Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-04-07
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.
me R0ve,end Dr.. Chalmers Speech.


fore an immense meeting in Edinburgh. The Prot
estant will assent to the benevolent policy which it
nculcates, while all will be charmed and convinced
by its splendid rhetoric and resisess argument. To
The surprising power of this speech the great critic,
jeffrey, bore striking testimony in saying that 1t
his deliberate opinion that never had eloquenee
produced greater effect ona popular assembly, and
that he could not believe that more had ever been
done by the oratory of Demosthenes, Cicero, Burke
or Sheridan. !"
After Sir James W. Moncreiff and Mr. jeffrey had
addressed the meeting, Dr. Chalmers rose, and after
some preliminary remarks, proceeded to say
1--WE are not pro- Catholics. We are not hostlie,
neither are we indifferent to the holy cause OF Protes
antism cannot answer for others; but, IN vndi-
cation of myself at least say it is IN the splre
of devotedness to that cause that come here, and
because in this emancipation OF Paplsts see LOT
Protestants still greater and more glorious emancl
patton. The truth is, that these disabilities hung
as dead weight around the Protestant cause lor
more than century. They have enlisted IN oppo-
sition to it some Of the most unconquerablc prncl-
Piles of nature; resentment because of injury, and
the pride of adherence to a suffering cause. Ihey
have transformed the whole nature of the con-
test and by so doing they have rooted and given
ten-fod obstinacy to error. They have given to our
side the hateful aspect Of tyranny; while on theirs
we behold generous and high minded resistance TO
what they deem oppression. They have transform
ed nation of heretics into a nation OF heroes we
could have refuted and shamed the hereto out OF
his errors but we cannot bring down the hero from
his attitudes and thus it is that from the hrs ntro
duction of this heterogeneous element INTO the
question, the cause of truth has gone backward IL
has ever since been met by the unyielding defiance
of people irritated but not crushed under sense
of indignity and this notable expedient for keeping
down the Popery of Ireland has only compressed It
into firmness, and closed it into phalanx which,
till opened up by emancipation, we shall ma 10
be impenetrabe.
"Gen.lerlen would draw arguments from history
against u.s. but there is passage in history which
they can never dispose of: How comes 1t that Prot
estantism made such triumphant progress IN these
realms when it had pains and penalties to struggle
with? and how came this progress to be arrested
from the moment it laid on these pains and penalties
in its turn? What have all the enactments OF the
statute book done for the cause OF Protestansm IN
ireland? And how is it that, when single-handed
truth walked through our island with the might and
prowess of conqueror, so soon as, propped by the
authority of the State, the armor of intolerance was
given to her. the brilliant career of her victories was
ended? 1t was when she took up the carnal and
laid down the spiritual weapon-lt was then that
strength went out of her. She was struck with I'M
potency on the instant that from warfare of prncl-
Die it became warfare of politics. There are gen
tlemen opposed to US profound in the documents of
history; but she has really nothing to offer half so
instructive the living history that is now before
our eyes. With the pains and penalties to fight
against, the of Reformation did almost every
thing in Britain; with the pains and penalties on its
side, it has done nothing, worse than nothing, IN
Ireland.
"But after all, it is question which does not
require the evidence of history for elucldatlon.
There shines upon it immediate light from the
known laws and principles of human nature When
truth and falsehood enter into collision upon equal
terms, and do so with their own appropriate wea-
pons, the result is infalble. Magma est rerttGs ct
preUale6it But if to strengthen the of truth
you put the forces of the statute-book under her
command there instantly stands up on the side OF
falsehood an auxiliary far more formidable. You
may lay an incapacity the persons, or you may
put restraint and limitation on the property OF
hntfh no min becomes en-fOlQ
more impregnable than before. We know the pur-
pose of these disabilities. They were meant to serve
as barrier of defence for Protestants against the
ofPopery; and they have turned out
barrier of defence for Papists against the encroach-
ments of Professionalism. They were intended as a
line of decentralization around the strongholds OF
the Protestant faith and in effect they have been
line of decentralization around the strongholds OF
the Catholic faith 1t is to force those difficult
and inaccessible stronghods that want this wall of
separation taken down. When speak of force, it
is the combined force of truth and charity that
mean; and it is precisely because believe 1T to be
that am an emancipationiSt. 1t IS pre-
cisely because I agree with the Duke of Wellington
in thirfking that if the political distinction were
done away, the result would be the spread of Prot
in Ireland. Had we been suffered to min
gle more extensively with our Catholic fellowship
ects, and t. keep 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 nor should
snce, the resolute and unyelding attitude, of ag
yrieved and outcaSt population.
am sensible of one advantage which oppo-
nents have against us-and that is a certain command
over the religious feelings of the population and yet
am not aware of any public topic which the
popular and prevailing cry counter as it
does at present to the whole drift and spirit of
Christianity. What other instruments do we read
of in the New Testament for the defence and propa
cation 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
vas SO mighty to the pulling down of strongholds
It was because the weapons of his warfare not
,arnal. He confined himself to the use of spiritual
weapons, the only ones by which to assai the strong
holds either of Popery or Paganism. The kingdom
Of God, which is not of this world refuses to be in
debted for its advancement to any other. Reason,
and Scripture and prayer-these compose, or ought
70 compose, the whole army of Professionalism; and
is by these alone that the battles of the faith
successfully fought It is since the admission of
that unseemy associate within camp,
hat the cause of the Reformation has come down
rom its vantage ground and from the moment it
Trested this engine from the hands of its adverse
'es and began to WELD and brandish it ITSELF from
hat moment it has been at dead stand. We want
70 be disencumbured of this weight, and to be re-
stored thereby to free and proper energies.
We want truth and force to be discovered from each
other the moral and spiritual to be no longer impli-
Gated with the grossly physical; for never shall we
prosper and never shall prevail in Ireland till
Dur cause be delivered from the outrage and the
ANIMATION of so unholy an alliance.
1T is not because hold Popery to be innocent
that want the removal of these disabilities; but
because hold that if these were taken out of the
way, she would be ten-fold more assalable. 1t is
not because am Indifferent to the good of Protes-
antiSm that want to displace these artificial crutch-