The Sun. — London, England, 1819-04-29 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN. ROMAN CATHOLICS. LETTER VII. MR. EDITOR—We now come to discuss the question of the concession of the Roman Catholic Claims upon tl►e ground of Expediency. The term Expediency implies, that some strong and almost invincible necessity - exists fur the fllloptioir of a measure . , the propriety of which would otherwise be questionable. Hence it na turally follows that, previous to such adoption being made, the utmost satisfaction should .be af fouled, not only that the measure, if carried into effect, would be attended with immediate and certain beneficial results, but also that immediate and certain evils would arise hum its not being adopted. flow far die above reasoning is appli- cabk to the ease betore us, 1 shall th . tretore l►ro- cte►f to conbidtr, and for that purpose shun ex- it»ine some .); OIL: principal arguments Which Itdve beet) ddcluc.•►l in favour of the concession of I tic itrlni3;) Catholic Claims, upon the pled ut-Ex- ped,eticy. kti 7 e have been repeAteffly wid by the support els Of thele Claims, that a reference to the sitna- lions of foseign Countries will clearly 'spew the policy of their being granted ; and great stress has been Lid upon tt►e n►exsures adopted as to Tole- ratio►► in bottle of the Continent al States. The Tuleralion of Protes(ants in France, and in seve- r4l oiher Roma►a Ca(liolic Countries, (particu- larly that granted by the great Princess •Maria Theresa,) have been mentioned as strong grounds for the concession of the Claims 'aged, and it has been *lvied from these instances, that by not conceding them, we are upholding a system of in- tolerance unknown even in Roman Catholic Cou:itrits. A moment's reflection, will, however, she++; that these cases ►lo not apply to our owi Country, and that Ireland, in particular, is a completely insulated case It is quite a different matter to confer political privileges upon Roman (;atliolics living under a Protestant Govern- mew, and to confer the same privileges upon Protestants living under a Roman Catholic Go- A Protestant bag only one alle giance, namely, that duel() the Sovereign in whose Teri irories be locally resides ; whereas a, Roman Catholic (as we have seen) has a divided alle giance ; a temporal one to his temporal Sovereign, trail a mixed one, to his supposed Ecclesiastical 'ead. However well inclined, therefore, a Roman Catholic may be to the welfare of the Conntry in he is resident, and however great his stake may be in it, lie can never be a fit person to make Laws for a Protestant State, so long as he holds certain Dogmas of his Church which are irreeon cileable with the Civil and Ecclesiastical Polity of a Protestant • Government. • Several of the Countries, however, which have been quoted as Precedents for England to follow in the case under 'consideration, are placed under circumstances which completely vary the question as to the po licy or propriety of the Measures pur.sued. NVith respect, to Prussia and Silesia, Russia and her Polish Provinces, the relation between these is far different to that subsisting bet sawn England and Ireland. The Provinces added to the Crowns of Prussia and Russia were Roman Catholic pre vious to the additions being 'made 3 and with re spect to these, the Countries to which they are annexed have a paramount power of revision anti correction, and of preventing the adoption of any measures which might be dangerous to their own individual interests. The connection subsisting between England and Ireland has been fresprently confounded and identified with that subsisting be tween other Countries ; whereas, (as was ob served hetore) it stands almost without a parallel, and can only be judged of or regulated by its own peculiar circumstances. Ireland has a Protestant E s i a hlishnient, witi k a Population, the majority cif which is Roman Catholic. She has Members of Parliament who are exclusively Prorestatit, with Electors who are not so—and as her Legis lature, by a solemn act of its own, united itself to that of England, she therefore now forms an integral part of a Nation whose Civil and Religious Establishments are Protestant, and the great majority of whose inhabitants are also Protestant. The ease of Holland and the Netherlands has been triumphantly quoted as exhibiting an union of Protestants and Roman Catholics ;sell worthy of imitation in this C,otrotry. We have been told ;hat in this case there are two Governments, the one Protestant and the other Roman Catholic, which form together one State, and in which all classes of the community (whether Protestant or Roman Catholic) are eligible to every office.* •Whatever vertiment. • Although the Treaty by which the Netherlands were an nexed to Holland had been so much extolled by a distin guished Whig Leader,and described " as having been framed •••upon the soundest principles of policy, and as furnishing " an example worthy to be followed with respect to the 11i " man Catholics of the United Kingdom," it seems that this opinion is not universal amongst the Mcmhers of the Whig Party. LOrd John Russell, in his recent " Letter to Lord " Holland on Foreign Politics," in speaking upon this sub ject, observes-- • " Here is an instance of two Nations, possessing no attrac " tion, lug rather a very great repulsion to each other. " pounded together in the great mortar of the chemists of " Vienna. What is to result front the Mixture ty• two squat " parts of Catholic Bigotry and Protestant Freedom—of " Land and Commerce. of French and Dutch, of polished "Stupidity and vulgar Ability, of natural Servility and an " dent love of Fretdoni, no man can guess. It may be " supposed, however, that one of the parts wilt fly qf as " coon ac it cats join any foreign matter.' measures, however, way have b‘ to arlapted . respect to the union of tkese countries at ,the.pre... sent day, it is clear from history that such an union - was not always thought advisable. Bishop Burnett tells us that King IVi!ham 111, rejected the idea of it upon the very ground of a dif ference of opinion in Religion subsisting between the two States, and the causes which have probably produced the present union, may be tt aced to the countries in question having been rescued from the fury of the French Revolution, and to a sys tem of tetnttorary policy having . been mixed up with their Civil 'Legislation. • It would not, per haps, have been wise to have insisted on _re .sttaints in States, the tot.ntctions of which are Roman Catholic in the highest degree, and which had been snatched front the horrors of Republi can DeTatism. The situation of the United Kingdoin is, Oh refore, very far different. It is still in the possesiion of a Constitution which has stood the test of ages, and which is as insulated as to policy, permanence, and excellence, as Eng land itself . . If we infringe this, we may as well let the Island afloat, and tow her into the har bour of one of those Powers which has so fre- quently asked her advise as to the fraining of a Constitution, and implored her assistance in an h ou r ►►t danger It ought ever to he recollected that England is the model which her superiors in 'Territory, but inferiors in Government, have ever resorted to in cases of emergency. Shall tve, therefore, give up the hltrourable and well merited pre-eminence which has been procured for us by our ancestors, and consent that England Imitator, and not an . Example ? Were our Constitution proved to he wrong, it would then he stupidity, and nor a love of Country, which would prevent an alteration of it being made ; until, however, that 'proof be afforded, we may hope that the Roman Catholic Claims will never he' conceded, because a real expediency for such a concession may have existed in Countries which are placed in situations perfectly different to our own. It has been asserted as another reason why the Claims should be conceded, that the Laws sought to be repealed were merely made fur temporary pur poses, which ,!ave long since ceased to exist, and that it is unjust any longer to retain them. The autho rity of Judge Blackstone has been quoted for this opinion, but a reference to the works of that emi nent Lawyer will not justify the appeal. His words, when speaking upon this subject, are the following, and the caution displayed in then) is particularly remarkable. After having explained the rea s ons which had induced the Legislature to enact several severe Laws (which are now re pealed) against the Roman Catholics, the Learned Judge proceeds :—" But if a time should ever " arrive, and perhaps it is not very distant, " when all fears of - a Pretender shall have va " niched, and the power and influence - of the " Pope shall have become feeble, ridiculous " and despicable, not only in England, but " in every Kingdom of Europe, it probably " would not then be amiss to review and soften " these rigorous edicts ; at least till the civil " principles of the Roman Catholics called again " upon the Legislature to renew them." Had Judge Blackstone lived at the present day,l thi n k there can be little difference of opinion as to what his sentiments would have been on the Roman Ca tholic Question. It is seen, that when the tights of Englishmen were entirely denied to the Roman Catholicswhen their persons, their religion, their properties, and their means of defence were withheld from them, he still entertained some doubts as to the policy of repealing the existing laws, and evidently considered himself as tread ing on tender ground, when hinting,at such a repeal being made. The wish of the Learned Judge has been accomplished, as to the revision and amelioration of the rigorous edicts which were in force when he wrote his'book ; and none are now left, except thost which, in the almost immediate subsequent page to that whet ein the above extract appears, he has denominated as " Bulwarks of the Constitution. f" The authority of Sir William Blackstone is therefore decidedly in favour of the existing system : the Penal Laws have been reviewed—they have been mitigated— 'nose which were passed for temporary purposes Lave been repealed—and such only are left as ate necessary for the preservation of the Protestant Constitution. It has been attempted also to connect the name of slr. Pitt with the Roman .Catholic Claims, by representing that great statesman as an advocate for their concession upon the grounds we are now considering. Some even have as serted, that a distinct pledge was given tc, the Roman Catholics at the time the Union was t,ro jected, tl►at their Claims should be granted 1 but this assertion has been met by a direct contrary I" 81. Cum. 4th Vol. p. Lil. Cuau. ch Vol. r. 59. '.ne on the part of a Noble Lou] (Castlereagh), who took a very active ,and kading part in that memorable question, and it has been clearly shown that a -pledge- of mere consideration and discussion, not of concession, was given.* One of the great objests which Mr. Pitt had in view when lie projected the union of the , two coun tries, was, a fair, temperate, and statesmanlike discussion of the Roman Catholic Claims.t His vote would have been given for their considera tion, but by no means for their unlimited conces sion. That : distinguished individual wished to feel the pulse of the English people on the sub ject ; and had he lived to have done so effectually, to have seen the almost universal disinclination which evinced itself to the measure, and the cir ctunstances'which attended the General Election of 1807, he never would have sanctioned a pro ceeding to which he perceived the Engllol Nation were so averse, and which was so little likely to be, attended with ; benefit to the country. Mt. Pitt would never have supported the measure of coneessio , .withunt most adequate securities be ing given ;+ and had he beets spared to have wit nessed the temper and disposi , ion which were evinced, when securities much inferior to those which he would have probably required were proposed by the professed Parliamentary Advo cate of the Claims—to have seen them represent ed as indispensabletviMin the House of CUtninons, and reprobated as unnecessary, degrading, and insulting Without, I 'think there can be little doubt as to the vote which the Right Honourable Gentleman would have given. his support to the measure would have been given under an idea of its forming a means of strength and alliance ; to do which, it must necessarily have been sup ported by the unanimous assent of the nation at large. When, iowever, that lamented personage haul found that this was nor likely to be the case, and that it would neither satisfy the Protestants on the one hand, or the Roman Catholics on the other, he would never have opened a source of broils and dissentions, which would in all proba bility have concentrated themselves into a focus, from which nothing but angry passions, mutual recriminations, and harassing recollections would have issued. I have yet another view to take of this (pies tion of expediency, which I shall defer for a con cluding Letter ; and remain, April 26, 1819. Yotteg, &c. BRITANNICUS. 4 Vid. printed Report of Lord dasticresigh's Speech in the louse Of Commons, 25th , NIay, 11;10. t VW. Mr. Pitt's Speech in the house of Commons, 31st fanuary, 1799, on introdu ig the Pi'oposition of the Union tetween Great Britain and Ireland, and Gifford's Life of i'itt, Vol. 6, p. 5.85. yid.. 11.. 't'owline's Speech, delivered in Trinity College Chapel, Catuhrid4e, December. I7th, 1806. FOR 111 E SUN. POPERY. MR. EDITOR—A Contemporary Journal has shewn the danger of Popish Emancipation in a very formidable instance--the obligation of auricular confession; whereby a Papist, when ad mitted into the Royal Councils, would, of course, disclose them to his Pt lest. On this point 1 shall aa no comment : but, Sit , as 1 have alt early., seen the consequences of this it emendous engine itt matters scarcely less important, and affecting the whole system of our Judicature, I must summon cite attention of the Protestants. I have been present in an Irish Court of cri minal judicature, when a Popish Priest refused, loudly and plumply, to disclose what had passed under the seal of confession. I have seen the justice of the ►and impeded by this impudent and malignant hypocrisy.. • I have seen the Judges of the land submit to it. I have seen the convicted criminal swing out of the world, attesting God to his innocence.; while his crime has been as plain as the noon-day upon no other 'ground, than that having been ab solved by the Priest, he is an innocent martyr. But observe, Sir—this expiring Quibbler will not say that lie did not commit the act for which he suffers ; only, that be is innocent of it. Are Jesuits, thus subtle and thus powerful, to be let in upon us )—ls the religion, which makes them its teachers, to be estahiished ?=--Ought it even to be tolerated in a country that reckons her self free and Christian ? VIGIL. Saturday last, the 24th inst. five serjedrits, six corporols,.and three drummers of the Staff of the Wtst Kent regiment of militia, stationed at Maidstone, were discharged. Thursday last, the anniversary. of the birth of SIIAKSPEAKB was celebrated at Sunderland, by an elegant dinner provided at Kay's, the Golden Lion Inn. A large parry partook of the enter tainment, and a eatiety of toas►s, sentiments, and songs appropriate to the occasion, an,l to the ho nour of our immortal .bard, kept the company to gether till a late hour. The dinner and wines were excellent. T EA T I C E. 4 I R. Perforated Last IViett. . „ THEATRE. RoTAL. DauaY-LAVE.—E very One haft bis r Captain Irwin, Mt. 11. Kemble; Lady Eleanor Irw in,•Alt Glover. :Ater which, Love Laughs at Lockstniths• TH LATH.E: ROYAL, :_:OVENT-GARDIN..—EVadIIe : Principal racters by Mr. l'onti..; and Miss O'Neill. Alter which, I° l. ' tunatus and his Sons. TO CORRESPONDENTs. ALBERT, A FatEND To THE BRITISH CossTITUTION, ➢RANCIIE, BEEN), and other articles, have bee n received : and shall be duly regarded.—Our Paris Correspood!ntg Letter canoe too late fur insertion this day. Fur ItiXOTUsi, See the First Page• For Parliamentary Proceedings see the Last Page. PRICE OF STOCKS per Cent. C05.. " ....7 Y 7'27lll7:l l ld v i: ` 26 ' . P `3 . 60 9 per Cent. Re d. .. 71 M I Bank Lon;.; Ann. !RI 1 ` s, ..... pet Lent c Exch. Bills, •• • •(,; 5 . 4 per C t ei:ts.Ann; 9014 Cons. fur per ...... MAIS. - AitaivED-1 IlaubVin, 1 Guernsey and .TerseY, I 'Frince Duc—lAlin, I Waterford, - t Ilainburgh• HIGH WATER AT LONDoN BRIDGE TO•NIOKR011.5. Morning, 2S minutes after 6. I Evening, 53 minutes THE T •SOLEM QUI% DitERE PALSI.I3I .ttIi)EAT • 7 LONDON, THURSIMY, APRIL 29, 1819.' We received this morning the Paris I'l 4ll° Monday last. The following are extracts:"... • ° tit " Pacts, APRIL 26--The Icing C p yesterday, which was attended by the Ambassadors, Marshals, G:nerals, Btc. <<Yesterday Sir Charles Stuart, the t'llg Ambasiador, had an audience of hipMak' r) fo r " It is hoped that his Majesty•vtili gu " t 1 the first time, in the course of the prescto " The report of the Committee o ff t he p" l i e respecting the Journals and periodical lions, will be made this day to the Chamber (1 Deputies by M. Savoye Rollin' „e f /he •-" The law respecting the organiza li°ll 0 National Guards of France, will be Pre sent'''. ‘ O , the Chatnher inunedhately after the termin!tio • of the discussion on the Liberty of the Frts' s s veti " The King transacted business succ e r yesterday with the M3rquess Dessolles, for Foreign Affairs, M. de Sore, Keeper of Seals, Minister of Justice, anti the Co " ( Th'ca°' l Minister of the Interior.. • • " A deputation of the Chamber of,Peers pre; tented to his Majesty the tobacco projct, agreed upon by the Chamber. . • " M. Bellart has puhtished a very lonif:Pi,i -0 pion respecting tie three projets relative 1 . - s l'ret's. lie oPmes the two former, and - d ecl're in favour only of that v.hich regards the J o°l'6is and periodical Publications. " Lieutenant-General Quesnel died at "1“.. ranches oti the ititii,clostant. " MADBID,'LRIL 12.—The escorts of Ito Our e , set out from hence a few days since for Wic: lona, to receive the Princess of Naples, cons of the infant Doti Francis Paul.' " The accounts from Cadiz state, tb 3t greatest activity continued to prevailgett-I4 ready the Expedition there. Several tra usP( r; purchased at Bourdeaux, had strived, lid ()I were expected from England. Twenty tho""I' . . a men, destined for America, were assemblea Andalusia by the. end of last month. r" tbe t t expedition is to sail in September, hut r 1 t he course of the present mon•h, three ships 01 line and a frigate are to sail for the Pacifi c Oce''' ; to oppose t • be force, under the comm an d. of 11($11 Cochrane, Time naval officers, however, "re, started difficulties respecting the harl'stmte Pr( of these ships. Two naval Captains have, Uc° distnissed. " LAUSANNE, APRlLl9—Prince Eivren e) anti c the Grand lincheis Stephania of Bade'', wc* .e f° l some days at Zog the beginning of this nOntjt under the strictest incognito. ) " lcut.;, APRIL 10.—It is attain confidellt-Ife stated, that the King will go to Au(' jusi , ti month of May,'to r eview the troops. " VIENNA, APRIL 14 —The statement poblistj: ed in the French Journals, of a conspiracy o f it . l o Carbonuti to poison the Emperor Of A ustria Italy, is not in the least credited here , it "Pe 3er; ing impossible that such a crime should have discovered without excitin4 a greater seusao" • e.nd no private letter makt , s any mention,of NI(GREGOICS EXPEDITION• rMls esr " On board the Peterborongli Pac A at anchc r, 7, 1819. 0 " The Mall ti . Wr, bat anchor la g, , last evening, our shir , not interfere with us. Indep'endeot o f the nt inpply of beef, pork, rein), &c. a 13r ;;e eo has been made no shoe by G,,ncral Nl`Ggg°l4:s; for fresh provisions. Colonel O'HA R 0 A r ont l ` l %, on shore in absence of 3 , 1 4 G1uG0r., All the st" , 'and troops, and ships afloat, it,e ;older ivy dime &It e.ers. ea little time will cueti)le Hie Lu,ior" Yo Ye ge ce, 4 , . r e , by ~~