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such imputation, and desiring to regulate their conduct in strict conformity to law, request your opinion upon the following queries:

1. Have his Majesty's subjects of Ireland, professing the Roman Catholic religion, a right to petition his Majesty and the Legislature for the redress of grievances, equally with Protes tants; and if not, wherein do they differ?

2. If they have this right, may they lawfully choose delegates for the purpose of framing such petition and presenting the same, in a peaceable and respectful manner; and if they may not, by what law or statute are they forbidden to do so?

3. Is a meeting for the purpose of choosing such delegates, an unlawful assembly; and if not an unlawful assembly, has any magistrate or other person, by or under pretence of the Riot Act, or any other, and what statute, a right to disperse the said meeting?

4. What is the legal mode of presenting petitions to the Legislature in Ireland; and is there any and what statute upon that point in this country?

5. Is the plan sent herewith agreeable to law; if not, wherein is it contrary thereto, and to what penalties would persons become subject, who should carry, or attempt to carry the same into effect?

Counsel will please to state the authorities upon which he grounds his opinion.

ANSWER TO THE FIRST QUESTION.

I am clearly and decidedly of opinion, that all and every his Majesty's subjects of this kingdom, of every persuasion, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant, have an unalienable right to petition, in a peaceable manner, the King or either House of Parliament, for redress of grievances, be those grievances real or imaginary.-1st Blacks. Comm. 143.

ANSWER TO THE SECOND QUESTION.

I am clearly and decidedly of opinion, that Roman Catholics have, equally with Protestants, a right to choose delegates for the purpose of framing such petition, and presenting the same in a peaceable and respectful manner to the Legislature, and that they are not forbidden so to do by any law or statute whatsoever.-Delegation has always been considered not only as the most effectual mode of obtaining the general sense, but also as the best security against tumult and disturbance.

ANSWER TO THE THIRD QUESTION.

I am also clearly and decidedly of opinion, that a peaceable meeting for the purpose of choosing such delegates, is a lawful assembly, and that no magistrate or other person, by or under

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pretence of the Riot Act or any other statute, has a right to disperse such meeting. The assembly which may be dispersed under authority of the Riot Act, must be unlawful, riotous, tumultuous, and in disturbance of the public peace. The Act is inoperative upon an assembly that is lawful-and I feel no difficulty in declaring my opinion, that an obstruction of the peaceable exercise of an unalienable right of the subject is a misdemeanor of the greatest magnitude, and that any person charged with the guilt thereof, be his rank or station what it may, is indictable, and, if found guilty by his country, liable to be fined and imprisoned; and I also feel no difficulty in declaring my opinion, that publications charging the General Committee with exciting, in the instance before us, unlawful assemblies for seditious purposes are libels, and as such are indictable and actionable.

ANSWER TO THE FOURTH QUESTION.

By the English statute of the 1st William and Mary, st. 2. ch. 2., commonly called the Bill of Rights, and which being a law declaratory of the rights of the subject, is therefore of force in Ireland, it is declared "that all subjects have a right to petition the king, and that all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal." Notwithstanding the Bill of Rights is general, and does not specify any regulations or restrictions, yet the Court of King's Bench in England, in the case of the King against Lord George Gordon, (Douglas 571,) thought proper to deliver an opinion, that it did not repeal the English Act of the 13th Car. 2. st. 1. ch. 5., which enacted, "that no petition to the King, or either House of Parliament, for any alteration in church or state, shall be signed by above twenty persons, unless the matter thereof be approved by three justices of the peace, or the major part of the grand jury, in the country; and in London, by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council: nor shall any petition be presented by more than ten persons at a time." Under the above authority, therefore, the right of petitioning in England is subject to the regulations and restrictions laid upon it by that act of Charles II. But as neither the act of Charles, nor any one similar to it, is in force in Ireland, the right of the Irish subjects to petition their legislature is not subject to any regulation or restriction whatsoever, save only that due care must be taken, lest, under the pretence of petitioning, the subject be guilty of any riot or tumult. I am therefore of opinion, that no particular mode of presenting petitions to the legislature of Ireland is pointed out by any law or statute of force in this kingdom. It is to be observed, that in the last session of Parliament, a great concourse of people assembled in the Park, framed a petition, and deputed a very

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large number of their body to present it to the House of Lords; the Lord Chancellor, in observing upon the petition, did not charge the petitioners with any illegality, either in assembling to frame, or in presenting the petition, but on the contrary, his lordship was pleased to commend them for the peaceable manner in which they deported themselves. The success which attended the petition, is in the recollection of most people.

ANSWER TO THE FIFTH QUESTION.

I am also clearly and decidedly of opinion, that the plan is in every respect agreeable to law, and that persons peaceably carrying, or attempting to carry the same into effect, would not thereby incur any penalty whatsoever. The plan is, indeed, unexceptionable; while it serves effectually to obtain the general sense of the great Catholic body of Ireland, it provides every precaution against tumult and disturbance.

Sept. 3, 1792.

SIMON BUTLER.

1. His Majesty's subjects of Ireland professing the Roman Catholic religion, have, in my opinion, a right to petition his Majesty, and the two Houses of Parliament, or any of them, for the redress of grievances equally with Protestants.

2. As they have this right, it follows, as I conceive, that, where the grievance complained of affects the whole body, they have also a right to collect the sense of every individual of that body; but as the assembling them all for that purpose would be inconvenient, imprudent, and, perhaps, dangerous, I think the sense of the whole may be collected from a smaller number delegated by them for that purpose, who may frame and present such petition; and I know of no principle of the common law, nor of any statute, by which they are forbidden to do so,-it being always supposed that these proceedings are carried on in a peaceable and respectful manner.

3. I do not apprehend that a number of Roman Catholics meeting in a private, peaceable, and quiet manner, for the sole purpose of declaring their sense of the alleged grievances, and their desire of petitioning the legislature for redress, and of choosing out of themselves, one or more to assist in framing and presenting such petition, can be considered as an unlawful assembly; and I do not think that any magistrate, or other person, by, or under pretence of, the Riot Act, or any other act that I am acquainted with, would have a right to disperse such meeting.

4. I do not know of any statute in this kingdom which regulates the mode of presenting petitions to the Legislature of this

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kingdom. The English statute of the 13 Car. 2. st. 1. ch. 5. has not been enacted here, that I know of; but the general law of the land requires that the petition should be presented in the most respectful and peaceable manner. The intended petition, as I apprehend, should be entitled, the petition of his Majesty's subjects of Ireland professing the Roman Catholic religion, and should be signed by a few of the Roman Catholics of each county and principal city in Ireland, on behalf of themselves and their Roman Catholic brethren of that county or city. According to the forms of Parliament here, the petition must be presented to each House by a Member of that House; in presenting the petition to his Majesty, which may be either to himself in person, or through the medium of the Lord-lieutenant, it would I think, be prudent to follow the directions of the English statute above-mentioned, and that not more than ten persons should present it.

5. From what I have already said, I must be of opinion that the plan sent herewith to me is not contrary to law; and I cannot conceive that persons carrying, or attempting to carry it into effect peaceably and quietly, would become subject to any penalties.

I have grounded my opinion upon the conception I have formed of the law and constitution of this kingdom, from that general research which my profession has led me to make into their principles; I have not, therefore, any authorities to state. BERESFORD BURSTON.

13th September, 1792.

V.

AT A MEETING OF THE CATHOLIC INHABITANTS OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN, duly convended by Public Summons, Wednesday October 31, 1792.

THOMAS BRAUGHALL in the Chair.

A copy of the letter of the Corporation of the City of Dublin, dated September 11, 1792, and addressed to the Protestants of Ireland, having been read from a public print, a Committee, consisting of the following gentlemen, viz. :

Randall M'Donnell,

John Keogh,

Hugh Hamill,

Edward Byrne,

Thomas Ryan,

Thomas Warren,

Charles Ryan,

John Ball,

was ordered to prepare an answer to said publication, and to

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report the same forthwith: and the Committee so appointed having reported accordingly:

RESOLVED,

That the declaration which follows be published as the unanimous act of this meeting.

That we embrace this opportunity to repeat our thanks to the illustrious characters in both Houses of Parliament who have nobly stood forward in support of Catholic Emancipation, and the right of the subject to petition for redress of griev

ances.

That our warmest gratitude is due, and hereby respectfully offered to our countrymen, the citizens of Belfast, for the uniform and manly exertions which they have on all occasions made in support of our cause, and for the example of liberality and genuine public spirit which they have thereby shewn to the kingdom at large.

That our sincere thanks are likewise due to the different Volunteer Corps lately reviewed in Ulster, to the Societies of United Irishmen of Dublin and Belfast, to the Protestant freeholders of Cork, the different gentlemen who at grand juries and county meetings have supported our cause, and to all others among our Protestant brethren who have manifested a wish for our emancipation; and we trust we shall evince by our conduct, that we are not insensible nor unworthy of the kindness which they have shewn us.

That our Chairman be ordered to transmit copies of this day's proceedings to the Chairman of the town-meeting of Belfast, the Chairmen of the different Societies of United Irishmen, the different reviewing officers in Ulster, and the other distinguished characters who have interested themselves in the cause of Catholic Emancipation.

By order of the Meeting,

SIMON M GUIRE, Secretary.

DECLARATION.

We, the Catholics of the City of Dublin, have read with. extreme concern, the resolutions of different bodies of our Protestant fellow-subjects, in which they express their disapprobation of the conduct of our Committee, and their aversion to our claims of the elective franchise, and an equal participation in the benefit of the trial by jury. But the address of the corporation of this city to the Protestants of Ireland, has filled us most peculiarly with mortification and surprise; as Irishmen, we are astonished and grieved, that the first corporation of this kingdom should have put forth a publication teeming with false principles of government, and false statements of

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