Star.
London, England, 1814-04-02 00:00:00

THE C4IIIOLiC QUESTION.

The Catholic Board met at the House of Mr. Fitz.
patrick, in Capel-street, Dublin, on Saturday last.—
Sir THOMAS ESMONDE filled the Chair ; the Meeting
was very respectable, and sustained no loss at all by
the absence of the Orators. The following letters
were read :

" Dublin, 4, Capel-street, 25th Feb. IEI4.

" My LORD (or) SIR—I have the honour to inclose you the
,everal suggestions respectfully submitted- to your consideration
by the General Board of the Catholics of Ireland.
" The Board has been anxious to point your condescending
attention to these matters in which the late Bill introdUced into
the House of Commons last Session for our relief, appeared to
the Board to, have been particularly defective, convinced that
their respectful suggestions will receive from your well-known
zeal and patriotic devotion to the cause of your suffering coun-
trymen, all the consideration which in your judgment they
trinsik.ally omit. I have the honour to be,
" My Lord (or) 51r,
" Your most obedient servant,
" To the Earl of Donoughtnore (or) " P. P. ROCHE.
the Right Ron:Henry Grattan?'

" March, 7th. 1814.

" Si —1 war favoured with your Letter, accompanied with a
paper containing certa;n ideas of the Catholic Beard, with a de-
sire that I should direct my attention to some matters in which
it:appeared to that Board. that the Roman Catholic Bill framed in
the last Session was particularly defective. In answer to which
communication, I beg to say, chat the Bill framed in the last
Session for the relief of the Roman Catholics has been miscon-
ceived; but 'without entering into particulars, or without any
opinion on the suggestions of the Board, I shall take them into
my consideratian, and act according to my judgment.

" I have the honour to be,
" Your very obedient servant,
" P. P. Roche, Esq. " HENRY GRKITAN."
Knocklotcy, 9d March, 1814.

" SIR-11 have had.the honour of receiving your Letter of the
25th ult. with 'the accompanying suggestions, as they are now
called, and by which the Cont'uctors of the late proceedings of
the Board have thought it expedient to circumscribe—so far as in
them lies—by limits sufficiently narrow, the discretion of those
who have been selected to plead the Catholic Cause, and the de-
liberative functions of both Houses of Parliament. Having
availed myself, not long since, of the occasion which bad pre-
sented itself, of expressing my sentiments upon that part of the
subject—explicitly and without- reserve—it is quite unnecessary
for me now to repeat the same declarations again, or to request
that it may be remembered, that I receive these communications
in no other light than as the opinions of very respectable indivi-
duals, who profess and' eel a particular interest on a great pending
question—not unimportant from its extensive bearings and pro-
bable results, to every ether class of his Majesty's subjects—but
according to which I am nut to be considered, by this my acknow-
ledgment of the receive of these suggestions, as bound, in any the
most rer.eote degree, to regulate my Parliamentary conduct.
" Under these impressions, and because it would not be Litdng
s that I should anticipate discu;sions better suited to anothertime
and place, 1 cautiously 'abstain froth anrconsideratimr of those
Eleven distinct Propositions, which the Catholic Board have
voted, to form, as it would seem, the basis of a new Treaty, into
which they are thus preparing to enter with the Sovereign Power
of the State—or how tar the same, or any part thereof, are in
unison with, or militate against, my own matured opinions ami
conviction.—l have the honour to be, with much truth, Sir, your
obedient, humble nevem, " DUbiOUGUMORE."
To P. P. Roche, Esq.

Mt. NICHOLAS MAHON then, after some preliminary
observations, in which he stated, that the Noble Lord
misunderstood the intention:. of the Catholic Board,
and imputed sentiments to them which they did not
entertain, moved the following Resolutions :
Resolved, That in pursuance of the several Resolutions, en-
tered into at the Aggregate Meetings held in Fishsmble-street,
Dublin, on the 15th and 29th of June, and by the Catholic Board
on the sOth of October last, our Chairman be requested to for-
ward our Petitions to the Earl of Donoughmore, and the Right
Hon. Henry. Grattan, for the purpose of having as early a discus-
sion as possible during the present Session.
Resolved, Thar In respectfully communicating to the 'Noble
Lord, and the Right Hon. Gentlemandrellected to present the
Petitions of the Catholics of Ireland, suersuggestions as appeared
to us materially necessary for the consichtation of the Catholic
Question, we only tuidseill a legitimate rigbt, of which any
class or description of hie he 's subjects are entitled to avaiA
themselves.
. A short conservation end, relating entirely to
Lord Donoughinore's letter alter which tkc qyntioa
was Rai and cagned.

DurcH MAIL.

agtmmel••••••••
BRUSSELS. MARCH 22.
The following statement of the position of the dif-
ferent corps of Marshal Blucher's army, on the 19th,
has been commnnicatecl to the Mayor of Brussels by
Count Lottum :
Generals Kleist and York were at Tismes, General
Bulow at Ange-Gardien, Sacken at Pontalaine, Win-
zingerode in -Rheims and its vicinity, Langeron and
'the corps of St. Priest at Bery-le-Bac.
In all places occupied by the armies of the Allies,
publications in the name of Louis XVIII. were cir-
culated.
- The Duke of Saxe-Weimar has left Tournay with
his army, that has been increased to from twenty to
2.5,000 men, on his route to Manbeuge, which he will
occupy in force. This army, has been replaced by
'25,000 men, chiefly belonging to the Landwehr..
A great number of young men of the first families
hasten to enter the service in our national regiments,
, especially in the cavalry.
Besides five regiments which will be raised at Brus-
sels, Ghent, Mons, and Namur, Prince Ernest of
Arenberg, son of Prince Augustus of Arenberg, for-
I mcr y Count of Mark, is raising a regiment at light
infantry, which will form a part of the Belgian army-

BRUSSELS, MARCH 25.
According to the accounts on the 223, the posi-
tions of the army were as follow :—General Wmzin-
gerode is at Epernay ; General Woronzow, at Rheims;
Langerue, iit Fismesi Sacken, at Braine ; General
Bulow has surrounded Soissons on both sides; York
is at Chateau Thierry, with his advanced posts at
Montmirail ; Kleiit, at la Ferte.
Napoleon is at Arcis, and as he has all his troops
with him, the road to Paris is open for the army cf
Marshal Blucher.

is The Prince of Schwartzenberg in a concen-
trated position, between Troyes and Brienne, with
the grand allied army.
At Rheims Napoleon seized all the hair-dressers
and shoemakers, whom he immediately incorporated
with his Imperial Guards. The first column which
passed through Epernay was only 15 or 16,000 strong,
and the 2d, under Marshal Ney, that passed through
Chalons, amounted to nn more than 7 or 8000.

In an action near Macon, General. Bianchi has
taken 2000 prisoners. -

PROCLAMATION.

" Head Quarters, March 14.
" SOLDIERS !—The greatest glory of a soldier is
obedience to his supgiors, and it is only by this sub•
mission that he can obtain the rewards due to his ho-
nourable profession. Victory .is the natural fruit of
this obedience, and your General expects and de-
mands it of you. He has heard with pain various re-
presentations of irregularities committed by divisions
of his troops, which deserve the severest punishment,
and he warns all those who hereafter may be guilty
of any excesses (which can originate only in disobe-
dience to a superior), that they will suffer the utmost
rigour of martial 11w. It is necessary to instruct the
natives of the country through which we pass, that
their alledged enemies are more generous and merci-
ful to them than those who pretend to call themselves
their friends. SWARTZENBERG, Field-
Marshal, Commander in Chief."
ANTWERP, MARCH 19.

The garrison of this place, by the various sorties
made, has lost in killed, wounded, prisoners, and de-
sen.ers, about 6000 men. A month since four nun-
aoats were posted in the Scheldt below Lillo, which
have been obliged to retire in consequence of the ap-
proach of the English upon Waarder. We have now
detached a 61-gun ship to that neighbourhood, to
disappoint the attempts of the English upon Lillo,
where there are stationed about- 5 or 600 French
troops. The Governor, Count Senns, is unwilling to
surrender the place until he shall have collected a
large sum of money by exactions from the inhabi-
tants. The land•tax has been extorted, not only for
1813, but for 1814 and 1815.