Star.
London, England, 1815-06-09 00:00:00

SLAVE TEADS. •
Lord GRENVILLE My Lore% I wish to
take advantage of the present moment, to call the
attention of your Lordships to nconsideratii.n in
which the character of the country is involved.—
Engegements have been entered lad with his Ma-
jesty, Louis XVIII. and your Lordships, lam con-
fideur, will agree with me, that otie part, and a very
essential p itt, of any stipulation with that Monarch,
littliluneeer situation he may be Ought-to be for the
complete Aholition of the•Sinve- Trade. This object,
it was hoped, would have been secured upon the re.
storatiou of the conquered provinces of France ; but
all that has hitherto been done, either in France, or
'at Vienna, goes, comparatively, but 4 short way io
'the removal of the evil. On the late change in the
Government of France, that person vho now dr
facto exercises the . avernment of that country,
stepped beyond the existing engagements, and coin-
' pima the Abolitiiin of the Slave Trade. Seeing,,, as
I do, so much to disapprove in the conduct of that
person, and condemning, as I most, the whole of hie
public character, I am sorry, my Lords, Olt an bp-
portunity was left for hinvto do so great :et act. lo
so far he is clearly en.itied to praise, for the act i,
now done, and the French Slave Trade is aboli,hed.
At the Lye of a orand co-operation, now about to b..
entered into, it behoves those to whom the Govern-
' merit of the country is submitted, to guard against
the possibility, that success against Bonaparte shall
in any way contribute to the revive' in France of this
horrid traffic. I trust it will be distinctly understood,
that this country cannot, under any circumstances,
waive the condition, that in the event tit success, it
be accompanied owith the entire abrogation of
the Slave Trade. In' sa7ing this; I mean nothing
embarrassing to his Majesty's Government. It has
been obseived, that if Louis did not comply with the
desire of this country for the absolute abolition of this
trade, it was contrary to his own judgment and feel-
ings, and what he did was in deference, and, as it
now appears, in mistaken deference to re;L:rs. It
was misrepresented to biro, that it would be dange-
rous to abrogate at once Ors source of unholy profit,
when, in fact, the very first act of Bonaparte was the
complete abolition of the Slave Trade, at a moment
when it was of consequ -nce to hint to conciliate every
interest, -and to do violence to matte. Tire measure
could not therefore be unpopular in France, and
hence the proposal to Louis XVIIL can meet with
at) difficulty. But, my Lords, difficulty or not, if we
do not lay it down as a sine qua nap, we shall cover
ourselves with eternal ignominy. Trouble, however,
that his Majesty's Government are properly alive to'
our national ch iracter in this respect, I shall not'
tronbli your Lordships with a motion, though I have'
thought it hecedary to declare what the country
eapects of them in this particular."
The Ea a of LIVER tIOOL enti*ly concurred in
the opinitm witb the Nobh' Lord, that it was the duty
Of his"Majesty'sGovernmeet toemerciie every meant,
,within their power to accomplish that which they
felt, as well as the Notile'Lord, Would now tend so
,otttch. to the 'honour and- the advantage, of •Great
Britain., He had no difficulty in stating, that front
'the Ocirind• in 'which the Noble Lord rtferred, the
subject bed occupied the ansions attention cf the
.Prince Iter,;•nt's Government, that measures were
already adi tcd with a view to give full effect to the
Noble' Lord's Wish, and to that of the Parliament
and of the country ; and the Prince's Servants had.
strong reason to Trope those measures would be effec-
tual and he would at least undertake, on the r.tri
of the Prince Regent's Cuvernmunt, to say, that no
efforts would be wanting on their parts to complete
generally the. great work in question, and particularly
an respect to the Government of France, and that no
negociatidn should take place with that country with-
out every exertion being made to bring that great
and desired work-to a favourable issue.
CATHOLIC. QUESTION.
The Duke of SUSSEX, previous to the Order of
the Day being regularly entered upon, pre'ented a
Petition from certain of his Ivl::jecy's Roman Catholic
subjects, of the County Palatine of Lancaster, pray-
ing for a removal of the disabilities under which they
were placed, Ste.--His Royal Highness on presenting
the Petition,
_observed, there were some points in
which lie differed from the Petitiouers their views
of the sithject.
The Petition being rea3, was ordered to lie on the

table.
Earl STANHOPE shortly observed, the Petition
had ilia most unqualified assent, conceiving that every
thing the Petitioners called for was•.a consideration
of right, and not of grace or lavour.
The E.irl of bONOUGHMORE said a few
words' in a low tone of voice, respecting the causes
which had necessitated him to postpone. his motion
from the day for which he had originally given notice.
Lordship chest presented several Petitions from
the Catholic inhabitants of different places in the
United Kingdom, viz. from certain counties in Ire-
land, from the town and neighbourhood of Sheffield,
and other places in, this country ; and lastly, a Peti-
tion from the Cathy lies of Great Britain, generally
cOmplaininl of their exclusion from the benefits of
the British 'Constitution, ace—These were ordered to
lie on the table.
The Order for summoning their Lordships being
read
The Earl of DONOUGHMORE rose, punuant
to notice, to bring forward his promised motion on
,the general subject.: He prefaced it with a speech of

eonsiderable length (but of which, 41. Vea ala of Moos '
which succeeded, out. limits co:Ate us to a volt Erinf
and general sketch), The Noble E irlohserted; that
tta i the proposition which he was an to !tomtit to their
Lordships was entirely distinct and independent of *.
any resolutions that Might have beeh printed and cit..
ciliated before discussion had to en place.. He ale-
rihed no benefit from that new mode of, coming for:
ward to Parlianient • at the nametime Le g.tve no
opinion upon it. He next stated, that ih precise
object of his present motion, was inquiry alore, and
that their Lordship:: should thereby tape Into their
consideration the state of 114 Majesty's Cetholic sub-
jects in Great Britain and Ireland. Hit wish :Asti
was to impt.ss upon their minds, the justice end
policy of granting their clehne to a removal of all
their civil and polkical disabilities—hut in the fiist
instance, he would urge their Lordships to coostitioe
an enquiry into the whcle of the important o:hjoct.
In the present state of the Catholics of tlo: Lino d
.I(ingdottt, greet and injitrions anomeiies ealste • ;
'those of Sccoland were placed in a ete y different •
situation from those in England; end tho.te of Ire-
lied, in many imPortant resp-cts, wt rt cl;tf•tent
from both. One of his objects, Inerelare, would be
to procure a perfect eqanlity Of system for all, The
case of the Catholics of lola IJ stmt.] form a pro.
minent consideration—they constiottel, the intmense
maioritr of four-fifths of the population of that coins- '
y. tr Nothing could be alleged from the cothinct of -
these peroons for keephre so great a portion of their •
fellow-stihjects out of the p ale of the Csawitlitina.—
Otte of the principal inducements for his sgreeing to
the Union (of which measore he kite h• !thee, perhaps, -
than many of their Lordship.;) wei the assurances
he had received that it would lead to a ie.novat at
l the grievances under which the Catholics labou ed.
Without their concurrence and exe; tions, that great
measure, perhaps, could not be effectuated. Their
object, and which he advocated for them, was, to be
placed in the same situation as his M sj 'sty's other
subjects, saving', however, what related to (li, Pro.
testant v.:cession to the Crown, and the Church
Establishments as settled by law. As to the coasi-
deration of securities with respect to those, lie knew
of none which could go beyond that oath which the.
Catholics had freely and cheerfully taken, and con-
scientiously observed thr upwards of twat' y wars--:
He meant that prescribed by the Act of 1793, which
went to remove many of the disabilities untie which
they then laboured. The tenor of that oath he re-
garded as abominable, and he believed it wits flit
framed so much at the instance of the then G hem-
n.ent, of which a Noble Earl then present has hmo
an active member, as through the jealousy of certain
Member* of the Irish Parliament. That oath, which
they had freely taken and well observed, proved them
to be a loyal and well-affected people, was an ade.
'qd the recurity,hindiheir observance at it proved them
to be well entitled to the enjoyment of C.rec rhooits
they now called for. 'l':n re was nothing ia theii
conduct that should exclude them fihnt it. Tice
Pope, long so formidable in the w::y ohjection,
huuld be no longer told ieit as a buebear. There
WAS no commuoication wh never b wen the Irish
Church and the See of Rome i.t the least tato:Ling
khe Protestant religion or the Protestant tstahloilments
-in that country. All that now took place was the in-
, veslitroe of the Irish Catholic Behops with the con-
secrated Pall. He did not see why the Cade aic her'h•.
r.uchy' should be interfered with t they wanted Tio'
stipends, or any thing else from the. British ateerit:
anent. He then expatiated on tee policy of conci.
bating, by every fait and constitsatiolual means, every
class and description of bit **sty's !Olean, para.
cularly that nunktrous body the Catholics of
whose sprit, devotion, and 'energy were well known:
It would he the only means of putting such .. coin.
try as Ireland, the value of which was (scaled able,
completely into the hands of this country, Areer en.
forcing these topics a% ith some farther orgument and
illustration, the Noble Earl concluded by moving—.
•• That this House take into its consideration; in A
Committee of the whole House, the present state of
his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, with reference to the laws by which
'they still continue to be deprived of the real ben-fits
of the British Constitution."
On the question,
The Eiirl of BUCKIN3HAMSHIRE Nee in
consequence of some points 'which had elicited iromi
the Node E trl who made the motion, and priori.
pally with reference to the IrisliAct of 1793.. He
was decidedly of opinion, that upon that Act at stand
should be made, becaase by it was given every thing
that those Catholics could consistetoi; enjoy under
a Protestant Government, and every thing essen'ial
to their rational freedom, their happiness, and their
prosperity. With respect to the oath on which the
olohie Earl li id so strongly reatuked, he entertained
a contrary opinion, and begged leave he say. that the
oath, thottoli not the satiie as original:), proposed,
was not substantially different from ehat was aip-•
['toyed by the Irish-generally, and itmaireven framed
in consequence of a daaclarataon made by the Irish
Cathblics rkemselles and he begged leave farther
to say, that what the Catholics then asked Mr oat
short of wit at they actually obtained by that. Act.—
But it was the Oath of Supremacy, the groat bond
of the union between Church and State, which they
would have to take, in order fully to place tbein -
on the same footing with their Protestano
subjects—and, until they took that, they were inl
capable of so participating :—as foreign supitmacy
was an immutable principle with the Catholics.—
On this topic he would refer the Noble Lord to a
high authority, which he respected, and which, he
believed, the Noble Lord himself respected still more.
He was equally distinguished for his great abilities,
and for the part he cock with respect to the Catholic
cause. He meant the Noble Lord's own father. He
stated on the Bill of 1793, that the great bulwerk or
the Constitution was a Protestant Parliament, Lords
and Commons, and Judges—but that with these it
would be no infringement 0 the Coostitotieet to Eke