'— — /• TABLET. TABLE OF CONTENTg. t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s . » t e * . ï ATO POLITICS:— H**uUs e " ' eek ................... ¡■’¡«I, i -.v Railway Employment .. CatholicaZ ? * !" KnBla,,d ■■ •• „^«Mct, 01' 111 ,h0 factory ^lle*LatItarj0nal Crimes h o 'jument Uebates ìn »he French ParÓroK 'VS:— " ...................... Rl'ican A 1' Remaining in tno AnUieh A °mmumon. A Letter to a rich 0 Kh Friend. By Frede CA f c ,,” ^ FinÌnCeÌ-Tile b 'J.P 'NTELLIGENCE:— Tli'U t ! ìo ic “tholic Relief liiU- to the s , urch’ and >»s Relations Ksn .oohan. By T . C. Anstev. to the f i n hurch’ ai W - S t Ì “ *- Bv ^The Rp. ' Ï K - Church . London l'esPon<la^V 1>r‘ ^°.v,e and his Corl>innev J^s7~Aged Poor Society’s Anstey, tondon " ‘ -Epigram on l)r. Pusey .. Page 117 117 117 118 118 118 119 120 L ondon :— German Catholic Chapel, and Open­ Page ing of the German Institution of St. Bonifacius, at Norwood—Catholic Ball at the Ilanover-square Rooms—Convent of Our Lady of Mercy, at Bermondsey •• .. 121 Provincial :— Blackburn —Catholic Ball—W igan Catholic Ball •• •• •• •• 122 Ireland : Clontarf—Cork—The Rev. J. Moore, of Virginia-street—The Great Bell of St. Francis—The Conference of the Clergy of Dublin...................... 122 Foreign :— The “ Univers” on the Conversion of England — The “ Journal des Debats ” on the Polish Persecutions •• •• •• •• .. 123 FOREIGNSrCOLONIAL INTELLIGENCE :— France—Spain—Germany—Russia — Switzerland, &c.............................. 124 DEBATES IN PARLIAM ENT :— Burpens on Land—Lord Beaumont’s Motion — Protection of Life and Property in Ireland—The War in the Punjaub—Adjourned Debate on the Corn Laws—Famine and D sease in Ireland—Mr. O’Connell’s Motion .. •• ...................... DOMESTIC NEWS:— Court and Fashionable L ife Her Majesty’s Levee—Court Move­ ments, &e. PERSONAL MATTERS The Earl ’of Lonsdale—The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk—The Earl and Countess of Arundel PO L IT IC A L :— Elections ¡—Westminster—Rutland— Ipswich, &c. .. M ISCELLANEA :— Parsee’s Compressed A ir Engine— The Broad and Narrow Gauges, &c.................................................... Page 128 IRELAND PO L IT IC A L :— Loyal National Repeal Association — Letter from the Liberator—Election for Mayo—Drainage of Ireland —Young Ireland—Speech of the Day—Repeal the Preservative from Separation—Mullingar—Dr. Kane —The ’82 Club—Agrarian Disturbances— Father Mathew on Indian Corn—The Famine—Tipperary .. .. # .. A R T S .— ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES •— LAW ANI) POLICE RAILW AY IN TELLIGENCE — REPE AL IN GREAT BR IT A IN — TEMPERANCE NAVAL AND M IL IT ARY NEWS.. MONEY MARKET AND C IT Y NEWS MARKETS ................................. GAZETTES ................................. ADVERTISEMENTS Page 130 130 131 132 132 Vo L- VII. No. 303. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1846. P r ic e 6 d . Then i i0 T E S 0 F TI1E WEEK. cA'tits ,'ll:1serU week lias been rather fertile in ini’8. bm ,?d events which require some notice from . liam . t SPace occuP‘c'd by the proceedings in . The j Y con,Pels us to he very brief upon them. 111 a'l n el>ate drags its slow length along, though !lrc reaQ j ‘a.'bility it w ill close before these lines 'Vetk’s V any ° f our readers. In the main, this t}l(, ®bate has supplied little o f novelty to eke "jilecj arrennes8 ot last week. Sir Robert Peel, • eady" “>t adding much to an argument *'86*1 an l aUSted- ^as distinguished himself by a °tttier 1 " 2or°us onslaught on the ranks o f his *"ost a,'PPorters. He has treated them in the lifted aCtrCj 'ess 'nanner; derided their fallacies; .' 'heir computations; made jokes at their Ca,ise i ’ .and altogether turned them and their " ‘ hat j. ° ut for the edification and instruction > an,v!s.tant posterity alter which his magnifi’ he A t if 'p 011 Pants. In the person o f Air. Bright Hen, eni n-L aw League has also delivered a 11 'vhicl v nd niore than usually eloquent address, ehlo&„ . he pronounced a hearty and unreluctant u l,ronouncea a ncarty ana unreluctant , hater j° ° ‘ he Government measure, and adj 1eh tt0e^ sundry wholesome doses o f chastise*aPsed nVar'°tis persons and fractions o f the col- Sir p |y of the Protectionists. A great part import of rt F tel’s speech w ill be found in our , ftht’s ’ lc Farliamentary proceedings. O f Mr. h* .a<lditi(!,Ve have been able to give less. Whether Ph’olie ¡s° n to the speeches already delivered, the rai>, „ to lie edified by a phiflipic in the old rain fr ,V‘ 'cli ,,rr!!n Mr. Disraeli is a momentous secret ’ he Wl11 Dot he long before it is revealed. In ’ he w ^ l ' t i e , the only matter o f real interest to Vvhet),c ls “ le coming division, and the question " itlp er the majority will be sufficient to carry « fv ^h lic % jh® Uo,jSUre through the wavering hostility of jj’ tle ?o o f Lords. For ourselves, we have It shoii] ) ’ hat it will he ample enough ; but, i f > - aSUre through the wavering 1 Se o f Lords. For ourselves, *°Use0j Dot, then there is no doubt that the eht ii,,„ .r<l <i will have inflicted a great punisli - r ’ ter 0f T to the debate, though relating to a r h®e, ¡„ P'uch more immediate practical imporw0u{ilit ■the -------- " " ’ • ' 1 • question o f the Irish lamine, as before the House by Air. O’Connell, in a ° f that most dismal eloquence which N S Full X ats i fee panicnd’ or presently to he dreaded. For wiet to U ars of these frightful narratives we tr »‘»e. -p®report of Mr. O’Connell’s speech else- |°" pv,.’ ” a detailed repetition o f horrors either Was” 6 ’ repression which it made upon the -ii r,Dcd J>r°f<?un<h Its statements were amply ■,!!! Privi ^’ ^ 'r 'f'lines Graham, and it cannot >ti!!'e DielJ11^6 uPon the bulk of its readers the C nthe B 101}’ impression whi nouse. impression which it produced The reply o f Sir Janies Graalfallenf80VJ1 i112 hut satisfactory, at least in our Hau1’8 h o r r i ! a,dmit? ‘ he urgency o f the case in, lileh ®nt of°iu du’ he declines giving any full ‘ he n hy wa * means contemplated by Governo r ’ ’ 0verrn?' remedy, while he professes that ®8 SnCLl . '®Dt is 1H' 1 ' 1 t. witll Tn-n. hofe !’llhicie>1ti 1S Pcrfectly prepared with mea Oe-ever ,,r„ ‘ A’,comprehensive to meet the evil, O W ’J i V i niaF ,urn out t0 he- to rhe ■- D; A . ..a‘ 18 the actual case? Famine has /^tti ^ I ,A " ; ; Pesili'“ ls the actual case? V hin1CRt^e|îcc ' V t h e ! i ert0 ‘ itti t iv íi ’ 1 *•IiVra.!1 c.c ‘ ,as begun; and these have Ye - "aeasuArif’ i i a‘ ,all>mitigated or assuaged aC(*‘ they at S 01 ree Government, tasking ‘ 0.e°ntm„e to give relief in future eicni Dndent.. j rno<'el « f the past, we can JWUer ¿A ".a that they are prepared to ¡N oe?ois infinite6*1 U" d most wastin- distress. he „i? ( »rahaio ft,fUl,»ost and the nothingness of Sir s measures of actual relief seems to Uit|a 'Dore " i i 1', ‘ i*ted for a universal famine as ’’)aki?r’ 0>said eU ‘ e Per centage o f distress. S x ! ti3 inqoir,, James Graham , we have been tii « t A " " lu i r v ■ LS u ra l la stranee i l l .now ¡8 the ’““eA ‘ anf?e dñr.;„:“ T 18 tue time to re ia '^ H le d bv o'n? V 11 would 8el "her, ‘.’ ,y has hl0n preparation against act. A seem that the the jUeadîJ1®. Preparation8^ 1“ ; ,<ltdy i“ inquiry ; and ‘e tiny lu active ^ ^e complete, or rather ‘ heir n 6 c*losen hv ri *' '?a‘ lon' then, it seems, is < e n P> r e t io n s y G o vm m “ t *" °vernment to commence i N fa ^H gT in in 'Vli ’i h.?uK1't to have been com ,.:°nS since. ^ O e ' ^ ^ ' d y n i a i r n e ^ ^ o f t,leir ' '- s a n d s , l “ t l 4' " 1’" ' « o f its net. • ?rnmen‘ Wl11 have lpü0r- a'Æ m tT Lnalî S tbtîhalf- Wdla 1 that the nature of the case allows— that in another month we shall see what we shall see, and know what we shall know. W e mention here the horrible case o f Seery, in the north o f Ireland, only to show that we have not forgotten it or passed it by without a reasonable share o f attention. This shocking case, however, will remain warm for some time to come, and we intend to offer some observations upon it next week. Coming nearer home, we have had the gratification of a contested election in Westminster— the candidates, Captain Rous and General Evans The election had its origin in the appointment o f Captain Rous to the office o f one of the Lords of the Admiralty. General Evans,formerly defeated by Captain Rous, lias had his revenge in his turn. Sir Robert Feel has lost not a supporter, but colleague in the llouseof Commons ; and Westminster lias gained the supreme honour of being represented hy the ex-General o f that British Legion whose exploits in Spain and whose ragged and tattered condition in the streets o f London formed so notable a part o f the W h ig foreign policy o f some years ago. W e look upon it with some satisfaction that the first vote it ever fell to our lot to give as a contribution towards the manufacture of that queer product, a Member o f l ’arlia- 1 ment, was against General Evans. This nondescript General, according to our notion o f him, belongs to that most nauseous school o f Liberal politicians whose Liberalism is not very easily reconcileahle with any notions o f religion or even o f mere civil fair play ; and who yet are perpetually endeavouring to thrust the nauseous compound down the throats o f those who wholly protest against the bolus. W e never heard from the lips o f this member of the Legislature a single sentence or sentiment that we should care to reinember, or think deserving o f utterance. One o f the principal features o f his former senatorial career was liis voluntary absence from his duties in Parliament, for the purpose o f using his sword to put down the Biscayans, struggling for their religion and liberties against a tyrannous and infidel Government. This is just such an act as would he that o f a French or German Liberal hiring out his sword to the Queen of England, for the purpose of aiding her Ministers in some not impossible attempt to trample upon the liberties o f Ireland. One o f the latest public acts o f this worthy gentleman was to rebuke Air. O’Connell for his denunciations o f the atrocious Government o f Espartero, and to defend his plunderings of the Church and other enormous -iniquities perpetrated upon unoffending and powerless monks and priests, whom the Government o f that dethroned despot employed itself in persecuting after the roost revolting fashion. W e wonder how any-Catholic could think o f voting for such b*f!a»monstrou9 personage as this. Were Captain down too rapidly a repast which was laid out for ■ our deliberate eating. From the moment that f Clive defeated Suraj-ad-Dowla on the plains of l ’ lassy, the whole Peninsula lay stretched out at our feet waiting for our conquest of it, and in effect, i f not in intention, bowing its neck to receive new rulers, whose dominion there might have been wholly lawful it we had not been inspired with a spirit o f injustice. But the very first conquest, just beyond measure in its beginning and rightful in its substance, even this was stained hy fraud and forgery o f the vilest description. As it was in the beginning so it has been too often since. W e have had in India just wars enough and just conquests; for we have had to deal with Governments more faithless and more lawless than ourselves. W e have had to deal with powers which practise no other law than the law o f the strongest; whom no faith, no treaties, and no honour could bind. AVe have had to deal with nations o f marauders, with empires o f freebooters, and with the allies o f such. From the very first moment of our gaining a political footing in India we hava been surrounded with tribes and kingdoms which were anxious to expel us; eager in seeking occasions o f w a r ; and prodigal in giving us just occasions o f conquest. I f we had been at all ambitious of a pure renown and a stainless empire, God had provided us with the fairest opportunity o f acquiring both that ever was offered to the sons o f men. But the commencement o f our conquest was stained by Lord Clive’s double treaty, and the forgery which broke the heart and blasted the intellect o f Omichund. One o f our latest attempts at conquest was inaugurated bv another deliberate breach o f treaty on the part o f Lord Auckland and ¡sir William Alac Naghtcn, for which the latter happily paid the penalty o f his life. Now, at length, has come the crisis, which proves to us that even i f we had been triumphant in our invasion of Affghanistan; if that foul marauding expedition had been wholly successfu l ; if, in the campaign o f l 8J8, we had really subjugated the whole o f Central Asia, as we once thought we had ; i f there had been no massacre at Cabul, no disastrous retreat, no ignominious expulsion ; i f everything had gone as favourably towards us as the heart o f the most wicked could desire ; even so, the crimes hy which these results would have been attended were wholly gratuitous, useless, and unnecessary, upon the most selfish and godless calculations o f our own interests. We doubt not that sooner or later Affghanistan will be added to our conquests, and that, in all human probability, it may he added without a crime. AVhat has just happened in India shows us how the steps towards that part of Central Asia are being shortened for us by the acts of others, and, so far as at present appears, without any act o f criminality on our part. Rons ten! times the Tory he is said to be, he would, though not a faultless representative, be every way a more desirable Alember of Parliament than the candidate who is unfot tunately successful. U SELESS N A T IO N A L C IIIA IES. The important intelligence that has lately been received from India, affords one o f the most striking illustrations of the absurdity o f the many crimes by which our Asiatic empire has been built up. From the time ot the perpetration o f the atrocity which goes by the name o f the Black Hole o f Calcutta— an atrocity which, in the fullest sense o f the term, justified our first interference in the politics o f Hindostan, and our earliest conquest there, it was all but absolutely certain that i f we had never committed a crime; never violated a law ; never been animated by a spirit o f aggression; never gone one hair’s breadth beyond the just defence o f our own rights, and the assurance o f our own protection; we should one day or other find a great Indian empire growing under our hands, and the dominion o f the entire Peninsula, with God knows what adjuncts and dependencies, falling to our lot. I f we had any ambition, therefore, in India, that ambition might, with the strictest regard to our own interest, have been an honest one. Whatever crimes we may have committed have been follies as well as crimes. W e have robbed, plundered, and murdered, not from a wholesome appetite, but from a gluttony o f conquest; eager to gorge So at least it appears, i f we may take as true the unofficial, but by no means improbable narratives which have appeared in the Indian and English papers. AVe are as ready as any one can be to believe in the criminality o f the Indian Government when it is properly proved; but we are by no means disposed to take it for granted that among Asiatic Gnvernments the English alone is crim inal; that in every conflict between the Cabinet o f Calcutta and even the most barbarous, savage, and unprincipled o f native tribes, the scrupulous observance o f right and the absence o f ambition must always be on the side of that one of the two parties in whom right, law, and justice are naturally the least to be looked for. I t is supposed hy some writers that the apprehensions o f disturbance along our frontier from the Sikhs o f the Bunjaub has been entirely imaginary; that we have advanced our troops to the frontier with the deliberate intention o f conquest without provocation, and not as a measure o f defensive precaution; that the Sikhs, on the other hand, advanced to their side o f the frontier solely for the purpose o f defending themselves against our aggression; and that their actual invasion of British India, their commission of the first open hostility, have been purely defensive acts. AVe confess we can see no ground for believing m this version o f the story, nor with all our disposition to take for granted the habitual disregar o national rights with which our rulers 0 1 lere and in India are infected, do we see any justice in supposing without and even against evidence, — when the overt act o f hostility has not proceeded from us but from our enemies— that a horde o f blood-thirsty savages, such as the Sikhs are described to be, are mere simple innocents, so void o f guile and iniquity, that iu any contest between us and them we must be presumed to be the wrong-doers. A t the same time, we repeat again, that we judge on!}' from the evidence before us. In due time, other evidence, more or less garbled, must he laid before Parliament; and when we see that evidence, we shall be prepared to subject it to the most rigid scrutiny, and as ready to come to an unfavourable judgment against Sir Henry Ila rdinge as i f we had never written a line upon the matter. Until this evidence is produced, we must be permitted to believe, from the character o f the Sikh soldiery that alone is known iu England, that nothing is more probable than an unprovoked aggression upon their part, and from the condition o f the Punjaub during the last six years, that nothing was more necessary than to have our frontier well protected against attacks that might always be anticipated. In the first place, the Sikhs were, unlike the Scindians, not merely a warlike, hut an aggressive people. Under Runjeet Singh they had already once before been seen on the east of the Sutlej, ravaging and conquering, until their advance was stopped by an intervention. Peshawnr was a recent conquest of the late ruler of the Punjaub. Kashmir was another conquest; and, on the whole, the character o f this race, when not restrained hy a fear o f consequences, is, and has been, aggressive. Iu the second place, whether from a general dislike or jealousy o f the British power in India, our Government has always enjoyed a fair share o f the theoretical hostility o f this licentious soldiery. After the death o f Runjeet Singh (we take this fact from the latest writer on the Punjaub) Secret and even pecuniary overtures were made by NooNeha! Singh to the Courts of Nepaul, Caubul, and almost every other native power, to induce them to rise against the British from all quarters simultaneously. Upon one occa«ion he became so excited, when speaking of the British Government, in reply to some malicious representations made to him, as to draw his sword in ODen durbar (the levee), and proclaim his intention never to sheath it until he ilad measured himself with the English. This ridiculous vapouring earned for him the soubriquet of die Hotspur of the Sikhs ; but notwithstanding the disregard of his bravadoes by the British Government, it is tolerably certain that, had lie lived, a war with the Punjaub and NepanI would have been inevitable, and Afghanistan would have taken part in the quarrel.* The latest news from Lahore conveys a like notion o f fanatical hostility against the British on the part o f the whole population. But this we think it necessary to demonstrate by no proof, as it carries with it so obvious a probability. In the third place, it is to be noted that the animosity o f the Sikh soldiery has been di rected, not merely against the British, hut against all Europeans—even those fr °m "A'',se services they have derived so much benefit. A lter the death o f Noo Nelial Singh, an attempt was made hy the troops to murder all those Luropcan officers ivlin had been the faith 11 serv ants o f Runjeet Singh, and who had spen leir lives in an attempt to introduce among them those European tactics and discipline " 11c a one render them formidable enemies to us a le present time. Some were murdered, othe s had their houses plundered, and at length, under the present boy ruler, the soldiers auc«-eded in procuring the dismissal of the whole o f the European officers. AYe think that these three reasons, taken along with the positive evidence before us as to the fact, supply u) wlt ‘ a. tolerably strong warrant for thinking it ptooa ‘‘C that the representations made by the English writers in the newspapers o f the causes of this quarrel are not wholly without Inundation. It these facts he true, we say again, what an extraordinary proof do they furnish o f the folly and inutility o f the crime which we comimtted in our recent invasion o f Affghanistan. .A hat an intolerable lust o f conquest that we could not wait for the pear that was ready to drop ripe and rotten into our mouths! * “ The Puujaub ; being a Brief Account of th« Country of the Sikhs. By Lieutenant»Colcne^ Steinbacb.” London; Smith, Elder, and Co. 1845. )