The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OR vul'Plnittd JOURNALS.

We have inserted. a table, exhibiting the Rum-
her:of Protestants living under -Catholic Princes
in Germany, and the numbers, of Catholics un-
der Protestant Princes. There is little Worth
notice in the mere amount of each, or in the
circumstance that subjeCts 'should be found in
Germany professing a.different mode of worship
from their rulers. 'What ought, however;' to
amaze even those rimong•Our wise anti-Catholic
brethren who may think such facts not wholly
incredible, is, that 170,000 defenceless 'Pro-
testants should exist among ten or a dozen mil-
lions of 'Austrian Papists, without being burned
for hereticS, or converted vi et mills from their
faith, as the Irish Papists, being ten to one of
the Orange Lords and their adherents, have by
authority or connivance of the said Lords been
persecuted into Church of England orthodoxy
every day during the.last two yearS. What must
be- deemed no less extraordinary is, that about
one-third of the population of Bavaria, being
Protestants, are neither looked upon with hatred
nor jealousy 'by the .nialority of their fellow-
subjects professing the Popish creed, and are
not put down, or diseouraged, or insulted by
penalties of any 'description on the part of the
Governmeat, but are held equally worthy with.
Catholics of protection from the iaWs,' and of
trust and honour from a Popish SOVereign... In
Saxony the mildest and -most paternal of all Go-
-sernments is established over a Protestant; nation
of about a million and an half in number; and
administered. by a Popish' Prince—who, with
quite as much power to intrigue, and bribe, and
encroach upon Protestant rights in Saxony, as
Messrs. Side], O'COnnel, and Dr. Doyle to boot,
could well be supposed to have at their- com
mand, after an entire abolition of the penal code
in England—has, never theleas, managed through
several reigns to respect his !{people, and .be re-
spected by them—to love theins and be beloved.
On the other. hand, if si,e.tusts to adifferent leaf,
and ask what- becomes. of Catholics,living 'under
Priuces of the same religion as the House of
Brunswick, what do we there 'discover ? Why,
that about half the population of . Wurtemberg
are Catholics, where they and the Pro-
testants, under equal }mut, appear mutually
to have forgotten the .necessity :of asking
about each other's religious sentiments. In
Prussia, where the proportion. of Catholic to
Protestant is nearly the same '(one-third) as in
the United Kingdom, so crude and barbarous
do we kind the notions of state policy, that every
function of 'a: citizen in military and 'civil life is
exercised indifferently by Protestant and Papist.
That enlightened Prince the Sovereign of
Hanover, has, proclaimed, even in the face of his
illustrious relative, the King,of Great Britain,
that he would make no distinction between
his Catholic and Protestant subjects. Thus
there- live near three millions of Protestants in
the CatbOlie States of Germany,. and five mil,
lions ands half of Catholics under Protestant
rulers, mixed up with majorities of an opposite
creed to their and so per4rAe and pro
yoking are the friiit49fthiceqiiality, that no Ca-
thOlic demagogues, associatiOn.s, or conspiracies
with 4 Pope s have eeti so much as
suspected to exist in Modern Germany ; while,
on the other hand, Orangemen, Peelers, and
Insurrection Acts, have proved to be no less un-
called for.
,Thus, likewise, is shoWn, beyond'
dispute, the foolish falsehood of two grand
maxims 'relied upon by the party of religious ex-
clUsiOnists; this kingdom. For, Ist, Catho-
lics, whete 'they have: pdwer; even the most -un-
limited, do not alcliays persecute their Protestant
brethren undei religious, pretexts.; and, 2d;
testants dO'tot 'where but, 1
. Englaiid)
employ, as an excuse for trampling
.nn the neck
l
of a Roman Catholic, the fear onseing assaulted
by him the moment he recovers his ;set. The
truth of the case is a very simple one, and at
once decides it,—our Jaws against Catholics are
not the rule of the' Constitution, but at this time
a gross and monstrous deviation fromlt. Though
evils in themselves; ,they were, passed as' -securis
ties against the possible occurrence of a 'single
accident—viz. the accession of a Popish Pre-
tender to the Crown. The danger was definite,
•
and specific, and temporary, and perishable. It
perished 80 years ago. Ought, then, the pre-
caution of a dark and tempestuous age, the suit
of heavy armour worn by our ancestors in pre-
paration for an enemy long since defunct, to con-
tinue to gall their posterity and ours for ever ?
Times.

The Earl of Darlington his been created Mar-
quis of Cleveland, and Mr. Stanley (the Mem-
ber for Preston) succeeds Mr. Wilmot Horton,
as Under Secretary for the Colonies. It has
been remarked that these fiefs are important, in
so far at they ShOw the sense his Majesty enter-
tains of the services rendered to him by those
MemberS of the Whig Party who 'supported the.
Government at a period when it was threatened
by a combination of the Outs, and as they prove
at the same time the harmony prevailing in the
Administration, Mr. Stanley, the . ttepresenta.,
tive of one of "the most powerful Whig families,
having been selected :for Under Secretary by a
leading Tory Minister. But independently of
these considerations, .we are.glad to see Mr.
Stanley appointed to the office of Under Secre-
tary of the Colonies. He is a young man of
very considerable promise, and possesses—what
cannot fail to enable him to distinguish himself-
-activity
,of mind and perseverance.. Indeed,
whatever may be the faults of the young men of
rank of the present day, it must be allowed that
they are in general much more ambitious of dis-
tinguishing themselves by solid. acquirements
than those of the last generation. In proportion
at information- is' diffused in a country, the ne-
cessity for exertion on the part.. of -public men is
increaad for the
respect of :ar well-informed
;
people calinot be obtained by Mere yank and
wealth. Mr. Stanley has himself visited. someof our ColoAleg, and this circumstance
,could
hardly fail to turn his attention to, inquiries
which may be of use to him in the situation
of
Under Secretary for th't Colonies. lie has seen
our Colonial system in Operation in one of the
most important of our possessions, and hgl at the
same time an opportunity of contrasting it with
regions, similarly circumstanced with :regard to
soil aid climate, and differing only in government.
We woulzi fain hope that his judgment will enable
him to turn his experience to proper aCCOUnt.:!We
are ourselves firmly persuaded, that a great saving:
to this Country may be effected, by reforms- in
our Colonial EStablishments. The most of our
Colonies are perfectly able to support the .ex-
penees of their Governments.. All outlay beyond
what is necessary forthe preservation:of internal
traniuillity, may be considered as, expended, not
for the benefit of the Colony, but,for some sup-
posed neee"ity of defence agawst foreign attack,
or security against throwing off sour. allegipee.
Our .rnaritll4le*periority renders preparation for
defence fruziA abroad. suPe illu9lis; and the
interests of the Colonists themselveis., must dis-
pose thern to seek the connection with us. If

their interests and their allegiance be at variance,
that is, an argument for an improvement in the
system of administration, and not for increasing,
the force for compelling allegiance. The cir-
cumstance of any force being necessary for
retaining in allegiance a Colony naturally dis-
posed from community of origin, of language,
and of habits, to a close connection, is alone a
proof of the badness of an existing system, and
the necessity of recurring to another. Ihe per-
sons possessed of property in Colonies, as well
as mother countries, will always of themselves be
sufficiently disposed to pay fOr such establish-
ments as are necessary for the administration of
justice and the preservation of internal tran-
quillity, and no other establishments are required.
It is necessary for us to guard against splitting
on the rock which has wrecked nearly all the
continental nations. All the advantage we
possess as a people, is owing to our having been
more left to our own discretion than other
nations. Though • our laws be barbarous, and
the administration of them clumsy and unsuitable
to a civilized age, yet these evils have not been
able to counteract the vitality we derive from the
absence of a controuling Government. But in
our colonies we are departing farther and farther
from the principle which has insured to us our
prosperity. We are - thus, if we do not take
care, laying the foundation for future evils at
home.—Morning Chronicle.

We are glad to perceive that the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge are making great
progress in the publication of their Library. They
have now completed ten numbers. The last num-
ber contains a very interesting account of the
novum, organon of that great man Lord Ba-
con, to. whom we owe so much of what consti-
tutes the grand distinction of our times. "It
was reserved," says the author of this interesting
number, " for Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam,
to break the spell of. the mighty enchanter of
Stagira,. and to give a final bloW to the scholastic
philosophy ; to make one barand and general at-
tempt to deliver men's minds from the bondage
of two thousand years ; to assert the right of
that reason with which the beneficent Creator
has endowed man as above all authority merely
human ; and to sketch the outline of one grand
and comprehensive plan that should include in
it the endless varieties of our knowledge, and
guide our inquiries in..every branch." No one
will question the justice of this character ; and
yet, how humiliating is it to be forced to ac-
knowledge that the prejudices against which Ba-
con combated,- exist still in great force in the
present day. "In fine," he says, "we perceive,
that through the ignorance of certain Divines,
the passage to any philosophy, though ever so
true, is almost blocked up. For . some are
foolishly alarmed lest a deeper inquiry into na-
ture should trangress the bounds of sobriety ;
and they injudiciously wrest what is said in
Scripture against those who pry into Divine
secrets, and apply it td the hidden things of
nature which are nowhere forbidden. Others,
with' greater craft, imagine, that if men are kept
in ignorance, all things may be the more easily
.managed by dexterity of hand, and the divin-
ing rod, which they think is highly serviceable
to'religion : this, however, is nothing else than
to aim, at pleasing God by a lie ! Others, again,
dread the effect of example, lest any changes and
movements in philosophy should fall at last on
religion itself. Others are afraid lest, in the in-
quiry into nature, something should be found
which may overturn religion, or at least under-
mine it, especially among the ignorant. These
two latter kinds of fear appear to me altogether
to savour of a grovelling wisdom ; as though
men, in their secret thoughts, were doubtful and
distrustful of the stability of religion," &c. The
idea that men are more disposed to adopt
falsehood than to adopt truth, when false-
hood and truth are presented to their
minds, is blasphemy against the Deity, and
we cannot conceive a more heinous offence
against the author of his being, than for any man
to Suppose that he is called upon, for the interests
of religion, to impose fetters on the minds of his
fellow-creatures: The same powers on which he
confides for the discovery of truth were given to
other men, and he can have no security for hav-
ing discovered it, which they do not in like man-
ner possess. That any man, therefore, should
conceive that his agency is necessary to prevent
mischief from the. exercise of the power which
God has given to all men, is a libel on divine
wisdom, and an arrogant assumption, which
ought to be frowned down by all men who wish
well to their species. And yet how widely
spread is the error, that inquiry is dangerous,
and that men must be placed in a state of pupil-
lage ? There is not a petty Lord Mayor, who
preaches at a Tabernacle, who does not believe
that he is doing good, not by encouraging the
diffusion of knowledge, but by chaining down.
the powers of his.fellow-citizens, and arrogating
to himself the power of. judging rightly, which
he denies to them,—lbid.

Though we are no friends to the existence of
arbitrary power in any quarter, it is surprising
how much of it must, after all, be submitted to,
even under the apparently freest form of Govern-
ment. With all our own real and boasted
liberty, for instance, there can hardly be found,
under the most absolute monarchy, any thing
partaking more of real tyranny than many of the
powers confided to and assumed by our common
Justices of the Peace—a body, composed for the
most part, no doubt, of honourable and en-
lightened persons, but who, it cannot be denied,
are far from being wholly so. Nothing, per-
haps, would be more creditable to any honest and
sincere reformer of the laW—such, for instance,
as we believe Mr. Peel to be—than a review of
the present powers exercised by inferior Magis-
trates ; an evil, if it be one, which comes home
to every man's door, and which assails- with
double severity the poor and unprotected. We
will not disguise our own apparent inconsistency
in using these remarks as a prelude, on our own
parts, to a proposed increase, in one respect, of
these very powers. It too often happens, how-
ever, that m contending for the shadow the
substance is lost sight of ; which is the case, in
our estimation at least, with SOME of the powers
confided to, and others which are withheld from
Magistrates. If there be any topic upon which
the; good sense of Magistrates (especially of
tho'se, who, besides being men of the world,
have been professionally educated) should decide,
it tiust be the trifling, petty disputes arising be..
twe'gn individuals in the shape of assaults, and
othgr minor breaches of the. peace. There the
law with an apparent
as well
Jealousy in favour of the
has hitherto4sa
libeFty the
resigned dislike
esign
eto d i
ti-
divlnaol. discretion, has
Julies to determine upon ; and a mere kick on
•the Jshins of one sex, and a torsi cap of the other,
which half-a-crown in either case would more
than Satisfy, is transferred to the same formal
mode of trial, which belongs. t 9 o,e most serious
sub ect, or the highest injury a man can receive,
eith'er in his property or person. And what has

F been the consequence of this unwillingness oh
the part of the law to allow Magistrates a
summary jurisdiction in such cases ? Why
that, in the shape of commitments for'
want of sureties, a far greater evil, and a
more extensive system of oppression, has arisen
than could have been the result of any decision,
were that possible, in nine tenths of the cases in
question. We have not any exact returns before
us, but are sure that we are speaking within the
mark, when we say that there are every year sent
to prison, in the metropolis alone, above a thou-
sand persons for no other cause than not being
able to find bail at the moment in paltry watch-
house charges, and still more paltry personal dis-
putes. It is an ill wind that blows nobody good,
and it is no small aggravation of the evil we are
alluding to, that it is followed up by fees to
Clerks of the .Peace, Clerics of Indictment, and
the other small fry of the Courts, which renders
its abolition one which these " vested interests"
gentry would, .one and all, set their faces against
and, we have no doubt, that liberty would be
the watch-word which pelf would set afloat upon
the occasion. Despising .this, however, and ha-
zarding the apparent inconsistency on our own,
part, which we hare already alluded to, we sub-
mit it confidently to the good sense of those who
are able and willing to reform abuses in the law,
whether giving to Magistrates a power of finally
adjudicating, by fine or imprisonment, on all
cases of minor assaults and breaches of the peace
brought before them, would not effect a great
convenience and improvement, accompanied, as
it would necessarily be, by putting an end to all
commitments for want of bail in such cases.—
Though we should like to see Magistrates shorn
of many of the powers which they do possess—
under the Game Laws, their Farmers' Malicious
Injury Act, their turning and stopping up roads
and footpaths, and the like—yet here, as impar-
tial arbiters between man and man, a great good
would be accomplished, and ,a great evil much
diminished, if not entirely done away. For one
man imprisoned by their decision, fifty would go
at large who are , now consigned indiscrimi•
nately to the contamination and ruin of a gaol,
for no crime proved or known to have been com-
mitted, hut for the singular offence of not poS-
sessing friends in the shape of two substantial
householders, ready at the moment to come for-
ward and incur. a risk of trouble, which even
their betters are not always willing to encounter
for each other.—Morning Herald.

A memorial, we learn from the American
Papers, has been drawn up by the Harrisburgh
Convention, in Pennsylvania, to be presented to
the Congress of the United States, praying for
a protecting duty on imported wool and other
things. The memorialists disclaim: all partial,
or, as they term them, sectional views. Their
reasons are founded on what they consider the
independence, prosperity, and greatness of the
Republic. It is, certainly, but a poor prospect
for those who believe in the perfectability of hu-
man nature, to find amidst a shrewd' business-
minded race, like our brethren on the other side
of the Atlantic, positions taken up which, on
this side, every man of common sense is hasten-
ing to abandon, and, which are only retained
where the number and complexity of the interests
connected with them render immediate and abso-
lute abandonment impossible. The poets say,
that when the Goddess of Justice forsook the
earth, she left the prints of her steps in the
West. We do not think, after the above spe-
cimen of American sense, that the Goddess of
Wisdom, should she follow her flight, will set
out in the same direction. Among ourselves
there- are some who, from ignorancei*er-=
dice, are inclined to stickle for commercial re-
strictions ; and there are a few who, from worse
motives than ignorance—from a wish by such
means to detract, if possible, from the worth of
the most enlightened measure& of some of
the most enlightened men who ever guided
the councils of the country, are content
to echo the clamour of their ignorant
countrymen. These scribblers have very
heroically made a sacrifice of their morality;
and therefore we need not wonder that they
should throw their understanding into the bar-
gain. But neither they, nor those whose cry
they follow, would, we believe, call fbr the im-
position of restrictions where none had been im-
posed before. Had the vineyards which are said
to have abounded in England in the Conqueror's
time continued to ours, and had we been in the
habit of manufacturing bad wine at a sovereign
a bottle, we can easily conceive that any attetnpt
to reduce the duty on the wines of Portugal or
France, which might drive our own from the
market, would be resisted with much zeal and
much abuse. We do not, however, suppose that
any one would be listened to for a moment who
should, under present circumstances, ask for the
imposition of such a duty as would enable Eng-
lishmen to brew port instead of porter. This is
precisely such a plan as America is anxious to
adopt. Happily for herself, the career of im-
provement lies open before her, without any of
those impediments which, in old States, render
their progress slow and uncertain ; yet, all uns
conscious of her advantages, she Would set about
laboriously to create those very obstacles which
her recent birth, as an independent commu-
nity, had fortunately removed out of her way.
The politicians of the New World would
act like the swift man in the fairy tale—tie
theirlegs, lest they should run too rapidly. The
folly 'of restrictions on commerce is a hacknied
topic; but truth makes so slow a progress,
where it goei to disturb established habits, that,
if we labour for conviction,it must be impressed
again and again. It must be poured into the
unwilling and obdurate ear of prejudice, until it
wear a channel for admission like water in the
stone—Non vi sed saepe cadendo. The case
which the American economists put may serve
as well for illustration as another. They -wish
pwriositlecsttilocish tao
ttihuetyiriwmopoolsleend torn foreignadei that is, they
woollen
goods as shall enable a portion of their capital
to be employed in a manufacture which without
such a duty will not pay. The British or other
European merchant at. present carries cloth to
America, we shall say at ten shillings a-yard,
which is precisely the sum for wh ch it can be
manufactured in America without profit ; and,
consequently, none is manufactured. Impose,
say the Patriot Pennsylvanians, a duty of a
r couple of shillings 'a yard, and by that means we
shall drive the foreigner from the market, for we
can' manufacture it ourselves ,at eleven shillings.
Now this sounds mighty pleasing—to drive the
foreigner from the market-to encourage home
manufactures. But, in the first place, what
takes the foreigner there ? He does hot come
to give away his goods, he comes to exchange
theM. For every yard of cloth he gives to the
American merchant, he takeS ten shillings
worth of American produce in return. If, there-
fore, the : American. merchant •no longer take
his cloth, he can no longer dispose of the
produce with which the cloth is purchased.

0711

He must, therefore, give up, if he be' wise,
all that. part of his trade, of 'whatever kind
it happened to be, with the produce of which
got his European broad cloth ; for it
.is very ob-
vious, that -his countrymen have no occasion for
it—that is, -he must change his occupation, and
turn cloth-maker for the home market. Sup-
pose he does, and sells his cloth at eleven -shil-
lings a yard, who is to pay the additional shil-
ling-? We suppose America must, for we hardly
think any other country will. So this notable
scheme of imposing taxes, to encourage home
manufactures, is nothing more than a roundabout
way of taking out of one pocket to put into an-
other. But the evil will not stop here.- One
of two things must happen—either the whole of
the community must wear a smaller quantity of
cloth, or they. must relinquish a part of their pre-
sent enjoyments to purchase the same' ,quantity
as before.. The -latter is the more likely conse-
quence. And as the cloth manufacturer cannot
enjoy higher profits than others, the only issue
of this wise scheme for augmenting the manu-
factures of the United' States will be, a diminu-
tion of profits in all the manufactures they at
present possess. Nor is it to be doubted that,
the principle of restriction once admitted, the
cloth manufacturers will not be the only persons
who will pray for its protecting power. Another
and another traffic will bring forward their claims
to the consideration of the State,,until the whoie
commerce of America is bound hand and foot,
with those cords from which we are slowly and
cautiously endeavouring to disentangle our-
selves.—New Times.