The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-11-11 00:00:00

BRITISH CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION.

A meeting of the British CsWs7..--c Misociatian was held yester.
day, omen tnt to advertisement, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern.
In consequence, we presume, of dor extremely wet weather, the
meeting was very thinly attended. and it was not until an hour and
a half after the time stated in the advertisement that the Chair was
taken by CHARLES BUTLER, Esq.
The Secretary, BLOUNT, Esq. spoke as follows:—It
is perfectly unnecessary for me to repeat that our slender resources are
totally exhausted, and that we must desist from our lsboura. Thee:.
pericnce of the past, nod knowledge of the future, enable me to state
that 1001. per month is indispensably necessary to enable us to act
with effect; and, uolesa the Gentlemen who compose this Associa-
tion can raise so much, by appealing with success to the body at
large, I consider that I owe to you and to myself to resign the si-
tuation I have now the honour to hold. I cannot consent to
bear any share of the odium that must and ought to attach to
feeble and inefficient efforts in a cause that calls for all our
exertions. We have used every means that have been placed
in our power, to raise the British Catholics from their inglo-
rious lethargy, and have signally failed. It is useless and
worse than useless to disguise the fact. Under such a failure, it
becomes me to retire from taking a prominent part, leaving to
others to accomplish what I have failed in effecting. To prove be-
yond the possibility of cavil the benefits that have accrued from
your past exertions. I will state, that I hold in my hands letters
from every part of England, very many frm-s our respectable Clergy,
commending your exertions and acknowledging the benefits that
have ensued. In the course of the last year you distributed more
than 90,000 tracts, &c. calculated to remove the erroneous impres-
sions entertained of our opinions, civil and religious. Since the
last general meeting scarcely four months have elapsed, and you
have circulated upwards of 31,000 more; and that the judicious-
ness of the selection may be proved beyond all doubt, I will read to
the meeting a list of these publications, viz.:-11r. Howard's re-
marks on the erroneous opinions entertained respecting Catholics ;
Rev. Mr. Sidney Smith's sermon on I !brie t ian charity ; also his speech
at Beverley; Mr. Butler's Letter on the Coronation Oath ; also,
that gentleman's Iseuer on Undivided Allegiance; Dr. Lingard's
Defence of the Roman Catholic Church ; the Rev. C. Bird's Ser-
mon, preached before the Judges of Assize, at Appleby. accom-
panied with Copies of the Annual Report of the Association. for
1325. I have also received numerouscommunications from persons
who must be nameless—Protestant Gentlemen of high rank, opu.
lence, and rcupeetabdity--expreseive of their satisfaction at the light
that has been thrown on our exertione by the works we have circu-
lated. Some of those persons tender their services to give cir-
culation to works calculated to undeceive the public, and they
express an opinion that, in every County in England, you
may readily find persons of the first rank and respectability, mem-
bers of the Established Church, who will lend their assistance to re-
move the load of ignorance which bad men seek to perpetuaie by
working on inveterate prejudices. Nothing can be more self.evi-
dect than the benefit that would necessarily result from such an
agency ; rind you want but the pecuniary assistance of the Catholic
body to establish it—an expense which might to be considered as
nothing. when compared with the evident benefits that would
result from it, not to us alone, but to the cause of jun.
lice, humanity, and truth. It met be well that I noose
here the backwardness of some timid persons in giving you
their support, under the idle apprehension that the discus.
sten of one grievances might create religions acrimony and
rancour : such objection is almost too futile for reply ; it
cannot is: better answered than by a reference to the rules and
regulations of your defence Committee, by the .enumeraticn
of the works you have distributed, and by the fact that
they are the larger part the productions of Protestants of high cha.

racier, and not of Catholics, and that they are al! calculated to
promote charitable feeling amongst all Christians. Let any candid
person examine the tone of those who will vilify. as the torrents of
abuse hourly poured upon us prove, and candidly say wbether
temperate vindication can be hurtful. Besides, are we not fosperi-
ously called upon by a sense of gratitude and of common justice to
endeavour to serve these and our Protestant friends, who risk all to
serve us ? A fact illusttative of this is now before me : a highly
• distinguished Member of Parliament, in addressing hie constitu-
ents. makes use of the following expression :—" All that I request
(and this I will presume to say, I think equally due to yourself
and to me) is, that you should avail yourselves of every means ,
in your power of understanding the nature of that question ,
upon which it is my misiiirtune to differ In opinion from
some of you: that you should not be led away by any general de.
clamation against the course which I, in common with some of the
first and ben men in this country, of the present as well as of past
times, have felt it my duty to pursue, but on the contrary should
take pains to understand the real considerations which have influ-
enced my vote. I have already expressed my conviction, how de-
sirable it Is that means of education should be amply furnished to
the lower classes of society ; and I pledge myself that before that
period shall arrive when it may be proper that I should personally
claim your suffrages, I will give every man, woman, and child
within this borough, who is able to read, the means of judging for
themselves on the subject of what is called ' the Catholic Ques-
tion.' " This is not a solitary case of what occurs at Newcastle.
under-Line, and has occurred at many other places; and the
English Catholics are called upoh, by every consideration that ho.
nourable men hold sacred, to strain every nerve to eradicate those
false impressions which have operated to the disadvantage of their
friends. I have already enumerated the works which I would re.
commend to be sent. lam desirous of particularizing them, that
our friends and opponents may each judge whether they are such
NI can he taken exception to—whether they are sffensive to the re-
ligious feelings of ally portion of the community, or violate in the
smallest degree the principles of Christian charity. If what we
owe to ourselves and to our friends, who labour under unmerited
odium, or their conscientious advocacy of our cause cannot induce
you to labour unceasingly to open the eyes of the deluded, we have
another powerful motive still to rebut the wanton slanders of un-
principled opponents. Not many days have elapsed since a re.
spected friend of mine sent me a provincial paper, containing an
excellent speech of our highly-valued friend the Earl of Bristol, to
whom we owe a boundless debt of gratitude. In running my eyes
over the same paper, I discovered an address from some candidate
for a seat in Parliament, to the Worthy Electors of the borough he
would fain represent. I will not tire you with the whole of this pre-
cious farrago, but will confine myself to that portion of it of which
you have so much reason to complain—it is signed John Wilke, jun.
Who this John Willis, jun. may be, I neither know or care; he
has violated the bounds of common decency, in your regard ; has
brought against; you the cruelest and most unfounded imputations
that malignity can devise. The religion you practice—that re-
ligion which is your solace in life, and your judge in death—the
religion of one-third of the subjects of the United Kingdom, and
of nineteen-twentieths of the Christian world—your calumniator
declares to be suliversive of good order, and even of national
security. Where has this would-be British Senator made this
notable discovery? What part of the conduct of the English Catholics
has subjected them to such cruel reproaches ? Are they forgetful
of the respect they owe to the laws ? ('unfaithful to their public or
private engagements ? In the hour of strife, when the State has
needed their services, have they slunk back ?—have they been
sparing of their blood or their treasure at the call of their country ?
bet Mr. John Wilks, jun. consult the page of English history—
he will there read the devoted loyalty of Catholics, their unbounded
attachment to their kings when loyalty had ceased to be a duty, and
was become a virtue. Surely the conduct of the English Ca-
tholics warrants not the injurious imputation ? Is it in Ireland it
can be substantiated. In what period of Irish history have the
Catholics been unmindful of their allegiance to their Ring. or their
duty to the State? Let him ask the commanders of our fleets and
armies whether they have ever been found wanting in the hour of
danger ; and our gracious Sovereign himself will condescend to say
whether, when he honoured Ireland with his Royal presence, he
was received with the warmth of the devoted affection, or with
the cold calculations of doubtful loyalty ? If we are referred
to the conduct of the Catholics, when they were goaded
almost to desperation by ill usage, groundless suspicions,
and atrocious calumnies, we shall find their loyalty exemp-
lary. In the Rebellion of 1798, and the events that pre-
ceded and followed it, history proves beyond dispute that the
leaders of that rebellion, and the promoters of' negotiation with
France, were Protestants. The shameless accusation is not only
devoid of truth, it bears not the semblance of it ; and we repel tt
with contempt and disgust. The height of 111 r. John Wilks's am.
bition is a seat in Parliament, and be imagines that abuse of Catho.
lies is his passport to the favour of the electors of Sudbury ; and
consequence he condescends to CAW to their had feelings by alms-
ins us. He calls himself the friend to the Dissenter, hecituse the
Dissenter may contribute to his totems ; and he effects to be
friendly to civil and religious liberty while he aims a blow at the
vitals of both, because these general possessions cost him nothing.
If he succeed by such means we envy him not his laurels. The
calumniated, proscribed, and trampled upon Papist had rather be
the victim of unjust laws than gain honours and elevation by prac-
tising such as his, by fomenting prejudices, flattering ignorance,
and working on the worst passions of a mob, In any country
in Europe except England, were a man to act such a pan. he
would be despised and looked down upon by every portion of the
community. In Catholic France were a candidate for public favour
to endeavour to recommend himself by gross abuse of the Protest.
ant Faith, he would be hooted by the very children in the streets.
and every man of respectable character would shun his society. I
anxiously hope that the portion of the address of John Wilke, jun.
to which I have alluded, will be copied into all the foreign papers,
and more especially into the French Journals, that the Protestants
of that country who enjoy perfect equality of civil rights with the
Catholics in that Catholic State, may join, as I am sure they
will do, in a public expression of indignation at this afro.
dons slander. Above' all, I could wish the English Protest-
ants, resident in France, whose church is found them, and
whose Pastor is paid by a Catholic Government, should read
the return that such proper conduct meets with from the pro-
fessors of a religion boasting its peculiar liberality. Within a few
hours another attack upon us, equally atrocious, has fallen within
my view.--( Here the Hon. Gentleman read some passages from
31r. Butterworth's speech at the meeting of the Wesleyan Mis-
sionary Society, hold in Spitalfields on the evening of the 7th inst.)
" The immense Methodist !" Are Mr. Butterworth and his also.
dates aware, that the idolatry of Ireisnd is the idolatry of France,
the idolatry of Spain, the idolatry of Portugal, the idolatry of Italy,
the idolotry of all the Emperor of Austria's immense dominions--
in fact, that it is the idolatry of nearly all Christendom ; and that
this is the idolatry which he proclaims to be tenfold worse thah that
of Heathen countries, and we must necessarily infer that Chris-
tianity is confined within thenarrow confines of Wesleyan Method-
ism. 31r. Butterworth opened his meeting by prayer ; nod forbid
that I should blame the practice ; I cordially join in its propriety,
and especially in the present instance, as no doubt lie supplicated
' the Almighty for an abundant increase of Christian charity. lie.
fore I conclude, you will, perhaps, have patience with me whilst I
touch on one subject more, which I do with great pain, yet
I cannot but express the deep regret that the Catholics feel
at the very decided opposition that their claims haye met
with in a very high quarter. No word of disrespect shall
escape my lips towards that Illustrious Prince, but we may be
permitted to express our unfeigned sorrow that his Royal High.
newt the Duke of York should seem to consider abuse of us, and
of our civil andAreligious principles, as a passport not only to his
presence, but to his approbation and favour ; that his influence
should be exerted to deprive us of our constitutional rights—
' rights which we claim in common with all Englishmen, and
which we have never forfeited by our misdeeds. We tender to
his illustrious family our entire and undivided allegiance we
swear obedience to the laws and we obey them ; and in our re-
lative situations in life we fill with fidelity our social duties ;
and we humbly submit, that in a free country no further test
should be required of any man. We presume to hope that this
ii-
lustrious personage will not drive to despair many millions of
those who, in the ordinary course of nature, may one day be his
subjects by pronouncing against them a sweeping sentence of
indiscriminate and endlesss proscription. We implore his Royal
Higness not to suffer himself to be misled by the prejudices
and erroneous impressions stampt upon his mind in early youth,
and which no leisure for investigation in his matures years has
assisted to eradicate. Withent incurring even the suspicion of
meaning to be disrespectful, might we not presume to recommend
to his Royal Highness to examine this question coolly, deliber-
ately, and with his Royal mind divested, as far as may be,
of predisposing impressions ? Sure, are we, that his Royal Highness
were he better informed, would not take to his bosom every indi-
vidual or little knot of persons, however insignificant in other re-
spects, who came before him as the decided opponents to the
restoration of our constitutional rights. From Sheffield, a society
of pemons, calling themselves an Orange Lodge, presumed to in-
trude on this illustrious Prince ; the members of this lodge are 15
in number, they hold their meetings at a low public-house, and
amongst them there is not one single individual of either influence
or respectability. Among other societies, who have also addressed
his Royal Highness, we may be permitted to notice one that appears
to court notoriety. What name to call it by I hardly know—they
are the Protestant Union, or an Orange Lodge, as best suits the
present purpose; as an Orange bodge, I hold in my hand
the following record of the proceedings:—Warrant, No. 99,
was there produced, and read as follows: No. 911, granted this
29th day of September, 1823. By virtue of' this authority
our well beloved Brother Orangeman. William Augustus South,
Esq. of Southwark, in the county of Surrey. and his successors
are nominated and warranted to the office of a Master in the
Orange Institution, and approved to perform the requisite there-
of, within the Realm of Great Britain, given under our seal at
London

KENYOW, Deputy Grand Master.
CHET WOOD Etrsracs, Deputy Grand Seeretary.
Warrant No. 101, closed with prayer, and Warrant 119 Was duly
opened with prayer.
'rite remark that I would make on this paper, is the singular
fact, that a Pen of the Realm, is their Deputy Grand Master, and
that no name appears of the Grand Master himself. lie must of
course be some illustrious person, who towns above the Peerage;
but whose name it is thought imprudent to divulge. Is the Duke of
York aware of this monstrous fact ? Does he know that the persons
whom he received with open arms are the members of a secret
Association, concealing the name of the Grand Master, and united
together by mysterious ties, which they dare not avow ? As the
Protestant Union, the Society consists of about fill persons, of whom
one half ars clergymen—last year they presented a fulsome address
to Sir Harcourt Lees, this year they have Imposed on the unsus-
pecting good nature of the Duke of York. Gentlemen, one word
more, and 1 have done, but a word of great importance: it is,

earnestly to entreat our fellow-countrymen to deal by as as
they 4o by all others in every common concern of life. MbOtt
before they strike 1 Not to decide against us in a matter of slto
utmost moment, which regards our dearest rights, our fair faros,
unsullied reputation ; not to decide on matters of such nutmeat
without full and candid examination. We throw ourselves with
full confidence on the justice, the benevolence, the honen.hearted_
ness of our countrymen ; we call on them to judge, after hill in-
vestigation, whether or not we are the victims of unfounded re-
hensions, or suffer the penalties due to our transgressions. 00 the
verdict of our countrymen informed on the subject on which y
decide, and not led astray by artful misrepresentations, we are
willing to stand or fall. Our tremors planted the sacred tree of
the British Constitution. We have protected it with our fortunes,
we have watered it with our blood. Shall we never be permitted to
enjoy under its wide-spreading branches our fair share of protention
and repose ? Gentlemen, it gives me much pleasure to say, that a
number of our Association, to whom we are all highly indebted fee
his unwearied zeal, is just returned from Lancashire, whence he
brings moat favourable accounts of the activity, spirit, and bar_
loony that prevail amongst all descriptions of Catholics in the
populous towns in that county. I will not forestall any portion of
the valuable details you will receive from him, but certainly his
flattering statements give us ground to hope that a spirit is stirring.
as
r breezet. moving, that may still waft our vessel triumphantly Into

-- RAWSON, Esq. then addressed the meeting, and ob-
served, that the British Catholic Association originated with the
Catholic aristocracy of the country. Many of them, it was true,
had not come forward, for many disliked to appear in public, but
they should bear in mind that if they were not ready to perform in
their persons, they should be ready to perform with their purses.
Ile had lately been on a visit to Lancashire, and had there beheld a
glowing picture of the zeal by which the Catholic merchants, trades-
men, and mechanics s i that populous county were actuated. In
Manchester, particularly, where there was a population of 40,000
persons, he knew the friends of that Association and of Catholic
Emancipation were very numerous indeed, and he felt assured that
notwithstanding the gloomy statement which the respected Senn-
tary had felt it necessary to make, the next twelvemonth would
create such an alteration in the state of their funds, as to enable
him to makes very different report. In Preston and in Liverpool,
the greatest exertions had been made, and they had been most suc-
cessful. During the meeting at the latter town, and before the
Chair was quitted, no less than 1,250 new members were enrolled
in the Institution. In other towns in Lancashire similar success
had attended the labours of the different Committees, and there
was every reason not only for congratulation as to the past, but for
anticipation of the future. Ilia object in rising was, to move a vote
of thanks to the 69 Peers who passed the celebrated Resolutions(
at Buckinghem-house ; and also to the twelve other Peers who,
from want of opportunity, were unable to sign them, although
they perfectly approved of their substance, and afterwards voted in
favour of Catholic Emancipation in the House of Lords.
The Resolution having been moved by Mr. Rewsow, and se-
conded by Colonel STORE R. was carried unanimously.
The Rev. Dr. Coeeres then rose, and said, that his object in
addressing the meeting was to allude to one of the most distinguished
friends that the Roman Catholics ever had • but he regretted that
his motion was one of mourning, and not Of thanks for that distill-
quelled individual and zealous friend was now lost to them in this
world for ever. He alluded to the late Earl of Donoughmore, the
hereditary advocate of Catholic Emancipation—eereditarp advo-
cate because hie father, Ilely Hutchinson, once Provost of Trinity
College, supported their rights, and maintained their cause in the
very worst of times, when- there was imminent danger in his so
doing. Now, in the present day, there was comparatively little
merit in being their advocate, for although there were some fools
who still advised persecution aid prescription, the present taco
were in general well disposed towards their claims ; but at the pe-
riod to which he alluded, when Hely Hutchinson stepped forward
to their defence, the public acrimony and opposition was then
as great as it was now among those few individuals who
pursued the Catholics with so much rancour and bitterness. Then.
when Hely Hutchinson departed, his son' and successor became
their wartuneand best friend. When the fish Catholics compli_
inented him on his new honoun, what wasliis reply ? I value
not my title, I value not my Immure, I valve nothing so much as
the title you give me of hereditary advocate and defereler of the
Catholic Cause." His life was an abridgment of patriotism, and
all his exertions tended to this ate great end. There was a time
when zeal was on the wane, when courage was almost lost in De-
land, when wisdom waa_witimut its haeptration, when the vessel
was going down, tyheo the enemy was.bearing upon it, and when
all beads were about 10 sonnet and relinquish all hopes
of vletiory--then he, Who was, as it were, Walt passenger on board,
nailed the colours to the mast. As he began his public life in de-
fence of the Catholics, so in their defence he ended it ; for he was
told, when he cense over to this country for the last time to be their
advocate, that his death would be the consequence. " I can meet
no death," he replied, •• more honourable, I can meet no death
more agreeable, than to die in defence of thatholle Caner," under
the very roof, beneath which the Catholics were then assembled,
the last act of his public life was performed in their favour; when
his friends advised him not to venture forth, he neglected their ad.
vice, and appeared among them ; and his speech on that occasion
was one which would be remembered by the Catholics with encl.
rude, evtn if they had never received any other favour from him.
What was the consequence? His frame ware shiptend, his phy-
sical powers declined, and We retired lflto the country in iitiet to
resign himself' to the will 'of his Maker. But before he died, he
wrote to him (Dr. Collins) a note, requesting that the Resolutions
of the 69 Peers, who had assembled at Buckingham-house, might
be published, and that it might also be stated, that 12 others had
shared in their sentineeets and bad given him their proxies. It
was thus that he justified the appellation of heriditsry advocate and
defender of the Catholic Cause; and thus he had justified the re-
solution, regretting his melancholy loss. Of' this deeply lamented
Peer, he woul say, Curer kw: Aquatint', intent(' tacent. The
Rev. Gentleman then moved a Resolution to the following effect—
" That this Meeting deeply laments the death of the late Earl of
Donoughmore, as a great calamity to the Catholic Cause—that to
his death, he justified by his faithful adherence to that cause, the
title of its hereditary advocate and defender; but that his death is
in some degree softened by the reflection thlst his sentiments are
participated by every individual of his illustrious family, and that
this Resolution, accompanied by a letter from the British Catholic:
Association, in the name of the British Catholics, be transmitted
to the present Earl of Donoughmore."
J. li'renaw, Esq seconded the resolution ; and, after COOL.
meriting on some of the points on which objections were ?aimed
against the Roman Catholics, he observed, that the grand open.
anion to their claims was grounded on their alleged divided alle-
giance. Now allegiance was was defined, by all the law writers of
this and other countries, to be "the tie or ligament which binds the
subject to the sovereign, in return for the protection which the
sovereign affords to the subject." It was therefore a mutual con.
tract by which each party was bound to give and receive some ad-
vantage. The subject, according to every definition of his duties,
had four duties to perform. First, he was to pay to the sovereign
certain taxes; second, he was bound to do suit and service in hie
courts ; third, he was to maintain the peace ; and 4th, he was to
reveal any treasonable practices of which tie might have knowlecge.
Now he (Mr. IWithan) would ask the Earl of' Liverpool, who had
spoken so much and in so unwarranted a manner, about this di-
vided allegiance, in which of those duties bad the Catholics failed
on which of those points had they been Mend wanting? end the
the Earl of Liverpool would say—" Nose." On the side of the
Catholics, then, it was clear that the ligament was time and tight,
but was it so on the other side? The duty of the sovereign, ac-
cording to the same definitions, was, to protest the persons and the
property of his subjects. Now the statute-book of England stepped
in, and said, receive all, but do not pay all. It was on the side ef
the sovereign, then, that the allegiance was divided, and not on tee
side of his Catholic subjects.
MICHAEL QUIY, Leq. then rose and said, so many theme-
stances have occurred to resist the progress of Catholic elnanelPe •
thin, that at no period were there so many reasons for exertion on
the part of every friend of freedom. When the hopes of the Cat ho-
lice had been so recently blighted, when the mildew was still npoe
them, unless :bey did exert themselves, their hopes grunt for ever
perish. It was not their enemies only that they had to fear, many
of them were misguided by mere ignorance, but the majority were
actuated by the consideration that they were protecting the es..-
blshed church—the former might be undeceived. and were deity
becoming so, but the latter, whose motives were those of Interest
would continue to oppose then until they found that opposition
would be altogether treeless. Supported as they were in their op.
position by individuals of illustrious rank and distinguished learn-.
ing,they mould never cease to keep the Catholics degraded as long as
they had the power so to do. Although they well knew that the
estimation in which the Catholics held the sacredness of an oath
was the only barrier that kept from them the rights of Englishmen.
their argument was, that the Catholic did not believe in the bindirg
nature of an oath. They could not be ignorant that the Net.
States, whose conduct did them so much honour, were embolic.
yet they argued that the Catholic religion was incompatible with
liberty. Might they not know of Mexico that its connexion with
the see of Rome was so purely ,piritual, as in no way to affect the
freedom of the state ? But was it possible that they believed in the
force of such an argument P No. Such misrepresentations west;
necessary to increase that opposition in which they took so decidets
a part—no matter whether their objections were true or fabie, se•
long as they were believed to he well-founded by the different co: -
porations who could raise a clamour on their side. They on!. A
quired to keep the Catholics degraded by every means they count de-
vise, however beneath their dignity as men, and their profession a.
Christians. Ask them toreason on facts, and they hear that thereli-
gion of the Catholics is the prototype of that which they profess ; thee
hear that Catholics do not believe in the Pope's infallibility; that
they can buy pardons for money, or that they have a right to as-
sassinate princes ; but when they do hear that those bugbears have
no existence, to what conclusion do they come ? Why that the
Catholic may speak truly for himself; bat that all his brethren be-
lieve certainly in the most criminal doctrines that the most crimi-
nal historians hare attributed to them. This was the mean sub-
coterufnutgrey.tha had
Among
t so,
the s,rilotenng likesh an
she had incubus
hadspentthen the
eiruind of
esiandthie
their
talents in unworthy efforts to injure the Catholic cause, and to •
retard the progress of their emancipation, it was with deep regret lie
saw the name of one who was not unknown to him—the Rev •
Blanco White. It might have been expected that his early asso-
ciations, his respect for the opinions of his tinnily, apt the creed of
his country, and, above all, the recollection that to the Catholic
church he was indebtedfor a long arid a learned education, would
have prevented him from turning against her the polished antes
which she herself had girded to his aide. He. ( Mr. this did oat
so much rear the enemies of theeatholics as the apathy of the Ca-
tholics themselves—that mistaken prudence which prevensed se
many from exertions, from the fear of injuriogthemselemi in their
psofessional situations; this feeling hail long been operating and mill
operated. But the Catholics glad gained over to their cuss the

P

tbedi of Commons, and, they might add, the people of England, 1
now only to contend with the House of Lords—Abet last
went of bigotry when the battle wosid be fought to the last.
' Learned Oentleman theu moved a resolution, that as the cir.
uf tracts throughout the country, in order to remove
diftinutoas opinions respecting the views end religion of the Catholics
woo an obp.ct of primary importance, and as it could not be effected
llesa at considerable expense, funds for the purpose should be
eillsered in every possible way.
The resolution was seconded by Eyston, Esq. and passed
tassimessly.
- - - - -- - - -

11Ir. Patty c• then poseented himself to the Meeting, and coin.
mooted on the various points usually 'deemed in support of Catho-
lic emancipation.
Two mechanics afterwards addressed the Assembly, one of
whom miggested the propriety of accompanying the various tracts
emulated by the society, with the sanction of the Catholic Clergy,
as many persons did not believe that the liberal sentiments ad-
vanced in them were generally entertained by the Catholics.
31s. RnLsl hoped, that as so large it, portion of the press was
so corruptly influenced against the Catholics, every means would
be med to employ a free and uncdrrupted press in their favour.
A gentleman alluded to meetings that were held weekly at the
,see Head, Cateaton-street, called " the Christian Evidence
Society." m which he said blasphemous doctrines were broached
and profited to the chairs resolution calling on the Lord Mayor
so prevent its continuance.
The SECILTARY said, that although no one could deprecate
OVQ• a society more than he did, be conceived the association
would be departing from its legitimate course by entering on the
limussion of such a subject.
Mr. FOLEY tiro moved the thanks of the Meeting to a Protest-
ant clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Bird, for the liberal sermon preached
by hint at Appleby, on the 12th August last, before the Judges of
Assize. The Rev. Clergyman, he observed, was a worthy scholar
of the venerable Bishop of Norwich.
The motion was seconded by Mr. Rotes, and passed unsni-
mous/y.
MT. Rawsox then proposed, and Mr. Quin seconded, a resolu-
tion of thanks to the venerable and respected gentleman who pre-
sided over the Meeting, and it was received with acclamations.
Mr. Buttea--My hair is thinned by age, and I have many
other tokens of my approaching end ; but in the service of the Ro-
am Catholics my heart is still warm, and 1 am still young.
At Ave o'clock the Meeting separated.