The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-28 00:00:00

PARV!AMIZNT.

WOLIS2 OF LORDS, Warts Q 7.
BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.
Attu the meeting of the Hotter., and before the corn-
nienrainent of public business, strartgen were ordered
t° eithdraw, when Mr. John Bell was (as we understood)
'adled to the bar, and, after having made suitable apology
for the circumstance which led to his being summoned,
which was accepted, he was allowed to withdraw.
CATHOLIC CLAIMS.
The Bishop of LANDAFF presented a petition from the
'clergy of the southern division of Landoll against the Roman
Catholic claims.

The Earl of LONGFORD presented petite-As against
the Roman Catholic claims from parishes in Tyrone and
Armagh.
Lord HOLLAND held in his hand two petitiotas, which
had been sent to him to be presented to thelt Lordships, one
of which came from the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the
parish of St. Peter, county Drogheda, and the other from
the Roman Catholic inhabitants of the parish of Naas,
county Kildare. The prayer of both the petitions was
to the same purport,
namely, that their Lordships should
repeal an Act of the present king, passed in the last Ses-
sion of Paulir:went, respecting Vestries in Ireland. With
respect to 'the allegations contained in the petition regarding
that pP:rticular Act, he was not able to say any thing, as
he lead no local knowledge respecting the circumstances. He
believed that Act was passed with a view to lessen the
e yds complained of, but it had, as the petitioners stated,
',greatly aggravated those evils ; and if only half of the
statement of the petitioners was true, he had no
hesitation in saying that the Act ought to be repealed.
One of the petitions, in urging their arguments for the re-
peal of the act he had mentioned, stated that the Church of
Ireland was the richest church in all the world, where so few
persons professed the faith of the Church. The petition
stated that a very large proportion of the people of Ireland
did not profess the faith of the Established Church. The
petitioners ales) stated, that, by the ancient laws of the coun-
try, and by the common law, which, for ought they knew,
was still in existence, a part of the revenues of the Church
ought to be appropriated for the relief of the poor, and the
building and repairing of churches. The petitioners also
stated, that at the time when the Church and its revenues
were tramferrcd from the controul of their Catholic pro-
genitors into that of the Protestant Establishment, the
churehes were in complete repair, and that no additional
churches were required to be built ; but that, by neglect,
or abuse, or by evasion of the law, the churches had been
allowed to get into total decay, and the petitioners
complained that the Act of Parliament laid on the Roman
Catholics the burden of repairing those churches
which, - had been incurred by some of the ministers
of the churches themselves. That was what had
been stated to him. He had no intention of
moving any thing at present on the subject. He was aware
that some persons might say, " Yost see that the intention
of the Roman Catholics is to subvert the Irish Protestant
church : you see in that Petition a proof of that which we
have repeatedly stated to Parliament, that the Roman Ca-
tholics are actuated by a hostility to the Protestant estab-
lishment." All he could say in answer was, that if such
were the views of the Roman Catholics, and if such hosti-
lity did exist in their minds against the Protestant church,
it was created by those very persons who made that objec-
tion. The people of Ireland might submit to the payment
of that church, the faith of which they did not profess :
they might submit to that payment without irritation,
when they considered that that church was preferred by
the opulent part of the country, and cherished and pro-
tected by a large proportion of the empire to which they
belonged. But when they were told, and told repeatedly,
in the most- emphatic manner, that that church was the
at bar to the enjoyment of their rights, it was a little
too much to exspect that they should not be actuated by
feelings of heistility; or to suppose, that when Parliament
chose to neglect and thwart the only mode which could
lead te. peace and good government, that they should not
wash to destroy that edifice which had divided for a
long period the Roman Catholics from their privileges.
But it was the rejection of the claims of the Roman
Catholics -by persons opposed to the measure, which alone
had raised that hostility. Before he answered the objec-
tion of those persons whiz!' thought the constitution would
be endangered by granting those claims, he wished them to
point out in what manner the admission of a few Roman
Catholics in Parliament would add one jot to their power,
while at the same time it might diminish some of the hos-
tility which existed. Upon them must the responsibility
fall and they must be answerable for all the effects which
the frequent rejection: of ' the Catholic claims might pro-
duce. He beheld with some concern the natural effect and
ronsequenee which the rejection of the claims of the
Catholics of Ireland had produced in that part of the em-
pire. He now thought it his duty to present the peti-
tions, and they were perfectly respectfully worded.
The Earl of LONGFORD had net intended to have
said a word on the subject, knowing how inconvenient to
the House such conversations were ; but when their Lord-
ships heard ouch remarks as the Noble Lord had just made,
brought forward continually from day to day, he could not
let them go- forth to the country without some observa-
tions, and in doing so be should confine himself to the last
remark of the Noble Lord. , The arguments for granting
the Roman Catholic claims were to be regarded in two
points of view. The first was one of general policy, result-
ing from motives of general expediency or justice ; and the
second was, with respect to the effect which the granting
of the Catholic claims would have on the tranquilization
and amelioration of the condition of Ireland. He doubted
the justness of these opinions. It was now 150 years
since those restrictions had been imposed which excluded
the Roman Catholics from political power. Repeated op-
portunities had occurred for considering, re-considering,
and discussing the object of those restrictions, and every
time Parliament had decided that these restrictions were
necessary and politic, and every time had rejected to re-
peal those laws which enacted them ; and he was surprised
how any persons cculd declare on their own opinions that
those restrictions were unjust which the law proclaimed to
be just.
Lord HOLLAND said, the Noble Lord was mistaken, if
he supposed the petitions prayed for a repeal of Roman
Catholic Restrictions.
The Earl of LONGFORD had not intended to advert
to the petitions, but to the observations of the Noble Lord ;
and when the Noble Lord stated that the responsibility
was upon those who rejected the claims of the Catholics, he
must say that the responsibility was upon those who would
do away with those restrictions, so important for the good
of the country.
The Earl of BELMORE presented two petitions from
the Roman Catholic inhabitants of parishes in the counties
of Fermanagh and Tyrone. He would not enter into the
general merits of the question atlitesent, but would take
the liberty of remarking, that not only the Noble Lords who
were of the same opinion as himself on the subject of the
Catholic claims, but also those Noble Lords who were of a
different opinion, were relieved from all responsibility by
the acts of the members who composed his Majesty's Go-
vernment, who had gone to the full extent of concession to
the Roman Catholics, without giving them political power.
The only question now was, whether they should stop short
without completing that plan. It appeared that the argu-
ment chiefly relied on for the exclusion of the Catholics
from power, was that it was inexpedient to free the Roman
Catholics from the disabilities under which they laboured,
on account of the principles of the Roman Catholic Church.
That argument went to the extent of declaring that the
Constitution of this country was not calculated for the
cemfort or enjoyment of the rights of one third of the people
of the British Empire. He, for one, could never accede to
such a proposition, nor could he comprehend how those
persons who had allowed relief to the Roman Catholics to
a great extent, could be satisfied to suffer the laws to re-
main as they were, and stop short, as it were, in a system
which had been so well begun.