The National Register.
London, England, 1812-02-09 00:00:00

FiT.

• MONDAY, TEL S.
STATE OP IRELAND.
Laird MORPLTH rose, pursuant to notice, to make his.promised Mo-
tion respecting the State of -Ireland. He regretted the absence of his
Noble Friend, and deplored, in. common with the House, the domes-
tic affliction that had made that absence necessary. There were occa-
sions in which the strongest sense of Parliamentary duty might be al-
lowed far a time to give way to private feeling--(Hear, hear/ ).—The
notoriety of the state of Ireland rendered every attempt to describe
it unnecessary. He wished to call the attention of the House at once
to the propriety and expediency of admitting the Catholics of Ireland to
the full benefits of the British Constitution, and he called upon all
those who entertained no other objection to their claims, thaa the ap-
prehension of abandonaling the Protestants of Ireland, to bear in mind
that those very Protestants were now as zealous in promoting those
claims, as the Catholics themselves, and considered the favourable re-
ception of them as essential to the security of the Protestant establish-
ment in Ireland, and to the general prosperity of the empire. It had
been objected; that the granting these claims could render no real
service to the great body of the Catholics—would it not, he asked, be
removing from them a ground of justifiable discontent ?—was it no-
thing to the private soldier to see the officer who had led him to victory,
raised by his merit to command a regiment or an army ? Was it no-
thing to the peasantry of a country, no see their gentry occupying the
highest political stations ? He next adverted to the measure of ITnion,
and thought that the consent of the Catholics had been secured to that
measure, by an understanding that their emaricipation shouli he the
consequence. The greatr At Statesmen of modern times, however they
differed ti; on other points, nereed as to the necessity and justice of
conceding a participation of bthe Constitution to the Catholics. He
trusted that that night there would be made a great leading step to a
general and cordial conciliation; never was it more desirable than at a
motoent When we were about to add the inhabitants of another hemis-
phere to the catalogue of our enemies. Those who built their objec-
tions upon prejudices against the religion of the Catholics, would do
well to remember, that iii nursing animosity against the religion of
another, they gave but a questionable testimony to iahe purity of their
own. The Catholic religion was the ancient faith of all Europe, and
the profession of the greater part of modern Europe; but such (Nee-
nous could not be sincere, especially when opposition to Catholic
claims had been made the steppieg stone to power--(Henr, It.ar! ).
It-would be hard, Indeed, if whet they contributed in so great a pro-
pertian to man our fleets and armies, and were every day fighting so
bravely in both, that we should deny them priVileges to fight fur. To-
leration had been tried in other countries, and had never failed to be
productive of a great increase of national strength, by removing those
jealousies that kept a people from being unanimous. After some other
observations, dirt Noble Lord concluded by moving, ""That this House
do te.olve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to take into
consideration the present state of Ireland." •
The Marquis of Tevis.rocit seconded the motion. •
Sir JOHN Nienoe said, that he had hitherto abstained from taking any
active part in any of the discussions that had hitherto taken place upon
this question, but he thought it became him no longer to withhold from
the House a frank avowal of his sentiments. Those who charged others
with raking h senseless cry of ' No Popery !' should take care if they
were not more criminal for raising a senseless cry of persecution and in-
tolerance.--(Hear, hear !
,frooz Ministers )--He acquitted altogether
those Memhers of the Legislature, who hail so ably supported in bcoh
Houses of Parliament the Catholic claims; of any design to pull down
the Protestant establishment—(at laugh front the Opposition.) But still
he could not look upon this question without considering it as one that
involves in it the security of tae Constitution. He was anxious not to
be misunderstood; every enlightened man held bigotry in just abhor-
rence; but he trusted that it was not necessary to cease to be a Christian
in order to cease to be a bigot—(Hear, hear!)—he flattered himself he
had no religiourejudice's, but he should be sorry if he had not religious
preferences--(Fear, hear ! )—in this spirit, and wi h this feeling, he
would frankly say,-that if the concession now sought for could-be cont-
ed to the Catholics with safety to the Constitution, then reason and jus-
tice required that they should be granted—(Hear, hear ! front the 0).po-
Uaoa.)—But if, on the other hand, they could not be granted with safe-
ty to the Constitution, then reason and justice to the Catholics themselves
required that they should not be granted.—(Hear, hear ! front Minii-
teri.)—!f the ascendancy of the Protestant Church was not an essential
property of that. Constitution, and then the question would be, how far
the granting of those concessions would affect that ascendancy ? it was
here to be recsellectede that that revolution, so fondly and so justly called
Out glorious revolution, did not go to establish merely a Protestant King,
biit to surround him with a Protestant Council, a Protestant Ministry,
and a Protestant Parliament. That glorious revolution was not founded
merely on religious preference, butt our national religion was preferred,
among other reasons, became it had been found at all times most favour-
able to the cultivation and the meintenance of the most rational princi-
pies of civil liberty.—(Hear, hear !)--Then from all these principles, he
concluded that the presumption was on the part of the Constitution, and
Vie burden of proof on the Catholics. With respect to the change in
the religious or political relations of the Catholics-.was there, be asked,