The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-13 00:00:00

flm !dim riliv3

LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 1845.

If it was Sir ROBERT PEEL'S intention to waken
the Irish Catholic party by dividing and sowing dis•
s -Isions among them, it must be confessed that he
haft succeeded to the fullest extent he could have an-
ticipated. The Charitable Bequests Act, like the
apple of discord which ATE flung down among the
assembled deities, has had the effect of producing a
decided split among those who, till now, were united,
and separating them into two distinct sects, each of
which bears the same sort of goodwill towards the
other which a High Church Bishop bean towards a
Dissenter. But notwithstanding the untoward re-
sults that have attended the Act in question, it is in
truth a very judicious measure—yet, in fact, what
Doctor MURRAY described it to be, not devoid of
blemishes which require a speedy removal, but sound
in the main, and calculated to put Catholic charitable
bequests on a safer foundation than they have yet been.
hied it been projected and passed by a Government
in which Ireland had the slightest confidence—had it
emanated, for instance, from the Whigs during the
Viceroyalty of Lords NORMANBY or FORTESCUE, it
would not have been received by the more liberal
members of the Catholic party with the scorn and
indignation with which it has now been met, nor
would Mr. O'CoraELL have deemed it expedient to
denounce it in an elaborate epistle as long as that
which TinEatcs dispatched to the Roman Senate
from Caprm. But it has, unfortunately, proceeded
from a wrong quarter. It is a " good " that has
" come out of Nazareth "—a boon conceeded by the
Greeks—and on the principle of " timeo Danaos et
dona. ferentes," the great Agitator considers it
to be Isis bounden . duty to oppose it by
every means at his command. His letter on the sub-
ject, which will be found in another part of The Sun
of this day, enters at considerable length and with a
world of circumstantial minuteness, into the one-
sided character of the Charitable Bequests Act; but
/he " head and front of its offending" appears to be
thot it is a measure passed by a Tory Government—
the enemies, from time immemorial, of Ireland—and
therefure it is wholly impossible that a liberal spirit
• ,e pervade it, or that it can be productive of the
~htest substantial benefit to the interests of the
L•-r country. " I object emphatically," says Mr.
) oNNELL, " to any connexion between the Catholic
Prelates and the present Government. Was not the
Duke of WELLINGTON bred up in the worst school of
No-Popery politics ? And when he yielded
Emancipation, did he not expressly retain al
his prejudices against Catholicity? Is not Sir
ROBERT PEEL the man who organised the
Orange system in Ireland ? and ought he not to hate
those who could not overcame the errors of his judg-
ment, but forced him against his inclination to grant
them their political rights? We have humiliated
PEEL, and it is utterly impossible he should ever for-
give us." It is here the shoe pinches. A Charitable,
i"equests Act conceded by Whigs might bps bAen,

tolerated ; but conceded by Tories it is—as honest
DOGBERRY would phrase it—" most tolerable, and
not to be endured." Now, we must beg to enter our
most earnest protest against this course of proceeding
adopted by Mr. O'CONNELL, and the more inflam-
mable portion of the Catholics, over whom he exer-
cises an all but sovereign ascendancy. If a measure,
despite a few acknowledged imperfections, be sound
in the imain—and we contend that the Charitable Be-
quests Act is of this character—it should be received
with favour by those for whose benefit it is intended,
no matter whether its originator be Whig, Tory, or
Radical. If the man is always to be taken into consi-
deration and not the measure, there must be an end
to all chance of political improvement. The Irish
Catholics were glad enough to accept Emancipation at
the hands of the Orangeman, PEEL, why, then, cannot
they accept without a murmur the present Bequests
Act ? Having swallowed the camel, why do they now
strain at the gnat ? We foresee that this determined op-
position on the part of Mr. O'CoNsinu. and his myr-
midons to a measure which has already received the
sanction of three of the most eminent among: the
Catholic Prelates—to say nothing of a large portion
of the more moderate and enlightened among the Ca-
tholic laity—will occasion a world of jealousies and
heartburnings in Ireland ; but assuredly no party
will suffer so much by these dissensions as that of the
more ardent Repeaters, who are unanimous in their
hostility to the Bequests Act, and who will disgust
many, who might otherwise be not ill-disposed to-
wards them, by showing how perverse, unjust, and
ungenerous is the character of their opposition.

'We remark, in the columns of some of our Morn-
ing Contemporaries, some speculations, more plausi-
ble, perhaps, than probable, on the appropriation of his
surplus of public revenue which Sir ROBERT PEEL
will feel himself called upon to propose to Parliament.
The " guess" which seems to be at once most dwelt
upon and mos t favoured is, that this surplus will be
devoted to the enlargement and increased manning of
her ll&JEsTy's navy. Like all other sincere lovers of
peace, it is very probable that our hopes and wishes
wasp our judgment. We may feel every confidence
in the permanency of our pacific relations with the
Continental Powers, and with France more espe-
cially, because their maintenance is the object of our
most profound solicitude. Nevertheless, it is impos-
sible to shut one's eyes altogether to the growing
strength and extreme virulence of that party in France,
so efficiently represented in the French Chambers,
which is unfriendly to the present able Sovereign of
the FRENCH, averse to his dynasty, and hostile to all
monarchical government in the abstract. It is im-
possible to be blind to the identification of that unfair

and rancorous opposition which is so unscrupulously
engaged in the attempt to overthrow the Administra-
tion of M. GUIzOT with that bitter and ungenerous
hatred of England—that restless jealousy of British
power and grandeur, which seems to be the first doc-
trinal duty inculcated by the political credo of " La
Jeune France." Having these considerations in view,
we must own that the appropriation of the surplus of
revenue to the augmentation and reinforcement of our
naval strength appears to be an intelligible and very
expedient course. If to these grounds we add
others of equal significance and strength, and
tending to the same conclusion, such as the
unexplained activity and colossal preparations which
are said to animate every department of the
great naval yards and arsenals at Brest, Cherbourg,
and Toulon, we may fairly infer that the present is
one of those junctures at which the most certain
guarantee for peace is a condition well prepared for
war. If there really be, then, in the present posture
of affairs, a more than ordinary degree of danger that
the excitability of French feeling may precipitate its
Government, with how little soever of real justifica-
tion for se extreme a measure, into hostilities with
this country, we should not only support the appro-
priation of the Premier's surplus to a large surplus
establishment and armament for the navy, but be
content with the other, and we fear inevitable alter-
native, namely, the continuation of the property-tax,
until the exigency of which we speak had passed
away. Of course we assume, that to justify the pro-
longed existence of this last unconstitutional burden,
the case of facts to which we advert as alone compe-
tent to establish its necessity, will be established
beyond doubt, dispute, or suspicion.

In connexion with th;% subject, we may express our
strong hopes that the proper authorities will take
every care, and adopt every means, for the careful
enforcement of •the provisions and enactments of the
new Act for the registration of merchant seamen.
The scheme of registration devised by that Act, and
the machinery for carrying it into execution,. are
well calculated to provide and keep up a permanent
supply of experienced sailors, to conduct the infinite
operations of our commercial intercourse with all the
world, and to navigate our ships of war wherever the
service and the honour of their country require.

The tone assumed in the pretensions put forth by
the Government of the United States in so much of the
diplomatic correspondence between their Secretary of
State, Mr. CALHOUN, and their accredited Ministers at
Paris and at Mexico, on the subject of the proposed
annexation of Texas to their territory and federation,
is too remarkable to be passed over in silence. The
Minister of the Goverment of Mexico; in replying to
it, has not exceeded, however strong the terms in
which he has expressed himself, the bounds of a just
and natural indignation. Senor REJON broadly com-
plains of the " falsehood" and " treachery" which are
apparent in the whole bearing of the American Go-
vernment in reference to this question, as they are to
be collected from the declarations and admissions of
its own agents. It is amusing, we must confess, to
consider the political ethics avowed and vindicated by
Mr. CaLuourt, by the instructions of his Government
to its .esident servants in Mexico and in France, and
by thy communications addressed by those servants to
the arts at which they are so resident.. The noble
region of the Texas formed—and, as Mexico con-
tends, still forms—an integral member of the Mexican
dominions. The independence and authority o
Mexico, and of Mexico as thus comprehending the
Texas, were long ago recognised by the United
States. Some citizens of the latter, with some
refugees of other nations, settled on the thinly in•
habited prairies of Texas, formed, in process of time,
some political as well as commercial connexions there,
and following the example of all American societies
among which changes of Governments appear to
develop themselves with almost as much frequency;
and as little moral sensation, as changes of the
seasons, erected a sort of republic, they de-
clared to be :independent, and on behalf of which
they exercised various acts' of state authority, and
established with various foreign Powers state relations.
But Mexico was not one of those powers. She
could never be brought to acknowledge the inde-
pendence of Texas, however fruitless her efforts have
proved, from time to time, to'bring back the revolted
territory under her de facto dominion and control.
Those efforts have been pat alysed by her own internal
disorganisation, her civil broils, and the fierce struggles
of her impetuous factions. From whatever cause
(and it is not necessary here to inquire, whether the
movement, was suggested, or not, by intrigues fo-
mented under such extraordinary "secret instruc-
tions" as the President TYLER -has shown the world
that American Chief, Magistrates do sometimes issue
to the diplomatic representatives of the Federal Go-
vernment on their, own responsibility), there has
grown up a cabal in Texas strong enough, with an
ex-functionary at its head, to defy the de facto Go-
vernment of the country, and' to enter into secret but
formal negotiations with the United States' emissaries,
agents, and very estimable President (Luz's), for the
annexation of Texas to that Federal Republic; and its
reception and recognition as a member of the general
Union. These negotiations, .their result, and the
documents conveying, expounding, and affirming the
offer of annexation, were, during its last session, laid
before Congress, but the Senate never, took them
into consideration. In what few preliminary steps
were hazarded by the annexation party, rather
as feelers than as substantive demonstrations or pro-
positions, the Senate clearly expressed its repugnance
to entertain any such offer. It did not even recog-
nise it. Yet in the interval between the close of the
last and the opening of the present Congress under
the authority of the outgoing President, the same
negotiations have been extended and reinforced, The
incoming President, who will be inaugurated in
March next, has been returned upon a pledge to
carry into effect the " public opinion" of the Union,
which Mr. TYLER himself, And the new American
Secretary of State, choose to assume to be clearly

pronounced in favour of the annexation. Suppose
this to be the fact—ls Mexico, the primary party in
the affair—the one most distinctly and deeply inte-
rested, and liable to be the most seriously injured—
to have no voice in the matter ? " Not at all," ac-
cording to Mr. Secretary C►LHOUN and his official
colleagues. Mexico may not have denuded herself
of her sovereign rights over the Texas. The law of
nations may recognise the validity of those rights.
The existing de facto Government of Texas (which,
being elective, must be as competently constituted as
its predecessor, whose ex-President has put himself
at the head of the annexation movemeat) may be, as
of course it is, strenuously opposed to the sur-
render of its own existence and its country's
independence ;—and, consequently, the aggression
which the United States contemplates committing
under the impudent pretext of the sanction of public
opinion in the Federal Union, and the wishes of the
Texian people may be, as it assuredly is, in violation
of the rights and the pretexts both of the Govern-
ment de jure in Mexico, and the Government esta-
blished de facto in Texas. This may be all very
true. But then Mr. CALHOUN has discovered that
the Federal Union is " destined" to incorporate and
possess Texas. As for Mexico, she really may do
what she likes in negotiating with Texas to re-
turn under her allegiance; but then this can only
be " pending the progress of the State question" in
the United States' Legislature, for it is broadly ad-
mitted that some Members of it are disinclined to
the spoliation. But when once these scruples are re-
moved—and they, too, are destined in Mr. CAL
roux's prophetic ecstacies to be removed—any act of
Mexico to interrupt the harmonious amalgamation of
so magnificent a slice of the New World, with the
already enormously expanded territory of the Union,
will be regarded by the latter as a declaration of
war. We must say, that amidst all the balderdash
of these diplomatic papers about its being the destiny
of the United States to cover the country to be an-
nexed with railroads, and cities, towns, and villages,
land all the institutions of their religion, civilisation,
&c., we never, detected such a rank exhibition of the
unblushing principle of might against right—such a
profession of that basest of political, as it is of moral
and religious doctrinet " that the means justify the
end." The vaunting and defying tone about the
mode in which the interference of any foreign
Power, on the part of Mexico, with the United
States in carrying, into effect this notable plan of an-
nexation, is amusing enough, and characteristic
withal. But we are inclined to hope, still, that the
abundant good sense and right feeling of a large
portion of the American public will never permit the
recklessness or wickedness of their Government to
hazard such flagrant experiments on the weakness of
a neighbouring and friendly transatlantic State, with
the mere object of ascertaining to what extent the po-
litical rapacity of one party, the slave-trading
cupidity of another, and the commercial specula-
tiveness of a third, among them, may accemplish
their several objects at the expense of the national
character, and of all political justice. It would be
painful—and we deem it, at present, unnecessary—
to pursue the consideration of the other alternative
which these proceedings may determine in ; or the
prompt and decisive measures of repression• and re-
taliation which the success of s• fraudulent a scheme
would inevitably provoke from other Powers, who
could never be brought to compromise the first prin-
ciples of social and political Government by acqui-
escence in such a monstrous violation of them. We
conclude, for the present, with the expression of our
unfeigned regret and astonishment at these frequent
manifestations of moral turpitude and State "treachery
and falsehoood," to use Senor REJON'S words,. on the
part of the Executive and other functionaries of a
great Republic, which established its just claims on
the sympathy, respect, and good wishes of free and
independent nations, by a profession of political
faith, and by political conduct so much more recon•
cilable with the ancient nations of the distinctiop
between rights and wrongs, than any indications we
can find throughout this affair of Texas. ,

Madrid Journals of the 3d inst. have been re'.
ceived. The discussions in the Senate on the Iteforrh
Bill were continued on that day, when an amend-
ment was made to confer on Peers a hereditary right
to sit in the Upper Chamber. A division took place,
and the amendment'was rejected by a majority of 45
against 24. Several other clauses were adopted.
among others, one conferring on the Senate the
power to try Ministers impeached by the Lower
Chamber, also its own Members, and persons
accused of offences against the dignity of the
Sovereign or State. The Gazette contains two
decrees—one ratifying the Convention concluded
between the Minister of Finance and the bank of
San Fernando for a loan of 150,000,000 reals, and
another sanctioning the engagement of the bank to
pay into the Sinking Fund 60,000,000 reals, to I
meet the dividends of the Consolidated Three per
Cent. Debt, due in June and December of the pre.
sent year.
The Three per Cents, closed at 311 for cash, and
31 11-16 at 60 days; the Fire per Cents. at 22} for
cash, and 32 at 60 days ; the Floating Debt at 78
at 60 days; the Coupons at 261 at 60 days; and the
Debt without Interest at 6 15-16 at 60 days.

The Paris papers, in the absence of all other topics of
;he slightest interest, continue their disquisitions on.
:he state of the Ministry. The great object of the
Opposition is the ejection of M. GUIZOT, for what
reason no one can tell, except the mere love of change.
The writers in these journals knoW well that M,
GUIZOT acts only a very secondary part, that he.,
follows out only the policy prescribed by a' high
authority, and that if Count Mane or M. TIIIERS
were restored to office they must adopt the same
;policy, or walk out as they have done before. The
KING, in fact, is everything, and though an adverse
vote of the Chamber may occasionally thwart hisl
views, he never:fails to return to the subject, and
he is generally successful. The caldneSs of the.
Court to M. Gurzur is therefore alarming
to a man anxious to retain office; but. his position,
however, is more envious than that of the man who
would displace him, and for the sake of power and'
place renounce opinions on many vital points of fo,,
reign policy which for years they have advocated in.
opposition to this able and fearless Minister. These
opinions are well arranged by the Journal des Debuts
—they are placed in full view before 'the Coalition,
and deny them they cannot. On almost every sub-
ject that interests the public mind in France they are
at variance with the policy of the, man they would
oust from place.. ", There are at present," says that
journal, " we will not sera•party, but men who pom-
pously deck themselves out with the name of Conser-
vatives; and who are the declared and open ene-
mies of that policy. These men believe that the
policy inaugurated. by CASIMIR PERIER, and sup-
ported for fifteen years by Parliamentary majorities,
is incompatible with the national honour and interest;
they proclaim on all occasions that the English
alliance, the entente cordiale, is a gross deception, a
shame, and a humiliation for France. Listen to
them, and you will ilea/. that in the affair of the
right of search, - and in the negotiations opened for
the revision of the treaties of 1831 and 1833, Eng-
land has from the first day juggled France, and con-
tinues to do so. The modifications demanded will
not, they say, be obtained. In the affair of the
British Consul at Algiers, England, they say, pro-
tests indirectly against the establishment of the
French rule in Africa. Who, knows even if she does
not pay AIIDEL..KADER ? In the affair of Otaheite
and that 'of Morocco the same dupery—by sea and
land, in Europe, in Africa, in Oceania. France is
shamefully cheated by England. The KING'S jour-
ney and his reception is another mystification.
The hope of maintaining pence between Eng-
land and France is a deplorable illusion„ and
the war between the two nations an imminent
danger. Such is,' according to these Conserva-
tives, the clear result of the entente cordiale. Thus
they have placed themselves under the. colours of the
Majorityonly to decry its policy, and attack it in its
Principle! The policy of the Conservative party is
founded on peace, and they declare peace to be impos-
sible, and war inevitable! The majority believes that
the true interests of the country and the repose of
Europe are engaged in the union of France and-Eng-
land, and they laugh openly at the entente cordials.
What name must then be given to those men calling
themselVes Conservatives, but who thus calumniate
the policy of the Majority ? All that we an! say is
that they usurp the name which „They
are not of the Conservative party,; for, lon-Pchessen-
tial point of its policy, they are in daily and acknow.