CHAP. LXXXIV. ACT PASSED FOR THE RELIEF OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS IN 1793,- LORD FITZWILLIAM'S APPOINTMENT TO THE LIEUTENANCY OF IRELAND, AND RECAL-REBELLION IN 1798, -PROSPECT OF EMANCIPATION HELD OUT TO THE CATHOLICS AT THE UNION. AN excellent account of the act passed in 1793, for the relief of the roman-catholics of Ireland, of the principal circumstances connected with it, and of the subsequent events in the history of the Irish catholics, is given by sir Henry Parnel in the history which we have so often cited. It represents his own mind, completely accurate, completely informed, and completely honourable. From this work, principally, we shall present to our readers, I. Some account of the act of 1793: II. Of the appointment of earl Fitzwilliam to the lieutenancy of Ireland, and his recal: III. Of the rebellion in Ireland in 1798: and IV. Of the union between England and Ireland, so far as respects the prospect of emancipation then held out to the catholics. LXXXIV. 1. The Act passed for the Relief of the Irish Catholics in 1793. IN respect to this act, it is sufficient for the purpose of the present publication to observe, that, speaking generally, it places the catholics on a level with their fellow-subjects in Ireland, except that they continue excluded from both houses of parliament, and from about 20,000 functions or offices of power and emolument *. Thus between them and their fellow-subjects, a distinction, not so great as it was formerly, but still very strongly marked, and pressing very heavily upon them, is continued. It keeps them from falling into the general mass of the community, and renders them a separate cast; which it is an alleged principle of the constitution to behold with jealousy, and to keep, without regard to their feelings or their interest, in a state of political degradation and subserviency. Can this be just? Can that, which is unjust, be expedient? To entitle them to the benefit of some of the provisions of this act, the catholics were required by it to take the following oath : “I, A. B. do hereby declare, that I do profess "the roman-catholic religion. I, A. B. do swear, "that I do abjure, condemn and detest, as un"christian and impious, the principle that it is "lawful to murder, destroy, or any ways injure any person whatsoever, for or under the pretence "of being an heretic; and I do declare solemnly "before God, that I believe that no act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified 66 or excused by, or under pretence, or colour, that "it was done either for the good of the church, or in which he says,-" My lords, I must observe "that the gentlemen of the catholic committee, "and the party that act with them, who scruple "no part of the oath, (grounded on the protesta"tion), declare that they equally, with the scrupu“lous party, maintain the pope's spiritual supremacy. They are shocked that the denial of it "should be imputed to them." Thus the controversy was but a dispute on words; this was sufficiently unfortunate: but supposing the committee were wrong, still, in the view of the case, they were much less wrong than if it had been a dispute upon doctrine. LXXXIII. 3. The Termination of the Controversy. ON a dispassionate review of the circumstances, to which the protestation gave rise, the writer, with great deference to paramount authority, conceives it to be free from theological error,—that, as an explicit disclaimer of the doctrine of the pope's deposing power, it is excellent; and that, in spite of the counteractions opposed to its salutary operation, it has done, it does, and will ever do, great service to the catholic cause. Judging from the events, -the writer wishes the bill of 1791, had been left as it was framed by him, without any oath and without any declaration :on this supposition, we should have avoided all the unpleasant turmoil which ensued:-But this, the committee did not foresee. They supposed that no religious objection to the oath would have been raised; that it would have passed with the approbation both of the legislature and the public, and of the ecclesiastical and lay catholics. If the bill had passed in this form, the relief, which it granted, would, probably, have been more extensive than that, which we received in the event which happened. As to the notion, that if the oath formed on the protestation had been adopted, we should have lost our venerable appellation of " catholics,” and thenceforth been called "protesting catholic dis senters," the writer begs leave to say that it is altogether groundless: we should no more have lost the appellation of " catholics," in consequence of the new law's calling us "protesting catholic "dissenters," than we lost the appellation of "catholics," in consequence of the old law's calling "us papists." But the alarm was sounded, and jealousies were entertained. Then, with a wisdom, and a magnanimity, which cannot be too much applauded, the legislature, instead of availing themselves of these, as a pretence for withholding from us any relief, nobly came to our aid, composed our differences for us, and passed the wise and salutary act of 1791. That, after these jealousies had arisen, the oath framed on the protestation was abandoned, and the present oath substituted in its stead, no one felt greater satisfaction than the writer. He hoped CHAP. LXXXIV. ACT PASSED FOR THE RELIEF OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS IN 1793,-LORD FITZWILLIAM'S APPOINTMENT TO THE LIEUTENANCY OF IRELAND, AND RECAL-REBELLION IN 1798, —PROSPECT OF EMANCIPATION HELD OUT TO THE CATHOLICS AT THE UNION. AN excellent account of the act passed in 1793, for the relief of the roman-catholics of Ireland, of the principal circumstances connected with it, and of the subsequent events in the history of the Irish catholics, is given by sir Henry Parnel in the history which we have so often cited. It represents his own mind, completely accurate, completely informed, and completely honourable. From this work, principally, we shall present to our readers, I. Some account of the act of 1793: II. Of the appointment of earl Fitzwilliam to the lieutenancy of Ireland, and his recal: III. Of the rebellion in Ireland in 1798: and IV. Of the union between England and Ireland, so far as respects the prospect of emancipation then held out to the catholics. LXXXIV. 1. The Act passed for the Relief of the Irish Catholics in 1793. In respect to this act, it is sufficient for the purpose of the present publication to observe, that, |