Star. — London, England, 1829-02-13 00:00:00

I to the orange societies se He was far from being ;a member of both. They 'elevation of the Bi in n which. it vi odd appear, e determined to dissolve. e wouLl take every op. ry Ber t Session of Parliament he House and oat of.t h M institutionally. to oppose e measures. he conceived, the British Costitutio”. ifeseft were Oedered to a Petition in favour of e RonsanCatholics in the parish of. Swine, Hon. Member observed, eject were well kno wn . a Petition against Cato parish on the county of r expressed his su prise r y to offer an apology rick Club. while a Prince ;upon the British Throne. ow hit:melt a member of d lived long in Ireland, uric pursue) there merle it to become a member-04 on. It had been stated Ireland laboOted arose es ; but, if ,the matter uni that the present high 'spied a rote t ut of theca.. w. Ile, for his part, was I were considered whole ref e deemed dangerous on ig for such a cour,e here iti.ution. There was or e on.in which it presented The whole population of , en computed at tromp. millions were Protestants, tining fee millions, their Abe the leading objects of ly•st a loss to account for wiii isehy an inferiority of he !otter,_ there should be :ircurnstanCes. When he on, and intelligence on the hem on the other, he was the . +ittuition in which the cite clear that those wfio e minority had reduced the it present course of piece ,how ever, that theforce of >erati•e upon them to look Admiral Evans) had beets [y, and possessed an inhabitants; and. he. was • very credit for their MO.' that, by the violence of every Protestant was m id, that his own life had rig Magistrate—be Meant by the Netts froth their As to the measure of but oppose it; for, if he . e would not, consider it a •by giving up his, sword— an Honourable Gentleman thought the Catholic Asti,- same Hononrable tentle g tbe.King's Speeds, which its; yet be confessed him sociation—Wear, heary.— nber could mermen* these is at k loss to conc: ave.— !: about to be taken to s u p- La, in their adoption the as certainly departed from, sough as to their object ; fur w existed at the disposal of lament did not appropriate mach right to congratulate use hi esplanatinn. He begged right. He had not called the rot even the Bittoserftk Ctubs. Ition front the Rontast Catholic Mary, Athlone, in favour of gave nodes of a Bill tor Ti • • Tesented a Petition from Cappo• If Catholic Emancipation. 'anted a Petition from tertain of Dissenters rending in London of Catholic Emancipation. rented Petitions train the Roman On the county of Longford, and Ind, in favour or Catholic Soma- for Returns respecting the made a. I Petitions in favour of Catholic Kilivery, in the county of Ar ian Raptilino, In the same county ; I from a Parish in Tyrone. T►e Petition from the Perish of Ar tting Att. the EXCHEQUER rose he Archbishop and Clergy shut granting further con. olics. The Right florour. e senses affixed to this Po ls who were well known to ling, eminent piety. sire scharge of all 'their ditties. s long personal .acquaint derteke to say in addition te ire before the House with those idiom it went to ble view of ptotecting the charge. Neither were they: vet before the House, this on which the/ bad come be. lestion, notwithstanding the ad been agitated. They had If enmity either now or be of those to whom they had both temporal and spiritual . g forborne tuezpress tha► • rt; but having seen a more tablishect Church of Ile' flounced a curse to the na. tey would have been el it reposed in them if the? protect the Church kilt/ oman Catholics. Sure the Lions to protect their PP' itintenante of - them, it was d to make, and to which listen. Formerly he (the er) bad concurred with.the opposition to the tette node of preserving -these pursued a different ceutw► ly •to the. impottonct Pi dtelthnt rigfts; but from tt belief that the sitttttion of • the country placed them . between the chance of two evils; and he believed that the immediate evil of .a disunited Government, a divided Legislature, and an *ticked public, was likely to prove more prejudicial than the adoption of the. course proposed by his Ma jerty's Ministers. He would not now enter into an ex planation of the particular reasons which had produced a change upon his mind, but he would take the oppor tunity of doing so on some- future occasion during the Consideration of the question. Lord MILTON.saw that the Petition just presented was deserving of the utmost attention, coming from such grave and Reverend persons, but, above all, from what the Right Honourable Gentl e ma n had stated, that during the whole period in which the question had been under consideration, this was only the third time in which they bad obtruded themselves upon the attention of the House. It was natural that persons placed as they were should be watchful that no stepi should be taken by the 'Legislature for the subversion of the Protestant teli ion.g This was not only n a tu r al, b u t smatter o f d u ty. There was no question in which he, as an individual, felt greater anxiety, and he should greatly grieve, in ' deed, if any step were taken by the House, or if he should take any step, that would have the slightest tendency to subvert the Prole tent religion. He could n"t'help, however, referring to the Petition presented by his Noble Friend (Lord John Russell) from the Dissenting Minis ters. It was imposible that those men should not be 'opposed to Catholic encroachments; arid it appeared. to him- that they had taken a wiser view cf the ques tion than they had whose Petition had been presented by -the Chancellor of the Exchequer. They lived sur rounded by the religion to which they were adverse, 'but that did not, perhaps. make them the best and 'calmest jndges of political matters. He thrught the Protestant religion was too deeply rooted to be sub vetted by giving what was called—but, in his opinion, miscalled—political power to the Catholics. The admission of some Members into that House, and a dozen or a score, if they reached that amount, into the other House, would only be drawing the teeth of their grievances. It was alleged that the Protestant Church could not be maintained with out exclusion. Was not that denying that it stood upon the bask of the Scriptures? He had every proper respect for the Catholic religion ; but he considered that, taking it in the mass, is was nisi the best calculated to flourish in a free and enlightened country. He believed that a great part of its evil arose from the political in stitutions of the country tit which it was. It had dif ferent aspects in France, Italy. and Spain ; and where the Government was enlightened it partook of its cha raeter.—Petition laid ipon the table. The CHANCELLOR orate EXCHEQUER preseined a Ped. den from the Bishop of Elphin ad the Clergy of rbht ikeoese itainst Catholic Emancipation. The Right ,Hoe. Member also presented Petitions from the Inhabitants of Portarlown and the Parishes of Tualatin and May against the Catholic Cairns. ands for the suppression of the Atiociaticio, aid the disfranchisement of the forty shilling freiholders.—Ordered to lie on the table. Lord CLEMENTS presented Petitions from the Catholic in habitants of the parishes of Tartu, Clare, and Stafford, in favour of' Emsacipa ion. Lord NEWBOROUGH preshited Petitions from the parish and district of Bangor ; from a Congregation, of Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, In the county of Carnarvon • from the parish of Car-1 inseam; and from the bur:awes and inhabitant of a town in the county of Carnarvon," ik favour oftbi Catholic Claim. THIL MIT IPFTITIOS. Sir EDWARD KNATCHB.ULL said, that he bad . even notice . of his intention to present the Petition in his hind to-night; with a View to the aieommOditinn of Many GiotleMen who were interested in it, and he hoped be bad tuceksied in his object. The petition to which he had referred was from the freeholder.' in the county of Kent; assembled at the usual place of meeting, under the auspices of the. High Sheriff, for the purpose of taking the Catholic Question Under consideration. • With perfect justice be could say. that there had beers no meeting on any similar occasion More numerous, mince respectable, or more decorous, or in which thy[ question to be determined had niet *kb. i Mori uisequivoial decision. He knew that it was not easy for any one party, in such cases, to be brought to admit the success of the other ; end be would not inter into any discussion of what the precise mai"eit7 Wright be. He would content blame , by saying that the High Sheriff, than whoin no man would better have discharged his duties, .de cided that his .(Sir Edward Knatchbull's) side of the qtfeitian was carried by an immense majo r ity. The Meeting was called for reasons conceived to be impe rative by those who called it. The agitated state of • Ireland, admitted by Government to be most alarm ing. weighed greatly with those Who called that Meeting. They viewed the r.:aiholie AssoCiation as Government viewed it, as dangerous to the State, when they heard of money being forwarded to it from foreign countries to create disunion and encourage dis affection. Under these circumstaneeethey felt that they were tendon*• a great service in the country in elicit ing the opinit.n of the county Kent for the instruc tion of his Majests's GovernMeot. He addresied the House under very different feelings from those with which hi had hoped to Address it, He did not pretend to coneeal that he addressed the House onder . teelings of great and deep disappuintinent.• dis;i4oint relent was not occs.ioned by the perseveranee. .and he • might say success, of shoe HonOtirable Gentlemen who had theOughoilt adios atbd the CWtolit dams honour ably and consis:entiy, bat it aria needs - toned by arose avbb had lately taken than under thir protection; and' with whose reasons for so doing he was not satisfied. He candidly confess d that the question itself bad not ope rated-on h m so strongly as the way in which it bad been carried ; for, as he had opposed it throughout with perfect sincerity•and with undeviating ptipaple, so be *mid dictate, with ittriVl shicerity.'dmt, if tbe Measure proposed to b": adopted wire cartied tenet h, be trusted that it would be productive Of that goal - tablets had bt en anticipated. If, in touching upon the subject, he had dropped any thing that might le considered reproachful, it would afford him one consolation that it hid Oct - toted it a Paid! , prelinsittety tb the general dia. cutsion, and &nibs rid of the* warm dhsertradohi re- Bulling from a hist approach to the question, would .enable them aft, mar& to beet it with calmnesi. It id been said that those whO thought with hilts hid & been it, eased by the purpose of abstidonieg the Right Hon. Gentleman who had introduced the measure of adjustment. This had been insinuated by a Noble Lind • teprerentatiie for Cambridge, altheu"gh he was sure the Noble Lord did not mean seriously to convey an imputation of the kind. They could not be said to be iral.eitild by sbch Motives, and he would state that they had been guided by nothing but the hope of a sate- fatter? iesult. He had reflected much upon the matter, and he iireld not in any Pay satisfy his mind why the piopoteJ thelsnre might not as well have been brought inmerd under Mr. Canning's Administration as now. lit Irtd 'opposed Mr. Canning on the same grounds, and be Thought himself tight in doing so; end he would think Mellen fight its Opposing the Right Hen. Sem . -tary until he had obtained other information thin he had yet reeeived. While be made this avowal tie begged iti to he dlstilittly iftkletttbod that trelbilelleditlit meaning being give* to his expressions that would imply a , charge against thit Right Hon. Gentleman having, irk the course lie bid taken, been actuated by loin Of office. Still, however, he (Mr. Peel) might repel such is charge. and however willingly be (Sir E. Knatchbull) would bear•bim out in so doing, the change that had Occurred could not but prbdbee i great moral erect, and nothing could remove 'die (Newt that must follow it. It had been said, -thaebecatise they were not likely to be successful in. their opposition, they should not continue it, but join in the general sentiments of the House. He confessed that he heard such a doctrine with astonishment, and that astonishment was not lessened from the circumstance of its proceeding from two official organs of the constitution—the Solicitor- General for Ireland' and another Hon. Gentleman. If this principle were to be adopted—if, on the first ap proach to a question, it might be given up on the plea that there was no chance of succeeding—what would be the issue ? Let him stypiese that the emergency of a case did not eiist to the same extept as this, he would ask Gentle men would they be satisfied with receding from the Ties tion if they thought it would not be successful? Woold they not rather return to it again and again? He was con vinced that they would persevere ; and so would he and those who entertained the same opinions as himself. He could, however, assure the Right lion. Gentleman, that any opposition to be made to his intended measures would net be mixed with any feeling of / faitii.us Oa tore, and should be entitely the :emit of a conviction of the injury which the constitution would receise from the admission of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects to political power. This was, he admitted, a question upon which, beyond all others, it was proper to obtain the sense of the people of the country at large.— But, whatever steps may be adopted for the put. pose, he (Sir . Edward Knatchbull) would be no party to the excitement of any intemperate or improper feeling which should only disoi b without enlighten ing the public mind. He should not he a party to any proceeding, and 'he did no; believe that any of those Gentlemen who entertained the same opinions as he did upon the policy of the present toe sores would have recourse to any measures of that sort. A great deal bad been %aid upon the subject of intimidation, and it had been frequently.and broadly intimated that an object of that kind had given rise to the conduct of him and his friends in reference to this subject. He should not take_ upon him to account fur the grounds upon which other Gentlemen acted • but for himself he could. safely declare, that his opH position to the admission of the Roman Catholicsi to political poser was produced by a principle very different from a desire or intention to intimidate hush Majesty's Government. He should now say one word upon the precise , form of the prayer of the Petition which toiwas.about to have the booour of presenting to the House. It was couched in the mildest lan, guage that could .be adopted, and_ bail avoided all topics which could give offence wow petty whatever. It prayed little more than wbsa was .recommended in the Speech from the Thr0n0,,,,4 prayed the House to take care that the Promo* constitution of the country should be preserved inviolitti end this prayer was in entire accordance with one part of his Ma jesty!. Speech in Parliament. He wished to state, that the debates at Penenden Heath .had not entirely turned upon the question of granting political poser to the Roman Catholics. The persOns who met at Pe. nenden Heath, and had taken the most active past in the proceedings them, entertained DO unkind of no friendly feelings towards their Roman Catholic fellow. Atbjeits; but he felt convinced that, if the Ronne Catholics• should obtain politico( power, they would I then possess the means of destroying those Protetel cant •institutions which were the object of so muck and so just a reverence with the .people of the country. He wished to make one observation upon' what had been said in reference to these petitions haw. ing been agreed to before the publication of his Ma.l jesty's Speech. It had been said that if the sub ject were to be again canvassed in those Meetings they would not agree to such addresses as they had adopted when they were in ignorance of the intentions of his Majesty's Government. Now, although he did not think that this kind of argument teat' eery cogent, and could Produce but very little effecidyet he should express his own deliberate conviction that On alteration whatever had taken place upon the stesjectlinte the publication of the kng's Speech. He wished to say one word upon the subject of another petition which a Noble Friend of his was.about to present to the House in the altar's of the evening, which came hom some of the freeholders of the county of Kent, and was in favour of Roman Catholic Emancipation. He admitted that in Kent. as well as in that House, there was a divi sion of opinion upon the question ; but, whilit be made this admission, his Noble.7siend, must admit, that the great majority of the freebblders were upon the side of those who opposed any:thange of the law which . should give political power to rite Catholics. The meeting at Penenden Heath had. been, he would admit, attended - by a great many persons eminent for their talents, their rank, and general. respectability, who were known to be the war'n'and zealous adeocites l of Roman. Catholic concession ; but if these Gentlemen were unable to induce the majority of that mee . ing cal embrace their view of the subject—if they wersonable l l to turn the Atler-tide iii their favour—the fact could teed to nb intereinc*s hatevet ; but that the sense of the majority of the freeholders of the county was opposed to the concession (*.what was called Catholic Emanci pation. Lord F. OSBORNE said he did not Site to defend the conduit of the Right Honourable Secretary of State. who had alteady *performed that task so admirably for himself; but the Hon. Baronet had said that he saw nothing in the circumstances of the country now which would not also have justified the Right Hon. Secretary in supporting Mr. Canning when he was Minister. It ap peered to him (Lord F.Osborne) from the progress of the Catholic questtoo in this House, that it was one calcu lated to attract what he might call the unpledged talent of the Houle. In the et vase of its prostate, it did attracts two of its gteate.t and most power(u) advocates, Mr. Canning and Mr.Plunkett. If we had ?old during the lett debate on this question, when it a the support of those t*o gieat men, that we shinild have to deplore the loss of one, and that the other would be taken away to another sphere of action, what,would have been our expectations with respect to this question ? Should we have thought that the majority for it would increase or diminish? This *as a consideration why be should not consider this question rested on the power and sup port of eloquent advocates,. but was rooted on the judg ment and season of the Representatives of the country. To say that his Right Hon. Friend was not to judge and act from the course of event., was not allowing him the power of reasini,the tanks of which might be multiplied indefinitely, but only the power of instinct, which always remained in the sante state. He congratulated the House on the line which the Right Hon. Genileman was about to follow. He Was extremely glad at the coarse which the Right Honourable Gentleman was about to pursue, though he (Lord F.eoa. 'Tor if Be bid ittopted another, borne) should have Mt it iris doty to lappet him, be Medd a* bate done go with the sttiiir•cdrdiiitt be did now—(Rear). Lord CLIFTON had •st petition from the tame county as that from whieluhe Honourable Baronet was charged with one, but *foe different tendbocy, yet he Was willing to bear witness to the respectability of the numerous signatures attached in the petitiOn of the Hoo. Member. To the Clergy he bore that respect which was dna to the sacred profession. • For the Gen tlemen and Freeholden•of Kent who signed that peti tion he' had the highest: respect. He was inclined to think that theoumber of the signatures attached to the petition which he should have the honour of present. ing, was not to be compared with the number of signs totes otythe petition presented bt his Honourable Friend,• yet the House should not suppose from that circumstance that it expressed the opinion of the county. He whaled to draw the attention of the House to the wording of the respective Petitions. The Petition pre 1t rated by the 'Hots. Baronet was mild and inoffensive in its object, and such a one as neithei be nor any of his friends would object to affix their signatures to, were they Sot aware of the amines, and the intolerant spirit with which it was ushered to the Meeting. There was mother circumstance connected with that Petition, which gave a materiel advantage to that tide in get ting signatures, which we did not possess, by the resi dence in every parish in Kent of a Clergyman &wiry*, of promoting the Petition, and it ii not to be won dered at that the poor freeholder,with his Clergyman on one hand and his squircon Smother, should consent to affix his signatu re t o a•lsemion which contains not a wovd with respect to Catholic eittanei;ortion• The Hours liarefnit had mid, that though the Petition was draws up before his Majesty's Speech was delivered to Podia. ment, the petitioaers still remained of the same opi. nion. He had no douht that was the case with many of, them .but these . Wei i tircumstance which he wishe I to mention to the Hons.. His Majesty's Ministers had been. accused of taking the House by surprise; if they had done so, they had also failed to teen that interest Which they'might Have dote in procuring the object they hid in view. In the dock-yard at Chatham two hundred freeholder's .f Kent, who were employed there, signed the Petition of the Honourable Baro net, which wciuld 'not probably bate been the case had they knciwn ilitiaitiments of his Majesty's Ministers. The Petition wils,; : boweves, signed openly nitbin the gates of the dock-yard, is if the first Lord of the Admiralty had been most decidedly opposed to the Catholic claiess--(Heai) He did not mean to deny that' the majority of the meeting was on.the side of the Hon. Bart. but he could not agsee-salth the Hon. Mein befthit the Majerity - was insthensk. His party had the adegistwge of order and rigulifity, teriik the other was ellfpufusion, 'tattered in different parts of the heath, an their lines broken by intruders, who had no buM. nese there. Of all the cirmonstancht-which occurred during the 'meeting, there was bile - which he partis culeriy lanienreda—namely; that a Noble Friend of bib should have been induced, et the close of the day, tit pass an eologiens on an individual, .who, be confesstd. veal- the last in the Whole multithdis who deserved is. Thit individual went there, as he did to other please.- with a mischievous intent ; sut what had occurred sine; had Ashy cosiviaced these in Neat whowere inclined to side with him, of his mischievous intention, and be (Lord Claera ) ilsoeghs 'hut be .would never shove' bie' face then again. it had bees we. y much ihe'fashionto talk baggy monist Brunswick Clean. He was disposed towdopt aneibe.; faeguage toaatds them. He was veil Muth obliged- ao the Kest Brunswick Club. ,and be thought England' bed done more to forward the Ca theist-question lay taming the B. stn-wick Club. It had opened the eyes of the people, •and larbilght them to consider andeleliberne on the question. Ile felt that the question wet/sanded oa justice and truth, and the uniire it was coosidered; she mere was , it likely' to spike clay: Mr. PEEL *Allied to inform the 'Hen. Bir net, that in the course he 'should pursue, lie should not be ba ilment by reproaches, in his public duty. He would tell the Hon. Baronet that he would not condescend to make ,any apology to him for the nature or for the time of the advice he had given to his Sovereign ai one of his responsible advisers. He had cont. acied. no rela tions with any man which could prevent him, when be was sent Ter by his Sovereign, as one of his responsible advisers, giving him his advice as to what couibe, under ail existing circumstances it was'best fur the country toparsue. 'He bad contracted no relations with any Man or any party which could relieve him from his Oh. ligations at giving that advice to the best of his ability, and no man should charge him - with dereliction of Ptinciple et inconsistency--(Heas, ilea.). lie would, brit condescend to lone out for tansies 'He could claim, to be 'ar independent a Meml-er of that House as the Honourable Bar-net took him elf to be—(Hear, heat). He bad given his advice to the King his sovereign and feaster with reference to the existing state of affairs to the best of lils.ability, and he Mould tell the Honow •able Baronet that he had taken the oath of a Privy Councillor, Which compelled him to give his advice to hit Majesty, and be hoped that he possessed filmic* and strength of mind sufficient to enable him, when in the closet of the King. to torot his past declarations in that Hoese, to forget his past line of conduct; and he also trusted that it would be found he had tininess to meet any insinuations' which might be levelled against him for so doing—(Hear, hear). The Honourable Ba-, ronet said that he (Mr. Peel) might have adopted the course which he was now pursuing at a different pe riod, when Mr. Canning was at - the lead of the Go vernment. He would tell the Honourable Baronet that he had for 20 years opposed the most uncompromising tesistence to the claidts of the Catholics—it was with the atomic reluctance that he now consented to break in on the constitutional settlement made in the year , 1688; bat he would also tell him that he was too Rue, and, he would add, too Consistent a friend of the Pro testant interests and Protestant establishments, to push bis resistance to a point at which imminent danger com nsenced--(Hear, bear). Sofa from being inconsistent, he would say that he was the consistent friend of those institutions when be submitted to personal imputations in order that he might protect them from injury. Those were the grounds on which he bad acted, and they were grounds on which he had a right to act.. No man was worthy of beitig a Minister who, when his advice was required upoon measure of great national importance, trimeld say, o I am fettered by the declarations I bate illatit; I am not enabled to look at the present state Of affairs; I must consult my friends and party. in order to see my way." He confessed that these con siderations held out a powerful temptation; but no man was fit to have a place in the closet of his Sovereign who could not resist them. Tr 41 Hon. Baronet seemed to be of opinion that :some sort of deception had been hpara:tbeesedn labia by the by surprise. Government, s a n o d w t , h . h a t o bwe couldand h i s ft tends Govern ment have proclaimed its intentions? Would the Hon. 'Baronet bevelled it resort to the newspapers? 'Was it possible that Government could tell the world *hat course it meant to pursue, Parliament not being sitting? Hann may immeshed bee, reatkiltitistefltaititit eery voodoo upeti *same. &SWUM What bid hit:Owed at the dose of the kiiiitsa? He had always contended that. no pledge had Wan gives at limit period wh ch could bind any oneflut elpictatioese certainly had liseen entertained whip) wet.' disap. pointed. Why? Because Mr. Pitt pledged himself, before he was perfectly certain that he would be able to fulfil his pledge. In 1806 and 1607 it was no. torioui that the sahse incotiveniente 'clotted from pie. mature declarations. He would Sat, that not only with respect to this question, bet all others, the Go. vernment which keeps its own councils was most likely to conduct the affeits of the country . to advantage. He admitted to the Honourable Baronet, that it woad have been infinitely better if he could have adopted the course which be was now pluming in a priest* station. He could only sae, that every thing It was possible for man to do he had done; but when the question was this—What advice will you give? Will you advise the maintenance of the -present state of thitigi?—Ceitilinly not. Will you advise the tomatoes of an escluivelY Prtitestant G v.ru ment. offering eternal and uncompromisin,t resist ance His answer was that he could not, because he knew that such a Government would fail, and in failing would render every thing worse thin at present—(Hear). If. then ► be could take neither of those alternatives, hot one course was lelt, to be pursued—to attempt to make a 'safe settlement of die question by a united G cern. tient. That costae impose I painful sacrifices on him; but would any one have him personally shrink boas sacrifices which he adeised others to submit ?-- (Hear. hear.) Without the hesitation of a moment he determined, come what may. tes to nain and set an es. ample himself of those sacrifices—(Heat). Lord PALMERSTON said, that if hit Right Hon. Friend had taken offence at any thing which had f 411” n hose him on a preceding evening, he could assure hint that he meant none. Sir E. KNATCHBULL, in bringing up the petition, expressed fits regret that the Right lion. Gentleman had felt it necessity to allude to what had passed in such warmth of terms. He was aware of nothing that could have justified such warmth of expression—(Heat, hear). To the Right Hon. Gentleman it belonged to advise his Soveteign as he thought fit, and Ise doubted not he Would be able to discharge that duty; but to him (Sir E. Knatchbull) belonged the right, whenever he felt it his duty. to question the public character of any Miiii.ter —(Cheers). Ns consideration on e nth should prevent him from executing that duty; and he only ho,.ed that *hen called upon so to act, he shouid ever conduct himself in a respectful manner towards the House, and even towards the individual whose conduct be air signed —(Hear). One word with respect to what had fallen from his Noble Friend (Lord Clifton). He could assets the House that he bad not asked a single indivichi I to sign the petition. which he believed to etre s the free and spontaneous sentiments of those who had attached their names to it—(Hear, heal). Mr. DUNCOMBE (Member for Yorkshire) said that the language of the Honourable B itonet did not at all warrant the warmth of the Right .Honureible Gentleman. It was a sew doctrine to him (Mr. Don combe) that any Member of th .t House bad not a right to arraign the conduct of any Minister. This, at least, was not the doctrine of the people of Eng land, nor that which he, as an English Gentleman re• presenting a large county, could consent to adopt. He should always endeavour to cone u t himself towards .Minsterserith the ut cost possible coui tesy,but he should not comptostise his dignity as a Member at Parliatnet t by sluinking from any examination of a &Laster'. coo duct which the circumstances of the case may justify him in making. The Hunkurable Member for Kent was so far hose imputing on why's( t. tees to shell gbt Hun. Gentleman, that he speci liy observed that he did not think these was any ground for such im l mations against the Right Hon. Gentleman; and he(* Dan. combo) believed that the country at large were as little inclined as the Hon. Runnette) impute such motives as the grounds of the Right - Hon. Gentleman's conduct. Mi. Secretary PEEL admitted the tight of eves y Member to arraign the conduct of Ministers, bet in 'shied that the right was reciprocal; and that if Mem hers hid a right to call the M nisters to account for their measures, the Ministers bad also the sighs of de• fending themselves, and of explaining whatever may appear tutptopet or iticoniistent in their conduct. Olice for all he shntdd say, that he bad now esi late ed .he rounds oftis conduct. and of the Course which he had taken on this occasion, and he should lot the future mix no more of personal feeling with the consideration of this great question; and he could not help regretting that he had been betrayed into some degreeof was mth, ,which was ill adapted to promote the cool and calm in vestigation of the important measures which were to come under consideration, and which was an inlrAction of a rule which he had impo eJ upon himself for the regulation of his conduct in reference to this important discussion.-1 he Petition was then brought up aid teach DA NORROUS ASSOCIATIONS IN IRELAND SUPPRESSION !ILL. Mr. PERL moved the uscond reading of the shove-Famed Din. Mr. HOBHUUSE said he under stood from the st. te meat of the Bight Hon. Secretary on a former night, that none of the provisions of the Bill o ere ioresid d to be permanent; but he found, however, on resaing the first paragraph, that that part of the Bill which en acted the suppression of the Catholic Assncravo I wu intended to be permanent. He wished for some i ss . formation with respect to this apparent contradiction. If his reading of the Bill were correct, he should feel it necessary to oppose the measure, which however he would be reluctant to do, because be felt, in env mon with Honourable FS ends around him, a most earnest wish not to put the least ob tack in the way of the •great measure which Ministers had in con templation. When he was informed that the late Lord Lieutenant of Ireland had declared in his place in Par liament, that though the Association had been un d er his nose for six months (that was his expression). Itemise no danger, he must declare, that having always pin. tested against any thing like an infringement of the Constitution, which this Bill was on all hands allowed to be, he would have strenuously opposed the present measure, were it not to be followed by another of such vital importance. He differed from the genet al opinion with respect to the character of the Catholic Asscria- Lion, and he also differed from the opinion cape red by some persons with respect to other popular As,ocirtior s by which it bad been opposed. • Toe passing of the promised measures of ,amclioration would have rer• dered such means unnecessary. He could not see that Ministers were faidy char*eable with any detelscuott of duty; they bad deemed the safety of the country the paramount duty—{Hear). As..co the charge of inti midation, the Ministers bad only yielded where they ought to yield —they had been intimidated by .ite fear of doing wrong—.(Hear, hear). He trusted the the Ministers would make the measures Governaient..thea mires, and that they would manfully press them ramrod as tech—(Hear). Mr. BATLEY declared his intention to vote for the