the abuse of their sacred trust, and the misapplication of their influence to political purposes. He had no hesitation in expressing his belief, that, in the late elections, the Roman Catholic priesthood had taken down polished weapons from the armoury of heaven, and employed them in carnal warfare. Such conduct had never, he believed, been imputed to the Protestant clergy, except in a single instance, where a Protestant clergyman had invited his congregation from the pulpit to sign a petition; and this single instance of misconduct had met with a merited rebuke from that House. The influence of the priesthood in Ireland was a very powerful reason why the Catholics ought not to be intrusted with political power. Ireland was the most unenlightened country in Europe; and political power in the hands of a body of artful and designing men— though he did not mean to include the whole Catholic priesthood in that description-might be employed to the worst of purposes. This brought to his recollection a remark of the noble earl who preceded the noble duke-a remark which called equally for animadversion. That noble earl had thought fit to speak in dis

imperial parliament for protection and support. The triumph was felt by those who wished Ireland to believe that the parliament of England was deaf to their claims, and that they could look only to the ravings of seditious demagogues for the redress of their grievances. By rejecting the claims of the Catholics, parliament was delivering Ireland into the hands of those demagogues. A question involving the liberties of seven millions of people could not be put by, according to their wishes or caprice. It was utterly impossible that the present state of things could last. In the name of God, then, as the danger was thus imminent, as it pressed so immediately upon them, why not settle this question in the only way in which it could be settled, by embracing the offers of Ireland, and admitting her to a participation in the benefits of the constitution? Ireland offered us every thing we could require; she offered us allegiance, she offered us affection, she offered us attachment. If we rejected her offers, there were many on the alert to tell her, that our professions were false and hollow, and that they were the only friends, by whose efforts she would be saved. By a seasonable concession to the just claims of Ire-couraging, if not contemptuous, terms of land, we might save her from those who were luring her to destruction-we might restore the tranquillity of the country, and secure the allegiance and attachment of seven millions of people.

The Bishop of Chester said, he could not forbear noticing an expression of the noble duke who had just sat down, which seemed to call for some animadversion from the representatives of the Protestant Church. The noble duke had stated, that the noble earl who presented the petition from the county of Kent, had imputed to the Roman Catholic priests as a crime, the exercise of their spiritual functions. The noble duke had entirely mistaken the meaning of the noble earl. The noble earl had not imputed to the Roman Catholic priests the exercise of their spiritual functions as a crime; but he had argued, that the tremendous influence of the Catholic priesthood was a very powerful reason why the legislature should not intrust power to so many millions who were subjected to it. The noble earl did not say that they were not at liberty to use the legitimate influence which would follow the faithful discharge of their high and sacred functions; but he argued against

If

the efforts to diffuse the light of the gospel among the unenlightened population of Ireland. He thought he saw the finger of God in the recent conversion of so many of the Catholics of Ireland; and woe be to those who should presume to lift up their hands and voices in vain and impotent attempts to stem the flood of light that was bursting over the country! these efforts were continued in a spirit of gentleness, wisdom, and zeal, they would bring down the blessing of the Almighty; and the good work would go on to its consummation. He could not sit with patience, and hear a member of the Protestant Church speak contemptuously of these efforts. Day by day, the tide of reformation seemed to be rolling on-gradually, indeed, as was to be at first expected-with sure and certain progress. He could not avoid expressing his indignation, or rather his pity, at the language which had been used in the other house of parliament. He could not but lift up the voice of expostulation, if not of reprobation, at those who designated the attempt to convert the Catholics of Ireland as a crusade. A crusade, indeed, in its true sense, was not in itself reprehensible;

1

its object was to plant the Standard of the Cross in regions of darkness. But the term had been applied in a disparaging and reproachful sense. Was it a crusade which Luther undertook? Were those who embarked with him in that glorious enterprise crusaders, in the sense in which it was meant to stigmatize the humane and charitable attempts which were now making by a man not less distinguished by his piety than conspicuous for his rank? He begged their lordships' pardon for having thus trespassed upon their attention, but the observations which had been made that night seemed to him to call for some animadversion.

The Earl of Darnley said, the learned prelate had noticed an observation of his, for the purpose of misrepresenting it. He put it to the House, whether he had said any thing of which a good Protestant need be ashamed. He had stated, that he should be extremely glad to see the whole population of Ireland converted to the Protestant faith, but he was not so sanguine as some others were on this subject; and he maintained, that if there were a prospect of their conversion, it would furnish an additional argument for Catholic Emancipation, inasmuch as a persecuted sect was less likely to be converted, than one admitted to equal civil rights and privileges.

great and important subject, the members of his majesty's government are still divided in opinion; that they do not yet consider it a subject fit to be decided by them; but that they still reserve the decision of it as an apple of discord, to be thrown between the two parties in Ireland, who ground their own division upon the division that exists on this question among his majesty's ministers. To this division in the cabinet we must also trace the present system of policy pursued by the Irish government— a system which its supporters term conciliatory, but which I consider weak and puerile-a policy, whose only result has been to draw down on it the disgust of the Irish Protestants, and the contempt of the Roman Catholics. But I firmly believe that the time is not far distant, that the day is close at hand, when this division among the members of the government must cease to exist-when the government must take an influential part in the decision of the question-when the government, as one united body, must come forward and declare their determination to support the Protestant church and constitution in Ireland, or to support the Popish ascendancy that now domineers over that country. It has been said, here and elsewhere, that the present condition of Ireland cannot continue; that things cannot remain as they are. With this opinion I entirely concur, as I think it impossible that Roman Catholics should be allowed to legislate for

The Bishop of Chester maintained that the noble earl had treated the attempt to convert the Catholics of Ireland as a visi-a Protestant church. For that I contend onary scheme.

Viscount Clifden was of opinion, that the Protestant religion had never had fair play in Ireland. He had no doubt that if there had been no penal laws, the whole population would have been Protestants before now. The gentry, to prevent the loss of their property, had been compelled to abjure the Catholic faith; but the people at large were, by the cruelty of those laws, bound to the Catholic priesthood.

The Earl of Roden presented petitions against any further concessions to the Roman Catholics, from 22,000 Protestants of the county of Londonderry, and the county of Tyrone. The noble lord said: -When I consider the importance of the subject on which these petitions are addressed to your lordships, I feel myself compelled to declare, in a few words, my opinion on the present condition of that country from which they proceed; but first, I must express my regret, that on this

is the ultimate object of the Roman Catholics of Ireland; and this opinion I pronounce, not only on the authority of history, but on the acknowledgment of the Roman Catholics themselves, who declare that they look on their admission into this and the other house of parliament, merely as a step to the intended overthrow of the Protestant establishment. The speeches and measures of the Roman Catholic Association, and the concurrence of the Catholic gentry and the general population in those measures, will show, that the object of them all is one and the same; namely, the subversion of the Protestant religion. Can then these things remain as they are? Shall we ever allow the Roman Catholics to prescribe laws for the Protestant church of Ireland? I have heard noble lords assert, that the treatment of Roman Catholics of Ireland is as bad as that suf fered by the Greeks from the Turks-that one sect of Irishmen is persecuted by ano

1233

Roman Catholic-Claims.

ther; and that they are subject to a system
of tyranny on account of their religious
opinions. Is it so? Yes; if there be
religious persecution in Ireland, it is the
persecution inflicted by the Catholics on
the converts from Popery; if tyranny is
exercised over men in Ireland, it is the
tyranny employed by the Roman Catholic
priests over their congregations, to prevent
them from shaking off the slavish yoke of
Popery, and becoming converts to that
glorious Reformation which is now working
its rapid way through every part of the
country. That great work has been cen-
sured by persons in other places, and in
I
high authority, as a mere chimera.
think differently, my lords. My sincere
conviction is, that its success is the work
of Heaven-the pure result of the preach-
ing of the Word of God, and the operation
of his Divine Spirit. It has been urged as
an argument in favour of concession to the
Roman Catholics, that the refusal of it
will drive them into rebellion. I do not
believe that assertion; but even though I
did believe that rebellion would be the
result of our refusal, still I would encounter
the risk of rebellion, immense an evil as I
consider it, than allow the Protestant
constitution to be ruled by the legislations
of men, who, by the very essence of their
religion, hold a divided allegiance to a
Protestant establishment. My lords, I
must declare, that I am not satisfied with
the present system of Irish government, or
rather of no-government, which, instead of
allaying the evils of the country, increases
them a hundred fold. For proof of this,
look to your lordships' own legislative
measures. Two years ago, your lordships
passed a bill, which has since been called
the Algerine act, which some of your lord-
ships opposed, as infringing on popular
liberties; but which I then supported,
through a certainty, that it was calculated
to attain the object for which it was de-
signed-I mean the suppression of party
associations in Ireland, which have so long
been the bane of that country-but what
It put
has been the effect of that act?
down the associations of Protestants, which
had originally been formed for the protec-
tion of the laws and the constitution. I
do not complain that these Protestant as-
sociations were put down. They were no
longer wanted; they had degenerated into
signs and badges of party: but what I
complain of is this, that though the Pro-
testant associations yielded to the law, yet

opera

still, at this day, the Roman Catholic As-
sociation is in existence, spreading its de-
structive poison to the remotest extremi-
ties of the land. I have heard it asserted,
that the Irish government has made at-
tempts to put down this Catholic Associa-
tion. I say no attempt has been made to
put it down; and, as a proof, it stands,
my lords, before parliament and govern-
ment at full work, unchecked in its
tions, uninjured in its power. I may be
told, indeed, of a prosecution that has been
brought by the Attorney-general for Ire-
land against Mr. Shiel, for a certain in-
flammatory speech delivered by him before
the Association; but when your lordships
remember the violent opinions and lan-
guage used elsewhere by that same At-
torney-general, will you not agree with me,
that it is a great hardship that Mr. Shiel
should be prosecuted for his seditious
speech, while the Attorney-general for
Ireland is allowed to diffuse, with im-
punity, opinions productive of the greatest
mischief, in the present state of Ireland.
That condition of the country, combined
with the existence of the Roman Catholic
Associasion, is an indelible stain upon the
character of the government.

The Bishop of Norwich, in explanation, justified his applying the word persecution to the conduct observed towards the Roman Catholics. He was taught in early life, by abler men than now lived, that every penalty, every restriction, every disadvantage, every inconvenience imposed upon an individual on account of his religious opinion, was persecution. That being the case, he thought that the noble earl need not complain, if he said the Irish were the most persecuted men on the face of the earth [hear].

The Earl of Carnarvon, in allusion to what had fallen from a noble earl, with reference to a comparison between the state of the Irish Catholics, and that of the Greeks under the Turks, observed, that when the present state of the Roman | Catholic population of Ireland was referred to as an argument against conceding to that noble say them their claims, he did lords might as well apply that argument to the Greeks as to them; namely, that because a long system of oppression had reduced them to a state of degradation, therefore they were not entitled to be relieved from that oppression. satisfied, that the Roman Catholics, under the rule of Protestant ascendancy,

He was

tholic seminaries, which were supported by parliamentary grants, and diffused, by the priests, among their several congregations. The persecutions suffered by the Vaudois, in Piedmont, were a proof of the bigotry of the Roman Catholic religion. He was astonished how noble lords who had taken the oath of Supremacy, could support the claims of the Catholics. He considered himself justified in accusing them of a violation of that oath, as he felt that, if he acted in the same manner, he should be guilty of perjury. For these reasons, he should, at all times, oppose further concessions to the Catholics. Ordered to lie on the table.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Friday, March 16.

were not much better off than the Greeks were taught, at this day, in Roman Caunder their Turkish rulers. The noble lords of the Protestant ascendancy were not only for disqualifying the Roman Catholics from being heard in parliament, but all the British peers also; and now the noble earl was for disqualifying the House of Commons too; for he had told their lordships, that Mr. Shiel was under prosecution for having used certain expressions, but that the language of a righthon. and learned gentleman,in another place (evidently alluding to the House of Commons), was infinitely more culpable. The Protestant ascendancy lords were at once parties, accusers, and judges; and every day brought forward charges against the Roman Catholics, while the voice of the latter could not be heard. Irritation had been imputed to the Roman Catholics; but, if it existed on the part of the Catholics, their lordships had ocular demonstration, that great irritation existed on the part of the noble lords. The noble earl had even gone so far as to say, that sooner than see the Roman Catholics emancipated, he would encounter all the dangers of rebellion. Now, he appealed to the House, if ever any language had proceeded from the Roman Catholics of a more dangerous tendency than that? If their lordships wished to save the country, they must not await the tardy progress of reformation, but at once take measures to put down, not only the Catholic Association, but the Protestant ascendancy party also. Their lordships must not leave this subject to their irritability, but take it under their own dispassionate judgment. If they did not do so, the time would soon come when they would repent it, but when repentance would be too late.

GRANT TO THE DUKE AND DUCHESS or CLARENCE.] The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the order of the day for the House resolving itself into a committee on the Duke and Duchess of Clarence's Annuity bill.

Mr. J. Martin said, he would avail himself of the present opportunity to put a question to the right hon. gentleman, and which, he trusted, he would have no objection to answer. The feelings of the country were more acutely alive to the grants to the royal family, than ministers seemed to be aware of. It might be in the recollection of the House, that, in the year 1825, a bill had been introduced, granting an additional allowance of 60001. per annum to his royal highness, the duke of Cumberland. The pretence made by ministers for proposing such a grant, was the education of his royal highness's son. The vote excited very strong feelings amongst every class of the population, and it even roused such a spirit of opposition within the walls of that House, as induced ministers to reconcile members to the grant, by inserting a clause in the bill, that it was highly expedient that the young prince should be educated Lord Mountcashel regretted that noble in this country, and that the payment of lords treated the question as a matter the money should be made only during rather of policy than religion; and ex- his residence in England; unless he was pressed his conviction, that the spirit of permitted by his majesty to reside abroad. the Roman Catholic religion remained His present object was, to ask the right unchanged to this day. In support of this hon. gentleman, whether the 6,0007. in opinion, he quoted passages from the de-question had been paid to his royal highcrees of several Roman Catholic councils. The doctrines inculcated by these councils

Viscount Clifden said, that if he were to go into the question, he could show that great changes had taken place in the Roman Catholic religion. It had been said, that, if emancipation was granted, the Roman Catholics would not be satisfied. He was quite certain that they would be satisfied they must be satisfied.

ness; whether the young prince had been resident in this country; and, if he had