The Sun.
London, England, 1829-03-28 00:00:00

TUE CATHOLIC RELIEF DILL.

(From the Scotsman.)
The Catholic Relief Bill has passed its critical
stage, the second reading, by a majority so tri•
umphant as to banish all fears regarding its final
sticl:ess in the House of Commons. The best
speeches were those of Mr. R. Grant, Lord Palmer-
ston, Mr. Horace Twiss, and Mr. Peel. If all the
eloquence was not upon one side, at least all the
argument was ; for we cannot admit that there was
any thing to operate upon a rational mind, in the inco-
herent, egotistical rhapsody of Sir Charles Wetherell,
or the rhetorical flummery of Mr. Sadler. The
"No Popery" prints wich extol this last gentleman
as a second Demosthenes, will probably be soon un-
deceived in their estimate of his talents. It is easy
for a fourth-rate man to get up a flashy maiden
speech ; but to make an efficient debater three
things are necessary—readiness, a stock of thinking,
and sound judgment ; and from the display made on
Thursday, we doubt if Mr. Sadler possess any one
of these requisites. Sir Charles Wetherell's
speech unveiled a small part of what may be called
the secret history of the Relief Bill. It would ap-
pear that this measure had undergone much discus-
sion in the Cabinet, in the course of which there
were no doubt great diversities of opinion to be re-
conciled ; and these discussions were protracted to
so late a period, that the new measures were com-
municated to the Attorney-General only seven days
before the meeting of Parliament. This seems to
have wounded the Learned Gentleman's pride not a

_ .
little. He says, too, that he was struck with imme-
diate horror and consternation at the mortal injury
which those measures threatened to the Protestant
Church ; and yet, as Mr. Peel observed in his reply,
his internal agony did not manifest itself, either by
visible signs on his countenance, or by a single arti,
culate expression ! It is amusing to find a moral
Protestant indignation not only tying up a lawyer's
tongue, but freezing his features ! One trait which
Mr. Peel mentioned, in relation to his own conduct;
will endear him to every man of honour. He
thought he could sufficiently promote the Duke's
object by resigning office, and supporting the
Bill as a private Member of Parliament; and
he was aware that by this course be would
best consult his own comfort, and save his
feelings. Such accordingly was his purpose, much
to the Duke's regret, when the highest autho-
rities in the church intimated to his Grace that
they could not countenance or support his measure.
—Then said Mr. Peel, " I will not abandon you—
I will commit my fortune with yours, and, bo the
consequences what they may, I am ready to incur
them, and to share them." It was at a moment
when the new measures were beset with unexpected
and almost insuperable difficulties—when a timid
man would have shrunk from the perplexities and
dangers of office, that Mr. Peel accepted it, and
from a magnanimous feeling and sense of duty, ex-
posed himself to attacks as ribald and rancorous as
ever were heard within the House of Commons.
The character of the Honourable Secretary, like
fine gold, gains in purity and brightness by every
new trial. The handsome tribute he paid to Fox,
and Grattan, and Plunkett, and Canning, as the
men who had really advanced the Catholic cause,
and the disclaimer of any other merit on his own
part, than " that of abandoning a fruitless opposi-
don," was in excellent taste.
(From the Stamford News.)
The State-vessel is proceeding at a glorious rate,
and all the rapidity which can be expected from its
important burthen, to the destined haven of its re-
pose. It is indeed passing throu4h storms and tem-
pests, rough seas, hostile navies, direct enemies,
friends, converted by the circumstances of the times
into the bitterest foes, amidst attacks and ammuni:- ,
tion of the most determined and deadly description,
which aim, not only at impeding its progress, but.
sinking it altogether. Through all these combined
dangers is it successfully proceeding, under the com-
mand of the Royal George, its Sovereign, and its,
loyal, brave, and undaunted Lieutenants, Welling-
ton and Peel. Great skill, consummate courage,
and firm confidence in the rectitude and integrity of
their proceedings, must this illustrious trio poSsess,.
1 but can enable them so manfully to withstand the vast
opposition that is now raised against them, and against
the kingly name and power itself, which is now so
audaciously attacked and reviled by large parties of
men, who heretofore, that is, when the King was sub-
servient to their dictates and admonitions—were
devoted to the cause of loyalty, and pretended that
they would have shed the last drop of their blood in
upholding the Royal dignity and obeying the Royal
pleasure. Nothing, we say, but the mend conscia
recti, could uphold them, even the King himself,
under the load of obloquy and elimination to which,,
in this free country, all ranks of people are indiscri,
minately subject,—but a thorough conviction bothof
the purity of their motives, and the advantages, nay,
the necessity of the ends proposed : for, to imagine
that his Majesty, with all the information laid before
him, with that fund of excellent health which ha
possesses, with that pre-eminent regard which he
must feel for his own interests and the stability of
his throne, should countenance any project which
had for its object in the remotest degree the sub..
version or injury of either, is to imagine that h:elout,
in concert with these auxiliaries, entered into a con.
spiracy against all that was valuable and important
to him as the sovereign of these realms, and in
a moment of ignorance kicked down the safe-
guards and munitions of his empire. But, in
support of this absurd assumption, it is, by the
tenderhearted exculpators of his Majesty, some-
times o asserto f ui, eddo,o
undoubthatted
thegoo
good in
sense
—is in this case perfidiously blinded and hoodwink-
ed by his Ministers,—that they themselves take ;,1
wrong view and estimate of events, and P9.::naps
conscientiously impose on their master the_ „i„ sen-
timents as actuate their own mind.': which is no
more than saying in as many wjrds, that the minis-
ters and their muster are all wrong together, and that
these censors, with the 'limited quantity of informs:
tion to which their researches must be confined,
know more upon the subject in question, can form
better reasoning, and arrive at more just conclusions,
than the King, his Ministers, his Privy-Council, and
all put together ! And yet, this is the purport of
one half of the. petitions with which the tables
of both Houses are crowded,—this is the purport
siosnf
daall
v privateothcaetedc o;ansysseeurm,slabi tliioae nrse that
eet
therein
,pthrioleelsdsienpi
nrgoaptoasit)lt.i:bl anti-Catholicismoliiti s
..0 to the subversion of every club where4;arit.,
i'isn PtlnePteeetith of them,
toresist'.
the inroads of Popery :—" We 'i".ow that
measures have *be sAnctim as,
.Ministera k b.ut we
and of the Protestant State-
)'. : therefore, we know better than th
consequences of Psotestant Churri.„,
teKll::;;;tal:nisidie:;:sl:lre:nistteerrs' what are the nature‘ ande,
right to andtheir
adpli:oi
scee)edbi ttigt s.
yet Towe be sure,
tell
o thesef
the.
do but humbly admonish (for every subject has. a
the King, that in countenancing these measures, he
violates his coronation-oath; that if he persists in
them, he will deservedly lose his crown and his
kingdom; and that his Ministers are fast hurrying
him on to perdition !"—Let ally one examine Roo
distil any petition, of ajt anti-Gatbolie dffieription,
that has been or is on the present occasion pre.
sewed, and see 4 the resktinpn tia;ea not amount to
this. An 4 therefore, if, inas-ead of 150,000 peti-
tionors, they artnni:ilted to 500,000, they would
prove 0411 that this number of people, placed in a
tar inferior line of "observation to their highest i ulers,
saw infinitely less of fnegrat political expanse than
those utters, aeai were therelme,,not competent to
form so 'etieral and correct a jOt*trii4-kget'iwt:'
rulers "themselves.
ti:
. • ---- ..
If ~ ~,of .
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