STATE PAPERS. 



345 



We seek not the possession of 

 offices, but mere eligibility to of- 

 fice, in common with our fellow- 

 citizens ; not power or ascendancy 

 over any class of people, but the 

 bare permission to rise from our 

 prostrate posture, and to stand 

 erect in the empire. 



We have been taught that, ac- 

 cording to ihe pure and practical 

 principles of the British Constitu- 

 tion, property is justly entitled to a 

 proportionate share of power ; and 

 we humbly trust, that no reason- 

 able apprehension can arise from 

 that power, which can only be ob- 

 tained and exercised through the 

 Constitution. 



We are sensible and we do not 

 regret, that this equality of civil 

 rights (which alone wehnmbly sue 

 for) will leave a fair practical as- 

 cendancy, wheresoever property 

 shall predominate ; but, whilst we 

 recognize and acknowledge the 

 wholesomeaess of this great princi- 

 ple, we cannot admit the necessity 

 of the unqualified disfranchisement 

 of any part of the people, in a Con- 

 stitution like that of these realms. 



We are gratified by the reflec- 

 tion, that the attainment of this 

 our constitutional object will prove 

 as conducive to the welfare and. se- 

 curity of this great empire, as to 

 the complete relief of the Roman 

 Catholic community ; that it will 

 secure the quiet and concord of our 

 country ; animate all classes of the 

 people in the common defence, 

 and form the most stable protec- 

 tion against the dangers which 

 heavily menace these islands. 



For we most humbly presume to 

 •ubmit it to your Royal Highness, 

 as our firm opinion, that an equal 

 degree of enthusiasm cannot rea- 

 sonably be expected from men, 



who feel themselves excluded from 

 a fair participation of the blessings 

 of a good Constitution and Go- 

 vernment, as from those who fully 

 partake of its advantages ; that the 

 enemies of this empire, who me- 

 ditate its subjugation, found their 

 best hopes of success upon the 

 effects of those penal laws, which, 

 by depressing millions of the inha- 

 bitants of Ireland, may weaken 

 their attachment to their country, 

 and impair the means of its de- 

 fence ; and that the continued pres- 

 sure of these laws, in times of unex- 

 pected danger, only spreads the 

 general feeling of distrustful alarm, 

 and augments the risk of common 

 ruin. 



To avert such evils, to preserve 

 and promote the welfare and secu- 

 rity of this empire, and to become 

 thoroughly identified with our fel- 

 low subjects in interests and affec- 

 tion, are objects as precious in our 

 eyes, upon every consideration of 

 property, principle, and moral du- 

 ty, as in those of any other descrip- 

 tion of the inhabitants of these 

 realms. 



If, in thus humbly submitting 

 our depressed condition and our 

 earnest hopes to the consideratioa 

 of your Royal Highness, we would 

 dwell upon the great numbers and 

 the property of the Roman Catho- 

 lics of Ireland, already so consider- 

 able and so rapidly increasing, and 

 to their consequent most important 

 contributions to the exigencies of 

 the State; we would do so, not 

 with a view of exciting unworthy 

 motives for concession, but in the 

 honest hope of suggesting legiti- 

 mate and rational grounds of con- 

 stitutional relief. 



And deeply indeed should we 

 lament, if these very recommenda- 

 tions. 



