FEW

EW years have passed in which more internal public tranquillity has been enjoyed by the people of these islands than the present. There has, indeed, been a lamentable frequency of private crimes, many of an atrocious nature, which may lead to the apprehension that the long continuation of a state of war, and the wants and distresses of the lower classes, have communicated a tinge of savageness to the national character; but scarcely any acts have occurred of open resistance to the authority of law and government. Much of this quiet and submission has doubtless been owing to the vigorous exertions made for the suppression of that spirit of riot and depredation which had arisen to so alarming a height in the last year, and had rendered necessary some unusual measures of restraint and severity. A few instances of the destruction of frames and other outrages by the people called Luddites were ported in the early part of the year; but the execution of the murderers of Mr. Horsefall, and afterwards that of fourteen rioters

tried by special commission at York, struck a terror which put an end to all further disturbances of that kind.

For a considerable period, the public feelings were much agitated by the transactions which took place with respect to the Princess of Wales. In our account of parliamentary affairs a relation has been given of all the occurrences in the great assembly of the nation which had a reference to this delicate and interesting subject, and of the causes which brought it under discussion; and among the State papers will be found some of the documents produced on the occasion. In the progress of the inquiry, a very general impression was made on the public, that an illustrious stranger, a woman and a mother, had been treated with harshness and injustice, and even that measures of additional severity were meditated against her; and with that zeal in favour of the oppressed which is one of the fairest traits of the British character, defenders of the honour and safety of the Princess started up on all sides. Of

public bodies, the livery of London was the first to take up her cause. At a common-hall convoked on the 2nd of April, an address to the Princess was moved; and though it was opposed by some who thought it would be an unseasonable interference in a matter which might probably be settled in an amicable way between the parties concerned, yet the sense of the meeting was general with respect to the treatment she had experienced, which was censured in the warmest terms, even by those members of the corporation who are regarded as most under the influence of the court. The address was carried almost unanimously. It stated "the indigna tion and abhorrence" with which the livery of London viewed "the fout conspiracy against the honour and life" of her Royal Highness, and their "admiration at her moderation, frankness, and magnanimity under her long persecution." The address was presented in great ceremony; was followed by another from the corporation of London; and a number of other public bodies imitated the example. At length, however, a party began to interfere. It was thought that those who were disaffected to the present order of things made use of the occasion to render the person and government of the Prince Regent unpopular; as indeed that effect was at first produced in no inconsiderable degree. The friends of the court and ministry, of course, discouraged these addresses, which were perhaps conceived in a style of exaggeration and intemperance; the topic grew stale, and was su perseded by others of more general

interest; the obnoxious proceedings with respect to the Princess were suspended, so that her situation afforded no longer any cause for apprehension; and before many months were elapsed, the whole matter appeared to be sunk in oblivion. It will, however, remain upon record as an example, not void of instruction, of the power exerted by a manifestation of the public feelings, when imprudently called forth by measures which place an individual in the light of an injured and persecuted object. With respect to the high personages concerned, it is to be lamented that what has passed must tend to render more irreparable a breach which has been the source of so much regret to the nation.

Another principal object of domestic interest during this year was the claim of the Roman Catholics for admission to the full rights of citizens. To the parliamentary proceedings respecting this matter we have already devoted a chapter; but it will be proper to subjoin some notice of the more limited exertions to which this important contest gave birth. It has been mentioned that the opposition to the Catholic claims by petitions from the clergy and laity, which commenced in the last year, was carried in this to an extent appearing to comprise the greater part of the Protestant population. The most observable circumstance in a historical view with regard to this interposition is, that although much zeal and activity was displayed in promoting these petitions, yet that the whole was conducted with per fect order and quiet, unattended

with any riotous disposition towards the persons or worship of the Catholics; affording a demon stration that the question was become, in the public mind, rather one of political expedience than of religious controversy. Security to the church establishment against, not the Catholics only, but all those who are subjected to the operation of the test laws, was obviously the consideration which ac tuated the great body of the petitioners.

The English Catholics, whose proceedings have always been characterised by great prudence and moderation, held a meeting on March 20th, Lord Clifford in the chair, which passed two resolutions, the first declaring their gratitude to the House of Commons for its decision in favour of taking into consideration the laws affecting the Roman Catholics of the united empire, and their hopes of a beneficial result; the second, expressing their anxiety to afford every facility for an amicable adjustment, and affirming that "the satisfaction they look to in being admitted to the benefits of the constitution will be greatly diminished, if not accompanied by the cordial concurrence of their Protestant fellow subjects, whose good. will they have been anxious to conciliate, and for the attainment of which they are, and ever shall be, willing to make every sacrifice that is not inconsistent with their religious principles."

On May 1st, a full meeting of the Irish Catholic board took place at Dublin, when a discussion was entered upon respecting the civil enactments, solely, of the bill then

pending in parliament for Catholic emancipation. It was observed that the bill was narrowed to the relief of Catholics alone, without comprehending the other classes of Dissenters, whose uniform liberality had given them weighty claims upon the gratitude of the Catholic body-that there are exceptions in the bill with regard to certain places, founded upon a principle of exclusion which they cannot recognize-that the enactment for admission into corporations keeps the Catholics still practically excluded by leaving them to the mercy of bye-laws; and that other disabilities are left, proving the imperfection and inadequacy of the bill; on which account the board feels the propriety of nominating additional delegates to attend in London to the progress of the bill.

If this measure was calculated to throw an impediment in the way of the proposed bill, the resolutions of the Irish Roman Catholic prelates at a general meeting on May 27th, were much more adapted to produce the same effect. They unanimously declare, that the ecclesiastical clauses contained in the bill are utterly incompatible with the discipline of the Roman Catholic church, and with the free exercise of their religion, and that they cannot, without incurring the guilt of schism, accede to such regulations.

The British Catholic board,even after the disappointment of their hopes, continued to maintain the same moderate and dignified conduct. At a numerous meeting, held in London on May 29th, the Earl of Shrewsbury in the chair,

two unanimous resolutions were passed; the first, returning thanks to those members of the House of Commons who supported the bill for their relief, and directing a deputation to convey their acknowledgments to some of the principal of them by name; the second, in the following words: "That, although the Roman Catholics of Great Britain feel, as they necessarily must, the most bitter and poignant, regret, that hopes so nearly realized are still to be deferred: nevertheless, their long and patient sufferings have taught them not to sink under the present disappointment; and, confiding fully in the wisdom of the legislature, the increasing liberality of their countrymen, and the justice of their cause, they are sensible that they would be unworthy of the name of Britons, if, for a moment, they relaxed their efforts to procure relief from the penalties and disabilities under which they suffer; trusting and hoping, as they most anxiously do, that the day is near at hand, when every jealousy and every animosity on account of opinions purely religious, will be buried in eternal oblivion, and that in the present and most rapidly increasing danger of the empire, every subject of this united kingdom may have an equal interest, by enjoying an equal participation, in the privileges, immunities, and glories of their common country."

By a further resolution, they express their marked disapprobation of a paper intituled, "A brief memorial on the Catholic Bill," and signed John Milner, D. D., highly injurious to the political

integrity and wisdom of the framers of the bill; and they republish a former resolution by which Dr. Milner, in consequence of a calumnious accusation against Mr. Butler, was discharged from being a member of the private board of the Britsh Catholics. It is observable that a vote of thanks to the same gentleman was carried in the Irish Catholic board, though by a small majority.

The Irish Catholic prelates followed up their private resolutions against the principles of the bill by a pastoral address to the clergy and laity of their flocks, dated May 26th, in which, after repeating the substance of their two resolutions, they add a third, to the following purpose, "That we would willingly swear, if required by the legislature, that we will never concur in the appointment or consecration of any bishop whom we do not conscientiously believe to be of unimpeachable loyalty and peaceable conduct ;" and further that we have not, and that we will not have, any correspondence or communication with the chief pastor of our church, or with any person authorized to act in his name, for the purpose of overthrowing or disturbing the Protestant government, or the Protestant church of Great Britain and Ireland, or the Protestant church of Scotland, as by law established."

At a meeting of the Catholic board in Dublin, July 17th, Mr. O'Gorman brought forward a motion for addressing the Spanish Cortes to request their interference in favour of the Catholics of Ireland. After stating various in

stances of the interposition of foreign powers in the domestic affairs of a nation, he moved a resolution to refer the business of such an application to the consideration of a committee; which was carried. A proposition, however, of such manifest absurdity, as that of calling in as auxiliaries to a plan of enlarged toleration a body which had declared it to be a fundamental article of their new constitution, that no other than the established religion should be permitted to exist in Spain, indicated the prevalence of a spirit among a part of the Irish Catholics which could not fail to produce disunion, and to throw discredit on their measures. Accordingly, we do not hear of any further meetings of the general body countenanced by persons of weight and distinction; and upon the whole, the result of the attempts made during this year to meliorate the condition of the Roman Catholics does not afford any immediate prospect of further suc

cess.

One extraordinary effect of the alarm excited by the idea of an admission of persons of this religion to a participation of political power has been the adoption in England of the Irish Orange Society, originally instituted in that country as a support of the Protestant ascendancy, and noted as the most inveterate enemies to every indulgence granted to their Catholic fellow-subjects. Societies under this title, numbering among their members some persons of high rank, had been formed in London, and in many of the most considerable provincial towns, and even in some regiments, and were mutually con

nected by a regular organization, by an oath, and by secret proceedings, before the public were apprized of their existence. They at length attracted the notice of parliament, and a motion was made on the subject in the House of Commons (See Debates). The illegality and dangerous nature of such an institution was universally acknowledged in that assembly; but it was thought that nothing more was necessary than such a public censure, to effect their suppression in this part of the united kingdom. Undoubtedly, if it were possible to revive the disgraceful outrages of 1780, the establishment of clubs of this kind would be the most certain means of doing it.

If the religious zeal by which the present period is so strongly characterized had any share in the formation of these societies, it must be allowed to have been much more laudably employed in those associations for the distribution of the scriptures among the lower classes, both at home and abroad, which have peculiarly distinguished the present year. Scarcely has there been a town, or even a village of any consequence, in the kingdom, which has not had its Bible Society, independent or auxiliary, generally consisting of members belonging to the establishment, and to all the different sects, who have fraternally united upon the simple purpose of rendering the sacred writings accessible to all the indigent who might be qualified and disposed to make use of them. And though in some instances discouragement has been thrown upon the plan by persons