The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-02 00:00:00

We arc inclined to think that the country can
very well dispense with the personages above
alluded to, and that the element in which they
can lire and move to great advantage is great
cities. Except a man of fortune have a decided
taste for agriculture, his time must hang upon
his hands in the country ; and a hundred wants
derived from his town habits will be constantly
suggesting themselves, which he cannot gratify.
Hence nothing is more natural than that in those
months in the year when they are not in London,
they should net be in the country. " I'll tell
you what," says the writer of the same article,
" do object to, and what I rather think are
evils of modern date, or at any rate of very re-
cent growth. First) I object to their living
those months in the year, in which it is contra
bonos mores to Jae in London, not in their pa-
ternal mansions, hut at those little bastardly
abortions which they call watering places,—
their Leamingtons, their Cheltenhams, their
Brighelmstones."—The peculiar boast of Eng-
land is that the face of the country is covered
with well-formed people of moderate fortunes,
who are either engaged in agriculture, or mining,
or some other pursuit by which they put money
in their own pockets, and contribute at the
same time to the benefit of the nation. As for the
higher gentry, they know nothing of country
matters, and their residence can be of no benefit

to any one. As to the 'Magistracy, it is almost
entirely in the hands of the Clergy, many of
whom must reside in the country. Were it not
for Clerical Magistrates, in many counties the
people would be altogether without resident Ma-
gistrates ; and in all of them, without the

Clergy, the unpaid system would be knocked
up. In all barbarous nations the great are fond
of the country ; but as their power of oppressing
declines, they betake themselves to cities. Eng-
land may be said to be the last civilized nation.

Her towns are almost all of yesterday's (late.
France, Italy, and even Germany preceded her
in having towns. All these countries, as well
as England, had their rustic tyrants, who, in the
progress of civilization, have betaken themselves
to towns. We all know how completely the
country was deserted by the French Noblesse at
the time of the Revolution ; but Tasso, who
visited France in 1571, complains of the taste of
the Nobles of that day for the country. " But
as I abhor (he says) this practice of the
common people, so I do not praise that of the
Nobles, each of whom lives in a retired manner
in his castle, far from the crowds of cities.
For not to mention that man is a social
animal, fitted for civil life, and that solitude is
of no use, except for the purpose of contempla-
tion, I may remark, that the Nobleman living
for the most part with slaves and villains, ac-
customs himself to imperiousness and insolence.
On the other hand, the low people of the cities
having little connection with those in whom there

is any elegance or polish, are confirmed in that
baseness of mind and manners affixed to them by
the means of their birth. I know that this prac-
tice is common in Germany, and other foreign
countries ; and that it may be replied, that the
Nobles often in Courts, and in visits to each
other, may converse together. With this answer,
however, I am dissatisfied ; and I suspect their
dislike to towns arises from pride and unwilling-
ness to consider the Magistrates as their supe-
riors." What is it that we hear now every day,
but that the Game Laws is necessary as a bribe
to induce the country gentlemen to reside on
their estates ? When bribes are necessary—we
may he sure that all is not as it ought to be.
The old English 'Squire resided in the country
because he hated town, and because his darling
pursuits were only to be enjoyed in the country.
But he no longer exists. A 'Squire in the old
English sense may now be found, perhaps, in
Poland. Such an animal requires no bribe any
more than an Irishman need be bribed to drink
whiskey.—lbid.

The meeting of the Roman Catholic Asso-
ciation held the other day in Dublin, under the
name of the " Catholic Finance Committee,'
of which we gave a report, helped to throw some
light upon the disinterested patriotism of the
Roman Catholic " agitators," and to assist one
in forming an opinion as to the manner in which
the immense sums collected from the people,
under the name of " Catholic Rent," had been
expended. The meeting, it appears, was called
at the instance of Mr. Eneas Macdonnell, who
considers himself to have a claim upon the por-
tion of rent now remaining in hand, as arrears
of the salary to which he was entitled in the ca-
pacity of agent to the " Catholic Association"
in London, for the purpose, as it is rather ludi-
crously described, of " watching over the Press
and both Houses of Parliament—to allow no
slander to escape contradiction—to be in con-
stant communication with the Members of Par-

liament—to peruse the debates, and set Mem-
bers right as to the true state of affairs in
Ireland.' These, with other minor duties,
formed the truly Herculean task which this
appointment imposed on Mr. Macdonnell. To
watch the whole of the diurnal and provincial
Press, besides being in constant communication
with Members of Parliament—and, moreover,
engaged in corresponding with the Catholic
Association, the Bishops, &c., and answering
every paragraph and pamphlet that might appear
against the " Catholic Association," or their
cause—one would suppose to be an office too
great and multifarious for any agent but one
who combined in his own person the hundred
eyes of Argus and the hundred hands of
Briareus—looking in as many directions, at the
same moment, as the one, and brandishing as
many pens as the other. But prodigious as the
labour was, it is certain that Mr. Macdonnell, at
the desire of Mr. O'Connell and the Association

in general, undertook to perform it : and no
complaints were made from that time to the
suppression of the Association of his services
not having answered the expectations of those
who had appointed him. He had asked 5001.
a-year as his salary, though some of his friends
thought he ought to have not less than 7001.
The Finance Committee of the Association came
to a resolution that he ought to be allowed
3001.; but we could not collect from the Report
whether any step had been taken in consequence
of that resolution, or whether the matter was

left open for future consideration. Mr. O'Con-
nell asserts the fonner, and says Mr. Macdon-
nell has not only been paid all he was entitled
to by his contract, but a gratuucus half-year's