Star. — London, England, 1829-02-14 00:00:00

f b IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, FHBRUAItY 13. The Marquis of ANGLESEY presented a Petition from An-' elesey against further concessions to the Roman Catholics. The Nobloadarquis them produced his petitions in favour of those con. cessions, which were from the Roman Catholic bahabitants of se. veral parishes in the coeniy of Cork ; from the parish of St. Mary, Dublin ; from Templemore; from Killagh (Cavan); from Drum- ItOadre;- from Bailieborough; from Mayclone; Carrigone, Belli carry, Formatsagth Killethie;ll;lahallostri .--Twinty.four In all—To be on the table. . The Bebop of BRISTOLI in presenting a Petition from the Clergy of the city and vicinity of Bristol, said, that a strong sensation had been exalted In Bristol and its vicinity in consequence of the announcement made respecting the Roman Catholic ques. Men. Considering it as the second city In England, he conceived that the prayer of the petition was well entitled to the favourable • .consideration of the House. The petitioners stated that they could ' not conscientiously abstain from expressing to the House their sense •et the danger likely to arise to the Constitution from the conces sion of political power to the Roman Catholics—they could not allow themselves to be so indifferent to the spiritual and temporal welfare of the rising generation, as not to approach the House with the most earnest supplications that their Lordships would never agree areapen the doors of Parliament to Roman . Catholics. These were the sentiments of the petitioners. For his own part he had merely to say that, from what he saw and had read of the Church of Rome, he had no difficulty in asserting that he saw the utmost den get in admitting them to political power, at the same time that be was not yet prepared to say that- he would offer opposition to the measure about to be introduced by his Majesty's Government. He thought it better to wait till that measure came regularly undet their Lordships consideration.—The petition was read at length, and laid upon the table. • The Bishop of DURHAM presented a similar Petition from the Deanery of St. Asapb. 'Me Bishop or GLOUCESTER preheated two similar Peti thous from the Bev. Deans and Clergy of two Deaneties in the Diocese of Gloucester. The Earl of WESTMORELAND then cote to present two Petitiona—one of which was from NoithamptOn, and signed by no less than 1,400 persons. Hi; Lateiship . said that they were per sons of the highest respectability, and . that their representaiiotu well deserved their Lordships attention. Their prayer waa against further concessions to the human Catholics ( the object clearly being to secure as completely as possible the integrity and safety of the Protestant Establishment in Church and 3:ate. Now be thought that he fully acted up to the principle on which the Petitioners went lu deviating a little, in the present stare and temper of the public, from the advice which they gave hint. The Petitioners," as he said, bad in view the preservation of the Protestant Eatab lishnieut, and sought to prevent the growth and increase's( Popish power. For his own part, he thought that the present divisions subsisting amongst the Protestants were infinitely more danger. out to the Protestant interest than wets the direct attacks of the Boman Catholics. He wished fur a temperate consideration of the question, and for a fair inquiry into the state Of Ireland. The great danger which he apprehended was the increase of Catholic power, and it was therefore that be was not averse from a re view of the laws relating to them, in the hope that such an ar rangement might be made as would lead to the cordial union of Protestants in defence of their common property—our admirable establishments in Church and State. It was more from Noble Lords opposite, and from the difficulties which arose in carry. ing any great measure fur the improvement of Ireland, that be apprehended danger, then from the mere review of the laws ail. cling the Roman Catholics. Such were the divisions which the unturtunate question created amongst Protestants, that his Maj• sty's servants were actually unable to exercise the power of the State, divided as they were upon that question. The Protes- ' tams were divided amongst themselves, and disunion brought its natural concomitant weakness. An end to that ,was what he de sired to see ; and if any measure could be devised consistent with the safety of the church, which should tend to the union of public meta, he could not but regard it as calculated in its effects to curb the power of the Catholics. He thought it possible to alter, with out diminishing the power of the Protestants; and he trusted it would be tumid that a measure could be framed calculated at once to allay clamour and impart security. It was not to be supposed frortfihiat a vowal that his opinions had undergone any change in principk; le was still the opposer of Roman Catholic encroach ment ;. but he feared it in a form which it had not hitherto as sumed,• and he desired to see if there was any safe change that could ward elf the impending danger. Mt. Peel had well said, that Colic, sat,,,, to the Unman Catholics would be mort.injurious unless accompai led by the acquieicence and consent of the people of Etigl• t.d, foueded upon deliberate conviction. He, therefore, thought it would be enfair towards his ;Majesty's Government not to w.it and see what they intei.ded to propose before too decided an opinion was pronounced. Ile at all times would be most anxi ous to support that, and that alone, which was fur the benefit of the Prot. slant Constitution, the quiet, said strength of the empire. The petitions were then brought up, and laid upon the table. Earl Fl I ZW I ILIA Al presented three Petitions from parishes in Wicklow, in Ireland. and one from a Congregation of Dissenters in Iluil, praying for the removal of all civil and religious disabilities. They were all laid Lyon the table. Lord I:1:X ERSIIA M presented Petitions from Wrigshy and horn Wenn, iu Vurk,hire, against concession to the To lie on the table. The Duke of NEWCASTLE said he bad •everal Petitions to present on the same subject and breathing the same spirit—a spirit which he could avouch tat prevail generally throughout the country —a feeling that, from all the information he could obtain—and his turreepond.tuce as well as personal knowledge was not very limited—neas extremely strung; and he had no doubt that the per Otioset coming to Parliament would prove to the full satisfactions( the Noble Duke that a majority of the people were adverse to the claims of the Roman Cada tins, and determined to support the Protestant Constitution—tram every part of the country be learned that there existed, without an exception, a degree of dismay, in dignation, and distrust, of which there existed no parallel; and be therefore trussed that the Noble Duke would not hurry the mea sure wi bout giving the country an opportunity of manifesting the extent of its apprehension and detestation of the proposed measure, fraught as it was with the most direful consequences. He entreated the Noble Duke to re consider his decision. He had been in the .babit of doing such things, and it certainly would not be unworthy of him to turtuagain —The petitions were then presented, read, and laid upon the table ; amongst them were Petitions front the Corporation of Barber-Surgeons, Dublin ; and from the Free holders of Mallock, Derbyshire—all against concession., The Earl of CLA RE presented Petitions in favour of Catholic Claims from Castletown, Newcastle, and Kilmallock.—Oteiered to lie on the table. Lord SI DNIOUTH, in presenting a Petition from a place in Oxfordshire, said that he still continued to entertain the opinions which he had long and invariably entertained on the subject of Cathelic Emancipation. The ;Marquis of LA NS DOW N said he had several Petitions to present, which were all to the same effect, viz. all in favour of Ca tholic Emancipation. 1 hey were from the Roman Catholic In habitants of various parishes in Westmeath ; from Thontrindiate, in Limerick ; from Kilbridge, in Nleath; from Burns in-(bury ; and from Johnstoten —Laid on the table. Viscount LORTON presented Petitions from the Clergy of the diocese of Elphin, and (ruin Killala, and three other places in the • county of Mayo, against any further concessions to the Roman Catholic,. The Duke of RICHMOND presented similar Petitions from the Linn and Chapter of Chichester, and from a parish in the county of Sussex. The Duke of DEVONSHIRE presented Petitions from his. more, Rattan', Tallow, and Balligouff, county of Waterford. praying for the repeal of the disabilities affecting the Roman Catholics. THE KENT PETITION. The Earl of.WINCHILSEA then rose—l rise, my Lords, pursuant to the notice I gave, to present a Pen tion, legit numerously and respectably signed by a great body of the freeholders ot Kent, praying that your Lord ships will preserve inviolate or all its integrity the l'.n• tenant Constitution of these realms: bur, in justice ti , my own feelings, not less than to the feelings oi the highly respectabe body who have entrusted their l'eti• tion to me, I cannot content myself is i bout offering a few brief observations connected with the deep icy pot tance of the subj , ctol that Petition—a subject which engrosses the attention of the empire at large, and on which I am rej iced to 'add, the people have of late et, un- equivocally displayed. a decided and highly constitu tional feeling, not only in Kent and Devonshire, but in other parts if the courftry—a feeling, which I am con vinced in my own mind, will soon be found in every quarter of this island—(Hear, hear).. In drawing the a Petition of your Lordships to the prayer of this Petition, which was c 'tried by a loge and triumphant majority at a county meeting on Penenden Heath, itswas nr t my i testinn to occupy your Lordships' time one moment' longer thati may be necessary, while I use my ende d . vows to assert tt.e loyalty, the sound principles of libetty, and die attachment to our Ps otestat.t Constitu tion, which characterised the thousands who were there assembled to give a public expression of their political sentiments, on a. question which they consicfer involves the existence of their long cherished liberties, and to resist, by. the exercise of one of their most ancient and Constitutional privileges, the attempts now going on to subvert our Protestant Constitution, and erect on its ruins that love of slavery and arbitrary power which has invariably resulted from the political principles disseminated by the dupes and agents of the Church of Rome, in order to extend the ?apal influence—an influ ence of a dangerous character—an influence which has for some years been daily increasing in Ireland, and which, as it now exists, together with the vaiious links of ecclesiastical discipline, it has been proved by an eloquent and powerful speaker, constitutes a close and formidable combination, which is capable of fot warding the views of any foreign and hostile Power. Indeed there is no individual—a common observer of the po litical events in that country for the last few months— who must not have the candour to acknowledge that this is a faithful picture of Ireland, under the influence, as it is, of the spirit of the Roman Catholic Church.— Far different from such a spirit of daring combination, on the one hand, and of ment degradation, on the other, was that independence of mind and well regu lated love of Civil and Religious Liberty, which the' supporters of. our Protestant Constitution have always exhibited : and if patriotic individuals in this country excluded the followers of the artful and despotic Church of Rome from political power, and had the &dines: to establish, on that principle, the inestimable constitution, whose blessings we now enjoy ; if their successors— well-tried adherents to the principles of Civil and Reli gious Liberty and good Government—preserved that principle of the Constitution—l trust—or, rather, I will tastiest, it as my heartfelt conviction, that the decision of your Lordships, on this question, will not be a mean and abject submission to the usurped power of-the spiritual despotism of Rome, and to the tyrannical measures of sedition and rebellion which have been so audaciously attempted in Ireland. A spirit of resistance to this dangerross'power actu rtes every friend of the Protestant Constitution from one end of the country to the other ; a spirit which daily displays itself more and more, and which will, I am sure, at once confound the advocates of the Irish Catholics, and the treasonable agents of the Chin& of Rome. It has only to be called into action, which may easily be done by appeals made to the peo. ple by the means of County Meetings, on the admission of Roman Catholics to Parliament ; for it is well known that the advocates of the Irish Catholics have too much reason to find fault with these meetings; for they are conscious that if such an appeal were made to the mid dle classes, it would be a death-blow to the plots and machinations which are carrying on—to the gross mis representations which are circulated concerning the stn. timents of the people, and to the daring projects of ambition and insidious attacks on that Constitution which it is the prayer of this petition your Lordships should defend, and hand down unimpaired to posterity. I cannot conclude the few remarks I have humbly offered to your Lordships, without requesting a few moments more of your attention, while I submit some remarks in vindication of the proceedings of that part of the Protestant community who, roused by the dan ger. of the times, and actuated by their attachment to our Protestant Constitution, were ,gompelled by the violence of one party and the apathy of the other, to array themselves under the banners of the Constitution, and declare th• twelves the firm and uncomprOmising assertors of its principles. The Proteatants of Ireland were not induced to stand forward to declare their at tachment to that Constitution which they know is the foundation of whatever civil and religious liberty they enjoy.'until they had looked in vain for redress and protection from the constituted authorities against the long-endured oppression and violence of the Catho lic Association; nor until they had been told even by a Moo; er of the Crown that a.I the ties of society were broken and rent asunder. The Government were I or. suing a nii,chievous neutrality—the impartiality of the administration of juatice was impaired and the different institutions of the land were, in the opinions of the mass of the people, undergoing a revolution which threat ened, with one common destruction, all the Protestant establishments of Ireland: it was not, my Lords, I say, till then that the Prot stants came for ward, as they then did, boldly, ao meet and to resist the spirit of rebellion which stalked over that ill-fated country. Such were the circumstances under which the Protestants of Ire land were crinwelled to stand forward for their own interests, defence, and protection ; and in no one instance have they in the slightest degree gone beyond that ob ject. I repeat it, my Lords, the Protestants of Ireland can, in no one instance, be charged with having out stepped the respect due to the laws of their country, which, I trust in GOD. they will always have the pride and honour to maintain. They were compelled, I say, to unite in the: it detente by the pressure, too long borne, of the aggregate evils i.f the continued and unceasing oppression and violence of their enemies, which they were forced to .uffer under the false and mistaken sys tem of conciliation. At last they were obliged to stand forward and ende svour to avert the pending danger, which, as I said, menaced to destroy in one common ruin, everything th st was dear no there—their lives, their property, and what was above all, their li betties—(H44r) Such were the circumstances, my Lords, which induced the Protestants to stand forward in their own defence; and such will be the circum• stances which w II call on ;he whole Protestadt pOpu lation of England to stand forward and unite in defence of that Constitution which 113. been so long the admire lion and envy of the world, and which has raised this country to the highest pitch of earthly grandeur,. and given us 'the possession of liberties which no country since the foundation of the world has enjoyed. But now this Cofistilution is to be sacrificed to those who, daring enough to trample on the laws of GOD and their country, have sit at di fiance all the constituted Autho skies. or who—if they have not d 'net so, let those who vindicate them deny it—have at least trangressed every feeling of respect which should be observed towards those who filled the employments of Government. It is to be sate iticed by men, too many of whom have, by profession. of attachment to it, gained the confidence of the great body of Protestants, and who are by that very confluence now placed in the situation: which enable them to make this sacrifice ; by men, too, who deserted a statesman, o hose political character I cer tainly did not respect, but who will always bear a dis tinguished name in the history of this country, because some of them steles* c hat it was not consistent with their principles to belong to a Gove nment favourable to concessions ro the Catholics—(Hear, hear, hear). — There are individuals in this Hou e to whose desertion of that eminent statesman we may justly attribute the shortening of his life; arid if we %idled to have the gratific non of witn-ssing the ju-tice of fate, we see it now in the condition anJ feelings of the se who deserted him—(Hear, beat). Strongly as I feel, I find it *hotly impossible adequately to express the sense of thoe who have conititattunally a voice ia altering the existing institutions of the cout try. But .1 do entreat th N ' Duke at tie held of his Majesty's Government, as he values t!.e high chatacter he earaed in the Metre of his counts y, not f.pr a moment to endanger his own re• putatinn, nor the honour, character, and seen it' r Crown, by advising it in give its a•sent to a mea•gre— The Duke of WIILLINGTON (who was listening attentively) ezelaimed—Speak up ! _ The Earl of WINCHILSE A continued—A measute, my Lords, which I do say, if it should be carried now, is against the expressed feeling f the counts',. Many of the Members now in the other House were returned to represent places on the ground 'of their attachment to those principles of the Constitution which all parries, tip to a certain period, agreed in upholding. Thes. Members, by abandoning the principles vc.ich they pretend still to maintain, have in fact ceased to be the Representatives of their constituents; and the franchise I should be given back to the people, in order that tl ey may decide this question; for I boldly state that the voice of the people is against it; and though I am a staunch friend to all parts of the Constitution, and es pecially to the Crown and this Noble House, I never will suffer the rights of the people to be despised and trampled upon. I say again, my Lords, that the voice of the people is . not for the Catholics, and that, if the people are appealed to, they sill show it is not— (Hear, hear). I will farther say, that if the Bill pass through both House', and an appeal be not made to the country by a dissolution of Parliament before the Royal Assent be given to it, it will be clear that its friends know the voice of the people is against it. I will also explicitly declare, that it the people of Great Bri tain, by their Representatives, returned af.er a general election, sh'ulJ agree to this change taking place in the Constitution however strong my feelings against it, and boss ever I may still retain my opinion that fatal consequences must emue float it, I shall submit—fin I am sure I bear na personal hostility to any member of 'the Church of It ime; for with many of them I am on terms of the strictest intimacy nisi friendship, and I he. belie they entertain as much respect frr me as for many of those who advocate their claims, because they know that I am sincere as they are in those religious ptofessians, opinions, and principle., which are inconsistent soh the existence of our Protestant Constitution. I will ho. neatly say that if I were a Roman Catholic, I should entertain the same feelings, and if I had political power once in my hands, I should never be con ent until I saw the Roman Catholic Church restored to the lull eleva tion and dignity of the station from which we Prc,t •s -tants overthrew it. Such being my fcelings, i! is Era wonder I should occa-ionally express myself warmly ; but I am desirous always to speak with. earnest respect of every man's opinion, it it be consistently and con scientiously eotertained. But Ido implore your Lord ships, before you agree to any such proposition as m ty essentially change the principles of the Constitution with regard to the admission of the Roman Catholics to political power, to consider well what you have he. fore you, and to examine with scrupulous care the Bill that may be introduced for that purpose. I semensb r that formerly, when I have reproached the fi eeholders of Kent, at the County Elections. with not taking pelt in this question, and have said, .4 Why are you neutral in your sentiments on this great political queati n ?" The answer was, " B cause we confide in the U 1 per House. and in the profe-sions we have received fr , •ns our Representatives of their apreement in those prin ciples in which we all concur." I confess, fot my ors n part. that after, what I have heard, all political colifi-1 dente is shaken if my mind. But if my opinions be against the express feeling of those who have a consti tutional voice, Fain bow to it ; for never will I belong to any factious 'or frivolous Opposition. I ssill not, however strong my feelings may be, do• any thing to agitate or excite the public mindi but I do feel that this question is essentially important to the in terests of the country, and that its footrests .sequences will be of a most.dangerous and fatal chatocter. %Vhatever may be the views of your Lordships, and however severe may be the animadversions on my conduct, I will ap peal to the judgment of those who have a conssitutional voice in the country. The letter of mine to which te. ference was made last night, is not perhaps so clear as it might be; for I have no intention to apply my observas ts•ins to those who have consistently advocated the re moval of all civil disabilities from the Roman Catholics. They are men whom I respect and honour ; but, as I stated before, my political confidence is for ever gone, since I have seen the defenders of the Protestant Ascen dancy desert their principles. 1 will even go further, and say I think the ties of private ftiendship are broken by such conduct, for the man whose public character I cannot respect, because be is not found t be firm and consistent, can never be entitled to my friendship or esteem. NO confidence or reliance, it seems to me, can now be placed in any man engaged in public life, from the Clown downwards, unless we have a Tlibtough knowledge of the individual, and are certain that he possesses sound moral and religious principles. _ I shall now. my Lords, lay before your Lordships the ve.ition' which I have the honour to present ; and I be; to say, that if I have at any time, in the heat of de',ate, ex• pressed myself ton strongly with regard to any indivi dual, either within these walls or without, if he acts with conscience and psinciple, I am sorry to have given him offence. IThe Petition was read at length. . . The Marq tis of CLANRICARDE would trespass for a very few moments upon their Lordships' tune . -- He, and he believed he might speak for many othera of the Protestants of Ireland, did not wish to be in the description given of the situation and feel ings r f the Protestants at Ireland by the Noble L. rd. He had had the honour of affising his name to a docu ment which was also signed by many of the most te spectable of the Irish Nobility, in favour of concession. The Protestants of that country could not, in the state . to which it was now reduced, be secured by the law, and they were 'thus driven to absenteeism. The Noble Lord complained of tumultuous assemblages in Ireland. This complaint did not proceed from him with a gond grace, when presenting the Petition:speed to on Penal den Heath. He disavowed all feelings of jealousy or dissatisfaction on account of a deceased relative, to whose principles upon this subject a tardy justice was about to be rendered. Sooner or later, be doubted not, the same justice would be done to his principles upon every other subject. He thanked his Majesty's Minis ters for the frankness and candour with Which they had come forward to acknowledge their conversion. The Earl of DARNLEY had a Petition which it was his duty to present, from a numerous body of Noble men, Gentlemen, and Freeholders of the county of Kent, in opposition t r that which had just been presented by his Noble Friend. He did not mean to detract from the description of the Meeting at Penenden-heath, given by the Noble Lord, neither was it his intention to be drawn into a discussion of the various topics upon which his Noble Friend had insisted, as a more conve nient opportunity would occur when tie general que . don was brought forward. It was his intention merely, to lay before their Lordships a correct statement of thel cikomitaocos of the Meeting. He well knew the sin. . . • . his 1"le Pi e,' "bad Let ity and zeal *ilia actuated this subject, nor had he failed to perceive the incee,,,. of those qualities which he had recently eshibited. He knew he was always what might be called a big oted Ponestai t, but until the last summer he had kept his zeal within moderate bounds. Ile had never before pet s mitt d it to bre rk in upon society and good neighbou r; hood. But during the last summer a new broken upon him. Was.it from his desire to sappee" the Catholic Association.? Was it from any new fe ature the case had assumed P 2111,horspa. It was that Noble Duke hid happened to take up his residence in the Isle of Th.ittet for the summer, who btcasie the main spring of the enterprise. He did not via. Jicate the Roman Catholic Associat'on, but he thought great allowance was to be made for the feelings of Ca. thnlics ; and in point of fact, language eqiially viulent with the worst of theirs had been employed by other 0: sons who bad not the same excuse. The' estabii lishmes t of these Clubs was not called for in Enga land by the same causes which had led to their ereetiod i n I eland. He did not mean to disparate the keisi Meeting, but his Noble Friend Would scarcely dent that a large proportion of the Meeting consisted of labourets and other.. hired to drown by clamout voice acid that of others who thought with him, and te ensure a hearing to the Noble Lord and those of party. 'f ne se'sse of the county could not be collect e d by a Meting of this description. He aintitted that the Noble Lord had a majority at the Meeting; but whether he had a majority of the freeholder!, he must be permi ted to doubt—at any rate. if these was a Ina_ jortty, it was an inconsiderable one. Thz agitation of ' the subject ha.l, however, done good, in poi ducing co n . verts to the eau eof liberality. Of .his the Petition lie lad now to present was a proof. He differed It, in his Noble Friend, inasmuch that he thought men might son climes conacientiou•ly change their a n d Le had no chutit that the changes to which his N.rble Ns i old hid alluded we e the genuine results f convie. lion. The words of the Pet lion pies nted by ll.e Noble Lord were unobjectionable; and if the meaning they intended to convey had not beers kn rwn, he would have had no objection to afli s his sign store toil ; for he ilruyht the Protestant Constitution of the Empire might test be preserved in its integrity by giving civil and reli. us liberty to all who lived under it. The Roman Catholics at the present moment possessed political power, which their exclusion from the St .te rendered mor e formidable than it would orlrerwi-e be. But be knew that this exclusion was not likely to be durable, when he hear d his Noble Friend declare hit a ish during the last Session to have the question settlecl:"Fiom list moment he knew he would find the is cans to settle it. His Noble Friend who pre.ented the Pet iron urged the dissolution of Parliament, as of the people e n d hate been taken by surprise. when repea ed maj:ni.ies in the House of-Commons had already declared to favour of concession. Earl GREY did not think this a proper time to dis cuss the peat question to whi.b the petition now be fore the House referiel But he could not refrain from the expreision of what he thought upon the course that had been I.ursued. He could inot, in linking back upon the petition of the Keotish Meeting, with all his conviction of the necessity of conciliation, find any thing in it wh ich he would have the. least d , fficulty to subsCribe. The Noble Earl here recapitulated the tatious passages of the petition, and declare.' his con 6nrence in each of them. There was another point; one /sh.ble Lord had said yesterday, and another to day, that roine.tenths of the people of England were adverse to concessions, and the Noble Earl, in presenting the pet tion, had recommended to Ministers the extra. ordinary coin se of advising his Majesty to appeal to the people, by the exercise of his Royal perogative of Ms solving Parliament. Was it decent, he would ask, was it Constitutional, for Members of that House to accuse the House of Commons of not speaking the sense of the people, and advie that the House of Cdmitons should be tent back to the peopie with_a !nark of the Royal di.. pleasure inflicted upon theory:4f The suggestion of the 'House of Lords ?—Appeal to the people! Had the mess mire then peer before been. agitated in Parliament? Why, in 1807, he was himself a party to a proposition fur partial relief, and after this proposal, the A dnoni tratioa of which he wai a number, were dismissed horn office, because they would not give a pledge which appeared to them inconsistent with their oaths as Pl(vy Council. lo: s. And, alter the next general eleelion—an election completed during the prevalence of the " No Popery 1" cry—a measure nvt the same as they had proposed, but one which went much further, was carried through Parliament withont difficulty, and with a majority of the House of Commons of 129 in its favour.— These was another general election in 1812. And after this there was a majority in the Hou e of Commons in favour of a general measure of refuel. Another general election took place in 1818, and this gives majority 'of two or four, he forgot which, against the Catholic claims, at a period when' all the influenced the Crown was excited to oppose them. Again, in 1820, there was a general election, and in the Par lid orient them assembled the questiOn was intro.auced those tinie-.-o In 1821 there was a majority in favour of a Bill of re lief. lo 1822, a Bill introduced by a Right Honnotrabe Geotlensan, now deceased, Jo, enabk Catholic 'Peers to sit in Parliament, pasted the Commons . , and was defeated iq. the Lords.' The last general election took, place in 1826, and in the first Sessipn of the be. Parliament a motion for an inquiry was der, rated by a small majority, which, considetirt the pecoJiar citcuno stances orthe times, canliinothe thought surprisiug.— But in the following.Sessipp, that of 1828, there was I majority of six in favour of an adjustment of the que tins. Then, after five successive Parliaments, dusk% which' the attenti , ,n of the people had been 'constantly directed to the question, and in each of which there had been a .majority in fayour, of concession, what could now be tie pie of again appealing to the people ? It olis his firm belief that the result . of a new election would not be more favourable to the opinions of ice Noble Earl. His opinion as to the general feeling of the people was quite the reverse of that of the Noble Earl. The question between them was one it such a nature that it could not be accurately deter mined; but there was this difference between. them, that the opinion of the Noble Earl was merely a conjecturer 'while his rested upon facts, upon the declaration of the' House of Commons after five successive dissolutions of Parliament, and this he maintained. was the most Corr stitutional way of collecting the opinion of the peoris. He did not know what were the sentiments of the Nair Lord as to the composition of the House of Commons Perhaps he carried his views not only to an immediate dissolution, but to a reform in Parliament; and if this were the case he would. concur with him to the es tent of a . calm, moderate, and temperate reform- 4 reform upon solid practical grounds, and not upon ab stract theories of imaginary perfection. He did not say that the House of,Commons was now .a perfect repre sentation of the people; but he did s ay that such Was the influence of :public opinion as to induce him to be. helve that. so many decisions of the House of Commons woaltynot have taken place in layo - or . of concession, the people bi deted octal Inge, so attic he had beer jority of rce Lord bad soli country. VI Leading the certsm pap,' that name w yet he heard gave consent the country talon of elm themselves* for granted Omen's whit bad heard o shire and Ct ,If this were Man should large major it he believed tat y Ref irn that, the sense Sures propose Lets would pi port of that I port to the be trim. As to province to d needed not h pressing hist be a very eat stances had c Was a divide been stated he could state evil, foe in col rale, he had tration when Duke of Yo: gent. He wo the letter ade his Royal Hi strongly they hese read the anent had be Another and things was a alarming on abroad. An placed in the Then thole land, actual country, but here pronoun I►linistets, * connected, a right and poi Catholic anc , Lord TRY cession, and of Kett in th Lord FAL of the sentinio He had spok meetings in I thank his a, one of the Cot yet that Hon. E t , l, . that he been on the mense majoil Noble Lord t paragraph by hich .h ad be to the ooncew !erred to the debates, and which the No The Earl o himself. II oq► ing, and deni the county ci further state, neither direc to bring a to day of meetii say, the maj proportion c ley) remainet peatedly Orr spun out to hardly bee th ing espresset he scorned character wit Lion of Flavin unf4ir and I that at the otl sans jinn the s-ns were Inc the real freelii and his collea ed, thoug had in this e could cot ith, then Lordblii cAse, I.e couli which he be! conviction II elapsed, the I mpitii.,n ► f th ‘ti v osi the imF Unman C.th inn i e presse bead u l ► lb i deen►ed unne upon tins %tit giving •eut t theCAtiml patties to ssl made, were Earl communicate cursed ttie m his tyrants!. Lurd 13EJ the blame v. not earlier di tended meat becsuse he hi this impottai meeting of also changes pet fence cit 11 !het the senti to those alte hitherto so st no symptom people of E been presents the county C