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forbade them to pray by proxy; it seemed "come yourselves if you like; "come in person with your humble "prayers, but none of your praying by deputy." -To enforce this the government, on the 30th of July, issued a Proclamation forbidding the election of Delegates and also the meeting of such persons as had been already chosen Delegates, and calling upon all Magistrates, Sheriffs and others, to be aiding and assisting in the enforcement of such prohibition. Yet, notwithstanding this Proclamation, the Committee met the next day, and passed Resolutions expressive of their decided opinion, that the Proclamation was contrary to law; but, it appears, that, on the 8th of August, a warrant was issued by the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Downes, upon which warrant several persons were taken up and carried be fore him, who admitted them to bail to stand their trial for the offence alledged against them. There appears to have been, at this beginning, only five persons arrested, namely, Edward Sheridan, Thomas Kirwan, Gregory Scurlog, H. Edmond Taaffe, and Dr. John Breen, the first for being chosen a Delegate at a place called Liffy Street Chapel, and the other four for acting as electors. Thus stands the matter at this time. The Catholics deny that the Proclamation is lawful. It has been grounded, as the reader will see, upon an Act passed in the year 1793 (the famous year of the Autijacobin war), called the Convention Act; and this Act, the Catholics say, does not forbid what they have now been doing, and cannot be construed to mean any such prohibition.There are several lights in which this question is to be viewed; and the first is, whether the Proclamation be agreeable to law; or, rather, what is the meaning of the law; for, a Proclamation, not founded in law, is no more than an old ballad or one of the quack puffs that are handed out to people passing through Temple Bar. The Convention Act was intended to put an end to the Societies formed and forming, in 1793, for the purpose of procuring a Parliamentary Reform; but, it made "unlawful "assemblies" of all meetings of persons, who should be "elected by any part of "the people, under pretence of petition"ing for, or, in any other manner, pro"curing an alteration of matters estab. "lished by law in Church or State.".

That this Act had not the Catholics in view is very plain; for, at the time it was

passed, the Union, which gave rise to the present complaints of the Catholics, had not taken place. The Convention Act was intended solely to prevent the meeting of Delegates, bodies of whom were then forming in England and Scotland as well as in Ireland, and the main object of whom was a Reform in the Commons' House of Parliament. What has succeeded the passing of that Act we all pretty well know; we see and feel the effects of it and similar Acts daily and hourly; and we have, perhaps, only had, as yet, a mere taste of those effects. But, what we have now to consider is, whether the Act in question can be fairly construed to extend to the present case. The Act says, that the assembly shall be considered unlawful, if it take place under pretence of petitioning; and, therefore, if it can be proved, that there was no pretence at all in this case, but that the object really was to prepare and present a petition, I do not see how it is possible to make it out that an assembly of the Catholics upon this occasion was an unlawful assembly; and, if it was not unlawful before the proclamation was issued, let it be well recollected, that the issuing of the proclamation did not, and could not make it so.--The Convention Act was passed for the purpose of preventing forced innovations: it was passed to prevent the people from choosing men, whose object, it was asserted, was to make great alterations in the government. Now, will any one pretend to say that the Catholic delegates come under this description. Their object is, and long has been, well known; it has been clearly defined; every body understands 'it. The Catholic delegates are merely the messengers from the several districts of the kingdom, bearing the people's wishes as to the petition. And, let it be observed, that this petition has in view, no alteration in Church or State. It leaves the church and the state just as they now are. It prays, indeed, that the petitioners may be admitted to partake in certain emoluments and honours, which the government has to bestow: It prays that the petitioners may be relieved from the odium of exclusion: it prays that they may be placed upon the same footing as the rest of their fellow subjects: and I put it to any man of common sense, whether such a petition can be said to contemplate an alteration of matters established by law in Church or State. I think that such a man will answer in the negative; for, if this be not the case, what

-But, the ministerial papers tell us ; they assert, and in the most unqualified manner, that the professed object of the Catholics is not their real object; that the doors of the legislature are always open to them; that their petitions have been received, and have been discussed with the utmost solemnity; that emanci

guage of the Catholics, and all these assertions, so boldly made in the Courier of the 13th instant, are just so many base and atrocious falsehoods. The same writer says, that the real object of the Catholics is to arm the people against the government, and, in short, to rouse the country to rebellion.The man who writes this knows it to be false; but he knows that it is likely to answer his purpose, namely that of awaking the old prejudices in the minds of some classes of the people in England and Scotland, who, it must be confessed, have been but too ready to listen to accusations such as are here presented, and thereby to prevent the adoption of those measures which have, so long, been necessary to the real union, the strength and the happiness of the kingdom.

is there that we can petition about which | tion, and those who oppose us, only wish may not be said to belong to matters to deprive us of the means of doing it. established by law, in Church or State? It is well known that there are many German and Aristocratic French officers and also Dutch officers in our army. There is an act of parliament that provides that these men may serve and may obtain high rank though they be Roman Catholics. Now, shall it be said, that the Irish; that any number of Irish Gentle-pation is of no more importance to them men, because they are met for the pur- than a child's rattle, and that they say so; pose of framing a petition, praying that that they want a repeal of the Union, a they may be placed upon a footing not popish parliament, separation from Great less favourable than these Germans and Britain, and, perhaps, other connections; Frenchmen; shall it be said that such a" these objects," say they, "if you wil meeting of Irish Gentlemen, aims at an "but sit quietly by while we pursue, alteration of matters established by law," will render us indifferent as to Catholic in Church or State? Shall it be said " emancipation. Such is the language of that they are an unlawful assembly?—It" the Catholics."Such is not the lanwas seen, at the time of passing the Con vention Act, that it might be said to be intended to stifle all petitioning at once; and, therefore, a clause was introduced, providing that the Act should not be construed, in any manner, to prevent or impede the undoubted right of his Majesty's subjects to petition him or the Houses of Parliament for a redress of any public or private grievance. Yet, we see, that now this Act is made use of for the purpose of preventing the Catholics of Ireland from pursuing those means which, they assert, are absolutely necessary to come at a full and fair expression of their wishes. In every case of this sort the success of a petition must evidently depend, not only upon the numbers of the petitioners, but, upon their unanimity also. And how, I should be glad to know are the numbers or the wishes of the Irish Catholics to be fully ascertained, except by the means of delegates, or persons under some other name, appointed for the purpose of bringing those numbers and those wishes to one point? The opponents of Parliamentary Reform. have often urged upon us, that there are no petitions; that the people do not want a Reform, if they did they would ask for it. But, is it not manifest, that, in order to collect the wishes of a whole people, you must form in the first place something of an elective body? They call out to us for petitions; but, the moment any one sets about the only mode of col lecting them, he is acting unlawfully, and must abide by the consequences. We are thus placed in a situation like that of poor Sancho at the Banquet. We, like the Irish Catholics, have free liberty to peti

-Yet, as if it were to be taken for granted, that the Catholics of Ireland really wish for a separation from England and a connection with France, the same writer goes on to observe, that he need not wish them a severer punishment than they would meet with in the accomplishment of their wishes. It is hardly possible to conceive any thing more unjust, any thing more injurious than these charges against the Catholics. Herein, however, the Catholics have a lesson: they will now see that there is nothing to exempt them, so long as they have complaints to make, from the lot of all others who venture to complain of grievances; which lot invariably is, to be accused of partiality for the enemy, of designs to overturn the settled order of things, of a wish to produce confusion and bloodshed, and, in short, of being the worst of sub

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jects and the worst of men.After these | enemy to invade that country.
false and base accusations against the
principal persons amongst the Catholics,
this writer turns round and pays his court
to the mass of the Irish people. "We
except" says he, "the great mass of the
"Irish people from any participation in
"such wishes. They know that they are
"not restricted in the exercise of their
"religion, that they are not prevented
"from the right of petitioning; they re-
"main calm and tranquil, because they
"do not want the blessings of Buona-
parte's system; because they do not
"desire to make common cause with those
"who wish for separation from England
" and connection with France.". -Well,
now, if this be true, what an argument is
here, against the measures which have
been recently adopted in Ireland. We are
here told that the mass of the people in
that country know that they are not re-
stricted in the exercise of their religion,
that they enjoy the full right of petition,
that they desire no separation from Eng-
land and no connection with France, that
they are too wise to want any of the bless-
ings of Buonaparte's system; and that,
therefore, they remain calm and tranquil.
-Do they so indeed? And is this their
way of thinking? If this be true, why are
you afraid to let them meet together?
What danger could possibly arise from
their assembling? Nay, thou base and
venal man, why do you suppose, that they
would meet at all? If this, which you
have given, be the true character of the
thoughts and the views of the mass of the
people in Ireland, hów is it possible that
the peace of the country should be en-
dangered by any calls made upon those
people for any purpose whatever, much
less for the purpose of choosing delegates
to be the bearers of their sentiments and
their wishes; and which delegates would,
of course, be such men as were conspicuous
for their hatred of the system of Buona-
parté, for the abhorrence of a separation
from England, and their still greater ab-
horrence of a connection with France?
-Thus is this vender of falsehoods
convicted out of his own lips. But so
it always happens to those who have
not truth for their guide. This writer
looking back upon the former part of
his Article, perceived, that its natural
tendency was to cause it to be believed
that rebellion was a prevalent desire in
Ireland; and that, in fact, he had been
writing and publishing an invitation to the

Oh! says

he, this will not do. And yet I must not suppress my accusations. I will, therefore, make a distinction between these Catholic leaders and the Catholics in general; and I will say that these latter hate Buonaparté and love the present order of things; and thus I shall counteract the dangerous tendency of my former assertions. But he did not perceive that what he was doing for this purpose, was completely at variance with every word that he had said in defence of measures in Ireland, and that all the aid he was giving to those measures was to prove, that one of their advocates at least, was amongst the most foolish as well as the most base of mankind.--I cannot quit this part of the subject, without observing upon the effect which is likely to be produced upon the mind of the enemy, by the circumstance of there being a prohibition in any part of this kingdom, against the people meeting together for any purpose, not including positive breaches of the peace. Such prohibition must be necessary or unnecessary: if the latter, I need not characterise the conduct of the government that lays such prohibition; and if the former, what must be the state of the country, what must be the disposition of the people, and how heavily must the fact weigh against us in all the calculations of the enemy and of the world! If the people have no reason to complain; if they be contented; if they have reason to be contented; if this be the case, what reason, is there, let me ask, to be afraid of their assembling together? When men think rightly we all know how much more strongly they feel, in consequence of communications with one another: we all know the powerful effect of public assemblies; and why should not the government avail itself of the benefit naturally arising from this source? If the people be not unanimous in sentiment of approbation of the government, still, if there be a majority of them of that description, the government has nothing to fear from assemblies of the people, unless we can suppose that in this case, contrary to what happens in all other cases in the world, the majority is to yield to the sentiment and wish of the minority. So that, it may, I think, be taken for granted, that when the government has recourse to prohibitions against popular assemblies, the conclusion to be drawn is, that it feels a consciousness of the existence of that which this venal writer is not

willing to allow as existing in Ireland at | tem, so fatal to England; but, at the same this time.--Turn the matter on which time, I must found my judgment upon side we will, it is, at any rate, impossible "the evidence of facts;" I must refer to to avoid seeing, that Ireland, from one my senses when I would say what I do, or cause or another, is far from being in a do not, believe; and, if they bid me bestate such as a real lover of harmony and lieve a thing, I am a hypocrite if I say peace could wish; and, let me ask those that I believe the contrary.-There has, who are continually telling us of the dis- for some time past, evidently been a suscontents amongst the subjects of Napoleon, picion growing up amongst the Whigs, what they would say, what hopes they that the Prince had abandoned them, and would express, what exultation we should taken to their opponents, not only in form hear from them, if events were to take but in substance; that is to say, that he place in Alsace, in Provence, or even in had, after all, given the preference to Mr. Italy or Holland, such as are now taking Perceval and his colleagues, and that, in place in Ireland? I have not the least case of his father's death, he meant not to doubt that they would thereon found a change the ministry, and, of course, not to prediction of his overthrow, and of the change the system. The news-papers, in speedy deliverance of all Europe.--And favour of the Whigs, have very sedulously why, I ask for, perhaps, the hundredth endeavoured to persuade the public that time, should such events take place in that was not the fact; but that, on the conIreland? What answer can any one give trary, the Prince still adhered to them; me to this question? Is it the fault of the that he suffered, indeed, the ministers to people? Surely a whole nation can never do nearly what they pleased until the year be in fault for so many years together; of restriction was over; and that he longed and besides, if it be so, why are the peo- most impatiently for its being over, in ple not made a better people? It is not, order that he might avail himself of the moreover, our custom, when speaking of services of the Opposition. This has been rigid measures adopted, towards his sub- the language of the prints devoted to the jects by our enemy, to ascribe the fault to Whigs; but, on this the Ministerial prints the people, whom we, and with good rea- have put a flat denial. They have assertson I believe, generally look upon as be-ed, that the Prince cordially liked his miing in the right. Be the fact, therefore, as it may, we certainly shall have no reason to complain if the world mete us back our own measure of judgment, and look upon the Irish Catholics as not being in the wrong.-With this view of the matter before us, it is natural for us to ask ourselves, when, oh! when, will any change take place in the situation of Ireland? And this question naturally leads us to inquire, what are the wishes of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, now Regent of the kingdom; what are his wishes upon this important subject; because, upon that must depend, whether the Catholics have any thing to expect or not, either now or whenever a change shall take place as to the possessor of the executive power.This is a question of very great consequence it goes to a decision as to the fate of the Catholics; and, indeed, it falls little short of being decisive as to what the whole kingdom has to expect in future; in short, it goes nearly to settle the allimportant point, namely, whether the Prince has, or has not, embraced the Pitt system of rule.--For my part, I am disposed to believe that His Royal Highness has not, and never will, embrace that sys

nisters; that he approved of all their measures; and that he had no intention at all of changing them, even in case of the death of his father.- -Between assertions so directly opposite, and yet equally positive, we must judge from facts that are notorious and that neither party can deny.

-Now, what are these facts? First, as to the negative; we have not heard any speech, any message, any expression of the Prince, conveying even a hint of his impatience to get out of the hands of the present ministers. But, on the other hand, we have seen him make appointments, purely in his own gift, just in such a way as a man would have made them, supposing him to be a cordial friend of the present ministers. I do not allude to the appointment of the Duke of York. That might, perhaps, be fairly ascribed to mere fraternal feeling, and was, in my opinion, of very little consequence to the nation; or, at least, not of sufficient consequence to call off its attention from many other objects. But, the appointment of the new Lord Melville to all the Offices held by the former one of that name; this was a thing that gave me, I must confess, a shake as to my opinions

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"sicians gave him reason to believe that "his Royal Father would speedily resume the Government, his Royal Highness

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respecting the real politics of his Royal" was contrived since the days of MachiaHighness. It seemed to me to be some- "vel.-When his Royal Highness the thing like shaking hands with the whole "Prince of Wales accepted the Regency, set and the whole system, and especially as he saw plainly, that under the restricI saw, that, at the same time, several well- tions imposed on him it would be in known adherents of the Prince were re- "vain to attempt any object of great and ceiving favours at the hands of the minis- "permanent national good; and when, in ters. Still, however, I might be de- " addition to the nullity of his situation, ceived; and I was very unwilling to ex- "in point of power, the solemn and repress, or even hint, an opinion favouring" iterated asseverations of the King's Phythe idea of his Royal Highness having been won over to the system; but, there is no wisdom in shutting one's eyes and ears, and, from what I see and hear, I" naturally felt (as every man of sense felt must say, that there does not appear any "for him), that it would be most unfair to good reason to suppose, that the ministers "expect at his hands the immediate realizahave, in hardly any instance, acted in op- "tion of those fond hopes, which his future position to the wish of the Regent. The subjects had indulged on the prospect of contrary has been positively asserted by "his accession to power. His Royal the Morning Chronicle and as positively Highness relied on the justice of mandenied by the Courier; and this brings "kind to perceive, that, in fact, he had not us more closely to the case of the Irish "acceded to power, and that he had obCatholics, who, in all their publications,"tained from Mr. Perceval nothing more have loudly boasted of having the Prince" than the temporary administration of on their side, but who, as to this point es- "some of the royal attributes. On this pecially, have been flatly contradicted by "ground he appears to have resolved, that the ministerial prints, who tell them, that" as he could execute nothing effectually, the Prince's opinion, respecting them," it would be wiser not to attempt the execu agrees with that of his ministers, and, in "tion of any measure of importance during short, that he is resolved to pursue the the restrictions.-His Royal Highness, system, which, under his Royal Father," therefore, determined to continue all has "with the assistance of Divine Pro- things in their place. He removed no "vidence," brought this nation into its "Minister. He recommended no friend present safe, honourable and happy state. to the patronage of the King's Servants; In answer to assertions of this kind, the "and above all, he brought forward no meaMorning Chronicle of the 15th instant "sures of his orun.-Acting on this principublishes a very curious article. It is" ple fairly and honestly, his Royal Highvery clearly intended to make the public "ness had a full right to expect that the believe, that, as far as the Prince has Ministers, on their parts, should, at least, given his approbation to the measures "meet him half way, and abstain from against the Catholics, he has been deceived" disturbing the existing state of things, into it; that there has been a sort of plot by the obtrusion of any measures which against him; but that, as yet, the plot has might have for their object, the not wholly succeeded. This article is very strengthening their own system of Gocurious and worthy of the greatest atten- "vernment, in opposition to the known and tion. It may be looked upon as speaking," recorded principles of his Royal Highness. not what the Whigs themselves believe; "Forbearance to this extent, however, by but what they would wish to believe, and," no means suited the views of Mr. Per at all events, what they would have the "ceval. "To be thus," he argued, "is public believe. -The writer is upon the "" nothing; but to be safely thus" and subject of Ireland, and, after speaking of " he knew that he could not be "safely the disputed point relative to the in- thus," unless he could contrive to make terpretation of the Convention Act, he "such good use of his time during his possesproceeds thus: It is not a dry "sion of power, as either, by his representa"point of law, however, on which the "tions, to weaken the confidence of his Royal "judgment of the public at the present Highness in the soundness of the Whig prin"moment requires so much to be enlight-"ciples which he had imbibed; or to induce ened. It is fit that they now attend to "him, by the force of circumstances, to consi"the developement of one of the darkest "der a perseverance in the present system as a " and most artful political intrigues that ever "matter of necessity, even after the expiration

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