The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-10 00:00:00

t4pation, and quotes a most remarkable passage
front a paper written by the Earl of Shannon in
1747, who was one of the Lords Justices of
Ireland, and as such in the government for up-
wards of 26 years. Lord Shannon states as the
principal reason whs Ireland produced so little,
that the law discouraged the labour and in-
dustry of the Roman Catholics, though threes
fourths of the arts, industry, and labour c,f the
country must necessarily he carried on by their
hands." He adds, " Until some happy temper
be fallen upon, so as to make our apprehension
froln the Papists consist with our interest in
employing them, Ireland can advance but slowly
in improvement," Mr. Blake, after adducing
this valuable authority, goes into his proofs, and
shows that in the same measure in which the
Catholics were oppressed, Ireland became im-
poverished ; and that her opulence and her li-
berty have kept pace with each othe.r. In the
reign of Queen Anne the penal code was en-
acted. In 1779, the first Act was passed for
the relief of the Roman Catholics ; the last, in
1793. " Let the reader," says M. Blake,
" mark the progres of the revenue under
the ancient policy and under the modern.--
The revenue of England, in 1701, when Wil-
liam died, amounted to 3,895,2051. The pre-
cise amount of the revenue of Scotland at that
time I have not ascertained : but just before the
Union, it amounted to about 110,0001. i year.
The revenue of Great Britain in 1701 may there-
fore be stated at 4,000,000/. ; the revenue of Ire-
land, in the same year, amounted to 697,955/. In
1779, th revenue of Great Britain amounted to
11,/91,241/. ; that of Ireland, to 666,5001. In
1753, the revenue of Great Britain amounted
to 17,674,255/. ; that of Ireland to 1,067,0001.
In the last year the revenue of Great Britain I
amounted to 46,085,386/. ; the revenue of Ire-
- land to 3;495,6891. British, • being neraly
3,800,000/. Thus we find that between 1701
and 1799 the revenue of Ireland diminished,
while the revenue of Great Britain nearly tre-
bled ; that between 1779 and 1793 the revenue
• of Ireland increased by about one-half, and that
the revenue of England did the same ; that be-
tween 1793 and 1828 the revenue of Ireland
nearly quadrupled, while that of Great Britain
nearly trebled." "It is not in revenue only
that England has suffered from the laws against
the Catholics, or benefited from the relaxa-
tion which has taken place in them. Her
trade has felt what it is to restrict and
what it is to encourage the energies of Ire-
land. In 1793 the exports of Ireland to Great
Britain amounted to 2,284,9201. ; her im-
ports of British manufactures to 1,055,226/.
In 1825, the latest year for which I have
been able to obtain the account, her exports to
Great Britain amounted to 6,544,573/. ; her
iMport of British manufacture to 3,837,336/.—
Thus it appears that the amount of British ma-
nufactures consumed in Ireland has nearly
Fuadrupled, as well as the revenue, since 1793."
rom these facts Mr. Blake reasonably argues,
that as Ireland has advanced in financial prospe-
rity in proportion to the relaiation of the penal
code, its utter abolition will be attended with ef-
fects as important to the wealth as to the peace
and happiness of the country. He concludes,
after giving a prospectus of the Irish revenue,
with the following wise adMonition
" While I offer this table to Protest-ants, to show
the increasing prosperity of the Catholics, and how
the empire benefits by it, I beseech the attention of
Catholics to the further evidence it affords of the be-
nefits they derive from British Government and
British connexion. Under that Government they
are protected in every peaceful pursuit;_ under it
their industry is fostered; at its scat the fruit of that
industry finds a ready sale : they should; therefore,
regard it as a possession to be improved by emanci-
pation, but as much too precious for any improve-
ment to be sought in it by any means which could
bring the general fabric into danger. They should
ever remember, too, the condact of English Protest-
ants in 1822, when thousands of Irish Catholics
were saved from famine by their generosity : they
should also bear in mind, that the prejudice which
has hitherto been opposed to them has been of late
rapidly declining; that it is not more complained of
by them, than condemned by a vast portion of their
Protestant fellow-subjects ; that in the great body of
those in whom it still exists, it is to be found in
company with many virtues; and that it would
soon be extinguished if Catholics would seek to pro-
pitiate these, and not strengthen it by indiscretion or
tatemperance."—Times.
, The Glasgow Free Press, alluding to an ar-
, tide in the Chronicle, on the prevalence of
crime, observed, that the plan suggested by us
would, perhaps, produce more good than any
other similar corrective which could be adopted;
but that such expedients ought to be recom-
mended only as secondary means of correction,
winch they in reality are, and that the public
ought to be instructed not to look exclusively to
them as a source of safety, but to point their
main efforts to the removal of the great cause of
all this demoralization—the general corruption
of-Government, and consequent depression and
distress of the people. " Let sophists quibble,"
adds our contemporary, "and sycophants rant
as they will, it is from this deep and dark four.-
• tails that the tide of crime with which we are
- now inundated chiefly proceeds ; and until the
" feeders of this poisonous fountain are "cut off
• like those from a well in the desert, it is vain to
expect- amongst the community a subsidence
of its waters. The burdens with which the
people are oppressed reduce them to po-
verty ; poverty begets crime, its natural off
• spring ; our burthens are still on the increase
—our pauper population is therefore on the in-
crease also ; hence the rapidity with which crime
is advancing ; and hence also the reason why it
must continue to advance, until the cause which
produces it shall be removed. Here is the true
secret and entire general history of the demorali-
zation which has now arrived at so frightful a
pitch in this country. Make the people easy
and comfortable in their circumstances, and they
- will be comparatively quiet and virtuous : adopt
and persevere in a contrary system, as we have
done and still are doing, and, though every
fourth individual should be made a policeman,
it will only aggravate by" exasperation, without at
all staying the increase of crime." " Make the
people easy and comtbrtable in their circum-
stances !" That is, no doubt, the great point.
Men who are easy in their circumstances seldom
steal or pick pockets ; and when they are tempted
to appropriate to themselves the property of
their neighbours, their education generally enables
them to do this in such a way as shall not sub-
ject themselves to penal consequences, which
ought to be a strong motive with parents to
give their children the blessing of education.
Every class in society has its ,peculiar mode of
appropriating the property of others. One class
runs into debt, buys goods of one man and sells
them to another at
,a reduced price ; another
class, a little lower in society, swindles directly ;
and the poor, being without credit, and without
such an address and appearance as shall enable
them .to pass themselves off as men of fashion, steal,
vois_ an nick nnekets_ The lower the arade in an.