The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-03 00:00:00

. generally placed beyond question, and though stances we have 'above enumerated ; and these
suspicion, and, perhaps, vengeance, may oc- circumstances proclaim to them, as to all the
casionally lead to the straining of testimony, rest of the world, the utter falsehood of their
yet we have often been struck with the genes assertions. But these hardy
.fabrieatora of false
ral fairness in that respect. Hence the paucity " herbs are aura hth tbe Asti b ariothii. tea
of cases in which verdicts of gUilty art otigla to have kept theirs inVentfte pro-
to which the public do neit•sidiseribee los-sees pensity check, luild and reckless as it is:
, many there may be of attittals from fastidions- l'hey cannot lie ignorant that thii
upon
natio»
ness respectiN evidence, or from technical ob- has spoken and ,is siow speaking the stills
j'ectiOns, that leave the prisoners under a taint'. led of Catholic Einaircipation in a manner
But in the other description of rases the piPse- 110 Administration can misunderstand, and no
cutor, and prosecutor's relations acid friends, all Administration, however powerful (and we re-
' stain every hcrre to obtain a conviction, and joke to say that one more powerful than
the defendants and their evidence, no doubt, the present has never existed) could disregard.
oitcn act in the Fame maither. The Jurors are The charge levelled against the Duke of Wel-
naturally enough sorely perplexed, and in nine lingtoit and his Colleagues, that they meditate a
cases out of ten, the most experienced barrister surrender of the British Constitution, by some
cannot anticipate the verdict, which is a lottery, of the Liberal Journals, and sanctioned, we re-
But the consequences are beyond measure se- grct to add, by some who do not call themselves
rious to one party or the other. A man convicted Liberal, has not even that degree of plausibility
of certain offences, may only suffer imprisonment which might serve to shield its authors from the
firs a year ; hut he is ruined in his prospects, and imputation of wilful and deliberate falsehood.
unable to hold up his head. The sympathy la- We own it appears somewhat difficult to con-
"visited by the public on the burglar, the murderer, jecture what motives can be sufficiently strong to
reaches not him, as the extent of his suffering is induce men to hazard a charge of this nature,
not obvious. The case of the two Frenchmen which they know to be false, and which they
was so unequivocally favourable, that no painful j therefore know will in the space of less than a
sifting of evidence was necessary. They who I week from its promulgation be triumphantly re-
could believe that two foreigners, strangers to futed. Perhaps it is thought good policy to
the country, and unacquainted with the lan- alarm such Protestants as are weak enough to
guage, would assail a young man at seven o'clock leed any credit to inventions like the present
in the evening, at so public a place as near the (and that there may be a few such we do not
statute of Achilles, and take for such an mere- doubt), in the hope that after several false alarms
Bible story the evidence of a young man, who of this description, their habitual confidence in
lived without doing any thing, and was loitering the constitutional firmness of the Administra-
about there at that hour, would swallow any tion, and their former zeal in its support,
thing. There never was a case so little per- may not be speedily or wholly restored.—
plexed with difficulty. But how many cases are Perhaps it is thought good policy by the party
there, where the innocence is as undoubted, adverse to the Administration, and desirous if
but where there is at least a shew of evidence possible to embarrass, divide, and displace it, to
against it. 'This is the weakest part of the increaee the agitation which unfortunately pre-
English judicial system. Unfortunately the class veils among the Roman Catholics in the Sister
of misdemeanours and the description of crimes Kingdom, by exciting expectations which the
alluded te, are most comprehensive.—lbid. party know Ministers will not realise, and could
not if they would. Perhaps this short-lived
We do not ourselves profess to be in the se-
slander upon Ministers proceeds from persons,
crets of the Cabinet, nor do we give much credit who, being regardless of character, or consci-
to those who do. We suspect, indeed, that the ous that they have none to lose, aim at no
present Premier's confidantes are not exceed- higher object and feel no higher interest than to
rngly numerous, and that some of those who, create a transient sensation and to attract to
from official situation, think they know, or ought themselves a momentary notoriety. Perhaps
to know, his Grace's intentions, do not, in fact, O'Connell and the Catholic Rent are the ori-
know a greal deal more of the matter than those ginal sources of the calumny. This is the more
who know nothing. Under this reserve we may probable, as the calumny is just the thing that
be permitted to state that it is strongly rumoured, was wanted to serve the Agitator as a pretext for
in some of what are 'called well-informed circles, postponing his Parliamentary enterprise, and to
that, notwithstanding all that has passed, the preserve the Rent from the sudden and irretrievable
Duke has a design of bringing forward a propo- declension which the inevitable issue of that eo-
sition relative to the Catholic Question, which, terprize threatens to occasion. These several
if acceded to, will set that matter at rest, or, if motives, and perhaps others which are less
refused, will be of such a nature as to throw obvious, may have contributed, in their differ-
the whole odium of its rejection upon that party, ent proportions, to the concoction and propa-
whether in or out of Parliament, who set them- gation of a calumny which was sure, as its
selves in array against it. There are two pro- authors must have known from the first, to be
positions which, we believe, admit but of little speedily and effectually repelled. The Admini-
dispute ; the one, that the loudest brawlers for stration of the Duke of Wellington enjoys the
Catholic Emancipation are among the most de- full confidence of the British Monarch and of
sirous that it should not be granted ; the other, the British people, and they enjoy this coal-
that nothing but ample securities will ever re- deuce upon the well-understood condition that
concile the moderate part of the Protestant corn- they shall be true to the British Constitution,
munity to it. It will be to meet the views of the and so far from surrendering any part of it, that
latter, and to leave the former without a pretence they shall so employ the great power and influ-
for agitation, that the Duke of Wellington's ence with which this confidence invests them, as
proposition will be offered ; and it will be ac- to humble, and enfeeble, and restrain its assail-
companied, we have as little doubt, by a decisive ants. These conditions, ire repeat with pride
putting down of that abominable nuisance the and exultation, the Administration of the illus-
Association. Whether the latter may be a wise trious Wellington will faithfully and zealously
step or not we do not pretend to au- fulfil.—Morning Post.
bur. We should rather say that this
assemblage, (noisy and mischievous as it is), is
beneath the notice of Parliament, and that, left
_ _

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

to itself, it must soon die of the abortive insig-
nificance of which it is in reality composed.
There a►e those, however, whose opinions can-
not be disregarded, who think that the Associa-
tion ought at all events to be put down ; and,
above all, that the abominable tyranny of the
itent ought to be put a stop to ; and the Duke,
probably, will find it necessary, for the sake of
propitiating all parties, to accompany whatever
he proposes to Parliament by an titter extinguish-
ment of this contemptible Legislature. But,
after all, much as tl.e country in general would
rejoice to see this embarrassing question set at
rest, we much doubt whether public feeling upon
it is now in a state to admit of its being attempt-
ed with any chance of success. Those who
have an evident interest in preventing any settle-
ment of it have been but too successful in feed-
ing the natural alarm which is felt upon it; and
it requires no great sagacity to perceive that the
question has retrograded fiery considerably ever
since the violation of the Association has
much increased. The country at large, how-
ever, has a great confidence is the Duke of
'Wellington ; and,•even should he not succeed
in bringing the question to a speedy settlement,
he may, by a judicious proposal, plat the clamor-
ous part of the Catholics so-much in the wrong,
as to deprive them of much of their means of
doing mischief, and of keeping up that excite-
ment which has hitherto been the main impe-
di►nent to its final adjustment.—Morning
Herald.

That portion of the British Press which de-
grades itself by subserviency to the Popish Fac-
tion in Ireland continues strenuous in its at-
tempts to propagate the belief that some mea-
sure of concession to Popery is in the imme-
diate contemplation of his Majesty's Govern-
ment. The dark surmises and audacious asser-

Lions of this class of our Contemporaries we have
already met with a peremptory contradiction, and
we have done so from an unwillingness to per-
mit them for a single day to abuse the credulity
of any part of this anxious Protestant community
upon a subject of so much importance, and not
from any idea that either they or the parties who
impel them are in any.degree the dupes of their
own imposture. None are more fully conscious
than themselves that there is no shadow of truth
or even of probability in the statements by which
they strive to agitate the public mind—that a very
few days only are now to elapse before the delusion
they endeavour to create with so much earnest-
ness,- and so little dexterity or effect, must be
dissipated for ever—that none of the symptoms
or appearances by which they affect to corrobo-
rate their assertions are other than circumstances
of the most ordinary occurrence—that in his
recent confidential communication to Dr. Curtis,

the Illustrious Head of the Administration ex-
pressed opinions irreconcileble with the inten-

Lion they now impute to him—and that the
probability is infinitely small of such a man as
the Duke of 'Wellington having suddenly chang-
ed his opinion ; no day having passed since he
declared it, in which something has not been
added to the strength of the circumstances
upon which it was founded. The authors of
the statements to which we refer—statements
calumnious towards the Noble Duke as well
as the most able and distinguished of his col-
leagues, and which, if they were believed,
would deeply agitate and grieve the whole Bri-
tish nation—are fully aware of all the circum-