Star. — London, England, 1825-02-28 00:00:00

GEARA alma= kEktrNc. Saturday, a General Meeting of his Majesty's Ca tholic subjects was held alit Freemasons' Halt, for thel urpose of considering the propriety of petitioning tile ouse of Lords against the Bill which patted the y Ouse of Commons on Friday night, for the suppres sion of unlawful Societies in Ireland. This meeting Was attended by the chief Catholic Nobility of Eng land and Ireland, and was otherwise most numerously and respectably composed. At one o'clock, his Grace the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal, took the Chair. He was surrounded by Lord Stourton, Lord Killeen, the Hon. Mr. Preston, Sir Thomas Esmonde, Bart. Mr. Coke, M.P. (of Norfolk), Mr. Grattan, M.P. &c. The Secretary read apologies, on account of indis position, from the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord De Clif ford, Lord Arundel, and Mr. Francis Canning; and their letters contained a strong expression of their ap probation of this meeting. Mr. O'Couturw was loudly cheered when he appeared on the hustings. The Noble CHAIRMAN, in opening the business of the day, requested the Secretary would read the requi sition, in pursuance of which the Meeting had been convened. This being done accordingly, the Chairman then addressed the Meeting. He said he felt the great kindness of those Gentlemen who had done him the hOnour of placing him in the Chair that day. It was to him a source of gratification to find himself sur rounded, as he was on this occasion, by so many of the most• distinguished of his English and Irish Catholic fellow-country men —(Applause)—to find them a firm and united body, hoping to obtain at length those sights which had been so long and so unjustly with held from them. He was also most happy to find him self supported at this Meeting by some of his distin guished Pi otestant fellow-country men. Thus sanc tioned, they had every reason to hope for the attain ment of those privileges which, whilst they conferred justice upon the Catholics, were also calculated to add to the general stability of the empire—(Applause). He should no longer trespass on their attention, but pro ceed to the general business of the day. Lord SrouuroN, in proposing the fist Resolution, which was declaratory of the propriety of petitioning, appealed zo the history of the past and to present ex perience throughout Europe in proof of the wisdom of putting an end to all invidious distinctions founded on . differences of religious opinion. Lord Kum= seconded the Resolution, which was carried unanimously. The Hon. Mr. PRESTON, in moving that a petition {which was read) be presented to the House of Lords founded upon the preceding Resolution, took the op. portunity of declaring his concurrence in the liberal and tolerant principles which had been expressed by his Noble Friends who had p eceded him. Sir Tuostas Esmoupe Bin. in seconding this mo tion, also expressed similar sentiments in behalf of the great cause of civil and religious liberty. . The question upon the Petition was then put, when Mr. O'CONNELL rose, and was greeted with loud cheers. lie feared he should have to trespass for some time upon their patience—a declaration which when once aiuweJ by a speaker, was generally carried by bun into effect—(A laugh). To lay before the English people the bitter grievances of his countrymen, he had left his Ironic and family—had suspended the profitable • emoluments of hi; profession (though he would not dwell upon his pi ivate loss) —he had made the sacrifices, to do what ?-;-to make an appeal to English justice—to petition for what ?—to be heard before they were con demned—to have their statements looked at before they were silenced. In England, and before her Parliament, had he sought justice, and the Legislature had spurned his petition—(Hear)—and this was the answer which a British House of Commons had given to the humble petition of seven millions (for that was the amount) of Irish Catholics, who merely supplicated that they should be heard before they were punished—tried before they were condemned —(Hear, hear). That petition for jus tice, the British House of Conamons had, in the face of Europe, spurned; and he had to return and tell these seven millions of his oppressed countrymen, that for them thecodeof justice was closed; the British House of Commons for them could only provide prescription. They dealt not in this sweeping and. compendious way with the black slaves of Africa ; and let them not think the people of Ireland would submit to perpetual degra dation and oppression-a-(Hear.) To the law they were bound to submit, and to this fresh accession to penalty they would bow their heads like obedient though in jured subjects ; but no man could expect their submis sion in silence—no man could tear from them the soli tary indulgence of complaint against grievances still to be borne: they would, at least,-he hoped, be allowed to clank their chains in the ears of their oppressors, and remind the authors of their wrongs of the extent of their infliction—(Hear,', hear). In coming here to vindicate the Catholic Association from the calumnies which had been heaped upon that body, he had even offered in their behalf to prove a negative. It was usual for the party who had a new law to enforce, to justify its ne cessity, instead of calling upon the party affected by it to shew his innocence ; but the Catholics had conceded to the Government that first great principle of human right, and offered to come forward and prove a negative ; and it was this petition which had been spurned from the British House of Commons. They had now to appeal to the people of England for the opportunity to make that vindication which their Representatives (some actual, some virtual) bad disallowed. Thus placed, he would first attempt to shew the people of England the necessity of the proceedings of the Catholics of Ireland. Secondly, he would explain the nature of the course they had taken. In the third place, he would meet and repel the assertions which had been uttered against them ; and fourthly, he would canvass the measure which was levelled at them, while yet there was an opportu nity, at the bar of public opinion in England, and ap peal to Englishmen through the means of that press which was destined to bear on the wings of truth the triumph of liberty over despotism among the nations of the world. This appeal he made to the justice, the honour, the bonesty—nay, the generosity of the Eng li'h People--(Hear, hear). To justify the necessity of the embodied action of the Irish Catholics, the Learned Gentleman went through in detail the prominent parts of Irish history. From the invasion of Ireland in the year 1172, down to the year 1612, the terms Irish sub ject and British enemy were synonymous; and the na tive Irish, who had for centuries petitioned to be put under the protection of Blitish law, were hunted down and exterminated like the beasts of the forest. To murder one of these Irishmen was ao crime at law, ex cept tale payment of a small fine; and Sir John Davis, he had not reddened his babas With ih blood of the de- ceased man, but that WM. Thompson was not his right! name, that it was Timothy O'Haly Drigeoll, who was a, native Irishman, and therefore out of the pale of the law.. In that trial, *hat the lawyers called a collateral issue, was joined, that the deceased was not a native Irishman, but Hibernices regis, and therefore' entitled to the protection of the law ; the result, however,. was, that the murderer was convicted, but adjudged— to what punishment ?—to the payment of a 6ne of three %arks !—(Hear). -In the reign of Mary, the Ca tholic religion was for a time enabled to raise its drooping head ; but in the succeeding reign of Elizabeth, the wasteful sword'of domestic war swept all Ireland. The Fitzgeralds and the Desmonds were too rich to be sub' bects, and the blood of the O'Neill; was shed in one arbarous detail of carnage and confiscation. Under the Government of Cromwell, too, the sword of the LORD and Gideon spread desolation through the land; but the Restoration gave stability to the throne, and took away from lawless ambition the chance of supreme power. But what was this Restoration marked by ? Why, the Duke of York, afterwards James 11. took no less than 80,000 acres of land, forfeited by those very Catholics who had fought and bled for Chide. I. yet after wards they drew the sword for that very Monarch. But James procured for them an unnatural alliance with the French, and the flag of that country waved over the walls of Athlone instead of the royal standard, while the hearts of Irishmen were the principal barrier against the enemy. But at the fatal field of Aughrim, King James fled; and partly by treachery, and partly by British valour, the Irish Catholics were defeated. Limerick was then capable of being defended for half a century, and could have resisted until congregated Europe went against them; but William offered ter ms 'of fairness, and a treaty was executed ; but, the Eldons, the Liverpools, and the Peels of that day were in power (cheers) —and that treaty was broken. How were they then treated? The Duke of Marlborough had raised the fame of the British arms to what was called then, as it was called now, the pinnacle of glory, and then the penal code was enactea—,that code which had so often elicited the eloquence of the sublime Grattan over whom we had wept—that code which Montesquieu had described as traced in letters of blood. It divided the husband from the wife—the son from the father— stripped property from those who had attained it, and rewarded the child the moment he dared to violate the command of GOD. He (the Learned Gentleman) was no Irish agitator, but let it not be deemed a crime when he taunted England with this atrocity. He, however, forgot and forgave it ; and he was ready to co-operate with England against the world at this moment, in or der to let his country and religion, which had been in sulted, be freed from the calumnious falsehoods which had been hurled against them. During the reigns of the two first Princes of the House of Brunswick, the Goulburns of that day came freighted from Ireland, where no four footed reptile breathed, but where ve nomous bipeds battened and fattened on the distresses of his countrymen ; they came over from period to pe riod with penal enactments interminable, until a third reign commenced. George HI. whose memory would be ever regarded with gratitude by the Irish people, over whose declining years we had wept, and at whose grave we should still linger with that recollection we had of a father or a friend, then a,cended the Throne. The Catholic Association then first existed—not by that name, to be sure.--but " A rose by say other name woild smell as sweet !" and it was called" the Catholic Committee." Its mock friends deprecated it as dangerous, and evinced the strongest enmity towards it. The Learned Gentleman then adverted to the present prosperous state of Ame rica. That country furnished a resting-place from the persecutions of a Holy Alliance, and there ten millions of people were improving on those institutions of hee l , dom and justice which were ever the concomitants of political happiness. But even With respect to the( country, the British Parliament had not been so unjust as to enact pains and penalties without a hearing, which; they had refused to the Catholics. He did not stand there to threaten, but to conciliate, and solicit, in the most humble terms, those rights of which his country men bad been deprived; and yet, at the bar of thi 1 House of Commons, he bad been refused even a hearing 4 The Catholic Committee continued its labours during the French revolution down to the unfortunate epoch a the Irish rebellion; and then it was surely necessary such an association should exist, to interfere between men and their passions. Then the Association did interpose its in• fluence to wean men from their spirit of revenge, excited by repeated cruelties and oppressions, and the refusal of justice. They set forth real liberty as preferable to that ephemeral and intoxicating draught of revolution ary licentiousness which poisoned France. The Catho lic Association commenced at a period when °rause men filled every office under the Government, in Ireland, from the highest magistrate to the lowest bailiff. One of the objects he had in view, in coming to this coun try, was to offer, at the'bar of the House of Commons, eviclence of the guilt ol the Orangemen. At that bar the Deputy Grand Master of the Orange Lodge had been examined, and there he had been shielded and' protected. He was ready to have proved, had he been permitted, at the bar of the House, that the secret •ath of the Orangeman was taken from the 68th Psalm, and it was to be found in the 23d verse—" That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies ; and that the tongues of thy .dogs may be red through the same." (A cry of "No.") He was very glad to hear that voice, l because he was now prepared to declare, that if that' voice could prove the negative, he would immediately give up the cause of Emancipation—(Loud applause.) The learned gentleman nest adverted to evidence which he had in his possession relative to the murder of a Ro man Catholic by an Orangman in the county of Armagh. He next alluded to the visit of his Majesty to Ireland. His countrymen had been termed wild and illiterate Irishmen, but with what heartfelt delight was his Ma jesty received ou the Irish shores; and with what ex-1 quisite sensibility did he manifest his solicitude for the happiness of his Irish people, when leaving their country. On that occasion he was stationed near his Majesty, and he could observe the satisfaction expressed in the Royal countenance, at the conduct, the loyal conduct.l of his Irish subjects. He could observe the tear of t manly sentiment glistening in his eye,and lie should carry to his grave the recollection of that tear, nor could he be deterred from the expression of his gratitude, if in one short half hour that grave should open for his reception. The conduct of the Irish people on that occasion was, in iced, above all praise. --not a voice, not a breath was be .rd, but in a spirit of true loyalty towards a kind and ►graded people.' Thal Oadsone Association was todfs• persealasto calks 'those feelings naturally arising from such ifijories,' and to interpose the shield of the law . against the Orange faction. Tranquillity had been pre served, by:the effortsof the Association, ftom the North to tilt? South of Ireland:-from the Giant's Causeway to Cap 4 Clear—fro/In the Ern to the. West—from the Hill of Howth to Mr. Martin's wide domains. The Learned Gentlemaa nest proceeded to advert to •the arguments which had been raised against the Association. The first was intemperance of speech ; the next, the fear that the Catholics would seize upon the tithes; interference with justice; and the language. of the address to the people, in which the word "bate" had been introduced. Four long nights of debate had been occupied in this discussion. With respect to the first point, he asked,' was intemperance of speech (even admitting the fact) ever made a ground of legislation ? Among old women, perhaps, the argument might have some weight; but in a House composed of wite legislatort, he was surprised that it had received even a moment's consideration. As to the second - objection, he could declare that Roman Catholics never once entertained the notion of taking any tithes. He would be ready at once to give up the cause of emancipation, if such a thought had ever found a place aniongst them.— If a Bill for their emancipation were passed, he would consent to its repeal whenever a single Catholic Priest, with the consent of a single parish, should become a tithe receiver —( Hear, hear). The address to- the Catholic people was prepared by him, and if they. thought it an unpardonable sin, they might except him out of the Bill for Catholic emancipation, but it should nOt be visited on the Association. But had any of those who had spoken of the address . with such sickly affectation and maudlin sentiment denied that', its object was peace? Had any of them dared to deny' that it had attained that object?—(Hear, hear)..•' If they had, he could have brought a host of Catholic Noblemen and Gentlemen to prove its success; and why did it succeed? Because it was sincere —(Hear, hear, hear). 'He addressed the reason, and feel.; ings, and passions of the people, and conjured theni by all they hoped or feared to abstain from acts of violence. He appealed also to their strong sense of the wrongs they had suffered ; and if he had omitted to appeal to that great motive, bow would he have been taunted? It would have been said, " You are an advocate; if' you were sincere in the cause of your client—the peace of the country—would you leave the principal witness uncalled,and his testimony without comment ?"—(Hear, hear). He did not excite to hatred—he did not justify' it; and yet was it not legitimate, after all, to hate the robber and the murderer ? though Goo forbid their persons should be the object of amp other feeling than charity. He would refer to a book which they all equally respected,the Bible,to spew that the term "hate," was not used in the lady-like manner contended for in the House of Commons. In Hopkins and Sternhold's translation of the 26th Psalm, it was thus used : " I much abhor the wicked sort, their deeds I do despise, I do not once to them resort that hurtful things devise. 0! shut not up my soul with them, in sin that take their fill, Nor put my life among those men that seek much blood to spill. For in their hands much mischief is, their lives therewith abound, And nothing else in their right hand but bribes are to be found r Perhaps it was the fear that hatred might be extend : to those in whose right hands I): ibes were to be foun that made some Honourable Gentlemen 1 have such a abhorrence of the expression—(Cheers and laughter). In the 139th Psalm, the Psalmist says, " Do not I hate them, 0 LORD, that hate thee; and Alla not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? Yea, I hate them tight sore, even as though they were mine enemies."- -It even the language of inspiration used the expression hatred, what became of the affectation that would con idemn its use, not for a purpose of mischief, but of peace? And.what contempt must be felt for those by whom such a use was condemned when their own practice was the hatred of oppression ?•—(Loud Cheers). The Catho lic rent had been condemned ; and it was said there were two books kept, a red and a black, and that those who did not subscribe were put in the black book. The as. sertion was as false as Goo was true—(Hear). Its false hood he was prepared to prove at the bar of the House 'of Commons, and he called on those who had made the assertion to fix the stamp of infamy on their informers. No real cause of offence was even imagined against the Catholic Association. He would ask of English justice, whether their enemies did not admit that nothing worse could be imputed ? No man had the criminal audacity of accusing the Association with having uttered one word injurious to the principles of religious liberty.— That shewed they had no ill-will to their Protestant fellow-subjects, or it would have escaped; it shewed more, that popularity was not to be gained amongst Irish Catholics by ill-will to Protestants :he had served his countrymen faithfully for 21 years, but had he given utterance to such a sentiment, his long services could not protect him from their just indignation—(Great Meerut:.) He was sincerely attached to the Catholic religion, because it extended its blessed charity to all mankind. . His Catholic countrymen sought for themselves the blessings of happy homes and altars free, with the fervent desire that all might be partakers. His ancestors had signed the treaty of Limerick, of which the present Bill - formed an additional violation. He called on Parliament to tatify the treaty for which they had received valuable consideration (Hear). It was said the Convention Act had been passed in Ireland, in 1793, to put down the Catholic Committee. That I assertion was also false. The Catholic Committee had obtained their object in 1792, and had dissolved before the Convention Act, which was passed against Jacobin meetings, which were, from the moment of their appearance in Ireland, opposed by the Catholics, and were met by Lord Fingall in the field, at the head{ of his yeomen—(Hear, hear). The present Act was - an Algerine Act, to prevent petitions from Ireland for the relief she wanted, and would never be satisfied till she attained —(Hear). Under that Act the ruffian Orangeman might break into his house under pre tence of a 9 illegal meeting, and tear him away from the companion of his life, the mother of his children (Hear). But he could endure it all—his fathers had endured more—and he would tell his children that there was a good GOD still to protect them„ and that there was a generous people in England, who would not allow the people of Ireland to be trod to the earth. The men on whom this Act of Parliament.was infl.cted had been caught in the fact of tranqualliziog Ireland, and they were punished—(Cheers). He would retain to his country with an additional badge of his slavery, but still he would tell his children there was hope; he would point out to them the proclamation of their be loved Sovereign to his Hanoverian subjects ; be would Majesty's faithful subject^ and mike them all is one heart and one mind in defence of their common country, and the inestimable blessing of equal laws, The Learned Gentkakis sat down ainitrst lend cheadng. • Mr. O'HANL9N shortly addressed the Meeting. • Mr. Sulam., in sport of tie liomah Catholic As■ sociation,-appealed to the characters of the persons of whom it was composed, and to the objects for which it was formed, and denied the Vatious charges made against it. He then complained, in animated terms, of the hardship of compelling the Catholic to beat all the expenses of a Protestant Church; or the imperfect ad ministration of justice; and of the exclusion of Korean Catholics from the higher offices of the State, and the most exalted professional situations. If he had nothing but the theory to establish the evils of the system, it was sufficient; but be had tnore—he had the authority of an - Englishman, a Peer; of a late Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who, he supposed, would be considered as au thority by the Government, to . prove that in Ireland there *as one hi* for the rich and another: for the poor—(Near, hear).—This was said by my Lord Re desdale, who, he presumed, was as good an authority as certain lawyers who had been converted into legis lators ; and who reminded him of those beautiful lines in one of that celebrated Poet, Moore's, songs, where, speaking of Ireland, it is said— 9 Uukticerrn are bet sons till they learn to betray; Undistfnguished they live if they shame not their sires ; And the torch that would light them to dignity's way, Must be caught from the pile where their country expires!' ; —(Load dicers).—He would place the statement of my Lord Iletlesdale against the dictum of Mr. Doherty. Mr. Justice Fletcher, the purity of whose life and cha racter had never been sullied by the breath of calumny —(Cheers)---told the Grand. Jury s f Wexford, that in ithe Not th of Ireland the Orangeman, with arms in his hands, frequently fell upon the defenceless Catholic, and assassinated him ; and when brought to trial for it, was acquitted—( Hear, hear).—Mr. Secretary Peel, in speaking upon this subject, said he believed Mit. Justice Fletcher had.changed his mind before hit death. Was this the way to get rid of such an authority as Mr. Justice Fletcher? But Mr. Justice Fletcher never did change his mind upon that subject. He had had the honour of that Learned Judge's acquaintance, and he assured the Meeting, that shortly befote his death, he reiterated the same sentiments. But he bad another authority, whom he was sure Mr. Secretary reel would like very much, he meant no less a personage than Mr. Baron M'Cleland himself—(Hear, hear and a laugh).— 'f hat Learned Judge, not long since, beseeched: his bre thren (the Orangemen)—he knew not whether the Learned Judge had ever been an Orangeman,—he beseeched, he implored his brethren, the Orangemen, to deal out impartial justice to a Roman Catholic then on his trial—(Hear,hear). Beseech them to administer justice impartially ! Why what was this, but an ad mission that it was not otherwise to be expected? Did they imagine that this was an act of judicial superero gationton the part of the Leatned Judge? No such thing. He who lived in Ireland knew these matters better. In England, indeed, the case was different. What would the people of this capital think if they heard my Lord Chief Justice Abbott beseeching, im ploring an English Jury to do justice to an accused paw -1 son, no matter of what religious persuasion ?—(Hear). Would they not feel it as a stigma ) as a reps oath, nut only to the Jury, but to the country at large ? He had still another authority to produce in support of his argument, that of Mr. Justice Moore, who upon oue occasion said he feared he should be . obliged to call in the military, to protect him in the administration of justice from the Orangemen, by whom the Court was crowded—(Cheers).—After some further observations, the Learned Gentleman, in conclusion, congratulated the Catholics both of Englrnd and Ireland, upon a union of interests. They were both bound by the same chain, but by pulling together they. would break that chain, and relieve themselves from the thraldom in which they had been so long kept —(Applause).—His efforts to attain that end should be unceasing; and trust ing to the Almighty Disposer of Events, he should say, in the language of his daily orison," Thy will be done.' (Loud and repeated cheering.) A vote of thanks was then proposed to those Members of the House of Commons who advocated the Catholic claims, which was carried with acclamation. The Duke of Norfolk then left the Chair, and Lt rd /Wren was unanimously placed in his stead. Mr. O'Cowunt proposed the thanks of the Meeting to his Grace, for the uniform zeal which be bad ever evinced. Lord &WILTON seconded the motion, which was carried unani mously. His Grate returned thanks; and the Meeting adjourned at bait past six o'clock. ANOTHER FIRE IN HOLBORN. Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening of yesterday, a fire broke out at No. 218, Holborn, within four dooy of Little Queen-street, the lower part f which was occupied by a grocer, and the upper held as a Dancing Academy, known by the name of the " Blooms bury Assembly Rooms." The fire is supposed to have commenced in the basement story, and there being a large stock of inflammable matter in the rear, in less than half an hour the house was on fire from the cel larage to the roof. The wind blowing at the time ra ther smart from the North-wen, the house on the right, which is N 0.219, the Sun and Punchbowl wine-vaults ; and the premises in the rear, a large timber-yard in Little Queen-street, were discovered to be on fire. A 'timber of engines arrived, and the plugs bring drawn, a plentiful t•upply of water enabled them to do much efficient service in the rear, though every attempt to save the Sun and Runch-bowl proved ineffectual. The principal point of attraction was in Little Queen-street, on account,of the immense quantity of dry deals, &c. which were known to be on Mr. Vizer's premises, to'. gether with the large flakes of fire carried by the breeze to the house-tops, created very serious appre hensions for the security of the entire squire of buildings from Drury-lane to Little Queen-street. — At half-past eight, the front of the house, No. 218, in which the fire originated, tumbled into the street with a tremendous crash, and within an hoar the Sun and Punch-bowl shared the same fate. The house on the left, No. 217, occupied by Mr Long, veterinary surgeon, was repeatedly on fire in the rear, in consequence of the guerdons and other connect ing timber work.of No. 218 having continued binning; but chose appearances of tonilagration were as often checked by copious di..charges from the engines. At hall-past ten o'clock the fire might be said to have been completely mastered, though here and these the oilcan turned timbers would burst into a sheet-lived, fitful flame. No correct estimate could possibly be made of )- ceps the payment of a small fi ne; an d Sr John Davis, the Irish Attorney-General of King James I. reported tri; IC .1 7" , us Soy u: w ee a r s ig piitt n— tcr . Cliee true ra toyatty tows a &MU SUM aw•w. WI o .‘a w. 518 1 W Lux ."..........". -7-7--- • --- - - ••••••••"• '"" '''"':•`"` ""'""""'`' `•"`""' '"""JI ''''"-- -- And yet, in the ieign of tell them i it was mpbsstble that the just and generous the loss sustained by the respective neetrpeirs of the the case of the murder of a man named W. Thompson; knis King it was, that a new penal law was to be people of England should long , remain parties to their thrte preal!es, but there is no • doubt 111141101 4 11 taint it and what was the defence_of the murderer ?—not that Passed, adding new afflictions to an oppressed and de. oppression. He %%mild tell them that the same sun of has been very considerable. At 0.! Ittrticr 12 A r. ) 1 . % , .. •• • . . .. - , - - _„_ • "'" >, `'" • 1 -onagor .....0 , . - __ _ ----- -0 , ...:=4. ,, -----timg., -- - w•pi...-.. -- -- - - - 7 - - - --6.......--- ... A 1 II :