A correspondence has take...
The Times, 1824-05-24T00:00:00

A correspondence has taken place between Lord GREY and Mr. BROUGHAMI on one side, and the Secretary of the Catholic Association on the other, touching a petition tvhich the said Catholic body had requested the noble Earl and the learned Gentleman to present on their be- half to Parliament, and to support by the weight of their authority. The replies of the opposition Peer and Com- moner agree in sentiment, and are briefly to this effect- cc that they are as zealous as ever for a repeal of the dis- "abling statutes against Catholics, but that the othez ob- "jects prayed for in the petition cannot receive th^ir coun- tenance or support." Wirhat are these " other objects ?" Mr. O'CONNELL, inan Irish newspaper i1ow before us. fur- nishes an answer to that question. There are four things prayed for in the petition, and Catholic emancipation is placed at the bottom of the vhole. 1Int, A rerorm in the u...F.t*.t>n r .- -al--n n-busitnent in irelbna. 'We are far from prepared to say that the revenues of the chur ch of Ireland may not be much larger than, if a Protestant church were now to be establislhed, it wvould be wise or equitable to grant it. The question, however, of a reform in the Church Establishment is so manifestly unconnected with that of an extension of political power to the laity of the Irish Catholics, that, except for the sake of alarming the Protestants, of incumbering the simple question of emancipation, and thus raising up a new spirit of disgust and animosity in the public mind of England against it, so as to retard the accomplishment of that single measure, and to reinforce and accelerate the growth of that disaffec- tion for which certain demagogues make the refusal of emancipation the pretext, it puzzles a plain tnan to guess. 2. The second prayer of the petition is for the better regulation of juries-the Catholics objecting to let any Orangeman be empanelled in a case tvhere Cathiolics have an interest at stake. The law, we presume, as it now exists, maybe found to provide sufficient securities against a corrupt selectioni of jurors; but if Orangemen are to be excltded on one side, Catholicsnmust be equally rejected on the -other, in every case where members of the two Churches are par ties -an expedient by which the trial by jury might be altoge_ ther got rid of, but by wvhich we do not see how justice would be protected, or party-spirit subdued. 3. The tlhird subjectof the petition is,the diseranchiscment of corporations. Here, again, it appears to us, that Catholic agitators, as very often happens, have overlaid their own cause. It is clear enough that the law almitting the eligibi- lity of Catholics to the exercise of corporate rights and offices has been factiously evaded by the existing corpora- tions in many parts of Ireland; the law, in fact, re- mains generaUy a dead letter, the Catholics being ad- missible, but not admitted, to the franchise of several cities. For this evil, a total disfrancbisement of the cor- porations is a renmedy much too sweeping. Why not pass in act of Parliament meeting the exact mnischlef-bya suit- able provision-by extending, for instance, the powers of a mandlamus to the relief of the Catholics, in cases where the same writ would afford redress to a Protestant excluded from his freedom ? 4. The fourth clause of the petition is the only one that bears upon the great Catholic question itself; and we re- peat our fear that the preceding riders upon that one legi- timate and becoming prayer were introduced to serve the purposes of men who see, in every approach towards a set- tletnent of the original question, a prelude to the tlecline of their owvn power. The opinion of a Catholic ecclesiastic, of high rank in this country, was quotednot manyyears ago by a member of Parliament, and expressed his belief that whenever the measure of " emancipatiou" should be carricd, the downfal of Popery throughout the British islands would be at hand! There be, we suspect, some men in Irelandwhose popularity, like the Popery above-mentioned, would soou follow the removal of the grievance OUt of wvhich it has sprung.