ΤΟ

THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING,

ON THE BILL OF 1825,

FOR REMOVING THE DISQUALIFICATIONS OF HIS MAJESTY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC SUBJECTS,

AND ON

HIS SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF THE SAME.

BY REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D. D.

RECTOR OF STANHOPE.

SIXTH EDITION.

LONDON:-1827.

SIR,

It is with unfeigned reluctance that I thus publicly address you on the most important question which can engage the attention either of Parliament or the country. When I was first induced to enter into this discussion, my sole object was to vindicate certain doctrines of our Reformed Church from the gross misconceptions and misrepresentations to which they had been subjected: but I soon found the theological part of the argument to be so closely interwoven with the political, that it was hardly possible to keep them separate. You, Sir, appear to have experienced the same difficulty; and if a statesman, in the discussion of the political question, has found himself entangled in the mazes of polemics, it is not to be wondered that a churchman, in treating the same matter, has been compelled to extend his inquiries into the region of politics. This consideration alone will, I am confident, make all apology for my present address to you unnecessary; and I will not trespass on your patience by affecting to offer any.. Let me only say, that if in the free examination of opinions publicly proclaimed by you, I shall at all depart from the respect which is due to your high station, to your splendid talents, and above all, to your distinguished character, you will find it much easier to forgive me, than I shall be willing to forgive myself.

The note of hostile preparation, which has been loudly sounded by the Roman Catholics of Ireland, announces to us an early renewal of their claims to a full participation in all the powers of the state. What particular course, in the furtherance of their object, will be adopted by their advocates, and especially by yourself, it is not easy to foresee; but in the absence of other information, we may reasonably look back to the last occasion of discussing the question, to the Bill which was then passed by the House of Commons, and to the language and arguments with which you, Sir, by far the most powerful champion of their cause, thought fit to support it. That greater securities for our established institutions will now be offered, past experience forbids us to expect. Hitherto, every new application to Parliament has been marked by some important diminution of the securities before proposed. Like the Sibyl's fatal volumes, the price, which we are required to pay for them, continues still the same; while they themselves are so deplorably reduced, as scarcely to retain a faint semblance of what we were once told was indispensable to our safety. Still, as in the Sybil's case, there are not wanting those, who earnestly conjure us to purchase, at any cost, even the miserable remnant, which may yet be had.

Sir, there is something so very peculiar in the history of these securities, and it has so obvious and essential a connexion with the subject of this letter, that I must request your indulgence while I trespass on you with a review of some of its most important particulars.

It is well known, that so long ago as 1799, Mr.Pitt entertained, and acted on, the hope, that means might be devised to combine the extension of equal political rights to the Roman Catholics, with due precautions for the security of our Protestant Church and government. What was his intended plan, was never publicly announced by him; perhaps it was never completely formed. But in the last speech, which he delivered in Parliament on this subject, he thus expressed himself.

"I have never been one of those who have held, that the term Emancipation' is, in the smallest degree, applicable to the repeal of the few remaining penal statues to which the (Roman) Catholics are still liable. But, possibly, in my view of the grounds of expediency, I may think it to be much more contradistinguished from the question of right, than the honorable gentleman (Mr. Fox) does. He seems to consider, that there is only a shade of difference between the expediency and the right: whereas in my view of the difference, it is broad, evident, and fundamental. I consider right as independent of circumstances, and paramount to them, whilst expediency is connected with circumstances, and, in a great

measure, dependent on them, With regard to the admission of (Roman) Catholics to franchises, to the elective franchise, or to any of those posts and offices which have been alluded to, I view all these points as distinctions to be given, not for the sake of the person and the individual who is to possess them, but for the sake of the public, for whose benefit they were created, and for whose advantage they are to be exercised. In all times, therefore, and on every occasion, whether relating to the Roman Catholic or the Protestant dissenter, to the people of Ireland or to the people of England, I have always, from a due regard to the constitution, been of opinion, that we are bound to consider not merely what is desired by a part, but what is best and most advantageous to the whole."

Sir, I have quoted thus much, to show the principle which guided and restricted that great man in all that he did and said on this important subject. Would to Heaven, that all who call and believe themselves his disciples, were guided by the same principle! If they were, we should not have to lament that the language, which I shall cite hereafter, has ever issued from one of his school: much less, that you, Sir, so worthy in many respects to succeed and represent your great master, should be still found amongst the adherents of a Cause, which has formally and solemnly rejected not only the authority, but also the principles, of Mr. Pitt.1

"My idea," he continued, "was, not to apply tests to the religious tenets of the (Roman) Catholics, but tests applicable to what was the source and foundation of the evil; to render the priests, instead of making them the instruments of poisoning the minds of the people, dependent, in some sort, on the government, and thus links, as it were, between the government and the people. That would have been a wise and comprehensive system: that would have been the system which I should have felt it to be my wish, and thought it to have been my duty, to have proposed. I never thought that it would have been wise or prudent to have thrown down rudely or abruptly the guards and fences of the constitution; but I did think, that if the system I have alluded to had been deemed proper to be adopted, it ought to have been accompanied with those checks and guards,and with every regulation that could have given additional respect and influence to the established Church, to the support and protection of the Protestant interests, and to the encouragement of every measure which could tend to propagate, and spread the example of, the Protestant religion.”

These, Sir, were the general views and intentions of Mr. Pitt on this subject; views and intentions, from which, to his great and

"The British Catholic Association" passed a resolution to this effect in the course of last summer..

(I am sorry to add) his almost singular honor, he was never known

to swerve.

On an earlier day of the same session, in which Mr. Pitt thus addressed the lower House, Lord Grenville had moved that the House of Lords "should resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to take the petition of the Roman Catholics of Ireland into consideration." In doing this, "I ask of you," said he, "no immediate or specific grant, because I am not prepared to say what other measures, healing and salutary, ought to accompany the adoption of my motion. Many there are, but this is not the fit occasion for stating them."

But, at a subsequent period, May 27, 1808, that noble Lord, having declared that "the removal of every remaining civil disability, on account of religious belief, must be a part only of a large and comprehensive system," proceeded thus,-"It was so considered by that great statesman, now no more, of whom I never think but with the warmest affection, respect, and admiration. Our opinions on this subject were not only in complete unison, but I may truly say they were formed together by mutual communication and unreserved confidence. The plans which were then in contemplation, included, in the first place, measures of considerable benefit to the established Church; calculated to promote both its honor and its advantages, and to render it far more adequate, than it now can be, to the purposes for which it was provided. A short statement will convince your Lordships, what ample occasion this matter alone affords for the exercise of your wisdom and liberality. It appears that 2400 parishes in Ireland are now consolidated into little more than 1100 benefices; of which reduced number more than a tenth part are absolutely without churches, and not 400 have glebe houses. Surely your Lordships must see, in such a state of things, better means of assisting the established Church, more satisfactory measures to be taken for the encouragement of the Protestant religion, than by any laws of exclusion or intolerance.

"Nor had the situation of the dissenters, by far the most numerous Protestants in that country, been overlooked. Measures were in contemplation for increasing the provision, which the wisdom of government had long since granted to their ministers.

"The state of the (Roman) Catholic Church in Ireland, administering to the spiritual wants of four millions of your people, had also been an object of deliberate consideration. Much has been said of the influence of their bishops, and great stress has been laid on the dangers of a (Roman) Catholic hierarchy. If you tolerate the Roman Catholic Church, which is episcopal, you must of course allow it to have its bishops. But, it is un

questionably proper that the Crown should exercise an effectual negative over the appointment of the persons called to execute those functions. To this the (Roman) Catholics of Ireland declare themselves perfectly ready to accede. Their declaration on this subject is an unquestionable proof of their solicitude to meet the kindness of their fellow-subjects, and to accede to any practicable means of removing even the most groundless jealousies. As such, I rejoice that it has been made, and I see with infinite satisfaction the just impression which it has universally produced. To me it is not new. I always felt the propriety of providing for this point. It formed a part of the plans to be brought forward at the period of the Union; and what we then knew of the sentiments of the (Roman) Catholics respecting it, left no doubt on our minds that the matter might be easily and satisfactorily adjusted. Provision was also intended to be made for the decent and necessary subsistence of the (Roman) Catholic clergy of that country. The propriety of this step rests on grounds of policy and reason, which will not be questioned. On this point, I believe, all are agreed. I mention it only as one of the inany measures which call for inquiry and adoption.

"Many of the most plausible arguments against the petitions of the (Roman) Catholics, are drawn from the objections to the Oath of Supremacy. We are often told, that (Roman) Catholics refuse to acknowlege the same obedience to their sovereign which he receives from all his other subjects. The charge is wholly groundless. They recognise, as you do, in the civil government of their country, all temporal power and authority. If more security be necessary, let it be exacted. It was intended, at the period to which I have so often referred, to submit to Parliament, in lieu of the Oath of Supremacy, framed, as we all know, for the purpose of exclusion, a new form of oath, calculated to unite, not to divide the people. That oath would have contained an explicit pledge of support to the established constitution, and the most express disclaimer that could be devised of any interference with his Majesty's legitimate and undoubted authority. Whatever words may be most effectual for this purpose, let them be adopted; provide the fullest security that jealousy itself can dictate, for that which we are all equally anxious to defend: and let it then be seen, whether the (Roman) Catholics of Ireland are reluctant to concur in that declaration.

"There is yet another subject,-I mean the matter of Tithes. It was carefully considered at the period of the Union, and was intended then to be brought forward, &c.

"I have thus enumerated, however imperfectly, the various measures with which the great statesman, of whom I have spoken, VOL. XXVII. NO. LIV.

Pam.