The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-05 00:00:00

instance—are now nearly extinct in this part of the island.
There are now no Presbyterian gentry, though at one time
they were as twenty'to one to the Catholic gentry ; but
the Catholic gentry keep their ground as well as the
Catholic commonalty. Judging, therefore, from analogy,
we should doubt the possibility of the Irish Reformation.
But this is not an affair of reasoning. If the flame of
enthusiasm which, in former times, spread rapidly through
nations, and carried them even en masse, as it were, to the
doctrines of the Reformation, be now, after an interval of
centuries, kindled once more in Ireland, the same cause
may produce the same effect. But the wonder of the se-
cond Reformation will be greater than that of the first. In
the Roman Church, large revenues had led to luxury and
laziness; and Luther appeared not only as the Apostle of
purer doctrines, but as the advocate of a purer life. But
the Church of England, and still more that of Ireland,
possess reN enues sufficient to corrupt. all the Clergy of
Europe ; and the whole of this second Reformation origi-
nated on the part of the Church, in a wish not so much to
convert the Catholics as to secure this immense wealth.

How an enthusiasm originating in so gross a cause is to
work such wonders is to us incomprehensible—but all
miracles transcend comprehension.—Morning Chronicle.
It is hardly possible for there to have been a greater con-
trast between two efforts of the genius of one master, than
is apparent between Mr. Canning's speech upon the Corn
Laws, and that which he so recently delivered on the af-
fairs of the Peninsula. The one is as the quiet scenery of
Claude by the side of the wild, romantic beauties of Sal-
vator Rosa. Whether Mr. Canning's subdued tone upon
this latter occasion was the result of discretion or of phy-
sical weakness ; or (as perhaps was really the case) of a
tinion of both, we are inclined to think that it showed
quite as much of the skill of the master as could have been
exhibited on an occasion of so mud? difficulty. 'Whatever
may be the ultimate judgment of Parliament upon the
propositions submitted by the speech, no terms could be
better adapted at once to simplify the statement and con-
ciliate conflicting interests and opinions than those chosen
by the Foreign Minister upon the occasion. There was
nothing, however, in the speech itself, or in the way in
which the subject was handled, calculated to convince
the country that no one but Mr. Canning was qualified
to approach the subject ; or that it need, have been
dropped in the Lords on account of Lord Liverpool's
illness. Still less was there any thing in the pro-
positions themselves to justify the delay, or the mighty
secrecy which has attended them. The scheme, after
all, is avowed to be Mr. Ricardo's; and we cannot bring
ourselves to believe that much midnight oil, or the
rime of many grave conclaves of the Cabinet, can have
been consumed in concocting a measure, certainly
vary plain and intelligible in its details, but which,
in our apprehension at least, might as well have been di-
vulged if not in June, at least in November last, without
the parade, the difficulty, and importance which has been
attached to it. That the measure at length divulged by
Ministers on this important subject will please all parties,
is not to be expected; and on the contrary, that it will
quite satisfy none, may be its best recommendation. It
is seldom that an arbitrator, if he is a just one, entirely
pleases either party at the moment. A middle course is
what can, in its nature, never be expected to satisfy those
who are contending for extremes ; though, in the end, the
good sense, both of individuals and of mankind in general,
usually sobers down into whatever is clearly dictated by
impartial justice. So we apprehend it will be with the
propositions of Mr. Canning. They will be found fault
with mutually by agriculturists and manufacturers; but
both, we suspect, will, in the end, agree, that though they
suit net the extreme of either, they are as fairly appor-
tioned to the claims of both as a fair view of their relative
circumstances would permit. If we have any fault to find
with Mr. Canning's speech, it is, that for the sake of
brevity, or to avoid discussion, he assumed—or, if we may
so say, jumped at once to conclusions which he ought to
have proved and reasoned upon. We do not deny, for
instance, that 60s. may be the lowest sum- at which the
British farmer, generally speaking, can now afford
to grow wheat, and 30s. as the price of barley.
From all that we have heard, or read, or seen, we believe
this to be the case. But Mr. Canning, we think,
should have told the House why it is so, and what pro-
spect, and means, if any, there are, of seeing that price
diminished. The burdens to which land is subject are,
we know, the principal cause of this. But facts admitted
without reasoning, and without cause, are apt to remain
stationary and immovable. The landed interest in either
H?use of Parliament are never likely to be very strenuous
advocates for economy or retrenchment, if they can find a
Ministry ready to afford them a permanent indemnity
against the consequence of their mutual extravagance.—lt
would have been as well, too, if Mr. Canning had advert-
ed a little to the actual and probable prices at which

foreign corn is likely to be obtained on an average of years
and seasons. Even Mr. Jacob's data were not alluded
to; and wisely, perhaps, as they are more than suspected
to be, in some measure, apocryphal. It is well known
in the corn trade,.that there is a considerable quantity of
good Dantzic wheat at this moment in this country, which
has been bonded here, with all expences paid, at little
more than ;245. a quart er. Now, it is quite clear, that a
duty of 20s. upon such wheat will not reach the price
which it is assumed the British grower ought to obtain
for his, and it is therefore material that that part of the
subject should not have been passed over so lightly as it
has been. We throw out these, however, merely as sug-
gestions; not as as opposing ourselves to the resolutions
which Government have brought forward, which, as far
as we can at present see, combine as fair and prudent a
view of the subject as the moderate persons on either side
of the question could have teen led to expect.—Morning
Herald.

" I wish," said Sit M. W. Ridley, in a former debate
in the House of Commons, " to see the system of the
Court of Chancery altered; but I must object to the
mode in which au individual is attacked night after night.
I am persuaded such attacks do no good; for Lord Eldon
stands very high in the estimation of the people of .Eng-
land." This was good advice given to his party, by a
very zealous, but a sensible and honourable Whig; and it
was founded on fact. The people have no sympathy with
that disappointed ambition, and that cowardly envy of
great talents and great virtues, which seduce a few politi-
cal intriguants, and their subordinate tools, to disgorge,
day after day, torrents of nauseous abuse against Lord
Eldon. That clarum et venerabile nomen excites warmer
feelings of esteem and attachment in the great mass of the
English nation. His Lordship has lived before the public
for half a century—the artificer of his own fortune and
dignity, which he has built up to its present elevation by
superior learning, and talents, and virtue. Enemies and
calumniators may assail him as they please. It is as vain
to attempt to deprive him of the confidence and admira-
tion of the people of England, as it would be to turn
aside the venerable sage himself from the strict path of
judicial integrity. Whence, then, proceed those base at-
tacks upon him, which, day after day, degrade some of
our political declaimers, and their subordinate agents?
Why, from no more noble source than a bigotted, unrea-
soning hatred, founded on ignorance, and cherished by
the malice of petty minds,—.New Times.

DOUBLE DUTIES.—We feel much pleasure in
giving the following information to our readers :—His Grace the
Governor has issued directions to the officers of the Customs, in
which, after adverting to the communication from the commis-
sioners of accounts, he directs that the duties collected or to he
collected by the officers of customs on goods which were in
bond on the 9th of December last, be paid over to the Receiver-.
General without any deduction. Thus far, says his Grace's
order. But we understand that the officers of the customs will
continue to take bonds on all imports, so that should any
countermanding order arrive from the Treasury, the goods
then in bond may be subject thereto. This is in pursuance
of the 34th clause of 6 Geo. IV. cap. 114. (a British Act of
Parliament), but it will not affect goods taken out of bond at
any time previous to the arrival of such countermanding order,
should any such arrive, which however is not expected.--Jamaica
Courant, Jan. 8.