The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1855-03-28
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.
"a. R.sr.ad Dr.. caaimsrs. Speed.

mars delivered the following speech before immense
meeting in Edinburgh The Protestant will assent to the
benevolent policy which 1t ineucaes, while all viii be
charmed and convinced by its splendid rhetoric and resist
~. argument To the surprising power Of this speech
be great critic Jeffrey bore striking testimony in saying
hat iii was his deliberate opinion that never had eoquence
,oauoed greater effect popular assembly, and that
81 aud NOT believe thai had been done by the
oratory Of Demosthenes, Cicero Burke, or Sheridan
Aher Sir James " Moncreif and Mr. jeffrey had adj
dressed the meeting DR. Chalmers rose and after some pre-
lmnary remarks proceeded TO say
ave are not pro-Cahoie We are not hostile, neither
are We Indifferent TO the holy Of Professionalism.
cannot answer for others but in yindieaton OF myself
can Al least say IL Is in the spirit OF desoedness 70 that
cause that come here aud because in this emancipation
az Paaists see for Protestans still greater and more
orins emancipation The truth Is, that these disabilities
have hung a. dead weight around the Protestant cause
FOR more than century. They have enlisted in opposition
10 il some unconquerable principles Of nature
because OF injury and the pride OF adherence 10
a suffering cause They have transformed the whole ma
tue Of the contest and by doing they have rooted and
given tenod obsnacy to They have given to our
side the hateful aspect of tyranny while on theirs we be-
hold generous aud ghminded resistance 10 what they
deem oppression. They have transformed nation o.
heretics into nation heroes We could have reuted and
shaned hereto out his but we cannot bring
down the hero from bis attitude; and thus II rs that from
the first introduction OF this Heterogeneous element INTO the
question the truth has gone backward II has
ever since been By the unyedng defiance of people
rritated not crushed under sense OF indgnity and
this notable expedent for keeping down the Popery OF
ireland has only compressed it into hrmness and closed
into phaanx which till opened up by emancipation
we shall find 10 be impenetrable.
Gentlemen would draw arguments from history against
ma but there is passage history which they
can dispose Of How comes 1t that Professionalism made
such triumphant progress in these realms when had pains
and penalties struggle with and how this progress
In be arrested from the it laid these pains and
penalties its turn What have all the enactments of the
atutebook done for the of Protestanism in Ire
land2 And how is il that when single-handed truth
walked through island with the might and prowess of
conquero soon as propped by the authority Of the
State the of intolerance was given to her the bril-
liant career of her victories ended? II when she
took up the carna and laid down the spiritual weaponit
was then strength of her She struck with
mpotency instant that from warfare of principle
il became warfare of politics. There gentlemen OPP
posed profound in the documents Of history but she
has really nothing offer half instructive the living
history that is now before eyes. With the pains and
penalties fight against the Of Reformation did al
most everything in Britain with the pains and penalties
on its side, it has done nothing, and than nothing
in Ireland.
But after ALL is question which does not require
the evidence of history for calculation There shines upon
immediate light from the known laws and principles
of human When truth and falsehood enter into
collision upon equal terms and do with their APP
propate weapons the result is nfaibe. Magma est peri
preralebi But if to strengthen the OF truth
you put the forces of the sautebook under her command
there instantly up the side of falsehood An
ilary for formidable You may lay incapacy on
the persons you may put restraint and limitation on
the property of Catholics but the Catholic mind becomes
ten-old impregnabe than before. We know the
purpose of these disabilities They meant
barrier of defence for Protesants against the
eroachments of Popery and they have turned bar
ier Of defence for Papsts against the encroachmens
Of Professionalism They were intended line of circum
valuation around the sronghods of the Protestant faith
and in effect they have been line of decentralization
around the of the Catholic faith Ii is TO force
those difficult and inaccessible strongholds that
want this wall of separation taken down. When speak
of force il is the combined force of truth and charity that
mean and it is precisely because believe to be om-
nipotent that am emancipatonist II is precisely be-
cause agree with the Duke of Wellington in thinking
that the political distinction done away the result
would be the spread Of Professionalism in Ireland Had
been suffered to minge extensively with Catholic
elowsubects and to company with them in the walks of
civil and political business there would at this day have
been the TRANSMISSION of another feeling the breath of
another spirit among them should have beheld
the impracticabe countenance the reolute and
yielding attitude Of aggrieved and population
am sensible OF one advantage which opponents
have against usand that is certain command the
religious feelings of the population and yet am not
aware Of any public topic which the popular and pre-
valing counter it does at present the
whole drift and spirit of Christianity What other nstru
ments do read of in the New Testament for the defence
and propagation of the faith but the Word of God and the
Spirit of God? How does the Apostle explain the principle
OF Its riumphs in that age when the truth mighty
to the pulling down of strongholds? Ii because the
weapons of his warfare carna lie confined him
self TO the OF spiritual weapons the only BY which
to assa the stronghods either of Popery Pagansm
The Kingdom Of God, which is not of this world re-
fuses TO be indebted for its advancement TO any other
Reason, and Scripture and prayer--these compose or
ought 10 compose, the whole army of Professionalism
and Is by these alone that the battles the faith can be
successfully fought II is since the admission of intoer-
ance that unseemly associate within camp the
cause OF the Reformation has down from its vantage
ground and from the moment it wresed this engine from
me hands OF Its adveraries and began WELD bran
dish II itself, from that moment il has been dead
stand We want to be dsencumbered of this weight and
70 be restored thereby free and proper energies
Mewan truth and force to be discovered from each other
the moral and spiritual to be longer implicated with
The grossly physical; for shall prosper and
never shall prevail in Ireland till be deliver
co from the outrage and the contamination of unhoy
an alliance
IL IS not because hold Popery TO be innocent that
want the removal Of these disabilities but because hold
nai these taken OF the way, she would be
ou more assalabe II is not because am Indifferent to
e good of Professionalism that dispace these
ncia clutches from under her. but because want that
should stand forth in her native strength and make
manifest 70 all men how firm support she has the
oVdhe OF her cause and the basis of her orderly and
Nsi-ad arguments II Is because so much-and
WI any Protestant here present that count too
nuh on her Bible and her evidences and the blessing
ood upon her churches and the force of her ressess
appeals TO the conscience and the understandings of men
because OF her strength and sufceney in these that
would disclaim the aids OF the statute-book and own
no Independence or obligation whatever on a avs
lem OF intolerance These were enough for her in
he days Of her suffering, and should be more than
enough for her in the days of her comparative safety Id
not by fears and false alarms that we do honor
" fFoestantism. far hetting honor 10 the great
cause the homage Of confidence for what Sheridan
u o the liberty of the pres admits of emphatic a
peauon TO this religion Of truth and liberty Give, saws
orator. give to ministers corrupt House Of Com
mons give them plant and a servile House of Lords
XIV mem she keys OF the treasury and the patronage of