52] ANNUAL REGISTER, 18i6. 



discontents with which Ireland 

 was now agitated. 



As all that could be farther said 

 on the topic of catholic emancipa- 

 tion must be no more than reca- 

 pitidation of arguments produced 

 at former repeated discussions, 

 we shall only remark in this de- 

 bate, that while the motion was 

 supported by Lord Castlere:igh, it 

 was opposed by the secretary for 

 Ireland, Mr. Peel. The question 

 being loudly called foe, there ap- 

 peared For the motion 141 ; a- 

 gainst it, 172 : majority in the 

 negative, 31. 



On the 30th of May, Sir Henry 

 Parnell rose in the House to pre- 

 sent a petition from the bishops 

 and clergy professing the Roman- 

 catholic religion in Ireland, which, 

 he said, was signed by twenty- 

 three prelates, andl052 priests. He 

 expatiated upon the character and 

 merits of the catholic clergy in 

 Ireland, asserting that whatever 

 there was of moral principle 

 among the catholic people of that 

 country, was wholly to be attri- 

 buted to their unabated zeal. The 

 petition which they had plaocd in 

 his hands contained their unani- 

 mous opinion on those ecclesias- 

 tical arrangements which some 

 persons had thought necessary to 

 be connected with the measure of 

 catholic emancipation, and it com- 

 prized a very able argument to 

 shew that no alteration was ne- 

 cessary in the present mode of 

 appointing bishops. He con- 

 cluded his speech with saying, he 

 should give nc ticc that evening, 

 of a motion for that day se'nnight 

 for the House to resolve itself into 

 a committee to take the petitions 

 into consideration. 



A doubt was subsequently start- 

 ed whether the House could re- 



ceive the petition, inasmuch as it 

 professed to be from persons who 

 called themselves the bishops, and 

 not the titular bishops, of Ireland, 

 which was contrary to an Irish 

 act, prohibiting all Popish eccle- i 

 siastics from assuming any eccle- ^ 

 siastical title within the realm. 

 It was affirmed in reply, that this 

 act had been virtually le pealed by 

 a later statute ; and a speech of 

 Bishop Ilorslcy was (|uoted, who, 

 in referring to the Roman-catho- 

 lic prelacy of Ireland said, "My 

 lords, they arc as much bishops as 

 any of my reverend friends who 

 now sit on this bench." Further 

 it was observed, that the petition- 

 ers in their signatures had not 

 distinguished themselves by any 

 particular see, but merely by their 

 christian and surnames. In con- 

 clusion, the petition was read, 

 and ordered to lie on the table. 



On June 6th, -Sir H. Parnell, 

 pursuant to notice, called the at- 

 tention of the House to the peti- 

 tions which he had presented, and 

 which, he said, contained the 

 prayer of nine-tenths of the Irisli 

 Roman-catholics, including all 

 the clcigy. After attempting io 

 shew that the time was now ar- 

 rived in which some farther con- 

 cessions ought to be made to that 

 class of subjects, he said he should 

 propose certain rcsohitions which, 

 if agreed to, would form tkje sub- 

 ject matter of a bill for granting 

 those concessions. He then stated 

 the resolutions, the first of which 

 went to the laying open to the 

 catholics various oflices in the 

 law, the army, revenue, and 

 corporations, and this he pro- 

 posed. 



Mr. Peel desired that the stand- 

 ing order might be read, by which 

 it was declared that no bill which 



went 



