The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-05-28 00:00:00

~ and to attend
74.71- carifrt, -Under these Titieesieellested
we;tv.o:.eat thwrshoteasatter be referred to the Mas-
lar..ertort up.u. - 7--
;77,e stanctsLoa—s" I perfectly' coingi9t with
•; ire); nT that proposal; Let the case be
▪ :; . r totheMsster. The questioos that appear
vVok;.".iirLp.et to be referred are, whether the father
of ',mums was a Protestant, and whether in his
:se iwrniitted his children to be educated
.1 r., '
',/•:.ol;usmti.L" And whether he did not
r'f4":" A
'C:: t SANCILI.LOII--:1 'That qiiestion does not
to me material." :4
• .11e:SlitCL—" As to the religion of the minors'
4""Pit tele controver,ed even in the documents of
, Apatite side, for Mr. Pim stares in his affidavit
hit b: other was a Sr cisry, whilst the Master's
• asorrts that he will a Protestant."
M`KANE—" he word Protestant nay
a persoss who proiesti against the errors of
J. • •
perry i . . t,.
11r., O'CoNNELT.—" That definition includes
r worthy allies the 'rinks."

iiI6.IIONAN CATHOLIC PEERS BILL.

!•+ 1 :tow

• fr/dillellit " DEVON/HIRE FRUHOLDEILI

• A.; Mr. Canning's Rill for the restoration of the
t • :twee Peers of Etighend so their hereditary rank
• Mew sent to the Upper House, we he leave to
•it ehe atieroiseet of our readers to It question which
• mities not merely a great constitutional principle,
*4lol.lillearstse the dictates of common jostice. - By
estedelishedeuerstetutiost of England the Peerage
*4,644 the right of legislsting tit a separate soften-
•.• v haw the Representatives of the people, forming
✓ :in Om chain of our Caustiteition by which
1.1. pol Vier tit the Crown is connected wish the privi-
'• ihefunetantsityl, through the medium of an
t aristocracy.
allowed, that every legit itifrisegernent ott
rights and liberties of Engliolimen ought to he
• ,l.criell by ilteneent urgent necessity, wed tent mu
• s•e•otitinutol beyond the period for which it wl4O,
acted: for, individual liberty is our uoblest hte-
; •',ctsier,•and the mealiest persou cognate% be deprived
s ghe most trifling privilege but loy.uu urbitary
Wirttujust invasion ; the poorest freeholder hue that
•• through his representative, in the enactment
• !.eeecy Lev,- which, 'by the theory of our
Coast-
•toll, was 'encoded to secure to him the possession
• ;;4 property sod the safety of his person. How
c• a Catholic Pere situated in this respect ? len
• eteting the most exalted privileges through a long
.e of atict•stoes—a rink gained by the moat
1-attiOrtitle exertions of virtue and value, either en
field or is the Cobinet—poosessang property
ech ina.set nectionrily render the.seconty of his
•:::iitty. at least to him. a point of the utmost it'l-
-1 'tance—atscl above ell, placed in a steno') which,
• . te. is 'narked out by snore than ordsitary tfeitisie-
,rso, buttes with it au NCCllimiliitiou of important
.i..tres and consequent soliciterde—yet he finds him-
• I a member of a el.-waded race. To hem the

-I.es of laudable asnititit; suit proacss uo tharnt ;
• eaticise.•E aileutut faculties—no usduceinent ;
I,opes of r prim. are .-blogiteed in the de;isse..
• .riakuf his program sod fits fell tide of his loyalty
• • .his Kinig.4stisil.liis...stiathatient to his country
•• :timed by the roalueioos and degrading pressure
• penal wirstetiorsitit; his reitgioss.seendslised, and
• ..very oath doubted. " The mime of a Catholic
lartir." 'to oar the heeds of as eloquent Member of
I Noise of Guanacos* (Lord Norindithy), to, iu
:4:liviatputeets.. a Wont ; in the hopes and rx-
.l•ol:liatioate-of boa onsotizr. he is exalted but to be
• cloded...cuirsidesl but to be degraded."

• Oi eboervirg. through the medium of our hit-
the ettletue iambi''y mud enutlou evinced by
bratith or the etionerunity when about to aa-
.•.'tlee the iuteteare•of another, the only ratoonal
• • nuclueloo that eon be liras's) ir. that the Catho!tc
V -rev truest here tonnueitert dome &mug coorpi-

..••y, SINS 'heedful manreere. some complication
Citrate, to render them end thew tleverodanta on
roonorted ant ; dvinived not merely of the pectill•v
vverogatives their tank allergy them, hitt tiltrotor of
tt,mv ordliuvry privilege-, palsorartl by all freemen.
!he fight of impontig t.s nn tharerlers unit
aveng • voice to tne pameng of laws. How mart
•-ternahment gather on urtonishrmot how moot
e•cevd ilwbotioOs. on 11'..titoic that up to
. . . .

• time of the Popish Plea, iis 1678, tae Catlinfic
l'rert *erre esnsidertd ow be woof% the droorst
k.orbuls is/ the Siete. roil were et:olmM en the
:i•ire trsolionny of 'flies Omer and his infamous
••••irei.itert by eir perjoirire of there villaths aloof.
iirre thry tilweed in their present oejust end unur-
rnrll•cetwititom •

At the time of the Reformation, in the reign of
Etiribeth, the Carbolic Perot sere admit-
, .; n, the tuft confidence of their ti..tcr.:igoi. When
1.4....rti tigainbt the Cot tiolle. u, grtirr.l,
..,1 I'. c e.ere rzcluJr.S 1t
~ ••,.•. i:ir Queen declared Ie• billet h, the loptity
. t t.,- l'eei•to.; that the Pettis we ie. snifter her Incii-
;..l ch.ervation ; nor would *be suffer site oath to
t,.• imposed by which they could be uhut out from
ter Semite. What more corivincmg proof could she
2.; ve than the employment of Catholic Peers in
eat and important situations? The Act of Snore-
., acy Sting dispensed with, the Earl* of Wor.
••,..oer and Northumberland held high offices,
~,c former. A mhawadur in France—the latter, Ad-
...lr.' alpinist the Armada. Eveu the Gunpowder
Piot did not implicate the Peer., who were still oc.
... ally employed in offices of tru.t, and retained
.he confidence of the King ; even the !attempt
to inveigle Lord filoolessle into Cecil's wiles
vioved ineffectual ; that Noblemen revealed his
~.).trrinas letter to the Moister. and was instru-
werdid in discovering the pretended plot. liut it
....during the Civil Wars, in the reign of Charles I.
she Catholic -Nobility evinced their loyalty
1.. is nurunef sot oteistly inaguauisnoeft, but perfectly
kiiialressta. Every Catholic Peer, tit that ~nthl
period, adheres, wadi enshalten constancy to the in.
. teen. of she Kiog. They relieved hits with the
. bole both of mete foetuses ; they bud in the lead

~J ~

no particular place o,
II) had affidavits how•
Cetimlic, that he auto
by • Roman Catholic
fe-time he pPrmitted-
..truction in the Catholic •
with their utotliculeCotho. undeviating

Lad advii

tv[Uk

in the Cabinet ; they accompanied the
ily into exile. sod the Marquis of Wor.
the last individuil in the kingdom who
eel the sopremocy of Paefiainent. On the
motormicso-of Charles 11. the Catholic -Peers again
resumed their seats, still distinguished by the mine
undeviating loyalty. They even proved their attach-
meat rather thou their enmity towards the church of
England by their parliamentary conduct ; they una-
nimously voted that the Protestant Bishops shoald
resume their seals : even in the reign of Charles I.
when at least 25 Catholic Peers were Members of
the Upper House, they opposed to the utmost the
Bill by which the Bishops were at first excluded.
The grateful return these kiudnesses have obtained.
as yet. for the Catholics from the present Bench,
needs not to be commented on; we feel unable to
express ourselves in language sufficiently cool and
guarded, to mark our opinion of such ingratitude.
It is to be hoped that us the Claims of the Catholie
Peers are now separated from the hulk of the people,
the. Right Rev. Bench will redeem its character,
by cheerfully voting for tlw present Bill. Such seas
the state of affairs until the latter end of the reign
of Charles 11. when suspicion, alarm, and pretended
plots—the vices of the King—and the dread of the
religion of his successor. excited an extruordinmy
degree of enmity against Catholics in general, arid
the Peers in particular. On the 30th of April. 1675.
ti protest was entered by the Upper House &Narita
the'extension of the Test Act to the Catholic Lord..
Three years after, however, in the midst of a usiionel
commotion, which has sever been equalled. thst
fatal Art passed (30 Charles 11. c. I,) " Fur
more effectually securing the King's person said
government, by disabling Papists from sitting in
Parliament. They are to take a test, or make u de.
claration against transubstantiation ; that the invo-
cation of Saints is superstitious and idolatrous; to
disclaim the Pope's power its granting diripensa.
lions." This severe Act passed at the very time
that Oates was unfolding, by his perjured narrative
at the her of the House of Commons, the pretend-
ed abomination of the Popish Plot. It was the
consummation of that system of degradation which
was now to overwhelm every Catholic. " Thus
ended," says Dodd, " that barbarous and scandal-
ous contrivance against the Catholics. Besides
aspersing the whole body, eighteen of them were
executed as traitors; and an ()maims taken from
hence to let loose the penal and sanguinary laws
against all the rest. who had 110 other guilt than
that of their religion."
To mark the spirit in which this Act was passed.
many who were convinced of its injustice main-
tained its necessity, for the purpose of quitting the
minds of the people, considering that the belief of
the plot was a mere act of frenzy, which the cool
reflection of posterity would rectify, when the
hardy of the witnesses should be discovered ; never
supposing that a race of beings could exist who
would convert it temporary into tin eternal expe-
diency; who would exclude the hereditary nobility
of England fur ever from the enjoyment of rights,
which even the friends, ref the Reformation had not
invaded—of rights which had been preserved in '
every revolution.of religion, said in every vicissi-
Nide of the State. As the plot of Odes was con-
trived chiefly for the exclusion of the Doke of
York, but of which the Catholic Peers were the role
victims, it may riot be amiss to remark, that con-
temporary as well as recent historians—that PIO•
tesiants as well as Catholics—that IVhigs as well as
Tories, are pretty nearly agreed on the point.
On the subject of the Popish Plot,' arils the
Right Hon. George Rose, in his observations on
Mr. Fox's History, page 51, " there can now hard.
ty he two opinions in the country, although the be•
lievers in it, when the trials took place and long
afterward,. were both numerous and respeciuhle.
Reflecting on the fatal effects of the public credu-
lity in this instance, what lessnri does it afford to
guard our minds against giving too ready a belief
In stories likely to have currency boos popular pre-
judices." So much for Odor and his plot.
We must now refer to circumstances of more
modern date, and we cannot last express our coil•
viction, that the adnri. of CIIIIIOIIC Peers does
ill no respect iuterfere with the general question of
Emancipation. The Peer. wr re the last Catholics
who lost their rights under circumstance', of a pecu-
liar nature. and by u train of accusations now
proved. to be false: they ought therefore to he the
first to benefit by the rising inquiry and strict jes.
Ikea the present age. As their exclusion we.
founded on pretended crimes, their readmission
should likewise be molted with a corresponding
honour ; and surely the House of Prers, which is
the suadstary of katonr will not refuse in list. ii to
the DEMAND or Till COSINONS Or ENGLAND, to
make a reparation to the wounded arid mimed feel-
ings of the Catholic Nubility.
• We wish to my a few words respecting the Poi-
tione against the present Bill. and nothing marks
the progress of public opierion more strongly dram
that with all the Worded excitesuem from certain
'quarters, no hostile Petitions have been presented
Irons the body of the PrOrLt. The Clergy of an
Arclidescutiry shot Op in close conclave. or the
•tuerobers of a Corporate Body arsembled in a se-
ire, 'chamber, are the only Petitiossere. There have
/seen no County Meetings. no expression of dislike
from the Cities of London soil Wesiviiii-ter. the
Borough at Southwark, or the Cooley of Middle-
sex; those enlightened bodies. who lead the way in
Petitions, are friends to Toleration awl to Liberty ;
they are unwilling to continue ally restrictions ou
their fellow-subjects fur their religions belief, when
not the shadow of a reason any longer exists for the
Cosonsissoire of those nonaimul restrictions.

That the Clergy of the Church of England (a
body of men the least fitted, from their education
and prejudices, to form an is►partial opinion on
questions iiivolviog the religious hinnies of sects
differing from them) ►hould petilion sigaisot the
exercise. 4 conscientious belief ►n matters of reli-
gion, is linked pa►sing strange, when se ref ect that
the fund.meotsl basis of that Church was foiluded
on the letssoctple, that every one bad • right to
judge. for himself with respect to religious faith.
Lint as it consistent with the spirit of chanty
and meekness to vote such petitions? In what
part of the Sacred Scriptures is such a proce-
dure recommended ? Does ally other Church in
Europe .purser such • course?. Did the French
Clergy ewer petition the Legislature egslust the
acheissten unsung theta of either Protrstiiir Peers
or Coseemossers ? No !.—The Clergy of England
present a snaking difference at present le every

:4 ... .4,.•
4.
14
.ri
r,,
/ ; g., ttoll that he frequented ne
-:,lir.• i • .01.1iip. Ile (Mr. ('Connell)i
•-‘•,. to prove that he rhed a C
, • ~ibpi on his death-bed by
t; • ~,y, end that during his lit
I • • Aplren to receive flaunt
* .: .., • and to attend with tbei
i•,r- r...5)..1. Under these circum