and peculiar feelings) felt themselves aggrieved, or hoped to be benefited. A petition from the Catho

suggestions of our gracious sovereign, be taken into early con"sideration by those virtuous and illustrious men, whom he has "been lately pleased to call to his councils. Experience has

moreover proved to us, that the superintendance of our inte "rests cannot, with a view to their final success, and with a "due consideration of the good order, welfare and prosperity "of the empire at large, be with safety entrusted to any others among us, than those, who shall include with them the most "attainable weight, talent and property of the Catholics of "Ireland.

"

"Influenced by these considerations, we have formed our"selves into an association, in which we hope, shall be comprised the full respectability of the Catholic body. Its ob"ject shall be earnestly, but temperately, to embrace every "favourable occasion, that may offer, to accomplish the removal "of those legal restrictions, under which we still labour; a measure of policy, to which we fondly look, not only to produce the "amelioration of our own particular condition, but as the most "direct means of concentrating the resources, perfecting the "strength, and wielding against the enemies of the British Empire, its unrestrained and undivided energies.

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RESOLVED, That Counsellor Fitzsimon, be requested to act "ás Secretary to this Association.

"RESOLVED, That our Chairman and Secretary be directed to give intimation of our proceedings to the Catholic noblemen "and principal gentlemen of Ireland, and to request their cooperation.

"RESOLVED, That our thanks be, and are hereby given to "James Nangle, Esq. for his proper conduct in the chair.

RESOLVED, That the proceedings of this meeting be pub"lished in the Evening Herald, and in the Dublin Evening

"Post.

"JAMES NANGLE, CHAIRMAN,

M. FITZSIMON, SECRETARY,"

1

1806.

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44

1806. lics of Newry, presented to the Lord Lieutenant on the 1st of May, contained this manly admoni tory language: "We contemplate, in this event, 66 a sure pledge of that equal administration, "which has been the object of our wishes, and "which has appeared to be the more removed. "from us, as the laws to our disqualification have "been repealed. To those principles of constitu "tional freedom, of which your illustrious family. "have ever proved themselves the advocates, we are devotedly attached. We revere the British "constitution, and we hope from an enlightened "legislature, an entire participation of its fran"chises; we wait this consummation of qur hopes. Meanwhile, under your Grace's administration, we do not fear, but we shall experience, that the relaxation of the penal laws, "under which we and our forefathers have so se"verely suffered, shall not have been in vain. "While the magistracy, the army, places of "subordinate trust and profit have been made ac"cessible to persons of our persuasion, we have "seen a jealous and exclusive spirit, rendering "those concessions nugatory. Our poor, our in"dustrious labourer and mechanic, have been "made to suffer, under the partial exercise of "ill-understood and ill-executed local authority; "and having no other medium of judging of the "spirit of his Majesty's government, they have "been at times led to fear it was adverse to their

4

happiness. We bless the Divine disposer of " events, that an æra more auspicious opens to

“our country, and to us. No longer shall we "see power abused, to the oppression of those, "for whose protection it was designed; nor shall "the character of a loyal people be misrepresent"ed by those, who seek their debasement."

1806.

of the coun

ford.

The county of Wexford had, on the 10th of Resolutions April, come to a string of resolutions, in which ty of Wexthey expressed their unlimited confidence in government to grant them redress, at the time, and in the qualified manner they should think best. "We place the highest reliance on the candour "and integrity of those great and distinguished "characters, called at a trying and arduous moment into his Majesty's councils, and we contemplate with pride and pleasure, a combina"tion so powerful, of worth and talent, supporting the real interests of the country:

RESOLVED, that in soliciting our emancipa"tion, we have just reason to consult the wisdom of government, and not, by any premature or untimely agitation of claims, embarrass ministers at this critical season."

the counties

Clare, and

Their subsequent address to the Lord Lieute- Address of nant expressed their confidence in his Grace's go- of Wexford, vernment for the extinction of religious animosi- others to ties, and a seasonable participation of the benefits Lieutenant, of the constitution, with their Protestant brethren. The county of Clare, and several other bodies

At a meeting of the Catholics of the county of Clare, at Ennis, on the 31st of March, Mr. O'Gorman, though strongly recommending plenitude of confidence in the ministers, held this prudent and cautionary language: " Though I would strongly

the Lord

1806.

Addresses

from corpo

the Lord

of Catholics, that separately addressed the Lord Lieutenant, expressed their entire confidence in the new ministers, and disclaimed any intention or wish to limit their assumed zeal in the Catholic cause either to time or measure.

Congratulatory addresses came in from the dif rations to ferent corporations; all of one general tendency, Lieutenant, referring to the government of his Excellency's Far to the grandfather, and expressive of national confidence Chancellor. in the name of Russell. The nation in general

aud of the

anticipated from the spirit and fortune of the Duke of Bedford a greater display of splendor and hospitality, than had for many years graced the

"recommend confidence in the present administration, let me

not be understood to say, that our claims should be put off “sine die; no, let us judge of the present administration fa"vourably, but let us decide on the evidence of facts only. No, "I trust no Catholic will ever lose sight of this question: I "trust from the peer or grand juryman to the meanest peasant, a sense of the justice of their cause will pervade all; that day and night it will be before their eyes. They owe it to them"selves, to their country, to posterity and humanity. I hope (to use the language of one of our illustrious advocates) there "will be no Catholic, who will not be of opinion, that the depression of the body is not so much the persecution of a sect "as the tyranny over a people; and to use the language of "another illustrious advocate of the cause (Mr. Fox himself) it

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ought to be our duty to pursue this question in spite of every temporary obstacle. Yet I would still strongly recommend eve ry Catholic (though an attachment in any administration to the measure should enter strongly into his calculation in the sup"port he gave them, and should even form the basis of that "support) to wait chearfully and dutifully; he should recollect "the strength and growth of the cause, and that imprudence " or intemperance could alone endanger its ultimate success."

Castle. The latter part of Lord Hardwicke's ad- 1806. ministration had been marked by restrictions in the viceregal expenditures, which wore the appearance of the meanest parsimony. They were usually placed to the account of the œconomizing directions of Dr. Lindsay, the Scotch prelate of Kildare. An address was presented to the new Chancellor, Mr. G. Ponsonby, by the Munster bar, of which he was a member, on the 10th of April, to which, the best return, he said, he could make, was a pledge of his constant endeavours to discharge with diligence and integrity the duties of the great trust his Majesty had placed in him. On the 29th of April, the gentlemen of the Irish bar met, in pursuance of notice, in the Chancery chamber, for the purpose of considering of an address, congratulating the Lord High Chancellor of Ireland on his appointment to that high judicial station. Mr. Saurin, as one of the committee for preparing the address, produced a copy of it, which was unanimously and instantly adopted; and he then moved, that it should be presented by the Attorney General. Mr. Bethel rose and said, that no man respected, more than he did, all official and judicial authority; but he begged it to be recollected, that the address, about which there could be but one opinion, was the just and unbought tribute of the Irish bar; and that therefore it should be presented in the must public, in dependent and respectable manner; and he indulged an ardent wish, that he should see in the procession a man, who had deserved well of the.