The National Register. — London, England, 1808-06-19 00:00:00

b TilE NATIONAL REGISTER. u t hum ConOtitution, anb Laing. No. 25. SUNDAY, JUNE 19, ISOB. PRICE 84. POLI rlc A L DISQUISITION. think it expedient to support the error, for tear of injuring themselves, whatever they may think of the real duties imposed .by the oath. To the mass of the people of this country, who expect no rewards from courtiers on the one hand, and who can ga n nothing by the Emancipation of the Catholics on the other, the grounds and obligations of this oath ought to be made : we will therefore state what we conceive to be the fair exposition of this troublesome case. In the first piaie, the King's oath binds him " to main " tain the Protestant Religion as by law established." — Now it seems very evident, that if the State, which sup ports the Protestant Religion, be brought into danger, the Protestant Religion, which is supported by the State, must incur a danger too. If on the other hand the State is strengthened, the Protestant Religion, as connected with that State by an establishment, is likely to derive strength also. We think that in the former Numbers of our Dis quisition on this important subject, we pretty planly proved that the perpetuation of the disabilities that oppress the Catholics, is only a perpetuation of civil warfare : and we believe from a statement of the proportion which the numbers of the Catholics bear to the numbers of the Pro testants, that the operative force of the country would be considerably increased by the enlistment of Catholic troops in our service, an enlistment which, at present, by the irritation of the public mind in Ireland, can go on but very, very slowly. Having substantiated these facts, we seem to have proved that the State must become stronger by the Emancipation of the Catholics : and, the State be coming stronger, the Church, as connected with it, ap pears likely become proportionally strong. In the second place, it is a rule in the construction of every obligation, that the intention and spirit in which it was framed are to bt considered as the guide. Now the King has two capacities, a legislative capacity, and an executive capacity : and the oaths that he takes are imposed upon him in order to prevent his executive power from encroach ing on the legislature, not in order to tie up his hands in the legislative employment of his power. This oath is in tended, as has been well observed, to bind him by religious sanctions to observe the law, but by no means to hinder him from consenting to such new laws as his Parliament may choose to propose to him. In the third place, the oath is a promissory oath : an oath which the people have enjoined to their Sovereign. But he who exacts a promise, has certainly a right to dispense with the performance of that promise : and when the King and people shall conceive that the general good will ht promoted by the release of that promise, surely no law, di vine or human, forbids them to pronounce the promise NUMBLII TWENTY - 11v E. ON TIIE CATHOLIC PiITITION, AND as li ECI:AvfION. ( Cuncialled . frons our last.) Having treated at large on the expediency of emanci pating the Catholics, it remains for us only to say a few words upon the justice of that mehsure. At first sight it seems almost unnecessary to occupy a moment's time in establish►ng so obvious an axiom, as that the subjects of the British King are entitled to British rights : but so om nipotent are prejudice and interest, that they can overturn self-evident propositions, and justify injustice itself. The principles of right arc eternal and immutable : shall they he combated by circumstance, which in its nature is per petually varying, dying, reviving ? Surely Providence did not said four millions of human beings into the world, to form the vast majority of a nation, and yet live the slaves of that nation's minority ! Surely it cannot be the inten tion of nature, that freedom shall be understood as the enjoyment of the few at the expeuce of the many It will be said that any man, or body of men, shewing a disposition which is dangerous to the State, may, by every law of society, be restricted from the exercise of those privileges which arc permitted to less obnoxious people. We allow that rule, but we do not allow that the Catholics have shown any such disposition at all. They certainly shew a disposition to right themselves : but they are not very likely to be hostile to the State, when the State has made ho;:ility no longer tempting to them. Dio body when he can get nothing by fighting—not even an Irishman. But whether the something that he may get by lighting, be called honour, or whether it be solid profit, fight he will, as long as that something continues to daz zle his fancy : nay. though we on this side of the Irish channel, may conceive that he is contending without a cause, yet as long as the motives, the irritatingly efficient motives, continue to operate, the real importance belong ing to the final cause, to the objet of the straggle, will be bat very Lttle regarded. And u. this inconsistent, in comprehensible world, where half the objects of our wishes arc valuable only in fancy, it is not unreasonable to allow the Irish to set some price on a matter which intrinsically may not be very estimable. But after all, whether the concessions required by the Catholics, be really valuable or nominally valuable, we ha ve no right to enquire : we have promised the Irish certai►t favours, estimable or not, which we now refuse to grant, and which they still wish to acquire : is it not just that we concede them ? There is one answer, Aid) seems to be the great and material obstacle to ail accommodation on this subject : and that answer is .‘ The king's coronation oath." Some people plead this oath openly, and are really weak enough to believe that the Emancipation of the Catholics will be a violation of this oath : others, considering that such idle prejudices are entertained by wavy people high iu power. .Vu..t.ti 1. released. But if at last we must construe the obligation by the letter and not by the spirit, it will not be difficult to prove that even the letter of the oath contain! no prohibition. The King swears " to govern according to the statutes in " Parliament agreed on, and to the laws and customs of this realm:" acid iu another part of the oath, he Weds -.;