The Sun. — London, England, 1819-05-04 00:00:00

I:c• Protestant Snetession to the Crown, rts by nw established. He hoped that what was now prayed for would have two affects—the one to en snre general tranquillity, and the other to give additional force to the empire. He boiled this would follow from the identification of t wo classes at present divided, and that those who owned the same Redeemer and the same Gospel, and in ef fect similar,though not the same Sacraments,wonld be united under one common roof in England,offer up their praise and adoration to one Common God, with all the varieties of nature, but with all its concord also. The petitioners prayed to he relieved from that ineligibility which had been imposed upon them because they refused to abjure their religion. The Catholics put in no fantastic . claim of rights ; they merely claimed that corn ' mon eligibility which ought to be the birth-right of all. They called on the House not to gram them this as a favour, hut to restore it to them • as a right. If it were thought right to continue „ that- sentence svhich had been enrol ced against Nil 'them instead of lass', it was for those who favour ed such a treasure to prove the delinquency of the • Catholics before they called 'on them to eoahl , sh their innocence. The erect cauies of tie disqoa lificat ions formerly imposed upon them had ceased. The first of these was the cen-ral combination _ . of Ilse RO;nan Catholics of Europe—the Pretetuirr : r t another—the power of the Pope the third. t ill these causes were removed, and nut te aloee, too the passirms atmexed to them, and the ohjecta to which those passions might be directed were also no more, it was not denied j that in certain eases that Howe had a right to enact disqualifications. Ph-teemor and Pen , aiouers were properly disqual.fied, but the li.oise k . had no right to disqualify on account of religion intetfere with religion was exclusively the principle of nature and the prerogative ot God. But it was said the Catholics were not disquali fied on acroutit of their religion. hut on account of the principles which that religion was top osed to sanction. These it was contended led them to disregard the moral ohligations of an oath. if a Roman Catholic, suppose Sir Ed ward Jeroingliam, was indicted for treason and perjery, and there was offered as the evidence of his guilt one of Dr. Gandolphy's pamphlets, the report of his favourable reception at the Court ot Rome—of-the politeness of the Pope—the re establishment of the Jesuits in some parts of Eu rope—what would all this tend to ? It would fuinish an argument not against the character of the person, but against the whole Catholic body. It was such evidence as a Court would not allow „which would not he permitted to go to the .Tnry—which, if the Judge did allow, cr nd on which. if the Jury found a verdict, the Judge mist be impeached and the Jury attainted. Rut suppose, on the other hand, that there was offer ed that oath which at your request has been im posed, what objection could be made ? The an swer would be, that it is sanctioned by sit Uni versities ; and if the Counsel answered thus, he would tell them that it was the only part of the case on which the Court had any jurisdiction ; be would then submit the letter of the Cardinal, and would say, that in reusing to receive it, the Court would refuse the liberty of the subject by refusing the oath. Then the Judge must say that be need not trouble the Jury, as no case had been made out. But, without questioning the power of Parliament, or advocating for the Catholics any fantastic claim, be would say,that the Catholic had in common law a right to his religion :- 2d. That there was no right in any body to call upon hint to ohjuie :-31, That Popery or Roman Catholicity was no evidence of perjury; and 4th, That he was called upon to abjure that which was not within the reach of our cognizance. To deprive our Roman Catholic brethren of their common lave right of eligibility, was to deny that principle on which we ought to found our own faith, and to disobey the high order of natural and revealed religion. But it was said that some of the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic religion were of a dangerous nature. When it was said that the Roman Catholic religion rendered men incapable of the moral obligation of an oath, that was saying that the Roman Catholic religion teas not divine—it was laying that the Christian reli gion was not received in Italy, in Spain, in France, in Portugal, nor in a great part of Ger many. But did those who •taid this know how much they said against their own religion ? It VI•89 curd to saying that hope had conquered re ligious obligation—that matt had conquered the Almighty. The philosopher, the atheist, or the deist, heard this, and they approved of it. It nerved the turn of each, because it undermined that religion to which they were all opposed.— They founded their strongest argunrent upon it, and well they might, for instead of proving that the Catholic religion had fallen into great abuses, it destroyed the very principle on which the re formed religion rested ; which, instead of teach ing men to stop with the Protestant discipline, destroyed it. It imputed evils to the Roman Ca tholic religion which were common to the whole tThristian dispensation ; and if all these evils were established, it would establish nothing but the perjury, idolatry, and perfidy of man.. The fact was, that we had contended so much with the 110111,111 Catholic religion that we had forgot the Gospel , . In the zeal to continue the Catholics in a state of civil disability, there had been established In our wan minds a sort of negative religion, which. was indeed hostile to popery, but which as to Ok)r Saviour and the Gospel was nothing. It was in the nature of contests on religious sub jects, that, when continued very violently on par ticular tenets, they led us to forget the great Au thor of the whole, and to think only of our an tagonist. Now he maintained that our strength had its foundation c. 71 our religion, and that to disunite those who professed the same religion— the religion of Christ—was to disobey the prime order of religion, both natural and revetled.-- 7 It was disobedience to natural religion, be cause its prime order was to love our fellow creature. Without that love adoration was not a sacrifice ; prayer was not a sacrifice ; we could only serve God by serving our fellow-crea ture. The prime order of the Gospel was the same. Our Great Redeemer came to foster the great principles of love to Goa and man. lie came supported . by miracles ; supported by pro pbecie, ; supported by the Holy Spirit in his life VII Ms rrort s ; aticl com:og rhos u?on cartll, Isle command which he gave us was, that we should serve and obey our God—thin we should love our fellow-creatures. But we disputed the latter in junction—we said that our fellow-creatures were unworthy our confidence and our love ; and ac cordingly, with respect to our fellow-creatures, we denounced the:..greater part of Europe, and doing both, we disobeyed the Gospel, unless we could prove that its benefits were confined to those who take only two sacrathents, and unless we can show that charity dues not mean love to our brethren, but the mere giving, of alms. The question, therefore, was, whether to the greater portion of nor fellow-crew ores, in defiance of the Gospel, we should suspend the duties enjoined by natural religion and the Gospel of Christ ? But the Roman Catholics were charged with dis loyalty, nod where was this charge recorded ? Nut • by the 17th of the King, wherein it is de clared, that they are good and loyal subjects. And when was this charge believed ? Not when you restored to them a part of their rights—not when, two years H a t., t, on ave them the right ot holding commissiooa in t!ie Army and Navy, and enabled them to defend both. it was not be- Iteved, when we restored the Pope ; we eartied the Pope on our backs to Rome.---(Laughter.)-- We had conceived the Pope to he a proverfal Ptioce, who could de , hroue every Monarch in Europe; v e found him tunable to command a single Catholic ; we found him straaped to the wet horse of a tyrant, deposed by his own Catholic sub ;acts. But it was a wise thing to restore him. It was seen (said the Hon. Member) that the danaer was front another quarter. It was seen that Christianity of any description was safe— tha: infidelity of any description was dangerous. %Vite n we restored the Bourbons, anti reinstated the Pope, we saw that evert Popery might I strengthen the Protestant religion ; we saw that the Catholic religion was not (as it was repre sented to he), an idolatrous superstition, but that I it Was a better guide to morality than that (-tw ilit, iv beistical philesophy, tinder which peace had lost its stability, under which war had lost all mercy :—we saw that it enabled us to revive the influence of the Christian religion. And why was al; this to be found in the Catholic religion Not because those who professed it 'retie faithless, but because they were faithful—because the religion itself contained those principles which are the means of peace and the bond of treaties. All this had been done, and all this had been recognized, in the Roman Ca tholic religion. What more was wanted ? Only that we should persuade ourselves to establish a religions conformity. From the moment that you do so you establish unanimit v—in what by uniting a Christian fraternity in support of the Christian religion. Will you say that in doing this yoo re-create Popery in your Religion ? lu such a doctrine we did worse than very thing we feared—we taught the infidel that Religion was an artifice very convenient for stapportiog time power of Kings, and only useful for the coercion of the subject. But where a political conformity was established in Europe, there was established a re ligious conformity, otherwise religion must be a mere contrivance for keeping dowo the'people.-- But it was said, if the rights claimed for the Rir loan Catholics were conceded, that the Catholic Clergy would overturn the Government, which teat, as Hunch am to say, that they would apply to the Roman Catholic laity tat exercise their new authority for the establishing a domination of their religion, This was proceeding upon a prin ciple wholly and fundamentally wrong. It was supposing that the natural propensity of man was to submit to a Church Government. But the argument was carried still farther. It was as much HS to say, that mankind preferred sub mitting to ecclesiastical power rather than to civil. The argioneut came then to this—that the Ca tholics would rise against their King—against their God—against their Gospel, to uphold their Clergy—to do that for which they must deserve to be hanged in this world anti damned in the next—(Laughter and cheering)—that Dr. Poyn ter, so soon as his flock should he emancipated, must become a traitor—that he will go to the Duke of Norfolk (who is also to turn traitor), and say, " Your Grace is now invested with political power, and therefore, 1 suppose, you are natu rally inclined to subvert the Government.—(Much cheering.)—Your Grace must, therefore, run the ri s k o f 'using your head to make me Bishop of Norwich or some other See." All this was what the House was called upon to dread. To prevent such a thing from happening, it was judged ne cessary to have an Act of Parliament, and that Act was the disfranchiaement of °tie-fifth part of the population of the Empire. This was to mis take the drift of mankind. The tendency of such policy was not to strengthen the Protestant Es tablishment, but to weaken it. NVlien Popery was attacked, there was an attack on Protes tantism—the same principle, and the same argu ment, which was directed against the Pope, was also directed against the Archbishop of Canter bury. For when the main printiptes of religion were thus broken down, the infidel would approve the argument, and would call it so good as to ad mit not only its victory over the priesthood, but over all religion. He woad admit it to have con tittered the whole Christian system ; that if it did not go so far as to admit transubstantiatioo, at least it destroyed commemoration. These argu ments, therefore, were hostile to the great prin ciples of the Christian dispensation. When lie looked to the greatest names that appeared in the history of man, be could not adruit such princi ples, even if there were no better support for them that, mere authority. The man who had the greatest genius, the most prodigious mind, wea Sir Isaac Newton. He found him a Christian.-- The man who had the greatest Rower of reason, and the greatest knowledge of the human mind, was Locke. He found . birri a Christian, and tole rant. There was that in the Christian religion which must make the Gospel be everywhere re spected, and it needed no disqualification of any part of those who professed the Gospel. to maintain its authority without danger to the Protestant religion. The good sense of our Own Clergy, anti the superior sense of our own reli gion, would always have their sway; they would produce that insensible conformity which 'would produce insensibly Oa utmitp ot *COQ.), if not the unity of he:iet. tt rt'r'.S Said, however, that the Roman Catholics, if their present claims were acceded to, ovould not he contented till they were made part of the Established Religion ; that was to say, that as sooti us a Roman Catholic WAS made a Member of Parliament, he ovoid,' wish to be made a Minister. This was trot likely. The real truth was, that we now wished to give the Roman Catholics an establishment which they re fused; and this was the whole object of the tests and disqualifications. The error was in forgetting the cruises why the pains and penalties had been given to the Roman Catholics as their own pro perty its the Constitution. But it was said, that the Revolution had settled this matter beyond the power of alt ration, unless we would pull down the Constitution. To this he replied, that the RevoWiwi was after all but a busman array—ahat it did not repeal the New Testament. The Re volution was a great act—it was a great victory over a hail Prince--the victory of civil and reli gious liberty over tyranny. Then it Was said that the declaration was final; just the reverse—the Revolution was declared—after it came the Act of Union, which declares that the declaration of rights was not final but provisional. It did more ; it made that declaration only conditional ; fur the Parliament then declared that the exclusion of th e Roman Catholics was not final. Therefore the declaratmo was not only provisional, but conven fional ; and the Act of Parliameni which set this • plainly forth, was a covenant with the Catholics by the Protestants, against the declaration being final. The Protestant faith did not wipe out the Catholic. • N4v, the case was still stronger: there was an Act of Parliament passed within our own times, and that Act declared that the intention of the declaration was not against the Catholics ge nerally, but only against such of them A, had sub mitted to the temporal power of the Pope ; it called the declaration a "dogmatical declaration." lo truth the elements of the Constitution were not exclusively Protestant. The House of Lords was not exclusively Protestant—or rather the Peerage was not exclusively Protestant—the Com monalty was not exclusively Protestant. Nay, by the Constitution, a Catholic might, as a Catholic, sit in that House if he took the oaths, anti if he chose to take the oaths, as a Catholic, he inig,ht vote in that [louse 5 for the oaths required to be tak e n by those who sat in that House were not oaths of conformity to the Protestant Church.— The oaths Administered at the bar were not of conformity. Even this House, there lore, was not exclusively Protestant. As to Ireland, which was most materially concerned in this question, a pro scriptive systens of Government had been set up, which prevented ail amalgamation. This, too, had been done by force of arguments on the danger which attended any other sort of policy. We might argue down the human character to the level of one own choice. But could Huy ratioirat man suppose that any branch of the Christian could degrade the human character so low as those must make it who acted on this system of proscription. What was there in extreme unction, or in atiricidar confesicm, to red tiro pro scription i But it might be said, we hart been at that work for sixty years—that we had established our own religion by disqualifying theirs but by disqualifying them we had set them against us—ore had excluded them as enemies of our faith, as pro fessors of to religion whose principle was perfidy. We provoked them toyise inSt its, anti we kept them down by an arnly. 'Finis army was the tax we paid for the benefits of our. Penal Laws, and our Protestant Ascendancy. Moati i ,tire Revolu tion there had been no exclusion of tbe „Roman Catholics front Parliament, nut till 1682 . ; but it was done then, anti it teas said now that it would not be undone; that our steps could not be re traced, --" Faci/is descensns awerni, " Sec/ reweare gradutu," 34c. The attempt, however, had been made. Such a Committte as that which he now wished the House to appoint had, on a tomer occasion, been granted, and they had framed a Bill. The precedent of appointing such a Committee was strengthened by the names of those who com posed it. Many of its most illustrious Members (and amongst them Sir Samuel Romilly) were now no inure ; but many of them, distinguished men, remained. He saw now Lord Castlereagh, of whom his enemies must say that lie had a great mind—he saw now Mr. Canning, whose modest and refined genius adorned every subject which he treated ; he saw, too, that worthy man, 1111.. Wilberforce, with whose name the confines of Africa must resound ; he saw, too, many of his friends bromid him, and amoog them his Right Egon. Friend who bad frantsd the Bill. All these now remained, and with their countenance he called upon the House to grant his motion.— Let it only be considered what would be implied by refusing it. It would be declaring that the Emperor of Austria was an idolater—that the: King of France was an idolater—he %vould say nothing of the King of Spain—that the King of Portugal, whom we had planted in Anterics, whom we had subsidized in Europe, was an ido later. The laws which he thought objectionable, and which it was his main object to repeal, so far as respected the Roman Catnolics, were trio; one was the Declaration, the other, the Act •of Supremacy. There was no reason why the Ca tholics should not take an oath of supremacy, but then it need not be so framed as to give of fence to their religious tenets, though it must contain enough to attain the great object of such an oath. It would be only, then, to have two oaths of supremacy--one for Catholic', another for Prote s tants. But it was said that we could not satisfy the Catholics—and that argument went to this, that they would not obey the Gospel.— It was admitted that they would obey the law, but it was said they would nut agree with one another. Indeed ! UM then was a compaii son. They raid they would join in praising God, but they would damn one another.-- t Laughter.) As to the Bill which had been. framed by the•former Committee, he confessed he thought its provisions rather hard. The places which it excepted out of all those which were to be made accessible to Catholics were two—the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Lord Chancellor. And why were they excepted ? Because it was said the Roman CAtholics could not make good Protestaot patruus, these _being the great offices e patt . oliage. vv.s S ' `. c : 0 1? you all those offices, because %' I II are g o' d 2 ' jects, but we keep from you the Lientenant,cipt the Seals, because you ore good CalholCs' great question, however, %vas otte (it duty, and the great argioneot to b e rippole(''il ! It " th ey shotild not he allowed to serve Go`' ()! 1 a IVASI the pleasure of the Crown. But ';1 . on the Id* of God, there could be no (I" ; e9till f s l ° l expediency. That would be to try th e 4 ' ' ,, ' eT t ', God by the ptesompt ion o f o.io, Te eto"-liii lion of the Roman Catholics was not entire'oi (loestioti of empire. 'Alan was to be tried 11 1 0 , Gospel, and tile,Ciospel by itself. It w 4 ,,er , greatest command given by the gr eatest that our empire approached it, i t rt l cc!l i strength ; that whatever is tell ititodY be politically Sate. Another argitionent tert4 the Catholics could never be attached to u s. 1! it lf ssere they now attached ? Loot: to fre l3/1( ; was desired to attach the people of ( h a l t I, o ' try, this was the way to begilLer "s the Great Charter, the title,secority, ,c' et fi rmatiort of our freedom as a peo de. now Ist° families, who traced thiemselees 1114, e , estors who were among those whit obtai"eb,sof st2nature of that Chatter. The rriiresentauv`o;l these il two families %vete now petitionets t o e ouse—they pray us to give to them a 51°r to / that liberty which their ancestors 'giVeri las t l,a (Chreling•)-- =Their allegiance teas as' gow; of any other Catholic people If -bri)llc ; most be dewed that there could b•- re r ' eci ► '4 l r - Vi3nce where there was a IrreC4overnme titt i t4"( mutely no safety. to the Government, i)toir',lou ‘• even to nor religion—there cou ld be o oab e o -1 ( where there seas belief in God. But the r tt taut Church. 'monk be strength . elle..d lire cg t :be t citation of the Catholics: The streu,,,ta otit• Church depended on the tinily of the Pe () P ie :i elr I the te . sa ti o n f it l y ffi ( % ) • f il t e li g e e that eq u al i ty d e i tT e t il l ' i l t e ; l o 0 the LUOr'tt„t .nity of inter . est, and Otat iittetest wtis g ive" ' f: 4 in maintaining the Church. ft was 01) : v years since this question bad been ogitatec" proportion of the Catholic to the 028 13 it pulation was now as One to SIX. NO doubt that this equalizatio n of vriv ,il e ,zes -- () 06 strengthen at least one part of the empire it;c, . i strength of part was strength t o the whole•o,rot g es much most be expected from the l)1. 1 harmony, trout the tituslgrl natio') of 3tfice 0,11 11 of tale t supposed the upo p ctm s i e (: there e : t h em I , t r i t A e 5 . a / i n , t r t " t 1'( Crown, a Parliament Protest alit in pr01" )1 :,,,.1J' the preponderance of Protestants in t he 11 4 / !jou ; fur even if every Member tor Ilelt"'10 „ it y a Catholic, it wrvild still leave the liouseot v;;IC, m ous Protestant in the proportion of s i' c i "i tl l But it had been said, that in Ireland an tl ' e )I C" # ed property would fall into the 11:11 !1'111'k of th e 1,1 tholics, and that a Catholic Ascendancy 0 rake place in that country. This wits ' There could be no Catholic ~Nscentlatiey ,II land ll i t t o;t cl t h erea l.‘ )i t was t ofrelief h the : which he had I • t a ' ). d a (4 , reaoy mew omen was;tit ft) an alarm was excited, and all ft was exclaimed that the Church ss'tas —that the Establishment world I) e The Bill was lost. Bit if • ; 01Whll1(1° Noble Lord (Lord Castlereagh) radoceti tli c • Bill two years ago. The Bill seas lt eas : reto i 6 °4 :, time—aseeond time—a third time ---n° tri6'riC tt ;—it was taken to the Lords ----re'' t ,ritt et time—recut a second time—re t ort ed 'podded unanimous approbation- - Cla e 011 /100; assented —the Bill became an a ct baineut. This shewed the unreality of r ro apprehensions which ascribed danger ti ) l' t ' testant Church, unless toie-sixt'i tart of - Polatton were continued looter politica l I ties. Butt the Noble Lord's IBM had r - c. , 5( ;;; he did nut see how this motion could tie oPr - o.al would it be said that a man conld not b e ,, tr i ° with vote in the [louse, thou,th ""rlt safely made Commander-in-Chief ? 1)111 : 111`. whole war they had fought with us aw l quered ; from the continencer r►tell of when our enemies came dote() of th (1.5 : 1 0 0 ' to the water's edge, till its conclusiou, tebc'.eo, fleets had swept their squadrons trol l) the i and our armies had det,tro e licit when we bad fouz4lit against Y ti A ties tiani'y, o f t h Heaven,l( ut gb t 'fieas ,• ' C e teliteoetic);:atistev:;; attr it,te' cause and il allies. But when the strogirlt., A k t v• l ts ‘ ) ' ve r, great si cause triumphant—when ' those w it 7) shared our dangers in the field sought t ° , ; le 4 hr s :, (totted to an etilial enjoyment of polltiC3' µel their services were immediately for "'" l '' iurl ' (4 were Catholics—the allies of heav en w ere 3 l i t o Or of idolaters. Under the various line s to tt hints, there was some distingois.hilta P°llllt6 .ietiefit granted to the people w auspices j ie‘ be e : l •ll 4 race of Princes under whOse bestowed. The Priti!Aveiiet 1 1 1(1 ) • s •t 1 " 9 I\ l' l ,l Charts—the Tudors had' given ' t 4 " t 1 40'9'.01' there was another Act, which w i t s o g il ( :l ‘) red ot ' fic t;e o more to the glory of our Ito ai N tifl 4 l l‘ )/ ` $ of our fellow- subjects —one Y '‘th of th c i s. population of the kingt'olts. ss: s e i re . :tow '`.?" restoration to their political ritthts• The 14 ',, t , r 1 - 1) 0 ,, # the !louse lianover was tt,. he.fin their c . ipcion; let it du that, and then it ring 'l%h ', 1 %0 1 1 1 1 1 ( t H he ( f , ,t( the Plantagenet awl the Tti'l °r ' T . leo! be mon concluded hv inoving, ottl'°/ hat this House du re - ols• • • • , e otnittee do* whole Muse, to coltsider't I. c illt" ''' ' . ‘",l l-c1.431.1.ciii his Mujcst ) . . Sohj,cts prof "f 11". l't( j a- t he i t ile 'L r/ giunt so i:11 , as th.e same - re.:'"l.l Itoti'-,RtuRI,") for► uncut of c;vii °dices 1 ,,,, 1 1 :1". t '1")•rl•vii 150-I,IW with a view to doe/1;11;1C . Wht:t‘hrtr.:VarellT.llJlVct'Art the s o° nuuy lie itItC;110.1." MI . CHOKER rose to second the Itsoti°°' ffrr felt smile apology was d oe to the 'loos e for 001' itN himself so early to its attetstio,l 01 5 0 ant a question. and lie trtisted that io had to say a proper a Mlo be footio. ogritr Right 1 - 100• Geotteo l wi gt Luau{'! A i d( 17‘ Parliatneut passed two v eal . ago, r°°"'l(l/11/ but greatly affect th e 1100 'e .tod the C° °ll . v itii; . natnely, the to qualify Ca th olics for sel r lie had the honoi,,_ver in the Army and Navy. introducing that Bill, which had n° t passed without some observatioils. * W ith rel. o ll.l ' to the B.otnati Catholics being excluded frt" ;,ti ces of the 6tate, it had been ;Iraritablv "m: Grentile ,wrn—" ‘Ve do exclude 111. a j :Lev excludt.; theossely-s T