The Sun.
London, England, 1808-05-26 00:00:00

anti Oaf king was swdrti t 6
them without change, the Ecclesiastical POwer
Was bqoad the Executive And tilt. Le4iftkatiVe.. The

. .
penal laws, were. incit4d9d sin t heio. provLsteas;
and what was the flature of he or tliem
Went to rob a Catholic of the liorie. bri 'which he

rode; another prevented him from,eaticartng his
sons at home,. or from sending them leiveducation
abroad ; another went to deprive a Catholic father
of his property. If the repeal. of laws of this nature -
Was a breach of the coronatioh oath, every-.Soe:
vereign since the days of Henry. VIII. was per-
jured. King William_ was perjured . when he
signed the capitulation of Limerick ; Queen Ann
was Perjured wheal 'she passed the Act of Unionavith
Scotiand ; George I. and George IL were perjured.
Our present gracious Sovereign'was guilty of a.
breach of the coronation oath," in the poWet to take
lands given to the RoMan Citholies in 1778, on
the right of inheritance given in 1782, in the parti-
cipation of the elective franchise given in 1793. Thus .
the best and MOM beneficial Aas of his Majesty's
reign Weie.but it Succession of perjueies.. 'Here Mr.
Grattan read passages front the Coronation Oath,
'which he contended could not tae interpreted in the
.-manner laid down by the enemies
.of the Catholics,
without making the rights of the Churchthe wrongs
of the People; by incapacitating'l-sth of hisrMas
jestyl Subjetts from the best means sef 'serving. the
State. The Church wes made a confederation
against the State, and ,the King was made a party
to that conspiracy. 'He' agreed there were cases
in Which. the Coronation Oath Would interfere
'With.: ale' penal minutes, but it was to repeal them.
Al* King was sworn to protect the Chuteli as by
law 'established ; but suppose a case in which it
should. become necessary to employ foreign troops
for the defence of the country, would the King be
Precluded ftom assenting to such a measure ? In
such a case, it would' be necessary to unite all the
People in the common defence ; 'and then, whatso-
ever may be said of the oath, it sometimes be-
came imperiously necessary to repeal penal sta-
tutes. He had now gone through the greater part of
what he had to offer; and would be'hs btiel as pos.
Bible in stating what he had yet to say. He trusted'
that 'he had sitewn that there was moral, ne
incomigniAny in the Catholics to debar themfromt he full enjoYment of the constitution. Whether
theeonstit tit ion was too- ked to in its formation, its con-
solidation or !,reservation, the relief proposed to the
.human Catholics was likely to have.the'most"beneti-
tleireas. Ti,d property of Ireland was unanimous
raVOUr Of the 4.neasute, with a view to the extinc-
tion of .religious divisions. The state of Europe was
such, that all o ther nations Were leagued against us ;
and, When it became essential to tippose'one compel
vodY to the enemy's irruptions, were arguments such
ai -he had :adverted to, to ,be adduced in apposition
to the credit of the Church, and the defence of the
country ? Were we to be haunted in every step we
teAlt by the remains of the penal code, in opposition
tn'every great principle of religion, public defence,
and liberty. Mr. Fox, who presented the for Mer
letition, had been front his earliest days the decided,
friend of the repeal of the penal laws. In 1778 ha
expressed his abhorrence of the whole penal code,
llhdreconstnended the vote of total repeal with which
d'yeas to be hoped this day would conclude. [relent!
Zen. )4 ever relative grateful sense of the benefits she
'l4' t.'"Ceiftd front that Great Map; great even his
,K
'''‘'nesses, which were always marked with his
eipraderistic glow of heart, amiable temper, and
the negligent
grandeur esf his views. Ita moving
the former Petition, the great objeet of Mr. Fox was
to add 'to the strength of the Empire. How much more
Lerceisary to attend to that objett new. Austria had
ft us, Russia was our enemy, Prussia was destroyed.
N°thing remained but conquered or Intimidated na-
nous leagued under, the banners of our enemy, and
these two Islands had to stand Atte again St man-
ttith In this state of things, unparalleled in the
history of Europe, perhaps in the history of the.
wash by the continuance of political dissect-,
acid religious schism, that it was proposed to
.41eporf ale coluion on which all that • was still va-
luable in the' world rested ? The idea that- the Ca-
r
_ holies would invade the property in Ireland by
legislative influence, 'supposed a prior superiority
at numbers over' all the English and Scots. This was.
to. heap miracle upon miracle, and folly Upon folly.
the allowedthat'sotne wise and.even good men, op-
Posed the principle of the measure he now proposed.
He could only ray, that such men were led away by
their enthusiasts. Soaring above reason, they,
tossed inspiration, and brought 'back conclusions
l-clreignets both, which went to lay the
_foundation
i frthe nuts of the Country. His object was CO. int,.
Lcess the necessity of national concord tor the
ets ofthe State. With a view to that object the..
Well( appeal had been made to Parliament, in the
that under the consideration of all circura=
it
ificesi it would be found wise to accede to it. But,
"at should not •t• e preEticable, at least he hoped
4"4 recommended that the occasion may be the mar*
'Ra recoo neiling and attaching nation to nation, s'ed to
and
man to man ; and advised that associations
ratioum, he fort-tied on the' principles of concord, tole-
dlv. 4, and self-defence. The Catholic knew his
n weight, and. knew what was due toltim. He
Chat feelings of the Catholics may not be
itated
, as they were often at present, by toasts
1/41" catchwords, -by processions, and such other
lie begged that every thing that could
bey;ei alto feeling; and inflame the passions, should
An a" 416*, He appealed to the Country Gemle-
/ieen as to the Occasion fur their care ire this respot.
tc,,fe-lied on them also for 'dtie attention to his re-
commendation. He appealed also to the Orapgemen,
10'4,4 of whom, ifshey would give themselves time
alannsider, would find the wisdom of forgetting all
crow jealousies. Exclusive principles and dissCi-
s
te"N maidens led only`to dark and dangerous con-
`?euces. 11pm-fish politics were not lost sight
if. (41
e:Scententa and dissentions were fornetited as be-
, ',"reltilld!: One Subject would be set against another, and
would produce "only bad Subjects, easy to
con(
pier, het impossible to govern. Much service
"Y be do
L!
ender ne ), the restoration of concord and goodco,'t without which' it was impossible that the
in
rY Could be in a -statelatisfattory to its friends
.11(vt:i,forruidable to its enemies. He begged that
I."lent 'would be sensible of 'the mischief of
to . .
ettle tending- to-irritatton and
" t •I
penal t y not 'enough! to say that the
ye_tnrtat
„ - not to feel. irritation'. r. The GO-
Warne, n vrrn shouldthat irritation ts as to
tis -question never' be wade a