The Sun.
London, England, 1812-04-24 00:00:00

•- li sate the strength of the nation, and secure the
integrity of the empire. Ireland bad no fears for
-her Church, end deprecated those penal laws which
were gisen ftir her ptoteetion, as exposing her to
dancer the most imminent ; and both the Protes-
.tant .nd Catholic religions begg•-d. that they might
- not be o;-posed to each other ; anchthat their corn-
nee saleiy reheat not te sacrificed by Government
tearing that ho:d_of union which was as necessary to
the PrOtestant safety. as the Catholic interest. He
begged Gentlemen to consider es eat must follow a
• centioualton of the Catholic disabilities. When a
Governmeet appeared anxious o maietain itself by
persecution, irlost all hold on the affeCtions of the
people, and could only govern by coercion. Something
worse than the alienation of Itelaed must follow.
Nifik,t then e old it br followed by ? He might flatter
them by c eiceaang tee truth, but he was too honest
to does°. He would therefore tell them, it would be
followed by a separation. A separation in fact, or
a virtual se;.aratio . would be the consequence. In
either eas, England wouid be undone. She would be
- undente if ltd withdrew from the Government
of England ; she would he undone, if the disposition
and the hearts of her Irish subjects were weaned
from her. Thus, whether -the separation was actual
or virtual, it wettld be equally injurious to England.
• This -would be fatal to us. France could not ac-
eomplisb our ruin, but we were perfectly compe-
tent to accomplish our own destiudion. Ireland, in
this case, must go down to the grave, but the gor-
geous grandeur of England must follow it to the
tomb. Of a population of sixteen Millions, they
would thus strike out four millions from them, an
ea unparalleled in the history of former times. If
they atted tltus with an active population who were
every d.ty fighting for this country against France,
they did that for which they could have no excuse,
but that the band of death piecieitated them to per-
dition. The day Engtind signed the doom of Ire
land, that day she -signed tier own doom. The
King who sacrificed his subjects, and the people
who secrificed their fellow-sunk cis, doing this, ,act
aced themselves. This was unavoidable. They now
held in -their.own hands the scaled the•destiniei of
the two coutartes. It Ireland were cast out, Eng.
1 thd remaining in the balance A ould be found want-
ing. England would finally lose herself, after losing
America and Ireland, by taxing the one and disqua-
Ii ying the other. They made partial and.arbarary
laws, which no power could have a right to do.—
They denied men those privileges to which they were
entithea on grounds ,which Could oever justify such
a measure. They might with equal wisdom and
justice. say, a man of black complexion should not
• • sit in Parliament, as that a man should not be a Ge- •
because he was -a Catholic. These things,
however, were said to
.be done for the general good.
The general -good, in the recelern sigifification of
the phras'e, meant but the exercise of the power of
the State against the happiness of the people. It
sseis said to be for the general good that America
was !eked (hut this not been found to be so),
and this was-also snid by the chsqualifications attached
to the Catholics ut Leland, There were two laws,
- the Municipal Lek and the law of God. When any
Parliament acted coetrary to the law and order of God,
as expressed in his works, or in ti e Bible, that Parlia-
ment exceeded its potters. When a Pal lianient, as in
such a case as the piesent, rested its pow eta on such
a foetid it ion as (het which had now been thought
sufficient to deprive men
,ot their rigats, it in effect
apposed the Almighty e and though it had an army
of Michaelson its side, yet it struck God out of its
ecclesiastical proceeds: gs, and libe,ty out of its per-
' licy. This system had commenced with America,
and thence extended itself to It eland. With respea
to the Catholic religion, there were three.objetaioes
started. The Ist was the euchar;st ; the 2d, 'time ader-
ations of the Virgin Mary ; the 3d, the spiritual power
ot the Pope. The two first contained nothing what-
soever in them of political moment, and ought,
therefore, to be rejeraled, and with, which an en-
lightened Parliament ought never to lutel fere; be
would theretore look to the third. On this lie had
to Oimerve, that the,Catho!ics had ,abjured the in-
teraerence of the Pope in temporal affairs. The ob-
. lately started with respect to the sacrament
-en mart !age was one which ought .to have no weight,
its marriage being but a civil contraCt,could not con-
trout the law of the land. Excommunication, which
had been meetionrd, had nothing to do with the
sathjeet, and no power possessed by the Consistorial
Ceurt ha'd the ell'eat of-making the Catholics other
than good subjects, as a i-eference to the good con-
duet of • the Cathohcs would sufficiently prove.—
Now, with respect to the Pope's commanding the
alleeianhe of Catholics, and of beihgable at arty time
to alehscla teem from their. sot ereign ; he u Ould.ask,
if this were the case, how the ereseut Pepe came
to he in his present situation ? 'DA such appear to
be his power_ in the countries of France, Germany,
and Italy ? Was it such in that where he is now a
I)6st-tee', ? Aye, but then it Ives said in the Petition
scout Cambridge, that his power was greater titan
ever. Was such .tfie case, be would ask, with Fer-
ri nand of Stain ? He was a prisoher, like t he• Pope,
Intl would it he also contended that his power was •
was greater than ever ? Considered as art argument, •
this-was abaurd—was ludicrous indeed. He begged
. to ask-,-whether or not the present 'Admieistration
bad exaCted .any guard from Spain and Portugal
*teams: the influence of the Pope.? If not, 'accord-
ing to the arguments at home, the country was put
to en expense of 20,000,0001. and for w hat ? Why,
to raise the power of France in altose countries by -
weans of the Pope, as. it was said he was more for-
midable than ever ; now he was, a prisoner in the
hunds of b:rance.- In the Peninsula, though be had
heard of no such.arrangement having been made,
England was-seen fighting fix Church and State.—
bus, w oae we'vt ere labouring to show our attach-
meet to bigotry, we trod on it when it came in out
eety, and only raised it up to oppress those whose
ireerest we ought to regard as identified with our
own. He would contend, that as the Pope at pre-
sent was perfectly inaccessible, his spiritual power
was et an rend, and therefore the Catholic religion'
was as much separated from any foreign concern as
city other dissenting sea, and ought not to labour
under religious disabilities more than other dissent-
ers. When the present situation .of the Pope was
considered,- he thought they had no right to say they
could not now come to such an arrangement (even
Li this Sassioe) as should release the Catholics from
those restrictions of which they complained. He
hoped that they would not say now they were not
%teed among themselves, and that it was therefore
. of au use to ee.; into a Committee. This be denied.