bull, rescript, or other instrument as aforesaid, and not so duly delivering or causing to be delivered as aforesaid, either such full and perfect copy thereof, or such certificate of the receipt thereof, accompanied by such oath as is herein-before prescribed, shall, upon conviction thereof, be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor; and shall, in lieu of all pains and penalties whatsoever, to which he or they would be liable, by any laws now in force in Great Britain or Ireland respectively, against the receiving bulls or other instruments from the see of Rome, or from any authority or pretended authority under the said See, be liable to be sent out of the kingdom in the manner by this act prescribed.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.

MR. GRATTAN PRESENTS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PETITION.

May 27. 1814.

ON the 24th, Mr. Grattan presented to the House a petition from the Roman Catholics of Ireland, which was received, and ordered to lie on the table. Sir John Hippisley took occasion to move for the printing of two papers relating to the Roman Catholics in India and in Canada, which was accordingly ordered. On this day, the 27th, another petition was presented by Mr. Grattan from the Roman Catholics of the city and county of Cork, on which he spoke as follows:

SIR, I have the honour to present a petition from the Roman Catholics of the city and county of Cork in favour of the Catholic claims, and I beg now, when the House is well attended, to repeat that which I said on a former day in the presence of a few members; and I say now, that I shall not bring on any discussion, nor any ulterior measure on the Catholic question at present, and my reasons are founded on present circumstances. I shall not enter into a detail of those circumstances: it is sufficient to say, that no proposition can, under these circumstances, be formed with any prospect of advantage, or with any other effect, than to throw back the question, and to throw it back at a time when nothing but precipitation can prevent its ultimate success.

I have the greatest expectation, that the claims for the emancipation of the Catholics will prevail. I see great and substantial difficulties removed. I will pursue the cause I will pursue it with ardour, and in the way which appears to me most practicable, and at a time which appears to me most seasonable.

My opinion is, that any further proposition at the pre

sent time would be an injury to the Catholics; and I have formed this opinion after consulting the members of this House, with whom I usually act on this subject. Speaking of their opinion, I must advert to a mis-statement in the public papers, in which I am made to allude to opinions supposed to be entertained by noble persons belonging to another place. I did not state their opinion, I did not allude to. it; I stated only the opinions of the members of this House, with whom I act on this question;- they are now, I believe, present, and I beg to say, that I am supported by their opinions in declining to bring on any further discussion of the Catholic question at present. He then moved for leave to bring up the Petition.

Sir John C. Hippisley expressed his concurrence in what Mr. Grattan said. He observed in severe terms upon the conduct of the Catholic Board, a body holding permanent sittings in Dublin. He condemned their proceedings in raising money from the Catholics of Ireland, and in appealing to the Cortes of Spain for a redress of their grievances; this he conceived to be a most

unwise measure.

The petition was then ordered to lie on the table,

PRINCESS OF WALES.

June 23. 1814.

ON the 1st of March, in the preceding session, the Princess of Wales had addressed a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, stating that she had received from Lord Sidmouth a copy of a report made to the Prince Regent by certain of the members of the Privy Council, conveying most unjust aspersions against her; that she knew not on what evidence those individuals proceeded, or whether they were a body to whom she could appeal for redress; and she expressed a wish, that the fullest investigation might be instituted into her conduct. The proceedings before the commissioners in 1806, having become public, a motion was made in the House of Commons, by Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, for certain depositions of witnesses, and papers connected therewith. This motion was negatived without a division.

On the 15th of March, Mr. Whitbread declared his intention to move an address to the Prince, praying that he would direct the law officers of the Crown to prosecute Lady Douglas for perjury in her evidence before the commissioners of that enquiry.

However, on the 17th of March, he changed his motion, and proposed an address to the Prince, expressing the concern of the House that publications had appeared so insulting to the dignity of the royal family, and so offensive to common decency; and praying that measures should be taken to discover the persons concerned in procuring their publication.

This

The motion was opposed by the ministers: and Mr. Tierney moved, as an amendment, that the printer and publisher of the Morning Herald and Morning Post should attend at the bar to answer certain questions respecting these publications. motion was negatived without a division. A petition was presented from Sir John and Lady Douglas on the subject, and several conversations arose in the House on this business; but nothing further took place that session.

On the third of June, 1814, the Speaker informed the House, that he had received the following letter from the Princess of Wales:

Connaught House, June 3d, 1814. "The Princess of Wales desires that Mr. Speaker will inform the House of Commons, that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has been advised to take such steps as have prohibited her from appearing at court, and to declare it to be his Royal Highness's fixed and unalterable determination, never to meet the Princess of Wales on any occasion, either public or private.

"The proceedings of the years 1806 and 1807, and of the last year, are in the recollection of the House, as well as the ample and unqualified vindication of the Princess's conduct, to which those proceedings led.

"It is impossible for the Princess of Wales to conceal from herself the intention of the advice now given to the Prince Regent, and the probability that there are ultimate objects in view, pregnant with danger to the security of the succession, and to the domestic peace of the realm.

"Under these circumstances, even if the princess's duty towards herself could suffer her to remain silent, her sense of what is due to her daughter compels her to make this communication to the House of Commons.

"The Princess of Wales encloses copies of the correspondence. which has passed, and she requests Mr. Speaker to communicate them to the House."

Letter of the Princess of Wales to the Prince Regent.

" SIR,

"I am once more reluctantly compelled to address your Royal Highness, and to enclose, for your inspection, copies of a note which I have had the honour to receive from the Queen, and of the answer which I have thought it my duty to return to her Majesty. It would be in vain for me to enquire into the reasons of the alarming declaration made by Your Royal Highness, that you have taken the fixed and unalterable determination never to meet me, upon any occasion, either in public or private. Of these, Your Royal Highness is pleased to state yourself to be the only judge. You will perceive, by my answer to Her Majesty, that I have only been restrained by motives of personal consideration towards Her Majesty, from exercising my right of appearing

before Her Majesty at the public drawing-rooms, to be held in the ensuing month.

"But, Sir, lest it should be, by possibility, supposed, that the words of Your Royal Highness can convey any insinuations from which I shrink, I am bound to demand of Your Royal Highness, what circumstances can justify the proceeding you have thus thought fit to adopt?

"I owe it to myself, to my daughter, and to the nation, to which I am deeply indebted for the vindication of my honour, to remind your Royal Highness of what you know; that, after open persecution and mysterious enquiries, upon undefined charges, the malice of my enemies fell entirely upon themselves; and that I was restored by the King, with the advice of his ministers, to the full enjoyment of my rank in his court, upon my complete acquittal. Since His Majesty's lamented illness, I have demanded, in the face of Parliament and the country, to be proved guilty, or to be treated as innocent. I have been declared innocent, — I will not submit to be treated as guilty.

"Sir, your Royal Highness may possibly refuse to read this letter, but the world must know that I have written it; and they will see my real motives for foregoing, in this instance, the rights of my rank. Occasions, however, may arise (one, I trust, is far distant,) when I must appear in public, and your Royal Highness must be present also. Can your Royal Highness have contemplated the full extent of your declaration? Has your Royal Highness forgotten the approaching marriage of our daughter, and the possibility of our coronation?

"I waive my rights in a case where I am not absolutely bound to assert them, in order to relieve the Queen, as far as I can, from the painful situation in which she is placed by your Royal Highness; not from any consciousness of blame; not from any doubt of the existence of those rights, or of my own worthiness to enjoy them.

66

Sir, the time you have selected for this proceeding is calculated to make it peculiarly galling. Many illustrious strangers are already arrived in England; amongst others, as I am informed, the illustrious heir of the House of Orange, who has announced himself to me as my future Son-in-law. From their society I am unjustly excluded. Others are expected, of rank equal to your own, to rejoice with your Royal Highness in the Peace of Europe. My daughter will, for the first time, appear in the splendor and publicity becoming the approaching nuptials of the presumptive heiress of this empire. This season your Royal Highness has chosen for treating me with fresh and unprovoked indignity; and of all His Majesty's subjects, I alone am prevented by your Royal Highness from appearing in my place, to partake of the general joy, and am deprived of the indulgence in those feelings of pride and affection permitted to every mother but me.

"I am, Sir,

"Your Royal Highness's faithful Wife,
"CAROLINE P."

"Connaught-House, May 26, 1814."

(INCLOSURES.)

The Queen to the Princess of Wales.

"Windsor Castle, May 23. 1814. "The Queen considers it to be her duty to lose no time in acquainting the Princess of Wales, that she has received a communication from her Son, the Prince Regent, in which he states, that Her Majesty's intention of holding two drawing-rooms in the ensuing month having been notified to the public, he must declare that he considers that his own presence at the court cannot be dispensed with; and that he desires it may be distinctly understood, for reasons of which he alone can be the judge, to be his fixed and unalterable determination not to meet the Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either in public or private.

"The Queen is thus placed under the painful necessity of intimating to the Princess of Wales the impossibility of Her Majesty's receiving her Royal Highness at her drawing-rooms.

"CHARLOTTE R.

Answer of the Princess of Wales to the Queen.

"MADAM,

"I have received the letter which Your Majesty has done me the honor to address to me, prohibiting my appearance at the public drawing-rooms, which will be held by Your Majesty in the ensuing month, with great surprise and regret.

"I will not presume to discuss with Your Majesty, topics which must be as painful to Your Majesty as to myself.

"Your Majesty is well acquainted with the affectionate regard with which the King was so kind as to honor me, up to the period of His Majesty's indisposition, which no one of His Majesty's subjects has so much cause to lament as myself; and that His Majesty was graciously pleased to bestow upon me the most unequivocal and gratifying proof of his attachment and approbation, by his public reception of me at his court, at a season of severe and unmerited affliction, when his protection was most necessary to me. There I have since uninterruptedly paid my respects to Your Majesty. I am now without appeal or protector; but I cannot so far forget my duty to the King and to myself, as to surrender my right to appear at any public drawing-room to be held by Your Majesty.

"That I may not, however, add to the difficulty and uneasiness of Your Majesty's situation, I yield, in the present instance, to the will of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, announced to me by Your Majesty, and shall not present myself at the drawingrooms of the next month.