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practice , they are almost wholly excluded from this franchise . That this system is just or honourable , or creditable to the Protestant religion , or consistent with the spirit of any good religion , it would be difficult to demonstrate .
" I cannot conceive , ' * said Edmund Burke , * * how any thing worse can be said of the Protestant religion of the Church of England thari this—that wherever it is judged proper to give it a legal
establishment , it becomes necessary to deprive the body of the people ( if they adhere to their old opinions ) of their liberties , and of all their free customs ; and induce them to a state of civil servitude / 9
CHAP . IV . Of the Laws which deny to the Catholics the Right of being eligible to various Offices connected with the Profession and Administration of the Laws . The offices of this description , which the Catholics are forbidden
to aspire to , by the express letter of the . Statutes are the following , viz .
Lord High , Chancellor , qr Keeper or Commissioner of the Great Seal i Master or Keeper of the Rolls - - i Justices of the King ' s Bench 4 Justices of the Common Pleas - 4
Karons of the Exchequer - - - 4 Attorney and Solicitor General - 2 King ' s Serjeants at Law - 3 Kings Council ( present number ) - 26 Maatfcrfc in Chancery - - - - 4 Chairman of Sessions for the County
of Dublin - , - - - . _ 1 Counsel to the Commissioners pf Revenue -- -- --- 2 Recorders of cities and towns , about 60 Advocates in Spiritual Courts , about s > o . * * ¦ < 132 jfterifiVof Counties - - 32 P' Cities and Towns , about - - 20 Sub-Sheriffs - - - - - - 40 Total 224
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To this number may be added 25 Commissioners ot Bankruptcy , and 3 i assistant barristers , or chairmen of County Sessions : for although the Catholics are nor , by the express Utter of the law , disabled from holding these offices , yet in practice they are excluded with scarcely a single exception . There are , moreover , several other offices of great power and effect in the administration of the
laws , which , though commonly termed ecclesiastical offices , yet are vested with extensive jurisdiction , in temporal matters , over the persons and properties of the Catholics . Of this nature are
those which decide upon questions of wills of personal property ; marriage , tythes , and other incidental subjects of moment . Such are the offices of Vicars General of the 26 dioceses of Ireland , the Court of Delegates , Prerogative
Court , Metropolitan Court , Consistorial Court , &c . From all offices in these courts * probably 50 in number , the Catholics are excluded , nay , they , arc prohibited from practising in them , as advocates * '
The Proctors in these courts are , apparently , subject to the same regulation * Their number in Dublin amounts to nine , and , in the country , they may be estimated at forty . Public notaries are marked by the like proscription ; they amount to about 56 in number . The consequential operation of theexclusion of the Catholics from all these offices reaches naturally and necessarily , to all the beneficial subordinate situations * Such are those of Registers toJu < lges , and to Vicars General ; Secretaries ,
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Penal Laws which aggrieve the Catholics of Ireland * 54 r&
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1812, page 545, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1752/page/13/
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