Star.
London, England, 1813-02-26 00:00:00

though the higher ranks Were efcittaed from Weld
places of power and trust, the whole Mass of the
Catholics was amply protected. It had been oft.*
said, that offices were intended for the benefit of the
• Public and not of the individual, and if it was deter.
mined by the majority that certain qualifications
were necessary for those offices, those who were ez. .
eluded had no right to complain r they artg-ht espett
protection, but they had no right to confidonat—.
As then no specific object had been brought forward,
he could not see what advantage would result front
entering into new inquiries on the subject of the dis-
abling Statutes. Parliament had, in fact, doting
the last twenty years, been continually examining
them. The Unconditional repeal however now de-
mended. it had never been in the coa,ornplation of
the Legislature to concede.. The declarations •aed
oaths which had been repreUnted as constituting
such powerful • titles to unlimited and unqualifird
concession, formed the ground, it should be realm.
bered, of the valuable concessions and alterations
which took place in 1793. Since that period, how-
ever, they had become mere imposing in their de-
mands, and finding themselves supported by men of
great talents and distinction, extended their view;
and asserted claims which were utterly inadmissible
with reference to the security' of our own Chards,
and the fundamental laws of the Protestant Esta-
blishment. He was himself far from being diem.'
to ferment or encourage an intolerant disposition,
but the toleration which he desired to see indnlged
was, a toleration compatible with the stability of the
Govermnent, and consistent with the principles
which our ancestors had deemed essential to Li*
Constitution. He called on the House to direct its
attention to those principles, and to discard, on a
question of this magnitude and importance, every
personal interest and every party feeling.
Sir ROBERT HERON expressed his wish to
form a measure of the indulgence ot the House, by
occupying but little of its cynic. The Hon. Gentle.
man who preceded him, however little disposed to
appreciate highly the name ot Mr. Windham, had
yet acknowledged the authority of Mr. Pitt, and that
he had surrendered office because he found him.
self unable to adopt those measures, with regard to
the Catholics, which he deemed indispensable to
the interests _of the Empire. Among the may
charges gratuitously made, and as gratuitously re.
ceived against the Catholics, it was asserted, they
were the enemies of liberty. Where, however, was
he to seek for the evidence of their hostility to ra-
tional freedom ? The Right Hon. Gentleman who
made the motion, and had that night enlightened the
House not less with the force of his reasoning than
the brilliancy of his eloquence, bad reminded theta
of Runnymede ; and he would likewise venture to
say, that even at the period of the Revolution, it
was not a religious contest, but a struggle of men at-
tached to an heteditary Sovereign mingled with Pro-
testants, and even conducted by a Proteetant leader.
(Year, hear.) Had James 11. evinced cammon con.
rage or ordinary talents, after his departure from
London, he believed that the result would have been
widely different, and that the Prince of Orange would
have been wellsa.tisfied to regain the. shores of Hol-
land in safety. That Revolution was accomplished.
not by the universal consent or insurrection of the
people, but by the united exertions of a.certain num-
ber of patriotic Nobles, acting upon public princi-
ples, and a large ao4, provident policy. When was
it, as had been asserted, that the Catholics fir* felt
the rigours and jealbusi of the English Government
Not surely in the times of Catholic sovereigns, nor is
the reign of that glorious Princess, Queen Elizabitb,
whose policy succeeding ages had accorded in ad-
miring. Unless then some more• intimate connexion
could be diesels, than that implied in vague and ge-
neral accusation, he should continue to believe, that
there was no necessary affinity whatever between des-
potism and the Roman Catholic faith. Did not the
Honourable Gentleman who spoke before him know
that the Rebellion in Ireland was not a religiouS war-
fare !—(Hear, hear.) Was he not aware that it was
the resistance of a conquered country, and that the
conflict was between the natives and those who were
• designated the Orange Party t Were.not the princi-
pal leaders of that Rebellion themselves Protestants t
(Hear, Hear.) It was, he feared, too true, that the
people of England were in general but too ready to
listen to any alarm, however visionary, that was pro-
pagated in respect to the safety of their Church. The
influence of the Papal See had expired in Italy, its
• temporal existed no where, and Popedom had ceased
to be formidable in all -countries except the British
dominions—(Hear, Heir.) Here, in this Tmpire
such was the disaffection of the people—such th;
weakness of the Government,such.the cowardice of
the troops—such the Inefficiency of the navy, that,
notwithstanding its inselar situation, it was sot to be
defended against that powerful Potentate, the Pope—
(Hear, hear.) These idle fears had been long dying
away ; although he believed that considerable efforts
had been recently made to revive them. But if the
Petitions were numerous, there were, he had re-
marked, but few of those which were entitled to
the most weight and the highest consideration—he
meant those of the- freeholders of counties called
together at public meetings, and joining in free dis-
cussion—(Hear, hear, hear.)—Of this description
he knew not what might have come from Ireland
and Scotland, but in England there Was not more
than five or six, and those not hostile to the genera
principle of concession. lie held in his hand a work
published with the avowed object of influencing and
invigorating the opposition to thest. claims, and pur-
porting to be the production of a society which had
assumed to itself the lofty title of the Protestant
Union.—(Hear, hear.) —lt was with concern that he
saw to it the name of an individual respectable and
amiable in all the relations of life, but, as he con-
ceived, most mistaken on this subject. This work
contained qJeries addressed to the Catholics, but to
these queries no answers were desired. Wisely did
its author abstain from such an invitation, for the
work had roduced its effect in influencing the pre.
sent discussion, and it came precisely at a time when
it was impossible that any answer to it could have
been received. • The first meeting of this society took
place on the 12th of February, and then an address
was resolved to the 'People of England, graciously
promising its protection, and undertaking to enlight-
en their minds, -and to inform them and that donee
of course, in the numberof all those points and dog-
mas of the ltomish Church, with respect to which
they must otherwise have been left in such miserable