dread the concession of the catholic claims, they might have been roused to very serious outrages, had the concessions been actually made.-An impression prevailed at this time, that the leaders of the different parties had found it convenient to enter into a kind of compromise on the subject; that they had agreed to barter away the constitution; that whatever was catholic, had been erroneously considered by them as liberal and tolerant, while the protestants had been unjustly described as mere bigots and persecutors. Many persons were disgusted with the conduct of the catholics themselves, who refused to receive concession as a favour, and claimed every thing as matter of right; who rejected all conditions with contempt, and imperiously dictated to the legislature in what was emphatically described as the genuine spirit of catholic arrogance and ambition. It was insinuated, that the late concession had been unfairly made; that the country had not been told the whole truth; that the question did not relate to the mere granting of a few privileges and places-that the catholic religion was to become the religion of the state in Ireland, and that the measures now pursued would be found to be mere preliminary steps to the dissolution of the union, and the separation of the two countries.-There can be no doubt, indeed, that such principles were avowed by some of the Irish demagogues; and not only was this circumstance strongly insisted on, but the whole acts and proceedings of the catholic committee were recapitulated, as affording decisive evidence, that their views must naturally and inevitably lead to the most disastrous results.

It must, no doubt, be confessed, that the conduct of some demagogues, who had at least the indirect sanction of the catholics, was in the highest degree indiscreet and insulting.

So soon as the intelligence of the result of Mr Canning's motion reached Ireland, they proclaimed not only that the resolutions of the aggregate meeting had influenced the vote of the House of Commons, but that the vote itself amounted to a pledge that the resolutions to their full extent would be carried into effect. "The House of Commons," said they, "stands pledged to the early consideration of the laws affecting the catholics; that pledge was given with a full knowledge of the resolutions at the last aggregate meeting in Fishamble-street; let the cabinet bring forward the somuch-talked-of securities; the catholics of Ireland have irrevocably determined not to give any security." They added, that "they would not enter into any treaty; that they would not stoop to any compromise;" and from such declarations, it was inferred, that the success of the catholic question was not what the leading agitators desired. They hoped that the legislature would insist on having securities; while the catholics might be prevailed upon to refuse them; and they fondly believed that animosity and disturbance, the dissolution of the union, and the separation of the two countries, might be the consequence. They recommended to the catholic freeholders to oppose any candidate, who should not pledge himself to support the catholic question, or who should have lent, or was likely to lend, his support to the administration; so that whatever measures were proposed by the ministers, were to be systematically resisted by men who designated the protestants as intolerant persecu tors and bigots. By such proceedings the catholics failed to attain the object which they had so much at heart. Some illustrious members of the House of Lords, among whom was the Duke of Cumberland, expressly declared, that they voted against Lord Welles

ley's motion, on account of the disgust and alarm which had been excited by the conduct of the catholics; and an opportunity for the fair and deliberate discussion of this great subject, which may not soon recur, was thus thrown away by a combination of insolence and folly, which has seldom been paralleled.

Mr Parnell, towards the close of the session, brought forward a motion, "That the House should early next session of parliament take into its most serious consideration, the state of the laws relating to tithes in Ireland, with a view to a legislative measure conducive to the relief of the lower orders of the people, and the more satisfactory provision of the clergy of the established church." In support of this motion it was stated, that nine of the largest counties of Ireland had presented petitions, or had publicly declared, that some alteration in the present system was indispensable; that the same opinion prevailed very generally throughout Ireland, and that even the clergy themselves were desirous of relief. That the state of Ireland renders the levying of tithes in that country a much more intolerable burden, than the same exactions are in England; that one-tenth only of the Irish people belong to the established church; that nine-tenths of them accordingly pay for two establishments; and that although the catholics had, from a sense of delicacy, declined interfering in this question, they were undoubtedly the chief sufferers in the present state of things: That the practice of enforcing payment of tithes in Ireland is but of modern date, a circumstance which very much increases the grievance; that even down to the present time the clergy had not been able to enforce the payment of tithes on many articles on which they are due by the ecclesiastical interpretation of the law; and that the lands in Ireland of

course are not sold and bought as in England, subject to a deduction of one-tenth of the produce to the church: That a great uncertainty thus arises as to what things are tithable, and what tithe is payable on them; that new incumbents frequently alter the former charges, which is a source of great oppression to the land-holder; and that useless litigation thus ensues, highly prejudicial not only to the character of the church, but to the comfort of the people: That the lower orders in Ireland are in general holders of land, which they keep in tillage, and which is of course liable to tithes ; that the great farmers have almost all their lands in pasture, and are thus exempted; and that the burden of the tithes in Ireland of course falls chiefly on the poorer classes: That the clergy are obliged to employ tithe-proctors and tithe-farmers to collect their tithes, who proceed with the greatest rigour, and occasion the most serious discontent: That the great evils of which the Irish complain do not arise so much either from the absence of their gentry, or the character of the middlemen, as from the grievance now stated; and although the laws protect most effectually the tenant in his dealing with his landlord, they place him with respect to tithes wholly at the mercy of the clergy. There is no reason to believe that some remedy for this evil may not easily be discovered, since it is well known that Mr Pitt had prepared a plan for the commutation of tithes in Ireland, which, if it had been carried into effect, must have been attended with the happiest consequences.-Mr Parnell then suggested that the evil might be remedied in various ways. First, by a valuation of tithes by commissioners, agreeably to the precedents of former acts of parliament. Secondly, by a certain tax on lands now subject to tithes equivalent to the value of the tithes

at present received. Thirdly, by a provision to protect the clergy against changes in the value of money, on the principle of 18th Elizabeth, chap. 6. for securing to the universities the value of their lands by making the price of corn the criterion of the rents received. Mr Parnell, however, suggested that in the first instance a certain tax should be imposed on each grower in lieu of the tithes, an arrangement being made at the same time by which lands should be purchased so soon as they could be procured, and granted to the church as the final equivalent for the tithes. He proposed that the tax should be paid to government as a return for the sums necessary to be advanced to purchase the lands; and maintained that this measure would contribute to the stability of the established church, which could never be safe, while the increase of its income generated so much discontent; that it would enable Ireland to extend her tillage, and supply England with the corn which she does not grow for her own consumption; and would promote the internal tranquillity of Ireland, conciliate the people, and extend the resources of the empire. The difficulties, however, which

opposed themselves to the execution of any of these plans, and which were pointed out by Mr Wellesley Pole and other members, seemed to be nearly insurmountable. The clergy of Ireland enjoy, in point of fact, between a twentieth and a thirtieth part of the produce; in many cases not more than a thirtieth. But in a commutation, it would be impossible to proceed upon any other principle, than that of allowing the clergy what they are entitled to by law, viz. a tenth of the produce. If they should not receive this they would receive less than their right, and if they were allowed a tenth, the people of Ireland must pay more than the double of what they at present contribute. As no commutation, therefore, could be effected without increasing the burdens of the Irish people, it seemed highly inexpedient to urge any plan of this kind, at a moment when the supposed oppressions existing in this part of the em pire had attracted so much notice and produced so much discontent.-Mr Parnell's motion was therefore negatived; and the project of relieving Ireland from an evil of acknowledged magnitude, and of difficult remedy, was for the present abandoned.

THE question of catholic emancipation has of late years occupied a very prominent place in the deliberations of the legislature, and in the domestic politics of the country. The interest naturally excited by a discussion of great intrinsic importance, has been enhanced by the stormy violence with which the claims of the catholics have been pursued, and perpetuated by the bitter divisions in the state, of which the catholic question has become the badge. During the year 1812, the claims of the catholics were sustained and opposed in parliament with an energy and enthusiasm, which have seldom been equalled; many conflicts took place in which the very highest talents of the country were drawn into vigorous operation; and some powerful and brilliant orations were pronounced, which would be altogether spoiled by abridgement. Such, besides, is the nature of the subject, that no attempt to abridge the pleadings could escape the imputation of partiality,— a charge which might have a better foundation in justice than even the author had suspected. Yet how imperfect would any account of the transactions of this period be, which preserved no vestige of the general state of public sentiment on a subject of such

magnitude; which entirely disregarded the new lights struck out in the colli-, sion of the most powerful minds, contending with ardour in a cause so momentous; and neglected so fair an opportunity of commemorating, in some degree at least, the high endowments of those men, who, even in an age so often described as comparatively barren in great public characters, continued to shed a lustre round the British senate. It must also be recollected, that the chief arguments on both sides of this great question have already met the public eye in so many shapes, that a mere abridgement would disgust as an useless repetition; but there is in the vigour and animation of a speech actually pronounced by a great orator on an interesting occasion, a virtue which will give freshness even to stale arguments, and the highest possible relish to sentiments which have novelty as well as truth to recommend them. Among those who distinguished themselves in the course of the present year in support of the claims of the catholics, the Marquis Wellesley and Mr Canning stood pre-eminent, and, by the acknowledgement even of the old advocates of catholic emancipation, added new honour to their name. Their speeches will be read with interest and

delight even by persons (if there be any such) who care little about the issue of the discussion; while the grave and sober argument of some of their opponents may teach the vulgar advocates of emancipation, that the question is not so clear of difficulties as they imagine, and that there may be greater dangers in a headlong impetuosity, than they have penetration enough to discover.

When Lord Morpeth brought forIward his motion on the state of Ireland' and the claims of the catholics, Mr Canning rose after Sir John Nichol, and spoke as follows:"In approaching the discussion of this great question, I am aware that I labour under many disadvantages. The feelings and passions of men are so warmly interested on the one side or other, that to engage in the discussion without adopting, in some measure, the views and language of a partizan, is, I am perfectly sensible, to incur the risk of disappointing both parties and pleasing neither. But this disadvantage I am not afraid to encounter. If I know my own heart, I come to the present question uninfluenced by any selfish motives, by any objects either of power or popularity. I wish merely to do my duty. I seek not the triumph of either party, but I look to the tranquillity, the security, and the happiness of the whole.

"Much has been said, in the various debates that have taken place on this subject, of promises made, or understandings entered into, at the time of the Union. Promises, I know of none; nor do I believe that any were made. An understanding there certainly was, not expressed by any act of the legis lature, but fairly to be collected from the language of almost every man who spoke in favour of the Union in either house of parliament ;-that, whereas the separate resident legislature of

Ireland, surrounded and agitated by local passions and prejudices, was incompetent to discuss, impartially and dispassionately, the subject of the catholic claims, the imperial parliament, after the accomplishment of the Union, being removed from the influence of those local feelings, and from the sphere of those prejudices which obstructed a temperate discussion in Ireland, might safely and conveniently entertain the question, and might come to a rational and enlightened decision upon it.

"That time arrived. The Union being accomplished, the question was open to discussion in the united parliament; when an obstacle arose, to the nature of which it would not be fitting to do more than allude; but of which I believe it may be said, without hazard of contradiction, that, however it might impede for a time the consummation of their wishes, there is no virtuous and loyal catholic who does not deeply deplore its removal.

"Is it at this moment, when the expectations, well or ill founded, under which the Union was brought about, might be realized, when the claime of the catholics might at length, without impediment, be submitted to parliamentary consideration-is it at this moment that my right honourable and learned friend (Sir John Nichol) would break the word of promise to the hopes of the catholics, and shut the door against their expectations for ever? I do not say that the claims of the catholics can this day be granted. I do not say with my noble friend (Lord Morpeth) that this is the moment for taking them into consideration. I agree, indeed, with my noble friend as to the great and urgent importance of the subject; but I rather think my noble friend does not agree with me as to the magnitude of the difficulties that