quite content to abide by them, as used and understood by that great master of human understanding, Mr. Locke. I would say, in Mr. Locke's own words, keep them any longer in force, than we should have to continue the use of a straight-waistcoat upon the body of a poor patient, when the paroxysms of delirium were gone, and reason had resumed her" pardon me, that I use that name which place and office. you are so much offended at; for, if But, my lords, if all our ablest writers, punishment be punishment, though it for it is not Blackstone only, who has comes short of fire and faggot, it is as so considered the case, be ready to con- certain that punishment for religion is firm the view I am now taking of our truly persecution, though it be only such constitution, I hope the right rev. pre-punishment as you, in your clemency, lates will fully agree with me as to the think fit to call moderate, and convenient view I take of the Established Church. penalties.*" My lords, I affirm her principle is not persecution. If it were, my lords, I for one should then say, for God's sake let that principle be altered, for it is not suited either to the spirit of the gospel or to the natural rights of man. But, my lords, I need happily look no further than to the wording of her articles, and to the history of her liturgy, in the framing of which men of the greatest diversity of opinions were wisely and happily consulted. I need only look to that mild spirit of universal charity, that unoffending meekness towards those who may still differ from her creed; I need only reflect that this liturgy was made so unobjectionable, that Catholics themselves joined in it for ten years after it was framed, to prove, my lords, that com prehension not persecution was its end and purport. But, my lords, I may perhaps be told, that persecution has nothing to do with the present question; and some of the right rev. prelates may possibly feel offended at that word. I may be told that the Roman Catholic, because he is left at liberty to worship in his own sanctuary the God of his salvation, has no ground or reason to complain: that he already enjoys toleration, and wants only political power. tion. But, I shall here say, at once, that whatever others may understand by the words persecution and toleration, I am My lords, I am no persecutor, I feel and think like the great man whose words I have just quoted; I am, in all sincerity of heart, "pacis amicus, persecutionis osor." I love my country, I cherish her punishable, but for a sin; and if his opinion, by reason of its managing or effect, be a sin in itself, or becomes a sin to the person, then, as he is to do towards other sins, so to that opinion, or men so opining. But to believe so, or not so, when there is no more but mere believing, is not in his power to enjoin, therefore not to punish. And it is not only lawful to tolerate disagreeing persuasions, but the authority of infallible to determine it and fit to judge. God only is competent to take notice of it, and And therefore no human authority is sufficient to do all these things, which can justify inflicting temporal punishments upon such as do not conform in their persuasions to a rule or authority, which is not only fallible but supposed by the disagreeing person to be actually decreed." Liberty of Prophesying. "Toleration is of two kinds. The allowing to dissenters the unmolested profession and exercise of their religion, but with an exclusion from offices of trust and emolument in the State, which is a partial toleration; and the admitting them without distinction to all the civilized privileges and capacities of other citizens, which is a complete toleration."- Paley's Moral Philosophy, vol. ii. p. 345. Dr. Johnson defines the verb "to persecute" thus, "to harass with penalties to pursue with malignity. It is generally used for penalties inflicted for opinions." I know, my lords, how much depends *Third Letter on Toleration, chap. i. upon first settling the definition of one's terms, before proceeding to argue a ques-lic Bill of 1793, the late Dr. Law, bishop of + In the Irish House of Lords, on the CathoElphin, expressed himself as follows: "I look upon ny Roman Catholic brethren as fellowsubjects and fellow-christians, believers in the same God, and partners in the same Redemption. Speculative differences in some points of faith, are with me of no account; they and I have but one religion, the religion of Christianity. Therefore, as children of the same Father, as travellers in the same road, and seekers of the same salvation, why not love each other as brothers. It is no part of Protestantism to persecute Catholics; and without "To tolerate," says Jeremy Taylor, "is not to persecute; and the question whether the prince may tolerate divers persuasions, is no more than whether he may lawfully persecute any man for not being of his opinion. Now in this case he is just so to tolerate diversity of persuasions, as he is to tolerate public actions; for no opinion is judicable, nor no person institutions, and I look for pardon and law established, or any Protestant religion salvation in the pale of her established acknowledged or tolerated by the law. church; but this church, if I have read They only seek for redress so far as to what she teaches right, tells me not to secure their interest on Protestant safelook for impossibilities; for such I main-guards, but not at the expense of antitain are identities of faith amongst so Catholic exclusion. many millions; not to wait, like the rustic in the fable, till that stream which the poet says "Labitur et labetur in omne volubilis ævum," You have brought the Catholic to the door of your House, admit him, and you will the more easily remove from his mind those errors in which you think he in has flowed by, whilst so good an oppor-dulges, than you will by persecution. Of the particular provisions of this bill, my lords, I need say but little. The magnificence of the boon which it gives, all but reconciles me to its regulations in what it takes away. Its simplicity is its beauty, its comprehensiveness will constitute its strength. Whilst it appears to remove from the Roman Catholic every just cause of future murmur or complaint, it leaves unaffected and uninjured the religion of the state. Not one single landmark of the constitution either in church or state is removed. The severity of the penalties were inflicted after the Bill of Rights, and were in contravention of our liberties. You have exercised, my lords, your power in severity and exclusion; you have also exercised your power in admitting the other Dissenters to the full portion of all the civil rights of the constitution. This measure goes to no greater extent than that of placing the Roman Catholic subject in the same situation as the Dissenter. He is as amenable to any infringement of the laws as any other subject. The Protestant principles of the state, which no doubt are fundamentals of the law, will in no way be infringed. The Roman Catholics are not seeking to interfere with any one of them; they are not seeking to alter the Act of Uniformity, or to obtain any right which, as the law now stands, can only be enjoyed by a person who professes the Protestant religion, by justice to the Catholics, there can be no security for the Protestant establishment. As a friend, therefore, to the permanency of the establishment, to the prosperity of the country, and the justice due to my Catholic brethren, I shall cheerfully give my vote that the bill be committed." It will, I repeat, be no breaking in upon the constitution of 1688. The constitution itself, so far from being the work of any particular religious party or period of time, is formed of materials furnished by men of all parties, and at all periods, and some of the most valuable of these have descended to us from our Catholic progenitors. To amend or to modify it, then, by repealing certain laws, and introducing others, cannot, it is plain, impair its unity or stability, but, on the contrary, will tend to strengthen it, by the union of every interest and every feeling in its support. You have oppressed and relaxed-you have been harsh and been merciful-you have rejected and recalled your fellow subjects into the pale of civil society. Confer, my lords, these last rights upon. your Roman Catholic fellow-subjects; and in thus performing this last act of justice you will consolidate the strength of the empire, and preserve the constitution as settled in 1688. On the day on which this bill shall receive the royal sanction, I shall say, my lords, now is the Union with poor Ireland fully and finally accomplished; that Union, which has hitherto been productive of so scanty a harvest of good, will from that day, my lords, fully realize the hopes and promises of those engaged in it, by not only "consolidating the strength, the power, and the resources of the British Empire," but by promoting the not less substantial blessings of domestic peace, national unanimity, and universal concord. I can ་་ I think the opposition offered to the illustrious duke and his colleagues, has been both unfair and ungenerous. excuse noble lords who from conscientious motives have shown their hostility to a measure which they conceive disastrous to the country, and who, from never having been called into any official situation, are ignorant of the secrets of government; but to such as have held these places of trust for upwards of twenty years of their lives, I must say that it is insincere and uncandid on their part to put questions, either to the illustrious duke, or any member of the cabinet, which they know they cannot answer, and which by their oath of privy counsellor or cabinet minister, they must be convinced they are prevented from satisfying; and, profiting by their silence, endeavour to impress upon others and the public, that there is no ground for the adoption of the measure which they have conscientiously, and on their own responsibility, recommended to the attention of both Houses, thereby exciting an anxiety in the public mind as unjustifiable as censurable. For my own part, I cannot sufficiently express to the noble duke my feelings of gratitude for his manly, honest, and upright conduct on the occasion. I promised him my steady and sincere support; and never did soldier follow his leader more confidently, more faithfully, or more gratefully, than I have done. Signal as have been the triumphs of that noble person, splendid and decisive as have been his victories, what he will now, I trust, achieve, will, in my opinion, far exceed all that he has hitherto performed. The laurel which he has so often gained in the field of battle must give way to the olive wreath of peace which is now weaving for his brow. He will advance to the temple of Fame "Fer sacrum clivum, meritâ decorus He will proceed on his way accompanied by the sanction of the good and the wise, by the approbation of a pure conscience, and with the blessings of millions, whose children in future ages will hail and venerate his name. Lord Kenyon and the Lord Chancellor rose together. The former noble lord several times attempted to address the House; but his voice was drowned in loud and continued cries for the "Lord Chancellor." The Archbishop of Canterbury at length obtained a hearing, and said :-My lords, may I be allowed to say a few words in answer to some topics which have fallen from the illustrious duke? [The most rev. prelate was interrupted by cries for the Lord Chancellor.] Lord Kenyon said, amidst great confusion My lords, I must take the liberty, after the imputations which have been cast upon me, Lord Holland. My lords, I rise to order. I beg leave to move that the lord Chancellor be now heard. This is the proper way of deciding a question like that before you. I never yet knew a case in which the lord Chancellor having risen from the woolsack to address you, the House decided that any other person should be first heard. Lord Farnham rose, amidst loud calls for the lord Chancellor, and said-My lords, I rise to order. In ordinary cases, I grant that the lord Chancellor has precedence, but when a pointed attack has been made upon a noble lord, I put it to the noble lord on the woolsack, whether he will interpose and claim the privilege of precedence. The Earl of Rosslyn. My lords, I rise to order. When a noble lord rises to order, he is bound to show in what respect the person he interrupts is out of order. The noble lord who has just spoken has done no such thing, but has addressed his observations to another matter. Lord Kenyon again rose, and endeavoured to address their lordships, continuing upon his legs, during such loud and general calls for the lord Chancellor, that not a word that fell from the noble lord was heard. Lord Holland at length obtained a hearing, and said-My lords, I rise to ask, as a matter of order, in what condition the House now stands? I made a motion, that the lord Chancellor be now heard ; then a noble lord rises, and says he means to speak to order, but he does not other noble lords then rise to order, the one noble lord continues to persist in being heard. I beg to know if it be your lordships' pleasure that my motion be put, that the question of who shall be heard may be decided? Lord Kenyon said, he rose then to speak upon the noble baron's motion. He had a right to do that. He was free to address their lordships upon the question before them. He had not risen because he had the impertinence to suppose that his sentiments on the bill were of particular value, or because he thought he had a better right to be heard than the noble lord upon the woolsack, to whom, under any other circumstances, he should have given way without a word; but he thought that, in the usual courtesy of their lordships, when a direct allusion had been made to him by the illustrious duke, he ought to be moment in which the noble lord made his explanation, I laboured under the error, that the letter to which I adverted had been published by the late bishop of Winchester. allowed to be heard immediately. It was for their lordships to decide, whether he should or should not be heard; but, if their lordships decided against him, he should never again feel inclined, or think The Lord Chancellor rose. He said, he it his duty, to offer an explanation in that was extremely happy that he had given House [cries of "Go on"]. The illus- way, in order that the noble lord on the trious duke, then, had imputed improper cross-bench might have an opportunity of motives to him in publishing, a few years making an explanation which the noble ago, certain letters connected with this lord appeared to think so material. It question. He denied the justice of the was natural that he, as a minister of the imputation. The illustrious duke, too, Crown, should be anxious to offer himself had said that he had been guilty of a to the notice of their lordships, for the breach of private and of public confidence purpose of explaining the grounds on in publishing those letters. He was sorry which he had concurred with the noble that his royal highness or that their lord- duke at the head of the government, and ships should think him capable of such an with the rest of his majesty's servants, in act. After stating the circumstances which recommending this measure. He agreed were connected with that publication, it entirely with what had been so repeatedly would be seen, that the charge of his royal said, in the course of this debate, and highness was unfounded; and he hoped which had been repeated by a noble lord that he should hear from his royal highness, who spoke from the cross benches last that the explanation he was about to night, that this was one of the most imgive was satisfactory. Before he published portant questions that ever occupied the those letters to the world, he had felt it his attention of parliament,-that ever agiduty to refer to those individuals who were tated the country. For if, after the gramost interested in them, by ties of relation- cious recommendation from the throne at ship to the authors of the letters. He the commencement of the session,-if, would not say, because it would be indeli- after this bill had passed through the cate to say, whether the publication of the other House of parliament with a majority letters was sanctioned and authorized by so commanding, expressing in a manner those individuals; but this he would say, so marked and decided the opinion of the that he should have felt himself highly representative body of the nation-if, after culpable, both as regarded our late vene- this, owing to any circumstance, the bill rable sovereign and as regarded the nearest did not pass and become a part of the relation of Mr. Pitt, if he had not commu-law of the land, it was impossible that the nicated with those who could by possibility have any thing like control over the letters. The Duke of Sussex said, he was extremely sorry if, in the heat of argument, he had expressed himself stronger than it was permitted to him to express himself. The noble lord, however, must allow him to say, that his explanation was by no means satisfactory to him. He understood the noble lord to say, that he had merely applied to the relations of Mr. Pitt. firmest mind or the stoutest heart could contemplate the consequences, without something approaching to dismay. But, that the bill would pass, and that it would become a part of the law of the land, he did not entertain the slightest doubt. Perhaps (continued the noble and learned lord) your lordships will allow me, notwithstanding the great importance of the question before you, to detain you for a short-it shall be but a very shorttime, while I speak of matters which concern myself personally. The noble and The Duke of Sussex.-Oh! if the noble learned lord (Eldon) at the table-I call lord means to say that he applied to higher him the noble and learned lord, because quarters, I bow at once, and retract what he has declared that he will not allow me I said. If I have the misfortune to injure to call him my noble and learned friend any individual, through error, I hope I-directed me on a former night, to vinshall always be ready to make the honor-dicate my own consistency. My lords, I able reparation of acknowledging my error. I must, however, observe, that in what I said I had not the slightest intention of alluding to the noble lord; for up to the Lord Kenyon.-No; I did not say that my application was so confined. readily accept the challenge, and I trust you will bear with me, while I explain the position in which I now stand, with reference to the position I have occupied on former occasions. On two occasions, and on two occasions only, have I addressed either House of parliament on this subject. One of them occurred in the other House, the other, since I have had the honour of a seat among your lordships. On both these occasions I stated, that which had been the constant principle of my conduct, and said, that if concessions to the Roman Catholics could be made, consistently with the security of the Protestant established church, and consistently with the great interests of the empire, I considered we were bound in duty to make them. I stated this, my lords, so unequivocally, so explicitly, that I thought it was impossible I could be misunderstood. My lords, I was not misunderstood, because I have reason to believe that the ground I took was not congenial to those who were opposed to concession; that it was thought I had not taken ground sufficiently high, and that I had not been sufficiently transcendent in the view I took; and being, at that time the representative of the University of Cambridge, some of my constituents complained of the course I had taken. They were of opinion, that no sacrifice ought to be made,-that, under no circumstances, ought concessions to be granted; and I believe that they were dissatisfied with me for hinting even at the possibility of a satisfactory adjustment of this question. That I held the same language in the last session of parliament which I held in the House of Commons, I may safely appeal to your lordships who heard me. But, my lords, there has been one other charge made against me. A grave and serious accusation, than which a graver or more serious accusation could not have been made against any man, has been made against me. I have been charged with having forgotten, with having violated the sacred oath I took, when I was appointed to the high situation which I have now the honour to fill. My lords, the terms of that oath are deeply impressed upon my mind; they are "that I will truly counsel the king." I have deeply considered the obligation this oath imposed upon me, and, after much deliberation, the result has been, that I came to a firm conclusion in my own mind that if the stability of the empire were to me, as it ought to be, an object of deep and intense interest, Ireland must be tranquillized, and that it was impossible for me not to give the counsel I have given to the king. Have I, then, violated the oath I took? No, my lords, it was because I felt myself bound by the obligation of that oath,because I felt it an imperious duty,-because I was grateful to my king for the benefits I have received at his hands,-it was for these reasons, my lords, that I gave that counsel in which an ill-constituted and ill-directed mind has been able to discover a violation of my obligation to counsel the king truly. The most bitter opprobrium has been cast upon me. I have been assailed with revilings in the most unmeasured and in the coarsest terms. But, my lords, when I bear in mind, that the individual to whom I allude stated, in the same breath, that he would not take the state of Ireland at all into his consideration, I look upon what proceeded from him rather as the ravings of a disordered imagination, than as emanations from an enlightened and sagacious understanding. And now, my lords, I pass from this subject, never again to revert to it. The noble and learned lord then proceeded to state the grounds on which he had concurred in the recommendation of this measure. For upwards of two years past he had been one of the responsible advisers of the Crown. During that period, his attention had been repeatedly directed to Ireland. He had inquired in all quarters; he had drawn his information from the best sources; and the conclusion, that Ireland must not be allowed to remain as it was had forced itself upon his mind. Among all the persons with whom he had conversed, he had found no one on whose judgment he could rely, whether a supporter of this measure, or whether opposed to it, who was at all connected with Ireland, who entertained a different opinion on this point. With this point, therefore, conceded on all hands, he turned his attention to the means by which the condition of Ireland was to be ameliorated. In looking at that country, and at the policy which had been pursued towards it, he found, that, for years past, civil disabilities and civil proscription had been practised there; and he found, too, that these had effected no change in the condition of Ireland. No change! He considerably understated the argument when he put it so. The condition of Ireland had been growing worse, year after year: |