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Untitled Article
from their civil privileges , solely on account of their innocent religious opinions . Upon what groend , then , does my learned friend rest his defence of a system , which in defiance of reason and of experience , and of the general practice of other countries ,
makes religious opinions , and not civil conduct , the qualification far civil offices ? A system , which is reprobated abroad by every statesman , on account of its impolicy , as we' were Jast year informed by a nobJe Earl ( Aberdeen ) on this side of the House , who is a
very competent judgej and is most unquestionably disapproved of at home , by every consistent friend to civil ami religious liberty . My learned friend , if I understood him rightly , asserts , that an individual who objects to our ecclesiastical establishment , cannot be so good a subject as he who
approves both of that and of our civil constitution also . To this argument it appears to me a sufficient answer to say , cross the Tweed , or take a voyage to Canada , the Roman Catholic inhabitants of which province , not many years since , gave more than common proofs of their loyalty .
I beg your Lordships * pardon for intruding upon your patience ; but it is probably the last time 1 shall ever trouble you upon this or upon any other occasion ; and perhaps I ought Dot to do it now , for the question is not of a religious but of a political nature : it is not , whether this or that
system of religious doctrines be the most scriptural , or this or that form of ecclesiastical government be the most perfect ; but , whether the Union of Ireland with Great Britain shall be nominal or real : whether it shall b € a substantial consolidation of
resources , of talents , of interest , and of aflfection ; or a mere empty , delusive title : and whether the loyal , the generous , ajid the affectionate inhabitants of that unfortunate country shall in future be the firmest bulwark of
your empire , or the burthen and vexation of it . This , jmy Lords , is a question , not for divines * not for ferwyera , not for young and presumptuous politicians * but for sober , experienced statesmen to decide ; and to them I vewy willingly leave it , requesting o »* y your JLovds $ iip » ' ptrnisBsen . to nfcafce a torn brief tieauask ? upon ^ sub-
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ject somewhat more withiii my own province ;—I mean the domestic ^ nomination to the Catholic bishoprics of Ireland . Anxious to / jneet not only the reasonable objections , but even the allowable prejudices , of their fellowsubjects and fellow-christians of the Established Church , the Catholics of
Ireland bring forward a proposal , which proves at least s strong desire on their part to adopt some conciliatory adjustment , which may be satisfactory to you , and not incompatible with
the doctrines of their religion , or essentially injurious to its discipline . Such a desire demands most assuredly from us a corresponding spirit of moderation . The Catholics conclude ,
and I suppose justly , that the two great objects which the Legislature has in view , are , in the first place , to ascertain the character for loyalty- and a peaceable disposition of the
ittdividual who may be nominated to a bishopric when any vacancy occurs ; and in the next place , to prevent , as far as possible , all foreign interference . The plan suggested by the petitioners seems calculated to answer these two
purposes , with sufficient effect . I do not , however , niean to weary your Lordships' attention , by entering upon the discussion of so complicate , and in its different bearings so extensive a subject , especially as it has
always appeared to me , that there is no occasion whatever for departing from the present mode of electing Catholic bishops in Ireland ; and still less for accompanying- an extension of civil privileges with additional ecclesiastical restrictions , of such a nature as , in
the judgment of one of the parties concerned , will materially lessen , if not entirely destroy , the value of any indulgence which may be granted . In common life , we should thirek a man managed vefy ill , who did a favour with so bad a grace as to confer
no obligation upon the person who received it * , and in matters of a public nature the case is still stronger . Were it otherwise , is there or has there been , from the time of the Restoration to the present hour , any thing in the character or conduct of the Catiiolic
bishops of Ireland , or of their clergy , which call * fer that alteration in their ecclesiastical discipline , vrtoch it u
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476 Speech of the Bishop of Norwich in Favour of the Catholics *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1817, page 476, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2467/page/28/
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