The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-10 00:00:00

OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

The declared intentions of his Majesty's Ministers
to follow up the wise and just policy of last year, by
adding the relief of the Catholics from real griev-
ances to that of the Protestant Dissenters from such
as were less solid than imaginary, and thus to sig-
nalize the reign of Geo. IV., and the Administra-
tion of the Duke of Wellington, by a system of in-
ternsl government at once Hovel and enlightened,
have naturally produced throughout the kingdom a
sensation of the deepest interest amongst all classes
of nieo. That Englishmen have for centuries been
ready to express what they feel, upon questions
which—as they conceive, and as is beyond all contro-
versv—are of high national importance—the annals
of the country demonstrate at every page ; arid
without such promptitude of expression through the
press, or public meetings, the health and spirit of
the nation would long since have declined or been
extinguished. But we do not like to see these
wholesome vents for the mind of England made the
channels of quackery and fraud. It is odious as wellas
dangerous to have a suborned press, and packed or
fictitious meetings. The educated part of the corn-
niunity are disgusted by them, but ought not
to despise them, for they mislead the igno-
rant, rouse the worst passions for the worst
purposes, and end by laying prostrate all that is
wise and virtuous before headlong numbers and
brutal force. With regard to the Catholic ques-
tion, the voice of the nation is now fairly heard
through its representatives, and the proportions of
popular intelligence which resist or favour the diffu-
sion of civil and religious liberty out of doors, are
well potutraved by their respective organs within
the walls of -Parliament. For many months past it
has been given up, as a point no longer subject to
discussion, that Mr. Peel was the single individual
in the House of Commons of the United Kiegilorn,
entitled to the least consideration for ability, who
opposed the petitions of the Catholics. Mr. Peel
has now become the officiel advocate of the claims
of these our suffering fellow-subjects. He is more,
Ire has become their agent, in carrying through Par-
liament a Bill for their relief. What, then, has pro-
duced this remarkable change, not of sentiment, but
of action, in the most conspicuous opponent of eman-
cipation ? We address ourselves now to the bigots
of the highways, to the rump of the dismembered
Bruns wickere. What can have changed Mr.
Peel ? Was it abstract reasomrg ? No. He
professes to retain those opinions against the Ca-
tholics, on the strength of which he had always
hitherto voted. Was it any view of personal interest?
Mr. Peel's first interest—namely, his reputation—
has, from his earliest entrance into politics, rested
on his anti-Catholicism. Exclusion was the only
party of which he could ever be the acknowledged
head. We ask, then, once more, what can have
compelled Mr. Peel to vote and act now in favour
of that policy of which heretofore he proved himself
the unvarying and most conspicuous champion ?
Necessity. He has avowed it—state necessity—
stem impossibility of resistance—the safety of the
empire, the first principle of all government—the
dre‘tdful danger of excluding from the legal exer-
cise of many millions of British subjects who
approached every hour nearer to the prospect of
exercising is in defiance of legal prohibition. Mr.
Peel, prejudiced, interested, wedded to the exclusion
of the Catholics, repugnant against the slightest ap-
proximation to liberality, bee gained that knowledge
s 4 the state of Irish feeling and power, of which his
old followers of the highways mid small market-
towns throughout this country are ignorant, and ho
yielded; while they, short-sighted and credulous
tacit, Atilt feed their imaginations on the cast-off
chimeras cf their less untaught leader. What—to
put a still stronger and more decisive question
to the dregs of Orangeism—what can have changed
she -views of the Duke of Wellington on this
subject ? Tell us that. Was the Duke a man to be
lightly driven from an opinion ? Ile told the Courts
Try from his place in Parliament, that without set.
ling this question, it was " impossible to go on !"
Will not this fearful deelaration satisfy the church-
men of Gxford, and the Orangemen of Bristol ? Is,
the Duke a man more easily intimidated than con-
vinced
? Yet there are desperadoes, or idiots, in the
island, who pretend to more courage than the Duke
of Wellington, and to more knowledge of facts and
consequences than Mr. Peel ;—creatures who talk
of rallying round the dotage of Lord Eldon, arid the
ranting wildness of Winehilseae-erand the sullen ob-
duracy of Newcastle, and the honest, straight-
fssward, unselfish, comprehensive liberality of old
Mr. -2ankes and his offspring; for even Sir Thomas
Lethbridg'st has, it seems, ceased to be an exclusive.
What then can be the meaning of the Orange Rump ?
They raise an outcry—they congregate:a majorit y in
the I louse of Lords—the force the Duke of Welling-
ton out of office—av, and Mr. Peel too who cow
hands pledged to emancipation ! Then let them
tell ua, where will they find a Ministry capable of
governing the empire for a single week ? That is
the question. The Whigs are emancipators to a
man : the only Tories worth speakir4; about are
to a man declared emancipators; the Church (the
majority of the Bench of Bishops we meao) have
given in. Answer us, then, ye close vestry-men of
Bristol, and convocationists at Oxford, where is
your Ministry, on the Duke of Wellington resign-
ing ? Yes, a messenger may be sent to Berlin, and
a steamer come back, freighted with a eertsin pair
of mustachios, and a Hussar-Government may be
formed on principles somewhat ultra-Brunswick,
perhaps ; but how long would it endure ? Does
that personage suppose, if the public knew what it
may yet know, that his influence could endure even
for a single day ? The University of Oxford, it is said,
has accepted Mr. Peel's resignation. What a pity
Mr. Bankes, junior, belongs to another University !
—Times.

We can venture to state, on what we deem good I
authority, that it is not at present in contemplation
to interfere at all with the concerns of the Catholic
Church, or ro attempt to controul the communica-
tion of its members with their spiritual superiors
abroad. But though the idea of a Veto is abandoned,
yet to calm the fears of the Protestant Church, it is
in contemplation to se.eompany the repeal with a
provision for the Catholic Hierarchy, the receipt of
which shall be optional with the members of that
body—with this /imitation, that it shall be in the
power of Government, on:the nomination of any
Bishop being communicated to it, to signify its dis-
approbation of such nomination by withholding the
allowance to him. This power of 'withholding money
is the only influence which it is wisiiked to exercise
over the Clergy of the Catholic Church. There is no
doubt as to the intention of proposing an attaation
in the freehold qualification ; but we are inclined to
believe that this measure will not accompany, but
fillow the repeal of the disabilities, On this point,
however, we do not possess an precise information
at present.—Morningrhronicly e.
The Holy War begins to be carried on with some- ,
thing like briskness. The presentation of several
petitions in both Houses afforded opportunities to
those who wish to be considered the champions of
Protestantism to signalize themselves by their seal
in the cause. We had imagined that the Duke of
„Newcastle would be the Leader of the new Opposi-
tion ; but it seems, if we are to credit ,the Noble
Duke himself, he labours under the impediment of
being scatter-brained, or, to use his own language, ,
" all Lis observations vanished whenever he rose to
address their Lordships." His Grace helungs to the
genus so happily pourtrayed by Sir Walter Scott in
Doeninie Sampson, the itirkj minister, who,
his Grace, had abundance of zeal, but was equally
trotsbled with a want of retention of ideas. His
Grace hoped last night, aii,or the pause to which
he was forced prematurely to " that on an-
other occasion he might he able to collect his
thoughts." Let us hope so too. Some men can-
not get hold of ideas at all ; but his 3race,
we know from the epistles with which he
has favoured the world, hits abundance of ideas;
but the trouble with him is to collect and
ummeet them. 'With the aid of the pen, his

' Grace can catch a few of them in their rapid flight,
and fix them to paper, though the gaps in the order
of succession sufficiently prove their flighty cha-
racter; but this process requires retirement and pa-
tient effort. The admirers of his Grace may lament
the excessive volatility of his Grace's ideas, but we
fear they must renounce all hope of his services as a
parliamentary champion. He has lungs, tio \VCVCr,
and we have 110 doubt that he will make up in the
loudness of his cheering for his want of power over
his own ideas. The Earl of Winchilsea seems
destined to be the Corypheus of the party. His
Lordship is equally powerful in debate and in the
closet. He has already issued his summons to the
Protestants of Great Britain; and last night he an-
nounced his intention of presenting the Penenden
Heath Petition on Friday next. The Bishops of
Durham and of Bath and Wells expressed themselves
last night hostile to further concessions to the Ca-
tholics. In the House of Commons there was ra-
ther more personality than in the Peers. Mr. Trant
went even so far as to enter on the family history of
the Duke a Wellington. " It is not easy to under-
stand," he observed," how such remarkable changes
could have been effected in the opinion of the Go-
vernment, and he could not help supposing that
Wesley, the head of the Methodists, an ancestor,
he believed, of the Noble Duke, might have
had something to do with it. ( Hear, and a
laugh.)" Whether Wesley was or was not an an-
cestor of the Noble Duke is a matter which had
very little reference to the question ; but, however
this may be, the Honourable Gentleman was rather
unfortunate in his reference, as John Wesley was
always a staunch opponent of concessions to the
Catholics, and, indeed, resembled the Wellesley '
family only in the excess of his love for the fair sex.
This is a puerile made of meeting an opponent.
The most striking feature of the evening was a
speech of Colonel Peel in opposition to his brother.
He had also the advantage of having monopolized
the only argument urged on his side. "If men's
minds (he said) be so divided in Ireland as they arc
represented to be, was it at all probable that con-
cord and hat moray would arise from a measure of
securities insufficient to the one party and unsatis-
factory to the other? Emancipation is to be given
to the Catholics in return for securities offered to
the Protestants ; but what secinity could be given
to the Protestants that they may not be deprived
of their security by a renewal of those scenes of
violence and intimidation which appear to have
produce 4 so much effect at the present moment
He was very well aware it might be said that all
moderate and rational characters would be satis-
fied with emancipation, accompanied by these se-
curities; but who could say that those turbu-
lent spirits who possessed all the influence in
Ireland, and governed the seven millions, as they
were called, by their absolute will—who could
say that they would be content, or that they would
not again exert that power, the existence of which is
acknowledged, and which this act of emancipation
proclaims the Government unable to resist ?" The
best answer to this is, that the Gallant Colonel com-
mits the slight oversight of omitting in his array of '
the force which the Government has been unable to
resist, the liberal Protestants. It is because the Pro-
testants consider themselves interested in the resto-
ration of the Catholics to their rights, that it has be-
come imperative on the Government to agree to that
measure. The Protestant Nobility and Gentry, at
the Rotunda, made common cause with the Catho-
lics ; the most distinguished Protestant Noblemen
and Gentlemen of England have always supported
their claims, because they consider them just, and
the granting of them would conduce to the welfare
of the Empire. It is one thing to yield ;.-i) just claims
supported by the property and the moral strength of
the Empire—Protestant and Catholic; and another
to yield to unjust demands, against which not only

liberal Catholics would be arrayed, but all Protes-
tants whatsoever, both the liberal and the class to
which Colonel Peel belongs. The Catholics are
only strong in the justice of their cause, which gives
them the support of the wise and good of all parties.
The Protestants are divided when the alternative is
justice or injustice. But though the liberal of the
Protestants join the Catholics in an endeavour to
obtain justice for them, it would be singular indeed
if they were to enable the Catholics to be unjust to-
wards the Protestants; and it is obvious that the
Catholics have not the power to oppress the Protes-
tants, without the latter aid them against themselves.
—lbid.

There is one part of the Lords Commissioners'
Speech which cannot be too strongly impressed
upon all parties ; it is that which recommends that
the consideration of the Catholic Question should
be entered upon with " the temper and moderation
which will best secure its successful issue." We
feel this the more necessary, as so iking proofs are
already given, that that which has been produced
by clamour is likely to be met by similar weapons.
.Now, as we never yet heard that intemperance pro-
duced any permanent advantage to any cause which
had truth apd justice for its basis, we are somewhat
surprised at the indiscretion and bad taste of those
who think that they advance the Protestant cause
by a senseless vituperation of those, even of their
own party, who happen to differ from them upon
id; s occasion. Thus, for instance, we see in a Sun-
day Paper, which professes to be a chosen oracle
of orthodoxy, the very Bishops and Clergy of the
Establishment mixed up in an equal share of con-
windy with the Catholic Priests and Laity. Dr.
Johnson, who was said " to like a good hater,"
wistikl Cl oubt 1 ess have been pleased to his heart's
content with a boundless animosity like this—an
animosity which hates every thing and loves nothing,
and which appears to revel in the luxury of " run-
ning a muck" both at friends and foes. w But what,
we would ask, does truth or reason gain by such a
proceeding? The world has been long enough di-
vided on this question, to take from mere difference
of opinion the obloquy thus attempted to be cast
upon it. At all events the opposition and that ob-
loquy must cease to be of much value in the eyes of
the world, when it sees them directed equally against
friends and foes, and falling with unsparing severity
to-day on the objects of yesterday's eulogy.—
Morning Herald.
Mr. Secretary Peel will this evening move, in the
110116•2 or Commons, for leave to bring in a Bill,
the object of which will doubtless be th,e, suppres-
sion of the Catholic Aes,ociation. This augurs well
for the future peace of Irelarel. By thus promptly
following up the recommendation contained in the
Speegh from the Throne, Ministers have evinced a
praisewor:.4 solicitude for the welfare of Ireland,
as well as a (jilts .determination to effect their pur-
pose, in spite of all opposition from the friends of
civil and celigions liberty. t)f the perfect justice
of Any measure of this kind, no doebt whatever can
be entertained. There are, we well know, pertain
learned Tbeiwis who contend that the suppression of
the Catholic Assor;ation would be an illegal act. The
Constitution, it is said, does not invest the Executive
Government with power to put
~,!own or to punish
any class of individuals who assemble to petition
against opprecsion. This is a plausible argument,
very plausible inde2d, but unfortunately it is not
sound. To deprive the people of the right of peti-
tioning against any real or supposed grievances would
be a aseet unwarrantable act of oppression; and the
Minister wil,o dared to make the attempt would
soon repent of his ti..lrierity. But at the tame time
;t must be remembered ehat the Constitution of
this eountry exists for the beneit cf the people at
large, and a . 9t for the convenience of any p;Tticular
knot of individuals; and that the moment ail'
body of men abuse the popular privileges, the
same Constitution which wanted those privi-
leges for the public good, withholds thz.m for a
similar:end. We must beg, therefore, to inform those
sapient jurisconsults, who deny the right of the
King's Government to defend 14 people, that if
it can be proved (as it assuredly can) that the Ca-
tholic Association has abused the popular privi-
14es, that it has grossly violated the law, and that
under pretence of stating certain grievances, it has
goaded the people on to acts of outrage—if, we
say, all this can be proved against the Asso-

ci ation, then the Constitution arms the Legisla•
tore, not only with full power to suppress it, but
also to punish its members for high treason.—
However, we shall not argue the point further
with these superficial cavillers, for we are well
aware, that to reason with men who, from sheer
opposition, will swear that black is any colour but
black, is as useless as to attempt to persuade the
world that there is melody in the bray of ar: ass. Of
this we are quite sure, that all who view matters in
an impartial light will agree with us in saying that
the suppression of the Association is a proceeding
equally consistent with the spirit of the Constitution,
and with the principles of strict justice.—Equally
evident with the justice of the measure is its im-
perative necessity. Every man who has watched
the progress of events since the Catholic Associ-
ation sprung into existence, must feel convinced
that the peace of Ireland, and not of Ireland only,
but of the whole United Kingdom, demands its
immediate suppression. Have the Agitators proved
themselves loyal and trustworthy subjects 1" Have
they confined their proceedings within the limit of the
law 1' Have they aimed at the attainment of a consti-
tutional object in a constitutional manner? No. At the
first moment of their combination they proved them-
selves to be a band of desperate traitors, who,
under the mask of patriotism, would wish to involve
their native land in ruin and desolation. Since then
they have fully sustained their original character—
they have endeavoured by unremitting exertions to
frustrate all measures adopted for the benefit of their
country—they have reviled the Established Church,
and heaped insults upon its members—they have de-
nounced the Ministers of their King as remorseless
tyrants—and they have infused sedition, like a mad-
dening poison, into the hearts of their fellow-coun-
trymen, until Ireland has become a scene of dreadful!
confusion ; and her sons, otherwise peaceable, re-
ligious, and contented, have become rioters, and
murderers, and rebels ! Such has been the conduct
of the Demagogues—such the dangerous, the awful
state of things, which they have produced ! Our
picture may seem highly coloured, but it is one for
the fidelity of which all will vouch, who are ac-
quainted with Ireland.—Morning Post.