The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-09 00:00:00

abandon every name of note for old Eldon,
with whom the Duke of Wellington took
care not again to encumber himself, having
once go'r him fairly out of the Cabinet ; and three
Noblemen, who throughout their lives will enjoy the
advantage of never exciting a feeling of jealousy in
any of their own sex, now tlvit Lord George Gor-
don is dead—anel a young Nobleman, Lord Chan-
dos, who seems to have been mowed by the lamenta-
tion some time ago in illackwood's Magazine, that
the old Tories were going out like the snuff of a
c..ridle, without any successors. The idea is beyond
measure droll. Admirable political saviours, the
Neweastles, the Winchelscas, the Falmouths ?. To
n :me these heroes is quite sufficient : the cause is
worthy of them, and they are worthy of the cause.
From the moment we learned that the Duke of
Wellington had determiner.' to make the settlement
of the Catholic Claims a Cabinet measure, we were
quite easy as to the result. We were aware of the
existence, in many districts of England, of much
prejudice and ignorance on the subject of the Ca-
tholic Claims; but there being no intelligible ob-
jects for which any men of respectability and cha-
racter in the country as politicians would think
of cemmitting- themselves in opposition to the Ad-
ministration, the threats of this mob count for
absolutely nothing. Numbers with leaders are
something; without leaders are nothing. There
cannot, iii the nature of things, in this country
be a party formed on the negative principle of
Catholic exclusion. On the other hand, we are
quite assured, though we have not the very highest
opinion of the high Aristocracy of England, that
their instinct of self-preservation will always pre-
serve them from throwing themselves into the arms
of such desperate men as might be tempted to adopt
the bolder course of pushing matters to the extre-
mity of bloodshed. In a country like this, full or
active and energetic men of desperate fortunes and
loose principles (for notwithstanding all our cant and
hypocrisy, we believe men's principles sit as loose on
them bere as in any other country), the prospect of
commotion would soon draw together men of a very
different stamp frona the Wirichelscas, the New-
castles, the Falmouths, &c. These men's conse-
quence would be derived from the commotion, and
they would soon know how to avail themselves of
the necessity for their exertions. At present, the
Meier ranks of this country possess all the power,
'which property and their situation give them.
Every man, however slender his property,
feels himself, in times of order, interested in
supporting authority. lint let the sword once
be drawn—let the operations of peaceful 41
dustry once be disturbed, and then it_ g,"%,
found that the right of property is ..111 be
tron—that property belongs t,16; abcrae-
daring, and not to its,- the boldest and most
the overwhelmiemet..,s nominal. owner. Once let
.bs inu4Lbonet -,,E; masses of this country loose, and
a bold man who can predict the point
at which they will stop. In the convulsed state of
England, the Aristocracy, who are now every thing,
would be literally nothing in the multitude of able,
active, and skilful men then thrown loose; but who
now fortunately dedicate their talents and their in-
dustry to the improvement of their fortune and the
increase of the resources of the nation. No matter
in what corner of the empire the sword is drawn—
if a part of the population in any part of it be once
in arms, the conflagration may soon spread. What
so secure, apparently, as the Government of Charles
the First, before his ill-judged expedition against
the Scotch Covenanters ? There was no hotly in
England that ever dared to entertain the idea of
opposition by arms to the Government, till the at-
tempt against the Scotch. There are many poor
Protestants in the north of Ireland, whose importance
as altogether derived from their being Protestants, des-
perate, unprincipled men, who would gladly rush, like
tigers, on the Catholics. There wants bet a begin-
ning to throw all Ireland into a blaze ; and knowing
as we do the eombustible nature of Irishmen, their
ardour and impetuosity, we are not so confident as
to the result as Mr. Peel seems to be. Hostilities
may begin in the north of Ireland, but God alone
knows where they may end. It never, therefore,
can be the interest of the High Aristocracy, of all
men, to provoke resistance to authority, to appeal to
the brute passions of the multitude, and to arras citi-
zen against citizen. But they know better. They
are not to be confounded with the Winchelseas, the
Newcastles, &c.; and mortified as Lord Eldon must
he at the negleCt in which he is. now held, even he,
if he could see an inch before his nose, would shrink
from the anarchy which his stupid conduct tends to
produce. The Duke of Wellington will quietly
move the Nobles in the direction in which it is
necessary they should go; and in spite of vulgar gla-
mour the whole will be accomplished with ease. We
have confidence in the tact, temper, arid shrewdness
of-the Duke ; and believe that he has a thorough
knowledge of his people.

(FROM THE MORNING POST.)
At this moment of general alarm and sorrow to
all the true and steadfast friends of the Protestant
Church and Constitution of England, we at least
have one source of consolation to which we can
refer with the utmost satisfaction. If the Consti-
tution of our country is to be now overthrown—if
the Church of England is to be exposed to the
attacks of its inveterate and implacable enemies—
if the national altar is to be profaned, and the con-
sciences and persons of our Protestant Connt►ymen
to be exposed hereafter to persecution and vioknee ;
while we view the approach of this reason of cala-
mity and horror, the cup of grief and anxiety is
not rendered still more bitter to us by the additional
ingredient of self-reproach. We have done no-
thing to promote—we have done our utmost to
avert this unutterable ruin. For some time pre-
vious to the last General Election, and during
the whole period of its progress, we suffered
no day to pass over our heads, as our readers
must well remember, in which we did not at-
tempt to impress upon the minds of our Protes-
tant fellow-subjects the absolute necessity of mak-
ing choice of Members to be returned to the
House of Commons, with reference solely and ex-
clusively to the preservation of the Protestant Con-
stitution of the Empire. These repeated warnings
arid admonitions were not sufficiently regarded by a
people, who, prizing the object we had in view as
dearly as we could do, nevertheleSs permitted not
themselves to foresee the possibility of that object
being exposed to danger. The people of England
were at that time over confident ; they rested in the
consciousness of a security, which it is now evident
was false, imaginary, and delusive. Had not this
been so, no man who knows the present feelings of
the country can doubt that such a House of Com-
mons would have been called together as would have
rendered it impossible for any men of sane minds
to dream of obtaining its consent to the admission
of Papists to great and indefinite political power.
Is it for the gratification of any worthless and selfish
feeling of vanity—is it for the sake of venting silly
and useless reproaches upon our Protestant fellows
subjects, who then felt so nearly as we did, and now
feel altogether as we do, that we refer to these cir-
cumstances ? No ; it is to stimulate them to make
atonement for their former error, now that the
danger forces itself upon them so closely and dis-
tinctly as to I►e visible
.to all eyes, by the earnest-
ness and vigour of their efforts in defence of the
Constitution. The Protestants of England have
permitted themselves to be surprised and betrayed,
and the destruction of the Constitution seems likely
to be the result of their culpable want of vigilance and
self-dependence. Let then% now, by strenuous and si-
multaneous exertion, redeem their error,and avert its
fatal consequences, while there is yet time. It will cost
theme efforts to uphold the Constitution, powerfully
.as it is assailed, much less painful than those by
,which their great and glorious ancestors established
in, much less painful than those by which, if they
.now suffer it. to be destroyed, their children will be
compelled to struggle, perhaps to struggle in vain, for
r,s restoration. The enemies of the Constitution seek
to delude us by the assurance, that if we now wil-
lingly surrender a part of the Constitution, we and
our children vei:l be permitted to enjoy what remains
in peace and security. This is a juggle as auda-