gerous method imaginable, to abolish so many of those laws as will allow them to rise a little, to acquire so much wealth, and political importance, to taste the sweets of freedom, without a full fruition of its blessings, and to interest the public feeling so much in their favour, as ultimately to obtain by force what ought to have been granted from good will. The argument of those who oppose the education of the poor, holds true for once on this head,—that it is dangerous to enlighten the inferior orders lest they become discontented with their condition. Now the spirit of this remark may be applied with some appearance of consistency by the opponents of the Catholic claims in the following manner.— “There can be no confidence placed in Roman Catholics; some of their tenets are at variance with civil and religious liberty; they must, therefore, be kept in complete subjection: we can grant them no political right or privilege whatever, since we should only thereby open their eyes to the privations which the good of the state requires them to suffer, and invest them with a power which at some future period might render their farther subjugation impossible." This position might have been maintained, without any violent incongruity between the premises and conclusion, forty years ago; but now that the Catholics have privileges, and

power, and popularity, and have entwined their interests with those of their protestant brethren, it has lost its shadowy plausibility. They have got too much if we are determined to give them no more, and they have got too little to rest satisfied till they possess what they want.*

But to return to the assertions of certain tourists: I can aver from personal observation that the inferior orders in Ireland, so far from being totally indifferent to emancipation, seem incapable of being satisfied until the thing meant by it be obtained; that is, until they are placed in every respect on a level with their protestant brethren. I have met with many who could not pronounce the word emancipation because they were ignorant of English; but they seemed very sensible that they and their fathers had suffered much from Englishmen and protestants, and that they had been held by both in a species of bondage. Does not this intimate that they are not so insensible to the evils which afflict their country as some travellers would represent?

As to the opinion of those good people who

* "Our constitution is not made for great, general, proscriptive exclusions"-" and sooner or later, it will destroy them, or they will destroy it." Burke's Letter to Sir H. Langrish.

think that Catholic freedom will only benefit a few ambitious noblemen: allowing their position in general to be correct, still it is true, that if the multitude conceive it will confer on them an important blessing, it ought not to be denied them. It is a precept of inspired truth, to "cut off occasion from them which desire occasion;" and if the existence of the penal code, even in its present mutilated form, afford the occasion of discontent to a large proportion of the Irish population, then it becomes an imperious duty to abolish it, even though its abolition should confer a real benefit comparatively on few. But I am far from granting that the removal of penal laws, in whatever shape they may exist, is to the multitude an imaginary good. Is it an imaginary good to have a full share in all the privileges of Britons? Is it an imaginary good to be elevated to a level with the other subjects of the empire? Is it an imaginary good to have a fair representation in the legislative assembly? Then what we have been accustomed to regard as invaluable rights, and to hold dearer than any sublunary blessing, become a mere phantom, and are unworthy of being the subject either of joy or of sorrow.

It is true, as has been already remarked, a very considerable part of the penal code, and

that part especially which more immediately affects the inferior orders, is repealed. The Catholics enjoy the full and free exercise of their religion; they are allowed to hold places of emolument to the amount of £300 per annum; they are admitted to the practice of the bar; they may bear commissions in the army, as far as the rank of colonel, inclusive; they are permitted the-free exercise of their elective franchises; and they are empowered to execute the useful and honourable functions of the magistracy. Thus far they may go and no farther: it is deemed impolitic and dangerous to allow them the exercise of the first offices of the state. I shall now shortly 'consider how far this disregard of their claims is just.

It certainly seems reasonable that no man should be punishable merely for his religious opinions; and that while he is a quiet and good subject of the state he should enjoy all its benefits. This position will be generally allowed. But it is possible that a religious body may become a political faction, and may entertain sentiments hostile to the peace or existence of the community. In such a case, is it not the duty of government to watch their movements with jealousy, to lay them under restraints as to the offices which they are to

оссиру, and to prevent as much as possible any injury to society from their tenets? All this seems very fair; though it must be confessed that however readily this general maxim is admitted in theory, it requires much prudence and liberality of sentiment to carry it into practice, since a government, which in other respects is good, may indulge its love of power by excluding the most meritorious of its subjects from the emoluments and offices of state on the pretence of religion. This is no imaginary case: the history of the church since the days of Constantine shews the prone ness of rulers to interfere where no interference is useful or necessary, and to listen to the selfish counsels of timid ecclesiastics, in place of adhering to the enlightened dictates of a just and liberal policy. It should be laid down, therefore, as a fundamental law, which ought in no case to be violated, that for religious opinions merely, of whatever nature, no man should be liable to restraint or punishment.

It is obviously the duty of those who govern to do every thing in their power for the good of the governed. But true religion is most calculated to promote pure. morality and social happiness; to make the rich look with sympathy and compassion on the distresses of the poor, and to make the poor submissive and con