My Lords,--The question before the House has been so frequently,
fully, and ably discussed, and never perhaps more ably than on this
night, that it would be difficult to adduce new arguments for or
against it. But with each discussion, difficulties have been removed,
objections have been canvassed and refuted, and some of the former
opponents of Catholic emancipation have at length conceded to the
expediency of relieving the petitioners. In conceding thus much,
however, a new objection is started; it is not the time, say they, or
it is an improper time, or there is time enough yet. In some degree I
concur with those who say, it is not the time exactly; that time is
passed; better had it been for the country, that the Catholics
possessed at this moment their proportion of our privileges, that
their nobles held their due weight in our councils, than that we
should be assembled to discuss their claims. It had indeed been
better--
"Non tempore tali
"Cogere concilium cum muros obsidet hostis."
The enemy is without, and distress within. It is too late to cavil on
doctrinal points, when we must unite in defence of things more
important than the mere ceremonies of religion. It is indeed
singular, that we are called together to deliberate, not on the God
we adore, for in that we are agreed; not about the king we obey, for
to him we are loyal; but how far a difference in the ceremonials of
worship, how far believing not too little, but too much (the worst
that can be imputed to the Catholics), how far too much devotion to
their God may incapacitate our fellow-subjects from effectually
serving their king.
Much has been said, within and without doors, of church and state,
and although those venerable words have been too often prostituted to
the most despicable of party purposes, we cannot hear them too often;
all, I presume, are the advocates of church and state,--the church of
Christ, and the state of Great Britain; but not a state of exclusion
and despotism, not an intolerant church, not a church militant, which
renders itself liable to the very objection urged against the Romish
communion, and in a greater degree, for the Catholic merely withholds
its spiritual benediction (and even that is doubtful), but our
church, or rather our churchmen, not only refuse to the Catholic
their spiritual grace, but all temporal blessings whatsoever. It was
an observation of the great Lord Peterborough, made within these
walls, or within the walls where the Lords then assembled, that he
was for a "parliamentary king and a parliamentary constitution, but
not a parliamentary God and a parliamentary religion." The interval
of a century has not weakened the force of the remark. It is indeed
time that we should leave off these petty cavils on frivolous points,
these Lilliputian sophistries, whether our "eggs are best broken at
the broad or narrow end."
The opponents of the Catholics may be divided into two classes; those
who assert that the Catholics have too much already, and those who
allege that the lower orders, at least, have nothing more to require.
We are told by the former, that the Catholics never will be
contented: by the latter, that they are already too happy. The last
paradox is sufficiently refuted by the present as by all past
petitions; it might as well be said, that the negroes did not desire
to be emancipated, but this is an unfortunate comparison, for you
have already delivered them out of the house of bondage without any
petition on their part, but many from their task-masters to a
contrary effect; and for myself, when I consider this, I pity the
Catholic peasantry for not having the good fortune to be born black.
But the Catholics are contented, or at least ought to be, as we are
told; I shall, therefore, proceed to touch on a few of those
circumstances which so marvellously contribute to their exceeding
contentment. They are not allowed the free exercise of their religion
in the regular army; the Catholic soldier cannot absent himself from
the service of the Protestant clergyman, and unless he is quartered
in Ireland, or in Spain, where can he find eligible opportunities of
attending his own? The permission of Catholic chaplains to the Irish
militia regiments was conceded as a special favour, and not till
after years of remonstrance, although an act, passed in 1793,
established it as a right. But are the Catholics properly protected
in Ireland? Can the church purchase a rood of land whereon to erect a
chapel? No! all the places of worship are built on leases of trust or
sufferance from the laity, easily broken, and often betrayed. The
moment any irregular wish, any casual caprice of the benevolent
landlord meets with opposition, the doors are barred against the
congregation. This has happened continually, but in no instance more
glaringly, than at the town of Newton-Barry, in the county of
Wexford. The Catholics enjoying no regular chapel, as a temporary
expedient, hired two barns; which, being thrown into one, served for
public worship. At this time, there was quartered opposite to the
spot an officer whose mind appears to have been deeply imbued with
those prejudices which the Protestant petitions now on the table
prove to have been fortunately eradicated from the more rational
portion of the people; and when the Catholics were assembled on the
Sabbath as usual, in peace and good-will towards men, for the worship
of their God and yours, they found the chapel door closed, and were
told that if they did not immediately retire (and they were told this
by a yeoman officer and a magistrate), the riot act should be read,
and the assembly dispersed at the point of the bayonet! This was
complained of to the middle man of government, the secretary at the
castle in 1806, and the answer was (in lieu of redress), that he
would cause a letter to be written to the colonel, to prevent, if
possible, the recurrence of similar disturbances. Upon this fact, no
very great stress need be laid; but it tends to prove that while the
Catholic church has not power to purchase land for its chapels to
stand upon, the laws for its protection are of no avail. In the mean
time, the Catholics are at the mercy of every "pelting petty
officer," who may choose to play his "fantastic tricks before high
heaven," to insult his God, and injure his fellow-creatures.
Every school-boy, any foot-boy (such have held commissions in our
service), any foot-boy who can exchange his shoulder-knot for an
epaulette, may perform all this and more against the Catholic by
virtue of that very authority delegated to him by his sovereign, for
the express purpose of defending his fellow subjects to the last drop
of his blood, without discrimination or distinction between Catholic
and Protestant.
Have the Irish Catholics the full benefit of trial by jury? They have
not; they never can have until they are permitted to share the
privilege of serving as sheriffs and under-sheriffs. Of this a
striking example occurred at the last Enniskillen assizes. A yeoman
was arraigned for the murder of a Catholic named Macvournagh: three
respectable, uncontradicted witnesses deposed that they saw the
prisoner load, take aim, fire at, and kill the said Macvournagh. This
was properly commented on by the judge: but to the astonishment of
the bar, and indignation of the court, the Protestant jury acquitted
the accused. So glaring was the partiality, that Mr. Justice Osborne
felt it his duty to bind over the acquitted, but not absolved
assassin, in large recognizances; thus for a time taking away his
license to kill Catholics.
Are the very laws passed in their favour observed? They are rendered
nugatory in trivial as in serious cases. By a late act, Catholic
chaplains are permitted in gaols, but in Fermanagh county the grand
jury lately persisted in presenting a suspended clergyman for the
office, thereby evading the statute, notwithstanding the most
pressing remonstrances of a most respectable magistrate, named
Fletcher, to the contrary. Such is law, such is justice, for the
happy, free, contented Catholic!
It has been asked, in another place, Why do not the rich Catholics
endow foundations for the education of the priesthood? Why do you not
permit them to do so? Why are all such bequests subject to the
interference, the vexatious, arbitrary, peculating interference of
the Orange commissioners for charitable donations?
As to Maynooth college, in no instance, except at the time of its
foundation, when a noble Lord (Camden), at the head of the Irish
administration, did appear to interest himself in its advancement;
and during the government of a noble Duke (Bedford), who, like his
ancestors, has ever been the friend of freedom and mankind, and who
has not so far adopted the selfish policy of the day as to exclude
the Catholics from the number of his fellow-creatures; with these
exceptions, in no instance has that institution been properly
encouraged. There was indeed a time when the Catholic clergy were
conciliated, while the Union was pending, that Union which could not
be carried without them, while their assistance was requisite in
procuring addresses from the Catholic counties; then they were
cajoled and caressed, feared and flattered, and given to understand
that "the Union would do every thing;" but the moment it was passed,
they were driven back with contempt into their former obscurity.
In the conduct pursued towards Maynooth college, every thing is done
to irritate and perplex--every thing is done to efface the slightest
impression of gratitude from the Catholic mind; the very hay made
upon the lawn, the fat and tallow of the beef and mutton allowed,
must be paid for and accounted upon oath. It is true, this economy in
miniature cannot sufficiently be commended, particularly at a time
when only the insect defaulters of the Treasury, your Hunts and your
Chinnerys, when only those "gilded bugs" can escape the microscopic
eye of ministers. But when you come forward, session after session,
as your paltry pittance is wrung from you with wrangling and
reluctance, to boast of your liberality, well might the Catholic
exclaim, in the words of Prior:--
"To John I owe some obligation,
But John unluckily thinks fit
To publish it to all the nation,
So John and I are more than quit."
Some persons have compared the Catholics to the beggar in Gil Bias:
who made them beggars? Who are enriched with the spoils of their
ancestors? And cannot you relieve the beggar when your fathers have
made him such? If you are disposed to relieve him at all, cannot you
do it without flinging your farthings in his face? As a contrast,
however, to this beggarly benevolence, let us look at the Protestant
Charter Schools; to them you have lately granted 41,000_l_.: thus are
they supported, and how are they recruited? Montesquieu observes on
the English constitution, that the model may be found in Tacitus,
where the historian describes the policy of the Germans, and adds,
"This beautiful system was taken from the woods;" so in speaking of
the charter schools, it may be observed, that this beautiful system
was taken from the gipsies. These schools are recruited in the same
manner as the Janissaries at the time of their enrolment under
Amurath, and the gipsies of the present day with stolen children,
with children decoyed and kidnapped from their Catholic connections
by their rich and powerful Protestant neighbours: this is notorious,
and one instance may suffice to show in what manner:--The sister of a
Mr. Carthy (a Catholic gentleman of very considerable property) died,
leaving two girls, who were immediately marked out as proselytes, and
conveyed to the charter school of Coolgreny; their uncle, on being
apprised of the fact, which took place during his absence, applied
for the restitution of his nieces, offering to settle an independence
on these his relations; his request was refused, and not till after
five years' struggle, and the interference of very high authority,
could this Catholic gentleman obtain back his nearest of kindred from
a charity charter school. In this manner are proselytes obtained, and
mingled with the offspring of such Protestants as may avail
themselves of the institution. And how are they taught? A catechism
is put into their hands, consisting of, I believe, forty-five pages,
in which are three questions relative to the Protestant religion; one
of these queries is, "Where was the Protestant religion before
Luther?"
Answer, "In the Gospel." The remaining forty-four pages and a half
regard the damnable idolatry of Papists!
Allow me to ask our spiritual pastors and masters, is this training
up a child in the way which he should go? Is this the religion of the
Gospel before the time of Luther? that religion which preaches "Peace
on earth, and glory to God?" Is it bringing up infants to be men or
devils? Better would it be to send them any where than teach them
such doctrines; better send them to those islands in the South Seas,
where they might more humanely learn to become cannibals; it would be
less disgusting that they were brought up to devour the dead, than
persecute the living. Schools do you call them? call them rather
dunghills, where the viper of intolerance deposits her young, that
when their teeth are cut and their poison is mature, they may issue
forth, filthy and venomous, to sting the Catholic. But are these the
doctrines of the Church of England, or of churchmen? No, the most
enlightened churchmen are of a different opinion. What says Paley? "I
perceive no reason why men of different religious persuasions should
not sit upon the same bench, deliberate in the same council, or fight
in the same ranks, as well as men of various religious opinions, upon
any controverted topic of natural history, philosophy, or ethics." It
may be answered, that Paley was not strictly orthodox; I know nothing
of his orthodoxy, but who will deny that he was an ornament to the
church, to human nature, to Christianity?
I shall not dwell upon the grievance of tithes, so severely felt by
the peasantry, but it may be proper to observe, that there is an
addition to the burden, a per centage to the gatherer, whose interest
it thus becomes to rate them as highly as possible, and we know that
in many large livings in Ireland the only resident Protestants are
the tithe proctor and his family.
Amongst many causes of irritation, too numerous for recapitulation,
there is one in the militia not to be passed over,--I mean the
existence of Orange lodges amongst the privates. Can the officers
deny this? And if such lodges do exist, do they, can they, tend to
promote harmony amongst the men, who are thus individually separated
in society, although mingled in the ranks? And is this general system
of persecution to be permitted; or is it to be believed that with
such a system the Catholics can or ought to be contented? If they
are, they belie human nature; they are then, indeed, unworthy to be
any thing but the slaves you have made them. The facts stated are
from most respectable authority, or I should not have dared in this
place, or any place, to hazard this avowal. If exaggerated, there are
plenty as willing, as I believe them to be unable, to disprove them.
Should it be objected that I never was in Ireland, I beg leave to
observe, that it is as easy to know something of Ireland without
having been there, as it appears with some to have been born, bred,
and cherished there, and yet remain ignorant of its best interests.
But there are who assert that the Catholics have already been too
much indulged. See (cry they) what has been done: we have given them
one entire college, we allow them food and raiment, the full
enjoyment of the elements, and leave to fight for us as long as they
have limbs and lives to offer, and yet they are never to be
satisfied!--Generous and just declaimers! To this, and to this only,
amount the whole of your arguments, when stript of their sophistry.
Those personages remind me of a story of a certain drummer, who,
being called upon in the course of duty to administer punishment to a
friend tied to the halberts, was requested to flog high, he did--to
flog low, he did--to flog in the middle, he did,--high, low, down the
middle, and up again, but all in vain; the patient continued his
complaints with the most provoking pertinacity, until the drummer,
exhausted and angry, flung down his scourge, exclaiming, "The devil
burn you, there's no pleasing you, flog where one will!" Thus it is,
you have flogged the Catholic high, low, here, there, and every
where, and then you wonder he is not pleased. It is true that time,
experience, and that weariness which attends even the exercise of
barbarity, have taught you to flog a little more gently; but still
you continue to lay on the lash, and will so continue, till perhaps
the rod may be wrested from your hands, and applied to the backs of
yourselves and your posterity.
It was said by somebody in a former debate, (I forget by whom, and am
not very anxious to remember,) if the Catholics are emancipated, why
not the Jews? If this sentiment was dictated by compassion for the
Jews, it might deserve attention, but as a sneer against the
Catholic, what is it but the language of Shylock transferred from his
daughter's marriage to Catholic emancipation--
"Would any of the tribe of Barabbas
Should have it rather than a Christian."
I presume a Catholic is a Christian, even in the opinion of him whose
taste only can be called in question for his preference of the Jews.
It is a remark often quoted of Dr. Johnson, (whom I take to be almost
as good authority as the gentle apostle of intolerance, Dr.
Duigenan,) that he who could entertain serious apprehensions of
danger to the church in these times, would have "cried fire in the
deluge." This is more than a metaphor; for a remnant of these
antediluvians appear actually to have come down to us, with fire in
their mouths and water in their brains, to disturb and perplex
mankind with their whimsical outcries. And as it is an infallible
symptom of that distressing malady with which I conceive them to be
afflicted (so any doctor will inform your Lordships), for the unhappy
invalids to perceive a flame perpetually flashing before their eyes,
particularly when their eyes are shut (as those of the persons to
whom I allude have long been), it is impossible to convince these
poor creatures, that the fire against which they are perpetually
warning us and themselves is nothing but an _ignis fatuus_ of their
own drivelling imaginations. What rhubarb, senna, or "what purgative
drug can scour that fancy thence?"--It is impossible, they are given
over, theirs is the true
"Caput insanabile tribus Anticyris."
These are your true Protestants. Like Bayle, who protested against
all sects whatsoever, so do they protest against Catholic petitions,
Protestant petitions, all redress, all that reason, humanity, policy,
justice, and common sense, can urge against the delusions of their
absurd delirium. These are the persons who reverse the fable of the
mountain that brought forth a mouse; they are the mice who conceive
themselves in labour with mountains.
To return to the Catholics; suppose the Irish were actually contented
under their disabilities; suppose them capable of such a bull as not
to desire deliverance, ought we not to wish it for ourselves? Have we
nothing to gain by their emancipation? What resources have been
wasted? What talents have been lost by the selfish system of
exclusion? You already know the value of Irish aid; at this moment
the defence of England is intrusted to the Irish militia; at this
moment, while the starving people are rising in the fierceness of
despair, the Irish are faithful to their trust. But till equal energy
is imparted throughout by the extension of freedom, you cannot enjoy
the full benefit of the strength which you are glad to interpose
between you and destruction. Ireland has done much, but will do more.
At this moment the only triumph obtained through long years of
continental disaster has been achieved by an Irish general: it is
true he is not a Catholic; had he been so, we should have been
deprived of his exertions: but I presume no one will assert that his
religion would have impaired his talents or diminished his
patriotism; though, in that case, he must have conquered in the
ranks, for he never could have commanded an army.
But he is fighting the battles of the Catholics abroad; his noble
brother has this night advocated their cause, with an eloquence which
I shall not depreciate by the humble tribute of my panegyric; whilst
a third of his kindred, as unlike as unequal, has been combating
against his Catholic brethren in Dublin, with circular letters,
edicts, proclamations, arrests, and dispersions;--all the vexatious
implements of petty warfare that could be wielded by the mercenary
guerillas of government, clad in the rusty armour of their obsolete
statutes. Your Lordships will, doubtless, divide new honours between
the Saviour of Portugal, and the Dispenser of Delegates. It is
singular, indeed, to observe the difference between our foreign and
domestic policy; if Catholic Spain, faithful Portugal, or the no less
Catholic and faithful king of the one Sicily, (of which, by the by,
you have lately deprived him,) stand in need of succour, away goes a
fleet and an army, an ambassador and a subsidy, sometimes to fight
pretty hardly, generally to negotiate very badly, and always to pay
very dearly for our Popish allies. But let four millions of
fellow-subjects pray for relief, who fight and pay and labour in your
behalf, they must be treated as aliens; and although their "father's
house has many mansions," there is no resting-place for them. Allow
me to ask, are you not fighting for the emancipation of Ferdinand
VII., who certainly is a fool, and, consequently, in all probability
a bigot? and have you more regard for a foreign sovereign than your
own fellow-subjects, who are not fools, for they know your interest
better than you know your own; who are not bigots, for they return
you good for evil; but who are in worse durance than the prison of a
usurper, inasmuch as the fetters of the mind are more galling than
those of the body?
Upon the consequences of your not acceding to the claims of the
petitioners, I shall not expatiate; you know them, you will feel
them, and your children's children when you are passed away. Adieu to
that Union so called, as "_Lucus a non lucendo_," a Union from never
uniting, which in its first operation gave a death-blow to the
independence of Ireland, and in its last may be the cause of her
eternal separation from this country. If it must be called a Union,
it is the union of the shark with his prey; the spoiler swallows up
his victim, and thus they become one and indivisible. Thus has Great
Britain swallowed up the parliament, the constitution, the
independence of Ireland, and refuses to disgorge even a single
privilege, although for the relief of her swollen and distempered
body politic.
And now, my Lords, before I sit down, will his Majesty's ministers
permit me to say a few words, not on their merits, for that would be
superfluous, but on the degree of estimation in which they are held
by the people of these realms? The esteem in which they are held has
been boasted of in a triumphant tone on a late occasion within these
walls, and a comparison instituted between their conduct and that of
noble lords on this side of the House.
What portion of popularity may have fallen to the share of my noble
friends (if such I may presume to call them), I shall not pretend to
ascertain; but that of his Majesty's ministers it were vain to deny.
It is, to be sure, a little like the wind, "no one knows whence it
cometh or whither it goeth," but they feel it, they enjoy it, they
boast of it. Indeed, modest and unostentatious as they are, to what
part of the kingdom, even the most remote, can they flee to avoid the
triumph which pursues them? If they plunge into the midland counties,
there will they be greeted by the manufacturers, with spurned
petitions in their hands, and those halters round their necks
recently voted in their behalf, imploring blessings on the heads of
those who so simply, yet ingeniously, contrived to remove them from
their miseries in this to a better world. If they journey on to
Scotland, from Glasgow to Johnny Groats, every where will they
receive similar marks of approbation. If they take a trip from
Portpatrick to Donaghadee, there will they rush at once into the
embraces of four Catholic millions, to whom their vote of this night
is about to endear them for ever. When they return to the metropolis,
if they can pass under Temple Bar without unpleasant sensations at
the sight of the greedy niches over that ominous gateway, they cannot
escape the acclamations of the livery, and the more tremulous, but
not less sincere, applause, the blessings, "not loud but deep," of
bankrupt merchants and doubting stock-holders. If they look to the
army, what wreaths, not of laurel, but of nightshade, are preparing
for the heroes of Walcheren. It is true, there are few living
deponents left to testify to their merits on that occasion; but a
"cloud of witnesses" are gone above from that gallant army which they
so generously and piously despatched, to recruit the "noble army of
martyrs."
What if in the course of this triumphal career (in which they will
gather as many pebbles as Caligula's army did on a similar triumph,
the prototype of their own,) they do not perceive any of those
memorials which a grateful people erect in honour of their
benefactors; what although not even a sign-post will condescend to
depose the Saracen's head in favour of the likeness of the conquerors
of Walcheren, they will not want a picture who can always have a
caricature; or regret the omission of a statue who will so often see
themselves exalted in effigy. But their popularity is not limited to
the narrow bounds of an island; there are other countries where their
measures, and above all, their conduct to the Catholics, must render
them preeminently popular. If they are beloved here, in France they
must be adored. There is no measure more repugnant to the designs and
feelings of Bonaparte than Catholic emancipation; no line of conduct
more propitious to his projects, than that which has been pursued, is
pursuing, and, I fear, will be pursued, towards Ireland. What is
England without Ireland, and what is Ireland without the Catholics?
It is on the basis of your tyranny Napoleon hopes to build his own.
So grateful must oppression of the Catholics be to his mind, that
doubtless (as he has lately permitted some renewal of intercourse)
the next cartel will convey to this country cargoes of seve-china and
blue ribands, (things in great request, and of equal value at this
moment,) blue ribands of the Legion of Honour for Dr. Duigenan and
his ministerial disciples. Such is that well-earned popularity, the
result of those extraordinary expeditions, so expensive to ourselves,
and so useless to our allies; of those singular enquiries, so
exculpatory to the accused and so dissatisfactory to the people; of
those paradoxical victories, so honourable, as we are told, to the
British name, and so destructive to the best interests of the British
nation: above all, such is the reward of a conduct pursued by
ministers towards the Catholics.
I have to apologise to the House, who will, I trust, pardon one, not
often in the habit of intruding upon their indulgence, for so long
attempting to engage their attention. My most decided opinion is, as
my vote will be, in favour of the motion.
* * * * *