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The hon. Member further said, I hold in my hand another Petition, signed by nearly 100 of the Protestant Inhabitants of the village of Monlough, in the Wardenship of Galway, praying that this hon. House would grant to the Roman Catholic Mercantile and Trading Classes of that Town the same right of Franchise as Protestants enjoyed in it. I am delighted to find that the inhabitants of every religious persuasion in that almost Catholic county, live on terms
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of amity and friendship towards each other, being for several years convinced that religious dissensions have been ruinous to Ireland, and that no country where they exist could prosper. This petition refers to Acts of Parliament, and is, consequently, much more explanatory of the wishes of the petitioners than any statement of mine; I therefore will, with the leave of the House, read it.—The petition was read. It stated,
That prior to the enactment of the penal code, the mercantile and trading classes of Galway, without distinction of religion, enjoyed the right of elective franchise, as appears from the uniform usage of the corporate body during a period of nearly four centuries, by all its ancient laws, charters, and muniments, by the respective articles of capitulation entered into in 1652, and 1691, and by the following Resolution:—
Resolved, that the several Trades and Corporations of the County of the Town of Galway are part of the commonalty thereof, and such are entitled to vote for Members to serve in Parliament."—Irish Commons Journal, vol. iii, folio 66.
That the Roman Catholic mercantile and trading classes having been excluded from the corporate body by an order of the Irish Privy Council, made in 1708, and subsequently disfranchised by an Act of the Legislature, for the purpose of maintaining the Protestant rights, a Statute was enacted in the year 1717, giving to the Protestants the right of the elective franchise. Thus, in effect, securing and continuing to members of that religion a right of which the Roman Catholics have been formally deprived.
That the Protestant portion of the community have thus continued, from the original foundation of said body, to enjoy said right up to the present day, without a shadow of impeachment as to the just exercise of franchise; but notwithstanding such uninterrupted enjoyment of the privilege, and although the disqualifications generally affecting his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects have been repealed, yet, contrary to the gracious intention of Royal and Legislative munificence, the Roman Catholic mercantile and trading classes of Galway have not been restored to the elective franchise as enjoyed by them before the enactment of the penal code, and as exercised at the present day by their Protestant fellow-citizens.
That the necessity of equalizing civil rights, by extending to the Roman Catholic the right of the Protestant, is the more apparent by reason of the present state of the Church of Galway, consisting of a Warden and Vicar, who by charter, 5th of Edward 6th, are annually appointed by the Protestant freemen, and that said Protestants being the only resident constituent portion of said body, it is essential to the well-being of the community, to the interests
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of religion, and the welfare of the Church, that the least infringement should not be allowed upon their rights, which would inevitably tend to throw the annual election of the clergy out of the hands of the parishioners into those of absentees.
Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that your honourable House will be pleased to accord to the Roman Catholic mercantile and trading classes of Galway, the same right of franchise as is now enjoyed by the Protestant.
§ Petition to be printed.