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

SPIRIT OF THE,I-ONDQN,JOLIRNALS.

It is nearly sevente44iyeairi ago that tbe.;Catholic
cause found in the columns of the Times journal a►n
organ of that strenuous and resolute advoccy, of
which, so far as .\Concertted, the civil rights, of our
fellow-subjects, w have rever relaxed the tone,
and from which no considerations of accident or dif-
ficulty—no taunts of enmity—no'indulg,ence of early
habit or pre jud:ce —no deference for political fa-
shion, which occasionally, though hot durably, iu
the course of many season., arrayed itself against
the demands of sound state policy—no obvious,
though sordid, views of interest—have ever to this
hour seduced us. The progress of time, however,
brought with it a gradual manifestation of truths
which it often requires a maturity- of political crime
and suffering—an extreme collision ot• the persecutor
with the oppressed—to devclol•e in all their hear-
ings and proportions, for the eyes of ordinary (that
is, of the majority of) observers. The i•►ti►nate
connexion between propel ty awl power, tnekr every
form of government but pure despotism, (where
property cannot be said to exist), has been it
datum for ages with English writers. Strange that
so received a principle should be overlooked in its
most important and striking illustrations, furnished
as well by the history of England in the 17th cen-
tury, as by that of Ireland since 1778. The
struggle in this country, from the reign of James I.
to the Revolution, was maintained by flew pro-
perty for a participation of ancient power. The
Irish Act of Parliament of 1773-9, in bestowing
f
i►irir.g wealth,
ited by Ilen►y
F(nthilveooeons(sitttealidteoetfsh(meatenitlilleillovol ifictchostnhtshtaeletlieuetilenarly'sittel‘erv:le:eini•oei selliv•iti(lot.igaf power; and
ble, and not
remote, of measure resorted to from necessity under
the name of mercy, of which the wisdom was in-
trinsic and demonstrable, though, as adopted by its
authors, one of blind and fearful delusion. On the
wealth thus communicated to the Catholics, was
ingrafted real and essential power, the ascendancy
of purchasers, mortgagees, and other holders of
money, which in most cases moves the world. The
next question for Parliament, therefore, was as to
the political form in which this new substantial
power should be exercised. The worst possible
form was chosen by the Irish Government of 1793,
which sought to attach the most extensive nominal
privileges to the smallest proportion of real wealth :
in other words, to run counter to first principles, by
separating the power from the expression of it, in so
far as that purpose could be effected by destroying
the ratio which nature Las established between
them. The struggle of the Catholics since 1793
has been to restore that subverted balance. Minis-
ters, in the memorable debate of Thursday last,
painted in glowing colours the insurmountable diffi-
culty of carrying on the government of the British
empire amidst such pervading discord. They de-
clared, and truly, that for a series of years the mem-
bers of the Cabinet had been disunited upon the Ca-
tholic question,—that Lords had keen disunited
from Commons, Protestant from Protestant, and
Catholic from all,—that *the Administrations of the
last reign and of the present had been, with few ex-
ceptions, built on the vicious and no longer practi-
cable ground-work of disunion ; that such a morbid ac-
tion impaired and endangered the commonweal t h,and
that a remedy could no longer be delayed.TheMinisters
might have added to their• list of consequences, that
Ireland was all but " disunited" from England, and
have assigned as the first and originating cause that
the living spirit of the Constitution had been vio-
lated by the attempt to " disunite" property from
power. The Duke of Wellington hit the mark in
two most valuable observations; he told the people
of England, in defiance of the drunken boasts of fac-
tion, that the majority of Englishmen were in favour
of Catholic rights. A strong truth this, and an
honest evidence of the improved sagacity of the na-
tion. Ile also reproached the Irish Orange Lords,
that it was they who had disturbed society, and
produced the necessity for yielding the Catholic
claims, by laws which had seised the Catholics to
the consciousness of power, and had debarred them
from its legitimate exercise. In six months hence,
men will look at each other and exclaim—What was
that scruple which withheld emancipation ?—what
was that terror which overhung the anti-Catholics ?
The act of emancipation will pass, like the repeal cf
the test act, for the disappearance of a shadow,
which haunted our sleep, and loeked i p our
faculties as a night-mare. That all possible
causes and instruments of dissatisfaction will be
got rid of in Ireland, or in this country, by
the adjustment of the question now about to Le
disposed of, no wise or honest man has ever yet
alleged. The want of capital and the want of edu-
cation must still affect the prosperity of Ireland;—
nor will her internal peace be fully protected, until
her landlords shall be aroused to a sense of their
duties, and means be provided for administering
succour to the helpless and destitute poor. But
after emancipation, whatever excitement may ap-
pear, will change its direction with its causes.
There may be complaints of classes, but none of
sects. There may be local vexations, or even vio-
lence; but there will remain no element of civil,
none of religious war. Property in general need
fear no spoliation—the Protestant establishment
no revolution—the State no insurrection—society
DO convulsion. If, on the question of civil rights,
the Protestant body of the United Kingdom have
been divided by their discordant views of the appli-
cation of political principles let even the most anxi-
ous of the Orange alarmists console themselves with
a fixed and immoveable confidence, that against any
further claims of the Catholic body—that is to say,
against airy efforts to advance their church, or to
aggrandize their priesthood, at the expellee or to the
danger of the religious establishments of the realm—
there can exist no materials of division among Pro-
testants ; but, on the contrary, that against any such
Popish enterprises, the Protestants of England,
Scotland,• and Ireland, will rise like one man to
crush them. On the removal, then, of civil diss
abilities from our Catholic fellow-subjects, we eon-
' gratulate this great and enlightened station. It is
a measure fraught with political wisdom as with
Christian charity, redressing a grievous wrong
composing a feud most fatal and unnatural, spar-
ing blood, securing life, encouraging industry, en-
larging property, destroying prejudice, unfettering
justice, diffusing knowledge, expanding liberty, rein-
forcing national power, restoring domestic peace ; a
pledge of protection to the friends of England—
to her enemies a flag of defiance; a glorious record
in our archives—a heritage for which future gene-
rations of Englishmen will bless their forefathers of
the 19th century. There still remains a point or
twodeserving some brief allusion. The Catholic
Association is, it appears, to be put down by law.
If the Catholics wait for a coercive suppression of
that society
eete,obcyiblaesto,l—fteuh,aeislGovernment,sleaamjsens dtype
isefiorderg,
eNtvhthteloali
that
thiltvitstielpicaer u ttv,t,
will merit the most ample and severe viitation-
will
itNtal s'iese
meanttbheel ryaet
holic
subjects of their approaching relief from per-
secution. If they continue, under a positive pro-
mise of relief, that experiment which arose pro-
fessedly from their despair of it, they will afford a
handle to their enemies to charge them with inten-
tions very different from what they have avowed,
and may throw a friendly Government into diffi-
culties with the people here, which may prove dis..
in their consequences. But, for the order
in which the speech holds out, or threatens to legis-
lute against the Catholics, and for them, it would,
we think, have been heifer if reversed. Dange►
arises, we are told, from the Association; but from
what does the Association itself arise ? From the
existing disabilities. Follow, therefore, in the re-
medies, the order which is manifest in the diseases.
Begin with the root, and see if the branches will
not soon wither when that has been once extir-
pated. It is, on the whole, a subject of surprise,
and with many—amongst whom we confess Our-
selves—of sorrow likewise, that the success and
credit of the Bill of Emancipation should rest ex-
clusively with a band of statesmen who were its