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year, would amount to 750,000l. This would be provided for in the following manner. In the first place, short annuities had fallen in amounting to 380,000l. which he would propose to be applied to the Ways and Means; 65,oool. had annually been saved by improvements in the management of the revenue; 125,cool. had been already gained by the arrangement which had taken place with respect to the collection of the assessed taxes, and he thought that, by a similar arrangement in the collection of the stamp duties, a further sum of 20,000l. might be gained. These sums taken together would make a total of 770,000l. which exceeds by 20,000l. the sum that would be necessary to cover the interest of the loan, and of the four millions of Exchequer bills. The additional stamp duties which he should propose would, he trusted, not be considered as burden. some, and would rather be considered as a regulation and an arrangement than an increase of duties. He should propose an equalization of the stamp duties on deeds in Scotland, by adopting somewhat of the ad valorem principle. He wished also to alter the duties now paid on admission into offices. The present duty was 20l. without regard to the value or amount of the office. He wished that every olice under 60l. an. Dually should be entirely exempted; those from 60l. to 150l. to pay sl.; those from 150l. to 300l. to pay 20l. and a higher duty for the admission into of fices of greater value. He proposed that the duty on indentures of attornies and solicitors, who were in practice in the superior Courts, should be trol, and the duties on those in the inferior Courts, as well as the writers to the signet in Scotland, should be 551. He proposed that the duty on feoffments should be raised from l. 10s. to 31. which was the same as deeds of lease and release are now liable to. He should also propose a small duty upon policies of life insurance. The issuing of promissory notes, reissuable, he also considered a Lair subject of taxation. He thought no person should be allowed to issue notes without taking out a license, which should cost zol. per annum. Some of these notes were payable only in the country, in the places where issued, and others were made payable in other places. These notes at present paid d.

each; this he proposed to raise to 4d. for those payable in more places than one, and to 6d. for such country notes as were made payable only in the place they were issued. There might also be a small additional duty on the transfer of stock shares, which were now made according to the nominal value. As to law proceedings, they were at present burdened with such high taxes, that he was unwilling to charge them with any additional duties; there were, however, one or two slight additional duties which he thought they might bear. He should propose therefore a duty of one shilling on every summons before a master in Chancery. As to conveyances of land, which now bore a duty of 30 shillings generally, he should propose a duty of 20s, on every conveyance of land the value of which did not exceed 150l. From 150l. to 300L he should propose 30s. ; from 3oal. to sool. 5os.; and from that upwards, at a rate not exceeding ́ 20s. for every rool. After a few general observations, he concluded by moving his first resolution.

After a few observations from Mr Vansittart, and Mr Huskisson, the first resolution of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was put and carried.

CATHOLIC PETITION.

Monday, May 23.

Mr Grattan presented a petition from the Roman Catholics of Ireland (pro forma,) praying for an equal participation of the privileges of the British constitution, &c. The petition appears to be one of the largest ever presented to this House, and is said to be signed with nearly one million of signatures.-Ordered to be referred to a Committee on Wednesday.

Wednesday, May 25.

Mr Grattan moved, that the petition which he presented from the Roman Ca

tholics of Ireland be now read.

He began with observing, that not only that petition, but several others on the table, spoke to the sense of the Irish Catholics. The petitioners formed a very considerable portion of the electors of Ireland; they possessed a great share of political power; and they applied, through the constitutional organ, for a legal object. It was his most discussed in a spirit of concord. He deanxious wish that this question should be precated all religious and political animo

sity. He recommended the balm of oblivion; that the battle of the Boyne, and the rebellion in the year 1743, should be forgotten; and that there should be no allu

sion to those scenes where parties contended against each other. He saw, and he saw with satisfaction, the Catholic established in Canada. He saw Government conducting the Portuguese to South America, and establishing the Catholic religion there. He saw alliances formed with Austria and other Catholic states, from which he must infer that, whatever internal mis. chief might be apprehended from a Catholic establishment, there was no external danger to be feared. This would be something towards his argument; for he trusted, before he sat down, he should be able to show the House that the internal danger was small indeed. The petition prayed for admission into the State, and to the privileges of seats in that House. The act of the 33d of the King gave the Catholics admission to political power; it admitted them to the constituency, and rendered them eli. gible to all offices, with a few exceptions. The removal of these exceptions, and the power of legislation, were alone wanting, to place them on a level with the rest of their countrymen. Those who oppose the claims of the Catholics, object, in the first place, that they acknowledge the temporal power of a foreign Prince, and recognize in him the capacity to depose the Sovereign which the constitution has given them. These were the objections of some of the mildest among their antagonists.Others, in the violence of their zeal and intolerance, represent the Catholics as men rendered execrable by their religion. Now, as to the first objection, he should appeal to the unanimous decision of the seven principal universities in Europe. Their opinion had been asked on the subject, and they ananimously declared, that it was not a tenet of the Catholic religion; that the Pope possessed temporal power out of his own dominions; that it was not a tenet of the Catholic religion that he had a right to depose Sovereigns; and that it was not one of their tenets that they should hold no faith with heretics. They observed upon all these imputations with great moral indignation, and they condemned and stigmatized such tenets. Such were the opinions of the great Doctors of the Catholic church. There were documents equally strong on the part of the Catholic laity of Ireland. These were the various oaths imposed on them, particularly those by the 13th and 14th of the King. They disclaimed the infallibility of the Pope; they denied that it was any part of their religion to believe that he was infallible, and they renounced all claims which they might have upon property. From all these he would contend that there was no moral incompatibility between the two religions.

It was the policy of all nations but this, to admit persons of every religious descrip tion into the service of the state. It was the practice in France before the revolution. In America it had long prevailed.— During the war which terminated in the independence of that country, the American Catholic was seen fighting by the side of the American Protestant, and both in unity with France, of which the religion was Catholic. England was at present without one ally in the world but Sweden; the Protestant religion did not supply us with one, and would they then give up the only ally which they had at home? The Catholic clergy were willing that his Majesty should exercise a negative upon the affirmative of their Bishops; so that no person could be elevated to that rank without the previous approbation of the Sovereign.He had so far argued the question upon general principles; he would next consider it as applying to Great Britain and Ireland. It was said that the object of the petition was opposed to the principles of the revolution. It was said that it was hostile te the declaration of rights. By the fundamental laws of this country, the Catholics form a part of the constituent body. If they looked to the constitution, they must agree with the petitioners; if to the principles of the revolution or the declaration of rights, they must agree with them; and if they looked to the duration of the constitution, they must agree with them, because, whenever danger should arise, where were they to look for assistance and support, but to the petitioners? The anomaly of a Protestant King with Catholic Councils was urged against the claim expressed in the petition. He could see no anomaly in the case, nor could he perceive any danger in the practice. The Councils of Henry ÏV. of France were guided by Sully; and Turenne headed the armies of Louis XIV. Neither of these servants was of the same religion of their Sovereign, but their servi ces were not less acceptable or meritorious on that account.

But the argument upon which the greatest reliance was placed was, that if the Catholics are admitted to the privileges of legislation, they would endeavour to establish their own religion. But how were they to establish it? Circumstanced as property was, was there any likelihood that the Catholics would become the majority of the House, and if they were not, how were they to pull down the Protestant establishment, and erect their own in its place? He entirely agreed that the two churches should be separate, and that the Catholics should pay their own church. This was not the way, however, in which casuiste

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considered the question. They looked to the dominant religion merely as a profitable establishment, which they endeavoured to support by pains and penalties, and thus converted the principle of the revolution, which should be a blessing to the empire, into an instrument of oppression and intolerance. It is said the oath of the King is incompatible with the admission of the Catholics. The King, he would admit, was sworn to maintain the constitution in church and state, but he was not sworn to the eterBal maintenance of the penal laws. was sworn as to his executive, but not as to his legislative capacity. When Henry VIII. assented to the reformation, he departed from his oath. So did Elizabeth.So did his present Majesty when he gave his consent to the Quebec act-when he admitted the Catholic to the right of inheritance in 1782-when he admitted him to the professions in 1792-when he admitted him to the constituency in 1793-so that, according to the mode of reasoning em ployed by the opponents of the Catholic, all the best and most gracious acts of his Majesty's reign were but a succession of perjuries. This was to make the rights of the church the wrongs of the people. This was to make the church a confederacy against the people, and what was worse, to make the King a party to it. The state of Ireland required that the full beneft of the constitution should be communicated to the Catholic, and it was most imperiously called for by the state of Europe. Before Gentlemen should make up their minds to reject the motion, he entreated them to pause and consider the situation of the country. Austria had left us; Russia, who should have been ours, was matched against us. There was nothing left for us but an union of every heart and every hand. He would recommend to his countrymen to associate more with the Catholic, to remove gradually the little jealousies by which he was agitated. It was not the political exclusion so much as the personal inferiority which he felt. There was also a class of persons in Ireland, the Orange men, to whom he should not be ashamed to appeal on this occasion. He would entreat them to lay aside their animosities, and to consider the Catholics as entitled to receive, and capable of conferring, all the charities and confidence of civilized society. He would appeal to the Administration to; it would be no justification for them to say that the people of Ireland should not have felt so strongly upon this subject. The people might have been indiscreet, but he would pledge himself that they would have no French among the Catholics, if there were no bigotry among the

Government. He entreated the House not. to believe the tales which were circulated respecting the ferocious disposition of the lower orders of people in Ireland; that the Catholics would suffer no Protestants to live among them. He would gladly, if he could obtain the permission of the House, go into a Committee to disprove the assertion. A people were not to be conciliated by such calumnies. Ireland stood by our side, contributing five millions to the population of the empire; exporting to the amount of ten millions; remitting two millions annually in rent; paying as much more in interest, and giving to the army and navy one third of their number. And was a connection with such a country to be placed in jeopardy for a privilege, the benefit of which would only be enjoyed by a few, but the denial of which was considered injustice and oppression! The experience of a century had shewn how foolish it was to think of governing such a country by a system of bigotry, or any system but the principles of a legitimate constitutional Government. The Catholics did not come before that House as a few individuals, but as a people. They did not come with affected humility to implore a favour, but to claim what they conceived to be a right. They apply to you as freemen should to freemen. It was upon these grounds he would move that the petition on the table be referred to a Committee of the whole House.

(When Mr Grattan had sat down, as no other Member rose, there was a loud cry for the question, which was put, and the gallery was cleared for a division; but in a short time it was opened, and we found Mr Canning on his legs.)

Mr Secretary Canning did not hesitate to confess that he would have wished the debate had not been brought forward, but since it had been brought forward, he hoped it might not be protracted. He must agree with the Right Hon. Gentleman in all the abstract principles which he had laid down, of the necessity of civil concord and union, and more particularly in the present situation of the country; but he could not agree with him entirely as to the practical result of those principles. He concurred most heartily in wishing that religious animosities might soon be healed, and in deploring their existence; but yet he could not shut his eyes against the practical effects of them. He saw that, in point of fact, they did exist; and he doubted whether they were to be healed by speeches. He, therefore, deprecated a discussion, which, he was convinced, could not lead to any practical good, and which, if it were conducted with that temper and modera

tion recommended by the Right Hon. Gentleman, would probably do more injury than service to the cause which it was intended to support. He was convinced, that the advice which he had given to the Gentlemen of Ireland, and which he would, no doubt, confirm by his own example, would do more practical good, in the conciliation of the people of that country, than any legislative enactment which could be made.

Let any body who knew the state of the public mind in this country say, whether there was not a strong prevailing sentiment against concession to the Catholics. If this was founded in reason, it was not easily to be overcome; but if it was even founded only on prejudice, the Right Hon. Gentleman was well aware that such prejudices did not yield to repeated attacks of reason, anymore than the prejudices on the other side to penal laws. It would be of little value to have a majority for the measure in the House, if there was an inflamed majority against it out of the House. If there should be a disappointment in the present instance, there would be a consolation in reflecting, that the object of the motion must ultimately, though gradually, prevail. He was unwilling to mix person-, al topics in this debate. The Right Hon. Gentleman opposite had very scrupulously abstained from such topics, and with him, at least, the Catholic question would never be a party question. But he feared some of those who would follow the Honourable Gentleman would take another course; and if there was any thing that made him regret having risen so early in the debate, it was its depriving him of the opportunity of meeting those personal charges which he certainly had no dread of encountering.

The Right Hon. Gentleman's speech was so happily constructed and directed, that, whether his motion succeeded or failed, it must co em dent service. There was one principle of the Right Hon. Gentle man,however, which must be received with some reserve. When the Legislature limited by law the share of political power to he held by any class of men, and it was proposed to repeal that limitation, the Legislature was to judge of the propriety of complying with the proposition, and if more disorder would arise from the repeal than from the continuance of the limitation, it was right to continue. He again recommended the soothing and conciliating system proposed by the Right Hon. Gentleman, and trusted that more benefit would be obtained by sending back the petition, without any irritating language, than even by referring it to the Committee by means of a violent and contentious majority. On these grounds he would give his vote con

sce tiously against the motion, with this satisfaction, that nothing that had been htherto said could be a bar to the claims of the petitioners in future. He hoped nething of a prejudical nature would be sid, or, at least, no such thing would reach the country, where it would probably do mischief.

Mr Windham observed, that the speech of the Right Hon. Gentleman reminded him of an expression used by Lord Chesterfield in one of his letters. That Noble Lord, giving his poetical opinion on the Tragedy of Cato, remarked on the passage with which that tragedy commenced,

"The dawn is overcast, the morning lowra,

"And heavily in clouds brings on the day."

That it merely related what a watchman told every body, when he cried out, “Past four o'clock and a cloudy morning"-(4 laugh).So of the speech of the Right Honourable Gentleman, in the exuberant eloquence of which not any thing was to be found, but that the discussion would be inconvenient to him and his friends, and therefore that it ought to be deprecated.

Lord Pollington, Lord Castlereagh, and Mr Wilberforce, opposed the motion.

Lord Milton, Lord H. Petty, Sir J. Cox Hippisley, Mr Elliot, Mr M. Fitzgerald, Mr Martin, and Gen. M. Mathew, spoke in favour of the motion; as did also.

Mr Ponsonby, who said, that in a conversation with Dr Milner, who was the representative of the Catholic Clergy, he assured him that their body had determined to have no other head but the King, if the prayer of their petition were granted.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer deprecated any intemperance of party feeling on this occasion, and complimented the manner in which the question had been treated by the Right Hon. Mover. Although he was adverse to the proposition, he begged to be understood as anxious for any measure that should serve to content and conciliate the Irish. This proposition did not appear to him likely to produce the effect, and therefore he should oppose it.

Mr Whitbread, at considerable length, answered many of the arguments urged 3gainst the motion; and concluded by say ing, that he was sure the time was not far distant when concessions would be made to the Catholics--perhaps unanimously-perhaps too late.

The House called loudly for the ques tion. The question for going into a Committee was then rejected on a divison, 128 to 281-Majority,-159.

HIS

Historical Affairs.

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We had learnt from the Spanish papers that Gen. Wellesley was at Leiria on the 12th of August, having been joined by Gen. Spencer's division, and a body of Portugueze troops: and it will be seen, from what follows, that General Anstruther's division had joined, previous to the decisive battle of the 21st. Sir H. Burrard had also himself landed; but not his troops. The dispatches were published on Saturday morning, Sept. 3. in a London Gazette Extraordinary. They consist of copies and extracts of letters from Generals Burrard and Wellesley, to Lord Castlereagh, as follows:Extract of a letter from Lieut.-Gen. Sir Arthur Wellesley, dated Head quarters at Caldas, August 16th:

I marched from Leiria on the 13th, and arrived at Ahobaca on the 14th, which place the enemy had abandoned in the preceding night; and I arrived here yesterday. The enemy, about 4000 in number, were posted about ten miles from hence, at Borica; and they occupied Brilos, about three miles from hence, with their advanced posts. As the posSession of this last village was impor tant to our future operations, I determined to occupy it; and as soon as the British infantry arrived upon the ground, I directed that it might be occupied by a detachment, consisting of four companies of riflemen of the 60th and 95th regiments. The enemy, consisting of a small piquet of infantry and a few cavalry, made a trifling resistance, and retired; but they were followed by a deSept. 1805.

tachment of our riflemen to the distance of three miles from Brilos. The riflemen were then attacked by a superior body of the enemy, who attempted to cut them off from the main body of the detachment to which they belonged, which had now advanced to their support; larger bodies of the enemy appeared on both the flanks of the detachment, and it was with difficulty that MajorGen. Spencer, who had gone out to

bidos when he had heard that the rifiemen had advanced in pursuit of the enemy, was enabled to effect their retreat to that village. They have since remained in possession of it, and the ene. my have retired entirely from the neigh

bourhood."

In this little affair, occasioned solely by the eagerness of the troops in pursuit, Lieut. Bunbury, of the 95th foot, and a private of the 5th battalion 60th, were killed, five men of the same battalion wounded, and 17 (with four of the 95th) missing.

"Head-quarters at Villa Verde, August 17.

MY LORD-The French General Laborde having continued in his position at Roleia since my arrival at Caldas on the 15th inst. I determined to attack him in it this morning. Roleia is situated on an eminence, having a plain in its front, at the end of a valley, which commences at Caldas, and is closed to the southward by mountains, which join the hills, forming the valley on the left, looking from Caldas. In the centre of the valley, and about eight miles from Roleia, is the town and old Moorish fort of Ebidos, from whence the enemy's piquets had been driven on the 15th, and from that time he had posts on the hills on both sides of the valley, as well as in the plain in front of his army, which was posted on the heights in front of Roleia, its right resting upon the hills, its left upon an eminence, on which was a windmill, and the whole covering four or five passes into the mountains in his

rear.

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