the only national religion of Corsica, and all others tolerated and that Parliament should concert the discharge of the functions of the Bishops with the See of Rome. His Majesty also in the year 1794 appointed Mr. Mac Donald a Roman Catholic Priest, Chaplain to a Catholic Fencible Regiment raised in Great Britain. 1805. Blaquiere. Lord De Blaquiere opposed the motion as calcu- Lord De lated to injure the highest interests. It would either produce union, happiness and peace, or deluge the streets with blood. Hutchinson, thorne, and ben. Mr. C. H. Hutchinson supported the motion Mr. C. H. and vindicated the character of his traduced coun- Mr. Hawtrymen. Mr. Hawthorne lamented, that the ques- Sir W. Doltion should be agitated without a prospect of success; he however would vote for the motion: convinced, that the compliance with the prayer of the petition was essentially necessary to the peace and repose of Ireland, the stability of the Union between the two countries, and the safety and security of the Empire at large. Sir IV. Dolben opposed the motion. He admitted, that the balance of talent and ingenuity were in favor of the petition: but the force of argument and public principle against it. Mr. For closed this important debate with his Mr. Fox. reply. As to the time of bringing forward the petition, he had no defence to offer, whatever imputation might be brought against him. There was no time of his life, when, if any sort of men applied to him to support a petition in favour of religious liberty, he would not comply with their 190.5. request. If Mr. Pitt's opinion were to be followed, and if every thing were to be considered a party trick, as he had termed the bringing forward that measure, because it was not expected to be attended with success, the constitution would be rendered singular indeed, and the whole of his (Mr. Fox's) life would have been in repugnance to his opinions and the constitution of his country. He pointedly remarked, how materially Mr. Pitt's conduct differed in 1805 from what it had been in 1801. Yet he would have the Catholics believe, he still retained all the same opinions and sentiments in their regard now, that he had accepted of place, as when he declared, that on that account he could not hold it. But when the Catholics had been forced to believe, he had changed his mind as well as his conduct, they went to Mr. Fox, and because they had done so, they were charged (most unhandsomely) with having made themselves the allies of a party. What was to become of the constitution, if independent members of that house, representatives of the people of England, the first nation on earth, were to be excommunicated in their political capacity for the performance of a duty adverse to the sentiments of those ministers, whose conduct they condemned if millions were to be stigmatized as allies of a party, because they applied to such members for the establishment of their undoubted rights, privileges and immunities civil and religious, denied to them by those ministers, who ought to be foremost in granting them. What could be more fatal, than the well founded conviction of above three fourths of the population of Ireland, that there was not a man in England, who sympathized with their sufferings, or who was inclined to exert himself, in order to obtain redress of them? He hoped the Catholics would not reason in this manner: We have no friends in England, therefore we must look elsewhere. Some have said: Let us finish the question for ever. When, he asked, was it known, that such a question could be finished for ever? Man and for ever. Mr. Fox then took a retrospective view of the conduct of the Irish Parliament in 1791, and the two following years, and also of the American war, and drew pointed conclusions from the results of all those transactions, as they differed from the heated and inconsiderate and intemperate speeches and conduct of the members of those days, when first opened. 1805, continued. Mr. Fox lamented he could not have the benefit Mr. Fox of Mr. Pitt's vote, yet he rejoiced, that he had the advantage of his discountenancing what, he must feel, reflected as much honor on his principlé in 1801, as disgrace in 1805. His vote would have been a benefit to his country, but his speech was of more advantage. It was of consequence, that in England, Ireland, and every part of the empire, it should be known, that the opinion of men in power, or likely to be in power, or whose authority or interest was looked up to with confidence, as favourable to the cause, to which the vote of the Right Honourable Gentleman was 'adverse. He wished he could have had his vote; but ! 1 1805. ed him for his argument. He admitted that some respectable bodies had differed from him in opinion, but he did not admit, that the sentiments of the public were adverse. The claims of the Catholics were not only consistent with the principles of the constitution, but consonant with its vital spirit. The crisis demanded that toto certandum est corpore regni, which could not be, when so large a portion of the corpus regni was deprived of the privileges, which they ought to enjoy, and without which, to them the country was nothing. They boasted, that they should be able to make exertions against the enemy, which the subjects of arbitrary power could not be expected to make, because they were fighting for laws, that were their own laws, for a constitution, that was their own constiution, for those rights and sacred immunities, which no other country under heaven possessed the advantage of fighting for. This applied not to the Catholics, who possessed not those advantages. Government was thus reduced to the expectation of no other, than comparative exertion from that body. Nay, worse: In the debates two years ago, when the Secretary of War (Mr. Yorke) brought in a bill for raising an army en masse, after he had detailed the advantages of it to Great Britain, he very intelligibly observed, that it was not thought expedient to extend the plan to Ireland. In the levy en masse in England, they looked to the best security, because the people were generally admitted to their' constitutional rights. In Ireland, where they were excluded from them they saw danger. In debat- depended upon. Applied to Ireland, the minor 1805. 2 |