The history of Ireland, from its union with Great Britain ... to October 1810

1805.

posed upon them, and to provide for the real and

property in their country as established by the laws now in being; that they have disclaimed, disavowed, and solemnly abjured any intention to subvert the present Church establishment for the purpose of substituting a Catholic establishment in its stead ;" and that they have also solemnly sworn "that they will not exercise any privilege, to which they are or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or Protestant Government in Ireland."

"Your Petitioners most humbly beg leave to shew, that however painful it is to their feelings, that it should still be thought necessary to exact such tests from them, (and from them alone of all his Majesty's subjects) they can with perfect truth affirm, that the political and moral principles, which are thereby assert ed, are not only conformable to their opinions, but expressly inculcated by the religion, which they profess: and your Petitioners most humbly trust, that the religious doctrines, which permit such tests to be taken, will be pronounced by this Honourable House to be entitled to a toleration, not merely partial but complete, under the happy Constitution and Government of this realm:, and his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, holding those principles, will be considered as subjects, upon whose fidelity the State may repose the firmest reliance.

"Your Petitioners further most humbly shew, that 26 years have now elapsed since their most gracious Sovereign and the Honourable Houses of Parliament in Ireland, by their public and deliberate act, declared, that, "from the uniform peaceable behaviour of the Roman Catholics of Ireland for a long series of years, it appeared reasonable and expedient to relax the disabi lities and incapacities, under which they laboured, and that it must tend not only to the cultivation and improvement of this kingdom, but to the prosperity and strength of all his Majesty's dominions, that his Majesty's subjects of all denominations should enjoy the blessings of a free Constitution, and should be bound to each other by mutual interest and mutual affection: a declaration founded upon unerring principles of justice and sound policy, which still remains to be carried into full effect (although

essential union of all the inhabitants of Ireland 1805.

your Petitioners are impressed with a belief, that the apprehen-
sions, which retarded its beneficial operation previous to the
Union, cannot exist in the Parliament of the United Kingdom).
"For your Petitioners most humbly shew, that by virtue of
divers statutes now in force, his Majesty's Roman Catholic sub-
jects, who form so great a proportion of the population of Ire-
land, and contribute so largely to the resources of the State, do
yet labour under many incapacities, restraints and privations,
which affect them with peculiar severity in almost every station
of life; that more, especially they are denied the capacity of
sitting or voting in either of the Honourable Houses of Parlia-
ment; the manifold evils consequent upon which incapacity
they trust it is unnecessary to unfold or enumerate to this Ho
nourable House.

They are disabled from holding or exercising funless by a special dispensation) any corporate office whatsoever in the cities or towns in which they reside; they are incapacitated and disqualified from holding or exercising the offices of Sheriffs, SubSheriffs, and various offices of trust, honour and emolument in the State, in his Majesty's military and naval service, and in the administration of the laws, in this their native land.

Your Petitioners, declining to enter into the principal detail of the many incapacities and inconveniencies avowedly inflicted by those statutes upon his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, beg leave however, most earnestly to solicit the attention of this Honourable House, to the humiliating and ignominious system of exclusion, reproach and suspicion, which those statutes generate and keep alive.

"For your Petitioners most humbly shew, that in consequence of the hostile spirit thereby sanctioned, their hopes of enjoying even the privileges, which, through the benignity of their most gracious Sovereign, they have been capacitated to enjoy, are nearly altogether frustrated, insomuch that they are, in effect, shut out from almost all the honours, dignities, and offices of trust and emolument in the State, from rank and distinction in his Majesty's army and navy, and even from the lowest situations

1805. in bonds of affection and loyalty, and a resolution

and franchises in the several cities and corporate towns throughout his Majesty's dominions."

"And your Petitioners severely feel, that this unqualified interdiction of those of their communion from all municipal stations, from the franchises of all Guilds and Corporations, and from the patronage and benefits annexed to those situations, is an evil not terminating in itself; for they beg leave to state, that, by giving an advantage over those of their communion to others, by whom such situations are exclusively possessed, it establishes a species of unqualified monopoly, universally operating in their disfavor, contrary to the spirit, and highly detrimental to the freedom of trade.

"Your Petitioners likewise severely feel, that his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, in consequence of their exclusion from the offices of Sheriffs and Sub-Sheriffs, and of the hostile spirit. of those statutes, do not fully enjoy certain other inestimable privileges of the British Constitution, which the law has most zealously maintained and secured to their fellow subjects.

Your Petitioners most humbly beg leave to solicit the attention of this Honourable House to the distinction, which has conceded the elective, and denies the representative franchise to one and the same class of his Majesty's subjects, which detaches from property its proportion of political power under a Constitution, whose vital principle is the union of the one with the other; which closes every avenue of legalized ambition against those, who must be presumed to have great credit and influence among the mass of the population of the country; which refuses to Peers of the realm all share in the legislative representation, either actual or virtual, and renders the liberal profession of the law to Roman Catholics a mere object of pecuniary traffic, despoiled of its hopes and of its honours.

Your Petitioners further most humbly shew, that the exelusion of so numerous and efficient a portion of his Alajesty's subjects as the Roman Catholics of this realm, from civil honours and offices, and from advancement in his Majesty's army and navy, actually impairs, in a very material degree, the most valuable resources of the British Empire, by impeding his Ma

to defend the King and Constitutional interests of 1805.

jesty's general service, stifling the most honourable incentives to civil and military merit, and unnecessarily restricting the exercise of that bright prerogative of the Crown, which encourages good subjects to promote the public welfare, and excites them to meritorious actions, by a well regulated distribution of public honours and rewards.

"Your Petitioners beg leave most humbly to submit, that those manifold incapacities, restraints and privations, are absolutely repugnant to the liberal and comprehensive principles recognized by their most gracious Sovereign and the Parliament of Ireland; that they are impolitic restraints upon his Majesty's Royal prerogative; that they are hurtful and vexatious to the feelings of a loyal and generous people, and that the total abolitien of them will be found not only compatible with, but highly conducive to, the perfect security of every establishment, religious or political, now existing in this realm.

"For your Petitioners most explicitly declare, that they do not seek or wish, in the remotest degree to injure or encroach upon "the Rights, Privileges, Immunities, Possessions, or Revenues appertaining to the Bishops and Clergy of the Protestant Religion as by law established, or to the Churches committed to their charge, or to any of them "The sole object of your Pe-" titioners being an equal participation, upon equal terms with their fellow subjects, oft full benefits of the British Laws and

Constitution.

the

"Your Petitioners beg leave most humbly to observe, that although they might well and justly insist upon the firm and unabated loyalty of his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects to their most gracious Sovereign, their profound respect for the Legisla ture, and their dutiful submission to the laws, yet they most especially rest their humble claims, and expectations of relief upon the clear and manifest conduciveness of the measure, which they solicit, to the general and permanent tranquillity, strength, and happiness of the British Empire. And your Petitioners, entertaining no doubt of its final accomplishment, from its evident justice and utility, do most solemnly assure this Honourable House, that their earnest solicitude for it, at this peculiar crisis,

1805.

the country against all enemies external and inter

arises principally from their anxious desire to extinguish all motives to disunion, and all means of exciting discontent.

"For your Petitioners most humbly state it as their decided opinion, that the enemies of the British empire, who meditate the subjugation of Ireland, have no hope of success, save in the disunion of its inhabitants; and therefore it is, that your Petitioners are deeply anxious, at this moment, that a measure should be accomplished, which will annihilate the principle of religious animosity, and animate all descriptions of his Majesty's subjects in an enthusiastic defence of the best Constitution, that has ever yet been established.

Your Petitioners therefore most humbly presume to express their earnest, but respectful hope, that this Honourable House will, in its wisdom and liberality, deem the several statutes now in force against them, no longer necessary to be retained, and that his Majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, professing the Roman Catholic religion, may be effectually relieved from the operation of those statutes, and that so they may be restored to the full enjoyment of the benefits of the British Constitution, and to every inducement of attachment to that Constitution, equally and in common with their fellow subjects throughout the British Empire.

"And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c."