HC Deb 01 March 1825 vol 12 cc757-64
Sir Francis Burdett

said, that, before he brought forward the important question which stood for that night's discussion, he had a petition to present for the Catholics of Ireland, praying for an equalization of civil rights with his majesty's other subjects, which was signed as he was informed, by a greater number of persons than had ever signed a petition on any former occasion.

The petition, which formed a roll of parchment, measuring two feet in diameter, and when opened about a hundred feet in length, was read by the clerk, and ordered to be printed. It purported to be the petition of the Catholics of Ireland; and set forth.

"That the petitioners, his majesty's most faithful and dutiful subjects, Roman Catholics of Ireland, approach the House with sentiments of respect and confidence, and beg leave firmly, but respectfully, to press upon the attention of the House their claims to relief from the operation of a penal and exclusive code of laws, by which they are unjustly aggrieved and degraded in this their native land; the relief the petitioners seek is plain and distinct; they ask for emancipation, that is to say, for an equalization of civil rights with all other classes of his majesty's subjects; the grounds on which the petitioners seek this relief are also plain and distinct; they are these: 1st. The petitioners seek it on the score of justice and right; 2nd. The petitioners seek it upon the faith of a solemn treaty which has been faithfully performed by one of the contracting parties; for, may it please the House to understand, that they deem it due injustice and of right to all classes of his majesty's subjects, to be allowed to worship God according to the dictates of conscience in purity and sincerity, without being subjected thereby, or by reason thereof, to any pains, penalties, or privations whatsoever; this principle, which the petitioners respectfully put forward for themselves and for their own advantage, they do also firmly assert, for the benefit of all other denominations of christians, being thoroughly convinced that it is equally inconsistent with religion and charity, to use force or fraud in order to prevent or control the public profession of that christian faith which is conscientiously and sincerely believed; the petitioners beg leave further, and with great respect to state, that this principle, which they thus assert, is that upon which the glorious revolution of 1688 was founded; the effect of that revolution, it is true, was to give in England a victory to the Protestant church, and in Scotland to the I Presbyterian church, but in Ireland to give a triumph to a small and virulent faction; yet the sound principle upon which the great and illustrious persons acted, who guided and conducted that revolution, was that of freedom of conscience; that revolution was a deviation from the ordinary rules of the constitution, in order to preserve the spirit and object in which, and for which, British government was formed, namely, that of promoting the welfare of the people; the great majority of the people of England at that time professed the Protestant form of worship; the people of Scotland almost universally professed the Presbyterian faith; the latter had long endured violent persecution on that account; it was known, or at least it was believed, that the second James would have continued (for he could not embitter) the persecution in Scotland; it was feared, and perhaps believed, that the second James would institute a similar persecution in England; the people, therefore, vindicating the principle of freedom of conscience, rose in the peaceful exertion of natural strength, and using the gentle term of "abdication" effectually dethroned the king, from whom they feared a violation of the principle of freedom of conscience; it is true that the revolution in Ireland produced effects quite anomalous; in Ireland the people were almost all Catholics, but in Ireland the religion of the people was oppressed by that change, and the faith of the few cherished and promoted to the exclusion of the nation at large, but this anomaly affords no proof to detract from the principle which created the revolution in England and Scotland; it would be indeed melancholy, if the many anomalies, from constitutional principles, which the said history of Ireland furnishes, were to be used to subvert or contradict those principles; it is also true, that their ancestors, at the period of the revolution, adhered with desperate fidelity to the reigning family; they were punished for their adherence to the doctrines of legitimacy, which consider the right of hereditary monarchs as indefeasible, doctrines which are become at present but too prevalent amongst many who are opposed to their claims, whilst the petitioners, the victims of such pernicious doctrines, do not only distinctly disclaim and reject such slavish notions, but proclaim, and in the strongest terms, consistent with their unfeigned respect for the House, insist on the sacred principles of civil and religious liberty, which declare all the powers of government a trust for the benefit of the people, and give to every human being the invaluable right of worshipping God according to the sincere and honest dictates of his conscience; the petitioners do therefore most respectfully claim from the House, the right so to worship their God; they do most respectfully claim to have religion unfettered and conscience free; the petitioners do therefore most humbly submit, that to force conscience is not religion but tyranny, not Christianity but injustice; may the petitioners be permitted respectfully to ask, whether there be a single individual in the House who would not in his own individual instance feel that it would be a grievous injustice to punish him (and an exclusion from the House is surely a punishment); that the petitioners repeat it would be a grievous injustice to punish him, merely because he should refuse to disclaim religious tenets, which he believes to be both true and important to eternal salvation; the petitioners beg leave most respectfully to state that such is their decided opinion, and they most humbly submit, that a course of proceeding which would be unjust if applied to every or any member of the House, must be equally so where practically applied to seven or even six millions of faithful and dutiful subjects; upon the principle, therefore, of freedom of conscience, do the petitioners rest their claims to relief; upon the right to worship God as reason warrants, and conscience dictates, do they respectfully request the attention-of the House to their situation; the petitioners cannot bring themselves to believe that an assembly of Christian legislators will, at this period, continue a system which is founded on the assumed right to legislate over opinion, and to use compulsion against conscientious belief; having thus respectfully relied upon the right of every subject to freedom of conscience, a right which the theory of the Protestant religion appears to have consecrated, as the profession of that faith certainly does assert this right, the petitioners may be permitted to abstain from resting their claim to relief upon any other or additional foundation, but they owe it to the House to state, that the Catholics of Ireland have a peculiar claim to emancipation, that is, to the enjoyment of civil rights, upon an equal footing with their Protestant fellow-subjects; it is a right derived from the hitherto unobserved faith of a solemn treaty; the treaty they allude to is the treaty of Limerick; that treaty was entered into deliberately, solemnly, and for valuable consideration; advantages were stipulated for, at both sides; all those which were bargained for by the British government were all obtained; there cannot vest the slightest suspicion of any breach of faith on the part of the Irish Catholics; the principal advantage stipulated for on the part of the Irish Catholics was liberty of conscience; this rig-lit was expressly allowed and solemnly promised, subject to no other condition save the taking an oath of allegiance to their majesties king William and queen Mary, and their successors; an oath which the Irish Catholics have been always willing to take, and the obligation of which they have always observed, is it permitted the petitioners to ask, whether this solemn treaty has been duly fulfilled on the part of the British government? alas! whatever pretexts may be used to justify its violation, the fact that they are now humble petitioners at the bar of the House demonstrates that it has been violated; the petitioners are convinced that the House is too just to allow it to be asserted that the treaty of Limerick was a treaty with rebels in arms, and that therefore it ought not to be observed; even if it were conceded that the Irish were rebels yet the British government which treated with those rebels would not and could not be at liberty to violate its engagements; that they were rebels might have been a reason for not treating with them at all; it could be no reason why they should be cheated or defrauded by solemn, but violated engagements; the petitioners therefore omit any discussion upon the fact, or the law of rebellion; however the petitioners are bound to remind the House that Ireland and England were in the seventeenth century separate and distinct kingdoms; and that although the two Houses of parliament in England did, as they then had a right to do, displace one king and thereby alter the succession to the throne, yet the Irish parliament, with him who was king "de facto" at their head, adhered to the party to which the Catholics of Ireland bad, in the excess of absurd loyalty, devoted their lives and fortunes; these considerations may mitigate the charge of rebellion, and justify altogether (if justification be necessary) the British government for entering into the treaty of Limerick; the petitioners now most respectfully and humbly petition for the performance of that treaty; it has been violated, grossly violated; the petitioners do not pronounce any censure on those who first violated it, nor do they demand any punishment on those who continue its violation; their humble petition is confined to the respectful prayer, that this solemn treaty may now at length-be honestly fulfilled; the petitioners respectfully submit, that there cannot be offered any fair or just reason why it should not be fulfilled; many years, it is true, have elapsed since it was entered into, and during which it has been violated; but there is no statute of limitation for crime; injustice does not improve by age, and the iniquity which was perpetrated in a former century does not palliate, much teas justify, the continuation of the evil in the present; the petitioners therefore most humbly implore the House to do justice to the Irish people, to vindicate the high character of Britain from a stain, and to set the noble example to the world of declaring that faith once solemnly pledged is inviolable, and that no reasons of state policy, or motives of religious prejudice, can sanction the violation of plighted national honour; and the petitioners humbly implore the House to consider, that all reasons of state policy are favourable to their claims; the concession of Catholic emancipation would be the first great step to conciliate a long-oppressed and much injured people; its natural and inevitable tendency would be, to secure the throne, increase the strength and consolidate the resources of the empire; it would give to religion the sacred character of charity, to the state the proud boast of liberality; it would give to the people peace and tranquillity, and to the government additional means and perfect security; there is no reason of state, why the penal and restrictive code should be continued; no statesman can define a rational object for its continuance; in truth, what rational object can be attained by continuing this code? what reasonable purpose is to be achieved by its continuance? is it intended thereby to diminish the number of Catholics, and to increase that of Protestants? if that be the object, it has hitherto totally failed; the relative number of Catholics has, under the present system, greatly increased; the positive number of Catholics is enormously augmented; it is perhaps too low to calculate the Catholics at seven millions; they already constitute full one-third of the population of the British em- pire; the Catholics are much more numerous than any other sect or denomination of Christians in the British empire; they are more numerous than the professors of the faith of the established Church of England and Ireland; they are infinitely more numerous than the members of the Church of Scotland; they are beyond any comparison more numerous than the Quakers, or Methodists, or Independents, or Baptists, or Seekers, or any other particular denomination of Christians; they are also out of all proportion more numerous than the Unitarians, who have rejected some of those tenets of Christianity which are avowed as of the most sacred importance by the established Churches of England and Scotland, and who have yet been deemed worthy of the humane attention of the legislature; whilst the petitioners, who agree with them on those most important sacred tenets, the Roman Catholics, who profess the ancient religion of the land, who profess the faith which our ancestors, as well as theirs, professed; the Roman Catholics who have never embraced or exchanged new opinions; the Roman Catholics who cannot be accused of the guilt of any species of new inventions, but have merely clung to old and long cherished establishments, they alone are excluded and degraded in this their native land, whilst every other sect and denomination of Christians already formed, or which may yet be formed, are placed by the laws in force in Ireland, in a state to enjoy all the political blessings of the British constitution; the continuance of the present system is not calculated to diminish the number of Catholics, on the contrary, they are bound by truth to state that its natural tendency is to increase their numbers; man naturally abhors persecution, and cherishes with increased affection the doctrines for which he is persecuted; this affection enlivens devotion, stimulates zeal, and gives the courage and perseverance of martyrs, to persons who might otherwise be cold, careless, and indifferent; besides it enlists prejudice and even passion at the side of the persecuted; and it makes a perseverance in the persecuted creed a matter of pride and honour, and renders a defection from it an object of disgust and contempt; these are truths confirmed by all history, sacred and profane, and without abandoning (although the petitioners do not offensively urge) other and more important advantages, which they conscientiously believe their sacred religion to possess, the petitioners yet appeal to the judgment of every member of the House, whether the rapid increase of Catholics in the British empire does not furnish another and an equivocal proof that penal and restrictive laws do not diminish the number of those against whom they are levelled; the petitioners therefore most humbly implore the House to take their claims and rights into its most serious consideration, and to reflect, that no fair or rational object can be attained by continuing the present restrictive laws; that whilst those laws tend to increase, and certainly do not diminish their numbers, they foment and continue dissention, division, and distraction amongst his majesty's subjects, they diffuse a bitter poison into the sweet charities of private and social life, they engender hatred and animosity amidst public transactions, they lessen the respect that ought to be paid to the laws, they pollute the fountains of justice, they diminish the safety of the throne, and if persevered in, must, as the petitioners most respectfully and humbly submit, lessen the resources and diminish the security of the empire; the petitioners do, as loyal and faithful subjects, implore the House, to put a period to these evils, and by doing a great and substantial act of justice, secure for ever the stability of the throne, and of the glorious British constitution; May it therefore please the House to grant to his majesty's most faithful subjects, the Catholics of the British empire, an equalization of civil rights with his majesty's other subjects."

Ordered to lie on the table.