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neither Catholic nor Protestant , but that they shall alike enjoy the protection of the state , and may alike aspire to the possession of its dignities . There is , indeed , no inconsiderable drawback upon our joy in the other m easures , of which one preceded and the other accompanies the Relief Bill , and both of which seem to us gross violations of public right . The act for suppressing the already self-dissolved Catholic Association is , in fact , the erection of the Lord Lieutenancy into a temporary dictatorship ; while the
disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders visits patriotism with the heaviest punishment which has hitherto been inflicted upon the grossest corruption . The worst which can be said of these electors is , that they have sacrificed tbeir independence to a spiritual influence in preference to a pecuniary influence , A poor plea for so delicate and dangerous a procedure as the annihilation of the right of electing by the persons elected ! Still , as this
is altogether a political and not a religious question ; as the right of suffrage must ere long become the subject of discussion , and of revision and reformation throughout the United Kingdom ; and as there is a distinct understanding that this " costly price" ( as Mr . Brougham justly termed it ) must be paid for securing the success of the splendid act of conciliation and union to which it is appended , we must stifle our regrets as well as we can , and look only to the mighty balance of good about , as we trust , to be realized .
The Catholics are behaving admirably . The prompt dissolution of that mighty machine , the Association , * was an expression of confidence in the Government alike judicious and generous . The forbearance with which the unpalatable accompaniments of their promised Emancipation have been regarded , is also most wise and honourable . O'Connell ' s request that the
clause which disallows his wearing the legislative laurels of his Clare campaign should pass uncontested , is in the same spirit . Never has the victory of a" party been more calm and dignified . Never have men shewn themselves more worthy of the freedom which they are at length to possess . If in the struggle they were intemperate and violent , it was because they were in the struggle : even while their chains are falling off the irritation ceases .
Why will not the Established Church save something of its remaining reputation by desisting from its opposition , or at least modifying and purifying the character of that opposition , to what cannot now be prevented ? To put itself in opposition at all , is acting a most ungracious part . The quiet possession of the endowments and dignities of the Catholic Church might
* The Late Catholic Association . —Upwards of fifteen thousand members , qualified to vote at its sittings , had enrolled themselves iu this great national convention at the period of its dissolution . The qualification was cheap aud simple . An annual subscription of 11 . sterling , or upwards , constituted a member , after he had been proposed vivd voce at one of the weekly meetings . Amongst the members were included one thousand four hundred non-Catholics , four Catholic archbishops , twenty Catholic bishops , and two thousand six hundred Catholic clergymen . The voluntary contribution called Catholic rent , and by some invidiously termed " an inverted military bounty , " is ascertained to have been paid ( in sums varying from \ d to 100 / . ) by not less than three millions of the people of Ireland . It reached
the Association through the hands of eight thousand local collectors ; and , apart from its usefulness as furnishiug " the sinews of war , " it acted as an instructive indicator of the public feeling , the periodical amount being evidently influenced by every temporary subject of excitement . Contributions to this fund were received , unsolicited , from Paris , Bourdeaux , Havre , Dieppe , Tours , Harfleur , Lisbon , Oporto , Home , New York , Boston , Norfolk , Charleston , Baltimore , Philadelphia , Savannah , St . Louis , Quebec , Montreal , Newfoundland , and the West Indian Islands . The remittances were accompanied by letters and addresses expressing the sympathy of the contributors with the people of Ireland . —Dublin Evening Post .
Untitled Article
The Catholic Relief Bill 277
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/53/
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