NEWS OF THE WEEK.
A LIVELY scene occurred in the House of Lords last night ; when the Earl of ELDON moved for some returns, calculated to show that few Catholics had taken the oath of allegiance prescribed by a sta- tute of 1791, as the means of relieving them from certain disabili- ties. The allegation appeared to be, that they had not taken it, because it too explicitly bound them to support the Protestant suc- cession to the Throne. This point was easily settled, without any serious debate ; but Lord ELDON took occasion to animadvert with great vivacity on the disdainful treatment of the people's petitions by some of their Lordships ; and from this he passed to a " dex- terous insinuation" (as it was termed) that the sentiments of the King on the Catholic question were at variance with the acts and declarations of his Ministers. The Duke of WELLINGTON had stated some days before, in the most emphatic manner, that the measure before Parliament had his Majesty's decided support. Lord ELDON, however, expressed his own conviction, . . founded upon means of judging of his Majesty's opinion, such as few persons had the happiness to enjoy, that it was his Majesty's determi- nation, to preserve inviolate the Protestant Constitution and form of
Government in this country. The question, therefore, would be—whether the measures which were soon to be submitted to their Lordships' consi- deration were of such a character, that his Majesty might give his con- sent to them, and yet preserve inviolate the Protestant Constitution and form of Government.
This was taken as an insinuation that the King is in reality hos- tile to his Ministers, and that he will refuse to ratify their acts per- formed in his name. Lord LYNDHURST, the Chancellor, seconded by Lord PLUNKETT, assailed his noble and learned " friend" with much keenness of reproof; and Lord ELDON declared that he could never " call the noble lord on the woolsack" friend, when he presumed to describe him as guilty of insinuation. The Earl of WINCHILSEA following up his principles to their con- sequences, has notified a certain modified acquiescence in the neces- sity of a reform in Parliament : when Lord Eldon brings in a bill for that purpose, Lord Winchilsea will support it. In the mean time, he continues to call for a dissolution of the present Parlia- ment The Duke of WELLINGTON said he would neither promote a reform nor a dissolution of Parliament ; but Lord Winchilsea might do both when he becomes his successor. The general petitions of the Catholics of Ireland were last night laid before Parliament by the Marquis of LANSDOWNE and Sir FRANCIS Bunn ETT. The statement of the noble Marquis showed :the peculiar fitness of the time chosen by his Majesty to accord to the Catholics the boon of equal rights : since this question began to be agitated, they have increased largely in numbers, intelligence, and wealth. Thirty years ago, only ten Catholics held Stock to the amount of 20001.—now there are upwards of eighty : education has advanced in a more rapid degree among the Catholic popula- tion; and there is less crime in Ireland than in England,—the criminal indictments being less than 1 to every 1500 of the popula- tion, while in England they are as 1 to every 750 persons. Mr. PEEL on Tuesday introduced his bill for the relief of the Roman Catholics, and that for the disfranchisement of the forty shilling freeholders. In answer to the objections which had been made to the later measure, Mr. Peel gave an arithmetical analysis of the fitness of these freeholders to exercise the elective franchise.
In one county, he found that since the year 1823, 23,700 freeholders had been registered, and that of this number 19,205 were marksmen, who 'could not write their own names. For voters of such a character, he pro- posed by this bill to substitute a class of really respectable and independ- ent electors. In another county, where from 10,000 to 15,000 voters had been registered within the same time, he had ascertained that not more than one hundred had applied to be registered at their own instance, and that the registration of the rest had been made at the instance and ex- pense of liberal clubs, or of gentlemen, who expected the votes of the freeholders so created to be given as they directed.
It was charged against Ministers, that they are carrying forward their measure with " indecent haste." Among other pithy answers, it was retorted, that the objectors saw nothing " indecent" in the haste with which the bill for suppressing the Catholic Association was hurried through, or in any other penal enactment. Further delay was deprecated and, refused, The Relief Bill will be read a secondtime oil Tuesday, the festival of the tutelar Saint of Ireland. Mr. WILSON, who formerly amused the House of Commons so much by his general speech on the Catholic Question, has been almost equally successful this week, in a speech on Ireland.
" Sir, if I were asked to find a remedy for the evils of Ireland, the advice that I would give to Ministers would be to give up Sierra Leone to the Pope, and then to rid the island of Ireland of all the mischievous priests, and all the officials of Papistry, and let them go to Sierra Leone, and send all the discontented spirits of Ireland after them. (Laughter.) Now, Sir, that I take to be the wisest plan the Ministry could adopt for remedying the evils of Ireland, Another advice I would give them would be, to pass an act to compel the landholders of Ireland to stay six months at home—to live half a year in their own country ; also that every well- disposed family of the peasantry should get a half acre of ground for a potato-garden. Sir, there is much barren land in that fine country. Now, all the evils of Ireland, I say, arise from the want of potato-gardens among the poor people. (Laughter.) Sir, this last plan would do a vast deal of good ; it would tend to the cultivation of the land ; it would introduce habits of industry among the people; and in the course of a few years it would make Ireland as still and quiet as a mill-pond. But as to the Minister's measure of concession I disapprove it altogether. We ought to make no concessionto Popery ; for, as has been truly said— "Give it connivance, it will seek toleration ;
Toleration obtained, it will seek an equation ; Ascendancy gained, it will never stop short 'Till our Protestant church to subversion is brought."
Will the House, then, alter the constitution—the Protestant constitution —under which, by God's providence, it has so long prospered? Will you give it up ? I say, will you give it up ? If the Government is right—and I hope they are right—why, I'll be the first to congratulate them. But, Sir, for myself, I think the better way is to let well alone. Our constitu- tion has worked well ; it is very well as it is. Why, then, should it be pulled up radically by the root, as I think it will be by concession to Popery ? Perhaps I am wrong in my opinion ; it is very probable I am wrong; indeed I hope I am wrong. I say I hope it, because the measure will be carried; I see it will be carried; but I think I am right, and that
the Government are wrong. If they are, I hope Providence will guide them to follow some other course than their present one. (Question.) I
beg pardon of the House—I beg a thousand pardons—but, really, gen- tlemen might recollect that I don't talk often nor talk very long in this House. Now, there is not a night but I hear honourable members on the other side of the question talk, talk—they'll talk a mile in length—they'll
talk a month of Sundays, and why should not I be allowed to rise in my place, and state what I think on this great question ? Sir, I will speak my opinions, and those of my constituents too ; it is a duty I owe to my constituents who sent me here, and to my own conscience ; and that duty I will discharge in spite of the impatience of honourable gentle- men opposite. (Murmurs.) If, however, it is the wish of the House that I should say no more, I am willing to sit down." (Cheering, and cries of " Go on, go on I" but the honourable member resumed his seat.) Among the amusing novelties of the time, we may also distin guish Sir FRANCIS BURDETT'S praise of military men as admi- nistrators of civil affairs. It occurred in a compliment to the speech of Sir G. Murray, of which we quoted a passage last week, that Sir FRANCIS also quoted:— " 1 must say, that since I have sat in Parliament I have never heard a more effective or eloquent speech ; and it was to me a source of great gratification to hear it from the lips of a soldier, because I have always had a strong feeling of regard and friendship towards the body of gen- tlemen of that profession, than whom none are more enlightened or be- nevolent, nor of any class can it be said more fairly or truly that they are men of the world in the most honourable sense of the words, and that their experience makes them more practically acquainted with the affairs of mankind than other persons, and more calculated for what they are thought not to be so well qualified for—the administration of the affairs of nations."
In a Committee of Supply last night, the miscellaneous estimates were voted with perfect unanimity, no objection having been made to the amount of any of them. In the present year, there is a reduction of 110,0001.
A measure for providing a supply of subjects for the schools of anatomy, brought forward by Mr. WARBURTON, is one on which there was no difference of opinion. His plan is—to confer a de- gree of legality on the science in the towns where there are medical schools or hospitals capable of receiving fifty patients ; and, as in Paris, the bodies of those who die in public institutions, if un- claimed, are to be given for dissection. The high price paid for bodies was urged as the temptation to the late tragedies in Edin- burgh, and to the little less revolting practice of violating the graves. By the extent to which this could be carried by one per- son, Mr. PEEL adduced a revolting instance from the evidence taken before the Commons Committee last session.
. . One of the witnesses who was much engaged in the supply of sub- jects for the London schools, stated that he had, in one year, himself supplied 305 adults, 44 children, and 43 infants ; in another year 312 sub- jects ; in the next year, 234 ; and in the following summer, 244 subjects. He stated also that he was paid at the rate of four guineas each for the adults, and that he sold the children for so much per inch.
There have been some Catholic and Anti-Catholic assemblages in the provinces, but marked by no circumstance which can give them even a passing interest. Lord Verulam, and the High She- riff of Hertford have refused to call a county meeting. Mr. Walter Brown, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, has also declined to call an Anti-Catholic meeting, on the requisition of a few gentlemen who met privately, and resolved, to oppose Ministers at the present crisis—thotigh.hisTordship, it appears, was personally of the same opinion. For this act of Official daretion, ttie Morn- ing, Journal has rated a: Mr. " Head/won," Who was once Lord Provost, but he has been dead some years ! On the other hand, the leaders of the united Whigs and old Tories of Edinburgh have called—and whilst we write there is going forward—a meeting to support the Ministers in their measure for depriving the Catholics of " the glory and honour of being a persecuted church." The requisition was signed by eighty-seven of the most influential men in the city; and high in the splendid list stood the great name of Sir WALTER SCOTT. Religious prejudices prevail more in the West. of Scotland than in other districts : at a public meeting in Paisley, hoWever, on Mon- day last, a petition against the Catholic claims was negatived by a majority of four. to one, and a petition in favour of concession was adopted,
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