The National Register.
London, England, 1809-12-17 00:00:00

rIONAL REGISTER.

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was a: summary, as the pretext • for inflicting it was abo-
minable: The atrocity and injustice of these measures
appear more revolting, *hen they are contrasted with the
Article. of the Capitulation of Limerick, By these'Xiug
Wir.w4is promised the Irish Catholics the full enjoyment
Of their political and religiotis rights. This solerim Act
placed the latter on the completest tooting of equality With
their Protestant brethren. Hut the policy, liberality,satid
good sense of WILLIAM 111. were obliged. to yield. to the'
bigotted principles of his Parliament; wad, M less than
two years after the signature of the Capitulation, all its
stipulations, in the grossest violation of the most sc.Cred en-
gagements, were annulled by an Act of the Legislature,
To justify So grog an outrage upon good faith, honour,
and
,justice, the reader may, perhaps, infer that some recent
. aft' of rebellion on the part of the Catholics, provoked this
• severe act of retaliation. But the reverse can be proved ;
and there never was a period in the history of that country
so tranquil as at the very time %%hen this perfidy was coin-
Mated. In, fact, the natives %Vele so desirous of repose,
that this infamous outrage wls even insufficient to rouse
them to resistance. Thefieree and turbulent natives were
gradually moulded into the most sub Missive, tranquil, and
harinleu beings .that thert existed _upon the face of the
earth. During this state of torpid resignation, their task-
masters published that code of penal laws, which has not a
parallel in the worst and most unfortunate eras ofthe world.
The (object of these ,humane•ieg,islators was to brutalise the
• poor inhabitants; to reduce them to the level of drudgery
and intellect of their oxen. To effect this humane and en-
- lig;itened purpose, the most coercive and jealous measures.
were resorted to, td deprive them 'Of the benefits of educa-
tion, and the benign influence of religion, Catholic
Schoolmasters were hanged. Catholic Ecclesiastics were
likewise hanged ; and to complete the inhumau outrages,
the unfortunate victims never dared appear before their
• petty tyttitits,'but in the most abject state of bumillation,..—
:-with Uncovered' heads, and prostrate bodies. Yes, reader
'the petty hatrsztvige landholders in the South and West of
Ireland -enfoiqd this, ceremonial, . when.; their Catholic
tenantry appealed in theii presence. Yott may be anxious
to loom limy the latter ,conducted themselves under this
complication of outrage and insolence, They were yan-
quit and iuhrnissiate;-..-repeated arts of injustice and insult
-bad broken theirepirits to the yeke. But' that is not
all s--
Inen whom the kegialattire thought unfit for any higher
duties and employment, than may be performed by the
lsrute creition, were pfoperly judged by the same august
body, untifiallified to ride, at least, good horses. A law
was, therefore, passed that, upon a tender of five pounds,
the Catholic possessor of a horse, should it be worth fifty
times that sum was obliged to deliver it to the bidder.—
We will Make no reflections upon the subject ! The suf.
• firers and the torturers are now consigned to the same
common mansion, where no inequality, no assumptions,
arc tolerated.! The illiterate, broken-hearted, and ill-
treated peasant, and his haughty savage landlord, have
long since appeared before a Jfitioc, who makes no diffe-
rence between the Catholic and, the Protestant, the Quaker
41,d the Methodist.,--Helears the complaint of the wretch-
rti. and makes allowance for the'folly and violence of preju-
dice and puSsion: The disgraceful memorials of that time
have disappeared before reason and humanity; and few
vestiges of those barbarous laws are now extant. Some
restrictions are still suffered to disgrace our statute book ;
but it is to bu hoped that this stigma will not long resist
the benign and Conciliatory yoke Of justice and policy.
To redoigmend this beneficial change;—to press it upon
the feeling sod understanding of the reader ;—to intreat his
influence, as fax as it may extend, in public, or private life,
for the purpose of removing the objections, which igno-
ranee, or prejudice may make to its introduction, is the
earnest 444 ardent wish we feel in this Moment; and shall
continua to express, numerous body, whose cause
Me advociot *tempt wenforee their claims, with a degree

MC. 171:

of temper, which does honour to their moderation and
good sense ; proves them worthy of the righti they-demand,
and exposes the-violeuce and partiality of their opponent..
It is an inhuman and perilous policy which excludes four
)nillions out of sixteen froin an equal participation of bene-
fits. This exclusion, did it extend only to ten tfichisand,
would be barbarous in the extreme; for so 'mortifying a
distinction must wound every manly feeling, and create thd
strongest.resentment, on the part of the peniouLexcluded.
But. when .a fourth part of the entire population, composing
the great majority of an insulated and very villnerable pro•
viuce, are pronounced unworthy of equal rank and similar
rights, with the rest of their fellow-citizens, we May con-
ceive how teeming with danger this severe act of disquali-
fication must be 1 The urgency of such a measure must
be great indeed, must silence every possible objection, and
press itself instantly upon the couviction of men of sense,
when it is tented, in the present state of public athirst -to
perpetuate discontent in sc.) Important a part of the Empire.
The religious and political litiuciples of the disqualified
body must breathe a 'direct and avowed hostility' to the
rights and independence of the other members of the covn-
munitv, to justify so hazardous an expedient. Nothing
lt.• s than absolute and immediate ruin, in case of'compli-
ance, could excuse the necessity of an att, so partial' in its
operation, so ominous in its effect. We art theonly people
iu Europe, who have not adopted; to its fall extent, the
toleration recommended in every chapter; in every verse.of
the gospel. This deviation from policy, religion and phi-
losophy is supported upon the binding force of sa Oath i ;as
if any obligation were binding. which religion condemns,
philosophy rejects, policy disavows, and philanthrophy
hors. Catholics in every other country are.goedsubjetts
and citizens; and for Heaven's sake, why shot they not be
so in Ireland;' In. Spain and:Austria,' they have made the
greatest sacrifices; and evince the 'Most glowing 4MA-
'tient, for their country st,nd sovereign. in the misfortunes
of the Prussian monarchy, tbeinhabitants of Silieia, the great
majority of whom are pitholics,. displayed more loyalty
towards their Sovereign. ,any. other portion .of his
sukjects. Why they should they .be traitors in Ireland ?
and if they are.not. where is the. right upon earth, or
where is the pretext to disqualify therm? Are their &Wee.
tions less ardent ; .their passions snore irregular ; their
faculties mote limited ; sense of right and wrong less dis-
tinct ? Has nature stamped a mark of superiority, con-
ferred an older birth-right, on their protestant brethren ?
None of these distinctions exist. The most lierfect equa_
tit), of intellect and feeling, moral sentimeati and social
affection, is visible in both. Even the microscopic glass
of the ".No Popery" intriguer, or the disfiguring prism
of the most squinting zealot, could not discover an atom
of superiority in the favoured sect.
But the Public, we mean such as deserve that name.
the enlightened, the impartial, and the just, acknowledge
the justice of the demand, and press the urgency of com-
pliance. The Protestant Gentlemen of Ireland, who are
nearer the object, and more in the habit of contemplating
it ; who tremble at the consequences of an obstinate, un-
complying, repulsive policy; who foresee so much danger
from the hypocricy, prejudice, and prostitution of the
" No Popery" Faction, to themselves and children; who
esteem the Catholics, but know they have the feelings and
spirit of men ;—who are sensible of the danger their coun-
try is exposed to, and of the imperious necessity of union;
who know they must stand or fall with that country
they advocate strongly the justice and policy of Catholic
Emancipation. But every Englishman, from the King. to
the cottager, has au interest, a strong, an immediate one,
in thii great question, Severed from the uatiena of. the
Continent; —the line of partition becomiog denser and
higher,—England will feel daily the importance of union
between her and Ireland.. The frothy, ignorant, prosti-
tuted declamation of a City Contractor, will-not convince
her that the present Caisis is not a very AWFUL one. Th.e