Star.
London, England, 1824-02-11 00:00:00

Mr. GOULBUIU exp! essed his surprise that ally
charge should have been made against him of a dispo.
sitiun to refuse or withhold intelligence, particularly
by an Honourable Member who was so 'emit; kable for
the accuracy if his statements in general. Hew as sure
that if the Honourable Member took the pains only to
look to the number of papers laid on the table since he
had been in office, he would find that thete existed no
ground whatever for such a charge against him. It
was but the other evening that he had granted $O,OOO
accounts to the Right Honourable Baronet opposite—

(Hear, and laughter).
Sir J. NEWPORT expressed his surpti..e at the con-
fidence with which the Right Hon. Gentleman stated
that lie had granted 30,000 accounts on his(Sir J. New-
port's) motion. He had, in fact, granted no such thing.
The accounts alluded to sums of money levied in the
several parishes of behind for the builling and repair-
ing of Churches, together with the rates of assessment, ,
sitlari-s of clerks and other officers, and also to the num-
ber of Cathedrals in Ireland consolidated with Parish
Churches; the amount of sums levied upon such parishes
for repairs, and the number of persons constituting the
vestries making such assessments. In moving for those
accounts he stated, what he would now repeat, that he
hooked upon them as so important in their nature that
they ought on no account to be withheld, even if they
were twice as numerous as they really might prove ;
for he conceived it to be a matter of vital importance
to the people of Ireland, as well as of any other coun-
try, if they were to be taxed, that they should know b)
whom the taxes which they were called upon to' pay

were imposed.
The return was then ordered ; and on the question
being put on the Motion for a Return of the number of
Roman Catholics appointed to the Office of Assist An-
t within the last five years,
Mr. GOULBURN said he did not see how this return,
and those which were to follow it, could be made with-
out the •ery objectionable proceeding were adopted of
calling on every individual holding such appointment to
make a confession of his private opinions in matters of
faith, which was neither expedient nor consistent with
the regard due to personal feelings.
Lord ALTHORP said, he did not see any greater in-
delicacy in inquiring %%healer certain individuals were
Roman Catholics or not, than in inquiring whether they
were Assistant Barristers or not. _ _

Mr. MABERLY said, if papers were to be refused
on such grounds as had been urged by the Honourable
Secretary for Ireland, half the information respecting
that country, which it was necessary for the English
Members of that House to obtain, must be withheld.
Mr. CROKEIt said, there were no means, as the law
now stood in Ireland, of detecting who were Papists or
who were not. Previously to the extension of the right
of voting at elections to Papists, every freeholder, on
presenting himself to vote, was required to declare, on
oath, that he was not a Papist, before he was permitted
to vote. Then came the Act of the 13th or llth Geo.
ILL which prescribed an oath by which Papists were
allowed to testify their loyalty; on the taking of which
they were allowed to vote. The laws had gradually been
changed to such a degree, that they wet e now in a state,
he could not say so disgraceful, because there was no
disgrace in such alterations as were the natural growth
of time and the altered circumstances of the country ;
but they were in so confused and absurd a state, that the
only Act which prevented Papists from enjoying in full
all thei'rights and privileges which their Protestant fellow
subjects possessed, was that which enumerated certain
offices which it declared wete not to be held by Papists,
and yet there was no test presctibed by anv law whereby
it could be known who was a Papist and will:. a Protestant.
First of all, there had been exacted an oath that the
party was not a Papist, without which he was not al-
lowed to since ; then, on the extension of the elective
franchise to Papists, that oath was done away, and an
oath was substituted testifying the loyalty of the party,
on taking which he was allowed to vote. An Act was
afterwards introduced, by which (to prevent delays at
elections) the last-mentioned oath was allowed to be
taken on the spot ; but before that Acc passed, lie (Mr.
Croker) saw the following curious circumstance happen.
A voter came up to the poll, and was asked for the cer-
tificate of his having taken the Papists oath, and on
searching he discovered that he had lost it ; " but," said
he, " as 1 have lost my certificate as a Papist, I will vote
as a Protestant." Everybody present was surprised, the
books were turned over for the law of the case, but no
law could be found whereby the Papist could be caught
and detected from a Protestant ; so that he who had
taken the oath as a Papist, merely because he had lost
his certificate on his way to the poll, voted as a Protest-
ant. There was no means by which the one could
certainly be distinguished from the other. So that with
respect to the returns moved for by the Noble Lord,
with the exception of that relating to the Barristers,
which might be made out by means of the roll that was
kept of the oaths taken by them when sworn, which
distinguished the Papist from the Protestant, there was
no other that could be made.
Mr. Secretary PEEL, referring to the Act of 1791,
which required English Roman Catholics, in certain
cases, to declare, "1, A. B. do profess the Roman Ca-
tholic faith," said he could see no objection to the call-
ing upon such persons, holding the offices to which the
returns referred, as were Roman Catholics, to make a
similar declaration. But he felt that there was consi-
&rable force in the objection taken by his Honourable
Friend the Secretary ler Ireland, to the calling upon in-
dividuals to make a confession of their particular faith.
Sir F. BURDEVI remarked upon the inconsistency
of the objections severally urged by those who had
spoken against the returns moved for by his Noble Friend.
—The Motion was then put and agreed to.
Lord A LTHORP then waived for the present the Motion for
the Returns of Roman Catholics appointed Clerks of the Peace,
Clerks of the Crown, and Crown Solicitor.
A message was received front the Lords, requesting to be fur-
nished with a Copy of the Report of the Select Committee of the
[louse of Commons on the Employment of the Poor in Ireland,
which was ordered.