The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-01 00:00:00

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greatest support to the Constitution, and strengthen the best
interests of the country.
Mr. ‘I`AIt.P.F. said the
.Hon, Member' for Somerset had for
twenty years OPposed the 'claitni.Of the CatliolieS, and he
nowe. his opposition ia ‘+-ilied the
House to ,deliberate on the situation in which they now
stood. In the year IEO7, a measure was proposed for open-
ing
,certain offices in the Army and Navv to the Catholics;
it was opposed in and the Ileitis!'" cry of .‘ Nu
Popery" hating been successfully raised, the proposal mis-
carried. But. since then all that was sought by that mea-
sure has been conceded. __A Bill to that effect was brought
ion
.the House ot‘Lotds, in .Itll7,
~by a Minister of the
Crowe, and it was passed through the Commons, in forty-
-eight hotirs, sob xilenti9. In consemiettce of that -Bill a
Catholib Moth al might COW wand' the Channel Fleet,, and
other ollices might be held-hot hem, their admission to which,
it had previously beet) foretold, would lead to the overthrow
of the Constitution. The-'results of that measure, he -con-
tenth-d,-had been any thing but dangerous, and he charged:
with inconsistency those who having formerly opposed it, and
after Wards acquiesced in it, •now came forward to oppose the
Catholic Chtints upon the saMe grounds.
Mr. BAItHAsI disapproved of thesePeiitions. A Petition
had bean presented from the Clergy of Leicester, which
abounded with calttamy,, and he thought hit House ought
to mark its indignation at such Pelitions-heing.presented to
it. .The Honourable Member proceeded. to observe, that if
the -allegations .cf the Petitioners had been only illiberal,
and unchristian, he would have passed them Win,
ticed; hut there were' many of them which were grossly
false; and although he was in charity disposed to give them
a large credit for ig",orance, he could not‘ believe that they
were not aware df their falsehood. They assetted ;hat Ca-
)holies admitted of mental reservation; now lie would put
it to the !louse whether the Petitioners could be ignorant of
the repeated disclaimers of the Catholics of any such tenets.
The I-16th Mernher was. proceeding to refer to documentary
evidence oil this point, when
SPEAKER reurinded, him that it was not strictly in'
order t'o comment upon a former Petition, when another
Petition was before the Hottse.
After sonic bother observaz ions from Sir T. B. Lethbridge,
Mr. Warre, .Mr. Baa ham, and Mr. Legh Keck, the Petition
waS,read and orilmed to be printed.
Ott the motion of Mr. CALCItAFT, the order for taking
into consideration the Petition againSt the return for Aldbo-
rough, on the 13th March, was discharged.
Sir [-I. PARNELL postponed, till Friday next, his motion
respecting the leasing of TitlieS in Ireland.

ROMAN CATHOLICS OF ENGLAND.
Lord NUGENT rose to present the humble Pe-
tition- of the Roman' Catholics of. England. It
was signed by upwards.of 8000 persons ; among
whom were seven Peers, fourteen Barons, seven
of their Bishops, and a considerable number
.of
their Clergy if on the present occasion lie was
sanguine enough to hope for success, the hope was
not founded on an expectation that•the temper of
the House had materially changed; It rather
rested on .the increased faith of the Petitioners hi
the justice of Parliament, and on their uniformly
,exemplary conduct, but principally it rested on
that declaration whiCh they made, and which,
not new in principle, was. now stated for the.
third time, and which he thought removed
one great difficulty that had hitherto stood
in the way. The House was aware that the oath
of supremacy denying the. spiritual power of the
Pope in this country had hitherto opposed the
admission of, the Catholics to a full share of the
blessings of the tnglish,constitution. This dif-
ficulty was now removed, by their pres'ent de•-
claration with respect to tile Oath of Supremacy;
the Petitioners had heretofore been accused of
giving to the Pope a part of that allegiance which'
they owed to the King. This had been repeat
edly denied, and they now again denied the i
charge, and' were ready to swear fall and undi-
vided allegiance to the. King. "In him alone"
they recognized all the civil power existing with-
in the realm ; and saying this, it would be seen
that their phraseology was borrowed from the
Thirty-nine Articles. They acknowledged no
right in any. Foreign Prince or Potentate-to exer'-
'cise Civil, Spiritual, or Ecclesiastical power with
in the realm. This declaration, so far as these
Petitioners were concerned, reduced the question
to a very narrow compass. :He. then proceeded
to inquire into the grounds on which they could.
still be excluded from the Constitution. The
Roman Catholics of England were ready to give
any securities that might be required. They
were entitled to the relief they prayed, from
their good conduct, from their history, and.from
the evidence of the very oaths by which they
were excluded from the rights enjoyed by their
fellow citizens. .If the prayer of the -Petitioners
were now rejected, they must decide that. no
man was worthy of belief who reverenced the
spiritual power of the Pope—or believed in the
presence of the Deity in the Sacrament, and on
such grounds were • they to exclude from the
Constitution one fourth of the moral strength of
the empire. He then enlarged on the merits and
sufferings of the Roman Catholics, on the circum-
stances under which the oaths against the Ca,-
tholics were enacted, and on the false but often
reiterated assertion that a Catholic. did not hold.
an oath binding on his conscience where'heretics
were concerned. He objected to the test. respect-
ing. transubstantiation in the first instance, Be-
cause it asserted that which was false. Second-
ly, Because the matter of belief was by far too
speculative in its character to become the sub-
ject of political enactments. And Thirdly, Be-
cause if it were, as charitable and true as it was
known to be the reverse, the very oath imposed
went to nullify the security it was intended to
give. The oath after abuSing the doctrine of
transubstantiation in the most violent terms as
idolatrous, went on to say, "In the presence of
God. I profess I believe in no power of dispensas
tion.r But if the Catholic did believe in the
power of any one to give a dispensation, and re-
lieve.him from the necessitTof observing an oath,
he might then take all the- oaths prescribed 16.
Parliament, and in spite of all-their enactments
that House might be filled .not only with Catho-
lics, but with perjurers. The Rothan Catholics
were supported in their present application by
the opinions of three 'of our greatest authOri,
ties in Divinity, Law, and Moral. Philosophy.
The first was no less a person than one of
the firmest,. most venerable, and most staunch
supporters of Protestantism in his day against
_Catholicism, connected as it then was with
arbitrary principles—lie meant Bishop Headley.

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[Pra-cE SEVENPENCE.

_ -
lie had said on this subject--:" I cannot- justify
the exclusion. of Papists from civil offices, but
from their Open and avowed enmity to Civil Go-
vernment." 'The second authority to which he
had- referred Was that of Mr. Justice Blackstone.
,Ite; Speaking.en this question, had thus expressed
hiniself—" If eV.er a time shall- arrive-When all
fear of the Pretender Shall have vanished;and the
civil power of the Pope shall be redoced or anni-
hilated; not 0111. - in England, but in every .coup-`
try in Europe, then the time will -arrive.for
lie•Ong the Roman Cathdlics from the restrictions
of which they at present complain,": The third
authority was'that of Archdeacon Paley, who,in
his work on Moral philosophy; spoke still Moia
strongly in favour of the Catholics (cireont:-
stanced as they were now), - than either of -tho4e
he had already quoted. lie had said that."• It
should-be remembered the connexion betweenth=e
Pope and the Jacobites was the sole 'cause of the,
restrictions: put upon the Catholics, and; iheit;
ought not to continue a day longer'than clrcuffi-
statiCes of visible -danger•seerned -to'rnake theist
necessary," Now without a bad grace,. he thought--
that prayer could not be refused whiCh had'smdt
high authorities in its favour.- He lhen--presst:l,
the importance of "conceding the boon- desficlfl,
now, when the Petitioners-pledged their :charac=
ters to the sincerity of their professions, and of::
fered willingly the service of their lives to the.
Protestants on their own terms, only desiring that
they might not be disturbed. in their worship; .
that their relics and altars- might be left, nn- •
touched, and that those who differed from thenl
should mot dictate. the' in which they mita-
address themselves' 'to the Deity. In -grantii:g-
their prayer, he implored the House-not to nego-
ciate for securities with those for whom it was •
their duty to legislate. lie called not to treat
with CatholiC Boards and Catholic Authorities,'
but to consult their own feelings and their own
hearts in coming to their decision. He called
upon them not to charge on the many-the intem-
perance of a few, but to do their duty, and leave
the few bigots who, in the •nineteenth century, .
would favour the intolerance of the fifteenth,-to
answer to God and to their country for theircon-
duct. He hoped the Catholics Would at last :Ise.
admitted to a full and undivided share in: the
Constitution of their country ; and never ought it
to be forgotten that their forefathers tr.d Lught
to establish that.. Constitution. lie could 11-A-
-better express his feelings-than by quoting frour
the preamble of that wise and humane Act, the
I.9th George-111. which set forth that "it must
tend to the prosperity and welfare of the "coin.,,
try, that subjects of all • denominations should
enjoy, the full benefit of the. Constitution." With
this, impression on his mind, he could not hut.
hope, while presenting this Petition, that the,
House 'would that night do what ykit rernained.li
be done- to accomplish this important ohject,,
Lord GLEsoacur supported '-the Petition.
He trusted the House would no longer deny, Ole
free privilege of exercising.the: rights afforded,o4.
the Constitution, to a numerous class of the
ple,'merely because they did not hold 14 s'ol-4e-,.
religious opinion's as themselves.
Upon the, Petition being read, - ,
Lord NUGENT stated, that only four of Tile
Baronies were now in existence, whose holckrs
signed Magna Charta, and that the representa7 •
tives of those Baronies had pot their names•tothe
Petition.—(Hear, hear!)
- The Petition was then ordered to be printed.
EXECUTION OF MUItAT.
Lord CASTLEREAGH, in answer to a coesticl:l
which was put to him on a former night by an
Member, whether an accredited agentof•'
this Government had not consented to the mili-
tary execution of Murat, had then said that, the: -
possessed no knowledge of the circumstance; hut
would make the necessary inquiries: He died
since that time received information upon the
subject from Sir William A'Court, which stated
that Murat was -condemned by his own laws,
Which were still in force ; and that the, Court
Martial which condemned him was composed of
his own officers. The fate which he suffered was
agreeable to a proclamation found upon him when .
he was:taken, pronouncing the sentence of mili-
tary execution 'upon King Ferdinand. This in-
formation of course put a complete negative upon
the reports upon.which the lion, Member found-
ed his.,question. , ,

Sir K. WiLsos said, that the explanation of the
Noble Lord was satisfactory as .far., as,it wetic
but the report was that an accredited agent,of
this Government bad personally Assisted at ttn_t
Council at Naples, which determined upon send
ing Murat before that tribunal which pronounced.
his sentence.

Lord CAmEkt EA on (as we understood liki)
,knew nothing of the Council alluded to,
that a British agent had taken any -part :in the
proCeedings against the individual alluded 0, was
evidently destitute of every colour of folladatkOll,.
ROMAN CATHOLICS OF
Mr: PLUNKETT preSented a Petition, Signed'by
a very considerable number of the Roman Ca*-
tholies .of Ireland, praying relief from the'd-f,T.-
bilities under which they labour. Front the:diA•-
tinguished• rank, fortune, and talentSof many of
the individuals who signed the Petition, a;1,;1
from the means they had of corttmnnicati:l4
the public at large, he was entitled to s-ly thit
far as they sought redress, they • spoke the sen:,:-
ments of the great body of the 11.6 man Catholic
of Ireland. A similar Petition had been preent--
ed the year before last, and it was unnecessary
for hint to remind the-lloiise that it was present=
ed by his departed friend Mr. Grattan ;—that 'it
came. before them with all the anthorit, and .
with all the importance 'which, waited ttpoil the
:majesty of his elo:lncr..c.e. lie 014:1 not Lt.

tempt to describe the feelings of his heart, nor
to mingle with the present question, any notice
. 'of the public sorrow which followed his death.
He followed through life as one whose
do:n was not to be attained. and whose example

was the brightest attraction. His eulogium had
teenOnounced within the walls of that House
by the eloquent of all parties.—(Hear, hear!)—'
rind although he would not weaken the force of
that eulogium—althoughhe would not disturbhis

obsequies—vet he was desirous of saying some-
thing upon his efforts upon the particular ques-
tion which formed the: subject of the petition.
question obtained an early and entire pos-
tesSion of his mind, and kept it up to his last
moments, He would willingly have consented
that his last scene sholti have been employed in
advocating the cause, and that his life should be
laid down -in that House while asserting it. He
felt that there would be no real safety for the coun-
tu until his object was achieved. He was ever alive
to that fame which attended upon virtuous ac-
lions, and lie clung to it whilst on earth. But. he
never sacrificed to the treacherous popularity
which_ was within his reach, by obtaining only a
part:of the object which be had in view. He felt
that the questiOn never could be carried with ad-
iranta7e to the country, unless the principles
witlch7 he laid down-were fully acted on. In the
bu0..!),1e distance at which it would be his (Mr.
Frunkett's) lot to follow his
,departed friend, he
trusted that the same sentiments would actuate
aud_direct his conduct. He moved that the Re:
titioa be brought up.
Mr. D. BROWNE seconded the motion. The
Petition was ordered to be printed.
Mr. PLITNKETT presented a Petition to the
same effect from the parishes of- St. Andrew, St.
Mark, St,. Anne, and St. Peter, Dublin ; and
from the Ronian Catholics of the County and
City otWaterford.—Ordered to be printed.