The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-19 00:00:00

posivg "The removal of all the rtkmainittg disabili-
ties on aceount of relitions
Lord CLIVFORD having been loudty for,
tome and said, that though a itomno C•atholic, he had
Arrsrs tadcorated etnaucicaktt bt hiir=rlf and his
brethren, not merely as is ":eierveki to them as a body,
iau on the broad etilY.;;ple of religious liberty
be for one mast, liay, that if emancip?ti7n could he
offered tritltont reference to the gt•rieral principle, he
'would 110' be disposed to cent it. The Dissentell
had tr2eti emancipated, and he rejoiced P.t tit. 'FIr.
Czo:oolic: were now the only -excloded om
't-ne pi ivileges of the Ceirstitutiou. They tve.ve a
degraded caste, and that was a state in which no
class of British sulijectsought ts:+. I.ti‘e allowed to re-

main; nod if any one of th7r3r, who were oppo,ted
them Were to ask liis opinion, he would sa " Gen-
tlemen, we are tattilty of no crime, aml it is unf..ir
illat ire sheatal be punislied."--Cheers.)
Lord nrSIIINGTON &lid, that having obtained per-
-toissin of the chair, he would give to the meeting
tr4-te health of Sir T. D. Aclad. (Loud cheers,)
Whatever might have been the political errors to;
be attributed to the Hon. Baronet, and no man was ;
tree from some, they slion;tl ail feel bestial to him
for the personal sacrifices he had blade; and they
as rro dottbt thzy rcel indignant at
the unworthy nnduttraeldy Mat-titer in which he had
lwen treated; a maße.iir which would be diegracefttl
to the county, if indeed the inLynam: : !
et to \-vhom he
coufl be said to represent the 'Peelings of the
tfounty with respect to him. The Noble Lord con-
cluded by proposing " thz health -of Sir Thomas
Mittel, with three 11111t8 three.' (Local and con-
tinued cheers.)
Mr. WM. CW:RTENAY returned thank'.
-TheDukr... of Sommivritext gave " the heAth of
Lord Moe.ey," which was drank wish loud applause.
Lon). BORINGDON returttell thanks on the part of
his fo'..tter, who had been prevented from attending.
CouirreNvir proposed the health of the Dake
tr Somerset, with Tour times four.

The mast was 4ratik with loud and omtiniied
Cilierr4

ne Duke of SOMERcEi, in returning thanks for
she honour which hail been done him, observed,
ihat he had e'o.ll.lK on the tame side of the
question wieith those who heard him bad assena-
Med to suppose, and if lie had not often expreesed
tine opinion upon it, it was not because he feared
:he peblicatien of those o;tittione, but because he
felt so strongly stifle teepee. to it, that he was
arrant to trust himself :glib the utterance of those
feelings. Not W ithetanding the decision in the
C4istle-yard that day, he felt proud of the success
ref the causes for: success he must call it, when he
was tonnnated Iliac the signatures to the petition
in favour of emancipation would go forth with all
the weight' that belengsd to a vast majority of the
rank and respectability of the county of Devon.
Lord Eante=oN proposed the health of Mr.
Buller, of Dosssises, with three times three.
Mr. BULLER, in returning thanks, said that the
pert aseined him in the preceedinge •!* '.: do) tie
consiPterel as the highest honour which ceuid be con-
fer' ed upon him. He lied watched the progress of
'public opinion on this important question, and he
was glad to find the number of its supporters was
daily increased. The practices which had been men-
tioned as having been resorted to by a certain party
to increase their numerical majority, he regretted ;
nod unless he had heard it from such good authority,
e'octicl scarcely have believed it iiould have been put
in practice by any set of men claiming to be respect-
able. One consolatiOn, however, he derived from it ;
it ;erase. proof of a falling cause. (Cheers.) For when
men stooped to such means, it was clear that they
were driven to their last shift, and that they could
ant support their principl,..s by the legitimate course
of fair public dikeussion. Indeed, indepehdently of
this, they hail other strong proofs tient thee :-ause of
thir opponents was rapidly declining. was one
which hied not been, and would not be, deserted by
its friends, and Po
.nhich daily converts were made
from the ranks of its enemies; for the conviction was
rapidly gaining ground, :hat the continuance of the
penal code was e it stigma on our constitution.
Lord Jolts Penssenn proposes! .he health of Lord
Seymour, and observed that his Lordship was ready
to enforce the arguments in favour of the amend-
ment ; but scarcely had he opened his mouth, when
be was interrupted, not from any dislike to him, but
from a fear that asy thing which might be said
should bring conviction to minds which they did not
wish should be convinced. This was another proof
of the weakness and injustice of the cause of their
adversaries. As a bystander at the meeting of that
day, he had made his remarks upon the proceedings,
and had observed that, with one ceeeption, there
had been no allusion whatever to the reign of the
bloody Queen Mary. This was some approach to
nu improvement in the conduct of their opponeets ;
for it would be recollected that on almost all former
occasions, the crews of Mary's reign had been dwelt
upon, and arguments used to show, that if further
eonees-ions were grahted to the Catholics, the fires
if Smithfield would again begin to blaze. The
march of their adversaries in intellect was but slow,
vet they had made some progress, for they had al-
ready advanced nearly 140 years, and came down to
the period of the Revolution; and though he would
not go into any historical details respecting the
events of that period, he must observe that those
who drew arguments from them forgot one little
circumstance, that •the Roman Catholics of that
day were attached to the House of Stuart,
which House had now ceased to exist. (Cheers.)
Several gentlemen had expressed a wish that the
time might arrive when the Roman Catholics might
be admitted to all the- privileges of the constitution.
With that adinission, the question lay in a very nar-
row compass: it ,was this—when was the time to
came at which they might be so admitted? This
was a question of degree, and, as such, perhaps,
was not the fittest subject for discussion at a county
meeting; yet they might stop a Utile to examine
how far the admission was likely to be injurious to
liberty. . Ott this subject they had Mr. Fox, the
strenuous, the almost extravagant assertor of civil
liberty ; he was in favour of emancipation. Was it
likely to injure the church ? Let them look to Mr.
Pitt, the earnest asserter of the rights and privi-
leges of the Church; and he also wuran .advocate
for that principle. Was it likely to injure the prin-
ciples of the Revolution? They found Mr. Burke
the most strenuous asserter of those principles, and
he was a warm advocate of emancipation. these,
perhaps, wereTpersors in the foie-top, and saw land
sooner than those who were engaged on the deck,
and, certainly, long before those who were still in
the hold (cheers and laughter); and if lie were to
pursue the allusion further, he might say long, long
before the many who were engaged in the biscuit-
room. (Continued laughter.) He would not tree.-
pew; on their attention, for they were all agreed on
the principle that it was grossly unjust to deprive
any !nen of their eligibility to otlice because of their
religious opinion. He hoped, and he was sure they
ad hoped, they would see the day when such dis-
greceful tests were erased from the Statute Book.
The Noble Lord then gate, " The Health of Lord
Seymour," which was drank with three times three,
with great applause.
Load Sin-Kona returned thanks.
The Rev. J. P. Joetas said, that, as one of the
Vice-Presidents, he would propose the health of
Lard John Russell, a most distiriguielted member
of that distinguiehed noble family who might be
leoked upon as the hereditary defenders of our glori-
Gee coneiitutien. The Rev. Gentlemen then en-
tered into a long eulogy upon the merits of the
Noble Lord, ztie! of those ancestors f-re •vhen. tar
derived hie mime, as well as his claim to the best re-
gards of every man who valued the liberties of his
country.
The toast w.ts drank with loud and immense
cheering.
Lord J. RUSSELL :mtrned thanks.
The Rev. Mr. .MACAULEY, of Plymouth, after de-
precating the notion that the Church was in danger,
lied observing that it might indeed he considered
iv mess hat in jeopardy if it required such assistance
for its support, observed it was a libel upon