CATHOLIC CLAIMS. ADDRESS to the Protestants of Great Britain and Ireland, by CHARLES BUTLER, Esq. of Lincoln's Inn. In the last Sessions of Parliament, the House of Commons came to a resolution, that "the House would early in the next "Session take into its most serious consi"deration the laws affecting His Majesty's "Roman Catholic subjects in Great Bri"tain and Ireland, with a view to such "final, conciliatory adjustment, as might "be conducive to the peace of the United "Kingdom, the stability of the Protestant "establishment, and the general satisfac"tion and concord of all classes of His "Majesty's subjects." Encouraged by this resolution, the Roman Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland intend presenting immediately separate Petitions to each House of Parliament," for a repeal of the penal and disabling statutes, which still remain in force against "them.” In the mean time they observe with great concern and surprise, that attempts are made to prejudice the legislature against their application. Many erroneous, artful, and inflammatory publications of this tendency, have been actively and extensively circulated. The charges brought in them against the Roman Catholics, are of the most serious nature. The object of this address to you, is to answer these charges, and to state to you, succinctly, the grounds of the intended application of the English Roman Catholics to the legislature for relief. The greatest part of what is intended to be said in the address will apply, in a great measure, as much to the situation of the Irish and Scottish, as to the situation of the English Roman Catholics: but as the penal codes of Ireland, Scotland, and England, in respect to Roman Catholics, are very different, it has been thought advisable to confine the present address to the case of the English Roman Catholics only. I. It is generally represented in the publications of which we complain, that the English Roman Catholics labour under no real grievance; and that, if all the remaining penal laws against them were repealed, the number of those, who would be really benefited by the repeal, would be too insignificant to make their relief an object of legislative concern. under many severe penalties and disabilities their whole body is affected by them, and would be essentiallybenefited by their removal. 1st. By the 13th Charles 2d, commonly called the Corporation Act, their whole body is excluded from offices in cities and corporations. 2d. By the 25th Charles 2d, commonly called the Test Act, beir whole body is excluded from civil and military offices... How injurious these acts are, both to the public and to the individuals on whom they operate, appeared in 1795, in which year, during the then great national alarm of in vasion, Lord Petre, the grandfather of the present Lord, having, with the express leave and encouragement of Government, raised, equipped, and trained, at his own expense, a corps of 250 men for His Ma jesty's service, requested that his son might be appointed to the command of them. His son's religion was objected, his appointment was refused, and another person was appointed to the command of the corps. You cannot but feel how such a conduct tended to discourage the Catholics from exertions of zeal and loyalty; but the noble family had too much real love of their country to resile from her service, even under these circumstances. His Lordship delivered over the corps, completely equipped and completely trained, into the hand of Government, and his son served in the ranks. Surely you cannot think that laws, which thus tend to alienate the hearts, and paralyze the exertions of those who, in the hour of her danger, thus wished to serve their country, are either just or wise. 3d. By the 7th and 8th of William 3d, ch. 27, Roman Catholics are liable to be prevented from voting at elections. 4th. By the 30th Car. 2d, s. 2. c. 1. Roman Catholic Peers are prevented from filling their hereditary seats in Parliament. 5th. By the same statute Roman Catholics are prevented from sitting in the House of Commons. 6th. By several statutes Roman Catholics are disabled from presenting to advowsons, a legal incident of property, which the law allows even to the Jew. 7th. Though a considerable proportion of His Majesty's fleets and armies is Roman Catholic, not only no provision is made for the religious comforts and duties of Roman Catholic soldiers and sailors, but, by the articles of war, they are liable to the very But this representation is altogether er-heaviest pains and penalties for refusing to roneous-the English Catholics labour join in those acts of outward conformity to 228] the religious rites of the established church, which a Roman Catholic considers to amount to a dereliction of her faith. By the Articles of War, sect. 1, a soldier absenting himself from divine service and sermon, is liable, for the first offence, to forfeit 12d., and for the second, and every other offence, to forfeit 12d., and to be put in irons. By the same Articles, sect. 2. "If he shall disobey any lawful "command of his superior" (and, of course, if he shall disobey any lawful commands of his superior officer to attend divine service and sermon,)" he shall "suffer death, or such other punishment "as by a general Court Martial shall be "awarded." art. 5. In the last Parliament, it was shewn that a meritorious private, for refusing (which he did in the most respectful manner) to attend divine service and sermon, according to the rites of the established church, was confined nine days in a dungeon on bread and water. operation of the principal laws still remaining in force against your English Catholic brethren. The general effect of them is, to depress every member of the body below his legitimate level in society. Even in the very lowest order of the community, some situations conferring comfort, emolument, or distinction, are open to the individuals of that class, and in proportion as the several classes of society rise into importance, these situations are multiplied. From all of them the law excludes the English Catholic. This effectively places him below his Protestant brethren of the same class, and makes the whole body in the estimation of the community, a depressed and isolated cast. This the Roman Catholics severely feel, but it is not by its substantial effects alone that they feel their depression. Some avenues of wealth are still open to them, Thus, none to honours or distinctions. thousands of those possibilities, the prospect and hope of which, constitute a large proportion of the general stock of human happiness, are peremptorily denied to the Roman Catholics. No hope of provision, of preferment, of honours, or dignity, cheers their souls or excites their exertions. A Roman Catholic scarce steps into life when he is made to feel that nothing, which confers them, is open to him; and however successful his career may have been, it seldom happens that his success has not been on more than one occasion, either lessened or retarded by the circumstance of his having been a Roman Catholic. The Roman Catholics acknowledge with gratitude, not only the virtual suspension of these laws, in consequence of the orders recently issued by his Royal Highness the present Commander in Chief, and the facilities which they afford for enabling the Roman Catholic soldiers to attend their own religious worship; but they beg leave to observe, that these humane regulations still want the firm sanction of law, and therefore, to a certain extent are still precarious. ! 8th. In common with the rest of His Majesty's subjects, Roman Catholics conHere then our Protestant countrymen are tribute to the religious establishment of the country: they have also to support their called upon to place themselves in our own religious functionaries; and thus, have situation; and to reflect, what their own a double religious establishment to defray. feelings would be, if, from a conscientious Of this, however, they do not complain; adherence to their religious principles, they but they think it a serious grievance, that belonged to a class thus legally degraded. their own religious endowments are not How often would they substantially feel the legalized like those of the Protestant Dis-effects of this degradation? How many of their hopes would it destroy?-how many senters. In hospitals, workhouses, and other pub- of their projects would it ruin? Surely a lic institutions, the attendance of the minis-petition to the Legislature, from any portiou ters of their own communion is sometimes of His Majesty's subjects, for the removal denied to the poor of the Roman Catholic of such a woe, is entitled to the sympathy Religion, and the children of the Roman and aid of every other portion of the comCatholic poor are sometimes forced into munity. Protestant schools under the eyes of their parents. II. Such, fellow-subjects, is the particular III. We are sometimes told, that however the repeal of the laws complained of by the (To be continued.) Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden. VOL. XXIII. No. 8.] LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1813. [Price 1s. 225] PRINCESS OF WALES. It is now more than a year since I ventured to assert, that the BOOK would come out. Recent events seem to be fast pressing on the day of its appearance; and, really, there does not appear to me to be any good reason, why the performances of PERCEVAL and his like should not be [226 me an insight into many things, with regard to which I was before wholly in the dark; this being the case, I think it prudent, in a matter of such vast importance, to take another week to examine and to re CHILD, and that the said child, under the name of " BILLY FAWCETT," is NOW ALIVE! statements? flect, before I proceed to my intended discussion, which discussion, however, I will by no means blink, or slur over.-Indeed, from the very nature of the subject, made matter of animadversion as well as it is impossible that it should remain unthe performances of other people.The discussed. From one stage to another the PRINCESS OF WALES's LETTER to public prints have proceeded, till, at last, her Husband, which Letter will be found they explicitly state, that the Princess of below, challenges a full public disclosure Wales was, upon oath, accused of HAVof every thing connected with the INVES-ING BEEN DELIVERED OF A MALE TIGATION of 1806. It challenges this disclosure; and, besides this, it contains matter that seems to render further supReader, do you not see the pression wholly incompatible with preserva- importance, the fearful import, of such tion of character in her accusers.—— She -It has been disproved, they asserts, that she was completely acquilled; tell us. The accusation, they say, has been she asserts also, that the evidence against proved to be false; and, that, upon such her was PROCURED BY SUBORNA-proof, the Princess has been acquilled. TION; she asserts, that these suborned Acquitted! How acquitted? Before what witnesses were PERJURED! Now, if tribunal? What court of justice was she these assertions be true, of what a character tried in? Who had the power to try her? must have been the conduct of those, who Who had the legal authority to pronounce set on foot, and urged on, the proceedings an acquiltal? Was she confronted with against her? And is it not just, is it not her accusers? And where was this done? necessary, that the people of England If such an accusation was preferred against should be rightly informed who those per- her, an accusation amounting to a charge sons were?- It was my intention to en- of high treason, if coupled with that of ' ter, in this Number, upon a full discussion the child not being the child of her husband; of the divers points relating to this matter, if such an accusation was preferred, it which have been mooted in the public ought to have been made before some maprints. But, some AUTHENTIC AND gistrate, some magistrate known to the IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, apper-laws; and it could be legally entertained by taining to the subject, having been trans- no other person or persons.But,, I am mitted to me since the publication of the departing from my intention. I will wait, Last Register; documents which have given with all the patience I am master of till H W next week. In the meanwhile I beg my Copy of a Leller from Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent : "SIR,It is with great reluctance that I presume to obtrude myself upon your Royal Highness, and to solicit your attention to matters which may, at first, appear rather of a personal than a public nature. If I could think them so-if they' related merely to myself-I should abstain from a proceeding which might give uneasiness, or interrupt the more weighty -occupations of your Royal Highness's time. I should continue, in silence and retirement, to lead the life which has been pre"scribed to me, and console myself for the loss of that society and those domestic com forts to which I have so long been a stranger, by the reflection that it has been deemed proper I should be afflicted without any fault of my own-and that your Royal Highness knows it, an tion. At the expiration of the restrictions still was inclined to delay taking this step, in the hope that I might owe the redress I sought to your gracious and unsolicited condescension. I have waited, in the fond indulgence of this expectation, until, to ny inexpressible mortification, I find that my unwillingness to complain, has only produced fresh grounds of complaint; and I am at length compelled, either to abandon all regard for the two dearest objects which I possess on earth,-mine own honour, and my beloved Child; or to throw myself at the feet of your Royal Highness, the natural protector of both. my "I presume, Sir, to represent to your Royal Highness, that the separation, which every succeeding month is making wider, of the Mother and the Daughter, is equally injurious to my character, and to her edu cation. I say nothing of the deep wounds which so cruel an arrangement inflicts upon my feelings, although I would fain hope that few persons will be found of a disposition to think lightly of these. To see myself cut off from one of the very few domestic enjoyments left me-certainly the only one upon which I set any value, the society of Child-involves me in such But, Sir, there are considerations of misery, as I well know your Royal Higha higher nature than any regard to my own ness could never inflict upon me, if you happiness, which render this address a were aware of its bitterness. Our inter-duty both to Myself and my Daughter. course has been gradually diminished. A May I venture to say a duty also to my single interview weekly seemed sufficiently Husband, and the people committed to his hard allowance for a Mother's affections. 'care? There is a point beyond which a That, however, was reduced to our meetguiltless woman cannot with safety carrying once a fortnight; and I now learn, that her forbearance. If her honour is invaded, even this most rigorous interdiction is to be the defence of her reputation is no longer a still more rigidly enforced. 'matter of choice; and it signifies not whether the attack be made openly, manfully, and directly or by secret insinuation, and by holding such conduct towards her as countenances all the suspicions that malice can suggest. If these ought to be the feelings of every woman in England who is conscious that she deserves no reproach, 'your Royal Highness has too sound a judgment, and too nice a sense of honour, not to perceive, how much more justly they belong to the Mother of your Daughter -the Mother of her who is destined, I trust, at a very distant period, to reign over the British Empire. 3 "It may be known to your Royal Highness, that during the continuance of the restrictions upon your royal authority, I purposely refrained from making any representations which might then augment the painful difficulties of your exalted sta "But while I do not venture to intrude my feelings as a Mother upon your Royal Highness's notice, I must be allowed to say, that in the eyes of an observing and jealous world, this separation of a Daughter from her Mother will only admit of one construction, a construction fatal to the Mother's reputation. Your Royal Highness will also pardon me for adding, that there is no less inconsistency than injustice in this treatment. He who dares advise your Royal Highness to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the sentence of complete acquittal which it produced, or is wicked and false enough still to whisper suspicions in your ear,-betrays his duty to you, Sir, to your Daughter, and to your People, if he counsels you to permit a day to pass without a further investigation of my conduct. I know that tro such calumniator will venture to recom mend a measure which must speedily end in his utter confusion. Then let me implore you to reflect on the situation in which I am placed; without the shadow of a charge against me-without even an accuser-after an Inquiry that led to my ample vindication-yet treated as if I were still more culpable than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, and held up to the world as a Mother who may not enjoy the society of her only Child. injure my Child's principles-if they fail, must destroy her happiness. "The plan of excluding my Daughter from all intercourse with the world, appears to my humble judgment peculiarly unfortunate. She who is destined to be the Sovereign of this great country, enjoys none of those advantages of society which are deemed necessary for imparting a knowledge of mankind to persons who have infinitely less occasion to learn that important lesson; and it may so happen, by a chance which I trust is very remote, that she should be called upon to exercise the powers of the Crown, with an experience of the world more confined than that of the most private individual. To the extraor dinary talents with which she is blessed, and which accompany a disposition as singularly amiable, frank, and decided, I will "The feelings, Sir, which are natural to my unexampled situation, might justify me in the gracious judgment of your Royal Highness, had I no other motives for addressing you but such as relate to myself: but I will not disguise from your Royal Highness what I cannot for a moment conceal from myself,-that the serious, and it soon may be, the irreparable injury which my Daughter sustains from the plan at pre-ingly trust much: but beyond a certain sent pursued, has done more in overcoming my reluctance to intrude upon your Royal Highness, than any sufferings of my own could accomplish: and if, for her sake, I presume to call away your Royal Highness's attention from the other cares of your exalted station, I feel confident I am not claiming it for a matter of inferior importance either to yourself or your people. "The powers with which the Constitution of these realms vests your Royal Highness in the regulation of the Royal Family, I know, because I am so advised, are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, Sir, is made to your excellent sense and liberality of mind in the exercise of those pow ers; and I willingly hope, that your own parental feelings will lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine, for impelling me to represent the unhappy consequences which the present system must entail upon our beloved Child. " point the greatest natural endowments cannot struggle against the disadvantages of circumstances and situation. It is my earnest prayer, for her own sake, as well as her country's, that your Royal Highness may be induced to pause before this point be reached. "Those who have advised you, Sir, to delay so long the period of my Daughter's commencing her intercourse with the world, and for that purpose to make Windsor her residence, appear not to have regarded the interruptions to her education which this arrangement occasions; both by the impossibility of obtaining the attendance of proper teachers, and the time unavoidably consumed in the frequent journeys to town which she must make, unless she is to be secluded from all intercourse, even with your Royal Highness and the rest of the Royal Family. To the same unfortunate counsels I ascribe a circumstance in every way so distressing both to my parental and religious feelings, that my Daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of Confirmation, although above a year older than the age at which all the other branches of the Royal Family have partaken of that solemnity. May I earnestly conjure you, Sir, to hear my entreaties upon this serious matter, even if you should listen to other advisers on things of less near concernment to the welfare of our Child? "Is it possible, Sir, that any one can have attempted to persuade your Royal Highness, that her character will not be injured by the perpetual violence offered to her strongest affections-the studied care taken to estrange her from my society, and even to interrupt all communication between us? That her love for me, with whom, by His Majesty's wise and gracious arrangements, she passed the years of her infancy and childhood, never can be extinguished, I well know; and the know- "The pain with which I have at length ledge of it forms the greatest blessing of my formed the resolution of addressing myself existence. But let me implore your Royal to your Royal Highness is such as I should Highness to reflect, how inevitably all at-in vain attempt to express. If I could adetempts to abate this attachment, by forci- quately describe it, you might be enabled, bly separating us, if they succeed, must Sir, to estimate the strength of the motives |