LON 
for complete emancipation from all difibilities whatever, 
civil or military, was, after the ufual diffusions, rejefted ; 
a grant of 9520I. was made for the current year for the 
fupport of the Roman-catholic college of Maynooth. 
I11 the courfe of the difcuffions that took place on this 
fubjeft, Dr. Duigenan, a well-known champion againft 
the popifh children of Hibernia, read the oath of the 
catholic priefts, in order to fhow that they paid an obe¬ 
dience to the pope which was inconfiftent with the king’s 
fupremacy. The provilions for the education of the efta- 
blilhed clergy, he obferved, fell fhort of thofe propofed 
to be granted to the papifts. There were in the univer- 
fity of Dublin 30 poor fcholars who got but a dinner once 
a- day , and 72 fcholars of the houfe that got a dinner once a-day, 
but no lodgings. [The doctor, we fuppofe, meant one 
meal a-day, which was their dinner 5 for the fellows of 
Oxford and Cambridge, as far as we have been informed, 
dine but once a-day.] The doftor defcribed the catholics 
as bad fubjefts and hoftileto the ftate ; and declared, that, 
if any one would move to withdraw the public aid alto¬ 
gether from Maynooth, he would fecond the motion. 
The original grant to the Roman-catholic college at 
Maynooth was 8000I. In addition to this fum, the laft 
parliament had voted 5000I. making in all 13,0001. Be¬ 
fore this vote, however, could be carried into effeft, that 
parliament was diffolved ; and, when the new parliament 
met, his majefty’s prefent miniiters wiflted to refort to the 
former fum. But, finding that the truftees had afted 
upon the faith of receiving the larger, they had, for that 
one year, carried into execution the intention of their 
predecelTors. The fum of 9250I. now propofed, was a 
kind of cornpromife between contending opinions. 
Mr. Grattan, and other members on the fame fide of 
the quettion, contended, that a provifion for the educa¬ 
tion of 250 ftudents would be infufiicient to fupply the 
vacancies that would occur in the catholic clergy by deaths 
or cafualties. By reducing the grant of 13,000!. a-year, 
though fome addition had been made to that of 8000I, the 
houfe would fecure the ignorance and prejudices of a 
great portion of the catholics. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer obferved, that the 
memorial of the catholics, which had led to the eftabliih- 
ment at Maynooth, claimed no pecuniary aid. The ca¬ 
tholics promifed to defray the whole expenfe themfelves ; 
and, though the government and parliament gave them 
Soool. in aid of the objeft, that was no reafon why the 
country fhould be fubjeft to conftantly-increafing de¬ 
mands, for a purpofe of which there was no precedent in 
any age or country, that of educating, at the public ex¬ 
penfe, the priefthood of a religion differing widely from 
the elfablifhed one. He thought it was as much as could 
reafonably be afked, to educate 250 perfons at the public 
expenfe; who, with 111 educated in a private manner, 
were an abundant fupply for the catholic miniftry. It 
was no part of religious toleration, Mr. Perceval added, 
to make provifion for the education of the clergy of the 
tolerated left. If it were fo, the miniiters of the metho- 
dilts, anabaptills, fandemanians, See. would on that ground 
have as good a claim to education as the catholic clergy. 
The houfe divided on the queftion : when there appeared 
for the grant of 13,0001. 58 ; for 9250I. 93. 
Among the molt important and generally-interefting 
laws enafted in this feflion of parliament, a diltinguilhed 
place is occupied by the aft to prohibit the diltillarion of 
fpirits from corn or grain for a limited time. In the laft 
feflion of the laft parliament, earl Temple had moved, in 
the houfe of commons, the appointment of a committee 
to confider of the polfibility and propriety of permitting 
fugar and molalfes to be ufed in diftilleries and breweries ; 
not to the exclufion of grain, but on principles of fair 
competition. A committee was appointed ; and it was 
Hated by lord Binning, chairman of the committee, in the 
houfe of commons, May 19, that it had become necelfary 
£0 aftertain how far the reftriftion of the diftilleries to the 
2 
D O N. 17 5 
ufe of fugar and molalfes would alfeft the agriculture of 
the country. This inveftigation, lie lfated, had led to 
the knowledge of fafts which eftablifhed the wiidem and 
neceffity of the reftriftion, exclufively of all conlideration 
whatever of theinterefts of the Welt-India illands; though 
the two queftions could not indeed be feparated. The 
committee, finding that this country was generally de¬ 
pendent for a fuflicient fupply of corn and flour upon fo¬ 
reign countries, and that this fupply in the prefent ftate 
of Europe was cut off, without any profpect of a fufli¬ 
cient refource in the laft year’s crop of this country, 
thought it right, as a precaution againft famine, to flop 
the distillation of corn, with a view to a ready and imme¬ 
diate, as well as a more ample and fatisfaftory, fupply of 
fullenance for the people. He entered into a variety of 
calculations to (how, that the faving by the prohibition 
of the diftilleries would cover more than half the defici¬ 
ency created by the ftoppage of importation, anti more 
than the whole importation of oats! Lord Binning con¬ 
cluded with moving, that the report of the committee of 
inquiry be referred to a committee of the whole houfe 5 
and he anticipated, from the moderation and good fenff 
of the gentlemen prefent, that the willies of the committee 
would be carried into eifeft. 
A great alarm was excited amongft the agricultures 
throughout the whole country, and many petitions were 
prefented againft the bill. In both houi'es of parliament 
it was oppofed warmly, and not without plaufible argu¬ 
ments ; the moft folid of which, in our judgment, was the 
tendency of the meafure to prevent that accumulation of 
grain in the hands of the farmers, which in this country 
fupplies the place of the magazines eftablilhed in fo many 
other countries. It tended, if long continued, or fre¬ 
quently repeated, to deprive the agriculturift of that mar¬ 
ket, which, by creating a demand for more grain than the 
mere fupport of the population requires, induces him to 
raife more ; to which fuperabundance, in cafe ofa compa¬ 
rative failure of the crop, recourfe can be had for fupply- 
ing the extreme and claimant wants of the people. The 
bill, after a great ftruggle, was read a third time in the 
houfe of lords, and palled, on the 2d of July. 
At this period, Britannia, the friend of the oppreffed, 
and therefore the metropolis, whofe commercial connec¬ 
tions with the peninfula are of the greatell: import to the 
trade of our merchants, felt deeply interefted in the affairs 
of Spain. The ruler of France, by his threats, had forced 
the family of Braganza to feek for peace, refuge, and more 
tranquil climes, beyond the Atlantic Ocean; and now his 
objeft was to fubjecl the whole of Spain to his defpotifm. 
From the Viftula to the Tagus his eagles had flown, and 
proved victorious. The court of Madrid was enflaved to 
the feeptre of the Corfican; and the chivalrous fpirit of 
the old Caftillians was [till awed or lulled to fleep by tho 
Circean carefl.es, or the menaces, of Bonaparte. 
This national torpor was nor, however, to laft. Tyranny 
walks on dangerous ground : the mind of the moft ab- 
jeft Have feels, by ftarts, an elaftic reaftion, and will fho\y 
itfelf as opportunity offers. Free, like the air we breathe, 
the mind of man may be confined and comprelfed ; but, 
the longer the confinement, the cloler the compreflion, 
the more dreadful will be the explofion. As foon as the 
Spaniards, that brave and ancient race, fo well known$ 
not only in the peninfula, but in the Auftrian, Nether¬ 
lands, where the bandes noires were long the dread of all 
military antagonifts ; as foon as they found that the per- 
feverance and gallantry of the Engiilh army had freed 
Portugal, and broken the French yoke on the rocks of 
Cintra, they began to awake, and faw, at a diltance, a- 
glimmering dawn of liberty.—“Let us alfo be free !” they 
exclaimed ; and this fpark of national enthufiafm commu. 
nicated nearly at once to all parts of Spain. 
We (hall not give here minute details of allfthe tranfac- 
tions which took place this year and the following in the 
peninfula j but, as they are 121 directly connected with our 
pl?-% 
