The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1808-06-08 00:00:00

CATHOLIr CLAIMS.

It was not to be expected that the faiourable
progress made in public opinion by the Catholic
claims, as manifested by the late discussions in
Parliament, should have passed without the notice
of the ignorant, the illiberal, the mercenary, and
the malignant part of the public press—dim part
of it which thrii-es upon the worst passions of 'tumuli
nature, and in which we see no object but the gra-
tilicaOsii of selfish and sordid views. 'lite hit of
the Saturnalia in Rome, when the slaves were let
loose,, and these unfortunate beings indulged in
every vice and extravagance for a few days, it is
true, has long since ceased to exist ; bat it has given
rise to a modern fashion among our eleseidteers
of lon, who select particular duns, when they
change places with their roachnien and postilions,
and, instead of being driven by them, very
humbly and patiently submit to drive their
servants. The Writers in The Courier, the very
:one gentlemen who edited it when it was a fu-
ristis Jacobin Print, bui have lately seen the
ace light of 3lessrs. Ilsweasneav, CANNING,
and Co. appear t• have improved upon this old Elf
of the Saturnalia, and the modern fashion of the
most celebrated whips of Rotten-row. In their Pa-
per, of last night, these spur-galled hacks appear to
have plunged through their harness,
_thrown their
riders, and kicked most rirdently against the late
discussions in Parliament, and the growing senti-
ment in the public mind in favour of the Catholic
claims. The article to which we allude sets out
with observing, that " the Editors, {the two Kings
of Brentfisrd), snatch the first option •ty that has
been afforded since the two debhtes upon the Catho-
lic Question, the question of Catholic Emancipa-
tion, as it is imprudently called, to make some
few comments upon it." Now this preface is
not correct. —The 'Catholics have made a great
proves. to a level with their fellow subjects,
what remains is comparatively trifling. toil con-
stitutes the whole of the Catholic

It is not aeknosledged or set forth as " Catholic
Einaucipation" by the ptiWic in general, or by any
individuals perfectly acquainted with the subject ;
and, therefore, to represent it in that light, nod give
it that obnoxious name, as a generally receited idea,
is false and Ibigitious. So far for the preface to
the article in The Courier. iieft proceeds, with
true Satursishirn license, to pretend to arraign the

couiluet of Ministers in the line dieciissioti of the
Catholic Petition iie both Muses of Parliament.
It is said to have lizen " most sneaking, shuffling,
and treucherous." Instead of vigour, it charges
" that they betrayed imbecility—and instead of
courage, nothing bat cowardice." This affectation
of independence is ton groes to deceive the public.
The slaves, after the enjoyment of their Saturiutlia.
will only return with more" zeal and devotion to
the service of their masters. At the time the
wicked and seasvlcss cry of " Popery"
was first Tinier! ; a cry, that if not withstood by the
good sense of the public, might have involved this
country is civil warfare ; these writers prayed that
the rry 'night never cease to ring from one end of
the kingdom to the otl.rr. Were they religious
fanatics. they might be objects •f pity ; but it la
not very likely that they will claim the benefit of
that plea. The fact is, the Minister has been
obliged to yield something to public opinion, and
having, like another great character, learned to
throw away bad iustrumeilts, after they have an-
swered his purpose, he hail left The Caurier
to rail against the Catholics, in support of its
own consistency ; if, indeed, the word consistency
CAD be with any justice applied to that paper.—
in the prosecution of this purpose, it does ant stick
at trifles. Representing the Irish Catholics as
rebels, it asks, " What does Mr. GRATTAN say ?"
and, putting these nerds into his mouth, " You
have lost all your other allies, now make the Irish
Four allies:" it titmice infers. that " unless we
do, they will not fight fur their conntry."—Mr.
Getereft, we belie►e, used the word " allies ;"
but it is ridiculous to suppose that he applied
it to the Irish in the common aecaptation
of the term. The Irish Catholics, however limited
in civil and political rights, strictly speaking are
fellow-subjects, and cannot be allies. A treaty of
alliance, offensive and defensive, between Greet
Britain and Ireland, both integral parts of the United
Kingdom, would be indeed a curious article. Mr.
GRATTAN could only mean, that, to make the Irish
Catholics fight with equal zeal, they must have an
equal object to contend for. u, a community of in-
terests with their neighbour,. NVlien the meaning
of a word is thus perverted and tortured, for dm
put pose of raising an argument upon it, the cause
requiring such aid cannot he a good one. The
nest charge is, " that the Priests keep the Irish
Catholics in ignmesee," a charge which c•rtaioly
Wright enable the Catholics to retort the compli-
ment of ignorance upon the writer. One *Mild
suppose that, in the words of the Poet, literally—
., On er'ry d'art, delightfel condom mws,
" la cy'ry rill &meet instncotos dorm,"
and that the Priests were a .et cf..:rage, cruel, and

il4-muted shephords, alio tit. d up their flocks, mist
suffered them to starve, sootier than permit them to
drink of the rill, or to browse upon the thorn. The
fart is, the mass of the Irish peasantry are scarcely
able, by the uttnivl industry, to earn a miserable
subsistence, and have neither time nor Means to
improve their minds. The public then will judge
whether this charge applies to the Priests, or to the
Minister who refused dOOOl. for the instruction of
three millions of people. But then comes u eoufea-
;um, that the writer who thus abuses the Catholie
and their Priests, is totally ignorant of Ireland,
never set his foot iit the country, and takes his bad
hopres,,ions of it from Tourists and Reviewers.—
•• We take," says he, •• the state of Ireland from
too writers, both well disposed towards the Catho-
lics—one, Sir JORN CARR. Knighted by the Duke
of BtAIFORD, on account of his Strauger is Ire-
land, and therefore a favourer of the politics of
the Emancipators. The other, the Edinburgh
Reviewer.—The former, in giving an account of
the proceedings at .a Quarter Sessions in Ireland,
draws a most frightful picture of the state of mo-
ods. lie talks of perjury as being a crime com-
mitted so frequently as to be a source of merri-
ment. One man,' be says. swore backwards
and forwards ten times in as many minutes ; and
wherttver he was eletocted in the most abominable
perjury, the auditory teas tArosru into couvadriums
of merriment.' Horrible and disgusting! The
Editiburgh Reviewer talks of the lower Irish as
proud of their talents for litigatiou, and Lot yet
ashamed of those habits of jocular perjury (Jocular
perjury !!) in which tkey have been encouraged.'
JORN CARe tells us, I moral sentiments have
never been instilled into the poor Irishmen ;' and
the Reviewet adds, that • it will Ix no easy task to
change the associations of pleasure, pride, and
mirth, whirls the Irish children early fonn, ei►h
tl•a ideas of cheating, stealing, prevaricating, and

"

Sir JOlll4 CARR, in his Tour in Ireland, may
hat_ seen a solitary instance of a low, vulgar, but
shrewd fellow, fencing with bis oath, and exacting
laughter by his bluiiders, his humour, and his in-
genuity. This, we presume, is all that the Jaunt-
ing-Car tw•aut ; fur we fancy that there is nothing
in the nature of cold naked perjury, in the
abstract, to excite the risible faculties of the
most perverted imagination. With respect to
the charitable character of the Edinburgh Re-
viewer. upon whose authority The Courier.
thinks the population of Ireland ought to be con-
demned, ea muse, we shall enly observe, that a few
years ago, a Scotch Serjeant having broke out of
his lodgings, in Oxford, and stashed several per
sons in the streets, the Editor of a London paper,
who happeaed to be his townsman, made interest
among his brethren in Landon, and this Scotch
Serjeant was universally gazetted• as an Irishman.
We could name the London Editor ; and we be-
lieve he was as free from national prejudice, now
happily wearing away, as the amiablewriter in The
Edinburgh Review. We hoped to have gone
through the while of this truly loyal and patriotic
article in The Courier, but we have neither tune
nor limits to accomplish cur purpose. The little
that we have quoted of it, may be sufficient to
, shew its character. It is the effusion of a bigot,
with a bad heart, and a worse head, if the writer
be sincere; but we do not hesitate to assert, that
it is merely a flourish of a ministerial parasite, pre-
tending to censure In. employers. upon a particular
point, that he may gain a little credit for his ge-
neral