1825.] 
[ 263, ] 
.. POLITICAL OCCURRENCES, &e. 
= 
¢¢ BF the dissolution of Parliament 
should take place shortly, so soon 
after the defeat of the Catholic Question, 
it is considered that a great accession of 
strength will accrue to the Anti-catholic 
_party—that is, one side of the Ministry will 
be strengthened, and the other weakened. 
But the weakened party, by far the ablest 
in talent, may be disgusted, .and retire ; 
and then what becomes of the stronger, 
thus denuded and exposed? The cause of 
Catholic Emancipation is obviously be- 
trayed in the Cabinet, if its adherents suffer 
the election to take place and continue in 
office.”” 
These considerations, if indeed the 
subject has been in consideration, seem 
to have had their weight: for it is now 
pretty generally believed in well in- 
formed circles, that no dissolution will 
take. place. It is said that the King 
himself, by advice of Lord Harrowby, 
and others of his more moderate coun- 
sellors—even of the Earl of Liver- 
pool, has put his direct negative upon 
the measure. Others, indeed, affirm, 
that the question has never been even 
in contemplation ; and that, during the 
whole time in which the politico-stock- 
jobbing rumour has been afloat, there 
has never been that degree of general 
attendance of cabinet ministers in coun- 
cil, which the consideration of such a 
subject would naturally require. If a 
certain party in the cabinet have been 
desirous of such a measure, in the 
hope, as is suggested, of turning out 
eighteen or nineteen of Mr. Can- 
ning’s partizans, by means of the No 
Popery war-whoop, it must have been 
with a view of so weakening his in- 
fluence in the House of Commons, and, 
by consequence, his weight in the Coun- 
cil, as might probably have induced him 
to resign. ‘But who have they to sup- 
ply his place, or confront him on the 
benches of Opposition ? 
We have reason to suspect that the 
affairs of Greece have occupied the at- 
tention of the Privy Council much. 
more than the dissolution of Parliament. 
Greece is indeed a puzzling question. 
That it will be permitted to fall again 
under the dominion of the Turks we do 
not believe :—but the crisis perhaps 
may come—perhaps may not be dis- 
tant, when it must be decided whether 
it shall be the protégé of England, or a 
province to Russia. 
The Burmese war has not closed. 
Resistance, on the contrary, has met 
our forces at every step, and the con- 
test rages fiercer than ever. Three 
thousand British troops, at the last 
accounts, were buried in tangled fo- 
rests and impervious swamps, while 
50,000 Burmese had collected in Sir 
Archibald Campbell’s rear, menacing 
Rangoon, and rendering retreat de- 
struction, The attempts to conquer a 
vast empire, and a warlike people, with 
such a force, seems little short of in- 
sanity. It is now plain, that all the an- 
ticipations of success lately entertained 
were mere romance. The next accounts 
are awaited with extreme anxiety. All 
that perseveruuce and bravery can ac- 
complish we may hope from our troops, 
but their scanty numbers raise fearful 
forebodings. 
It is stated from Port-au-Prince that 
“* The - President Boyer, has left that 
place for Cape Haytian with all his staff, 
secretary of state, secretary general, &c. 
and that the people there are quite dissa- 
tisfied with the arrangement with France, 
and fancy they have been sold.” 
Cape Haytien, it should be recol- 
lected, was the seat of Christophe’s 
government, but fell into the hands of 
Boyer on the termination of the con-. 
test between them. It is the point, 
therefore, in which the popularity of - 
the President is the least to be de- 
pended on. 
Proceedings have been instituted 
against the two best known and most 
esteemed Parisian Journals, for their 
attacks on the Ministry and the Je- 
suits, which, of course, in the indict- 
ment, are described as attacks on the 
Church and the Government of France. 
By the last law on the press, the public 
prosecutor, in attacking a journal, is 
not bound to present any specific ar- 
ticle as containing the libel, but may 
collect the political discussions of a 
whole year, and ask the court to de- 
cide on their tendency. If the Cour 
Royale, in its wisdom (with the assist- 
ance of a jury) thinks that the ten- 
dency of the cited articles is either anti- 
monarchical, anti-religious, or anti-mo- 
ral, it may suspend the publication, or 
decree its final suppression. In this 
case the requisitoire, or information of 
the attorney-general Bellart, which is 
given in a supplement to the Etoile, 
demands from the court the suspen- 
sion of the Constitutionel and Courier 
Francaise for three months. Hap- 
pily the tribunals have, for the last 
twelve. months, participated with the 
press 
