oppression to any individuals, without injury to any body of men, would gradually put an end to those which had already been formed. There was no man more convinced than he was of the absolute necessity of carrying into execution that part of the present measure which had for its object the extinction of monastic orders in this country. He entertained no doubt whatever, that if that part of the measure were not carried into execution, their lordships would very soon see this country and Ireland inundated by Jesuits and regular monastic clergy sent out from other parts of Europe with means to establish themselves within His Majesty's kingdom.

When he recommended this measure to their lordships' attention, they had undoubtedly a right to ask what were the reasons he had for believing that it would answer its object, not only from the example of all Europe, but from the example of what occurred in a part of this kingdom on a former occasion. If he was not mistaken, at the time of dispute between the Episcopalians and the kirk of Scotland, the state of society in Scotland was as bad then as the state of Society in Ireland was at the present moment. Their lordships knew, that abroad, in consequence of the diffusion of civil privileges to all classes, the difference between Protestant and Catholic was never heard. He was certain that he could prove to their lordships when he stated, when he said, that the state of society in Scotland, previous to the concession of civil privileges to the Episcopalians, was as bad as the present state of society in Ireland.

He hoped their lordships would give him leave to read a petition which had been sent to him that day, and which had been presented to Parliament at the period when those concessions were about to be made, and their lordships would perceive that the petition was almost a model of many petitions which had been read in their lordships house respecting the question under discussion. He was therefore in expectation, that should the present bill pass their lordships' house, there would be no longer occasion for those complaints which had been expressed to their lordships, and that the same happy

and peaceful state of things which had for the last century prevailed in Scotland would also prevail in Ireland. He would, with their lordships' permission, read the petition he had alluded to, and he thought that after they had heard it, they would be of the same opinion as himself with respect to the similarity it bore to many petitions which had been presented to their lordships on the Catholic question. The petition stated, that "to grant toleration to that party (the Episcopalians), in the present circumstances of the church, must unavoidably shake the foundation of our present happy constitution; overthrow those laws on which it is settled; grievously disturb that peace and tranquility which the nation has enjoyed since the late revolution; disquiet the minds of his Majesty's best subjects; increase animosity, confirm discora and tumult; weaken and enervate the discipline of the church; open a door to unheard vices, and to Popery as well as to other errors; propagate and cherish disaffection to the Government, and bring the nation under the danger of falling back into those errors from which it had recovered itself. The petition in conclusion stated, "that to grant toleration to the Episcopalians would be to establish iniquity by law, and they therefore prayed the members of the High Court of Parliament to uphold, and preserve the laws." He (the Duke of Wellington) sincerely hoped that as the prophecy contained in the petition he had just read had not been fulfilled, that a similar prophecy respecting the passing of the present bill, contained in many petitions presented to their lordships, would not be fulfilled. But he had other grounds besides those which he had stated for supposing that the proposed measure would answer the object in view.

There was no doubt that after this measure should be adopted, the Roman Catholics could have no separate estate; for he was sure that neither their lordships nor the other house of Parliament would be disposed to look upon the Roman Catholics, nor upon any thing that respected Ireland, with any other eye than that which they beheld whatever affected the interest of Scotland or of this country. For his own part, he would state that if he was disappointed in the hopes which he

entertained that tranquillity would result from this measure, he should have no scruple in coming down and laying before Parliament the state of the case, and calling upon Parliament to enable Government to meet whatever danger might arise. He should act with the same confidence that Parliament would support him then, as he had acted in the present case. Having now explained to their lordships the grounds on which this measure was brought forward; the state of Ireland; the inconvenience attending the continued agitation of the question; the difficulty, nay, the impossibility of finding any other remedy for the state of things in Ireland; the state of public opinion on the question; the divisions of the Government and of the Parliament thereon; the pretences, for so he must call them, which had been urged against the claims of the Catholics, founded on acts passed previous to the revolution; having stated likewise the provisions of the measure which he proposed as a remedy for all those inconveniences, he would trouble their lordships no further, except by beseeching them to consider the subject with that coolness, moderation, and temper, recommended in the speech from the Throne.

The debate which followed, continued during the three days, the 2d, 3d, and 4th of April. The Spiritual Lords who spoke, in addition to the mover of the Amendment, were the Archbishops of York and Armagh, the Bishops of London, Salisbury, Durham, and Oxford. They all opposed the Bill, with the exception of the last, who contended that concession was called for, not merely by the situation of Ireland, by the consideration of the immense military force found necessary for the maintenance of the public peace (which, after all, was not maintained), and by the consideration of the division of opinion in both houses of Parliament; but still more by the turn which talent and education had taken in this kingdom, with reference to the question; upon that fact the Right Rev. Bishop said he would stand. The Peers who opposed concession, were men advanced in years; but the individuals who were rising in the natural progress of things, to fill the high offices of the state, were, with scarcely an exception, in favour of this measure.

Ou the 7th and 8th of April, the Bill passed through a Committee, in which, as in the Commons, many amendments were moved, but not one carried. On the 10th of April it was read a third time, after another debate, which produced nothing new, and which terminated in the Bill being passed, by a majority of 104; 213 Peers having voted for it, and 109 against it. On the 13th of April it received the royal assent.

Ministers, of course, had assured themselves of that assent, and it was their duty to do so before bringing forward the measure; the difficulty of obtaining it, and the late period at which it was obtained, was always put forward by the Duke of Wellington, as the cause of this delay on the part of the Government in announcing their intentions, which look so like an arrangement to take the Protestant community by surprise. Besides the objections which his Majesty was understood to have always entertained to the measure or principle, it appeared from the communication between the Ministers and the Lord-Lieutenant, subsequently made public, when the recall of the latter was mentioned in the house of Peers, that the King had felt strongly the indignities cast upon his government, by the proceedings of the agitators, and by the connivance which allowed them to be continued with impunity. On the 11th of November, 1828, the Duke of Wellington, in a letter to the Lord-Lieutenant, after referring to those measures of the Viceroy, which were considered to betray a friendly and encouraging inclination towards the Association, said, "I cannot express to you adequately the extent of the difficulties, which these and other occurrences in Ireland create, in all discussions with his Majesty. He feels that in Ireland the public peace is violated every day with impunity, by those whose duty it is to preserve it, and that a formidable conspiracy existed, and that the supposed principal conspirators-those whose language and conduct point them out as the avowed principal agitators of the country-are admitted to the presence of his Majesty's representative in Ireland; and equally well received with the King's most loyal subjects." His Grace added in a subsequent communication of the 19th

of November, "I might nave, at an earlier period, expressed the pain I felt, at the attendance of gentlemen of your household, and even of your family, at the Roman Catholic Association. I could not but feel, that such attendance must expose your government to mis-construction. But I was silent, because it is painful to notice such things; but I have always felt that if these impressions on the King's mind should remain, and I must say that recent transactions have given fresh cause for them. I could not avoid to mention them to you in private communication, and to let you know the embarrassment which they occasion." In a still earlier communication, dated 28th September, the Duke of Wellington told the Lord Lieutenant, that the Catholic question, was "a subject of which the King never hears, or speaks of, without being disturbed." Of the reluctance with which his Majesty therefore was brought at length to consent to the introduction of the Bill no doubt could be entertained. The Duke of Wellington admitted, that his efforts to obtain that consent, had been continued during the summer and autumn; and it was pleaded as the excuse for the short notice, on which the measure was proposed, that the consent had been wrung from the King only a few days before, Parliament met in February. His Majesty's resistance therefore had been long and firm, it was not wonderful that he should at last have yielded to the representations, daily urged by those in whom he most confided, that a continued refusal could have no other effect, than to keep one part of his empire in misery, and expose the whole to rebellion, it might be to dismemberment. No room was left for counteracting the views thus assiduously pressed upon the royal mind; for the knowledge of what was going on, was carefully confined to the operators themselves; nor was it ever made known to those who might have interfered till it was found that his majesty's consent had already been obtained, and that interference came too late. That consent ennabled ministers to bring forward their plan fortified by the approbation of the Crown; that approbation, and their own influence ennabled them to command the majorities by which