50] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



sures of temperate and proper 

 regulation. 



The petition was then read, 

 the tenor of which was, That 

 the petitioners are excluded from 

 the enjoyment of the free consti- 

 tution of these realms ; and that 

 they are subject to such ex- 

 clusion not on account of any 

 imputed deficiency of disposition 

 or inability to tlie service of the 

 crown or the support of the state^ 

 but solely on account of their 

 conscientious adherence to that 

 religion which was professed by 

 those princes and patriots of 

 Great Britain who had originated 

 her justly boasted constitution : 

 and they again implored the House 

 to grant them redress of the op- 

 pressive grievances of which they 

 complained, and to restore them 

 to the full and unrestricted en- 

 joyment of the rank of free sub- 

 jects of the empire. 



The petition was ordered to lie 

 on the table. 



On May 15th the other petition 

 from tlie Irish Catholics was pre- 

 sented to the House of Commons 

 by Mr. Gratttin. Its general pur- 

 port, though expressed in more 

 diffuse language, was similar to 

 that of the former petition : its 

 diversity consisted in the follow- 

 ing points. The petitioners stated 

 their readiness to conform to any 

 regulations not incompatible with 

 the principles of their religion as 

 they respect their faith and disci- 

 pline, and not threatening danger 

 to the purity and permanence of 

 its exercise : that they seek no 

 alteration in the principles of 

 the British constitution as now 

 settled ; for the principles of 

 their religion interpose no ob- 



stacle either to the succession of 

 the crown, as limited by par- 

 liament to his Majesty's family, 

 being protestants, or to the tem- 

 poral rights of the protestant es- 

 tablishment as fixed by law : and 

 that in the prosecution of their 

 object they earnestly desire, nei- 

 ther in act nor expression, to 

 leave room for jealousy on the 

 part of their protestant fellow- 

 subjects. They conclude with 

 humbly soliciting the House to 

 take into its consideration the 

 state of the laws affecting the 

 Roman Catholics, with a view to 

 the repeal of all of them which 

 do not relate to the succession to 

 the crown, or to the continuance 

 of the Protestant church estab- 

 lishment. 



On May ^2 1st, the Rt. Hon. 

 William Elliot rose to presant to 

 the House a petition from the 

 English Roman-catholics, which 

 he introduced by an energetic 

 speech that drew loud cheers from 

 all parts of the House. The sub- 

 stance of the petition, which was 

 expressed with all the temper and 

 decorum which had characterized 

 every application to the legisla- 

 ture from that respectable body, 

 was to represent that although by 

 two acts of the present reign 

 many penal laws to which they 

 were subject have been repealed, 

 yet that many are still in force, 

 which have a very distressing Ope- 

 ration upon them, to which they 

 are exposed merely on account of 

 their refusal of certain religious 

 tests ; that their objection to these 

 is solely of a conscientious nature, 

 and not in the least degree con- 

 flicting with any moral, civil, or 

 political duty 5 that they have at 



different 



