realm, dangerous to, or having a tendency to endanger, the civil or religious establishment of the State." The addition of some such words as these might admit of the intro luction of the word "spiritual" into the oath now taken by the Catholic; a word, the omission of which had excited such scruples in the minds of some persons. He expressed his regret that the motion of the noble marquis did not pledge the House to something more immediate, decisive, and direct. He rejoiced, however, at the great progress this question had hitherto made, and had no doubt of its ultimate success.

The Earl of Warwick stated his willingness to extend every privilege to the Catholics that could be afforded with perfect safety to the establishment, since he was persuaded that the fall of the Church would pull down with it the whole fabric of the State. No noble lord could concur with the motion, unless he was prepared to go the whole length of unlimited concession, and his lordship doubted much the propriety of any concession at all; he should vote against it.

Earl Moira said, that his noble friend (Lord Holland) had replied so fully and so ably to the speech of the noble lord on the woolsack, who had moved the previous question, that he should not find it necessary to trouble the House at any length. Some noble lords seemed to have more than misunderstood, they had misrepresented what fell from the noble marquis who introduced the subject, for none who supported this motion were pledged to any thing more than the mere consideration of the Catholic claims. He requested such persons who were inclined to give opposition, to reflect upon the present condition of the empire; to advert to the ferment in Ireland, to the discontent and disturbances in the interior, upon which sealed documents had been delivered to a Secret Committee only yesterday. Was it then nothing in favour of the motion, to say that it would in the interval, between the present and the ensuing session of Par liament, tranquillize the irritated minds of four millions of people, so loyal, that they only requested to be allowed to serve their country? Were men, who with such a pros pect before their eyes, refused to conciliate, fit to be en trusted with the Administration of the country at these times?-(hear, hear!)-He lamented that the Irish Catholics, upon a recent occasion, had thought fit to adopt re solutions, which under the circumstances were imprudent,

but still he confessed that they breathed a generous British spirit. If, however, the conduct of the Catholics had been more objectionable, it ought to have no influence upon the decision of Parliament, if on other grounds it appeared that concession was not only politic but necessary. In his lordship's opinion it would be the extreme of folly to resist the present motion, because a few individuals had acted without due deliberation (Hear, hear!). Above all, if it were a boon, the grant of which was necessary for the security of the state, he could not believe that it would be for a moment resisted. The noble lord who spoke last had prophesied the fall of the establishment; such prognostications were in no way warranted by the conduct of any portion of the subjects of the Crown: the Protestants had the testimony of all Ireland to prove that the Church would be secure: the danger was not from concession but from rejection(Hear!). If the petitioners were sent back disappointed, they would soon return in double force; and when resistance in any other mode was found vain, the cry might be renewed that the Church was in danger. The experience of a century and a half had proved, that by exclusion the established religion had made no proselytes, and the opinions uttered by the noble and learned lord on the woolsack, were so ill suited to the times in which we lived, that they came limping 50 years behind the period at which we were arrived. The mode in which the subject had been met by a motion of the previous question, would only renew instead of terminate discussions; the intemperance so much censured, was but, the symptom of an approaching fever which would inevitably succeed, if the proposition of the noble marquis was set aside by the previous question(Hear, hear!) The conduct of the noble mover of the previous question reminded him of the situation of an unskilful rider, who was placed upon the back of a generous and high-spirited horse. Alarmed at the peril in which the rider was placed, he tightly grasped the rein, and to check the impatient prancing of his steed, snatched the curb, thus placing himself in real danger, because he had first given way to the unreasonable fears. If the motion of the noble marquis was thus disposed of by the previous question, his lordship pledged himself that even before the end of the short remaining period of the session, the claim of the Catholics would be renewed in that House with fresh vigour, and he hoped with better success. Wit regard to securities,

he believed that the best that could, by possibility, be enforced, was the allegiance of the Catholics, arising from affection for and interest in the Government. Such had been the opinion of Mr. Pitt, after consulting all the Catholic Universities on the subject of oaths, and such also were his lordship's sentiments. So feeling, he should give the proposal his hearty support, although he should not have objected to a more general and sweeping vote.

Viscount Sidmouth observed, that if, like the noble marquis (Wellesley) in January last, he had strenuously opposed concession to the Catholics, he should not now have deemed himself at liberty, with any respect for consistency, to come to a directly opposite conclusion. Circumstances had not so much altered in that short space, as to have induced him at least to declare that the measures of the Catholics then proclaimed dangerous, were now justifiable, or that, because they had divested themselves of their dazzling armour of right, their demands deserved attention. He perfectly recollected that the noble marquis, on that occasion, had opposed concession, and how he could reconcile the contradiction between his conduct then and now, was to him (Lord Sidmouth) unintelligible. His lordship, after having carefully weighed the subject, felt it necessary to pursue on the present the steps he had taken on former occasions, by giving his decided negative to a motion, which had for its object what it termed final and satisfactory adjustment, but what he begged leave to name complete and unlimited concession-(hear, hear !)-He did not pretend to say that he had abandoned the opinion he entertained in 1801, that some regulations should be adopted for giving the Catholic Priesthood an interest in the Government; he thought that it still might be politic, although circumstances had rendered it questionable. It was vain to disguise that acquiescence in a motion to consider, was nothing less than a determination to concede to an unlimited extent.(Hear, hear!)-The noble marquis himself had never mentioned any thing like conditions or restrictions. He was not insensible to the grievances of which the Catholics complained, but when it was asserted that four or five millions of people were discontented and ready to take up arms against the Government, all persons of any information must know that their number, no less than their condition, was exaggerated. Those were grossly deceived, who ima gined that the ferment in Ireland arose from a solicitude

upon this subject: the fact was, that this question had been long made subservient to party, and to private viewsChear, hear, hear !)-All the emancipation that Ireland required, was an emancipation from poverty and ignorance; and when concessions were required from the Established Church, all the reciprocity was on one side. He was as anxious as the noble marquis that order should be restored, but he did not think that the mode now proposed was likely to effect the object; he should therefore vote for the previous question, although he could have wished that the motion had been met by a simple negative. It was a solecism to assert that men were entitled to a complete participation in the rights and privileges of the Constitution, where there was not perfect and implicit obedience. With regard to foreign influence, his lordship was by no means satisfied. In England, from the time of John to the Refor mation, the temporal power of the Pope had been always disputed; but in Ireland it had been allowed; and there was, perhaps, no country in Europe where even now the authority of the Supreme Pontiff was more firmly establish ed, or more fully acknowledged. Under all the circumstan ces, he felt that he should not satisfy his conscience by the performance of his duty, if he did not do all in his power to defeat the motion.

The Marquis of Headford stated, that he had received letters from Ireland, representing the respectable part of the body of the Roman Catholics as animated with the utmost indignation and abhorrence at the tone and temper of the resolutions proposed and adopted at the late Aggregate Meeting of the Catholics at Dublin. For his part, the cause of the Catholics had always had, and notwithstanding their recent conduct, should still have, his earnest and cordial support; but he must again revert to the terms and tenor of the late Resolutions, which he could not but consider as vulgar, ungentlemanlike, and base. Nothing, perhaps, could have more mischievously tended seriously to injure their cause in the eyes of their most sincere and enlightened friends. To their misconduct in that respect, they had added the folly of reviving an absurd story about an illustrious Duke in the Guards, which was, in every respect, unfounded, and which never had the shadow of truth to rest upon.

The Marquis of Lansdowne said, that although he should willingly support the proposition of his noble friend (Mar

quis Wellesley), he should with more satisfaction have given his vote for a motion proposing the immediate 'consideration of the Roman Catholic claims, since the result would be more effectually to tranquillize the country. No man, however, would vote for the Resolution, who was not prepared to go to the subject with a determination to concede every thing that could be fairly demanded. A Right Reverend Prelate (Canterbury) had inquired with an air of confidence, what was the value of the question, supposing it were carried?-Was there no advantage to be gained from the success of a motion, the effect of which would be the tranquillizing of a whole nation?(Hear, hear!) What was it but a pledge, that as carly as possible Parliament would proceed to review all the penal laws so injurious to the interests and welfare of the Catholics? It was now for the first time that a ray of hope had broken through the dark clouds that over-hung the prospect of the Catholics, and by this light they were to be cheered during the recess of ParJiament. The noble viscount who last spoke, had asserted, that every thing was to be conceded and nothing to be gained; that the reciprocity was all on one side. Was this the fact? (Hear, hear!) Was it trug, that when the zealous services of four millions were secured in times like these, that nothing was obtained ?—(hear, hear!) The no ble marquis bad said most wisely that concession to the Catholics was only the means of obtaining for them other advantages by participation in the blessings of the Constitution. What, however, did the noble viscount insist? That the Irish only required emancipation from poverty and ignorance, and yet he would not allow that by gaining the honourable emoJuments of office, they should obtain either knowledge or wealth. This was the first time it had been gravely maintained that the mode of making a people rich was keeping them poor, or the mode of making them learned was keeping them ignorant-(hear, hear, hear!) Thus excluded from favour, confidence, or reward, what was more natural than that they should look abroad? And to this cause was to be traced the authority of the Pope in Ireland: the true secret of destroying his influence was by making it unnecessary, by allowing civilization to remove the chains with which superstition had shackled ignorance. The purpose for which his lordship principally rose was, to call the notice of the House to the circumstances under which this question was now brought forward. Ten years had now elapsed since