Star.
London, England, 1821-03-30 00:00:00

no correspondence wiih Mr. O'Connell, but be had
the honour of his private friendship ; and there could
not be a better friend, father, or husband ; nor a
truer friend to Ireland, though Gentlemen might
differ with Mr. O'Connell on public matters.
Mr. ABERCROMBIE was sorry that so gross an,
absurdity had been attributed to him, that out of five,
or six millions of people there should be no difference
of opinion.
Mr. GIPPS wished the movers of this Bill to con-
sider the chance how far Roman Catholic Schools
might not, by this Bill, be open to the education of
Protestant children.
Mr. W. W'YNN said, the Bill itself called upon
every Catholic Schoolmaster to take the oath of ad-
herence to the Liturgy of the Church of England.
The Report was then read.
Mr. CROKER wished to call the attention of the
House to the circumstance of the hardship upon Pro-
testants, to call upon them, in their oath of supremacy,
to declare that the Pope had no spiritual jurisdiction
in this country. This was hard on the Protestants,
when it was known that the Pope had a spiritual
power over the Catholic Clergy of Ireland, as well
as the Catholic places of education in that country.
But how much more would this weigh upon the
Protestant, when by this Bill the spiritual supremacy
of the Pope was to be distinctly established and acv
knowledged. He therefore should move, that in the
oath the words " Roman Catholic" before the word
" subjects," be omitted, so as to make the oath of
supremacy the same to the Catholic as to the Protes-
tant. It had, however, been suggested to him, that
this amendment had better be made on the third
reading of the Bill; he should, therefore, only consi-
der this as a notice of his intention.

Mr. PEEL concurred in this absurdity, and he
had intended to have noticed it. How could they
ask the Protestant to deny that which they called on
the Catholic to acknowledge—namely, that the Pope
had spiritual jurisdiction in the country? This was
thrown out for the consideration of the framers
cf the Bill.

Mr. W. WYNN said, it depended on the sense in
which the- words " spiritual authority" were to be
understood.

Mr. PEEL said, that if the Catholics meant no co-
active authority on the part of the Pope, why could
they not take the same oath with the Protestants?
Lord CASTLEREAGH contended, that the Pro-
testant might take this oath, because the Catholic
considered the terms of it merely in a doctrinal
sense, without any co-active sense attached to it.—
In his opinion, the two oaths meant the same thing ;
and that the Protestant took his oath with the same
mental qualification as that with which the Catholic
took his.

Mr. CROKER held it to be utterly impossible'
that the Catholic and the Protestant could take the
same oath ; for that of the Catholic acknowledged
and legalized the spiritual authority of the Pope.
Dr. PHILLIMORE contended, that the Protest.
ant denied, by the old oath, that any authority what-
ever had power over his conscience. It was, how-
ever, far the Catholic to meet any objection, and to
conciliate all difficulties.

Mr. CANNING thought it more convenient to re-
serve the debate till Monday.
Mr. CROk ER said, he had formerly said he would
call the attention of the House to this trap for the
consciences of the Protestants, namely, the Oath of
Supremacy.
The Amendments in the Bill were then agreed to.
Mr. C. HUTCHINSON said he had in his hand
a letter from the Pope, in which he enjoined the Ca-
tholic Prelates of Ireland not to meddle with any
thing political or temporal in their correspondence
with the See of Rome.

Sir JOHN NEWPORT moved a clause, that no
Catholics should vote at Parish Vestries, or have any
share in Protestant parish offices or business.
The clause was agreed to.
Sir JOHN NEWPORT moved certain clauses re-
gulating the residences of Roman Catholic Prelates
and Clergymen, and the power of the Commissioners
to punish them for non-residence, &c. which were
all agreed to.
Mr. CROKER now moved a clause, to enable his
Majesty to take measures for providing for the Ro-
man Catholic Clergy. This he thought a most im-
poi tant part of this measure, and he thought this the
only time for carrying it into effect. The first ob-
jection to this was, that it shouli be left to the Go-
vernment to provide this measure. But would any
Protestant Parliament agree to leave so large an ex-
penditure in the power of Government? The Legis-
lature at large must give its sanction to this measure,
for without that the Government would be highly
impeachable if they made so large an expenditure of
money. He knew that the Government ought, ulti-
mately, to apportion any allowance to the Catholic
Clergy; but Parliament must first sanction the prin-
ciple of that allowance. Without this measure they
would be still keeping the flame of discord and dis-
union alive on this subject. Any arrangement to
be made should be liberal, and suitable to the main-
tenance of the Catholic Clergy ; but not so large as
'to separate them from the interests of their flocks.—
He then moved, that Commissioners should be ap-
pointed, under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to in-
quire into the state of the Catholic Clergy, and to
apportion such provision for them as the King might
be advised to rant.
Lord CAS'ILEREAGH thought this was not a
proper time for bringing forward this measure. He
himself would not join Locd Sidmouth's Govern-
ment, until he found that (though otherwise hostile
to the Catholics), they were willing to recommend
a provision for the Catholic Clergy. That at pre-
sent they were completely in the dark as to the na-
ture and extent of the provision to be made. There-
fore, this could not be a conclusive measure, but
must come back to Parliament. He thoiight that
this should come as a matter of grace and favour
from the Crown; because he thought that neither
the Presbyterian nor tratholie Clergy had any right
to a provision from the Crown. He infornied the
Catholic Clergy, that Lord Silmouth's Government
was prepared to recommend to the Crown the making
a provision for them ; and their answer was, grate-
fully and respectfully, that at that time they could
not accept of it. For these reasops he should object
to the clause, though he was as eager as his Right
Honourable Friend for this measure.
Mr. C. HUTCHINSON considered this a most
delicate question, and one which ought not to be