THE "NO POPERY" TORIES.
" Tun Ministerialists are evidently in an agony of terror, from having heard that Sir ItonsaT Pass means to spare them no longer, but to be down upon them, with the honest indignation of all England at his back, as soon as Parliament meets. Most fer- vently do we hope and trust that Sir bonnier PEEL will in no de- gree disappoint either their fears or the hopes of his loyal Pro- testant fellow countrymen. The time has come to crush these millions of Romanism—these paltry dependents upon an Irish con- spiracy against the British Protestant Constitution. We hope, and we believe, that a blow will be struck, and that immediately upon the meeting of Parliament." Such is the announcement of Conservative expectations and in- tentions in the llforning Post of the 12th instant. If our contem-
porary speaks advisedly, Whig placemen may rejoice and be glad.
Their tenure will be prolonged. The menaced blow will not stun them. If Sir ROBERT PEEL has consented once more to hoist the
banner of " Protestant Ascendancy," he is deluding the party
which owns him for leader. " My chief difficulty," said Sir Ro- BERT in May last, " lies in Ireland." What has been done towards
removing that " chief difficulty ? " Possibly some immaterial ad- vantage may have been gained on the registries ; but it was to the hostile feeling of the Catholic millions that Sir ROBERT alluded, and this exists in undiminished intensity. We are not disposed to exaggerate Mr. O'Cossurs;s influence in opposition to a Tory Government, and the warlike menaces lie utters may be safely dis- regarded. Let the Conservatives, however, recollect that, in the deliberate and avowed opinion of their leader, Ireland was the most formidable obstacle to his projected Administration.
As a set-off against Irish hostility, it may be alleged that Ministers have lost ground in England since Sir ROBERT PEEL'S defeat last spring by the Court Ladies, and that pro tanto the Oppo- sition must have gained. The conclusion is not so irresistible as Tories would gladly believe. Grant that the progress of Lord • MELuounsE and his colleagues has been continually downwards,' proof that the Tory Opposition have risen in public estimation is wanting. It may be that both the two great parties have declined 'in credit with the thinking people of England. This we take to be the truth. Inquiry into the causes of Whig declension is needless ; but if time Conservatives occupy a less favourable position than
- they Might have commanded, it iS.in etinsetlitenee Of their appeals' tn ignorance arid bigotry, by Which the rational and sober-minded
portion' of the public have been disgusted. Men of • sense scout the idea of danger to the "British 'Protestant Consti.- tution " ftom the admission of Mr. Wisn and 'Mr. &MIL to the
Privy Council; yet daily and weekly has the appointment of these
two gentlemen to subordinate Offices in the Government been paraded as proof of a deadly conspiracy against the Protestant Church ; and because the Queen's declaration of her intended marriage contained nothing affronting to a large proportion—fully one-third—of her European subjects, the readers of Conservative newspapers and the listeners to Conservative orators have been assured that the omission proceeded from a treacherous disposition in the Government to undermine the Protestant faith. Let it not be said that only the obscure followers of the party resort to these practices. The Times leads on the Tory press in striving to stir up " Protestant" animosity to Catholics ; a very able :Ind tingaished member of the party, Mr. Timis:ea, dwelt upon the same subject in his recent electioneering speeches at Newark ; ard now the Morning Post informs us that Sir Romtryr PEEL unbent to strike a blow at the ;Hinisters, not for their incapacity and faults as statesmen, but because they are " millions of Romanism." It is useless, therefore, for cautious Conservatives to p' tend that only the BaAnsnAws and ROBYS rail at Romanisni, and that those of highest influence in the Opposition discountenance the proceed- ings of the " Protestant " party. The contrary is seen to be the truth; and to this conviction may be attributed the revival of Anti- Tory feelings, which our private inthrmation, as well as observation of public talks, induces us to believe has actually taken place to a considerable extent : not respect for Ministers, but abhorrence of Toryism. "We will not allow this High Church faction again to Me rough-shod over the country : dissent from the Church shall not be treated as equivalent to disaffection to the State." This, or of similar import, is the language of some men of weight, hitherto accounted Conservative, but in whom inclination to resist the rein- statement al-Ugh Churchism is stronger than aversion to the offi- cial Whigs. The Tory politicians of the " No Popery" sect have succeeded in stimulating a class of their own supporters to zealous exertion, but in the process have aroused a sleeping foe, on whose repose the best chance of Conservative victory was founded. Both in and out of Parliament Sir ROBERT PEEL Will experience the effects of their displeasure. And if the " blow " he means to strike be levelled at Ministers for their refusal to act upon " Pro- testant Ascendancy" principles, he will do well to prepare for its recoil.
SHERIDAN said of the Whigs in 1806-7, that be had often heard of men who knocked their heads against a wall, but never, till GRENVILLE and GREY were Ministers, of men who built up a wall themselves for the purpose of fatal collision. Now the Catholic question was the Tory " wall" in the Duke of WELLINGTON'S
time : it stood right in his path—but what, did the warrior of a hundred fields? He threw it down; and if the Tories had been wise they might have walked over it, and established on the other side a rampart good against all assaults. Instead of which. many self-styled Conservatives have been for some time, and are now, sedulously employed in rebuilding the wall which the Duke levelled with the earth. Surely the Whigs of 1806 were not greater fools.
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