with fome of the ableft and honeft men whom this country ever faw; one man in particular, whose eloquence will be felt and admired as long as the English language fhall be known and understood, or there fhall remain a man of true taste in these kingdoms; whofe patriotifm and integrity fhall be revered as long as public virtue retains a friend: the hiftorians of future times will rank him among the benefactors of nations; among that chofen band, who deferve the recollection of a grateful pofterity, It will then be remembered, that the fame man led this country to commerce, to conftitution, and to union.

I hope to hear no more of corporate refolutions; at leaft for the future, I hope they may be written with the fanity of men, and the moderation of gentlemen; thefe refolutions are I fear fometimes compofed under the oppreflion of indigeftion, or may be the hafty ebullitions of fancies, warm with wine.

When I read that Protestant tyranny, and Catholic flavery, were derived from God, and that the misfortune of the anceftor was the charter of the defcendant, I forgot the blafphemy in the monftrous profcription of the claim, and in the foolish affertion that Proteftant power had no better origin than force, and conféquently no better fupporter than the bayonet.

Major Doyle, faid, the hiftory of paft ages has not produced a moment more pregnant with awful events, than that at which I have the honour to addrefs you. But amidst the many ferious confiderations which claim your attention, one, of predominant

predominant magnitude, irrefiftably demands exclufive preference. What fubject can ftand in competition with the happinefs of three-fourths of our countrymen? Let me correct the expreffion; the happiness of the whole community is at a stake. For it is the righteous doom of heaven, that wherefoever man fhall tyrannize over his brother, jealoufy and fear of the oppreffed blight every comfort of the oppreffor. Nay, were it poffible to fmother apprehenfion, the heart becomes fo vitiated by the habit of fyftematic injuftice, that it loses its beft capacity of enjoyment.

I abjure you, therefore, by every tie that can influence mankind; by your humanity, by your juftice, by your dearest interests, to weigh difpaffionately the fituation of the Catholics of Ireland, to which his majefty particularly points your attention, with a benignity only to be equalled by the wisdom of the measure. The Catholic fubjects at leaft treble the number of all other defcriptions united; their loyalty to their fovereign, and fidelity to their fellow-citizens, has for a century stood unimpeached, under circumstances the most trying, under opportunities the most inviting; yet thefe men ftill remain as aliens and almost unacknowledged in their native land.

In the maturity of merits fo long proved, they have, at length, come forward to ask from you the rights of citizenship. An hon. gentleman has said, and even thought it an effort of liberality, that all privileges fhould be extended to them, confiftent with the Safety of other perfuafions, and the Proteftant Afcendancy. Sir, this is an invidious way of ftating the question, and not lefs erroneous

than

than invidious., No danger exifts from the Catholic participation of privileges, it would give them a civic intereft, which muft overbear every confideration, flowing from the difference of religious opinion,

In truth religion has nought elfe to do with the queftion. Happy would it be for the Catholics, if their claims were to be tried by the criterion of our holy religion, which preaches to its followers the balmy spirit of philanthropy, and teaches us to do unto all men as we would they fhould do unto us.

The question now prefents itself too diftinctly to admit of any gloffes with which petty intereft has heretofore diftinguifhed its real quality. If there fhould be in this affembly any men, who for a selfish advantage have conftantly obftructed the courfe of juftice to the Catholics, to them I will fay "You have fhewn yourselves unequal to embrace even the farveling pigmy policy which you affected to admire." Had it been your object to maintain a difparity of condition between the Proteftants and Catholics, you ought to have extended to the latter at least fuch a portion of advantages as would have been a decent price for their acquiefence and fubmiffion. But in the true fpirit of haberdashers of justice, you have haggled in your bargin, till a generous pride has forced the Catholic to affert the integrity of his birth-right, and demand the full extent of what is due to him as the citizen of a free community.

It is faid they have already received benefits from the legislature. I admit it, and I fee that the country has improved accordingly. The profpe- : rity of Ireland has proceeded part paffu with Catholic emancipation. Convinced that the one cannot G

be

be perfect, without the completion of the other, I fhall give my voice decidedly and unequivocally for the entire and total removal of every difqualification whatsoever, which now preffes on the Catholic fubjects of Ireland. As a fubject devoted to the interest of my fovereign, and his illuftrious house; as a fervant, attached by every tie of gratitude to a Prince, whose interest must be, as I know his affections are deeply engaged in the welfare of this kingdom-and as an Irifhman, anxious for the liberty of my country, I urge the only meafure that can fecure both;-Nil actum reputans, fi quid fupereffet agendum. And when I allude to that Illuftrious Perfonage, it is to a Prince, who, in return for his generous protection, requires no venal dereliction of principle, no flavifh fuppreffion of fentiment. But who will give credit to the honefty of an opinion, though it may differ from his own inclinations-a Prince who has the magnanimity to fcorn the adulation of interested parafites, or the fervile obfequioufnefs of an intimidated head;-and who feeks a tribute worthy of confcious manliness, in the dignifying, because fpontaneous, homage of a proud and elevated people! The house will forgive, I am fure, this irrefiftible effufion. This will give you the ftrong government the hon. gentleman wifhes for; with this aid you may defy Paine and all his works, the French mania and all their Jacobine emiffaries; you will have a united people to oppofe to all enemies foreign or domeftic. Sir, I confefs, I love a ftrong government, because I know that liberty cannot exist without it; I will tell you how to have one; make your people happy, and your government will be ftrong-adopt the motto taken up by your chancellor, I mean your late chancellor, be juft and fear not, and I am convinced that his majefty, by his gracious

gracious interpofition in behalf of his oppreffed fubjects, has given the beft refutation to the antimonarchical libels of Paine.

Mr. Curran adverted to the rejection of the Catholic petition by the influence of the Irish adminiftration. The principle, Sir, of that rejection has been difavowed by the throne. Adminiftration has now an intereft diftinct from the united wifhes of the people, and their fovereign. The prefent question, I feel is between a fovereign who has faved the people, and an administration who would have destroyed it. I will vote for that fovereign and that people. Their petition was rejected by thofe who called themselves their reprefentatives; the next year that fame petition paffed over that parliament, and approached the throne. Had it been rejected there, there remained only one other throne for mifery to invoke, and from that last and dreadful appeal, let it never be forgotten by Irish gratitude, that we have been faved by the piety and compaffion of the father of his people. The oppofition to the amendment I therefore confider as conveying the fenti ment which we felt of the profligacy which expofed us, and of the gracious interpofition by which we have fo providentially been preserved.

Mr. Coote. Sir, I declare that the charge against government, for having influenced grand juries, is totally deftitute of truth: I am convinced grand juries would not be influenced by any government in the charge alluded to; I will not fhrink from openly and decidedly acquainting the house with the truth, fo far as concerned a grand jury of which I had been foreman: That I had proposed to express a disapprobation of the affembling a convention

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