The Sun.
London, England, 1812-04-22 00:00:00

rtht 1/how how it could exist in a country, the majority
pf whose population .were Catholics. The spiritual power
iaterfereal with the import-ant institution or marriage, and
the.Catholices appealed in such cases, nut to the ordinary tri-
- bonats, hut to.the,Consistorial Court.. As to the objections
sonartinaea, urged against their mural prinCiples, he did not
belieee them ; on. the contrary, he was di,posed to think
they were as pure as our own. but their ecclesiastical opi-
nions he did not consider sate in a Protestant country.
Tier church was a hierarchy in which there was
the same gradation as in the Church of England; and
could we look at latch an instrument under the influence of a
Foreign Power, without fearing that it might be applied to
evil purposes ? And the principle of excommunication was
another dangerous principle, and that of atreolution, not in
its ,pititual but temporal effects, might be productive of
such cnosenuences, as at least to render it material to know
what securities would be afforded. The. opinions wt ich
he had just stated were not the opinions of Protestants,.
but of Roman Catholics. With resped- to the spiritual
and temporal power,-.if there: were two cooflieting duties
to perfoian, it must be. evident that the Catholic would
prefer • what he conceived the higher to the subordinate
dot and) yet. according to the dictates ofahis religion,
h- must consider his spiritual above his tempqral—duty.
W,th this atieweof the subjea, he must -maintain that so long
as tint opinion was entertained by the Catholic, it would
not be safe to place him in political power in a country of
which the Fstablished Church was not Catholic - If it was
more dangerrnts at one time than another, the danger was
greater now than formerly. In former thrice, when the ques-
tion was agitated,
_Catholic Europe was divided; since then
the Pope had froinnecessity become tributary to the-Head of
tire GovernMent in France—he had suffered a state of the
deepest degradation, which in former times would have
placed the character of the religion in a doubtful point of
view, as contrasted with the high tone for domination which
it formerly held. If then the- security was taken off, and
nearly the whole of Catholic Europe was under the domina.
Sion of France, what assurance would this country have in
the event of the death of 't he Pope, that his successor would
not be a creature of Iluonaparie-ethe more especially as Rome
was denominated the second town in the French I. mpire ?
His Noble Friend had talked of. the existence of special cir-
' curnstanees in favour of the Claims-- what those special cir-
curnstatices were he did not know. The objections might
havecliminished in some respects, but they had increased in
others. He would therefore consider the danger. es likely to
arise, so far as it might affed the security of the State. The
necessity of the concession had been argued on general
grounds, as affirming a complete battier against all former de.
minds. How stood the fad ? In 1792, the demand of elec-
tive fronchise was put on different footing to what' it was
placed to 1793; was conceded to them—but the next year
c.. 1110. the contest' for removing all the disabilities of which
they now complain. What did the Catholics contend ? They
cons,der themselves in a religious view as attached to the only
legitimate Church in the world, and consequently that their
Church hadejurisdielon not only here, but in all countries.
liVae it in the course of human nature to suppose, that if
those claims which they now urge were con-ceded, they
would rest then Satisfied, and not leak to the further.
ante of their own religion, and to the establishment
of it in the state in which they held political power?--
The question was not, as had been stated, whether they
should pay to two churches or to one, fbr there was a man in
Irei-and ce)) was not directly interested in that question ? but
whether they should have an established religion, agreeable
to their ideas of correctness ? That was a question which
i:iterested all ranks, from the highest to the lowest; besides,
the great body of the Clergy had a ciired interest.in it. The
whole of the latter part of the speech of his Noble Friend
went to deny that arty safety could he found, until the Ro,
min Catholic Church was established : yet, in the former
part of it, .he stated that he. was friendly to the Protestant
Church. The fair inference to be drawn from the whole of
the arguments of his Noble Friend, was this. that it was
necessary Ireland shhuld have a Roman Catholic Establish-
Menlo aryl this country a .Protestant one. Now, he was
prep oed to maintain ilia such an anomaly in Government
could not exist. for every free'State must have for its security
but one Established Church. 'With resped to the admini-
stration of the Government, Catholics and Protestants could
not jointly administer with benefit to the State the affairs of
the country. In Switzerland, in Holland, and in Poland,
proofs were to be found of his assertion. BLit where the Go=
vernmeoL was Catholic, then the instances whielt his Noble
Friend had adduced Might bear him out He believed, if
Ireland was under a Roman Catholic estahlis.hment, still
preserving a Protestant King, the a,guments might o..ve
some weight; the Temporalities resting with the Sovereign.
The question, however, was, whether the power of the
Church could he safely trusteel in the hands of the Roman
Catholics without prejudice to the interests of the Stato—
that he would answer, Certainly not. With resped to
the veto, there had been much diversity of opinion. Some
of the Catholics declare that such a security was never held
out ; others admit that it was ; but though there was this
contrariety of opinion, all declare it is not their religion to
allow a Protestant Sovereign to interfere in a Roman Catho.
tic t_ hutch ; and yet these very petitioners would themselVes
attempt to intercete in a Protestant Church. As to the dan-
gers likely to arise in Ireland he believed, meat sincerely,
that whatever danger or inconvenience might arise from re-
sisting the claims, he really thought more would arise at this
moment from concAing them. His Noble Friend had much
Undervalued the principles of the Revolution ; he must
maintain, that the principles of the country were the funda-
mental principles 61 the Constitution. If the arguments of
the Noble Marquis related to a mere question of expedient)
then lie would admit the assertion to be true ; but if it was
a matter of right, .then the terms mint equally apply to the
Crown What was now desired ? Not to give them actual

pattial relief ; but to give them all that they might di.'sire.
Such a concession might have the area of excluding the
Royal Family from the Throne. The Noble Earl concluded

with objecting to the motton.
We regret very much that we are unable from want of
Tor ni to give the remainder of the Debate. The Marquis of
Dov,s;sut gs, Lords hYRON, MOIRA, and GRENVILLE,

supported the Motion, and the Lott D• CH r CELLOA replied
TO them. At Six &Clock tit,: House divided,
For the Motion 67 Proxies 35 I 1
Agai►rst it 1-:3 Proxies 71 —174

rvlajority against the Motion 72

Adjourneci.

110 USE OF COMMONS.

TUESDAY, APRIL 21.

We are prevented, by the reason above stated, from giving
the derails of the proceedings. Mr. W. Pole obtained lcavc
to bring in a Bill to stop the Distilleries in I,re;and. The
Coil; S read -a triii-d time and passed. A Com-
MittLe was-appointed to try the Wootton basset Election.—
Adjoorned.

I.S.
£k vrn—Z Anholt, I Dublin, 2 Waterford. Du tt—x a.
ctiz, I Lisbon, i M alta,_r Guernsey, z jersey.

PRICE OF STOCKS.
THIS DAN Ar TW-T.VILO'CLOCK.
- • - 60,.. Red. Ann. • -

Cansols.

'V

S U N.

SOLEM QUIS DICIR.I. FALSUM AUDRAT ?

L 0 N D 0 N,

WEDNESDAY, Arum (22, 1812.

This morning two Anholt Mails arrived. Hos-
tilities lave not yet commenced between Russia
*lld France, but the Emperor ALEXANDER has quit-
Ted to join the Army. A treaty, offen-
sive and defensive, has been concluded between
itikwsttia and France.

We ore this morning enabled to by before our
Readers the following most important Declaration,
which has been issued by the British Government.
w—We have nut zoom now to comment upon it ;

but we think it mu;t effectually set the question re.
specting the Oiders in Council at re,t.

DECLARATION.

The Government of Fra:ice having, .by an Official
Report, communicated by its Minister for Foreign
AtThirs to the Conservxive Senate on the 10th day
of March list, removed all doubts as to the perse-
verance of that Government in the assertion of prin-
ciples, and in the maintenance of a system, not
more hostile to the maritime rights fmd commercial
interests of the British Empire, than inconsistent
with the rights and independence of Neutral Nations;
and having thereby plainly developed the inordinate
pretensions which that system, as promulgated in
the Decrees of Berlin and Milan, was from the first
designed to enforce; his Royal highness the PRINCE
REGENT,' a&ing in the • name, and on the behalf of
his Majesty, deems it proper, upon this formal and
authentic' republication of the principles of those
Decrees, thus publicly to declare his Royal High-
nuss's determination -still firmly to resist the intro-
duaion and establishment of t4is arbitrary Code,
which the Government of Fiance openly avows its
purpose to impose by force upon the world, as the.
Law of Nations.

From the time that the progressive injusticf
and violence of the French Government, made it
impossible for his Majesty any longer to reslrain,the
exercise of the rights of war within their ordinary
limits, without submitting to consequences not less
ruinous to the commerce of his Dominions, than de-
rogatory to the Rights of his Crown, His Majesty
has endeavoured by a restricted and moderate use of
those rights of retaliation, which the Berlin and Mi-
lan Decrees necessarily called into action, to recon-
cile Neutral States to those measures, which the
aondu& of the enemy had rendered unavoidable :
and which, his Majesty has at all times expressed
his readiness to revoke,so soon as the Decrees of the
enemy, which gave occasion to them, should be
formally and uncondition4lly repeale.i, and the Com-
merce of Neutral Nations restored to its accustomed

course.

At a subsequent period of the war, His Majesty,
availing himself of the then situation of 'Europe,
without abandoning the principle and object of the
Orders in Council of November 1807, was induced
so to limit their operation, as materially to alleviate
the restrictions theteby imposed upon Neutral
Commerce. The Orders in Couneil.of April 1809
was substituted in the room of those of November
1807, and the retaliatory system of Great Britain
acted no longer on every country in which the ag-
gressive measures of 'the enemy were in force, but
was confined in its' operation to France, and to the
countries upon which the French yoke was most
strictly imposed; and which had become virtually a
part of the dominions of France.

The United States of America remained never-
theless dissatisfied; and their dissatisfaction has been
greitly increased by a❑ artifice too successfully em-
ployed on the part of the enemy, who has pr tend-
ed that the Decrees of Berlin and Milan were re-
pccled, although the Decree affecting such repeal
has never been promulgated ; although the notifi-
cation of such pretended repeal distinctly described
it to be dependent on conditions, in which the ene-
my knew Great Britain could never acquiesce ; and
although abundant evidence has since appeared of
their subsequent execution.
But the enemy has at length la'd aside all dissi-
mulati.on; he now publicly and solemnly declares,
not only that chose Decrees still continue in force,
but that they shall be rigidly executed until Great
Britain shall comply with additional conditions,
equally extravagant; and he further announces the
penalties of those Decrees to be in full force against
all nations which shall suffer their flag to be, as it is
termed in this new code, " denationalized."
In addition to the disavowal of the blockade of
May 1806, and of the principles on which that
blockade was _established, and in addition to the
repeal of the British Orders in Council—he de-
mands an admission of the principles, that the goods
of an enemy, carried under a neutral flag, shall be
treated as neutral ;—that neutral property under the
flag of an enemy shall be treated as hostile ;—that
arms and warlike stores alone (to the exclusion of
ship timber and other articles of naval equipinnt)
shall be regarded as contraband of war ;—and Out
no ports shall be considered as lawfully blockaded,
except such as are invested and besieged, in the
presumption of their being taken, [en prevention
elltre pris], and into which a merchant-ship cannot
enter without danger.

By these and other demands, the. enemy in fact
requires, that Great Britain and all civilized nations,
shall renounce, at his arbitrary pleasure, the ordi-
nary and indisputable-rights of maritime war ;
that Great Britain, in particular, shall forego the ad-
vantages of her naval stye' iority, and allow the Com-
mercial property, as well as the produce and manu-
factures of France, and her confederates, to pass the

ocean in seQurity, while the, subjects of Great Bd.
lain are to be in effect proscribed from all commer-
cial intercourse with other nations; and the produce
and manufactures of these reairns are to be excluded
from every country in the world to which the arms or
the influence of the enemy can extend.

Such are the demands to which the British Go-
vernment is summoned to submit—to the aban-
'donment of its most ancient, essential, and undoubt-
ed maritime rights. Such is the code by which
France hopes, under cover of a neutral flag, to ten-
der her commerce unassailable by sea ; whilst she,
proceeds-to invade or 'to incorporate with her own
dominions all States that hesitate to sacrifice their
national interests• at her command, and, in abdica-
tion of their just rights, to adopt a code, by which
they are required to exclude, under the mask of
Municipal Regulation, whatever is British froth their
dominions.

The pretext for these extravagant demands, is
that some,of these principles were adopted by volun-
tary compact in the Treaty of. U,recht ; as it a Trea-
ty onc.-! existing between two particular countries
founded on special and reci-procal. considerations,
binding only on the Contraaing Parties, and which
in the last treaty of peace between the same Powers,
had not been revived, were to be regarded as decla-
ratory of the public lawfof Nations.
It is needless for his Royal Highness to demon-
strate the injustice of such pretensions. He might
otherwise appeal to the pra.aice of France herself,
in this and in former wars, and to her own esta-•
blished codes of maritime law : it is sufficient that
these new demands of the enemy form a wide de-
pariure from those conditions on which the alleged
repeal of the French Decrees. was accepted by
America, and upon' which alone, erroneously as-
suming
.that repeal to be complete, America. has
claimed a revocation of the British Orders in
Council.

His Royal Highness, upon a review of all these
circumstances, feels persuaded, that so-soon as this

formal declaration, by the Government of France,
of its unabated adherence to the principles and pro-
visions of the Berlin and Milan Decrees, shall be
made known in America, the Government of the
United States, gloated not less by a sense of jus-

tice to Great Britain, than by what is due to its
own dignity, will be disposed to recal those mea-
sures of hostile exclusion, which, under a mis-
conception of the real views 'and condua of the
French Government, America has exclosive!y ap-
plied to the commerce and ships of war of Great

To accelerate a result . so advantageous to the
true interests of both countries, and so conducive to
the re-establishment of pelfea friendship between
them ; and to give a decisive proof of his Royal
Highness's dis:;osition to perform the engagements
of his Majesty's Goverruntlif, by revoking the Or-
ders in Council, whenever the French Pierce~ shall
he aetuilly and unconditionally repealed ; his Royal
H ghness the Prince Regent has been this 'day
pleased, in the name and on the behalf of his Ma-
jesty, and by and with the advice of his Majesty's
Privy Council, to order and declare—

" That if at any time hereafter the Berlin and
Milan Decrees shall, by some authentic net of the
French Government, publicly promulgated, be ex-
pre,sly and unconditionally repealed, then and from
thenceforth, the Order in Council of the 7th day of
January 1807, and the Order in Council of the 26th
day of April 1809, shall, without any' further order
be, and the same hereby are declared from thence
forth, to be wholly and absolutely revoked and
further, that the full benefit of this Order shall be
extended to any ship or vessel captured subsequent
to such authentic act of repeal of
.the French De-
crees, although, antecedent to such repeal, such
ship or vessel shall have commenced, and shall be in
the prosecution of a voyage, which, under the said
Orders in, Council, or one of them, would have
subjeEted her to t'apture and condemnation ; and the
claimant of any ship or cargo which shall be cap-
tured at any time subsequent to such authentic aka
of repeal by the Freneh Government, shall, without
any farthet order or declaration on the part of his
Majesty's Government on this subjea, be at liberty to
give in evidence in the High Court of Admiralty, or
any Court of Vice-Admiralty, before which such
snip or vessel, or its cargo, shall be brought for ad•

judication, that such repeal by the French Govern-
ment had been by kuch authentic ad promulgated

prior to such capture ; and upon proof thereof, the
voyages shall be deemed and taken to have been as
lawful as if the said Oiders in Council had never
been made; saving nevertheless to the captors such
proted.lion and indemnity as they may be equitably
entitled to, in the judgment of the said Court, by
reason of their ignorance or uncertainty as to the
repeal of the French Decrees, or of the recognition
of such repeal by his Majesty's Government, at the
time of such capture.