Sir J. C. Hippesley * rose, to second the motion of his right hon. friend. He observed, that, called upon as he had been, he felt himself constrained to bespeak the patience of the House, to a greater extent, he feared, than was suited to so late an hour. The subject naturally branched itself into distinct heads, which might be more advantageously discussed in a committee than under the present form of the House; but he was not so sanguine as to anticipate that a committee would be conceded: and, as his right hon. friend had left so little to be added in point of argument, after the brilliant and powerful appeals he had made to the House upon former occasions, as well as on the present, it would be highly presumptuous to attempt to follow his example. The question had been introduced to their consideration with every advantage which most powerful talents and impressive energy of language could give; and he should certainly avoid every endeavour to add further interest, by declamation, on a subject to which the feelings of the House had been so strongly excited. The course of sir J. H. proposed to take, with the indulgence of the House, was one derived more immediately from his own experience, and consistent with that peculiar combination of circumstances and events, which had probably induced his right hon. friend to make that reference which it now became his duty to meet; a duty no less urgent with regard to those friends who had made such sacrifices in support of this great question, at an antecedent period, than to the claims of several millions of our fellow-subjects; and especially of those among them to whose valour we were constrained to resort for the preservation of all that was dear to us; but from whom, nevertheless, we withheld the participation and enjoyment of franchises which are the birthright of every loyal subject under a free consiitution, and which cannot, in common justice, or upon any sound principle of politics or morals, be refused to men that are deemed worthy of being called forth in defence of the general security of the state. That the Catholics, whose claims, are now before the House, ought to be con *From the original edition, printed for J. Faulder, Bond Street. sidered as good and loyal subjects of his Majesty, his crown, and government," has been generally and repeatedly declared by successive acts of the legislature *; and another great truth is no less inculcated-" that it must tend to the prosperity and strength of his Majesty's dominions; that his subjects, of all denominations, should, enjoy the blessings of our free constitution, and should be bound to each other by mutual interest and affection +." But it is a melancholy fact, that these salutary objects have been very little advanced; though it is certain that every inference which can be drawn from the most incontrovertible documents and from experience, ought to have tended to cultivate and strengthen the growth of such a wise and just policy. Sir J. H. considered it to have been the object of his right hon. friend, in calling upon him, that he should state to the House some facts with which he had been intimately concerned, and further to substantiate the causes why so little had been effected; and he flattered himself that he was com petent to adduce such collateral evidence as would place the subject in a clear light. He lamented that a part of the Roman Catholic community had, by their own acts and declarations, since the period of the last discussion of this subject in the House, not a little contributed to produce unseasonable impressions in the minds of such as had but little examined the question, and were content to rest their opinions upon the basis of an antiquated, though honest prejudice. The conduct of certain Roman Catholic prelates, since the period just mentioned,-and the obloquy cast by many individual writers, professing themselves, Catholics, upon the conduct of those parliamentary friends who have invariably sought the interests and aggrandisement of the United Kingdom, by endeavouring to promote the honour and advantages of their Catholic fellow-subjects, had naturally strengthened that original prejudice. But the cause in agitation is not merely that of an insulated part of the community; it is the cause of the whole state; the aggregate strength of the empire, the vital organs of its power, and the consolidation of all its physical and moral energies, are at stake! * Particularly the preambles of 31 Geo. 3, c. 32; 33 Geo. 3, c. 44; also 21 and 22 Geo. 3, c. 24, &c. &c. &c. + Pream. 9, Irish act, 1778. and these at a moment, "when," as the right hon. mover had, on a former occasion, observed, "all Europe is arrayed in battalion against us!"* | sure which he thus deprecates ?-Could he be ignorant that the ten senior prelates of his own order, comprehending the four titular archbishops, in the month of January 1799, solemnly resolved, that " such interference of government as may enable it to be satisfied of the loyalty of the person appointed is just, and ought to be acceded to?" And further, that, to give this principle its full operation," themselves laid down the details of the elec The proceedings and animadversions connected with, what is styled, the Veto, or the proposed negative power of the crown upon the appointment of the prelates of the Roman Catholic church, have principally tended to check the growing progress of a favourable disposition in the public mind to the prayer of the petitions of their bishops; and proposed that tioners. A reference to the documents resulting from the voluntary acts of the Roman Catholic prelates of Ireland, and to some of the animadversions of their numerous commentators, cannot fail to demonstrate how far the plainest facts are susceptible of perversion, and how little ground any description of the Catholic body have to accuse their parliamentary friends of originating a measure (whether from ignorance or design) tending to impose upon their church an injurious innovation of their essential discipline. Nevertheless, from a period commencing about two months after the motion made by his right hon. friend in this House, on the 25th of May, 1808, down to the present hour, the Irish press has poured forth, in rapid succession, the most unqualified calumnies against those who had favoured a measure, which in fact had its origin with the four metropolitan and six other senior prelates of the Roman Catholic communion in Ireland. The last, though not the least injurious and unmerited attack of this description, which is confidently stated to have issued from the pen of a Roman Catholic prelate of Ireland, is addressed to the right hon. member for the county of Kerry: The pretended necessity for a veto, I consider," (says the writer,)" is a stale trick a mere finesse to cozen Catholics out of their religion; a manoeuvre, to effect, by intrigue and cunning, what the most persecuting laws were unable to bring about; it is holding out an insidious flag of truce, to betray the garrison, and take it by surprise-but the Irish are clear-sighted, and though, from nature, they are generous and unsuspicious, they now have had sufficient experience to teach them to the contrary."-Could this prelate be really ignorant of the origin of that very mea * * Published in the Kerry Herald, dated 26th of April 1810, signed, A Catholic Clergyman. VOL. XVII. the person so elected was to be presented to government, and that, if he were objected to, the electors were to proceed to the election of another candidate? Could he be ignorant that those prelates appointed a committee of three of their appointed body, to transact all business with government, “ relative to the said proposal, under the substance of the regulations agreed on and subscribed by them?" and the proposed resolutions of the 17th, 18th, and 19th January, 1799, were transmitted to the lord-lieutenant, and to the king's ministers? Such were the facts! True it is that those resolutions were not acted upon, for they were to be practically concurrent with a proposal which had been made to the prelates, namely, that of an independent state-provision for the clergy of Ireland; and the prelates had resolved, that "such a provision, through government, competent and secured, ought to be thankfully accepted."* Circumstances had in * A doubt, at that period, had been entertained, whether the see of Rome might not object to such a provision, as conveying an impression unfavourable to the independence of the Irish Roman Catholic church. The Roman Catholic bishops in Scotland had, at the same period, solicited such a provision in aid of the miserable pittance left to them and their clergy after the confiscation of their property on the continent. Mr. Pitt lent a compassionate ear to their distresses, and the sentiments of the see of Rome are expressed in the following official note, under the signature of the Cardinal Borgia, prefect of the college of Propaganda Fide, countersigned by Cardinal Brancadoro, then secretary. (Copy)" Da Monsigr. Moylan Vescovo di Cork in Irlanda, il quale ha costi goduto l'onore di trattare con V. S. Illma, e con i degni Ministri di Sua Maestà Brittannica sopra gli affari dèi nostri Cattolici, sono stato ragguagliato di quanto. Ella siase impegnata a proteggerli; e come sia le D " by the then minister of Ireland; and as having been led to believe that their church would not only be protected and honoured, but also that it would, in a sort of subordinate way, become the establish tervened which impeded the execution of that great and just measure, which was then avowed to be in the contemplation of government. Whether the ministers were sincere in their declarations, is not the present object of inquiry, nor is it ma-ed church of Ireland:" and, " under this terial; it is certain that the presumption persuasion, these ten prelates admitted, is in their favour. They avowed that the that, in the appointment of the prelates of "obstacles to the bringing forward meathe Roman Catholic religion to vacant sures of concession to the Catholic body sees, such interference of government as were insurmountable whilst in office, and may enable it to be satisfied of the loyalty that they felt it impossible to continue in of persons appointed, is just and ought to administration under the inability to pro- be acceded to," &c. &c. pose it, with the circumstances necessary to carry the measure, with all its advantages." They made the sacrifice of their offices to their opinions, which may be considered as no light test of ministerial sincerity. But to return to the resolutions of the Roman Catholic prelates in 1799: we have been lately told that they passed, "when the reign of terror was still breathing," by" practising upon fear and solitude;" and were "concerted with little less than a menace," and that "a pension to our clergy was the preamble of the written concession." A learned Roman Catholic prelate on this side of the channel, who has recently published "An elucidation of the Veto," assuming as his motto, -Quæque ipse miserrima vidi, Et quorum pars magna fui, describes his constituent prelates, at the period in question, as "beset and plied" ben' anche riuscito di ottenere un' onesta privisione per i Vicarj Apostolici, e Clero Cattolico di Scozia: Opera tutta del suo grande animo e zelo senza pari, degno perciò dei più vivi ringraziamenti! I Santo Padre, questa Sac: Congregazione, ed Io, che vi presiedo in qualità di ProPrefetto ce ne nostriamo tutti sensibilissimi: ond' è, che pregandolo in commun nome a continuarne anche in appresso la protezione; ed esibendoci pronti a poterle corrispondere per si segnalati favori in qualunque incontro de suoi desiderj, do vero cuore me le offero, e resto. Servitore, &c.-S. Carde. Borgia Pro-Prefetto. Cesare Arcivo. di Nisibi.-Roma 26 Luglio 1800.-Di V. S. Illma.-Sigr. Cavre. Hippisley (Londra.) Vide the notes transmitted by marquis Cornwallis to Dr. Troy, in Mr. Plowden's History of Ireland, and in the Speech of lord Castlereagh, on the 25th of May. + Vide Mr. Clinch's Inquiry, Dublin, 1808. Now, with respect to the fact of those resolutions having been influenced by a reign of terror and dictated by menace, the noble viscount (lord Castlereagh) on the opposite bench, who is the ex-minister alluded to, is most competent to speak; and should any circumstance, connected with the transactions of the government of Ireland of that period, be mis-stated by sir J. H. it would be subject to the correction of that noble lord, with whom, during the whole of these transactions, he had maintained a confidential correspondence, particularly at the instance of the minister of the department* the continuation of which was repeatedly solicited by the noble viscount himself. [Here lord Castlereagh was observed to nod his assent.] Sir J. H. continued. That he could, from these cir cumstances, speak with greater confidence respecting the measures then in the contemplation of government, many of which had been suggested by himself, and approved by his Majesty's ministers; nor was he less in familiar habits of correspondence, at the same period, with some of the most eminent prelates, who were parties to those resolutions, and were fully apprised of the situation in which he stood with the King's ministers. Nothing could be more strongly marked in their correspondence, than their unqualified reliance on the honour of those ministers; their communications with the castle were unembarrassed by apprehensions, if any faith is to be reposed in their statements; and an apparent reciprocal friendly understanding was the basis of all their proceedings. But we will suppose that it was other-, wise, and that terror had been the order of the day what different qualities then * The late duke of Portland, then secretary of state for the home department,. 1799-1800. |