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sometimes on the Sabbath. From the altar of his God, the ignorant Catholic is taught every thing in politics that can make him a wicked man and a guilty subject. They have had public dinners on the Sabbath, at which songs were sung. They are the abject bondsmen of their church. According to the newspapers, O'Connell, at the Clare election, prostrated himself to his Bishop in the public street before the multitude. If he really did this, we hope the degraded idola trous slave will never again be permitted to stand erect in the presence of free men. While they are thus, the despotism of their religion is used to compel them to trample on the bonds of society, to violate the laws, and to fill Ireland with wickedness and guilt. Their religion exists to suppress genuine Christianity, and teach almost all that it prohibits. O'Connell and his gang have supplied abundant proofs that if they had the power, they would speedily exterminate the Protestants with the rack, the faggot, and the sword.

In the third place, What are the general sentiments and conduct of the Catholics? They manifest the most inveterate hostility to religious and civil liberty. They annihilate the religious rights and liberties of the Protestants to the utmost point possible; and they call for the robbery and overthrow of the Established Church. They annihilate, in like manner, to the utmost point, the civil rights and liberties of the Protestants. They have plundered the latter of their just and constitutional influence, and convert ed them into their vassals. They have destroyed, as far as they can destroy them, both the freedom of election and the freedom of Parliament; and degraded, into abject menials, both the elector and the representative. The Protestants who oppose them in politics, are not to be suffered to hire Catholics to labour for them; they are not to be suffered to sell their goods to Catholics; they are to be ruined, and expelled society. Many have been thus ruined by laws solemnly enacted by O'Connell and his gang, sanctioned by the whole Catholic body, and administered by the priesthood. They labour, by ruinous litigation and other means, to expel all Protestants from the magistracy who will not support them. They openly trample on all

laws which are opposed to their will, and threaten with destruction every part of the constitution which clashes with their interests. They have esta blished against the Protestants a system of lawless and savage tyranny, terror, prosecution, plunder, and extermination, which is evidently only restrained from sweeping every thing Protestant from the face of Ireland, by the fear of the sword of England. Amidst the projects which they advocate, we find the spoliation of the Church, the destruction of the Protestant Corporations, Parliamentary Reform, the Repeal of the Union, &c. &c. A large party of them detests England, and wishes to make Ireland independent.

While the Catholics are thus, they form a furious political combination, perfectly organized, and completely under the dictation of its leaders. The mass of them are in the darkest ignorance, and are distinguished by gene ral insubordination, and contempt for the regulations of civilized society.

It is amazing that any man can be found to say, that a body like this-a body which has not the least pretensions to be called a party, and which displays every characteristic of a lawless, profligate, destructive factionought to be intrusted with a leading share in the government of the empire. It is still more amazing, that the demonstration of the truth of what have hitherto been the main arguments against the removal of the disabilities, and the refutation of what have been the main arguments in its favour, are pleaded by both the opponents and friends of the Catholics as an irresistible reason for giving them such a share in the government. On what have their opponents chiefly rested? The pleas that the Catholics were as hostile to the established religion, and as anxious to destroy the Church, as they now prove themselves to be-that they would continually make those efforts to extinguish religious and civil liberty, which they are now making-that they would render their Church that baleful and omnipotent political engine, which they have now rendered it-that they would monopolize seats in Parliament as they are now monopolizing them--and that they would be that lawless, tyranni cal, insatiable, and destructive faction, which they now are. Because these

pleas are made matter of demonstration, all that they forbid is to be grant ed; while they were only arguments they were all-powerful; now that they are facts, they are worthless. And on what have the friends of emancipation chiefly rested? The pleas that the Catholics had no wish to injure the Church and the Protestants-that they were not hostile to religious and civil liberty-that their Church would not be made a political engine of evil -that they could not obtain more than some three or six seats in Parliament -and that they would be as much divided in politics, as obedient to the laws, as friendly to the constitution, and as good subjects, as the Protestants. Because these pleas are proved to be fiction, all they ask is to be conceded; while they were plausible as sumptions they were to be disregarded, but now that they are torn into shreds by the Catholics themselves, they are irresistible. The sole argument which is now used by all sides in favour of emancipation, is in plain English this:-The Catholics domineer over your Government; they trample on your laws; they are ungovernable; they plunder and tyrannize over the Protestants; they have within their grasp the greater part of the Irish seats in Parliament; they distinctly deny the sovereign authority established by the constitution, and substitute their own will for the laws of the realm; they are animated by the worst principles; and if you do not grant what they demand, without any reference to its nature, they will become traitors and rebels; THEREFORE you ought to concede every thing they ask. This is the sole argument, and it would be just as valid a one as it now is, if it were used to obtain power for the Catholics to change the dynasty, destroy the Constitution, raise their Church on the ruins of the Established one, and sweep away every vestige of freedom. Disqualification is set up as the ground for conferring trusts; and the certainty that a man, as a public functionary, would abuse his power, into the means of bringing all manner of evil on the State, is held forth as an omnipotent reason for making him one.

Upon the whole, then, on every principle of right, expediency, and even public necessity, the Catholics ought still to be excluded from the VOL. XXIV.

public offices they seek. Until the despotism of their religion is destroyed, their union is dissolved, their power is broken, a balance of Protestants is established against them, and they are placed under proper leaders, are made obedient to the laws, and are filled with good principles, the disabilities must remain.

What, then, ought to be done in Ireland? Something must be done. Saying nothing of other matters, the Catholics, by their conduct at the Clare election, have rendered it impossible for the Government to avoid doing something. Things cannot remain as they are.

What then ought to be done? Mr G. R. Dawson could only discover, as an alternative to emancipation, a return to the penal laws. We feel prodigious difficulty in restraining ourselves from saying of this individual what we think, when we mention him. Is there no other alternative? Yes; and even renegade eyes might easily have perceived it. To discover what ought to be done, dive not into metaphysics, wander not into abstract doctrines; keep aloof from party feelings, and consult common reason. Place before you the glaring evil, and let such reason prescribe the remedy.

For some years the Irish Government has been only a nominal one. It has been something worse. It has practically existed to prevent Ireland from being governed: its power has been employed to crush opposition to the Catholics, and make them what they are. What is the present one? Here is a Lord Lieutenant, who vigilantly punishes the police officers for wearing, on a particular occasion, a shred of orange ribbon; and who, instead of punishing the parents of those seditious libels, and treasonable regulations, which fill Ireland with intolerable evils, bestows on them personal civilities. This, we presume, is a specimen of that impartiality, of which he boasts so indecorously. He declares that he will never ask any man to change his religion; and that he will always support the principle which he first professed, and which he made a condition of, when he accepted his office-to know no man by his religion. It must be observed, that this is the principle, not of a Judge, but of the head of the Irish Executive. His Excellency, it appears, thinks with those 3 I

who hold that "one religion is as good as another, and that the Reformation was a mere matter of political expediency." What a pity that the parents of the Revolution of 1688 were not of the same opinion! We are constrained to ask-is not the Catholic religion, politically considered, a pernicious one to society? Is there an Established Church in Ireland, and is it the duty of the Government to protect and strengthen it? Those who take such men from the only profession they know, to put them into such offices, have much to answer for to God and their country. Then here is a Chancellor who is a favourer of emancipation, and who, on the principle of impartiality, fills the Magistracy with Catholics, but who will not, on the same principle, enforce the laws against the libels and illegal acts of the demagogues. And then, here is a Secreta ry, who, two or three years ago, de clared in Parliament, that thencefor ward he would employ “all his energies" in favour of emancipation. The Irish Government has gone on from bad to worse, until it now combines the extreme of imbecility, with gene ral harmony among its members in favour of the Catholics. With such a Government, how can the affairs of the Irish Church be properly managed; and how can Ireland be in any other than its present condition?

The grand error is, Ireland, putting inatters of trade out of sight, is governed as a separate country. Neither its own Government, nor the British one, will remember, that it is part and parcel of the United Kingdom. Whatever might be the case if it were a distant colony, it must, as what it is, be governed on the principles on which England is governed. The Catholics must be treated as Dissenters, and the religion of the State must be protected and promoted. The present system is rapidly destroying the Church in Ireland, and if the disabilities be removed, it will do this still more rapidly; the fall of the Church will render Ireland independent, or light up a desolating war in it for independence. This system is injuring, and endangering the Church, and every thing valuable in England. The United Kingdom is in truth "divided against itself;" its two Governments act on opposite and conflicting principles; and bold indeed is the man

who will venture to say that its fall is far distant.

What, then, is the first glaring want of Ireland? An efficient Government, composed of able, energetic men, who will act on sound principles,―men who will enforce obedience to the laws, and carry into effect the necessary measures for rendering the Catholics peaceable and orderly subjects.

If it be true that the Catholic Association has usurped the functions of the Government, trampled on the laws, produced the most grievous evils, and placed Ireland on the brink of rebellion, it must be equally true that it ought to be effectually crushed. You cannot deny the conclusion. If you say that you cannot crush it, our reply is-Disgrace office no longer with your cowardice and incapacity. A few years ago, England was in circumstances, which greatly resembled the present ones of Ireland. The lower orders, to a very formidable extent, were formed into seditious combinations, for the purpose of obtaining changes in the constitution and laws; they continually held riotous meetings, which were got up and presided over by itinerant demagogues. The country was convulsed to its centre; and rebellion was threatened, and even commenced. What was done? Did Government concede and conciliate? Did his Majesty and his Ministers admit the radical O'Connells and Lawlesses into their presence, and lavish on them civilities? Was it thought necessary to grant universal suffrage, and the thousand other "rights" which the "persecuted" and " орpressed" Associations demanded? No. The English demagogues and their dupes had infinitely worse luck than the Irish ones have had, or are likely to have. Proper laws were made, by which the Magistrates were empowered to prevent all public meetings from being held without their sanction; and which prohibited the demagogues from going from place to place to get up such meetings. These laws were eminently effectual.

Here is a precedent. Prohibit by law the demagogues from spouting scurrility and treason in any place save Dublin. Empower the Magistrates or the Government to prevent all public meetings from being held without their consent. Make the publication of the speeches delivered at any meet

ing, no matter what it may be called, evidence of its being a public one; cite the reporters as witnesses; and subject the orators to pains and penal ties, should they have held the meeting, without the requisite consent of authority. With regard to the Rent, make it highly penal for money to be subscribed for any purpose, without the consent of the Government. Give the Magistrates and Government ample power to prevent, as well as to punish; it will not do to make prevention depend on punishment.. Enable them to prevent meetings from be ing held, to prevent combinations from being formed, and to prevent money from being collected.

This would be equally simple and effectual in operation. It would not, like the Insurrection Act, injure the body of the people; it would never be felt by the peaceable and well-disposed; and it would merely restrain the demagogues and traitors. Now why, when this in substance has been done in England, cannot it be done in Ireland? It must be remembered, that in times when England was in less dangerous circumstances than Ireland is in, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended. We cannot see why the one island should be treated with more indulgence than the other. We cannot perceive that O'Connell's gang and their dupes deserve a whit more lenity than was deserved by the Hunts and their deluded instruments. In our judgment, the English Radicals had just as much right to overthrow the constitution, as the Irish Catholics have. We cannot for our lives be lieve, that because these Catholics are subject to disabilities, they have a right to be lawless, and to plunge the empire into ruin.

Then there are the elections. If Catholics offer themselves, cannot you prohibit them by law from being put in nomination? With regard to the voters, if you cannot destroy the despotism of the priest, you can at least subject him to pains and penalties for interfering; and you can destroy the fictitious freeholders. The latter are, in truth, in regard to principle, a dis grace to, and a cancer on, the constitution. On every principle on which the corrupt boroughs of England have been disfranchised, the fictitious free holders of Ireland have forfeited all right to the elective franchise. We

need not enlarge on the penury and wretchedness which flow from the creation of them, or on the savage rioting and bloodshed which they cause at every election. It is only necessary for us to observe, that they abuse their trust, in a manner destructive of the best interests of the country. They give the power to elect the majority of Irish Members to a corporation, which was never intended by the constitution to have any share in such elec tion. They produce all the evils of popular election, without any of the benefits. Ireland has the tumult, riot ing, and animosity, but in other respects it is practically without a representative form of government; nay, it is in a worse condition than it would be under an absolute one, for, through these freeholders, the legislature, so far as it is concerned, is formed and controlled by a corporation, which has a deep interest in injuring to the ut most the general interests of the community. When we see this corpora tion's gang of minions publicly pro mulgating laws which are to bind the electors of all parts in their choice, and the Members for all places, in their votes-when we see this Dublin gang deciding who shall, and who shall not, represent the Irish counties and boroughs-and when we see those who wish to represent these counties and boroughs, addressing themselves, not to the lawful electors, but to this gang at Dublin, and binding themselves to the most unconstitutional pledges of its dictating as the price of the seats-when we see all this, we think the existence of these fictitious freeholders can only be defended by those who wish to injure Ireland and the empire in every manner.

In those parts which are inhabited almost exclusively by Catholics, the latter, if the qualification be raised to a proper height, will still select the representatives, and they will still be to a pernicious degree under the dic tation of their Church. No Protest ant landlord will be able to depend on the fidelity of his Catholic tenantry. The Protestant landowners, who wish to retain their just rights and influ ence, must perform a duty to themselves and their country, alike import ant and arduous. They must plant a number of Protestants on their estates, sufficient to balance the number of Catholics. The duty rests on the

Whig as well as the Tory; if the disabilities be removed, the Whig candidates will be as scornfully rejected for Catholic ones, as the Tory candidates. Even now the Whigs are as much deprived of their influence, as the Tories. If the tenant violate his solemn compact, the penalty ought to be exacted, no matter what he may suffer from it. The Protestants permit themselves to be trampled on in every way. Their tenant violates his agreement, and they are deterred from repossessing themselves of what he has justly forfeited, by the clamour of the wretches who drag him into the violation. In doing this, they tamely prostrate themselves to the tyranny of the demagogues, and encourage the people to despise them, the laws, and every thing save the demagogues. They ought to remember, that if their ejection of their refractory Catholic tenants for Protestant ones, would produce temporary and partial evils, it would speedily yield the greatest benefits to general society, and the whole body of Irish tenantry. From those parts of Ireland where the Protestants are the weakest, and where it is essential for public good that their number should be increased as much as possible, many thousands of them are literally banished annually by the oppressions of the Catholics. If they were properly located and protected, they would secure to the Aristocracy its just influence, and produce that balance against Catholicism, which is so imperiously necessary. It is a matter of the very highest state necessity for all the best interests of both Ireland and Britain, that a counterpoise of Protestants should be formed throughout the former.

We have shewn that it would be extremely easy to frame temporary laws which would be effectual in putting down the Association, and restoring order; and that they would not be a whit more severe than laws or other measures, to which England in modern times has been more than once subjected. What then can be plead ed against the enactment of such laws, when the necessity for them is so fearfully apparent? It is assumed that the House of Commons will only sanction them on condition that the disabilities be removed.

This assumption forms as gross a libel on the House of Commons, as

could well be imagined. It is unanimously agreed, that gigantic evils exist, which threaten the empire with the most grievous calamities, in addition to the tremendous mass of ills which already flows from them. It is agreed, with equal unanimity, that they ought to be removed. There is not a Member of the House-we do not even except the degraded menials of O'Connell and his gang-who is not convinced that the evils exist, and that they should be effectually remedied. Yet we are told that the House of Commons will not suffer these evils to be touched, unless a fundamental change is made in the constitution and laws, to which the Crown, the Peers, and the vast majority of the community, are strongly opposed. We are told that if this change be not made, the House of Commons is determined that the evils shall not be molested, but shall produce what they do, and bring on the empire ruin and dismemberment. We are told that the House of Commons, if it be not permitted to make a change, which, in the conviction of what constitutes the country, would endanger the constitution, and be the parent of incalculable mischief, is resolved to protect and nurture that, which, in its own conviction, is the source of every thing that can scourge and destroy the empire. It is incre dible! Our veneration for the institutions of our country will not suffer us to believe it, until the fatal proofs are placed before us.

If this should by possibility be true, we would ask the House of Commons from what school it has drawn its new definitions of duty? We would ask by whom it has been taught thus preposterously to confound matters of necessity with those of mere opinion, and to refuse to repress and punish guilt in any other way than through speculative innovation? We are very sure that it has not received the instruction from the constitution and laws; for both reprobate it in the strongest manner. Passing by the heads of parties and the stripling Members, of whom it would be idle in us to say any thing, we cannot conceive how any independent experienced Member can be so far the audacious betrayer of his trust, and enemy of his country, as to rise in his place and say-"I know that in Ireland the Government is beaten to the dust, the laws are

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