The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-04-14 00:00:00

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they have .net cot). been received into the Civil,
hut the. /slilitasy Departments of the C• unit ;
and fur these extensions of their privileges, t ley
wid ever t.ear a grateful remembrance of the he-
nig try of their Sovereign. Such has been their
situation ever since the year 17•)9 to the pre•'r,t
moment, a period of 14 years; but when Hie Ma•
jesty's late Ministers were called upon to assume the
Government, they were undoubtedly placed in a
very particular situation. Your Lordship, must
surely feel that the preelicament in which the coun-
try was placed, was such as naturally made them
wish, by all constitutional and leg rl means, to
avail themselves of the utmost force which coald
be procured. They entertained some hopes, not
only of strengthening our own resources, of
augmenting our commerce, and adding to our
prosperity; but also of delivering Europe from
the unbounded aggressions of France. These
were objedts which could not be accomplished
without endeavouting to avail themselves of the
whole cf the force that could tie raised from annong.t
all Hit Majesty's suhjeers of every description.—
Additional motives for such intentions were no doubt
afforded them by the recent Union with Ireland.
Such were the desirable objeas which occurred to
my Noble Friend, and others of His Majesty's late
Counsellors. Where was the difficulty of opening a
proposition which had been formerly opened to the
Catholics of Ireland ? They had already been
found deserving of the favour of their Sovereign ;
and where, I would ask, was there, in these pro-
ceedings, a:sy cause of alarm, that the Church was
likely to be endangered ? Notwithstanding this my
couviaion, my Liods, I do not say thee I would
have consented to the Bill in question. On the
contrary, I h id strong onjeaions to it ; and I shall
this night shortly explain the foundation cf the oh.
jettions I now entertain. Because, by the present
existing law, that a man may be an Ensign, or
Lieutenant, or Major, or Colonel, bat nut one
step farther, that lie cannot be an officer upon the
Staff, is it from thence to be• argued, that, were
such absurdities to be done away by further pro•u. -
tioa being allowed, His Majesty's oasts and cowci-
euce would not be sate; or, that the Church is to he
alarmed, and the State endangered? No inan out cf
doors, nor within these walls, can, with justice or
propriety, say that such const•queuees would be
likely to arise either to Church or State, by the
mere as of making such dicinftions. I must
tell the Noble Earl. who spoke first, in answer to
the Noble Moyer, that there is in this motion no
implied censure upon His Majesty. There is no
waist ef respect nor His islejesty . It is equally for
the interest of the Sovereign and the people of tins
country. that no such idea should prevail as that
which this present motic n is intended to do away.
Why did the NnOle Lord, at the head of his late
Councils, ask the King's permission to lay the
whole lasts before your Lordships, which could not
be known but in the Cabinet? Was it no: for the
purpose of showing where the responsibility rested,
and to ascertain where those individuals were who
advised the King? Did lie profess to state the mat-
ter as an opi ,ion of the King. himself ? I am the
last man who would wish to see the King curtailed
in hes power, or abridged in the exercise of his
wisdom and discretion for the goo.: of the country ;
for sure I WTI, my Lords, that every thing that is
the fruit of as Majesty's virtue and his own sug-
gestion, is calculated for the benefit and happiness
of his people. riis Mejesty's late Ministers finding
themselves in that situation, made that proposition,
which went beyond the Irish Aa. After you have
experienced the good candela of man in any one
situation, you may surely venture to trust bon in
another. It is fit that you should open the iniiitai y
profession to those who risk their lives in the ser-
vice of their King and Country. I again state that
is impossible for any candid or honourable man to
say that this condo& of the late Administration
amounted to an unjustifiable or irregular stretch of
His Majesty's conscience. If it was not so in the
first instance, it could not be so fn the second. None
of these ()Nations were opposed to the repealing of
any of the penal Ails in Ireland. His Majesty can
have no detetmination which is inconsistent with
his duty, or the advantage of the country; for those
who advise him are the authors of his determination.
I shall take it fur granted, that there was a mis-
understanding ; but when a misunderstanding
occurs, it is extremely easy to say, that men, even
of the most unquestionable honour and integrity,
when it suits their ptopose, intended to deceive ;
hut in the present instance, there is no foundation
for such supposition. Where can any imputations
apply to them, when the misunderstanding appeared
evident t What Gould they do more than abandon
the Bill which was introduced ? But it is said, that
they gave a pledge by the very ait of withdrawing
the Bill. That 1 deny ; for there is a great differ-
ence between political expediency and imperious
necessity. '1 hey abandoned the bill only in defer-
ence to His Majesty. at a time when they deemed it
expedient to do so ; but they reserved to them-
selves the power, consistent with their duty, of
considering when there might be occasion for it ;
because a time might afterwards occur, when
their withholding or withdrawing such a measure,
might be much more injurious to the King and
to the country, than it was at the present mo-
ment. 'They determined to keep themselves in-
dependent, and to come under no constraint.-
1 confess that, at this moment, I cannot perceive
what offence such a reservation could possibly
give to His Majesty; nor can I imagine tYat he
could have taken it up in the light he did, unless it
had been misrepresented to him. I shall live and
die in the opinion, that this ad of the removal of
His Majesty's late Ministers. merely from their not
giving such a pledge, was not the result of His Ma-
jesty's wisdom, it being so unlike his condua
upon all oceadons ; a condua, which has been all
along masked by candour, bononr, and sagacity.
It was diaated to His Majesty, by those who sur-
rounded him, and who secretly doomed the late
Administration to dissolution. ( Lord a.hproontion,
isqd cries of Hear! Aerie ! from arc Uppnitio,a beist,tes•J
I by no means am limbo. d to make any insinuations
against any Noble Lord or Hon. Gentleman who
has told us, or who shall tell us, upon their ho-
nou►, that lie WAS not such adviser ; as I should he
indignant, were not the some belief attached to my
own wand ; but that doe, nut change my opinion.
We Ali know, my Lords, that their are wheels
within wheels, in the Folios:al aler.:4ltle, as in a


silk ; some of. which are seek en • deep,' gee
as far in th dt,k, thet it is impessetle to tt 1
ceive their secret operations and ultimo.. elan.
I:he abandonmentet the measure placed H, NI,:
j
eety and his Mteisters upon the very vane in,,i
in which iii y both well* woe' a they
!Tice. ?ley more. they had shown a ittail,:d
deterenee to Ks Al. sty. In e ting this, thee
may be lei.] to hive Rune further aileaneleor; they',
but they foresaw, at toe time. that it te.ll
nut he attended with bitch slotigereet e
quence-t, as it would have been if they had re.
bten cautious in making that reservation. As
is
the Peel resale, tl sae telly say. that I never saw et
bait this'', may sae, that if 1 bad, I would Loom
jested to
.41. Ras reasons which I Shall tiatttbt ii•
ben), of stating to your Lordships. I may fist '
sieve, that I would 'Wert hive onjefteri to e, tree
because I knew the King objeCted to it ;
ever meght be his opinion, arid his aperehree
it was the solejte2. nut the King. that waste • e
,t;
eleponsible. It we were to seen I an Addle:, r
King. praying to be informed as to tee! e -
his Advisers, and that aoy Noble Lord, or •
person, in this, or in the odes House, were
sorer, that such an Address was supeeoter
WS merely the dictates of his Is; :
conscience ; I stetted think it woele ie: a re
suleeet to be de:ermieed in the large Hell /Weitz.
ing, rather than in yout Lordship's Hues, (Lehi
cries i f brat ! hear! hear .1 I will, my Leeds,
hazard my reputation as a Constitutional Leeree.
upon this very proposition, that it is not comme e
fur any subjeft, eithe r in the House of Lords ae
Commons, to meke such an answer to such a Mee
sage. I was na advocate for this Bill; bat
never conceived that the Kitio's Coronae", Oeh
had any thing to do with it. The proposiue
of the iilegehty of the pledge, was comidered 4%
a chi:dish truism; but was the King the wither , f
it Is the Coronation Oath can hoed to the chards
alone ? Is His Majesty not to zevern the realm by
the established laws and customs ? I hope that any
bad consequences may be averted, and th..t Coe
rapacious enemy of this country will have his
hands full in other cut asters, and that the brave
Russians .4 ill lee able to wastand him. But, :ay
Lards. you cannot alter the nature of man. Yee
tion after Petition may yet be presented tram tee
Catholics, and ordered to lie upon your 'fable, and
when will the time come when you are to wide:a
it? Ate they to take this as a declaeatinn, that the
time win never come? Any man who can come
forward and say. that His M ijesty has said so, a,.1
that it :hell be so, ought to eel tried for see n .1.
I tidy. that the King can have no wish but that aerie
is declared to be fur the good of the creratry, ant
there:ore no blame can be imputed to him. the
Catholic Question has nothing to do with thin pre.
sent queStien. Weet is to be the con:equerics it
the Catholic Question is to come forward every ;ear.
and that the same dot:trig:ea are to be held out, and
to come like a play over toe Constitution, tire lLa
advisers of the King are, as it were, pushed into
corner, at 1 time a-eca it :nay be less convenient, tot
absolute; y necessary to grant concessions? It as
estouiseirig to see Willi whet readiness some
n take advantage of such a re: cuinstisce
as that which has lately uceuriee. L has bean
said that the present Mainers have given lei
pledge—l believe it; (oil I could net surpf,e 1
that any set of men could be so lost to a stn
of the duty they owed to their Sovereign and thc:e
country, as directly to swear to such a stipulation as
would deprive them of their services. gut the
thing speaks fur itself. His Majesty skews then
etas Minutes of what occasionej the dismissal of
late Ministers ; they accept of their siteations, ant
it is certainly implied that they do so under Owe
terms wnich the others rejeeted, although no dine
pledge is requited of them. I cannot enter into
their minds and ascertain the condition of their con-
sciences ; but this I can say, that their Acceptant,
under such circumstances, is pregnant with danger.
With regard then to the Catholic Question dull, I
am quite sure of this, that there is not a man mire
devoted to the Protestant religion, and the einetrin s
of Christianity thin I /TM I languish to sae t;
woad brought into that state of perfeCtion, that el
will believe in it ; and upon that principle it is des
I wish to keep hack, as tar as possible, 411 those the
pediments, which arise from a contrary belief, to
the advancement and attainment of that object.
—I wish, ray Lord., to overcome all co.,:e
superstitions which tend to retard the progress
of the Christian religion ; so that the enligi::-
ened part of mankind, by coming in aid el e
Revelations of God, a great change may be pre
duced upon the face of the Earth. Where Chile
tianity is. in faa..the object, men will naturally are
pruacli nearer to the same sentiments with each
other. Such. then, are the principles, upon white
I would have deemed it consistent witn my cee
science to have vine." against that At cf
inent, (rent a convietion that it would go to menu-
rage that Religion, which is founded upon etroneo:e
and supet 'minus doctrines, and thereby retard ten
progress of the general establishment of Cluistit
laity, so desirable. As, however, my oojeeions
it do not proceed from an acquiescence in what srs
said to be the sentiments of His Majesty, and so.
highly approve of the conduel of his late Admires•
tration proposieg what they in their emaseiestee
deemed for the good of the country. and th
upright toe let in refuting to enter into any iee
proper stipulations; upon these grounds. I er-
tainly think that the country has occasion to regret
their dismissed; and, therefore. not only give le!
worm to the motion, but my thanks to the Nati
Marquis for having brought it forward.
Lord JERSEY spoke in favour of the Moen;
and—
The Eat of SELF IRK rose. but irk, in so lost
es
tLiot,toti
chig could d a
lainAcso celled but little of his speech
Rt Rit.OWBY argued at consideribls
a
He declared himself an independent and calm iii.quirer into the circumstances which had eerier:
periled the late change in His Majesty's Comic b•
and could see no rational
ground to conclude, rat
they had been removed through the le/loathe re se-
cret advisers; i.e was, therefore, hostile in the re.
solution, to far as it went to make out a charge et
this nature. He was firmly convinced, that lice
His Msjesty been persuaded of the absolute nee.--
would have yielded to their ode:eta:ions,
city of the concession proposed by the Illionrisatrty:c4l::