THE Parliamentary Debates During the Sixth Session of the Seventh Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, appointed to meet at Westminster, the Third Day of February 1825, in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King GEORGE the Fourth. HOUSE OF LORDS. The Earl of Liverpool said, that the alteration which had been suggested, after a full consideration, was not to do away the Quarantine laws; but, by some new regulations on the old system, to relax the severity of those laws. It was the opinion of persons the best qualified to form an opinion, that these laws were not necessary in all their rigour, to pre they were very inconvenient and injurious to the trading interests of this country. He had no objection to the production of the documents moved for by the noble lord, but their lordships would have an opportunity of fully discussing the question, when the bill on the subject came from the other House. Tuesday, April 19. QUARANTINE LAWS.] The Earl of Darnley rose, to call their lordships' attention to this subject; but as his intention was only to move for certain papers, to the production of which he expected no opposition, it would not, he said, be necessary to trespass long on their lord-serve the health of the people; and that. ships' attention. A committee of the House of Commons had made a report on the subject of the Quarantine laws, in consequence of which, an alteration had been proposed in laws which had preserved the health of this country for more than a century. Some ships, he had heard, had lately arrived from Alexandria, laden with cotton, which had been admitted immediately to pratique. He knew that these ships had clean bills of health. By the former practice, ships with foul bills of health were obliged to remain forty days in quarantine, and those with clean bills, twenty-one days: by the system now to be adopted, ships with foul bills of health, were to remain only fifteen days in quarantine, while those which had clean bills of bealth might be admitted immediately to pratique. This he thought was a delicate and important subject, and required that all the information possible should be laid before their lordships. He would, therefore, move, for copies of the report made to the House of Commons by the committee, and also the number of vessels, with their names, which have arrived from Alexandria, and been immediately admitted to pratique; as well as the orders in council for so admitting them. VOL. XIII. (NEW} {Series.} Lord Holland was ready to admit, that, if any abuse existed, derived from the Quarantine laws, it ought to be remedied. But he hoped their lordships would recollect, that the plague frequently devastated every country in Europe, before the present system of Quarantine was generally established; and that since the Quarantine laws had been in existence, its return had been comparatively rare. It was the case not only with England, but with every country in Europe; and he hoped their lordships would consider the delicate and important subject with the fullest attention, and not hastily sanction any departure from the present system. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Tuesday, April 19. ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS PETITIONS FOR AND AGAINST.] Numerous. B petitions were presented both for and against the claims of the Roman Catholics. Mr. Hart Davis having presented a petition from the clergy of Bristol against those claims, affairs, he would have arrived at a very different conclusion. He disclaimed all disposition to stir up religious animosities; but, when he was incited by such statements as those which had fallen from the hon. gentleman, he felt the necessity of standing forward, and declaring his opinion of the unchanged character of the religion of Rome. Mr. A. Smith presented a petition from Portsmouth and Portsea, against further concessions to the Catholics, Mr. Carter begged to say a few words as to the mode in which this petition was produced, in order to show that the de Mr. Leycester avowed it as his opinion, that the persons who had so strongly expressed sentiments hostile to any further, concession to the Catholics, had done so in profound ignorance of the subject, and labouring under great mistakes as to the religious belief of the Roman Catholics. His own errors on the subject were of the same description, until the investigation of the committee on Irish affairs had thrown a new light upon the question.claration that these anti-Catholic petitions Until that information had been communicated, he had believed, that all those monstrous mummeries, so long attributed to the Popish faith, were articles of faith with all Roman Catholics. That was now entirely denied. But all denial was useless; the opinions which the Catholics entertained centuries ago were supposed by the petitioners against their claims to be the opinions which they still cherished. Their cry was "Delicta majorum immeritus lues, subject; and that it might be safely left to the wisdom of the legislature. Mr. A. Smith observed, that the petition was most numerously and respectably signed. generally spoke the sense of the country was unfounded. In the original advertisement to call together a meeting for the purpose of framing this petition, the mayor of Portsmouth had introduced an expression intimating that the meeting was for the purpose of " discussing" the question. As the day of meeting, however, approached, discussion was thought to be dangerous to the cause of anti-Catholicism; and an attempt was made to prevent the meeting. It took place, however, and a counter resolution was carried, expressive of the Mr. Bright denied that the opinions of sense of the meeting, and, he firmly bethe petitioners had been formed in the lieved, the sense of the great majority of ignorance attributed to them by the hon. the population of the country, that it was gentleman. The petitioners had read-inexpedient to express any opinion on the what the hon. gentleman seemed to have neglected, the history of this country and the Christian world. In that history they had seen the real character of Catholicism. Could the Protestant people of this country forget the times that were past? When had the Catholics shown themselves favourable to the religious and civil liberties of the people of England? Never. And as to intolerance, let the House observe on which side it lay. Whenever a petition was presented unfavourable to the Catholic Claims, with what accuracy was it not criticised, with what scorn was it not treated? Let the House look back to what had taken place on the continent but a few years after the peace. Let them recollect the motion made in the year 1815, by a learned and lamented individual, sir S. Romilly, with respect to the prosecution of the Protestants at Nismes. Did not that event show that persecution was the essence of popery, whenever popery was restored to power? If the hon. gentleman who had just spoken had looked to general history, instead of the ex-parte examination of individuals before the committee on Irish Colonel Johnson rose, to present a petition from a Roman Catholic gentleman of the name of Newton, residing in the county of Lincoln, against the pending bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics. The petitioner begged to represent, that if such a bill should pass into a law, it would not materially benefit the condition of the Roman Catholics, at the same time that it would certainly be most degrading to them as a body. The hon. gentleman took that opportunity of declaring, that were he himself a Roman Catholic, he certainly could not take the oath to be enjoined by the bill in question. Sir Robert Heron, in presenting two petitions in favour of the bill, complained of the manner in which a petition from Grantham had been got up, that was presented on Friday. That petition did not at all represent the sense of the inhabitants of the town. Mr. Brougham begged to thank his hon. friend for the light he had thrown upon | the mode in which some of the petitions against the bill had been got up; and he himself was able, not only to bear out the hon, baronet's statement, as to the very pretty manner in which the petition alJuded to had been manufactured, but to add one or two facts, that might show the Christian spirit and wisdom that must have prevailed over some of the subscribers to it, and have induced that expression of extreme anxiety for the welfare of the Established Church, and dread of the direful effects of relief to the Roman Catholics, which the petition set forth. Now, as to Grantham and its soke, that district contained about 14 parishes, and a population of 10,000 persons. The meeting at which the petition in question had been agreed to was composed of twenty-nine persons. It was got up rather in the manner of a Scotch than of an English meeting. Twenty-nine persons were the small per centage who were found on that occasion to attend, in order to testify the serious apprehensions that the petition intended to express. With respect to the petition itself, it should be observed, that it was signed by 439 persons, 242 of whom, or above half, stood in this situation (and he was now speaking upon the information of a most respectable individual whom he knew and could rely on) 15 of them were clergymen; but as for the rest, they were the very reverse of clergymen; for no less than 198 of these petitioners, who had weighed so maturely the great interests of the Catholic question, and who, according to the petition, had carried their minds back to the earlier pages of our history, and had considered the character of the Roman Catholic religion in past ages (and all this they must have heard in speeches, and not have learned in books, with which, of necessity, they could have been but little occupied), 198 of them could not write [hear, hear]; or at least the whole of that number perhaps, indeed, for the sake of conciseness signed their names with a cross. They were marksmen, who preferred this mode of subscription by a cross, in order to manifest at once their love of conciseness and their hatred of the Catholic religion. Four others were, perhaps, not so much to blame for the mode they had résorted to of éxpressing their opinions; because it happened, in respect of them, that they had not properly exercised beforehand the faculties that nature had given to them. In short, they were con victs [a laugh]-he begged pardon of the House, he should more correctly say, that two of the four were convicts, the other two were keepers of brothels. Perhaps the latter two had been induced, from a religious horror of the rival trade of the lady of Babylon, to protest that they could not bear any other religion but their own. Many of the other petitioners had been previously in the receipt of parochial relief. Sir M. Cholmeley was here about to address the chair, but was called to order. Mr. Brougham resumed. He had his information from a party of whose accu. racy he had no doubt, and who could not be mistaken. He understood that every one of these 198 persons [a cry of " No"] perhaps the hon. baronet knew them all, and could distinctly state whether such was the fact or not-every one of them had made his cross. Possible it was that they could write; but, at any rate, they had not chosen to favour the House with a specimen of their penman. ship. Surely the hon. baronet knew as well as he did what a marksman was; and thus, therefore, he must allow, that as marksmen 198 of these petitioners were disposed of. In respect of the other four, he dared to say that the hon. baronet could give his negative evidence, at least to the character of those two housekeepers whom he had before named; if not, it did not follow that other gentlemen might not have been in their houses, and be able to speak more directly to the matter. Altogether there were in this way 242 out of the 439 petitioners' names accounted for; leaving a per centage of somewhat less that 5 per cent as upon the whole population, whose sentiments this petition affected to represent. Sir Montague Cholmeley said, that he knew of no such proceedings, in the manufacture of the petitions in question, as had been just stated. He could only say for himself, that he had never entered a house of the description mentioned by the hon. and learned gentleman [a laugh]. He was very sure that the attack which had been made by the hon. and learned gentleman and the hon. baronet was most unjust as to the petitioners, and most unfair in the absence of the hon. member who had presented their petition. For his own part, he was rather warm at present; and, though he felt disposed to speak upon the subject of the Catholie |