224) ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
in all the rights of their fellow 
subjects. 
This was an application of the 
most serious nature. A total com. 
pliance or rejection were fraught 
with equal peril. The British mi- 
nistry were desirous to oblige one 
party without offending the other, 
But the Roman Catholics, numerous 
and determined, were become so 
formidable, that it did not appear 
safe to refuse the petition, which 
they were convinced was founded on 
manifestequity. The Irish legisla. 
ture, on the other hand, composed 
entirely of Protestants, were zealous 
in opposing demands that would 
‘place their antagonists on a parity 
with themselves. Nor was the 
ministry inclined to weaken in any 
essential manner the Protestant in. 
terest in Ireland, on which alone it 
had long been used to place any re- 
liance. Inorder, therefore, to re- 
tain the attachment of the one, and 
mot to lose the good will of the 
ether, an answer was returned to 
the petition, containing a number of 
material concessions : the validity of 
Matriages with Protestants, the 
right of taking apprentices, of 
keeping schools, and of pleading at 
the bar, with other privileges hi- 
therto withheld from them, were 
fully established. 
When the restritions so many 
ears laid on the Roman Catholics 
in Ireland, and of which they had 
so bitterly complained, are duly 
considered, these were certainly 
valuable concessions : but the firmly 
cherished hope, of a total deliver- 
ance from all disqualifications, was 
so predominant among them, that 
these grants met with a cold re- 
tiON, 
The murmurs and discontents 
that now prevailed both among the 
Catholics and the Dissenters, ex. 
cited the most serious alarms in Eng. 
Jand. The secret connexions, sub- 
sisting between many of the Irish 
and French revolutionists, were 
justly dreaded, and it was not doubt. 
ed, that these would exert their ut- 
most efforts to stir up insurrections 
in that kingdom. 
It was in this critical juncture, 
that earl Fitzwilliam was appointed 
to the government of Ireland. His 
inclination to healing measures ren- 
dered this appointment peculiarly 
acceptable to the people of that 
kingdom, and he was received with 
universal satisfaction, The Irish 
parliament met on the 22d of Janu- 
ary, 1795, and unanimously voted 
him the most favourable addresses ; 
and, on the oth of February, agreed 
to the amplest supplies that had ever 
been granted in that kingdom. 
In the mean time, the Catholic 
party was preparing to renew its ~ | 
solicitations, and to enforce them 
with all the weight that time and 
circumstances would produce iw 
their favour. Lord Fitzwilliam 
soon perceived that he would find it 
imprat¢ticable to defer the decision 
on their demands, without incurring 
the highest danger: in order to 
place himself in a favourable light 
with this formidable party, he em- 
ployed, in the transactions with its 
leading members, a person in whom 
the Catholics universally confided, 
as a friend to conciliatory measures . 
this was thecelebrated Mr. Grattan, 
whom they had seleéted as the most 
proper and aétive member of the le- 
gislature, for the effecting of their 
purposes. He moved, accordingly, 
on the 12th of February, for leave 
to bring in a bill for the relief of 
persons professing the Roman Ga- 
tholic religions 
Ehe 
