LON 
lofs to forefee when they will be ftirred up again; and fo 
regularly does the adverfe party put the extinguilher upon 
the wick of the all-enlightening lamp, that thefe queftions, 
mighty in their nature, but perhaps dangerous in their 
effect, become trite, trifling, harmlefs, and in faft a matter 
of courfe, brought down to the infignificance of a com¬ 
mon order of the day. However, as the prince-regent 
had now attained to the full powers of fovereignty, and a 
great number of petitions on the fubjeift had poured in 
from the catholics of the different counties in Ireland, 
fupptn'ted by thofe of the proteftant inhabitants in various 
parts, as well as by other bodies ; it was thought expe¬ 
dient again to bring the topic to difcuflion in both houfes 
of parliament. 
On the 21ft of April, therefore, the earl of Donough- 
more, in the houfe of lords, moved the order of the day 
for a committee to take into confideration the claims of 
the catholic body for the removal of the difabilities under 
•which they labour. The order having been read, his lord- 
fhip rofe to fpeak. He began by adverting to the peti¬ 
tions which had previoufiy been read, and their object— 
the removal of unjuft reftriftions—the revival of fufpend- 
ed rights. He anticipated the objection, that the quef- 
tion was one on which their lordlhips had twice decided 
during the prefent feflion, by obferving, that in both thofe 
inftances it had been complicated with other confidera- 
tions of a weighty nature. He then took a view of what 
had been done in Ireland from 1792 with regard to the 
catholic petitions; and alluded to the unfortunate fcru- 
ples which had prevented the completion of the work of 
conciliation. This topic leading him to the fuppofed 
opinion of the prince-regent on the fubje£t, he was called 
to order by lord Kenyon, as making ufe of unparliamen¬ 
tary language. He, however, vindicated the manner in 
which he had introduced the regent’s name, and lamented 
the voluntary facrifice of his royal highnefs’s avowed feel¬ 
ings, to the alfumed fcruples, and political religion, of his 
minifter. In the remainder of his fpeech, which chiefly 
confifted in a fpirited amplification of the idea laft dated, 
the following paflage was much talked of at the time : 
“ The minilters have drawn, as it were, a magic circle 
round the throne, into which none are permitted to enter 
on whom the confidence of the illuftrious perfon has been 
accuftomed to repofe. Within its range the artificers of 
mifchief have not ceafed to work with too-fuccefsful in- 
duftry. What phantoms have they not conjured up to 
warp the judgment, to excite the feelings, and appal the 
firmnefs, of the royal mind ? But, though the evil genius 
fhould aflume a mitred, nay, more than noble, form, the 
fainted afpe£t which political bigotry delights to wear, or 
the lineaments of that fofter fex which.firft beguiled man 
to his deftruftion—though to the allurements of Calypfo’s 
court were joined the magic and the charms of that ma¬ 
tured enchantrels—fhould the fpirit of darknefs take a 
human fhape, and, ifluing forth from the inmoft recedes 
of the gaming-houfe or brothel, prefume to place itfelf 
near the royal ear—what though the potent fpell fhould 
not have worked in vain, and that the boalted recantation 
of all incumbering prepofleflions and inconvenient preju¬ 
dices had already marked the triumph of its courfe— 
though from the royal fide they lhould have torn the 
chofen friend of his youth and faithful counfellor of his 
maturer years—though they fhould have banifhed from 
the royal councils talents, integrity, honour, and high- 
mindednefs like his, and fhould have fele£ted for this il¬ 
luftrious perfon an aflociate and an advifer from Change- 
alley and the flews—though they fhould thus have filled 
up to its full meafure the difgufling catalogue of their 
enormities—we mud ft ill cling to the foundering veffel, 
and call to our aid thofe charafteriftic Britifh energies by 
which the anceftors of thofe whom I have now the ho¬ 
nour to addrefs have fo often and fo nobly faved the fink¬ 
ing ftate.” After a variety of other animated references 
to the oppofition declared againft the catholic claims, and 
the neceflity of perfevering in the caufe, his lordfhip moved 
VOL. XIII. No. 906. 
DON. 28 & 
for the appointment of a committee to take into confi¬ 
deration the laws impofin'g difabilities on his majefty’s 
fubjefts profefling the catholic religion. 
His royal highnefs the duke of Suffex then rofe, and 
made an elaborate fpeech in favour of general toleration, 
which was afterwards publifhed with copious explanatory 
notes; indicating an uncommon degree of attention to 
fubjefls of ecclefiaftical hiftory in one of his exalted rank. 
In the long debate which enfued, every topic was agi¬ 
tated which had been touched upon in the former difcnf- 
fions of the catholic queftion ; chiefly, however, by thofe 
who were friendly to the conceflions defired, who took a. 
wider compafs of argument than their opponents, who for 
the mod part confined themfelves to the dangers which 
the proteftant eftabliftiment would incur from fuch con¬ 
ceflions.—The fpeakers on each fide, befides thofe firft 
mentioned, were, againft the motion, lords Redefdale, Li¬ 
verpool, and the Lord Chancellor ; for it, lords Selkirk, 
Wellefley, Downftiire, Byron, Moira, and Grenville. At 
five in tlie morning the houfe divided, when the num¬ 
bers were, contents prefent 67, proxies 35; total, 102: 
non-contents prefent 103, proxies 71 ; total, 174.: majo¬ 
rity againft the motion, 72. 
In the houfe of commons, a fimilar motion was made,, 
on the 23d of April, by Mr. Grattan. The debate to 
which it gave rife, was continued by adjournment to the 
fecond day ; and there was no poffible light in which the 
fubjeft could be placed which was not reforted to by the 
different fpeakers on each fide, though in faft the whole 
was only a recapitulation of ftatemer.ts and arguments em¬ 
ployed in the preceding difcuffions of the fame general 
topic. The conclufion was, that at the hour of fix in the 
morning a divifion took place, in which there appeared 
ayes 215, noes 300, majority againft the motion 85.—Thus 
the catholic caufe fuftained a third defeat in both houfes 
of parliament; nor did it appear that the acceflion of the 
prince-regent to the full authority of the crown had made 
any difference as to the fentiments and conduct of his mi- 
nifterson this important'occafion. 
Notwithftanding the tenacity with which the minifters 
had maintained the policy of the orders in council, the 
increafing diftrefles of the manufacturing parts of the 
kingdom, and the ferious dilturbances thence arifing, 
could not fail of exciting fome mifgivings in their minds, 
and rendering them defirous of making fuch relaxations 
as might tend to open the former channels of commerce. 
It was doubtlef* in confequence of thefe confiderations 
that a declaration in the name of the prince-regent was 
iffued on April 23, purporting, that the regent having de¬ 
clared, that, if at any time the Berlin and Milan decrees 
fhould by an authentic aft beabfolutely repealed, thence¬ 
forth the orders in council of the 7th of January 1807, 
and the 26th of April 1809, fnould be revoked ; and the 
charge d’affaires of the United States of America having 
on the 20th of May laft tranfmitted to this court a copy 
of a decree of the government of France palled on the 
28th of April, by which the decrees of Milan and Berlin 
are declared to be no longer in force with refpect to Ame¬ 
rican veflels; the regent, although he cannot confider the 
tenor of the laid decree as latisfying the conditions of the 
order of April 23, yet, being difpofed to re-eltablifli the 
ufual intercourfe between neutral and belligerent nations, 
is pleafed to declare the orders in council of January 7, 
1807, and April 26, 1809, revoked as far as concerns 
American veflels and cargoes. A provifo is, however, 
added to this conceflion, that, unleis the American go¬ 
vernment revoke their exclufion of Britilh armed veflels 
from their harbours while thofe of France are admitted, 
and their interdiction of Britilh commerce while that with 
France is reltored, the prefent order is to be null and of 
no effect. 
Petitions againft; the orders in council were in the mean 
time pouring in from the towns molt affefled by their 
operation ; and at length it was agreed to hear evidence 
on the fubject. Witnefles were fumtnoned from Bir- 
4 13 minghiun. 
