The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, AUG-UST 18, 1834

GRAND PROTESTANT MEETING.

(Abridged from Saunders's News Letters.)
On Thursday the great meeting of the Protestant no=
blemen, gentlemen, clergy, and landed proprietors of Ire-
land, convened by requisition, signed by the following dis-
tinguished noblemen—the Earls of Roden, Enniskillen,
Longford—Lords Bandon, Lorton, and Farnham—took
place at the King's-room, Mansion-house. The requisition
was to the following effect :
" We, the undersigned, being deeply impressed with a
sense of the alarming situation in which the Protestants of
Ireland are now placed, and being anxious to co-operate with
them for the protection of our religion, and the preservation
of our liberties and our property, request your attendance,:
and that of any your friends who agree in our opinions of the
present posture. of affairs," &c.
Among others whom we observed on the platform, were
the following :
The Marquis of Downshire, Earl of Roden, Earl o:
Mayo, Earl of Winchilsea, Earl of Longford, Earl a
Rathdowne, Earl Courtown, Earl Norbury, Earl of Ban.
don, Viscount Massareene, Viscount Castlemaine, Viscount
Lorton, Lord Downes, Lord Mandeville, Lord Hillsbo-
rough, Lord Cole, Lord Stopford, Sir Robert Bateson,
Bart., M.P., Archdeacon Lindsay, Sir James Bruce,
Bart., Mr. De Salis, Hon. Colonel WingfiehALLCß:l.CAolcotnoenl,
Colonel Irwin, Colonel Beresford, Hon. James Hewitt,
Hon. Archdeacon Agar, Colonel Verner,
Conolly, M.P., Henry Maxwell, M.P., Edward J. Cooper,
M.P., Thomas Lefroy, Sir Edmund Hayes, Bait., M.P.,
Sir George Rich, the Dean of St. Patrick's, Admiral Paken-
ham, Sir Augustus Fitzgerald, Bart., Sir Edwari Stanley,
Sir Richard Baker, Sir Drury Jones Dickenson, &c.
Lord RODEN was received with enthusiastic chears. He
addressed the meeting, saying—" Before the chair is taken I
am anxious to address -a few words to this numerous and
highly respectable assembly, particularly to such portion of
it as constitute my Orange brethren. I believe you will
give me credit when I assert, that there is no more sincere
Orangeman among you than myself ; therefore you will
bear with me when I remind you that this meeting has been
called to gather together Protestants from all parts of the
kingdom ; many of whom have not, as yet, had the honour
and good fortune to belong to our loyal and patriotic body,
and who may now only begin to see the value and conser-
vative principle of our association. Having said thus much,
I- have only to request of you not to exhibit your badges
and banners, lest they might not be agreeable to some. I
know you are persuaded I am sincerely with you, and,
therefore, you must feel that I make this request but with
a view to the benefit of the general cause, to support which
we have assemhled here this day."
The Earl of BANDON proposed as Chairman the Right
Hon. the Lord Mayor—(Cheers)—to him they were in-
debted for the use of the splendid room in which they were
then assembled, and he was known to all as a truly upright
and loyal Protestant.
The LORD MAYOR said it was a proud thing to be placed
in the chair, to preside at such a splendid assembly.
The Earl of RODEN now presented himself, having an
orange and blue handkerchief in his hand. The most tre-
mendous cheering prevented his Lordship from proceeding
with his address for several minutes. When the cheering
subsided he said, " 'My Lord Mayor, I feel ()Teat delight in
having the opportunity upon this occasion of meeting the
friends of the empire to which I- belong—persons flocking
in from all parts of the country in support of our glorious
cause—the cause of liberty, and the cause of God. My
Lords and Gentlemen, it is two years .since I last had the
honour of addressing you in this room, since which time the
attempts upon Protestantism have been advancing, and I
day after day, have been developing, with awful fearfulness,
the trying situation of the Protestants of this country.
They have been deserted by supposed friends. But we
have been left to our own resources, and, with the
blessing of God, we shall uphold our liberty, maintain our
rights, and support each other in our common struggle to
prevent the prostration of all that is dear to us.—(Cheers.)
At the meeting which was held about two years ago in this
room, it was resolved that when necessity demanded that
another should be called, means should be taken to re-as-
semble the Protestants of the country. This, then, is the crisis
provided for by that resolution. We have taken upon our-
selves to call you together—we have thought it necessary to
consult in great numbers—to agree upon a unity of action, and
to secure general and extensive co-operation. Our object
is to maintain those rights for which our forefathers fought,
and purchased for their posterity, at the peril of their pro-
perty and lives. Never were Protestants placed in a more
awful situation since the days of the revolution. From all
parts of the country Protestants are emigrating, leaving.
those behind them beset with multiplying dangers. It is be-
cause feeling these things strongly, I would suggest decided
measures. But cast with the Protestants of Ireland, as they
stand or fall, so shall I.—(Hear.) Our enemies are formi-
dable, but blessed be God, we are a phalanx—(Cheers)—
and what cannot people bound together with but one spring
of action accomplish ? We are ready to do our duty, firm,
and determined to support the cause which we love—
(Cheers)--and supported by principles we shall never
flinch nor surrender.—(Cheers.) The Protestant gentry
are called upon to encourage, uphold, and foster their for-
mer brethren. Much of the evils of the times have arisen
in consequence of the humbler classes of Protestants being
neglected, instead of being taken by the hand by those who
ought to be their protectors.—(Hear, hear.) But it is not
too late to rectify the error—we have nothing in view but
the prosperity and happiness of our native land. It is not
for power we have to contend. The contest for ascen-
dancy is over. The preservation of our property, our lives,
and our liberties, is now the subject of our consideration.
Oh ! I have to abandon principle ! to abandon truth ! to
truckle to agitation ! and to succumb to an agit,ator—to yield
to those who never can be friends, and who only profess
moderation as long as it may appear expedient to do
so.—( Hear, hear, hear.) 'When I see the fairest por-
tion of my country, the Protestant population, abandoned,
my soul is aroused—l am resolved to do what I can to
avert the threatened calamities of my Protestant brethren.
When we see the dangers by which we are surrounded, all
shades of difference with respect to minor considerations must
be given up. Protestants must -cling together for their
common protection ; the higher classes must use their pro-
tecting influence over the humbler, and, the humbler be
given fair means of using their hands and their sinews.--
(Cheers.) I may be told that the word " surrender" is a
cant among us, but I cannot forget that I am an Orange-
man—(Chers)—though now addressing a general Pro-
testant meeting. Our motto is "No surrender," and we
will maintain the principle which that motto expresses—
(Cheers)—and I cannot let the present opportunity pass of
expressing my most sincere and warm thanks for the kind
and generous manner in which my brother Orangemen in
this meeting have within the last hour shown the respect
and regard they, I trust, entertain for me, by attending to
my advice respecting those banners, which might, perhaps,
not have been quite agreeable to some persons assembled
at this great general Protestant meeting. It would be im-
possible for him, according to the space of time on the pre-
sent occasion allowed him, to enter into a detail of all the
measures having the tendency he had spoken of, introduced
and proceeding upon by his Majesty's Ministers. But as
one of them he would refer to the new course of public
education which they had thought proper to adopt, which
totally excluded our children, our neighbours' children, and
all the Protestant youth of Ireland from such public schools,
without sacrificing their religious principles and those honest
and conscientious scruples instilled in their minds by their
religious instructors, and their parents, who truly believe
in the great truths of the Gospel of our land ; these
weak Ministers have taken away the funds from those
who justly distributed them, and placed them in the
hands of the Catholic priests.—(Hear, hear.) I need
not go far back. But let us look now to the Com-

. --
mission lately issued. Issued for what purpose ? Why,
for the purpose of numbering the people—of showing to our
enemies where the Protestants are weak ; and, from the
bottom of my heart, I believe, that in numbering their
heads, the heads of the Protestants of Ireland, they were
at the same time numbering their lives—(Hear, hear), and
I really feel that this odious Commission is- not by any
means so much of a political as it is of a religious character
—(Hear, hear)—and that its great eventual object would
be to establish Popery in the room of sound Protestantism,
to put down truth, and to place error in its stead.—(Hear,
hear.) But Hook to the meritorious exertions of the
Protestant Ministers of the Gospel in this country, and no
body or class of men, though they have been so much
aspersed, can exceed them in the best and most excellent
qualities of our nature. I say I look to them for uphold-
ing oar holy religion and the Gospel of our Lord. Yes,
yes—the effect of the Commission will, I am convinced,
go far, very far even beyond the expectations or anticipa-
tions of those with whom it emanated. Then what is the
only duty of those gentlemen who possess an estate, who
possess property ? We must depend upon ourselves.—
(Hear, hear.) Thus from evil good may arise ; and thus,
after all, will prosper our great and glorious cause, at a
time when we are surrounded by other sects. It is for that
purpose that my Noble Friend Lord Winchilsea, who now
sits by my side, came over with me yesterday to this coun-
try—to prove his kindred feeling in the cause of the Pro-
testants of Ireland, and to prove that in his place in Eng-
land he will be ever ready to support and uphold that good
and glorious cause.—(Lord Roden sat down amidst tre-
mendous cheering.)

The Earl of LONGFORD next addressed the Meeting, but
in such a very inaudible voice that we could not distinctly
understand his first sentences. His Lordship in substance
stated that he would always maintain his old principles, and
that was the feeling of all those Protestants with whom lie
conversed and was in any way connected. •
The Earl of WINCHILSEA rose and said—" My
Lords
and Gentlemen, I rise with feelings deeply regretting my
waqtalent and. t of stand
ability in the cause which I .now

forward to advocate with heartfelt sincerity—(Hezr.) I
can assure this highly numerous and most respectable meet-
ing, that those feelings are so strong on the present occa-
sion, that they have totally unnerved the little talents I may
be possessed of.—(Hear, hear, and cheers). My Lords
and Gentlemen, I feel that if I had all the power of oratory
which could adorn the human mind, the field before me
now is one on which I would feel myself called on to exer-
cise it, and it would force itself from me with the force of
the mountain torrent, on the merits of the sacred cause for
which we have assembled—a cause not only affecting the
liberties of my fellow-countrymen, but also that of the
Protestant Church in this part of the empire—( Hear, hear.)
We are assembled to stand forward and defend the liber-
ties of that Church.—(Hear.) It is not my intention
to occupy your time more than a few moments, particularly
on account of the many talented gentlemen who are
to follow me. In the strongest language which I can
possibly make use of, I beg to call your attention to the dan-
gerous situation in which Protestantism is at present, and to
refer to the acts of our Legislature, who nominally only pro-
fess our religion, but who have falsely and cowardly turned
their backs upon it, and are prepared to sacrifice _it at the
shrine of infidelity and Popery—(Hear, hear)—but- we will
show our determination to uphold it against such infamous
desertion and treachery.—(Loud cheers.) I will now put
my hand to my heart and say that I am as great a friend,
and, perhaps, greater, of the Roman Catholics of this em-
pire, as those who profess it in a far different way from
what they practice to their blind followers, and who oppose
our interest with that perceptible weakness which, thanks
to God, is perceptible, and on no occasion more than this
day. It is needless to say that lam the sincere and unde-
viating friend of the Protestant Church of this part of the
empire, whose rights have been so sacrilegiously trampled
on.—(Loud cheers.) My Lords and Gentlemen, I have
stated that the religion of our Church is in danger. I look
back with feelings of contempt' and disgust at the late at-
tempt to extinguish at one blow Protestantism in this coun-
try. If I could see the justice which I look for done to our
Church, I would not have a wish of my heart ungratified—
I have nothing to ask of my God.—(Cheers.)' There
was a step taken by our Legislature upon which my opinion
is well known—it was that of withdrawing the grant from
that security to the Protestant religion—namely, the Kil-
dare-place Society--( Hear, hear)—which established a
system of education in this country so much to be admired
by every liberal and enlightened mind.--(Loud cheering.)
It was the intention, in fact, to withdraw the whole Bible
from that institution, in order to convert all the Protestants
to the Roman Catholic religion.—(Hear.) What is the first
step taken by those who wished to subvert our religion ?
Look to the Commission for numbering your Protestant
countrymen—for the decided and base purpose of holding
their weakness up to view.—(Hear, hear.) A Commission
for the purpose of robbing the Church of its property,
which it has as good a right to, hold as any individual has to
his own private property.—(Loud cheers.) It must be re-
membered that the Church of this empire was defended by
the piety of individuals who wished to uphold the religion
of that Saviour whose name they called on for their sup-
port. Some there are who assert that the property of our
Church was formerly that of the Roman Church. I deny
that assertion. I can prove from. the history of our country
that sound Christianity was introduced into it before Popery
came. I will point to all parts of the world, and prove
that in all countries where the Roman Catholic religion is
there will be found the extreme of misery and slavery pre-
vail. Into such countries no capital flows as it does into
Protestant England---(Continued cheers)—and I emphati-
cally say that if this country could become Protestant, I
firmly believe that capital would also flow into it, and would
make it a powerful, happy, religious, and quiet country.
You have everything in your power to make it happy, if
you spread the principles which we are met here to-day to
propagate. My Lords and gentlemen, we have lived to see
most fearful times ; but it is a duty which we owe to our
country, and which, from the spirit which emulates this
meeting, I feel gratified in saying that we can bear up
against it ; this spirit, I assure you, prevails in me
and the great body of your fellow-countrymen in Eng-
gland. I will convey to them that spirit—l will call
upon them to make one common cause with you.
We will not confine ourselves to these shores. I
will fight the battle of Protestantism to the latest hour of
my life, uniting with you in heart and hand ; and trusting
the event to the will of that God who has always stood by
us, we will, I trust, triumph over the united efforts of
Popery, and transmit to posterity our glorious victory.—
(Cheers.)--If the landed gentry and respectability of this
country do not come forward and support their poorer bre-
thren in this glorious cause, I say they will be guilty of a
great dereliction of duty. I cannot close here without allud-
ing to that majority of 67, which succeeded in effecting the
debaseinent of an iniquitous act attenipted.to have been
practised on our Church. There can be no question but
that a surrender has been made into the hands of the agi-
tators of this country, who would turn the Protestant reli

gion out.of the country if they had the power, which thanks
to God, they shall not. With respect to the tithes, will any
man tell the that there would not be as much difficulty in
collecting the 60!. as otherwise ? If they would be bound
to accept this bonus, the same agitation would exist. ,The
Noble Earl concluded by expressing an anxious hope that
whatever trials the Protestant Clergy might have to under-
go, not only the Protestants of Ireland but of England
would come forward and support them with all their might.
The cheering at the conclusion of the Noble Earl's address
lasted for several minutes, during which there was a unani-
mous waving of handkerchiefs by the ladies in the gallery.
Captain COTTINGHAM informed the meeting that he had
received numerous letters from Noblemen and gentleman
who signed the requisition, who were not able to attend, but
as the whole day would be occupied in the speeches of the
gentlemen present, he would not occupy the time of the
meeting by reading them, but they might rest assured there
was not a single dissentient person absent.
The Marquis of DOWNSHIRE next addressed the meet-
ing. Having a large stake in the country, he considered it
his duty to come forward at this emergency. He had been
a supporter of Catholic emancipation, because he believed
it would have promoted • the good of all classes in the em-
pire. He had been mistaken to some extent,but yet he did not
altogether despair. -He earnestly recommended the Protes-
tants of Ireland, in seeking for justice for themselves, to
act in the way that they would like others should act
towards them ; that was a leading principle of the Chris-
tian religion. He should move a resolution to which no
man should object :—" That it was the right and duty of
the people of Ireland to maintain the Protestant religion,
upon the preservation of which was founded the right of
the House of Brunswick to the throne of these realms, and
which was guaranteed by the treaty of Union between
Great Britain and Ireland.
Mr. G. A. HAMILTON, of Hampton, seconded the reso-
lution. They were now upon the eve of a mighty conflict.
Hitherto it had been a war of words—but the time for ac-
tion was approaching, and Ireland would be the scene of
the contest.—(Cheers.) The Peers of England had nobly
done their duty—the Protestants of Ireland should be ready
to support them with their voices, and, if necessary, with
the bayonet.—(Enthusiastic cheering.)
Lord DowNEs proposed the next resolution, expressing
the opinion of the meeting that the supremacy of Popery
was the object of recent attempts at legislation.
The Rev. JOHN MARTIN, late F.T.C.D. (who has been
recently addressing letters to the Protestants of England),
seconded the resolution in a long polemical speech. The
plan which lie recommended was a " society and a subscrip-
tion." They should have penny magazines to enlighten the
people of England, and they should also adopt offensive as
well as defensive measures. With a slight alteration in
the Liturgy they might conciliate the Wesleyan Methodists
to make common cause with them.—(Cries of " Hear," and
" No, no.")
The Rev. CHARLES BOYTON, who was received with
cheering, next addressed the meeting. After apologizing
for the absence of the Earl of Enniskillen, which was
caused by illness, he proceeded to describe the imminent
danger and ruin which were at their doors. They had as-
sembled to complain of the unprincipled acts of his Ma-
jesty's Government, and to appeal for redress to the King
and the Parliament. He vindicated himself and the Clergy
who attended from any interested motives. If they de-
sired it, they might readily become pensioners of the
Treasury, but in doing so they would sacrifice the rights
of their successors, and those of the immense lay body
over whom they had spiritual charge. The Reverend
Gentleman proceeded to draw a parallel between the acts
of James the Second's Government in Ireland and those
of the present Ministry, as regarded the Protestants, their
church, and the system of education. He contended that
no reliance could be placed in -the professions of the exist-
ing Ministry or of the late Premier, and read extracts from
their speeches in support of his allegation, and also a pas-
sage from a speech of Lord Plunket, whose name was
received with a groan by the meeting. The reverend
speaker next adverted to the neglect of education, and
dwelt upon the suppression of the Kildare-place
,Society
by the Government, although its system was one of joint
education for Catholics and Protestants. The principle
of that Society may be condemned, but its suppression was
one of the many facts to prove that the object of his
Majesty's Government was the appropriation of the
surplus plundered from the Protestant Church, in order to
form a Catholic establishment—to put down the name and
race of Protestants in Ireland, and raise up a Catholic de-

mocracy upon the ruins. Tithe property is attacked because
it is the more easily assailable. But the question was one of
property, not of religion ; and the destruction of tithes
would be followed next year by an assault on every descrip-
tion of lay property. Unpopular as Protestant Clergymn
may be, they were not regarded with a tithe of the disgust
and hostility excited by the absentee landlord. The wretch-
edness of the people of Ireland exposed them to the self-
ish machinations of every political quack, At one time