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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE SAFETY AND EXPEDIENCY OF CONCEDING THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS; EVINCED BY THE GOOD EFFECTS OF THE CONCESSIONS IN CANADA, AND THE DIFFERENT STATES OF EUROPE; WITH THE OPINIONS OF I PITT, BURKfi, FOX, AND WYNDHAM, THEREON. By CIVIS. LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. 1827. i LONDON : PRINTED BY T. BRETTBtl., EUPERT STREET, HAYMARKET. THE SAFETY AND EXPEDIENCY OF CONCEDING THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS, &c. The following observations, on the subject of thj Catholic Claims, are principally con- fined to that article which seems to have excited the greatest alarm, viz., the claim to a Seat in Parliament. The opposers of this claim fancy they see, in its eventual con- cession, nothing less than the overthrow of our Constitution, both in Church and State, If there be any question, in which we should distrust public feehng, it is one which involves popular prejudices on the score of religion. Apprehensions, similar to those now entertained, have at all times prevailed, where questions of this nature have become the subject of legislative consideration. Thus, when the Bill by which the Jiiws were : 6 naturalized was brought forward, the most violent clamour was raised against it ; and a Petition was received from the City of London, praying that it might not pass into a law, as it would be prejudicial to the interests of trade, and would, moreover, endanger our happy constitution, both in Church and State. But long experience has proved, that the admission of Jews, not only into the City, but even into Downing Street, has not been attended with those direful consequences, so alarmingly anticipated. So also, when the Union with Scotland took place, about 120 years ago, a great alarm was occasioned by the introduction of sixteen Scotch Peers into the House of Lords, and forty-five Members into the House of Commons, and the Bishop of Bath and Wells said, that they were going to expose themselves to a danger " which the tongue could scarcely speak." ' But a more modern and more striking instance of groundless alarm, is noticed by Mr. Burke, in the following passage, from his celebrated Letter to Sir H. Langrish, Bart. It respects the danger to our late American Colonies, from the Catholic reli- gioii being established by the Parliament as the State rehgion of Canada. " It is true, that some persons, and among them one eminent Divine, predicted, at that time, that, by this step, we should lose our Dominions in America> He foretold, that the Pope would send his emissaries thither ; that the Canadians would fall in with France, declare their independence, and draw, or force our other Colonies into the same design. The independence happened ac- cording to his prediction, but in directly the reverse order. All our Protestant Colonies revolted ; they joined themselves to France ; and it so happened that Popish Canada (whose inhabitants were '^^^'^turally attached to France, their parent country) was the only place which preserved its fidelity — the only place where Catholic France got no footing — the only peopled Colony on the Continent, which now remains to Great Britain — and last year, when we settled a Protestant Church there, conjointly with the Catholic, we had no dread for that establishment, because we permitted the French Catholics, in the utmost latitude of the description, to be free subjects. They are good subjects, I have no doubt ; 8 ill hi but I will not allow that any French Ca- nadian Catiiolics are better men, or better citizens, than the Irish of the same com- munion. '^ In like manner, when the several conces- sions were granted to the Irifth Catholics, in the years 1782 and 1791, the same un- founded alarm prevailed; in reference to which, Mr. Pitt, in his Speech, in May 1 805, thus expresses himself: " I felt satisfaction in the repeal of those Laws against the Catho- lics, which have been abolished ; and, from the abolition of which, I certainly am not one who infers that danger to the country with which some gentlemen seem to be so deeply impressed ; nor do I think that the introduction of a certain proportion of Catholics into the Imperial Parliament, would be likely to be productive of any in- fluence or effect detrimental or injurious to the welfare of the State, and security of the Constitution" Accordingly, if we consult history, we shall find that, at the Reforma- tion, Edward the Sixth did not exclude Catholics from his Council board ; nor, when he was excommunicated by the Pope, for the share he took in bringing about the Refor- mation, did he therefore exclude Catholics 9 from offices of power and dignity ; and when a rebellion, in consequence of such excom- munication, broke out in the North, Lord de Clifford, a Catholic, was sent to quell it. Queen Elizabeth, too, when the Spanish Armada was hovering round the coast, en- trusted the defence of Dover Castle (at that time the most important fortress in the country) to a Catholic Nobleman ; and (what showed still more confidence in the fidelity of her Catholic subjects) she ap- pointed Lord Howard of Effinghkm (a Catholic Lord) to the command of the Fleet, and subsequently made him Lord High Admiral of England — an office of such power and importance, that succeeding monarchs have thought it too dangerous to entrust to any individual, and have therefore placed it in the hands of a commission. Thus we see that, from the time of the Reformation till the Declaration against Transubstantiation, enacted in the reign of Charles the Second (a period of upwards of 160 years), the Catholics actually enjoyed the rights they now claim. Now, if, at the time, when they must have felt peculiarly sore and irritated at the recent overthrow of B \< i 10 their religion, and when, consequently, they must have been stimulated by the most pow- erful principles of human action, to regain their lost ascendancy, and when, moreover, the Catholic population bore an infinitely greater proportion to that of the Protestant than it does at the present day, they could be allowed, notwithstanding all these adverse circumstances, to retain their seats in Parlia- n\ent for so long a period, without such dread- ful consequences ensuing to the Church and State afs are now so alarmingly predicted; and if, in the reign of Charles the Second, when the King himself was secretly a Catholic, when the Queen, and the Heir Presumptive to the Crown, were avowedly Catholics, and when the Catholics sat in Parliament, they could not, with all those circumstances in their favour, prevent the Act from passing, which was to exC'.ude them, for the future, from sitting in Parlia- ment, what rational grounds, in the face of those historical and stubborn facts, can there be for their exclusion at the present moment, when none of the foregoing circumstances, so favourable to the objects they are supposed to have in iew, are in existence, and when. '■''ST. !/■"■ 11 consequently, their ardour of pursuit and prospect of success must necessarily be pro- portionably abated ? It will not, I presume, be conceded, that the friends of the esta- blished Church are less zealous than their predecessors, or less vigilant for its welfare. When the Catholic claims were under discussion, in the year 1805, Mr. Wyndham said, " I relinquished the administration, be- cause I thought the measure of Emancipation indispensable to the safety of the Empire ; and I have seen nothing since to change my opinion." And again, when the same topic was renewed, in the year 1808, he said, " With respect to the comparison so well made by my Right Honourable Friend (Mr. Grattan), between the two kinds of danger, of which it is necessary to choose one, I should most unquestionably prefer the danger (uncertain, if not chimerical) of giving to the Catholics a power which might, ultimately, invest them with a consi- derable influence in the State, to the terrible danger, which the refusal of their just claims must, in my apprehension, inevitably occasion,'' And he closes his speech with these emphatic words, " I am anxious 12 that tlie subject should be fully discussed, convinced, as I am, that the friends of the Catholic Emancipation will, ultimately, triumph over every obstacle that can be thrown in their way " ,^ Let us now consider what has been the effect of conciliation and concession on the conduct of Cathc lies in other countries, and in what manner they have conducted them- selves where they have formed, not merely a small part, but a majority of the Legisla- ture. In the year 1649, the Catholic State qf Maryland, in North Americas passed an Act, giving to Christians of all denominations equal rights ; although the neighbouring State of Virginia, and the New Englapid State, persecuted the Cal,holics with the Tutmost rigour: Virginia being peopled by Church of England men, who piersecuted the Presbyterians, and other Protestant Dissenters ; and New Englar^d by rigid Presbyterians, vt^ho carried on similar perse- cutions against Church of England iflep. This Act, however, was repealed, in 1654, by the Presbyterian p^rty, which, aided by the Cromwellian power in England, gained the ascendancy in the Legislature, and thereupon / 13 / passed an Act, granting toleration to all Protestant Dissenters, but expressly ex- cepting Catholics and Prelatists. This Act continued in force, till the Catholics again obtained a majority in the Legislature ; which, however, they were not able to effect (^though they were by far the most numerous body in the State) till the year 1676, when they inmieJiately re-enacted the law of 1649, which continued in force till 16P2, when King William sent over a force sufficient to overpower the Catholics ; whereupon an Act passed, excluding them from all offices of power or trust. Thus it appears that, in Maryland, when the Presbyterians were in power, they persecuted the Papists and the Prelatists; when the Prelatists were in power, tiiey persecuted the Presbyterians and the Papists ; but when the Papists were in power, they persecuted neither the Prelatists nor the Presbyterians^ nor any other sect, but gave perfect freedom of conscience to Christians jf all denominations. Such was the relative toleration of these respective seels. Edmund Burke, in adverting to the claiiiis of the Imh Catholics, cites the good, effect 14 of conciliation among the Welsh. He ob- serves, " inat Wales was reduced by Edward the First; but, though then conquered, it was scarcely looked upon as part of the realm of England. The old Constitution was destroyed, but in its place was substi- tuted an heterogeneous monster, something between Government and hostility. The manners of the nation followed the genius of the Government. The people were fero- cious, restive, savage, and uncultivated. Wales, within itself, was in perpetual dis- order, and it kept the frontiers of England in perpetual alarm. It was known only to England by incursion and invasion. . The Parliament attempted to subdue the fierce spirit of the public, by all sorts of rigorous laws. They disarmed them by statute, and prohibited the sending of all sorts of arms into the principality. All this while, Wales rode this country like an incubus, and an Englishman travelling in Wales, could not go out of the high road without danger of being murdered. The march of the human mind is slow. It was not till after 200 years discovered, that, by an eternal law. Pro- vidence has decreed vexation to violence, and 15: poverty to rapine. At length, in the twenty- seventh of Henry the Eighth, a statute was passed, giving the Welsh the benefits of the British Constitution. From that moment, as by a charm, tumult subsided, obedience was restored, and peace, order, and civi- lization followed in the train of liberty.** Similar was the evil, and similar was the remedy of conciliation, in the case of Scot- land. For a century the English Govern- ment had endeavoured to subdue the stubborn attachment of the Scotch to Presbyterianism, and, with the point of the bayonet, to en- force (as theyvhave attempted in Ireland) the tenets of the English Church, by enacting pains and penalties, and enforcing confis- cations. They erected gibbets, and made the scaffold flow with human blood; but could not convert the Scotch Presbyterians. They were just as unsuccessful with them, as they have been since with the Irish Ca- tholics ; and, like the Irish, the Scotch only clung the more to their religion, because it was persecuted by the English. They did not, indeed, put up with the system of perse- cution as patiently as the Irish have done ; they often broke out into open and avowed HHH W rebeffiori. It is true, they were ofteii defeated, but they were never subdued. Scotland was, then, what Ireland is now, the weakness of England. At length, however, the proper and only remedy was applied, persecution (ieased — the Scotch attained not mere free- dom for their creed, hut its establishment as the creed bf the nation. Behold ! as the effect of this concession, a tranquil, a peace- able, and an industrious people— the best strength of the British Throne, and a main pillia;r of British power atid independence. - But to come to more modern times. In 1792, the Catholic Diet of Hungary gave the most perfect religious freedom to their Protestant fellow countrymen ; and though the latter did not constitute one- fourth of the population of that country, yet they obtained one-half of the Churches and one-half of the tythes. In Catholic France, too, at this day, Protestants enjoy, not a nominal, but a teal equalization of civil rights; their per- sons protected, their Churches respected, their clergy paid; and paid, too, more libe- rally than the Catholic clergy,by this Catholic State. And, in Spain, let it be remembered, that th6 Cortes, which met df Cadiz, though 17 cx)mposQ(i of inoi:e than three-fourths of Priests, decreed the abolition of the tnquisi'* lion ; and, in abhorrence of its existence^ ordered salt and ashes to be strewed over the 9pots where its prisons stood. In Bavaria, too, the king has not only recently emancipated his Pft)testant subjects, but has raised them from a state of exclusion to a complete parti* cipation in all the rights and privileges of his other subjects* And, finally, our own Sove^ reign, as King of Hanover, has applied the same enlightened and liberal principles to his Catholic subjects, who now enjoy the same civil rights as their Protestant fellow i^ubjects* - : ; ; Were there, indeed, any rational ground for withholding from the Catholics a con- cession of their claims, is it conceivable that the principal Protestant landholders and merchants in Ireland would have petitioned both Houses of Parliament in their favour^ an"* that almost all the Protestant noblemer^ of that country should have joined in a declaration to the same effect ? or that thesq claims would have been advocated by the ablest statesmen of all parties, viz. — by PiUj Fox, Burke, Sheridan, Wyndham, Melville, c f'i 18 .A' / n^. ■(.v^ i y Romilty, Graltan, Grey, Grenville, Latis-* downe, Londoiiderry, and Canning, the last of whom is confessedly the ablest and most consummate statesman of the present day ? The very supposition is preposterous; and were it true, as is asserted by their oppo- nents, that the Catholics are the same intole- rant and persecuting sect as they represent tliem to have been ages ago— ever ready to propagate their faith by fire and faggot; can it be for a moment supposed, that the other nations of Europe would have ad- mitted Protestants and Catholics to an equaf participation of official trusts, as all tlie principal States of Europe have doiie, with the exception of the bigoted Governments of Spain and Portugal ? This very important fact is noticed by Mr. Fox, in his celebrated Speech on the Catholic Claims, in the y^ar 1805, in the following terms : — " Is there, in Europe, a State or country that does not employ persons of different religious per- suasions in the highest offices? When bigotry was at its height in France, and when it led Henry the Fourth to renounce the Protestant, and embrace the Catholic Religion, did it ever occur to any cne to 19 jsuggest that the Duke of Sully, his mi- nister (who was a Protestant), could not advise with hir^. about public atFairs ? — was he ever accused of being a bad minis- ter because he was a Protestant ?% No one ever objected to M. Necker, the mi- nister of Louis the Sixteenth, because he was a Protestant? Does not. the Catholic Emperor of Germany employ Protestants in the various important offices of his domuiions ? The government of his capi* tal is intrusted to Prince Ferdinand of Wirtemburg, a Protestant. The first em- ployment in the service of Russia is filled by Prince Sartorizki, whose religion is that of the Lutheran Church. With re- gard to Switzerland, the employment of Protestants has been, perhaps, less than in other States ; but they have frequently filled offices of Government conjointly with Catholics." To the above Prime Ministers of France, who have been Pro- testants, may be added the late Duke of Richelieu ; yet the people of that country, neither then, nor on former occasions, appeared alarmed for the safety of their Church or State. Could the same be said 90 i of us, Were (not the Prime Minister liierely): but^one of the inferior members of the Cabinet a Gatholic ? On the contrary, were such an event to take place, what a general pani# and consternation would be excited I Yet, vte profess to be the most liberal and enlightened nation under the sun, tliough our conduct, in the case supposed, would prove us to be directly the reverse:— so much do nations, as well as individuals, deceive themselves with respect to their real characters. Let us endeavour, however, to open our eyes, and irt some degree to imitate, if we cannot aspire to equal, the liberality of our neighbours; let us dispel from our mind^, on the present occasion, those alarms and apprehensions which ignorance and bigbtry have generated, and professional prejudices have fostered, but Which the en- lightened nations of Europe have discarded, as ill suited to the present intellectual state of the world. To this end, the following remarks, extracted from the Petition of the English Catholics in the year 1817, are particularly forcible : — " When, in almost every state of civilized Europe, the differ- ence of religious opinion is not considered n a ground for civil disabilities ; when, im most of those realms where the religion is Catholic, dissenters from the established. Church are admitted to the full enjoyment of their civil and social rights; and« when no instance of any inconvenience has oc- curred from such equal participation; but when, on the contrary, it has been uni-, formly found that prosperity and concor4 have been its immediate, as well as its natural consequences, we cannot think that this eoujtfry, holding itself up as a shining example to the world, of courage, constancy, and liberality, will long con- tinue to refuse that, which the nations who look up to her wisdom as well as to l^er generosity, have not feared to grant," Should, however, the conciliatory course here contemplated, unfortunately not be adopted by the Legislature, I cannot but concur in the opinion expressed by Mr. Wyndham, that the most alarming conse»- quences are to be apprehended ; since it no longer admits of a doubt, that the Catholics, amounting to about six millions, and feeling (as recent events have taught them to do) their own strength and importance, will 2j2 take tlie first opportunity of gainings by' force, what is refused to their solicitations , and such an opportunity, the first war we may be engaged in, will inevitably present. Is it not, then, the part of wisdom ("by anticipating such a crisis) to make a virtue of a necessity, and to concede that graci" ously, whicJi we must otherwise yield to compulsion. I f FINIS. LONDON: PRINTED BY T, BRETTELL, RUPERT STREET, HAYMARKET. f e t. e