The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TROM THE EVENING PAPERS or SATURDAY.
GLOBE.—Mr. O'Connell has been check-mated,
and repeal agitation discouraged, by the interference
of the Papal See. A Rescript from his Holiness the
Pope, addressed through the Propaganda, to the
Catholic bishops and clergy of Ireland, commanding
their abstinence from all interference in the political
agitations by which Ireland is distracted, is a heavy
blow and sore discouragement to the repeal cause.
The document in question states that the distrac-
tions which exist among the faithful in Ireland are
" most distressing to the Sacred Congregation, and
to his Holiness himself," as " tending to the clan-
tnent and disgrace of the Universal Church." And he
enjoins on the clergy to "avoid mixing themselves
up with secular affairs, and to assiduously foster
among the people a spirit of quietness, calm, and
peace, which is the bond of Christianity, and a due
obedience to temporal power in all matters of civil
life. The leader of the agitation saw, with instinctive
perception, the effect of such a document on the re-
peal cause, and the necessity which existed for neau-
traliaing its power by denying its authenticity. He
therefore asserted that it was a fabrication—a weak

invention of the enemy; framed with some skill, but
still betraying its destitution of authority by internal
marks of its illegitimate origin. Its latinity was
also severely examined. It was submitted to the
crucible of criticism ; and two or three somewhat
clumsily-constructed sentences were detected, and
commented upon—as proofs that the Rescript could
not have emanated from Rome. The Pope's la-
tinity must, of course, partake of the infallibity
of his office. Any defect which criticism could
detect in the construction of a phrase, would detract
from the claims of the document to reception and re-
spect. The admission of its authenticity would be to
impugn the claims of his Holiness to exemption from
error. Such a discovery would, therefore, in itself, be
sufficient to raise doubts in the minds of the Re-
peaters. These doubts were further strengthened by
some assumed irregularity in the mode of its transmis-
sion. The Pope's Rescript was therefore pronounced
a vile forgery. The Roman Catholic clergy were
assured that they were still "free as air" to aid the
" hereditary bondsmen" to effect a separation of Ireland
from England, by agitating for the repeal of the
Legislative Union of the two countries. The laity,
encouraged and sanctioned by the clergy, would con-
tinue, with undiminished energies, to subscribe to
the funds, and throng to the meetings, of the Repeal
Association. Mr. O'Connell, therefore, in a letter
to Dr. Cantwell, impugned the integrity of the
Rescript, and avowed his belief that it was " not
a canonical document." The Roman Catholic
Archbishop Crolly has, however, set the question
of the authenticity and imperative obligation of the
Rescript upon the Bishops and Clergy of the Ca-
tholic Church, entirely at rest. The Archbishop
states, in a letter to Mr. O'Connell, that " The Re-
script has been laid befor the assembled Catholic pre-
lates in Dublin," who " not only acknowledged it to
be authentic and canonical, but to be a document of
such importance that they entered it on their minutes,
and unanimously resolved that they would regulate
their conduct according to its injunctions, and use their
influence with their clergy, in their respective dioceses,
to prevail on them to follow its salutary instructions."
The Pope's Rescript, and the prelate's letter affirm-
ing and enforcing it, have placed Mr. O'Connell in a
position of serious embarassment. We see no path-
way of escape for them. He is transfixed between
the horns of a dilemma. If he obey the mandate,
his political existence, as an agitator, is at an end. He
has hitherto professed to act in the most perfect ac-
cordance with the bishops and clergy of the Roman
Catholic Church, to the authority of which he has
bowed with deep devotion. The presence of some of
the bishops at the repeal meetings, and the active aid
of the inferior orders of clergy in every way in which
that aid could be given, has contributed to keep up
the influence which Mr. O'Connell has wieldedover the
public mind in Ireland. To the sanction and aid of the
priests, O'Connell has been wont to refer the multi-
tudes. He has thus animated the popular excitement
by appealing to the presenceand sanctionof the minis-
ters of religion to the cause of repeal. But the bishops
and clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland
.must implicitly obey the orders of the Holy See, and
must at once detach themselves from the political
agitation. The withdrawal of the clergy will be the
signal for all good Catholics to do the same. The re-
sults seem already to be anticipated and prepared for in
the repeal councils. Retrenchment, the necessary conse-
quence of diminished resources, is already commenced.
Still further reductions of the repeal staff are an-
nounced. " The first report of the Finance Commit-
tee, read to the General Committee on Tuesday, and
adopted, recommenls the reduction of eighteen
clerks, and also some out-agents, including Mr. W.
J. O'Connell, the London Head Repeal Warden, and
several others of minor note in Dublin. The salaries
of the officers retained are to be reduced, with the ex-
ception of 'My dear Ray,' who is to be continued,
with his present allowance of 4001. a year, besides im-
portant sundries. A reduction in the printing and
stationery departments is under consideration;
- after which the newspapers in the pay of the Associa•
tion will come under the notice of the retrench-
ing committee." To denounce the authority of the
Pope, and exhort the inferior clergy and the laity to
refuse obedience to the I:escript, is the alternative of
admitting the holy See to interfere with repeal, and
thus withdraw the clergy from agitation. Such a
course would, by its desperation, defeat its design.
It would be fatal to his influence as an agitator of the
people, while it would be destructive of his reputation
as a member of the Church, which enjoins upon
all its members implicit obedience to spiritual
authority. In this the crisis of his fate, Mr. O'Con-
nell's tactics will be subjected to a test such as
they have never yet been called to endure. He ,
pro-
poses that " a lay deputation be dispatched to Rome,'
to avert what he designates " a conjuncture which in-
volves their civil and religious liberties in the
most imminent peril." Report this morning states
that Mr. O'Connell is about to proceed to Rome
on this mission. Ile will thus be able to with-
draw himself from Dublin at a time when it is
peculiarly embarrassing for him to be there. The
circumstance of his proceeding to Rome on the re-
peal business would keep up the delusion a little
longer. He would be thus gently let down from the
• elevation of political power, which he has so long oc-
cupied, instead of finding himself hurled from it
suddenly, and unprepared. Mr. O'Connell's apology
for having denounced the Concordat between this
country and Rome, negotiations for which never had
as existence, is remarkable for its puerility. The
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland has set this bugbear at
rest. In a letter, under his own hand, addressed to
Archbishop Murray, his Lordship denies that there
was any, the slightest, ground for the story respecting
" a negotiation for a Concordat." The torrent of
obloquy and abuse which Mr. O'Connell poured
forth upon Archbishop Murray, for his sup-
posed privity and assent to this negotiation, is thus
shown to have had no provocation. "There has never
existed," says Lord Heytesbury, " the slightest inten-
tion of entering into any negotiation with the Papal
See upon the subject of a Concordat." Fifty of the
clergy in the diocese of Dublin, of which the (Ca-
tholic) Archbishop Murray is the head, have sub-
scribed an address to him, couched in terms of the
most reverential and affectionate respect, and pro-
mising in all things to be guided and governed by his
advice and authority. These are unmistakeable signs
of repeal declension. If the Government be wise
enough JO improve the opportunity, there is hope for
Ireland. But if there he nothing effectual done for
the improvement of the people, and the day of pro-
pitious events be allowed to expire, without remedial
measures for the grievances which have produced re-
peal agitation—then will agitation, under another
name, and in another form., be re-kindled, and the last
error will be worse than the first.
STANDARD.—We never complain of fair war,
how fiercely soever it may be waged, by the press.
Indeed, we conceive a kind of affection for the adversary
who hits hardest, if only his blows are straight, and de-
livered in a manly manner. We should infinitely
prefer shaking hands with John of Tuam to the
touch of Dr. Posey, Mr. Newman, or Mr. Oakeley.
Nay, even among the Tractarians, we would respect
Mr. Ward for that challenge—which Dr. Tait says is
his only offence—had not the challenge been soiled
b' his subsequent shabby refusal to acknowledge
his own book containing it. This is, we suppose,
bad taste, becalm it is not, we believe, the common
taste. However, it is our taste, and we think that
the public interests would gain, as the interests of
truth certainly would, if it were made general.
This, however, by the way. In proportion as we
respect fair war, do we dislike fool blows ; and it is
our business to-day to expose a system of foul
play on the part of the Morning Chronicle, to
which we slightly alluded yesterday, and which
our Contemporary seems resolved to persevere
in. We mean the imputation upon the Foreign
Minister that the Times is his organ. The Morning
• Chronicle, in a leading article of this morning, re•
peaty the foul imputation—foul in every sense—
no less than three or four times in one
short column. If our Contemporary retorts upon
us, that we ascribe its articles on foreign policy,
and similar articles of the Globe, to the
dictation of Lord Palmerston, our answer is,
that the charging any nobleman or gentleman with
writing in the llforning Chronicle or Globe, or dic-
tating an opinion to either of these journals, im-
putes nothing disgraceful, more particularly when
the nobleman or gentleman happens to be
a Whig, whether " juvenile" or mature.
The .case of the Times is notoriously otherwise ;
crawling. through all parties, it has left some of its
. ~, i • aclp,;, p:pclit is a remarkable circumstance
7). °x• . , ~wilitVAt journal, that whenever any
. .ou
~o ,
,raity.:,raNs cast upon an
ri. ' supplied r, -, " lite
eirse
conduct of ythepartryi,lneist,
yi. during '.ita tonnAn with that party in the
`-' . , lif•lfoglortivi i! fal!aer. The Reform Bill,
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