The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-06 00:00:00

:'art of King's Bench ), &appose the House of
Commons were to determine that the Court of
King's Bench had decided errtoneously, they had
no appellant jurisdiCtion: No advantage could pos-
sibly ..rise Iwo) such a proceeding, and much mis-
chief weirld probebly accrue. It only tended to
keep alive, durit g. the whoPe of the flit-titer investi-
gation, a s'erise of supposed injustice on the part of
the Jiid,tes of the Court of King's Bench in Ireland.
(Hear, /tear !) At any rate, it was wholly mute-
cesesri• to defend the Government of Ireland, for
who could accuse them of impropriety when they
had such poeerful- san6ion for theiteconduCt ? But
it might be said by some, that though Government
bed a right "to they had acted indiscreetly. He
thought, however, that this would scarcely be main-
tained by those who took a fair. view 'of the stature
of that Assembly against which the operations of
the Irish Government were direCted ; and on the
contrary, that it must be admitted Government
would have been highly criminal had they remained
passive spe&ators of all that was going on. For his
part, if the Convention MA had any beating at all,
be could not conceive a case to which it was more
unequivocally applicable than that to which it had
been applied. When, in addition to the tone of the
debates in the Catholic Meeting, Government found
that a circular letter had been issued for enlarging
its numbers, and ihos embodying the danger in a
more portentous Shape, it was impossible longer to_
forbear. Nothing, it. had been said, was intended
by the Catholics but fair petitioning; and this was
asserted in the teeth' of the fact, that until the new
Convention was formed, the old one was to be al-.
lowed to exist " for the general management of
the affairs of the Catholics of Ireland." S 6 far were
Government censurable for having, under such cir-
cumstances, resorted to that which high authority
declared to be the law, that, in his opinion, if there
bad been no adequate eeistine statute; they would
have neglected their duty had they not applied to
the Legislature for the means of enabling them to
beat clown the spirit of violence which was rising.—
In. omitting to do what they had done, Government
would have failed in their duty towards a part of
the'empire, which he would say, in contradielion
to the, assertions of the Hon. Gentleman opposite,
they had never undervalued. It was because they
valued Ireland that they were anxious to save it
from the evils by which it was threatened: But
evhatever differenee of opinion might pievail on the
subjea, he repeated that it would have been the
most open and manly way of proceeding, to have
tried the question of the conduct of the Irish Go-
vernment separately, and not to have blended it with
that of Catholic concession, for the purpose of col-
lealing every stray vote, which "conviction on the
one point, joined to uncertainty on the other, might
be. the means of furnishing. (Hear, hear, hear !)
But the Hon. Gentleman opposite had adopted a
different course. With what view he knew not.
Of this boWever be was fully persuaded, that in
lending all the weight of their approbation to the
meetings of a Cobvention sitting permanently in
Dublin, and almost equalling in number that of the
'United Parliament, those Hon. Gentlemen, wiles
titer they expetted to remain where they were, or
to succeed• to office, were acting a most impolitic
and dangerous part. (Hear, hear !) If the peace
and tranquility of Ireland were their real object,
surely the course which they had adopted was cal-
culajed to defeat their own purposes. They had
charged Government with "mischievous-insanity."
'lndy might that charge be retorted on themselves.
(Hear, hear !) The path of honour had been open
to them, had they chosen to tread it. They might
have told the Catholics that their favourable view of
the Catholic claims was by no means diminished,
bet that they would cease to support them unless
they proCteded by other means than ..setting them-
selves in array against the law and the Government.
Instead of-that, blinded by their party zeal, the
Hon. Gentlemen had.resorted to the fatal course of
defending every thing which the Catholics had done,
be cause in that defence was included an accusation
of the Government. It had often been declared in
that House, that Government protected themselVes
from the consequences of their misconduct by their
majorities. He could not help thinking that the
Hon. Gentlemen opposite would be glad to shelter
shemselves in the minority in which he was per-
stiaded they would be left on the present occasion, -
from the evils which every wise man must feel would
be consequent on their success, and that they would
even congratulate themselves on their own failure.
(Hear, (tear !) Having shewn that it was impos-
ft)r any man to vote for the Committee without
impliing censure of the part w hien Government
had taken,he would proceed to consider the other part
of the suLijetienamely the Catholic Claims. On the
sub:tree of those chiims his opinion was well known.
He had al eeiy's said that he was unable to foresee
airy probable finie at which the required"cOncessions
rn he merle tot he Catholics of Ireland with safe-
ty'. The Catholic;, it was stated, were ready to
receive these concessions; but they were not at all
r+ aey to make any concessions themselves. The
t'wo great points' to be considered' were—security
against foreign ielluence, and security against the
dare:er which 'would be incurred by our uwn este-
hlishments.--eAdverting to the letter front Lord
Glen\ ille to Lord Fingal, an the subjeCt of the Ca-
tholic claims, be observed that an Honourable Friend
of his had beep misrepresented as having said, that
the former Noble Lord waS pledged to the Veto as
the sine qua non of his support to those claims..—
.What. his Honourable Friend had asserted was, that
LOrd Grenville was pledged either to the. Veto, or
to sortie equeedent security, for the -double purpose
of preserving the country 'from the baneful effects
of foreign influence, and -of conciliating men, who,
as his Lordship expressed it, would have reasonable
ground for alarm, if some security of that nature
were not established. He read a passage from Lord
Grenville'S Letter, in which not only this was
stated, but farther, 'that unless some arrangement
were made to secure the nomination of the Catholic
Bishops from foreign influence, his Lordship would
indeed despair of the success of the Catholic claims.
This was an impression that must be 'generally felt,
and he put' it to the House, whether, under such an
imptessioneand under the existinee circumstances,
it would not be deluding the Catholics` to go into
such a CoMmittee as that proposed ? (Hear ! hear!)
Did the Hbuse know of any security that could be
proposed which the Catholics would accept ? Had

Any proposition been tendered :by fheni on the rills:-
jett ? ,He was ,whollyat a limp Conceive how this
could be done. Even those who had for years paid
the greatest attest-tit% to this stibje6t were incapable
of suggesting a single mode which would beat once
safe for the country, and acceplahle to the Catholics.
Lord Grenville, in his Letter to Lord Fingal, .declar-'
ed that he had long deliberated on the subjea not
only himself, but in conjunction with Mr. Pitt.—
What was the result of those diliberations ? 'Plat
the Veto was the only sufficient - security. The silos
position of the Veto was made to the Catholvs,
'and every oiie knew how it bad been received.—
Conciliation was the professed object of all ; and to
propose to the Catholics an-atrangetnent by which
they would be admitted to the higher offices of the
State without danger to the country. But how ?
It bad been said, " passa legislative enaarpente and
if the Catholics do. not like it, let them leave it."
Did the House think that would be a good method
of conciliations? If their claims were offered to! the
Catholics under conditions which they wer notldis-
poseel to accept, what better would they be'? hey
. would say of those conditions as they hack sai.. of
,the Veto, that they were against their consci nee
and their religious principles, Such conditions Would
only form another test which the Catholics would
abjure. Under these circumstances, could an j' Man
anticipate a favourable issue to the demands of fthe
Catholic claims; and how could any man chargelliM
with bigotry and intolerance, when even Lord Gen-
Ville, in the letter to which he had already so 'fre-
quently alluded, insisted equally on the necessity of.
obtaining from the Catholics guards against foreign
and domestic dangers ! (Hear! Hear ! Hear !)
In the view which he had taken of the case it
seemed unnecessary for him to go any further. The
Honourable Gentlemen opposite had, on their own
spewing, proved the improbability that at the pre.-
sent time, the claims of the Catholics could be enter-
tained with any reasonable prospeEt of a favourable
issue, If, however, it were necessary for him to
seek for other grounds on which to resist the mo-
tion they might easily be found in the present exas-
peration of the Catholic mind. The Catholics ought
to be sensible, that to give themselves the least pro-
speet of success, they ought_to ask for corre3sions
in a very different tone, and assume a verpalifferent
gesture, from those they at present manifested.--
(Hear! hear! hear!) As to the notice of a motion
for the'repeal of the Union, Alluded to by a Right
Honourable Friend of his (Mr. Canning) he confess-
ed that he could not see ii, that circumstance alone
any great obje&iou to the motion before the House.
But it was impossible so to misunderstand the deli-
berations and proceedings of the Catholic Assembly
as not to be fully aware that the Hon. Gent. (Mr.
Hutchinson) was not the only man who connected
the dissolution of the Union with the question of
the Catholic claiins. The repeal of the Union
would necessarily occasion the separation of the two
countries. No enlightened mind could contemplate
the possibility of that event in any other view. At
a time, therefore, when such language was used he
was convinced he need not ask' the House whether,
by consenting to the motion, they would encourage
inter tons so pregnant with mischief to the empire.
'He was glad to find that, notwithstanding all which
bad been urged on that subject out of doors, no
Hun. Membet had ventured to advaoce the unten-
able proposition that the Catholics had an actual-riirt''
to the possession of, political power, After a brief
,recapitulation of the various arguments which he
had used in the course of his Speech, the Right
Hon. Gentleman concluded by expressing his con-
vision,' that under all the circumstances of the case,
the House would feel no difficulty in negativing the
motion of the Noble Lord.

From the LONDON GAZETTE, Feb. 4, 1812