The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-19 00:00:00

,e really an enemy to pasecution, he may depend upon
t that the hind treatment of the Catholics will forward

that object much more than an opposite course can do. In
Germany Catholics and Protestants are educated together
at the same Universities, and they partake of the same
character. Education will produce the same result in this
country. An ignorant Laity and an intolerant Priesthood
always go together. Enlighten the Laity, and you force
the Clergy to become liberal. The Pope as well as the
Archbishop of Canterbury I-mist yield to circumstances.
In South At:,erica, according to the suppressed work of
Hoe, now printed by Mr. Barry, the Priest is seldom so
moderate as to be satisfied with one concubine; and it is
no unusual thing for him to be surrounded at the Altar
by the mothers of three families to him. In Ireland the
Priests are models of correct behaviour. This shows how
much a religion is influenced by the circumstances in which
its members are placed.—Alorrzing Chronicle.
We wonder that public men, whose time is so much
occupied, should sacrifice any of their precious moments
in contending against self,evident propositions. The
Chancellor
.7of the Exchequer's opposition to Lord Al-
thorpc's motion for a Committee to inquire into the means
of curtailing the enormous expences incurred in county
elections-' is of this description. Nothing so puerile surely
ever fell from the lips of a Statesman as the Right Hon.
Gentleman's idea that the present system ought to con-
tinue, that Candidates may continue to be " badgered"
by their constituents. If Mr. Richard Martin were in the
House when this strange reason was started, we wonder
his well-known humanity did nc.t take fire at the idea of
thus legalising, as it were, the baiting of Candidates,
which he justly considers so wrong when applied to the
brute creation. It would have been quite as wise, and
much more in character, had•the Right Hon Gentleman
objected to any diminution of election expellees, on the
ground of the million which a general election—in the
extra conslimption of bad Port, beer, and tobacco—is sup-
posed to contribute to the public revenue. I'he reasons
giveu by the Noble Lord, in favour of his motion, render
Its propriety—to our minds, at, least—self-evident•and
undeniable. That the House of Commons should
represent the property of the country cannot he
doubted; and that men of large property should he
among its Members -is equally desirable. The qualifica-
tions which the Constitution requires from them in a great
degree implies this; but that the fitness of a Member of
Parliament should be measured by the length of his purse,
or that electors can look for independence from those whose
very election has deprived them of it, are propositions alike
unreasonable and unwarranted. That whole families, as
well as individuals, have been reduced to beggary and ruin
by election contests, as they are now conducted, is quite
notorious ; and equally notorious is it, as well as natural,
that persons so situated have been, and ever will be, glad
to repair their broken fortunes by a political subserviency,
the very reverse of what they would have practised had
they arrived at legislative distinction with their fortune and
their honour unimpaired. Any means, therefore, of break-
ing down a system so vicious and indefensible as the present
mode of county elections, ought to be hailed with satis-
faction by every true lover of his country. It is not by
paltry puerile reasons, such as that to which we have
alluded, that such a wholesome measure can or ought to
be opposed. The motion, therefore, though sneered at,
was granted, and we earnestly. hope will be productive of a
legislative measure as effectual in practice as the grounds
upon which it is called for are beyond the reach of doubt
or eontradiction.—Morning Herald.

A Meeting of the British Catholics will be held, this
day, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, at one o'clock,
for, " the purpose of taking into consideration the present
state of their affairs." His Grace the Duke of Norfolk
will preside. On every occasion, and tinder all circum-
stances, the conduct of the British Catholics has been
such as to conciliate the esteem, and command the respect,
of those who are conscientiously opposed to them. They
have held out no threats of rebellion—they have bearded
us with no insolent menaces of treason—they have not
clothed their objects in the language of sedition. We
have no British Catholic Convention holding its weekly
conclaves in the Metropolis, where brawling Orators out-
rage all the better feelings of our moral nature, by licen-
tious buffoonery, cast, in brutal scorn, upon the death-
bed of a Prince, or tamper with our allegiance, by giving
us the theory of insurrection. The British Catholics, to
their honour be it spoken, seek relief from what they
deem the wrong they lie under, by means which give
them every claim to consideration ; and they have perhaps
just reason to deplore—we will not say the connexion,
but the junta-position, of their case, with that of a class of
men whose bullying vulgarity would be sufficient to stifle
even a sense of justice in the fierce conflict of indignant
passion which they provoke.—New Times.