The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-29 00:00:00

•

that the Papists.; have assumed as many disguises
to contains', and perplex the 'poor Protestants as
ever the Devil did to brother St. Anthony. That
pious and learned man, Richard Baxter, tell us,
.nt his Memoirs, that the Papists, out Of spite
to the cause of true religion, and to throw a slur
on it, sent numerous emissaries among the Sec-
taries, who were the most violent and extrava-
gant in preaching up heretical and schismatical
doctrines. He instances a Captain Everard,
very violent Sectary, in Cromwell'S regiment,
who afterwards shammed a conversion to Po-
pery, which he had never quitted, as one of those
instruments of evil let loose on the poor
Protestants. When we saw Mr. Canning
apparently implicated in this Popish Plot, we sus-
pected that more would come out of this busi-
ness. Whoever has attended to the doings of the
Papists, must know that a stroke of policy of w hich
• they are particularly fond, is to act under ills-
. guise, and to have their most devoted instru-
ments assuming the character of most zealous
Protestants. Of Mr. Canning we were never
afraid—he was too open and undisguised—but
we confess we have long had our suspicions of
Mr. Peel. Notwithstanding all his warmth for
the Protestant establishment, we could never
help fancying we perceived something of the Jos
suit about him. Loyola, said we, when we first
heard him open his mouth, has surely laid his
paw on that man. We may take credit for our
sagacity ; for,. would our readers believe it, this
Rev. Mr. O'Brien, who, according to the
Dublin Evening Mail, was a Popish emissary,
employed in plotting against our glorious Pro-
testant Establishment, actually received Fifty
Pounds from Mr. Peel ? We have the fact on
the most unquestionable authority. Fifty pounds
is a large sum. Strap, in Roderick Random,
exclaims, on an occasion of his friend parting
with a comparatively small sum—" Ah, God
help use ! what a number of grisly beards must
I have mowed for such a sum !" So Mr. Peel's
father might exclaim, what a number of fingers
must have ached before spinning these Fifty
Pounds. Is Mr. Peel in the habit of giving
gratuities of fifty pounds to Protest Clergy-
men ? Has be ever given the third part of fifty
pounds to a Protestant Clergyman—God knows
there Is no want of Protestant Clergymen, to
whom even a guinea, not to say fifty pounds, would
.be an object. Many pious men labour. for a
whole twelvemonth at the altar, on less than
fifty pounds, with a numerous family, to support
on it. We have, at all events, made out a
strong pfrima facie case against Mr. Peel.—
When a man opens his purse-strings iu this
country, it is a strong presumption that his heart
is also opened. Words are words ; but guineas
are guineas. We know very well how little
words cost many of our great men now-a-day.—
We know Senators who would speak for two
hours rather than pay half-a-crown.. If Mr.
Peel gives his words to the Protestant religion,
and Ins guineas to the Papists, we can only say
that the Papists have the best of the matter ; for,
~:ipeaking conscientiously, we do not believe all
the speeches he ever made in favour of our glo-
rious Establishment, including his learned stric-
tures on the Popish mode of doing the people
out of one of the Commandants, are worth the
fiftieth part of fifty pounds. We are Very much
mistaken if Lord Eldon, who is as good a judge
of the value of money as of the best way of serv-
ing Protestantism, would estimate these speeches
higher, especially if the money was to come out
of his own pocket.--7 Morning Chronicle.
Various changes in the law have been, for
some days, currently reported. Of these the
most new, and, that to which we give the least
credit, is the proposed appointment of Mr.
Brougham to the office of. Attorney-General.
If any such appointment should take place, the
hig ascendant may be considered as complete.
To make this office vacant, it is said that Lord
Tenterden will leave time King's Bench to be-
come Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords ;
that Sir James Scarlett will succeed his Lord-
ship ; and Mr. Brougham supply the place of
Sir James. The present. Solicitor-General will,
as it has already been said, become Chief Baron,
on the removal of the present venerable holder
of that office to that of the Great Seal of Ireland.
For the office of Solicitor-General, if thus va7:
eated, we have as yet beard no one }tamed but
Mr. Sh;dwell, whose intimate connection with
,Lord Goderich, as the auditor of the estates of
the wealthy Northern landowner, Miss Law-
rence, renders his appointment extremely pro-
bable. But we give the whole of these changes
as merely reports, currently mentioned in the
profession, without vouching for the accuracy of
any of them,. Though there is probably no man
in the profession so well calculated to take his
place as Sir James Scarlett, we cannot hesitate
to lOok upon the alleged retirement of Lord
Tenterden from the Chiefship of the King's
Bench as a circumstance which would produce
the most general regret ; and though, as we have
said, the present Attorney-General is the per-
son, of all others, probably, to whom general
:consent would assign the office, he would enter
upon it under circumstances of greater difficulty,
in point of comparison, than probably ever fell
to the lot of any man's successor. That Mr.
Brougham will ever be the .King's Attorney-
General, and, as such, placed on the high road
.
to the highest judicial appointments—ready, for
instance, to take the Great Seal, in the event of
Lord Lyndhurst's retirement-e-we :do not very
readily believe.—Morning Herald.
The strange " goings on" in St. Luke's pa-
rish will, we trust, have some more light thrown
upon them; one of these days, in the Court of
King's Bench. There has 'long been a great
deal of dissension in that parish respecting the
assessments, and we observe that several persons
were summoned, on Tuesday last, before the
Petty Sessions held in . Worship-street, for re-
fusing to pay
them. On that occasion a Mr.
M'Hugh, one of the parties summoned, submit-
ted as a plea in justification of non-payment of
the rates, that the overseers were bound to pro-
duce all their accounts, according to the Act of
Parliament, and were also liable to the penalty
of 501. for any act of embezzlement on the part
of themselves or their officers. Now, , whether
there has been any act of that nature whichis tech-
nicallycalled " embezzlement" we cannot tell, but
Mr. M'Hugh went on to say that there was a
defalcation in' the accounts of Mr. Wilks (late
Vestry Clerk and Solicitor, we believe, to the
parish), to the amount of 5,0001. or 6,0001., '
and that the overseers were bound to make good
this eefi . ,
eteney the poor rates before they were
entitled to levy any more rates on the parishion-
ers' This is a serious charge which Mr.'
M'Hugh has made against the parish authori-,
ties, and demands . investigation. If there has
been the defalcation specified in the accounts of
a person acting as agent of the' parochial autho-
rities, it does appear very unjust that the pa-
rishionersswhO are already so highly taxed, should'
be compelled to pay an additional tax to make'
up this deficiency, or else the poor must starve.