very much increased by the capti- It was never, I believe, imagined by any of us, that what then passed could be binding on the opinions of the petitioners. The Roman Catholics of Ireland are not a corporate body, They speak through no common organ, their various wishes and interests, like those of their fellow subjects, can be collected only from general information; and any opinions, ex roneously attributed to them, they like any other persons, are fully entitled to disclain. I learnt, however, with deep heartfelt regret, the subsequent proceedings which took place in Ireland, in consequence of this suggestion. To discuss the grounds of these proceedings would be foreign from my present purpose. Their effect obviously must be, not only to revive expiring prejudices, but to clog with fresh embarrassment every future consideration of any of the measures connected with your petition. To myself, unquestionably the diff culty of originating at this time any fresh discussion of these measures, does, in such circumstances, appear almost insuperable. Let me not, however be misunderstood, when I speak of the necessity of combining with the accomplishment of your wishes, provisions of just security to others. I am no less desirous of consulting every reasonable apprehension on your part. To the forms, indeed, of these securities, or to the particular de tails of the proposed arrange ments, I attach comparatively litthe importance. A pertinacious adherence to such details. in opposition to groundless prejudice, I consider as the reverse of legisla tive wisdom. I look only to their substantial purposes; the safery of our own establishments, the mutual good will of all our fellow subjects, and the harmony of the United Kingdom. That adequate arrangements may be made for all these purposes consistensly with the strictest adherence, on your part, to your own religious tenets, is the persuasion which you have long been labouring to establish, and of which which I have uniformly professed my own conviction. Were it otherwise, I should indeed despair. But that these objects may be reconciled, in so far at least as respects the appointment af your Bishops, is known with undeniable certainty. It is proved by the acquiesence of your church, in similar arrangements under other Governments, by the sentiments which many of yourselves still entertain as to the proposal suggested in 1808, and, most of all, by the express consent for merly given to that proposal, in a declaration signed by the most considerable of your Bishops, I see, therefore, in the present state of this subject much unexpected embarrassment, and many difficulties, which renewed discussion, in the present moment must, instead of smoothing, ine vitably aggravate-There is, however, no ground for ultimate discouragement The sentiment of reciprocal confidence, the spi rit of mutual conciliation, would surmount far greater obstacles. tions finally adjusted. To be effective and permanent, such an arrangement must be mutually satisfactory. This is, alike the interest of every member of the British empire, but to none more important than to the Catholics of Ireland. The sta bility of all your civil rights, both of those which you already enjoy, and those to which you seek to be admitted, essentially depends on the tranquillity and harmony of your country, on banishing from it every hostile influence, and composing all its internal differences. These opinions I have expressed to your Lordship with the freedom of a tried and zealous advocate of pour cause. On these grounds alone have I ever attempted to do justice to it. To have argued it on any other would have been a dereliction of my own principles. I need hardly add, that by the same principles my present conduct must be equally directed. Should the petitioners continue to entertain But nothing, permit me to re- the desire conveyed in your lord. mark it, can in the mean time be ship's letter, that I should lay this more injurious to your cause, then petition upon the table of the any attempt by partial and preci- house of lords; with that request pitate decisions, to prejudgé its se- I cannot hesitate to comply. It parate branches, or to limit its un- would be highly improper to deny reversed discussion. No course to such a body of men the opporcan be more grateful to your op-tunity of submitting, through my ponents none more embarrassing to your supporters. To Parliament, when any more favourable conjuncture for this discussion shall arise, every information may be properly supplied, every wish imparted, every ap prehens on communicated. There only, by a systematic and com prehensive arrangement of this extensive subject, can all its difficulties be surmounted, all its rela hands, if they should so desire it. and at their own time, their wishes to the legislature of their country. It would be still more inexcusable in a case, where all my opinions and all my wishes are favourable to the object of their application. On the measure itself, if any motion respecting it, be originated by others. I shall not fail to urge, with unabated earnestness, all the same sen. timents timents which I have detailed in this letter. But I must with equal explicitness decline to be myself at this time, aud under so many circumstances of such peculiar dis advantage to your cause, the mover of any such proposition. I am satisfied, that, by this decision, I shall best promote the ultimate success of that great work which I have long laboured to accomplish. My reasons for this persuasion I have, I trust, sufficiently explained. They may be erroneous, they are at least sincere. To the principle of equal laws, to the object of national conciliation, I am invariably attached. By me they shall never be abanConed. But any personal exertions which I can make, for purposes of such inestimable benefit to my country, must ever be regulated by that discretion, which I am equally determined in every situation to reserve, unfettered by previous engagements, and the faithful exercise of which my public duty imperatively forbids me to relinquish, I have the honor to be, with sincere respect and regard my lord, your lordship's most obedient humble servant, GRENVILLE To this artful and hypocritical instrument directed to arrest and mislead the public mind; we are nato ally obliged to annex an expression of our own sentiments, at the same time, thar our opinion on the sincerity of our English masters, which we have uniform, ly given in the pages of the IRISH MAGAZINE, are justified from the present production of the noble Jord. The English peer is aware of the danger, English influence would be exposed to, by admitting to an equal share of what is called the constitution, with our protestant countrymen ; and so well does he disguise his senti ments, of which this apprehension is a leading one, that he makes the cause of our exclusion, our obstinacy in refusing to renounce our spiritual allegiance to the le gitimate head of the Catholic church, and transfer it to the polluted and guilty hands of any minister, to whom chance or caprice may give the management of the English cabinet. At the time that lord Grenville insinuates we ought to make a sacrifice, he does not deign to promise any equivalent. As Irish Catholics, we know no earthly power, much less a British cabinet, has any adequate compensation for the surrender of what we have ever deemed the most valuable character on earth, an unalterable attachment to the holy see, under whose wisdom and divine order, we have not only survived the most refined and atrocious persecutions, but nearly have quadrupied our numbers. The noble lord, may probably think from the impression he may have entertained, from the stupid and ambitious part of the higher Order of Irish Catholics, with whom he communicates, that the great body of five millions, are impatient for the honors of small authority to surrender their religion, to share the legislative mimickry of corporate authority, with the Barbers and publicans of the Common Council of Dublin, or the ragged and zealous religionists of Bandon and Mountrath. Though we may be guided by the little ambition that regulates the interior of a prison, we are not seduced by petty consideration, or so much terrified by authority, as to Testrain our ideas within the gloon y fence that shuts us from the work. We dare to look from the depths of our dungeons, and to contem. plate our right to visit the commurcial Universe, not as Catholics, bur but as Irishmen, for our ideas of Ireland are not so absorbed in petty interest, as to think the happiness of our country can be in any manner promoted, by the cabals of Clubs and Corporations, or that Catholics, or we more proudly say "Irishmen" can have any solid acquirements, by witnessing our Gentry daubed with foreign colouring, or honored with other names. Lord Fingall may suffer some chagrin from lord Grenville's obscure explanations, as he cannot at present ascertain, when he shall have the honor to display his eloquence, and evince his loyalty in a house of peers. The same uncertainty must attend Mr. O'Connell and his brother Barrister Mr. O'Gorman, as they are not assured when the Bench, or the silkgown in their Persons, will ho nor their families and gratify their Women, Mr. Murphy and the Man of Mullinahack, are as uncertain of their appointments to the Magistracy. Had the peer and his upstart associate: of the Bar, the Cowpen or the Counter, the sense to consult us. We would have convinced them, that Eman cipation will never be acceded to, by any British Council, as they well understand, that from the same moment of their weakness, the voice of the colony, which is the creature of their influence, would rapidly become silent, and Ireland then united, might be tempted to dispute the legetimacy of the compact that extinguished our legislature, and humbled Ireland into the condition of a Province. One great sacrifice has already been made, ambition has been gratified. A Bushe, a M'Cleland, a Plunket, a Smith, An a Smith, An O'Grady may dispense justice, or float in Expensive Equipages thro' our deserted streets, but will any inhabitant of decaying Dublin say, "these men have done much for their country. Should we depart from the character, we have so eminently and by so many privations and sufferings supported, by laying at the feet of a British ministry, the avowed enemies of Catholicity, the management of our church, to what a crowd of evils, contempt and wretchedness would, we be reduced to; the Catholic lord, the Schis matic Bishop and Priest, the tools of power would pass us by, with the same hauteur, the same pomp. ons indifference, that distinguish the proud authors of the UNION. To the aggravation which hypocritical insolence would inflict, and which we must deprecate, every other alarming attendant would be in the train of domestic misfortune. Among others, a serious division in the Irish Church, would inevitably be a consequent. The ceremony of confession, one of the wisest of those instituted for the discipline of the christian world, would be neglected by a vast majority of the Irish people, very justly they would apprehend, that a Priest appointed, by a methodist fanatic, a Perceval or a Redesdale, must be quali fied in the strictest sense, to act the part of a Spy, over the flock entrusted to his care, or his creation would not be countenanced. So far would this shocking mea sure operate, that the people, would find themselves as justified, and as safe, to confess to Perceval and Redesdale, in person, as to their unholy agentss In fact lord Grenville, would convert the confessional, into a Sentry-Box, and the Constitutional Priest, would be an instrument of Police. A major in our bastardised establishment! the Anglo, Irish priesthood. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. A report by the minifter of Finance to the emperor, after a fummary of the receipt, and disbursements for the years 18c6-7-8 contains the following paffage :A fufficient time has not yet been afforded to enable me to fubmit to your Majefly a precife statement of the receipts and disbursements of 1809. It is, howvery probable that the war expenditure for the last year cannot be under 640 millions of which fum, only 350 are chargeable upon the public treafury. "The amount of this expenditure will excite no furprise, when it is to be condered that, befides an immenfe staff. our jefty has during 1809, maintained an eftablishment uf 900,000 infantry, 100,000 borfes for the cavalry fervice, and 50,000 for the waggon and artillery train. "la the year 1809 must thus have been, of necessity, expensive, there is every reason to conclude that the year 1810 will admit of great retrenchments. In fact, your Majesty levied 200,000 men in 1809, and it does not appear to be your intention to make any levies in 1810. 46 Sixty thousand horses were bought and equipped in 1809. It does not seem to be in your contemplation to purchase apy in 1810. "Your Majesty also expects to be able to make a reduction of 200,000 in your military establishment, and to limit it to 700,000 men; one half of this force, be ing intended to carry on the operations in Spain, and the other to be employed in the de ence of the coasts, and in maritime expeditions. 64 two-thirds of the sum to which they were reduced in 1808. This reduction can not occasion any embarrasing deficit in our revenue system; while it implies an annual diminution of more than francs in the exportations of England; four bundred and sixty millions of so that the measure which diminishes the proceeds of our customs must prove fatal only to the power which has rendered its adoption necessary. Upwards of 800,000 new muskets are deposited in our arsenals, exclusive of the foreign muskets which the fortune of war has thrown into our hands; and your Majefty has upwards of 40,000 pieces of can non with all their necessary equipments A long and eloquent Speech of the Chair man of the Committee of Finance of the Legislative Body, in support of the new project of revenue regulations, contains she following passuges :"A political measure, which drove back to our enemy's ports every thing that their commerce and industry tried to support to the continent, occasioned. a considerable diminution in the revenue accruing from the customs during the year 1808. The expenditure for that year was also augmented by the army stationed within the French territory, and by the preparations made for a new war. "The proceeds of the customs were estimated, in the budget for 1809, at 42,000,000, that is to say, at less than PEBRUARY 1810. "That debt is at present 20,769,000,0001, and the annual interest 736,000,000, which must be defrayed by permanent taxes. In France the first item of the budget is 111,000,000, as the intetest of the public debt of the richest empire in the universe. " During these three yeare, (18078-9), if we compare the budgets of the respective countries, the expenditure of England will be found to have surpassed that of France by the sum of 1,304,421,000l. It should be observed, that under the head of expences, the budget of England includes only those incurred for the army and navy, with the subsidies granted to foreign powers. "To institute a just comparison between the budgets of the two powers we should subtract from that of the French, all that is not comprised in that of England. But one may, without much calculation, perceive the inequality of the struggle between the two countries, and it is to foresee the issue. In the one the science of finance consists only in throwing into the shade an immense debt, and in finding ways to augment the loan of taxes born by 15,000,000 of inhabitants. Her government beasts of having perfected the ruinous system of loans. Her treasury conceals the amount of the revenues and their application; But her bank cannot any longer. conceal the embarrassment, not having for a length of time paid in specie any of its notes but those of the lowest de nomination. In short, such is the situation of her finances, that she is compelled, in order to perpetuate her taxes to reject peace, and regards as a calamity the greatest blessing that providence can bestow upon mankind." M ORIGINAL |