The Sun.
London, England, 1829-05-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

(-Pram the Ft-commis Journal.)
" Fuhnen eripait czlo, sceptrunique tyraunk."
This qUotatien is usually applied to the journey -
man printer, whose pen was too powerful for the
sceptre of the mightiest monarch of the earth. In
fact, the sentence was made for Franklin : and it
is e very way worthy of being the epitaph of such
a man. It is nothing derogatory to his dignity,
nor would he himself have thought it so, to stv
that the allusion is still more applicable to the
art of printing. That glorious invention not
Only snatches the sceptre from the grasp of op-
pression ; but it also teaches the due use and
exercise of power to those in whose hands it is
placed. It not only turns into an innoxious course,
the electric tire of genius, which might have passed
away like the flash of a meteor, or pursued a career
destructive as the burning leven—but it also guides
and collects the flame into a pillar of light that
cheers the abode of poverty, and illumines the dwel-
ling of ignorance. The great and efficient services
which the liberal portion of the press has rendered
the cause of Ireland, is the theme which we have
eg
wheosdeon
nf
oo
tr
doeuer
ryp ews ehnetremarks.
n ,ecan find Abstractno ,r surer
fans
uo
di tat
g.
Lion on which to build our opinions ; but, in the
present case, we prefer deducing them from facts
which have fallen within our own observation.

If we might judge of the feelings of others by
our own, we would say that no one ever entered the
Catholic Association, for the first time, without ex-
periencing a sensation of disappointment, or left
it without sentiments of admiration mingled with
surprise. Disappointment was the first sensation
we experienced when we looked around, after
ar -
riving at a table in the centre of the room,
which we reached by following in the train of
one of our priveleged brethren of the press.—
The apartment was of mean dimensions, and only

that it VMS crowded almost to suffocation, it was
more like an upper chamber where a few con-
spirators might skulk together, than the place
where the delegates of a nation were assembled
to assert the rights and liberties of their country.
Of the dense mass that stood wedged together upon

the forms that rose one aboYe the other, from 'the
centre to the sides of the room, there was not one
out of ten who had the appearance of a gentleman.
Nay, though we are sometimes neglectful enough
of the outward man, we saw comparatively fey:
whose dress was such that we would not, if possible,
have avoided walking arm in arm down Grafton-
street with them, had they been mottling more than
casual acquaintances. A tent of cock-loft, which the
Dublin prints have dignified by the name of a gal-
lery, was filled with the ladies who honoured the
meeting with their presence. The female loveli-
ness of Ireland is like the modest flower of her
own lowly shamrock : it shuns the gaze of obser-
vation. In the back"seats of the gallery, there
may have been " a galaxy of lips and eyes," such
as would justify the boldest and most beautiful hy
perbole of Shiel ; but we could only see the women
in the front row, and they were all old and ugly.

The assembly, which fell so far short of what ima-
gination had pictured, sunk at once even below ti,"
level of reality; and it was not until we observed to 0
government reporters sharpening theiripencils, and
preparing to take down the most casual observation,
that we could belies* that this was the body which
not merely exercised an imperium imperio, hut zie-.
tually controuled the Government, set at nought the
enactments of the Legislature, and held despotic and
undivided sway over the affections of a people
whose spirit centuries of desolating war, misrule,
and penal coercion bad not been able to subdue.
The machinery of the mighty engine soon began to
develope itself. Letters from the most remote and
secluded parts of Ireland *ere read, enclosing rente,
or complaining of some local grievances. Catholic
clergymen, chiefly young men, accompanied the
rente, which they handed in with observations,
brief, indeed, but strongly marked by what our
sober neighbours are pleased contemptuously to
call " Irish eloquence," but which few can listen
to without emotion, when it is united with
the enthusiasm of religion, the ardour of
patriotism, and the fire of youth. One by
one, the leaders dropped in, and were received
with demonstrations of applause, varying accord-
ing to their weight or popularity. The stated
business of the day commenced. Some time,
but not now, we will attempt a description of the
eloquence of the " Great Agitator," which, though
rhetoricians might cavil at its construction, is calm-
lated more than any other, since the days of Demos=
thenes, "to break the bonds of slavery asunder, and
rule the wilderness of free minds with unbounded
authority." Sheil also spoke; and, despite of /illy.
sical defects, or meretricious ornament of style, et
any thing that fastidious critics may say to the con-
trary, never was there a public speaker better calcu-
lated to kindle burning indignation in the bosoms of
an excited auditOry. Lawless, too—honest John
Lawless was there, exerting every power of his grace-
fill gestures and manly eloquence, tosho w the necessity
of following some straightforward, but almost itn7aae.,
ticable course. Every body seemed to like hint ; all
applauded, but no one supported hun. Few have
ever left the Association room without feelings of ud.
miration, and a conviction that it was not possible
much longer to maintain the tottering cause of ex.
elusion and monopoly. Still, had the proceedings
of the Catholic Association been confined to the.

Corn Exchange, it would have been impossible to
keep alive that popular excitement, upon the conti-
nuance of which depended the success of the mils•
terly scheme of organizing the whole Roman Ca,
tholic body into one Constitutional phalanx, Itut
ngappeal,were•
the flash of wit, the burst of eloquence, the.
lt
aot 'united
to the narrow sphere where they
verbatim, with the ex-equip". of M. Lawless's, who
for some reason beet 'nown to those acquainted
with the areana bf the Dublin Press, wa: cut oll-
with a compFnnentary line.
Durir.'s the arduous struggle for the regeneration
of Ireland, the press, both of London and Dublin.
possessed an advantage over the provincial tiews•,
papers, for which no talent or industry on the part
of the latter could provide an equivalent, The pe.
collar circumstances which caused this, no loriget,
exist. The. majority of the political ques.:ms
which will here.ifter discussed, will not e„tire;,
depend upon un abstract and gener,l4l
They will involve interests- Irma Jo,
cality and other circtims!,„ces, must neces-
sarily be conflicting. .ieprived as Ireland is, of
her national legisLrure, it cannot be expects:.;
that her true i.4erests will uniformly be consnlteri
by a legisl44vc body, the majority of whom are un-
acqva4io with net real situation, and comparatively
cßl'OZss of her welfare. This evil, which is eerr.,e-
icd in America by every state having its own lot%l
e first
titi'iteittiee:
sarcasm, and the soul-stirri
The several speeches were pub);7:ned next 'limit*
corruptionperverted
:7,se u into, lade an
to enginethr uta ouip
Sion p
legislature, is aggravated in Ireland, by a soniewhat
similar
andila r system
psyosrtiletro, :14
iandPlllecepoc%ov,enr lodgedniitt itt
ees,4vatibt.,cho.a.rnicds of
nis,io ,C,-7eorrs:
by e.l3snal, contradictory, and wischief-making Act,
of Pwliamenr. Here, than, an ample field is c-,oe
for the labours Of the. pro.vincial press.

The olection of Lady LONA)ONDEruty, the
new Almack Patroness, caul ne.irly as much discuss;on
and opposition in tlic fashir.mahle /Li the C►tho;i: Bill
'n the political world,

A delniiatlon of dissenting ministers had Iv-
-07.-.ay an interview with the Vshop of LONDON, with a
view to ascertain whether his Grace would, contrary t 4
the lang•estallished practice of his predecessors, object to
the use of any of the churchrs in the metropolis, in aid 0
the funds of the London Missionary Society. His Lord..
ship is understood to have stated in reply, that although
he should haye preferred seeing the Guistian labour under-
taken by the London Missionary Society perfoimed by in-
dividuals connected with the Establishment, it was not his
Ltention so to interfere as to prevent any Cleiyyman in
the matropolis from gran'ing his pulpit, shook h, br dir-
vo,e4 to do sa. The Borvrd,

SECOND EDIFION.

SUN OFFICE, Seven o' Clock.

TIIE LONDON GAZETTE

OF THIS EVENING.

St. James's Palace, April 29, 1829.

This day had private audiences of his Majesty—
His Highness the Prince of Lieven, Ambassador Extra •
ordinary and Plenipotentiary from the Emperor of All the
Husiias, to deliver a letter from his Sovereign ;

The Marquis of Barbacena, on a special mission from
the Emperor of Brazil, to deliver a letter from his Sove-

reign ;

The Count Moltke, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary from the King of Denmark, upon his re-
turn to his Mission ;
And the Chevalier de Zea Bermudez, Envoy Extraor-
dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the King of
Spain, to deliver his Credentials as Minister Plenipoten-
tiary from his Royal Highness the Duke of Lucca;

To which several audiences they were respectively in-
troduced by the Right Hon. Robert Peel, one of his Ma-
jesty's principal Secretaries of Sttte, and conducted by
Sir Robert Chester, Knt. Master of the Ceremonies.

dared valuation of the British manufacture exporta-
tion in those years.
The Marquis of CLEVELAND presented a pe-
tition from an individual against the Clarence Rail-
way Bill.
Lord HEYTESBURY presented several peti-
tions to the same effect.

Lord KING alto presented a petition from
the weavers of Carlisle stating the distressed srate
in which they were, attributing that partly to the
monopoly of the East India Company, partly to the
state of taxation, and partly to the Corn Laws,
and praying for relief.
The Marquis of LONDONDERRY moved, that
the Marquis of Salisbury might be added to the
Committee for inquiring into the Coal Trade. The
Noble Marquis moved that a number of witnesses
be ordered to attend the Committee.
Lord SHAFTESBURY moved that the Mar-
quis of Cleveland might be added to the Committee.
Lord \VHARNCLIFFE postponed his motion
for the second reading of the Game Bill, for Tues-
day next, till Monday week.
The House went into a Committee upon the
Lunatic Regulation Asylum Bill, and then adjourned.