Star.
London, England, 1828-05-09 00:00:00

• ..•••••!•••••,.4.101.‘ . • •

passages from Sir Toby Butler relative Treaty al,
Limerick, and then protteedetiMe and hoped
after theikV' facterlAtletted with thegreaty o Limerick,'
- :V that•Shesl4lt Hon. Gentleman opposite would not say
that the articles of that Treaty had rot been violated,
or that it did not positively. and pointedly stipulate for
civil liberty. Could there be a question but that the
English °Devilment was guilty of a shameful compro-
mise salgood faith, in extending to Ireland penal laws
which were not in existence in that country in the time
of Charles the Second? He had, however, on this point
the authority of a` highly respectable writer. Bishop
Burnet says that the Irish, who were parties to the
Treaty of Limerick, ireated not only for themselves, but
for the It ish Catholics generally, that it was guaranteed
to them by the Treaty that they should be restored
to all the civil privileges which they enjoyed in the
time of Charles the Second. Now the Act ex-
cluding Catholics from Parliament in England had
not then extended to Ireland, and it was a most
monstrous violation of the third of King William,
to extend an Act not previously known in Ireland before
the Treaty of Limerick; the faith of King William was
pledged, and as he hoped to prove, not unwisely pledged,
for he not only secured advantages, but he gained for
this country benefits which she is enjoying at this mo-
ment. He promised that they should be admitted to
all the privileges of subjects, upon taking the Oath of
Allegiance,. without taking the Oath of Supremacy.—
If then a case was not made out for the Irish Catholics
upon this Treaty, he knew not how we could place
reliance on the most solemn engagements. If there be
meaning in words—if there be honour in the humas
. breast—if there be.good faith in language, the Irk*
people were entitled to all the rights and privileges
which have been so long and so unjustly withheld ft Irl
them.—(Cheers). Every one who looks at the history
the time must see, that the Treaty has been violet ,
The Honourable Baronet, after some further remarks
upon this subject, said, that the people of Leland
had been guilty of no delinquency—had committed
no crime. The Government of England, therefore, had
no right to visit them with pains and penalties—they
were true to the allegiance of the King as they were
true to what we also were true, but in a different way
—they were true to the liberties of their country—they
were true to themselves.—(Cheers). They were not
slaves kissing the rod of slavery—they were standing
up for the Stuarts, who were the first who gave them
a constitution, who were the first to extend to them the
protection of the English Law. They fought in defence
of their benefactors, to whom they were tied by grati-
tude more than by any oath of allegiance—they fought
for them, not when they were in power and could dis-
pense favours, as they were discharging a debt of grati-
tude, they were honous ably paying a debt which they
owed to the generosity of their benefactors—(Hear,
hear !) When the King ran away, and abandoned his
rights, the people of Ireland, like brave men, stipulated
for what was as good for England to give as for Ireland
to receive. When the Scotch rebelled in 1715 aid 1745,1
the lash did not join them, but stood firm to England.
They were treated as delinquents for that attachment
to the House of Stuart which was admired in the
Scotch. When the Treaty of Limerick was signed,
King William was so bard pressed, that he actually
commanded his Generals to make peace with Ire.
land on any terms. The city of Limerick was not
so bard pressed, and none could say but that if the
Treaty had not been-made, the English army in Ireland i
would then have been destroyed, and the whole face of
affairs changed. Ireland gave by that Treaty as much
or more than she received. No one could then say
whether it was not to the Treaty of Umetick that we
owed the establishment and the success of the Revolutiou
in England. The garrison of LimeriCk had more to
give us than we had to give them ; they had the power
of protecting us in our new establishment, while we bad
to give them nothing. They asked nothing—but to be re-
cognised as a part of the country, and to be admitted
to equal rights with the people of any other part.—
Such
then was the history of the Treaty of Limerick-1
such were the effects of that Treaty, and such were the
claims which he contended the people of Ireland were
entitled to put forth, grounded upon the faith upon ,
. which that Treaty was made and ratified. After this
followed a dreary. and a doleful, and a disgraceful
page in the history of lrelan.i—a pagiover which he
would willingly pass, but' upon which he felt it his
duty shortly to comment. Under a system of tyranny
which followed the violation of that Treaty, the people
of lseland seemed depressed in spirit and broken-
hearted—became so to such an extent that we ourselves
began tosrecoil frOm the scene to w hich we had given
existence. Then men of enlightened minds, of expe-
rience, and of information, spoke boldly out of the
oppression under which they laboured, and began to
reflect on the means of, lightening the heavy burdens
which a severe and long, continued course of injustice
had heaped upon them. Then the. Protestants of
the sou. airy, too, manifested a spirit similar in view
and with similar objects—till the people of that
country, having arms its their hands, thought to
raise themselves into that importance to which they
conceived themselves entitled—and the Irish volunteers
• demanded a constitution for their country. The Cabo-
-lics'had by this tittle grown into prosperity, had ac-
cumulated stoic'', and bad consequently become
powerful; and in 1793, when Lord Westmorland was
Viceroy, and Mr. Cooke under Secretary of State, they
gained from this country a right of the highest character
and consequence. When England gave to Ireland tl e
elective Iritochise, sle gave her that with which, if she
meant to withhold any other right, it was most absurd
'to entrust her—a more short-sighted course than such
a course, was never adopted by any Ministry entrusted
with a country's affairs. In giving her such a power
she gave her that which Archimedes required, a point
on which she might have moved the whole of this
country ; and have moved it in a manner, which, it she
bad not been speedily satisfied, might have led to the
destruction of both. The Catholics had grown up to
be men—a dreadful struggle ensued—a scene of horror,
et desolation, and of blood, which be earnestly wilted.
coold be for ever obliterated from the hitory of that
counity—the land so gifted by nature, arid so calcu-
lated to bless as well as to nourish all to whom it bad
given hint), was convened iams a land of suffering,
and of misery, sdaretalso., Weyer, (vaned. and not to
be thought elPell.4lllllWat a shudden In whatever
way it should be lo ked' at,whither with the mi•
croscopic eye, or with the extended view which takes
in the whole political world, there was no greater
interest than would be affected by the decision. to
which they would come on that night. At dais par-
ticular period, the advocate of such a case as thatplaced
• in his hinds could not refrain from reminding them
that there was nothing so cheap as justice—nothing so
costly as oppression. Let them, therefore, even with a
mere economical view of the question, render justice. 6-!.
' even tardy and reluctant justice, unto their kilow sub-
jects. who are as well entitled to their rights under the
4nglish triiiiitination as they vete themselves; and in'
doing nee, they wcstld achieve more in the way of eta