We have said that the rel...
The Times, 1824-11-27T00:00:00

lVe have said that the religious controvcrsies in Ireland ought not to have been discouraged, had Governmeint even possessed the right to prohibit them. Wlre think the same of thle Catholic rent and Association. If it be desirable that the priests slioultl expose to public cognizance those maxims whlEh constitute the craft and mystery of their power over the human mind, it is even mere so that the Catholir laity should be suffeted to develop their principles and preten- sions. They scel a close partnership -vith the Protestant community in all their worldly interests and concerns, -whilc the Hierarchy stands azifar aloof as the Rabbi, the Mlufti, or (he ilrahmin. The professed objects9f the rent and Association have not at.aiy tine outrun. tl'-AWaP,ivilege of British subjects in the pursuit, of great ft#lhi ejlds. The spirit and practice af both iinstitutions may have widely deviaterl frorm their -ostensible purposes, ,;.btt bf that a word hercafter; It is neithcr exLravagabt nor reprehensible in any partv -under I .free con.sttution to concentrate, exhibit, and apply its rcsources for tho attainment, through lawful -neans, of the highest political advantage. If the 'Catholics of 1824 be; froml affluence, experiepce, intel- ligence, disregard of; superstition, love of public liberty, 'publlicspirit, aml whatever constitutcs moral excellence among men, More fitted for the conduct of national affaira thani their ancestn.rs of 1750, there exists no reason, and bappily no law, to prevent them from bringing forward all those&c1airns to power, whiich sutch an assemblage of ho-, i,ourabit qualities can confer upon subjects of -his realm. So far as discussion may clucidate their rights, or the col- lection of even large sums or mouey be rentdered available for certain technical charges incurred - by prosecutions or defences on belalf of men wlho may be exposedalo factfous violeiice, and who are unable to retlress tleir own grrongs, or to shield their own innocence when questioned, we see not how the associaliQti or the Rent can be reprobated, when bonsz fide so employedi, in the cause of justice or of manly ambition. - It is otberwise when one or both of these engines are worked for a mischievous or foolish purpose. We speak of the possible perversion of instrumients ncither illegal nor censurable in their origin-as being on the present occasion less dangerous than foolish: 1st, because on a sober estimate of the whole force and geniius of this Catho- lic machinery, we see no one cause of serious dread; and 2d, because, with such a conviction, we observe strong ap- pearances of danger and calamity from an opposite quarter, -namely, from the use to which the folly of the Catholics is every day turned by- their politieal enemies-the oM4 com- bined Orange party of Ireland, and Tory faction herc. There never wvas a spectacle more preposterous than the firight now acted by alarmists on both sides of the wvater- a new gunpowvder plot-another rebellion of 1642-a breaking out that shall make the insurrection of 1798 like a mole-hill to Olyrnpus ! Poor Lord 'TAL3OT's terror three vears ago was notlhing to the agony at this mo- meirt, paintol on certain Irish visages, and regeeted on their brethren now in well-acted consternation among ourselves. And for what? Because O'CoN- ...NELL, and half a dozen other mountebanks, gesticu. late and foam at the mouth, to carry the job, or in(lulge the paroxysm of the hoar, their fletitious fury is made an excuse for terrors equally unsubstantial. Nothing could be more despicable than such fears, if true; notlhing can be more wicked than to feign them. By the Association and its leaders, we are, in our minds, not influenced at all, either for or against the thing called Catholic emancipation. If the measure be a right one, the empire at large-Pro- testant as well as Catholic-must have such an interest in it, that to withhold a vast public benefit, because a t'Cw vain and shallow termagants threaten us wvith their anger if we (lo not grant it, would be of all injustice and all cow- ardice the most ignoble. As for these samne dema- gogues of the Association-turbulent and selfish, and indiscreet as they have proved themselves, they arc not wild enough to wish for an overthrow of law and pro- perty, on(n of their own station (respectable in *nany in- stances) as members of civil society: they know too well the value of the golden eggs, to kill the goose that lays them. But this, though our sincere opinion, is not the opinion of many others, who mean as well as we do our- selves. The persuasion grows fast among the Protestants in this country, that, in sclf-defence, they must crush the aspirings of the Catlholics. Let Mr. Ot'CONNELL there- fore, andb his fellow-labourers, look this matter steadily in the face. Do they want a civil war? No! Do they ex- pect to carry in Parliament the question to whichl they at- tribute such importance, against the feelings of the English nation? Indisputably, no! See, then, the discretion of these statesmen. To gain proselytes to their cause, they mingle it with, and merge it in, two other ques- tions; one, reform-the other, a repeal of the Union. They then beat up for tvwo classes of recruits against themselves; all the enemies of a change in the constitution of Parlia- ment they call upon to become th(ir eneemies; all the friends of the Union-that is, all England, and all reflecting men in Ireland-they set at open defiance. They have done more : as if a fatality pursue(d thenm, the only Government that ever managed the affairs of Ireland wvith an avowed and systematic view to the advantage of the great body of the people, as contrasted with the interests of one monopolizing band, has been overrun in itfi course, andl thwarted by thle turbulenco of the very men who profess themselves most devoted to the principles it espouses. The Irish Govern- ment has actually put down the Orange faction of Ireland, with whom religion was the prast, and selfishness the end; but these wise Catholics are straining every nerve to supply the place of the defunct Irish Orangemen, by the crcation of thousanids of English Orangemen, more stubborn and more formidable, inasmuch as they are more upright than the others; and who allege, as the argu- ments for their institution, the mysterious growth and purposes of the Catholic rent, anid the seditious violence of the Association and its demagogues. If Parliament a few months henceshould beof opinion (provided the Association lasts so long), that this bo(dy is but a fraud upon the old Convention Act, and the rent a virtual usurpation of the first great right of the Legislature, what then becomes of our Catholic Barristers-wlhat of that emancipatioi which it looks-as If they were bor. to frustrate ?