The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-05 00:00:00

POPERY.

BRISTOL, 31st Dec., 1824.
AT a MEETING of the VESTRY of the
Parish of ST. THOMAS, specially summoned for tak-
ing into consideration the unconstitutional Proceedings of the
Roman Catholics in Ireland, and the propriety of addressing
Parli amen t. th ereon
HENRY WOOD, Churchwarden, in the Chair.
The following Petition to the House of Commons was unani-
mously edopted by the Meeting, and ordered to be submitted
to the Parishioners for the Signature of all who approve
thereof:
To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.
We, the undersigned, the Minister, Churchwardens, Vestry,
find inhabitants of the Parish of St. Thomas, in the City of
_lyistol, have observed with the utmost solicitude and alarm,
the unconstitutional proceedings which have, of late, been so
openly and systimatically pursued in Ireland, for the purpose
(4' subverting one of the main pillars of the Constitution—the
.rrrotestant Ascendancy—and re-establishing in its place the
itpremacy of the Church of Rome.
, The happy delivery of these kingdoms from the galling and
ouebasie-
g yoke of Papal usurpation we have ever regarded as
• '` Milne source of our liberties and national prosperity ; it
.34 impossible, therefore, that we should look with indifference
upon the attempts which are making to rob us of this inesti-
mable blessing ble
--ing and to restore again the reign of ignorance and
auperstition.
Friends to religious toleration in its utmost latitude, so long
the views of our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects appear to
134 confined within that limit they had our most cordial con-
tr„renee, but when political power became their avowed ob-
li;;Ir' when, not content with every indulgence in the exercise of
ice
Or worship, they sought admission into the highest
rest ,ss,°! the State, we felt it our duty, in common with the
"' his Majesty's Protestant subjects, to raise our voice
against their demands, convinced that the concession of politi-
w fink and influence to the members of the church furicla-
raer
nt ally onposed to the Reformed Protestant lgion, and
leer the government of a foreign power, would held angerous
mar
State, and incompatible with the secure enjoyment of our
eat and Most scared rights.
Defamed in this attempt by the good sense and awakened
'fedings of the country, the tormenters of disaffection in the Sister
AAtigdorn have had recourse to measures of a more daring and
tWee equivocal character. An organized confederacy, under
for ileine of The Catholic Rent Association, has been formed,
it.t.gie evident purpose of enforcing their demands,, and die-
nos,,l to the Government of the country. Emancipation is
huPt
°Y4iger held forth as the ostensible object of their pursuit,
()laical reform f r revolution is substituted
its roam. nu, another name o
That all Association so constituted and composed, acting in
liyed hostility to one of the fundamental Establishments of
111 e owConstitution, assuming to itself the functions of Govern-
holding regular Meetings for debate, collecting taxes
i.,,Lez the title of Contributions, and exercising, through the
rclsthuod, an unlimited controul over the minds of a mis-
t guided poulace, can be suffered to exist, consistently with the
be safe is a proposition, we conceive, too monstrous to
entertained. That it must lead to the most deplorable re-
to unless promptly-suppressed, it appears to us impossible
doubt; and we rejoice to observe that it has already attracted
Lige notice, of his Majesty's Government.
t,..
the Under these conscientious impressions, we presume to draw
attent.
ton of your Honourable House to a subject of such
vitii'mportance to the best interests of the empire, in the anxious
°Pe that it may be taken into early considaration. For the
Preservation of the public tranquillity, for the maintenance of
flier
Constitution as established in Church and State, for the
protection of .our Protestant fellow subjects in Ireland, and in
ruercy to the deluded Roman Catholics themselves, we most
ea.rneestly implore that prompt and effectual measures may be
nto Suppress their unconstitutional proceedings, and to
r'ne them Wit to a sense of their Duty as British subjects.