1807 ing them. Government did not resort to martial law to quell those disturbances. They sent judges into the disturbed country, and the insurrections were suppressed, and the leaders punished by the regular course of law. As a remedy for these and similar disturbances, the English ministers resolved to encourage our Catholic gentlemen to enter into the army and navy, and through their influence to induce our peasantry to enter the service in greater numbers. One of their objects, they admit to be, to lessen our population, and, on the whole, to change disorder and weakness into subordination and strength. But candor must compel us to allow, that this bill would not have given them any great claim for gratitude from the Catholics; to relieve them was not the object of the bill; it did not profess to admit them to the privileges of their country. It has been called a boon to the Catholics; but, in truth, had it been carried into effect, it would have been a boon given by the Catholics; the boon of their blood, to defend a constitution from which they, and they only were cautiously excluded. But when the late ministers had their option to sign the paper already alluded to, or to relinquish power with all its emoluments, they gave an example of self-denial and true patriotism, which after ages will quote with reverence and admiration; they preferred principle to power; they preferred the constitution to private emolument; they retired from their high situ ations, an honor to the country, that gave them birth. But it was not the bill to encourage the Catholics to enter into his Majesty's service, that 1807. produced this event, for that bill was dropped. Neither had it been solicited by the Catholics; still less could our petition have produced this ca: lamity, for our petition was not presented, nor cven sent forward. It is now upon cur table, and awaits the decision of this meeting. But because ministers declined to sign an engagement contrary to the oath of a privy counsellor, and which would convey to the Catholics, that their submission to the laws, which degrade them, not their zeal in filling the army and crowding the fleets, nor their enthusiastic courage in every engagement with the enemy, nor even in case of invasion, should they resist and defeat the foe; not any, nor all of these, shall avail : they must still be outcasts. . The Ca tholics now living, and their posterity for ever, were to be refused the common privileges allowed to every other subject; the doom was eternal, and against a full fourth of the empire. This elevated and honorable, and disinterested conduct of the late ministers entitles them to the gratitude of the Catholics, but they are much more entitled to the gratitude and support of the empire at large, whose constitution and best interests those ministers have supported. However melancholy or discou raging our prospect, I confess I do not conceive, that the claims of the Catholics are lost by this disclosure; on the contrary, they appear to me advanced; the mask is removed, and our Protestant brethren, as well as ourselves, are in possession of the true state of our case. The English are a 1807. wise and reflecting people; science and liberality are predominant in Scotland; the present ferment must subside, and the British people will then perceive, that their interests and ours are compatible; nay, that they are the same. They will see the folly to proscribe four millions of our fellow-subjects, a part of whom are now fighting the battles of the empire in every quarter of the globe. The objects of our petition are truly loyal and patriotic to unite the whole of our population by interest and affection to defend the throne and the Empire. Should we tell our peasantry, that even hope is at an end; that we will never more petition; that they may give themselves up to despair. Our Protestant countrymen might then well cry out, that we were preparing recruits for any invader. No, let us continue the patriotic line we have hitherto pursued: let us tell our oppressed people, that the opposition to our just claims cannot long exist; it is in direct opposition to the vital interest of the state; that we do not despair; that Parliament will attach the Catholics to the Empire, and that we will continue to apply by humble petition for constitutional relief. Our stake in the country, and our own character demand this. But shall we now petition? I am told there are gentlemen at this meeting, who intend to urge, that we shall now press our petition. These gentlemen will first convince us of the advantage the Catholies can expect from adopting such a resolution. They will not assert, that any success is to be expected at this moment, for its fate has been de cided by anticipation. Parliament is agitated, and the nation convulsed. Great personages have descended to stir up and foment violent prejudices against a numerous people: Is this a time to press our petition? In a few days we shall have to deplore the loss of the present Irish Irish government'; they justly possess our confidence and our affection. It is their earnest recommendation, that we shall not now petition. Those great men met to consider our interests. Will a Catholic meeting say, we ask your advice, and we now meet to say, that we reject it; that we will act in direct opposition. Such conduct to characters, who have such claims upon us, would not be consistent with the generous feeling of an Irish heart. It is asked, shall we then withdraw, or suppress, or relinquish our petition? I hope not; our petition, if granted, would have promoted the best objects of the state, and the best interests of our fellow subjects; we may postpone, but not abandon or retract it ; nor sacrifice one tittle of the principle, upon which they have hitherto acted. A middle course would preserve the consistency and character of the body; he should, before he sat down, propose, that the petition of the Catholics of Ireland to the Imperial Parliament be consigned to the care of the Earl of Fingal, subject to the future disposal of the Catholic body. This firm, consistent and tem perate conduct of the Catholic body would con: firm their friends, and prove them worthy of a better fate." Mr. Keogh then entered into a de tailed and animated representation of the degraded 1807. Counsellor and insulting situation, in which the body of the Roman Catholics was still kept, and thus concluded. "Nothwithstanding this, men, whose duty "it is to know the true state of this country, as"sert in solemn debate, that the Irish Catholics "have no cause of complaint, that they are pro"tected in property and in person equally with "other subjects. There are thousands and tens of "thousands of honorable, impartial and liberal 66 men in Great Britain, who have no idea, that "such ruthless persecution ever existed in this woe-worn land. But four millions of men, without one representative to defend them, are game to be hunted down by every wicked enthusiast.” Counsellor Hussey rose to propose an adjourn ment of the meeting for a fortnight; he did it with the less reluctance, as the meeting had been so fully gratified in hearing Mr. Keogh, in reply to all his former arguments on this very subject. Then Mr. Hussey examined and combated all Mr. Keogh's arguments. If, however, the adjournment were negatived and the resolution carried, he hoped, it would be considered by the kingdom at large, as a sacrifice for the present, to the personal feelings of his Majesty, and to the advice of Mr. Grattan and other friends. It had been stated by the respectable mover of the resolution, that it was not his intention to abandon the principle, or to withdraw the petition. Why then is it to be proposed, that the committee of the Catholics of Ireland should be dissolved, who by a resolution of the last meeting, were authorized to sit until the |