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education at that place, and no doubt with intention to make that education the channel of intro

ed by Bonaparte and Talleyrand, or either of them, except as above. " J. T. T.”

Dublin, 3d January, 1808.

Rev. Da~SIR~

“ Dublin, 24th January, 1807. We, the undersigned Archbishops, and Bishops, have been lately made acquainted with an extraordinary proposal of the Rev. Dr. Walsh, of Paris, to the young men, at present under your care and guidance, in Lisbon, inviting them to abandon that Establishment, and repair to the Seminary established by the Head of the French nation, under his direction, in that city. You may easily conceive the degree of indignation we felt at such a proposal, nor can we believe, that it proceeded from any but very sinister motiyes. We shall refrain, on the present occasion, to make those comments, which occur to us on the general conduct of Mr. Walsh, since the period of the French revolution ; but we cannot avoid remarking, that the great inducements holden out to the young men of your house seemed calculated to inspire them with veneration for, and attachment to the present French, Governnjent; while, at the same time, he seems actuated by a desire to alienate them from that allegi. ance, which they owe to the Government of their own country. It is needless to remind you, Sir, that one of the principal duties of a Clergyman is to inculcate subordination to the laws, and allegiance to the established authorities, under which he lives. We consequently submit to your consideration, whether an education received under an hostile power, can possibly tend to enforce those maxims. We have not the most distant idea of attaching blame to you, Sir; but we are extremely anxious, that you should be thoroughly acquainted with our sentiments on a matter of such serious moment. Bound as we are by every tie of gratiLade to the present Government, for its very liberal support of an ecclesiastical establishment at Maynooth, and which, under the auspices of the present Administration, we hope will very shortly be considerably enlarged, we not only feel it on duty to

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ducing and extending the political influence of the French government in Ireland. Mr. May approved of the enducation of the Catholic clergy at home, as the means of enlightening and attaching that body to the state. Mr. Perceval's amend

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ment was negatived, and the original sum of £13,000 voted without a division.

1907.

The Ministers were far from being insensible of Real conthe workings of the secret cabinet against their ex-nistry.

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your care,

declare, in the most unequivocal terms, our reprobation of such attempts to seduce the youth of your house; but are determined to use the authority vested in us, in order to prevent even the possibility of excuse on the part of any of our Students, who might attempt to accept of that insidious offer. We therefore desire you will convene all those, who are under and make known to them, that we never will give any Ecclesiastical faculty in our dioceses, to those individuals, who should accept of the offer; and that we authorise you to declare to all those in holy orders, that by an acceptance of a similar offer, they will incur a suspension, ipso facto; at the same time, however, that we pronounce this sentence, we do confide, that their own sense of duty is sufficient to prevent the necessity of it; and we dó hope, that they will not suffer their principles of allegiance to their lawful Sovereign to be biased by the intriguing disposition of those persons, who are the instruments of his avowed enemies, in disseminating discord and discontent.

Signed by the Archbishops and Bishops,

RICHARD O'REILLY, FRANCIS MOYLAN,

THOMAS BRAY,

J.T. TROY,

EDWARD DILLON,

JOHN CRUISE,
D. DELANY,

P. S. PLUNKETT.

To the Rev. Doctor Crotty, Rector of the Irish College at Lisbon."

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istence. They were at the same time fully sensible of the vast powers of the Catholic question, when once brought into full action to bear upon a politi cal intrigue. Although they had successfully kept that question at rest during the present session of Parliament, they despaired of their power of continuing so to do. Unfortunately for the Catholics, their cause was made the weapon both of aggression and defence in this virulent, and, for some time, clandestine contest for place. The government of Ireland having informed ministers, that a disposition had arisen amongst the Catholics to prosecute their claims, they were alarmed, under the full conviction, that such prosecution would endanger their situations, Such, at the same time, was the imperious necessity for recruiting the army and navy, and such the natural apprehension, that the recruiting sources would be suspended or choaked up in Ireland more effectually than ever, that anxiety for place, as well as zeal for the ser vice, forced them into some sort of action upơn

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part

in

the subject. They could no longer suppress the
whole matter. Mr. Ponsonby's prudent and cau-
tious efforts at conciliation had not kept the ques•
who took
tion at rest. Tho
active
any
forwarding the Catholic question, ascribed no'me-
rit to government for having quieted the local tur
bulence of the Threshers by the arm of the law,
That was a thing at all times feasible: but
govern
ment had heretofore found it expedient to engraft
political intrigue upon the occasional, (perhaps
unavoidable) soreness of the peasantry, and trans

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mute popular irritation at partial and temporary. calamity, into general disaffection of the Catholic body at universal and systematic oppression. The English ministers were strongly (though privately) urged by substantial friends to them and to Ireland, not to permit such noxious practices of the old system to be raked out of the embers of Mr. Pitt, and lighted up into a flame by his successors. They were reminded, that recent severities inflicted upon Catholic soldiers (and even upon their wives) for attending the divine service according to their own religion, at Manchester and elsewhere, revived the sense of former persecutions, and brought fresh into the memories of the sufferers and their countrymen the many breaches of parliamentary, government and military faith, promises and engagements, upon the important head of free exercise of religion. They were warned, that whilst that system was persisted in, an in-, flexible sense of pastoral duty called upon the most firm and regular of the Irish clergy to dehort their flocks from enlisting. The first weak, timid measure to meet the difficulties, which in concurrence with the general disappointment and fresh irritation in Ireland at the growth of fostered Orangeism, forced the ministers to view the mischief in its full extent and deformity, was a notice given in the House of Commons of an intention of omitting or altering the clause in the mutiny bill, which obliged every soldier to attend the divine service of the established church. It was repre sented to them, from the same quarter, that the

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1807.

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1807 proposed measure would not meet the evil, as it could but affect the army (and that very imperfectly*) but would not even remotely touch the Catholic sailor. That miserably inefficient step was dropped as suddenly as it had been taken up lightly. The cabinet was reluctantly driven to adopt some other measure. In the course of some days Lord Howick gave notice of his intention to move for leave to bring into the House of Commons a bill to open the naval and military services indiscriminately to all his Majesty's subjects, who should take an oath to be thereby prescribed. That notice was the watch word to the opposition and every engine was instantly set to work, to convert that measure of government into their total overthrow. The first body of respectability out of the walls of Parliament, that was attempted to be brought forward to oppose it, was the city of London. On the 5th of March, 1807, the Lord Mayor, aldermen and common council, being assembled in full court, upon a motion respecting the Catholics of Ireland, Mr. Deputy Birch opened the business in a speech of considerable length, and concluded with moving, That it appears to "this court, that the bill intended to be intro"duced into Parliament to permit Papists to fill offices in the army and navy, under the sanc

1

That would only have protected the soldier from military pains and penalties for refusing to obey the command of his officer to march to church, but would have left him open to all the pains, forfeitures and disabilities of the 25th of Char. II. and the 1st of Geo. I.

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