fully assurtA that, tvhfl the 1
general feeling of the nation retweittskinchanged, a MinTa!:,ry
which shotdstake its etistence on the eitU3 of their
claims, would ruin itself without heeelfttiVT, them." (9).
I shall only advert to da 't'hore statement of the
Advocates for Emantipation. We are told that the
bigots who o7pose them are growing ultl, and fast
wearing ;Int, and that the rising generation ate uni-
yetut'lly favourable to the cause, utttt Mr. O'Con-
nell has amused himself and his hearers by caleulat-1
ing in how many years *no opponents of Catholic
Eniancipatinn would be left. If it L' so, why not
let us the in peace ? Surely it is worth while to
wait a few years to obtain, with the general con-
currence and ailroobation of the people of England,
a change which could not now be eirected without
exciting the greatest disgust and e.pprehension in the
minds of a 711 St proportion of theta.

But if it be otherwise, and if, as I IcOpe and trust,
our sons shall continue to be, 'at their fathers and
our fathers have been, the Staunch supporters and as-
serters of Protestant Ascendancy, depend upon it all
ufforts to shake that glorious cause will (WI; and
Penenden Heath will be again ill future times what
it has so lately been—the seem of the triutiiph of the
Protestant cause. I beg leave to tonclude by re-
minding you of the excellent advice of our Noble
Lord Lieutenant) that whatever degree of irritation
may have been excited by circumstances preceding
or accompanying the 'Meeting of yesterday might be
forgotten, as soon as we left the Heath, and that the
Men a Kent would only resnember each other as
fteiglibotti's anti friends. T sincerely trust it will be
my .happiness to meet every " one of my Brother
Freeholders, of whatever party, with whom society
or business stay bring me into intercourse, on those
terms only, and I have the honour to be,
gentlemen, with the sincerest respect,
Your faithful thd obedient Servant,
Foots-Cu:y-0m; Oct. 25, 1828. BEXLEY.
(9) fEliiillfurgh Review, No. 91. JunelB27.—P. 253.

KENT MEETING.---.SHELL'S SPEECH.

TO IJ EDITOR or. THE SUN.

SIR,—A very silly clamour has been raised
respecting Mr. 'Sheil's speech at the Kent Meet-
ing, and one or two soi-disant " respectable"
Papers have repudiated it with a solemn affec-
tation of purity that is really diverting. You are
charged with having originated a practice which,
I believe to be vs old as the custom of reporting
itself. Will these correct and immaculate gen-
tlemen pretend to affirm that their Parliamentary
Reports contain neither more nor less than the
actual words. uttered by the respective speakers?
-Is it not notprious that in five cases out of. six,
' the tenor of, the observations is alone preserved,
and that the language in which they are given is
the reporter's own ? In this case the sin (if
sin there be in rendering obscurity intelligible)
is much the treater, inasmuch as it sets forth
many a man as a correct and easy orator, who is
probably a hammering blockhead.
These very apt and clever gentlemen sneer at
Mr. Shell for going to the meeting with a speech
ready-made. Are these persons ignorant that
the greatest orators in Parliament, upon import-
ant occasions, commit what they intend to say
to paper previously ? If this be necessary in a
solemn and deliberate assembly, how much more
so does it become amidst a motley and tumultu-
ous assemblage upon a-heath ! These gentlemen
would wish to insinuate that Mr. Shell is not an
extemporaneous speaker, had they been fortunate
enough to have been close to him, they would
have heard many impromptu
_sarcasms and
most pithy antitheses. If the very eloquent and
argumentative composition which has been pub-
lished was not wholly spoken, I can only say
that on every account it ought to have been; the
disgrace of suppression lies with the Brunswick
mob and not with Mr. Sheil. Because they
chose to act like bi utes, and drown that gentle-
man's voice by bellowing vociferations, does it
follow that his unanswerable arguments were to
remain unpublished ? Were the attacks and ac-
cusations levelled against him and his Catholic
brethren to remain unrefuted, because a congre-
gation of " long ear'd clod-hoppers" did not
choose to be proved in the wrong? Was the
bane to go forth without the antidote ? In
that case would not the Brunswickers have as-
' Slimed the triumph of having overawed the Ca.
tholie Association ?

The success which they now claim is but a
sorry one, and I verily believe that they are more
indebted for it to the irr.gular and unfair con-
duct of the Sheriff, than to any real numerical
superiority. Of this, as a man of Kent, lam
very sure, that had one half the pains been taken
in marshalling forces on the liberal side as were
evinced on the other, the Brunswickers and their
• proposals would have been scouted, maiwre the
leudAl display of a Winchelsea or a Knat.'"elibuil.
The talented and high-principled Editor of
opportunity of
the Kent .Ik7aht (who has every
judgin 'g) asserts most unequivocally, that the
Liberal
o learn that a counter-petition is in
course of signature,
and that every effort will be
made to shew
most
ilz7; t y
t•
had a decided majority, and I am
Parliament the true feeling
of the
County of Kent.
It would appear, Mr. I li .•:c.tor, that your superior
industry and activity has aroused the jealousy of
the old-faAioned jog-trot portion of the public
Ak
edthemselves
from and that they hare xci•, ~,•n . .
i
from their usual slumbering inanity to snarl.
and show their teeth. Heed not these dogs in
the manger. Persevere in your meritorions,
course. Their hostility will be your best recom-
mendation and advettisement.

I am, I\lr. Editor,
Your obedient Servant,
M. If.

P.S. Nothing is so easy as to call names. Let,
not Mr. Sheil be ashamed of the title of.
" Agitator--when wrongs exist, an " Agitator"
is a Benefactor.

The Neapolitan Minister transacted business
yesterday, it the' office of the Seel etary of State for
Foreign Affairs, with the Earl of ABERDEEN.

PUBLIC DINNER TO RICHARD SHEIL, ESQ.
MR. SHEIL has accepted an Invitation
TO DINE with the FRIENDS of CIVIL and
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, given to him as a mark of re-
spect for his general and able support of that great rause,
but above all, to show to the Irish people that the liberal
Protestants of this Metropolis disapprove those unjust and
impolitic Laws which exclude a mighty portion of the
people from a full and fair participation in all civil rights
on account of their religious opinions.
The DINNER will take place at the LONDON TA-
VERN, on MONDAY next, the 3d of NOVICSIBICR.
W. SMITH, Esq., M.P., in the Chair.

Tickets, price 201. each, to he had of the Stewards, awl
at the bar of the tavern. No ticket will be issue! after 111
o'clock on Monday.