The Hon. William Harerose to present a petition from the Roman Catholics of Listowell, in the county of Kerry, praying for a removal of those civil disabilities under which persons of their religious persuasion laboured. The hon. gentleman said, he had himself witnessed the many evils which resulted from the system of exclusion which was acted on towards his Roman Catholic fellow-subjects. All the disunion, ill-feeling, and animosity, public and private, which prevailed in Ireland, might be traced to that source, nor could he conceive how permanent tranquillity could be secured in that country, so long as such a penal code was suffered to exist. It was a matter of infinite moment to conciliate the feelings of the people of Ireland, and by that means to restore peace, order, and unanimity; and he was convinced, that nothing could effect that most desirable object but complete and unqualified emancipation. Such a measure might be said to carry its own security along with it, since it was calculated to excite the warm gratitude, and to draw forth the friendly and affectionate feelings, of the millions for whose benefit it was intended. He was as ardently attached to the constitution as any man could be. He gloried in it as the proudest boast of the country; and if granting a participation in all its immunities to his Roman Catholic fellow-subjects was likely, in the slightest degree, to impair the constitution, he would oppose any further concession. But he denied the assertion. Such a measure would strengthen, instead of weakening it; and he could not see how it was incompatible with its safety, to admit those who bore their full share of the taxes and burthens of the state to 412 a full participation in all civil rights and privileges.
§ Ordered to lie on the table.