son, a youth of seventeen, who was a lieutenant in the 32d regiment, was stopped in the Limerick mail by a party of the rebels, They shot one of the horses to prevent the coach from proceeding; then went up to him, and asked who and what he was? An officer, he replied, on his way to Chatham. Was he a Protestant? was the next question; he avowed that he was: They held a short consultation, and then told him they wanted officers, and if he would join them, and take an oath to be true, they would give him a command; otherwise he must die. It was in vain to remonstrate-they attacked him upon his refusal,-being strong, active, and armed with pistols, he burst from them, and seeing lights, and hearing voices in a house hard by, vaulted over a high wall, and ran there for shelter-the voices which he heard were those of a party of savages who had just piked the master of the house and his granddaughter, for being Protestants.These wretches met him, murdered him also, and threw his body into the same ditch with those of their former victims. When this circumstance is considered, great allowance is to be made for Mr Giffard's violence; nor could the Irish government be justly censured for appointing him, after more than a year had elapsed, to another office. No good could possibly arise from Sir J. Newport's motion; and it was justly negatived.

There was, however, another personal question brought forward, of a very different character. Dr Duigean, a man who had distinguished himsen by the most virulent and inflammatory invectives against the Catholics, was appointed a privy-coun

sellor of Ireland. It was not possible to offer a greater insult to the whole body of Irish May 11. Catholics, than this appointment. The plea advanced in justification by Sir Arthur Wellesley, the then Chief Secretary, was, that Dr Duigenan held the office of Judge of the Prerogative Court, the holders of which, with the exception of his immediate predecessor, had sate in the Privy-Council; there was much ecclesiastical business, relating to glebe-houses, and to the union and disunion of benefices, before the Council; and the presence of the Judge of the Prerogative-Court was necessary for the dispatch of this business; he was to be privy-counsellor for ecclesiastical affairs. Sir Arthur added, as his own opinion, that every man, without distinction of religion, ought to be called upon to do service to the state, when he was particularly qualified to do so; and on that ground this appointment was to be approved. He allowed, indeed, that the learned Doctor had been sometimes hurried into language too warm, and perhaps indiscreet.-Mr Beresford also asserted, that whoever charged the Roman Catholics with being bad subjects, libelled and belied them;-but to call in question any appointment for language made use of in parliament, however indiscreet, was at once to interfere with the prerogative of the Crown, and the first privilege of parliament, freedom of speech. The plea, that Dr Duigenan's advice was wanted in ecclesiastical matters, was refuted by Sir John Newport, who appealed to the fact, that the names of two or three bishops were attached to every proclamation issued from the Castle of Dublin. No other justi

fication was attempted; and the whole of the ministry were obstinately silent. The stinging sarcasms of the opposition, and the weightier remonstrances of more independent members, produced no effect; they remained silent till their opponents were weary; -and the scene was terminated by a vote, preventing all farther inquiry into the fitness of the appointment. It was remarked, that many zealous supporters of Administration absented themselves from the House that night.

Debates not more dignified in their nature took place respecting Maynooth College, a seminary for the education of Irish Catholics. Government had granted, in former years, 8000l. annually for the support of this institution; but last year it had been increased to 13,000l. for the purpose of enabling it to erect buildings capable of containing fifty additional students. Mr Foster, the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer, April 29. now moved for the intermediate sum of 9250.Sir John Newport immediately proposed, that 13,000l. should be substituted as an amendment. Nothing, he said, could be more infatuated, than, at a moment when the influence of the Roman Catholic priesthood in Ireland was stated to be so considerable, to take a step so decidedly hostile to them, as to lessen the allowance from Government for the seminary. It was of the utmost importance to the Irish community, that the priests should be well educated men, and that they should receive their education at home. They had been invited to go to France for their education, to the Catholic In

stitution at Paris, where Buonaparte promises to restore all the Irish bourses; and the Irish Catholic bishops, in their reply, professed their gratitude to Government for the liberal support of Maynooth, and denounced suspension against any functionaries, and exclusion from preferment in Ireland against any students, who should accept the offers of the enemy of their country. Was this a proper return for their conduct? By such a step the Catholics would not be made Protestants; nor would they be made better subjects: On the contrary, they would become worse; for, by excluding from education a great portion of the priesthood, many of the parishes would be placed under the direction of uneducated men, who, entertaining a lively resentment for the neglect which they had suffered, would instill into their parishioners an abhorrence of those by whom they felt themselves injured. The detail, and the calculations, by which Sir Arthur Wellesley and Mr Croker attempted to justify the diminution of the grant, are too petty to be repeated. Mr Perceval perceived this; he felt how degrading it was to be disputing about the sum of 3750l.; and, admitting that no such saving should be any reason for impeding a measure of public advantage, he took his stand upon better ground. It was no part of religious toleration, he said, to make provision for educating the clergy of the tolerated sect. If it were so, they ought to go much farther; for the ministers of the Methodists, Anabaptists, and Quakers,* would, on that ground, have as good a claim to education as the Catholic clergy.→

All that toleration required was, that no difficulty should be created to any measures they might take for their own education.

This subject was debated a second time. Colonel Montague May 5. Matthew said, he was sorry to be obliged to allude to the conduct of any of the Royal Family; but it was rumoured that even the Ministers were disposed to agree to this grant, till they went to St James's palace, and were closeted for several hours with the Duke of Cambridge, after which they made the present reduction. That Royal Duke was Chancellor of the University of Dublin; he was Chancellor of a Protestant school, and might wish to put down the education of the Catholics. Unless, however, they acted liberally by the Catholics, they would run the hazard of losing Ireland. Mr C. Williams Wynn also lamented the secret influence by which the measures of the government were defeated, and the interests of the country sacrificed. Even the Cabinet, he said, could not be agreed upon this reduction; neither the Duke of Portland nor Lord Camden, nor Mr Canning nor Lord Castlereagh, both of whom were absent during the discussion, could have concurred in it. -Mr Perceval, in reply, denied all knowledge of the interposition of a high personage upon this question; and declared, on the faith and honour of a man, his firm belief that no such influence had been exercised in any quarter. By this part of his speech, and by deprecating the odious principle of intolerance, he laid himself open to bitter sarcasms; but no reply either was or could be made to his argument, that in no

age or country was there any precedent of educating, at the public expence, the priesthood of a religion differing widely from the established one. On this ground he was follow. ed by Mr Wilberforce, who maintained, that, in forming such an establishment as the Maynooth College, at the public expence, we went beyond the bounds of toleration. That, when he recollected the history of past times, it was impossible for him not to be jealous of the Roman Catholic religion. That he could not judge of the nature and tendency of that religion from its influence on certain individuals of high rank, whose minds were liberalized by the society in which they lived; the only way to judge of it was, by seeing its effects upon the great bulk of the people. No man, he said, was a greater enemy to persecution, nor a greater friend to toleration, than he was; but he hoped to be forgiven for entertaining some solicitude that the Protestant religion should at least have fair play. Mr Stephens added, in support of these arguments, that the feelings of sincere and pious Papists would revolt at the idea of educating, at their own charge, clergymen of the Church of England, to propagate what they deemed heretical doctrines; and sin cere Protestants, who regarded the distinguishing tenets and rites of the Church of Rome as corruptions of Christianity, were bound, on the same principle, not to be directly instrumental in teaching what, in a religious point of view, they deemed to be dangerous errors, by educating men for the Catholic priesthood.

It was mournful to behold the British parliament employed in such discussions as these. The fault was

in the ministry. The principle on which they rested should have prevented the establishment of the College; but when the inconsistency of establishing such an institution had been committed, it would have been better to continue the whole grant in silence than to make that principle the plea for withholding so small a part; thus taking away all grace from the grant, and irritating the Catholics far more by the debate and the deduction, than they could possibly gratify them by the donation.

Fifty thousand pounds had been voted for glebe-houses in Ireland. It is manifest that nothing would contribute more towards the advancement of Protestantism in that country, than to render the Protestant clergy respectable, and to enforce their residence. To promote this object, Sir John Newport moved for leave to bring in a bill for May 16. the more equal valuation of the revenue of the First Fruits in Ireland, and for the due collection thereof. He was supported by Mr C. Williams Wynn, Mr Horner, Mr Ponsonby, and Mr Maurice Fitzgerald. The First Fruits, as at present collected, yielded only about 30007.; were they properly valued, and all livings below the yearly amount of 2501. exempt, there would be a net revenue of from 20,000l. to 30,000l. for increasing the poorer benefices. It was stated, that there were two bishopricks, each producing an income of 20,000 l., neither of which paid any thing to the First Fruits. The proposed bill was not an innovation; it only followed up an old and established law of the country, and made it efficient. Parliament was called upon, said Mr C. Williams Wynn, to give efficacy to

former legislative measures, which had become, as it were, a dead letter, and an unavailing instance of generosity. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had formerly said it was desirable that every resident clergyman in England should not have less than 2001. a-year. This would also be extremely desirable in Ireland. This was exactly such a measure as would raise the respectability of the Protestant Church, and be the best mode of discouraging the Roman Catholic religion. Was the House, said Mr Maurice Fitzgerald, to recognise this doctrine, that while the unhappy peasantry of Ireland were oppressed with burthens and extreme taxation, the great, enormous, and lucrative incomes of the clergy were not to pay any proportion, even to the support of the poor of their own order? The livings in Ireland had been united for political purposes; indeed their object appeared to be rather to supply situations for political partizans, than for religious pastors, and the diminution of the Protestants in that country, was principally to be attributed to this system of policy. The motion was opposed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, who said, the inequality in the valuation was so small that it was not worth while to alter it;-by Mr Foster, who thought it so injurious to the clergy to take from them so large a sum, that he could not agree to it ;-and by Dr Duigenan, who said it would reduce the clergy in Ireland, great and small, to the greatest distress, if such a bill passed. It would be a charge almost insupportable, as a poor man would be nearly three years before he could reap any benefit from the glebe-house he might have erected. These objections were altogether irrelevant, because it had

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been particularly stated by Sir John Newport, that livings below the yearly value of 250l. were to be exempted from the bill, and that it should not affect any of the present incumbents, so as to be a burthen upon them.-Mr Perceval adduced a case in point against it. In this country, he said, when a person was preferred to a bishoprick, or great living, it was felt that the product of three or four years at least of his income was anticipated by the expences, which, on his induction, he had to defray. He therefore opposed it, as an an oppressive mode of regulation, burthening the clergy with a severe impost. Accordingly leave to bring in the bill was refused.

June 16.

A question of more importance to the church of Ireland was brought forward late in the session. Petitions from various parts of that country had been presented, praying for a commutation of tithes; and Mr Maurice Fitzgerald moved, that they might be referred to a Committee of the whole House, not meaning to press the motion at present; but leaving it with Ministers, and assuring them that the commutation was necessary, and that no time ought to be lost, after the commencement of the next session, in bringing it forward. Mr Perceval availed himself of the opportunity which this motion afforded him, distinctly to state, that it was the intention of government to take this business into their serious consideration, they being completely convinced of its importance. He added, however, that the farther he went into the examination the more arduous did the task appear; and that the undertaking of applying a remedy to the evil appeared to be beset with difficulties

almost insurmountable. There seemed to be no other difference of opinion upon this subject, than whether the commutation were easy or difficult. Mr Sheridan declaring, that a little attention might obviate the difficulties; and Mr Burton, on the other hand, affirming, that in that part of England where, for many years, he had been engaged in the discharge of his professional duties, the adjustment of tithes had ever been attended with more complication and difficulty than any other matter which had ever fallen under his notice; and that a very vigorous attempt, which had been made in Devonshire, to arrange the commutation, had been abandoned, on the experience of the impossibility of success. Difficult, indeed, as the commutation of tythes in England must appear to any person who has ever bestowed a serious thought upon the proposal, it is far more so in Ireland. Tythes of agistment have been abolished in that country by an unjust and arbitrary act of the land proprietors; and thus the whole burthen of the church-establishment was thrown upon tillage-lands, and consequently upon the poor; for when the operation of tythes was thus confined, it became absolutely necessary to increase the rate. The clergy were compelled to exact to the utmost that portion of their right which was left them;-potatoes, from the time of their introduction into the island till about the middle of the last century, had been tythe-free,they were now assessed, and then it was that tythes became an additional cause of discontent, and afforded a new pretext for riots and insurrections to a people already too prone to violence, and too grievously burthened. Thus the abolition of tythes