order of Grand juries, from which the Catholics CHAP. X. are generally excluded. of Justice. Ante, ch. 9. 5. They consider themselves exposed, Administration in courts of Law, to serious hazards flowing from the present mode of nominating Juries-p. 193-239. and from the principles, upon which justice is administered-What Title to property can be se cure, if liable to be assailed by a packed jury, or a biassed court ? ch. 10. s. I. 6. The perils of omission to take and Ante, p. 242, subscribe the Oaths and declarations of 1773 This Dangers, of upon. the Catholic and 1793, have been already pointed out. omitting to take Oaths. His Lands and tenements, and all collateral securities made or entered into for covering or protecting them, become discoverable and may be sued for and recovered from him by any Protestant discoverer. "The Discoverer, $O Bills of Dis"vested with this property, is enabled to find covery. it out by every mode of inquisition, and to 8 Anne, c. 3, sect. 27 & 30. "sue for it with every kind of privilege."Not only are the courts of law open to him: Kk Bills of Discovery-for confiscating the property of Catholics. 66 CHAP. X. "but he may enter (and this is the usual method) "into either of the courts of equity. He may "file his Bills against those, whom he suspects "to be possessed of this forbidden property, against those whom he suspects to be their "trustees, and against those whom he suspects "to be privy to such ownership-and oblige "them under the guilt and penalties of perjury "to discover, upon oath, the exact nature, and just value of their estates and trusts, in all particulars necessary to effect their forfeiture. "In such suits, the informer is not liable to the delays which the ordinary procedure of those "courts throws into the way of the most equita"ble claimant: nor has the Catholic the indulgence allowed to the most fraudulent "defendant-that of plea, or demurrer. He is obliged to answer the whole directly upon " his oath and the old rule of " extending "benefit and restraining penalty," is by this "law struck out of the ancient jurisprudence"and the contrary rule is established, directSeverity, in this "ing that, upon all doubts, these Penal Laws "shall be construed in the largest and most "liberal sense against the Catholic defendant. respect. Thus, the enjoyment of property by a Catholic in Ireland, qualified and burdened as it is in other respects, is made to depend upon the Condition, of Oaths. contingency of his having taken and sub- CHAP. X. scribed those oaths and declarations. But, even though he has complied with this condition, taking the though he has not been prevented from doing so by ignorance, inadvertence, or bodily infirmity, yet this is not enough-he must, moreover, preserve the certificate of his qualification as carefully as any deed of conveyance. It is a necessary muniment of his title. This condition, Certificate, to be therefore, must weaken the security of his property-by superadding novel stipulations to his rights, and the incumbrance of fresh pretexts for question and litigation. preserved. construed with the Catholics. 7. Another serious hazard, affecting Penal Laws the properties as well as the persons of all Ca- latitude agains tholics, must flow from the doctrine long prevalent in Ireland, and even recognized some years since in the Irish court of King's Bench, (nor yet disavowed) namely, that, in the construction of questions affecting Catholics, "the "Penal Laws against them are to be deemed "remedial and to be construed as such, with " latitude for the protection of the Protestant "Church." Such doctrine, if pushed to its utmost length, Dangers, re sulting from must place Catholic property in imminent dan- this Doctrine. ger-and, in its spirit, almost amounts to a CHAP. X. formal re-enactment of all the severest Statutes Penal Laws, against Catholics in Ireland.-Yet what security con trued with has the Catholic against this doctrine, in its most wasting latitude? latitude against the Catholics. These hazards and burdens, concurring with the general mischiefs of the Anti-Catholic code, and the public hazards arising from the perverse spirit of the Laws-render it impossible to affirm, that the Catholics of Ireland enjoy security of property-that benefit of civil society, never to be neglected in a well ordered state. SECTION X, Commerce a Laws which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland, in Trade and Commerce. 1. THE Commerce of a nation is a belonging to all common benefit, to which all classes of thè public benefit, inhabitants are equally entitled. It furnishes them with the means of procuring articles, which all may require. It causes a circulation of money, creates industry, animates labour, and, by affording subsistence to great numbers, CHAP. K. contributes to render a country flourishing and populous. Commerce, however, cannot long prosper, or d. Loix, Lib. 200 connected security of necessary to commerce. even subsist, without perfect security of property, Montesq. Esp.. and the enjoyment of civil liberty. The enter- 4° prizes of Merchants are necessarily with considerations of this nature. opinion of greater security, in free countries, propertyinclines men to undertake every thing, and in-comery spires them with the confidence necessary for the boldest speculations. They promise themselves brilliant advantages from the smiles of fortune, and chearfully expose whatever they have acquired, in order to acquire more: being certain, that in a free country, they run no other risk."Eo impendi laborem ac periculum, unde Liv. Hist. " emolumentum speretur. Nihil non aggres"suros homines, si magna, conatis magna, "præmia proponantur. 2. How far the Trading and manufacturing interests of Ireland have been generally impaired her credit and capital diminishedher merchants, of all descriptions, depressed, by the perilous posture of public affairs, and the unsettled state of property-resulting from |