turned against themselves and the unlucky cause they had espoused.1 6 lic senti new minis Again were the hopes of the Catholics wrecked, and with them the hopes of a liberal Anti-Cathogovernment in England. An anti-Catholic ments of the administration was formed under the Duke ters. of Portland and Mr. Perceval; and cries of 'No Popery,' and 'Church and King,' were raised throughout the land. Mr. Perceval in his address to the electors of Northampton, on vacating his seat, took credit for coming forward in the service of his sovereign, and endeavouring to stand by him at this important crisis, when he is making so firm and so necessary a stand for the religious establishment of the country.' The Duke of Portland wrote to the University of Oxford, of which he was Chancellor, desiring them to petition against the Catholic Bill; and the Duke of Cumberland, Chancellor of the University of Dublin, sought petitions from that University. No pains were spared to arouse the fears and prejudices of Protestants. Thus Mr. Perceval averred that the measure recently withdrawn would not have stopped short till it had brought Roman Catholic bishops to the House of Lords.'4 Such cries as these were re-echoed at the 6 1 Hans. Deb., 1st Ser., ix. 231, 247, 261, 340, &c.; Lord Holland's Mem., ii. 160, et seq.; App. to vol. ii. 270; Lord Malmesbury's Corr., iv. 367, 379; Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 448-472; Bulwer's Life of Lord Palmerston, i. 62–76. 2 Mr. Henry Erskine said to the Duchess of Gordon: 'It was much to be lamented that poor Lord George did not live in these times, when he would have stood a chance of being in the cabinet, instead of being in Newgate.'-Romilly's Mem., ii. 193. Roman Catholic petitions, 1808. elections. An ultra-Protestant Parliament was assembled; and the Catholic cause was hopeless.1 The Catholics of Ireland, however, did not suffer their claims to be forgotten: but by frequent petitions, and the earnest support of their friends, continued to keep alive the interest of the Catholic question, in the midst of more engrossing subjects. But discussions, however able, which were unfruitful of results, can claim no more than a passing notice. Petitions were fully Catholic discussed in both Houses in 1808.2 And again, in 1810, Earl Grey presented two petitions from Roman Catholics in England, complaining that they were denied many privileges which were enjoyed by their Roman Catholic brethren in other parts of the empire. He stated that in Canada Roman Catholics were eligible to all offices, in common with their Protestant fellow-subjects. In Ireland, they were allowed to act as magistrates, to become members of lay corporations, to take degrees at Trinity College, to vote at elections, and to attain to every rank in the army except that of general of the staff. In England, they could not be included in the commission of the peace, nor become members of corporations, were debarred from taking degrees at the univer 1 Lord Malmesbury says: The spirit of the whole country is with the king; and the idea of the church being in danger (perhaps not quite untrue), makes Lord Grenville and the Foxites most unpopular.'-Corr., iv. 394. Lords' Debates, May 27th, 1808; Commons' Debates, May 25th, 1808; Hans. Deb., 1st Ser.. xi. 1, 30, 489, 549-638, 643-694; Grattan's Life, v. 376. 1 tan's May 18th, sities, and could not legally hold any rank in the army. The Roman Catholics of Ireland Mr. Gratalso presented petitions to the House of motion, Commons through Mr. Grattan, in this 1810. session. But his motion to refer them to a committee was defeated, after a debate of three nights, by a majority of one hundred and four.3 Lord more's June 6th, 1810. In the same session, Lord Donoughmore moved to refer several petitions from the Roman Catholics of Ireland to a committee of the DonoughHouse of Lords. But as Lord Grenville had motion, declined, with the concurrence of Lord Grey, to bring forward the Catholic claims, the question was not presented under favourable circumstances; and the motion was lost by a majority of eighty-six.1 motion on of the June 13th, One other demonstration was made during this session in support of the Catholic cause. Earl Grey's Lord Grey, in his speech on the state of the state the nation, adverted to the continued post- nation, ponement of concessions to the Catholics, 1810. as a source of danger and weakness to the state in the conduct of the war; and appealed to ministers to unite the hearts and hands of all classes of the people in defence of their common country.' An allusion to this question was also made in the address which he proposed to the crown. Hans. Deb., 1st Ser., xv. 503. 2 Feb. 27th, ibid., 634. 5 3 Ibid., xvii. 17, 183, 235. Ayes, 109; Noes, 213. Grattan's Life, v. 410. Contents, 68; Non-contents, 154. Hans. Deb., 1st Ser., xvii. 353-440. In the autumn of this year, an event fraught with Approach of the regency. sadness to the nation, once more raised the hopes of the Catholics. The aged king was stricken with his last infirmity; and a new political era was opening, full of promise to their cause. 133 CHAPTER XIII. HISTORY OF CATHOLIC CLAIMS FROM THE REGENCY:-MEASURES FOR THE RELIEF OF DISSENTERS:-MARRIAGES OF CATHOLICS AND DISSENTERS:-REPEAL OF THE CORPORATION AND TEST ACTS IN 1828: -PASSING OF THE CATHOLIC RELIEF ACT IN 1829:-ITS RESULTS: -QUAKERS, MORAVIANS, AND SEPARATISTS:- JEWISH DISABILITIES. Hopes of the re gency dis THE regency augured well for the commencement of a more liberal policy in church and state. The venerable monarch, whose sceptre was now wielded by a feebler hand, had twice appointed. trampled upon the petitions of his Catholic subjects; and, by his resolution and influence, had united against them ministers, Parliament, and people. It seemed no idle hope that Tory ministers would now be supplanted by statesmen earnest in the cause of civil and religious liberty, whose policy would no longer be thwarted by the influence of the crown. The prince himself, once zealous in the Catholic cause, had, indeed, been for some years inconstant,-if not untrue,--to it. His change of opinion, however, might be due to respect for his royal father, or the political embarrassments of the question. None could suspect him of cherishing intractable religious scruples.1 Assuredly he would not reject the liberal counsels of the ministers of his 1 Moore's Life of Sheridan, ii. 333; Lord Brougham's Statesmen, i. 186; Lord Holland's Mem., ii. 196. |