Star.
London, England, 1813-03-03 00:00:00

did halve gain by the Edict of Name 1 The
loss of many thousands of her most valuable mecha-
nics and extieans, who brought over with them every
thing that could tend to enrich this country, except
their prejudices. He then alluded to the recent and
singular case cf the Lard Mayor of Dublin having
appeared at the Bar of that House, and of his having
claimed the same privileges which were enjoyed by
the Sheriffs of London. What glorious victory did
he come to proclaim ? What splendid achievement
did he come to notify ? He brought a Petition frOm
the Corporation of Dublin against the claims of their
Catholic brethren. His Lordship, however, did not
come single-handed ; he brought over with him another
petition against a monopoly of the EastlndiaCompany.
Down with the monopoly of trade, *aid he, but keep
up that of religion against the poor Catholics. In
his right hand he brought a petition, praying the
House to deny every claim of the Catholics to its
indulgence; and in his left he. bore another, insplor
jug them to admit the great city from whence he
came to all the benefits of the East-India trade. He
was at a loss to conceive with what countenance the
orators of that assembly could, at the same time, ad.
Vance such opposite claims. He should not be sur-
prised if, in a little time hence, they should object to
the Catholics being allowed any participation in the
East-India trade, and that office should henceforth be
the China of the Constitution. The object of the.
present motion was to fulfil the pledge of the last
Parliament, by going into a Committee. The ob-
jection to it was so futile as not to require an answer.
The intention of going into a Committee was only to
form a ground-work for further proceedings. Those
who wished to go into a Committee had been taun-
ted, by being asked, whether they were all agreed on
the measure to be adopted ? He understood that the
Right Hon. Gentleman who brought forward the
motion meant to propose that they should remove the
disabilities under which the Catholics laboured, so far
as could be done without danger to the Protestantesta-
blisliment, and he saw no objection to such a measure.
—The Right Hon. Gentleman then urged a variety
of general arguments in favour of going into the Com-
mittee, with a farther view to conciliate the Catholics,
and to grant them not all they asked, nor to legislate
so much for their good as for the general benefit of
the State. It had been said that England was al-
ready excomunicated by the Pope : what disadvan-
tage had she th;:reby suffered ? That the Pope
would urge Bonaparte. to pursue every measure of
warfare against us ? In Goo's name, what offensive
measure was there which he did not already pursue ?
It had been asked, would you stiffer the Catholics to
regulate the Protestants in ecclesiastical matters ?
Certainly not ; and this was one of the qualifications
which he shoud expect to find in the 80l io be pro-
posed. Would you give them the custody of the
Great Seal, and thereby make them Keepers of the
King's conscience ? No. On the subject of foreign
influence and correspondence, he asked if they did nut
exist now ? and would it not be better that they
should be carried on, as they then would be, openly,
than as they now were, secretly ? He did not affect
to think lightly of the dangers of the grant, and
respected the honest prejudices of the Protestants ;
but Gentlemen had no right to set to the account
of the grant both the present evils and the pros-
pective too ;—it was a comparison of danger be-
tween the present restrictions ana the prospective
emancipation ; and he was only anxious to carry the
torch of discussion into the most remote parts of this
haunted House, and see the phantoms of daneer
vanish before it. The present question was, a. 10 the
principle, not the detail. ( Question, quatton—hcar,
hear.) He was anxious that the measure at Large
should be before the country, something that they
might see, feel, touch, and handle ; and not some-
thing of which they formed a conception, either from
the exaggeration of their own fears, or from the
heart-sickening temper of deferred hope. He there-
fore thought that something between the proposi-
tions of the Right Honourable and Learned Gentle-
man, and the Noble Lord, would best meet the
case. He proposed that the Comrekee should pre-
pare a Bill, which should go to a second reading,
filled up pro forma, and then lie open till another
session, for revisal, before it should be carried into a
law. The name of Mr. Pitt had been introduced by
an Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Tomline) why spoke
early in the debate, and who was in every why en-
titled to the courtesy of the House : he conuneoced
his most extraordinary, 66 and, I think, (said -Mr.
Canning) his—l will say nothing more than eisia-
ordinary (a laugh!) speech, by an intimatibn of -the
'inferred opinions of Mr. Pitt upon this subject ;"
which Mr. Canning, with no untriendly voice, told
him, he had better have omitted, since, in point of,
reasoning, the House were equally competent to
judge; and in point •of authority, there were many
circumstances at the present time, which did not
concur in Mr. Pitt's days: there was one pa.
larly of a temporary nature, which had not ceased
when Mr. Pitt was taken away from us. But many
who were now present heard that great statesman on
the 25th of March, 1805, utter such sentiments as these;
66 I thought that such concessions to his Majesty's
Roman Catholic subjects might have been granted to
them under such guards and securities as would en-
tirell remove all danger to the Protestant establish-
ment, which might have been a boon to the former,—
innocent to the latter,—and conducive to the strength,
unanimity, and prosperity of the whole empire. I,
therefore, saw no rational objection to Catholic eman-
cipation." These words now sounded in the ears of
the Right Hon. Gentleman. But then it was said,
that Mr. Pitt had not communicated this opinion to
Lord Eldon. The syllogism ran thus :—Every gre.:t
aed fundamental opinion must be communicated to the
Lord Chancellor: Mi. Pitt cl;d not so communicate this
great fundamental opinion ; ergo, Mr. Pitt never
entertained it laugh.) Of the Petitions, some prayed
that the emancipation might be not unconditional: so
Mr. Canning advised. Ovine desired the House to
.take the wnestioo into its consideration : Mr. Can-
ring's vote foe going into a Committee would com-
ply with those. Some prayed the House to consider
the question with a view of hostility : the House
must go into a Committee even.for that purpose.—
But the great macs of the people had not petitioned
either way; the whole of tha Scottish Presbytery,
with Glasgow in partictilar,'who made it a part of
King William's oath, that he should exterminate the
Catholics. In conclusion, he observed, that he had
heard no rational objection, either by way of argu-
ment or from the reutioas on the table of the House,

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