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

THE. NATIONAL REGISTER.

It ihe Catholics were •Ato'Wed to form,a 'Convention,
why might not the counties send deputies to assemble
in convention, and to petition for peace ;• if they sat for
one day they might sit for another ; if for one week,
for many weeks, and through a whole Session. What
would then he the situation of the country ? The
subjects of taxes, the support of armies, the ability 'of
the people to sustain those taxes, the expediency and'
extent of the military establishment, every thing relating
to finance and the vital interests of the State would come
under their discussion. When the question was first
started, the temperate and conciliating conduct of Govern-
ment had been such, that if the Catholic leaders had
entertained any respect for the Government, they would
have desisted ; instead of which, they had an Aggregate
Meeting on the 9th of July, and proceeded in their mea-
sures by combination. The Government next issued a
proclamation, and the very next day a counter procla-
mation was issued by the Aggregate Meeting ; the Duke of
Richmond's proclamation to-day, and to-morrow the pro-
clamation of Lord Fingal,at direct hostility with each other.
As the speech of a Noble Marquis, to which we have
already alluded, is by far the most important, we shall
subjoin the passages which have excited so much surprize,
as proceeding from such a quarter.
64 Upon these principles it is that I hold any restraints
upon any class of subjects, which preclude them from
the_possession and enjoyment of any rights or immu-
nities accessible to any other class of subjects, are in
themselves evils, and only tolerable when the amount of
the danger from their removal exceeds the mischief's of
their continuance. The danger, I will admit, may be
greater, if so, I say hold to your restraints ; but, if the
contrary he the case, there is no principle of prudent po-
licy or a sound discretion that will justify the continuance
of restraints beyond the actual necessity. If we wish to
insure concord we must take down much of the vehe-
mence on both parts ; we must take down the pomp and
parade and ostentation of the claim of right on one hand,
and from the violence and fury of intemperate zeal on
the other. But upon the general ground I will ask whe-
ther it is not expedient that the restrictions should be
taken off the Catholics ? Ir, my opinion, an opinion
formed upon the best and most deliberate consideration
which I have been able to give the subject, the removal
of those restrictions would be not only not dangerous, but
would afford an. additional security to the Protestant Es-
tablishments of the Empire, and more particularly in
( Hear, hear, hear ! ) I am not now disposed or
prepared to state what may be the precise extent or mea-
sures of security which may be necessary in order to
provide for the future safety of these establishments. It
-has always been my opinion, that the best mode of pro-'1
*iding for the real interests of the Empire, would be to dis-
arm the distinctions respecting political rights of that
rancour vdiich embodies the discontents of the coun-
ti y—to remove that principle of separation of the people,
which holds the 'dissatisfied and disaffected connected
against the common interest, and prevents that union
of heart and sentiment which is the best foundation of a
nation's welfare. Upon the closest and best consideration
which I have given the question, therefore, I am persuaded
that every restriction ought to he removed—but in such a
manner, that the Legislature might have the opportunity
of discussing the principle and terms of the reenovalin every
stage of the business, and be thereby enabled to combine,
with the release of the Catholics from their disabilities, the
enactment -of adequate securities for the protection of, the
Protestant Establishments."

. FBj,

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

MONDAY, JAN. 27.
The Distillation Bill was ordered to be printed on the motion of the
Earl of Liverpool, *ho gave notice that if the prints were on the table,
a noble Friend of his would move the second reading on Wednesday.
Mr. Graham, Inspector of Convicts, presented a Report of the state of
the Convicts in the River Thames and IVledway, and at Portsmouth.—
Ordered to lie on the table.—Adjourned.

TUESDAY, lAN•2S.
The Committee on Appeals was adjourned till Monday.
The Committee of Privileges sat a few minutes on the Stafford Peer-
age, and postponed the further proceedings until Tuesday next.—Ad-
journed.

'WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29.
The Sugar Importation Bill and the Malt Duty Bill were severally
committed, and the report of each ordered to be brought up.
The discussion on the Distillery Prohibition Bill was postponed ; and
the other business of the day, as to appeals and private matters, being
adjusted, the House adjourned to Friday.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 31.
A Message frcnn the Commons brought up the Household and House-
hold Officers' Bills, which were read a first time, and ordered to be read
a second time on uesday.
STATE OF IRELAND.
The Order of the Day having been read,
Earl FITZWILLIAM began to address their Lordships in a tone only
audible below the bar, at short intervals. He said, that a subject so un-
fortunately momentous as the present should be brought before the
regular jurisdiction of the country as peedily as possible. He believed
he might challenge the House, for the last century, to produce an instance
of a subject being brought before it of importance equal to the present.
It was fit that. their Lordships, as protectors not only of their own rights,
but of those of the rest of the nation, should protect the interests of a
great and valuable portion of the empire. The dreadful state in which
he considered that country (Ireland) to he, was suet:, that he did not
think it safe to defer the consideration of this great question any longer;
and` particularly when he reflected at the great differences which exist
in that state are between the Government and the people ; not the lowa
orders of the people, but the men of the first rank, wealth, and influ-
ence in that country. The ground of this evil, he considered, was their
being deprived of the common right of citizens. Whatever reeerion
the subject might that night meet with from their Lordships, it must he
revived again and again, until this grievance be remedied—(Hero,
hear ! j—lthough prima facie it might appear to arise from religious
prejudices, yet they would find that not one particle of religion had oc-
casioned the dissatisfaction which now prevails among all ranks in lie- •
land. It was the deprivation of their rights in the community which
ought to have been their birth-right, which occasioned those alarming
differences; and would any one say that men should be deprived of those
rights because they believed in the doctrine of transubstantiation, or wor-
shipped the Virgin Mary ? Could not a man he as loyal a subject who
believed in such things, as he who did not ? How, then, could they jiio
tify the depriving so great a body of men of those natural rights, which
belong to every one ? and if the Catholics are thus excluded from the
common rights of men, was their dissatisfaction to be wondered at?
His Lordship here entered into a detail of the treatment of the Catho-
lics since the latter end of Charles the Second's reign, in which ex-
elusion of the Catholics first began, to show, that notwithstanding the
way in which they had been treated, the Catholics lied still been loyal
subjects ; and had denied, that any man could produce a well-foundA
suspicion, that they were naturally prone to disloyalty. In the army or
the navy they could not rise; nor could they represent their fellows
subjects in Parliament : now he wished to know where he could and a
constitutional reason to justify such policy .? Wherever a large body of
men were excluded from the benefits which others enjoyed, under the
same Government, the minds of such men must be irritated against :hat
Government. But, he trusted, that the day was near hand, when an
end would be put to all such exclusions. He contended, that it was the
undoubted-right of the subject to petition the Throne or Parliament
but when a jealous Government, afraid of their obtaining the objecti ch of
their petitions, proceeded to prevent that right, that must happen wh
had occurred • but •
lately, and was occurring in Ireland, namely, the
greatest differences between the Government and the People. He couht
not bring himself to think, that the proceedings of the Irish Govern'
,
ment were very honourable or dignified in these matters ; it would have
I been mud' more so, if it had allowed the Catholics to Petition that
I House, and have openly and fairly discussed it. He wondered, in rno•
mentous times like the present, how a Government could expect assist-
ance of a people, whom it had deprived of its rights. Hi 4 LordShitt
concluded by moving—" That the limise should resolve itself In a
Committee, to enquire into the present state of the affairs of Irelerel.
The Duke.of InsdNsuutE seconded the motion. He hoped tbe'