to the claim of measures which become necessary to the relief of a great body of his Majesty's Catholic subjects in Ireland, from certain restrictions and disabilities under which they still labour on account of their religion. And, my Lords, I consider that claim not as of a boon, but as of a right which every British subject in this united kingdom should enjoy as his birthright, who is not dis-entitled thereto by any thing exceptionable in his principles, his character or his loyalty! If I considered it as a boon I should still say to your Lordships-grant it to themliberally and generously now, rather than at a future period, when the justice of the claim and the policy of acceding to it, will force itself upon your Lordships' wisdom; and therefore, let it rather be granted now, and with the appearance of liberal concession, than at another period, when it will have that of being extorted from you. Much, my Lords, has been said with respect to the expediency or inexpediency of the time for conceding those claims. In my opinion, my Lords, this is the best possible time. We are, this moment, and for some time past, have been menaced on all sides by a vigilant, daring, implacable, and adventurous enemy. His fleets, we know, are this moment at sea, with the design of some desperate and hostile attack against the British dominions-and we know not the moment when, or the place where, he may effect a landing on some of our coasts; or, whether in Ireland or the West-Indies. At such a moment, my Lords, four million of his Majesty's Catholic subjects are suppliants at your Bar, for a full participation in those constitutional rights, in which it is our glory and their anxious desire to participate, and which they will then be thus forcibly attached to defend and join in the common cause for our common safety. Is it, or is it not, then, wise to secure their attachinents, to unite their hearts and hands with our own against the common foe, and to maintain inviolable our common country? It has been said, by many Noble

Noble Lords, who have spoken on the other side of this question, that enough has been already granted to the Catholics, that you cannot grant more with safety to the Constitution; and that you ought to make your stand here. stand here. I do not agree with those Noble Lords, for, in my mind, if you do not grant to the full extent, you do nothing, to secure the af fections, and the cordial attachment of the Catholics. The whole course of your measures toward the Catholics, for a series of years, has been only preludes to their final and complete Emancipation. If it is not to be granted now, you disappoint the anxiety and the hopes of the Catholic mind. You have taught them to expect it by the whole course of your policy, and by your successive relaxations of the pœnal code, in their favour. They haye looked up with earnest expectation to the event-they have polished their education, they have enlarged their understandings: and if it is now withheld, he knows little of the human mind that cannot anticipate the most deprecable consequences from the refusal.

"My Lords, I now proceed to answer some arguments which fell from the Noble Secretary of State in the course of last night's discussion. My Noble Friend (Lord GRENVILLE) who introduced this subject, very properly, in my mind, deprecated every species of warmth and intemperance, on discussing this question, and a speech more moderate, more cool and dispassionate than his own, I never heard within these walls. But the Noble Secretary of State commenced his speech with a degree of heat and vehemence, which from him I should not have expected, and such as was but ill calculated to procure attention, or give weight to his reasoning. But I appeal to the House, if, in the course of his speech, he stated any one argument which the Noble Baron did not anticipate and refute. A speech so fraught with justice, with truth, with sound argument, as that of the Noble Baron, must, I think, have carried conviction to the minds of your LordN

ships,

ships, and would, I should hope, induce you to ac cede to his proposition,magna est veritas et prevalebit.' The Noble Secretary of State accused the Noble Baron with using threats to intimidate this House into compliance with the measure; but the Noble Baron so immediately contradicted the assertion, as to make it unnecessary for me to say anything on that head.

"My Lord, the Noble Secretary has said, that there was no pledge in terms held out to the Roman Catholics, at the time of the Union, that this measure should pass. My Lords, I beg to know, then, when were those terms held out? for certainly there was a strong expectation universally entertained upon the subject, which must have had strong grounds some where; and if it was not for the implicit acquiescence of the Irish Catholics, upon the ground of such an understanding, you could not have carried the Union. And, I ask, if this was not the measure held out to secure the acquiescence of the Catholics to that Union? What other boon has been granted to the people of Ireland since the Union? None! that I know of, but additional taxes, and sending abroad a great part of the army that was for their defence. A Noble Lord, whom I do not now see in his place, has said the measure could never be granted consistently with the safety of the Constitution; and other Noble Lords thought that some future period would be more applicable. My Lords, I think the properest time is now, and that there should be no longer delay, because, if you refuse the measure now, what is to be said of the future strength to your navies and armies-more than a third of which are manned by Irishmen much the greater part of whom are Catholics upon this ground then, I am extremely sorry to hear such arguments offered by his Majesty's Minister, or those who support him, as that this measure is never to be granted: and the point on which I felt most sorrow at his declaration, was,

:

where

where he said he had no confidence in the principles or professions of the Irish Catholics; for it must go to depress all ranks and classes of that people in the sister country, by holding them in so much lower estimation than any other class of their fellow-subjects, and, than, I am sure, any other Member of this House entertains. I would ask the Noble Lord, when he talked of the security of our glorious Constitution, and glorious it certainly is. Was it to Protestants we were indebted for that invaluable jewel! I answer, no! for you obtained that Constitution, Magna Charta, and all those inestimable rights that form the chief bulwarks of British liberty-at a time when the Catholic Religion was the faith of this country. What danger, therefore, can be apprehended from Catholics or their religious principles to that Constitution which owes its origin to themselves? With respect to what has fallen from the Royal Duke, I reverence his respect to that religion, and those principles which introduced his illustrious Family to the throne of these realms; and under whose auspices this country has continued to enjoy so many signal advantages. But I always conceived that the Roman Catholic Prince, to whom his family succeeded, was driven from the throne, not for his religion, but his arbitrary principles, and the despotism he attempted to introduce. But, if a Roman Catholic King, upon the throne of these realms, with all the power and influence he possessed, was unable to change the religion, or subvert the Constitution of this country, and was hurled from the throne for the attempt; how is it possible that, under a Protestant Prince of the House of Brunswick, and a Protestant Legislature, such events have the most distant probability of risk, from any indulgence that now remains to be. extended to his Majesty's Catholic subjects in Ireland? My Lords, it has been said the Roman Catholics of Ireland admit their allegiance to a foreign jurisdiction. I deny the fact; and I appeal to the N 2 Petition

Petitition on your table, which disclaims and abjures any such jurisdiction in temporal concerns, in as great an extent as can be required. And what danger can arise to the country, from the circumstance of the Catholic Bishops being named by the Pope, I am at a loss to conceive. It has been said they want to secure and monopolize for themselves all the great offices of power and of the State, and not only command your armies and fleets, but to be Lord Chancellors, Judges, and Privy Counsellors. Why, my Lords, I appeal to the good sense of this House, whether it is probable that a Protestant King, at the head of a Protestant State, would chuse, as the keeper of his conscience, a Roman Catholic Chancellor; or that he would exclude Protestant Judges from the Bench, for the sake of preferring Roman Catholics? As well might it be said, that he would deprive of their revenues Protestant Bishops, in order to confer them on those of the Catholic Religion; and I am confident, that Reverend Bench opposite me have no such apprehensions, even if this measure were now passed. With respect to commands in the army, supposing, as I do, the Catholics, who would be likely to obtain them, are not only men of tried loyalty, but high honour and talents; I see no reason why a Catholic General or Privy Counsellor may not be as competent to render important services to a Protestant King, as a Protestant General or Counsellor to a Catholic Monarch. My Lords, was not the great Sully, first Minister of the Catholic Prince Henry IV. a strict Protestant, and was any incompetence or infidelity to his Royal Master imputed to him on that account? Was not Marshall Turenne, one of the bravest and ablest Generals ever the Catholic Government of France had in its service, a strict Protestant? and were his services on that account less faithful, or his victories less brilliant? I might name many other instances equally illustrious, where the liberality of wise governments has risen supe