§ Mr. Broughamrose to present a petition which seemed to him to be entitled to the most serious attention of the House. It was signed by a great number of persons who, although they were members of the Catholic Association, approached the House only in their individual capacity, the forms of parliament not allowing them to petition in any other form. This, then, although it was the petition of the Catholic Association of Ireland, came before the House only as the petition of the individuals by whom it was signed. They consisted of a large number of peers, a larger number of persons of distinguished though inferior rank, six prelates of the Roman Catholic church, three archbishops, and three bishops, and a very numerous class of other individuals of distinction, as regarded their fortune, their talents, and their influence over the great body of the Roman Catholic population. These petitioners humbly represented, that they had learned, with deep apprehension, that it was in contempla- 523 tion to pass a bill through this House, the object of which was, to restrain the undoubted right of the people to meet and petition parliament for the redress of the grievances which they might suffer, and especially that it was intended by that bill to dissolve the Association of which the petitioners were members. They stated, besides, that no act or declaration of that body, from its institution to the present hour, had been intended, or was calculated to excite alarm, or exasperate the minds of the people of Ireland. The petition prayed, that no measures might be adopted against the Association, until the persons who were charged with having committed offences should have been heard in their defence. So conscious were they of the purity of their intentions, that they had no objection to the most rigorous inquiry into both. On the contrary, they courted inquiry. He could not, for his own part, imagine any reason which could be offered against granting them that inquiry which they courted. The petition concluded by praying, that they might be heard at the bar of the House by themselves, their counsel, agents, and witnesses.
The Petition was then brought up and read; setting forth,
"That the petitioners have reason to apprehend that it is in contemplation to introduce some measures into the legislature, either for the purpose of entirely suppressing the Association, of which the petitioners are members, or of coercing them in the necessary exercise of what they deem a legal and constitutional right; the petitioners are ignorant of the precise nature of these measures, but the suggestions that have been publicly made respecting them, have filled their minds with surprise and alarm; conscious that the proceedings of their Association are not, and have never been, irreconcileable with the spirit of the constitution, or calculated to excite alarm, or to exasperate animosities, or to endanger the peace of society, or to retard the course of national improvement, but have had the very opposite tendency, the petitioners fly to the bar of the House for refuge and protection; in the name of truth and British justice they ask, they implore, they respectfully demand, a full, fair, impartial, solemn inquiry into the nature and constitution of their body, into the causes that have induced the necessity of their meetings, into the nature, tendency, and 524 effect of their proceedings; this most necessary inquiry the petitioners humbly pray may be had in the first instance, and before any new measure of harshness or severity be introduced, or any new law be added to that code of pains and penalties (as they humbly offer to prove at the bar of the House) of monstrous injustice and of goading degradation, and of foul oppression, under which the devoted people of Ireland continue to suffer, unmitigated as it is by any gracious act of government, or by any declaration that could inspire hope, or soothe the natural anxieties of a disappointed, ill-treated, yet dutiful, most patient, but most sensitive people; the petitioners in humble vindication of their conduct, submit to the House, and are ready by proof to sustain the same at the bar, that their proceedings are, and have always been perfectly reconcileable with the free and genuine spirit of the British constitution, which affords to the aggrieved the right of complaint, and to the injured an opportunity of submitting their wrongs to the wisdom and justice of parliament; that no act or declaration of their body from the day of its institution to the present hour, has been calculated to excite alarm or exasperate animosities; that their proceedings did not and could not in any wise endanger the peace of society, or retard the course of national improvement; if guilty of the heavy crime of thus adding to the calamities of their ill-fated country, they would not be animated with the courage which inspires them, and with the entire confidence they feel in the high-minded justice of the British nation; they submit to the reasoning mind of the House, that if they have excited alarm, and endangered public peace, or retarded public improvement, their proceedings and their conduct must necessarily have been violent, intemperate, provoking, seditious; at least could not have been peaceable, temperate, conciliatory, and loyal; and here they refer to all that has passed in their body since the first day of its formation, to their acts, their public documents, even to every casual and unpremeditated resolution that has escaped them in the heat of discussion; they invite, they implore, the keenest scrutiny, the most rigid examination, the most jealous inquiry into every act, deed and resolution of their body, and if the result of such inquiry shall be to fasten upon them, or even to countenance the, charges that have been made against them, 525 the petitioners, in the face of parliament and the world, pledge their honour and their faith that they will in that case instantly dissolve themselves; but if, on the other hand, it shall appear, that the conduct of the Catholic Association has been strictly constitutional, that they have met for the purpose of considering various grievances which affect their body, and of bringing same in the shape of humble petitions under the consideration of the legislature; if it shall appear that they have ever laboured to inspire the people with affection for the sovereign, with confidence in the House, and with due respect for the laws; if it shall appear that they have taught the people to shun all secret and illegal combinations, to bear their burthens with patience, to look up for justice and redress to the tribunals of their country; if, moreover, it shall appear that the discontent which prevailed in that country, when the Catholic Association first assembled, gradually subsided, as the petitioners pointed out to the people the mode of obtaining constitutional redress; if it shall appear that the outrages, for the suppression of which extraordinary powers were confided to his majesty, have so far ceased as to warrant the suspension of the exercise of those powers in most of the districts heretofore disturbed; if it shall appear that the value of landed and other property has greatly increased; that industry and commercial enterprise, the sure signs of improving times, and the cheering fruits of public tranquillity, are extending themselves in that par* of the United kingdom; if all this shall appear, the petitioners hope that no measure irreconcileabie with the spirit of the constitution, will meet the sanction of the House, and that the House will not listen to that which the petitioners are humbly ready to prove at the bar of the House would be the wicked project of passing new penal laws, which can have no other consequence than to embitter cruel disappointment, and to irritate and inflame an already aggrieved people, whose wrongs have been frequently acknowledged, but have never been redressed; attacked and calumniated as they have been, the petitioners hope they may be pardoned if, with the anxiety natural to honourable and loyal men, they avail themselves of this opportunity to enter into a more particular explanation of their character and their conduct; for a considerable time after the gracious visit of his majesty to 526 that country, the Catholics of Ireland preserved almost a perfect silence with respect to their claims, anxious to give to the confidential servants of his majesty the enviable glory of making constitutional arrangements, which would tend to procure the emancipation of seven millions of his majesty's subjects; they waited in the humble hope and expectation that the legislature would, unsolicited, have enacted some measure for their relief; they waited in submission and in silence, a whole session was allowed to pass away, and their claims were not even discussed in parliament; it was not until an advanced period of the session of 1823, that their petition was presented to the House; and notwithstanding what they respectfully claim to be and are now humbly ready to prove at the bar of the House to be, the irresistible justice of their claims, notwithstanding all their patience, silence, and submission, it was at that period deemed expedient to dismiss their humble and dutiful claims without any repeal of the laws by which they are aggrieved; thus disappointed, the Catholics of Ireland felt the necessity of bestirring themselves in their own affairs, and it was deemed right to enter into an Association to promote the general interests of their body, and to bring under the frequent consideration of parliament the various and heavy grievances of which the Catholic people of Ireland complain; that the Catholic Association was formed first and chiefly for such purpose; it consists of Catholic prelates, peers, and baronets, of many Protestants of noble families and great possessions, of many distinguished members of high and learned professions, of commercial men of great wealth and character, of country gentlemen, farmers, traders, and substantial citizens; that the Association meet publicly, in order to prepare and forward petitions to both Houses of parliament for the redress of grievances; and to procure for the poor, the ignorant, and the defenceless, redress from the known tribunals of the law, for outrages and injuries arising from party spirit; that the petitioners never presumed or pretended to represent in any way or for any purpose, any portion of their countrymen; that the petitioners never presumed or pretended to levy any sum of money from any portion of their fellow-subjects, but they have received the voluntary subscriptions which have been given by Protestants and Catholics towards the creation 527 of a fund, formed to defray the expenses of forwarding petitions to the House, of obtaining justice for the poor, who are not able to obtain justice for themselves, and for other necessary, just, and lawful purposes; amongst the subscriptions to this National Fund, are to be found those of noble Protestant families, of many members of the legislature, and of other high and dignified persons; even the very last subscription that appears on their list bears the name of a noble and venerable personage, whose virtues shed dignity and splendour even upon the exalted honours of the British peerage; the petitioners, in conclusion, disclaim all views and objects inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution, of the peace, happiness, and improvement of the country, to which they are attached by so many ties, and in which they have so great a stake; in the consciousness of their innocence, they humbly pray the Mouse to take into consider, action the subject of this their humble petition, and to adopt no measure against the Catholic Association, or against any portion of the Catholic people of Ireland, without first affording to petitioners a full opportunity of vindicating their principles and conduct at the bar of the House, and to be heard, if necessary, as well by witness as by their counsel."
§ Mr. Humesaid, that the promoters of the most atrocious bill ever introduced into parliament, had grounded the measure mainly upon two or three words in an address from the Catholic Association, The words were "by the hatred you bear the Orangemen." On bringing in the bill, the right hon. Secretary had read these words as if they meant by the hatred the Catholics bore to the whole of the Protestant community in Ireland. The words had reference to the practices of the Orange party to entrap the ignorant Catholics into the commission of crimes, for which they were afterwards visited with the penalties of the law, and which practices had become so notorious as to justify the declaration which had been made. He was instructed to represent to the House, that every statement which had been made to the disadvantage of the Catholic Association could be proved on oath to be totally groundless.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.
§ Mr. Broughamthen presented a petion against the Unlawful Societies bill, from Newry, and gave notice, that he would, to-morrow, move, on behalf of the 528 first petition, that the petitioners be heard by themselves or their counsel, at the bar of the House.