Star.
London, England, 1829-05-19 00:00:00

,

which are alm'sfiliod Iseille Relief Sill-to be taken by
Roman Centel& 7 dno Act of-Caton it was. en,
tainly directed that Vs the oelleksed by the Act of
' Charles the &coital's* Id be takes, but it did webs.
pose any pales or •.. ' tie's* those who would- refuse
.to take them. It. • nerhap,h_he,gsid, that as the
Act directed they ri betaken; n was the ditty •
therHause, not to allow, any Member to sit or vote until
.. he bad tekeittbans. This Wes a point which, although
Ii win not by any means prepared to concede. let as
is this instance it bad been adopted by that Hon" sod
ai there were precedents by which Bills of-indetnnity4
.•' had been granted in favour of those who-had neglectee
' to take the oaths, be would not occupy the time of the
.• • Hansa by dwelling•upon it at length ; but be ,Would
' herald,' submit to the-House whether theAcrof Union
• not haying given them the power to enforce the oaths.
they Weft itutified in depriving a Representative of the,
People 4 his right, and the People of their Repress*.
tatire? He entreated the House to recollect why Ron
Man tiatliolics were excluded from sitting inParliameni.
They could not sit in Parliament for no Other' reason
but because they could not cosscientioesly take the
oaths which woulthave been put to them.' The power
was left to. the people, if they should be disposed to
diet persons who were capable of the grossest perjury,
while those who shrink from perjury were excluded.
It west" bad principle to act upon; and if he stood de
the Act of Union alone, be respectfully submitted that.
standing as he did before an assembly of Christians and
Gentlemen, they could not follow op such a principle,
and he must succeed. But be did not rest his claims
solely on the Act of Union—he stood upon the Relief
Bill, the effect of which,•he contended. was tp do away
with the oaths imposed by the:AO of •Union—(Hear).
•That Act directed that those oaths should be taken until
a certain time, and that time was until Parliament
should otherwise ordain. That time 'had come—Par-
liament had already otherwise ordained—the declara-
tion had been totally abolished—and new oaths had been
already administered in that Hesse. The Act had been
; but temporary; it was only to be. in-force until sonseci-
thing should happen. •It was a penal statute restrictive
;,t, of the tights of the people, end was only to last till Par,
~4.
~,?asuent should otherwiseindain. That periCid was came,
- not alone with regard to Catholics, not alone with rel
..
„gird to, Protestants, er with regard toDissenters,.but to
14,, All persons taking 'cicala- Parliament. The very oathi
r. which had been proposed to him on Friday,sight' were
41vw,elicl fteth ; they were different from tbDse which
were in operation en the 13th of April last. The Act
of Union which required the oaths to be taken toss there-
fare closed,. and he claimed his right to .the limitation
if that Act as if it hadnever existed. Bit. supposing
the Howe WAS not yet convinced that .thoseAaihs were
.repealed„ he would beg to call their attention.to the in-
tention of the-Legislature in passing. the present. Bill—
. to the AO of Union, from tbe.reign of Charles
41. the object wase to exclude Papists from Parliament,
And it wasog course. the duty of the House w construe
the Act which was passed for that .psrpose.according
to the, intention. But here the .object was to open the
•Hosses of Parliament to Roman Catholics; to remove
the bar which those oaths opposed to . their...entrance;
And he respectfully contended that be bad a right to
enjoy the. benefit to the intention. This Act was like
most other Acts of Parliament, which sometimes eons-
wilted in the middle. and sometimes at the end, of the
.subject. . It in the first place..provided that all Catholic
Pee's should be qualified to sit and vote in ?Aimee*
on taking the new. oaths, as well those whose titles had
been created between. the reign of Charles the Second
And the present time. as .before that period. There
were two Peers in Ireland in. the .fornser.situatien.—
There was Another on whom an .attainder. had been
passed...which he might sly was an unjust ittainder,
As .it , had . been since declared so by the -Legisla-
tine. The titles of the Earl of Kenmare and
.Baron Ffreuch had. heti mated when they could not
enjoy the. benefits of those titles. • They were.now eligi•
ble in enjoy .their full rights, and it, sewer could have
been meant to deprive those. who were elected by the
people as their representatives.of equal advantages from
this act of justice. The section following. admitting
persons who should be veturnettis the House of Com-
imens after the commencemenoef this- Act to sit and
vote by taking the new oath, if it did not include him,
Minding in.the situation in which he did, certainly did
not exclude him. It might not, perhaps, go so far as
to admit him, Wit did not injure his claim. There
was AM point on which he might contentfor his right
even under this section, but,• as it was more.% the way
of legal Argument, and better fit to discuss in a court of
law than before an assembly of that description, he would
not .occupy the time of the House by dwelling on it.—
He Poly mentioned it now because. in a strictly legal
sense, he thought be could take adtantage of k; and he
wished to remind. the House of a ease whieb..had lately
been decided. in which it bad beentisled.that where pro•
perty was bequeathed by.a will tom Children, hereafter to
be born, children who bad been born previously were
entitled, to inherit. This was merely a technical matter,
scud, he. hoped 11,.n. Members would never understand
it at their own. xpenire—( A leash). lf, then, this iec.
‘ion, was not (tamed for the purpose of exeloding it,
it roust' have . been .le4med far other objects, and those
objects Yiere.t9 admit those who, like the Earl of Sur-
Fey. had;been.since ,elected ; but there was se negative
clause in it ; it could not, in any way have the effect of
eecludilig. He ,pas, now came at once to that part of
theßill on which be thought •it was impossibl a doubt
epeldexist with regard to his sight, and he must apo.
011441tIktplio Home .ior having detained them so long
fin other points Hitinearnithe tenth section of the Bill:
--.?4 And beit.further enacted, that it shall be lawful
for sey,of,his .Majesty's subjects professing the Roman
Catholic religion to,hold, exercise, and enjoy, All civil
bad otilitaryoffi:es and places of trust or profit rimier
isbleies‘ychia heirs to SISCCeSSOTS, and to mei cis', any
gollecjegivaliae or tipil right, except as hereinafter eu
;AWOL upgp taking and subscribing at the time, and is
the 111Anegr. hereinafter mentioned, the oath hereinhelore
itprpl4o qpd Set froth, instead of the midis of alle-
gigue mid topremacy, .and declaration against ttinsub-
W 48010006 pd such plbar oath or oaths as are or may
he wpw .ky Jew required to be taken. foi. the purpose
filteSoostick, oft/ Of his Majesty's 'objects professing
• the ,Itomap.Cetholic,religion." So farthe erect which
;biro:lan* niest,bave was .perfectly plain; but, as he
Wpold
,pot Italie the .right Of reply, be was, of course.
borapd to miticippte any otiections which could possibly
lire made ; .apd if he .refuted objections which Ron.
ilieu Might ;wider frivolous, and which they
Would ut-stroke disclaim, he entreated them to make
Ow oilolseatils:fair hissitnation, Nod not to ascribe it to
eill.A, OF **To thelP• that -et meeting
.any objections
- !OPT' Moo p• urged. llsiii section, in the first in.
*WOO% ear .torkithog civil and military offices. eon-
Am..* ibe, 39 41 ;"sfeitnc.bistr." Ibis conk* not refer az-
.oB#lo, Ito Ale thgtOe frattabise,forahat, wil'already
IrFt•iiittotir siteutigged in the. loth section qt she .Bilk
`Nish trued to the: franchise of.oarporations. the 44t1s.
section asthma's it,; so that the Act intentioneUfee.:
teada.so fen an to make use of the ward again; and, Itt•