The National Register.
London, England, 1808-06-19 00:00:00

TilE NATIONAL REGISTER.

u t hum ConOtitution, anb Laing.

No. 25.

SUNDAY, JUNE 19, ISOB.

PRICE 84.

POLI rlc A L DISQUISITION.

think it expedient to support the error, for tear of injuring
themselves, whatever they may think of the real duties
imposed .by the oath. To the mass of the people of this
country, who expect no rewards from courtiers on the one
hand, and who can ga n nothing by the Emancipation of
the Catholics on the other, the grounds and obligations of
this oath ought to be made : we will therefore
state what we conceive to be the fair exposition of this
troublesome case.
In the first piaie, the King's oath binds him " to main-
" tain the Protestant Religion as by law established."—
Now it seems very evident, that if the State, which sup-
ports the Protestant Religion, be brought into danger, the
Protestant Religion, which is supported by the State, must
incur a danger too. If on the other hand the State is
strengthened, the Protestant Religion, as connected with
that State by an establishment, is likely to derive strength
also. We think that in the former Numbers of our Dis-
quisition on this important subject, we pretty planly
proved that the perpetuation of the disabilities that oppress
the Catholics, is only a perpetuation of civil warfare : and
we believe from a statement of the proportion which the
numbers of the Catholics bear to the numbers of the Pro-
testants, that the operative force of the country would be
considerably increased by the enlistment of Catholic troops
in our service, an enlistment which, at present, by the
irritation of the public mind in Ireland, can go on but
very, very slowly. Having substantiated these facts, we
seem to have proved that the State must become stronger
by the Emancipation of the Catholics : and, the State be-
coming stronger, the Church, as connected with it, ap-
pears likely become proportionally strong.
In the second place, it is a rule in the construction of
every obligation, that the intention and spirit in which it
was framed are to bt considered as the guide. Now the King
has two capacities, a legislative capacity, and an executive
capacity : and the oaths that he takes are imposed upon him
in order to prevent his executive power from encroach-
ing on the legislature, not in order to tie up his hands in
the legislative employment of his power. This oath is in-
tended, as has been well observed, to bind him by religious
sanctions to observe the law, but by no means to hinder
him from consenting to such new laws as his Parliament
may choose to propose to him.
In the third place, the oath is a promissory oath : an
oath which the people have enjoined to their Sovereign.
But he who exacts a promise, has certainly a right to dispense
with the performance of that promise : and when the King
and people shall conceive that the general good will ht
promoted by the release of that promise, surely no law, di-
vine or human, forbids them to pronounce the promise

NUMBLII TWENTY-11v E.

ON TIIE CATHOLIC PiITITION, AND as

li ECI:AvfION.
( Cuncialled
.frons our last.)

Having treated at large on the expediency of emanci-
pating the Catholics, it remains for us only to say a few
words upon the justice of that mehsure. At first sight it
seems almost unnecessary to occupy a moment's time in
establish►ng so obvious an axiom, as that the subjects of
the British King are entitled to British rights : but so om-
nipotent are prejudice and interest, that they can overturn
self-evident propositions, and justify injustice itself. The
principles of right arc eternal and immutable : shall they
he combated by circumstance, which in its nature is per-
petually varying, dying, reviving ? Surely Providence did
not said four millions of human beings into the world, to
form the vast majority of a nation, and yet live the slaves
of that nation's minority ! Surely it cannot be the inten-
tion of nature, that freedom shall be understood as the
enjoyment of the few at the expeuce of the many
It will be said that any man, or body of men, shewing a
disposition which is dangerous to the State, may, by every
law of society, be restricted from the exercise of those
privileges which arc permitted to less obnoxious people.
We allow that rule, but we do not allow that the Catholics
have shown any such disposition at all. They certainly
shew a disposition to right themselves : but they are not
very likely to be hostile to the State, when the State has
made ho;:ility no longer tempting to them. Dio body
when he can get nothing by fighting—not even an
Irishman. But whether the something that he may get by
lighting, be called honour, or whether it be solid profit,
fight he will, as long as that something continues to daz-
zle his fancy : nay. though we on this side of the Irish
channel, may conceive that he is contending without a
cause, yet as long as the motives, the irritatingly efficient
motives, continue to operate, the real importance belong-
ing to the final cause, to the objet of the straggle, will
be bat very Lttle regarded. And u. this inconsistent, in-
comprehensible world, where half the objects of our wishes
arc valuable only in fancy, it is not unreasonable to allow
the Irish to set some price on a matter which intrinsically
may not be very estimable. But after all, whether the
concessions required by the Catholics, be really valuable
or nominally valuable, we ha ve no right to enquire : we
have promised the Irish certai►t favours, estimable or not,
which we now refuse to grant, and which they still wish to
acquire : is it not just that we concede them ?
There is one answer, Aid) seems to be the great and
material obstacle to ail accommodation on this subject :
and that answer is .‘ The king's coronation oath." Some
people plead this oath openly, and are really weak enough
to believe that the Emancipation of the Catholics will be
a violation of this oath : others, considering that such idle
prejudices are entertained by wavy people high iu power.
.Vu..t.ti 1.

released.
But if at last we must construe the obligation by the
letter and not by the spirit, it will not be difficult to prove
that even the letter of the oath contain! no prohibition.
The King swears " to govern according to the statutes in
" Parliament agreed on, and to the laws and customs of
this realm:" acid iu another part of the oath, he Weds

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