BANK OF IRELAND BILL. (Hansard, 2 June 1808)

§ Lord H. Petty
rose to move an instruction to the committee to enable Roman-Catholics to become directors of the Bank of Ireland. In bringing this proposition forward, he felt that he should have to encounter very great difficulty, not from the complexity of the subject, but from the task of' obviating an objection, if any objection could possibly exist, against adopting a measure of conciliation to the Roman-Catholics of Ireland. The charter of the Bank of Ireland was granted in 1782, and the Roman-Catholics were then excluded from the direction, agreeably to the spirit of the penal laws. In the act of 1793, the bar to their admission was intended to be removed; but this intention was frustrated by the omission of a single word in the act. He had heard it argued, that it would be prudent to allow this obscurity to remain; but he asserted that now, when the house was legislating upon the subject, by allowing the doubt to remain which at first was merely accidental, the catholics were placed in a worse situa- 809 tion than they were in before. As to the propriety of the measure itself, the noble lord contended that the boon would be furnishing to the catholics an additional motive of attachment to the government of the country. The only possible objection that he could conceive to it was, that it was not considered as material by the catholics themselves. This he did not believe to be the case; but whether it was the case or not, it was most important, considering the present sensibility (the morbid sensibility he might term it) of the catholics of Ireland, that the house should lose no opportunity of manifesting some feelings of kindness and benevolence towards them, especially after its recent refusal to enter into a detailed examination of the merits of their Petition. The noble lord concluded with moving an instruction to the committee, to introduce a provision into the bill, to enable Roman-catholics to be chosen governors, or directors thereof, provided they have taken the oaths of the 13th, 14th and 33d of George the 3rd.

Mr. Foster
was as friendly to every proper measure of conciliation to the Roman-Catholics as the noble lord, but he asserted that there was no reason for introducing such a change into the constitution of the Bank of Ireland, which change never had been made in the charter of the bank of England, particularly when the present state of Ireland was considered, and when it was recollected that the change was unsolicited by the Roman-catholics themselves. [Hear, hear, from the opposition.] Gentlemen might cry 'hear' but he stated that in two meetings of the proprietary which had lately taken place, no mention whatever had been made of the subject. He should therefore oppose the resolution, as tending to introduce a needless innovation into the charter.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer
argued, that according to every fair construction of the act of 1793, there was no reason to think that that act of the Irish parliament meant to leave Roman Catholics eligible to the government and direction of the Bank of Ireland; and as to the time at which the proposition was made, viz. after having refused to accede to the prayer of their Petition, it appeared rather surprising that it should be urged, that we ought to indemnify the Roman Catholics for refusing to them what they were desirous of having, by granting that which they did not ask, and upon which they sat no value at all.

§ Mr. Grattan
said, that this was one of those things which it seemed but little to grant, but the refusal of which was felt as a severe mortification. It had been said that the Roman catholics did not desire the boon; he admitted, that they had not petitioned for this privilege specifically; but if they had not, it was because it was so small that they conceived it was impossible it could be refused. He believed that it was not the intention of the Irish parliament to exclude Catholics from the direction of the Bank; and this opinion he supported by referring to the Act of 1793.