whose evidence was contradicted by one of the medical attendants.

Mr. Whitbread, on the evening of the same day, took notice of the attack which had been made upon him in the other house, and de. clared his intention of sending the paper alluded to, to Mrs. Lisle, in order to obtain her avowal or disavowal of its authenticity. On the following day, he produced to the house the answer he had received from that lady, which was an explicit acknowledgment that the paper was a correct copy of one she had written from her recollection, immediately after she had been examined, and of which she had transmitted a copy to the Princess of Wales at her command. Mr. Whitbread now considered himself as entirely cleared from the imputation of having been imposed upon by the paper in question; and he said, that if the same thing presented itself to him at the present moment, he would follow the very same course be had done, and throw himself on the justice and candour of the public.

From the conversation that followed, it however appeared, that the sense of even the friends of the hon. gentleman was, that his zeal had led him in this instance to pass the bounds of propriety.

On March 31st. Mr. Whitbread rose in the house to call its attention to a letter which had appeared in the public papers from lord Moira to a member of the grand lodge of Free Masons, in which were some observations on the evidence of one Kenny, since dead, ending with the remark, that her

Royal Highness's advisers had long preserved an absolute silence concerning it, "a forbearance only to be solved by their being too cautious to touch on the point while Kenny was alive." In another passage of the letter it was stated, that Partridge, lord Eardley's porter, was known to be entirely devoted to the princess. As lord Moira was about to leave England, Mr. Whitbread thought that he ought to be called upon for an explicit declaration of his meaning in these passages; and he therefore moved, "That a message be sent to the lords, requesting their lordships to grant permission to the earl of Moira to attend at the bar of this house, for the purpose of being examined as to his knowledge of certain circumstances connected with the coudurt of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales."

The Speaker expressed his doubts concerning the parliamentary usage with respect to such a motion, there being no matter then pending before the house on which the evidence of a noble lord was required; and he thought that their lordships would undoubtedly reject. the application.

The same being the opinion of other members, and there appearing a general disinclination in the house to renew the discussions on this subject, Mr. Whitbread would not press a division, and the question for the order of the day was read and carried.

Thus terminated all the parlia mentary proceedings relative to the case of the Princess of Wales.

CHAPTER

AT

T the close of the parliamentary session in the summer of the last year, the House of Commons, by a majority of more than two to one, had agreed to a resolution for taking into consideration the affairs of the Irish Catholics early in the next session; whilst the House of Lords had rejected a motion for a similar resotion by a majority of one. From that time great activity had been shown by the different parties in promoting their several views; and it has already been noticed, that the tables of both Houses were crowded with petitions on the subject, from the time of the first meeting of parliament in this year, after the recess. The tenor of the great majority of these petitions was unfavourable to the Catholic claims; and it soon became manifest that the friends to their cause would have a hard battle to sustain.

The parliamentary discussion of this important subject, so often already discussed that there would seem nothing left for farther argument, recommenced with Mr. Grattan's motion on Feb. 25th, for a committee on the claims of the

Roman Catholics. Three of the sections of the Bill of Rights having been read on the motion of Mr. Yorke, Mr. Grattan rose, and said he was happy that the hon, gentleman had caused those passages to be read from the Bill of Rights, since he was decidedly of opinion that the qualifications enumerated in them as indispensable accompaniments of the sovereignty of this empire, ought to form the preamble of any bill introduced into parliament for the relief of the Roman Catholics. After declaring that his purpose was to move for a committee of the House in pursuance of the resolution which, though made by a former parliament, he did not think he was guilty of an impropriety in referring to, Mr. G. proceeded to make some observations on the petitions which had been presented against the claims of the Catholics. He first objected to the manner in which, particularly in Ireland, they had been obtained They had often been the consequence of a requisition to the sheriffs of the respective counties to call a meeting of the Protestant inhabitants. Now he thought it exceedingly ob

jection

it is stated that it was continued by adjournment during four days, and that its printed report occupies the compass of a moderate volume, it will scarcely be expected that we should fill our pages with an abridgment, especially when no argument on the main points was produced on either side which had not repeatedly been offered in the many previous discussions of the same subject; and what there was of novelty, referred to the conduct of the Roman catholics in Ireland since their minds had been irritated by disappointment, and the circumstances of the late petitions. With respect to the latter, various remarks were made by the different speakers on the conspicuous part taken by the established clergy in opposition to the catholic claims; which some represented as a renewal of that cry of danger to the church which had too often been raised at the instigation of bigotry and worldly policy; while others justified it as able measure of defence of the protestant cause against hazards by no means imaginary. Some of the most temperate debaters were advocates for the present motion, on the ground that it was only redeeming a pledge given to the country by its representatives, that the catholic question should undergo a full consideration in order to a final settlement. That, however, the alarms excited throughout the country by the anti-catholic petitions, and their operation on the minds of individual members, had produced a considerable effect, appeared from the result of the division, compared with that of the preceding session on a similar motion. It took place at four

a reason

in the morning, after the debate of March 2d, when there appeared, for Mr. Grattan's motion, 264; against it, 224; majority in its favour, 40.

This point being gained, though by a hard contest, Mr. Grattan, on March 9th, moved the order of the day for a committee of the whole house on the catholic question. When this was formed, he rose, and after some preliminary observations, he said that he intended to propose resolutions, 1st, that the catholic disabilities should be removed; 2d, that the establishments in church and state ought to be effectually secured : and he then should propose regulations for the ecclesiastical courts and other matters, and an oath against foreign influence. He concluded with moving, "That with a view to such an adjustment as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the united kingdom, to the security of the established church, and to the ultimate concord of all classes of his Majesty's subjects, it is highly advisable to provide for the removal of the civil and military disqualifications under which his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects now labour, with such exceptions and under such regulations as may be found necessary for preserving unalterably the protestant succession to the crown, according to the act for the further limitation of the crown and better securing the rights and liberties of the subject, and for maintaining inviolate the protestant episcopal church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof; and the church of Scotland, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government

thereof,

thereof, as the same are respectively by law established."

The Right Hon. Charles Abbott (the Speaker) then rose to take the earliest opportunity of entering his warning protest against the course hitherto pursued, and also against the measure now proposed. He said, three plans had been proposed relative to the object in question, The first was for unlimited and unconditional concession as urged by the Irish Roman Catholics in their petition; but this had found few advocates in the house, and had been abandoned by the right hon. mover of the question, as well as by his eloquent supporter, Mr. Plunkett. The second was for qualified concessions, with some legislative controul over the Roman Catholic clergy; which was apparently that of the mover, and undoubtedly that of Mr. Canning: but this was resisted by the Roman Catholics themselves, who call it persecution, and inadmissible controul. This plan is also acknowledged to involve a repeal of the Corporation and Test acts. The third, that of Lord Castlereagh, was for bringing the Roman catholics within the reach of political power with safety to the protestant establishment, by obtaining the concurrence of the head of the Roman catholic church to such anangements as shall be satisfactory to both parties. This, however, is admitted at the present time to be wholly impracticable. Having stated these plans, the right hon. member proceeded to object to the measure now proposed. It began, he said, with a sweeping repeal of all known securities, upon the faith of other secu

ties as yet unknown. Some of

the suggested securities he then considered and objected to; and he spoke of the ill consequences that might result from a bill framed upon such grounds, even if lying over to another session, by exaggerating the hopes of the Roman catholics, and dissatisfying the established church. He did not wish, however, that matters should remain on the present footing, and there were certain important changes to which he could agree. The first of these was the admission of Roman catholic military officers to a larger share of the honours of their profession, which he would extend to all ranks of command, except the very highest at home. He would likewise give the Roman catholic soldier a legal right to his own religious worship in England as well as in Ireland; he would take away the necessity of English Roman catholics marrying in protestant churches; and would give full protection to catholic worship from disturbance. He then adverted to some other matters of regulation; and concluded with saying that he must give his decisive negative to the sweeping principles of the proposition now laid before them.

Mr. Ponsonby said, that the right hon. gentleman seemed entirely to have misunderstood the nature of the resolution, which proposed nothing subversive of the establishment, but coupled the measures for the relief of the Roman catholics with others for its security'; and in coming to the details, it would be in the power of any genfleman dissatisfied with such securities to superadd others. He made several remarks on the last speaker's idea of giving honour, to the Ro

man