The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP 11lg LONDON JOURNALS.

A pamphlet, upon the Catholic Question,
which' it is understood is written by Mr. Blake,
the Remembrancer of the Irish Court of Exche-
quer, has been just published. Mr. Blake is the
only Roman Catholic who holds an office of im-
portant trust in Ireland. His duties correspond
with those of a Master in Chancery, and lic
stands high in the order of judicial precedence. -
He has been employed, with the sanction of
Mr. Peel, as a Commissioner of Inquiry into
the state of education in Ireland. We mention
these circumstances because the claims of the
Roman Catholics have hitherto been discussed
by members of their own body, who, frOm their
separation from the State, have been, not unna-
turally perhaps, addicted to that violence which
has been of prejudice to their cause. We have
rea3 Mr. Blake's pamphlet with the greater cu-
riosity, because it is not the production of re
dealer in harangues and a trafficker in excitation,
but of a man connected with the State by his
official relations, and who is well known to have
been in habits of intimate intercourse with Lord
Wellesley, and to hare imbibed his opinions.—
The tone of the book is certainly far more sub-
dued than the turbulent eloquence of Mr.
O'Connell, and the vituperative rhetoric of Mr.
Shell ; but it must be owned (and we think
that it does Mr. Blake credit), dist the
placeman does not predominate over the
Irish Catholic, and although he abstains
from the use of politically-exasperating and
personally-offensive expressions, vet he does
not hesitate to declare a strong sense
of the
wrongs which that community, of which he is a
favoured member, still endures. Mr. Blake be-
gins by stating that a recent revolution has taken
place in Ireland, and relics upon the great in-
crease of property and intelligence in the Catho-
lic body. He adduces evidence to show that
land to the amount of 1,000,0001. has passed
within a short period from the bands of Pro-
testants into those of Roman Catholics. We
should observe that Mr. Blake, as Remain-
braneer of the Court of Exchequer, has peculiar
opportunities of noting the gradual change and
modification of property in Ireland. He states
that 30 years ago, there were only ten Catholics
who held Bank stock each to the amount of
2,0001., and that there are 80 now. The pro-
vincial Bank of Ireland, he says, though directed
by Protestants, have been obliged to employ local
Catholic directors. Mr. Blake then proceeds to
point out the progress of intelligence in the Ca-
tholic body. As Commissioner of Education,
employed under Lord Liverpool's Administra-
tion, the subject was peculiarly brought uncles
his consideration. He says, that in 1811, in a
certain class of schools, there were educated
55,000 Protestants, and 145,000 Catholics; nt
1824 there were educated -in the same class of
schools 81,060 Protestants, and 319,288 Ca"
tholics. He passes from the. progress of intelli-
gence in the lower orders to its advancement
among the higher, and we are informed by him,
that for three years before Michaelmas term
1797, 'there were called to the bar 89 Pro-
testants and 11 Catholics, and during the
three years which ended in Michaelmas
term last, there were called 68 Protestants
and 29 Catholics ;—thus the Protestants
fell off one-fourth, and the Catholics nearly
trebled. Having proved the change in the cir-
cumstances of the Catholics, Mr. Blake inquires
whether the law is to be adapted to the state of
the country, or the state of the country is to be
re-adapted to the law ; in other words, are the
penal laws to be re-enacted, or are they to be
repealed ? for to this practical dilemma Ireland
has arrived. Mr. Blake proceeds to point out
the facility with which a settlement of the ques-
tion might be effected upon the plan suggested
in Mr. Pitt's letter. He adds, " the Catholic
College of Maynooth is, by its constitution, sub-
jected both to the superintendence and controul
of the State, and the machinery established there
might without difficulty be made the means of
securing to the Government every object with,
respect to the Clergy at large which it would
probably desire." In support of this position,
Mr. Blake quotes a suggestion in a letter from
the late Lord Londonderry. He is a decided
advocate for securities, the nature of which he
points out, as well as the readiness with which
they could be moulded into the Catholic church
of Ireland. Mr. Blake takes a rapid review of
the state of religious peace upon the Continent,
and quotes the 16th article of the federative con-
stitution established by the Congress at Vienna,
which provides " that the different Christian
sects in the countries and territories of the Ger-
man confederacy shall not experience any diffe-
rence in the enjoyment of civil and political rigl its."
He then expatiates upon what he considers a
much more important example than any which
can be drawn from a foreign State. He appeals
to the condition of Canada, in which Catho-
lics and Protestants live in perfect harmony,
and quotes the evidence of Mr. John Neilson,
a Protestant, given before the Committee of the
.House of Commons :—" Amongst the body of
the people (says Mr. Neilson) no man asks
whether his neighbour is a Protestant or a Ca-
tholic. There are Catholics and Protestants in
the same family and neighbourhood, and all
living in perfect harmony. In truth, no coun-
try was ever more exempt from religious animo-
sities than Lower Canada has generally been dur-
ing the thirty-seven years I have resided there."
Mr. Blake adduces further testimony to prove
the attachment of the Catholic clergy of Canada
to the British connection, and justly observes,
that the adoption of a similar system in Ireland
would produce corresponding results. Mr.
Blake passes from the consideration of the state
of Canada to illustrate the evils of governing
upon the principles of exclusion, which he draws
from the condition of the South American colo-
nies of Spain. He quotes a very remarkable
passage from Ward's Mexico, " It was a fa-
vourite maxim that while a Mondego mule or a
Castilian cobbler remained in the peninsula, he
had a right to govern the Americans. These
Sentiments were re-echoed by all the Europeans
both io the capital and in the principal towns of
the interior ; they every where formed patriotic
associations for the defence of what they termed
their lights, and armed themselves against the na-
tives, whose spirit these very precautions contri-
buted to Arouse." The patriotic associations 'of
South America formed hy the Spaniards to main-
tain their Monopoly, and to keep down the na-
tives, have :many features of resemblance with
those clubs, of which the patriotic Beres-
fords are the -residents, and the pious Hor-
ners are the chaplains, in Ireland. Mr. Blake
adds, that when Lord Wellesley was ambassador
in Spain, he recommended that the natives of
South America should be equally eligible to
office, and equally entitled to sit in the Cortes.
Upon these terms the South Americans were
willing. to submit, but Spain would not concede,
and her colonies were lost for ever. Mr. 13Iake
next introduces a fiscal view of Catholic