The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-06-18 00:00:00

•
. ..,
Steed an unfortunate and deep-tooted peel
prevail, so far as to make unto say, decided y ensl,
openly, that we will not believe a Catholic. even.
upsii his oath—there iv an vnd, my Lords, of the.
discussion at once. But the argnment,if argument.
it can be celled, proves a greet deal too much, and.
for this plaiu reason—uo tibligatiou more binding
than thater lei appeal to theSu?reine Being. hy an
oath, has hitherto 11.:cii devised in civil society.—
Tie, therefore, who can justly be. supposed capable
of setting at nought such an obligation. upon any
pretence whatsoever, is not only unworthy of the
privileges here contended for, but he is unfit for all
social ieterconrse of every kind: retaho sub iiarkis
sit trabibus.—airsh and horrid us the expression
must sound in your Lordships' ears, he ought to be
exterminated from the face of the earth ; ay aelesut
be should be banished for life to Botany Bay; and
even. when arrived there, he should be driven
back into the sea ; for there is no den of
thieves, so gang of robbers, no banditti so tho-
roughly profligate, and at the same time eo devoid
of common underetimiling, as to admit that man a
member of their community. upon whose titlehty
In his engagements no reliance con be placed even
for a siugte .hour. I cove now to the second ob-
kctiou my answer to which will be very eliort.—
Civil and military appointirieuts are, it seems, mat-
ters of favour, not of right, and, therefore. the
ie
etholics hive no just meow to eOlllOllll that
y are excluded from them. I can hardly, my
rib, conceive any mini itt earnest aho regards
this distinetioa as applicable to the presesvz case,
.bacissese no one pleads for an abstract right to these
situatiesos. bat for a capacity of holding them. No
one contends for ties absiedute possiessioe of civil
and military .01E44, hot for equal eligiu:lity to
them; end naviug endeavtiured to prove tirv. all
use, are equally eligible, who give to the Govern-
ment under which they live such a security, upon
oath, (or their conduct as lielijects, as that. Govern-
ment itself prescribes, and who maintain 110 °pl..
111011$ destructive of moral obligation, or sabverenve
of civil society, I shall may add here, that they
are so considered to be in almost all the Govern-
ments of Europe, and over the whole Coutinent ef
America; and 1 shall be sorry to see England the
last to follow so good en example. ' But it is inex-
pedient,' we are told, 'to repeal statutes which
pre passed with much del !wration, and are consi-
dered by many us the bulwarks of the Constitution
in Church and State! flow long, my Lords, it
may be thought expedient, or necessary, that the
reninining part of these restietive disqualifying
statutes should be ens ,recd against the Catholics,
or at what precise period tlfeir operations shall en I,
is a question. not for a Divide, but fur Lawyers and
. Statesmeu to decide. I may, however, be per-
mitted to obsenv, that ander any Government,
however free, though peculiar circumstances ruby,
perhaps, call for statutes of a very strict, and even
of a very severe nature, for a limited period of
time ; yet no wise statesmen would, I iinegete, wish
these statutes to remain unrepealed a moment after
the circumstances which occasioned them cease to
exist. Those who are acquainted with the history
of the statutes hers alluded to, and of the times
in which they passed, will anticipate my application
of this remark ; the application of it is. indeed,
made for me by a very eminent lawyer, and e very
asedial friend to the Ecclesiastical, es well as to the
Civil Constitution of this realm. This able writer
observes, more then since in his Commentaries,
that ' whenever the period shall arrive when the
rawer of the Pope is weak and insiguiticant, and
there is no Pretender to the Throne, that thea
will be time tolerant full indulgence to the Catho-
les! That time. my Lords, is now come ; there
is aI Pretender to the Throne ; and, with respect to
the Papal Power, not a single person present ap-
ds, I am thoroughly persuaded. any stranger.
TrrOtatirrt. In trut'i, that mice gigantic power • arapi,
stet norsimis umbra,' and nothing more. Vl'here
then cam be the o yection to granting the Petitioit
of the Catholics • Leland ? A Petition foundes
we the immutable pauciples of reason and of jus-
tice; a Petition also which worldly policy lucidly
calls upon us to accede to in the present very serious
crisis ; a crisis which demands the urim o(the wise
and brave, of every description, and of every deeo-
mination; that cordial union, I mean, which is
most asouredly the best support, and indeed the
only secure bulwark of every Government upon
earth. It is notiecessary to add, that an anion of
this kind can be obtained only by confidence and
isenriliation. But if worldly policy did not thus
letedly call upon us. a principle of gratitude should
IMO aa to pay all the attention in our sower to
these asiseross, loyal, and respectable petitioners,
to whoa we are, in a great measure, indebted, f.r
tbe noblest monument of wisdom and beueficence
combined, which modern lima have scum. I mean
the Cuien of Ireland with England—au Union
which, without their cordial co-operation, could
waver have been effected. In reply to these obses-
lakier, which appear to inc to curry some weight
wi.ll them, there. ere souse who maintauethat,if there
mgas as ether otneetion, the words of the COlJtlee
ion Oath preheat an itemperable bar to the claims
of the Catbolies of Ireland. Of all the argu-
ments, Ise:: Lords, which either principle or preju-
dice has sogge.e.cil„ or which imagination has
started, there is not one which appeavi to me to
revt upon so we..k a foundation, as that which is
built upon the cords of the Coronation Oath.
This smith, as pour IM Ps
all knowoinder-
*ad some alteration at the period of the Bevolu-
tom in hied, at which period that great Prince,
Wiliiatu the Third, entered tato the following *G-
lenn) inigageosent when he ascended the Thome of
this kiiloin :—• I will inaletain the laws of God,
the trueir profesoion of the Galosh and tbe Reform-
oil Protestant Church, established e
nemy ;
Dart ad
.•
.1
will preserve to the Bishops and y i
riedin, and to the churches committed to their 1
clinrge all such rid and privileges. at, by law,
do, ur 'shall apperiAin unto theta, or ally of them.'
If, my Lords, even intelligent and honest men
were not sometimes disposed to adept any mode of
reasoisiag. however weak, which coinci les with
their preironesived ideas upon a subject, it would
be no easy imam' to find ou.. upon whet principle
of fair elonstructiou, the words, which I hive just
reiseetel from the Coronation Oath, can he thought
to militate asai not the claim.; of the Cstiiiiiies of
Ireland. It well not, I triist, Ise said, for lem
sure it elintbibt lie proved, that it is either repug-
meat to the taws of tied, or to the unconfiaed and

benevolent tendency of the Gospel, or to those
liberal and euligAiteued principles upon which the
reforinatiou was founded ; to: admit to eituufwais
of honour, or of profit, in the State, men of ta-
lents, and of virtue, to ahem no objection van IN's-
eddy be made, but their apeetilative op' ! of
merely a religious maitre. Nor can I eisuceiveNiii
what manner the rights and privile,.;:w of the bi-
shops and Clergy of this realm, or of the Churches
committed to their charge, can be of by
granting civil and military appointments to men.
cordially devoted to the Civil Constitution, and
who have solemnly declared, upon oath, that it is
neither their intention or their wish to injure or
disturb the Ecclesiastical. For my own part, my !
Lords, as an individual Clergyman of the Church
of England. sincerely attached to the Established
Church, and proud of the situation which L bold in
it, I should be exceedingly sorry if I could think. for
14 moment that I possessed any rights or privileges
incompatible with the just claims of so many ex-
cellent subjects end conscientious fellow-christitins.
Be it however admitted, my Lords, that the words
of the Coronation Oath will bear the construc-
tion which has been put upon them ; I wish
to ask where was the objection drawn from this
oath. when, in l7ni, so many indulgencies were
wisely and justly granted ta the Catholics of Ire-
land ? Indulgences precisely of the same kind,
though differing in degree from those which are
now .petitioned for. But I forbear to push this
argument any further ; various considerations
restrain me : and perhaps enough has been
said, to !wove that the words of the Coronation
Oath have been iiiindvised%r and inconrlu-ively
brought forward, during the discussion of that im-
portant question, which has etigivgl.l the attention
of the public for more than three years. I will
now detain your Lordships no longer ; indeed. I
should not hove presumed to intrude so long upon
your patience, had 1 not thought it incumbent
upon ms to assign the best reasons in my power
for differing so widely from those around me.
whose judgment I respect. though 1 cannot
im-
plicitly bowls it against the clearest conviction of
my understanding, and the best feelings of my
Mort."

IMPEnrifL PARLIAMENT.

House or LORDS--FagoAT, Jame 17,

Mr. Clarke finished his reply in the Roxburgh Appeal
Came spoil a competition of Brieves, on behalf of Mr.
Beimudes Kerr, alien it was ordered by the House, that the
Agents for the three parties concerned in this Appeal, appear
, M their Lordships' bar, tomorrow, at three o'clock, alien
the House would eomader of the best means to be adopted
.is suspect to the muse, before the Committee of privileges.
The Lunatic Pauper Bill and the Loon Bill were maul a
thirst thee.
The F.echequer Bills' Bill sad the Irish Loan Bill were
read a secoad time.
The Irish Malt Doty Bill, and the Auditors' Franking
Bill, passed through Committees, and were reported without
say ansendsorut.
The Report lathe Barrack Property Bill easel*" received.
Mr. Rosa. Mr. WILIZTON, Mr. Illet.t.lsm, and others,
from the House of Comnsous, baciusht het' the Pilot Kerala-
ties Bill, the Breed Trade Bill, the British t ishery Bill, and
the !Promissory Notes Bill, which were laid upon the table,
maimed a tint time.
Mr. BOUIRPM preweated Papers frees the bustyHet%
which were ordered to be laid upon the table.
Atter some isloservatioas from the Earl orLku-
DEUDALK and the Loan CRANCELLOR, the Teinds
Augmentation Bill was read a second time.
_ ____

DROITS OF THE ADMIRALTY.
The Earl of Su Fro I.IL rose to make his promised
motion iu respect to the Deere, of the Admiralty,
observed, -he was not in the habit of troubling
their Lordships in regard to any subject which he
might think proper to present to their attention.
Previous to the present, he had taken several op-
portunities of making inquiries relative to the
M
appropriation of the JA., of the Admiralty, the
amount of which now in the bends of the Crown
was certainly greater than it had been at any former
4seriod. hems highly important, as he had again
and again stated en former occasions. that the peo-
rot:v:l:lns country should know what was likely to
of the property now vested in the Crown,
and accruing from the seizure of the Danish pro-
perty. Count Stehremberg, before his departure, had
said, that unless the Danish property was restored,he
had audio:wit, from his Court tunny that no peace on
the part of Europe could possibly take place with
this country. No reflection could be more melan-
choly than the event of this tramactioil ; it had
disgraced the English character in the eyes of the
continent ; and when he recollected the marble of
Great Brits's, in respect to the seizure of the
Spanish frigates, when • Nellie Lard who sat
near him (Holland) was compelled to leave that
country, it impressed upon his mind, how much
were beneficial it might have been for the suc-
cess of our warfare with France, and our situation
in respect to the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, if our
behaviour at that time lied Lean more honourable.
adore that period, the name of an Enshsuan
was& purport through every province of that king-
dom, hut afterwards our character sunk, Crowncame almost despised. Indeed, if the
without ally inquiry on the part of the public,
were permitted to devote this money, particularly
such an enormous sum, to its own purpose% he
conceived it possible for an Administration to coin-
-111• rice and protract a war foe the objectof plunder
which might he gained from the enemy in this way.
On ibis groilad the public anxiety was justly rinsed.
awl they haul a right to consider this question of
the greatest importance. In the present reign we
might have nothing to apprehend, but still it was
extraordinary, tip it no answer had been returned to
the frequent inquiries made respecting the appro-
priation of this tummy. During the reign of that
unpzioripled Monarch. Charles the Second. Whose
being pensioned by the French King, justly entitled
him to be rolled an unprincipled Monarch, such
sums of money 'might have been disposed of in the
most unconstitutional manner. The A:nerican
or: proilaced to the Crown a vast accession of
this property, hut he believed only a certain por-
tion was a?plirit to its own use. Perhaps the an-
swer returned by the Noble Secretary opposite
would he, that the amount of the property taken
from the Danes was not yet ascertained. but he
thought the amount must have been kimono, by
its having heels eetimatnd at a inillini, and a half.
llowevez, the public satiety had been a euSeient