The Roman Catholic Archbishop of DUBLIN has published a pastoral
letter to the clergy of his diocese, which marks a new mt..% in Irish politics. The Liberal and Catholic Prelate has manfully come forth to vindicate the Charitable Bequests Act of the Peel- Conservative Government : and a capital case he makes out for it. He shows that it places the Roman Catholic on the same footing with the Protestant in Ireland, and in some respects on a better footing than the Protestant in England; that it confers substantial benefits on the Roman Catholic Church, in facilitating the suc- cession of its office-bearers to corporate property; and that it fulfils the precise wishes expressed by the Bishops themselves in 1841, when they desired some measure to put their charities on the same footing with Protestant charities, and the appointment of one of their own creed to a seat at the Board. This last proof damns the recent agitation, and ought to cover the Prelates who have countenanced it with shame. Sir ROBERT PEEL has given them the very thing that they vainly asked of Lord Moarsru ; and instead of gratitude, they meet the gift with contumely. The plain and mild terms in which their dishonest inconsistency is exposed by Dr. MURRAY, simply in stating the facts, must restore a better feeling among the more candid Catholics. As Dr. MURRAY comes forth, Mr. O'CONNELL retreats ; retiring hastily and unexpectedly to Darrynane. His pertinacious agitation against the act, tried up to the very last moment, has failed ; and it looks as if he could not face the rebuke conveyed in the Arch- bishop's pastoral letter. His sudden discomfiture, and the sudden turn of fortune in favour: of the bill, remind one of those stage- rescues where some fair dame apparently at the mercy of brigands is unexpectedly relieved by a gallant gentleman, whose mere pre- sence triutnphs over the daring band, while the chieftain of banditti hurries off to a dismal dungeon or a Tartareau abode haunted by blue devils. As O'CONNELL has sustained a reverse, divers of his quondam friends, with more safety than "ge- nerosity, seize the occasion to assail him. The Whig papers in England have made a dead set at him. Their language, against him and for the measure that he has reviled, might have been trans- ferred to any Ministerial journal. The hollowness of his complaints against the act is exposed with exulting minuteness. A very little while ago, whoever ventured to censure O'CONNELL was repri- manded°by the Whig writers, contemplating perhaps some possible renewal of the Lichfield House compact: there is no such tender- ness now. When Dr. JOHNSON was charged with abusing GAB.- RICK after defending him from others' abuse, he answered, "Garrick sir, is my dog, and no one else shall kick him!" O'CONNELL is the Whigs' dog, and the relation just now is shown in kicks. He does not serve any purpose to the party, and is for the time at a discount.
The change is one of promise for Ireland. By this direct alli- ance between the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the State, not only will many sources of mutual suspicion be at once removed, but opportunity will be secured for mutual explanations; not with distant and imperfect communication, but in the quiet and unseen discussion of official communications. A great mass of bad feeling must be ipso facto abolished. It is plain that all parties now per- ceive the use that may be made of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Government in obtaining practical measures of improvement. He has given to the Catholic Church a recogn ized relation to the State, itatierarchy a defined rank : to mention those facts is to announce a totally new wra in Irish history. More reconcilements must follow. By accept- ing the good thus held out, Dr. MURRAY and his friends are set- ting an excellent example in using England and English• parties for the good of Ireland.
