30] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



duced to this, that they were still 

 precluded from holding certain 

 offices in the state. Would their 

 advocates contend that as a matter 

 of right they could claim an admis- 

 sibility to them ? If that doctrine 

 was set up, he, for one, would not 

 hesitate to declare that it was not 

 tenable. His lordship then went 

 into a vindication of the measures 

 of the Irish government, and the 

 late judicial proceedings; and he 

 concluded with regarding the ques- 

 tion as one of expediency, on which 

 ground he should vote against the 

 motion. 



The Marquis of Downshire spoke 

 chiefly to the act of union, and the 

 failure of the assurance given to 

 the Irish catholics at the time of 

 passing it, and which, if persisted 

 in, would cause a permanent sepa- 

 ration of heart and mind, notwith- 

 standing a nominal union. 



The Earl of Hardwicke alluded 

 to his own administration in Ire- 

 land, and coidd see no reason why 

 any penal laws against the catholics 

 should remain in force, when the 

 cause of their enactment no longer 

 subsisted. 



Of Lord Sidmouth's speech, the 

 most observable part was the view 

 he took of the subject, in the fol- 

 lowing terms : — He asked, was not 

 this a religions question ? Was not 

 the house called upon to protect the 

 true religion established by law in 

 this country ? And must they not 

 greatly detract from that estimation 

 in which it was essential it should 

 be held, by allowing it to be sup- 

 posed that they so far countenanced 

 mass, as to put it on a level with 

 the established religion — allowing 

 it to be regarded as a matter of in- 

 difference whether persons went 



to church, to mass, or to the syna- 

 gogue ? 



MarquisWellesley began a speech 

 of great force and comprehension, 

 by a view of all that had been done 

 by the Irish government in this mat- 

 ter, the whole of which he vigorous- 

 ly defended. He asserted that no 

 obstruction had been given to the 

 legal exercise of the right of peti- 

 tioning by the catholics ; that the 

 convention act was a measure of 

 prevention proved salutary by expe- 

 rience; that due warning had been 

 given to the catholics of the late 

 intention of putting it in force ; 

 that the legal proceedings had 

 been just and dignified ; and that 

 on these points there was no 

 ground for the proposed inquiry. 

 He then proceeded to a general 

 consideration of the cause of the 

 Irish catholics, respecting which, lie 

 tiaid, he did not agree with any of 

 the declared champions in this 

 conflict. His noble friend, the 

 earl of Aberdeen, had most justly 

 styled it a question of mere state 

 expediency, in which opinion he 

 entirely concurred. Toleration 

 (said the marquis) is the interme- 

 diate point between persecution 

 and encouragement; the bound- 

 aries of these, however, can no 

 otherwise be ascertained, than by 

 reference to the relative situation 

 of the parties, and the circum- 

 stances of the state and times. It 

 is a clear and undeniable maxim, 

 that every state possesses a right to 

 restrain whatever is dangerous to 

 its security, and no sect or indi- 

 vidual can assert a right against the 

 state. On the other hand, every 

 restraint excluding any description 

 of subjects from the advantages 

 possessed by the community, is a 



positive 



