The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-20 00:00:00

may, indeed, be lessened; but that can only be the fruit
of time, mid it is a blessing which can scarcely be expect-
ed, except from the indirect and gradual operation of that
very Constitution, whose present existence is brought into
danger by them. In Spain, the great body of the Eccle-
siastics were animated, from 1820 to 1823, by a most fa-
natical hatred of the Cortes, and they finally excited that
civil war, which ended in the French invasion. But they
had strong motives and inducements to incite them to that
line of conduct. The Constitution of 1820 persecuted them;
and it was, therefore, but natural that they should struggle
against it. The Cortes stripped the clergy of their property,
their dignity, and their most valuable rights; carried away by a
mad spirit of innovation, they sought not to conciliate, but
to insult, oppress, and degrade the Church. The general
tenor of the administration of the Cortes was one of despo-
tism and extravagance, and of that despotism and extra-
vagance the Ecclesiastics were more especially the victims.
Was it wonderful, then, that they should turn round upon
the Government which sought to oppress and injure them
But, in Portugal, the clergy have had no excuse of this
kind. The new Constitution has left the Church invio-
late : it has touched neither its property nor its dignity ; on
the contrary, it has elevated the Prelates, by the political
power with which it has clothed them, and the participa-
tion in the Legislature which it has conferred upon them.
Accordingly, the higher Ecclesiastics have, many of them,
shown considerable zeal for the new system, and the head
of the Portuguese Church has recommended it strenuously
to the favour of all who are subject to his spiritual autho-
rity. But, the example and the recommendations of
Bishops and Archbishops, are disregarded by the Friars
and the rabble of Priests. They see, or fancy they see,
that their own personal power, founded on the ignorance
and degradation of the people, depends on the restoration
and perpetuation of the ancient despotism ; and this renders
there blind to the direct accession of useful and legitimate
influence, which it opens to their order. In every country
it is difficult to give solidity to a new form of government;
still more difficult is it to erect a systeal of freedom; but
to establish a free constitution among a people who are
under the dominion of a Catholic priesthood, seems to ap-
proach to an impossibility.-- -Vew Time:.

MEETING OF BRITISH CATHOLICS.

(Concluded from our Paper of yesterday.)

Sir Joins BURKE next addressed the Meeting, congratulating I
it on the present posture of Catholic affairs, which he observed
held out a prospect of a speedy and triumphant issue.
Mr. FRENCH then rose, and addressed the Meeting at great
length. He contended that the prospect of their affairs called fur
hold and decisive measures. He went at great length into the
speech of the Master of the Rolls, and maintained that all his
charges were false and malignant, and that his (Sir J. Copley's)
hostility to the Catholics was founded in views of personal ambi-
tion. Adverting to the established church in Ireland, he con-
tended, that the temporalities of that Church were the true cause of
hostility to the Catholics, and added, in the course of his remarks,
that the rich livings of that church were reserved for the younger
sons of English nobility, for spendthrifts and gansbiers, and young
Jocelins, who might be sent over.—(Very considerable disappro-
bation was manifested by the assembly at the expression of this
opinion ; and it was with great difficulty that Mr. French could
again obtain a hearing. The remainder of his speech was made
up of an attack on Sir John Copley, and a defence of the Jesuits.)
Mr. A. DAWSON, M. P. addressed the Meeting, and congratu-
lated them on their firmness and good temper, exhorting them to
continue in a course which must eventually be successful.
The second resolution was then put and carric.l.
Mr. HELPS and another Gentleman strongly animadverted on
the indecent allusions of Mr. French.

The Hon. E. PETRE begged, on the part of the British Ca-
tholics, to disclaim any participation by them in the foul and dis-
gusting allusions of Mr. French.----(Loud cheers.)

The Rev. Dr. CoLnnts also warmly protested against the ex-
pressions which that gentleman had used.
Mr. C. Butler, Mr. Canning (of Foxcote,) Mr. Rolfe, Mr.
Grady, Mr. Blount, and Mr. T. Murphy, severally addressed the
Meeting in proposing seriatim the following resolutions, which
were separately put and carried, and all of which, except the fal-
lowing one, are to be found in our paper of yesterday :

REsoLvEn.--That this Meeting, viewing with regret and in-
dignation the unfair means used by several of the clergy of the
Established Church to crowd the tables of both Houses of Parlia-
ment with petitions, calling upon the Legislature to continue in
force those penal statutes which unjustly restrain the inalienable
right of every man to freedom of conscience, and of every British
subject to civil liberty, and having likewise observed the increased
acrimony and intolerance of their opposition on our lately bringing
cefore Parliament the grievances of the Catholic people of this
kingdom, and especially the bitterness and hatred exhibited in
their own acts and petitions in the same respect, do solemnly
protest against such conduct as uncharitable and anti-Christian on
their part, and as leading to a renewal of those fanatical and reli-
gious excesses which prevailed in the worst periods of England's
and Ireland's history—which set all law of God and man at de-
fiance, and eventually upturned the foundations of civil and reli-
gious society, by bringing a monarch to the scaffold, abolishing
the hierarchy, and annihilating the real liberties of the people in
giving way to licentiousOess.
The Duke of Norfolk having left the chair, Lord Stourton was
called thereto ; after which thanks were voted to his Grace ; and
the Meeting, which continued crowded to the last, separated at
half-pest seven o'clock.