The Sun.
London, England, 1837-08-26 00:00:00

SPEECH OF MR. MACLEOD, M.P.
(From the Inverness Courier.)
Captain Sutherland, of Udale, Chairman, after ti e
health of her West-, the rest of the Royal Family;
Lord Melbourn and his colleagues, &c. had been suc-
cessively proposed and drunk with all loyalty and enthu-
siasm, craved a full bumper to the health of Mr. Mac-
leod, the able and consistent advocate of our civil and res
ligiotis liberties. He (the Chairma") recollected the pe-
riod when Mr. Macleod's advocacy of the reformat' on of
many glaring abuses was accounted most pernicious and
dangerous in its tendency ; but he begged to ask to whom
it was se ? To none but the old boroughtnongers and
paper voters. He hoped Mr. Macleod would see these
other reforms, so justly insisted on by the people, brought
to an equally satisfactory conclusion as Parliamentary Re-
form. He also observed that Mr. Macleod had,recently
laid Reformers under an additional obligation, in having
rescued the Inverness District of Burghs from the hands
of a bigotted and intolerant Tory faction. Indeed so well
known and appreciated was the public and private charge
ter of Mr. Macleod, that it would be superfluous on the
present occasion to enlarge on it. The toast was received
and cheered in the most enthusiastic manner.
Mr. MACLEOD9 rose and said--Mr. Chairman and Gen-
tlemen, I iise under feelings of gratitude that I ekapot
express, for the honour done me on the present occasion..
I have humbly to thank the company for their itivitatiot,
to this entertainment, and for the manner in which my
lealth has been received. To the Chairman my thanks
are peculiarly due, for the kind but much too flattering
terms in which he proposed it. I consider this entertain-
ment a great honour, a distinguished reward for my humble
efforts in the public service, and an incentive to future
exertions. You will permit me to say, that pleasing asso-
ciations are connected in my mind with this town, nay, with
this hall. Here I was first returned to Parliament nine-
teen years ago. In 1831, I contested the county, and was
defeated by a majority of one. But I then said that the
disappointment occasioned by defeat was more than com-
pensated by the satisfaction which I felt at the spirit in
favour of Reform then displayed by the people of Cro-
marty. lam delighted to find that spirit still unabated ;
that unseduced by interest, undeceived by the arts of the
foes of freedom, the men of Cromarty still cherish those
principles of which I am a feeble but earnest advocate, and
which alone produced the feeling in my favaur in the year
1831, and which, still pursued in this place, have given
rise to the mark of approbation now conferred on me. My
political life, humble and undistinguished as it has been,
hes been consistent. It has certainly been more devoted
to principles than to party ; and to party only, as identified
with principles. At a very early period of life, I conceived
that the prosperity of these realms was intimately con-
nected with extending the principles of civil and religious
liberty to cases not then included in them. Above thirty
)ears ago, I advocated Cdholic Emancipation, Parliamen-
tary Reform, and the Repeal of the Corporation and Test
Acts. I may claim with more truth than Burdett, that I
am the same man now that I was then, with this difference
only, that I am now more confirmed in my principles, as
the conclusions of abstract reasoning have been established
by the result of successful experiments. When Ido recol-
lect the pretences used for withholding freedom from the
people of Scotland, well did I know the hollowness of those
pretences, and well did I know the interested motives by
which they were dictated. In spite of all opposition, in
spite of arguments addressed, to our interests, :and ap-
prehensiOns addressed to our f't ars, the great expe-
rimsnt has been made, and has succeeded. Scotland has
used, without abusing her freedom. England and Ireland
have, proved themselves equally worthy of improved politi-
cal and municipal institutions. Shall we proceed in the
path which we have hitherto trod, or shall we stop short,
or shall we retrograde ? Your appearance here this day
has answered these questions in your estimation. We must
proceed in a cautious but firm revision of our institutions,
on the principles on which we h .ve begun and have gone so
fur, Our opponents, consisting partly of the old and con- ,
sistent Tories, who have always been hostile lee:lk),
partly of those Tories who showed certain irialllClß of
once having relaxed in their utter opposition to ameliora-
tions, and partly of a band who have deserted the cause—
some on one pretence, some on another, have mustered cer-
tain objections to the further progress of Reform. Most
of these objections, though extended to various measures,
are founded on one general allegation of danger to the
Church. Now, Gentlemen, attached as you all aro to the
cause of religion, deeply concerned as you arc in its ditto
e
ftbithis
meeting, ait e
sion, and peculiarly interested as you feel yourselvzs in tl
forms of our National Church, yon will not, I am sis
thinkre,
I bes deviatetow sortie from
attention
Ottthe
thisp ur
pose o
most
important
Is the Church. then redly in danger? His this aasl'ereiwoni;
never before been made for factious purposes ? history
must answer this question. Gentlemen, the cry that the
Church is in danger is not new. 13y its assistance, in
the
reignof Queen Anne, one of the most profligate Adniinis=
trattone recorded in history twos raised to power—an Ad-
ministration which, for the.basest purposes, rendered una-
vailing the military science of Marlborough, and the wis-
dom of Godolphin and Somers. They rendered barren
.the
laurels of the hero, and made his victories fruitful in no-
thing but glory, and instruction to the student of the art of
wart And who were the daring and reekles4 leaders of
that anti-national faction ? An infidel Statesman and a
godless Priest, Unfortunate Church of England
Then
she was protected by Bolingbroke and Swift—now she is
to owe her safety to Lyndhurst and Philpotti! Then she
reposed under the care 'of a versatile political 4dventurer,
whose posthumous writings lay bare his religious creed,
assisted by as apostate pamphleteer, of great powers un-
doubtedly, but of very dubious character, and for whom
not even his powerful friends and political services coal
extort' a Bishopric from the weak but conscientious
Anne. But how did the matter terminate ? Why, in
four short years, the Tory party, after doing infinite mis-
chief, were ejected from power. The Church Was nein
delivered over to the party which were said to have me
naced her safety, and she has existed ever since in the full
possession of her privileges and emoluments. The present
danger of the Protestant Church is said to proceed from
Roman Catholics and from Dissenters. I shall consider
these sources of danger in succession ; and, first, time danger
which arises from Roman Catholics. I feel some difficulty
in grappling with danger so remote and visionary as that
the Established Church should be overthrown by Roman
Catholics. If it be subverted Ly the Roman Catho-
lics, it must be either by persuasion or by force. It
surely cannot be by their powers of persuasion. If so,
what are the clergy, of the Establishment, what are all
classes of Protestant preachers about? It cannot be said
that they are insensible to the danger if it does exit—they_
have proclaimed it. Can they cunress that they are unablo
to cope with it? But if the danger exist from argument,
how is it to be averted? Are Catholic books to be burnt,
and Catholic priests consigned to the executioner ? Such
remedies will hardly be recommended. Surely it cannot be
admitted that in the fair field of disputation, Protestans
tism cannot maintain its own territory, if it cannot make an
inroad on that of its adversary ? This would be confessing
an inward sense of weakness, which I cannot suppose is
felt by any man sincerely penetrated by the truth of Protes-
tant doctrines. But we have no proof of any increase of
the numbers of the Catholics ; we have no proof that they
have increased beyond the general increase of the popula-
tion. This applies to Great Britain. In Ireland, the Cae
tholic population increases, it is well known, faster than
the Protestant population. Conversions are,
I believe, not
very common. Neither probability nor fact warrant oe is
time belief that conversions by argument are very numerous
on either side. Whence then the danger ? As it is not from
persuasion, is it from force ? The idea of the Catholics, one'
third of the population, imposing their religion on the re-
maining two-thirds, is certainly not very plausible, and it is
not much more probable that the Irish Catholics would at-
tempt forcibly to subvert the English Church established
there. The tithe, and other questions, will soon be satisfacto-
rily adjusted. With the Protestant party, possessed of all
the powers of Government, with an immense military force pt
their disposal, backed by a population two-thirds more nu-
merous, end incalculably more wealthy, and furnished with
all the materials of WV; it seems entirely inconceivable that
time Protestant Church should be overtereed by the Irish
Catholics, Let us look at the state of L,urope, lied 40e if
the Powers are likely to assist in any project fir overturning
the Protestant Church, either in Ireland or in Great Bri-
tain. Austria has long ceased to be a bigoted Catholic
power, 4n4 is, I suspect, quite enough occupied at home to
preclude all posslhiliry P her JnininH in !op and hafar-
dous pro of interforin With the re,ignin pF qostitu7
tion of likitain, Were she mad enough to the at-
tempt, in a very few weeks afterwards we could give her
sufficient employment in Lombardy, and in other parts of
Italy, fully to occupy her attention. But the supposition is
ahs4rd, Would Fiance, in which the Catholic is not now
°yell the religion er tlio Ss tate, only that of the majority,
whose Plioce Royal has married a 'piototant
would France assist 14 such an enterprise? Certainly not.
In Spain, all the temporal influence, and much of the re-