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Tradesmen.

Debased.

Depressed.

Defrauded.

CHAP. III. ment, at least of protection. But, in Ireland, Vexations to their lot is grievous. They are debased by the galling ascendancy of privileged neighbours. They are depressed by partial imposts; by undue preferences, and accommodation bestowed upon their competitors; by a local inquisition; by an uncertain and unequal measure of justice; by fraud and favouritism daily and openly practiCatholic Gen- sed to their prejudice. The Catholic gentleman, whose misfortune it may be to reside in or near to any of these cities or towns in Ireland, is hourly exposed to all the slights and annoyances, that a petty sectarian oligarchy may think proper to inProfessional fiict. The professional man risks continual inflictions of personal humiliation. The Farmer brings the produce of his lands to market under heavier Catholic indus. tolls, Every species of Catholic industry and mechanical skill is checked, taxed, and rendered

tlemen.

men.

Farmers.

try and skill

discouraged.

dolence che

upplied, &c.

precarious.

On the other hand, every species of Protestant Protestant in- indolence is cherished and maintained; every rished, wants claim is allowed; every want supplied; every extortion sanctioned-nay, the very name of of Protestants. Protestant" secures a competence, and com mands Patrician pre-eminence in Ireland.

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Patrician sway

Hence, the peculiar misery of Irish Corporate CHAP.I. towns; the general ignorance and unskilfulness Hence the miof their tradesmen; their dear charges

labour;
verty; squalid exterior. These and
similar mischiefs are solely

irrational combinations;

for rate Towns sery of Corpo

in Ireland, un

po- skilful trades

abject

numberless

attributable to

this
perverse and unnatural system of
Penal Laws-which confounds all ordinary
principles of human action, and frustrates the
most hopeful projects of benevolence and
patriotism.

men, &c.

underrating

5. Yet the Public have been confi- Idle assertions, dently and continually told (it has even been ad- the severity of mitted, but inadvertently, by some of the advo- tude. cates of Catholic freedom) that the Catholics and

Catholic servi

Protestants have been placed upon a perfect equa- And overra

cession of

lity by the Statute of 1793, save as to seats in ting the con Parliament, and about thirty or forty of the 1793. higher situations in the state, as Lord Chancellor, General, Privy Counsellor, &c-that, indeed, only a handful of ambitious individuals now remain to be gratified-but that, as for the Catholic poor, artisans, cottagers, peasants, &c. they, forsooth! are not touched by these Penal Lans-and have nothing to gain by their repeal.

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CHAP. III.

Dangers of

such delusion.

Ah! what an egregious error! What a wicked assertion of those who propagate it, if conscious of its falsehood! What a fatal delusion, if the honest and the liberal, who may have been seduced by it, shall not awaken to a serious and minute contemplation of the dreadful hostility, with which the Penal Laws at this moment rage against the feelings, the peace, the interests, and the very existence of the Catholic community of poor and indus- Ireland, throughout all its various classes-but most unprotected most emphatically and virulently against the Catholic poor, the humble and the industrious!

The Catholic

trious, are the

and most

virulently warred against.

Each Catholic
Tradesman,

&c. sinks in

fhe struggle

vileged Pro testant: his power, influenee, &c.

6. To return to the Cities and corpo

rate towns-Each Catholic merchant, tradesman,

against the pri- artisan, &c. is engaged in a continual, but ineffectual, struggle against, not only the general severity of the Anti-Catholic system in Ireland, but also the local hardships and vexations heaped upon his lot, in his particular town, under the sanction of Law. He sinks beneath the pressure of these accumulated burthens; the manifold personal advantages enjoyed by his Protestant fellow-tradesman the power ; and influence of his rival, his opportunities of rendering services or of inflicting injuries; his superior credit in the town and elsewhere; greater accommodation for his trade and family; exemption from tolls;

Catholic mer>

men, &c.

preference in beneficial contracts and in the mar- CHAP. III. kets. He may be teazed and worried, without Depression of intermission, by numberless sallies of magisterial chants, tradescaprice, and by the workings of various petty privileges which are pushed to their utmost extent by the jealousy of the Corporation spirit, the rivalship of low tradesmen, and the asperity of religious prejudice.

Juries, &c.&c.

Whatever may be his wealth, his talent, or Excluded from his services, he is uniformly refused a place upon Grand Juries within those Corporate towns : and even upon Petty juries, unless when the duty is arduous, and unconnected with party interests. He more than doubts of obtaining the same measure of justice, of favor or respect, from the mayor, recorder, alderman, tax-gatherer, public boards, &c. that is accorded to his Protestant neighbour. He lives in continual apprehension, lest he or his family may become objects of some pecuniary extortion, or victims of false accusation impend some malicious accusation, Hence he is cringing, ing. dependant, and almost a suppliant for common justice.

the Catholic

that of the

Thus, the Catholic leads a life resembling that comparison of of the condemned Jew; of no account personally; condition with but partially tolerated for the sake of outward Jews. shew; trampled upon individually preserved collectively-for the uses of others; permitted

:

with the Jews.

CHAP. III. to practice commerce and agriculture for the Comparison benefit of public Revenue: gleaning, by conni vance, a little money from arduous enterprizes and intense labours, which the happier lot of the privileged class enables them to decline: but never to be received cordially as a citizen of the town, which he enriches, and perhaps maintains.

In fine, it may be truly affirmed (as was com plained in the first Catholic Petition, presented Catholic peti- to Parliament in 1805 by Mr. Fox) "That this "Interdiction of the Catholics from all Cor

tion of 1805,

66

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64 porate offices is severely felt by them as an Evil, not terminating in itself; for, by giving advantage over the Catholics to the exclusive possessors of those situations, it establishes a species of qualified monopoly, operating uni"versally in their disfavor; contrary to the spirit, "and highly detrimental to the freedom, of "Trade,"

Freedom of II. With respect to the Corporate franchise,
Corporations.
or freedom of cities and towns, as enjoyed by
Catholics,

1. The Freemen, or commonalty of cities and corporate towns, constitute the ruling class in their respective districts. They form the

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