GENERAL HISTORY. 



[53 



are necessary, but I firmly believe 

 that you cannot alter them in any 

 essential point for the better. 

 Mr. P. then entered into an exa- 

 mination of the existinef laws, 

 ■\\ith those meant to be proposed 

 to supply their places, and in 

 every instance he attempted to 

 show, that remaining just where 

 we are is the only safe and solid 

 ground of defence. 



Mr. Gratlan made a concluding 

 speech with much force and ani- 

 mation. He began with posi- 

 tively den\ iiig tliat there was any 

 general disposition in the Catho- 

 lics to object to any security; for 

 what is for the good of the whole 

 is for the good of the Cathoiic. 

 .\fter pursuing this idea to a con- 

 sideiable length, he said, some 

 honourable gentlemen speak of the 

 constitution, the state, and reli- 

 gion, as opposite to tlie motion. 

 Let theni state in wliat the dan- 

 geis consist. Until they do so, 

 their arguments are of no avail. 

 Without the foundation of facts 

 they prophesy consequences, for 

 the purjiose of perpetuating dis- 

 (ju.ditications on their fellow sub- 

 jects. Tile Catholic claims have 

 now been agitating for nine-and- 

 thiity years. They have gone 

 through every kind of considera- 

 tion, and iheir interest doubles at 

 every discussion. In the^e dis- 

 cussions no doubt individual irri- 

 tation has occasionally appealed, 

 and poison lias occasionally been 

 infused into the minds of the Irish 

 population. Is this state of things 

 to lie allowed to exist any longer } 

 Are we to continue that soit of 

 Knulish connexion in Ireland, 

 wliich is called a settlemtiit , and 

 which must be defended by an 

 ar/riv paid by ttie people over 



whom it is placed ? This is a sys- 

 tem which cannot last : depend 

 upon it that it cannot. If you 

 exclude the people from connex- 

 ion ^ with their own state, they 

 will in the natural course of 

 things attach themselves else- 

 where. One part of the Irish po- 

 pidatiou is morbid and excluded ; 

 another is unnaturally vivacious. 

 Let a new order of things mark 

 the times in which we live ; and 

 let an immediate and effectual ter- 

 mination be put to any clandestine 

 intercourse between the Catholics 

 and the see of Kome. 



The riglit hon. gentleman's pero- 

 ration was to the following effect: 

 "When I see Britain grown up in- 

 to a mightyempire ; when I behold 

 her at the head of the nations of 

 the earth ; when I contemplate her 

 power and majesty ; I own that I 

 am <leeply astonished to find her 

 descending from her elevation to 

 mix in the disputes of schoolmen 

 and the wrangling of theologians, 

 who, while they seek for their 

 own purposes to torture their 

 countrymen, endanger the secu- 

 rity of their common country " 



The question being at length 

 loudly called for, there appeared 



For the moti(m . . . S^l 



Against it 245 



Majority 



24 



On May IG, the Earl of Don- 

 oughmore rose in the House of 

 Lords to move for a committee 

 to consider the ])etitions of his 

 Majesty's Roman Catholic sub- 

 jects. He said, that he had caused 

 to be placed upon their lordships 

 table two petitions which he had 

 the honour of presenting to the 

 House during the last session, on 



the 



