The National Register. — London, England, 1812-02-09 00:00:00

FiT. • MONDAY, TEL S. STATE OP IRELAND. Laird MORPLTH rose, pursuant to notice, to make his.promised Mo tion respecting the State of -Ireland. He regretted the absence of his Noble Friend, and deplored, in. common with the House, the domes tic affliction that had made that absence necessary. There were occa sions in which the strongest sense of Parliamentary duty might be al lowed far a time to give way to private feeling--( Hear, hear/ ).—The notoriety of the state of Ireland rendered every attempt to describe it unnecessary. He wished to call the attention of the House at once to the propriety and expediency of admitting the Catholics of Ireland to the full benefits of the British Constitution, and he called upon all those who entertained no other objection to their claims, thaa the ap prehension of abandonaling the Protestants of Ireland, to bear in mind that those very Protestants were now as zealous in promoting those claims, as the Catholics themselves, and considered the favourable re ception of them as essential to the security of the Protestant establish ment in Ireland, and to the general prosperity of the empire. It had been objected ; that the granting these claims could render no real service to the great body of the Catholics—would it not, he asked, be removing from them a ground of justifiable discontent ?—was it no thing to the private soldier to see the officer who had led him to victory, raised by his merit to command a regiment or an army ? Was it no thing to the peasantry of a country, no see their gentry occupying the highest political stations ? He next adverted to the measure of ITnion, and thought that the consent of the Catholics had been secured to that measure, by an understanding that their emaricipation shouli he the consequence. The greatr At Statesmen of modern times, however they differed ti; on other points, nereed as to the necessity and justice of conceding a participation of b the Constitution to the Catholics. He trusted that that night there would be made a great leading step to a general and cordial conciliation; never was it more desirable than at a motoent When we were about to add the inhabitants of another hemis phere to the catalogue of our enemies. Those who built their objec tions upon prejudices against the religion of the Catholics, would do well to remember, that iii nursing animosity against the religion of another, they gave but a questionable testimony to i ahe purity of their own. The Catholic religion was the ancient faith of all Europe, and the profession of the greater part of modern Europe; but such (Nee nous could not be sincere, especially when opposition to Catholic claims had been made the steppieg stone to power--(Henr, It.ar! ). It-would be hard, Indeed, if whet they contributed in so great a pro pertian to man our fleets and armies, and were every day fighting so bravely in both, that we should deny them priVileges to fight fur. To leration had been tried in other countries, and had never failed to be productive of a great increase of national strength, by removing those jealousies that kept a people from being unanimous. After some ot h er observations, dirt Noble Lord concluded by moving, ""That this House do te.olve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the present state of Ireland." • The Marquis of Tevis . rocit seconded the motion. • Sir JOHN Nienoe said, that he had hitherto abstained from taking any active part in any of the discussions that had hitherto taken place upon this question, but he thought it became him no longer to withhold from the House a frank avowal of his sentiments. Those who charged others with raking h senseless cry of ' No Popery !' should take care if they were not more criminal for raising a senseless cry of persecution and in tolerance.--(Hear, hear ! ,frooz Ministers )--He acquitted altogether those Memhers of the Legislature, who hail so ably supported in bcoh Houses of Parliament the Catholic claims ; of any design to pull down the Protestant establishment—(at laugh front the Opposition.) But still he could not look upon this question without considering it as one that involves in it the security of tae Constitution. He was anxious not to be misunderstood; every enlightened man held bigotry in just abhor rence; but he trusted that it was not necessary to cease to be a Christian in order to cease to be a bigot—(Hear, hear!)—he flattered himself he had no religiourejudice's, but he should be sorry if he had not rel i g ious preferences--( F ear, hear ! )—in this spirit, and wi h this feeling, he would frankly say,-that if the concession now sought for could-be cont ed to the Catholics with safety to the Constitution, then reason and jus tice required that they should be granted—(Hear, hear ! front the 0).po- Uaoa.)—But if, on the other hand, they could not be granted with safe ty to the Constitution, then reason and justice to the Catholics themselves required that they should not be granted.—(Hear, hear ! front Minii teri.)—!f the ascendancy of the Protestant Church was not an essential property of that. Constitution, and then the question would be, how far the granting of those concessions would affect that ascendancy ? it was here to be recsellectede that that revolution, so fondly and so justly called Out glorious revolution, did not go to establish merely a Protestant King, biit to surround him with a Protestant Council, a Protestant Ministry, and a Protestant Parliament. That glorious revolution was not founded merely on religious preference, butt our national religion was preferred, among other reasons, became it had been found at all times most favour able to the cultivation and the meintenance of the most rational princi pies of civil liberty.—(Hear, hear !)--Then from all these principles, he concluded that the presumption was on the part of the Constitution, and Vie burden of proof on the Catholics. With respect to the change in the religious or political relations of the Catholics-.was there, be asked, THE NATIONAL ittGTSTER. any alteration, as to their religion ? He did not mean to censinentleis those speculative tenets, which had no political consequences—he should therefore pass over the doctrine of transubstantiation, the adoration of saints, and such like; but he would ask, if the dominion of the Priest hood over their flocks was not as absolute, and submitted to with as blind a devotion at the present moment s as at any former period ? Was. there any change in the supreme authority of the Pope aver the Pile,t hood ?—( Hear, hear ! front Jktr. Perccval and others)—was not his power as indefinite as ever ? Where was the change with respect to him, unless that his being likely for the future of being at the appointment, and urns der the dominion of France ? It had been said, that granting these claims would produce conciliation In Ireland. This he much doubted, discords ant materials seldom coalesced in a forced incorporation of opposite re.. ligions. If he was asked, why this should be so, he could only say that it had always been so, and would be so as long as man was what he is. Until man was indifferent to all religions, he must have his religious . preferences. Religion, as long as man was a religious animal, must have Its political weight even to the abuse of itself ; even though, to use the word; of the Noble Lord (Morpeth), it b came a stepping stone to am bition. He denied the assertion, that lifting the C atholic reli g ion to the level of the Protestant could in any manner tend to secure the Protestant establishment. He repeated his entire confidence in the loyalty of the 11-ish Catholics—( Hear , hear .o—Gentlemen at one time said , t hat the Catholics manned our fleets, and filled our armies ; and at another, that these concessions were previously necessary to induce them to enter eur . sleets and armies—these were inconsistencie s he left to those Gentlemen to reconcile as they might. He warned the fieu4e not to mistake the real sentiments of the English People upon this dangerous queiti. He con] tired them not to misconstrue their silence, at tiP present mo ment, fur insensibility.—( Hear, hear! front Arr. Perr val and others.) l'he spirit of tolerance had, he thanked God, extingu: bed ill religious antipehies, but not all religions preferences. The silence of the people of this. country was merely owing to 'their confidence, that the Constitu tion would not he changed. I- lad they ant , such ;apprehension the table, would he covered with petitions, the ye ice of the (sentry would 1 e raised, and mist be heard. As circumstances now stood, he trusted that Par liament was not to be teazed, much less intimidated,.into a premature. anti. dangerous compliance. Where couhl they 'top more saf:ly than at :hat point at which they were now arrived The circle round their Protestant establidiments had been gradually diminishing—let it cons, tract no further, lest it -liould reed, that vortex, within when; sweeping, violence a Protestant Throne, a Protestant Parliament, and a Protestant Constitution, might be enguiphed for ever !—(lltetr, hear, hear ) Mr. CANNING could not forbear expressing his .surprise at a great part of the speech of his Right Honourable amid Learned Friend (Sir J. Nichol) He was decidecly adverse to the greater part of the doctrine of his Right Hon. aad Learned Friend. If his Nishlt4Friend intended to convey any disapprobation of. the conduct of the frish.Government in taking upon thein'to decide what was the law in a case which seennef. to Ms Noble Friend to he of a dubious nature, and proposed g. ing iero• # Committee on that account, he (Mr. Canning) must at once give his negative to the motion. His Right flonotirebie and Learned Friend had treated this as it 'sere a question of Religion. He (Mr. Canning) felt it his duty to consider it as one merely political. His Right Hon. and Learned Friend, said he, should not enter inn - , the nature of transub • gantiation. Put Why did he not so ? Namely, because he chose to as- - sume every thing that was said on that subject as fact, without athiticirg Any reasons fer that assumption. If the Catholics are but neutralized at - hopse, my Right Hon. Friend appears to he satisfied. But let us exa mine these apprehensions It little more closely.. Imagine a Papist Chan cellor and a Papist General, and the danger dreaded is, that the Pope and Buonaparte will necessarily lay their heads together, and contrive, by corrupting these persons, to work the ruin of the State. lam ready to allow that there were once times when an alarm of the kind was not - purely visionary. There was once a period when Europe was divided into two parts, when what of Furope was not Catholic was Protestant, and what was not Protestant was Pen, thanks tcrßuonaearte, such a division exists no more -he has caused the cristinctions of religi ii • to give way to those of patriotism, and the war ot sects to lose itself in the conflict between slavery and independence. French, or not Frerch ? has been of late the only question among nations. Behold, then, Bettis-• parte, the eldest sop ot the Church ; are the Catholics alene ietels • and the,supporters of hisdominions! See Lutheran Sweden in his elieie ere. P rotes tant Germany submissive to his will —see Prussia struggling in his toils. Yet, while his Catholic Sceptre thus extends over the realms ot Protestantism, our terror is not from Boo! aparte, but the Pope, and while we tremble at the thunders of the Vatican, await with inditterents , the machinations of the Cabinet of France. Confident in our politicte strength, but shuddering in religious weakness, we hid defiance to tem poral dangers, and stand alone on spiritual warfare. Of all descriptions of Papists, the most devoted, the most. blind and superstitious are those who are now resisting the progress of the french arms, and whom we are assisting in. their heroic enterprize while fighting for the Cathencs in Spain, it is rather ill timed to be contending with the Catholics at home. The interests of the C hurch of En g land, I believe to he se,ure, and in speaking of the Church of England, it may be with juetice ob • se rved in its praise, that alth o ug h nursed in persecutioe, and reared in adversity, it has always extended mercy to others, and shown itself fore most to evince a liberal spirit of toleration. To assert, that maiteion of a few Catholics to civil offices wo uld be to shake our the ad- Church HOUSE OF COMMONS. 85t I I