The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-29 00:00:00

PATRONAGE OF PROFANATION.

While the factious Prints of the Metropolis are
supporting the cause of BLASPHEMY and HONE,
we shall endeavour to put them to shame by the
following extract from that loyal, spirited, and
intelligent Journal, The (Dublin) Correspondent, of
the 26th inst.:--

" The Duke of BEDFORD has thought the ex-
ample of Lord SEFTON worthy of imitation ; and
his Grace and his son—the heir to his Titles,
Principles, and Discretiona—have subscribed, the
one a hundred, and the other fifty guineas, to the
contribution in aid of Mr. HONE. Lord SEFTON
is, it seems, a very young man—sickly and eccen-
tric, and what the world calls—an odd fish, His
Grace of BEDFORD, without any of those peculiar
qualifications for making such a donation, has,
however. his reasons for testifying his admiration.
of blasphemous parodies, and his warm applanse-
for seeing the authority of the judgment-seat des-
pised, and the Chief Justice of England insulted,
while.employed in the administration of the sacrt d
duties of his office. Considering the spirit of the
times, the prudence of this conduct will be ques-
tioned by many ; but, considering that his Grace
is a Whig, or an Oppositionist--at least, that he
belongs to a party which endeavours to thwart
and embarrass the Government in all •its measures
—the necessity of the case may account for a pro-
ceeding, which no zeal for the honour of his un-
derstanding, or the elevation of his character, as
a public man, or a private member of society,
could find it easy to excuse.
" His Grace acted under a political necessity—
which, like misery, acquaints a man with strange
bed-fellows.' His party have no misfortune now,
of very great pratnise, which they can reckon up-
on, or upon which they may hang their expecta-
tions. BUONAPARTE is quiet at St. Helena—aka.,
war is at an end—the country of dilapidated re-
sources ' is the wealthiest and most powerful in
the world—and Famine and Revolution have not,
by throwing society into disorder, opened a per-
ceptible vista of hope, to any one enemy, of
any kind or -description, which is opposed
to the Ministers, or the measures of Govern-
ment. The
.Party have nothing for it, but to
make en alliance with every turbulent spirit that
has courage enough to set a bad example
as a subject—who pursues notoriety as a means
of making money—and who, in the pursuit, has
imPudence enough to call the fulfilment of his
responsibility to the law a persecution set on foot
by a Minister, and his escape from punishment a
victory gained over the Government.
" The Treasnry.Journals, as they are called—
limns a non lumdo—mistake the matter, when
they ineasigh against his Grace
,the Duke of BED-
• FORA, for subscribing to Mr. HO-NE's subscription.
They should commiserate his Grace for being dri-
ven to the sad necessity of such a step. He has
not acted for himself, but for his party—not as a
man, but as a Whig. His party is in contempt--
in universal contempt, as politicians, as patriots,
as any thing to be respected. They ha-ve no
chance of picking up any •cordial acquaintance
with the populace, and gaining to theitadepressed
and battered cause the lungs of the mob, but by
following the tail of such public characters as
Wool as or HONE, or perhaps EVANS, who
threatens to go to law with public justice. 'there-
fore, the Duke's contribution is not what the
world thinks it, perhapsa—homaee to the success-
ful escape of blasphemy and liberi from that com-
mon oppressor, the Law of the Land ; but a testis
fication of the contemptible necessity which has,
sunk his ',arty to the earth, and will not stiffer
them to lift their noses out of the mire, unless
HONE, or Wooten, or Hva'r, or sonic of this
fraternity, will take compassion. and receive them
under their dignified patronage !"