The National Register.
London, England, 1813-02-28 00:00:00

VIE NATIONAL REGISTER,

537

for many parts of his own, a$ well as of thii country. He condemned *.
the manner in which the Protestant Petitioners had spoken of their
Catholic Brethren, 'but he would not therefore retaliate upon• them
by adopting a similar style of expression. He had aWO respect for
the Protestant Clergy, who. had in a great measure united against
the Catholics, but he would not therefore call them enemies ; on
the contrary, he looked forward to that period at which they would
prove their friendshie; and join in one common cause against the
minim enemy. Religion, he observed, was not an encoureger ot
eivit discord, neither was Revelation to come down like a firebrand.
In speaking of the meetings at w, ich those Petitions originated, he
said, h: objected in the highest d gree to the practice which was so
prevalent of assembling the people by sects, especially religious
,eats, for fomenting political animosiites. This had the effect of
making Ireland a divided colony, and Great Britain a divided empire.
idle decision in such places was known by acclamations : the peti-
tions were called the4tent imeets of the
.meeting, and a shout was the
lict to which the Catholics were obliged to submit. He had
near.' that loan had b:en acquitted by acclamation, but he had
never head that a body of men were: sentenced by such a. formaliry
before (Hear, Hear.) He had thee told that'the tone of the Cat ho-
lies :ea.: too high, bu• he would answer, that the question was not
whether Mr. A . or Mr. B. spoke violently, but whether the Catho-
lic body aught to he emancipated. The question was, whether they
could he taxed with want of elleeiance, and it they could not, Wile-
. her they were got entitled. te the liberties eejoyed by those of the
Fetablished Church. The Catholics applied -for a political connec-
tio with their Protestant brethren ; they ilesirel that they might
have the benefit of British subjects ; and that their cause might not
-te tried by persons covenanted against their chilies. I t such a wish
was ambition, Magna Charta was ambition, and the Bill of Rights
was amintien. Time Cattiolics asked for pro eetion—the Protestaota the
power The Protestants asked for the ascendancy of a sect—the Catho-
lics asked for the law. What was this but anapplication from one sect
to govern another. ehe priori* upon which the Protestant had pro-
( seded was nee which went to cstahlisla Church Government, one fee
removed from those recogeised by the Constitntion, wfiich included
every dissenter from the Es, eblished Church in the blessings it pro•
lessed to diffuse: It was a most fallacious and idle thing to suppose-
Cat the people oflreland were to be identifich with the people of this
country be pains and penalties ;—privileees were the incitements to
that bood by which the Constitution and the Church would be im-
movably fixed. It ,vas aporeheielee that four or five men like Lord
Fingal might be dangerous in •hat House ; but could it he imagined
that they would be more dangerous in that Howe than tour or five
millions out of it ? But the op;sosers of the Catholics had, for the
purpose of strengthening their cause, gone back to the obsolete alto-
min 'hie canons, which the Catholics diseleimed and abhorred, and
cited them as instances of what teas to be expected from induleence.
!ter dwelling at tom.. length upon the cst telty, as well as the ahsue•-•
dity of attributing to the Catholics the priheiVes upen which their
ancestors had acted, he declared, that England,. alteough silt legatee I
that her tv•leratiou was mere perfect than that praetoed elsewhere,
very little deserved a comparisen tvith any nation on the Continent.
in other countries there was toleratien with qualificamions, but here
ere was toleration with paito and penalties. - In fluogary, tor
in-
stance, it was a part of the code that public offices shoeld be given to
natural born 1! uogarians who lia(Vserved ;t he state, without respest •o
religious principles. There wag sums. diflerence between-this law aest
Chit which denied the Catholic the common right ofcirgibility. Erg-
land acted towards the Catholies as if they carritel eoeut them ti.e
evidences of that spirit by which tt.ey had been actitattet in the waist
of times, and the Proteetant Clergy wished thstehese hisoultheica.
tions by which their feelings wet: corrected, and their interests studs,
shoeld ime continued, even after th: estehlishment of telthatien in
every other country. The Catholics 11.1 t terrified the p•Mciples of
their conduct by an oath, and had ie the most solemn memier ac-
quitted thenvelves ot all those crimes and violences attributed to their
ancestors. It had been said that the Catholics were eiseinies to the
Church. It was imp ssible to prove this charge, hut it would not be
difficult to prove that the• Church was an enemy to the Catholics.
It had been said that the Catholics were essentially by principle enc.,
mel• to the Siate.• He did rot altogether understand thatlanuage,
unless it meant that those who were enemies
.by poitmeiple, were
triends in fact. He would indeed deem such a crime very venial if it
was to be attributed to those who fought the battles of tide country,
and who gave practical proofs of their leyalty, at thcesarne time that
they amus d themselves with speculative disapprobation of the
caote. 'I he Catholics loved the State and the Church, ;mil the very
Bill of Rights were itselt a proof of their love of liberty,' because it
contaieed All the old laws by which the Constitutioe had been pre-
served, and by which the liberty of the subject was contioned and se-
' cured. But the itio‘t vile and abominable chargeasesinst the Catholics
was that which described them as attached te Rem:kid:A power. This.
was a charge which went directly to condemn them to execution. It
fixed upon them tae character of murderer ;out contradicted the re-
velation cif God, by making mensters of men., Mr. Grattan ended a
'very long and argumentative speech, to which our limits wit: not
allow us to do justice, by moving, " That the House resat.
into a Cwiatittce the whole to take into -

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