The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-08 00:00:00

for the consequence~ if he-bad. nolt advised the come!
which was adoPted hear.)—}10.
ing felt it necessary to 'state this, he could not help dept"`
cating the introduction of questiotirof this= kind;',-ti 016
delay of the important measure •before the Honseij'erith
which such questions had no connexion. ,whatever..--•
(Hear, hear.)—Before he sat down he' won't!' surilferi
as to what had fallen from his Noble Friend,(the Duke
Rutland), for whom he had the highest respect.
Noble Friend had suggested that Roman Catholicnt-abeul,"
be restricted from eligibility to the office of Prime Min':
ster. He could assure his Noble Friend, that -he would
be disposed to do any thing to gratify him not inCOnsiStent
with the principles and provisions of the Bill ; but he anot
be aware that there was no such office as that -of Prime
Minister known to the Constitution. The person gene-
rally at the head of the Administration was the first,Lord
of the Treasury, and for many reasons; which it ,was not
necessary for him then to explain, he thought• that,a con-
venient arrangement, as the first Lord of the Treasury 109
more immediately connected with the finances of the corm
try ; but the chief Minister, or head of the Administrationt
was not necessarily the fist Lord of the,Treasury. It W's
sometimes the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, of the
Lord Privy Seal ;or it might be any other member-of the
Administration. So that the Prime Minister could Doti),"
well defined in the Act by mentioning any one of, those
effices. But he thought the objection of his Noble Friend
Was not well founded. The Bill before the Konen had
made ample provision in case the head of the Administra'
tiou should be a Roman Catholic, by taking from him all
control over Church patronage, and confiding itr to hard.,
which roust be above all snspicion.as.to its being exereisce
injuriously to the Church. It was not necessary for 'hi°
to say more on the subject now, as the point would
under discusion in the Committee. - _ _

Lord COLVILLE said, as he might not have again an
opportunity of expressing his opinions before their •Lors!'
ships, he was anxious not to give a silent vote on this meat
important subject. The Noble Lord, after expressing Oa
regret at being obliged to oppose, in opposing this owe;
sure, those with whom he had been accustomed to act, and
under whose auspices he had entered public life, prociiad,v:
to entreat their Lordships to pause before they puma
measure of a tendency so dangerous to the state. He woo'
not oppose it, if he found in the Bill any equivalent for the
sacrifices made, or if he saw that it would tend to the ilO
provement or pacification of Ireland ; but he feared that
would not be the case. He feared, that behind this would
be found more Catholic questions,—(hear, hear,)-esand
more agitators ; and he was the less disposed to concur in
it because he saw that it was granting to agitation what
they had so long denied to reasoning. But though he
conscientiously opposed the Bill, he did hope that the eV
pectatione of those who supported it might be realised.
The Earl of LONGFORD said, that though he had be'
fore given his opinion on the Bill, he could not-allow .it W
pass its present stage with a silent voce. The Noble Earl
then proceeded to complain of the country having been
taken by surprise by the Bill, though he did not wean W
impute any intention of surprise to his Noble Relation at,
the head of the Government, or to any other Member of
it; but the fact was, 9 out of 10 in the House, and 99,
out of 100 out of the House, were taken by surprist" ,ft
the Bill. He also complained of the haste with which
was urged through the House--a haete=which did not br.
come the dignity of their Lordships' proceedings, or t°l
great importance of the subject itself. It had been la'
that this measure had been frequently agitaeed in focal",
Parliaments. He denied the fact; no similar Ineas"fe
had been introduced to the Legislature—at least not d
the manner and under the circumataucea of the preaels.
The Noble Lord then proceeded to say, that so long sot
general principles of human nature existed, so long'itr°'
the Catholics look with a wistful eye en the• Church Po'
perty of which they believed themselves to have been antjustly deprived by the Protest tuts:He then maintained
the
the question was of a theological as well as of a pnlitc,"
nature. It could not be denied, that the Catholie Church
was
i
was a political body any move than that the Cho"' .ge
England was a political body. The latter, however, w" ,
under the controul of, and therefore ended to the stIPPr.
of, the State; but the admission of another oreanisod
litiral body into the State, without being under its Oi/ur,
troul, could not fail to be productive of uaischief. •
could not look without apprehension at the extraordinart
influence which the Roman Catholic Clergy exert
over the minds of the Laity of every class.' Upon a recto'
occasion, . when members of the Catholic Asepeiation averia
talking of a separation between Ireland classesod
using other violent language, the higher of Catb°'
lies .did not express their disapprobation of that•condeet,
except, indeed, by silent reproof. What was the influent
which had operated to prevent them from visiting suag
conduct with more , direct.and decided reprobation ? it
could not answer what it was; but he could stateseb7 ;pi
was not. It was not an influence to which the 'mends.4
any persons intrusted with political power in•thlrooen"'
should be subjected.—(Hear.)
sin&
The Bishop of LANDAFF declared, that it Wasp
to him to differ in opinion from any 'of his own order ;
was also painful to him as a Bishop of the Church to i!ro,
pear to be opposed to the sentiments of a verylarge Petj:a
of the community of a country which was sincerely attect,at
to the Protestant religion. If, too, he could beliove4
the opinion of this large portion of the people was 0°":, of
his pain would be greatly increased ; but his feeL,";bas
sorrow were considerably mitigated, when he rellecw-
of
the petitioners to Parliament and public writers out
to
doors ware labouring under strong delusion with reerol i 5,
the character of the measure before their LordshiP4-' 'td; of
a notorious fact, that thousands and tens of the's° false
persons had signed their names to petitions under 11..4. .011
impression as to the nature of the measure. The qu 1d
had teen represented to be thus—whether a changen;
be made in the religion of the country; and the peoPlf
posed that when they signed petitions they expressed,' 'heir
approbation of the religion in which they lived, andat,.we
disapprobation of that professed by that class of their fe""ed.
subjects to which the Bill before their Lordships rela,.„l
This was so palpable an error, that he would not °c a¢,
their Lordships' time in attempting to refute it. 'l",oht.'gb
other error which had been published by persons °'
authority he must be permitted to allude.. , !Those Pe— 0
should have known better. They had employed the "r
" expediency" in an invidious sense, as if it were pee,
rily opposed to justice, sight, and the duties of reug11,..,),.,
They had treated the measure before the House as a used
sure of expediency opposed to principle,--of OP-thsi
to religion. Nothing could be more erroneous then 51
statement of the ease.—(Hear.)—Expediency itself a;so
surely the proper business of the assembly which he ,e 4
addrming. Did not nine.tedths of the acts which tstio
passed begin with the preamble "whereas it is expedienear
When their Lordships trade that declaration, tiobodY
posed that they meditated so inroad upon right and just',
He would not dispute that this question might be celleoich
religious question, in the sense that it was one in vii:s •
the interests of religion were involved ; but that it
theological question he utterly denied. There wean°
casion to enter into an examination of theological tette;
because the measure did not meditate any corriPt.er,„7../
the Protestant religion in faith, doctrine, or dia°'P"- •
al
(Hear.)—ln all those respects the country • would reglad,
just as it was before. Not the slightest attempt rues mail
to connect the church of England with that of I`3 ~ 3-,.
and after the Bill should pass, the two churches would CO,
tinue just as much asunder as they were before. Fa $u
mischievous attempts to mislead the public had been i••••-t
by writers, who inflamed men's minds by stating tbs
was proposed to associate the pure and simple form of Tel
gion, to which the people of this country were attach
with that which they justly rejected as corrupt. .14.°°,
,
mistake, which people of some note had countenareo ard
propagated, was, that Roman Catholics were e.eclud
from the offices to which it was now proposed to od°l_,,,
them,. on account of the corrupt anti false nature of Pc
doctrines which they professed. That was an err;
which be imagined would have been exploded long ab,g
He had hoped that this would no longer be regards's!
a theological question, but as one of prudence WI t4l.°l?„d
yet a writer of great character, piety, and learainlsr,
been found to propagate this misehievous error.
0,1
had conducted opposition to the measure in 03°0
calculated to inflame the imaginations of the pt oil
making them believe that by admitting them to ova,
in the state, we in fact incorporated them with the Pa
testant church, and thereby offered an insult to the Alolig bic
The words of a declaration taken by every Atcmt
of that House had been quoted as a proof that their
ships thought the Roman Catholic religion iasidoiP-
ntribr
That was a most false. and Mischievous perversion of
Yt must be'evident to the untleritanding of every maniacreflected, that hecauae one tenet of it religion was de(' odi
to h 9 suPeraditious and idolatrous, the whole religion
~t)
not idolatry. It might be said that a particular tenet ;id
idolatrous, as partaking of idolatry or tending t 0 i,.41101
that was the evil of false doctrine ; but it did not to le
that the whole of the religion was idolatry. He bed j$
state that our own Church gave no sanction to soel,c)
opinion. By our own Church the Roman Catholic Clot,
Christ.—(llear.)—To say that it was idolatro-Pil°''
was regarded as a branch of the Universal Cl:otirecie.i,
the foundation of our Oro Church, for it derived s
ll yid
spiritual authority from the Church of Rome. Ile 700'
touch very lightly on the historical part of theelttef'
he would merely observe, that the laws which it **al'
posed to repeal, were passed, not on account of daag:•0011,
be apprehended against the Throne, but to glardatieei
danger from the Throne. The family:M:ll4h alert 1"