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that the delirium occasioned by a political fever of twelve months' continuance has spent itself, and will be succeeded by a placid calm, during which, reason will resume its powers, and men will be counted such as they really are. It was whilst Caliban laboured under the effects of intoxication that he thought Stephano superior to human kind, but when the monster was sobered, he very rationally exclaimed,

-What a thrice-double ass

Was I, to take this drunkard for a God,

And worship this dull fool!

We hope and trust that the furor of the party is allayed, and that the patrons of Popery will at least reason with the good sense of Caliban.

The party is not in possession of the favour, or the confidence, of the Papists. Mr. Plunket will stand in need of all his abilities to soothe them. We regard not the efforts made at the feast of religious liberty held at the Free-Mason's Tavern, on the 10th of June, (auspicious day !) to give spirits to the discomfited, and to twist anew a rope of sand. Poor Lord Fingal had been wiser had he staid at home. His brother delegates, and he have gained nothing by their voyage to England, and their "journey to London." They have suffered a defeat, and have been obliged to undergo the disagreeable formality of a public condolence upon their disaster! We are sorry for them; but we feel indignant at the conduct, and the absurd speeches of two Princes of the House of Brunswick, and we laugh to scorn the contemptible threats of one of them respecting the formation of an Orange-Institution.* Does his Royal Highness know that the Papists detest the Free-masons as much as they do the Orange-men? If the latter are to be suppressed, for fear of offending the bland and merciful feelings of the Papists, so must the former likewise, and the illustrious Grand-master must lay aside his apron and masonic jinkumbobs to conciliate them. Lord Kenmare can tell him how the Titular Irish Bishops dislike masonry.-(See p. 4:9 of this miscellany; and p. 389.)-Our distinguished orator, Sir J. C. Hippisley is not liked by the Papists. Dr. O'Conor speaks of him very slightingly; and the whole party disdained his co-operation on the 11th of May, as we particularly mentioned in our last Number. The ingratitude of Mr. Canning (who knows as little of St. Austin, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Bellarmine, as of human nature and sound policy), [see p. 502,] struck us forcibly. Owing so much as he does to Sir John's box of Popish muniments, could not the sight of the box itself, charged with controversy to the very lid, subdue his saucy spirit? Let the Baronet quit such unfeeling associates; let him in future court none other distinction than that which

See His Royal Highness's authorised Speech, in the Appendix to "A Letter to the Duke of Sussex, by an Orangeman," 1s. 6d. Stockdale.

attaches on the character of an English country-gentleman.-One man, and perhaps only one, speaks and acts up to the highest wishes of the Papist ;a foaming orator,-his frightful expressions respecting the Prince's feather, so properly noticed in the Courier of June 11th, and the Dublin Journal of June 15th, fills us with disgust, and something beyond disgust. Still the Papists will only respect him to a certain degree. Whilst he continues a Protestant; though he may be disposed to concede all they ask to the Romanists, they will not concede salvation to him. They may occasionally compliment a fool; but their unrelenting souls will never permit them to go further. They can even, to serve their present purpose, huzza to the health of the owner of Wooburn Abbey ;-love him they cannot.

We are sorry for the puling accents of the Kirk of Scotland; concluding that the General Assembly has spoken the sentiments of that Establishment. It is always thus with half measures. The Papists claim the members of the Assembly as friends;-the Protestants suspect them. They have our pity: but they excite other feelings in the breast of one of our Irish correspon dents; with which we shall conclude these general observations.

"The conduct of the General Assembly in Scotland has filled me with indignation. As Popery was extinguished there above two centuries ago, they know nothing of its practical effects at present. "He jests at scars that never felt a wound." The Scotch were prompted by the sanguinary and tyrannical principles of Popery, to banish it from their native country; which they did with a rude hand, and a degree of intemperance, which to the honour of England was not practised there on the establishment of the reformation. Such was their fury against it, that they demolished many magnificent structures, which would have been an ornament to their country, and destroyed the archives of convents and monasteries, which would have thrown great light on the early history of their country. A Scotchman knows as little of the malignant effects of Popery as an inhabitant of Senegal does of the congelation of water by frost.. What a woeful picture has Ireland presented for 300 years, except while the penal laws imposed a salutary constraint on the votaries of the Romish Church; since their repeal, they have manifested the malignity of their principles in a most shocking degree. Nothing but a strong garrisop, and a numerous Protestant yeomanry prevent at this time, a renovation of the horrors of the 23d of July 1803."

REMARKS ON MR. GRATTAN'S BILL, AND MR. CANNING'S SUPPLEMENTARY CLAUSES.

We had the satisfaction, at the close of our last number, to congratulate our readers and the country at large on the vote of the House of Commons, by which, on the 24th of May, the bill of Mr. Grattan, with the

smelfungus additions of Mr. Canning, were disposed of. We then flattered ourselves that this decision of a majority of the House of Commons, (unquestionably in unison with an incalculable majority of the nation at large,) coming after so hard a contest, after so painful a struggle, and with all parties deprecating the keeping up of a discussion so irritating, would have had the effect of setting the question at rest. We presumed that even Mr. Grattan and Mr. Canning would have been glad at least to pause, after so evident a proof that their nostrum would not go down with all parties still more when it became clear, as most assuredly it has, that, even among those whom they were professing to serve, only a very small portion was disposed to thank them for, or even to receive in good part their labours, when the Romish Vicars Apostolical here, and the Romish Bishops in Ireland, as we shall presently record, had declared their project to be inadmissible, we did hope, as we said, that "the land would have peace." But it seems this is not to be the case. Mr. Grattan has given notice of his intention again to agitate the question, and in the next session again to bring in a bill to effect the purposes which he had in view; and, Mr. Canning, if we are correctly informed by the observations which he made on the 1st of June, respecting the proceedings of the Catholic (for so they style themselves without the adjunct of Roman") Board, shewed a dişposition again to enlist on that side. We are compelled, therefore, still to raise our "warning voice," and in the most earnest manner to beseech our Fellow Protestants not to remit any particle of their vigilance, but to remain at their post. We on our parts shall not cease, and God be thanked that we have the opportunity, to combat and expose the fallacies with which our ears are continually assailed, and to detect the misrepresentations and suppressions of the truth, by which alone any colour can be given to the claims thus set up by our adversaries. If, in doing this, we shall appear at any time to be, to a certain degree, guilty of repetition, our readers must not be surprised, nor blame us. The blame lies on those who are constantly repeating what has been a thousand times answered, and as often refuted. Another reason is, that we have a variety of adversaries, all of whom must be noticed; we have, as we formerly stated, two sorts of Papists; we have also false brethren; there are likewise those of weak judgment among us, who are led by their fears, or their foolishness, to follow after the Will-o'-the-Wisp of Romish liberality; and who will discover their error only when they are ingulphed in a bog, or tumbled over a precipice. To all these the same truths must be presented (for truth is always the same) and with little difference of aspect. As falsehood multiplies or varies itself, we must be incessant in opposing the same resistance, and must not as yet hunt after variety, lest we should, in ever

so small a degree, part, or be seduced, from our strong holds. It fact, too, almost all the acquiescence (such as it is) which has taken place in the claims of the Romanists, has arisen from sluggishness and indolence, and a disposition, but too common, to yield to those who make the most noise, and put on the most imposing appearance. In all such cases, what is required is not so much instruction or information, as that men should be warned and reminded, and even (for we are not disposed to suppress the word) alarmed.

Under these impressions, we shall proceed to make further and more particular observations on Mr. Grattan's Bill, and do our best to enable our readers to judge of its provisions; because, though the bill be for the present defunct, yet it is not improbable but it may rise again in a shape but little different. This is probable, because it is the same person who is again to bring forward the measure; and the more so, because a bill cannot be devised more favourable to the Romanists, to satisfy whom, seems to be almost the only object in the contemplation of Mr. Grattan.

First, however, we must recall to the minds of our readers that with which our last number concluded. We there requested of them to observe that the rejection of the bill was owing simply to the House having, in a committee, refused to accede to the clause, by which it was proposed to adınit Roman Catholics to seats in both Houses of Parliament. It was upon that, declared by their advocates, that without this they considered the Bill as of no use, and should not pursue it any further. It is now therefore, put beyond all doubt that it is POLITICAL POWER, and that only, the withholding of which is complained of. We may hope, therefore, in future, to hear somewhat less of persecution. It is now declared plainly, that nothing short of being admitted to a share in the government will satisfy them. They must be in office, or they will not be loyal subjects This is the only step that can quiet them. The Protestants are distinctly told, that if they will have peace they must concede all that is asked. This indeed has been the grand argument used by the advocates of Popery. We have been repeatedly told, that unless we do this, we can neither contend with Buonaparte, nor keep Ireland in order. Such is the boasted loyalty of this class of our fellow subjects; and this forms the only clew to the preamble of Mr. Grattan's Bill; which, in any other view, is quite unintelligible and even contradictory. It sets forth, that,

"Whereas the Protestant Succession to the Crown, is by the act for the further limitation of the Crown and the better securing the liberties of the people, established permanently and inviolably :

"And whereas the Protestant Episcopal Church of England and Ireland, and the DOCTRINE, Discipline and Government thereof, and likewise the

Protestant Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the DOCTRINE, Discipline and Government thereof are established permanently and inviolably:

"And whereas it would tend to promote the interest of the same, and strengthen our free Constitution, of which they are an essential part, if the civil and military disqualifications, under which his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects now labour, were removed :

"And whereas after due consideration of the Petitions of the Roman Catholics it appears highly advisable to communicate to them the blessings of our free form of government; and with a view to put an end to all religious jealousies between his Majesty's subjects, and to bury in oblivion all animosities between Great Britain and Ireland, so that the inhabitants of the respective countries may be bound together in all times to come, by the same privileges, and by the same common interest, in defence of their common liberties and government, against all the enemies of the British Empire. May it please," &c.

Now we must say, that, notwithstanding this preamble, we did, and do still, consider that the Roman Catholics enjoyed as much as any other of his Majesty's subjects, "the blessings of our free form of government ;” which enjoyment, or partaking of, consists, not in making speeches or voting in either House of Parliament, or in filling public offices; but, in being protected in our lives and properties, and having justice duly administered at home, and the nation successfully defended against its foreign enemies. We have been used to be told by those who are the most clamorous advocates for the Romanists, that the members of the House of Commons are the servants of their constituents, and that the ministers and persons in office are the servants of the public; and certainly to be in such situations, is not, in the language of reason or of strict propriety, any part of "the blessings of our free Constitution;" and yet this is all that the bill professes to give. Beside this, it also founds itself on the consideration of the petitions of the Roman Catholics only, though it is notorious that the table of the House of Commons was covered with petitions from other persons upon the subject; the preamble, therefore, plainly avows, that regard was had to the sentiments of the Roman Catholics only. For, indeed, what is said of the Protestants, seems put in, only by way of deriding them. In the first place, whatever "animosities" the Irish Papists have against the Protestants, whether English or Irish, certainly we have no "animosities" against them; nor can we (not disposed to look through Mr. Grattan's eyes) see, how religious jealousies will be removed by regulations purely civil. But, the most curious part of all, is the grave assertion (what command of face must he have had who VOL. I. [Prot. Adv. July, 1913.] 3 X

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