Star.
London, England, 1826-04-18 00:00:00

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.

The Marquis of LANSDOWN, in rising pursuant to
his notice, said that although, the Petition which he was
about to move might be laid upon their Lordships'
table as similar to those which on many other occasions
had been brought before them, yet as he was sure they
felt the magnitude and the importance of the subject-to
which it referred, he could not have felt justified in
placing it upon the table without saying a few words,
although he was far from wishing. to invite them to an
argument upon a subject that had been heretofore and
would be hereafter fully aiscussed. He was the more
especially desirous of offering a few observations be-
cause this Petition had been placed in his hands, in
consequence of an event which this House could not
fail to deplore—the loss of that lamented individual, a
Noble Member of this House, whose services had been
so long engaged in the cause to which his whole politi-
cal life, from its commencement to its close, was,.from
particular circumstances, so intimately connected ; and
of which he continued to the last to be the able, the
eloquent, and the disinterested advocate. Their aord-
ships would feel thst although the grave had dosed
over him as it had closed over many other distinguished
characters, who, in submitting to the common lot of
humanity, had been compelled to commit to others the
unfinishe4 task of endeavouring to enlarge the bounds
of civil and religious liberty—
" Et quasi enrsores vital lamps& tradutar
—the cause that he lest unfinished -was one that could
not fail to live, although one of its best and ablest sup-
porters had departed, and although he had left to others
to advocate its claims, those claims would continue to'
be urged upon their Lordships, so long as the different
members of the community re:ained a just sense of the
advantages of equal rights; so long as a population ex-
ited under a system of exclusion, which, though it al-
ways unites, can never diminish ; so long as they felt,
and GOD forbid they should ever cease to feel, the dis-
advantages under which they laboured, in being ex-
cluded from those constitutional tights which their fel-
low men and their fellow subjects enjoyed, and in whick
if they had lived under any other Protestant Govern-
ment now existing in' the world, they would be al-
lowed to participate. It was therefore impossible for
their Lordships to expect that they would not again
and again have these claims pressed upon them: that
they would not again and again have to listen to those
appeals which were made equally upon their policy
and upon their justice. Having said so much, although
it was not his intention to offer any argument in support
of the prayer of the Petition, be thought it a duty to
those who had placed it in his hands to state, that having
perused it with attention, and knowing how indulgent
their Lordships would be, even those who were* hostile
to the claims therein made, towards any language that
might have been accidentally employed in giving vent
to feelings somewhat irritated, under the pursuit, as the.
Petitioners were, of what their Lordships would admit
were no contemptible privileges. Notwithstanding this,
he owed it as a duty to the Petitioners to state, that in
the Petition they had placed in his hands there was
not a single sentence deserving of reprehension. They
had judiciously abstained from entering into theological
discussions which are not necessarily connected with
their cause, and which however fitting they may be as
subjects of instruction from the pulpit, or for learned
dissertations from the press, he most sincerely wished
might never be heard within the walls of that House.
They had in a great degree confined themselves- to
combat the assertion that they were unfit to enjoy the
privileges enjoyed generally by other subjects of the
same Government under which they lived, the allega-
tion of a divided allegiance .they solemnly disclaimed,
and to that disclaimer, worded and signed as it is, he
begged to draw their Lordship's attention, as well as to
the petition generally, which, foe the number of its sig-
natures, the respectability and charatter of those by'
whom it was signed, and from the object it sought to
obtain, would be treated by them with the eesuidsreaion it deserved-
He considered It at the present moment vatIMMIN/117 to occupy any
more of their Lordships time, save to aware thein that be retained
all the sentiments upon this important subject which be had hereto.
fore expressed—and that be trusted the period-would arrive when
those sentiments would be more generally adopted by that House.
—The Noble Marquis then presented a Petition from various indi-
viduals, professing the Roman Catholk Rellglogin Ireland,raying
for Catholic Emancipation. which was read at length, and La on
the table.
The Marquis of LANSDOWN.presented a Petition
from 3 great number of the Protestant :Proprietors in
Ireland, complaining of the injury which they, as Pro.

Earl GREY said, that he held a Petition from a pan
of the same body who had entrusted their general Peti.
lion to his Noble Friend. and could not possibly have
entrusted it to an abler man. . His Noble ?fiend had
:hewn that his zeal in their cause was tempered by
sound judgment, when he had declared that he woeld
do nothing more than make the usual motion that their
Petition do lie upon the table. He would follow the same
course ; but before he did so, he could not refrain from
exprevskto his conviction, a conviction strengthened by
every passing year,that disqualifications on the ground of
-religious opinions, unless irl cases of over-mastering
necessity, could not be maintained on principle.of either
policy or justice, and that on their repeal and' the se. ,
complishment of the great work of conciliation and
peace, the welfare and prosperity of behind, and the
security and power of the British Empire mentiall,
depended. He agreed that it was inexoedient at pre-
sent to enter into the discussion of that great question,
but it was one of such a nature that it must force itself
again and again on their Lordships consideration, and
he looked with anxious hope to a time, not a far distant
time, when, under the auspices of his Noble Friend, th it
great question would be taken up with better gators,'
and brought to a favourable end. The Petitioners ex.
pressed their deep sense of the injury which they suf..,
fared from their disqualifications as Catholics. They .
stated that at various times they had endeavoured to
obtain their emancipation; that with this view they had
formed themselves into a boJy known by the name of the
Catholic Association, according to former practice, and
to attain legitimate objects through legitimate means:
They complained that a Bill had been introduced into
their Lordships' House to put down that Association;
that they had appealed to their Lordships to be heard
and exemined at their Bar against the Bill, but that
without any inquiry whatever the House had passed
that Bill into a law. They stated their sense of the
injury thus done them in strong terms, but not to strong
as to have made it unfit for him, or inconsistent with
the respect due to the House to pre,ent their Petition,
and they prayed for the repeal of the law of which
they complained. He should consider, that he had dis. ,
charged his duty towards them when he should have
moved that the Petition lie upon the table. In order
to save their Lordships time, he should state before he
sat down that he also held another Petition from the
Catholics of the Parish of St. Audeon, in the City of
Dublin, and that they bad requested him to draw at.
tention to two particular paints in it, which referred to •
those measures brought in along with the Cotholic Bill
tut year, and known and er- the name of " Wings." Ms owe of
these, he hiateelf bad felt a strong objection. He meant thetwidelk
disfranchised all forty shilling fiveholders by one sweeping Act. and
depdved them of a right held on the same principle, and by the-
' mot tenure, that made every other species'of property inviolable.
fie had not been surprised, therefore, at the time, at finding that
many who had till then supported Emancipation opposed it with
such appendages. He need not add, that he concurred in the e:u.
timeats of the Petitioners on those points, as well as in their general
object.—Both Petitions ware *en read and laid on the table.

WEST
The Order of the Day baying been-read,
Lord SUFFIELD rim. Thou4h the subject of his
motion was totally unconnected with the emancipation
of Slaves, or the time at which it was to be carried into

effect, yet be could not help offering a few observations
cn so:re of the points which had been brought into
controversy. Even the most able advocate, or rather
he ought to say, apologist of the present system in the
Colonies did not deny her propriety of Emancipatinn.
but only contended as to time. The Anti Slavery
Society bad been charged with precipitation in its
efforts.to bring that great and desirable event to a close.
But this charge was unfounded : and nothing precipi-
tate could be found in its language or in its measures.
With respect to compensation, his own view was that
the country having during the last thirty years added
150 millions to her national debt, and sacrificed 50,0'J0
lives to protect the colonies, she was more entitled to
compensation for what' he had done than they for what
was required from them. At all events,however, it would
be better for her to pay three millions annually for the
abolition of slavery, than an equal sum for their de-
fence and support. As to the charge thrown on the
Abolitionists that they represented slavery as incom:
patible with Christianity, it was wrongly laid to
their account, for the assertion originated with the West
Indians themselves. He had read tbit very morning
an article in the Royal Gazette of the West Indies, psib-
lishei in 1808, which said :—" He that chooses to
make them Christians, let him give the slaves emit
freedom. What might not be the consequence of
calling such men s Beloved Brethren ?' To ass
Isemble negroes in a place 'of worship gives them a
feeling of independence, and makes them form
ideas and comparison= which it is dangerous to
indulge, and which must not be encouraged."-7
It was evident, therefore, that the idea of slavery being
incompatible with the Christian Religion, was the
growth of the West Indies. Having thus taken a ge-
neral view of the question, he should say that the single
object of his motion was not to convey civil rights_ to
the slaves, but to prevent criminal wrong, an idea
which was so well expressed by Commissioner Dwharris,
in his report on their Lordships' table. And 1k should
think be would do much towards effecting that object
if be could make it to be law, as be intended to propose
this evening-0 That no public functionary amid be
allowed to be the owner of any slaves ' • as 1,114.140.
passible that the corruptive influence of slavery sbeadd
not be felt in the conduct of those charged with the
administration of tr e laws, if they were staved to
have an interest themselves in the possession of slaves.
The Noble Lord then referred to a dispatch from Earl
Bathurst, which said that there was not one et
the Colonies in die Wine ladies Wish hise est deft