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REFLECTIONS* 
 
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REFLECTIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 POLICY AND JUSTICE 
 
 OF AN IMMEDIATE AND GENERAL 
 
 EMANCIPATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 IOIAN CATHOLICS 
 
 OF 
 
 ©reaWSritam anti frelanft. 
 
 BY THE LATE LORD PETRE. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED SOME 
 
 STRICTURES 
 
 On the same Subject, 
 
 BY THE EDITOR, 
 
 (First published in the Year 1782 .J 
 
 DEDICATED TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 “ Magna est Veritas & Prevalent." 
 
 Honnon: 
 
 PRINTED BY 
 
 THOMAS COLLINS, HARVEY'S BUILDINGS, STRAND, 
 
 FOR 
 
 E. BOOKER, N°. 56 , NEW BOND STREET. 
 
 PRICE THREE SHILLINGS AND SIX-PENCE. 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 AS it may be necessary to account for the delay 
 which has occurred in the following publication* 
 The Editor hopes he shall be pardoned for pre¬ 
 facing it with the short article in which he noticed 
 the noble Author’s death and announced his pur¬ 
 pose of publishing the Manuscript entrusted to his 
 care at a proper season. —Surely* if ever a fit season 
 could be hoped for* it must be the present* when 
 that Minister who resigned expressly because he 
 could not carry this Question * is again invested 
 with a degree of power which none even of his 
 proudest predecessors ever enjoyed. It would 
 v however be a waste of words to urge the Editor’s 
 sentiments of what that Minister’s conduct'will be 
 upon this and all other popular Questions* on 
 $ which he has so often pledged himself in the most 
 ^ solemn manner. 
 
 f 
 
 
 Perhaps some political vir¬ 
 tuoso. 
 
Vl ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 tuoso, tempted by the curiosity of such articles, 
 may some day or other purchase them all at one 
 of Robins's Sales of Unredeemed Pledges*. 
 
 * “ Should the Catholics be sensible of the benefit they 
 possess by having so many characters of eminence, (i. e. Pitt 
 and Co.) pledged NOT TO EMBARK IN THE SERVICE 
 OF GOVERNMENT, EXCEPT ON THE TERMS OF 
 CATHOLIC PRIVILEGES BEING OBTAINED; it is 
 to be hoped, that on balancing the advantages and disadvan¬ 
 tages of their situation, they would prefer a quiet and 
 peaceable demeanor to any line of conduct of an opposite 
 description.'*’ [Vide Lord Cornwallis's Address, or rather pro¬ 
 clamation, td the Catholics of Ireland .] A document best 
 explained by adding the names of His Majesty’s present ca¬ 
 binet council. 
 
 EXTRACT 
 
EXTRACT FROM THE SUNDAY REVIEW. 
 
 Sunday , July 19 , 1801 . 
 
 LORD PETRE 
 
 AND 
 
 Catholic Emancipation , <Sfc. <5fc. 
 
 We have already noticed the melancholy event 
 of this nobleman’s death; an event, which, if it 
 extended no farther than the circle of his family 
 and friends, should be consigned, like all other 
 events of such a kind, to “ the family vaults of all 
 the Capulets,” without any further notice than be¬ 
 fits domestic distress arising from the departure of 
 virtues merely domestic. But the decease of this 
 nobleman, (whose real character during his life 
 could not be rightly understood, from the uncom¬ 
 mon care he employed to conceal the practice of 
 those virtues which others but ostentatiously 
 affect), involves objects not only of private but 
 of public misfortune.—The whole tenor of his 
 life was devoted to the cause of charity, of reli¬ 
 gious and political freedom. A Catholic, un¬ 
 tainted 
 
tainted by the bigotry which is attributed to some 
 of that sect, he zealously vindicated the rights of 
 religious toleration, of which his own life fur¬ 
 nished the happiest example. A strenuous advo¬ 
 cate of constitutional liberty, he manifested, on 
 all occasions, the purest attachment, not only to 
 the government, but to the person of the Sovereign , 
 whom he entertained about twenty years back, in 
 a style of splendour equally worthy of the royal 
 guest, and the dignified rank of the munificent 
 host. 
 
 Of the Roman Catholic sect. Lord Petre was the 
 ornament; and would have been the successful 
 champion, had not the envious, pusillanimous 
 spirit of others counteracted his endeavours to re¬ 
 cover that rank to which their birth-right entitled 
 them *. 
 
 We advocate the cause of no particular class of 
 
 * The Editor is conscious that this remark will give offence 
 to certain persons whose private worth entitles them to his 
 respect, but whose public conduct he disapproves, and 
 therefore censures without reserve. 
 
 sectaries 
 
IX 
 
 sectaries —nullius addictus jurare in verba fnagistri; 
 — f sworn to no party, of no sect are we/ The 
 freedom and happiness, of every class and de¬ 
 scription of our countrymen, are our objects; and 
 considering the death of such a man as Lord Petre 
 at the present moment, a serious injury to the 
 emancipation of our Catholic countrymen, we 
 lament it as a circumstance connected with that 
 
 i 
 
 sacred cause which we have so much at heart, 
 and to which our labours have ever been uni¬ 
 formly directed*. 
 
 At a moment when those ministers, who en¬ 
 joyed a plenitude of power unknown in any for¬ 
 mer period of our history, resigned their situa- 
 
 * The Editor can with great truth declare, that he h?s, in 
 the most zealous and disinterested manner, directed his ta¬ 
 lents, such as they are, and employed every opportunity to 
 assert the rights and vindicate the principles of his Catholic 
 countrymen, throughout his whole life; of this, the Essay 
 subjoined to Lord Petre’s Reflections, furnishes a very early 
 instance: and although he does not presume to lay any claim 
 to literary merit from that performance, yet he humbly trusts 
 that he may, after the lapse of two-and-twenty years, produce 
 it as a decisive proof of the consistency of his conduct through 
 a period of time marked with more political tergiversation and 
 profligacy, than any similar period in our history, 
 
 b 
 
 tions 
 
I 
 
 X 
 
 y II \ 
 
 tions oh the declared pretence of asserting the rights 
 of the Roman Catholics , the exertions and abili¬ 
 ties of Lord Petre, may well have been expected 
 to prove highly important. If there were any 
 more truth or sincerity in the ejr-minister’s pro¬ 
 fessions on this subject, than his violent declama¬ 
 tions and conduct on the Slave Trade entitle him to 
 take credit for, no doubt such a character as Lord 
 Petre might essentially promote this laudable and 
 necessary object, thus pompously held forth. But, 
 unlike Mr. Wilberforce, his lordship did not per¬ 
 mit his understanding to be imposed upon by pro¬ 
 fessions, which he conceived specious and decep¬ 
 tive, serving only to expose the deluded expect¬ 
 ant to a cruel disappointment. 
 
 How sincere the fallen minister has been on the 
 important subject of Catholic emancipation, a 
 very short period of time will shew. But certain 
 it is, that no sensible man of that persuasion could 
 be duped by declarations, which have been as 
 strongly made, as duly appreciated, aud will be 
 just as faithfully performed as his solemn pledges, 
 
 both 
 
XI 
 
 both as a “man and a minister”, on the subject 
 of parliamentary reform. 
 
 Uninfluenced by personal feeling, and untaint¬ 
 ed by motives of self-aggrandizement, like others 
 already alluded to, Lord Petre did not subscribe 
 to the doctrine of passive obedience to the minis¬ 
 ter’s will. Distrusting these professions, he was 
 determined to employ every fair constitutional 
 means to assert his rights, and recover his heredi¬ 
 tary rank in the state. Liberal in the extreme, he 
 scrupled not the aid of his purse upon all occa¬ 
 sions, where the interests of freedom, humanity, 
 and justice required the sacrifice. But his exer¬ 
 tions were not limited by encouragement to 
 the labours of others; he employed his own abili¬ 
 ties in removing those absurd and pernicious preju¬ 
 dices, which are pleaded by some persons, in bar of 
 Catholic emancipation—a measure equally found¬ 
 ed in reason, justice, and sound policy. We know 
 that a manuscript of his, on this subject, is now in 
 the hands of a gentleman whom he honoured with 
 his confidence, and who, injustice to his memory, 
 
 b .2 will 
 
will no doubt at a proper season give it to the 
 public*. 
 
 Of this, rare good man, the world will be enabled 
 to form a just opinion, when it is known that no 
 smaller a portion of his fortune than soool. per 
 annum was regularly set apart for charitable pur¬ 
 poses alone, f 
 
 Our day has furnished but one other such in¬ 
 stance of truly munificent charity, the late Mr. 
 
 * The Editor, as may be seen by reference to the news¬ 
 papers, has frequently proposed to acquit himself of the trust 
 with which he was honoured, and which he has ever consi¬ 
 dered sacred . But the fluctuating state of public affairs indu¬ 
 ced him to postpone it from time to time until the present 
 moment, which must put to the test the sincerity of those 
 declarations with which Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dun das retired 
 from office. Invested with all power, they can now plead no 
 excuse for withholding rights, which according to them 
 it is equally unjust and impolitic to delay or deny to the Ca“ 
 tholics of Ireland. How they can reconcile their new convert 
 colleague , Mr. Foster, to this doctrine, a little time will 
 shew. 
 
 + The sum set apart for these purposes is stated, in the 
 Morning Papers, to amount to £5000. 
 
 Thornton 
 
I, 
 
 xiii r 
 
 Thornton, whose name can never be pronounced 
 with sufficient veneration and gratitude. From 
 two such bright examples, a jealous and uncha¬ 
 ritable world may learn how little the much-dis¬ 
 puted differences of religious belief influence the 
 really virtuous man, whose sum of religion con¬ 
 sists in DOING GOOD. 
 
 / 
 
 Of his son and successor report speaks very fa¬ 
 vourably. Of him, however, as we mean not to 
 adulate the living, while we pay the humble tribute 
 of our praise to the honoured dead, we shall only 
 say, that 
 
 “ His father’s merits hold him up to view, 
 
 “ And plant him in the fairest point of light, 
 
 “ To make his virtues or his faults conspicuous—” 
 
 That father, of whose beneficent heart it is not 
 flattery to say, in the words of the elegant 
 classic — 
 
 “ Quo nihil majus meliusve terris, 
 
 “ Pata donavere, boniquedivi: 
 
 “ Nec dabunt, quamvis redeant in aurum 
 “ Tempora priscuml” 
 
 TO 
 
1 
 
 
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TO 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE 
 
 PRINCE OF WA1LES. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 THERE needs, I am persuaded, no 
 apology for addressing to your Royal Highness 
 any work coming from the pen of the truly noble 
 and much lamented Author of the following sheets. 
 
 Honoured as he was with your Royal Highness’s 
 friendship, and distinguished as you stand—the 
 illustrious Patron of that cause so ably advocated 
 by his Lordship, to whom, with equal propriety, 
 could the last solemn appeal of England’s noblest 
 Baron in behalf of his fellow-peers and fellow- 
 sufferers be addressed as to a Prince whose ex¬ 
 panded mind embraces with true patriotic affec¬ 
 tion all classes, be their particular mode of wor¬ 
 ship what it may. 
 
 l 
 
 By 
 
XVI 
 
 By one of those extraordinary revolutions which 
 our day has produced, William Pitt and Henry 
 Dundas have been represented not only as the ad¬ 
 vocates, but as the victims of Catholic Emanci¬ 
 pation —“Credat judeus, fyc.”; although Mr. Dun¬ 
 das at the house of a most respectable gentleman 
 not far from St. James’s-square, on the Sunday 
 after he quitted office, promulgated aloud and 
 wished it to be generally understood, that Mr. Pitt 
 and he had resigned for no other reason than that 
 they found themselves unable to carry that ques¬ 
 tion, &c. Sic. 
 
 The same declaration was made officially and 
 solemnly through the medium of a gallant military 
 character, (who owed a higher duty to his own repu¬ 
 tation ), to the Catholics of Ireland, of whose de¬ 
 ception he was made the unsuspecting instru¬ 
 ment, while the royal character has been used 
 as a shield to protect ministers from the odium 
 incurred by a public violation of faith. Those 
 ministers are now reinstated and enjoy the whole 
 power of the government; but can any man who 
 knows them, imagine that they will keep the 
 
 terms 
 
XVII 
 
 terms of their compact with the Catholics of Ire¬ 
 land? Happily, the Catholics of Ireland have a 
 better stay for their hopes; they have a surer 
 pledge of Emancipation in those principles which 
 have uniformly distinguished the conduct of your 
 Royal Highness, as well as of those illustrious cha¬ 
 racters who possess your confidence*. On the suc¬ 
 cessful operation of those principles they rely with 
 religious faith :---their ardent minds and generous 
 hearts animated with the same sentiments that fill 
 the breast of him who now presumes to address 
 your Royal Highness, repose upon you as their 
 true patron, and it is in that character I presume 
 to dedicate this Work, without even soliciting 
 your permission. 
 
 But although no apology may be deemed ne¬ 
 cessary for dedicating, without permission, a work 
 of Lord Petre’s, I feel that I ought to make one 
 
 * Shall the Catholic peers and gentlemen of Ireland expect 
 redress of grievances and restoration of rights from William 
 Pitt, Henry Dundas, Lord Castlereagh, and John Forster— 
 or from the Earl of Moira, Charles Fox, Richard Brinsley 
 Sheridan, and Charles Grey? 
 
 C 
 
 for 
 
XV111 
 
 for obtruding my own opinions upon your Royal 
 Highness. My reason for taking such a liberty is 
 to furnish the fullest refutation of those principles 
 attributed by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland 
 to the Roman Catholic gentlemen of that country. 
 Those sentiments,, however disadvantageous^ ex¬ 
 pressed in my plain language, are, I can pledge 
 myself, the sentiments entertained by every Irish 
 Catholic gentleman, and I trust they will be found 
 perfectly consistent with the purest allegiance to a 
 Protestant government. A fatal error was for¬ 
 merly committed by the administration that con¬ 
 ducted the American war, in refusing the tender 
 of service then made by the Roman Catholics 
 of Ireland, which, if accepted, would have drawn 
 forth the energies of the empire against the ma¬ 
 chinations of France in such a powerful com¬ 
 manding manner, as might have given a very 
 different turn to the issue of that unhappy con¬ 
 test. If this measure would then have been found 
 justified, not only by state necessity, but by 
 sound policy, how much stronger is the call for 
 every measure that can tend to insure unanimity, 
 vigour and combined exertion at this moment— 
 
 when 
 
XIX 
 
 when circumstances of novelty and danger, far 
 above my power to describe, imperiously demand 
 the hand and heart of every subject of every 
 
 SECT AND DESCRIPTION TO DEFEND OUR COMMON COUN¬ 
 TRY ? 
 
 This, illustrious Sir, was the principle to which 
 
 mv humble but zealous exertions were directed 
 
 * ✓ 
 
 during the late disastrous war, when I strenu¬ 
 ously endeavoured to impress upon the consider¬ 
 ation of His Majesty’s ministers the importance of 
 re-establishing that distinguished corps of my 
 countrymen, called the Irish Brigade, late in the 
 service of France—a corps that had, on all trying 
 occasions, exhibited the most signal traits of 
 valor and loyalty, even to devotion, to the unfor¬ 
 tunate Monarch who afforded them an asylum 
 “from the emaciating cruelty of barbarous laws , 
 enacted during an intoxication of power against a 
 countrfthen oppressed by the tyranny of its usurpers , 
 and bleeding in consequence of its own unhappy in¬ 
 testine divans.*” 
 
 c 2 The 
 
 * Vide the memorable expressions of the immortal Grattan, 
 
 quoted 
 
XX 
 
 The adoption of that plan*, after two years 
 solicitation, at length formed part of the system 
 on which Earl Fitzwilliam assumed the govern¬ 
 ment of Ireland—but along with that system, a 
 faithful adherence to which would have prevented 
 those hideous crimes and calamities which have 
 since disgraced and desolated that ill-fated coun¬ 
 try, was soon abandoned, and those brave and 
 experienced officers dismissed from active ser¬ 
 vice. 
 
 quoted in the annexed pamphlet—expressions followed up 
 by others equally energetic, and which it must be acknow¬ 
 ledged, have partaken too much of the spirit of prophecy, 
 viz. 44 He conceived it to be a sacred truth, and written 
 as it were in the tables of fate, that the irish Protestant 
 
 SHOULD NEVER BE FREE UNTIL THE IRISH CATHOLIC 
 CEASED TO BE A SLAVE.” 
 
 * For the earnestness, zeal, and perseverance with which 
 the editor originally proposed and incessantly urged the 
 adoption of this and other plans for meliorating the condition 
 of his Catholic countrymen, he can confidently^)peal to 
 the present chief secretary of Ireland, Sir Evan Nepean, a 
 gentleman, whose liberal principles, consumm Jt, knowledge 
 of business, conciliatory manners, and intin.^^pcquaintance 
 with all the parties, peculiarly qualify him for that important 
 office, on the due execution of which, the general peace, 
 prosperity, and happiness of the country so greatly depend. 
 
 Ever 
 
XXI 
 
 Ever since that inauspicious period, instead of 
 ‘ any measures being adopted to arouse, combine, 
 and stimulate the loyalty, the patriotism, the 
 courage and emulation of the Catholics of Ireland, 
 so peculiarly baleful to them does the religion 
 of their ancestors prove, that although this very 
 same religion has been acknowledged as the esta¬ 
 blished religion of the state in our late kingdom 
 of Corsica, in Trinidada, in Malta, and has been 
 so since the passing of the Quebec Bill, in Cana¬ 
 da; and although we have in the mean time wit¬ 
 nessed a still more extraordinary event, which 
 may be termed a military and political phoenome- 
 non, viz. a regiment of British dragoons, com¬ 
 manded by A BRITISH prince of the blood royal, 
 one of Ihe King’s own sons, forming the body guard 
 of the Pope himself, and, although even at this 
 very moment, a large foreign military force, con¬ 
 sisting, in a considerable degree, of Roman Catho¬ 
 lics actually embodied within the realm of England', 
 notwithstanding all these circumstances, which are 
 so irreconcilable with domestic proscription, and not¬ 
 withstanding all the vast accumulation of debt in¬ 
 curred by subsidizing the Catholic powers of the 
 
 are 
 
XX11 
 
 continent^ yet are all the Catholic peers and gentry 
 of Great Britain and Ireland refused their just rank 
 in the state, and this principle of proscription car¬ 
 ried so far, that one of the most ancient, noble, 
 and respectable peers of the realm. Lord Petre, has 
 been refused the command of a yeomanry corps, 
 consisting of his own tenants, his chief residence* 
 lying upon one of the most assailable points of 
 the coast. 
 
 • Thorndon Hall, Essex, where His Majesty was 
 most magnificently entertained when he visited Warley 
 Camp. It was remarked at the time, that this man¬ 
 sion, now rendered defenceless , was the first belonging to a 
 subject under the roof of which His Majesty had reposed. 
 It might not be considered an extravagant expectation after 
 such a signal mark of the royal favour, if instead of refusing 
 that commission which is so freely given to every gentleman 
 possessed of sufficient fortune to bear the expence, a guard 
 of honour had been appointed, as in the case of his holi¬ 
 ness the Pope already alluded to, for the special protection 
 of this house, consecrated as it has been by the royal visit. 
 And here it may be worthy of remark, that His Majesty drew 
 his first breath under the roof of a Roman Catholic nobleman, 
 (the Duke of Norfolk), in St. James’s Square; that his first 
 public visit was made to a Roman Catholic nobleman, and 
 above all, that the abrogation of those laws which pressed 
 with the greatest severity against the Roman Catholics origi¬ 
 nated with His Majesty’s reign. Is it not then a fair question 
 to put, by what influence are His Majesty’s declared good in¬ 
 tentions in behalf of this grossly injured class of his subjects 
 thus unaccountably defeated ? 
 
XX111 
 
 But it would be impertinent to make any fur¬ 
 ther observations to your Royal Highness tending 
 to shew, that while those impolitic and invidious 
 distinctions, so ably combated and so clearly expos¬ 
 ed by your deceased noble friend, are permitted 
 to disgrace the Statute Book and to dishonour an 
 age professing to be enlightened, no such princi¬ 
 ple of cordial unanimity can be rationally ex¬ 
 pected. It is, however, worthy of remark, that 
 tlie Catholic gentlemen of Ireland have grievan¬ 
 ces of a peculiar nature to complain of. They know 
 and feel they are not only aggrieved but slandered 
 by every successive set of rulers put over them. 
 Instead of respect and encouragement, they find 
 themselves, even at this day, treated with contume¬ 
 ly and insult wrapped up in the shape of advice, 
 wliich, as mostly descendants from a long line 
 of noble ancestors, they feel the more acutely, 
 when coming from persons of low birth and mean 
 acquirements , whom nothing but their official situa¬ 
 tions would qualify even for their association. Al¬ 
 though their community, long accustomed to 
 suffer the combination of official injury and in¬ 
 sult, might be as callous to new calumnies 
 
XXIV 
 
 as the back of the negro to the thong of 
 his driver; yet by men of proud honour and pa¬ 
 triotic feelings, in the moment they were taught 
 to hope that the measure of union was to termi¬ 
 nate for ever the persecutions of their sect and 
 clasp them once more to the bosom of their So¬ 
 vereign, to be told by the King’s chancellor that 
 the religion for which they suffered centuries of 
 cruelty was incompatible with loyalty, and nine- 
 tenths of its professors utterly incapable of civilf- 
 zation.—Such a denouncement, as wantonly in¬ 
 solent as it was notoriously false, could scarcely 
 be brooked, even under all the influence of reli¬ 
 gion and philosophy; more especially too, at a 
 moment when British fleets and armies at home 
 and abroad were crowded with these same indomi~ 
 table barbarians , shedding their blood in every 
 quarter of the globe to extend the power and 
 maintain the glory of the British empire and their 
 Protestant Sovereign. 
 
 But the day when their sufferings shall cease is 
 not far distant:—that day which (confounding 
 their enemies) will give your Royal Highness 
 3 your 
 
XXV 
 
 your proper influence in the administration of 
 that empire over which, in the due course of 
 things, you will be called to rule. 
 
 To your Royal Highness's wisdom and avowed 
 principles they look up with the fullest assurance 
 of redress, and a restoration to the rank of sub¬ 
 jects AND GENTLEMEN, IN THE LAND OF THEIR FATHERS. 
 
 I have the Honour to remain. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 with the truest respect. 
 
 Your Royal Highness's 
 
 j. 
 
 most dutiful and devoted Servant, 
 
 FELIX M'CARTHY. 
 
 St, James’s Place , 
 
 June 2 , 1804 . 
 
 REFLEC- 
 
sHorraajsaflt 
 
 • > - 
 
 i>3§B§n“ saoi mn fbidw to3{dj/3 b tfO'lU 
 '*&’ ' - ' • :< , - b o? 
 
 -easira bale .YiSxarni ;bs/? baaubp’iq vbsaiiB 
 -«M aui ip YftBfit oa ifoiriw , 8 ^attb Luns) 
 rfliw oi q» aool yliniigzoom eloping 'a'yjasi 
 m dox iw bat ,vioixni» gnilBdBnu 
 *?o; ': ...: <i baieJiijb ylauonss ad tub to 
 jd^tiodj ad Jem3 1 ton Llm ji ^naflUtthtfl Lsn 
 giw* - *. ' ... -.!q s m guobJqmuaatq 
 
 ' li 03 saUBiai airvosjaa*. j jfb ius baiahunto 
 
 ' ' i ’ ^ 
 
 ertr*Tic ■ .. .. iad-u o> 
 
 . ill 3 /tl ibiw 
 
 XOB'Sii.<y>,.i ;. am mod jqrnaxa 
 
REFLECTIONS, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 Upon a subject which has long engaged 
 so much of the public attention, which has 
 already produced such unexampled minis¬ 
 terial changes, which so many of his Ma¬ 
 jesty’s subjects incessantly look up to with 
 unabating anxiety, and which must sooner 
 or later be seriously agitated in the Impe¬ 
 rial Parliament, it will not I trust be thought 
 presumptuous in a plain man who has long 
 considered all the questions relating to it 
 to submit a few reflections, which he offers 
 with the more confidence, as he must be 
 exempt from the suspicion of having any 
 
 B 
 
 views 
 
2 
 
 views to reputation as an author. In treat¬ 
 ing of some of the considerations that either 
 interweave themselves or are interwoven 
 by others into what is emphatically called 
 the Catholic Question, it would be 
 difficult to observe any very distinct rules 
 of order or arrangement, nor do I think it 
 necessary to separate the respective claims 
 of the Roman Catholics of England and of 
 Ireland. The leading difference in that 
 respect I conceive to have been in a great 
 measure done away by the late act of Union, 
 which leaves the Roman Catholics in a vast 
 minority when compared with the Protes¬ 
 tant subjects of the united Empire. This 
 disparity of numbers must effectually se¬ 
 cure what is termed the Protestant ascen¬ 
 dancy, but is very far from furnishing a 
 reason for continuing, much less perpetuat¬ 
 ing, those disabilities under which the 
 Roman Catholics have suffered for several 
 generations. In a small tract of this kind, 
 
 I could 
 
3 
 
 I could not, even were I so disposed or 
 ever so well qualified, pretend to obviate 
 all the difficulties which may, in their va¬ 
 rious bearings, be started by the ingenuity 
 of lawyers, the jealousy of churchmen, or 
 the cool and cautious subtlety of some 
 statesmen against a general repeal of restric¬ 
 tions so inconsistent with, and even inim¬ 
 ical to the tolerant principles of the Bri¬ 
 tish constitution. All I here propose or 
 hope for is, that I may be enabled to dis¬ 
 pel some lurking prejudices, to remove 
 some prominent objections, and to shew 
 that the political effects of such a repeal 
 could be productive of no detriment either 
 to the church or state. I shall take up the 
 different points briefly in whatever order 
 they may present themselves; and, as I 
 disclaim all sort of acrimony in my obser¬ 
 vations or their motives, so do I trust that 
 they will be read with calmness and can¬ 
 vassed with liberality, which I am the 
 
 B 2 more 
 
4 
 
 more entitled to as I should scorn to bring 
 the enthusiasm of a zealot or the refine¬ 
 ments of a casuist into a temperate and 
 rational discussion, 
 
 V 1 * : ^ ‘boriov 
 
 A GENERAL EMANCIPATION 
 
 Of the English and Irish Roman Catholics coiv 
 sidered in regard to its Political Effects. 
 
 The population of Ireland, according to 
 the lowest estimate, is calculated at four 
 millions of inhabitants, of whom it is uni¬ 
 versally admitted, that at least three-fourths 
 are Roman Catholics. I will not here re¬ 
 vive the afflicting memory of the cruel laws 
 under which the mass of this vast Catholic 
 majority was so long condemned to groan 
 without redress or even attention, and the 
 fatal effects of which time and better treat¬ 
 ment alone can ever eradicate from their bit¬ 
 ter recollection. I remembered havingheard 
 a learned Prelate of the Church of England 
 very strongly censured for asserting in 
 
 Parliament 
 
5 
 
 Parliament that “ the people have nothing 
 ^ to do with the laws but to obey them.” 
 That position was received with pretty ge¬ 
 neral indignation, and was loudly contro¬ 
 verted ; but no one will pretend to deny 
 that down to the present reign, the majo¬ 
 rity of the people of Ireland had nothing 
 to do with the laws but to obey and curse 
 them. 
 
 From this disgusting and disgraceful to¬ 
 pic I now proceed with great readiness 
 
 ^ u>n r OTOimbe vlLgaiav 
 
 and satisfaction to observe, that whatever 
 
 i .soiiofljBvJ nsmo-H sriit 
 
 grievous and oppressive restraints the Irish 
 
 Catholics were subject to heretofore, they 
 at present actually enjoy the full and free 
 exercise of their religion, which the state 
 has completely sanctioned by taking upon 
 itself the expence of erecting colleges, &c. 
 for the education of its clergy. The ad- 
 
 i f ■. I * / V 'Y 'Y ^ t 
 
 missions in favour of persons of that per¬ 
 suasion have also, of late years, been very 
 
 consider- 
 
6 
 
 considerable in many other respects. They 
 are allowed to hold places of emolument 
 to the amount of 300/. a year—they are 
 admitted to the practice of the bar—they 
 are enabled to bear commissions in the 
 army, as far as the rank of colonels inclu¬ 
 sively—they are permitted the free exercise 
 of their elective franchises-—and (what is 
 by no means least in respectability and 
 importance) they are empowered to exe¬ 
 cute the useful and honourable functions 
 of the magistracy. 
 
 From this plain statement it follows, 
 that the disabilities to which the Irish Ca¬ 
 tholics still remain subjected, naturally 
 range themselves under three several heads 
 —first, their being disqualified from hold¬ 
 ing offices of emolument above the value 
 of 300/. a year:—secondly, their ineligi¬ 
 bility to the House of Commons:—and 
 thirdly, the exclusion of Roman Catholic 
 
 Peers 
 
7 
 
 Peers from sitting or voting in the upper 
 house, pursuant to their hereditary rights 
 and privileges—a right, the advantages of 
 which have been greatly circumscribed 
 by the late act of Union. But upon this 
 last division of the disabilities, I shall soon 
 have occasion to offer some further obser¬ 
 vations. The great mass of the people of 
 Ireland; namely, the lower and middle 
 orders, possessing already so many rights 
 of citizenship in common with their other 
 fellow subjects, could scarcely derive any 
 further immediate or personal benefit from 
 more ample concessions, or even a com¬ 
 plete emancipation of the Roman Catholics. 
 Places of higher emolument than 300/. a 
 year, or the exercise of legislative functions 
 seldom, without the intervention of ex¬ 
 traordinary qualities or uncommon good 
 fortune, fall to the lot of those persons 
 who, in the humble walks of life, constitute 
 the bulk and physical force of every na¬ 
 tion. 
 
8 
 
 tion. Who then are to be benefited by a 
 total emancipation, and what is their de¬ 
 scription? On enquiring into this, I have 
 been informed, that there are about 150 to 
 200 Roman Catholic gentlemen in Ireland 
 of landed or monied property sufficient 
 to qualify them to become candidates for 
 honours, rank, and places of superior 
 emolument. In looking to the other branch 
 of the legislature, it is to be observed, that 
 by the act of Union, the Irish, like the 
 Scotch, peerage has undergone a consider¬ 
 able revolution in its institutional cha¬ 
 racter. What was before a right and pri¬ 
 vilege from descent or by creation, is now 
 become elective, and hence arises that 
 diminution of privilege which I before ad¬ 
 verted to. In Ireland there are six or seven 
 Roman Catholic peers whom an emancipa¬ 
 tion would render eligible amongst the 
 twenty-eight admitted by the act of Union 
 to be elected into the Imperial House of 
 1 Lords, 
 
9 
 
 Lords, and I believe it would be thought 
 sanguine enough to calculate that one out 
 of the six-'Or seven may possibly be se¬ 
 lected as a member of that chosen corps. 
 
 The Irish Roman Catholics of landed 
 property sufficient to qualify them for a 
 seat in Parliament, are computed to amount 
 to fifty or sixty gentlemen. These added to 
 the commercial men of property of the 
 same persuasion who, on a general elec¬ 
 tion might find their way into the House 
 of Commons cannot, on the highest calcu¬ 
 lation, be estimated at more than ten mem¬ 
 bers. There afterwards remain no more 
 than about one hundred persons of infe¬ 
 rior property capable of becoming candi¬ 
 dates for places or employments of emo¬ 
 lument, and of holding rank in the naval 
 and military service, which the executive 
 
 . 4 
 
 power can always dispose of, according 
 to the suggestions of its own wisdom and 
 
 C dSscre- 
 
10 
 
 discretion. From this statement it results, 
 that ninety-nine out of one hundred of 
 the Irish Roman Catholics already possess 
 all the rights of citizenship, and are capa¬ 
 ble of enjoying all the advantages their 
 stations would allow them to look to, were 
 they even members of the religion of the 
 state. The principal effect of an eman¬ 
 cipation would therefore only be to recog¬ 
 nize the eligibility of six or seven peers, 
 ^nd to admit the return of ten, or at most, 
 fifteen Catholic gentlemen of property 
 into the Imperial Parliament, besides forty 
 or fifty new candidates for places of rank, 
 tru$t, or emolument, at the choice, and 
 subject to the controul and discretion of, 
 the executive government. 
 
 To remove the restrictions on the Ro¬ 
 man Catholics of England would be 
 still less liable to objections than in the 
 case of Ireland. Little or no disaffection 
 
 is 
 
11 
 
 is now supposed to exist in this country, 
 and those societies or bodies of men whose 
 correspondence and proceedings lately ex¬ 
 cited uneasiness in the government, had 
 scarcely any members of the Catholic re¬ 
 ligion. In the peerage list are at present 
 to be found no more than six of that per¬ 
 suasion, and amidst the bulk of the peo¬ 
 ple the number of those possessing landed 
 or monied qualifications is so small, com¬ 
 paratively with their more opulent neigh¬ 
 bours of the established church, that they 
 could scarcely reckon on seating half a 
 dozen of them in the House of Commons. 
 To judge fairly of the situation of the pro¬ 
 testing Catholics of England in particular, 
 it seems unaccountable that there should 
 be an objection in any quarter to their full 
 participation in all the privileges of Bri¬ 
 tish subjects, unless it arises from the ob¬ 
 solete and polluted source of religious 
 prejudice. All the pretended apprehen- 
 C 2 sions. 
 
12 
 
 sions derived from the superior numbers 
 of the Roman Catholics in Ireland are to¬ 
 tally inapplicable to us, who do not at 
 the most exceed one to one hundred of 
 the Protestant population of the country. 
 As to the absurd tenets imputed to us 
 solely with the view of reviving and keep¬ 
 ing up rancorous and vulgar prejudices, 
 I flatter myself that I have already suffi¬ 
 ciently exposed and refuted all such ca¬ 
 lumnies, as that Catholics recognize in the 
 Pope a dispensing power, (to free them 
 from the duties and obligations imposed 
 by the o^th of allegiance—that they do 
 not hold themselves bound to keep faith 
 with heretics, &c. &c. &c.) in a letter I 
 had the honour to address to the Bishop 
 of St. David’s in 1790, to which was 
 subjoined an appendix, reciting the decla¬ 
 ration signed in the preceding year by all 
 the peers, as well as the principal Roman 
 Catholics of Great Britain—a declaration 
 
 which 
 
13 
 
 which never could have come but from 
 good and faithful subjects of the realm. 
 If it were indeed true that we possessed 
 such complaisant consciences, such pliant 
 principles, and such an accommodating re¬ 
 ligion, it must be evident that we bungled 
 matters sadly, and turned such advantages 
 to the sorriest account imaginable. Would 
 it not, for instance, have been something 
 more than stupid, would it not have been 
 insanity itself in me and my revered ances¬ 
 tors to have, for so long a series of years, 
 suffered ourselves to be excluded from 
 our hereditary rights and privileges by the 
 bugbear of an oath which might be so easily 
 dispensed with ? It is the pride of almost 
 every succeeding age to boast itself more 
 enlightened than those which went before 
 it, (with what justice it is not now my 
 purpose to examine) but really at the 
 commencement of the nineteenth century 
 I should be ashamed to expatiate again on 
 
 the 
 
14 
 
 the perverseness and malignity of such 
 aspersions;—and the more so as I am tho¬ 
 roughly convinced that these charges, as 
 ridiculous as they are illiberal, uncharita¬ 
 ble and unchristian, are not believed even 
 by those who are wicked and malicious 
 enough to advance them. They are, to 
 my apprehension ridiculous, because no¬ 
 thing could be more preposterous than to 
 suppose that the great Bacons, who to 
 the honour of this country, be it remem¬ 
 bered, were amongst the first of those im¬ 
 mortal luminaries who shed the rays of 
 science and philosophy upon the western 
 world; — that men, whose genius ap¬ 
 proached so nearly to divine as to enable 
 them to explore the secrets of nature and 
 reveal discoveries of what, to former ages 
 was all involved in mystery, to account 
 from causes to effects for those phenomena 
 which were previously considered as be¬ 
 yond the comprehension of the human 
 
 mind; 
 
15 
 
 mind;—that Englishmen, educated in all 
 the science and philosophy transmitted by 
 those and other sages, and improved and 
 expanded in more modern days, should 
 be so foolishly absurd as to pay worship 
 to senseless images !-—they (the charges) 
 are illiberal, because they tend to perpe¬ 
 tuate religious animosities, and attach to a 
 set of men the suspicion of maintaining 
 doctrines which those men themselves for¬ 
 mally and indignantly disclaimed — they 
 are uncharitable, inasmuch as they are in¬ 
 jurious to the rights and characters of 
 those against whom they are directed — 
 and they are unchristian, as they reverse 
 the sacred admonition of “ do unto others 
 as thou would’st they should do unto, 
 thee.” 
 
 It would be a waste of time and a tres¬ 
 pass upon patience to dwell now upon the 
 stale and antiquated notions of Jacobitism 
 2 which 
 
 i 
 
16 
 
 which once operated so fatally against the 
 Catholic families of this realm, and cer¬ 
 tainly with peculiar injustice against those 
 of England. While there still existed a 
 Pretender panting and sometimes strug¬ 
 gling to regain the abdicated throne of 
 his ancestors, he was far from experiencing 
 any countenance or assistance from the 
 Roman Catholics of this country, and 
 nothing could be more monstrously extra¬ 
 vagant than to conclude that they could 
 now be excited to disloyalty and rebel¬ 
 lion, in order to support any revived 
 claims of the feeble, old, and venerable 
 prelate, (Cardinal York), the expiring 
 ember of his unfortunate family, who dai¬ 
 ly sinks towards his grave after having 
 had the last days of his long and harmless 
 life cheered by the unsolicited bounty of 
 our beneficent Sovereign*. Upon these 
 
 * Cardinal York was at this time said to have had a 
 pension of 4000/. conferred on him from the privy purse 
 of his Majesty. 
 
 subjects 
 
17 
 
 subjects much solid, and, if I am not mis¬ 
 taken, incontrovertible reasoning might 
 easily be urged; but for greater conveni¬ 
 ence I shall reserve the few general obser- 
 
 f 
 
 vations that present themselves to me, 
 till I touch upon some other topics neces¬ 
 sarily connected with the range of these 
 reflections. 
 
 As far as the danger of Catholic eman¬ 
 cipation could apply to the third division 
 of the united kingdoms, it may be dismis¬ 
 sed without much degree of comment. 
 The peerage list of Scotland contains at 
 present no more than two Roman Catholic 
 noblemen, who might, by such a mea¬ 
 sure, become eligible amongst the sixteen 
 representatives ; but no one is so ignorant 
 as not to know, that in the way those elec¬ 
 tions have been managed, it would be 
 next to a miracle to see either of these 
 noblemen representing the peerage of that 
 
 D part 
 
18 
 
 / 
 
 part of the united kingdom. With re¬ 
 spect to the inhabitants of Scotland, any 
 apprehensions founded upon the preva¬ 
 lence of Popish principles amongst them 
 would be still more chimerical than those 
 which some affect to entertain for Eng¬ 
 land. In that country there are very 
 few Roman Catholics ; and of those few, 
 I doubt if there be one qualified to be 
 a candidate for a seat amongst the few 
 representatives which Scotland sends into 
 the House of Commons, even were the 
 Scotch seats and boroughs more open 
 than they are to popular elections. I 
 cannot here help remarking, that the ac¬ 
 tual state of our Northern associates af¬ 
 fords some assistance in removing the veil 
 of mystery which has so long enveloped 
 that terrific phantom of danger to the 
 Protestant Ascendancy, conjured up 
 from time to time to appal, the trembling 
 advocates of Catholic emancipation in Ire¬ 
 land. 
 
19 
 
 land. To “ resuscitate dead ink,” and to 
 reveal those musty deeds of ancient Kings, 
 and restore long defaced parchments which 
 remain yet to be discovered in some Irish 
 Herculaneum ! The prescriptive and un¬ 
 disturbed possession of almost all the 
 landed property, the extensive power and 
 undivided influence of the Protestants for 
 more than a hundred years cannot, it 
 should seem, afford an exorcism suffici¬ 
 ently powerful to lay this tremendous 
 spectre which portends so many disasters 
 to the church and state. Scotland, how¬ 
 ever, has also experienced its confiscations, 
 revolutions and rebellions; the mass of its 
 inhabitants are as irreconcilable as Roman 
 Catholics to the tenets of the church of 
 England. The people there look with in¬ 
 dignation, not perhaps unmixed with con¬ 
 tempt, upon bishoprics, deaneries, pre¬ 
 bendaries, and upon all rich ecclesiastical 
 livings and preferments. Yet, as they are 
 
 D 2 justly 
 
20 
 
 justly deemed good and faithful subjects, 
 fit to be entrusted with the highest and 
 most confidential offices of the state, no 
 reverend prelate stands aghast at the ele¬ 
 vation of a Scotchman, nor affects alarm 
 for the interest of the hierarchy. What is 
 it then that divests the kirk of all terrors 
 and renders it so harmless, whilst a sort 
 of outlawry subsists against the Catholic 
 communion? It may be said, that Scot¬ 
 land stipulated for the maintainance of its 
 own church by the articles of Union, and 
 thus rescued its members from any traces 
 even of suspicion. But the emancipation 
 of the Roman Catholics was also an im¬ 
 plied and tacit condition of the Irish Union, 
 else what occasioned the resignation of his 
 Majesty’s late ministers ? Since the Union 
 with Scotland, and even since the revolu¬ 
 tion, two serious and alarming rebellions 
 were seen raging in that country in sup¬ 
 port of the pretensions of the abdicated 
 
 family. 
 
21 
 
 family. Those pretensions or claims had 
 then no abettors amongst the Roman Ca¬ 
 tholics of Ireland, though the restoration 
 of that family might have afforded some 
 prospect at least of their religion resuming 
 its former preponderancy. Those were 
 the periods when fears might have been 
 really entertained for the Protestant as¬ 
 cendancy, but they were also the periods 
 when its security was most confirmed by 
 the loyal demeanour of the people who are 
 now supposed to menace it. 
 
 r . 
 
 Ha ving thus proved, as I conceive, 
 in a manner so plain and by arguments 
 drawn from strong but obvious and sim¬ 
 ple materials, that the admission of Roman 
 Catholics to all the benefits of the British 
 constitution could be fraught with no 
 civil, religious, or political dangers to the 
 church or state in any of the three united 
 kingdoms, I should have preceded the 
 
 general 
 
22 
 
 general remarks with which I meant to 
 conclude this letter, if my attention had 
 not lately been drawn to the conscientious 
 and scrupulous objections to this measure, 
 which are supposed to have arisen in the 
 mind of an august Personage from the 
 obligations imposed upon him by his 
 
 CORONATION OATH. 
 
 This I confess to be a subject which, 
 though already discussed in public by 
 persons not equally interested with me in 
 the presentment of such unexpected ob¬ 
 stacles, I should have refrained from touch¬ 
 ing upon, if I did not think it might be 
 conducted even by so inexperienced a 
 pen without any violation of delicacy to 
 the subject itself, and of that respect and 
 veneration which I must ever feel for my 
 Sovereign. But the coronation oath being 
 a part of the written and promulgated law 
 
 of 
 
23 
 
 of the land, I cannot but presume that 
 every one of his Majesty’s subjects has an 
 equal right to judge how far it applies to 
 any point or circumstance which may be 
 under his contemplation. Besides, as this 
 new impediment has not been openly 
 avowed or stated by any person officially 
 in the confidence of his Majesty, we do 
 not yet know with any certainty whether 
 it has any other existence than in the in¬ 
 vention of those who are willing to move 
 heaven and earth in the cause of their in¬ 
 vincible prejudices, and who would seek 
 in the terrors of the one that alliance which 
 they are not disposed to form with the 
 justice and benevolence of the other— cc Si 
 nequeam Jlectere superos, Acheronta movebo 
 I am also aware, that there are malignant 
 spirits willing to turn any observations I 
 may make upon this subject against my¬ 
 self, and exclaim, “ Here is a Roman Ca¬ 
 tholic, probably they would say a Papist , 
 t who. 
 
24 
 
 who, while he professes the most scrupu¬ 
 lous adherence to oaths, and disclaims the 
 force of any dispensing power, contends 
 at the same time for a latitude in the con¬ 
 struction of the solemn obligation imposed 
 upon his Majesty at the time of his coro¬ 
 nation.” Such assertions are easily made 
 by those who deal chiefly in invectives; 
 but those who deal with candour will soon 
 find that I contend for no latitude, nor for 
 any qualified nor casuistical construction 
 of that oath. The part of the oath pre¬ 
 scribed by Stat. 1. of Willi am andMARY, 
 c. vi. which refers most immediately to the 
 present subject, is couched in the follow¬ 
 ing words: 
 
 “ Will you, to the utmost of your 
 power, maintain the laws of the gospel, 
 and the Protestant reformed religion esta¬ 
 blished by law? And will you preserve unto 
 the bishops and clergy of this realm, and 
 
 to 
 
25 
 
 j 
 
 to the churches committed to their charge, 
 
 f l ■ jp , 
 
 all such rights and privileges as by law do, 
 or shall appertain unto them, or any of 
 them ?” 
 
 To this division of the oath administered 
 by the archbishop, the King answers— 
 “ All this I promise to do. 5 ’ 
 
 Upon this clause, which forms that 
 branch of the engagement, which has 
 lately been supposed to have suggested 
 important scruples, the lawyers and di¬ 
 vines have been at work, and have twisted 
 and explained it over and ever, with all the 
 technical subtlety of the one, and all the 
 casuistical refinement of the other. For 
 my own part, I arn neither disposed nor 
 qualified to involve myself in such endless 
 and inextricable labyrinths. His Majesty, 
 any more than myself, cannot be supposed 
 very conversant with all the windings and 
 
 E intricacies 
 
26 
 
 intricacies of forensic disputation: and an 
 oath should be so framed as to be easily 
 comprehended by the person, whoever he 
 may .be, to whom it is to be administered, 
 and who must not be expected to consult 
 professional opinions respecting the duties 
 which it imposes on him. Speaking, 
 therefore, on the same ground as any other 
 man possessed of sufficient reason to judge 
 of the obligations of an oath, in my appre¬ 
 hension the first and most material point 
 to be considered is, whether this solemn 
 agreement was meant to bind the King in 
 his executive , or in his legislative capa¬ 
 city. If it be admitted, that it only binds 
 him in his executive, then all arguments 
 founded upon conscientious scruples fall 
 to the ground; and yet I am greatly de¬ 
 ceived, if it be capable of any other expla¬ 
 nation. For surely it will not be contend¬ 
 ed, that any parliament representing the 
 three estates of the kingdom, could act so 
 
 prepos- 
 
27 
 
 preposterously as to make it a condition 
 that previously to the King’s being entitled 
 to wear the crown, he should be compel¬ 
 led to swear against . themselves. Many 
 years have elapsed since it was thought 
 necessary to stipulate for the due perform¬ 
 ance of the legislative functions of the 
 crown, and since the province of the other 
 branches has been defined with more pre¬ 
 cision and accuracy than heretofore, and 
 the principle having been fully establish¬ 
 ed that the King cannot originate or alter 
 an act of parliament, nor indeed constitu¬ 
 tionally take any other part in the process 
 but that of rejecting or giving it his con¬ 
 sent, his coronation oath therefore can only 
 regard his executive capacity. The pecu¬ 
 liarity of the moment when this conscien¬ 
 tious scruple burst forth, or has at least 
 been suggested to the public, is far from 
 being auspicious. There remains only 
 one indulgence to be accorded to the Ro- 
 • E 2 man 
 
28 
 
 man Catholics (those of Ireland particu¬ 
 larly) and that can, less than any other, 
 affect the safety or stability of the esta¬ 
 blished church; and yet these qualms are 
 now summoned sero sed serio to disappoint 
 the hopes of an expectant people, “ to hold 
 the word of promise to the ear, and break 
 it to the sense.” Where did they sleep 
 when the government of Canada was re¬ 
 gulated, and the people left in the un¬ 
 limited engagement of the rehgion of their 
 ancestors? Where did they slumber when 
 so many indulgences were given to Ro¬ 
 man Catholics in the midst of such a bus¬ 
 tle as was most likely to arouse them? 
 Why are they now, for the first time, to 
 scare me and others in like circumstances, 
 to proscribe us from the enjoyment of 
 our rights, and “ Come with twenty mor¬ 
 tal murders on their heads to part us 
 from our stools?” 
 
 If 
 
29 
 
 If this objection be really founded in 
 conscience, the law of God, and religious 
 observance, how many sovereigns of Eng¬ 
 land must have been guilty of the grossest 
 perjuries in the frequent violations of their 
 coronation oaths? From the earliest pe¬ 
 riods of our history, every King and Queen 
 has been obliged to swear that they would 
 preserve the rights of holy mother church 
 as then established by law; as also the rights, 
 privileges, possessions, &c. of the bishops, 
 abbots, prebends, ministers, and all the 
 other ecclesiastical appurtenances of the 
 time. This oath was administered for 
 ages before the reformation was ever 
 dreamed of, and was sworn by Henry 
 VIII. the founder of the reformation in 
 this country, and the despoiler of the 
 clergy. It may perhaps be said that no 
 fair argument should be drawn from a 
 reference to the conduct of so abhorred a 
 character, though God employed him, as 
 
 he 
 
30 
 
 he frequently has done the worst of men, 
 as the instrument of his mercies as well as 
 of his vengeance. With however ill a 
 grace this exception may appear to be 
 urged by a Protestant, I am ready to ad¬ 
 mit it—but the reformed religion was es¬ 
 tablished in that Prince’s reign and the 
 succeeding one of his son, and Queen 
 Mary was sworn to preserve the church 
 as she found it. How that engagement 
 was fulfilled it will be needless for me to 
 say, any more than that during the conti¬ 
 nuance of her power, the ancient church 
 once more resumed the ascendancy. 
 Queen Elizabeth succeeded; another 
 ecclesiastical revolution followed, and it 
 would be needless to trace the ensuing 
 variations in the reigns of the Stuarts, 
 the jumble of the commonwealth, &c.; 
 during all which there was ample demon¬ 
 stration of that sort of security which 
 oaths are capable of affording, particularly 
 
 as 
 
31 
 
 as applied to the legislative power of the 
 sovereign. How far in this respect the 
 oaths of Prince’s have been really at vari¬ 
 ance with their proceedings would be mat¬ 
 ter of curious enquiry; but as it would 
 also be necessarily very copious and might 
 possibly admit of an invidious construc¬ 
 tion, my wish to escape from obloquy 
 must prevent me from entering into it 
 There are not, however, the same reasons 
 to prevent me from observing, that if these 
 spiritual admonitions or compunctions 
 could ever have had any weight at all they 
 now begin to show themselves at rather too 
 late a season, and with as hopeless a pros¬ 
 pect as even a death-bed repentance. In 
 the year 1791 the Roman Catholic religion 
 was first tolerated in England since the revo¬ 
 lution, and then was the moment for con¬ 
 science and the coronation oath to make a 
 stand, if conscience had been honest and if 
 conscience had then opposed it. The 
 
 dawning 
 
32 
 
 dawning of scruple first appeared on the 
 act for admitting the Roman Catholics of 
 Ireland to offices and to the elective fran¬ 
 chise; but though it echoed and bellowed 
 and groaned amongst the members of the 
 Irish parliament, it appears to have found 
 no admission to the royal breast, for the 
 act obtained his Majesty’s approbation and 
 legislative sanction as soon as it was pre¬ 
 sented to him. That circumstance, com¬ 
 bined with many others, induces me to 
 think, that all that has been said about 
 conscience and the coronation oath, is no 
 more than a finesse of the opposers of 
 toleration, who would hold up this scare - 
 crow as a barrier to the progress of en¬ 
 lightened liberality. I also declare, that 
 it is this opinion which induces me to 
 treat the question with more freedom, or 
 at least with less delicacy than I should 
 do, if I could suppose the source of the 
 objection to have been in the breast of the 
 3 Sovereign 
 
33 
 
 Sovereign himself. I owe I feel, and I 
 pay respect and reverence to my gracious 
 King; but it is with very different senti¬ 
 ments I contend against prejudices, ani¬ 
 mosities, injuries, misrepresentations and 
 delusions. Those, who amidst the strides 
 of anarchy, democracy, confusion and 
 disorder, would teach the loyal Roman 
 Catholics of these realms that it is in their 
 Sovereign individually they are to behold 
 the inflexible opposer of their relief from 
 long-galling restrictions, who by so doing 
 would impress the same disagreeable feel¬ 
 ings on persons of other religious denomi¬ 
 nations, will have more to answer for, in 
 the event of any future deplorable con¬ 
 vulsions and disturbances, than I, whose 
 object it is to extend the empire of truth 
 and justice, to draw closer the bands of 
 civil society, and enclose the people of 
 these united kingdoms in an universal bro- 
 
 F therhood 
 
/ 
 
 34 
 
 therhood of civil, social, and political 
 communion. 
 
 When the act was subsequently passed, 
 authorising and providing funds for the 
 erection of a royal college in Ireland, for 
 the instruction and education of Roman 
 Catholic priests, the propriety and policy 
 of the measure were applauded and ad¬ 
 mired; but, surely nothing could be more 
 strongly calculated to proclaim the non¬ 
 existence of those religious alarm or conscien - 
 tious scruples . It would be in vain now 
 to disguise the truth. The institution and 
 foundation of a Roman Catholic college 
 for priests, in positive terms, gave a par¬ 
 liamentary encouragement to the religion 
 and its teachers, while the remaining re¬ 
 strictions seemed only to serve as a mo¬ 
 nument of reproach to former legislatures. 
 
 i 
 
 Let us now ask, what have you done by all 
 
 the 
 
 \ 
 
35 
 
 the concessions made in the course of the 
 present reign? The Irish Roman Catholics 
 may elect, but they cannot be elected— 
 they may hold landed property, but they 
 must not enjoy the honours nor the full 
 benefits to be derived from it—they may 
 serve in the army or navy ’till they obtain 
 a certain rank, but after that, be their ex¬ 
 perience and military faculties what they 
 may, they must never be rendered avail¬ 
 able to their country—they may plead at 
 the bar, and acquire the summit of cele¬ 
 brity for juridical science and eloquence: 
 but there they must stop, and the crown 
 is eternally debarred of their advice or 
 professional assistance, however necessary 
 they may be. If this be an effect of the 
 coronation oath, it may not be imperti¬ 
 nent to ask the supporters of that con¬ 
 struction whether the King, in the two 
 latter instances, at least, has not sworn 
 against himself and the interests of his peo- 
 F 2 pie? 
 
36 
 
 pie? Neither as applicable to these two pro¬ 
 fessions, is it unreasonable to demand, whe¬ 
 ther our Arthurs, our Alfreds, our Ed¬ 
 wards, and our Henries were the worse 
 warriors and patriots? Whether our Lit¬ 
 tleton’s and Warwick’s were the worse 
 judges and statesmen for their belief in tran- 
 substantiation and their reverence for the 
 Virgin Mary? Was Henry VIII. abetter 
 man for having, in some instances, (and 
 they are only some) cashiered her from his 
 liturgy from motives as conscientious as 
 those upon which he cashiered his wives? 
 Europe and its government have under¬ 
 gone more revolutions of late years than 
 the records of its history can give any 
 example of before ; and yet it will not be 
 pretended that popery could be traced in 
 any of these transactions. What alarm 
 then can the poor feeble and almost for¬ 
 gotten Pope, with his teeth and claws long 
 drawn, excite at present in the mind of 
 / ' the 
 
37 
 
 the puissant and magnanimous Monarch of 
 these realms? The first judicial authority- 
 in the land* tells us, “ that popery is at 
 present unknown to our laws," and as 
 little, I assert, is it known in the practice 
 or faith of the Roman Catholic subjects of 
 this country or of Ireland. Nay, I very 
 much doubt, whether in any part of Eu¬ 
 rope the eighteenth century has witnessed 
 any Papists in the sense in which calumny 
 would affix the odium of that name upon 
 us, who have so repeatedly and so solemnly 
 disclaimed the belief of any dispensing power 
 in the Pope , or his having any temporal au¬ 
 thority whatever within these realms. The 
 effect then of all that has hitherto been 
 done for the Roman Catholics, particularly 
 of Ireland, is this : you have, by allowing 
 them to hold landed property, by restor¬ 
 ing to them the elective franchise, and al¬ 
 lowing them to hold offices to a certain 
 
 extent , 
 
 * The late Lord Chief Justice Ken^yon. 
 
38 
 
 extent , enabled them to do mischief, if 
 any was or could be intended; and after¬ 
 wards, when the steed is stolen , you run to 
 shut the door , that the straw may not es¬ 
 cape you. These are not digressive ob¬ 
 servations, but in my mind, bear strongly 
 on the subject; as they tend to shew that 
 the scruple, to be worth any thing, should 
 have come before: and now that the prin¬ 
 ciple is lost , can only be vexatious in any 
 operation it should have. If the objection 
 be well founded, consistency would re¬ 
 quire, that what has been done should be 
 unravelled, and all the restrictions and 
 persecutions of former times revived. 
 Perhaps in fairness the Parliament ought 
 to do this, if it has heretofore stolen a 
 march on the conscience of his Majesty. 
 But that may perhaps be thought too se¬ 
 rious an experiment, and as the represent¬ 
 atives of the people feel no scruples them¬ 
 selves, it is possible they may not be 
 
 found 
 
39 
 
 found in a humour to chime in with these 
 new-fangled interpretations — and then 
 where is the remedy? His Majesty cannot 
 originate any law, much less one to repeal 
 former repeals of reprobated hardships— 
 and where then is the remedy ? I certainly 
 know of none. 
 
 There is, however, another part of this 
 subject, well worthy of the most serious 
 consideration: Swift tells us, in his “Tale 
 of a Tub ” that of the three brothers, Peter , 
 Martin , and John , the last was so violent 
 in his reform of ornamental decoration, 
 that in tearing off the lace , he also tore 
 away a good part of the coat along with it. 
 So I fear it is with the preachers of these 
 new readings , newly discovered interpre¬ 
 tations of solemn obligations ; for I much 
 mistake, if a little reflection will not shew, 
 that were those scruples once admitted, 
 which are now only apparently launched 
 
 against 
 
40 
 
 against Catholic emancipation, they may 
 soon be easily extended to the subversion of 
 the constitution of this country. Those 
 who are not disposed sophistically to fritter 
 away relative rights and duties, will 
 scarcely undertake to deny, that there ex¬ 
 ists at present in this country a contract 
 between the people and the Sovereign, by 
 which, as the former bind themselves to true 
 allegiance and fidelity, so is the latter also 
 bound, by and with the advice and consent 
 of the other two branches of the legislature, 
 to pass and cause to be executed all laws 
 which he thinks to be conducive to the 
 public good, and the interests of the peo¬ 
 ple and the state. That his Majesty has 
 incontestibly the power of rejecting any 
 acts presented to him which he may con¬ 
 scientiously think to be dangerous or in¬ 
 expedient, is by no means disputed; but 
 such as do not come under that descrip¬ 
 tion he is, I contend, bound to give his 
 
 assent 
 
41 
 
 assent to, by his duties as a King, and the 
 original contract which may be called the 
 tenure of his crown. Our ancestors so 
 strenuously inculcated this principle, that 
 our ancient Kings were sworn even from 
 the time of Edward the Confessor, not 
 only to ordain good and righteous laws , but 
 also to abolish and destroy all bad laws and 
 customs , if any existed in these realms. 
 To go through the different authorities 
 to be adduced in support of this principle, 
 would be foreign to my purpose, and 
 would be the more unnecessary, as all 
 our law books contain its general admis¬ 
 sion. The comprehensive obligation thus 
 imposed, being a complete recognition of 
 the rights of the people, and the recipro¬ 
 cal duties of them and the Sovereign, 
 nothing but a very forced construction 
 could set them at variance with the coro¬ 
 nation oath prescribed at the time of the 
 revolution. At that period the extent of 
 
 G the 
 
42 
 
 the royal authority was so far settled and 
 defined, that until the year 1793, when 
 doubts were first started in the parliament 
 of Ireland, our remedial statutes went on 
 without any interruption or perplexities of 
 this kind. If these positions be well found¬ 
 ed, nothing more would be necessary to 
 remove all restrictions and disabilities on 
 Roman Catholics but to shew, that they 
 are grievous, and that it would be expe¬ 
 dient to abolish them. This, however, 
 does not seem to satisfy perplexing ca¬ 
 suists, who would set up whims or scru¬ 
 ples to combat against palpable justice and 
 irrefragable arguments. That such doubts 
 and perplexities did not originate, and do 
 not exist in the royal mind, I should be 
 warranted to infer from the act for grant¬ 
 ing additional indulgence to Irish Catho¬ 
 lics; in the discussion of which these phan¬ 
 toms were first drawn up in array against 
 us, having received his Majesty’s sanction 
 
 without 
 
43 
 
 without encountering any such difficulty* 
 if that conclusion were not opposed by 
 the reasons assigned for the resignation of 
 the late ministers. If this doubt or scruple 
 has at all been implanted in the royal breast, 
 I cannot believe that it is of native growth 
 there; though, if it has once taken root, 
 there can be little doubt of its having been 
 very sedulously cultivated. The conduct 
 of his Majesty on former occasions, and 
 particularly in the last mentioned instance, 
 precludes any suspicion of its having ori¬ 
 ginated with himself. It may then be 
 asked with whom did it originate? Certain¬ 
 ly not with any profound or well-informed 
 statesman. Any person of that descrip¬ 
 tion would have an interest not in incul¬ 
 cating, but in endeavouring to dispel any 
 grounds of hesitation from the royal 
 breast. There are others, of whom, how¬ 
 ever, I should always wish to speak with 
 the utmost reverence; and to whom some 
 G 2 persons 
 
44 
 
 persons are disposed to impute this kind 
 of dealing. If it were justifiable to sup¬ 
 pose that consecrated men could have any 
 regard to worldly affairs , it would require 
 no great sagacity to discover some views 
 in which suspicion would attach to per¬ 
 sons of the ecclesiastical order. A mitre, 
 with a superior revenue may, as well as a 
 diadem, be an object of ambition, and 
 with a view to such an object, it may be 
 expedient to assume the appearance of 
 extraordinary zeal and attachment; nay, 
 of feelings tremblingly alive to the inter¬ 
 ests of the established church. It should 
 seem as if a mitre, like the cross which 
 Constantine beheld in his vision, had 
 the power of impressing immediate con¬ 
 viction, and bore upon it the inscription 
 on the Labarum of, “ in hoc signo vinces” 
 History indeed greatly deceives us, if the 
 airs of a courtier, as well as the rigid 
 aspect of sanctity, have not often been 
 
 made 
 
45 
 
 I 
 
 made subservient to this purpose; and I 
 am very much misinformed, if the opi¬ 
 nions warmly maintained by some young 
 gentlemen at the university, were not toto 
 ccelo at variance with the doctrines preach¬ 
 ed by pious divines , when a Mitre was in 
 prospect. How truly miraculous are the 
 Christian virtues of a mitre and a crosier! 
 how highly advantageous to Christianity, 
 when they can convert the philosophical 
 atheist of the college into the zealous apos¬ 
 tle of the pulpit! the graduate, earnest in 
 the pursuit of science, dexterously em¬ 
 ploys all the weapons which the vigour of 
 his genius and his knowledge of logic and 
 mathematics afford him, in decrying and 
 ridiculing the true religion of his ances¬ 
 tors. Protestants and Catholics are then 
 all one to him. “ Tros tyrius ve mihi nullo 
 discrimine agetur”: but no sooner does a 
 Mitre come in view, than the champion of 
 
 infidelity 
 
46 
 
 infidelity is disarmed, and suddenly con¬ 
 verted, not only into a most enthusiastic 
 divine , but also into a most bigotted and 
 implacable enemy of the already too long 
 persecuted Catholics. For the truth of 
 this representation, I do not myself at¬ 
 tempt to vouch; I am sure it does not 
 generally apply: but I must again re¬ 
 peat, that I am very much misinformed, 
 if there .be not at least one living instance 
 by whom it might fairly be exemplified. 
 As it has been my object in the present ad¬ 
 dress rather to conciliate than to retort or 
 to recriminate, nothing but the malignant 
 acrimony of persevering religious imputa¬ 
 tions, which, considering the small num¬ 
 ber of Roman Catholic peers now in this 
 country, scarcely, as I once before ob¬ 
 served, falls short of a personal insult on 
 them, should have drawn from me any 
 thing like harshness of observation; but 
 
 even 
 
47 
 
 even the patient Job did not spare those 
 who cruelly and unjustly went to reproach 
 him on his dunghill. 
 
 Setting all considerations of this kind* 
 however, aside, which I no sooner touch 
 upon than dismiss—let me next observe* 
 that I can never bring myself to admire 
 the loyalty of those who would set up the 
 conscientious scruple of the Sovereign in 
 respect to his coronation oath, as a target 
 for discontent to shoot at. A very material 
 branch of loyalty* in my opinion* consists 
 in an attachment to the person of the King: 
 And what is that attachment which would 
 give millions of his subjects reason to con¬ 
 sider his life as the only impediment to the 
 accomplishment of their wishes? Is that 
 being faithful to the constitution which has 
 a tendancy* and not a remote one either, 
 to Cast an odium on so material a branch 
 of it* in the eyes of a majority of one part 
 
 of 
 
48 
 
 of the united kingdom, that would lead to 
 a wish for a change, even in the person of 
 him who exercises the sovereignty? It 
 was a saying, recorded of the great Alex¬ 
 ander, and brought forward as a proof of 
 his discrimination. “ Craterus loves 
 the King , but Hephcestion loves Alex¬ 
 ander” That sort of distinction, however, 
 is not in the spirit of the British constitu¬ 
 tion, which does not well admit of the 
 King’s having any personal favourites, 
 though he should himself be the personal 
 favourite of all; for though our aim be 
 to preserve and maintain a monarchy, the 
 best security for it will be found in a 
 personal attachment to the reigning So¬ 
 vereign. I am aware, that this is a deli¬ 
 cate topic, and a nicer disquisition than 
 suits my purpose or capacity to enter 
 upon largely; but the times and circum¬ 
 stances require, that at least I should say 
 so much. I dread the application of this 
 
 argu- 
 
argument of scruple to the people of Ire¬ 
 land, and the one to which turbulent or 
 misguided people may convert it. Upon 
 the heads of those casuists, legal or eccle¬ 
 siastical, who broached and promulgated 
 this objection—upon their heads be it if 
 this country should find itself again under 
 the necessity of sending its militia regi¬ 
 ments from home to quell the insurrec¬ 
 tions of a people whom, to make loyal, 
 obedient, and affectionate, need only be 
 made free. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Having dismissed the extraordinary and 
 mysterious objections supposed to exist 
 against a general emancipation of the 
 Roman Catholics, from the warding of the 
 coronation oath, I cannot conclude without 
 some remarks on the anomalous situation 
 in which Roman Catholics are placed, 
 H compared 
 
50 
 
 compared with the other subjects of this 
 united empire, and the absurdity of the 
 reasons assigned for withholding from them 
 at this time the privileges which ought to be 
 their birth-right. In my opinion, there can 
 now be no medium in the rights and claims 
 of the Roman Catholics. The same argu¬ 
 ments alledged against their rights, carried to 
 their full extent, would apply equally against 
 their property; for I take it, that the pos¬ 
 session of property is inconsistent with po¬ 
 litical subserviency, and it is not in human 
 nature, that the latter state should not be 
 productive of indignant feelings. It is 
 disgraceful to any man of honour to stand 
 as an object of suspicion, and the victim 
 of at least an implied disgrace, in his 
 native land, for no other reason, but be¬ 
 cause he prays to God in his own way, 
 and professes the religion not only of his 
 forefathers, but the forefathers also of 
 
 these 
 
51 
 
 these very persons who impose restraints 
 on him, and are at the same time ready, 
 in other respects, to express the mGHEST 
 
 VENERATION for THEIR ANCESTORS. 
 
 Is it not an insult on me, to be debarred 
 from exercising my hereditary right of le¬ 
 gislating in the peers house of parliament, 
 merely because I will not take an oath which 
 my conscience disapproves of, and to be 
 cruelly told, in the same breath, that any 
 oath I might take could not be depended on, 
 as a Pope or a Priest would give me an 
 absolution for any perjury I should com¬ 
 mit? Either this is not true, or I am the 
 most egregious blockhead that ever had 
 existence; for I might, by taking that oath, 
 make my peace as easily with the laws 
 I complain of, as Hamlet says, an op¬ 
 pressed man might make his quietus with 
 a bare bodkin—but the worst of it is, that 
 
 H 2 I am 
 
52 
 
 I am convinced, such an oath would be as 
 fatal to my honour, and what is much 
 more, to my soul, as Hamlet’s remedy 
 would be to his mortal existence. I should 
 destroy my soul: Hamlet would only 
 have destroyed his body—but conscience 
 does make cowards of us all.” I have not 
 courage to do such a thing, and if there 
 was a priest or prelate of any description 
 wicked and impious enough to propose 
 it to me, the first impulse I should feel, 
 would be to knock him down . The ex¬ 
 pression may be coarse, but it is natural 
 and consonant to the feelings I should 
 have on such an occasion. 
 
 I shall not take the trouble of ransack¬ 
 ing books and seeking for all those autho¬ 
 rities which I have read abundantly in the 
 works of Protestant writers, when they 
 were claiming the same Equality of civil 
 
 and 
 
53 
 
 and political rights which we are suitors 
 for at present, but boldly lay those down 
 as incontrovertible principles: — First, 
 that the possession of property is incon¬ 
 sistent with political inferiority—second¬ 
 ly, that no political restrictions should be 
 continued on any class of men beyond 
 the necessity for its duration—and thirdly, 
 that where loyalty was expected, protec¬ 
 tion and equality of privileges should be 
 the reward of it. These, I take it, are so 
 self-evident, as not to be liable to contra¬ 
 diction; and I cannot well see how any 
 one can reconcile the admission of them 
 with the restrictions upon Catholics. 
 
 It has often struck me as a circumstance 
 extremely singular, that some few men of 
 enlightened minds, and in other respects 
 amiable and liberal, can bear this low and 
 narrow prejudice against the Roman Ca¬ 
 tholic 
 
54 
 
 tholic religion: Every one knows the great 
 force of the prejudices of education and 
 the early inpression that is daily shewn 
 in the dread of apparitions, the belief in 
 witches, the bad luck sailors are afraid of 
 meeting, should there be a corpse on 
 board, &c. &c. But I now speak of men 
 who profess to have divested themselves 
 of every prejudice, and yet retain one, the 
 most absurd and illiberal that can possi¬ 
 bly be conceived*. To account for this 
 
 perver- 
 
 * The prejudice of which this departed nobleman 
 here complains, has lately manifested itself in a most ex¬ 
 traordinary manner, and in that part of the empire, 
 where injurious imputations were likely to be productive 
 of the greatest mischief. Lord Riddesdale, in his 
 capacity of Lord Chancellor of Ireland, could not find 
 it in his heart to send a commission of the peace to one 
 of the most ancient representatives of the Irish peerage, 
 without accompanying it with taunts and insults on his 
 religion. Does this Lord Chancellor then think, that 
 such malignant prejudices coming from a newly elevat¬ 
 ed 
 
55 
 
 perversion, I confess to be beyond my 
 penetration, though I cannot but suspect, 
 that it might justly be attributed to a want 
 of candour. 
 
 Upon every view and consideration that 
 I can take of this momentous subject, 
 upon which I could with more patience 
 than prudence say a great deal more, I 
 have brought my mind to this conclusion, 
 that if it was not meant and determined 
 on by the Sovereign and his cabinet to 
 grant a full emancipation to the Roman 
 Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland, it 
 was the most imprudent and mischievous 
 thing imaginable ever to have stated such a 
 
 % s 
 
 ed lawyer and addressed to a real nobleman, who feels 
 the blood of so many illustrious ancestors flowing in his 
 veins, are stimulatives to Irish loyalty!!! 
 
 (Note of the Editor) 
 
 project. 
 
 2 
 
project. The measures commenced by 
 Lord Fit z william, the private engage¬ 
 ments entered into by Mr. Pitt, in order 
 to effect the union, and the resignation of 
 that minister and his colleagues, because 
 they could not fulfil their promises, leave 
 the legislature no retreat. Mr. Pitt, by 
 retiring from his situation when he could 
 not retain it with honour, acted as a man 
 of principle and spirit will ever do*; and 
 let those who acted differently, be answer- 
 able to their country and to posterity for 
 the injustice they support, and the future 
 
 * Had the lamented nobleman who penned these sheets 
 lived ’till the present day, he probably would not have 
 paid so implicit a compliment to the spirit or principle 
 of Mr. Pitt, who, since he and his Fidus Achates 
 have returned to power, has remained inexorably mute 
 on the subject—for which, both pretended to resign 
 power; namely, his engagements to the Catholics of 
 Ireland. 
 
 f Note of the Editor.) 
 
 cala- 
 
57 
 
 calamities which may ensue from so much 
 having been granted, that there is compa¬ 
 ratively little left to refuse, and for suf¬ 
 fering disappointment, rankles in the hearts 
 of millions, who can never be in a state of 
 settled tranquillity, while there is “acrav¬ 
 ing void left aching in the breast.” 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 A Serious 
 
 I