The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-03 00:00:00

general election of 1826, the Duke de Montebello, who hap-
pened to be travelling through England and Ireland attended,
whilst in the latter part of the kingdom, a very great meet-
ing (which lie was very right in doing) at llallinasloe. He
now quoted, he ought to observe, from a Roman Catholic
authority—from the index to Wyse's history of the Roman
Catholic Association. From this extract, which the Right
Rev. Prelate read, it appeared that a gentleman named Du-
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•
vergier travelled with the Duke de Montebello, and be de-
scribed the proceedings of the meeting. One speaker spoke
of the perfidy of the Government of England, and of the ex-
ample shown them by America. This was received with
thunders of applause, and the speaker was Mr. Shcil. The
narrator added that several orators were heard before him

also with applause—that after a time when there was an ap-
pearance of every thing remaining silent, a young gentleman,
named INl‘Dermott, rose, and had sufficient power to de-
tain the meeting. Ile declared that in no country should
there be an establishment, &c. The Right Rev. Prelate said
it was unintelligible to him why such gentlemen had been
named to this Commission. If it were not intended to
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deal fairly with the Protestant cause in Ireland, then the Go-
vernment did well to select persons who had declared them-
selves hostile to all ecclesiastical establishments. There was
one other fact which applied more particularly to this gentle-
man as an agitator. In December, 1828, it was determined
by the Roman Catholic Association to send a mission to Eng-
land (which mission, however, never took place, because, as
Mr. Wyse said, they did not think any good would result from
such mission) ; and the five first persons who were selected as
those who were to form the mission were Mr. O'Connell, Mr.
Shell, Mr. Wyse, O'Gorman Mahon, and Mr. M'Dermott.
The Marquis of L ANSDOWNE knew many persons
whose political sentiments and political conduct underwent a
very great change at the time of the Roman Catholic Eman-
cipation Bill. He knew that such a change of opinion had
come over very many persons who were most eminent indivi-
duals, and he hoped that that fact did not disqualify them from
public situations. So far from being a great offence he main-
tained it was no offence at all to agitate in order to carry a
great constitutional measure, and it was perfectly consistent
with the loyalty of Mr. M'Dermott's character. He had
heard no valid reason given why this gentleman should not
have been selected ; and he would here beg leave to state that,
as far as he had known and heard of the character of the Com,
missioners, they had kept their bands clean from any
mixture of party purposes. He was bound to state .„is from
communications which he had received from sev,:cal of them.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE rose ?,:istinctly to deny
the authority upon which Mr. M‘Derrr:,,tt had been declared
to be an agitator. He denied that float gentleman was now a
political agitator. He claimeo -for that gentleman the merit
of having felt, of having `'..,eeply felt the injuries under which
lie and his brethren s':atered whilst civil immunities were with-
held from them. He denied that Mr. M'Dermott could be
called disloyal or disaffected, either to the Sovereign or the
constituted authorities of the country. It was now eight years
since tho circumstance to which allusion had been particularly
made had occurred. He should say that Mr. M'Dermott was
precisely the person who ought to be employed in the Corn-
mission--precisely, because he was a member of the Roman
Catholic Association, and had thereby shown how much alive
he was to the grievances which the two Houses of the Legis-
lature afterwards decreed should be remedied.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said, here was an inquiry
affecting in a great degree the interests of the Established
Church in Ireland, and the question which the Right Rev.
Prelate stated to the House, and which they were to consider
was whether this gentleman, who had been an agitator—noted
as a Roman Catholic agitator—was, or was not, a fit and pro-
per person to be selected by the Government as a Commis-
sioner? Besides, the Right Rev. Prelate (and, he must say,
he thought that he had proved his case clearly) had argued to
show that this gentleman had been a Roman Catholic agita-
tor, and a very forward one, and that moreover he had, in a
pointed manner, declared himself to be an enemy to the Esta-
blished Church. If there was any thing in what was said upon
common occasions, this man's character must be established as
that of a person who ought not to be upon such a Commission.
The Bishop of EXETER rose to explain. The Right
Rev. Prelate again adverted to the authority from which he
had quoted—namely, " The Appendix to Wyse's History of
the Catholic Association ;" Mr. Wyse having been a noto-
rious Roman Catholic agitator, and having, for the informa-
tion of posterity, recorded the proceedings of the Catholic
Association.
Viscount MELBOURNE very much regretted these dis-
cussions. He lamented them on account of their personal na-
ture, and he conceived that the manner in which they were car-
ried on would not produce any good effect upon the public
mind. He thought it would be much better to avoid these
anecdotes—these statements of facts, sayings, and assertions
made one day, and all contradicted the next. Now, the Noble
Duke had stated very distinctly, the principle upon which he
proceeded, and he had distinctly admitted that the fact of
persons having been members of the Catholic Association
could not exclude those persons from holding office. He
perfectly agreed in that opinion, because he had known many
members of that Association who, when the measure of Ca-
tholic emancipation was carried, gave up their political pro.
ceedings and declared themselves satisfied with it. They had
not since engaged in politics, and he thought that those per-
sons ought to be distinguished, and amongst these lie would
name a friend of his who was the Secretary to the Roman Ca-
tholics of Ireland, Mr. Purcell O'Gorman, whose conduct had
always been most exemplary. Considering that seven years
had now elapsed since the period when the question of eman-
cipation was agitated, he could not see why these Gentlemen
should be shut out from accepting office under this Commission.
Lord FARNHAM should move that the Report of the Com-
missioners be referred to a Select Committee, and with re-
ference to a Bill not
t' then before the House, if it contained the
provision recommending the suspension of benefices where
there should not be 50 Protestants, because that would de-
prive the parish of their pastor.
Viscount DUNCANNON explained.
Lord WESTMEATH gave notice that he would this day
move for a Return of all the prisoners confined in the gaols
of Ireland for offences that were not bailable, from July,
1834, to July, 1835, distinguishing those of the Protestant re-
ligion, and including the Dissenters from the Protestant re-
ligion, and also those of the Roman Catholic religion, as dis-
tinguished from the two other classes.
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

The Archbishop of CANTERBURY moved for leave to
bring in a Bill for protecting the revenues of ecclesiastical
beneces without the cure of souls, and for preYenting the
lapse thereof, pending the inquiry respecting the state of the
Established Church in England and Wales. He should not,
at this stage, enter into any explanation respecting the Bill.
Lord LAN SDOWNE presented a petition from Essex in
favour of the Established Church.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE—WRITS OF CERTIORARI.
Lord DENMAN had a Bill to present which would effect
two reforms in the administration of criminal justice. The
Act was to enable the Court of King's Bench to take recog-
nizances to any amount from defendants who removed indict-
ments into that Court by writs of certiorari, and for pre-
venting prosecutors from obtaining such wits without the
leave of the Court.
The Bill was read a first time, and ordered to be read a
second time on Thursday next.
The Merchant Seamen's Bill went through a Committee,
after which the House adjourned.