Some complaints have been...
The Times, 1824-12-13T00:00:00

Some complaints have been addressed to us by persons in the interest of the Catholic leaders, as if we purposely threw obstacles in the way of emancipation, while we pro- fessed to give that measure our support. It is difficult, of course, to dleal wvith men wlho first exert themselves to weaken the cause they have embarked in, and then to throw upon their neighbours the blamne of their own mischievous folly. We bave explained already, for the beneflt of these gentle- men, what we thought of emancipation-of its open enemies, and of its ilijudging partisans. We shall in the following article sum up what we have antecedently statel. 'rhe first great consequence to be expected from emanci- pation speaks for itself: it would break up the monopoly of legislative power, long held by a minority of the people of Ireland. The second fruit of that measure would be less direct and obvious ; but iP our judgment, it would be no less cer- tain than the other-we mean the breaking up of the exist- ing league between the church and laity of the Catholics- a combination only so far political, as it has been produced by the common exclusion of its members from the privi- leges andl honours of the State. Receive, therefore, as partners and brethren that one branch of the malcontents, who alone can be regarded .as admissible to the Const.itu- tion, and you' dissolve at once the principle of the con- federacy in so far as politics are concerned. The system to be adopted towards the Popish churoh, with a view to the perfection of the whole measure, we have long since hinted at, and need but repeat, that as they perlform a certain duty to society, they ought to be supported by it, in de- cency and comfort. It is manifest to every body what a hest of selfish inter- ests have been alarmiied in Ireland, since the frst steps were pursued or even meditated for an introduction of Catholics to place, and power, and emolument undier the Crown. Every corporation takcs fright-and it is but natural-at the prospective everthrov of a rich and proud rnonopoly which it has long enjoyed. The Orango] interest of Ire- land, during the first half of the 18th century, was the true Whig English interest there,-it was the support of the House of Branswick and of revolution principles. But when the empie was released from the fear of a Jacobite succession, mere sordid love of the. public money became the binding principle of the Oranua Protestants, as an exclusive political confederation. Their resistance to the Catholic claims is, to this day, no- 'thintg more than - the dethece of their old finkacial monopoly. They have looked for auxiliaries on every side of them,.and the most powerful and most respectable they could findhas been thie honest fear of Popery (not as a temiporal evil, but as a religit6n) entertained by the people of England. The fear. which the Irish Orangemea only affected, was really, though ignorantly, felt among our- selves. The constant trick, the Irish alarmists has been to terrify the friends of Church and State in this country, by overcharged accounts of the cupidity and ambition of the Cathorics. That game was never played with more industry, more skill, or autlacity, than it has been for the last E8 m6nths in Irelanid. It was ,to be a -inal struggle; and t? it thJ. whole force of the party h-as been, aiiil is silfl devoted. For such an end there are no expedients too un principlea. The worst purposes are assigned to all who bear the name of Catholic. Conspiracies anti insurrections are every- where predicted. Country Gentlemen' are humbugged by the abettors of this fraud, into writing letters to nlen in office, expressive of their indescribable terror, and praying for advice as to the exact time at which they ought to trans- port their families to England. The palpable historical falsehood has been published, that Catholics were the au- thors of the rebellion of 1798; whereas it standls on the records of Parliament, that the Directory who pre- pared it, wvere of every other church hut the Catho- lic. Such is the i;ljustice of party hatred ! Under these circumstances, the Catholic Association was insti- tuted, and the rent-a system of voluntary revenue to be applied to political purposes-was raised. What ought to have been the condduct of the associators ? Tempe- rate-conciliitory-persuasive-their object ought ro have been to counteract an(d defeat the intrigues of the Orangemen with the people of England. Mr. O'CoN- NELL and his fellow-labourers ought to have strained every nerve to disause the English Protestant, whose ear had been poisoned by misrepresentations of the Catholic cause and projects. He ought to bave dis- avowed all menaces-have quieted all injurious jealousies and grounidless fears-rejected all swaggering appeals to physical force and numbers-all exasperatiug recitals of grievances, the growth of forner centuries, but which it has been the incessant study of the British Governient for 40 years to redress. This would have been wisdom and public virtue, antl would havc, beyond all precedent and belief, advanced the cause of Catholic emancipation. lVe ap- proved of emancipation, and do so still. lWe saw that the Irish dlemagogues were impeding its progress, in the exact propor- tion in wlhich they were inflaming the Irishi mind, and alarm ing theEnglish. We reprobated the absurd( and inconsistent rashlless, and have thereby shown ourselves thebestfriendsof emancipation. But our service to the cause was overlooked in our condemination of itsunskillful advocates, and yetthey have the wilfulness to rate at uis for inconsistency. But it is said, why dwell upon the danger and terrors which at this ino- mentarray themselves against the Catholic question-why, at least, if you rank yourselves among its friends ? This is easily answered: the dangers alluded to have no exist- ence but in the frightened imaginations of timid men, playeed upon alternately by the arts of the Orange party, and by the infatuated violence of the Catholics. This vio- lence it is, which has furnished the intriguers of the opposite faction with instruments for acting upon the nierves and passions of' the unwary. To p iiit in its fall extent the incompetency of the associators for the crisis at whichl they had to act, it was necessary to show hiow much resentment, and prejudicc, and consternation, they were every day producing among the Protestants of this country, andl therefore how much positive in- jury to their owII personal undertaking. Ve do not ourselves entertain one particle of such fear: wesay it is. in sorme mindls affected-nbsurd in all; but it is enough that a motive for it has been tendered to the honest, and a pretext to those who are not so, since both will infallibly swell the mass of resistance to Catholic emancipation. As (leliberate friends to that great measure, we conjure the Catholics to be true to themselvez, and to discard those vexatious cour els through which its peaceful accomplish- ment may be postponed for another generation. As friends to an equality of civil rights and powers among the sub- jects of a free constitution, we implore the leaders of the Catholics not toplay the game of the Orangemen., their own inveterate foes-not to force the enlightenecd and moderate members of the Protestant community, and of the KT.NG's Government, to acquiesce in the proposed measures of those whoihave neither temper, nor wisdon, nor equity. to re- commend them. The Catholics may be assured, that en- croacliments on the principle of liberty itself, under the cloak of -precautions against Popery," would be a welcome boon to the Orange monopolists of Ireland. They ought to know, that any semblance of public danger, under a Go- vernment professing conciliation, would be hailed as a bless- ing by those whose passion is to coerce-andI that if they, the Catholics, thus aid and countenance the alarmists, they so far help the return of another Orange Government to Ireland. Will they then, as friends we put it to them, commit this grave crime, against their coniscience, their country, anl posterity ? ' This fact we know.