The Sun.
London, England, 1829-03-31 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS,

The Catholic Relief Bill was this morning read
a third time and passed, amidst the enthusiastic
cheers of a triumphant majority. It is a victory of
which the beneficial consequences will be felt to the
remotest generation, giving peace and happiness to
Ireland,dignity and strength to Great Britain. Now,
at length, the union of the three nations has begun :
hitherto it has been only nominal, for what concord
could exist between the serf and his master—be-
tween the suspicious oppressor and the murmuring
victim ? The chains now are struck off, and the
Irishman and the Briton may henceforth look each
other in the face with equal confidence and mutual
The Duke of Newcastle, it seems is going to
Windsor one of these day', to enlighten his Majesty,
touching the Coronation Oath, and divers other
matters. Old Lord Eldon carried down a chariot-
load of petitions to the same place on Saturday
lase—a load so enormous, as to compel the Ex-
chancellor, with all his wariness on such occasions,
to put four horses to his carriage, when a pair might
otherwise have served him. Now, had the pe-
titions been booked by coach or caravan, the parcel,
bulky as it was, could not well have stood above
five or six shillings; so that the difference war, we
dare say, nothing short of a couple of sovereigns
at the lowest. So costly a sacrifice for the public good
has surely seldom been submitted to—at least by
the Noble Earl, But the Duke of Newcastle makes
a second voyage to Windsor. We had really
thought that his Grace would learn some prudence
from his last attack on Windsor. Does lie, can he
imagine, that the King, having reasoned himself into
the political necessity for granting relief to the Ca-
tholics, will be raved or grumbled out of it by him?
Is his Majesty so impaired by time ? Is his discern-
ing intellect so impaired, or his vigorous and reso-
lute Velition so shaken, that any dull Lord who
claims an audience in virtue of his peerage,
may hope to wheel the Royal sentiments
round, and make the King retract this day
Wthe
solemn declarations of the day preceding? e
will tell these disturbers what they have in their
power—and how little. They may force their way
to the Sovereign's presence—they may present their
petitions--they may offer their advice, even should
that advice go to convulse the empire to its centre;
but beyond a dignified and courteous reception—
beyond a trial of the King's patience—beyond the
satisfaction of having intruded on, disturbed, and
tormented him—beyond the ceremony of being
Lowed out with a grace—their importunities '
just leave the Cumberland cause where they found
it—that is to say, in the mire. Were it only to
save his Majesty these most unwelcome and
irksome visitations, we are anxious to see the
thing at rest, which it bids fair to he, by
has bMondeenay
the 13th of April. A direful attempt
made at Hereford, to prevail !Ton his Majesty to
refuse the Royal Assent to the Bill, in case of its
passing the two Houses of Lords and Commons.--
Yes, a public meeting was actually called for the
purpose of addressing to the Sovereign that wise,
honest, and tranquillizing counsel ; but, as will be
seen from our account of the proceedings, " the pe-
tition—missed fire." In fact, the liberals were too
powerful for the bigots; Cbe High Sheriff dissolved
the meeting:, and so there is an end of Hereford and
its civil-war-politicians.—Mid.
When we stated the other day that the English
and French Ambassadors were on the point of woe
seeding to Constantinople, we were not aware of
the fact, which has since reached us, that a change
might not improbably take place in the person of
the British Ambassador. We have since under.
stood that Mr. Stratford Canning has, from various
~eases which it is unnecessary to detail, expressed a
wish to be relieved from the onerous duties which he
"has so long and so ably sustained. Thas much, how-
ever, we may state with confidence, that his retire-
ment
at this juncture does not involve the slightest
impeachment or disapprobation of his conduct
on the part of Government, who will, we are
sure, be the first to acknowledge the zeal and
ability which he has uniformly maniCested in
the public service. Indeed, if there were no
other reason to lead us to this conviction, the faithful
adherence of the present Administration to the con-
ditions of the treaty of July would be sufficient te
persuade us, that they can only view with feelings of
sincere regret the loss of Mr. Canning's valuable
assistance to the cause in which he had been so long
and so cordially engaged. Mr. Robert Gordon, the
brother of Lord Aberdeen, is, we believe, to be the
successor of Mr. Stratford Canning. Mr. cordon
has at least one advantage: being in Lyndon at pre-
sent, he has the opportunity of possessing himself
more thoroughly of the views and intentions of Go-
vernment than they can be explained even in the
most copious and diffuse despatches to one at a dis-
saeee.—lbid.
The Earl of Cawdor gave, last night, an account
of the conduct of a Clergyman, at a Meeting of the
County of Pembroke, who seems to have acted in
a most diageaceful manner. " He advised the people
(said his Lordship) to implore his Majesty to dis•
solve the Parliament, that he may know how ill he
was advised by his present hypocritical and cowardly.
Ministers. He called on them to resist the Catho-
lics, as they would answer it before Christ, on the
peril of their salvation. If they did not wish here-
after to suffer with Socinians, Deists, Infidels, he
told them they must sign the petition against the
Catholics. The High Sheriff was obliged, in con-
sequence of the tumult which arose, to dissolve the
Meeting • and the excitement had been so great, in!
consequence of these inflammatory proceedings,
that the people broke the windows of those who
were known to be faeeeurable to the Catholics, and
threw fire into the house' of one person." In
another part of the Island, Lweeerkshire, we hare a
case which almost equals the above, Mr, W. F.
Canephell stated, " that the Reverend Ctentlemen
in queseion had said that those who sacrificed the;:
religion by refusing to sign the petition, would find
on the last day that they would be in the same con-
dition as the wretched inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrah, when the wrath of Heaven was falling on
their heade." Men did not like, said Lord Cawdor,
to be pointed out a; Socinians, Deists, and infidels.
How fond. pre Clergy are of calling names. No-
thing is to tee done without calling names. He is
a Socinian—he a Latitudinarian—he is a Neolo.
gist—an infidel. name is half the battle.—
Socinian seems to be now thought the best
name for throwing at any 01::'• The very idea
of being taken for a Socinian, .;*; enough to
induce one of the orthodox to hang :[."E.-21.1--
"When the Bill was in progress which allowed ~./1*
Quakers, in certain cases, to substitute affirmation
for swearing, the Clergy in and about London, in a
petition to the Legislature, stated a number of
dreadful consequences which would follow from the
measure ; and with more naivete than would perhaps
be displayed now, they observed in the very outset
that thereby " the legal maintenance of the Clergy
by tithes would be in a more especial manner endan-
lereele." The Protest of several of the Bishops and
Peers against the Bill show that the
Tempora:
Quaker was the black dog of that day. Dissentient :
" Because we loole upon the Quakers, who reject the
t vo Sacraments of Christ, and are so far as unworthy
o' the name of Christjens, to be on that account un-
w irthy also of receiving such distinguishing marks
of favour. Because the 'Quakers, as they renounce
the institutions of Christ, so they have not given
even the evidence by law required of their belief of
his Divinity." When this measure shall become a
law, what is to be done ? There must be some sect
or other to abuse—for what would be value of or.
tbodoxy, were it not for the privilege of abusing
which it gives ?—Morning Chronicle.
The Catholic Relief Bill has at length made its
',way through the House of Commons. An Amend.
rnent was moved to the Motion for the Third Read-
ing, that the Bi!1 be reid a third time this day six

months; and the discussion lasted till a late hour
this morning:, when a division took place. The
numbers were—
For the Amendment
Against it

Majority for the third reading... 17S
Mr. Peel supplied a comment on some of the
statements of Sir Charles Wetherell, which rather
placed his Anti-Catholic fervour in a questionable
light. " The Hon. Gentleman did assist in drawing
the Bill for the Suppression of the Catholic Asso-
ciation. He thought it was not fair to ask his
assistance in drawing the Bill to put down the
Catholic Association, without communicating to
the Honourable Gentleman the whole intention
of the Government, as far as the principle of
the measure was concerned. The Honourable Gen-
tleman made no objections—he assisted in drawing
the Bill to suppress the Catholic Association. He
did more. He assisted us with his loyal advice in
drawing up the present Bill, both as respects the
law of endowments and ecclesiastical charities. It
was not until the 23d of February that the Hon.
Gentleman expressed any opinion against the mea-
sure, or any determination not to draw the Bill.
Parliament met on the sth of February.—(Hear,
hear.)"—What ! so that was dirty work on the
23d of February, which was so little so before that
date that Sir Charles, that paragon of delicacy and
purity, had no objections to assist in it ! Having
made up his mind to have nothing more to do with
the measure, he could not then abuse it too much.
The scene was peculiarly animated towards the
close. The cheering of the supporters of the Bill
Was deafening. Upwards of fifty Members from
different sides of the House thronged round Mr.
Peel, and shook hands with him in a cordial and en-
thusiastic manner. The scene changes this day to
the other House, to which the interest is now trans-
ferred.—lbid.

No Administration, within our memory, has ever
been so inefficiently supported by its Law Officers
as the present. The Mastership of the Rolls, which,
in the times of Lord Kenyon, Lord Alvanley, and
Sir William Grant, was looked up to as the great
and most efficient law authority in the House of
Commons, is held now by one who is not so much
as a Member of the Legislature, and who, if he
were, would be unable, from long-continued bodily
infirmity, to attend in his place. The Attorney-
General (the Ex-Attorney-General we should ra-
ther say) has, to the astonishment of his political
employers as well as his professional brethren, pre-
ferred his conscience to his interest ; and has actually.
ventured (a thing scarcely ever heard of in 'West-
minster Hall before) to introduce such a word as
" consistency" into the legal vocabulary ; and has
actually mutinied against the Commander. The
Solicitor-General, upon whom, owing to the defec-
tion of his leader, the whole weight and responsibi-
lity of preparing the Catholic Bills have devolved,
seems to have executed his task in so mediocre a
manner, that, on coming out of the Committee, he
finds his banding so mangled and deformed, that
scarce an original feature (or clause) is discernible—
a ciicumstance which gave rise to a celebrated No-
Popery joker to say, that the Learned Gentleman
had a right to complain of a clan:lva fregit in
every line. What is still more remarkable is, that
the Learned Solicitor has not attempted to supply
by argument his apparent defects as a draftsman, but
has borne the mangling of his offspring, and the
taunts and contumely of Sir Charles Wetherell,
with equal philosophical silence and indifference.—
And here, if we except a word or two from Mr. Sug-
den, ends the whole pf the Duke's legal strength in
the Commow. In the Lords, the venerable ex-
Chaneellor, Lord Eldon, like a" giant refreshed,"
wields the powerful weapons of experience and con-
sistency. Li Lord Plunkett the Duke has, we ad-
mit, a powerful Law Advocate; and great curiosity
is expressed to see what line the eminent Chief Jus-
tice of England will take upon this occasion. From
the Lord Chancellor much may be expected, if his
Lordship has the dexterity to get over the awkward
avowals whieli so recently escaped from his own lips
as Master of the Rolit3, nut, at best, the Duke
must be admitted to get much less from the lawyers
than the lawyers get from him.,,,,Morniv, Herald.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

FRENCH PAPERS.

(From the Gazette de Prance, dated March 29.)
" EXTRACT OF A PRIVATE LETTER.
" SMYRVA, FEB. :21.--The news which we have from
Constantinople is oh!, but if the wind favours the vessel
which is to bring you this; letto., it will reach you before
the mail. The following are the tuns; interesting particu-