deviate from that proper and respectful | printed, at a private press in his house, a silence which he had hitherto maintain- large number of copies of a detail of the ed upon the subject. (Hear! hear! from transaction, for the purpose of giving them the Opposition side of the House.) He to the world? Why the work had been was not afraid to repeat what he had said. suppressed, he did not know. But he As to the drawing-room, it was the Queen's knew that several copies which had got right to hold one, if she pleased. It had abroad were bought up at a large expence, been stated as extraordinary, that her Ma- and he believed that certain advertisejesty was about to hold a drawing-room.ments offering rewards to those who would He did not know what view the hon. gentleman entertained of the case, but his Majesty, notwithstanding his unfortunate affliction, was still King; of course her Majesty was still Queen of these realms, and under those circumstances he knew not who ought to hold a drawing-room unless it were her Majesty. Mr. Whitbread, in explanation, denied having asserted, that it was improper for the Queen to hold a drawing-room. All that he said was, that the Princess of Wales ought to be placed in such a situation, as to enable her Royal Highness also to hold a drawing-room. Lord A. Hamilton observed, that the additional sum granted in the early part of the present session to her Majesty, was so granted on the express representation that the Princesses were to remain with her: and now they came forward for separate establishments. The establishment of the Princess of Wales was only 5,000l. a year, and therefore he did not think any delicacy was exhibited towards her Royal Highness by those who talked so much about it. The Bill was read a third time. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then introduced several new clauses. On that being proposed by which the commencement of the operation of the Bill was fixed for the 18th of February last, Mr. Whitbread, adverting to what the right hon. Secretary of State had said of delicacy, expressed his surprise that the right hon. Secretary had made this observation, at the same time that he must be aware of the course and conduct pursued by the right hon. gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) who sat next him, on an occasion highly interesting to that illustrious individual. He would ask if there had not been at a former period a solemn proceeding on the case of the Princess of Wales-if that case had not been referred by his Majesty to his ministers for their advice-if on that advice, her Royal Highness had not been received at court-if the right hon. gentleman's right hon. friend had not then caused to be (VOL. XXII. ) bring copies of the work to one Lindsell, a bookseller, proceeded from the right hon. gentleman or his agents, When these facts were notorious, he knew not why members of that House were to be arraigned for asking questions; certainly in one point of view, of a private nature, but of very great national importance in another. Mr. Secretary Ryder said, he did not rise. for the purpose of answering the questions which had been put by the hon. gentleman. When he spoke of the conduct pursued by him and his friends, on the present and on similar occasions, when he had talked of delicacy, he did not flatter himself that his observations would be attended with < much effect. But he thought it his duty to state his opinion, which he did not look upon as that of a single individual; for, if he knew any thing of the feelings of the public on this subject, there was no part of the conduct of the hon. gentlemen opposite which had created more disgust and disapprobation than the manner in which they had introduced this matter to the House. Though he by no means expected that what he had before said would have any weight with them, still he was surprised that the hon. gentleman should put a question to him on a business, with all the details of which he must be aware he (Mr. Ryder) was not acquainted. But, after the opinion he had given on the subject, if he even were perfectly master of those details, he should conceive himself as acting with extreme inconsist ency if he returned an answer. Mr. Tierney proposed his amendment, that instead of" the 18th February, 1812," "the demise of his Majesty" should be substituted. On this amendment the House divided, Ayes 35, Noes 101, Majority 66. The original clause was then agreed to; and the Bill was passed. progress through the House, expressed several other hon. members, had a clause himself anxious to receive some information to propose. The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, that the hon gentleman's memory appear. ed to be much weaker than those of other hon. members. He, recollected, that the hon. gentleman had, on a former night, honoured the House with a very excelent, but not a very short argument on the Bill. as to the grounds on which it was intro- Mr. Parnell complained, that he had duced. He understood that Mr. Gold- not yet had an opportunity of fully exsmid, at his death, was very much indebt-pressing his opinion on the measure. ed to government, as well as to private individuals, and ministers had thought proper to forego the priority of right which the crown could claim for the payment of debts due to it, and remained content to come in with the other creditors. Had an extent issued, he was informed, the public debt would have been entirely liquidated; but by the course which had been pursued, the dividend would be only 19s. in the pound, the same as paid to the general body of creditors. Mr. A. Baring said, that Mr. Goldsmid's principal property consisted in 4,000,000l. of Omnium, which had been placed, as deposits, with several persons. If this had been sold precipitately, or to satisfy an extent, the loss would have been very great. He was possessed also of some real estate, but it was evident no person would become the purchaser of it, while an extent from the crown was hanging over the property. Under these circumstances, government had conceded their claim, and the Bill was introduced. Mr. Johnstone thought the third reading might be postponed for a few days, without inconvenience, to give an opportunity for the printing of the Bill. Mr. Baring had no objection to the proposition, if such was the feeling of the House. The Chancellor of the Exchequer observed, that the printing of the Bill would give no information as to the grounds on which ministers had thought fit to give up the right of the crown to priority of payment. If that information were desired, he would cheerfully accede to the production of any documents from the Treasury, that might be deemed necessary; but this need not be a bar to the third reading of the Bill. Lord Folkestone expressed himself satisfied with the explanation. It was agreed that the third reading should take place on Wednesday next, and that the Bill should be printed. GOLD COIN AND BANK NOTE AMENDMENT BILL.] On the motion that the report of this Bill be brought up, Lord A Hamilton expressed his surprise that the motion should be made at so late an hour, when the discussion was likely to occupy so much time. He, as well as Mr. Parnell said, the speech alluded to, bore on the measure only as it related to Ireland. Lord Folkestone thought, as the Bill was introduced to re-enact a law which had expired three weeks ago, and as no evil, that he had heard of, had arisen from its cessation, the delay of a few days could produce no inconvenience. Sir J. Newport urged, as a principal reason for postponing the report, that if brought up now, it would certainly create a debate, and probably a very long one, which, at so late an hour, would be highly improper. He should therefore, move, "That the House do now adjourn.” On this a new discussion arose, after which a division took place, when the numbers were, For the Adjournment Majority.... 35 101 .66 Sir J Newport, however, expressing his determination to reiterate the question of adjournment, the reception of the report was postponed to Monday, and the House adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS. Monday, April 20. THE GENERAL PETITION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF IRELAND.] The Earl of Donoughmore. My lords; although it would be obviously improper and unsuitable to the occasion, that I should now anticipate the interesting discussion, for which the House had been summoned for to-morrow, it would not be in my mind, less a failure of respect, to that most important class of his fellow-subjects, whose Petitions I am preparing to offer to your lordships' notice, if the person to whom they were committed, should satisfy himself, with throwing them on your lordship's table, unaccompanied by any observations on my part. I shall therefore beg leave to observe, in the first place, that, next to the redress of their grievances, there is no feeling so strongly impressed on the minds of my Catholic countrymen, as that, whatever Petitions shall be presented to Parliament as theirs, should be framed in such a manner, as to remove the possibility of any doubt, whether or not they expressed the real feeling of that description of his Majesty's subjects. Accordingly, such arrangements have been made, as have enabled me, to pledge myself to your lordships, from my own knowledge of the fact, that notwithstanding the interruptions which the Petitioners have experienced, the Petitions, with which I am myself charged, and those which will be presented to the House by other noble lords, previous to the discussion, contain the full and complete expression, of the undivided sentiment of all my Catholic countrymen. I shall next intreat your lordships' particular attention, to the subject matter of those Petitions, which will now be read at your lordships' table. In them your lordships will find the case of the Petitioners ably argued the leading objections to their claims ably refuted with all becoming deference to this House; and without forgetting that due respect, which the petitioners owe to their own important position in the state. His lordship then presented the General Petition, which was read at the table as follows: The HUMBLE PETITION of his Majesty's Subjects professing the Roman Catholic Religion in Ireland: Humbly Sheweth, That we, your Petitioners, beg leave most respectfully at this important conjuncture, to solicit the favourable attention of this honourable House to the peculiar condition of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, under the severe penal laws now in force against them. If we appear to this honourable House to persevere, with more than common ear nestness in our humble solicitations for the abrogation of these laws, and for a free admission to the blessings and benefits of the civil constitution of the country, we trust that our perseverance will be viewed, rather as a proof of our just title to the liberty which we seek, and of our sincerity in its pursuit, than as the result of any sentiment, hostile to the peace or true in terests of this empire. We should sincerely dread, lest our silence might be construed, by a faithful but a feeling people, as an indication of despair-and would not lightly abandon the pursuit of a laudable and most important object, strengthened as we are, by the concurring support of our generous and enlightened fellow-countrymen, as well as by the fullest approbation of our own conscientious feelings. We beg leave humbly to state to this honourable House, that we have publicly and solemnly taken every oath of fidelity and allegiance, which the jealous caution of the legislature has, from time to time, imposed as tests of our political and moral principles. And although we are still set apart (how wounding to every sentiment of honour!) as if unworthy of credit in these our sworn declarations, we can appeal confidently to the sacrifices, which we and our forefathers have long made, and which we still make (rather than violate conscience by taking oaths of a spiritual import contrary to our belief) as decisive proofs of our profound reverence for the sacred obligation of an oath. By those awful tests we have bound ourselves, in the presence of the all-seeing Deity, whom all classes of Christians adore, "to be faithful, and bear true allegiance to our most gracious sovereign lord king George the 3rd, and him to defend to the utmost of our power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever against his person, crown, or dignity; to use our utmost endeavours to disclose and make known to his Majesty, and his heirs, all treasons and traitorous conspiracies, which may be formed against him or them, and faithfully to maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of our power, the succession to the crown in his Majesty's family, against all persons whomsoever that by those oaths, we have renounced and abjured obedience and allegiance unto any other person, claiming or pretending a right to the crown of this realm; that we have rejected, as unchristian and impious to believe, the detestable doctrine, that it is lawful, in any ways, to injure any person or persons whomsoever, under pretence of their being heretics; and also that unchristian and impious principle, that no faith is to be kept with heretics; that it is no article of our faith, and we renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion, that princes excommunicated by the Pope and council, or by any authority whatsoever, may be deposed or murdered borne testimony to the uniform peaceable demeanour of the Irish Roman Catholics, to their acknowledged merits as good and loyal subjects, to the wisdom and sound policy of admitting them to all the blessings of a free constitution, and of thus binding together all classes of the people by mutual interest and mutual affection. Yet may we humbly represent to this honourable House, and we do so at this perilous crisis with sincere regret and deep solicitude; that the Roman Catholics of Ireland still remain subject to severe and humiliating laws, rigidly enforced, universally felt, and inflicting upon them divers injurious and vexatious disabilities, incapacities, privations, and penalties, by reason of their conscientious adherence to the religious doctrines of their forefathers. by their subjects, or by any person whatsoever. That we do not believe that the Pope of Rome, or any other foreign prince, prelate, state, or potentate, hath, or ought to have, any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence within this realm. That we firmly believe, that no act, in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused by, or under pretence or colour that it was done for the good of the Church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever.And that it is not an article of the Catholic faith, neither are we thereby required to believe or profess, that the Pope is infallible, or that we are bound to any order, in its own nature immoral, though the Pope, or any ecclesiastical power, should issue or direct such order; but that, on the contrary, we hold, that it would be sinful in us to pay any respect or obedience thereto. That we do not believe that any sin whatsoever, committed by us, can be forgiven at the mere will of any Pope, or of any priest, or of any person or persons whatsoever; but that any person who receives absolution, without a sincere The laws, which unequivocally attest sorrow for such sin, and a firm and sin- our innocence and our merits, continue to cere resolution to avoid future guilt, and to load us with the pains of guilt; our own atone to God, so far from obtaining there- consciences, the voice of mankind, acquit by any remission of his sin, incurs the ad- us of crime and offence. Our Protestant ditional guilt of violating a sacrament. fellow-citizens press forward with geneAnd, by the same solemn obligations, we rous ardour and enlightened benevolence are bound and firmly pledged to defend, to testify their earnest wishes for our reto the utmost of our power, the settle- lief. Yet these penal laws, of which we ment and arrangement of property in Ire-humbly complain, cherish the spirit of land, as established by the laws now in being. That we have declared, disavowed, and solemnly abjured, any intention to subvert the present Church establishment, for the purpose of substituting a Catholic establishment in its stead. "And we have solemnly sworn that we will not exercise any privilege, to which we are or may become entitled, to disturb and weaken the Protestant religion or Protestant government in Ireland." We can with perfect truth assure this honourable House, that the political and moral principles, asserted by these solemn and special tests, are not merely in unison with our fixed principles, but expressly inculcated by the religion which we profess. And we do most humbly trust that, as professors of doctrines, which permit such tests to be taken, we shall appear to this honourable House to be entitled to the full enjoyment of religious freedom under the happy constitution of these realms. Frequently has the legislature of Ireland For nearly the entire period of the last twenty years, the progress of religious freedom has been obstructed: and, whilst other Christian nations have hastened to unbind the fetters imposed upon religious dissent, the Roman Catholics of Ireland have remained unrelieved. hostility, and impede the cordial union of the people, which is at all times so desirable, and now so necessary. These penal laws operate for no useful or meritorious purpose. Affording no aid to the constitution in Church or Statenot attaching affection to either; they are efficient only for objects of disunion and disaffection. They separate the Protestant from the Catholic, and withdraw both from the public good; they irritate man against his fellow-creature, alienate the subject from the state, and leave the Roman Ca tholic community but a precarious and imperfect protection, as the reward of fixed and unbroken allegiance. We forbear to detail the numerous incapacities and inconveniences, inflicted by those laws, directly or indirectly, upon the Roman Catholic community, or to dwell upon the humiliating and ignominious system of exclusion, reproach, and suspicion, which they generate and keep admit the necessity of the unqualified disfranchisement of any part of the people, in a constitution like that of these realms. alive. Perhaps no other age or nation has ever witnessed severities more vexatious, or inflictions more taunting, than those which we have long endured; and of which but too large a portion still remains. Relief from these disabilities and penalties we have sought, through every channel that has appeared to us to be legitimate and eligible. We have never consciously violated, or sought to violate, the known laws of the land; nor have we pursued our object in any other manner, than such as has been usually adhered to, and apparently the best calculated to collect and communicate our united sentiments, accurately, without tumult, and to obviate all pretext for asserting that the Roman Catholic community at large, were indifferent to the pursuit of their freedom. We can affirm, with perfect sincerity, that we have no latent views to realize; no secret or sinister objects to atttain. Any such imputation must be effectually repelled as we humbly conceive by the consideration of our numbers, our property, our known principles and cha racter. Our object is avowed and direct; earnest, yet natural: it extends to an equal participation of the civil rights of the constitution of our country, equally with our fellow-subjects of all other religious persuasions: it extends no further. We would cheerfully concede the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty to all mankind; we ask no more for ourselves. We seek not the possession of offices, but mere eligibility to office, in common with our fellow-citizens; not power or ascendency over any class of people, but the bare permission to rise from our prostrate posture, and to stand erect in the empire. We have been taught, that, according to the pure and practical principles of the British constitution, property is justly entitled to a proportionate share of power; and we humbly trust, that no reasonable apprehension can arise from that power, which can only be obtained and exercised through the constitution. We are sensible, and we do not regret that this equality of civil rights (which alone we humbly sue for) will leave a fair practical ascendency, wheresoever property shall predominate: but whilst we recognize and acknowledge the wholesomeness of this great principle, we cannot We are gratified by the reflection, that the attainment of this our constitutional object will prove as conducive to the welfare and security of this great empire, as to the complete relief of the Roman Catholic community: that it will secure the quiet and concord of our country, animate all classes of the people in the common defence, and form the most stable protection against the dangers which heavily menace these islands. For we most humbly presume to submit it to this honourable House as our firm opinion, that an equal degree of enthusiasm cannot reasonably be expected from men, who feel themselves excluded from a fair participation of the blessings of a good constitution and government, as from those who fully partake of its advantages; that the enemies of this empire, who me ditate its subjugation, found their best hope of success upon the effects of those penal laws, which, by depressing millions of the inhabitants of Ireland, may weaken their attachment to their country, and impair the means of its defence: and that the continued pressure of these laws, in times of unexampled danger, only spreads the general feeling of distrustful alarm, and augments the risks of common ruin. To avert such evils, to preserve and promote the welfare and security of this empire, and to become thoroughly identified with our fellow-subjects in interests and affection, are objects as precious in our eyes, upon every consideration of property, principle and moral duty, as in those of any other description of the inhabitants of these realms. If, in thus humbly submitting our depressed condition, and our earnest hopes to the consideration of this honourable House, we would dwell upon the great numbers and the property of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, already so considerable and so rapidly increasing, and to their consequent most important contributions to the exigencies of the state-we would do so, not with a view of exciting unworthy motives for concession, but in the honest hope of suggesting legitimate and ra tional grounds of constitutional relief. And deeply indeed should we lament, if these very recommendations should serve only to hold us out as the objects of harsh suspicion at home, or of daring attempts upon our allegiance from abroad. |