1825.

CHAP. thing which blesses or dignifies social life? The tide XX. of English wealth has been lately setting in strongly towards Ireland. The alarm excited by the Association acts at present as an obstacle to turn that tide, and to frighten from the Irish shores the enterprise, capital, and industry of England. Is it not, then, the duty of Parliament to endeavour to remove this obstacle, to restore things to the course which nature and opportunity were opening, and to encourage and improve in Ireland the capacity to receive that full measure of prosperity which will raise her, by slow degrees, to her proper rank in the scale of nations?

37.

"The Catholic Association is too wise in its generation Concluded. openly to assert its being the representative of the Irish people. Had it done so, no new act of Parliament would have been required to authorise its immediate suppression. But though it has not as yet openly assumed that character, its acts betray that it considers itself as such, and it has that character attributed to it by the entire Catholic body. The repeated statements made in this very debate, as to the Catholic Association being the real representative of the people of Ireland, prove the truth of this statement. Can there coexist in this kingdom, without imminent hazard to dispeace, an assembly constituted as the House of Commons is, and another assembly as completely bearing the representative character, but elected by a different process, actuated by different interests, inflamed by different passions? Does not the very proposition that such is the character and such the attributes of the Catholic Association, even if not altogether true 1 Parl. Deb. at the present time, warn us at least what the Association, if unchecked, will become? And if the Catholic Associa468; Ann. tion, in the full maturity of its strength, cannot coexist with the House of Commons, shall we not check it in time, before it has acquired that strength and maturity?"1

xii. 170,

171, 464,

Reg. 1825,

30, 33.

On the other hand, it was contended by Sir Henry Parnell, Mr Brougham, and Sir James Mackintosh: “It

XX. 1825.

in support

ciation.

is the exclusion of the Roman Catholics from Parliament CHAP. which is the sole cause of the existence of the Association; and how can the House of Commons, after having in 1821 38. solemnly recognised their right to a seat in this House, Argument interfere now to put down an Association the object of the Assoof which is to obtain that very act of justice? Emancipate the Catholics, and the Association will at once die a natural death. Refuse that concession, and how can you persecute those who support it? The proceedings of the Association have no real danger belonging to them; there is no treason or insurrection connected with them, no obstruction to Government, no injury to life or property. The outcry is wholly artificial, and kept up studiously by the party who wish to stop that emancipation. Even if the Catholic Association had been the dangerous body which it is said to be, the character of its leaders, and especially of Mr O'CONNELL, who is a man of sense and talent, is a sufficient guarantee against their being betrayed into dangerous excesses. It has already effected the union of the entire Catholic body; it has directed public attention to their numerous grievances; it has called forth the talents of a large portion of the public press in their support; and by inducing this very debate, it will go far to open the eyes of the English people to the injustice towards Ireland to which they have so long been a party. Why then interfere to suppress an Association, the sole design of which is to effect an object which this House has solemnly approved, to terminate a great and crying injustice, to bring about a great and healing act of justice?

39.

"It is impossible to maintain, with any show even of reason, that the objects of the Association are illegal. Continued. The very fact of this bill being introduced proves that they are not so; if they were, the law is already strong enough to reach them. Disguise it as you will, the real object of the bill is, to put down the Association when it is doing nothing illegal, but when it has become an

XX.

1825.

CHAP. object of dread from the justice of its cause, and the reality of the grievances of which it complains. What are, not merely its ostensible, but its real objects? To procure and forward petitions to Parliament, to obtain redress for such Catholics assailed by Orange violence as are unable to procure it for themselves, to encourage and support a liberal and enlightened press as well in Dublin as in London, and expose the calumnies by which the Catholic body are assailed, and demonstrate the justice of their cause, to procure cheap publications for the various schools in the country, and afford aid to Irish Catholics in England and America. Is there anything in these objects either dangerous, immoral, or illegal? If there is, where is the association for the purposes of religion or benevolence that may not in the same manner, and on the same grounds, be made the object of legislative persecution?

40.

"Excited as the public mind in Ireland now is, in conContinued. sequence of the injustice of which that country has so long been the object, it is not only noways to be regretted, but highly to be desired, that the people should be brought under the control of leaders who may direct their energies to legal and beneficial objects. Deprived of such restraint, there is no saying to what excesses their indignation may lead. There are now in Ireland between seven and eight millions of people, who do not live for the most part in towns or villages as in England, but are spread in huts over the whole face of the country, exempt from all superintendence or control. This immense body of human beings has been banded together for the last thirty years by a sense of common wrongs, and trained by hidden societies in all the practical courses of secret assassination and open insurrection. The sympathy of grievance and religion that is universal amongst them, forms a basis for carrying on with effect the most extensive schemes of popular organisation. If any fixed determination to make a great popular effort should seize

XX.

1825.

possession of their minds, in vain would the Catholic CHAP. nobility, the Catholic lawyers, and even the Catholic clergy, exert their utmost endeavours to check them; and universal ruin and destruction must be the inevitable result of such popular efforts. These millions are increasing at the rate of duplication in twenty-five or thirty years. Is it not plain, therefore, that it is not only expedient, but has become a matter of absolute necessity, to break up the secret government which has so long directed the energies of the Irish people to violence and outrage, and attach them, by equal rule and a reciprocity of advantages, to the laws and the union of England? And what is the object of the Association but to avert these terrible disasters, and bring about, by open, fair, and legal means, this blessed consummation ?

41.

"A great change has taken place in the Catholic mind in Ireland. The more intelligent and educated Concluded. among them have become accurately acquainted with the grievances under which they labour; they know their own numbers now by a regular census, and feel their own strength. It is chimerical to suppose that, with such a body, the object expected by putting down the Association will be obtained. As the Catholics will, notwithstanding that, still continue to labour under grievances, they will be induced to take such steps to give vent to their feelings as will probably be an evasion of the new law. This is the first of a career of measures that inevitably will end in general confusion and rebellion. Ministers will then come down to the House with a new case of the violation of the constitution, and call for a Coercion Act. Such an act will lead to new acts of evasion and violence on the part of the Catholics, until, by new modes of evading the law, and new laws to coerce popular assemblies, the Catholics of Ireland will by degrees be trained to involve themselves in open insurrection. The union of the two countries, up to this moment, has existed only on paper; there is no Ireland is still, in feeling and in

cordial national union.

XX.

1825.

CHAP. fact, a country foreign to England. The people form a clear notion of a distinct Irish and English nation; and the moment the bill passes into a law, the people of Ire1 Parl. Deb. land will regard it as a belligerent act on the part of the English nation against the Irish nation, and it will thereafter become impossible to negotiate a peace between the two countries." 1

xii. 214,

230; Ann.

Reg. 1825, 23, 30.

42.

carried, and

xii. 522,

899.

The debate was continued through four nights, the OpThe bill is position, consisting both of the whole Whigs and Liberals immediate as well as the friends of the Catholics, having put forth ly evaded. their whole strength on the occasion. The second reading, however, was carried by a majority of 155, the numbers being 278 to 123; and in the House of Lords the majority was proportionately still greater, the numbers being 2 Parl. Deb. 146 to 44.2 But this decisive victory on the part of Administration was far from accomplishing the object which Government had in view. The Association immediately dissolved itself; but as quickly a new Association was formed, on such principles as effectually withdrew it from the operations of the Act. Christians of all denominations were invited to join it, in order to obtain redress of the numerous evils which afflicted the country: no oath was required to be taken; and it was expressly declared, "that the new Catholic Association shall not assume, or in any manner exercise, the power of acting for the purpose of obtaining redress of grievances in Church or State, or any alteration in the law of Church or State, or for the purpose of carrying on or assisting in the prosecution or defence of causes civil or criminal." The objects of the new Association were declared to be, to promote peace, harmony, and tranquillity; to encourage a liberal and enlightened system of education; to ascertain the population of Ireland, and the comparative number of persons of the different persuasions; to devise means of erecting 3 Ann. Reg. suitable Catholic places of worship; to encourage Irish agriculture and manufactures; and to publish refutations of the charges against the Catholics.3 These resolutions,

1825, 42,

45.