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    settle the Roman Catholic question , I beg leave to submit to your superior judgment a few reflections made to me by some well-informed and unbiassed friends , as well Protestants as Catholics , wjio certainly understand the subject much better than I can pretend to do . They have read with great pleasure and gratitude the noble declaration in which your Grace so strongly expresses

    your sincere anxiety to witness the settlement of the Roman Catholic question ,- which , you are convinced , would , by benefiting the state , confer a benefit on every individual of society ; and you regret that yon see no prospect of such a settlement , because violent party feelings are mixed up with that question , and pervade every discussion of it to such a degree , as to preclude the possibility of prevailing upon men to consider it dispassionately ; but that if it could be buried in oblivion for a short time , and if that time were

    diligently employed in the consideration of the question , you would not despair of seeing a satisfactory remedy . " These humane and statesman-like sentiments ( as far as they go ) do great honour to your Grace ' s head and heart , and might appear sufficient if you were a private nobleman , but not in your present exalted station , with power

    to wield , when necessary , all the resources of Government : for it would be a slur on the unrivalled and far-famed British constitution to assert , that , even when well administered , it does not possess or supply means for establishing any thing known to be essential for the peace , welfare , and tranquillity of the empire at large , and for pulling down or removing any intrigue or party spirit that might wantonly attempt to oppose so great a blessing . t (

    My friends allow that such momentous exertions may be sometimes unsuccessful when Government is conducted b y weak or unsupported heads or hands , and that they require such a Prime Minister as the nation has now , and , I trust , will long have , the happiness to enjoy ; who , after an uninterrupted series of the greatest victories , and a successful arrangement of the most important interests , that perhaps ever yet occurred , has been placed at the head of Government by the entire and well-earned confidence of our most gracious Sovereign , and with the universal applause of the whole empire , and > indeed , of all nations .

    " Under such a chief , exerting his legitimate prerogative , they say that no party would dare to oppose the general good ; and that if your Grace would intimate your serious resolution to settle the Roman Catholic question , its opponents would instantly fly and appear no more ; and if the settlement were once carried , it would , in a few days , be no more spoken or thought of than the concessions now are that were lately made to the Dissenters ; for the enemies of such arrangement are not half so angry in reality as they now appear to be , in order , by that bugbear , to carry their point . But my friends have no hesitation in declaring , that the project mentioned by your Grace , of burying the Catholic question in oblivion , for the purpose of considering it more

    at leisure , is totally inadmissible , and would exasperate in the highest degree those who are already too much excited , and would only consider that measure as a repetition , of the same old pretext so often employed to elude and disappoint their hopes of redress ; but that if it even were adopted , it could only serve to augment the difficulties by allowing the contending parties , and particularly the enemies of all concession , the opportunities they seek for preparing their means of resistance and violence , which they have latterly carried to the most alarming lengths , which they have avowed and publicly announced in atrocious and sanguinary terms ; to which , however , 1 should

    not here allude , for I never wish to be an accuser , but that I am certain your Grace must have read those horrible threats , often repeated ia the Brunswick and Orange public prints ; and to this latter subject at least I must beg leave to call your Grace ' s attention , and to implore your powerful protection , humbly praying that you will not suffer public peace and concord to be violated or disturbed under any pretext whatever . An effectual remedy would cost your Grace but one word . I do not , however , hereb y mean to meddle in temporal affairs , but I consider it my bounden duty to labour incessantly , in

    Untitled Article

    Catholic Question . Ill

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1829, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2569/page/39/