The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE LONDON JOURNALS.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, by
'his speech of Monday last, hus done himself much
personal credit; and, what is still more gratifying
to a public•spirited Prince, he has performed a sig.
gal serrice to his country. It is not always that

men who have resigned high office under circum-
stances of coesiderable irritation, bestow the same
degree of cordial and generous applause upon the
mbers of the Government with which they have
lately differed, as the heir preemptive to the Crown
has in this instance rendered to the Duke of Wel-
lington for his policy on the question of Emancipa-
tion. So far, therefore, the Duke of Clarence has
been by no means deficient in a patriotic disregard
of selfish feelings for the sake of a great public cause.
Nor hare the grounds of the illustrious Duke's opi-
nions been less characterized by reflection and good
sense, than his motives by liberality and honour.-s-
His Royal Highness states most truly, that the
British Government can never for one moment
be sure of its footing with foreign Powers, while
such materials of distraction, and such a field
for insidious diplomacy shall exist, as those
afforded by the unredressed grievances of so many
millions of Catholics. This it is which places the
policy of emancipation in its trite light, viz.. that of
a system not merely beneficial to the community
whose tviongs it professes to repair, but conserva-
tive of those very interests and institutions, the
Nafe guardianship of which had hitherto been sup-
posed to constitute the chief reason for resisting it.
The appeal of the Heir Presumptive to the Bishops
will produce, we truer, as lasting and effectual an
impression upon the conduct of those venerable per-
eorages, es it manifestly did upon the minds of the
great tintiority of lay Peers among his audience.
" Ministers of peace"—such was the appellation be-
towed upon theta —" Ministers of peace," do not
the work of foreign enemies and of internal war;
or dare to call yourselves " Ministers of peace" no
no longer. There is no answering this in words ;
there is no evading it in deeds: the Bishops are ad-
jured by their apostolic vocation, to restore " peace
on earth," and " good will" amongst their fellow-
subjects.—Tinzes.
The petition from the city of Bristol, which has
obtained a truly asinine eminence in the present
conjuncture, against further concessions to the Ca-
tholics, was presented List night liy Lord Eldots,
According to his Lordship, the petition was signed
by 38,QU0 persons. The Duke of Sussex called
his Lordship's attention to the circumstance, that,
at the last enumeration, the population of Bristol
was wily 87,779—that, consequently, the whole
number of adults at that time was only 44,000;
and taking the adult male population at one-half,
supposing all the adult males to have signed it,
there could be hut 22,000. The managers of this
petition have, therefore, been rather too industrious
in obtaining names, conceiving probably that the
Signatures of children would pass muster as well as
those of grown people, and not being aware of the
possibility of determining, from the proportion of
grown people in any given population, whether the
signatures exceeded that proportion. Something
ought to be allowed, no doubt, for the increase since
1821. The population of Bristol in 1811 was 76,433,
and in 1821, 87,779. If we suppose a proportionate
increase, the population now will be somewhere
about 97,000. This would give a population of adult
males of between 24 and 25,000. Deducting the
1,700 petitieners for concession, the number of long-
eared adults entitled to sign -would at most ha
about 23,000. But were we to assume the signa-
tures in Bristol to be 38,000; what a poor crop has
the great town of Manchester yielded'. On Monday
right it was stated that, after extraordinary exertions,
22,000 names had been procured to the petition for
Manchester and esalford, and of these many were do-
mestic servants, children at Charity Schools, &c,
Now, as Manchester had risen between 1811 and
1821 from 89,573 to 133,178 inhabitants, the num-
ber probably exceeds at this time 170,000. If
97,000 yielded 38,000 signatures, 170,000 ought to
yield, 66,000. If the proportions for Bristol be al-
lowed, there must have been a wonderful backwatei-
noes in Manchester, So mach for the petitions. We
should not have thought it worth while to bestow
so much notice on these signatures, were it not as-
sumed by the intolerants, that the functioes of the
Legislatuse ought to be in a great measure reduced
to casting up the numbers of them. The clergy
throughout the country have been making prodi-
gious exertions in the way of obtaining names, The
eonduct of the clergy in thus opposing themselves to
the Administration, and to the well-informed and
respectable part of the community, and in making
tommon cause with those whose language sets every
thing like decency at defiance, is to us quite unac-
countable. They seem as if possessed by some evil
spirit. Interest alone, generally supposed to be
all-powerful with the Church, will not account
for the proceedings of the clergy. They cannot
believe that the Protestants can be in any dan-
ger from the Catholics. The most stupid man
that ever issued from the walls of a College
must know that the giving political power, as it
is called, to the Catholics, is only giving them
power in the ratio of their wealth and numbers;
and that if the Protestants outnumber the Catholics
in the ratio of three to one (to say nothing of the
still greater proportionate wealth of the Protestants),
the political power of the Protestants n.ust be to
that of the Catholics as at least three to one. But
this is supposing political power to be distributed in
the ratio of the population and wealth, which is no-
toriously not the case. Theie are very few Catholic
Peers, so that the Upper House can receive at most
a very small infusion of Catholics. Supposing even
the Catholic Freeholder: in every case to return
Catholic Members (a most ridiculous supposition,
when we consider the share of landed property pos-
sessed by Catholics), we know the utmost that
could he returned in this way. The Clergy, there--
ftire, must know, when they are talking of a Popish
House of Peers and Popish House of Commons be-
ing the result of a settlement of the Catholic
Claims, that they are lending themselves to the pro-
pagation of an abominable falsehood. It seems,
too, wickedness without an object; far they cannot
expect that the gross absurdities, to the propaga-
tion of which they have so generally lent them-
selves, will have the least weight in friglatening the
Duke from the course on which he has determined.
They have expended a great deal of energy very
uselessly, as far as we can conceive. We cart see
the intention to mislead, and the wish to be mis-
ehievous ; but we cannot see the smallest possi-
bility of their succeeding in their object. We
may allow to Lord Falmouth that " the Clergy
of tke Church of England have a right to
a voice," without allowing that they should
exercise their right in so perverse a manner.—

The Earl cf Falmouth presented a petition from .
Penzance, lamenting that it was not so numerously
signed as many that had been presented, and many
more that he had yet to present ; the reason of
which was, that there were many Dissenters in the
neighbourhood of Penzance who were notoriously
in favour of the Catholics. In the House of Com-
mons, petitions were likewise presented from Pen-
zance, and other places, against concession to the
Catholics; which petitions, according to Sir R.
Vyvyan, " came not from illiterate and unen-
lightened persons, but from a community well in-
formed in religion, and which had the advantage of
the instructions of Wesley and other eminent
teachers." Mark this, ye Clergy of the Establish-
ment. 'When it is endeavoured to pros e that par-
ticular petitioners against concession to the Catholics
are not so ignorant as the majority have been de-
scribed to be, the reason assigned is, not that they
have had the benefit of the instruction of the Clergy
of the Establishment, but the instruction of Wesley
end other eminent teachers. The Clergy of the
Establishment are made to march in the train of
Wesley and other eminent teachers. The truth is,
that the Wesleyans are the leaders in this opposi-
tion to the Catholics. The Clerry of the Esta-
blishment take their station after them. They draw
on their popularity. hus, for instance, at Leeds,

the Clergy of the Establishment at the great public
Meeting called in that town to petition against con-
cession to the Catholics, gave the lead to a Wesleyan
Minister. This is a very humiliating confession
of weakness, no doubt; and the Wesleyans, no
doubt, laughed in their sleeves at the Clergy of
the Establishment looking so far off for danger,
while a more formidable power was so much nearer
to them. To complete the humiliation, Oxford must
have Wesleyan Representatives. Lord Falmouth
describes Penzance as intractable in the way of pe=
titioning, from the number of Dissenters in it ; and
Sir R. Vyvyan accounts for the wisdom of the pe-
titioners, from their being Wesleyans. No more
question of Churchmen than if there were no such
thing as an Establishment. Lord Falmouth was
obliged to confess that the great landholders of
Cornwall were friendly to eontession ; only the
Clergy were to a man true to the Protestant Con-
stitution. And Mr, Pendarves threw a little light
on the manner in which, out of a population of two
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, nine thou-
sand signatures had been procured. " All persons
were sought after—even school-boys were requested
and urged to sign those pennons. He would men-
tion one more circumstance which had been com-
municated to him by a Nlagistrate, under whose ob-
servation the transaction fell. Two men bad been
tried and convicted of stealing a large quantity of
turnips. After the conviction had taken plate,
these two persons Were immediately canvassed, and
their signatures eagerly sought after and obtained to
the Anti-Catholic petition (much laughter, and
cries of hear, hear !)." These men were, no doubt,
fully sensible of the blessings they enjoyed under
our Protestant Institutions, a proof of the working
of which they had experienced in their own per-
sons. All our prisoners now-a-days are Saints, and
no doubt contribute largely to tl.e opposition to the
Claims of the Catholics.—Morning Chronicle.
An important omission characterises the Irish
Dangerous Societies Bill, which was not discovered
till it had arrived at the second reading in the House
of Lords, the correction of which has occasioned de-
lay in is progress. But for such omission, there
would have been no occasion to refer it to the Com-
mittee of Lords. It had provided against the future
meetings of members of now-existing Societies, but
emi:ed to mention those which have ceased to exist,

!V hit! II is the ease with the main object of the Bill

—namely, " the Catholic Association." An amend-
ment is 'introduced accordingly, to affect the So-
cieties that exist, " or that shall have existed, or
may be formed." This correction creates another
difficulty; for, as the Bill imposes penalties, it is
what the Commons term " a Money Bill ;" and the
alteration of a Money Bill by the Lords has always
been held by the Commons to be fatal to the con-
tinued existence of such Bill. However, it is
also discovered that the alteration happens to
be in a clause that says nothing about penal-
ties; so that it. is hence argued—curiously enough
in the estimation of " out-of-doors" intellect—
that such alteration is not an alteration of the
Bill, as it does not appear in the money-part,
or penalty-imposing clause, of the Bill! Whether
the Commons will so construe these alterations of

their " Money Bill," for such it is, as it imposes
penalties, of course remains to be seen. The
amendment will be submitted to the Commons
this day ; but whether they hesitate or not, about
such interference by the Lords, may not excite
much anxiety in the country, since the measure
itself, so arbitrary in its principle and so dangerous
ih it 3 example, experiences unanimous approbation.
The delay is said to have had another effect—that
of inducing the abandonment of an intention that
heretofore existed, for the purpose of saving time,
of introducing the ulterior measures into the House
of Lords white Mr. Peel was getting re-elected for
Oxford, or returned for some other place. It is
calculated that Mr. Peel may be in his place on
Monday or Tuesday next ; and, as the new mea-
sures will repeal various penal Statutes, it is said to
be most advisable to let them go to the Lords with
the sanction of the Commons.—Morning Herald.