The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-06-11 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

THE IMPUDENCE OF THE PAPISTS.
(From the Morning Herald of Friday.)
In the House of Commons, last night, Mr. O'Con-
nell made a very significant declaration—a declaration
to the effect that he should, speedily, move for leave to
bring in a bill rendering Roman Catholics eligible to
the office of Lord High Chancellor of Ireland.
Can a stronger proof be imagined of the mighty ad-
vances which popery has made since the period of the
emancipation act ?

!Thc, /not that
they were satisfied, absolutely satisfied, with the act of
1829, and that they would attempt no encroachment on
its provisions. It may seem absurd, we are aware, to
lay any particular stress on the declarations, however
emphatic, of a class of men who pay so little regard to
the yet more sacredly-attested obligations of an oath !
The Irish Roman Catholic members of parliament have
sworn to respect the temporalities of the Established
Church—have sworn to abstain from attempting any
new arrangement of her revenues. How well they
have observed their oath, let the history of Irish anti-
tithe agitation in parliament, and out of parliament,
testify
Now, Mr. O'Connell and his allies openly aim at
setting aside certain of the provisions of the act of 1829.
They desire to secure a Popish Chancellor for Ireland.
Mr. O'Connell, doubtless, and despite Lord Brougham's
threat of impeachment, appropriates in imagination the
office to himself ! Mr. O'Connell and his associates
may, however, yet discover, that the course which they
have adopted is not altogether free from peril. If any
of the provisions of the act of 1829 may be set aside,
in conformity with the wishes and schemes of the Ro-
manists, the whole act may be repealed in obedience to
the will of the Protestant majority of the empire. The
principle of repeal is, at all events, sanctioned by the
Romanists themselves.

In illustration of the approaching spirit of Roman-
ism, we may direct attention to the fact brought under
the notice of the house, last night, by Sir Robert Ing-
lis. Dr. M`Hale, the Popish Archbishop of Tuam, has
presumed, recently, in the case of a petition prepared
in the county of Sligo, to affix his signature as arch-
bishop of the province. The signature in question
stands next to that of the lord lieutenant of the county.
By his conduct in this matter, Dr. M`Hale has violated
the law. By the act of 1829, all such assumptions of
rank are forbidden to Popish prelates, under a heavy
penalty for every act. In bringing forward the affair,
last night, Sir Robert Inglis begged to know from the
Home Secretary whether instructions had been issued
to the Irish Attorney-General to prosecute Dr. WHale.
Lord John's answer was, of course, in the negative.
Mr. O'Connell had the impudence to deny that Dr.
WHale had been guilty of any violation of the law.
The law, according to Mr. O'Connell, " forbids others
to apply their titles to Roman Catholic prelates; but
does not forbid Roman Catholic prelates themselves
from assuming the titles in q uestion?' Sir Robert
Inglis immediately produced the act of parliament, and
convicted Mr. O'Connell of misrepresentation.
The selection of Popish chancellors for Ireland will
not tend to repress the presumption of Popish prelates
—nor add much to the security of the beleagured Pro-
testant Church. The next movement, we suppose,
will be to set aside, in part, the existing act of settle-
ment—and to provide for the eligibility of Roman Ca-
tholics to the throhe of England !

It is intended to uncover the Roman pavement at Wellow
in a few days, and it will remain open during the summer.—
Bri4tol Journal.

'ME DRAMA.—The history of the lessees of the patent
theatres with some few honourable exceptions, and particu-
larly Mr. Macready) is the history of a succession of impro-
vident profligates, most of whose careers commence with
impudent quackery, and conclude with insolvency and
obscurity. Sometimes they quarrelled with the actors;
sometimes with the Lord Chamberlain ; sometimes the town
had but one theatre ; sometimes the public was dosed with
pantomimes and pageants, sometimes with sedition and
blasphemy ; but more frequently annoyed with the vapid
productions of persons of rank, who paid for the apppear-
ance of their miserable effusions. Now they made the stage
the organ of political faction—now of private slander ; at
one time (as we have seen) they appealed against a puppet-
show —at another were furious against fine music ; and
proved constant to nothing but their meanness and want of
success. " Power, if executed tyrannically, will be evaded;
and the love of the drama is too essentially a part of human
nature to be destroyed by the coldest neglect or the most
arbitrary enactments. A public, increasing in intelligence,
and progressing in all other arts, would not rest contented
with the restricted drama afforded by the monopolists ; and,
in spite of patents, the people would encourage theatres that
were convenient, and at which they could find enjoyment.
They could not (who could ?) rest satisfied with the ' Sieges
of Damascus,' the ' Ximenas,' the ' Distressed Mothers,"
and all the rest of the second-hand rubbish of the French
classico-school. They wanted something that would come
home to their feelings and. their understandings, and they
sought for it at illegal theatres ' • and had the monopolist not
restricted-the representation of the regular (indeed, any kind
of) plays, no doubt a vigorous and intellectual drama would
have arisen. The monopolists, however, interfered; and,
gaining the aid of the government, legal enactments were
made, degrading one of the noblest of the fine arts to a base
and illegal employment, confirming the patents, and binding
the sovereign to its entire ruin and abasement. * * *
At last the interest centered entirely in the actors. No new
plays held possession of the stage, and the pleasure afforded
by the drama sank into an admiration of eminent actors.
Garrick in Lear, Kemble in Hamlet, Mrs. Siddons in Lady
Macbeth, formed the attraction to the theatre. An injuri-
ous elevtion was thus given to a few performers ; and to
listen to ' the points' which best exhibited their peculiar
abilities was the sole object of the audience. The interme-
diate parts of the play were nothing, and were best filled up
by sucking oranges, talking soft nonsense, banging doors,
to andthe changing seats. This " was the unkindest cut of all"
poor drama, for it came from the best allies, who had
2,--.14:, it-, now usued the lacep of masters. But it ended not here ;
.17:f aii, 44,r Jfor when did tyranny ever stop itself?) " worse remains
47 4••• /
3' , '
~
~,, : •,,' 2 ... The actor assumed every thing, and the wretched
/.
~... ;.:, tz• .g Ist, chained to his triumphant car, was no longer the
i__‘ .; ~ i
.11, • - ator of nature, but of the peculiarities of a Kemble or
•„;1.-. i. ~—_„,,,, _atm. The play, from being every thing, was now nothing ;
ak.
~ --‘,, 1,/ ---,Y ..i t last all general interest, power, and propriety were
IL, .4,4 , i. issinficed to the vanity of the popular actor, and the per-
-1.,t1 t•.# , ;;-..% Ved taste of a vitiated audience.—Present and past State
4ii
z, 40 the Dramatic Art.
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