176 Notes for the Month. [FEB. 



insurrection were our object ; as if we intentionally, and of purpose, post- 

 poned all decision, until the period which the aggrieved parties will find 

 most convenient for insurrection ; and when no one we believe can doubt, 

 that successful or not it will arise ! It might be policy to grant to the 

 Catholics those liberties which they are entitled to. Or it might be 

 policy to take such measures as should cripple their means of offence, 

 or exasperate them into resistance immediately. But the policy of waiting 

 sure that they will resist for the time when they may be able to 

 resist most advantageously we confess is a refinement which we are 

 at a loss to comprehend ! 



Our purpose here, however, is not the discussion of the merits of the 

 Catholic Question any farther than as that question forms one of the 

 circumstances most important to the peace and security of England, 

 which will be affected by the return of the Tory party to office. It is 

 not that we apprehend any immediate consequence (of moment) from 

 the disappointment of the Catholic party in Ireland. A few insolent, 

 rather than violent speeches, will be made by the more vulgar dema- 

 gogues ; and a few partial burnings take place of the property or persons 

 of the Orangemen : but here the matter will rest for the present. But 

 the spirit which produces these outrages will not die; nor will it 

 rest here. It will go on, gaining strength from repression, and wait only 

 for the first symptom of embarrassment in the affairs of this country 

 to shew itself broadly and openly. It will then burst out in organized, 

 and perhaps incurable rebellion ; and we shall have enough to do to 

 regret that the time has been lost when such a result might have been 

 prevented. The subject of Catholic claims is one only of many, which 

 will be affected by the return of a Tory administration to power ! But 

 it is a subject which we look at with peculiar anxiety ; because, while it 

 is one of paramount importance, it is also one upon which a change, or 

 even a modification, of the old policy, we fear, cannot be hoped for. 

 The distribution of offices in the new government, it is not possible at the 

 present moment to speak with accuracy ; but it is stated that Mr. Hus- 

 kisson stays in. For the post of Premier it matters very little who has 

 it the Duke of Wellington, perhaps, is the more likely candidate to 

 succeed ; for Mr. Peel has no " birth" to bring to market nothing 

 but his character and talent; claims to which his friends of the "aris- 

 tocracy" do sometimes defer, but always with great wry faces and ill- 

 will. In the mean time, a new party is said to be forming in the House 

 of Commons, to be headed by Lord Althorpe : a nobleman, who we sus- 

 pect is qualified to take a more active part in public affairs than he has 

 been used to do. 



Bursting of the Thames Tunnel. We regret to state that our appre- 

 hensions, expressed six months since, as to the event of this undertaking, 

 have been realized. On Friday, the llth inst., only a few weeks after 

 the damage occasioned by the first irruption had been repaired, the 

 water burst in the tunnel a second time, filled it almost in an instant, and 

 destroyed six of the labourers employed; several other individuals, and 

 among them M. Brunei, junior, himself, escaping almost by miracle. 

 This rather rash, and certainly useless enterprize, may now, therefore, 

 we suspect, be considered as at an end. Not the slightest blame can 

 attach to M. Brunei, or to any of the engineers employed; but the pre- 

 dictions of most rational people are fully borne out as to the practicability 

 of the work : besides that, even the most sanguine see now very clearly, 





