mittee are, and have been, very heavy; and, secondly, that it has been the uniform practice, from the foundation of their body to this hour, to defray those expenses by voluntary subscription; and, of course, that the one now instituted is no innovation, but a sequel of a string of precedents for the last twenty years. When the Catholics of England, who, like their brethren of Ireland, were compelled by penal and restrictive laws to act as a separate body, applied to the Legislature of their country for relief, they found it necessary to raise a fund by subscription, which was accordingly effected. The General Committee in Ireland have done no more. It is presumed that, what was carried on immediately under the inspection of the British Minister, with all possible notoriety, cannot be, in its nature, very unconstitutional or alarming; the present subscription is, therefore, sanctioned by the acquiescence of the Minister of England, and by the practice of the Catholics of both countries. With regard to the application of the money, which it is insinuated has been, and may be, misapplied to the use and support of the Defenders, the Sub-committee beg leave to repeat what they cannot too often recur to-that nothing could be so fatal to that cause which they have so long labored to raise, and, at last, with success, as any thing like tumult or disturbance; of course nothing is so monstrous and incredible as that they should be the fomenters and supporters of either. But not to rest on the reason of the case, if they were so foolish or so wicked as to endeavor to misapply this money, they have not the power. No man, nor body of men, has dominion over the funds of the General Committee but the General Committee itself; not a shilling can be drawn from the treasurer but by their order, except in particular cases, when they authorize the Sub-committee to a limited amount, and for a special purpose. The treasurer has always been one of the most respectable mercantile characters in the Kingdom: the last person who bore the office was the late Mr. Dermott; the present is Mr. John Comerford, of the house of O'Brien and Comerfords, men whose names it is sufficient barely to mention, to satisfy the nation that they would not be concerned in so base a misapplication of the public contribution as that which is affected to be at present apprehended. necessary to reward his services, and, therefore, rather as a token of their gratitude than as an equivalent for the benefits rendered to the Catholic cause, he was presented by the Committee with the sum of two thousand guineas, raised, as before, by a voluntary subscription. When an address was presented in 1791, striking at the existence of the General Committee, the great body of the Catholics stepped forward to vindicate their Delegates, and poured in addresses and resolutions from every quarter of the Kingdom; the General Committee felt it their duty to insert those in the public prints, at an enormous expense, as must be obvious to every man who is at all acquainted with the rates of advertising; by this a sum of nearly £1000 has been exhausted, independent of which a considerable arrear yet remains to be liquidated. In the progress of the business, attacks in the public prints were made on the Catholic cause by a variety of bodies of men and individuals; it was necessary to repel those attacks on the ground where they were made; and this produced further publications on the part of the Committee, and, of course, additional expense, great part of which also remains still undischarged. A deputation of five gentlemen was appointed by the General Committee for the purpose of presenting to his Majesty, in person, the petition of the Catholics of Ireland, which has produced his most gracious interposition in their behalf, and the consequent benefits which they have received. The expenses of that deputation, which have been very heavy, it is not equitable that the gentlemen appointed should sustain; in devoting their time to the public cause, they have sufficiently discharged the duty which they owed. These expenses, therefore, remain a charge on the justice and honor of the Catholic body. The Sub-committee has, in this enumeration, stated, as instances, but a few of the heaviest expenditures of the body; there are a great many others inferior, but unavoidable, which they have passed over. They have frequently had occasion to fee counsel, but it is not their intention to go into detail; what they have said will, they trust, evince two facts material for ⚫ their vindication from the charges invidiously endeavored to be attached to them: first, that the expenses of the General Com mittee are, and have been, very heavy; and, secondly, that it has been the uniform practice, from the foundation of their body to this hour, to defray those expenses by voluntary subscription; and, of course, that the one now instituted is no innovation, but a sequel of a string of precedents for the last twenty years. When the Catholics of England, who, like their brethren of Ireland, were compelled by penal and restrictive laws to act as a separate body, applied to the Legislature of their country for relief, they found it necessary to raise a fund by subscription, which was accordingly effected. The General Committee in Ireland have done no more. It is presumed that, what was carried on immediately under the inspection of the British Minister, with all possible notoriety, cannot be, in its nature, very unconstitutional or alarming; the present subscription is, therefore, sanctioned by the acquiescence of the Minister of England, and by the practice of the Catholics of both countries. With regard to the application of the money, which it is insinuated has been, and may be, misapplied to the use and support of the Defenders, the Sub-committee beg leave to repeat what they cannot too often recur to-that nothing could be so fatal to that cause which they have so long labored to raise, and, at last, with success, as any thing like tumult or disturbance; of course nothing is so monstrous and incredible as that they should be the fomenters and supporters of either. But not to rest on the reason of the case, if they were so foolish or so wicked as to endeavor to misapply this money, they have not the power. No man, nor body of men, has dominion over the funds of the General Committee but the General Committee itself; not a shilling can be drawn from the treasurer but by their order, except in particular cases, when they authorize the Sub-committee to a limited amount, and for a special purpose. The treasurer has always been one of the most respectable mercantile characters in the Kingdom: the last person who bore the office was the late Mr. Dermott; the present is Mr. John Comerford, of the house of O'Brien and Comerfords, men whose names it is sufficient barely to mention, to satisfy the nation that they would not be concerned in so base a misapplication of the public contribution as that which is affected to be at present apprehended. The Sub-committee trust they have now exonerated themselves of the two imputations thrown out against them; and they pledge their whole credit, as men of veracity and honor, for the truth of every fact advanced in the foregoing statement. They are ready to submit the whole of their conduct to the most solemn investigation that can be devised; for, as they have no secret, they have no fear; and they solicit the inspection of every member of the Legislature, and of every respectable gentleman in the Kingdom, to their accounts, which lie open at the treasurer's, from which will appear, at once, the sums collected, and the mode and object of their application. With regard to the present subscription, the General Committee is probably drawing to a close: they owe many debts; they have incurred many obligations; it is necessary that those debts and obligations be discharged; the expenses incurred in the pursuit of emancipation have been hitherto principally defrayed by the Catholics of Dublin, who, of £3000, collected within three years, which is the whole sum that has been subscribed, have paid above £2,500. The body at large are now called upon to furnish their quota, to enable the General Committee to terminate their labors in a manner worthy of the object they have pursued, of the cause which they have supported, and the people whom they have represented; a people who, the Sub-committee rely, with confidence, will, in the manifestation of their sense of the services which have been rendered them, support, in their elevation, that dignity which they have maintained unimpaired through a century of unexampled slavery and oppression, and shew that the same spirit which, in adversity, preserved them loyal and obedient, in prosperity will make them magnanimous and grateful. The Sub-committee consists of the following gentlemen: Edward Byrne, Denis Thos. O'Brien, John Keogh, Thomas Braughall, Hugh Hamill, Thomas Fitzgerald, Thomas Warren, Richard M.Cormick, Thomas Ryan, M. D. M. F. Lynch, Randal M Donnell, Esqrs. and of every country gentleman delegated to the General Com mittee. REASONS WHY THE QUESTION OF PARLIAMENTARY REFORM HAS ALWAYS FAILED IN THE IRISH LEGISLATURE A Fragment. (Left unfinished, 1793.) I presume no man in Ireland, under the degree of a Commissioner of his Majesty's revenue, will deny that a reform in the representation of the people is necessary. The principle has been recognized by the House of Commons in the sessions of 1793, at a period of terror which superseded all dissimulation. The supineness of the nation relieved them from their panic, and they have dexterously evaded the measure by differing as to mode and degree. The gentleman, who, in an unguarded moment of patriotism, pledged himself to bring it forward, has made the experiment, and discharged his conscience; the people have looked on with an apathy to be expected in those who had no interest in the event; and the question of Parliamentary reform, heretofore of some import, has been consigned to oblivion, with as little noise as if it were a common turnpike bill. As the nation assembled in arms in 1783, to procure a similar measure, and failed; as they assembled again in a civil congress, in 1785, and failed; and, finally, as opposition, without the nation, have now failed, it may be worth while to examine the cause of these repeated failures, and to see whether it lies in the nature of the measure itself, or in the principles on which, in those various attempts, it has been undertaken. If it be in the first, the sooner the truth is ascertained, the sooner sedition will lose its pretext, and the public mind be tranquil |