The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-19 00:00:00

FIOUsE OF COMMONS.

The SPEAKER took the Chair at four o'clock. This . being
the last day for presenting petitions for private Bills, the House
was occupied with them fora considerable time.

Mr. MACQUEEN presented a petition for the establish-
ment of Provincial Banks in Ireland.—Referred to. a COM.
mittce. . .

Mr. W. COURTENAY presented a petition for leave to
bring in a bill to establish a fish market in Hungerford-street.
Referred to a Committee.

Lord LowTH ER presented a petition for a Bill to in-
corporate the British Gas Company.—Referred to a Com-
mittee.

THANES QUAY COMPANY.

Colonel TRENCH presented a petition. fin. establishing the
Themes Quay Cpmpany.. _ .

Sir J. YORKE hoped . the House would •pause before it
would consent to sacrifice its judgment to any notions of taste
which the Gallant Colonel might entertain. He respected his
Gallant Friend's talents greatly. No man wrote better—few
spoke better—and he drew admirably.—(A laugh.)—But it
was a delicate question, whether the property of the persons
residing on the banks of the Thames should be sacrificed to a
plan which would exceed in filth all the fish markets, sewers.
and even all the essences.of his Gallant Friend.—(Laughter.)—
Referred to a Committee.

Mr. EsTeou Rif presented a petition from .Devizes, pray-
ing for a reduCtion on the duties on Tobacco.-Ordered to he
on the table. .

Lord LIELGRAVE presented a similar Petition from
Chester.

COURt OF CHANCERY.

. .
Mr. J. 'WILLIAMS moved for a return of all the Cases de-
termined in the Court of Chancery from Hilary Term, 1823 to
1825, with an account of the manner in which they were dis-
posed of.
Mr. Secretary PEEL said that he did not abject to the return,
but only asked that. the forms of the House should be complied
with, and the regular notice be given.
Mr. WILLIAMS said; that he would now make only so
much of his motion as was a continuation of the motion of last
year, and for the rest he would give the regular notice.
The motion, so modified,- was agreed to.
CATHOLIC ASSOC IA TION —PE TIT IO NS.

ISIr:S. RICE presentedatilionfron;WiCoManCatho-
lies of the County and City of Limerick, against.the measures
now before the House }or the suppression of
.the Catholic
Association..

The Petitioners prayed that the House would take no steps
against an Association which was now legal, and all of whose
acts had tended to promote the order and tranquillity of the
country.—The Petition was ordered to be printed. -
Colonel TRENCH had to present a Petition to the House
of an, opposite nature to the last,- from the Clergy of the Arch-
deaconry of Ely. The Petitioners stated their alarm at the
proceedings of the Catholic Association, and prayed for its
suppression.—Ordered to be printed.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT presented a petition from the Ro-
man Catholic Inhabitants of the parish of St. Anne Andreon,
Dublin, praying that the House would not suffer any Bill to
pass into a law which had fhr its object the suppression of the
Catholic Association. The petitioners stated that they owned
property to the amount of 400,0001. all of which was embarked
in manufactures and commerce, and would be endangered by
the disturbance which they feared would arise if any such mea-
sure were adopted. But they viewed the Bill before the House
with greater apprehension as it applied to the liberties of the
peopl at large, than for its effect upon the Catholics. The Right
Hon. Baronet called to the attention of Gentlemen of this coun-
try, that by this Bill they were establishing a precedent which
might hereafter be adopted with regard to England with the
most serious detriment, if not the total destruction of the liberty
of the subject.
• The petition was ordered to be printed.
Sir J. NEWPORT presented similar petitions to the last
from Tuam, Droheda, Cashel, the Barney. of Iff'a .and Offa, in
the County of Tipperary, two from the .Barony of Lipper-Or-
mond, and from Roscrea.—They were severally ordered to be
printed.
Sir T. LETHBRIDGE rose to present a petition from a
large body of his Constituents, whom he considered to be justly
alarmed at the proceedings which had lately taken place in
the Sister Kingdom. They earnestly called upon the House
to put in effect such measures as in their wisdom they should
think fit, for the purpose of a check to such an alarming and
illegal body. The petition was from the Inhabitants of the
City of Wells and its vicinity ; and it stated the .opinion of the
p2titioners,that the acts of the Catholic Association were intend-
ed and calculated to subvert the Protestant Establishment. They
felt that the overthrow of the Papal power had been the source
of
ttiolerperliots;ipoeursittyoloefratitlieonel7ipn its empire
and although they were friend-
ly utmost extent, they could not
consent to the extension of political pew...r to the Catholics.

They consider this - Association to be an organised confede-
racy assuming illegal powers, which must, if allowed to exist,
lead to dreadful and awful results—more particularly as it was
in the hands of that all-influential body, the Popish Priests.
The Honourable Baronet expressed his concurrence- with
every word contained in the petition, and his conviction that if
some such measure as that now in progress through the House
had not been brought forward by the •Government, the table
would have been covered with petitions of a similar nature.
He had read the Bill, and he found • nothing at variance with
the best interests of the British Constitution, and nothing
which did violence to the liberty of the subject.—(Hear, hear!)
—He would not detain the House now, when a motion upon the
subject was coming on from the Honourable and Learned Mem-
ber for Winchelsea, the object of which was, as he understood,
that the Catholic Association should be heard byVonnsel
against the Bill. If so, he hoped that every other Asskiation
would have the same opportunity afforded them. He Aieuld
be surprised indeed if he heard the Hon. and Learned Gentle-
min object to thiSOsevatasstebe advocated the very same prin-
ciple three years ago.
Mr. BROUGHA 31 said that with all the respect which-he
sincerely entertained for the undeviating consistency of the
Hon, Baronet—for the unvarying steadiness with which be had
ever pursued the same line of conduct upon this question,
and giving him credit for the perfect sincerity of his motives,
he must beg leave to exercise the liberty of conveying to the
House some information which had .come to his knowledge re-
specting the manner in which this Petition was got up. Nothing
however, which he was about to state, should influence his vote
as to the question that the petition be laid upon the table ; be-
cause he considered that no trickery or management in the get-
ting up of a petition, should affect that important right of the
subject. But there were a few anecdotes of which he had been
apprised, by a letter coining from a Gentleman of considerable.
rank in the neighbourhood, and who was nearly connected with
some parts of die Government, with which he was desirous to
acquaint the Ilouse. He was, then, informed that the petition
had been first sent to an Inn from the office of an attorney who
was the tool arid agent of the Hon. Baronet who-had presented'
it.—(Hear, hear !)—He entirely acquitted' Honourable
Baronet ell participation in the matter, and it was most likely
that he was perfectly ignorant of the facts he was about to
state. This Attorney was not only the agent of the Honour-
able Baronet, but also the active agent of the Wells party,
who had been raising the cry of " No Popery" for the purpose
of turning out the present representatives of that city, (Messrs.
Tudway and Taylor.) The letter which he held in his hand
stated that a Mr. So-and-so, (lie should mention no names) rode
about canvassing for signatures to this petition, and went to a
school close to the gate of the writer's house, telling. th,e schoal-
master that he must get as many names as he could'.'_ The
schoolmaster :waved, and forthwith put- down the minres.4. all
those boys in the school who could not write—(lnuighter),eand
all who could were ordered to sign their own ; and ...they went
home bragging that they had supported " brick ati'd'inbrtar."
Ile should here apprise the House that the parry oppoied to
the present Members for Wells were called " the brick and
mortar" party, and so these boys actually went home bragging
of the service they had done to brick and mortar. -Having suc-
ceeded so well with this worthy schoolinaster, the Gentleman
thought it right to see what could be done with certain persons
of a more advanced age ; and accordingly he went into the
village and attacked a body of old women, to whom he gave the
agreeable intelligence that- the Irish Papists were all coining
over to cut their throats.—(Laughter.)—Whether they did not
exercise the same controul over their husbands in this as in some
other matters, he could not say ; _but they were unable to com,
pel them to sign their name,, until prevailed, upon by the ter-
rors of their afflicted spouses at the fear of having their throats
cut by the Papists of Ireland. With regard to the other sig-
natures to the petition, he was informed that the) numbered
none of the Canons of the Cathedral, nor any of the. gentry
who were not of the electioneering " brick anti mortar" party.
Now they might not have Such accurate accounts of the getting •
up of other petitions where the-senseless cry of " No Popery"
was raised ; and he had therefore made this communication
in order that-the House might be aware of their real charac-
ter. He entreated-the House, therefore—not that.they would
not receive such petitions—hut that they would take them for
what they were worth, and at all events consider those which
came from the Catholics of Ireland as not undem-ving of
attention: •

Sir T. LETHBRIDGE said be had heard with very con-
siderable surprise the. letter which had been quoted by the
lion: and Learned Gentleman. In the first place, that any one
should take such means of procuring signatures to a Petition ;
and further, that such a letter should have been written. But
the lion. and .Learned Gentleman had given no name—(Hear) •
—and until he did, they were not bound to believe the state-
ment. It might have-conic, for any thing they knew, from
the Schoolmaster or any one of his scholars. He must say that
he was perfectly astounded at its intelligence, tbr he was en-
tirely ignorant that any such party pttrposes had given rise •to
the petition.—Wear, hear 5..--.lle knew that it was signed by
Magistrates and Clergy, and he knew that it was also signed
by many hundreds, he might say thousands, of the most re- '
spectable inhabitants and. yeomanry of the neighbourhood.—
(Hear, hear !)—The communication made by the lion. and
Learned Gentleman was so puerile in its nature, that until he.
had it from the first authority he should not consider it entitled
to the slightest regard or belief.
Mr. BROOM-UM' repeated that he never suspected the
Hon. Baronet of-knowing any thing of the manner in which
this petition had been obtained. It was not usual to advertise
the names of private individuals in their debates, and he had
abstained from mentioning the. names of any of the
.parties.
Ile could assure the Hon. Baronet that the writer of the letter
was a Gentleman living in the neighbourhood, possessing con-
siderable rank and character, and highly entitled to respect.—
The.petition was then ordered to he printed.
Sir MARCUS SOMERVILLE presented seven petitions
from the County of Meath, against the Bill for suppressing
AssOciations in Ireland:—Ordered to he printed.
Mr. M. FITZGERALD presented a similar petition from
Tralee.—Ordered to be printed.
Mr.-M. FITZGERALD also begged to call the attention of
the House to a similar petition from the Town and Neighbour-
hood of Killarney. He was sure that he had only to mention
the names attached to the petition, to convince the House that
it was one of no ordinar character. When the House learnt
that the name of Lord Kenmare was amongst them, they would
be convinced that every Catholic in Ireland was united in this
remonstrance against the proposed Bill. The Right Honour-
able Gentleman then' highly eulogised the conduct and cha-
racter of Lord Kenmare and his family, alluding to their
unshaken loyalty; and the military services of his Lordship's
brothers.

Lord NUGENT took the opportunity of stating to the
House that the British Roman Catholic Committee, at a meet-
ing held that (lay, had drawn up a petition which was now in
a course of signature, and which he should on Monday present
to the House. The petition would be that of the Roman Ca-
tholics of England, with the Earl Marshal at their head. It
would state that they felt the utmost sympathy with the Catho—
lics of Ireland, and earnestly intreat the House that the Bill
now before it might not pass into a law. Ile had been express-
ly desiretVto state that the petition had been drawn up without.
any coniillinication whatever, either directly or indirectly with
theitombili Catholics of Ireland.—The petition was ordered to
•rf
be prinied.
Sir F.‘BURDETT presented a similar Petition from cer-
tain Roman Catholics in Ireland. The Honourable Baronet
briefly addressed the House, and said that he should not detain
them, as his Honourable and Learned Friend was about to
submit a motion which would have for its object to let the Peti-
tioners have an opportunity of doing themselves justice, and to
do the House the justice of hearing before it condemned.—Or-
dered to be printed.