The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-04-22 00:00:00

I~ioui libeety—principles which maintained the beat security for the
teenstitneion and the Church, by the practice of justice and libe-
rality. Thii latter observation he (Sir J. M.) thought contained
the moat unanswerable argument in favour of tbe Bill ; be meant
that which was founded upon the security that mold from the
dispensing to the Catholics justice, and from them with
hiasise
`liberality. The petition was signed by one liana, and
1 from the characters of the individuals who so axed their sips.
tares. he hesitated not to say, that they might be truly taken as the
Irepresentatives of the great bOdyy, of the int ligence aad the property
1 of Glasgow • and in speaking of that city, he spoke of one, which,
I for weulth,for knowledge, for population, for moral worth, and
; general intelligence, held a high rank in the country. In say-
mg this, however, he was ready to acknowledge, that a pnti.
tion of a very opposite character had come from the Corporanon
of Hammermen in that city ; and also from the Corporation of But.
cheer. He was far thorn saying that the people of Glow were per-
fectly unanimous on this head,or from denying that tbManimermen,
m well as that very ceceseary bpdyebe Iliechers,had expressed sen-
timents opposed to the principles contained in the pedalo; which he
then held in his hand. God forbid that be should deny to these
individuals the right of delivering their opinions, or that he should
seek to detract from the value and weight which ought, in justice,
to a:tacit to those opinions ; but without speaking with the slightest
disrespect of of either the hammermen or the butchers, he might
say that one hundred of the wealthiest persons, the meet cultivated
minds, and the most eminent in station and respectability in such a
city as Glasgow, were better entitled to the consideration, and the
attentive consideration, of that House, than were even the butchers
and hammermen who had recently forwarded petition. hostile to A
the claims of their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects. The only
part of Scotland in which any considerable opposition existed
against the concession to the CsOtolies, was lit the West; and he
could ameeely *aril/ate it to soy other trauglipi arVoiMiim of
that puritanical spirit--that covenantieg ziellkallebieh It anti, In
many cases. fostered in that part tithe country. In so speaking of
the zeal and spirit of the cevenanters, he meant not disrespect to
that zeal. When it was directed against religious oppression—
when it was exerted in maintaining civil rights, and securing re.
ligious freedom—it should justly be the object of our grateful re.
collection. He conceived them to be wrong chronologically ; they
were, he thought, one hundred and 4fty years too late. Were he
living in the middle of the sixteenth, or even the seventeenth cen-
tury, he would entertain very different opinions from those which
he now supported. lie believed in his conscience, that the re.
spectable individuals who had signed that petition, spoke the sense
of a very large majority of the well-informed and intelligent laity
of Great Britain. Here they had a petition on the one hand from
the bankers, the merchants, the manufacturers, and others, of the
most eminent station in Glasgow ; and on the other hand they
had one from the hammermen and the butchers. It was a question
of authority.in which they had Pitt and Fox on the one side,and the
Rev. Sir 'Harcourt Lees and Prebendary Denis on the other. It
was an account in which characters were to be balanced against
' each other for the last twenty-five years. When he spoke thus
' with reference to the laity, he meant no disrespect to the clergy—
he intended to distinguish, not to disparage. He felt persuaded
that the Clergy of the Church of Scotland acre not opposed to the
just demands of the Roman Catholics, for that church was
founded upon die rock of poverty, and had no reason to in.
dulge such fears as would require the securities of tests and ex-
clusions. When he saw that men, who, perceiving nothing
to apprehend from the professors of the Roman Catholic faith, had
candidly expressed such their opinion—when he saw such men,not.
withstanding their learning, their moral worth, and all the qualifi-
cations which entitle them to preferment, excluded front the favour
of those who dispensed church patronage, he could not but feel
that the opposition to this great measure was confined within nar.
row limits, and was by no means actuating the whole mass.
After a few words from Mr. D. BROWN, the purport of which
was not heard in the gallery,
Mr. HUIIIE intimated, that he had been for some time in ex-
pectation of a petition from Glasgow, for the delay of which he
could not account, but which he had been informed would have
attached to it no less than six hundred signatures, and the prayer
of which would be similar to that presented by his Right lion.
and Learned Friend (Sir James elackintosh.) He thought it ne-
cessary to make these observations, for the purpose of removing
the impression that the public mind in Glasgow was opposed to
concession to the Boman Catholics. Thought it may have high-
sounding effect to say that such and such Corporations had peti-
tioned against the Bill, yet he had Tensor to believe that at several
of the meetings where these petitions were got up, there were not
more than nine or ten Individuals present' yet these petitions were
forwarded to Parliament under the seal of the Corporation, and
spoke of afterwards as expressive of public opinion. He was happy
to any that in his part of the country opinions had decidedly alter-
ed on the subject. From not one of the boroughs which he repre.
misted, had he received instructions at all hostile to the measure
now before Parliament.

Mr. C. H. HUTCHINSON had heard, with great satisfaction,
the sentiments which prevailed on this subject in so important a
city as Glasgow, and amongst the respectable portion of its inha-
bitants, for he had lately read most disgusting, disgraceful, and
ontrugeous language, attributed to persona who spoke at a public
meeting in that city—language which was a libel on a clergy con-
spicuous for every quality that VMS calculated to raise their pro-
fession. He alluded to what WAS reported to have been said at a
late meeting of the Synod of Glasgow, and he now heartily rejoiced
to see the people generally of that city relieved from the imputation
of

Mr. J. MAXWELL said, that many of the petitioners were at-
tached in principle to his Majesty's Government, and thought they
acted front a mistaken view of the subject, rather than from a well-
considered opposition to the Bill. Thcy had suffered under the
persecutions of Episcopacy, and they confounded that in their own
minds with Popery. They might be prejudiced, but he trus.cd
that ultimately they would lesve the subject to the wisdom of Par-
liament,

Me. J. P. GRANT made one or two observations to the effect,
that no change of opinion had taken place, u stated by the previous
speakers.
Mr. C. WILSON vindicated the Clergy of the Established
Church from the charges made against them in the speech of the
Honourable and Learned Member (Sir J. 3lackintosh) who pre-
sented the petition. Those Clergy were, he said, the successors
of those who freely had laid down their lives in support of their min.
eiples, and those of the present day he was sure would be no less
devoted to the maintenance of their faith.

This petition was then brought op, and ordered to be printed.
Mr. Secretary PEEL presented a petition from the inhabitants
of Burlinscoope, also another petition from the inhabitants of the
parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Felids, against the Roman Catholic
Bill.—Laid on the table.
Mr. R. PRICE presented a petition from the inhabitants of
Kingtown, in favour of the Bill for the relief of the Roman Ca-
tholtes.—Laid on the table.

Mr. HU.SIL presented a petition from the Catholic inhabitants
of Blackburn, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, in favour
of the Catholic Bill; also, a petition from John Lawless, a
Roman Catholic resident in Belfast, praying Emancipation for
the Romnn Catholics, unencumbered with the two provisions re-
lative to forty shillinfreeholders, and the salaries of the Catholic
Clergy. The Hon. Member expressed his own determination to
oppose those two measures whenever they shkuld come before the
House; at the same time it was not his wish to retard or interfere
with the great cause of Catholic Emancipation by any premature
discussion of .bat he must consider highly objectionable provi-
sions. He further thought every Protestant who was a well-wisher
to the peace and prosperity of the country should desire the Eman-
cipation of the Catholics to be effected, independent of those in-
tended regulations respecting the Clergy, and the forty shilling
freeholders.—The petitions were laid on the table.