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SIR W. GEARY added, that it was difficult to know what to call them but ambitious Catholics. Sometimes they went by one name, and sometimes by another, as if they were afraid to call themselves by their real character. They were appointed by one great mass of the Catholics of Ireland, and he considered them as the greatest enemies to their country and to their religion. If concessions were made to the Papists, by abrogating the test acts, it would be the most grievous injustice, if the act of settlement were not also repealed, so as to allow the Sovereign, if he chose it, to become a Catholic without danger of being deposed. Mr. LARKIN, of Rochester, after a considerable struggle, during which he insisted vehemently upon his right to speak, obtained a hearing. He was a man of Kent, and would not be intimidated by Kentish men. His principal object, he said, was to call the attention of the Meeting to the real question, not whether emancipation should or should not be granted, but merely whether the propriety of making any concessions should or should not be examined. It was inconsistent with the liberality of the inhabitants of the County, by adopting the Petition proposed to-day, to put a stop to inquiry. The Meetings against the claims of the Catholics were generally convened by the Clergy of the Establishment.-(Gries of no, no, and applatise.) He repeated the assertion, and added, that when they could find none to sign it but themselves, they were compelled to put down their own signatures alone, as was the case of the Chapter noticed the other day in the House of Lords, by the Duke of Norfolk, where seven names only could be procured. He recommended that the Established Clergy should attend to their duty, and not interfere in politics: they should endeavour to heal, instead of exciting animosities; they should practise as well as preach the word of peace. (Loud applause.) SIR EDWARD KNATCHBULL interposed to speak to order, but was not successful.

Mr. LARKIN proceeded: he knew many excellent Members of the Church of England, but he should respect the general body more, if they were content to labour in their vocation. He went on to notice the singular scrupulousness of Sir Edward Knatchbull, who to-day, for a wonder, had talked of obeying the instructions of his constituents; when had he not acted in opposition to the wishes of five-sixths of the Electors?

THE HIGH SHERIFF spoke to order.

MR. LARKIN complained that he was the only person called to order. Sir Edward Knatchbull had been allowed to proceed at length without saying one syllable to the question. He concluded by calling upon the Meeting to recollect, that in voting for the Petition they shut the door upon all inquiry, and that in supporting the Amendment they pledged themselves to grant nothing if such grant were found upon investigation to be inexpedient.

After some slight altercation between Lord Thanet, Sir W. Geary, and Lord Darnley, the Petition and Amendment were severally read. The question was put upon the Amendment, which, on the shew of hands, was negatived. The question was then put upon the Petition.

THE SHERIFF on the shew of hands said, that the majority was decidedly in favour of the Petition.

THE EARL OF THANET interrupted him, and objected to the word decidedly. He called on the Sheriff to look around him, and before the question was finally decided, to correct his expression. The Sheriff did so, and with great candour declared that the numbers were more nearly equal than he had supposed; but upon the whole, he must say, that the majority was in favour of the original Petition.

COLONEL STRATFORD moved, that the Petition be left at the Bell Inn for signatures, and that it be presented to the Lords by the Marquis Camden, and to the Commons by the Members for the county.The motions were severally put and carried.

SIR W. GEARY moved the thanks of the Meeting to the High Sheriff, but from some neglect the question was not put.

THE EARL OF THANET observed, that another opportunity should be afforded, although perhaps not this year, of ascertaining the real sense of the county, when the clouds of prejudice which had been purposely spread had been cleared away. The notice of the present Meeting had been too short.

MR. WELLS stated that the Meeting had been twice advertised at a week's distance, and as much time as possible had been allowed.

THE EARL OF THANET explained.

LORD DARNLEY said, that several of his friends had never heard of the meeting until he wrote to them. He pledged himself to give the County an opportunity of fairly deciding upon this important subject.

SIR EDWARD KNATCHBULL combated

The Meeting was then dissolved by the High Sheriff.

CATHOLIC CLAIMS. Irish Petition against them. PETITION of the Protestant Freeholders and Inhabitants of the COUNTY of SLIGO. To the Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled. The Humble Petition of the Inhabitants and Freeholders of the County of Sligo, in the Kingdom of Ireland, professing the Protestant Religion,

the insinuation that the real sense of the therefore feel authorized to protest against county had not been to-day ascertained. both. Against the Name as misapplied He contended that no future decision could and delusive. Against the Statement as subvert the regular proceeding just wit-containing the most dangerous species of nessed, in which truth had obtained a sig- actual and argumentative falsehood. That nal triumph. in which falsehood stands in some places, boldly glaring and alone. In others, so artfully intermixed with truth, as in effect to make it only its instrument and support, It over-rates the population of the Country, and their proportion of it, in an excessive degree, as far as can be collected from any Census hitherto taken. In a greater degree it over-rates the comparative property of that sect, real and personal. It exaggerates consequential disadvantages; and alleges injuries, which we have never known to exist, and never before heard complained of. The Name we are led to notice, not only as nisapplied but delusive; to suit the clamour of grievance, it is adopted and applied, indiscriminately to those laws, Sheweth, That we your Petitioners constitutional and fundamental, which exhave observed with anxious alarm, the re- clude Catholics from the Throne, the Gonewed Claims of the Roman Catholics of vernment, and the Legislature; as well as this Kingdom, for the unqualified repeal of to those, which affected their persons, prothose Laws, which are the securities of our perties, and religious worship. These civil and religious liberties. These Claims, latter Statutes (not enacted until after the made under the name and pretext of religi- Revolution, and which were entitled Acts ous freedom and toleration, have been ad- to prevent the further growth of Popery ;) vanced in a tone of requisition and menace. were those alone distinguished by the name To the wisdom and dignity of Parliament, of Penal Code, all of which have been long we confidently submit the consequences of since repealed. We cordially concur in yielding to menace, and suffering (as hereto- the repeal. We owe it, however, to the fore has happened) the concessions of good- memory of those who enacted them to say, will or justice, to be attributed to so un- That if they were severe and cruel, they worthy and degrading a motive. The were but retaliatory of still greater cruelty, complaint of want of religious freedom and not enacted merely, but unrelentingly intoleration, we solemnly assert to be as un-flicted, with and without law, during the founded in fact, as in law. The laws support those sacred principles to all,-and if they did not-we trust we possess too much of the genuine principles of Christianity, as taught in the Established Church, to be in any way instrumental in infringing on either. We are conscious, and the Roman Gatholics are so too, that they possess both not only in a degree never yet permitted to Protestants in a Roman Catholic State, but in the fullest manner in which they are capable of being enjoyed. Those Laws, so sought to be repealed, are termed a Penal Code. A Statement of them, and their immediate and consequential operation, has been adopted at the Aggregate and County Meetings of the Roman Catholics as their Case. Under that adoption it assumes importance. Much argument and inference in the late Parliament has been founded both on the Name and the Statement. We

entire Reign of James II. We wish to consign both cause and effect to eternal oblivion: But deem it as unjust, as unnatural in us, to suffer the odium and regret, which are due to both, to fall on one side only. Let us be suffered to forget them altogether; and let not their memory be revived by partial statement, still less by re-introducing the cause from whence they arose-Religi ous Party struggling for Political Power. It was that contention, and the crimes and miseries which grew out of it, which caused the enactment of those laws that remain, and are now complained of, as a Roman Catholic grievance. By those laws, which are not penal, but constitutional and funda mental, it has been provided; That the Government, the Legislature, the King, shall be Protestant-Protestantism is the essence of the Constitution. Its first and most vital principles are interwoven with

it; and when our civil rights, founded on those principles, were fixed at the Revolution; Protestantism was the sacred bond within which they were enveloped and enshrined. The whole was secured and sanctified by oaths and religious tests.The great and wise men whose work this was, left to their posterity the trial of its effects. They have had above a century of proof, and the result has been,-to Great Britain it has proved a period of the greatest external glory and internal prosperity, that any empire was ever known to possess. To Ireland it was the only period of internal peace to be found in the annals of her history. With this double proof before our eyes, of what these nations were without the system, and what they have been under it; we are called on to destroy and reverse it. We humbly hope and pray, that the destructive delusion of theory, may not be suffered to destroy the solid foundations of experience. If, as now only is sought, exclusion only is to be removed from the Legislature and Government, and to continue annexed to the Crown, we know not on what theoretical principles of the Constitution it can be supported; that religious fetters shall be imposed upon the conscience of the Sovereign, and not on those of the Members of the Legislature, or of the great officers of State. The converse would be more consistent-for the constitutional principle which removes the responsibility of Government from the Sovereign to his Ministers, gives the greater importance to the political character of their faith. In consistency then, it must be removed from all, if from any, and if the Sovereign should become Roman Catholic, with Popish Ministers, and a mixed Parliament, (too likely under such circumstances to assimilate) under no pretence, still less principle, could the Church establishment continue Protestant. It would not, or could not be permitted to do so. This would be Revolution, and the struggle it would probably cause, would be convulsive Revolution, and after all the miseries and desolations of such a State, the best result would be, to begin again where our ancestors took up the question. Practical theory then, as well as experience, pronounces against it. We acknowledge a zealous and conscientious attachment to Protestantism. We are attached to it religiously as a faith. We are attached to it politically as the safeguard and deposit of our civil and religious liberties; and as the principle and condition by which the illus

trious House of Brunswick acquired, and holds its title to the throne of these realms. We can see no reason for departing from it. Every principle which caused its adoption remains in full force, and experience has established the necessity for its permanence.-But the public safety and the public peace are said to demand the concession of it. We deprecate the discussion of such questions; for we know the mischiefs and dangers attendant on it.— But suggested, and advanced, and argued on, as they are; we deny that the first is in danger, or that the latter can be promoted by such concession. The proud state of prosperity, which the case adopted by the Roman Catholics boasts of, gives sufficient security in their good sense, if we could suppose it wanting in their loyalty. To apprehend the danger, we must deny confidence in the oaths which they have so repeatedly taken, and must believe them capable of committing treason as well as perjury, in resistance of a settlement; which, within twenty years, was accepted by them as final, and satisfactory of their wishes as well as claims.-That it would conduce permanently to public peace we still more confidently deny. We conceive it would have the opposite effect. It would give increased incitement, and energy, and interest, to party spirit. We had hoped party spirit would subside; but the events of the last two years, all we see and hear about us, and above all, the insatiable claims, and inextinguishable party-spirit, manifested in the adopted case we have mentioned, have torn from us that flattering expectation.-In every view we take of this subject and its consequences, the more we reflect upon it; the more we see cause to deprecate any fundamental change. We firmly believe, that if any such shall be effected, it will in its certain consequences, prove subversive of the English settlement of this country: and not remotely, of the connexion between the two kingdoms.We therefore humbly Pray, that no alteration shall be suffered to take place, in the fundamental laws of our happy constitution, as established at the enlightened period of the Revolution. We further Pray, that that constitution so established, may be secured against all future assaults or encroachments; and that a period may be put to the continual and injurious agitations of this subject, by giving such additional force to the oaths and tests which secure it, as may finally close the question against all future.danger, doubt, or discussion.

CATHOLIC CLAIMS.

ADDRESS to the Protestants of Great Britain and Ireland, by CHARLES BUTLER, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn.

In the last Sessions of Parliament, the House of Commons came to a resolution, that "the House would early in the next "Session take into its most serious consi"deration the laws affecting His Majesty's "Roman Catholic subjects in Great Bri"tain and Ireland, with a view to such "final, conciliatory adjustment, as might "be conducive to the peace of the United "Kingdom, the stability of the Protestant "establishment, and the general satisfac❝tion and concord of all classes of His "Majesty's subjects."

under many severe penalties and disabilities their whole body is affected by them, and would be essentially benefited by their removal.

1st. By the 13th Charles 2d, commonly called the Corporation Act, their whole body is excluded from offices in cities and corporations.

2d. By the 25th Charles 2d, commonly called the Test Act, their whole body is excluded from civil and military offices.

How injurious these acts are, both to the public and to the individuals on whom they operate, appeared in 1795, in which year, during the then great national alarm of invasion, Lord Petre, the grandfather of the present Lord, having, with the express leave and encouragement of Government, raised, equipped, and trained, at his own expense, a corps of 250 men for His Ma

Encouraged by this resolution, the Roman Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland intend presenting immediately separate Pe-jesty's service, requested that his son might titions to each House of Parliament, "for "a repeal of the penal and disabling sta"tutes, which still remain in force against "them."

In the mean time they observe with great concern and surprise, that attempts are made to prejudice the legislature against their application. Many erroneous, artful, and inflammatory publications of this tendency, have been actively and extensively circulated. The charges brought in them against the Roman Catholics, are of the most serious nature. The object of this address to you, is to answer these charges, and to state to you, succinctly, the grounds of the intended application of the English Roman Catholics to the legislature for relief. The greatest part of what is intended to be said in the address will apply, in a great measure, as much to the situation of the Irish and Scottish, as to the situation of the English Roman Catholics: but as the penal codes of Ireland, Scotland, and England, in respect to Roman Catholics, are very different, it has been thought advisable to confine the present address to the case of the English Roman Catholics only.

I.

It is generally represented in the publications of which we complain, that the English Roman Catholics labour under no real grievance; and that, if all the remaining penal laws against them were repealed, the number of those, who would be really benefited by the repeal, would be too insignificant to make their relief an object of legislative concern.

But this representation is altogether erroneous-the English Catholics labour

be appointed to the command of them. His son's religion was objected, his appointment was refused, and another person was appointed to the command of the corps. You cannot but feel how such a conduct tended to discourage the Catholics from exertious of zeal and loyalty; but the noble family had too much real love of their country to resile from her service, even under these circumstances. His Lordship delivered over the corps, completely equipped and completely trained, into the hand of Government, and his son served in the ranks. Surely you cannot think that laws, which thus tend to alienate the hearts, and paralyze the exertions of those who, in the hour of her danger, thus wished to serve their country, are either just or wise.

3d. By the 7th and 8th of William 3d, ch. 27, Roman Catholics are liable to be prevented from voting at elections.

4th. By the 30th Car. 2d, s. 2. C. 1. Roman Catholic Peers are prevented from filling their hereditary seats in Parliament.

5th. By the same statute Roman Catholics are prevented from sitting in the House of Commons.

6th. By several statutes Roman Catholics are disabled from presenting to advowsons, a legal incident of property, which the law allows even to the Jew.

7th. Though a considerable proportion of His Majesty's fleets and armies is Roman Catholic, not only no provision is made for the religious comforts and duties of Roman Catholic soldiers and sailors, but, by the articles of war, they are liable to the very heaviest pains and penalties for refusing to join in those acts of outward conformity to

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the religious rites of the established church, which a Roman Catholic considers to amount to a dereliction of her faith. By the Articles of War, sect. 1, a soldier absenting himself from divine service and sermon, is liable, for the first offence, to forfeit 12d., and for the second, and every other offence, to forfeit 12d., and to be put in irons. By the same Articles, sect. 2. "If he shall disobey any lawful "command of his superior" (and, of course, if he shall disobey any lawful commands of his superior officer to attend divine service and sermon,)" he shall "suffer death, or such other punishment "as by a general Court Martial shall be "awarded."

art. 5.

In the last Parliament, it was shewn that a meritorious private, for refusing (which he did in the most respectful manner) to attend divine service and sermon, according to the rites of the established church, was confined nine days in a dungeon on bread and water.

The Roman Catholics acknowledge with gratitude, not only the virtual suspension of these laws, in consequence of the orders recently issued by his Royal Highness the present Commander in Chief, and the facilities which they afford for enabling the Roman Catholic soldiers to attend their own religious worship; but they beg leave to observe, that these humane regulations still want the firm sanction of law, and therefore, to a certain extent are still precarious. 8th. In common with the rest of His Majesty's subjects, Roman Catholics contribute to the religious establishment of the country: they have also to support their own religious functionaries; and thus, have a double religious establishment to defray. Of this, however, they do not complain; but they think it a serious grievance, that their own religious endowments are not legalized like those of the Protestant Dis

operation of the principal laws still remaining in force against your English Catholic brethren. The general effect of them is, to depress every member of the body below his legitimate level in society.

Even in the very lowest order of the community, some situations conferring comfort, emolument, or distinction, are open to the individuals of that class, and in proportion as the several classes of society rise into importance, these situations are multiplied. From all of them the law excludes This effectively the English Catholic. places him below his Protestant brethren of the same class, and makes the whole body in the estimation of the community, a depressed and isolated cast.

This the Roman Catholics severely feel, but it is not by its substantial effects alone Some that they feel their depression. avenues of wealth are still open to them, none to honours or distinctions. Thus, thousands of those possibilities, the prospect and hope of which, constitute a large proportion of the general stock of human happiness, are peremptorily denied to the Roman Catholics. No hope of provision, of preferment, of honours, or dignity, cheers their souls or excites their exertions, A Roman Catholic scarce steps into life when he is made to feel that nothing, which confers them, is open to him; and however successful his career may have been, it seldom happens that his success has not been on more than one occasion, either lessened or retarded by the circumstance of his having been a Roman Catholic.

Here then our Protestant countrymen are called upon to place themselves in our situation; and to reflect, what their own feelings would be, if, from a conscientious adherence to their religious principles, they belonged to a class thus legally degraded, How often would they substantially feel the effects of this degradation? How many of their hopes would it destroy?-how many In hospitals, workhouses, and other pub- of their projects would it ruin? Surely a lic institutions, the attendance of the minis-petition to the Legislature, from any portion ters of their own communion is sometimes of His Majesty's subjects, for the removal denied to the poor of the Roman Catholic of such a woe, is entitled to the sympathy Religion, and the children of the Roman and aid of every other portion of the com Catholic poor are sometimes forced into munity, Protestant schools under the eyes of their parents.

senters,

II.

Such, fellow-subjects, is the particular

III.

We are sometimes told, that however the repeal of the laws complained of by the (To be continued./

Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden.
LONDON: Printed by J. M'Creery, Black-Horse-Court, Fleet-street.

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