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THE Session of 1825 commenced on Thursday the 3d of February, and the King's speech expressed the gratification which his Majesty received from the continuance and increase of the national prosperity. The first six clauses are all which it is necessary for us to transcribe.

"There never was a period in the history of the country when all the great interests of the nation were, at the same time, in so thriving a condition, or when a feeling of content and satisfaction was more widely diffused through all classes of the British people.

"It is no small addition to the gratification of his Majesty that Ireland is participating in the general prosperity.

"The outrages, for the suppression of which extraordinary Powers were confided to his Majesty, have so far ceased as to warrant the suspension of the exercise of those powers in most of the districts heretofore disturbed.

"Industry and commercial enterprise are extending themselves in that part of the United Kingdom. It is therefore the more to be regretted that Associations should exist in Ireland, which have adopted proceedings irreconcileable with the spirit of the constitution, and calculated by exciting alarm, and by exasperating animosities, to endanger the peace of society, and to retard the course of national improvement.

"His Majesty relies upon your wisdom to consider, without delay, the means of applying a remedy to this evil.

"His Majesty further recommends the renewal of the Inquiries instituted last Session into the State of Ireland.”

In furtherance of the measure recommended in his Majesty's speech, of applying a remedy to the only evil which threatened to interrupt the domestic tranquillity of the nation, viz. "The Catholic Association," Mr. Goulburn gave notice that he should move for a Bill to amend the Laws relative to illegal associations in Ireland.

HOUSE OF COMMONS. Thursday, February 10.

CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION.

Mr. Goulburn rose in pursuance of his notice, to propose an enactment for the suppression of all improper and dangerous Associations in Ireland. He observed, that incipient symptoms of the evils of which he had to complain, had transpired during the last Sessions of Parliament, but Government forbore to legislate until the peace of the country was openly threatened. The Catholic Association first organized itself in May, 1822, and one of its most dangerous features was, that it was indefinite in its character, for where there was no representation, where each individual was his own elector, there was no control, no superior authority. A great proportion of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy was identified with it, and there were to be found in it, by their side, persons who had once been implicated with traitors, the companions of Wolfe Tone, Emmet, and Russell, men who had borne arms against his Majesty's troops, with the visionary idea of separating the sister countries. This society so constituted, adopted the forms of Parliament, appointed committees to consider of subjects of finance, of the administration of justice, and of the grievances of Ireland. They had a general committee, and a particular one to discuss individual wrongs They levied subscriptions, and denominated the contribution "RENT," thereby implying that it was a legitimate tax upon the people. In his opinion, the mere levying of money, to be applied to purposes not explicitly defined, was in itself sufficiently dangerous; but the system of control attendant upon its exaction, rendered it still more so. The Association sent orders to the priests throughout the kingdom, to collect the rent, to keep books for registering the

sums so collected. The names of those who refused to pay were recorded, and a species of intimidation peculiar to the Roman Catholic priesthood, was exercised against those who hesitated to swell the fund. The Right Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to detail several instances in which the Association had employed part of its extorted subscriptions, in interference with the administration of justice, and concluded by explaining the object of his Bill, which would be to prevent the permanence of the sittings of the Association, and the appointment of committees beyond a certain time, and to put a stop to any levy of money for the purpose of redressing private or public grievances; and also to render illegal all societies which were affiliated, and which corresponded with other Societies, and which excluded persons on the ground of any particular religious faith, and in which any oaths were taken other than those directed by law.

Mr. J. Smith opposed the motion, upon the ground that no evidence had been adduced to shew the necessity of the measure. He thought the only mode of tranquillizing Ireland, was to grant to the Roman Catholics the same rights which the Protestants enjoyed there.

Mr. Abercrombie declared his hostility to the Bill and its principle, and conceived that the Catholic Association was galling to those who condemned it, because it exposed the grievances of the people to the public eye. It was only fair, he said, that the Roman Catholics, who had so many Societies bound against them, should unite in support of one another.

Sir H. Parnell followed on the same side, and defended the objects of the Association as being neither single nor secret. He believed the opinion of Ireland to be unanimous in its favour.

Mr. Leslie Foster complained of the Association as exercising all the functions of a Parliament in Ireland, and as superadding executive power to their legislative capacity. The collection of the money was public, but not so the application of it. He declared that the Protestants were kept in a constant state of alarm, in consequence of the proceedings of the Association, and concluded by drawing a lively picture of the growing prosperity of the country, until it had been interrupted, or threatened with interruption by this illegal convention.

Mr. J. Williams refused his assent to the measure, and read extracts from a speech of the Attorney General for Ireland, to shew that there was no shadow of ground to justify legislative interference with the Association. Catholic claims, he said, could not be extinguished by putting down Catholic Rent; nor could an Act of Parliament restore tranquillity to exasperated minds.

Mr. Secretary Peel addressed the House at considerable length, and argued, that if Parliament admitted as a principle, that this Association ought to be suffered to exist, because its object was to obtain the redress of grievances, then they might expect other associations to arise without end for the removal of every real and supposed grievance. He should consider this Association in two ways: as a political body; and as a body interfering with the administration of public justice. He should first take it as a body interfering with the administration of public justice and in doing this, he should cite the authority of eminent men as referring to Societies for the prosecution of offenders. The Rt. Hon. gentleman then employed, with a felicity of effect, which was repeatedly acknowledged by the cheers of the House, the arguments used by Messrs. Scarlet, Denman, Lushington, and Brougham, against the Constitutional Association, which they were pleased to denominate "the Bridge Street Gang." If the reasoning with regard to the Constitutional Association was founded in fact, it could equally apply to the present case. As to the political consequence of the Association, said Mr. Peel, I will confine myself to facts. Here is a body which meets once a year under the pretence of preparing petitions to the Legislature. It mimics in its proceedings all the forms of a legislative assembly; has its committees of justice, and of finance, and its regular hours of meeting. It separates in the summer, like the House of Commons, and it meets in the month of October. What could the Protestant people of Ireland do under such circumstances, but establish counter-associations? If they are not to be protected, they will combine to oppose it, and nothing can be expected but confusion, violence, and danger; for this Parliament must apply the remedy, and therefore he should express his hope that the House would give leave to bring in the Bill.

Mr. Denman rose amidst cries of "Adjourn," and maintained that there was this difference between the Constitutional and the Catholic Association. The former did not

meet to redress their own wrongs, but to introduce a series of jobs which the Attorney General ought to have undertaken. The latter subscribed money for mutual defence, and did not prosecute for political offences. The learned gentleman next made an allusion to the recognition of South America, which he pronounced to be a compromise in the cabinet. "Give me the recognition of South America," said the Rt. Hon. gentleman opposite, (Mr. Canning,)" and I will consent to this Bill."

An adjournment was proposed by Mr. Peel, and the House separated at half past two o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS. Friday, Feb. 11.

CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION.

The adjourned debate on Mr. Goulburn's Bill was resumed; and

Mr. Grattan declared his conviction that all the evils which prevailed in Ireland were to be attributed to the unlawful Societies which existed before the Catholic Association, which in reality was the counter-association. It was not true that the Catholic Association consisted exclusively of Roman Catholics. There were also Protestant members. Before such a measure as was now proposed received a decision, let them be heard by counsel at the bar of the House.

It

Captain Maberly expressed the deep regret, and still deeper indignation with which he viewed the introduction of the proposed Bill, and attributed the late comparative tranquillity of Ireland to the operation of the Society which they wanted to put down. was the Bible Society and the discussions it had produced which caused all the irritation and dissatisfaction through so many of the counties of Ireland: it was this that had raised the Catholic Rent from 407. or 50l. a week, to 400%. per week. He knew none of the grounds on which the proposed measure was demanded, although he had been for some time residing in the country, and considered that the house was called upon to legislate in the dark.

Sir N. Coulthurst professed to support the Bill, because he felt that the Catholic Association, while it outrages the feelings of the Protestant, was injurious to the interests of the Catholic. It was a systematic interference with the administration of justice: it formed a tribunal to which was invited every grievance, real or imaginary: it levied money, and used the most despotic means for its collection, even to the extent of denouncing those who refused to pay it. He should therefore vote for suppressing it.

Colonel Davies opposed the Bill, because he was convinced of its inutility and dangerous consequences.

Mr. Dogherty spoke at some length in favour of the motion, and described the proceedings of the Association as utterly inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution, and as productive of alarm, not only to Orangemen, but to Protestants generally. Delegated bodies, as every body knew, were the mischief of Ireland, as mob-meetings had been the evil of England; and no delegated body had ever gone the length of the Catholic Association, or had published discussions of so inflammatory and incendiary a description. Much had been said upon the subject of mal-administration of justice in Ireland, but he spoke from the experience of some years, when he asserted of Ireland, that the Roman Catholics there enjoyed the fullest and fairest measure of justice, and that the courts of justice there were open alike to the rich and poor, without any distinction of religious sects. It had been said that the tranquillity of Ireland was owing to the Catholic Association; but he was firmly persuaded that it was entirely in consequence of the justice, equanimity, moderation, and policy of Lord Wellesley. and

Mr. Dominick Browne, and Mr. Warre, said a few words against the measure, Mr. Dennis Brown, Mr. William Williams, and Mr. R. Martin, briefly supported it. Mr. W. Wynn observed, that he would never have consented to an Act for putting down this Association, if the measure before the House had not extended to all similar Societies.

Mr. Calcraft asserted his belief that this Association arose from other and opposite Associations, and that there would be no end to them, until emancipation, the real remedy for all grievances, should be granted.

Mr. Plunkett said, he felt that the Bill rested upon grounds of imperious and absolute necessity, upon that supreme law which is paramount to every other, where the safety of the State is involved. "I must beg leave to remind the House," exclaimed the Rt. Hon. gentleman, "that this is a measure attacking all illegal and unconstitutional Associations in Ireland, whether in behalf of the Catholics, or in opposition to them. It is certainly my opinion, that Ireland is in a state of unexampled prosperity, and that she has been enabled to share in the common prosperity of the empire, by the wise, enlightened, temperate, and just government of the noble Lord who now presides at the head of affairs in that country. I do not agree with honourable gentlemen who attribute this prosperity to the Catholic Association. Before it was founded, the restoration of tranquillity was achieved, and among the persons most active and effective in contributing to that happy result, were the Roman Catholic priests. Those priests were the men who preached peace to the agitated peasantry, and succeeded in restoring that state of things with which alone it is possible for national happiness to consist. I am the more anxious to do justice to the Catholic priesthood of Ireland, because I believe that a more excellent, and at the same time a more calumniated body of men, does not exist." Mr. Plunkett next proceeded to describe the Association, which it was the object of the Bill to suppress, and represented it as having undertaken the great question of parliamentary reform, the question of the repeal of the Union, the question of tithes, the regulation of church property, and the administration of justice; not merely its general administration, but its action in all departments, from the highest court down to the Court of Conscience; and as having undertaken, also, to interfere in every case which they think of moment to the Catholics, whom they call the people of Ireland. None but those who have visited Ireland, can be aware of that power of despotism, more formidable than the sword, the power of public opinion, which is exercised by this Association. In the exercise of their prerogative they enter into the transactions of private life, and denounce individuals on public and private grounds, and it requires a greater portion of resolution than falls to the lot of most men, to defy them. But, continued he, though this Association must be put down, there is another and a more effectual remedy still, which must be adopted, as an expedient for securing the perma nent tranquillity of the country,-Catholic Emancipation. The Rt. Hon. gentleman concluded by declaring that his sentiments on this head were unchanged, and by explaining that he had accepted place under a divided Cabinet, rather than adhere to a contradictory and discordant opposition.

Mr. Tierney replied to the last speaker in a strain of the severest and most humorous sarcasm, and expressed his opinion that Catholic Emancipation had been lost for want of firmness and consistency in its supporters. He voted against the present Bill, though he did not approve of all the measures of the Association.

The House adjourned at half-past One o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS. Monday, Feb. 14.

CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION.

The House resumed its debate on Mr. Goulburn's motion; and

Mr. George Lamb rose in opposition to it. He saw no reason why the Catholic Association should not levy money as well as the Bible Societies. He had heard a great deal of importance attached to the expression used in the Report of the Association,"Be tranquil by the hate you bear the Orangemen;" but he considered that the Catholic body did not receive or interpret the phrase in a personally malignant, but rather in a political sense, which implied hostility to measures, and not to men.

Mr. Dawson spoke in favour of the Bill, and adverted to the inconsistency of certain honorable members, who supported a motion against Orange Associations, but opposed a measure against Catholic Associations. He contended that the speeches of the members, and the agency of the priests, rendered it the most dangerous engine that had ever been set to work against the happiness of Ireland; and felt himself bound by every principle of justice to himself and country, to declare that he disputed what had fallen from his Rt. Hon. friend, (Mr. Plunkett) on the subject of the Roman Catholic priest

hood. If he were asked, Who added to political discontent the fuel of religious discord? Who excited the peasantry to ill-feeling? Who impeded education? he should say, the Roman Catholic priests, who were opposed to every thing that did not tend to the increase of their own power, and whose sole object it was to raise their own Church on the ruins of Protestantism. Unless Government should put down the Catholic Association, the Catholic Association would put down Government.

Mr. Carew opposed the motion, but signified his disapprobation of many of the proceedings of the Association.

Mr. Spring Rice observed, that Parliament was now called upon to legislate upon little more than the authority of Dublin newspapers. He was averse to Associations, but should raise his voice against the Bill.

Mr. Brownlow professed, in common with the whole Protestant community, his sense of the benefits conferred on Ireland by the Marquis of Wellesley and his administration, and his gratitude to the Chief Secretary for introducing the present Bill. He could state from his own knowledge, that a great number of Protestants, who were before favourable to Catholic claims, were opposed to them since the Catholic Association. The very constitution of the Association, composed as it was of peers and sons of peers, of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and priesthood to a man, of the highly talented, of the disappointed and the discontented, made it the more formidable, and rendered it more imperative on the part of Government to put it down. The Catholic Association came forward, and said, "Grant us Emancipation." He would suppose all their claims so far to be conceded: would they stop there? No. They would say, Give us the church property: we are the people of Ireland,- -we are the original granters. Who could imagine, for one moment, that the Catholic population would be satisfied with any concessions, if the Romish church, the god of their idolatry, obtained nothing in the grant.

Sir J. Mackintosh opposed the Bill in a long and animated speech, in which he employed all the force of eloquence, and the subtilty of the most refined sophistry, to reconcile the proceedings of the Association with the safety of the Constitution, and at the same time professed his veneration for the principles of the Protestant Church. "I revere," said he, "the great principle of the Reformation, which I hold to be the unfettered privilege of free inquiry on all subjects, and which forms the sacred foundation and essential constituent of all civil and religious liberty. As long as the Catholics were the firm allies, and the formidable abettors of civil and religious tyranny, so long, had I lived in those days, I would have been their enemy, their mortal enemy. I venerate the true Protestant principles of civil liberty, the sound Whig principles of civil liberty, as established by the Revolution in 1688. In the spirit of these principles I rise to defend the cause of the Catholics, against what I must consider as a new attack upon that cause." He went on to contend that the existence of the Association was a proof of the existence of serious evils and intolerable grievances, which ought at once to be redressed, and proceeded in a strain full of good-humoured wit and playfulness, to shew that the language of hatred used in the address of the Association, was directed against parties, and not individuals. The hon. member concluded by expressing a hope that Parliament would provide for the greater danger, before they sought for securities against the smaller.

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Mr. North addressed the House in favour of the Bill, and replied to the arguments of Sir J. Mackintosh, by shewing that the spirit of the Association was any thing but conformable to those principles of religious and civil liberty for which that learned gentleman had expressed such veneration. The Association had raised funds by intimidation, and by the terror of spiritual thunders, which savoured but little of unfettered privilege and free assent. In answer to the reasoning which had been used in defence of the expression, preserve tranquillity by the hate you bear the Orangemen," he said, he had never heard more specious sophistry. It was opposed both to common sense and moral feeling. It was a defence of hatred; but a greater moralist than the learned gentleman had said, "Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?" Was it expected to produce tranquillity by appealing to the most violent of our passions? In Ireland, Örangeman was understood to be synonymous with Protestant, and the language of the Association was thought to mean,- "Be tranquil now, for such tranquillity is to the interest of your resentment-which you will be enabled to indulge at a fitter time." Some honourable members had attributed the

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