94 



ANNUx\L REGISTER, 1805. 



ing up that day, to plead the cause 

 of nearer a lourth than a fifth of 

 the whole population of the British 

 empire. The general principle, that 

 so great a portion of our fellow sub- 

 jects should be on a footing with 

 the remainder, in the enjoyment of 

 equal privileges and advantages, 

 and the benefit of the constitutional 

 governmeut, was incontrovertible, 

 and upon which there could subsist 

 only theoretical diifcrcnccs of opi- 

 nion. There were two modes of con- 

 slderin;^ the question; the first as it 

 regarded the rights of the subject, 

 and, secondly, as it regarded the 

 rights of the crown. As to the first, 

 he contended tiiat the people had a 

 right not to be restricted in any 

 tiling, but where the safety of the 

 country demanded. The restric- 

 tions laid on the catholics were not 

 on their religious, but on their poli- 

 tical opinions, and the necessity, 

 which might have occasioned them 

 formerly, was now completely done 

 away. He then took an historical 

 view of the subject, to shew that 

 the penal and restrictive laws in 

 Ireland were meant not against 

 catholics, but Jacobites. It Mas 

 therefore necessary, when there was 

 no pretender, nor any danger of 

 the return of the Stuart family to 

 the throne, by the indulgent system 

 pursued during the present reign, 

 and by encouraging trade, to restore 

 to the catholics a great part of that 

 property, which was taken from 

 their ancestors. , Jf the act of settle- 

 ment were now reversed, and the 

 property forfeited in Cromwell's 

 time restored, the catholics would 

 be as great losers by it asthepro- 

 testants. The exclusion of the ca- 

 tiiolics from offices was a restric- 

 tion on the prerogative of the crown, 

 which could not now avail itself of 



their services, though the king him- 

 self was obliged to be a protestant. 

 The greatest incentive any man 

 could have to industry and enter- 

 prise, was, that he might possibly 

 rise to as great fortune and degrco 

 as the greatest peer in the land. 

 This charming prospect was denied 

 to the catholic, who feels, that he 

 can never rise to the top of his 

 profession. Such was the degrading 

 situation in which were placed 

 one-fourth of his majesty's Euro- 

 pean subjects. When the catholics 

 were permitted to sit in parliament, 

 no historian ever stated that any mis- 

 chief had resulted from it. It was 

 impossible that the Irish catholics 

 could send more than twenty mem- 

 bers to that house, but, supposing 

 tliey were to send eighty, what 

 danger could it bring upon a re.* 

 presentation, consisting of six liim- 

 dred and fifty-eight members ? The 

 ca( holies had not now even a virtual 

 representation in parliament, as the 

 protestant members had not a sym- 

 pathy or common feeling with 

 them. To reject this petition, there- 

 fore, would be to treat them as out- 

 casts, and teach them to look for 

 relief and protection elscwhcie. 

 He then ridiculed all dangers a])- 

 prehcnded from the power of tha 

 pope, and the same reasoning, 

 which implied that they were not 

 to be believed on their oaths, was 

 a libel on all the nations ol Europe, 

 the inhabitants of three-fourths of 

 which were Roman catholics. It 

 was ridiculous to suppose that peo- 

 ple of different persuasions could 

 not act together, for the public 

 welfare, or that, in a council of 

 state, ministers, instead of consult- 

 ing about the affairs of the nation, 

 should be always quarreling about 

 religious differences. He cousidcred 



the 



