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new charges were brought against him very suddenly, without allowing him time to defend himself; and on two of these he was suspended.

Mr. Milnes said a few words in favour of the committee.

A division took place: For the Committee 16; Against it 2. There not being forty members present, the House adjourned, and the motion was consequently lost.

HOUSE OF LORDS. Thursday, May 13.

THE

PETITIONS FOR PROMULGATING CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INDIA.] The Earl of Derby presented a Petition from the inhabitants of Warrington, praying that provision might be made, in the renewal of the East India Charter, for the propagation of Christian Knowledge in India.-Ordered to lie on the table.

Lord Erskine informed their lordships, that he held in his hand four Petitions, of which the object was to extend the blessings of Christian knowledge in India. He should read to their lordships one of these Petitions, which was expressed in that proper manner which entitled it to their particular attention. His lordship proceeded to read the whole of the Petition, which was one from the friends of the missionaries in London, praying, that their lordships would advert to a Resolution of the House of Commons, in 1793, recommending the speedy introduction of Christian knowledge in India; and the Petition concluded, by expressing an earnest wish, that in their lordships' regulations respecting India, some provision might be made for this purpose, consistent with prudence and safety. The noble lord observed, the other Petitions he had to present were of a similar nature, and he took that opportunity of saying, although others in this and the other House of Parliament had refrained from mentioning, whether they would or would not support the prayer of similar Petitions, he had no hesitation in declaring, as far as a peer could pledge himself to any particular course before the subject came under discussion, when, from conviction, he might fairly alter his opinion, that he should give his support to the prayer of these Petitions. It was, he thought, the duty of every man enjoying the knowledge and blessings of Christianity, to exert himself in extending the same to the uttermost

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corner of the earth. We ought to recollect that the land in which we lived had long enjoyed a series of prosperity and happiness, when compared to those countries where darkness and superstition had clouded the aspect of human affairs. At the same time, his lordship desired it might not be understood, that he meant to recommend an unqualified attempt at the introduction of Christianity, but as far as it was expressed in this Petition, he coincided in the wish, that every means should be used for propagating the knowledge of the Bible, consistently with prudence and safety to our eastern possessions. The noble and learned lord then presented a Petition from Bath, another from Liskard, in Cornwall, and a fourth from certain parishes in the county of Somerset.

Earl Grey presented a similar Petition from the inhabitants of Sunderland, Bishop Wearmouth, and Monkwearmouth, in the county of Durham. The noble earl, in speaking his sentiments at this time, which he should have an opportunity of more fully explaining at a future period, should only observe, that he thought every man must support the principle of the prayer of the Petition. The only consideration in his mind was, how the object so desirable was to be accomplished. As far as truth could be set forth, for the purpose of dispelling those clouds of superstition which had long darkened the minds of the Indians, he wished that no means should be wanting for the purpose of throwing light upon the minds of those unenlightened people; but if it were meant that government should interfere and force this system upon them, or that such should be the unrestricted intercourse of all missionaries, that they should not come under the controul of the government of that empire, or that they could not, under circumstances, be even removed from the country, the desired effect would not, he was certain, be produced, and if such a mode were to be proposed, it would not receive his sanction or support. The Petitions were ordered to lie on the table.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Thursday, May 13.

DUTIES ON MARTINIQUE, &C. SUGARS.] On the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the House went into a Committee of the whole House, to consider of the duties on Sugar, the produce of the

Islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe and their dependencies.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that the object of the Resolution, which he had to propose, was to obtain a sufficient supply for the sugar-market of this country. He was given to understand, that the stock of sugars from our own colonies was very nearly exhausted, while there was no immediate prospect of supply; and this would produce a very inconvenient rise in the price of the article, unless the sugars of Martinique and Guadaloupe were permitted to supply the deficiency, and enter into the consumption of this country. For the protection of our own West India planters, however, he meant that this should be only a temporary expedient. He concluded by moving, "that it is the opinion of this Committee, That Muscovado sugar, the growth or production of Martinique and Guadaloupe and their de pendencies, imported into Great Britain previous to the 12th of May 1813, be admitted to entry for home consumption on payment of the duty of 5s. per cwt. above the duty payable on British plantation sugar, until the average price of Muscovado sugar of the British plantations, as published in The London Gazette for four weeks successively, shall be less than 53s. per cwt., exclusive of the duties payable thereon. 2. That clayed sugar, the growth or production of Martinique and Guadaloupe and their dependencies, imported into Great Britain previous to the 12th of May 1813, be admitted to entry for home consumption on payment of the duty of 12s. 6d. per cwt. above the duty payable on British plantation clayed sugar, until the average price of Muscovado sugar of the British plantations, as published in The London Gazette for four weeks successively, shall be less than 53s. per cwt., exclusive of the duties payable thereon,'

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Mr. Ellis said, that as this was intended to be only a temporary expedient, he should not oppose it; but were it proposed as a permanent regulation, he should consider it as a breach of faith with our own West India planters. As to the small amount of British plantation sugar now in hand, it had arisen not from any failure in the produce of our colonies, but from the delay in the conveyance of that produce, which had arisen from the arrangements of the Admiralty in respect of convoys.

Mr. Marryat was unfriendly to the imposition of any additional duty on the

foreign sugars, which, in that case, would be worth more for exportation than for home consumption, and therefore were not likely to come into the home market at all.

Mr. Baring approved of the resolution, because the country stood in that situation that it had not more than a fortnight's supply of our own colonial sugars. The planters of Martinique and Guadaloupe laboured under great hardships, for the French government had discouraged the importation into France of the sugars of those islands, doubtless with a view to disgust them with our ascendancy.

Mr. Barham was not unfavourable to the measure, because, though the present deficiency in the supply of sugar might give high prices to a few foreign planters and merchants, yet too great a rise of price was always ultimately injurious to the growers, The West India planters had been represented as a wealthy set of men, and possessed of great influence with the minister of the day; on the contrary, he thought they had been oppressed on every occasion, and by almost every body; and as to their wealth, the greater part of them had, within the last ten years, been reduced to a state of absolute ruin.

MW. Dundas wished to state, on the subject of West India convoys, that they had been regulated by the Admiralty according to the wishes of the merchants themselves; and that there had not been. the usual number of running ships, from the danger of falling into the hands of the American schooners.

The Resolutions were then agreed to, and the Report ordered to be received tomorrow.

PETITIONS FOR PROMULGATING THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN INDIA.] Lord Milton presented a Petition from the town of Leeds, and from 23 other places, praying, that in the event of the charter of the East India Company being renewed, provision might be made for permitting missionaries to go to that country for the purpose of converting the natives to Christianity. The noble lord took this opportunity of observing, that the subject to which these Petitions referred was one of very considerable importance, and ought to be weighed with due deliberation. It was a matter of sincere satisfaction to all benevolent hearts to perceive the ascendancy which the true principles of the Christian religion had obtained over the minds of the greater part of the population

of this country, an ascendancy of which | hon. gentleman the member for Dublin there could be no stronger proof than the (Mr. Grattan), who had likewise declared, desire which had been universally mani- that he had no objection to their being fested, to extend to the natives of India laid before the House. It was his wish those blessings which they themselves en- to have had those documents produced joyed. In carrying these wishes into ef- through the medium of the Select Comfect, however, great care and circumspec-mittee, for the appointment of which he tion was required. It should be recollected that an indiscreet zeal might be attended with the worst consequences, and that the adoption of any course which might prove disgusting or offensive to the native Indians, might lead to the ultimate overthrow of the British possessions in India. The House, he trusted, therefore, when the topic came before them, would legislate with that degree of caution and prudence which the interests of this country and the prosperity of our Indian government required.

The Petitions were then brought up, and ordered to lie on the table.

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FEES OF ASSIZE BILL.] Mr. Davies Giddy, after directing the attention of the House to the hardships often experienced by persons tried for various offences throughout England, in consequence of the imposition of severe fees, even after their innocence had been made manifest, moved, "That leave be given to bring in a Bill for procuring returns of all persons committed for trial, and of all persons convicted, in England and Wales; and for taking away or regulating the fees of clerks of assize and clerks of the peace in certain cases, and affording compensation during existing interests."-Leave was accordingly granted.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS.] Mr. Ryder signified his intention to enforce the Call of the House on Monday next most rigorously. His motive for this determination was a feeling of the necessity, be the fate of the Catholic Bill what it might, of shewing to the country that as full an attendance of members had been procured as circumstances would admit, during the discussion of its merits.

Sir J. C. Hippisley, although he did not see a noble viscount (lord Castlereagh) in his place, rose for the purpose of moving for certain papers, to which he had alluded on a former night, to the production of which he understood, from a conversation he had had with the noble lord that morning, he would have no objection. He had also intimated his intention to move for those papers to the right

had so ineffectually contended on Tuesday night, and, in his labours to obtain which, he was successfully repelled by the eloquence and ability of a right hon. gentleman, he did not then see in his place (Mr. Canning). His devotion to the Catholic cause, he believed, was equal to that of the right hon. gentleman; they were, in fact, pursuing the same end, but by different means. The hon. baronet then began to move for copies and extracts of letters from sir Charles Stewart, dated Lisbon, and relating to the provisions made by the Portuguese government to prevent the encroachments of the See of Rome; also, copies of the resolu tions of the bishops in Ireland, and certain other papers, when he was interrupted by lord Castlereagh, who had just entered the House, and who said, he was not aware that the hon. baronet had given notice of this motion.-Sir John Hippisley said, he thought he had fully stated the object of his motion to the noble lord, that morning, and understood that no objections existed to the production of the papers for which he wished to move. He apprehended he had been misunderstood by the noble lord, however, and begged therefore now to give notice, that he should, on Monday, move for the papers to which he had alluded; he begged, at the same time, to state, that he had no intention whatever of throwing the slightest obstacle in the way of the progress of the Bill then before the House. Having, however, exerted himself to procure a committee, without effect, he did not think he should be doing his duty, if he did not endeavour, by some other means, to procure that information which he was so desirous the House should possess. He certainly did not intend to oppose the second reading of the Bill, but he was equally determined not to support it. It was his intention, in the committee, to endeavour to amend the Bill, in such a manner as to render it less objectionable than it was at present; and it was also his intention to oppose the clauses introduced by the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Canning), which he could not help pronouncing inconsistent with the opinions which that right hon. gen

tleman had delivered upon former occasions.

Lord Castlereagh said, that he had no objection, generally, to the motion of the hon. baronet; yet, as the papers for which he was desirous might be of a very voluminous description, he was anxious fully to understand the object of his motion, before he gave his concurrence.

Sir J. C. Hippisley assured the noble lord, that the papers for which he should move, were by no means of an extensive bulk, and merely related to the measures which had been taken to prevent the encroachments of the See of Rome.

ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.] Mr. Grattan moved, That the order of the day, for the second reading of the Bill to provide for the removal of the Civil and Military Disqualifications under which his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects now labour, be now read; and the same being read the right hon. gentleman next moved, that the Bill be now read a second time.

Dr. Duigenan rose. This was a Bill, he said, which, far from being what it purported to be, a Bill for relieving the Roman Catholics, was, in fact and in truth, a Bill for the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion and the supremacy of the Pope in these realms. A Petition had been presented by the right hon. mover and was laid upon the table, calling itself the Petition of the Protestants of Ireland, prayed the unconditional repeal of all laws affecting the Roman Catholics. That Petition could not with truth be called the Petition of the Protestants of Ireland. He had read the whole of it, and the names subscribed did not altogether amount to 4,000, of which the name of the right hon. mover of the Bill (Mr. Grattan) was the third or fourth, while there were Petitions signed by upwards of 100,000 Protestants of Ireland against the Bill. The names, whatever boast might be made of their length, were not more trifling in number, than, with a very few exceptions, they were in respectability. It was not the Petition of the Protestants of Ireland. He looked over it with some attention, and found upon calculation that it did not contain more than 300 names of any note. The rest was a collection of obscure signatures, unknown to any person but themselves and their associates, of revolutionary characters, who had long laboured for the ruin of their country, and

unfortunately escaped from execution; men amongst whom he regretted and was ashamed to observe the very few respecta ble persons who signed the Petition. This Bill had neither more nor less in view than the scheme pursued by James the 2d, when he was ambitious of introducing the Roman Catholic religion into England. It was supported, too, by the very same arguments of general conciliation, while in fact, from the principles of the Catholics, conciliation was impossible. Before he sat down, he would demonstrate, that the conciliation which the Bill was expected to produce, must for ever continue impracticable; that it must continue impracticable from the principles professed at present, and always maintained by the Catholics themselves. In the pursuit of a scheme not at all differing from that now in contemplation, James the 2d lost his crown. His Protestant subjects were then convinced that it would be ruinous to the constitution; and if, from a conviction of the injustice of such a scheme, they deprived him of his crown, how could the scheme be now a just one? If, by the passing of this Bill, it was declared a just one, the House should seriously consider how such a declaration would militate against the present succession, and subvert at once all the principles of the Revolution. If James was unjustly dethroned, the person who succeeded him was unjustly crowned; and what then became of his present Majesty's title? The tenets of the Catholics to which he alluded, and which in his mind rendered conciliation with the Catholics impossible, seemed to be very little understood by a great part of the House. The hostility of those tenets to all friendly connection with Protestants, he should shew to exist. They were unchangeable and constant, and could not be abated, mollified, relaxed, or altered. They inculcated the doctrine, that heretics were to be exterminated by all possible means in the power of Catholics; and it was only from impotence that such tenets were not carried into effect. Their impotence was the only security that Protestants had. They venerated the denunciation like the Holy Scripture: with them it was immutable and fixed. Those tenets, whatever others might pretend in argument, were as unchangeable as the Roman Catholic church itself, and he would offer sufficient proof of their unchangeableness. Roman Catholics held the church to be infallible. The church held that the decrees of

councils were as binding upon conscience | to bind people of this description to any as the Scriptures the tenets to which security. The oath taken by all Roman he alluded were to be found in those de- Catholic bishops led to the same effect. crees. The consequence was clear with- It rendered conciliation impossible. They out any further reasoning. They not only swore to promote, and even augment the held the decrees of councils to be binding, authority of the Pope. Dr. Troy indeed but the present professor of theology at said, that a part of this oath was withdrawn Maynooth maintained and taught, that at the desire of the empress of Russia. the decrees of the Pope, when not dissented❘ He did not know whether such was the from by the bishops, were as binding as case. The assertion rested on the authothe decrees of a council. They must re- rity of Dr. Troy. There was an oath also sort to the councils to see what the nature taken by every priest when he got a of some of those decrees were. The first parish, in which he swore obedience to council of Lateran, which decreed that no the See of Rome, and to the decrees of faith was to be kept with heretics, was General Councils, and anathematized all held in 1215. It also decreed that heretics whom the church had anathema, when any temporal lord or people de- tized. This was the doctrine of that nied the supremacy of the Pope, their church, out of which there was no salvasubjects were to be absolved from their tion. No stronger oath of loyalty to the oath of allegiance, and other princes were Pope than this could be devised by human commanded to conquer their territories ingenuity. They were sworn to prevent and reign in their stead. It was said any encroachment on the regality of that these decrees were become obsolete St. Peter, and to resist heretics, and persefrom age. Christianity could not be ab- cute them to the utmost of their power! rogated by time, and those decrees were Could gentlemen really believe that they held to be as immovable as Christianity would keep the oath prescribed them by itself Gentlemen, before they laughed this Bill, when they considered the nature at these councils as antiquated, ought to of the oaths which they took in regard to consider that the Christian religion itself their own church, out of the pale of which, was considerably more antiquated; but according to the prominent doctrines of he should be sorry that Christianity, be- their religion, there was no salvation ? cause it was much older, should be abo- Let gentlemen compare the engagements lished by the comparatively modern An- of the Catholics to their own church, with ti-christ. How could they call these de- the oath required by the Bill,-that no crees antiquated, which the Roman Ca- disloyal person should be recommended tholic professor at Maynooth held up at for appointment to their vacant sees; and this day to the admiration of his students? when they had made the comparison, they The professor at Maynooth maintained might judge what was the value of this that the decisions of these councils were as security. But since objections were made binding as the Scriptures themselves. to the oldness of the council of Lateran, There was no reason to say, that those he would give them a more modern indecrees were antiquated when the Roman stance. The council of Constance came Catholic divines themselves still maintain- next. It was held in about 200 years ed them. [The learned doctor here read after the former, and promulgated its, several passages from the decrees, parti- dicta from 1414 to 1418. Its decrees were cularly marking those parts which went also maintained as binding by the same to absolve subjects from their allegiance professor at Maynooth. This council deto heretical sovereigns,-to excommuni- clared John Huss and Jerome of Prague, cate heretics, to render them infamous, heretics. They had the protection of the and to deprive them of all privileges of emperor Sigismund; but it being decreed, suing at law, of being witnesses, &c.] that all oaths and promises to heretics These, then, were the decrees which the were null and void, as tending to the preRoman Catholics of this day declared to judice of the church, the protection of the be unchanged and unchangeable: and emperor went for nothing. He had enyet it was proposed to pave the way for gaged for their safe conduct to and from, the Catholics to parliament and the bench! and at the council. This he stated, but It was true, indeed, that those decrees the council soon silenced his scruples, by were not now put in execution, but this passing a decree, that any engagement proceeded from the inability of the Ca- with heretics was to be considered as null tholics so to do. It was utterly impossible and void, if the keeping it should be pre(VOL. XXVI.) (I)

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